So that thing I said I was doing last Saturday? The thing I didn’t want to tell you about until I was sure it worked out? I can tell you now because it worked out.

Here’s the low down. Back in July I asked my brother-in-law Randy to help me choose some photos for a local art show.  Randy is an artist and I respect his opinion a lot when it comes to art and I wanted some constructive criticism on (1) whether I had any photos worthy of viewing and (2) which photos he thought would be most likely to be chosen since this is a juried show. A few weeks ago I emailed Randy 55 of my best photos and waited to hear from him. He has been really busy fishing (and no, I’m not being sarcastic, Randy is a commercial fisherman and does guided fishing charters on his boat as well) so when I didn’t hear from him right away I figured he was busy and knew he’d get back to me at some point. He finally did and he had lots of praise and advice on which photos he thought would be best for printing and framing. There was only one problem – he emailed me on the night before the submission date. I didn’t have anything printed, much less framed, so I read the email and set it aside and thought, well, there’s always next year.

Then Randy’s wife Mary stopped by for a minute last Saturday morning and while she was over she asked me about submitting the photos because Randy had shown them to her. I told her the deadline was only a few hours away and it was too late to do anything for this year. Mary wasn’t having any of that and neither was Randy, apparently, because my phone rang about 5 minutes later. It was Randy encouraging me to go for it. He told me where I could go  to have the images printed up quickly. He told me they would help me select mats and frames. And then he told me to come to his house and he would help me frame them. So I decided to go for it.

I’m really glad I did because all 3 of my submissions were chosen for inclusion! This was my first show and I was a bit intimidated about entering but with Randy’s help and Mary’s encouragement it all worked out. I learned a lot about framing and have some ideas of things I’ll do differently for next year – including getting things ready earlier – but I wouldn’t have changed this experience for anything.

As for the photos, you’ve seen them all before but I’ll show you again. This time they even have names.

Snowy Woodpecker

Mary’s Pansy

Cattails of Plymouth

They look even better in their mats and frames.

So there you have it.  I’m still just plain old me but now I’m plain old me with a juried art show on my resume.  Not bad for someone who really doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Have you ever spent the day with a bunch of alpacas? I did on Saturday and it was wonderful.

Oh, there were friends there, too, and it was great to see them and spin with them. But it was the alpacas that inspired me to keep taking pictures.

Isn’t that little girl the cutest? Sharon picked her up and carried her around for a bit and it was so sweet. Sharon also picked up a chicken but that was a little less sweet. Just saying.

In case it’s not obvious, I was at the Parker River Alpaca Farm for a day of spinning. It was so relaxing. Well, except for Sharon picking up the chicken.

As you can see, there was a bit of shopping, too. Courtesy of Kim and her new gorgeous BFL rovings. The alpacas clearly have excellent taste. We all must, too, since I think we all took home at least one of those braids. Ahem.

Who are you looking at? You would have shopped too!

The ornamental grass outside the library is really beautiful this time of year. I took a bunch of shots of it but this one is my favorite.

Have a terrific weekend!

It seems to me that on this date, the anniversary of a terrible day, it’s important to focus on our future.  To remember that there are good things in our lives – family, friends and so much more. It’s entirely appropriate to look back with sadness but I think it’s even more important to look forward with hope.  And what could be more hopeful than the upcoming birth of a baby and the opportunity to cover that baby in woolly goodness?

This is my first Baby Surprise Jacket and I doubt it will be my last. I’ll admit that I didn’t think I was doing it right for a good part of the process but I just kept the faith (and my trust in EZ) and worked my way through. I wound up with this:

Pretty funny looking and sort of hard to picture becoming a baby sweater, I think. But lo and behold, a simple fold or two and I had this:

Now we’re cooking with fire! I sewed the shoulder seams and added some buttons and wa-la:

A Baby Surprise Jacket!

The yarn is Hello Yarn Fat Sock that Adrian custom dyed for me last year. It’s wonderful and squooshy and the colors are just what I wanted.

It was a fast knit, too. I started late on Saturday and finished Tuesday night. That’s fast – even for a baby sweater. It must have been because of all that help from Mason.

Babies are hopeful. Babies are our future. And babies wearing hand knits, well, they are just about the best thing ever.

Today’s post is a meme about sock knitting. I saw it at Cookie’s and then I saw it at Terry’s and now you’re seeing it here. Just so you know, the mosaic is a compilation of the last 16 pairs of socks I have finished. It dates from late Dec 2007 to the present and it gives a pretty good visual to go along with the meme.

When did you first learn to knit socks?
I started knitting socks in the spring of 2002.

What’s the first sock you ever knit?
The first sock I ever knit was a pair of socks for Dale. I knit them for him to wear at Civil War reenactments and I used what I thought was a period correct pattern. It wasn’t, as it turns out, but it was a good first sock. Well, except that I used Lopi Lite and they were so scratchy he never actually wore them.

Favorite Sock Pattern?
My go-to sock is a plain stockinette with a picot edge, heel flap and round toe. I use 72 stitches if they are for Dale, 64 stitches if they are for me and 56 stitches if they are for Hannah.

Favorite needle method?
I’m a Magic Looper but I learned on double pointed needles and I still use those if I’m at a reenactment.

Favorite sock needles?
Addi Turbos size one or zero.

Who do you knit socks for?
Most of the socks I knit are for me but I do knit socks for Hannah and Dale occasionally. Sometimes I knit socks for other family members but socks take a lot of time so I like to make sure that they will be appreciated – I’ve been burned in the past. I also participate in sock swaps now and then.

How many pairs have you knitted to date?
Since I started blogging I’ve knit 75 pairs of socks. I don’t think there were more than a few pairs before that so I’m going with ~80.

What is on your sock knitting to-do list?
I’m signed up for the Trick of Treat Sock Swap so I need to pick a design for those. I’m leaning towards Nutkin at the moment.

What kind of socks to you like to knit-
Striped? Definitely. You’ve seen my stash of Vesper sock yarn, right?
Colorwork? I’ll save the colorwork for mittens.
Plain Stockinette? Way too often.
Cabled? Certainly, I love cables.
Lace? Oh yes!
Anklets? Nope!
Knee Socks? Hannah really wants a pair of knee socks and I imagine I’ll get to it one of these days.
Solid colors? Yes, especially if I’m using a lace or cabled pattern.
Bright and crazy? Ummm, did you see the mosaic up there?
Faux Fair Isle (the yarn doing all of the work)? I’ve done this but I mostly stick with the handpainted yarns these days.

Tag a few sock knitters here: You know the drill. If you’re a sock knitter and you need some blog fodder then consider yourself tagged.

When you start a weekend with a Jimmy Buffett concert, well, the rest of the weekend sort of pales in comparison.  Ya know?

I spent Saturday doing some very-last-minute errands (and I’ll tell you what they were all about if things work out) that involved a lot of running around in the rain.  On Sunday I blocked all the pieces of Twist and then I started a Baby Surprise Jacket.

As you can see, I had help.

Mason, apparently, has good taste and is an Elizabeth Zimmerman fan.

Many of you guessed correctly that Dale and I went to a Jimmy Buffett concert last Thursday. It was so much fun!! The tailgating is over the top and when it comes to a concert, well, that man does not disappoint.

So, let’s talk about the tailgating. Seriously, these people do it up right. It’s all about hanging with friends – some you haven’t made yet – eating great food and partying. The parking lots are full of scenes like this one:

People just gathered around and having fun.

If you’re familiar with the public drinking laws in Massachusetts, well, you understand that this is highly unusual. But the police don’t seem to mind.

Here’s Dale, ready to stroll down one of the rows. He looks like he’s ready for a good time, doesn’t he?

This guy had a bubbler full of strawberry daiquiris. I bet not many people can say they have had a drink from a bubbler in the middle of a parking lot full of sand. Truly, it’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.

And Capt. Tony here, well, he had a whole bar set up, complete with swings. A ride on one of those swings wasn’t free but I didn’t ask the price as I had a feeling it would have been one I wasn’t willing to pay.

And speaking of friends you don’t know yet, these three guys were parked next to us and they were loads of fun. By the end of the night we were hugging each other good bye. They shared their cheeseburgers, we shared our beer and we all laughed a lot. Oh wait, I think I have a picture of their better side.

Ahem.

I think you can see that if you want to have fun at a Jimmy Buffett show you need to check your inhibitations at the gate and just go with the flow.  I have no problem with that.  Just saying.

Anyone want to guess where Dale and I went last night? Have a fun weekend and watch out for sharks!

Hannah says thank to all of you for the great birthday wishes! She really enjoyed reading them (once she’d finished her homework, of course) and she thinks that you me and the rest of the world should just calm down about her growing up. She can’t wait – of course! She was in such a good mood I was even able to get her to pose with the Crest of the Wave Scarf (Rav link) that I finished weeks ago.

I actually call this Crest of the Caribbean Wave since the colors remind me of the tropical sea. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill that I’ve had forever and the pattern is Judy’s.

The fringe didn’t work out exactly as I wanted but I’m still really pleased with it and the beads match perfectly.

I have a feeling this may wind up being a birthday present for Hannah since 1) she loves it and 2) I have not yet finished her birthday socks.

Not that I think the scarf will get me off the hook from knitting the annual birthday socks. That’s just wishful thinking.

Last Friday afternoon my kitchen counters looked like this:

And the bureau in the mudroom looked like this:

And my backyard looked like this:

I bet you’d like to know why my counters were covered with hamburger, lettuce and chicken wings. And why the mudroom was loaded with taco shells and flour tortillas. And probably you’d especially like to know why we had one of our Civil War canopies set up in the backyard, all decorated with Mexican blankets and chili pepper lights and other Southwestern type stuff.

Well, I’ll tell you why. It was all in preparation for my daughter Hannah’s Sweet Sixteen Party. Here she is, the little darlin’!

One of Hannah’s favorite things is tacos so we decided to have a taco bar for the main food at her birthday party. And once we’d decided that, well, we just sort of ran with it as a theme. It was fun to come up with the decorations and food ideas and the tacos were a really big hit with the kids – and adults, too, frankly.

We hired a DJ and the kids enjoyed the music and some karaoke, too, including a pretty funny rendition of “Hot, Hot, Hot” from Hannah’s friends and a very sweet rendition of “Sixteen Candles” from Hannah’s dad, aka Dale.

And now here we are today – Hannah’s actual 16th birthday – and I’m wondering where the hell the time has gone. Really, I blinked and now here she is, a junior in high school, itching to drive a car, get a job and go to college. And all the while I just want to stop time and make her my little girl again. Sniff.

Won’t you all join Dale and I and wish her a very happy sweet sixteen? Thanks! And pass the Kleenex.