Wednesday Morning Quest (Quiz/Test)

A little quiz for your reading enjoyment...

I can't tell you

how much

this means to me....

was heard

A. During a baby-shower on Saturday (I provided the house - others brought the decorations, food and fun), and AGTWHBA (a good time was had by all).

B. After an especially inspiring early-morning seminary class.

C. After the van returned from being gone for a week - practically brand new - if the time/$$ mean anything. Possibly enough material there for another post...

D. None of the above

If you chose D, you are correct. The above phrase was actually uttered by a delightful Girl Scout who brought the cookies we ordered last month. As I was writing out the check she quietly said, "I can't tell you how much this means to me". As I was wondering what brought on this sweet sentiment she grinned and said, "You are my biggest customer"!

Well, we do what we can :)

and I have the cookies to prove it!

I do {heart} Girls Scouts.

All of my girls participated

in the program -

in three different states.

As did I (but only in one state and only for 1 year - maybe two?).

Favorite memories...

TX - watching one of the co-leaders slip out for smoke breaks while they were meeting in the community room of the local volunteer fire department as they worked on the Eat Right, Stay Healthy Try-It.

CA - sweet pictures of Cara and her bff Ashley at all of the award ceremonies.

MD - helping make swaps, swaps and more swaps.

Best memory - being the cookie mom for all three troops.

Nothing like having your living room full of Thin Mints.

Blizzard '10 Baby Blanket

It has been fun* to curl up on the couch under a blanket while working on this little blanket. I picked up the yarn a couple of weeks ago here and started it during the Super Bowl. The Yarn is Celtic Lace (sooo soft). I made up the crocheted edge - kind of. I didn't follow the pattern exactly on the edging - but honestly couldn't tell exactly what it called for in the pattern.

*fun but a little boring - 15 stitch x 15 row alternating stockinette rectangles. Planning some lace next... see here

S'now Kidding - Forecast: More Snow

A View From The Back....

Shoveling duties happily handed over to my sweetheart - glad he's home...

UFO's

Have you ever seen a

UFO?

Area 51

Flying Saucers

Alien Creatures

?

No!

UnFinished Objects

Nothing like the new year and some snow-filled downtime

to finish up some projects. A little embarrassing to say the least

but also an accomplishment (of sorts?)!

Most items just needed a little finishing - sewing in the ends, blocking

(fancy knitting term involving water, pins and drying time), etc.

I really prefer to start new projects and my basket(s) full of almost finished items really gave me much to think about. For example, what other areas of my life am I leaving unfinished, where else do I stop at 95%, etc. Possible fodder for another post....

Life - Knitting connections ...

this is what too much snow/cabin fever

does to a generally rational/sane person. :)

Bias Cable Jacket and Sleeve Detail

Mohair and Merino (Tess Designer Yarns)

Clockwise from Upper Left: 1) Scarf from the Cashmere Scarf Pattern Collection (JoJoLand) using Malabrigo Sock Yarn 2) Beaded Scarf - SO Original Pattern/Class shout-out to Tam! 3) Two scarves - JoJoLand Magic Moment Pattern with two different variegated colorways of Melody Superwash Yarn (JoJoLand) and 4) Lace Ribbon Scarf (knitty.com) from Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

Random finger-less gloves and socks from random yarns...

Glove pattern and yarn on left found here...
at my favorite yarn shop and sheep farm!

Falling Leaves Scarf/Shawl from a Pattern found here knit with yes, more Malabrigo Yarn (I love it!) The pics don't do justice to the variegated yarn colors... there is actually a beautiful purple that didn't get picked up.




I love this kind of knitting...

Interweave Knits 2006 - Swallowtail Shawl
using Cascade Silk - Sea Foam Green (Tess Designer Yarns)

This is about a years worth of knitting minus a few things that I gave away and does not include the three Caps for Cancer hats that I have finished and a lacy shawl from another JoJoLand pattern/yarn that is finished except for fringe and blocking (more of my 95% "issue"). ..

.... and yes, this is what I do when I should be cleaning my house :)

Snowmageddon Continued...

Em measured last night after the snow stopped falling and came up with 22-and-a-little-bit inches - add that to the 2/3 inches (unmeasured) that we shoveled on Friday night and I am going to call it 25 inches...

As I shoveled again this morning I thought (and believe me there is a lot of time to think while shoveling) that I would try to come up with...

25 things I am grateful for this weekend...

1) If he is home, my sweetheart takes care of most of the shoveling.

2) Em was pretty good about helping me shovel (she is actually better for entertainment purposes than actual snow removal - but sometimes the role of entertainer is vastly underrated). She was a great shoveling buddy.

3) Electric power - many nearby neighborhoods were without.

4) Hot showers.

5) A fully stocked fridge.

6) A full cache of Diet Coke.

7) Value-size bottles of Advil.

8) Home Church (2nd week in a row).

9) A fully-stocked pantry.

10) Kindle full of reading material.

11) Knitting basket full of knitting projects.

12) Having excellent backing-up and backing-out skills (thanks, Dad), which means that my shoveling consists of a narrow lane from the garage to the road that barely exceeds the width dimensions of my van.

13) Having room in our garage to park the car (no need to dig out a vehicle in addition to general shoveling).

14) The sight of the sun today.

15) The aroma of dinners in the crockpot. (see #5 and #9)

16) The phone calls expressing guilt from my sweetheart. I'm not sure how guilty he felt however while watching the Ag's school the Wolf Pack in person.

17) A call from my sis and a friend to see how we were doing.

18) Em "forcing" me to watch Little Women - can you believe I have never seen the '94 version? She recognized that Laurie was played by a young Christian Bale who she recognized as Batman. I don't know how people do that?? I have no recall for movie stars or singers/groups (ask me about my faux pas regarding Stevie Nicks some day if you are looking for a laugh at my expense).

19) The Post delivered the Washington Magazine on Friday so I was able to enjoy the crossword puzzle at my leisure in spite of no newspaper delivery on Saturday.

20) Area newscasters on snow patrol - (you have to live here).

21) Knowing that there is no way there will be school tomorrow - even though it hasn't been officially announced.


22) Having no where that we need to go - hence the pajama pants (when I'm not outside shoveling).

23) Almost-too-warm hand knitted stockings and hat.


24) The mailman brought my recently ordered lace-blocking wires on Friday before the storm hit and I have been blocking up a storm (pun intended) ever since.

25) Knowing that we are safe and sound :)

SNOWMAGEDDON

Thought you might enjoy seeing what I woke up to this morning. I actually saw it at 4:30 am when my ever reliable Seminary body-clock woke me up. With our main shoveler out-of-town I looked outside and nearly cried...

Yes that is snow up to the bottom branches of our

Japanese Maple tree in the front yard.

This is the beginning of my shoveling efforts...

We have 20 inches on the ground - that doesn't count the 2-3 inches that Em and I shoveled last night. We thought it was a good idea to try to keep ahead of the storm????

Saddest news of all is that we expect another 5-10 inches today... :(

Did I mention the power went off twice during the night...

I think I will cozy up with some knitting and

try to forget about everything else :)