Friday, September 29, 2006

Diggin' a Hole to China


There is a really big hole in my yard and Miss Wanda is the culprit.

For some reason, earlier this week, Wanda started to dig. The funny part is that it is right in one of my raised garden beds and if it were anyone else, dog or nephew, digging it, I'd be wild.

The thing is, Wanda seems to be having so much fun!

Can you see how fast she's digging!? Sometimes she gets so excited that she starts spinning around the hole while she's digging. Instead of being mad, I'm curious to see how deep she'll get it. So, very, very whipped for this dog.
In other news, there seems to be some kind of work going on at the house next door!

This place has been empty for the last nine years except when a bunch of shady people broke in and started to turn it into a crack house.

I'm hoping that it has been sold to someone who will actually turn it into a residence again. It would be nice to have neighbors and it has been sad, over the years, watching the place get more and more run down.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Cuteness Alert

On Tuesday evening, my sister Margaret and her family came down to celebrate our joint birthdays. I got some seriously cute pictures, too!
Here is my sister's family.



We think this may be the first picture anyone has gotten with all four of them together.
Here is Little Nephew with both his cousins.

He's so proud to be holding the baby all by himself!


Here's one with my mother and almost all of her grandchildren (Big Nephew had football practice).
I got another picture of my mother holding both her granddaughters. The expression on the baby's face just cracks me up. Mom had just pulled the binky out of her mouth to take the picture.
It was great evening. There was chinese food, cake and cuteness. What more can you ask for!
Tomorrow, we will hear about Wanda and the Hole to China she seems to be digging in my backyard.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Knit Out Wrap Up



Oh, so much to blog about! Now that the Knit Out is over, I feel like I’m getting my life back! Hooray!
First of all, the Knit Out went very well. Everyone who worked on it (you know who you are!) did such a great job. Mother Nature was also kind to us. After spending the week reading predictions of things like ‘severe thunderstorms’ and ‘damaging winds’, we got through the day with only one fallen tree branch (it hit someone on the shoulder. She was shaken but okay) and a few smatterings of raindrops. There was even a rainbow when we got home! I tried to take a picture of it but it didn’t come out very well.
Here are a few pictures from the day:

Here we see a roaming young knitter in her natural habitat


Here we have Phoebe, our Treasurer and Dave, our graphic designer modelling the volunteer and regular t-shirts. This is Susan, Knit Out volunteer, shop minder extraordinaire and third prize winner in the Knit Out scarf contest. We'll post a picture of her with her prize winning scarf later this week!

Sorry this picture is a little dark. It was hard to get a good picture in the tent.

And who was handling my shop table while I was busy? The Mind's Eye Yarns Official Booth Babes! I had a great team of enthusiastic volunteers lead by the trusty Patience of Finished Object fame also the Knit Out Secretary.

They did a great job and made quite an impression on everyone they met!

I love the Knit Out even though it is whole lot of work. We actually start preparations for it in late February, but it is really worth it. I especially like walking around seeing people knitting and crocheting everywhere I look. It just makes me happy.

When we got home from the Knit Out, this is what my shop looked like!


Thanks to my brother Jamie


it now looks like this,


which I can handle. I'll have it ready for the sale in no time. Sale, you say? What sale? Oh, that's my fall sale on cottons and cotton blends going on all this week. Don't miss it! I guarantee, the shop will look better than this by the time you get here.
So that’s all for now. I’m looking forward to returning to regularly scheduled blogging. My sister and her family came down last night for a visit and there was some serious cuteness going on. There will be pictures tomorrow!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Knit Out Central

All the pieces seem to be coming together for the Knit Out and most of them seem to be here at my shop! It's not Mind's Eye Yarns for the next two days, it's Knit Out Central. Take the front room:

(Wanda has kindly posed for scale.)

And the back room:


There's even stuff in the bathroom!

And don't even talk to me about the basement.

T-shirts, bags, yarn, needles, crochet hooks, programs, it's all here waiting for the big day and, can you believe, more will be showing up here later this afternoon! Fortunately, I have a team of lovely and talented volunteers descending here tomorrow to organize and pack all this stuff so that it will be waiting for you at the Knit Out on Sunday! I hope to see you all there and pray for good weather!!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Not Quite Firing on All Cylinders

Things are chugging along nicely with the Knit Out. I actually thought I wasn't that tired this week until I accidentally closed the shop an hour early yesterday! I closed at 6:00 instead of 7:00. Along around 6:30, I realized my error and opened back up for half an hour. I hope nobody came by. I'll never know, I guess.
Wanda is adjusting well to her crate. She spent her nights in one when she was at the Alliance for Animals so is used to one. It is a great load off my mind not to be worrying about her chewing a hole in my comforter (well, another hole) because she's PO'd that I'm out here with the knitting group and she can't join us. She just wants to be with me after all. She seems much calmer and does a lot less whining when she is in the crate so it is working out well for both of us.
Time to go watch a little TV with my dog! I'll try to post again soon.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Sorry for not posting

Remember when I refered to the Knit Out as The Thing That Ate My Life? Well, it is eating my life for all it is worth lately. I can't promise much in the way of blog posts until it is over.
I do have things to report like an actual finished object. The Zen Master's socks are finally done and I can already feel the fall sock jag coming on hard. Wanda has been extra naughty, so much so that I had to buy her a crate to be in during the day. Other than that, it's all Knit Out, all the time here at Chez Full Service. Hope you can come. I'll be wearing my tiara (I'll tell you all about the tiara in another post, promise).