How I Spent My Weekend:

"Hmmm. Where are some more eggs?"

Ella's 2nd Easter on this Earth

It was hard to be around all the 'Commercialism and Candy' mentality from my husband and his family today, but it was nice to just stay behind the camera and take a load of pictures. It was also awkward to be around my 'about to be ex-' sister-in-law.

Uncle Mike giving Ella a lift to get an egg

I have a freak'n TON of pictures of her expressions when she'd find another egg. She was so excited every single time. One time, while Ella was distracted, my FIL put an egg in his mouth, and we told her to 'look around Poppa'. She laughed so hard when she looked up at his face and saw a purple egg coming out of his mouth.

Another WIP into an F.O. this weekend

No idea of the yarn, but it's very nice. I'll be felting this one.

California Poppies

Friday, Mike loaded up the car with his fishing gear for the tournament he was in on Saturday. Our Friday Night Dinner was at one of the couples' house, and Mike's partner for the tourney is one of our group. After dinner we went over to the guy's house to load this into his boat

Tule River

This spot is actually between my in-laws property and the people who were hosting the dinner. This little river is pretty much what separates them. After we ate, Mike & I took a little walk. That's where the poppies were too.

Those Elusive Bass

Mike and his partner caught a whopping 1.01 lb fish. These guys (father and son from Visalia) caught the limit (5) and weighed in at an unbelievable 38+ lbs!! That's freak'n insane. The next highest was 3 fish at around 22 lbs (also out-of-towners). Our club's tournament just the week before was nothing like this! These guys won well over three thousand dollars for those babies.

This guy lives at the coast and he's partners with a guy in our club. He caught 2nd biggest fish at 10+ lbs and so they came in 3rd place. Both second and third place earned over $1000 each.

How fucking funny is THAT?

I would absolutely sport that logo

I went up the first time on Saturday around 8:30am. IN THE MORNING PEOPLE! I tromped from one end of the lake to the other and took, ohhhhh, about 137 pictures, lol. Lucky for you all I'm not putting them in here!

Lake Success

I like how the waters edge has the same curvature as the mountain mirrored on the water. Everything is so green and pretty right now.

Testing, Testing

This one is me trying to figure out one of this week's "themed" pictures in my ravelry 365 group. We're supposed to take a cd (or three or however many you want) and use it to create a mood (or some such shit) with the iridescent sheen - but not with the cd as the main focus. I so don't know how to do this. See, I thought if I took a plain white egg and set it ON the cd, then the rainbow effect would shine ON the egg. Nope. There are a few other pictures of my miserable failure, but this one I still kind of like anyway, despite it not being what I was trying to accomplish.

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On the knitting front (and yes, there IS a 'knitting front' don'tcha know?!)

I resurrected (how apropos for Easter weekend) an old WIP. It's a purse to be felted, out of Cascade 220, with lots of striping and fake-isle. Purple, red, pink, lavender. It's been dormant on my ravelry space and I didn't realize how close I was to being finished until I finally looked at it again. The inspiration behind the colors is a very pretty fabric swatch I'll be lining it with. Ties in all the colors nicely.

This afternoon, I hauled outside all my Stitches West booty and took pictures in the sunshine . . . in my front yard . . . of it. Seriously? I think the across-the-street neighbors wonder about me. Part of me has a sneaking suspicion that they don't understand why we don't have 6 kids and thirty grandkids over all the time and that *they* think that *I* think all these yarn balls I'm always arrainging and taking pictures of in public are my 'babies'. Dumb people! If they only knew that the cats are my 'babies' LOL!

Oh! There's a pattern for a felted 'wine cozy' that I started this weekend, but canned it when I realized that winging it (you know me and patterns!) made it too large. BUT! It turned into quite the happy accident/mistake. The base of this pattern is created using short-rows to make a circle that you connect. So, I'm knitting away, sure that 'cast on 6' is only a suggestion from the designer and if she knew what I really wanted, it would have said 'cast on 12'. I'm watching this arc-like knitting get longer and BLAM! It hit me. I finally understand how those 'curly' scarves are made! (think that 'potato chip' scarf). Short rows! Magical!

Anywho, I scratched that pattern and have started a 'wine cozy of my own making'. It's out of the blue/lavender Lisa Souza 100% wool I bought back in '06 at The Knit & Crochet Show. I'm thinking I may needle-felt some grapes and leaves on it after it's felted.

Some of you know that I FINALLY got a booth at a shop here in town, and am selling my knitting (and knitting-related) stuff at a real brick 'n mortar. YIPPIEE. Unfortunately, I had donated 99.9% of my F.O.s back in December (for the tax deduction) since I had no place to sell it. Oh well. Now I'm busting my hump to knit up new stuff to stock my little booth with. It's a challenge coming up with items that will be affordable, yet made out of material I'm willing to work with and without the intricacies that would involve too much (unpaid) time in them. Things like lace or socks or cashmere - no one is going to pony up the true value of those handknit items and it'd be foolish for me to wish otherwise. So far I have a few lacy-ish scarves and two entrelac scarves. They look (to the non-knitter) more complicated than the average scarf, so I got that going for me, lol. Two other booths have crochet with a smattering of knits (and honestly? Their stuff looks SO "homemade" and it's all Red Heart. I don't apologize for my fiber snobbery.)

With all that said, if you know me in the real world (and are interested) you are cordially invited to knit up and sell in my booth. All sales are 100% yours and the rent can be figured out any old way - a one time deal, month-to-month, sporadically . . . whatever. The monthly rent is $45 which I'm responsible for overall. I figure all those projects that you've made for the experience but don't want to just give away? Sell 'em and make yourself some more yarn money, honey!

Also, don't forget, this Thursday evening - Borders bookstore on Mooney. See ya there!