Bubble Curtain

I have a few more rows of knitting to do on the last panel of the Bubble Curtain, but I thought I'd include pictures of the side that I have hanging. I noticed it doesn't look great in the pictures, but you get the idea. I used medium starch on these, but think that with the length I should have used a heavier starch (which I have on the other side).
You can see that the curtains want to curl in on the sides. I have remedied this by threading some little sticks and twigs in the holes--looks like I need another stick on the purple panel.
The sun comes through this nicely in the morning. There's enough shade to keep from getting the direct sunlight, but it doesn't make the room dark. You can see the lake out the window in one of the pictures. I didn't want to totally give up that view, but I wanted something to give a little protection from the sun.
In this last picture, you see the infamous beaver stick. That guy swam by our dock last night and I was ready to wrestle a stick away from him, but he wasn't carrying anything... just heading home from work, I guess.

Chair Sox

I'm thinking, depending on the apartment we find in London and the type of flooring it has, that I may make chair socks next. I first saw chair socks at the house of some friends--they had gotten them in Japan where they are common. I've been looking for a pattern, but I guess that isn't really necessary. A small tube sock would do. I've been looking for ideas and found a place that sells them here and some free patterns here and here.

I love the colorful sock yarn that's out there... something brown with a splash of color. Before we left Prague, a friend gave us a table that she had made when she lived in China. There are eight chairs (32 socks) so that's another never-ending project, but might be worth it. Will see what yarn I have in my stash that was sent in our shipment. I don't want to buy anything new unless I really need it.

Anyone out there have a nice chair sock pattern that they've seen?

Knitting Lowers Blood Pressure

So I read this once and heard that doctors were prescribing knitting to patients with high blood pressure; however, I had never actually met anyone who was knitting on a doctor's recommendation... until last week. I was buying a knitting magazine and the man behind the counter, probably in his 60s, told me that he was knitting his first sweater. I said something about how it was supposed to lower blood pressure and he said that's why he was doing it. He'd had five heart attacks, something about losing an artery (is that possible?) and blood pressure that was difficult to treat with medication. His doctor was at a loss, so told him to knit. He said so far so good. My blood pressure is so low I'm barely alive, but I don't know if it has anything to do with knitting. Hope the doctor doesn't tell me to quit knitting :)

M.I.A.

It's been weeks since I had time to write. We've had lots of visitors, I went to a conference in Memphis and then more visitors, so I haven't written and haven't even knitted much.

The first group of visitors were families that we knew from when we taught in Brazil. We've gotten together every year or two since the first of us left Brazil. It's so fun to get together with all of them, see how much the kids have grown and pick up where we left off like no time has passed at all. Here are the kids at the local ice cream store. We had ten kids and eight adults and lots of fun in the lake.

I then went to Oxford, Mississippi for a couple of days to visit a friend whom I've taught with in Prague. Visited Rowan Oak (Faulkner's home) and Ole Miss, saw where the first presidential debates will take place between Obama and McCain, attended a reading at a local bookstore by John Grisham's Writer in Residence for 2007-2008, Jack Pendarvis, met an actress who doesn't seem to remember many of the locals' names despite having lived there two years, saw the movie, "We are Wizards," which desperately needed to be edited more, and ate some great Southern cooking. Attended the Laptop Institute in Memphis, Tennessee where I heard lots of great speakers and did a little hour-long presentation on research and laptops. My friend always calls it the "Lap-dance Institute," but I won't go into the one wild night we had at the end of the conference.

Got home and then had my husband's family up at the lake the next day. They stayed several days and we enjoyed tubing, skiing, fishing, and toasting marshmallows. My in-laws even took the kids one night and the three couples got to go out to eat and have normal conversation, although even that is getting easier now that the kids are older and better able to entertain themselves. Everyone gives my mother-in-law a hard time about her family photos, which she insists on each year. There's only one photogenic family in the bunch (and we're not the one), so the rest of us sort of suffer through and end up looking like the poor relations when the Christmas card comes out, but it is fun to have the photos in the end. Here is the annual "self-timer" photo so everyone is there.

Knitting note: I'm on my last little panel for the curtain (at least with the yarn I have). I think I will need to buy more. Not sure I'll have this done before we leave as that is less than two weeks away. My husband was relaxing out at the dock last night when the beaver cruised by. He said that that brazen beaver came within feet of him, sort of gave him the triple stink eye and kept going. Asked if he was carrying a beaver stick for my second curtain rod, but hubby said no. Thought maybe hubby could have wrestled the beaver for it.
At the laptop institute I didn't knit. Saw two knitters, though. One woman was knitting a blue baby something but didn't have time to ask about it as my friend, who was presenting next, couldn't find the right sized dongle for her computer and needed my help. There was also a man knitting. My friend remembers him from when she attended two years ago.

Sad Day

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that we live this very transient life, moving around the world and working in different countries. The second country I worked in was Norway and there I met this great couple, Mike and Terri Hunziker. At that time they didn't have children, but they came in with me and I remember thinking how upbeat and positive they always were. I only stayed in Norway one year because I got married and the school didn't have a science opening for my husband, so we moved to Taiwan. Anyway, this is a very long way of saying, I moved and other than one visit to Washington where I hooked up with Mike and Terri, I hadn't seen them in years. However, Terri always kept in touch, so I got news from time to time. Our eldest children were born around the same time and I remember sharing new baby stories with her. After my father was diagnosed with lung cancer I got word that Terri, who had never smoked a day in her life nor had ever been around smokers, was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer just like my father. It was shocking not only because she had never smoked, but also because she was younger than I and had just given birth to her second son.

She was really an inspiration to me because she fought to get treatment and was a real advocate for herself and others in her situation. She lived with Stage 4 lung cancer for five years and despite setbacks, she didn't give up. It was very recently that an email came that said the doctors had told her she should meet with hospice workers to discuss her care. Yesterday there came word that Terri had died, July 4th. She was 45. I'm including Terri's website and an article about her because I think she can be an inspiration to others. Please send your thoughts and prayers to Terri's two young sons and her husband.

I guess my earlier point about my transient life was that it is comforting to see how despite not having seen Terri for years, we still managed to keep in touch and that she still had so many friends from her time in Norway.

Finished the Everlasting Bagstopper, again

My eldest wanted an Everlasting Bastopper bag in purple. I'd finished the bag two weeks ago, but didn't have the ribbon for the straps. Purple is not easy to match... I made this pattern for my other daughter before, but had knitted straps. I can see why the pattern does not call for knitted straps... they stretched out and now the bag is practically on the floor for her. I may go back and sew some ribbon on that bag as well. What is so funny about this bag that you see here is that because I sewed the ribbons on the outside of the bag (not hidden on the inside) I sewed an "X" through the square that I'd sewn to make it look a little more finished. When she saw it, my daughter kept screaming, "It's so professional! It's looks like a professional did it!" Takes so little to impress the naive.

Thought I'd show you the boat and boat lift that has been taking so much of my husband's time lately. He's very proud of his boat, which is quite funny because he's not like some guys with their toys. I think he's so impressed with it because it was a "deal" AND has a big motor. A big motor in and of itself wouldn't impress him. This monster boat lift (all steel, not aluminum, so you can guess the weight) is also his pride and joy. Again, it's all about the fact that he didn't pay much and could just fix it up to meet our needs. He's currently working on a swim raft for the kids. Took me weeks to track down empty barrels, but I finally found them and for a deal as well. When it's done I'll let you take a peek.

When I was on the lake today, there were all sorts of Blue Flag Irises in bloom. Not a great picture, but they were lovely.

Have a happy and safe July 4th, everyone!

Digging Through Years of Stuff

We're here for so little time over the summer... it would be fun just to play the entire time, but that never really happens. Yesterday I spent a few hours digging through all sorts of papers and stuff we've saved over the years with the idea that maybe we'd use it, need it, appreciate it sometime in the future. Sometime never came so we're packing it up for the church garage sale, for recycling and for the trash if all else fails. For many years I saved all the girls' school stuff (it was all so precious back then) and put it in bins to look at later. Later was yesterday and needless to say, we had a big bonfire yesterday and will recycle the rest. Saved a couple of the best things from each year. I'm sure in a year or two I'll throw more out. I've been much better the last two years ditching things as the kids bring them home. Anyway, still have too much stuff in those bins in the basement, but will continue to reduce. Finally feeling like we're making progress.

Followed a beaver for a quarter mile or so today with my youngest in the kayak. The wind was blowing so he couldn't smell us so we went undetected (or at least he didn't seem to care we were there).

Got the boat lift in yesterday and the boat will go in today. Wish us luck. My husband and his father spent hours trying to get this old boat lift to fit the boat--lots of welding, cutting of metal, pounding, painting... I only have to help when it comes to putting the thing in the water (which isn't really fun), but it did help that I picked up a wetsuit that fits. Much more comfortable.

Northland Knitting

The kids let me stop at two knitting stores on the way to St. Cloud. I enjoyed both, but they were both quite different. The first stop was in Pequot Lakes at a place called Unraveled (31069 Country Road 112). The owner seemed super friendly, but I didn't really take time to ask questions. She had a great selection of interesting yarns from different fibers--bamboo and corn, for example. She had a nice selection of magazines and the old magazines came buy 1, get 1 free, which is great for me because I'm never around during the year to get the magazines from fall and winter.

The second shop is in Baxter and after pulling into the parking lot, I almost didn't get out because it says, "Clothing" in large letters on the window, and "& yarn" sort of as an after thought. I figured they wouldn't really have much. Boy was I wrong. Sue, the owner, has a nice little store called Among the Pines (15670 Edgewood Dr.) Lots of great wool (she does a lot of felting) and lots of knitted and felted examples all over the store. Also lots of books and magazines for sale. The woman who helped me couldn't have been nicer and Sue, who was helping another customer, kept coming over and helping me decide how much yarn to buy. She was great in that she showed me how to combine yarns, so I wasn't buying just the expensive stuff, which was nice. (You can see my purchase being wound into balls--for felting a pillow for downstairs.) They said they have Tuesday night knitting club where people just stop in and knit. There were a couple of afghans that two women from the knitting night had finished (they were sharing yarn). Absolutely beautiful. Among the Pines didn't sell much of the specialty fibers that Unraveled had, but they certainly had a beautiful selection of fine wool. I'd highly recommend both stores--depending on your needs.

Finished another panel for my curtain fiasco. Bought some ribbon in St. Cloud. Started putting the pieces together, but ran out of the ribbon. Now I need to go back to St. Cloud and pick up more. That's the problem with living out in the middle of nowhere... I think it's looking okay. The panels aren't lining up as well as I'd like, but it should be fine. The point is to block out some of the direct sunlight in the morning so we can sleep past 5:30 a.m.