D is for....

Dog.

Our sweet basset hound who really, really, really wants a furry playmate to join him.

A big black cloud.

When I moved to Illinois in 1994 everyone knew the city I moved to by the winged ear of corn symbol of the DeKalb Genetics Corp.


Last Thursday the nation soon learned exactly where our little town is because of a horrible tragedy. We weren't on campus Thursday but over the past 14 years the University has become a part of our experiences here in Northern Illinois. We've attended NIU football games, my husband received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from NIU. I've even attended lectures in Cole Hall. As details of the shootings were released I think at first I went into shock that this couldn't have happened in our town. The past couple of days have felt like the town is mourning. Yes the University at times can feel like a completely separate city in itself but the entire community feels so sad over the loss of life that occurred on Thursday.

It's one of those times in life that makes you really stop and count the blessings that you have right now. Hug those that you love a bit longer and tighter than you did yesterday.

Please keep those directly affected by the NIU tragedy in your thoughts and prayers as our community continues to mourn.

Huge Yarn Contest

In 4 days a new on-line shop for all things knitting will open. It's run by Pam the Yarn Goddess and the site is Yarny-goodness. It opens for business on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 12 noon PST.

To kick things off she's holding a contest to determine how many vendors will be with her on opening day. The following is from her blog........

The grand prize is a terrific one - don't miss out! You'll get as many skeins of indie yarn as I can cram into that bag. Green Mountain bags retail for around $150 and are very large. You may get as many as 12 skeins which are valued at around $20 each. Do the math. :)

That's just the Grand prize. She's going to give away yarn to the first, second, and third person ordering on Saturday. She's giving away skeins of yarn to random customers who sign the guest book upon entering the site. She's even planning on giving away a $50 gift certificate!

I'm excluded from the contest because I am one of the vendors but you may not be. Go, enter the contest and show your support for indie dyers!

I am now a knitting zombie.

My assassin, Rav id:SandyM, has taken me out of Hat attack as of 5 minutes ago. I received a hat AND a skein of yarn. Being dead never felt so good!

C is for .......

Challenge.

I took the Hat attack challenge and I succeeded(until my assassin strikes). I received the pattern, cast on, bound off, wove in the ends, and sent it off to my target all in a day.

At the starting gate.

Clearly when it comes to my knitting I have no problem starting projects but a bigger problem when it comes to finishing them. This week I started my first lace shawl project. I picked the forest canopy shawl for the pattern and malabrigo lace for the yarn.


So far so good. I'm not very good about being able to drop this project mid row and remembering exactly where I left off so this project is my "after the kids are asleep" project.

I also started another malabrigo my so called scarf and I cast on for a matching hat in the same "ocean" color way. The color way reminds me of Florida beach houses with the greens and blues.


Coming up tomorrow is Hat Attack day. I'm going to see if I can knit up a cabled hat in a day. My target is in Las Vegas and my yarn, needles, and "death" bag are ready to go.

I'm normally a non-violent person so the thought of me being an assassin, "killing" someone with a knitted hat is hilarious. My family thinks it's a bit loony and I need to be medicated or committed.

My Super Fat Tuesday

Here in Illinois it's Super Tuesday-GO VOTE!!!




It's also Mardi Gras-GO CELEBRATE!!!