What Are These?

Does anyone know what these are? One of the women at Culver's KnitWits found them with some yarn and knitting needles. You can see they have springs so they open. The inside when opened is unfinished wood. One is stamped "Taiwan" inside the handle. Suggestions have been: spindle for spinning (before we realized they opened), hair curler, salad tongs, pasta server.

A Knitter's Home Companion

Here I am with Michelle Edwards, author of A Knitter's Home Companion. This is a delightful book with essays, read a longs, recipes and knitting patterns. Michelle 's drawings help illustrate the book. She was at the Yarnery Friday where I saw her and listened to her talk about the book, show the projects, telling how they related to the stories, read one of the essays and I was able to taste one of the goodies from the book.

After seeing this picture, I made an appointment to get my hair cut! I also figured out why my pictures are sideways. When I rotate my camera to take a picture, that is how Blogger posts the pictures even though I have rotated it on my computer. Now to figure out how to fix it.

Saturday Sky

Sky overlooking the apple orchard where I went for a wine tasting to benefit the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Weather was cool and cloudy most of the day, but a little clearing in the afternoon.

Book Shopping Today

Went to Barnes & Noble today specifically to look at this book. I don't go there very often anymore even though this used to be one of my favorite places. Now I buy books for my Kindle or buy them from a "mom  and pop" mystery book store, Once Upon a Crime.

This book is "A Heartwarming collection of stories, patterns, and recipes" and the author, Michelle Edwards is going to be at The Yarnery in St Paul on Friday signing books and reading from the book.  

The Knitter's Life List by Gwen W. Steege says, "1001 Inspirations for Every Knitter, 122 Techniques & Tips to Learn, 69 Styles & Traditions to Explore, 64 Personalities to Meet, and 33 Yarn Fibers to Try". Sounds fun.  

My Grandmother's Knitting by Larissa Brown is Family Stories and Inspired Knits from top designers with contributions from Ysolda Teague, Jared Flood, Meg Swansen, Cookie A., Anne Hanson, Teva Durham, Wendy Bernard, and many more. Many of these designers I have learned about from Ravelry and the family stories look interesting.

Saturday Sky 09-10-11 and The Running of the Llamas

Saturday Sky in Hammond, WI where I went for the annual Running of the Llamas and parade.

That is pretty much what the parade was.

Then the llamas raced the 2 blocks of Main Street.

Bird Release

My daughter volunteers at Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of MN, www.mrcmn.org feeding birds. Today they let her take a female red wing blackbird to release. We went to a park in Rosemount and she opened the box and away he flew. She few to a nearby tree and sat there for some time before flying away.

This is the area she now lives in until she can find other birds to migrate south. The Center says instinct will lead her to other birds and migration. It was exciting to see her fly away, but scary, too, hoping she can survive in the wild. She had been cared for in the Center since she was orphaned as a baby.

Club Shipments

More surprises! This is the September shipment from Socks are for Suckers. A pretty shawl pattern and I like Hazel Knits yarn. This club uses patterns and yarns from the Pacific Northwest. The little folder will be real handy.

I never know if this is August or September shipment from Three Irish Girls Yarnista Club. Even though we get a choice of 2 colorways, it is still a surprise when it arrives. The "extra" candy is pretty good, too.

Another special shipment from WoolGirl called Margarita. Cute sock pattern, lovely yarn which is new to me. That's what makes clubs so interesting-trying new yarns. Or in my case, adding them to my stash! The yarn is dashing Dachs www.DashingDachs.com. The extra goodies which don't show up too well in the picture: flip flop note pad, margarita glass charm and stitch marker, margarita mix with rimming sugar, drink umbrella, cocktail mix jelly beans, strawberry tape measure and pin cushion.

Saturday Sk 09-03-2011

I wish I could figure out how to rotate pictures on Blogger. It is not rotated on my computer. The picture is poor anyway. I wanted to get the finches on the feeders. There were 9 on them when we came home this afternoon, but only these remained and they must have warned others to stay away. Today started out warm and muggy, but sitting in the living room late this morning I could feel the wind shift to the north and the humidity drop. A few drops of rain around noon and a windy partly sunny afternoon. 6PM temp 72.