Wow, I have been such a horrible blogger and then as it went on and on and on, I knew it would be a big job, so I put it off even longer!  We are going from meals in the crockpot to meals on the grill.  Also, from winter jackets to shorts!  In June, my younger daughter Emily graduated from high school.  We had a fun family party and a beautiful day, for the most part.  Weather is a factor, since Sheboygan tries to hold their graduation outside!  We did get sprinkled on a little bit, but never for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time!  I’m so happy that both of my daughters got to graduate in the “bowl” by Lake Michigan!

I’ve been busy knitting, though, in the past 6 months!  All the pictures are in the gallery above.  Will still post pics of Emily’s graduation, too. Weather has been hot and rainy most of the summer.  It’s mid-July and the grass is still green and soft enough for barefeet!

The ballband was started while sitting at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI, while watching the Brewers play the Colorado Rockies. I had a blast, even though the Brewers lost that night. We were there as a part of Stitch n’ Pitch.

2009 January KAL - Ice Skate

2009 Mid-January - Cheyenna

Ballband in Brewers' colors, that was started on July 9th, at Stitch 'n Pitch

My family was very happy that Obama won the election and that it was a done deal even before we went to bed on November 4th. We look forward to the Inauguration now!

We had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful Christmas, although I was so busy I barely got to enjoy it. Had fun at Christmas celebrations on both sides of the family. My family did a White Elephant gift exchange. Parameters were that the gift had to weigh about a pound and cost $10 or less. I ended up with some Charmin’ Ultra Plush toilet paper and while my sister thought toilet paper would be the ultimate gag gift (and we did laugh about it!), my family was in desperate need of toilet paper, at that precise moment, so we were glad to get it! LOL! Gary got a bundle of bungie cords, Sarah got some fancy hot chocolate mix, and Emily I can’t remember anymore. Gary almost got candy, but that was stolen away by a candy-hungry nephew! Bungie cords are more useful for him, anyway.

I didn’t get to open Gary’s present, until we were together with Gary’s family. He had it shipped to their house and then had my SIL wrap it in 3 different boxes, each one completely wrapped with ribbons and bows, too. It turned out to be an 8G iPod Nano in turquoise blue! So, I’ve been busy uploading music and getting that all set up to my specifications! Also, we had to delete a ton of music from my iTunes library that even Sarah wouldn’t be listening to anymore.

Emily earned all but $20 towards a Nintendo DS. She got Polar White and is enjoying it very much. Sarah was doing some video work for my nephew Ryan and got paid nicely for that, so she went out and bought a Wii. We’ve all been having fun with that. I bowl better on the Wii, than I do in real life! The cow racing game on Wii Play is hysterical. It’s also hard to play the game, when everyone is laughing really hard.

I’m way behind on posting pictures of finished knitting projects, but I was finding time to get them photographed.

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 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. [Insert green tomato picture]

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!

2008 Mid-July KAL - Summer Breeze

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.

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 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 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.)

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.