Warning! Lots of pictures!

One week before the wedding...practice run through with the hair-do



Cake from the shower for Megan later the same day.

These next several pictures are from the Bridal Attendant dinner give by my MIL
My step-daughter Michelle and Megan's best friend and maid-of-honor Lindsey
Far left in the background moving forward--my sil, Margaret, ex-sil, Fran, Megan's stepmom, Ernetta
Ernetta again and my ex mil, Dorothy
My nephew's wife, Amber, with daughter, Lillian
All the girls--Michelle, Lindsey, Margaret(my niece), Megan, Amber, Rebekah, Anna Kristin
my niece, Margaret, my sil, Betty Jo, groom's grandmother, Clara, and groom's mother, Debbie
my mil, Sue and Amber again
Ernetta, Megan, Dorothy
Megan and Granny Sue
Clara, Megan, and Debbie
Megan and Aunt Fran
my sil, Margaret, and ex sil, Fran
centerpiece from the dinner--silk flowers in a bowl that was my mother's
Below are pictures from the rehearsal dinner
my husband Jimmy, Fran, and his mom--my ex mil on the far right in the foreground
Fran's husband, Dwight, Clara and her husband, LB
the flower girl and ring bearer with their parents and Ernetta
three of the bridesmaids
Benji, the groom with his best man, Shannon, who is also my nephew
some of the groomsmen digging in
Michelle in the middle, to the left, her fiance, Brian, and the minister who performed Megan and Benji's wedding on the right.
Me on the left with Megan, Fran, and mil Sue
Benji with his mom, Debbie
More food!
All of the groomsmen--going around the table--Joey in the light blue shorts, AJ, Darrin, Justin, Shannon, John Michael
My brother, John in the white tshirt, and the rest of the gang following
fixing favors for the next day!
The next pictures are from the reception. I won't attempt to label. I will post more as I get them.









































It took me three days to get these uploaded and posted to the blog. Hopefully, it won't take as long to post more.

Whew!

The wedding is over and now I can get back to some knitting! I will post pictures that I took from the wedding later. Right now I am trying to catch up with this dishcloth kal. I have all 5 clues and am knitting furiously to get them knitted today. I now have 3 of them finished and have started the 4th. This pic was taken after I finished the 2nd clue. More later!

Knitting meme

This is going around the blog world, I might as well join in!

Mark with bold the things you have done, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest plain.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting <--- ??? [info here]
Charity knitting
CardiganToy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) <--- ??? [info here]
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks <--- ??? [info here]
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards <--- ??? [info here and here]
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO <--- [info here]
Freeform knitting <--- ??? [info here]
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Have accomplished quite a bit, but still have a lot to learn and do!

Stressed out!

So with wedding plans getting more and more together, I haven't been able to do much knitting. I probably should do more to help with the stress level, but my mind just isn't all there right now. I have made a little progress on the Hippy Crunchy socks from last year's STR sock club. One leg is finished ready for heel setup and one lace repeat is finished on the other. I am using size 0 (2.0mm) Crystal Palace bamboo dpns for these socks although my preference is 2 socks on 2 circs. This pattern does too much shifting of stitches to make it possible to use the circs. I may not continue the pattern down the foot as I don't like a lacey pattern on top of my foot in a shoe.
Oh, and don't look at the mess. :-)

Finished!

I finished these (Horcrux pattern using STR Blue Moonstone & Crystal Palace bamboo 2.0 mm & US Addi #0/2.0 mm) last night around 11:00 pm. So I cast on the next socks, which are ... the Hippy Crunchy socks from last years STR sock club. Progress pic at the bottom.
There wasn't much time today at school to get very far on these. We'll see how far I get tomorrow.

Catching up...

Just finished this dishcloth up today. Can you see the picture? It's a swimsuit. Rachel from Rachels Knitting Room designed this as a KAL.
These are the Inside Out socks from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Sock Club. Finished these up on Friday, April 20 and immediately cast on for the Horcrux pattern by Susan Lawrence at I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can. She designed this for worsted weight yarn initially and then converted it to sock weight yarn for the Six Sox Knitalong group.
This is all I had left from the knitting of these two sock. It was pretty close.
I went to the Bluegrass Festival of Books specifically to see some authors. Below are a few results.
Above is Ann Hood who wrote The Knitting Circle. She is signing my personal copy of her book.
An you know who this is! Yep, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, The Yarn Harlot
She gave the funniest and greatest talk.
This is me with Dorothea Benton Frank. She is the friendliest person.
I stopped by a new yarn shop near the University of Kentucky in Lexington before heading to my daughter's apartment to puppy sit. I got this to make a felted Booga Bag. The shop is called ReBelle. They threw in the Flower Pin kit as a freebie. There is also a yarn shop called Magpie Yarns that I couldn't quite locate, but the next time I'm in town and have time I plan to find them and look in there also. They were the sponsor for Stephanie's speech and book signing.
These are the Horcrux socks I spoke of earlier. I cast on the morning of the Book Festival and I am closing in on the toes as I post. I was hoping I could finish these up by tonight so I could start on some more. I have a "long" list. ;-)

Book meme

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)(in the process)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible (partial, not all the books of the bible)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I have no idea where this list came from, but I thought I would join in this one. Feel free to copy and paste the list and make you own adjustments.

Dog and socks

This is the old man of the pets...Rusty. He is almost 12 years old and is usally curled up in this same spot when I am sitting at the computer. If not there, then certainly no more that 6 feet away from me. He is a very sweet dog and will put up with a lot since Sarah could be very rough with him when she was younger and he would just put up with it or walk away, but never ever growled or bit at her.


This is my latest sock. It is the Inside out sock from the Blue Moon 2007 Sock Club. The colorway of the yarn is Monsoon. It's one I would never choose on my own, but I am really liking how this sock is looking. I am knitting this pattern two at a time on two size 2.00 mm circular Addis.
Hopefully I will be able to report a finish on these later in the week. I am on Spring Break this week and hope to get lots of knitting time in. TTFN!