What a weekend

I am going to try adding photos to this post, so this may have photos (I hope).

The weekend was fabulous. Kelly did graduate. It was glorious. There were 7(!) Valedictorians and Salutatorians. All gave speeches. That's a lot of talking. Kelly's band friends all yelled for her when she went across the stage.





Her dress was beautiful. It was a great idea to cut off a wedding gown. Here is the dress:

Then there were parades. The Catawba Memorial Day parade was Sunday. A beautiful blue sky day. It was perfect. The Springfield parade was Monday morning. The parade was done before the rain.



In other news, Ethan and Brandon, with Baylor's help, built a duck pen. The ducks are in today. They will be too small to put in the pen for about 3 weeks, but hopefully, we will get some meat on these ducks.

Oh, and Ethan and Brandon are growing tobacco for FFA. They came home with 15 plants last night. It should be interesting.

Graduation day

The day is finally here! Kelly is graduating tonight.

I have been asking her all week if she is sure she is graduating. She kept assuring me she was. Now the day is here. I am SSSSOOOOOOO EXCITED!

Commencement will be in the HPER center on Wittenberg's campus. Since I work in the Alumni office, she came in with me and went to practice this morning. I told her I wanted to take her, Robyn and Karalyn to lunch. They all came back and it was fun.

I introduced them to everyone that is actually here. Being a holiday weekend, there aren't many here.

We went to Mike & Rosy's for lunch. Robyn and Karalyn had never been to M&R. It was delicious as always.

Now they are all at home resting. Kelly has plans to go out for midnight bowling after graduation.

The robes they wear are cardinal (boys) and gold (girls). Kelly asked her principal what she should wear under the robe. He asked her to wear something light colored. Kelly does not do light colors. So she took Robyn and some others with her to the Goodwill store. We were there on Saturday and they had wedding dresses for $20. Well, she came home with one!

It is beautiful with an embroidered bodice. We cut off the bottom to tea length, put the original trim back on the bottom, took out the back zipper and added some lacing tabs. It looks great on her.

We don't have photos of the finished product yet, but it turned out great. Her friends will be so surprised.

Summer of Yarn Love swap

I need a swap like I need a hole in the head, but have always loved swapping with others.

I joined the Summer of Yarn Love swap! I think it will be exciting. It is such a great way to connect to others across the US! Kelly and I did a lot of swaps while she was in scouts...postcards, christmas ornaments, council patches. It was always fun. Now that she is out of scouts, this is a chance to continue this fun. I did the Wee Tiny Sock swap and it was a lot of fun.

So, here is my Summer of Yarn Love Q&A:

Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?
I am a knitter. I do not crochet, although my maternal grandmother spent hours trying to teach me. My paternal grandmother was a knitter as well. I was lucky enough to have a 4th grade teacher who taught a group of us to knit. My grandmother lived 300 miles away and once she found out I could knit, she stoked the fire by teaching a little more and sending me wool, scratchy, itchy wool.

Do you spin? What type of spinning?
I love the thought of spinning, but love creating wearables more. We live about 2 miles from a custom mill that specializes in alpaca and llama yarns. I would like to try dyeing sometime. The thought of creating custom colorways sounds like fun.

What are your favorite yarns/fibers? What are your least favorite yarns/fibers?
I love natural fibers or better man- made fibers. I usually use merino, bamboo and soy fibers. I would love to find some other plant based fibers, such as corn based. Oh, and I have some alpaca yarn that is scrumptious. It is brightly colored, soft as silk and wonderful to work with.
My least favorite is the old time wools that are scratchy and acrylics that are icky.

What are your favorite colors? What are your least favorite colors?
I love just about any color, depending on my mood. It seems I buy a lot of 'hot' colors, but like the cool ones. Anything goes, depending on the project.

Are there any yarns/brands that you are dying to work with but never have?
I would like to try different plant materials, but love to try local fibers. I always try to visit LYS that carry their own brands, just to have something a little different than what I can get at home. Colorways are different around the country, spins are different, and it makes life interesting.

What is/are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?
I love to knit socks and other items from sock yarn. I also like to work on other types of projects including sweaters, afghans, etc.

What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to work on this summer?
Currently I am working on a pair of socks for my daughter in a Wild Cherry colorway, an afghan in our high school colors (cardinal/gold/white) for an auction for our annual fundraiser. I am planning on starting my Christmas knitting by knitting each of my sisters and my mother a shawl in various yarns and would like to make a few shells to wear.

What is your favorite FO? (Post a pic if you would like.)
What is my favorite? I really do not have one. The ones I use the most are a pair of broadripple socks, my first pair, and a scarf I made to wear with my black coat. Although the scarf started as a dressy scarf, it is now a barn scarf, with bits of straw and hay embedded in it.

What is your oldest UFO?
OMG... you don't really want to know. If I dug around I could find an afghan I started 20 years ago. We moved several times and I just lost track of all the pieces.

Are there any techniques that you want to learn?
Lace knitting. I joined a Goddess Knits KAL for the summer. I would love to knit a beautiful lace shawl for Kelly, my daughter, and Morgan, Ethan's GF.

Are you on Ravlery? What's your ID?
Well, I am registered, but need to get some items posted. My ID is knitty78.

Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I love knitting socks. It's like magic. You go along in the tube, do some short rows and Viola! a sock is born. I wear an 8 1/2 shoe.

Do you collect anything?
Yarn, beads, crafty stuff. I love shells. I guess you could say I collect Christmas ornaments, but really we just have a lot of them. I am not a collector per se, just love memories associated with objects. Anything that reminds me of a friend is wonderful.

Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift?
I would love to have both, but since I don't, I go to my LYS and have her wind hanks for me.

Do you love sweets? What are your favorites?
Doesn't everyone? I love chocolate and caramel but try not to have too much. I have a tendency to overindulge. I heard once that M&Ms are the preferred candy of crafters.

What are your favorite scents?
I love natural scents: crisp linens, soft flowers, warm musk, that kind of scents.

Where do you keep your needles/hooks?
I keep them in a plastic tote with a lid. This way, I always know where they are and my dog cannot chew on them. He chewed a pair of circular 8's to chips! Was I mad, well a little, but he's a puppy and he has good taste. He loves the better needles and wool. How could I be mad at that?

Do you have a wishlist (Amazon, Etsy, etc?)
Not really

Having a birthday this summer?
No, my birthday is in October, the middle of football season

Are you allergic to anything??? Please let your pal know!
Does stupid people count? Oooh, that sounds so bad. No, I am not allergic to anything.

Well, this was fun and enlightening.

End of school year and what a great kid!

OK, I will admit it. I was worried that Kelly wasn't going to graduate. But it looks like she will. And even if she doesn't, let me just say she is the best kid in the world.

Tonight is the Band Banquet... her senior band banquet. And what is she doing? She is setting up the commons for this event right now.

Kelly called earlier and asked what she could do to help. I told her the consternation at the fact that no one was setting up. She cleaned the coolers and left to set up!

What a great kid. She just does what needs done.

So much in such a short amount of time

Well, what can I say, life has been hectic on the farm.

Let's see, Kelly and I went to see the always fun Yarn Harlot in Indy on the 29th. It was so much fun. We left Springfield around noon, visited Ewetopia in Troy. A nice little shop. VERY quiet, though. Then we moved on across 70 to Indianapolis. We stopped at Keepsake Fiber Arts

Keepsake is a cute shop. They have just about everything! A lot of goodies and I just couldn't make a decision. Kelly picked up some Cascade 220 in Green and Silver to make a Slytherian scarf. I hope she sticks with it!

I picked up some Cascade Heathers sock yarn in a deep peacock colorway. Lots of colors. Then there were two skeins of a beautiful german yarn in yellows, greens and browns. I reminds me of hay fields.

Then we were off to see the Harlot. Of course, Kelly in a bookstore is a thing to behold. She wanted to buy everything. We browsed, got our books for signing, then I waited patiently as Kelly browsed some more. I met some really interesting people while we were waiting.

Once the Harlot showed up, it was wonderful. She spoke for 90 minutes or more on such topics as 'Knitting makes you smarter' (Something about Beta, Alpha, Delta and Theta brain waves). 'Knitting makes you patient' (think about how you were before you knit! Now you know you have to be patient to achieve that wonderful product), and that people can be rude to you if you knit, but it's always best to have a snappy comeback.

Well, we got our books signed about 10:30, stopped at McD's for chicken nuggets for Kelly and then back home, arriving about 1 AM as predicted.

It was glorious!