Random Acts of Kindness

I belong to the Random Acts of Kindness group on Ravelry, and look at the goodies I've received:
Yesterday....

From Debbie in Texas--some Ghirardelli hot chocolate in chocolate hazelnut AND chocolate mocha, Suri Alpaca laceweight in a pretty variegated purple, and purple stitch markers made by her granddaughter!

Today....

From Sharon in Missouri, some fun pink and purple yarns that are just begging to be made into a striped scarf.

Thank you SO much to both ladies!

Stitches Midwest

So yesterday was Stitches Midwest day for Becky and I (she's new to Ravelry btw, her Rav name is "Moonmaven"). We left at 9am and arrived in Schaumburg at 10:30, got a fairly good parking space, and were pleasantly surprised we didn't have to hike a mile to the market. The market was awesome, as usual. I got to meet some Ravelers. I bought too much yarn. It's once a year....so I live a little.

Here is some Duet yarn from Brooks Farm Yarns. It's 50/50 kid-fine wool, soft and squishy, the most beautiful combination of blue, green, and purple ever! Also in the backround is my Rav button and a "Swatch Me" button:



Next is some Merino Twine from my Rav friend Dianne at Creatively Dyed Yarns. Aren't the colors fun?:



Couldn't resist the chance to try some Socks that Rock yarn (color is Love-in-Idleness) from Marengo, IL shop The Fold:


And after all that blueness, I switched gears and bought some red/orange/yellow laceweight (color is Toucan Sam) from Maple Creek Farms:


And some patterns...3 sweaters and one shawl:


I also got some Soak, and this adorable hand-thrown mug with yarn and sheeps on it:




Becky did some good shoppin' too, she got a sweater kit and a kit for a qiviut scarf. I'm so jealous she got some qiviut!
Good thing this is only once a year...but now I have to wait a whole year to have this much yarny fun again!

Funny

more animals

School

Well, I made it through my first week back at school. I did have to drop my chemistry class because it was going to be too.much., but I feel good about the Anatomy and Nurse Assistant classes I'm taking.

Going to Stitches Midwest tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have lots of goodies to show!

Yarn store

So, I went over to "One More Row", the new yarn store in Freeport. It is going to be a nice little place. The owner isn't finished stocking it yet but she carries yarns like Donegal Tweed, Encore, Dalegarn, some novelty yarns, and others. She has a nice selection of patterns too. The place is pretty small--about the size of Yarn Sellar in Rockford--Yarn Sellar has them beat on selection though.
Nothing beats online shopping for me....especially since I'm doing a lot of sweaters now and need 8-10 skeins of a given yarn. Unless stores start offering a bulk discount, I'll go to WEBS.

I needed a laugh today...

more cat pictures

New Yarn Store

From Freeport Journal-Standard:

Knit One, Purl Two
In the heart of downtown, Kathy Heller put down her knitting Monday to tell the story of how she came to Freeport, saying she never ever dreamed she’d open another store again. “I was just ready to close up my other store, in Conover Square,” in Oregon, she said.
But a stop at Mary’s Mantle on Chicago Avenue turned her on to the open storefront across the street, at 15 S. Chicago. She got building owner Cal Wescott’s name and went to talk to him. “And to make a long story short, here I am,” she said. Her new store is called “One More Row,” and is a knitting and crocheting business. Heller, of Mount Morris, opened her doors Friday, even though she doesn’t have all her supplies yet. She plans on adding classes, too. She really likes the feel of downtown Freeport.“Where I was I was in Conover Square, in Oregon, in the old piano factory, it was a pretty jumping place once, but not anymore,” she said.
It will be a few more weeks before she’s really up and running the way she wants. She doesn’t even have a telephone for the business yet, she said. But passers-by are poking in their heads in anyway, she said. Heller was astounded by the number of people who strolled into her store during the Music on Chicago event Friday. “I’m not exaggerating. I had more people come in that one night — basically asking, showing interest, wanting to know about classes — than I had in a year in Oregon. And I’m not even exaggerating about that,” Heller, 57, said. She taught herself how to work with knitting and crochet needles 37 years ago, she said.
“I call it my therapy,” she said.


Man! They opened on my birthday! That would've been fun to check it out on opening day, but I plan on heading over there tomorrow to see it.

P.S. I know, the writing is atrocious. Our newspaper is known for its journalists with poor grammar and writing styles. I've had two articles written about me in this paper, and I wish I could've just written them myself, at least the information would've been correct. The last article that was out was an embarassment for me, so many things were stated incorrectly.

Bohus is done!

Now that we finally have our internet fixed, I can show you my Bountiful Bohus...

Here she is right before steeking:


Close-up of fair isle:


And modeled by yours truly:



Pattern: Bountiful Bohus from More Big Girl Knits
Size: 56" chest
Yarn: Cascade 220 in purple (6 skeins), grey and white (1 skein each)
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 5 and 7
Notes: This sweater turned out so well. I love how it fits...except for the neckline. I think that is too wide; I'd like it to be more snug around my neck. I only cast on 110 (100?) stitches for the arms to reduce the bell sleeves a bit, and of course shortened the sleeves because I'm not a chimpanzee.

Last Monday, we had a horrible storm come through our area. Our only damage was this tree branch, which fell off the neighbor's tree:



It actually fell on the bricks, but only one brick broke; my hydrangea was a little bruised, but is being quite the trooper.
We also lost power for 23 hours, and didn't get our internet back until Comcast came out yesterday and fixed it.

Sir B got me a Wii Fit for my birthday, and man that thing is fun! I never got into gaming systems too much...there were always too many button combinations to remember. But the Wii, using motion, is so much easier and more fun. The Wii Fit has yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. My favorites are the skiing games and the hula hoop.

Psychic

On Saturday, Sir B and I went to the Renaissance Faire in Bristol, WI. Also there was my Dad, Christy, my sis Amy, Lisa, my Grandma, and some of Christy's kids. I think we spent about 1/2 hour total with them. Everyone kept splitting up and doing their own thing, but it was still fun to be there with everybody.

So, I decided to get a reading while I was there. Christy and Dad were getting a tarot card reading, and I thought I'd do something different, so I got a reading by a psychic medium. His name is Stephen Bishop, and let me tell you, he was awesome. He asked me some questions about my spirituality, if I ever had any psychic experiences, etc., then when he started the reading, he asked for only "yes" or "no" answers. Some of the things he said to me (his words in italics, my responses in regular type):

You are one of three. Yes.

You have two brothers. No, but I can see how they could come across as masculine!

I see a little boy around you. I had another psychic tell me that. Interesting.

I see a female here. Your grandmother? No. Wait, she's right behind you. Your mother. Yes.

She was really sick for a while, then she got better, then (snaps fingers) she was gone. Yes.

She says there was something at her funeral that you worried about...something silly. Yes. I didn't like the color nail polish they put on her. She would never wear that color. She says "It's so stupid! Let it go"

She says "Why are you fighting with your sisters?" I'm not! Around the time she died, you were fighting with them...again, something silly. Yes. When my sisters get together, they tend to shut me out. I got really mad at them for doing that then.

I'm seeing Hummels. Did she collect Hummels? No. Hm, I'm seeing collectibles, similar things.. She collected Barbies. I never would have gotten Barbies from that! Please answer yes or no...

She's showing me jewelry. Bug jewelry? Yes. And something about a clock? OK A clock with gold around the face.... No Oh, maybe it's a watch then, I'm just seeing a clock face, so it could be a watch. Yes Did she give you a watch? Yes, well, I recently got all her jewelry. There's something about this watch, it's two-tone, something she wants you to know, but I'm not getting it. It seems to have something to do with your career, may be something metaphorical, like "watch out for this", or "wait until this time". Heck, someone from Bulova could call you tomorrow and offer you a job, I don't know! I got home and pulled out the watch in question, and it is a Bulova watch! The band is broken, so I think I'll take it in to be fixed and wear it for a while, see what comes of it.

Did she have a cat figurine in the jewelry box? No, but I just got a cat figurine yesterday as a gift! She was there when it was purchased. She had something to do with it. Cool.
The light is very strong around you. Do you feel spirits around you? I was told by an intuitive friend that there are two spirits at my house. I think they my be there because they are stuck and need your help to move on to the other side. You seem to draw them to you, they think you can help them cross over. Huh.

There was other stuff... we talked some about cats and their ability to see spirits. He recommended some books for me to read. He said my Mom was able to come through because I was in the right frame of mind to receive the information, that I had come to terms with her passing (I'm paraphrasing. He went into a long description why some people have it easier than others, talking to their loved ones). All in all he talked for an hour, and it was so fascinating. I really felt like I had contact with her.

Holy crud

I meant to post at the beginning of the week, but then a NASTY storm came through that knocked out our power for 23 hours, and our internet still isn't up yet (I'm using a local unsecured connection.). The Comcast guy told Sir B someone wouldn't be out until Tuesday to look at it.....um, how are we supposed to live without internet for over a week? I know I can get on this unsecured connection, but I can't do anything of value because I'm afraid someone is stealing my info as I type this. Gah.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I have two client appointments, then I figured I'd spend a few hours over at the humane society being loved on by the kitties. And maybe some mexican for dinner. Sir B is taking me to Red Lobster for dinner this weekend...

I finished the Bountiful Bohus yesterday. I won't get pics up until next week. But it turned out really nice!