Fun in Sugar Creek

This is a non-crochet posting. This past weekend we had a family outing. We took our camper to a campground on Sugar Creek in west-central Indiana. We were lucky to have great weather. Ale stayed with us the entire weekend. Our son David, his wife Jessica and 17-month-old grandson Cason came Saturday. I think everyone had a good time. The lower picture is of Bob and Ale in Sugar Creek.

The picture on top is of Cason getting Sugar Creek washed off. He really enjoyed the shower and tried to do it himself and wasn't the least bit interested in whether he had an audience or not!

This was our first camping trip since we got home from Arizona in April 2009. It was good to get away but I keep forgetting how much work is involved in going camping. You spend a lot of time and energy hauling stuff out of a perfectly good home into a smaller space. And before you're out of sight of home, you've started the list of 'what we forgot!' I'm old enough I'd just about rather make arrangements for food delivery for the entire weekend and just stay at home.

It's Fair Time

For the first time in several years, I'm planning on entering some of my crochet in the Hendricks County Fair and the Indiana State Fair. I haven't exhibited at all for several years and never have been able to do both fairs the same year but each have changed the dates enough that I can enter the same items in both fairs. But it's tight. The entries from Hendricks County are released on July 24 and have to be in Indianapolis the next day.

I have always felt I wanted my entries to be something a little special. So this year I am making a shawl and cafe curtain especially for the fairs and then also entering other items that aren't new (although the rules say the exhibits have to have been made within the last three years). I loved the curtain pattern - roses in filet crochet. The designer did a great job with the pattern. Unlike a lot of filet, the roses really pop out. The shawl is from a pattern for a round tablecloth that I really liked. The pattern called for six panels. I took out 2 panels so it looks like a pie with a couple of slices missing. It was a challenge to figure out how to do it but I think it's going to make a wonderful shawl. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Summer in Indiana

No new pictures tonight. Just the musings of a native Hoosier who remembers James Whitcomb Riley's line 'Ain't God good to Indiana.' (I really don't remember HIM!!! I'm not THAT old!)

The lightening bugs appeared at the end of May. They just seem to lend an enchanted element to a summer evening. I enjoy watching them rise from the grass/soy beans/hay and disappear. They return to the grass and the next evening, it all starts again. The wheat will be ready in the next 10 days or so and shortly after that, they will disappear for another year.

Thinking about them got me to remembering other summer bugs from my youth. I realize now that I haven't seen a June bug for a long time. They usually came before June and stayed most of the summer so I'm not sure why they were called June bugs. I remember hearing them buzzing around and I guess bouncing off things. They made a big 'pop' when they hit something.

Then there were the oats bugs. These little black bugs used to be everywhere in the summer but have been gone for a long time. They were small enough to come in to the house through the screens. I don't remember them ever flying. They just sort of 'infiltrated' everywhere. I remember them in the butter - yes back then we had real, honest-to-God butter and it sat out all the time and so was very soft. The bugs got caught in it. Every fall we would take all the pictures down from the walls and remove all the oats bugs that had worked their way behind the glass. As I said, they were every place - even on us. And in pre-air conditioning times, they stuck to our sweaty bodies. Ok, now I've grossed you out so I'll quit. But it's just another indication of how much things have changed 'down on the farm'!!!

WIP to finished shawl

Well, I had wanted to put a picture of the unfinished shawl on top and the finished shawl below the text. But after 2 attempts, I'm going to let it go where Google in its infinite wisdom thinks it should go. By the time I figure it out, I'll be too old to fix it!

The lower picture is a recent WIP (work in progress). It is a teal shawl made in fingering yarn. It shows the white yarn I used to mark the increases on each row. Sadly, it also shows the strap of my camera :-( The top picture shows the FO (finished object). The basic pattern is Doris Chan's All Shawl but I didn't make it a complete circle and I added the three bands of openwork. It is shaped like a pie with a couple of slices missing. I like that shape because I think it stays in place better than most triangular shawls. I am pleased with the finished product. It measures 27" deep.

More crochet

I've made a (however belated) New's Year Resolution. Beginning with June, I will post more frequently - I promise! Bob's doing much better now and I have been finishing up projects. I took pictures of the bedspread tonight but forgot to measure it. So I'll have to spread it out again - grrrr. This scarf is one of the projects I finished recently. I was just playing around with the stitch (lacet) and #20 thread. After blocking it, I think it might look cute with a big, floppy bow. I'll be posting it on Etsy soon.

Our 'new' Sheltie

This is Ceasar, the Sheltie who joined our family in September. He came into rescue in July, 2009. He had been shaved for some reason. This picture was taken shortly after he arrived. Now, (March, 2010) he has a full coat and thinks he's quite handsome (as do we!).

When you're ready to think about a new 4-legged family member, please think about a rescue rather than a breeder and especially in place of a pet store. Most dogs coming into rescue are already house-broken and beyond the chewing age and other puppy annoyances. No matter what breed you like, there is probably a rescue group who would love to help you find a new forever friend.

I finished the bedspread and will block it when the weather is better (will put it outside on a sheet to block). The teal shawl is almost done. I had a project in mind but abandoned it when I decided it was just beyond my mental capabilities. Since the stroke, I've not been able to follow a lot of directions and the pattern I wanted to do was just beyond my skills. So I dug out some UFO's (un-finished objects) and will try to get them ready for Etsy. I plan to start listing again after the first of the month.

Well, no pictures today. Just wanted to prove I was still alive. Since my last post, Bob's illness, surgery, the holidays, unending medical tests and chemo have pretty much put any idea of posting on a back burner. Right now Bob is in the hospital recovering from an infection so it's pretty quiet at home. The dogs realize something isn't right and are pretty subdued (most of the time).

I have to admit it has been a pretty productive winter for crocheting while waiting in doctor offices, hospital rooms, etc. I have finished 2 shawls - magenta and royal blue and a tablecloth that started as a doily and grew to be 54" square. There were several headbands as I worked out a pattern for my brother the cyclist. And I have almost finished a bedspread that I started 5 years ago - just a final row of single crochet around the perimeter. I started it our first winter in Arizona. After the first summer, it was big enough that I put it up during warm weather and only worked on it during the winter. Now I'm working on a teal shawl. It's far enough along that I'm already planning my next project. It gets to be a challenge to have things that are portable when I really don't 'do' little items very often (except requests from family).