Biggo

A couple of weeks ago I place an order from Knit Picks,ok dont roll your eyes, I know another order from KP but I love them, I needed some yarn for my mom's birthday present so it was not a frivolous purchase. Not 5 minutes later I get an email to get a free skein of one of their new yarns with any purchase. Really you couldn't have sent it out 10 minutes earlier. Well I contacted them and they put it in my order. The color is Carnelian Heather which is very pretty. It is washable merino and acrylic. It knits great, thought it would be splitty but it's not. I did a variety of stitches and like the stitch definition. There is only 110 yards so wil make myself a pair of slippers out of it. I would not buy it because of the price, but it is a nice yarn. http://www.knitpicks.com/cfyarns/yarn_display.cfm?ID=5420217

More on D14

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121128/NEWS/311280068/1024/time/?odyssey=nav&nclick_check=1

D14

We lost D14, one of the 3 Decorah Eagles born this year, to electrocution. He was found near Rockford, Iowa. It breaks my heart again as I feel like I have lost a pet. He was the one with the transmitter, which is how they found him. I know this is just nature but it sure sucks. We lost D12 earlier in the year for the same reason and now to lose another one is this year's hatch. We have to get the power companies to fix the power lines so this does not happen more than it does now. D14 we loved you and now you can be with D12 again. RIP D14.

We are sorry to announce that Bob Anderson found D14 dead yesterday near Rockford, Iowa. D14, a 2012 hatch year bald eagle from Decorah, Iowa, was electrocuted after landing or trying to land on a power pole. Bob immediately notified the utility company. D14's body will be sent to the National Eagle Repository, where his feathers and other parts will be distributed for use in Native American religious ceremonies. Bob and Brett Mandernack did a close examination of D14's body. He was healthy and butterball fat. There were no signs of wear from the transmitter or backpack.

Book Reviews

My fav local yarn store is closing and therefore she is having sales and I had a gift certificate to use. I love books and magazines, I admit it I am addicted. I picked up several books and have to say it is a good thing I am retiring because there are tons of things I want to work on in these books.

Knitting From the Center Out: This is one skill I need to work on, knitting in a circle from the center. My centers need the work. There are hats, scarves, socks, afghans, shawls/capes, and toys. The socks start in the middle of your heel and work around the foot up to the top of the sock, this is the first pattern out of this book that I will be making. The explanations and pictures are great and kind of a cryptic sketch which makes them all the more "real" to me. I look forward to making a lot out of this book. Knitting In Circles by Nicky Epstein. Again this will help me with my centers in knitting circles. While most of the items I would never wear, just not my style, there must be about 100 different patterns for circles which I will definitely make if nothing else as dishcloths and for the practice. She does have 2 afhans made out of circles which I will definitely try. Easter Knits/Knitted Dolls/55 Christmas Balls to Knit: I love to make toys and they are fun. They also give you practice on small projects before you tackle a larger project. These are fun books and I have a garden in the front of my yard that I want to decorate with knitted items. I want to yarn bomb my redbud tree and the two books with decorations will definitely help in that area. The doll book is a book to let your imagination go wild. I give them all a double thumbs up and look forward to enjoying many hours working on the projects.

Happy Thanksgiving

Bye Bye Twinkies

If you are a Twinkie lover you best go stock up and prepare to say goodbye. Due to the *&^%$# unions they are closing. I hate unions but that is for another post. While I am not a Twinkie or Ding Dong fan, snowballs have a special place in my heart. When I was a kid we used to have a dessert supper occcassionally on Sundays. Mom made everything from scratch and a store bought cookie or loaf of bread was considered a treat for us. We would go to the store and get a half gallon of ice cream and 3-4 packages of store bought cookies. We always got snowballs. I love the chocolate cookie, the coconut and the squishy peep-like marshmallow. I need to find my Wal-Mart list and put snowballs on them. My heart goes out to the employees who are caught up in this. Shame on you unions.

Angel

I posted that I am making stockings for someone. I have the angel part of one of them done, the rest will be like a foot in a sock so it should go quickly, then on to the soldier.

Fire Before the Storm

There is a rainstorm brewing but the sunset looked like the sky was on fire.

Sky at Halloween

This was the sunset for Halloween, just beautiful.

Birds

I feed whatever birds come in my yard and have several feeders scattered with different types of seeds in them. I have 3 sizes of woodpeckers. Last night I heard a familiar sound and found it my baby woodpecker makes it, here he is at the suet feeder.

Spinning Wheel

I bought myself a spinning wheel for my retirement present. It arrives next week. In the meantime I received this box today as my free gift. This should give me plenty of practice in spinning and then I can practice dying it as well. I am gonna wait and finish all my xmas gifts before I start on this or I will never get them done.