Parks and Rec Class

There were only two people for my Knitting class but they are very enthusiastic so it was a lot of fun. When we realized the next class was a month away, we decided to meet at one of the student's home next week. Hopefully the third person will be able to attend as she signed up too.

The extension service gave me several pamphlets on knitting. Their diagrams are excellent and should very helpful.

The Franchise Affair

I am reading an older book that I picked up at the used book store called "The Franchise Affair" by Josephine Tey. I read that she was an excellent writer, so when I saw this book I decided to give it a try. Published in the late 1940s the style is achaic and it took several trys before I could really get into it. However now I am not sorry that I stuck with it as it is really a good mystery and very cleverly written.

My Parks and Recreation class will start tonight, it is only a couple of weeks late. The director decided to combine Sheryl and my classes. I am going to go out to the extension service today and pick up some knitting brochures. I would like to use the information on Lion's Brand website but am not sure about the copyright laws and don't want to end up in jail over a pattern.

New camera

I bought a new digital camera with my economy stimulus check so, hopefully, will have some pictures of knitting to share soon. I have been working on several projects and they are in all stages of completion.

My Parks and Recreation knitting class has been delayed, only three people signed up for the class so we are waiting a couple of weeks to see if more enroll.

I have been having a problem with alarm clocks recently. I had a Baby Ben that ran for years, it had a good alarm and was totally reliable. Somehow it fell off the nightstand and the back broke. It still ran so I used it for a couple of more years before it finally died. I bought another Baby Ben but the manufacturer had redesigned the back and every time I wound it I broke a fingernail. I then bought a regular Baby Ben clock which kept good time but the back of it had also been redesigned (when will people learn if it's not broke don't fix it?) and the only way I could wind it was to hold it in my right hand and wind it left handed. Still needing an alarm, I bought a battery-operated clock hoping to solve the winding problem. This clock was so cute I knew I would keep it forever but after a couple of weeks the alarm quit. I can't bear to part with it so I have it in the bathroom where it keeps me on time in the mornings. I recently bought another windup alarm which I am now using. However the alarm on this clock is on some mysterious cycle that works only one out of every three mornings and every Saturday. Oh well, someday I will retire and no longer need an alarm!

Knitting pet sweaters

My daughter is convinced that I should be knitting sweaters for dogs. I love this idea, but am not sure that people will buy them. This week, however, I have made a sweater using a simple pattern and I am going to use it as a prototype. I am going to take several of them to our next bazaar and see how they sell. Miss Daisy, my dachshund, will look very cute in one. I am adding a d-ring to the top of the sweater right behind the front shoulders for the leash.

Lion's Brand library

I spent some time this afternoon looking the the Lion's Brand yarn site. Usually I just dash in, pick out a pattern that I want to try and dash out again. However today I went in and looked at their "learn to knit" section and was very impressed. I am in the process of building a web site about knitting and think I will use their site for knitting basics.

This is my second HTML class and I am really enjoying it. The first class was such a revelation because I have had no experience in html or any type of programming. I'm still very new at it but think it is fascinating. Also I am beginning to understand the "behind the scenes" process.

I sold five more of my lambs. I am looking for some more yarn, it has to be wool so it will felt and, since they are sheep, I want something that is not too "refined" but will give a nice woolly look to them.

Catchup time

We had a great time at Daffodil Days. It was really cold inside the grange as every time they turned the heat on the air conditioner came on. We never did get any heat, but fortunately it was warmer outside so we took turns standing outside!!! We sold tatted crosses, dishcloths and one of my lambs. We felt that people were not interested in anything large or heavy. Maybe because it was a Festival and they didn't want to carry them around or maybe because it was supposed to be spring and they weren't interested in afghans. We're going to try again but have not yet signed up for a bazaar.

I was reading about a 3-day workshop/bazaar in Canby, Oregon. It may not be possible this year but hopefully sometime in the near future.

Daffodil Days

We are going to show our knitted and crocheted articles in our first bazaar this weekend. There is going to be a spring festival--Daffodil Days-- in a small town near us. We are all excited about this opportunity to "get our feet wet". I am going to be selling my felted lambs and the Debbie Bliss bootees.