KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

Careful – long post and loads of pix.

First, thanks for all the concern. I feel much better. The fever went away on Thursday and my stomach is all better since the weekend. Thank goodness. I hate being sick. I am not a good patient and I am not patient. If I have to just lay around and sleep and feel all icky, I am not thrilled. But who is?

Let’s recap a bit.

I went to the probate court on Friday. Besides that my attorney screwed up a little bit and we had to redo the forms a little bit, everything went fine. Interestingly they want one of the witnesses to Irwin’s will to give a testimony that Irwin was of a sound mind, not pressured, knowing what he was signing etc. Which would not be a big deal, if the witnesses weren’t my bro in Germany and his wife. They were here on vacation in 2005 when Irwin and I signed our testaments and we used them to witness our signatures. So, thanks to modern technology, I emailed my bro the document, he signed and it’s already on its way back to me. I should get it back on Thursday and then I can run it by the probate court on Friday and hopefully the probate judge will rule quickly and I get the paperwork to execute Irwin’s estate.

Friday night I went to my favorite knitting group at Knitch. Stuart knitted a cute hat/scarf set for his mom. Meet Mrs. Stuart. ;-)

And I already had to go shopping for the Lucky Duck sale at Knitch which really didn’t start until Saturday… I got in trouble…

2 balls of Artyarns Silk Pearl for a scarf for Mom

Rowan handknit cotton for a baby blanket for a young gentleman called Nix ;-)
(wave at Megan!)

Saturday I met the girls for lunch – before going to the Peachtree Handspinners Guild meeting. I didn’t bring my spinning wheel, because of lacking spinning mojo at the moment. But that’s OK because you are allowed to knit at the meeting, too. ;-) The spinners are pretty generous. And they were really sweet. Lots of big hellos and a really nice talk with Annie. I love Annie – she is a very funny and fun to be with lady. Plus a great spinner and knitter. Jane and I decided we are to take a class with Annie at the John C. Campbell Folk School. I can’t wait – but I’ll have to until June 2009… Such a long wait. I always wanted to go and that is going to one of my treats for next year.

The class is spread out over a whole week and is called Appalachian Shawl: From the Pasture to the Pattern. Here is the class description:

The crafts of spinning and knitting were practiced in every mountain household. Join an incurable storyteller (ANNIE!!! – she said there will be a lot of language…) as she helps you see why many people now “want to”, when our ancestors “had to”. Take a sheep’s fleece and sort, wash, pick and card it, spin it on the great wheel, ply, reel, wind and knit it into a functional shawl like those worn by Appalachian women for generations. Students who can knit and purl will gain the most from this class.

So, that is going to be one of my highlights for 2009. Plus going there with Jane is fabulous!

I snapped Famous Steve spinning on his manly wheel.

It’s looking very good Mr. Steve! I also had to buy some hand-dyed roving from Gale's Art. That is what Gale's potluck dye looks like… Such wonderful colors – and she calls it potluck…

Hopefully the spinning mojo will be back soon and I feel like spinning again. On the other hand, I have so many knitting projects I need to finish… Maybe it’s a good thing that only the knitting mojo is back.

On Sunday I went to Knitch with Pixie, Jacquie and Jessica, Jacquie's lovely daughter. We had a great afternoon. I made another batch of Batman Brownies and shopped until my credit card caught fire…

A scarf ring for Mom to go with her silk scarf

Rowan 4 ply cotton for new pillow covers for the new sofa

And three grab bags with highly insane reduced prices on gorgeous yarn. The bags were so supposed to hide the yarn. So you wouldn’t know what was in your bag. But some people just peeked in the bags… People… I didn’t, but I tried to figure out by touching and squeezing… OK, that is questionable, too…

I scored grab bags with really great yarn - even without peeking:

A bunch of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton

Alchemy Sanctuary – it is as soft as it looks! I swear!

And more Alchemy Sanctuary – still super yummy soft…

Today I stayed home to wait for strong Swedish men (wishfully thinking…) to deliver my IKEA sofas and bed. Remember, I had to be home from 08:00am to 08:00pm because I live on Mars… Well, it’s just north of Atlanta, but I guess for some people it is Mars.

So, to make my day go by faster and help with assembling the furniture, Jacquie and Jessica came by to keep me company. And a little later, Pixie and her baby girl came to visit and pick up my test knit. GUYS – YOU NEED TO BUY HER NEW PATTERN ONCE IT IS OUT!!! It is freakin’ adorable and super cool to knit!

Here are a few pix of Ms. Sydney modeling my next pattern to be published. I give you the Sheepish Bib.

Sydney and I had a lot of fun modeling. I just love babies. Pixie, sorry for showing off your beautiful girl! ;-) Usually you can find Sydney modeling over here.

The guys (not Swedish but good ole Southern boys) showed up at 4pm… It took Jessica, Jacquie, Greg and me until 6:30pm to put everything together. So, let’s continue with the modeling.

Meet the Karlstads – a perfect knitting sofa family.

Jacquie and I – the new love seat

Jessica on the knitting chaise – the face sure looks like a knitting problem…

And three knitters all tangled on the chaise…

Love you guys (including Greg who took the pictures) – you made my day with helping me with the furniture!!! What would I do without you?

And here is a peek into the bedroom. Meet Lillesand - I always wanted such a bed with a metal frame.

The bedroom is very bare besides the new bed. It got stripped of all the memories and desperately needs a new face. I am working on it. I have a bunch of ideas. I am going to sleep in my new bed tonight. The last time I slept in this room was in April before I left for Germany…

We’ll see how it goes. I bought Melatonin today to help me sleep. It is late and I going to try now. The laptop is coming with me for some sleeping aide. And I am hoping that the thunder outside will turn into a soothing rainstorm.

Have a good week – stay tuned for more…