Happy Easter

But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the plce where the Lord lay.

Matthew 28:5-6

Sock Madness 3 - Tropical Mer-tini

Jenny was at it again, this time talking me into joining Sock Madness.

The pattern for this is "Tropical Mer-tini" and included a recipe for the drink. I skipped the drink, but did make the socks.
This pattern used a Twisted German Cast-On which I had never done before. I LOVE this cast-on! I do believe that it will be my standard for socks, mittens, and gloves from now on.

Another new-to-me technique was the afterthought heel. Now I'm not sure, but it seems to me that a heel that is planned and worked on purpose hardly qualifies as an afterthought*. I didn't particularly like this technique, but it's always good to expand one's knitting skills.

The pattern doesn't show well, what with all those colors, but they are VERY comfortable socks.
Knit with Plymouth Yarns Sockotta Sock Yarn in colorway 30 (very descriptive colorway name, no?) on size 1 (2.5 mm) dpns.

* After writing the above I was searching the web for links and discovered that the Yarn Harlot had posted about this as well. She, however, was able to explain a proper use for this. I bow to the wisdom of both her and legend Elizabeth Zimmerman, and humbly apologize to Ms. Zimmerman for doubting the usefulness of this technique.

Fanboy Socks

My son is a HUGE fan of Formula 1 racing, so when he saw that I had sock yarn in red and white -- the colors of his favorite team and driver, he asked me to make him some socks that showed off his love. Well, more than a year later, enter the Fanboy Socks.

The writing on the cuff reads "Kimi Raikkonen", who is Jordan's favorite driver. The cuff was knitted long, then folded over and seamed to keep the strands from being exposed and able to catch on a toe.

He said that he likes them a lot.
And I think I do, too. :)

Knit out of Knit Picks Essentials in Bare and Burgundy on size 1 (2.5 mm) dpns.

Goldfield Ghost Town

On March 17 our home school group went on a field trip to Goldfield Ghost Town.
Goldfield was the largest and most productive gold mine in Arizona until they dug too deeply tapping an aquifer and flooding the mine. There is still gold mining going on there, but it is not nearly as productive as it once was.

We started our day with a ride around the town and mining area on a little train.

The trip takes a loop that goes past both the active and inactive mines and around the town which looks likes a Victorian mining town -- all wooden buildings with gingerbread trim, dirt roads, water storage towers, and boardwalks, with a church at the highest point at the end of town, just a couple of doors down from the bordello.

We then had the opportunity to do some gold panning.

Each pan was guaranteed to contain gold, iron pyrite (fools gold), and garnets. And the best part was that you got to keep what you found. Between the two of us, we managed a pretty respectable haul, mostly of garnets.

We wrapped up the day by taking a tour of a mine. Much of it was just replica (remember - the real mine flooded!), but it was fun and interesting just the same. Our tour guide was, of course
dressed in character, and shared the history of mining and some really bad jokes with us.

This was one of the funnest field trips we have ever been on, and if you ever get the chance to visit, it's worth the time. Be warned though, it IS a tourist trap, so come prepared!

Update

Poor, poor, neglected blog.

I have been much busy of late, and updating hasn't been a priority for me, so I don't do it, and then feel terribly guilty about it.We were finally able to get the OS fixed. I had to totally dump my hard drive to get it to install properly, but it's working now. I also had to update my iLife software to get iPhoto to work, but it, too, is working now. The only thing not working is the program that started it all. See, my son is on the yearbook committee and needs to have Photoshop for creating the pages. Well, we bought the program, but it wouldn't work. We thought it was because we needed to upgrade our memory and OS, but that didn't make it work. So I took everything down to the genius bar to see if we could get things working. There is nothing wrong with my computer. There is nothing wrong with the Photoshop program disk we have. It STILL doesn't work. There is no explanation for why. (Sigh) I think I will just admit temporary defeat, and come back to it later.

As for my knee, believe it or not, staying off of it and taking anti-inflamitory drugs did work. No trip to the specialist, I am much better, and am s-l-o-w-l-y getting back into walking. YES! And I have a couple of new walking partners -- my son and our puppy.

And speaking of pets, our beloved dog Sandy passed away on March 4. She really hadn't seemed that sick. We thought she had an eye infection and so were taking her to the vet, and by the time we reached the office, she was unable to breathe or walk. I rushed her inside, but it was too late. We were very distraught. She was an awesome dog, and a much loved member of our family for the last 8 1/2 years. She is still missed.

We decided to get another dog, to make our family feel whole again, and so we brought home Gypsy.We've had her with us for 2 1/2 weeks. She is a boxer, 10 weeks old, and so wonderful. She has already stolen all our hearts and is a vital part of our family.

Much knitting and spinning has gone on, and other exciting news (I have a job!). But I think I'll save it for next time. Hopefully it won't be months between posts again.

Miscellany

Among my New Year's resolutions this year was getting fit. I haven't usually been a fan of exercise, at least if it feels like exercise, but I'd started walking and found myself enjoying it a lot. So when we got back from Utah, I stepped up my walk to 8 mi./day. I LOVED it. My family, not so much -- they disliked the amount of time it took me away from home. I'd planned on starting interval training (i.e. Couch to 5K), and, having found a podcast that went with it, decided to start.

Day 1: Super Easy (seriously, after 8 mi. walks how could 2 mi. intervals not be easy?!)

Because of this, I didn't take the next day off and so,

Day 2: Super Easy ---- Until I injured my knee.

Thinking this was not a good thing and that perhaps taking a day or two off would be wise, I did just that -- I took 2 days off. Since my knee was feeling better, though not totally healed, I decided I would do Day 3, but power walking instead of jogging. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. Two weeks later I'm in the doctor's office having him tell me my knee is deranged (yes, he really did say that!), that I need to see a specialist because he suspects an injury that may require surgery to fix, and on crutches for the foreseeable future. Did I mention that Day 3 was a bad idea? Of course, I'm sure 2 weeks of pretending that it wasn't really injured didn't help either, but we're just going to ignore that. *Sigh* You may feel free to join with me in hoping that staying off of it and taking anti-inflammatory drugs will make it magically go away on its own. :)

In other news, we decided to upgrade the operating system for our computer. Turns out we also had to upgrade the memory. ($cha-ching$) Thanks to that little adventure, I now know that there are 2 types of RAM on my computer, and how to replace them. This was not something I'd had a burning desire to learn, but I find myself pleased by it anyway. Then I installed the new OS. Unfortunately, my hard drive is full with stuff that I know nothing about, the new and old OSs have programs on them that are not compatible, I can't get the entire new OS to load, and now many programs are just not working. Isn't it simply fabulous how much easier technology has made our lives?? And so, there will be no new photos until I can figure out how to make everything work because, one of those programs that's not working is my photo program. (Note to self: Add "become computer guru in less than 1 week" to to-do list.)

I've been knitting and spinning like a fiend, but don't have much in the way of finished objects to show for it. Mostly because they are all big projects, and I have apparently contracted knitting ADD (having a total of I-don't-even-know-how-many projects currently in process). I'm sure that the fact that I've read a total of 16 books this month, with another 4 that I'm currently enjoying has nothing to do with it. Ah, well. Maybe I'll add "Give up sleeping" to my list of New Year's resolutions. Then again, maybe not.

Eulogy

The funeral for my mom was on Saturday, January 3, 2009. I believe that she would have enjoyed the services, and that they did, if fact, honor her memory.

At the request of some from the services, I am posting the eulogy that I gave.

How do you sum up a life?

When my dad asked me to share a little about my mom, a passage of scripture, as it often did when thinking of her, kept coming to mind. It's found in Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 25-31 and reads as follows:

"Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

If ever there was a woman who exemplified this passage, my mom was it. From as early as I can remember, my mom was always there, giving of herself, generously, with no expectations. She never had an unkind word for anyone, but was always looking for the best in people. She made you think that if you could just be half the person she seemed to think you were then anything was possible. No matter how busy she was, if you needed her help, advice, a listening ear, or some encouragement, she was there for you. Her days were long and filled with hard work, with seldom any rest to be found, and she struggled with poor health for most of her life, but she never complained. She had an inner strength that, no matter the challenge, caused her to never give up. When I was little I used to marvel at her patience thinking that if ever there lived a saint, she was it. As I got older I became sure of it. Always humble, she never made much of her self -- she was always too busy making much of others. Warm and friendly, loyal and trustworthy, always with a ready smile, she was the kind of person you wanted to spend time with and were proud to call "friend". People, her family and friends, were her treasure. When I moved to Arizona, I was no longer able to see her often, but we would talk nearly every week, and she'd always tell me how blessed and rich she was because of all of us -- her husband, children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

To quote a little of the poem "Mother Mine":

O Mother mine, if I can be
To little ones who look to me,
A mother half as sweet and wise
And tender; if they but surmise
That in your likeness I have tried
To grow, I shall be satisfied,
Mother dearie, Mother cheery, Mother mine.

I love you, Mom.