Saturday Sky 04-30-11

At last we got some blue sky and sun. The morning was raining, but the afternoon cleared up and the sun came out. This was a wonderful day at MN Knitters' Guild 25th annual Yarnover. More about that tomorrow.

Bird/Animal Feeder

For Christmas, my son and family gave me this birdfeeder. We finally got it put out and we're having lots of birds eating from it.

So are the ducks!


And a bunny-or maybe he is the Easter bunny.

Saturday Sky 04-23-11

My, this looks just like every April Saturday sky this month. Haven't seen much sun, but the temp today is up to 46.

Winter That Refuses to Leave

April 20, 2011!!!!!

Saturday Sky 04-16-11

This was not April weather! It was cold and windy all day; I don't think it got up to 40. About noon there was still this much snow on our deck-it had been about 2 inches in the morning.

Larry Millett

Larry Millett, author of The Magic Bullet, was autographing books at Once Upon a Crime on Tuesday. I was glad to see another book by him, as I've liked the other ones I've read. They are fiction, but based on MN/St Paul history and since I grew up in St Paul, they are fun to read.

Yarn Clubs

Only one package of yarn waited for me when I returned from France. This is the Three Irish Girls April package. Below, Cookie A's Sock Club package arrived a few days ago. The yarn is a sneak preview of a new yarn not even named yet.

Paris to Normandy

A week ago I returned from another wonderful trip with Grand Circle Travel. This was a riverboat trip from Paris to Normandy. That is the way to travel! We were taken from the plane to the boat and stayed on the boat until the last night we spent in a hotel by the airport. Of course, cruises are all they are cracked up to be! River boats have the added advantage of beautiful scenery. These pictures are only a fraction of what we saw. Above is the Arc de Triumphe from Champs Elysees.

One evening we had dinner cruising through Paris so were able to see the Eiffel Tower light up. What a spectacular sight! I travel with my college friend, Maureen so here we are at the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame. (One view of 5 I took.)

The Mona Lisa at the Louvre. That is as close as I wanted to get with all the people. Flowers and trees were in bloom everywhere we went.

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The Gardens at Versailles

Above is a picture of a Van Gogh painting and below is the church he painted. We had a tour of the town of Auvers-sur-Oise learning about Van Gogh, his life and paintings as he lived there the last months of his life.

These are a few pictures of Giverny, Monet's home and gardens.

Our boat, the Bizet, docked at Les Andelys.

Vernon

Les Andelys

"Monet's" Cathedral in Rouen

Honflour

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.This was a very moving place. When we arrived, we had a program-facing the statue,"The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves", the Star Spangled Banner was played. We then turned toward the cemetery and they played "Taps" followed by a minute of silence. Lots of tears and sniffles could be heard. Each of us was then given a rose to place on a grave. This was very meaningful as it is a part of history I can vaguely remember.

I'm Published!

This last weekend several yarn shops in the Twin Cities had their annual Shop Hop. Each shop had an exclusive hand dyed yarn from local dyers in a colorway exclusive to their shop. Amazing Threads had this pretty yarn from Three Irish Girls in Duluth, MN-one of my favorite dyers. Several years ago a friend and I were attending the MN Opera and walking from the car to the theater, we were behind a woman wearing a shawl which my friend liked. I studied it and wrote up this pattern. I dug it out, made some revisions and this is the pattern Amazing Threads gave out on the Shop Hop made out of their exclusive yarn. This is done in worsted weight, but is also available in fingering. I forgot to buy my yarn yesterday when I was in the shop. (I did not make this sample as I wanted someone to test the pattern.)

Vacation Knitting

Spanish Moss shawl by Rosemary Hill. This was the January pattern in her Shawl and Pin Club. I was about a quarter of the way when I left home (I thought I had taken a picture, but can't find it.), hoping to finish the center while on my trip, but I didn't do as much knitting as I figured. Isn't that always the way-I always pack more knitting than I could possibly do, but I don't want to run out!

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky, April 11, 2011. Mostly cloudy with temps in the 60's. Can you see the buds forming on the tree?

Saturday Sky April 2, 2011. Cruising down the Seine River in France! Cool (in the 60's.) and hazy sun.