Happy Fourth of July******

This is the long weekend we Americans look forward to. Our television station taped the Big Gig Fireworks in HDTV. I quickly ran downstairs and taped it and I am watching it as I type!!! I really love Milwaukee and the skyline at night is fantastic. We have a new Discovery world that is being built, we have the Calatrava which is my favorite building. For the fireworks they lighted the highrise (Hoen) bridge underneath and the Northwestern Mutual building offices are all lit. That is where my son works. Another building a really tall bank blacked out specific windows to make a lighted guitar, in honor of Summerfest. We also have the Dennis Sullivan, which is a handbuilt tall ship, that graces our lakefront for the summer season and then winters in Florida. The public is allowed to tour the ship daily. We have a manmade island that is a State park with 20 boat slips to dock and overnight or picnic. If you are ever traveling come and visit our wonderful city and if you live here take advantage of what we have. We tend to become complacent with what we have. If you love Festivals, we have every Ethnic festival you can think of and Summerfest is the largest music festival in the Country. We have concerts in the parks during the week and a wonderful zoo. This is also a weekend to celebrate our Freedom, be sure and Thank a Veteran for the good job they have done!!!! Have a safe and happy weekend!

Blackberries ala Bird poop!!!

Everyone warns you about Raspberry bushes and how you should never plant them in your yard for fear that they will overtake everything. The red flag comes out when you plant any and I mean any kind of mint. You can put mint in a pot and it finds a way to escape and travel like a carpetbagger all over your garden. Being the green thumb that I am not, if there is a way to plant anything wrong, I wrote the book. My herb garden is overun with Chocolate Mint...of course how could something that sounds soooo good, be evil? Another nasty, witch, is Comfrey....nice sounding, relaxing but a rebel trespasser. Roundup does nothing to kill any of these species. I even have some Stinging Nettle...a very healthy tea,, that you feel before you see it. I didn't plant that, I am not that brainless. I also can not get rid of it. Well now I have blackberries? I know better than to plant any kind of berry...not to mention my adverstion to picking any kind of berry. I had a Grandma that loved to pick berries, I on the otherhand liked to eat them. Rule number one, when picking berries with Grandma, never, and I mean never eat from the forbidden 10 gallon pail you had to drag along side of you. The pail was as tall as I was and I remember standing in the raspberry patch, which only is called that because you have to patch every darn piece of clothing you rip on the thorns. My mother ever willing to try to please berry picking Grandma was picking berries like a maniac. Filling 55 gallon drums like crazy!! Here I am standing, looking at the bush in front of me and down into the bottomless pail with three berries in it, up at the bush and down at the two berries in it. Can you see where this is going? Not to mention sand flies biting the hell out of my ears. I hate and I mean hate to pick fricking berries. Oh yes, I love to eat them, but I will forever forego eatting berries if I have to pick them. I like paying for them in their nice little plastic containers. But back then, Grandma made me pick schtinking berries. So evasive move #1..eat the berries you pick and get sick from them and throw up into the bucket...#2 stand looking at the bushes like they are aliens and you are frozen in fear of getting picked or the only one that really worked is to whine and whimper till your hero (dad) hears you...this sometimes meant loud little shrieks to get his attention, meanwhile picking the bites from the sandflies so they are bleeding down your face. Enter Dad, first off Dad and Grandma dearest never got along too well, second you didn't mess with us kids!! The minute I spy my dad coming over...yeah baby it's show time...Academy award winning acting well some acting some real trauma. My dad says "Look at her she's bleeding all over from the dam bugs biting her..what the hell is wrong with you, making her stay out here and pick GD berries. Go in the house. phew....Daddy I love you!!! But let me tell you the evil glares and the appearance of horns coming out of Grandmas head, I knew this was not over!!! So now many years later and I still hate picking berries, I have a blackberry bush from bird poop growing in my yard. Dare I say I am truley enjoying the fresh berries I am picking at my will!!!!! Little cups full at a time and I even share them, a couple berries at a time.

Art vs. Craft

That is the dilema....is it Art or is it a Craft? One may sit for long hours pondering this meager thought and then again.....no!! But it would be fun to have you stop by and say hi!! I am booth #79, there are 100 vendors and I am sure it will be fun. Besides it is indoors with Air conditioning. Albeit the logo looks a tad childlike but one year I was stationed next to a couple of girls with dildo covers? It made for interesting conversation, to say the least. I know I have been silent for a bit, but my attentions have been elsewhere. Like figuring out how to become a millionaire in a week. The air conditioner went out on my truck, so the ride home from work on the few 90 degree days we had, simply reminded me of Hooch from Turner and Hooch. I had my head out the window, one to cool down and two to avoid all the hair that was cycloning around the cab. I keep meaning to vacuum that!!! I did find if you drive fast with all the windows open, you can avoid vacuuming it up!!! I also found that any receipts that were stuck in the visor get sucked out too!!! Well stop by and check it out....MSOE Todd Wehr building.

Welcome to my kitchen

I go to this kitchen once a month and make my meals. I really like doing it this way. I make 8-10 meals, in an hour. I bring them home and freeze them and I get two meals off of each meal I prepared. I don't know about you but I have to cook for one. That sucks!!! I tend to cook for a soup kitchen and this regulates my portions a little better. It also keeps me from my love affair with Burger King...eww not that creepy one that is standing outside that guys window...how freaky is that commercial? The one with the drive through that says "May I take your order?" AAAhhhh yes, have it your way...cooked to order. The wind has shifted and a cold front has moved in Halleluiah!!!! Tomorrow I am planning on a bonfire in the fireplace outside of course. Hey, I think I finally stopped sweating!!!

Public Speaking 101

Ok, Ok, so the room is not brimming with knitters intent on getting my autograph and to hear funny wittisim about knitting and life. This talk could have went two ways...I had 27 slides...either I was going to eat chocolate and finish the speech in nano seconds, talking like I was on speed, or I was going to have them shifting cheeks, and smiling politely out of boredom and serving breakfast in the morning. It actually went, right along in a timely fashion. I didn't find myself zipping through the presentation and tried terribly hard to keep going "Uhhhmmmm or Sooooooo....". I actually took these photos before the meeting started..I was afraid nerves would get me and I would forget. Supposedly many women were to bring their sock machines....those many women ended up being Janyce, Susan, the program director and myself...I could see we were off to a good start. The presentation went off smoothly other than I got a dry throat and almost commenced to choke on my own spittle..it's always a wonderful way to break the ice in a group of people. Also not being accustomed to speaking into a microphone, and being attention deficit, I had a hard time keeping my mouth somewhere near the pick up zone, so the voice was coming through in waves of inside voice, outside voice. Add my animated hand movements and I'm sure I was drawing more attention to me than desired. Did you know there are a ton of rules for public speaking and I broke pretty much all of them. Now how do you not turn your back on someone in a U shaped seating arrangement, and figure out what slide is on the screen? How do you keep your mouth near a stationary microphone and not look around to make eye contact, without looking like Gumby? How do you avoid taking your cats favorite toy (laser pointer) hold it in your hand and not be tempted to flash it at your good friend Janyce, that is sitting right in line with the screen, just for fun...no not in her eyes....!!! Not to mention, I have an anklet of mosquito bites around my left ankle and my pants hem was tickling them just enough to cause a feroucious itching spree, that I was attempting to satisfy with my right foot. Harlot you have my blessings!!!!

Nervous Wreck

I am a nervous wreck...tomorrow I have to give a presentation, for the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild. I am giving a talk on Antique Sock machines, in front of 70-80 people. Am I becoming the "Harlot"...I don't think so...it's just a thought!!! I am getting everything ready for this great speech!!! More tomorrow!!

Is there anybody out there?

Seems I lost the few lurkers that I had? It only reiterates the fact, that I have a very boring life. I could start making things up...like uuuhhhmmm. I just finished knitting an intarsia sweater and also am working on a fishermans knit. When I finish that I will start my new line of baby sweaters, that I wrote patterns for...ehem...In real life...I am working on labels for my felted purses and hats. I made these on the computer with the new fabric/paper. It works and I am happy!!! Tuesday at the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild I will be putting on a sock machine presentation. with a glitch. I was told that I could use a power point presentation, when in fact, there is not projection equipment to do that. Now I am in the process of having transparencies made from the ppt. program. I think this will cost an arm and a leg? Do I forge ahead or blow it off? These are machines that are hid away in the Smithsonian Institution. I hope my idea works?? Have a good weekend!!!

Bad Hair Day?

It is the beginning of a wonderful Holiday weekend!!! It also signals the end of my vacation? Did I accomplish anything this week? Today I did!!! Nothing like waiting till the last minute!!! I made a bowl and an Alpaca beret...a few other little ditties and now I am relaxing or I will not be able to move tomorrow!!! I would like to get some other things made but it is getting hot out. Yes here in Wisconsin it goes from heating to air conditioning in hours. The photo is not a wild attempt at getting my beauticians license, it is a bowl in the process of being made. I did take a photo of the finished bowl but it was real light...I think too much sun? Did I say too much sun? I did dye some mohair locks this week and that I decided to do on a rainy overcast day because it is much easier to cook outside in the rain. Also fiber dries much quicker in the rain!!! I really didn't think so either.

Vacation

I am having a wonderful vacation. I painted my bathroom, which someone please tell me why I have such a hard time picking out paint!!! It looks good on the paint chip and then I put it on the wall and it takes on a life of it's own. I wanted a very pale pink for two walls that would match the wall paper on the other two. I took home all of the chips I wanted and placed them next to the antique looking paper and found the perfect pink..very light and fresh and would make my cheeks look 20 years younger with a healthy glow. Unlike the green I had first thought? haha I paint and as I am applying it, fushia comes to mind. Ok so now I have a hallway that resembles Taco Bell and a bathroom that looks like I am in Miami Florida. I guess I am non parti!!! It has dried and I like it. My little niece and nephew were over for the day and I put up a badge of our day together. I enjoy them so much!!! Tomorrow felting and dying...hopefully not in that order.

Where's the sunshine?

I know we are not the only area getting drenched. My heart goes out to the Eastern states that are swimming in floodwater. My only complaint is my lawn is looking like a field and going to seed. Not to mention my feet are getting webbed and I am quacking up. I am gearing up for Art vs. Craft the first show for the season, that will be in June. I am not getting much accomplished due to the final season finales of my favorite shows. With only "Lost" left and Desperate Housewives, this will soon come to an end also. Maybe I will be able to do something . It sure is great napping weather...Come on sunshine!!!!

Happy Mothers Day

To all my friends, here are some flowers for Mothers Day!!!! We actually caught some sunshine in an otherwise dreary week of rain and clouds. It was a refreshing sight and make you appreciatte the warm rays it shines down. Everyone went home, I had brunch or more like breakfast at my house. It was fun and it's always good to get everyone together. My little black niece and nephew got to have thier first outting to Auntie's house. We let the door open and they ran in and out and had full run of the yard, where the grass is like a field. I bet just like when we were kids, they were asleep in the car around the first turn. Joey (my dog) is also "spent". Poor Tinker the cat got accidentally locked in the basement, banished from petting and affection. He was waiting for me to open the door and came running out, seeking out the litter box with large oversized eyes and bladder. With a wonderful Mothers Day behind me...I am going to take a nap!!!!

Mundane

Each day when I go to work, I walk into a door to the building that houses my locker room and a shop. Each day I walk up the sidewalk and reach into my bag and pull out my work wallet and swipe my access card. It's a plain brown metal door with a window and I have been doing this for 18 years. About 8:00pm on a beautiful Thursday evening, a young man of 31, took his friends motorcycle for a run, he ended up dead. Somehow he was speeding lost control and ran up on the curb and hit the pole and building and the motorcycle ended up curled into the door opening and he lay dead in the street. Senseless, just a waste of a life. His family has put a Memorial up with flowers and notes. I read them and it made me cry. I don't use that door anymore. What once was a routine has changed for me. I didn't know him, but he changed the way I do things. It isn't just a brown metal door anymore. It's the place where a young guy died....some mother is going to have a very sad Mothers Day. I walk around another way..

Popcorn Galore

Just take a look around....Wisconsin is coming to life!!! Trees are getting leaves and the grass is growing fast!!! Yellow dandelions are all over and this is a photo of my Flowering Crab in the front yard. I keep the Christmas twinkle lights on this tree all year long and turn them on for this premier show!!!! The tree is so full of blooms it looks like popcorn. When the lights are on it looks like a very special tree and people passing will all make comments on how beautiful it is. Which brings me to another blog...I have been reading Yarnstorm blog. I will put a link on the sidebar. This is Janes blog and Jane lives in England, in a beautiful old house with very thick walls and she loves to cook, quilt and read. She also loves tulips...eh...I look at tulips and go "Old ladyish?" or I should say I looked at tulips and said that but, Jane has taught me that tulips are not just red and yellow, and something that rabbits eat...I am in love with tulips. Also during the Olympics, Betty brought me a boquet of tulips that were stunning. How could I walk past a tulip and not look inside? I have been missing so much...tulips aren't ordinary plain old tulips but they have been hiding a treasure of beauty inside each one. I will not overlook another tulip or any so called ordinary flower again...I promise, I will peek inside each one to see if there is a hidden treasure. Jane loves color and she is a great photographer...I can't say enough about how she inspires me. I told her she may just find me on her doorstep...honest I am not a stalker...unless she has wool and chocolate....wait till you see her baked goods...Not your ordinary baking...she makes every treat a delight...visit her!! but come back!!!

Answer revealed!!!

I told you we had Fiber Fanatiks and it was a small group, well Betty is knitting this beautiful sweater and she asked me to measure her back to make sure it was long enough. We figured out how long it would be to avoid exposing muffin top. She said "like this?" and lifted her arms really high, and that's when it happened AAAcccckkkk it was white and looked like it had been shot!!!! We all cringed and Karen was gouging her eyes out....Janyce was screaming "Mommy make it stop!!!" Anne was speechless!!! I in turn told her to put some wool in her navel and I'll take a photo of it? She did, so I did!!!! Now....she feels the pangs of shyness.....forget it Betty tooo late!!!! This is just a glimpse of what happens when I get bored or have had too much sugar...Betty was just an innocent bystander.....mmmmm something tells me not too innocent!!!!

Can you figure out what this is?

I mentioned that we had Fiber Fanatiks last night....You all know how much gas costs....our group was small. (We missed all of our traveling buddies) As a small group it was I must say more intimate...and funny. My cheeks were sore from laughing so hard. Betty Phucket, (rhymes with bucket) had me cracking up. We were all exchanging childhood stories of growing up...it was hysterical but all had a common thread. Well we got creative with the photo and I'm wondering if you weren't there if you can figure out what it is? This photo sure beat any knitting any of us were working on. I am still laughing when I look at it. When I get a few descriptions, I will tell you the reason and explanation of this prize photo. It really had to do with knitting!!!! Meanwhile have a good weekend. I am going to be playing!!!

Answer to your questions

In response to the questions of what pattern is it? I designed it...hahahahhahahahahahhahahha I lied!!! It is from Knit It magazine the leave until April 2006 issue. There actually is another very cute shrug in the book too. The shrug was really fast and simple. I used Lion brand chunky in Fisherman and it took three skeins. Cheap and easy!!! I gave it to Cheryl tonight and I think she liked it, although she tried it on over a hooded sweatshirt...not the most flattering on the runways these days. We meaning Joey and I visited with the little fur kids, they are too cute. Baby news!!! Lois had another little grandbaby girl!!! Congratulations Grama!! I also finished my St. George and the dragon or something socks and they have weird toes...like I have been kicking walls all my life. I will take a photo when I have washed them and a miracle will happen. Tomorrow night is Fiber Fanatiks and it has seemed like a long time since I was there..a month? Hope to see you all there!!

Cheryls Shrug

It's finished, washed and dryed and I am happy with it. Cheryl has not seen it yet, I hope she will like it. Or better yet use it as a functional piece. Words out the Yarn Harlot is coming to Chicago, it would be fun to take a trip and see her. I don't know where she is going to be, it is not posted yet. I think something ate all of my tulips and at least they nourished some little body..vs. the frost getting them. It is pretty cold here tonight!!!! I like it...

Forsythia

I had to put a shot of my Forsythia blooming..you see it hasn't blossomed for a few years. I think the problem was it was shadowed by my the neighbors wild grapes. Last year I did some radical trimming of thier wild grapes and now I think my two bushes are not getting strangled. I have two lilac bushes and one is not blooming but the wood is still green, I am hoping it was in shock...or not? It was my white one, I had a really hard time growing lilacs can you believe it? I have finished the shrug for Cheryl. She is always cold at work, and she is so good to my brother. I will take a photo after I block it. This was really a quick project and took three skeins of yarn. Have a good Sunday.

Betty Crocker baby!!!

Oh Yeah....Betty Crocker ain't got nothin on me!!! I made this carrot cake from an awesome easy recipe. It's all gone already, I brought some to my invalid brother that is still off with a bad back. He is slowly moving better but still laid up. It was a good cake. I forgot to (didn't really want to drudge it up) mention that I had a flat on the freeway Saturday. So here I am with Joey as my passenger pulled off on the off ramp...with my arse up in the air trying to lower the spare from under the truck. Praying that the spare is full of air....it was. This really nice guy...stops and asked if I needed help....What? Moi? Need help...me Miss I can do it not a problem? Me the one that can't accept help from anyone..no thank you and then I proceeded to kick myself in the butt...What is wrong with me...so I vow the next person unless of course it is a Grandma in a handicab that offers to help me I will graciously accept. So a half hour later I am still fixing this tire...just kidding! I put me butt up in the air again and figured either I'll scare the crap out of them....or they may say..."Hey the chick could stand to loose a few pounds...good job for her." or they will offer to help. I loosen all the lug nuts and have the tire down on the asphalt along with a me lying down under the truck trying to put the jack under the axle, meanwhile watching to see if I am going to witness the vehicle that is going to make a pancake out of me. I see a pair of feet or shoes...and I look up and it's a saint...not my definition of a knight in shining armor, but a nice guy that wasn't going to take no for an answer anyway...I let him help!!! He was very nice and I did hand him things like a wrench. I felt guilty though....I could have done it, but it sure was nice not to!!!! I didn't offer him any money because I don't think he took credit cards..well if he did he had a prime opportunity while I was face down with my rearend up in the air. I thanked him and we were both off...What a nice guy!!! They are still out there.

Greetings from Hong Kong

My son Mike sent me this photo, to tease me...from Hong Kong. He is on vacation there for 11 days, 3 of which he will spend in Phuket...no Betty, it is a long "U"...today he went to a Mountain to visit the largest Budda? He was surprised at how International Hong Kong actually is, and you can see that from the photo...Happy Easter.