I contemplated all weekend on what kind of photo I could use for today’s post. You see, our kids left for Florida yesterday morning and I needed a photo that would convey our sadness but I wasn’t about to post a crying photo because that’s too personal. And also, I don’t look pretty when I cry.

And then, Monday morning, Mother Nature provided me with just what I needed.

Puddles. To represent the many tears that Dale, Hannah and I have been shedding.

And heavy, gray clouds. To represent the sadness that is weighing on our hearts.

Brant, Heather and Ambrynn were actually planning on leaving Sunday morning after sleeping at our house Saturday night, but they were exhausted from all their packing and last minute errands so they decided to postpone their trip and leave on Monday morning instead. This actually gave us a wonderful day together on Sunday, complete with a Dale and the Duds concert to send them off in style. Except, of course, that Dale dedicated “On the Road Again” to the kids and the whole family started blubbering. It was all just so emotional and overwhelmingly sad and I was a big old mess. Ambrynn, sweet little thing that she is, lightened the mood right up, though as she yelled “Yay, Grampa” repeatedly when he finished singing.

So this little family has started a new chapter in their lives and I suppose we have, too, because we are now long distance parents. And it sucks. Despite the hurt we feel, we did what parents are supposed to do - we let them spread their wings and fly away.

This letting go is awfully hard but we sent them on their way with love and hugs, prayers and wishes for a safe journey, and a huge bag of junk food for the road trip. Along with whole bunch of sobbing after they drove away.

The Tour de Fleece was so much fun for me! I spun every day, sometimes a lot and sometimes only a little, but I spun every single day of the tour. Now granted, I spin most days anyway, even if it’s for a few minutes, but thoughts of the Tour really motivated me to fit in more spinning time every day.

So, you’re anxious to know how much I spun, right? Because today is the day we all find out who won the Tour de Fleece contest.

First up:

3.7 oz BFL Vesper Roving from Knitterly Things

Next:

2.1 oz merino/tussah from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks

And then:

8 oz merino from someone at NHSW

After that:

5.7 oz good ole wool from Pippi Knee Socks

Next:

3.9 oz CVM from Spirit Trail Fiberworks

Finally:

1.0 oz BFL & Angelina Fiber from Foxfire Fiber

Did you do the math in your head? It comes to 24.4 oz and that means our winner is Kat because she guessed 24.2 oz and that was the closest guess without going over. Congratulations, Kat and let’s hear it for all the losers, too!

Thanks to all of you for playing along with this. I spun my little heart out and had a great time doing it. And I made a serious dent in my fiber drawer which is a really good thing since the fall fiber season is right around the corner. And now, I have a lot of plying to do!

Fresh strawberries. Mmmm. And pass the whipped cream, please.

Hannah failed her school eye exam this past spring so yesterday I took her to the eye doctor for her first check up. After filling out the typical first visit paperwork we sat down to wait for her name to be called. Naturally, I pulled out my sock and commenced knitting.

It wasn’t more than a few moments before one of the technicians came over and said, “Hey, I like that sock you’re knitting!” I was shocked because no one ever recognizes that I’m knitting socks - most people see something small-ish and assume it’s a baby sweater. So I thanked her for the compliment and she said she was a knitter and she asked about the yarn and the magic loop method and it was cool.

Then the woman selling eye glass frames came over and asked to see the sock. And she asked about the yarn and the magic loop method and the pattern I was using and then she showed me her current sock in progress. I told her how to find the Charade pattern online and she told me how everyone in the doctor’s office knits together during lunch and, again, it was cool.

I have to admit, I was feeling a little smug at this point. Clearly I was surrounded by knitters and they were appreciating my sock. So I turned to Hannah and said, “See, knitting can be cool.”

And then her name was called and she got up and I got up to follow her into the exam room. And I was feeling very cool. Until I got to the exam room and I realized that I had dropped my sock in progress back in the waiting room. The ball of yarn, of course, was still in my purse, leaving a very long trail back down the hallway, past the reception desk, to the waiting room. Sigh. So much for being cool.

Speaking of cool - check out Hannah in her new glasses.

She’s almost as cool as her mom, eh?

I have wanted to knit the Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark for ages, it seems. I think Cheryl’s was the first one I saw and hers is gorgeous. So light, so delicate and in her own handspun, too. Kim has knit it and so has Susanhttp://knittingasfastasican.com/2007/to-the-moon-baay-bee/ with Margene’s handspun, no less. Their shawls are also light and delicate.

Inspired by my friends and also Spun Stitches, I decided to knit this shawl with my handspun. I’ve got 9 repeats done and here it is so far:

Light and delicate? Not so much. The yarn is heavier than I’d like it to be and I probably should be using bigger needles. The variegated green/yellow is sort of hiding the lace and I’m not thinking this is a great yarn/pattern match. However, I’m too stubborn to rip it out and start over with different yarn so I will persevere. And I will finish.

But given what came in the mail on Monday, well, it’s not going to be easy.

Sorry about being absent yesterday. I don’t get these type of headaches very often but when I do it tends to flatten me a bit. But watch out now because I’m back. And I did have a fun weekend.

Friday night we went to a local baseball game. I’ve written about these before and there’s not much new to say except that knitting, beer and baseball make for a great combination.

It’s pretty rare for us to have a commitment-free Saturday but this was one of them and it was so nice to just let the day unfold. Dale was puttering around doing home improvement type stuff and I spent most of the day hanging around on the deck.

I did some spinning. With breaks for reading Harry Potter, of course.

Later in the day we had snacks and martinis.

Accompanied by a beautiful evening sky.

We ended the night with a fire in the chiminea and dinner alfresco.

Sunday brought more fun. I managed to keep the headache at bay, thank goodness, as we had Brant, Heather & Ambrynn over to celebrate Brant’s birthday. This was also a farewell dinner of sorts as they are leaving for Florida this Sunday.

So we set up a fly and had steak and baked potatoes and corn. And blueberry cake. Mmm. Of course, Ambrynn is always the star of the day around here and she had a wonderful time playing a bean bag game with her Grandpa.

Too much fun? Perhaps. But then again, you can never have too much fun.

I have been felled by a migraine. Perhaps I had too much fun this weekend, eh? I could feel it around the edges yesterday but pushed through it as we had company coming. I went to bed last night at 9:00 and slept until just a few minutes ago. It feels as if the right side of my head is going to explode. Ugh.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my fun weekend report. In the meantime, have a great Monday.

You all liked the vegetable photo yesterday so here’s a close up of last week’s haul. Great stuff, I tell you.
Do something FUN this weekend!

As I mentioned last week, I signed up for One Local Summer. I figured with the CSA this would be a snap. But you know what? Eating local isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’m motivated and I’m trying but it’s the middle of July and I haven’t put a completely local meal on the table yet. Sigh.

This is the closest I’ve gotten. Swiss Chard Quiche, tossed salad and steamed kohlrabi. Everything is local except for the pie crust ingredients (although I did make the pie crust myself) and the cheddar cheese in the quiche. And it was delicious. The quiche was made with local organic eggs and milk and the dressing for the salad was made with herbs from my sister-in-law and the kohlrabi was a new vegetable for my family. We enjoyed it all.

The share we picked up yesterday including a huge amount of zucchini, both green and yellow, and cucumbers. Anyone got a good pickle recipe?

Anyone else remember the old Certs ad? The one where one person claimed, “it’s a breath mint” and the other person claimed, “it’s a candy mint?” And then they smiled happily and said, “It’s two, two, two mints in one!” Of course you remember. And you probably remember the way they satirized this commercial on Saturday Night Live even more. Well, that ad is all I can think of because I’m presenting two, two, two pairs of socks.

These are my Whisper Lace[that's a pdf link] socks. The yarn is J. Knits Superwash Me that I got from the Loopy Ewe and the pattern is from the fabulous and talented Rachel of Have You Any Wool. And it’s free. I love me a good free sock pattern. I’m quite pleased with the pairing of this yarn and this pattern and I declare these a success.

And these. These are my I Feel Good Socks. The yarn is Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop Yarn and the pattern is just a basic 56 stitch sock with a picot edge on size 2 needles. This handspun yarn is wonderful and fun to knit. I know I won it but I honestly can’t remember the circumstances. I love me a good free sock yarn even more than a good free sock pattern! I declare these a success, as well.

After finishing these two pairs of socks I headed over to Ravelry to look for a new sock pattern to knit. I immediately settled on Charade[that's a pdf link], another free pattern, this one designed by Sandra of I May Be Knitting a Ranch House. The yarn is Restless Handspun Jump Sheep, a bribe gift sent by Hillary when she asked me to co-host Sock Madness 2008 with her.

Between the free patterns and the gift yarns, I’d say my Summer of Socks is going along wonderfully.