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How 'bout some coffee?

My early mornings have a comfortable routine: dogs get up, dogs get me up, we make coffee and then some of us inspect the backyard minutely. Then the coffee's ready, and we all sit down to see what Wendy's doing.

It's a nice way to start the day. What could make it nicer? Well . . . take a look at what the mailperson brought yesterday:

Here, have a closer look, why don't you?

Cool! Having coffee with Wendy! L-B has one, too. Cheers, L-B! and Cheers, Wendy!

The mailperson also delivered my new Dale of Norway books from Bea Ellis , #126 and a replacement copy of #109, because I drooled over Frogner too much with my first copy. The #109 has lots of Daletta patterns in it, and that just happens to be Bea's July Yarn-o-the-Month. Skinny yarn, I love ya.

Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon starts today; Good Wool Hunting, attendees!

Let's see . . . what else is new? Oh, I almost forgot...it's RAINING again.

Have an excellent weekend, everyone; I'll see you Monday!

Bored

Things are a bit slow here on the knitting front, but progress is being made. I believe I've moaned about the weather quite enough. I can only hope there is nothing growing under my knitting basket like in Teresa and C's garden (see T's June 15 article). Ewww.

I'm working on an especially boring database at work and it seems to be sapping my energy! Yesterday I was so bored I actually watched the corncam in Iowa. Where is Iowa, anyway? And what else do they do there? Then I played this challenging online word game until I felt quite stupid. Only six out of 10 right as my best score...I think I need to change jobs. But wait, I am! July 3 is my last day at current gig, and so I'm wondering what will come next in my career. I hope I like it.

I've ordered an amazing book of Ukrainian Embroidery with amazing charted designs; I'm thinking of using some of the charts in a Giant Ukrainian Motif Vest once the Giant Latvian Mitten is finished. I'll show you a picture once it arrives from the bookstore.

Hey! Waitaminnit! It's Thursday! That means it's almost Friday! Yessss!!! I feel better! I think I'll head over to Anne's blog and talk Margery Kempe-talk until tomorrow. Hope you find something equally wonderful to do today!
Della sends you a kiss.

Wednesday

Ack! More rain! And it's chilly here, too. A weather report just to highlight how pleasant it is to have some nice wooly knitting to do. Here's some progress on the Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan, nice wooly knitting indeed!

Just a few more inches and I'm up to the armholes and neck shaping. I think the neck and shoulders of this are going to be very pretty, since it can be arranged that the shaping follows the diamond pattern. There's a new technique for me to try, too, which is knitting up the sleeves in pattern. This creates something called the Uninterrupted Motif, in which the two opposing directions of the body and the joined arms are one continuous stream of in-pattern beauty. Cool! I'm looking forward to that part! One of the best parts of knitting for me is learning something new, and with the colorwork designs lately, I've learned quite a bit.

Pup News

None. They've gone back to bed in a rather dispirited manner after realizing that it was pouring outside once again. Hmmm. Not a bad idea. Excuse me, won't you? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh! And have a good day!

Spinning News

My excellent guild is creating a special project for one of our best-loved members. From MDSW 2003, we bought 13 colors of Border Leicester/Mohair roving ranging from
purples/blues to greens and yellows to orange and red along with some variegated. Guild members have been merrily spinning these up, and last night, the skeins got together for the first time at our monthly meeting. Have a look:

Pretty! These colors will be the warp of the afghan
with a beautiful gray alpaca for the weft. We spent some time arranging colors and tentatively settled on this arrangement, but it was a tough choice!

Aren't we a spinning bunch? The afghan will be very special, as befits our dear recipient.

Subscription News

The Summer issue of Pine Meadow Knitting News is out, and there's a very cute little butterfly bag pattern in it, a duck hat and booties for babies, plus a sampler afghan and a lacy scarf knitted on the bias, plus news of organizations that need some knitted items. Good job, Joan Hamer!

Crummy News

My phone number doesn't spell anything interesting. Does yours? Check and see!

Have a good Tuesday!

So!

How was your weekend? We had an easy one here, with plenty of time to relax.

I easily managed to fit some knitting-time in, and here's a progress photo:

Isn't it working out beautifully? The more I knit, the more I love the color combination and design. I love the silvery gray with the rusty reds! And I'm crazy about the big swirly rose-in-a-diamond motif. Let's take a closer look!

WOW! It's fabulous!

A Birthday

It's the Astronomy Picture of the Day's eighth birthday! Over 100 million space images served!
Thanks, APOD! Quick, let's make them some celebratory cocktail-weiner art! (photo courtesy of Nippon Meat Packers, Inc.)

Happy Monday, everyone. Have a wonderful day!