It was a wet and stormy night

Our weather is nothing, if not perplex-
ing. This is week seven that I've shot this same location. It rained all night and the snow is gone. Three dogs times four legs makes for lotsa mud in a house.

The temps have warmed into the 40s and the grass has started to green. What the heck in the world, as a young friend used to ask. We are so totally not supposed to have rain in December and it's forecasted for the entire week. At least we don't have to worry about mowing the grass. After dark the rabbits move in and mow it for us.
I finished the last hat tonight and it's blocking. I always say I've knitted the last one but boy oh boy, are they seductive. They just look so good when they're finished. This one looks like mocha and whipped cream. However I am beside myself to get back to some fun knitting for me me me.
So these are the hats that I've punished myself to finish for the craft fair this weekend. I'm crossing my fingers that someone out here will realize how much they need an alpaca hat to protect their frosty head and support our purchase of a Wii. Yes "we" did :) We have had it since yesterday and fell in love with it, so when we went into town today for our annual lab work (annual physicals) we bought the Wii Fit Plus package and extra charger. I haven't been able to slog through the mud to walk and don't want to drive to town to the gym. I hope this slightly blind purchase will be the exercise solution I've wanted. Merry Christmas to me~ Please someone, buy my hats and make me merry-er.
Meanwhile, I've found time to get back into my studio. I find it hard to weave on gray days since the light is so terrible, but now that we're back to Indian summer of sorts, I cannot wait to get up there. Wait - is Indian summer wet?
I am thrilled with the colors of the baby blanket. I'm so excited to finally get some weaving done on it. Of course, we were in town today and I'm in town all day tomorrow, have an Association meeting on Thursday, baking cookies on Friday, craft fair on Saturday, please God, drag me outta bed for church on Sunday. When did I ever find time to fit a job into my life?!!

Best Laid Plans

I met Melissa at her coffee shop before our Wednes-
day knit group. The plan was to drop my car there, go for Pho (Vietnamese food) and then on to meet with the group. She wanted me to see what she had on her loom so we went by her place, and, well, you know how conversations with fiber folk meander, she showed me her lease sticks-ish things. These are they, and since she had a spare pair, she gave them to me.
Oh, and as we left her place we realized that neither of us had copied down the driving directions to Malinda's house so back we went to the coffee house to print them out, which is where we ended up eating lunch. Anyway, this is how these little gems work. They're for warping front to back.
I cannot wait to test drive them. The cross goes in the middle but is elevated so the threads aren't compressed against the front beam, something I struggled with on this warp. My warp is now tied on, with threading and sleying errors fixed. Ironically, my weaving guild Christmas party is tomorrow so I won't get to start weaving for a day or two (frowny face emoticon).
I finished another yet hat for the craft fair next weekend. I'm guessing of course, but I think the best chance of alpaca hat sales are out here where people are outside in the miserable cold. If I'm wrong, I'll have a lot of hats. I tried a topper with four i-cords. I hated knitting it and don't think it's worth the extra work and won't do it again.
Charlie loves the Christmas tree. We ship all our presents anymore, so there are no packages beneath the tree. I've put a beat-up nativity set at the base in front and left the rest to him. I almost feel bad that he only gets this for one month a year. He's knocked over several of the pieces and broken them, yet again. I made it in ceramics when I was a military wife with a one-year-old daughter. Does that tell you anything about me?? Mary's hands are glued on and baby Jesus has none. I don't think any of the animals have ears. After 40 years, I really do need to shop for a new set.

$$$$$

I went to Jimmy Beans today to get the yarns for Alexia's requested Christmas present, the jackalope from the Amigurumi Knits book. Alexia is insistent that this is what she wants for Christmas and she dictated the colors. I wrote them down.

I spotted my friend Allison working in back so went to say hi. She was very excited about the new Tosh yarn they've just started carrying, in about 100 colors ways in lace, sport and worsted weights. I caught the excitement. The three lace weight skeins on the left will all be scarfs and they will be mine. I give them away as fast as I make them, and today I went to town wearing a purchased rayon scarf. I need to warm my own neck!
This is Alexia's Christmas jackalope. She marked about six things in the book and then asked me how many she could have. I reminded her that I only had time to knit one before Christmas and this ugly dude was her final choice. She wants a pink body, blue ears (substitute green), yellow horns and orange feet.
I also suc-
cumbed to a new knitting book, based on this hat pattern. I'm planning to knit a hat with the leftover yarn from the baby blanket. I've got my fingers crossed that I can use this pattern, minus the monkey tail topper. Also - I purchased yet another skein of Noro sock yarn. Because JBW bought all there is in the known supply world, they dropped the price from $13 to $11 and well, I just - well, I have no excuse other than I love the colors.
Perhaps it's the natural colored wools that I've been knitting to get ready for the craft fair that drove me to the colored yarns. Anyway, I've finished another hat. I love them all and will make as many as I can before next weekend.

I meet with a group of ladies that I met through Allison to knit on Wednesday afternoons. Many are beginning knitters so I took my hats and my book of 1,000 patterns to show them how a hat is really just a big sock toe. One of the ladies bought a hat! That wasn't a turn I expected from my "demonstration" but very cool. We only meet for two hours and the time flies.

I cannot begin to tell you much I enjoy these women. All the years I worked, I didn't have time to develop friendships, and suddenly friendships have landed in my lap. We're all a little long in the tooth so we enjoyed talking about Nora Ephron's new book. We spontaneously decided to do a gift swap next week. These are things that I've read about other people doing. From nowhere, out of the blue, I've received this gift of wise, warm and well-read women. Retirement? I recommend it.

All Alexia, All Day

Alexia looked forward to her bath yesterday morning and just did not want to get out, so much singing in that room. Finally I reminded her of all the things we wanted to do and she was out in an instant. She was very anxious to start weaving on the new looper loom I got from Hiliary. She wouldn't have gotten dressed except the hook kept getting caught in the towel.

She couldn't be bothered with sitting at a table to eat breakfast so ate cold cereal out of a baggie. Notice the method she devised to keep her loops in the color order of her choosing. She kept talking about making a pattern and "my design." I thought we'd get started on the loom and she could come back to it. She was also anxious to start decorating the Christmas tree.






The placement of every ornament was carefully considered. Progress was slow but I knew we wouldn't finish the whole tree anyway. It was about her having fun. Suddenly she looked at me in utter panic - Grandma! Are we going to have time to make cookies? Would you rather make cookies, I asked. Silly question.

All cookies require sprinkles. In the future, I think sprinkles on only one side would be my choice. These are Jello cookies again, this time in lime. I used to make these with her mother and the recipe card is written in my friend's hand. The stamp we used is long gone but the recipe remains.

JELLO COOKIES

3/4 c Crisco
1/2 c sugar
1 3 oz pkg Jello
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
Cream together and add:
2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt

Roll into balls and flatten with a stamp. Bake 8-10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (Sprinkles optional, unless you're Alexia)

She's whispering to herself, "over, under, over, under, over, under....."

Alexia did an astonishing amount of the work just with my supervision. I only needed to help when she got stuck. She became quicker at putting the loops on and finding her mistakes. She wanted to finish it so she could give it to her mommy when she came to pick her up. I was doing the crocheted edge as Christina was coming down the driveway. Alexia is very proud and so am I.

Surprises

Laura is visiting her sister in Minden for a couple of days and drove all the way out here to visit Mim and me. I wish I had been a little less distracted because I see Laura so seldom. As always I learned something new from her - she gave me a quick lesson in i-cord edgings. I know it has a real name but that's okay. I know how to do it now, and I want to use it to trim my vest. Laura is one of those people I'd have to say has forgotten more than I've ever known.

She brought me this box of goodies. These are things that had belonged to her mother, Jean, who was a life-long fiber artist and its in that environment that Laura grew up. I met Jean on a number of occasions, and am thrilled to own her copy of Mary Black. Laura popped those two balls of "fiber play" in as an extra treat: superfine Merino, silk and alpaca. Drool~~
These are the rag rug shuttles that were in the box. There's also a metal temple. It's pretty overwhelming. I need some pegboard so I can hang these on the wall. I want to see them, even when I'm not using them.

Our next get-together won't be until next June during Black Sheep Gathering, which is a pretty distracted time for everyone.
We didn't get to the big agenda item today until after lunch. No ornaments can go on the tree until the lights are on, and Papa was pretty busy this morning clearing snow. When we finally starting stringing lights, we discovered that the last string in the box was dead. Alexia and I headed for the store - she wanted juice and raisins anyway and we both wanted to go to the library which is by the grocery store. A squall came through here and dumped another 2" of snow while we were gone. We were south of the weather band so only had to drove back on it, not in it.

Ian and I finally finished getting the lights strung about 4:30 which was disappointingly late for hanging ornaments. Lexi and I did get other decorations up though, and I let her hang a wooden sheep on the tree, which she gamely did her Vanna White to display.

This is the book I had placed on hold and was picking up from the library. I have read a couple of excellent reviews, and while I'm not really interested in knitting books much, I was glad the library had a copy for me to see. I read it cover to cover while Alexia watched more Angelina Ballerina on my laptop. I can't say I want to own the book, but I think it's a must-read for everyone interested in the history of American knitwear.

I read Alexia a couple of the books we picked up from the library, and now that I'm back in possession of my laptop, I'm going to look up the website of this mill. I recognized my life in that book. I think every knitter will, and perhaps non-knitters as well.
I finished this alpaca man-sized hat while Laura and I were visiting. Laura kicked off my hat-knitting thing years ago, and I'm always interested in her ideas. She makes hats that will twirl your eyeballs. She suggested an idea for an i-cord top and I can't wait to cast on for my next hat!

Cutting Trees

This is the 8th year we have gathered early at Hallelujah Junction and then driven up into Sierras to cut trees in the national forest above Frenchmans Lake. You have to go up high to get a silver-tip spruce. We drove on 14" of snow but it was 17 degrees, so crunchy and doable with care. We stopped here when we could go no further.
Grandson Evan blazed the first trail. His new duck-
hunting clothes were perfect for this. We had nine permits and five trucks, but we picked up an extra truck. A guy and his family saw an opportunity to go in with a group - safety in numbers. They were quite relieved to join us.
Carol snagged the first tree of the day. She had five permits, cutting for friends who couldn't come along, and this one was for Gayle. The forest service checked our tags on the way out and all nine trees sported a tag. I wonder how many trucks they had to help pull out before the day was over.
Once Evan realized that his clothes really were water-proof, he was in the snow as much as he was out of it. The rest of didn't fare as well and had wet pant legs, but not enough to dampen the fun. This is the most fallen snow we've had in our eight-year tradition.
Ron and Allie brought there son Ryan, who was the youngest of our troop this year. He brought dogs too. Labs seem to love water, even if it's frozen.
Amy found her tree! It's perfect for her little house. This was an inaugural off-road trip for her new Toyota. We had to drive through five mud pits that were quite nasty (Ian had to use compound low) and when we got back out, her little truck was covered in mud. Christened!
The diciest part of the drive was negotiating around vehicles of incoming tree-hunters on the drive out. The roads were getting a little slushy and some people lacked good sense. Driving up out of a valley, we were trying to maneuver past some incoming vehicles when one guy stopped us, asking Ian how far in we had to go to get the "fancy" tree. Grrrr. All the trucks behind us were stuck and DS Josh and to use a tow strap to free Carol whose new used truck needs new tires. Grrr.
Josh got their tree. They wrapped in up a tarp and put in their camper shell to take back to Oregon. They spent $70 on a tree last year and you can't knock a $10 forest-service permit tree, plus they collect another memory. It's a great deal!
And this is our tree. Part of the memory making is stopping in Chilcoot at the Wood 'n Rose for lunch. Because we're the earliest tree hunters, we get the place pretty much to ourselves. They are wonderful to us, plus they write individual tickets. It wouldn't be complete without this meal and the visiting.

We are usually home by 1:00, but the difficult snow added hours and we weren't home home late afternoon. Everyone but us was headed to the UNR/Boise State game, so we were on tap to babysit Alexia. SIL brought her out and then he and grandson Kiernan were off the game.
I just discovered Watch Now on Neflix last week and so set Lex up with Angelina Ballerina on my laptop and on her bed. We were using the TV to watch the game. Sadly, we both fell asleep right after half time and by then Alexia was already asleep. We missed the upset of the year. UNR won! Go Wolfpack!!

Alexia and I have a full day ahead of us, starting with a tree to decorate. I'm anxious to try out the new looper loom, but that might have to wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, it has snowed since we awoke and is supposed to snow all day. It's a good thing it didn't snow yesterday!

Nervous Day

I took this picture today as week 5 of my photos from one location. I missed week 4 as Alexia was here last week and, well, I got distracted somewhere between the peanut butter cookies and the knitting and the spinning lessons. It snowed all night and the wind was absolutely punishing. It woke me several times.
Ian went to feed this morning and was stunned to discover that the wind had picked up the llama shed and tumbled it over the fence and onto it's roof. The animals are coated in snow so it didn't just happen.
The llamas are much more comfort-
able with snow and simply kushed down. The sheep were not happy and begged us to do something. Anxiety of the unknown took hold as tonight the temps will be sub-zero and they need to be able huddle inside.
As you can see, it went up and over the fence. It had to flip it in a complete somersault for it to land on the roof. The real anxiety was just how much damage had been sustained and if it would remain intact in an attempt to right it. Fortunately DS Josh is in town from Bend for the holiday. He built the shed and is the best acquainted with the structure.
Neighbor Tom called right after daylight. He'd seen the situation but had to go to town - said he would be down with his tractor after he got back. Meanwhile Josh drove out. The highway had been closed due to blowing snow so he chose the back way - just a couple of dicey spots and fewer crazy drivers. They pow-wowed in the garage and this is what they decided on. The shed looks pretty battered.
And down it comes. Josh plans loads and weights in trucking and his plan here was right on. The shed is now in a different place, but it's in a place and tonight there are five furry animals cuddled together inside. It's 8:30 right now and 16 degrees outside. I think this was a happy ending.
I couldn't really concentrate on any one thing today - too many things going on, but I did knit in the in-betweens and finished this hat from alpaca. It's luscious.