end of 2007 ... a very good year!

Character...

IOWA CITY!

from the Yahoo homepage today...

http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/best_cities_to_educate_your_child.html

...4. College Town
Colleges and universities are great white-collar employers. In fact, there is a big connection between research-oriented universities and healthy economies. Two historic examples are Stanford University's boost to the growth of Silicon Valley high-tech enterprises in San Jose and the Bay Area, and MIT's faculty and alumni, who started electronics firms along Route 128 outside Boston.
Any place can be a college town if it has at least one institution of higher education.But if you weight each person attending local colleges by the number of years needed to get the highest degree offered (that is, associate of arts enrollment is weighted by two, bachelor degree enrollment by four, master's degree enrollment by six and doctoral enrollment by nine), you come up with a wide range of numbers.
Places like College Station-Bryan, Texas; Iowa City, Iowa; Lawrence, Kan.; and Columbia, Mo., come out very high on this criterion. Alas, there's only one game in town in Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University), in College Station-Bryan (Texas A&M), in Lawrence (University of Kansas) and in Columbia (University of Missouri). Something else is needed to reward higher-education variety.

The Interview with GOD...

If you need something beautiful and meaningful to watch click on the link below...
http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/
and then send it to your special friends...I received this from one of my special cousins... Sharon!

I've just 'elf'd myself!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1132840560

This is soooo much fun to send to your friends!! Make one for yourself to spread some holiday joy!

Christmas Nativity in knit!

Look what I found! A miniature Christmas nativity set to knit at
http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/











Mr/Mrs Claus!










knitted Tea Party set!







Coco & Greta @ G'ma's 'Beary' Tea Party house!









knitted tea party treats!










baby's 1st Christmas sock!









Christmas sock ornaments!










and thimbles and buttons galore at http://www.buttondrawer.com/

Little Sheep Yoke Cardigan!

I am browsing this morning waiting for the IOWA Hawkeyes to play...and look what I've found...!!!!

http://lookingglassknits.blogspot.com/2007/10/sheep-yoke-baby-cardigan-pattern.html

I absolutely love this and am going to make it! The sheep are just darling! I've started collecting a few sheep ornaments since I'm knitting more than quilting. Thanks to Jen for this pattern on her blog.

Go HAWKS!! The Hawks were victorious and the 'pig' has been returned to IOWA from Minnesota!!

Also, the Regina Regals were victorious and proceed farther into the state semifinals!!

I just read a very interesting article on the Lion Brand Yarn site from a woman who lives here in Iowa City and knits for veterans!

http://www.michelledwards.com/

Volunteering @ Regina!

I went to the annual Carver-Hawkeye craft bazaar w/Susan- bought 'knit' Santa #3!! Since I knit more now, I'm always looking for Santas who KNIT!!!! I still want to take some old sweaters and make Christmas stockings from them-I love recycling! I'm volunteering now @ Regina HS to help the counselor w/filing. It is one of those jobs that needs to be done, takes a lot of time and always gets 'put on the back burner'...plus some typing when it comes up. She emailed me that just knowing I'm helping do some things she doesn't have time for has relieved some of her stress, both mentally and physically. That makes ME feel great!

Completed projects ~ Oct 07

Greta models knit jumper Nov 7'07 @ G'ma's house!
Sirdar 3009 lacey baby sweater/bonnet Bernat Softee Baby (db strand) newborn-3mo for Sheri Roggy (my eyeDr)
Knitting Pure & Simple
Collared Topdown Bolero
Acrylic worsted rust
(2T)
Coco's pink ruffle heart sweater Oct 07
4T
Coco's Monet watercolor ruffled heart sweater Oct 07
4T
'Emma's' lacey jumper pattern for Greta's birthday Oct 07
Joanna's Poncho pattern
9-12 mo
acrylic worsted
"hawkeye" garter-ridge for Coco Sept 07

Halloween Haunts!!!

'The Headless Horseman' & 'Sumo Guy' are enjoying the parade of fun(& scary!) costumes at the elementary Halloween parade! (just 2 of my g'sons!)

Long time...

I can't beleive it's been a month (30 days!) since I last posted! I guess the passing of my favorite tenor saddened me more than I knew...
I am still 'knitting daily' but also doing a few 'jobs' for friends/relatives...(1)will post pic of my g'dog's 1st sweater when I get one from her 'mom' since I forgot to take it myself. (2)I also mended Zoey's (g'dog) toys that she has chewed/played with plus (3)hemmed up a couple of 'hawkeye' scarves for her! (4)I revamped some bedroom drapes and (5)quilted a wallhanging for my son-in-law's mom that she had pieced, (6)sent some baby sweaters to my sis in VA, (7)finishing up a 2nd sweater (pink, ruffled heart) for Coco ((8)after a Monet ruffled heart one for Greta & (9)Monet raglan for Coco), )10)restocked my yarn supply yesterday (yes, I was lucky and even got it on sale!) - 13 in color, 5 black and (11)delivered a cream BSJ w/antique buttons to a friend for her little baby girl!! (12)I'm also trying to finish up a few flannel patchwork quilts for ThePreemieProject from scraps I was given. (The machine quilting is getting much harder on my wrists! I don't do much quilting anymore because of that) and (13)green lace knitted jumper for Greta's birthday. So I think this is why I haven't been blogging much this past 30 days!! lol

Pavarotti passes...

Luciano Pavarotti ...

my favorite tenor...I LOVED the '3 Tenors' when I first heard them while on tour in Italy (the bus driver played their music as we entered Italy in 1990--1st tour in '85)
more photos: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_en_mu/pavarotti

CB balloons-cemetary-BLACK BEAR!-museum

Baby Sweater collection

SOCKS!!!

African Fav!

I have a CD of Angelique Kidjo and simply LOVE it!! very rhythmic and African!!



http://music.yahoo.com/ar-254179-bio--Angelique-Kidjo

Summer Baseball '07

Cool Slideshows!

Mtn morning!! & knitting...

Cool Slideshows!

Crested Butte ART FESTIVAL - Aug 07

Cool Slideshows!

Mt.Crested Butte summer vacation Aug '07

Cool Slideshows!

Relaxxxxing on the Mtn!!

this is day 3 of my vacation on the mtn~~i've finished baby sweater #2! altho i haven't gone out taking pics of the beautiful scenery, i'm enjoying it tremendously up here on the mtn! i've just found an interesting article re: knitting socks for diabetics, of which my husband is one.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer07/FEATdiabeticfeet.html
it is very informative...my husband just ordered some new diabetic socks on the web before we came here...they seem to be fitting ok. it is something i will seriously look into in the future~~ when i figure out how to adjust a sock pattern. i'm going to try knitting some socks for my g'kids this month...we'll see how those progress!
i've also decided to put any pics this month onto a photowheel...i really like its format--includes short captions so the viewer will know a little bit about the pic.
we're going the Crested Butte Arts Festival tomorrow on Elk Avenue (main st)... the street is lined with artists' booths...i'll try to get some pics, esp the Santa booth, of which i bought (2 yrs ago) a Santa's teddy bear workbench (since i've made lots of teddies!) it cost, but i love it!
well, until the next post... TTYL...

Columbine At Mt.Crested Butte!

This is Crested Butte in the winter! Nestled down in a valley! It is an old 1800's mining town, reburbished with a ski resort up on Mt. Crested Butte mountain! We just arrived this afternoon and checked into our Columbine condo for the month of August! It is the highest and oldest condo building on the mountain. We are in the end unit right next to the ski lift! and also have side windows where we can view the peak everyday! Hummingbirds dart, chipmunks scurry and wild flowers abound!! And the weather...it is gorgeous!! cool and breezy that make the aspen leaves glitter in the sun!! The top of the aspen tree is right next to the front window! I love it here!! especially at night...looking down at the lights of both towns down the mountain! So long--hot, humid weather back in IOWA!! I will miss my neighbors, family and friends, but NOT the weather!! Oh, yes, we get WGN here so can keep up on some of the CUBS games! They are doing so well...1 game out of 1st!! Stay tuned for more of one of the Greatest Places on Earth!! COLORADO!!
ps: we had the door open and a little bird flew in & visited for a time tonight!!

6 Fairisles FINISHED!!!

all 6 Fairisles finished!!

Greta and Charlotte's

Ethan (Regina baseball) and Evan's (Dallas Cowboys)

Sam (Iowa Hawkeyes) and Henry's PGA Golfer

Regina baseball Fairisle!

i finished Ethan's Regina baseball stocking last night!

~~~frogged the toe (Fri) and added some baseballs...still don't like the toe...may frog it again...post when i'm satisfied!!

Deck tomato!

i'm going to have tomatoes for my salad!!

Paris cemetary...

New questions about Jim Morrison's death

"Jim Morrison, rock singer, was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a small ceremony without fanfare, on July 7, 1971. No autopsy was ever performed"

this was from an article this morning on Yahoo homepage re: Jim Morrison's death, 36 yrs ago. i pulled this quote from it only because while my husband & i were on a tour in Paris in the '80's, i went on a walking tour and the guide took us to the same cemetery gate where Morrison is buried!! we could not go in. it was, in my mind's recollection, a very dismal-looking cemetery, old and dark. i've always remembered that i was at the gate of Jim Morrison's final resting place!!

Coco's Fairisle finished!!

I finished g'daughter Charlotte's Fairisle Christmas stocking today !! I did several designs before deciding on this... I love the overall pattern and using only 2 colors!! She requested only blue & yellow which are Regina's colors too! 4 more to go!!

Do you remember the pic on the right side of pictures in blue & white? That was one of my goals ...to knit in Fairisle color!!