For the Calvin and Hobbes fans out there

This is something I found last year, I think it was on another blog, and I just ran across it when I was cleaning out some old files on my computer at work.

If you were a fan of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and you are familiar with Ernest Hemingway's style of writing, you will probably enjoy this. I still miss reading the comic in the paper.

Hills Like Stuffed Tigers: Calvin Discovers Hemingway

knitters in the wild

Isn't it amazing how you meet people sometimes! I was at the High Museum with my hubby last Friday and had a woman approach me and comment on my Noro Stripe scarf that I was wearing. I told her I made it myself and it was a pattern from Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed and she said she knew who that was and was making one herself too. I don't really like to talk when I'm in a museum, just one of my quirks, so I didn't even think to introduce myself or ask her what her name is, if she's on Ravelry, anything... duh.. Then she posted a comment in Atlanta Metro Ravelers about seeing a guy at the museum with the scarf on and KateyJ read it and thought, this has to be Steve, Doug, Lou or Brett. So Katey sent me a message asking if it was indeed one of us.
Since I then could go read the original post by Deb (aka losethemittens) I sent her a message introducing myself and thanking her for the compliment on my scarf. Another friend through Ravelry. :)

I always take my knitting with me to the museum since I usually get through the collection before the others and I have something to do while I wait. Nice place to knit and people watch. If you haven't seen the Terra Cotta Warriors at the High Museum, it's a very interesting exhibit. Some of the pieces are just amazing in the skill and detail. The last part of the exhibit from the Louvre is there now too. There is also an exhibit called Treasures from the Victoria and Albert. There are some stunning objects in this small wonderful collection.

This year I'm not really doing any Christmas knitting, other than some fingerless gloves for a co-worker for our secret santa exchange. After Christmas I want to go through my "idea journal" (really just a collection of slips of paper with drawings on them) and pick out some of the stuff I've thought of knitting. Mostly, I just scribble out drawings of what I think up and then spend several days trying to work them out in my head before actually starting to knit. Some of these ideas have been good and then some are like what you write down after a dream and then read later and say to yourself "WTF was I thinking"!?! It will also be good to go through the stack of patterns I have collected and sort them. I've also been looking for my pattern for the grey sweater I designed a few years ago so I can make another one. I know it's in there... somewhere.

Now a video of a song from a group called BearForce1 that is stuck in my head. If you have an aversion to muscles or furry men... don't watch. ;)

New FO's

I finished spinning the cranberry bog roving that I bought at SAFF from Cloverleaf Farms. I ended up with about 850 yards of lace/sport weight yarn. I'm going to look through my book of lace shawls for a possible pattern.



I'm now spinning the blue merino/seacell I bought from Creatively Dyed at SAFF. (see second picture in previous post) I have almost half of it spun up. I also finally blocked some corriedale that I spun about a month ago. It's cobalt and dark blue plied together in a heavy worsted weight, not quite chunky yarn.



And last, but definitely not least, my second Habitat hat by Brooklyn Tweed.



The first one was a little small for me, so I gave it to Brett. He luckily wears a little smaller size than I do and I can't wear a tight hat or it will give me a headache, so it went to someone who I know will appreciate a nice knitted hat. This one I went up one needle size. The yarn is Cascade 220 Paints that I bought at Hill County Weavers in Austin, Texas.



Another great pattern from Jared Flood.

My SAFF stash aquisitions

I finally took pictures of the stuff from this year's trip to SAFF.

This is the yarn I bought from Interlacements this year. The top two are Toasty Toes and the bottom one is 100% rayon. The rayon should make a wonderful slinky shawl. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with the Toasty Toes, but I just couldn't resist the colors.


These are rovings I bought from Creatively Dyed. The top is wool/tensel and the bottom is wool/seacell. These are new to me as a beginning spinner so I'm curious how they will spin up.


I bought a new bag for me and I'm really loving it! It's a Nantucket bag and it's wonderfully versatile. It unzips to lay flat or hang on a wall. It can be zipped up with the pockets on the inside or the outside. It kind of reminds me of the purse organizers you can buy on tv.




This is roving I bought out in the sales arena, but I can't remember the name of the company. (It was Cloverleaf Farms) Snarky Katy was so helpful and found it for me when I ran into her in the booth. She may remember who it was. It's a wool/silk blend with the color name of cranberry bog. I've spun up half on a one bobbin (on left) and I'm in the process of spinning the other half.


Here are my beautiful purchases from our own Knit Witch. This was their first year at SAFF selling yarn, roving and yarn bowls. We didn't get out to the sales arena until Saturday and it looked like they had done very well on Friday. I hope it was a successful show for them!


Here's the whole flock of sheep hats resting in the hotel room on Friday evening preparing for their debut at SAFF on Saturday. One of the flock just didn't seem to find the rest of us. He was spotted by others, we hear, wandering through the crowds.


Now a couple of shameless pictures of the kids. Bob had to help me take pictures of the SAFF stuff. He was in charge of getting as much orange hair on the white sheet as possible. He's got a real talent for it too!


Here is Blanche enjoying a sliver of sunlight. One of her favorite things to do.


This is a short post as I was up late last night with the election and I was in line at the poll from 6:00 until 8:10, which wasn't terrible, but I'm glad I got there early. The line was reeeally long when I left. I'm so glad to have a president in office that I actually voted for!! I haven't ever felt this proud and hopeful about a presidential election. gObama!!

SAFF 2008 recap

We had a great time at SAFF this year. I tried my best to reign in on the spending... I almost succeeded.. I'm definitely on a fiber diet for a while. I bought a few rovings and several skeins of yarn. I got a couple of skeins of lace weight yarn and a skein of sock yarn from the KnitWitch. This was their first SAFF as a vendor and I hope they did well. I'll try and post some pics of my purchases within the next week. I can't believe I took my camera with me and didn't take a single picture the entire weekend.

We stayed at the Econolodge this year and it was much nicer than our previous year's hotel although the free breakfast wasn't too extravagant. The coffee was good, but we still had to make a trip to Starbucks before heading over to the convention center so Steve could get his 'fix'.

We also bought a couple of wine boxes at Target for unwinding in the room before dinner. It's hard work shopping all day for yarn and roving and spinning and checking out each other's purchases... We (Steve and I) weren't feeling any pain by the time we got to the restaurant. We went to Tamarind and had Thai food for dinner last night. It was very good! I'm sure the waiter was glad to see a large group of raucous happy fiber fiends go. We certainly tested his waiter skills, and patience probably, and he did a great job.

We were supposed to eat at Carraba's on Friday night, but when we got to the restaurant they claimed they didn't get the call from Jane that morning to have our group on the call list for a table. I think they probably gave our table to another large group and then didn't want to fess up that they made a mistake. It worked out in our favor anyway as we went to the Mexican restaurant just across the parking lot and had a great dinner with $2.50 margaritas! The food at Carraba's is good, but we ended up getting a great meal at a great price and our group of 14 walked in the door and were seated immediately with really great service too. I think it was Casa Torres but not really sure.

The guys here that made sheep hats (Steve, Lou, Stuart, Rob and I) were supposed to all wear them together yesterday, but we never did see Rob. We only heard from other people that he was there somewhere with his partner and son Mikael wearing the sheep hat. The other four of us did walk around for at least an hour and we had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of us, but I'm sure you will see us somewhere as we were stopped about every two steps for someone to snap a picture. Steve was very popular with his felted extra accoutrements on the back of his hat. (If anyone has a picture of us in their Flickr account, please send me a link so I can see it. thanks)

It's early to bed this evening. I'm back at work tomorrow after having been off on vacation for 3 weeks. The time sure flew by, as it always does. I dread what I'll be returning to piled up on my desk. What fun it is to sit and sort through that stack!

Howdy Y'all

I got back from Texas this afternoon. I stayed the night in Jackson, Mississippi last night. There were high school girls softball teams in the hotel too, so it was a little noisy in the hallways last night with people talking and carrying on. I've managed to get the car unloaded and everything unpacked, but I haven't had a chance to download the pictures. It will probably take me a couple of days to go through all of them and resize and edit some for sharing. I usually take about twice as many as I end up keeping and I have about 150 this time to go through.

I finished all the knitting for my SAFF sweater in Texas (except for the collar) and then all that's left is piecing it together and weaving in ends. I have all of next week off too so I shouldn't have any problem getting it finished. I also made the Brooklyn Tweed Habitat hat while I was there.

I'm looking forward to seeing my knittin' buddies at Knitch tomorrow.

A Texas Wedding

I'm at my sister and brother in law's house tonight for dinner.  They got married last night at a friends house in San Marcos, Texas.  The weather has been just perfect for all the wedding activities since we have been dining outdoors for the last two evenings.  We are going to McKinney Falls State Park on Sunday for a picnic and it should be a great time.  I've been taking lots of pictures, I just don't have a way to download any of them until I get home.  I'll share the highlights after I get back.  

I drove as far as Palestine, Texas on Monday.  I decided to avoid the Dallas/Fort Worth area as I would have been going through right at rush hour.  It worked out for the best since there were thunderstorms going through late Monday and I would have also been driving through rain in Dallas.  I was glad I stopped for the night instead of driving through.  The remainder of the drive to Austin on Tuesday morning was very nice and I took my time enjoying the drive and scenery.  I also decided to stop and have BBQ at my favorite spot in Taylor, Texas.  If you have ever been there, you know why.  It's Louis Meuller BBQ and I definitely felt like I had come back to Texas while enjoying a brisket sandwich with pinto beans and potato salad.  I also took some pictures while there to show you the inside of the place.  The walls are black for the most part due to the smoke from the pits.  I talked with one of the employees, Lin (picture later) who told me about the history of the place and the family, and he also gave me a tour and even let me go into the kitchen area to take pictures of the pit.  When I got to Mom's house I could still smell the smokey smell on my t-shirt.  I love the smell of BBQ smoke!

My Aunt and cousin are also here for the wedding and we have been having a great time visiting and getting caught up on the family stuff.  They will be here till next Tuesday.  This if the first time my cousin has been here in about 35 years.  I think she was 8 or 9 years old when she was last here.

I guess I should go rejoin the dinner party on the patio.  :)

SAFF sweater progress

I'm making the Bold Zebra pattern from Guy Knits as my SAFF sweater this year.
I've finished the back and I'm almost finished with the front.



The colors are brighter and pop out more in the photo. I'm not one to shy away from bright colors though. Maybe I was some kind of colorful animal in a past life and I'm trying to recapture my true color... and it was not a mandrill! I can hear it now. I was thinking more along the lines of a butterfly or tropical fish or somethin', since I'm such a fragile and flitting creature... NOT! ;)

I've also started a sweater for my cousins little girl from a Debbie Bliss pattern.
I'm using Rowan handknit cotton and I'd forgotten how much knitting with cotton makes my hands hurt. Since it doesn't have any stretch, it tends to make my hands hurt (I'm a tight knitter). I just have to do in in small increments.




I made a batch of sushi for my dinner tonight and have sufficiently overstuffed my belly. There was plenty left over for raids later too. :) Michael still hasn't dared to try a piece. I guess it's just that scary nori seaweed that has him nervous. More for me! I think I could eat the entire container of pickled ginger as a meal in itself.

Blooming orchid

I just noticed this morning that the orchid I have in the terrarium on my desk is blooming! This is only the third time it has bloomed in about 9 years.



At one time I could have told you what variety this is, but I haven't a clue anymore. Someone out there may recognize it. It is one of the minature varieties of orchids. Usually there are blooms all the way around making a tiny umbrella of blooms. This one has a few missing. It hasn't been looking it's best in a while, that's why I'm so surprised to see it blooming.

I've received a blog award!! How cool!



Thanks Claudia! I'd nominate you too!

Of course, there are rules attached to the award:

1. Post this award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least 4 other bloggers, and add their links as well.
4. Leave a comment at the new recipients' blogs, so they can pass it on.

I am nominating HockeyMom (Sandy), PlazaJen , ChickenGoddess (Alma) and KnitWitch (Brittany).

I'm looking forward to a trip to Texas in a couple of weeks to spend time with family and to attend my sister's wedding. I just hope that the gas prices will have come back down somewhat by the time we leave. I averaged 42mpg going to Iowa, so it's not too much of a price difference, but every extra dollar counts on a trip.



Thank you to everyone who left comments and condolences concerning my grandmother and most recently our dog Emily. It's been a rough few weeks, but sometimes life just isn't what we would like to see and we have to work at it from day to day. I know having good friends and family around me to spend time with, to laugh with and sometimes even cry is what keeps me going.

Dear Emily

I just spoke with Michael and he let me know that our 17 year old Lhasa Apso Emily died this afternoon about 2:30. Her health had been slowly deteriorating over the last year and this past Saturday she had what seemed to be maybe a stroke and lost control of her back legs and was incontinent for a few hours. She did regain the use of her legs yesterday, but was up all night confused about where she was and barking for help. She was always such a quiet dog and hardly ever barked, so this was very unusual for her. She had another episode this afternoon and Michael bathed her and had her wrapped in a towel afterward and subsequently she just went limp in his arms and died. Although this wasn't unexpected, I know Michael is going to be feeling lost without her.

Pangs of guilt

I told a few people about this when I got back the other day, but I have been wracked with guilt ever since it occurred.

As most of my friends know, I have a real soft spot in my heart for cats. The two I have right now, Bob and Blanche, I rescued from the parking lot of the apartments I was living in 7 years ago. I felt that I was put in the right place at the right time to give them the home they needed. When I was driving home from Iowa the other day, it was early in the morning at about 6:30 and the sun was coming up and I had a very sudden urge to stop and take a picture of the sunrise. I saw an overpass coming up quickly and decided to stop there for the vantage point and almost skidded to a stop in order not to pass it. I was out of the car and getting the camera ready to take a picture when I heard a sound in the brush beside the road. It was a young, tiny black and white kitten and as soon as it saw me it made a beeline right for me screaming as if it was so glad to see someone. The road was just a few hundred yards from a row of houses and at first I figured it had probably just wandered away from mama. At least that's what I had convinced myself was the probable scenario. I was afraid it would try to follow me to the car and get underneath it so I crumbled up some rice cake snacks on the ground and it was eating away at it hungrily as I drove off. I immediatly started to feel guilty, knowing that it more than likely was a kitten that had been dumped beside the road. If it were a feral kitten it wouldn't have approached me so quickly and easily. I know what wild farm cats are like and they don't behave that way. I had to talk myself into believing that it would find it's way back to the houses or mama was closeby hiding under the bridge and would be back to take care of it. Now my heart is so filled with regret. I was once again put in a place that did not feel like a coincidence to rescue another lost kitten and I talked myself out of doing what I knew in my heart was the right thing to do. Something had inspired me to suddenly stop at that particular place and now I'm having a hard time even thinking about how to forgive myself for being so cold and uncaring.

trip to Iowa

I've just returned from an unplanned trip to Iowa. My maternal grandmother of 96 passed away Sunday a week ago. I was there for a week for the funeral and to be with family. My mom, dad and sister drove up from Texas and met me at my aunt and uncle's house. The service was very nice and there is a lot to be said for a small town funeral. It really reminds you of what a family truly is. It had been 8 years since my last visit up there and it was great to see all my extended family even though the circumstances weren't of the pleasant kind.
It's a 13 hour drive for me and I stopped in St. Louis on the way up there. I drove straight through on the way back leaving Iowa at 4:45 in the morning to get back at about 7:15. I return to work tomorrow.
I took some pictures while there to share.

This was taken from the front porch of my aunt and uncle's house at about 7:00 in the morning. The silo is the neighbors farm across the road. They are now raising llamas instead of cattle or pigs. I wanted to go and visit, but just didn't get to it.




This is my uncle Kenny mowing the yard. Everything is so green there compared to Georgia. They have had more than enough rain this year. Their farm is about 30 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids which had a major flood a little over a month ago. They've had so much rain that a lot of the crops were planted later than normal because the soil was too wet.




This is a horse and buggy parked outside the general store (called Stringtown) in Kalona, Iowa. I bought a load of spices while there that they buy in bulk, repackage and sell for a great price. My $40 dollars worth filled an entire paper grocery bag.




My sister and I took a walk to photograph and collect some wildflowers (my aunt calls them ALL weeds). We think they are pretty. If you look closely in the bottom center of this picture you will see a remanant "weed" from when a particular plant was cultivated as a cash crop in Iowa. (rhymes with kemp) No, it's not the illicit kind, just the kind you would harvest for the fiber.



This is a flower we had never seen in Iowa before. Not sure what it is but I really love the lantern seed pods.





Here is a gathering of beetles on a milkweed pod.



My aunt sent me home with tomatoes from her garden so we had BLT's for lunch today. She always has such beautiful tomatoes in her garden every year and they are sooo good when they are picked ripe from the garden.



Yesterday was our 7th anniversary (copper). I bought Michael a hammered copper humidor and a little shell dish. The shell was so tarnished, and not in the pretty way, it took me a few hours just to polish it . It really did polish up nicely though.



The humidor, called a Rumidor, is in great condition. There was some really nice patina, on one side, but the other was actually kind of gross looking, so i just polished the whole thing and will let it acquire a new, more pleasant patina all over.

Ravelympics comes to an end

I finished my Muir shawl today while knitting at Knitch. This was my project for the Ravelympics this year. It still needs to be blocked and I'll probably do that next weekend.





I enjoyed knitting this shawl. The pattern isn't too difficult and easy to follow. I can't wait to see what blocking will do for it. It is so soft and light as a feather. I think my sister will be very pleased with the results. :)

I got my scarf from the Men Who Knit scarf exchange a week or so ago. It's beautiful and knit with my favorite yarn! Noro of course! My mystery knitter (Gary aka GaryHRX) also sent me a great handmade wooden tic tac toe game, some fun and quirky cookbooks and also some knitting patterns including Lopi patterns. Thank you so much Gary. You did a great job on the scarf and also for the great extras too!!



Michael is headed to Mobile tomorrow to visit with his son Nick who is moving to New York next Thursday. Nick is an amazing and incredibly articulate young man. He has been a very outspoken advocate for the rights of the disabled in this country and Alabama. I know Michael is terribly worried about the move and excited for him at the same time. Nick has been seeking a place to strike out on his own and find some independence of his own for quite a while. If you have time and are interested in his story, just click on his name above.
Michael will stay in Mobile to care for his younger son Jamie (who is also ventilator dependent with MS) while mom travels with Nick to New York to get him situated. Please send Michael, Nick and the rest of the family your good thoughts while in this major transition and the changes they will endure over the next few weeks. I expect Michael will most likely return home emotionally and physically exhausted.

Yesterday I was talking with friends about our 17 year old Lhasa Apso Emily and they had never seen a picture. Here she is modeling a sweater I made for her a few years ago.



I'm off to watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics now.

Stitches South!

It was announced last night at the Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting that Stitches South will be held in Atlanta, April 23-26, 2009. This is so exciting as I can now attend the convention with only a 20 minute drive!
This will also be a great boost for the local yarn shops. They will probably be overrun with all the people in town checking out the local shops.
I can't wait to see the roster of classes that will be offered too.
Can you tell I'm excited?!

It's been two years today

Missing you.



Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?


Robert Frost

It's already been a year!

Today is the 1 year mark for my blog. It doesn't seem like it has been that long.
October is looking like it's going to be a month for travel for me. Not only the trip to SAFF but also a trip to Texas for a couple of weeks to visit family and attend my sister's wedding. Michael and I have been back for Christmas and also in the spring, so this will be Michael's first time to visit in the fall. It can still be very warm in October, the tempuratures during the day at least. It starts to cool off in the evenings a little more starting in October... usually. Who knows with the way the weather is these days.

Not much else to blog about today, just wanted to acknowledge the passing of my blog's first birthday!

I needed a laugh

Today has been a test of my nerves and stamina and the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show can always makes me laugh when I need to.

Just in case you didn't know... Never Threaten A Chicken!!

Tour de Fleece 2008 results

I finished plying this morning. I underplyed some of it so it was a learning experience too, but I'm still very happy with the results. I also realized last night that I had been plying in the wrong direction for about ten minutes. I had to pull that all off and I just plyed that to itself and got about 10 yards to use as sock toes maybe.



I bought my first bag of silk/wool blend roving today at Knitch. It's fuschia, so whatever I end up making with it will be day-glo. I'm not afraid to wear pink. :)



I also bought some baby alpaca roving. The color is closer to the actual color in the second photo, which is also almost the color of my own hair where there's a little more chrome in it.

Tour de Fleece update

I've finished both of my singles for my Tour de Fleece project.



I'm letting them rest for a couple of days and I plan to ply them on Saturday or Sunday. I'll post pix of the finished yarn on Sunday.

Yarn! Real yarn!

I plied my first skein and blocked it yesterday. It is a medium chunky weight and I got about 200 yards in total. I just need to figure out what I want to make with it to have as a keepsake of my first skein. Anyone have any suggestions? A lot of thick and thin, but I'm thrilled/stunned at how it turned out. I was so anxious about plying it and messing it up. I went pretty slowly at first and picked up a little speed once I got a feel for it. I still had to tell myself to slow down a few times before it got away from me. I made a homemade lazy kate with a box, a 5 pound bag of rice (for weight) and a couple of knitting needles and it worked well, but I definitely need some tension on the bobbins. They spun a little too much a few times and I had to stop and unwind it from the knitting needles.





I also finished my first single for the Tour de Fleece. This should end up about a worsted weigh I hope.



We saw the new Batman movie today and it's excellent!

I got a bag of blueberries from a friend (thanks Rob) on Thursday and I made a batch of muffins today. I had to test a few to make sure they weren't overbaked. I might need to test just one more before bed just to make absolutely sure. Hopefully there will be some left to take to Knitch tomorrow since I really don't need to eat them all myself.

My Tour De Fleece

Here is the fleece I'm spinning for the Tour de Fleece. It's from Gale's Art and the colorway is called Majic. I started spinning it on Sunday. I just pre-drafted the last part of the first roving this evening.



Here is the pile of pre-drafted roving before I rolled it into a ball. The colors in this roving make me think of the rainbow sherbert we used to eat as kids.





This shows how big these bobbins are. There is already about 3 ounces a fiber on the bobbin. I could fit all 8 ounces on one bobbin, but I'll spin half each on a bobbin for plying.



The DH and I had a wonderful time at Claudia's house this past Sunday. We were there to celebrate her Birthday. It was a fun and relaxing time and we even got to put together some jigsaw puzzles. I love jigsaw puzzles! I have lots of great memories of the talk and laughter over puzzles at my mom's house during the winter.
Katy and I had a great time putting together a wooden puzzle she had on the coffee table. I've never had the chance to work on a custom made wooden puzzle. It was such a treat! A group of us put together a couple more puzzles before we left. I think they did two more after we left. There is a huge collection in her basement that we were allowed to look through. It is an amazing collection. I bet I could find every puzzle I've ever done in her basement. We even saw a puzzle with 18,000 pieces!

Tour De Fleece 2008

I've joined Le Tour de Fleece 2008! This year it's a spinning challenge. I bought more of Gale Art's lovely merino roving last week in pretty summer colors. I'll post a pic in a day or two to show what I'll be working on for my challenge. I will hopefully have it all spun up and plyed by the end on July 27. Thanks Nell for letting me know about this. Sounds like fun! Click on the link in the sidebar for more info. It started on July 5th, but they accept late signups as long as you finish up your challenge by the end date if you are interested in spinning along. Now I have the Kraftwerk song 'Tour de France' going through my head.

My first spinning singles

I've been spinning every night since I got my wheel. I think I've worked on my knitting twice. It's new and I tend to concentrate on new things for a while. The knitting will return when I've gotten over the excitement and newness of my wheel.



The dark grey on the left is my very first single. and the blue on the right is my second. They are both Corriedale that I bought at Knitch.



These are both from Gale's Art in Stone Mountain and they are the same colorway. I'm going to ply them together. This is merino and I've really enjoyed spinning this. I bought more of it in another colorway last night.



I wish the wheel came with a lazy kate. The bobbins don't have a groove in them so the regular tensioned lazy kates available out there won't work. I may have to just build my own. I'll probably just start with what we locally fondly call a ghetto kate (shoe box and knitting needles).

We aren't going anywhere this weekend. We both just feel like staying home even though it's Pride weekend. Been there, done that and we just don't feel like getting out in the heat. We may go to the golf course behind us to watch the fireworks tonight. It's just a block behind us, so we can just sit in the back yard and watch through the trees if we don't really want to walk over there.