Kentucky

Last night after work we tossed our bags and Durwood's oxygen equipment into his van and HIT THE OPEN ROAD.  When we were driving into Milwaukee the sun was setting in a beautiful blaze of orange.  The Value Inn in Kenosha was definitely a blast from the past.
 

And I finished up Color Stripe Vessel #6. 





This morning we drove away from the 70s into some rain but by the third tollbooth the sun was out and it never went away.

 







 
At Louisville the Ohio River was looking gorgeous.







 
We went to a hibachi restaurant with DD & DIL2.  It was a good but tiring day.







Oh, and leadfoot Durwood collected a bit of commemorative paper in Indiana politely delivered by an Indiana State Trooper.  I do not have a picture of that.

Tomorrow, the racetrack!

Green!

Finallyfinallyfinally the tiny buds on the maple tree are big enough to warrant being put in the scarf.  Green!  In the Maple Tree Scarf!  I bought up a plethora of spring-ish greens and Durwood and I agreed that this pear color was the best representative of the delicate green of the nearly invisible buds on my tree.  I thought of only putting in a few random stitches of the green (green!) because they're only visible if you really look for them but then I thew caution to the winds and just plunged in wholeheartedly.  Ahh, green.

I finished up the Color Stripe Vessel #4 at work the other day.  (you see, it's green too, at least partly)  I'm anxious to see how it turns out when it's felted since I made the sides shallow.  Maybe it'll be wide and flat like I wanted.



This is my last dog-sitting day and I'm relieved.  I'm not cut out to be a pet-parent.  I'm just not.  I'm more of a pet-tolerater or a pet-borrower.  When it comes right down to it, I'm not soothed by her presence but too aware of her and annoyed.  See?  Not the right attitude at all.  Not that I'm mean to her, no, I'd never do that, I'm just perfunctory.  I'd really rather be left alone.

Not Very Yarn-y These Days...

...and I'm sorry about that.  Not sorry that I'm not doing much knitting but sorry if you come here for knitting content on a regular basis.  I've been force-feeding you sewing for a while too but lately I got pretty much nothing.

So I took some pretty spring bulb flowers pictures to distract you.
 








There has been the teensiest bit of knitting going on--

I'm still working on the Maple Tree scarf waiting for the day when the buds appear, burst open and give me a new color to add in.  I grabbed the bull by the horns yesterday and cut the Winter White yarn I've been carrying up the side of the scarf for nearly a month, maybe even over a month.  I want to apologize right now if the combination of putting away the snowblower and cutting the white, snow-representing yarn both in the same week makes it snow, but I just couldn't see dragging feet of that yarn up the side, wasting it like that.  I'll slap it back in if I need to but I'm guessing I won't be needing too.

I had the idea of knitting and felting a nest and some eggs as an Easter gift for HZ when they hosted the April Family Dinner on Easter.  You see how far that idea went.  I'm telling myself that I'm ahead for next year.  Yeah, that's what I'm doing.


I added a round or two onto the latest Color Stripe Vessel yesterday but no one but me would notice.  I plan to knit a couple more rounds and then start decreasing to have a shallower bowl once the felting commences.


And that's it.  I'm frustrated right now because my TomTom won't talk to my laptop and vice versa so it's not updating.  We're going to Lexington next week, it needs to update.  I bought it special with free updates.  Free!  Not invisible.  I love electronics.  Yes, I do.  Usually.

Making Stuff & Fish Sex

I didn't knit one stitch while I was away.  I spent time working through Lala's critique of a novel, making notes of things to change and where more scenes need to be.  Her comments gave me a place to stand to get a different perspective and the time passed didn't hurt either.  On Saturday afternoon we gathered in the breakfast room of the motel and made bookmarks with pressed flowers, old stamps, fancy papers, origami papers, and a laminator.  It was fun.

When we walked up 8th Street on Saturday to have lunch at Field to Fork, a restaurant that uses locally produced food and gets it onto your plate with the minimum of alteration, I noticed what I thought was a broken access ladder on top of the smokestack at the edge of the business district.  I kept watching it and it evolved into the figure of a chimney sweep.  Very cool and amusing. 

Yesterday after Easter lunch Jefe & HZ led us through the streets of Shawano to see Sturgeon spawning at the Shawano Dam on the Wolf River.  I was transfixed.  I could have stayed there all afternoon in the sunshine, listening to the water roaring through the sluice gates and watching those black fins break the surface.  It was exciting and relaxing at the same time.  An excellent finale to a fine Easter meal.

I'm Ranned Away From Home

And I'm loving it.  I got here just before 1 PM, checked in, and got busy being a run-away.  My favorite map shop in the building next door is closing tomorrow (boo-hoo).  I was stunned when I saw the sign so in I went to see everything packed in boxes and very little left.  I found a couple of baskets she used for display, a couple of notebooks, and a map or two.  I can't believe she's retiring and no one wanted to buy it.  Most of the time it's the only store I go into when I'm here.  Tsk.  I'll have to find another but what will be cooler than a map store with a bazillion maps and globes, travel books, telescopes, brass doodads, and maps, did I mention maps?  
 

I walked down to the lake along the river.  It was sunny and windy but so good to be out that I sat outside doing a little writing while I sipped a mug of coffee.  The lake was wavy and beautiful.


Lala arrived late in the afternoon, bringing a terrible cold with her, so we walked up the hill to eat soup and pizza at Il Ritrovo, then came back so she could go soak in a hot bath, drink tea, and get a good night's sleep so she'll feel better tomorrow.

And if we spend most of the weekend indoors and relaxing that'll be okay too.


I'm heading out to see my baby-est brother AJ to give him a birthday card.

The Wrap Up--We Hope

Durwood and I spent the middle of the day wrapping up what needed to be done in the rental before the new tenant moves in... Tuesday?  I don't know, I'm letting Durwood handle it.  I will be helping to spend the rent money though. I'm nice that way.

I tried to zoom through making the first of the March Block of the Month quilt blocks.  That didn't work well.  I spent an inordinate amount of time ironing a pound of fabric strips/scraps.  I should have sorted them by color and also evened up the edges before I started sewing them onto my blocks.  I'm not going to spend one minute chastising myself over being so behind, I'll get to them when I get to them.  April is going to be a busy month so I'm going to give myself a break.  A change for me, that whole giving a break thing.
 

I cast on the next Color Strip Vessel.  I really like the green against the gray.  I might have to put them together again.

 

Last week was a banner week in the Maple Tree Scarf world.  Early in the week a robin was sitting in the tree when I checked to see its condition and on Friday it was covered with drops of rain or fog.  I mused aloud about figuring out a way to represent the drops on the scarf when Durwood and I were driving home from Menards.  He said, "Beads?"  It took me a few days of thought and some false starts until I finally looked it up online and found an article on Knitty telling how to add each bead as you come to it.  It worked.  I scattered a few on both rows of Friday's knitting.  They're subtle but I like that they're there.



I finished another duvet.  This one's made from a sarong or pareo I bought at World Market a while back that I thought would make a lovely lap blankie.