Thank you Mr. Postman

Hi Cindy,

I have been receiving some fun and informative stuff in the mail lately. Last Wednesday the latest copy of Craft arrived and they have a big section on weaving, including a small paper loom insert and directions to make your own portable loom. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

The next day KnitCircus #3 arrived. It looks so professional but I missed a book or item review by you. I guess you're too busy working on other things. ;) On Sunday I knit the Cycloswatch as a wrist cuff. I used a wonderful silk that I got at Knit1-Bead 2 in Jerome about a year and a half ago. If you and the family make it out here one of these days it is definitely one of the stores we will visit! I'm using a couple of beads for the closure but they're a little small so I've got to dig through my buttons to see if anything else works. I got the little charms at Big Lots a couple of months ago. They had containers of mixed beads for cheap and some of them were really nice.

On Friday the package you sent arrived. The DVD looks great and I can't wait to try it out. I'm going to preview it first and may make DH try it, he's looking for something to strengthen his legs for long duration sitting. Thank you also to your DS for the Louisa Harding pattern book. There are a couple of patterns in it that I may try one of these days and they are all really beautiful.

The most anticipated package came on Monday while I was home sick with a headache. I don't know if you got to browse the Interweave Damaged Book Sale a few weeks ago but I picked up a couple of the books that I've been wanting and one or two that I couldn't resist. I have one book that I ended up with a duplicate on. The cart function was a little slow and clunky and I some how got 2 of it in my cart. I think that it may become a birthday present soon. Can you guess which one and who the lucky recipient will be?


We didn't get any of the rain over the weekend from Hurricane Dolly. It all went to New Mexico instead and Ruidoso almost got washed away. In fact one person was washed away in the flooding.

I'll close this off and say "Good Night!" Take care, A

Guess what I did!

Hi Cindy,

After weeks of knitting items to contain or dry my long hair I went and did this on Saturday. The hair was starting to drive me crazy. It seemed like it was always in my face even if I had it back in a pony tail. And it was always in my way during yoga, not matter what I tried. I found a picture of me from some time in the mid-90's with my hair in a similar style and decided to take it in to show them. It turned out some what shorter than I might have wanted but it will grow so no harm done. I've tried some downward dog and it seems to stay out of my face pretty well. It is long enough that can put it in a scrunchy if I need to. The stylist cut it before perming and I would have had it bundled for Lock of Love but they only want un-dyed hair. That is the next question for me, to quit dying it and go natural or stay addicted to the bottle. There is quite a discussion thread on the Ravelry Vintage Bitches board about this subject.

There are two things that Margi loves: the camera and looking at herself in the mirror. Here she combines both.


It looks like we might get some rain this weekend from the hurricane hitting Texas/Mexico today. If we get a good storm I'm sure I'll have pictures.

Take care, A

(UFO)lympic Training

Hi Cindy!

I was going through pictures earlier today looking for some from the Chiricahua Mountains. We've taken 3 trips down there over the years and are planning another camping trip in about a month. It is the 17th Anniversary of the first backpack trip DH and I took together. I had no luck finding any pictures but I did have a good time looking through the rest and came across this picture of a younger you when you visited and we went to the Grand Canyon. What a fun trip! Hopefully your family can come out to visit someday and we can take a similar trip. How about Zion or Bryce? The picture was only about 3 weeks after the aforementioned backpack trip.


I have decided that I will compete in the UFOlympics on Ravelry. Saturday is the last day to join the group and the last day to declare your chosen competition is next week Saturday. Training is allowed until that last day of declaration. I am going to work on the Cobblestone Sweater for DH. I started it several months ago and have worked on it occassionally since. I picked it up again this afternoon to do a little training and in the few hours I worked it tonight I finished another inch or two. I have about 8 inches done on the body with another 10 inches to go before it is time to start the sleeves. If I can get a good portion of the chest done before the rest period I stand a good chance of finishing. This is about the biggest item I've attempted. Wish me luck!

To finish off, here are two recent FO's. The first is a hair-drying hat I finished recently. You may recognize the yarn; it is the white cotton you sent for my birthday the first year I started knitting. I tripled the yarn and really love the texture of the hat. I need to add an additional button on the flap so I can tighten it so it will stay. I added the loop for hanging so it dries quickly when I'm done with it.

The second is a snood I made. It is in dark grey cotton ease (Lion Brand) using the same stitch pattern I've been stuck on for the last two months; YO-K2TOG one round, knit the next. It gives a great, simple lacy affect. CG at work thinks it looks a lot like crochet. What do you think?

Guess I'd better close this and head off to bed. Take care, more soon, A

Monsoon Madness

Hi Cindy!

We had quite a monsoon storm yesterday afternoon, as you can see from the video below.

We had just taken the garbage out when the rain arrived. The deluge kept up for over an hour and the weather service estimates that Tempe, and locales adjacent, got approximately 2.4 inches. Much of the rest of the valley got less than an inch.

Our street was flooded up to my ankles when I walked out to the gutter. Hardy Drive, the bigger street at the end of our block, looked like it had turned into a raging river. A couple of cars drove down our street and turned around because they didn't dare cross the flood.

Our front yard flooded but that's not too uncommon. Our back yard also flooded and the pool came within an inch of overtopping. The bird bath is almost 2 inches deep and was overflowing in no time. The best part is that the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees as the storm moved in.

The rain came down so hard and so quickly that it over took the pumps along the low part of the Superstition Freeway near our house. ADOT ended up closing it in both directions for about 3 hours before they could get the water drained.

Many of our city parks have retention basins in them to collect the runoff from big storms. The picture below is Hanger Park, some where in Tempe. Nothing like paddling through the play area in your canoe! The picture above and below are ones that were sent in by readers at AzCentral.

No FO's today as the weather excited me too much. Did you see that the World's Oldest Blogger passed away over the weekend? She was 108 and had written her last blog entry about three weeks ago.

Take care, more soon! A

Take me out to the ball game

Hi Alene, Here are some pictures from the July 9 Milwaukee Brewers Stitch & Pitch event at Miller Park (you don't know how many times I had to stop myself from saying County Stadium :D ). DS and I had a great time. First time to Miller Park for both of us. Colorado Rockies won 8-3. I knit on my "Big Rectangle," as I jokingly call my Sonoma Mtn. Wrap. DS brought his knitting but didn't do any. He liked when I showed it off however. ;)
Crafting away on new designs and things for fall classes, love, Cindy

Fireworks & FO's

Hi Cindy!

Happy Belated 4th! It was hot, Hot, HOT here!

How goes the Tour d'Fleece? I thought about doing it but still am unhappy with the last couple of Tour d'Frances and am not ready to commit to something associated with it. I am, however, considering the Summer Knitting Olympics or perhaps the UFOlympics. I will probably do the latter and push to finish DH's sweater.

Here are a few pictures of the fireworks display in downtown Tempe. We sat on the median on Rio Salado Drive, just east of Mill Ave, so these pictures are 90 degrees from what we saw. The median was hot and uncomfortable but at least we could sit through them, not have to stand the entire time. The display started about 20 minutes late but ran for about 45 minutes and was quite a show.
(above & below: looking east along Tempe Town Lake)

Here is my MIL in the poncho I knit her for her birthday. The yarn was a merino-acrylic blend that I got at Tuesday Morning. It took around 3 full balls although I had to use parts of 4 balls. The first two had a regular transition between colors but the second two balls had a different color sequence so I had to piece the colors in. I have enough left over that I'm making her a neckwarmer that will button using the stitch pattern from Yarn Harlot's Simple 1 row scarf.

At my old position at the other state agency I didn't have to wear my ID badge or even carry it all the time. At my new place I don't have to really wear it but I do have an access card that gets me to my floor and I need to carry it all the time. I'd been ruminating on making a small bag to carry it in for quite a while rather than wearing the plastic holder all the time. Here is my creation. It is another yarn that I picked up at Tuesday Morning. It is basically the same pattern as the Soap Sock I've made a couple of times recently. I added the flap and I-cord neck strap to make it a little more useful. The only problem is that the yarn is actually pretty scratchy. It is a linen-acrylic-cotton blend. I added the small padded section to keep the scratchiness away from my neck. I used the green bead as a closure and then added the second bead for decoration. I've started another id bag in a ribbon yarn, although that may go to DH's co-worker.

More pictures soon of DH's hat and other FO's (I hope)

A