Yarn to Knit

Columbus Knitters' Lee County Fiber Quest

2011-08-21T21:07:00.003-04:00

Recently we learned that there were new yarn stores in Auburn and Opelika, so we planned what we call a "yarn store field trip." Yesterday was the day. We had such fun! My favorite barbecue place is in Auburn and my friends indulged me lunch there. Thankfully they enjoyed it, too. We met the nice yarn store owners, bought a lot of yarn, ate good food, bought some more yarn, got to see our student from last year who is now a freshman at Auburn University, and enjoyed our journey there and back together. I love my knitsters! Please press the "play" button below to see my photos.

One more thing

2011-08-17T01:17:00.004-04:00

In my update the other day, I left out a trip I took to Atlanta with my friends Karen and Ellen on August 6th to celebrate Karen's birthday. It was my first visit to Cheesecake Factory and their first visit to IKEA. Click the photos for more info.

Catching Up

2011-08-14T22:55:00.011-04:00

Dang, it's been a long time since I did a "here's what up" post. (Click the links or the photos for more info or more photos.) Here goes:

I spent Memorial Day Weekend in South Carolina with friends

and family

In June the Knitting Group observed Worldwide Knit in Public Week with (click for the photos) a series of events. Great fun was had by all!

I went to the National Infantry Museum July 4th weekend.

I saw fireworks on the Fourth.

I saw my friend Katy play her first featured gig.

I went to my high school reunion later in July.

My friend Cindy and I went to a concert by the group Truth. We followed them for years until they stopped touring nine years ago. We were at their farewell concert in 2002 and now they are doing a reunion tour and we were at the first concert on that tour. It was so nice to hear the old songs again.

My friend Alice had a birthday party.

I started back teaching two-year-old Sunday School after taking a break with the Crawler class last year.

This is my new class who moved up last week:

I saw the group The Landsharks at the Phenix City Amphitheater last night. It was a fun party!

I've also been knitting:

Okay, I know that was a fast summer, but now I won't feel like I have so much to say to get caught up that it's overwhelming and I won't feel like I have time to blog.

Here I Go Again

2011-07-27T23:17:00.004-04:00

I know I don't blog like I should. I apologize to those of you who follow me. I wanted to let you know that I'm doing another 365 project where I take a photo every day and post them to my flickr page. Please go and check my photos out. Leave a comment on the ones you like. If it won't let you sign in to flickr (say, if you don't have an account?), you can leave a comment here telling me which one's your favorite. I'll take to check in here more often. (I know...you've heard that song before.)

...And though my heart is torn...

2011-06-01T18:14:00.002-04:00

I will praise you in this storm.

Healing

2011-05-26T23:49:00.002-04:00

Emotional healing, spiritual healing. It's a long road, let me tell you. It's not a straight road, either. There are lots of curves and hills. Whew! It's exhausting.

I went to Books-A-Million when they were having their clearance and bought a book called You're All That - Understanding God's Design for Your Life by Paula White. I've learned a couple of lessons from that book that I'd like to share with you:

Lesson 1) The Bible says that all things work together for good for those who love God and choose to put themselves in alignment with his purposes. Therefore, you can choose to believe that everything that happens to you is a factor in creating your ultimate good. You can choose to be happy in a situation or circumstance, even a dire or undesirable circumstance. Why? Because you aren't drawing your happiness from the event or situation itself, but rather, you are drawing happiness from your belief that God is always at work and that He will create something good for you.

Lesson 2) Ask God to help you think in new ways, to feel new feelings. Ask God to fill you with His presence so that you will not react in anger, fear, worry, or doubt, but rather, with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and mercy.

Lesson 3) One of my high school friends posted this link yesterday on facebook. I clicked on it this morning, but didn't have time to read it before going to work. I left the tab open so I'd remember to read it when I got home. When I came home, I was feeling sad and discouraged. (One of those uphill passages on the long road to healing.) When I sat down at the computer I found that tab I'd left open. I started reading. As I got to the last third of it, peace and comfort poured over me like water washing away the dirt of the day. I'm so thankful it was here waiting on me when I got home. I sure needed it.

What lessons have you learned lately?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-03-13T21:58:00.004-04:00

So, in the last month my life as taken an unexpected turn. It's meant a lot of heartache, tears, prayer, and changes. I've been re-reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. One of the "verses to remember" is Romans 12:2b - "Let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect." This verse really hit home and I read it as a prayer - "God, transform me inwardly by a complete change of my mind. So that I will be able to know Your will - what is good and is pleasing to You and is perfect." I need to pray that every day. Maybe I'll put it up on the bathroom mirror.

Chapter 25 quotes Psalms 24:18 - "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He rescues those who are crushed in spirit." Warren says, "Your most profound and intimate experience of worship will likely be in your darkest days - when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you're out of options, when the pain is great - and you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most autentic, heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers." This guy is good and he knows where I'm at right now.

So, God's using this experience to transform me. I don't know for what, but I don't need to know. God knows. I don't need to see where the road leads. I just need to continue down the road.

Rest in Peace, Smokey Joe

2011-03-07T22:10:00.005-05:00

My dad calls all cats "Smokey Joe". I'm not sure why. A few years ago a cat showed up at his house who he called, yep, "Smokey Joe".

Daddy would feed Smokey and then tell him to "go home". I told him, "Daddy, I think he IS home." Smokey would come and go for a while. Over the last couple of years, though, Smokey pretty much stuck around.

Smokey had been around the block a time or two - nicked ears, scars on his neck - but like most cats Smokey appreciated a good head rub.

He was always at the carport door in the morning to greet Daddy and ask for breakfast.

This morning when Daddy went to feed him, he found that Smokey had passed away.

Tears filled my eyes tonight driving to my knitting group when Daddy told me on the phone. This beautifully marked cat who never was really family had still become part of our lives.

We'll miss you, Smokey Joe. I hope you find peace in kitty heaven that eluded you in your early life.

Seriously?

2011-03-05T00:03:00.001-05:00

I haven't blogged since October? Really. Wow! Okay, I'm going to do better. I've had some time open up on my calendar, so that sounds like a good thing to do.

Boots gets a toy

2010-10-20T00:37:00.002-04:00

Boots gets a toy
Originally uploaded by Holly S.

I made a toy for Boots. I think he likes it.

Stitches South 2010

2010-04-25T21:12:00.004-04:00

Stitches South was this past week in Atlanta. On Saturday Lacey and I went up for The Market. Lacey drove.

You can't take pictures inside the market, so this is all you get:

Outside there was this big wall of yarn where you could get samples.

Here's mine:

Once we were inside the Market, we saw new Julie from our knitting group and met her friends from Pensacola who came up to go to Stitches with her. We found original Julie from our knitting group. She and Lacey had formulated some bulk purchase plan at one of the booths. I ran into Yvonne who used to come knit with us, but hasn't in a while. It was so good to see her. I also knit on "The World's Largest Sock". They're going for the Guiness Book of World Records.
At the Lion Brand Yarn booth inside the market, I met Zontee from the YarnCraft podcast. The cool thing was that when I said, "I'm Hotpink on ravelry," she recognized my name! I had to hug her. I'm southern, it's what we do. I met Jess and Casey
who founded ravlery. (I restrained myself and only shook their hands.) They are so awesome. I love ravelry. There was a lot of hero worship being bestowed on them by many, many conference attendees. I also met Mary Heather and Sarah who help them run ravelry.
I spoke to the famous Lily Chin, who was dressed in pink from her shoulders to her toes. I said, "I love your pink!" She smiled and thanked me. I saw Dianne who used to own a yarn store in Greer, South Carolina where I shopped on occasion with my friend Dawn. I also saw Margaret who used to own a yarn store in Anderson, South Carolina - my home town. She has a rabbit who stayed at the store with her. Daddy would play with the bunny while I yarn shopped. That bunny bought me a lot more browsing time. I took this photo of Lacey when we were leaving.
I should have snapped it a few minutes earlier when she had all her purchases spread out around her.
We left the convention center and drove down the street looking for something to eat. We saw this:
We kept driving, but ended up turning around, going back, and trying the "Crazy Chicken".

It was crazy good! This is what I had:
There's rice, beans, grilled chicken, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, pico de gallo, ranch dressing, and salsa in there. Man, it was so good! Lacey got quesadillas

in steak and chicken. She liked them a lot, too. It was a cool place with cool art.

Here are my take aways from the market:
Lacey and I really liked this pattern and had to buy it.

I love buttons and got these:

I bought this beautiful bamboo yarn:

Lacey and Julie were off buying some yarn and came back with this for me.

Wasn't that really sweet of them? I also got this.

Who knows what it is?
I had a great time. I was so worn out when I got home, I took a three hour nap. It was SO worth it. What a great day!

Referrals

2010-04-20T22:41:00.003-04:00

My knitting friend Katy has a new blog. You need to check it out if you want to know about some stuff going on in Columbus, music, scenic photos, etc. All delivered with humor and a gift for stringing words together in a very nice way. I like Katy and I like Katy's blog. If you don't know Katy, you can at least know Katy's blog. Check it out.

Catching Up

2010-04-08T21:50:00.004-04:00

Here are some things you missed during my blogging break:

I made these cool wristers. I made these and two other pair that I gifted for Christmas without getting photos.

I made this coaster for my friend, Karen, for helping me out a lot while I was sick with pneumonia.

Boots came and took care of me while I was sick. One night Seth and I took him to Sonic.

This little girl took my car key. Really! Look in her right hand.

It snowed one day while I was at work.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to town. Here's the bus and the crowd.

I went to Atlanta.

We had the Egg Grab with all the kids from church the day before Easter.

I promise more updates to come.

Beef Stew

2010-03-21T21:55:00.003-04:00

Since you keep asking for a new post - Laurie, Kristine - I decided to share with you a recipe for Beef Stew I came up with a few weeks ago.

2 lbs. Beef for Stew
2 TBS. flour
1 TBS grill seasoning
1 large yellow onion
2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
2 TBS red wine vinegar
2 medium zucchini
2 c. low sodium beef stock
2 c. low sodium V-8 juice
2 cloves minced garlic
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can carrots, drained
1 15 oz. can diced potatoes, drained
1 15 oz. can green beans, drained
1 15 oz. can sweet peas, drained
1 15 oz. can corn drained

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the onion into bite size pieces. Place the flour and grill seasoning into a 1 gallon zip top bag and add beef. Shake to coat. Place beef and flour mixture into a 13" by 9" baking dish. Top with diced onion and garlic. Drizzle with Worcestershire and red wine vinegar. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Cook at 350 degrees 45 minutes to one hour until onions are transparent. Place the contents of the baking dish into cock pot. Add the beef stock and the V-9 juice, then the canned vegetables. Cut the zucchinis into half moon shapes and add to crock pot. Let stew cook overnight. Enjoy.

Really, I'm going to try to be a better blogger. I've joined a gym and that takes time. I'm loosing weight, though, and my blood pressure's down. Yay!

The Answer is ....

2010-02-07T23:26:00.002-05:00

My friend Laurie asked me last week if I was ever going to blog again. The answer is "yes".

New Year

2010-01-03T20:59:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year, Blog! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2010 bring blessing you never even dreamed of.

I promised you the story of my pneumonia battle. Here's the story as I sent it in an email to an online friend:

I wasn't really feeling bad before I got sick. I have allergies and I often get a little sinusy. I had a very small cough in September and got some stuff at the health food store that usually heads off bronchitis type problems. I was taking it regularly. That's worked for me for about ten years. On October 6th, I woke up and didn't want coffee, I wanted hot tea - that's the first sign. My sinuses were draining like crazy. When I got home the night of the 7th, I had a low fever. The morning of the 8th, it was 101.8. I went to the doctor then and got on antibiotics. They didn't touch the fever. Monday, the 12th, it was still high and I was back at the doctor and that's when she heard the pneumonia in my lungs. An x-ray confirmed her diagnosis. The meds I got that day broke the fever at the end of that week. I went back to the doctor on the 19th for a recheck. She said my lungs were still noisy and I was still coughing too much to work (not that felt like working). The next night, the 20th, I got short of breath. I felt like I'd run up a flight of stairs and I'd just been sitting on the couch. My heart was racing, too. I called the doctor at home. She told me to go to the ER. I was going to drive myself, but Seth insisted that he would come and get me. (He lives forty minutes away. I didn't want him to have to come.) We got to the ER at 10:38. They took me back to a room at 11:53. My O2 sat was 87 (not good) and my heart rate was 137 (really bad!) I had my first breathing treatment at midnight. Then a chest x-ray. Lots of blood work. Around 3am the ER doc said he'd talked to my primary care doc and they were going to admit me for "a day or two" and try to get me lungs to clear. It turned into six days. Four breathing treatments a day. My lungs have had a lot of trouble clearing. When they let me out of the hospital Tuesday, there was still blood work they were waiting to get back. They are testing me for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and some other "connective tissue diseases". There was something in my liver function or liver enzymes - I forget which - along with a chronic skin problem I have that makes the pulmonologist suspect there's an underlying issue. I'm just ready to get well. I go back to both of the doctors on Tuesday.

So, I didn't have lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. I do have asthma and high blood pressure now. (I've spoken to several people since who have acquired asthma from having pneumonia. Apparently it's not uncommon.) I'm dealing with the asthma and taking my meds. The blood pressure I check each week at Publix on the machine in the pharmacy. It's still a little high. I ended up staying out of work for five weeks. When I went back to work, it was half days for a week. My last full day before I got sick was October 7th. My first full day back was November 20th. I still don't always feel "normal". I saw the doctor November 19th and she told me then (six weeks into the battle) that it would be another three months before I felt like myself again, but I would feel like myself again. It's been a long road.

You may remember my 365 project where I took and posted a photo each day in 2009. Well, they wouldn't let me have my digital camera at the hospital, and I felt pretty crappy anyway. I didn't make it. I was disappointed in myself and I'm giving it another go this year.

I finished several knitting projects and I'm angry at myself for not getting pictures of all of them before gifting them. ARGH! Last minute Christmas knitting! It's for better organized people.

Really, two months?

2009-11-06T23:37:00.002-05:00

Seriously? I haven't blogged in over two months? I really didn't know it'd been that long. I've been really sick since early October. I've had pneumonia and spent six days in the hospital and I'm still not quite over it. I'll compile the whole story and post it here when I'm up to it. Let me just say, pneumonia stinks.

Holy Cow

2009-08-31T23:05:00.003-04:00

One of my college friends, Darien, posted this video on facebook. It blew my mind and makes me a little scared for my job! It's four minutes. Go watch. Then come back to leave your comments.

Sunday School Visitor

2009-08-31T00:10:00.004-04:00

So, I got to church this morning and started setting up the room and talking to the other teachers. I looked out the window and noticed something on the window frame. Thank goodness it was on the outside, or I would have totally freaked out.

To be truthful, the flash made it look more fierce than it did in person. Some of the kids enjoyed being held up to the window to get a better look. My friend Karen was creeped out by it and wouldn't even get close to the window.

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-08-26T23:40:00.003-04:00

Blue Springs

2009-08-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

My friend Lacy invited me to a function her church had at a beautiful location where a natural spring bubbles up from the ground. It was truly lovely and the Episcopalians were very welcoming to their Baptist visitor.

Let me emphasize that this photo doesn't do the location justice. It is a truly magical place.

This is the mouth of the Blue Spring

This pool was created by the spring.

I just thought this was pretty.

There were many varieties of ferns there.

Here you can see where the Blue Spring gets its name.

This view is from the opposite side of the pool than the other photo.

The photos truly don't do it justice.

These pretty flowers were everywhere and provided a nice splash of color.

These are magnolia pods. This place must be beautiful in the spring.

This is the creek leading away from the mouth of the spring.

See the dragonfly near the center of the photo. He was hanging out on the plants over the creek.

There were ferns everywhere. They were so pretty.

You can click here for a fullscreen slideshow of the photos. Worth it!

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-08-19T23:42:00.003-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-08-13T00:40:00.002-04:00

Where you do the clicking.

2009-08-09T00:05:00.005-04:00

I'm so behind in posting pics. Click here to catch up with my 365 project. From there you can click on the next photo in the little browse window on the right.

I also took a trip to South Carolina for week of vacation. You can see those pictures here. There are descriptions under each of the photos.

The only yarn store within 90 minutes had a going out of business sale last Saturday. Laurie and Lacey and I went. See pictures here of all our fun.

Tomorrow we get a new group of two-year-olds in Sunday School. Every year I get nervous and excited. We so loved our class last year.

It's hard to leave them to go to a new group, but we know we'll love them, too. I made them Jello Jigglers. I hope they like them.

I'll post some knitting updates soon. I've finished a few things that I haven't even gotten into ravelry yet. See, it's not just the blog I'm neglecting. You know, it's all facebook's fault!

Wordless Friday - Wait, What?

2009-07-18T00:42:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-07-08T23:22:00.004-04:00

July 4th

2009-07-04T09:45:00.003-04:00

I realized yesterday that today is my blogiversary. Two years ago today when I was off for Independence Day, I started Yarn to Knit. Last year I thought about it enough in advance to do a contest. Not so much this year. It snuck up on me. Oh, well. We'll have a quiet celebration here with just us: me and you regular readers.

I do have a couple of pictures to show you. First up is my June Mosaic:

Those are all of my "Pictures of the Day" from my 365 project in the month of June. As with any of my pictures, you can click on the photo and it'll take you to its page in my flickr account where you can see it bigger and read my notes. There's also a link to camera techy info about stuff like exposure and shutter speed if you're into that sort of thing.

These next pictures are of my latest FO. (That's "Finished Object" for you non-knitters.) I made the Mitered Hanging Towel from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. The yarn is Lily's Sugar & Cream in Sunshine, Hot Orange, Hot Pink, Hot Green, and Over the Rainbow.

Happy Independence Day, y'all. The magnitude of what our founding fathers did didn't become real to me until I visited Colonial Willaimsburg in 2003 and walked the roads they walked and sat in the buildings where they sat. The guides told the stories of the birth of our nation. Did you know Thomas Jefferson was only 26-years-old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence? He and the others weren't politicians or soldiers. They were regular guys. Family men, farmers, tailors. They saw the unfairness of the way the British treated the colonists and set out to right a wrong. The risk was so high. They were challenging the British Empire, one of the strongest governments on earth. Battle by battle, step by step, they carved out a nation. We enjoy the freedoms we have today because of these brave men, and those who have followed after them in defense of our nation. American soldiers of the past, present, and future, you have my gratitude.

The Weird Thing about Facebook

2009-07-03T13:18:00.003-04:00

The Weird Thing about Facebook is all my worlds collide there. There are people I knew as a teenager in South Carolina, people I went to college with, people I worked with many years ago after moving to Columbus, people I work with now, cousins, people from my knitting group, people from church. All in one place. Someone is going to write something on my wall that's going to offend someone else. I know it's going to happen. It's only a matter of time.

Wordless Wednesday (x 2) - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-06-24T21:21:00.003-04:00

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2009

2009-06-14T22:43:00.003-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Yeah, I know it's Thursday

2009-06-11T19:11:00.002-04:00

What have I done?

2009-06-07T20:34:00.002-04:00

I joined facebook. I've lost most of the weekend to it. I found a friend from middle school, a friend from high school, two friends from college, and a friend who left town several years ago. It's cool. But what a time suck this is going to be!

Also, we're doing a special project at work this week and I'm working 5am-2pm all week. Yuck. I'm going to go get ready for bed now. This is so not me.

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-06-03T22:58:00.002-04:00

May 2009 Mosaic

2009-06-01T23:35:00.002-04:00

Finished Objects, and a lesson learned.

2009-05-29T23:18:00.003-04:00

Meet Toto IV

I like this one. I used Grape and White Sugar & Cream by Lily held together as the Main Color and Black as the Contrasting Color. It turned out really nice.

Now, meet Toto V

I used Over the Rainbow as the Main Color. For the Contrasting Color I used Hot Green, Sunshine, Hot Orange, and Hot Pink. I'm not as thrilled with this one. The stripes just don't show up against the variegated yarn. Maybe if I'd used just one color and did straight stripes instead of trying a checkerboard. Look here:

If you click on the photo to go to flickr, you'll see that I've added notes to the photo showing the location of the checkerboard blocks. Maybe if I'd used a solid as the MC and a variegated as the CC, it would have turned out better. I did the i-cord bind-off using the MC since I was already unhappy with it. It'll still work as a potholder, though.

Keep this in mind as you pick out colors for your knitting.

Trip to South Carolina

2009-05-28T22:03:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday I went to South Carolina for the long holiday weekend. I drove through Atlanta:

I stopped at the South Carolina Welcome Center to use the restroom and get a map. this sign was outside:

and there was a lovely view of Lake Hartwell from there:

I also took a zoomed photo:

After church on Sunday, Daddy and I went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We both had cobbler for dessert. His was peach; mine was blackberry:

Daddy said it was the best meal he ever had at Cracker Barrel. I said, "Because of the peach cobbler?" He said, "That was a big part of it, Hun."
We drove through downtown and I took some photos of beautiful downtown Anderson.
This is the old courthouse:

This is the new courthouse:

This is the Chiquola which houses condos now. A hundred years ago it was a hotel. All through my childhood, it stood in disrepair. A few years ago a developer bought it and restored it. As you can see, it's beautiful again:

This statue of William Whitner can be seen in the Old Courthouse and the Chiquola photos. Click on the photo to go to flickr and read about who he was and what he did:

There are tons of these fish in Anderson. They are some sort of tribute to Lake Hartwell.

On Monday I went to Greenville to visit my friend Dawn. The A.C. Moore in Columbus closed almost a year ago. It was a great source of yarn. Greenville still has an A.C. Moore:

It was so nice to go to A.C. Moore again.
Dawn's mom had these pretty pink flowers growing in her garden:

Here's a photo I took of the old mill in Piedmont on the way home:

You know how you always hear about the nation's fuel reserves? I think they're being stored in tanker cars in Anderson County:

On Tuesday we went downtown to a jewelry store to get a battery for my watch. We found this quote in the sidewalk outside the store:

Later in the afternoon I left to drive home. Driving through Atlanta the traffic was moving slow enough for me to snap this photo of the Olympic Memorial:

There was a very serious accident on I-85 that caused the police to close the Interstate. All four southbound lanes! They made everyone get off the Interstate at the Union City exit. I went in at McDonald's and used the restroom then sat in the car with my Georgia map and found an alternate route. I took US Highway 29 through some lovely little towns:
Fairburn:

Palmetto:

and Hogansville:

It was some slow going:

My normal four hour trip turned into a five and a half hour trip, but at least it was scenic and I didn't have to drive through the horrible construction zone on I-85 from Hogansville to Newnan. I call it "The Tunnel". K-rails on both sides. No shoulders. It makes me crazy. I would seriously consider doing this again just to avoid "The Tunnel".

Click on any of the photos to see them larger. It'll open my flickr account and you can browse my photos in there. (And hey, it raises the view count on my photostream.) Or if you'd like to watch the photos full screen as a slideshow, click here.

Modern Conveniences

2009-05-27T22:42:00.002-04:00

I was off from work today. I had a physical therapy appointment this morning and then had lunch with Seth. This afternoon I was going to do some cooking. In the process of mixing my ingredients, the power went out.
No lights.
No TV.
No Internet!

The power finally came back on shortly before it was time to go to church. I wouldn't make it in a third world country.

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-05-27T22:21:00.003-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-05-20T22:42:00.003-04:00

Knitters Saying Goodbye

2009-05-16T21:49:00.003-04:00

The US Army is sending two of our knitters away over the next couple of months. Michelle and her children will join her husband in Rhode Island next weekend after her oldest son finishes kindergarten. Laura is leaving for Maryland in July. This afternoon we had a get-together in their honor. Here are some photos (as always click on the photo for more details, or to see it larger):

Laura and Michelle are two of the best knitters I know and we will miss them terribly.

A Cheap Imitation

2009-05-14T23:35:00.004-04:00

This evening I saw this in Publix:

(They didn't have the pink one in the picture, only black.)

It's essentially the same design as my Toto that I finished this week:

But, seriously, y'all, which is cuter? Remember the Toto I made in December:

Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with this pattern, but come on. What's more practical than a potholder?! And have you ever seen one this cute? How about you put a picture of your favorite potholder on your blog and post here linking to it (or email it to me, if you don't have a blog, and I'll post it.) Don't be shy. Chime in with your opinion.

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-05-13T23:44:00.004-04:00

TV Technology

2009-05-07T23:06:00.004-04:00

Y'all, I'm a published photographer. About a month ago, the General Manager at the tv station asked me to take a picture of our videographer and one of the reporters. We staged a couple of scenes inside and outside the station. I emailed him the pictures and didn't think any more of it. . . until yesterday when the magazine TV Technology arrived at the station. Our station was one of those featured in the headlining article on small market stations that are going HiDef. The article continues to page 8, I turned there and found a picture I took. Yeah, it was kind of thrilling. My boss laughed at my excitement. You can see the photo of our reporter Maria Jones here.

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-05-06T22:46:00.002-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Click the Picture for a Description

2009-04-29T21:33:00.004-04:00

Playing Catch Up

2009-04-22T21:52:00.007-04:00

Okay, I've been crazy busy. I'm going to post pictures and if you really want to know what the picture is, just click on it and it'll take you to flickr where you can read all about it.

Okay, now I'm all caught up. Please forgive me for the massive pictoral post. But you know, lots of people do those "wordless Wednesday" things. If I'd just shut up, I could claim that!

I Love This Song

2009-04-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

March 29 - April 4, 2009

2009-04-04T23:45:00.003-04:00

Okay, here we go:

Sunday, March 29:

That little Loratadine pill is required daily in my life. I tried to obtain it from Sam's Club Friday night, but they were out. I managed to arrange another visit (I don't have my own membership) today to obtain the little white pill that lets me breathe this time of year. Oh, who am I kidding. I have year round allergies and take them every day.

Monday, March 30:

I took this picture from my moving car this morning on the way to work. Can you see the mist coming up from the pond hrough the trees?

Tuesday, March 31:

It has rained and rained today. Over an inch. It's supposed to rain through Thursday. Somebody send the ark.

Wednesday, April 1:

Dinner: Extra Crunchy Jif Peanut Butter and Smuckers Blackberry Jam on Multigrain Bread with a tall glass of skim milk.

Thursday, April 2:

I drove to work this morning between thunderstorms. There were some really cool clouds in front of the sun. I took this picture (once again) from my moving car driving down Schatulga Road, not even looking at the screen, just pointing the camera in the right direction.

Friday, April 3:

Azalea's are blooming in Georgia. I caught a bee paying one a visit tonight.

Saturday, April 4:

Sunset from the Lake Oliver Marina in Columbus, Georgia

Please leave a comment if you like the pictures. Tell me which one is your favorite. It makes me sad when I don't get comments. You don't want me to be sad, do you?

March in Summary

2009-03-31T20:22:00.003-04:00

Click to see the big picture on flickr.

A New Camera, and Another Week

2009-03-30T22:03:00.003-04:00

First a story in pictures:

What's in the box?

It's safely packed, whatever it is.

Nikon Coolpix P60!

My new camera is here!

Now for my week in pictures:
Sunday, March 22:

I had lots of dirty dishes piled in the sink, so I loaded up the dishwasher and got them all clean. Yea!!!!

Monday, March 23:

This is my Have Fun! Scarf. I'm making progress. It's way prettier in person.

Tuesday, March 24, (Yeah, you already saw it, but it's a pic of the day):

My new camera is here!

Wednesday, March 25:

Yummy dinner. Busy Day Beef and Noodles from my Pawsitively Clemson Cookbook.

Thursday, March 26:

Boots was eating some of his dinner and paused to have his head scratched. He was still enjoying his dinner, as you can see.

Friday, March 27:

Hot Doughnuts Now! If you've never had hot Krispy Kreme, I'm sorry. When I was a senior in high school, we went on a trip to Columbia, SC, for an academic competition (yeah, I was a nerd). It was really, really important to our advisor (my physics teacher) to take us to Krispy Kreme for hot doughnuts. We didn't know what the big deal was. We'd had Krispy Kreme. What's so great about them being hot? Well, we soon found out. They melt in your mouth and they're just so good. When the Krispy Kreme opened in Columbus a few years ago (thanks to Hank Aaron who owns the franchise here), it was like a flashback to that late night in Columbia with Mr. Faile (yes, that was his name - and many of his students did). Sometimes that red neon sign is hard to resist!

Saturday, March 28:

This is my Sunday School lesson prepped for tomorrow. The story is about the widow's mite and the lesson is "God wants us to give our best".

I look forward to taking lots of pretty pictures with my new camera. I hope you enjoy the pictures, too. I've got to figure out how the manual settings work. I don't know anything about F-stops. I must learn.

March 15-21, 2009

2009-03-22T22:07:00.004-04:00

Another week of phone cam photos:

Sunday, March 15, 2009:

It rained today and two boys came to church in boots. Cute!

Monday, March 16, 2009:

This is a Warm Up America afghan made by some ladies here in town. It's so beautiful.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009:

Pork Roast, Mixed Vegetables, and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday, March 18, 2009:

My friend, Pink Knitter, took a picture of her bookshelf today. It inspired me to take this picture of some of my knitting books. That's right, I said "some".

Thursday, March 19, 2009:

Boots is fed and cared for by my friend Seth. He's really sweet, smart, and handsome and is endearing himself to a family who has never had a cat. They're learning that cats don't act like dogs!

Friday, March 20, 2009:

My car all covered in pollen.

Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Yarn Shop Field Trip - Sugarfoot Yarns - Peachtree City
I bought one skein of Cascade 220 in a pretty green. (I have a black & a pink. I need to make a bag or something.) Cheryl, the owner, threw in all sorts of samples and stuff.

On Friday, I ordered a new camera. It should be here on Tuesday. Hopefully, no more grainy pictures! On Saturday, ten of us from the Knitting Group drove to Peachtree City to the grand opening of a new yarn store. We had a blast, as we always do when we travel together. I love those girls! Here's a picture from Laurie's camera that some nice folks took for us.

March 8 through 14, 2009

2009-03-15T20:14:00.005-04:00

This week was stressful. That's about all I have to say. Here are the pictures along with the comments posted with them:

Sunday, March 8, 2009:

I had an eggroll and hot mustard today with my lunch along with rice and vegetables

Monday, March 9, 2009:

Remember my picture from Saturday (the 7th) of the yarn and needles? Well, the original plan was to have it scanned onto this cake for Aslyn in the knitting group. It turns out that there's an $8 charge for that and we were definitely trying to keep the cost down, so no yarn, no needles. The cake was yummy and Aslyn was surprised. It was nice. (I don't think she liked the candles so much. She's our oldest knitter.)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009:

After I took this picture (using macro and the self-timer and my gorillapod), I reached down to pick up the camera and it tipped over, lens first, onto the concrete. Bye-Bye, Nikon. You were very good to me. Thank you for three years and three months and 3,728 pictures. It was a good run. I'll miss you.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009:

I broke my Nikon last night, so this picture was taken with the camera in my mobile phone. It's not great, but at least I'm still in the game.

Thursday, March 12, 2009:

I know, I know - two sunsets in a row? But look at it, it's hard to resist. This one is from the Target parking lot. Last night's was from WalMart.

Friday, March 13, 2009:

It's not a purple snake I'm knitting. It's called the "Have Fun Scarf", from the Knitting Experience Book 1 by Sally Melville.

Saturday, March 14, 2009:

I went to Sears today camera shopping (I've been to all the stores!). It took two trips up and down the escalators to get a decent photo.

So there you go. I went and got a Micro SD card for my phone so I could move pictures back & forth. It was a cheap temporary solution.

Oh, no.

2009-03-10T21:21:00.001-04:00

I broke my camera tonight. I'm so sad. I'm trying to figure out how to get another one. There goes my 365 project.

A MoreTimely Post

2009-03-08T19:00:00.003-04:00

I'm not waiting until mid-week this time to post my pictures from last week. Aren't you proud? For those of you new to Yarn to Knit, I'm doing a 365 project on flickr.com where everyday I take a picture and upload it to my flickr account. Each week I post those pictures here along with the description of the photo that I put up on flickr.

Sunday, March 1st (I posted this in my snow post, but it was a picture of the day, so it needs to go here, too):

A rare Southern snow in Columbus, Georgia. I had to go play in it.

Monday, March 2nd:

It needs blocking, but it's done. Pattern from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. Yarn is Omega Sinfonia (from Hobby Lobby) in Azul Rey. Knit on size 4 needles. I look lousy, but it was the end of a long day!

Tuesday, March 3rd (now blocking yesterday finished object):

Garter Stitch Loop Through Scarf from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders, Omega Sinfonia in Azul Rey

Wednesday, March 4th:

Whole Grain Strawberry Pop Tarts

Thursday, March 5th:

This is where I work - our HD Edit Suite.

Friday, March 6th:

Is it sad that I spend more time with my Dell than with my friends?

Saturday, March 7th:

I'll explain this in a couple of days.

Better Late than Never

2009-03-05T23:00:00.003-05:00

Okay, here's last week's pictures:

Sunday, February 22:

This was in my fortune cookie after lunch today.

Monday, February 23: (You've seen this one, but we have to keep the set together)

Can you believe this? See the people through the doorway sitting in the comfy chairs? They displaced the knitters tonight at Panera. That's just not right. We sit there EVERY Monday. We had to sit in the other part of the restaurant. We're loud and rowdy. Usually everyone who doesn't want to be disturbed (by the noise) sits over there. So, the poachers caused almost all of the Panera diners to be subjected to loud yarn talk and laughter. Shame on you, poachers!

Tuesday, February 24:

I got a haircut today. That mirror doesn't look that dirty looking into it. Why is that?

Wednesday, February 25:

This evening at work we taped a show where a few dozen people were in the tv station. I locked my purse and work bag in my car and kept the essentials in my pocket: phone, lipstick, Orbit Cinnamint Gum, and car key (the back of the flip flop key ring is a mirror!).

Thursday, February 26:

Brand new half-gallon of Publix Premium Homemade Butter Pecan Ice Cream. Oh, my!

Friday, February 27:

Friday lunch break means Taco Bell in my world! I'm on a Cheesy Double Beef Burrito kick. For 89 cents, it's a great deal and really yummy! What's in the cup? Some tasty sweet tea!

Saturday, February 28:

This morning around 9am I was awakened by thunder and heavy rain. I got up to find we were under a tornado watch. Then a tornado hit about twenty miles away. By noon it was over. This afternoon it was 72 degrees and sunny. Look how nice. Tomorrow morning it's supposed to snow and stay in the 30's all day. Gotta love living in the South!

Okay, there's last week. I'm not even going to promise to do better. It's pointless. I'll blog again sometime.

SNOW!

2009-03-01T19:07:00.003-05:00

Yes, snow! Snow in the deep south!

Displaced Knitters!

2009-02-23T22:14:00.002-05:00

I know, another post? It's not the weekend yet! But this is big. Really big!

Can you believe this? See the people through the doorway sitting in the comfy chairs? They displaced the knitters tonight at Panera. That's just not right. We sit there EVERY Monday. We had to sit in the other part of the restaurant. We're loud and rowdy. Usually everyone who doesn't want to be disturbed (by the noise) sits over there. So, the poachers caused almost all of the Panera diners to be subjected to loud yarn talk and laughter. Shame on you, poachers!

Not Exactly...

2009-02-22T20:19:00.005-05:00

Over my sinus/ear/cold thing, that is. I know in my last post I said I was feeling better, but then a sinus headache woke me at 2:30am and then again at 4:30am Wednesday night. I'm controlling it with medication, but it's still there. How do you get this stuff to go away?!?

I know you're all waiting with baited breath on this week's pictures, so here we go:

Sunday, 2/15: I got a gorillapod in pink and black. This picture was exceedingly difficult to obtain.
Special Note: This picture was very popular on flickr. It has 16 views, 5 comments, and 2 people "favorited" it.

Monday, 2/16: Monday Knit Night - Panera Bread, Columbus, Georgia

Tuesday, 2/17: I work at WLTZ NBC38 in Columbus, Georgia. At noon today, we turned off our analog transmitter in conjunction with the Switch to Digital. The privilege of pushing the off button was given to Santi Rivera, our Chief Videographer, who has worked at the station longer than anyone else. Pictured just afterward from left to right are Jerry Garvin, Chief Engineer, Drew Rhodes, General Manager, and Santi Rivera.

Wednesday, 2/18: What happens when a ten mouth old gets hold of your Pampered Chef Party Invitation.
Relax: He didn't swallow the missing corner.

Thursday, 2/19: Jelly Belly Jelly Beans from a Valentine Basket at work.
Note: This picture has 11 views, 4 comments, and 1 person calls it a favorite.

Friday, 2/20: My friend Seth had to buy new tires today. Here is one of them. A nice, pretty Michelin.

Saturday, 2/21: I sat on the couch in my pajamas covered up by my kitty throw all day today.

If you enjoyed this week's pictures, please leave me a comment and let me know. If you have any suggestions for pictures, leave me a comment and let me know. If you're thinking, "Why do you call this blog 'Yarn to Knit' when you rarely talk about yarn or knitting?", leave me a comment and let me know. Have a great week.

Mid February

2009-02-17T22:29:00.008-05:00

Yeah, I'm behind. I was sick last week with some sort of sinus/ear mess. I felt bad from last Tuesday Morning until, well, this morning. When I ate breakfast today (after getting to work), I felt better. Over the weekend I felt kind of lousy, not really sick, just tired. I slept twenty-eight hours over the weekend. Last week's pictures will tell some of the story:

We had a reception at church this afternoon for our new children's minister and his family. Here are the remnants of someone's snack.

My usual Panera snack for Monday Knit Night: Nutty Chocolate Chipper and a small Hazelnut Coffee.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning feeling yucky. Sore throat. Stuffed up nose. Coughing. I went to work, but afterward headed to Publix to arm myself against the enemy.

Cinnamin Toast

red - decongestant / tan - expectorant / brown - inbuprophen / turquoise - antibiotic

Cinnamon Twists from Taco Bell

My friend's cat, Boots' paw.

If you're behind on my 365 project you can see all the pictures in my flickr set.

My Garter Stitch Loop Through Scarf is close to being completed. Maybe next week there will be FO (Finished Object) pics for you.

Today at work we turned off our analog transmitter in conjunction with the switch to digital. There will be pictures of that next week, too.

I also went to Physical Therapy today for my back/neck and knee injuries from my car wreck three months ago. I have five exercises I have to do 100 reps of each day. Oh, boy.

This Week in Pictures

2009-02-07T23:52:00.007-05:00

Once again, I've been a poor blogger. I'm trying to make up for it with pictures again. Here are my photos from this week along with my comments as I posted them.

These are my 3D glasses to watch the commercials in the Superbowl. I really don't see the 3D effect all that dramatically with them. I'm really nearsighted and wear contacts or glasses all the time. I wonder if that's why.

Monday night is knitting night in Columbus, GA. We gather at Panera. Usually there are 12 to 15 of us - sometimes less, sometimes more. We drink coffee or tea, eat soup and cookies, and talk a lot. There are other Monday regulars who drop by to chat and see what we're knitting. We always attract attention. ;-)

Cornbread, cooked in a cast iron skillet, removed from oven with Toto the Extremely Useful and Cute Potholder. I seriously need to clean that oven!

Leaving work today. Too many red lights.

There were some interesting ice patterns on my windshield this morning. You can see my purse and stuff already in the car, but I couldn't resist the ice.

Went to Sam's Club tonight with Seth. It was close to closing time when we got there and I kept trying to hurry him up. He didn't hurry until they started making the "Your Sam's Club is closing in ten minutes" announcements.

I babysat tonight for two little boys I've babysat a lot. The older one, 6-y-o, wanted a paper airplane. One instance when studying engineering pays off. It flew pretty well, I must say.

I found out this week that one of my coworkers from twenty years ago died on Tuesday. We weren't like really good friends or anything, but it just hit me hard. He's basically one of my contemporaries. And now he's gone. I also know his son, too - A really great young man who looks a lot like his dad. Last night I ran into another coworker from that job. We chatted about this death, and gossiped about other folks we know - some have been laid off from their jobs. Times are tough.

Super Sunday

2009-02-01T21:37:00.004-05:00

I'm watching the Super Bowl and doing my usual Internet surfing. I don't have a favorite team in the game, so really I'm just watching it for the commercials. I know a lot of people say that, but remember I make a living making commercials. So, for me it's. . . research. Yeah, that's it.

I realized I haven't blogged since last weekend. Nothing terribly eventful happened this week, so I'm sharing the pictures I've taken this week for my 365 project along with the comments I posted with them:

These are the hands of some of my Sunday School students. They are a wonderful group of two-year-olds. I wonder where these hands will go and whose lives they will touch.I washed all my bedding yesterday from the mattress pad and pillow covers to the sheets to the comforter and the blankets. It's nice to sleep on a really clean bed. And, yes, I'm a grown woman with a Teddy Bear. Anybody got a problem with that?!?

I went to the dentist today. No cavities!
I keep nursery at church on Wednesday nights. The two-year-olds and up have a program called "Awana". This is one of the leaders doing a puppet show for the kids. The puppets act out a story that goes along with the lesson.

Tonight's Dinner: Chicken Cordon Blue, Sweet Peas, Roasted Potatoes, and Biscuit.

Emerald Sea Salt & Pepper Cashews.

I'm having a cup of tea tonight. I'm really a coffee person, but every now and then...

Flickr has a tool that lets you make a mosaic of a set of pictures. Here is my mosaic for my January pictures:

This week I don't expect anything very eventful either. I babysit next Saturday night for my boys - here's hoping that's uneventful, too!

My week in pictures

2009-01-25T00:13:00.004-05:00

Here's my week in pictures:

This is my current travel knitting project. Garter Stitch Loop Through Scarf from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. Yarn is Omega Sinfonia in Azul Rey.

We had a spectacular sunset on Monday. I was heading out for dinner and grabbed this shot.

Tuesday was the inauguration. I watched it while I was doing some graphic stuff at work. I took the picture off of my tv at home that night. See the station logo in the lower right corner? I designed that.

Wednesday morning it was very cold - for Columbus anyway. This is the roof of my car when I went out Wednesday morning.

Thursday night I had leftover pizza for dinner, warmed in my newly repaired toaster oven.

There were three deer in the road when I was driving home from babysitting last night. I snapped pictures changing the settings. This is all I got. Those floating lights are their eyes.

This is a picture I took of Seth's cat Boots today. He is incredibly sweet, smart, and handsome.

To see all of my pictures from my 365 Project (explained here), visit my flickr set.

Meeting New Friends

2009-01-17T22:17:00.005-05:00

Meet my new friend Boots. Last Saturday Boots showed up at Seth's house. He gave it some cat treats and some petting. Sunday Boots was there. Seth's cousins came over for dinner and Tom said it was a girl. Seth's parents kept saying "don't feed it!" They weren't so much in the market for a cat. Monday Seth came home from work and they'd built the cat a house and put out a saucer of milk. At this point they named her "Boots". Seth went out and bought cat food. By Wednesday night when the weather turned really cold for central Georgia, they decided she needed to sleep in the old storage building. They rigged up a litterbox.
Seth asked me to come to Pine Mountain this morning to help him take Boots to the vet. We waited in the lobby and one mean dog and one nice dog. Boots was not happy about any of this. We finally went back to see the vet. She walked in and took one look and said, "We have a neutered male." What?!? Obviously Tom was wrong. Boots was loving on all of us and the vet the whole time we were talking. Then she took HIM to the back to weigh him and give him some medicine. He wasn't as loving to the vet when she brought him back out. He's a great cat. Very sweet. Smart. Seth and I went to lunch with Mr. Ray (his dad) after the vet visit. Mr. Ray said he'd been thinking about a way to build Boots his own house area. (The storage building is not a permanent solution.) Yes, that man who, one week ago, didn't want to feed the stray that had taken up with them, now is planning construction projects to give the cat a better life. Too funny. Seth wrote about Boots over on his blog, too.

This is my 365 picture for today:

I do audio for weddings at church and had a wedding today. It was a really sweet ceremony for a sweet young couple. I took this photo from the audio booth while everyone was getting ready before the wedding.

I need to go study my Sunday School lesson now. Have a great weekend.

Thanks. . .

2009-01-14T23:09:00.002-05:00

. . . for all of your birthday greetings. I appreciate it. I had a lovely meal at Olive Garden last night, leftovers for lunch today and then went for dessert after church with Karen and (blogless) Ellen - my coworkers in the nursary. Have you ever had Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie? Oh, my stars! So good. I meant to take a picture of that for my picture of the day, but I forgot. Instead I have these interesting shadows from the hall at the tv station to show you:

My Dad told me tonight that he talked to my Aunt Eunice today and she told him that her son, my cousin, Perry, lost his job due to cutbacks. His wife works for the school district in Anderson and has taken a cut in her pay, too. They have a son in high school and one in middle school. Please keep them in your prayers.

Tomorrow my knitting friend, Bookwyrm, an elementary school media specialist, is bringing her Broadcasting Club to the tv station for a tour. It should be fun!

yeah, okay.

2009-01-14T00:42:00.000-05:00

Finished Object

2009-01-10T21:24:00.004-05:00

I finished my garterlac dishcloth. Lily Sugar & Cream Stripes in Baby Stripes. It's my 365 picture for today.
Here's yesterday picture that I didn't get blogged, but wanted to share just because I liked it. This church is on the corner where I turn going to work.

I laid around all day today in my pajamas. I don't know why I've been so tired, but every now and them you (at least, I) need a day like that.

Fourth Pan of Cornbread

2009-01-08T20:44:00.004-05:00

I ate the last of my New Year's turnip greens tonight for supper. I made my fourth pan of cornbread this year.

So, are you wondering why I've become such a prolific blogger all of a sudden? Well, I'm doing this flickr project where you take a photo every day and post it to flickr. There's also a group for ravelry members who are taking pictures everyday. Here are the photos I've taken so far. I'm also in a group where I take one mostly pink photo each week. (There's a 365 option, but 365 of pink is a lot of pressure.) Those pink shoes I put up on Tuesday went into that group. I can't promise that I'll post my photos here everyday. I may have some I don't want to bore you with.

But there will probably be more short blogging than I have traditionally done, as well as some insight into Holly's world you previously did not have. (Fasten your seatbelts!)

They're Back

2009-01-07T21:33:00.002-05:00

We didn't have church last week on New Year's Eve or on Christmas Eve, so this was our first Wednesday night back with our Wednesday kids in three weeks. We had missed them. They were so sweet. Except for whoever bit Jay when we weren't looking. Don't know who it was. But his mom says he probably deserved it. She's probably right.

New Shoes

2009-01-06T20:47:00.004-05:00

I got new shoes! I saw these at Belk in Anderson with Daddy at Christmas. They were $50. He was going to buy them for me. They didn't have my size. I checked online and found them for $30 WITH a free tote bag! SCORE! They're cute. They're comfy. SCORE! I like my new shoes.

2000

2009-01-05T21:56:00.007-05:00

My car turned over to 2,000 miles tonight on the way to knitting. We had a huge crowd tonight: Counting me, 18 knitters, crocheters, and/or spinners. I had my usual coffee and cookie.

Things that make you go, "Hmmm."

2009-01-04T22:22:00.004-05:00

It's a good question. I think mine is paying all the bills on what I make. And finally finishing my dad's vest. What's your biggest challenge for the year? An interesting topic for the comments.

PS: Garterlac Dishcloth in Lily's Sugar & Cream in Baby Stripes.

Saturday in Pine Mountain

2009-01-03T22:34:00.004-05:00

I went to Pine Mountain today to hang out with Seth. After lunch at San Marcos (the best Mexican food in West Central Georgia), we visited his neighbors. We only go there to see the animals. This is their horse, Apollo. He's normally not very friendly, but he was following me along the fence today. I think he posed for this picture. It turned out really great.

This is BarnCat. She is exceptionally sweet. Purrs all the time. Very lovable. Adorable, too, but you can see that for yourself.

We went over to Callaway Gardens and visited the Day Butterfly Center.

And the Discovery Center, where I tried using the self-timer on my camera to take a self-portrait. Honest. Seth didn't want his picture taken and he was hiding.

I like going to Callaway. It's a really nice place that has a special quality to it. It's only about a thirty minute drive, but when you go there, you feel like you're far away from real life.

This is the scarf I made Seth for Christmas. Bernat Denim in Faded Khaki. Knit double stranded in a 1 x 1 rib on size 13 needles. It matches the hat I made him last year.

Work is a four letter word

2009-01-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

It was a full day at work today. I made a lot of tv today. I did get to take my lunch break with (New Year's dinner leftovers) and eat and have some knitting time in the break room. It makes the day way more bearable. I'm looking forward to the weekend.

As for the Gator Bowl, I don't want to talk about it.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T15:13:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year. It was quiet here. I called Daddy to make sure he was awake for it. I walked over in front of the tv to watch Carson Daly count down. Then I called Seth and told him Happy New Year. And that was it.

Look! Actual knitting content:

That's Toto the Extremely Useful and Cute Potholder from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. It was a fun little portable project. That's Sugar & Cream yarn by Lily. It's knitted double stranded fair isle style to make it thick and heat resistant. It uses an i-cord bind-off to create the lovely green ridge around the bottom. It also features a three needle bind-off to attach the two pockets to each other. This baby packs a skill building punch into one tiny (but extremely useful and cute) package.

I had a big plate of Turnip Greens, Cornbread, Ham, and Black Eye Pea Salad for lunch today. Yum. Yum. I have to go watch the ballgame now. It's getting too close for comfort.

Not Profound

2008-12-31T22:56:00.008-05:00

I wanted to post something profound about the end of the year or something, but I just don't have it in me tonight. Instead here's some more pictures from my Christmas time in South Carolina:

This is the "new" Anderson County Courthouse that was built nearly twenty years ago. Here's a link to a daytime photo in case anyone's curious. The city does a big holiday display at a park on the lake - Hartwell, that is - or what's left of it - every year. I've never been up there and got Daddy interested in the idea this year. So we went. The gate donations go to several worthwhile local charities.
Yeah, that's the speedometer from my new car in the bottom of the shot! This is one of the displays. Cute!
We got out at the refreshment area and got some hot chocolate. There was a costumed Polar Bear, so I took Daddy's picture. There was a line for Santa visits, so we opted out of that.
After Christmas Day dinner, Daddy and I went to Belton, my Mom's hometown, and visited with the family. That's Daddy with my cousins Portia, Debbie, Aunt Sara, and cousin Sandra. Sandra had made some rocking coconut cake!

Debbie's daughter is a fantastic photographer. She's not a "professional", though she has made money at it - she has another job. Go look at her stuff on flickr. If you comment, tell her you found her on the Yarn to Knit blog!

I went back to work Monday after a week off. I didn't want to go. It's been relatively quiet. The only commercial client that's come in has been someone I enjoy working with, so it was no biggy. Today I directed three half-hour shows with a way-out-of-practice audio & graphics person. Whew!

Tomorrow Clemson plays in the Gator Bowl.

GOOOOOOOO, TIGERS!

Happy New Year, y'all. Make it a good one. Be safe. Don't make a resolution you can't keep. Keep the resolutions you make. God bless.

Christmas in South Carolina

2008-12-23T13:43:00.003-05:00

Greetings from South Carolina where Internet access is only occasionally hackable. I hope you are all having a lovely holiday. The picture above is downtown Anderson decked out in her holiday finest. The picture below is from a house whose picture was in the Sunday paper. Daddy and I drove over there last night to see it. Very cool. The article is here with better pictures than I took.
Merry Christmas and remember the reason for the season. God bless your family this holiday.

Christmas Time is Here

2008-12-13T10:28:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday I went to Pine Mountain to have Mexican food with Seth. The Pine Mountain Christmas Parade was that afternoon. I got a big coffee from the Circle K and we watched the parade. Enjoy it with us:

I was a flag girl in my high school band. I marched in many a parade like this.

This is the Jolly Trolly from Callaway Gardens. You can ride this through Fantasy in Lights. It's so much fun.

And here's Santa!

I mentioned in my last post that I was doing stage makeup for the Christmas Program at church. Here are some examples of my handy work: First we have a little donkey.
Then we have a little lamb. They were animals in the manger when Mary and Joseph went there to have baby Jesus.

I also sparkled up three angels. I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but their faces and hair are all covered in glitter.

This is the finale part of the program. Most of the drama is done with the children down in front of the choir, but at the end the curtain on the stage above the choir opens and the adults are up there doing the scene, too. See the angels on top of the manger? The little animals are down front on the right. There's also a "camel" on the very right.

At the very end, everyone comes down and the angels are on the stairs. I told them to move their heads a little so the glitter would catch the light. It was so pretty.

It was a very nice program. The choir sounded wonderful. The musical was so sweet.

I've got to go get some knitting done now. Y'all have a good weekend.

How I Spent My Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-06T22:21:00.006-05:00

As I said in my last post, I got my new car and took off to Augusta (a four hour drive) the next day to have Thanksgiving Dinner with my family at my cousin David's house. Clockwise around the table beginning top left: My dad (Robert), cousin Randall, David's next-door neighbor (I've forgotten his name), cousin David, cousin Perry. Randall, David, and Perry are brothers. Their dad, Ralph, was my dad's oldest brother. He died a few years ago. I went around the table so we could see a little better. Randall and David are joined by our cousin Steve. Steve's dad was the middle brother, James. He died a few months after Uncle Ralph. Steve has a sister, Rhonda (the oldest among us - I'm the baby), who is the only other cousin. She spent the holiday with her daughter and two grandchildren.
Clockwise from bottom left: Cathy (Perry's wife), Katie (David's younger daughter), Garrett (Perry's younger son), Vickie (Randall's wife), and Aunt Eunice (Perry, David, and Randall's mom).
As you can tell from the pictures, David and Shari have a beautiful home. Here is a picture from the back porch looking out towards the pond.

I walked down to the pond and took this picture looking back towards the house. Just beautiful.

We all ended up in the driveway. Here are all of Aunt Eunice's grandchildren: Lindsey (David's older daughter), Katie, Bradley (Perry's older son), and Garrett in the background.

Aunt Eunice tried on some cool Coach sunglasses Cathy had. David's wife Shari (who was in the kitchen cooking and cleaning while I took the other pictures - she's a great hostess) is standing behind her with Cathy.

Steve had driven Daddy the two hours from Anderson. After we ate, I drove Daddy home to Anderson in my new car. We followed Steve. Things Daddy said on the way home:

"I don't know why Steve is going so fast."

"Why's he going this way."

"It would have been quicker to go through Abbeville."

"Are you okay, Hon?"

"What town is this?"
"Can you see Steve up there?"
"Don't talk on that phone while you're driving."
"Are we in Calhoun Falls yet?"

"Are you okay, Hon?"

We made it safe and sound, despite his worries. We went out on Friday and went to the mall. Katie had reminded me about the big bonus sale they were having at Bath & Body Works. We went straight there when we got to the mall. Daddy was going to wait outside, but the lines were out to almost the front of the store, so I went and got him and made him stand in the line for me while I shopped. He was pretty close to the register when I finished and I went and handed him a coupon. "What's this?" "That's your coupon." "For what?" "For these," as I hand him two can of room fragrance. "I don't want these." "I do and I can only use one coupon. I'm using this one. I need you to use that one." "Oh, Hon." Anyway, I ended up with $196 worth of products for $65. Woo-Hoo!

On Saturday we watched my Clemson Tigers beat the Carolina Gamecocks! Go, Tigers!!

Eventually, I'd driven 378 miles and was down to a quarter of a tank - gotta love a Honda - and needed some gas. I realized this was my first fill-up in this car and documented the event:

That's Daddy in the car. Eat your heart out SUV drivers: (Remember, this is 378 miles worth of gas.)

The Sunday after Thanksgiving in Anderson always means the Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade. One year Daddy and I happened upon it by accident. Now we make plans to be there every year. The weather this year was horrible. The crowd was down, but there were still die-hard bikers who made sure those kids will get presents. I did a video with my digital camera:

Anderson had some autumnal decorations lining the streets near city hall.

Daddy has two neighborhood cats he feeds when they come for a visit. They occasionally announce themselves by perching in the kitchen window. This one came by Monday morning while I was packing to leave.

I came back to more stress at work and a Christmas musical at church. I'll have to take some pictures to share at tomorrow's performance.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T22:49:00.002-05:00

This year I can say with new honesty that I'm thankful to be alive. Surviving the grill of an SUV in your driver's door window makes you grateful. I'm thankful for all the prayers and encouraging words and offers of help that came my way following my accident. I'm thankful for good friends and family, for caring co-workers, and for my church family. I'm thankful for five days in a row off work! I'm thankful I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family, first in Augusta and then in South Carolina. I'm thankful that we finally worked out the insurance (and thankful my insurance didn't have to pay). I'm awfully thankful for my new car. I got it today and it's cool. I should have a chance to get pictures this weekend and will post them as soon as I can. Remember Internet access at Daddy's is extremely limited; so if I'm not very communicative, that's why. (At least I have an excuse!) Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Accident

2008-11-16T22:54:00.002-05:00

I sent this out in an e-mail, but this is for the rest of you:

I wanted to let y'all know that I had a car accident Monday night (11/10/08) on my way home from my knitting group. I didn't even see the SUV coming. I remember thinking, "What's happening? Somebody hit me." Then just flying glass and me screaming. I have a vague memory of the grill of the SUV in my driver's door window as it shattered. My car did a 180 degree spin before it stopped. I had a cut in my hair just above my bangs, glass cuts on my left hand, and my left knee was killing me. I was pretty much stuck in the car - my door and the back door were smashed by the impact. When the EMT's got there, they covered the passenger seat - because of the glass - and I had to climb out that side. They made sure there was no glass in my head and made me take off my cardigan and scarf so they could shake out the glass. I sat on the back of the ambulance to take off my shoe and shake out glass and they looked at my knee which was already beginning to bruise. They said I didn't need to go to the ER that night. I went to my Chiropractor on Tuesday and he did a lot of x-rays and scans and I've had two adjustments now and I'm starting to feel better. My knee is twelve shades of purple and blue. Yesterday morning I picked up the accident report and the officer says he can't determine who is at fault since we both say we had green lights. Okay, but I was going straight and she was making a left turn. I had the right-of-way. It makes no sense. I found out late yesterday that they totaled my car. Pardon me, but this totally sucks. I shed a lot of tears yesterday. I liked my car. It ran great. Had a great stereo. I have so many great memories in that car. I worked so hard to take care of it so it would last me a long time. So now I'm stuck getting a new car, paying higher insurance, and all sorts of other hassles. Like I said, it sucks.

Weird Hours

2008-11-03T23:42:00.002-05:00

So, tomorrow is election day. Instead of my 8:30am-5:30pm work day, I'm working noon-11:00pm. Yuck. I'm getting up in the morning and going to vote around 9:30. I hope the lines aren't too long. Some of the races I know which way I'm voting, in others I'm still up in the air. I trust that God will show me which way to vote once I'm there. Whoever wins all of the elections that take place tomorrow, they will definitely need prayer. As you hear the winners announced, ask God to guide their steps during their term of service.

I promise I'll get some afghan pictures taken soon. I'm out of AA batteries for my digital camera!

Autumn in Pine Mountain

2008-11-02T19:59:00.005-05:00

Fall Festival

2008-10-29T22:17:00.003-04:00

Tonight was the Fall Festival at church. I was asked to help with the Trunk or Treat. Basically I sat in a lawn chair behind my car and handed out candy to the hundreds and hundreds of kids who came by. They were so cute. It was fun, but it was cold out tonight. I had gloves on for a while. Kids would say, why do you have those on? Well. . . because my hands are cold. I guess they thought it was part of a costume. I had on a Halloween sweatshirt and a headband with horns. Some of my "friends" said I was letting my "true colors" show. That's not nice!

Tomorrow we're having a Halloween luncheon at work. I've got to go make an apple crisp. We can dress up if we want. I thought about wearing my glasses, putting on a blazer, put my hair in an up-do, and saying I'm Sarah Palin.

It's an Afghan!

2008-10-27T22:35:00.003-04:00

I finished my afghan late last night. I took it to work today to show it off. The other knitter really liked it. The aspiring knitter liked it. Everyone seemed to like it. I then took it to the knitting group to show it off. Everyone there liked it, too. Yea! There will be pictures soon.

100 % Fuzzy!

2008-10-26T18:46:00.007-04:00

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I've brought you something fun, though:
Your result for Yarn Store Worthiness Test...
Your LYS knows you
100 % Fuzzy!
Your stash of yarn must be pretty big. Your local yarn
store knows who you are.

Go take the Yarn Store Worthiness test at HelloQuizzy.com.

My friend, Bookwyrm, from the knitting group had a totally different test from this site on her blog (clicking her name will take you to that particular post), but once I was there and took the test she linked to (Initially I tested "Musical", I took it again and came up "Logical" which really sounds more like me), I couldn't resist looking for knitting and yarn related tests. Voila!

Anyway, what have I been up to? Lots of working. So not cool. It's been a crazy time at the TV station. I've done a little knitting. I've started on a potholder. It's called Toto the Extremely Useful and Cute Potholder. It's from the new Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines Book. I have this picture of one:

That's not actually mine. I borrowed that picture from a knitter in Rome, Georgia. Mine will be pink where hers is green and green where hers is pink. I decided to make this because I burned my hand getting my cast iron skillet out of the oven shortly after getting the book. It was a sign. I've got one pocket done. This is my mobile project so I only knit on it at lunch and when I'm out and about. Work has been such that I haven't necessarily gotten to take lunch everyday. Seriously cuts into my knitting time. I'm in a much better mood in the afternoon if I get to knit at lunch. I'm almost finished with my afghan and chugging along on Daddy's vest.

Friday I went to my eye doctor for my usual exam. I've worn glasses since I was 10, contacts since I was 16. For the first time ever in my contact lens experience, I'm going to be wearing different lenses in each eye. I've always worn the same lens. I've bought one box of disposable lenses at a time. NO MORE! Crazy. My vision was stable for a long time, then I got to that age where you need longer arms. My solution was multi-focal contacts. They work like magic. All of a sudden I could see again. Now I need stronger versions of those. If you've worn contacts for nearsightedness and suddenly found yourself needing longer arms and/or reading glasses, give the multi-focals a try. I love love love them. My eye doctor is my age and has never worn glasses. It's not fair, is it? I can't imagine what that must be like.

Oh, what about the whole Tommy Bowden getting fired thing? (We all know that's what went down, no matter what the Athletic Director says.) I think it was crazy. They should have let him finish the season. The team has lost their compass. I'll be surprised if they win any more games. We'll find out Saturday against Boston College. BC got killed by UNC yesterday, so they could be out for Clemson's blood. Yikes! I feel for my Tigers.

That's about it for me. I know. I've been out of touch, and that's it? Well, I've been working. Working. It's taken over. Not much else. I need a vacation.

Tired, but Posting

2008-10-16T21:55:00.003-04:00

I've been working some crazy long hours, but wanted to share my Pocket Book Slippers with you. They're so cute and fuzzy. I like them. Yarn is Yarn Bee Paradox in Wild Night.

I'll do a more proper post this weekend. I promise.

Thank Goodness for Google

2008-10-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

My Internet service is acting all weird. I checked my email just fine then tried to go to ravelry, but it wouldn't load. Lots of sites won't load. Couldn't read the Anderson Paper, but got the Columbus Paper to load. Then ravelry finally loaded. I asked my tech-guy (Seth). He said to reboot the computer and the modem. No change. Google works, so I'm able to post since Blogger is a Google thing. I can't click through from Google to anywhere else, though. I think I'm going to go knit now. See ya.

More Knitting!

2008-10-05T20:35:00.018-04:00

My friend Gail had her first baby, Luke, in early August. A first baby calls for booties. These are
Free Baby's Best Booties Knitting Pattern, a simple and quick to knit pattern. I used Lullaby by Berroco, a pretty nice yarn, but they've discontinued it.

I thought Luke also needed a Bunny Blanket Buddy. The head's supposed to be stuffed, but mine turned out flat. I think it's a good idea since it belongs to a baby. It will allow Gail to wash it easily after Luke's chewed and sucked on the ears or paws when he's teething.

Gail also is the guardian of her 12-year-old cousin, Bailey. I couldn't send Luke a gift without sending Bailey a gift, too. I made her this hat using the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom and a pattern in the Knitting with the Knifty Knitter III. This is Red Heart Light & Lofty in Antique Rose. Gail says Bailey loved the hat and that it was her favorite color. I'm so glad!

I'm working on Daddy's vest and I'll be through with my slippers in a few days. I can't wait to show you how cute they are. I walked around Panera last week, wearing one slipper and a sandal on my other foot so all the knitters could see. Everyone liked it. I'm working on another project that's my own design. It was a matter of knowing what I wanted and not liking any of the options I found on the Internet or in books, so I crafted my own. I really like it. I'll show you when it's done.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Yesterday I went to the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Georgia with my friend, Terrie - Catherine's mom. We got something called Chocolate Jelly that was amazing. The website is http://chocolatejelly.net/. We also bought earrings. Mine are Clemson Earrings like these except dangly. (They don't have a picture of the dangly ones, so the link goes to the stud ones.) Terrie's are UNC earrings. They are made of real Georgia marble and really cute.

On the work front, we produced our first High Definition Commercial this week. It was a simple spot for a client we work with all the time. It's going to be really exciting to see our new edit suite get finished and learn what we can do using High Definition. Welcome to the 21st Century!

What is this world coming to?

2008-09-22T23:04:00.007-04:00

This afternoon our news department started telling us the news: Bill Heard was closing their Chevrolet and their Cadillac/Saab dealerships in town, along with their other 11 dealerships around the country. You can read about it here. My thoughts immediately went to Mr. Tom and Ms. Cheryl. Tom and Cheryl are our Sunday School directors in the Preschool Department. Tom's worked at the Cadillac dealership as long as I've known him. I saw Cheryl tonight at church and just gave her a hug and told her I was sorry. She seemed okay, but please keep them in your prayers.

So then, I get to church and find out that vandals have spray painted swear words around the church property. When I got there, the children's minister (who happens to be Tom and Cheryl's son-in-law) was putting poster board over the door to the preschool hall to cover it up.

And what's up with the gas? How can gas stations run out of gas? It's really crazy. All this makes me wonder what's going on? Where are we headed? I just pray that God will give us the strength and wisdom to face whatever challenges continue to come our way.

On a positive note: Remember Daddy's vest? He was supposed to get it last Christmas and I only had the back done? Well, I finished the right front Monday night at the knitting group. Yea! So now I get to make a big, but fast project for me (the instant gratification will be motivating, honest), then do the left front. Also, I'm knitting some slippers and finished the first one at lunch yesterday and seamed it up last night. It's so cute! My coworkers were sufficiently impressed. I'll get pictures soon. I cast on for the second one today at lunch.

What I've Been Knitting (It's Finally Been Delivered, So Now You Can See It!)

2008-09-20T22:49:00.012-04:00

This hat is for my friend Lesa's husband, Glen. Lesa and Glen both work at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Purple and white are their school colors.

This hat is for Lesa's son, Reese. Orange and black are the colors for Kirksville High School where Reese is a student. Yes, you've seen this before - here.

These three hats are for Lesa. Girls need more variety in their wardrobe than guys do.

These three hats are for Chloe, Lesa's daughter. They lived in Columbus when the kids were little. I helped Lesa raise Chloe from age 1 until they moved to Missouri shortly before Chloe turned five. (Lesa traveled a lot for work, and Chloe would always stay with me when she was out-of-town) Chloe turned 14 this week. I still think of her as my first child.

There are a couple of other things I've been knitting, but they are en route to their recipients, so that will have to wait a few days before being made public. Let me just say that my hat binge is over! For now....

But Wait, There's More...

2008-09-07T20:04:00.005-04:00

Okay, I was tired last night and didn't tell you about EVERYTHING I got at Creative Yarns. First I've always wanted one of these:

Not the car! That's my third Civic. Take a look to the left of my Clemson License Plate:

So cool! Another thing I had decided I would get before I went there - if they had it, and they did - was this:

Everybody knows I love the Yarn Harlot. I knew this was out and Stephanie always says to support the local yarn stores. (i.e. Instead of vast corporations like Barnes & Noble and Amazon.)

Did I mention I got some of this?

MMMMMMMMMMMMalabrigo!

Creative Yarns

2008-09-06T20:25:00.006-04:00

Our knitting group went on a field trip today to Creative Yarns in Macon, Georgia. Wow! What a great yarn store! They were so nice and so helpful. The store was beautiful. Colorful. Spacious. There was candy and hot tea and coffee. And the yarn. . . I'm almost speechless over the yarn. So pretty. So many textures. So many colors. They were incredibly gracious. Even sending someone over to take a group picture of us before we left. It was an awesome day.
Katy gets her yarn wound.
Julie and Mona knit while they wait on the rest of us to make our purchases.
Pretty yarn and pretty project examples.
That's my yarn on the umbrella.

Mmmmmmm...Malabrigo!
Lacey, Julie, Mona, Katy, Me, Laura, and Tara!
The yarn lady sent us around the corner to a cute sandwich shop, Harkins, for lunch. We got there just as they were getting ready to close, but the two guys working there were really nice and funny, too. The food was really good.
Tara and Lacey waiting for everyone to go to the bathroom so we could leave.
Laura asleep in the car on the way home. Downtown Reynolds, Georgia.

What a fun day. Some of the girls who really wanted to go didn't get to, so we are planning a return trip sometime in the not too distant future. Creative Yarns - so worth the drive to Macon.

Anniversary

2008-09-01T23:06:00.007-04:00

Tonight we sat outside at Panera. (My allergies did not appreciate this, but I digress.) It's the first time since we've been there that we sat outside. When I went in to get some coffee, I noticed how quiet it was. . . because the noisy knitters were outside. I realized then that it was our anniversary at Panera. It was Labor Day 2007 when we moved from the Wynnton Road Burger King to Panera. In recognition of the anniversary, here are some pictures from our Knitting Night.

The very pregnant blond in the blue t-shirt is Pati. She's an army wife who is leaving on Wednesday for Ohio to birth her baby and then to Japan for three years. We're going to miss her. She's so sweet. We met Pati two years ago when one night she showed up at Starbucks (where we met before Burger King) to learn to knit. I have this picture of Debbie teaching her to knit from October 9, 2006.Why does the Army move people around so much?

Disappointed

2008-08-31T06:48:00.004-04:00

To answer bookwyrm's question in the comments for Friday's post:

This is what I accomplished last night while Clemson was blowing it against Alabama. It's a nice hat, isn't it? At least something good came from Saturday night.

Football Kickoff Eve

2008-08-30T00:12:00.003-04:00

Clemson is playing in the Chic Fil-A Kickoff Classic tomorrow against the University of Alabama in the Georgia Dome. Here's info from ESPN that won't fit in my sidebar.

Go Tigers!!!

All Sorts of Stuff Going On - or catching up on my blogging

2008-08-23T20:53:00.010-04:00

So I've been watching Olympics. Here are some sports I've discovered that I've never watched before: Synchronized Diving, Handball, and Race Walking.

The Handball is interesting. We were at lunch in the break room the other day. There were four or five of us in there. There was a sport on we couldn't identify. Teams of women (Norway and Korea) on an indoor court with goals like soccer goals throwing a ball in between the size of a softball and a volleyball. Whenever someone went down the hall, we'd say, "Hey, do you know what sport this is?" We must have asked half a dozen people. Miller said Handball, but we didn't believe him. One of the news reporters looked it up on the Internet schedule. Yep. Handball. Miller was right.

I stayed up until 2am watching Women's 20K Race Walking the other night. It's apparently a difficult sport because several women got disqualified. It was pouring rain in Beijing and there they went racing through the streets for twelve and half miles! I had to see it through to the end at 2am. I was very sleepy the next day. Lots of that going around during this Olympics. People from everywhere keep telling me that.

Speaking of pouring rain, check out this video:

That's my patio in the middle of Tropical Storm Fay this afternoon. (Not bad for being shot using the video mode on my digital camera, huh?) I had a thing to go to at church this morning that required lots of sitting and listening, but the food was excellent. Afterward I came home and took a long nap while it continued to rain. It started sometime around noon Friday and is supposed to go at least until 6pm Monday. What a weekend. I made brownies tonight to make myself feel better. YUMMY!

Last weekend we had a Beth Moore ladies video retreat at church. If you're reading this and thinking, "Wow, that sounds great. I wish I'd known about it," I apologize. While I was sitting there enjoying it, I kept thinking of people I wish I'd invited. People from my knitting group and people from work, too. I'm sorry. Next time I'll do better.

Yesterday at work we had a luau. I'll leave you with some photos to enjoy:

Tag! I'm it!

2008-08-11T22:24:00.004-04:00

Wow! Thanks to LauieC for my award! I am so honored. I think it looks a little like the American Music Award. Or what I remember them looking like.

The rules state that I, having received this lovely award, must in turn nominate 7 other fabulous recipients. Those lucky bloggers must follow the rules, which are:

The winner can put the logo on her blog.
Link the person you received your award from.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Put links of those blogs on yours.
Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated.

The nominees are:

Holly H. When I first started my blog, I decided to do a Google search and see if it would come up. I typed in "Holly Knitting Blog" or something like that. Up popped a blog with a picture of a cat who looked like Gidget, the cat I had a long time who meant the world to me. I commented on her blog and we've been blog buddies ever since.
Lacey She came to the knitting group about a year ago. Lacey is funny, smart, and a really great knitter, crocheter, and seamstress. She's been AWOL much of the summer, but I hope she finds herself at Panera a lot more Monday nights as the weather cools.
Jamie I met Jamie on ravelry. We joined some of the same groups because we're from the same hometown, went to the same high school (where we were both in the band), and both went to Clemson University. She's A LOT younger than me, that's why our paths never crossed in real life.
Bookwyrm She doesn't reveal her name on her blog (as far as I can tell), so I'm not sure if I should. She is new to our knitting group and fitting right in. Hope she likes tag!
Lacy I met Lacy on New Year's Eve. I was sitting in the floor at A.C. Moore going through the clearance yarn (I'm hardcore), and she was yarn shopping with her friend Amanda. Next thing you know, Lacy's at Panera on a Monday and the rest is history. She has a great blog full of recipes, animal stories, and tips on simple living. Go visit!
Angela Because, like Becca always says, she needs to blog more.
Brandi She's been in a blogging slump all summer, but I hope when Eli starts first grade (whenever that happens in Texas), she gets her blogging mojo back.

Consider yourselves tagged!

Olympics

2008-08-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

Olympic fever...catch it!

New Kids on the Block

2008-08-03T18:56:00.003-04:00

Remember last year when we got our new Sunday School class? Today we got another one. It went surprisingly well. There's one little boy who has a reputation for crying, we'll call him "H"; we were very concerned about him. He did so great. They all did. It went great. We forgot to take pictures. Maybe next week.

Oh. My. Gosh! I just got scared to death. I love The Weather Channel. I've downloaded Weather Desktop. It's great. Tells you the temperature down by the time and radar is one click away. The only thing is, when there's a weather alert, it thunders at you. The thunder coming out of my computer scares me every time. I wonder if I can turn off the thunder.

Stitch & Pitch with the Columbus Catfish

2008-07-27T22:22:00.006-04:00

Last night the Knitters and I went to Columbus Catfish game.

We had a sky box! We put a sign on the door so everyone could find us:The announcer was right next door. I took this picture of him reading the starting lineup from our balcony.
Deb and her husband John relax before the game.

This is the view out the door from the sky box. For those of you unfamiliar with Columbus' Historic Golden Park, that's the Chattahoochee River running through the center of the picture. The trees on the other side of the river are in Alabama. Bit of trivia: During the 1996 Olympics Women's Fast Pitch Softball debuted here as an Olympic event. I was a Press Ops Volunteer. It was very exciting.

Julie with her son, Sam, and her husband, Kevin.

Laura and I check out the balcony before the game.

Lacy and her husband, Josh, pose on the balcony following the game.

Post game photo (Julie's family left early): John, Deb, me, Lacy, and Laura. Thanks, Josh, for taking the picture.

The Catfish played the Greenville Drive. The Drive is almost my hometown team from South Carolina. They beat the Catfish 15-9. It doesn't matter. I was there for the knitting and the Knitters.