Happy Independence Day!

Happy (late) Independence Day to my fellow denizens of the U.S.A.!

I slept for most of the day (I've got a sinus infection, I suspect), and Greg took the kids out to buy fireworks. They came back with quite a haul!

Here are the kids, with their chairs in the middle of the cul-de-sac, enjoying the neighborhood display:


That's Greg on the right, lighting a sparkler for Gillian, with Ryan in the background.


They got some of the bigger fireworks, and it was cool to have them right above our heads. I got two neat shots:





I even got a picture of Greg:


This is one of our favorite fireworks. It's a Purple Rain Fountain:


They go for a surprisingly long time. The kids had a great time with sparklers, and with a really long shutter speed I got some fun pictures.


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On the knitting front, I finished a Laminaria shawl and sent it to my dear friend Kathy for her wedding, which was Friday. I don't have any pics of her (yet) but here are some I took before sending it:




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I'm participating in the Tour de Fleece again on Ravelry, and I spun up some beautiful fiber that my Mom and Karen bought for me:




The color isn't *quite* right on this pic, but it's too pretty and shiny to not share:



And here's the final collage I posted on Ravelery:


I hope everyone has had a great weekend!

More shawl pics

I took my shawl to knitting guild last night and Gene took some pics for me.



Blocking this shawl was a bit of a fiasco, but it turned out just fine. I ended up pinning it out and then steaming it, because the first time I went to unpin it, it snapped back about 4" along a 10" section and I didn't want that.

Luckily my steamer heats up relatively quickly, so I steamed it and let it sit while we ate dinner, then frantically unpinned and off I went to guild.

There was *no way* I was going to not show it off at knitting guild. :-)

You can see bigger photos here, as well as some other of my fiber-y stuff.

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!

Yes, I *am* excited x eleventy.

That's because this is finally finished:




According to my projects page on Ravelry, I started it on February 17 of 2008. Two years this shawl took me, and there were times I literally fell asleep while knitting it.

The last round had 96 21-stitch repeats (decreased down from 25-stitch repeats in the rounds before), and they were taking me between an hour and a half and two hours to do, so I'm incredibly thrilled that this project is OVER.



On the quilting front, I got this little quilt pieced from some blocks I had put together a long time ago:


I'll put some borders and stuff on it to make it big enough for a nice-sized throw, and then I'll donate it to Quilts of Valor most likely since I'm really, really not into red, white, and blue.

At the upper left you can see a couple of my Storm At Sea blocks. That's all I've gotten pieced so far, but I'm almost finished cutting the background fabrics. I don't know if I'll have it done by June for the quilt show but I'm sure going to try!

That's all for now. I just had to show off a bit. :-)

Extra Bad Blogger - Trachtentuch A shawl

Not only have I not posted for a while, I realized that I never actually posted the finished Trachtentuch A pictures. D'OH!!

It's been a long time, so I'll do a little picture recap. (Warning: gratuitous spinning, knitting, and lace pictures ahead. LOL) I started this project in July and finished it in early September.

First, a collage of the spun yarn. I did this during the Tour de Fleece last year, and luckily my Mom bought eight ounces instead of just four because I ended up using about six ounces.

Here's the start of the shawl:



Shawl in mid-way stage (color is accurate in the first picture, and not in this one):




Shawl pre-blocking:


Blocking, detail:



Blocking, full:

It might not seem that huge, but each of those tiles is 24".

Bad pic of me in shawl:


And this is how I end up "storing" many of my shawls:


I'm thinking about using black wool for Trachtentuch B, but we'll see. :-)

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There's a huge storm rolling in at the moment and they're predicting that the power will go out in the next day or two. I just heard that school has now officially been canceled for tomorrow. I'm supposed to go scrapbooking tomorrow during the day and then for most of Friday night. I obviously won't be going during the day, and hopefully the roads will still be passable enough to go in the evening. Who knows!

Gillian stayed home sick from school (again) today, and she's much better than she was yesterday. While she watched a movie (Meet the Robinsons) I made a half-batch of laundry soap, so now I'm feeling fairly well prepared for the moment. That's about it for excitement around here. LOL!

Stay warm and safe!

Tulsa State Fair wrap-up post

I've been a bit scattered lately, but I finally got the pictures ready for this post.

My friend Calista and I went to the fair on Monday, October 5, just the two of us (NO KIDS!) and had a great time looking at all of the Creative Arts stuff. We spent about an hour and a half just looking. It was great!

We found the kids' stuff first.

Gillian's Lego kit entry:


Gillian's decorated T-shirt entry:


Gillian's weaving:

Ryan's drawing:


Gillian's drawing:


Ryan's Christmas ornament:


Then we wandered over to the Creative Arts exhibit area and found my stuff (and Calista's, but she's got pictures elsewhere).

My quilt (which will be going to Karen for her birthday, which was in January):


My socks (at the top):

The Sweepstakes winner for knitting (Rori's Hey Teach sweater is the blue one on the right):


My broomstick-lace-ish crocheted scarf, next to the first place winner (not sure why that one got first, but it's not up to me LOL):

My crocheted hot pad, which was in the Crocheted Article, under 24" division:

And my Hyrna Herborgar shawl, center bottom:

Last but not least, here's my rubber stamp entry, in the scrapbook page category:


Here's a view of the glass cases:

Everything still smells like fair food (fried), but at least they're secured in the cases.

These were some really neat baskets that I loved:


And finally, Calista and me:

I'll post pics of the family excursion to the fair a little bit later!

Fair Entries

I managed to get all of the fair entries delivered, at last! The kids' stuff was due last Saturday, and my stuff was due the previous Saturday. I swear I was working on fair stuff right up to the last minute.

Here's what I entered:

Hyrna Herborgar from handspun, in the "Adult, any other clothing or accessory, knit" category


My second Quilted Lattice socks, in the "Socks, knit" category


My broomstick lace-ish scarf, in the "Adult, any other clothing or accessory, crochet" category


A trivet, in the "Any other crochet article under 24”" category


"Rubber stamping, scrapbook page" category

And a quilt that'll go to my sister after the fair:


Now comes the waiting to find out how I did! The fair opens the day after tomorrow, although I doubt we'll be going that night. I know a few of my friends are going then, so hopefully they'll report back.