I am so excited!

DD1 called me yesterday to say she is engaged! I am so excited!



No longer DD1SO, he is now fDSIL (future dear son-in-law). That is future SIL, he is already a dear. One of the hardest decisions for the reception is easy, since he works in a restaurant, they can have the reception there.

I have been knitting

I have completed a couple of things that I haven't shown yet. Here are a pair of mittens for my cousin. They are knit with linen stitch. I loved making them so much I decided to make mittens for myself as well (trying fair isle knitting). I hope she likes them. They are not quite the same size.



I started this shrug while I was on vacation in Iowa; it was good for knitting on while visiting. I like how it turned out. I wear it most mornings now that the house is chilly in the morning. It is an "at home" outfit, not for going out, even though I saw a character on TV wearing one very similar. (She was an information officer, not a fashionista.)



Several friends in my knitting group made this scarf, and one member had purchased the yarn and started it, but got frustrated. Each medallion is knitted from the outside to the center with 4 double-pointed needles. You pick up stitches from finished work so there is no sewing together when you are done, but in process it is a prickly twisted crumpled mess. It turned out pretty, though, didn't it?



These are not my colors, so I didn't want to keep it. I attempted to give it to the person who had given me the yarn, but she would not accept it. Someone else in the group was happy to take it, though.

Now I am working on slipper socks for my dad, and they are frustrating me. The only pattern I could find that might fit him* is felted, so you cannot tell as you go if they will be right or not. I am so glad someone asked me for knitting, so I really want them to turn out.

(He wears a size 12, but 13s feel so good he usually buys 14s. His joke, not mine.) 

I am trying to be good and not start something new until the slippers and the blue entrelac scarf are done...

Around the house

There are all kinds of things going on around the house.

P is starting beginner band, doing percussion. (Grandpa is so proud!) Here they are finding out what music looks like written down.



We are getting a new porch! This is the view out of the front door. That first step is a doozy.



This was in the back yard on Monday. The bird was moving so fast I was not able to get a non-blurry picture. The bird book says it is a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I had never seen one before! Just gorgeous, and doing such a good job of eating insects out of the tree.

Guild Show

Sorry to be missing last week. I was a little busy, preparing for and setting up our guild show. It actually went very well.



This is what it looked like early in the week. I framed 5 items, and collected everything I could think of that we might need in setting up the show; the frames and s-hooks, of course, but also tape, scissors, wire, wire cutters, pens, numbers for the opportunity drawing baskets, picture wire, hammer, screw driver (that one I didn't use), and on and on. I was fretting a little bit, and having trouble sleeping, but everything came together fine.

Here are some additional pictures of our displays:





Here are the opportunity drawing baskets. I won one! (I felt so guilty.) I will let you know how those did, I still haven't heard.



I spent 7 hours at the venue over the 3 days (Friday set-up, Saturday and Sunday, show and tear-down), and I think I sat down for 5 minutes during that whole time. I went to bed at 9 PM last night! I am very proud of our display, and of our guild, though. We do good work!

Our display was in conjunction with one quilt guild, and another guild had a show less than 5 miles away. DH came to both with me on Saturday. (I have said it before, and say it again, he is a keeper.)

We also bought a new washer and dryer on Saturday... that will be delivered on Wednesday. It was a busy day.

As you can see, I found my camera. It had fallen into a knitting bag of a project that was not active. As soon as I picked up that project, I found it. (I knew it would show up!)