Tiny Needle Tuesday

 Yes, it's been a bit more than a week. But I have two excuses. First and foremost, this newly minted professor visited for a week:

That's my daughter sipping a Prosecco Mojito in my backyard. We had a great time together, even though there wasn't a lot to do.  Her research area is race and policing, and I'm a special education teacher, so we have a lot to talk about!

Also, last Monday, I started working full-time. We have two weeks of professional development, and I have been busy! There's paperwork, meeting new kids, learning new technology, anti-racism trainings. It's a lot. My head is about to explode!

But there has been some needlework. I finally finished my Cozy Blue project, and it is adorable. I'm going to make it into a mini-quilt. Kym might notice that I've changed up the colors, as I bought the pattern but not a kit. Honestly, Cozy Blue's color choices were better than mine!

Now I've begun another cross stitch, this one from Satsuma Street. I love their designs.

I'm not going to tell you the name of the pattern -- but you can figure it out if you go to their Etsy store.

Speaking of Etsy, I saw an Etsy commercial on TV last week. It makes Etsy look like a Target. There was no mention of handmade or one-of-a-kind items. I was so disappointed. We have enough large retailers!

Tiny Needle Tuesday

I've been working on this Frida cross stitch in little bits as cross stitch irritates my injured wrist. It's been a fun project, and not too hard.

After a serious rain storm on Monday, we are having a hot and humid week. I'm OK with it so far, even though we don't have AC. It does mean I need to get out early for a bike workout. I took advantage of the weather to do some sun-dying this afternoon.

And Kola naps in some pretty interesting positions when she's hot.

I love summer!

Just Another Weekend

 With Thanksgiving coming up, I should be doing more cooking and cleaning. But other things are so much more fun -- not to mention relaxing! Keith and I are now watching The Roosevelts on Netflix, which is perfect for easy sweater knitting. I'm making the Windchill Cardigan for my daughter. I think it's a pretty easy pattern, but I'm worried about size with her in Miami and me knitting in Wisconsin. She'll be home for T-giving and Winter Break, so I'm hoping to be able to make any adjustments.

On Saturday, I joined some friends for the Wisconsin Book Festival. Much to my surprise, I was hooked by the author of The Storm Before the Storm. Mike Duncan, the author, created the podcast The History of Rome. As much as I love history, ancient history has never interested me that much, but this guy is good! I'm going to listen to the podcast -- all 189 episodes -- one of these days.

It turns out that he is a Madison resident and his book just debuted on the NYT's Best-Seller list at No. 8. 

And I'm still loving this cross stitch. Kathy wanted to know how to get a hold of it. The company is Satsuma Street, and the Etsy store is here.

Some of the patterns are digital downloads, but others are also available as printed copies, which I prefer. I bought the hard copy of this one, which is called Happinest.

I hope you had a lovely weekend, too!

Unravelled Wednesday

Just a quick hello during a hectic week. I've found myself picking up my cross stitch a lot. It's very relaxing and easy to do a little bit at a time.

I don't have a photo of the hat I was working on last week, but I've made a lot of progress on it, thanks to the second season of Stranger Things. I don't usually like horror stories, but this Netflix series has hooked me. A lot of my students like it, too, so it's been a big topic of conversation.

As for reading, I'm still working my way through Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out. It is slow, but I'm liking it.

And another picture of Kola. She likes to sit on the stove after we've boiled water for coffee. She even seems to know when it's cool enough not to hurt her.

To answer some questions about Cat TV: We use You Tube videos on our television. They like both realistic videos and others that look like old video games.

Joining up with Kat for Unravelled Wednesday.

A Project for Me and Kitty TV

Every now and then I get pulled back into cross stitch.

I've been eyeing patterns at the SatsumaStreet Etsy site for a couple of years now, but didn't give into the temptation to buy one until I saw Happinest at my local embroidery store.

While my weekend is largely devoted to the fairly difficult task of finishing my ocean fiber piece, I've been relaxing with this project. I think it's going to be a gift.

I also suspect it will not be my last SatsumaStreet piece. If you have any interest in embroidery, you should head over there. She does amazing cityscapes of some the world's great cities.

Meanwhile, we have some very happy cats at our house. They spend a lot of time like this:

Watching things like this:

Here's another favorite:

I have to thank my daughter for turning us on to cat TV

In Between Cleaning

If you walked into my house, you would think it's in reasonably good order. But when I look through the rooms from the perspective of putting the house on the market, I see clutter and little repair jobs all over the place!

We definitely want to sell the house in 2017, and I feel like that barely gives us enough time to get it ready. Especially these days, when staging is everything. When I bought my first house, people just picked up. Now I feel the need to really cull and clean.

So we spent much of the weekend working on that project, but I did have some breaks for friends and crafting. I finished a second market bag:

The yarn is Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, which makes a nice, dense fabric and comes in great colors.

And I added a few stitches to my Door  County cross stitch. I love the way it is coming out, but I am discouraged by how much more there is to do. I am almost done with the building, but there is a ton of foliage ahead of me.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Quiet Weekend

I needed a quiet weekend. It was that kind of week.  Other than fish fry with my parents and a breakfast with Keith's family, we hung out.

I had a little writing retreat at a local coffee shop. It was delicious! And reasonably productive.

I did some work for school, too.  Sometimes you just have to do that.

I read. I knit. And I did some stitching, too.

Sometimes you just need a quiet weekend.

I hope you had whatever kind of weekend you needed!

In Progress: Knitting, Stitching, Reading

The healing power of a week of vacation is amazing. I returned to school yesterday feeling happy to see my students and ready to tackle another quarter. 

It seems like I'm in the middle of a million projects, but I don't really want to know how many I have on the go! So, I'll just share a couple of them. First up is the first Bat Mitzvah sock, the Rosa Rubiginosa Sock from The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet. 

 I don't know if you can tell, but the lace goes down the top of the foot in a triangle shape, which is a fun twist.

My Door County Cross Stitch is slow going. I find that I need to do this in natural light (which couldn't possibly be a result of my age, could it?). Stitching a lot of white floss on white Aida cloth might be a factor, too.

I like the way it is coming out, which is good because it's going to be a long process.

I am almost done with Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh, and I highly recommend this story of a family in Pennsylvania coal country. The book follows the characters through the second half of the 20th century, a type of book that has been done a million times. Often these books are predictable or silly; not this one. Baker Towers is well-written with characters that feel real. It's the kind of book to curl up with for a good long read.

Next up is The Prize by Dale Russakoff, which tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg's failed donation to the school district in Newark, NJ.  I expect to enjoy this one. I'm not a Zuckerberg fan.

I'm joining up with Ginny to Yarn Along.

Stitching WithThoughts of Summer

Considering that last weekend I stayed in bed for both days, it was nice to be able to get out and do a few things this weekend. I went to the opening for a friend's photo show. It was her first one-woman show and it was fabulous. I put a hold on one of the works, so I'm looking forward to having it on my wall. Sunday I went sketching with a friend and then we had my parents over for dinner.

In between, I picked up my cross stitch project: Wilson's in Door County.

Keith and I go to Door County every summer. It's the thumb if you look at Wisconsin as a mitten (which all knitters do, of course). Wilson's is a restaurant/ice cream shop, one of the landmarks, and in our favorite town, Ephraim. With 11 weeks left in the school year (not that I'm counting), it felt good to look forward to summer.

Weeko says: "Is it Monday already?"

That's what I say, too.

The Importance of Electricity

Keith and I set out Sunday morning for Door County. It is the thumb of Wisconsin, if you look at the state as mitten shaped (as any knitter would). A peninsula bordered by Lake Michigan and Green Bay, it is popular with tourists.

We drove along the lake, heading north. Lake Michigan looks a lot like the ocean.

As we neared Door County, the skies darkened. Heavy rain pounded the car and became mixed with hail.

We stopped in Egg Harbor to do dome shopping, but everything was dark and closed. As we drove north, we saw no sign of electricity, so we were not surprised to find our little cabin lacked electricity. (Note: I took the photo after the electricity came back on!)

Turns out that the storm was historic, knocking out power to the whole peninsula and beyond. The power company had teams from other companies come in to help restore power.

Now, I can live without electricity. I am fine with pit toilets. But I do need some sort of bathroom facility. The buildings here all use well water. We learned that the toilets cannot flush without electricity to pump the water! So, we spent a day and a half planning our time around public restrooms. It was very exciting when the electricity came back on.

Now, the weather is beautiful and we are enjoying this lovely part of the world. We often come up here for the quiet, the bike riding, the art, and the restaurants.

A couple days before we left, I stumbled on a cross stitch pattern of Wilson's, a restaurant that has been in Ephraim forever. The timing seemed significant, so I assembled the needed colors and started it on our first evening here. It is going to take FOREVER to finish. It is very detailed and I have so many other projects.

I am squeezing in knitting, too. Keith drove all the way up here, so I made good progress on the second Knitcircus sock. These will definitely be ready to wear this fall.

 

I'll be checking in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.