I’ve really been a slacker!  Ugh.  I’ve been working 48-52 hour payperiods, the last 4 weeks, along with Emily having to be at the county fair, all 5 days that it was running, have to go for 4H judging, of her knitting, shopping for wedding clothes, going to my nephew’s wedding, and trying to sleep in there somewhere!  The last 2 weeks of August were insanely busy.

For the good news, though, Emily entered her Wicked Sweater, her Foliage Hat, her Saucy Socks and her Cabled Mittens and got blue ribbons on all of them!!  Woohoo for Emily!!!!!! Plus, her Wicked Sweater got a special merit and if she wants to, it can be displayed at the Wisconsin State Fair next summer!!!!!!!  She’s only been knitting since March 2007, but she’s a most amazing knitter.  For her riding, she got two red ribbons, but she had a blast, and was so cute in her show clothes.

I’ve also been busy knitting away, with my Monthly Dishcloth KAL group. I love knitting dishcloths, that are a mystery.  I’m way behind on posting my work, though. In the gallery above, you can see the dishcloths that I knit, from the beginning of August. With the yellow one, I thought I might have enough yellow. I almost did, except for 1-1/2 rows, and the bind-off! LOL! Peppercorn was from one of the cones of Peaches and Creme that I got for Christmas from my SIL. The schoolhouse was a good September design. I just wish my purl stitches had been a little tighter.

Weather in Wisconsin has been uneventful and nice most of the time. The last 2 days have been damp and cool, though. Will love it when the extra moisture goes away. A few mornings this week, we had temps in the 40’s!!! The last two mornings haven’t been quite so cool. We haven’t needed the AC or the heat, which is good. I’ve needed long sleeves and quilts, though! LOL!

My thoughts and prayers are with those who live in TX. God Bless You tonight!

We went out to look and there were none to be seen. Not sure where they all went. We had so many. Unless they were killed by predatory bugs or something. We still have a few eggs, though. Maybe we’ll have to go to Maywood Park and see if we can find some caterpillars there, to photograph. We are all rather bummed.

We are also wondering how long it takes tomatoes to turn red! Can you tell we are impatient? There is one that is so big, too! Can’t you just see it in a bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich?  Yummy.

I finally got a picture of my latest dishcloth! It’s called Summer Breeze, by Sue Schaefer. I knit it with Aqua Mist Ombre Peaches & Creme yarn and US 7 needles.  You had to be careful reading the pattern on this one.  Sometimes, there was a k2tog, that you wouldn’t expect and it kept messing up my stitch count, if I wasn’t paying attention! LOL!  This is the 14th of the 24 dishcloths I expect to knit this year!

I have not been keeping up with this, too well!  LOL!  This year, two milkweed plants sprouted spontaneously, by my garage.  We’ve have them grow there before, but really do nothing to encourage them, so they either come or they don’t.  Of all the times, we’ve had milkweed plants, I don’t think we’ve ever had a crop of monarch caterpillars, like we do this year.  It’s our own personal biology/science lab!

2 caterpillars - about 3/4 inch long
1 caterpillar - about 1/2-inch long
3 caterpilalrs - newly hatched today!

This is so exciting and we are out there all the time, keeping tabs on them.  We did research on the internet, to find out what the eggs look like and seen videos on YouTube to watch them hatch.  We discovered that there were lots of eggs on our two plants, so we have a lot of watching ahead of us.

Of the few that hatched today, one was so newly hatched, he hadn’t eaten his egg shell yet, and they do, since it has important nutrients for them to get started with.  Our leaves have lots of holes in them already!  These milkweed plants are in a shady spot, and don’t even have buds that would indicate they’re about to bloom yet.  I wonder if they will even flower, since most other milkweed plants seem to be blooming already.

Photos of the first two we discovered on 7-19-08:

They were only half-an-inch long, on Saturday. Today, 3 days later, they are about 3/4 of an inch and a little bit thicker. The front antenna are longer, too. It’s been fun watching them grow!

Here’s my July dishcloth. It was called Love to Knit, by Alice Imholte. I used light blue Sugar’n Cream, with US 7 needles.

This was fun to do, with lots of yo, k2tog,and p2tog! I’ve never done a pattern before, where the number of stitches changes from row to row, but it’s okay! It varied between 39 and 44 stitches. The yarn is 181 Faded Denim Peaches & Creme and knit with US 7 needles. It was designed by Jamie Monaghan.

I finished my second red scarf, too, last Thursday! Woohoo! I should be swatching my sock yarn, about now! LOL!

The weather has calmed down, although it could be warmer. I’m guess I’m not complaining, since it’s saving us a bundle in air conditioning costs.

This is the June 2008 KAL. It was worked with 54 Baby Green Peaches and Creme yarn, on US7 needles. It makes me want to take a tropical vacation! It was designed by Andi Worthy of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL yahoo group!

This is the mid-June KAL with 2 days finished. I’ve been too busy posting my pictures to knit, this morning! LOL! It’s just yo, k2tog, p2tog, etc, that is making the cable-y design. We aren’t using a cable needle. I love the lacy texture! I’m having fun knitting it. The yarn is 181 Faded Denim Peaches and Creme yarn, on US7 needles.

Oh yeah. It finally stopped raining. My computer corner is all back together, with a new rug on the floor. I love how the new feels to my feet. It’s a lot cushier than the 10-year-old rug was. The laptop was nice, but my regular computer, even at 7 years old, is a lot faster and has a much better monitor.

My heart goes out to the people still affected by the flooding. Ugh. Even when we had 18 inches of water in our basement, 10 years ago, it still wasn’t as bad as other people had it.

We got up to about 82 today! It felt heavenly! We were wearing sandals and leaving the jackets in the house! Unfortunately, we only get one day of this glorious weather! Tonight it’s supposed to cool down into the 40’s and only be in the 50’s tomorrow, so we will have jump right back into the long pants and sweatshirts.

We went to visit my SIL and BIL today, since Roger needed some help on his computer. The kids had fun dipping their feet in the backyard pool. We hadn’t thought to bring swimsuits, but the water was still pretty cold, so they thought they really wouldn’t have wanted to swim, anyway.

We ate lunch at Noodles, where somehow my Pad Thai turned into Pesto Cavatappi. We checked the receipt and he’d never even put the correct order in, in the first place! Was he even listening? Or are the buttons close together, on his register? I didn’t make a fuss, because the Cavatappi looked good and I didn’t want to waste perfectly good food. I guess I’ll have to try the Pad Thai some other time. The cavatappi was good, though! On our next visit, I’ll be waiting while my husband pays, so we can double-check the receipt right away, before they’ve made me something else.

My favorite thing about Noodles is the fresh lemon wedges that they have by the soda fountain, for the people who drink iced tea. Those lemon wedges taste really good in my Diet Coke, too! Yummmy! The heck with all the chemically-flavored Coke and Pepsi products. Nothing tests better than actual lime juice or lemon juice squeezed into a glass of soda!

Here is the mid-May KAL. It’s called Every Day Any Day, by Sue Schaefer of Harvest Moon Designs. It took me a while to knit, because I was trying to do all the purls, with the yarn over the top and that’s new to me, so it takes me a while. I can purl a lot faster, with the yarn going underneath the needle. I was watching some women knit, at my knit-night the other night and they were so fast, and so efficient with the yarn over the top of the needle. I guess I just need more practice with that. I like my continental knitting with knitting in the back loops and the purls underneath the needle! I’m pretty fast, with plain stockinette.

My daughter Sarah, just sent me an email, that says the cold front is working it’s way down the Lake Michigan coastline and that it should be going through Sheboygan, right about now!  I guess that’s the end of our warm day, huh?  Well, it was nice, while it lasted!  (7:05 pm, CDT.)

I finally finished Elisa’s Nest Tote this past Sunday night. After sitting for 2 months, I found out that the handles were easier than I thought. It was knit with Patagonia Nature Cotton by Araucania, which has a thick and thin texture. It’s 100% cotton. I’ve already used my bag, twice, too. It easily held my detergent bottle and my latest Debbie Macomber book, for a trip to the laundromat with a big quilt. Emily and I also took it to the grocery store! The pattern for the nest tote is from Purlbee.

Dots within Stripes is the name of the Mid-April 2008 KAL for the monthly dishcloth group. It’s a pattern from Knitting on the Net. I’m thinking this one would look pretty in lots of different color combinations!

Oh yeah. It’s still cold out and supposed to get down into the 30’s tonight. Oh joy.

Jasmine’s delicates looked less red and swollen today. She also isn’t scooting and licking down there anymore, too, so I’m guessing it all feels better. I’m glad we took her in yesterday.

Windy, plus temps only in the low 40’s for a high. It just wasn’t pleasant and didn’t feel like spring. It seemed more like a late February to late March sort of day! Ugh.

Jasmine had to go to the vet today. Her sensitive female parts were red and swollen. He said she had a dermatitis and gave us some powder to put on. I think she already feels better. The vet said it was a good thing that we brought her in, when we did, because once the skin gets too irritated, the dog won’t let you do anything to it, because it hurts! We had to pay extra, for them to squeeze her in today, but I don’t think it could have waited for the Wednesday appointment we’d already made.

I finished my market bag yesterday and actually used it twice today! I need to catch up on taking pictures of my finished objects tomorrow. We’ve just been so busy! I also need to get pictures of my last 2 finished dishcloths, so they can be posted on the Monthly Dishcloth Challenge blog! With 2 weddings and 2 confirmations, in a 3-week period, it hasn’t left much time for play.

I went to the laundromat today, to wash the comforter that goes on my bed, because it’s too much quilt to throw in the washing machine and the filling got all messed up, even more than before. Today, I really look at the quilt and realize it has NO STITCHING to keep the batting in place, so everytime I wash it, from now on, it’s going to get EVEN WORSE.  Actually, I seem to remember that it had little ties, here and there, but I think they are giving way, under use and going through the wash, etc.  It still isn’t like a seam that goes from the top to the bottom of the quilt, or the horizontal length of the quilt.

I was shopping tonight and I think I like this one, because I’m a lighthouse nut!!

Harbour Comforter Set

I like printed comforters, since we live in our bedroom sometimes, since there is a TV in there, and we share the bed with the dog.  It just doesn’t show each individual sin, like a solid color would!  LOL!

Here’s my progress so far, on the mid-April KAL. It’s at the end of the 2nd day’s rows. I love that the stripes are mirror images of each other and the contrast-colored stitches, look like little rabbit heads! Everyone at my knitting group last night, thought it was cute! I can’t wait to knit more rows!

Here’s detail of the stitches, too. Just click on the images to make them larger.  I think the blue and yellow look nice together!  It’s very cheerful!

The Rachael Ray dinner was delicious.  I just finished eating it for the second time tonight!  We cooked up 6 chicken breasts, at once, since that would make 2 supper’s worth of sandwiches for the 3 of us.  We only made half a recipe (8-oz of pre-shredded cabbage), of the cole slaw and that was easily enough for 2 night’s worth, for the three of us.

It was also nice, that I’d done most of the hard work, on Monday night, since on Tuesday, I had to work at 5pm.  My hubby and daughter only had to assemble the sandwiches, and serve the coleslaw for last night’s supper.

Emily and I also know now, that in the absence of lemon juice to keep the avocado fresh, we can keep the second half in the peel, face-down on a plate, covered tightly with plastic wrap, to be able to use it the next night.  We meant to buy a lemon, but we forgot.  We also forgot to buy the green onions for the cole slaw.  Maybe next time!

It was definitely worth all the hard work of juicing 3 limes!  They are harder to juice, than lemons.

We had a sunny day today, which was nice, after all of yesterday’s rain.  It’s also supposed to rain tomorrow night.  That’s better than Duluth, MN, who is under a blizzard warning for tomorrow night!  Ugh.  Temp was in the low 50’s today.

I recently finished a new Monthly Dishcloth KAL.  This one was a spring scene with flowers in a field, called The Meadow.  It was designed by Lindy,  She’s only 16.  Doesn’t she do a great job?