Steamboats and Spinning Wheels

Today was the Derby Festival's Great Steamboat Race. It was a perfect afternoon, nice weather, cool breeze and fiber friends. There were 7 spinners and one newbie using a drop spindle.
(Note: very picture heavy post)
Here is Liz.
Ashley
Holly
Ashley's cool feet.

Ann, the owner of Grinny Possum Fiber Arts, planned this fun fiber event.



These beautiful babies (7 week old Choc. Labs) were having a wagon ride. We could have taken one home for a mere $250



The Belle of Cincinnati.


Belle of Louisville, the winner this year, but apparently there was some fishy business going on so they gave the golden antlers to the Delta Queen.

Here is the Delta Queen, this may be her last race. Some federal regulations are changing so the Delta Queen may not be able to take passengers overnight any more. The steamboat is an all wooden boat. It is really cool how the smoke stacks lay down when going under the bridges.
It was a wonderful event.

Dogs on Thursday

I have some special guests for today's DOT post.

Sadie & Yogy, they had 7 puppies on April 17th. The beautiful family lives with Aunt Doris in North Carolina.




Now I can't leave out my own boys, so here is a daily occurence in the living room. You may remember that Tigger belongs to Starsky but Hutch always tries to get it from him. I have sewn Tigger up twice already. I hope he has lots of his nine lives left.

Spring is here....

in the Ohio Valley. That means that one day it might be high 60s and the next low to mid 80s. We do not get much of an actual Spring, maybe a week or two at the most, then full blown hot Summer. I refuse to turn my AC on during the month of April. It is just wrong. So we have all the windows open and a few fans blowin.

Here is one of my favorite things about Spring

My azalea bushes. The third picture is the bush just a few days ago.

Here it is in all it's colorful glory!

Roses and azaleas are my favorite flowers. They both have amazing color. My roses last longer, in a week or so the azaleas blooms will be gone and I will have to wait until next year.

My Friend Shannon came home to visit. She brought her new bundle of joy, Sophia Grace.

Look how pretty she is, Alex was having a blast holding her and making her smile.

They were practically arguing as to who got to hold her next. I have missed hearing those happy baby noises. I have a few things OTN for Sophia, I better hurry before she gets too big for them.

Tuesday night knitting

We were missing a few faces, but had a couple new ones too.
Ila and Hannah brought some beautiful projects with them.

There were some socks worked on, a baby blanket (the never ending blanket) a mini sock and two baby sweaters.
Ruth and Sam weren't with us this evening, but I have some Sam cuteness for you anyway.
Hey Lora, look at Lou Lou. That is one big elephant.



You always get to see the inside, so I thought I would give you a different view.

Happy Birthday to my older..

uh, I mean my other half.

Olivia and Eli helped daddy wash the motorcycle for his birthday.

Here are some of the goodies John got. He also got what most men his age want....

gift cards and cash. I don't know what you may have been thinking.



A big group of us (about 23) met at Logan's Roadhouse and had a really nice meal together.

My prospective brother in-law picked up some new friends at the restaurant.
.

This is my brother Jason and the adorable little guy next to him is J.T.

No FOs here but some...

shaken objects can be found. We had a rare occurrence around here, an earthquake.

I had no idea what was going on, I just knew that Hutch was going crazy. Barking, growling running up and down the hall way. I got up to see what in the world was going on, it sounded like someone was shaking the security door trying to get in. I let both dogs out and Hutch just ran around the backyard still carrying on. I had no clue until John called me from work.
I hope it is the most excitement we have all weekend. Take a look here for a toddler's perspective. You may recognize the little guy, his birthday pictures are a few posts back.


I have been knitting just nothing new, exciting or worth mentioning.
Still struggling with my first sock. I frogged the striped one you may have seen several posts back. I did not like how the heel was turning out at all and the foot seemed loose on me. Oh, and I was beginning to get really tired of looking at that yarn. I want to look at something bright or Springy/Spring like, so I cast on some Lorna's Laces Sport in sherbet colorway. They will eventually become socks for Olivia. I am considering do the Jaywalker socks but have heard there is not much give in the pattern. I have started knitting very tightly again so not sure if that pattern will work. Then there is the fact that I would have to do some math, the pattern calls for casting on 76sts, I found a revised pattern that calls for 68 sts but to fit I would need to cast on 64 sts on size 3 needles. I you know me at all I refrain from doing any math what so ever. Math was never my strong suit, in fact I was the only senior in a freshman algebra class.
So, if any of you just love the Jaywalker socks, feel free to do some math for me. It would be great appreciated.


Added @ 12:30 We had an aftershock about an hour ago, it registered 4.2 . I new what it was this time, so it was a little scary. It sloshed some water out of our fish tank. More dogs in the neighborhood barked like crazy.

A good cause

Go here and donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Rachel (a very spunky teenager) and her mother are participating in America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride.
It is a 100 mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe being held June 1st. Help them reach their goal!
Oh, I can't forget. If you donate there might be some yarn in it for you.

I made a donation in memory of my grandfather. Baldy, his nickname, not a reference to his hair loss but to his last name, was a very sweet man. My dad just gives a weird look and said that he must have mellowed in his old age.
Gramps was a wonderful man and he was loved very much. He worked at Colgate Palmolive. I thought it was so cool that he got to fix the huge clock on the plant. He is the one that gave me my first peanut butter and mustard sandwich. Don't make that face, it is actually pretty good. Try one then get back to me.
He read every single page of the Sunday paper. Do not touch the pages until he finished with them.
When I got my drivers license he gave me a pink flashlight and a map of Louisville KY. I still have both. He was the first person we told about expecting our first child. He was very excited and after Alex was born he could not wait for him to start talking.
He had been sick for several years but aways seemed to bounce back.
Grandpa died in November of 1998, Alex was only 14 months old.
My family and I live in the house I spent most of my life visiting.
We bought my grandparent's house.

We wanted to take one home....

They are so cute and adorable and sweet. But very timid and skittish.

We had a wonderful time petting the soft, soft fleece.
The hubby, kids and I met up with some of my knitting buddies, Nicole, Becca, Holly and Cheryl. They bought yarn and roving, I didn't buy anything. After I got the kids the alpaca bears I realized that I spent my yarn money on them.

What was I thinking?

I just wanted to curl up right next to one and take a nap.

There were lots of really cute little "alpaca" animals. The bunny is being raffled off. I wonder if I will win....

I got a little bear for Eli and one for Olivia. She gave me a good deal on the two.

John liked them too, it was the first time he has seen an alpaca. He liked them so much he said it would be neat to have one.
Eli loved it that this guy came over and let him touch him.

Isn't that the best name ever? I love it.

Dogs on Thursday

Look at those two little faces. I don't know which one is cuter. Eli has those squeezable cheeks, but I do love that spotted tongue. Eli was my helper for pictures today. I just can't get them to stand still and take the picture at the same time. These two were taken from inside the garage. They like to hop up and see what John is working on. It was actually a spring like day today. Not very sunny but warm and a nice breeze. Nobody needed any coats and I did catch a kid or two with barefeet.

The backyard looks as barren as a desert. We are talking about getting some sod to put down. Grass seed would never stand a chance.

I have a treat in one had and the camera in the other. Starsky will barely hold still even for a treat. Hutch is starting to lose his winter fluffiness. He looks as skinny as can be when wearing his spring/summer coat. I could so have his fur spun into yarn. I am not quite sure how I feel about that tho. He is a very pretty color. Now Starsky's fur is just to short and coarse for any spinning.

This is the lone patch of grass we have left in the backyard. Drought and dogs have caused the rest of the grass to disappear. I am not sure why this grass has survived. I bet it is mostly weeds with just a little grass sprinkled throughout.

John dreams of the day he can have a lush green yard. I think that will just stay a dream until the kids are gone and the dogs are too old to play.