Irish Diamond Lace Shawl

Mom's Irish Diamond Lace Shawl (pattern from Cheryl Oberle's book, Folk Shawls) is coming along well. I like the pattern and it's not too tricky, although each row takes a while to knit - and the rows are only going to grow longer still. My goal is to have it finished by the time cooler temperatures arrive.


(Jack just wants me to set it down anywhere because he likes to sleep on wool. This exasperated look from him was because I would not allow him to settle down on the shawl for his afternoon nap.)

I've missed my knitting group

Our knitting group meets on the fourth Sunday of the month from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. I missed in June because I wasn't feeling well. I missed in July due to family upheavals. I was determined to make it to the August gathering last Sunday.

Our group's name is "K2Tog" or "Knit two together." We are knit together in so many ways: through friendship, fellowship, shared burdens and joys, and by helping one another with our various knitting projects.

After a very busy summer I needed face-to-face time with my fellow knitters. There was happy news from one, funny stories from another, and plenty of laughter and encouragement. It was good for my soul!

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." ~Proverbs 17:22

White elephants

Last weekend Mom, Dad, Tom and I went to a "Taste of the Town" event that was a fundraiser for scholarships. There was food from all the area restaurants, live jazz music, and a white elephant silent auction.

The food was delicious, and it was fun to see so many of our town's population in one place at one time. Dad asked if I'd looked at the items for auction and I said that I hadn't. He said that there was nothing there that he'd bid on.

But after eating and chatting awhile, Tom and I moseyed through the three rooms of "stuff." Almost all the starting bids were $1! How could we resist? And the "junk' was interesting.

I was drawn to a massive old stainless steel "vacuum" beverage dispenser that held somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 gallons. As I gazed at it admiringly I realized that it would be impossible to lift once it was full - or even half full. And it was so HUGE! The opening bid was $1 and no one was bidding on it. Discretion finally won out, and I turned away from the beautiful and impractical beverage dispenser.

Tom bid on a trio of model ships, a trio of brass sailboats, a lamp, and a pipe rack. I bid $3 on a pair of American Tourister suitcases.

At the end of the evening, after we'd already come home, our neighbor dropped off our winnings. Tom won the pipe rack and brass boats (for a total of $4), and I won the suitcases.

I use old luggage in the linen closets for storing sheets, but these two are for storing wool yarn. I immediately filled the larger of the two with the yarn I have for my next large project, David's blanket.


I'm going to check Apron Thrift Girl's site to see what antiques/thrift finds/white elephants others found over the weekend, too.

Percolator bliss

Last week as Joan and I were looking for a small table at the thrift store, I found a small Corning coffee percolator. It holds 6 cups, and the inside and outside were so clean and scratch-free that I initially believed it had never been used. But the cord was missing. And without the cord, how can one use an electric percolator? So I put it back on the shelf.

As we were about to leave the store (without finding a suitable table), I changed my mind and bought the percolator. It was only $3 and I reasoned that at that price it would be worthwhile to look for a cord, and if my search brought no results I'd just donate the percolator back to the thrift store.

As soon as we arrived home I went online and immediately found a replacement cord - never used and still in the original box - for $10. In a couple of days the cord arrived and the pot perks the most delicious coffee. And it's half the size of our other percolator, which makes it just right for coffee for one or two!

Follow the red brick path

Months ago Aric brought home a trailer-load of paving bricks he was going to use to build us a parking area beside the garage.

He ended up using only a few to create an outline for the parking area, which he filled in with crushed asphalt and gravel (and we've been very happy with it).


I thought it would be nice to use some of the bricks to pave the beaten path everyone walks from Steve's office (the former smokehouse) to the garage. I only needed labor...

...which God handily provided in the form of Josh, Tom, and David. Yesterday they soaked the rock-hard ground (over a month of 90+ temperatures every day), and with a pick-axe and a couple of shovels they dug a bed for the bricks, then set them.

Before the path was completed, looking from Steve's office to the garage:


Before, looking from the garage to Steve's office:


And after, looking from Steve's office to the garage:


After, looking from the garage to Steve's office:


Thanks, boys!

(Now I have another idea for the remaining bricks... .)

Southwest Diamonds socks

(Never try to get a 15-year-old boy to take pictures of socks.)

The Southwest Diamonds socks are finished and ready to be worn in the fall. Penny and I both knit a pair of these (using different yarn) to wear on our trip to Taos, New Mexico this autumn. It was a fun "get-ready, get-excited" preparation for traveling, and I hope it will be cool enough there to wear them comfortably.

One woman's thrift find is another woman's treasure

Halima of Old World Knits hosted a give-away recently and I won! The package arrived today and I am so excited about the contents: A Welsh tea towel, a Fire-King bowl, a dish and comb made from Hawaiian wood, a cotton bread bag, glass-topped wooden knitting needles, and a ball of gorgeous turquoise mohair.

It's a happy end to this week and a good beginning to the weekend.