And here is the first completed project off my list, the quilt for Baby June. It also falls under the Modern Quilt-Along umbrella, as the pattern is Once Upon a Time from The Modern Quilt Workshop. Of course, as with the other quilt I’m doing from the book, I had to add my own touches. […]

Last night I finished my second scarf, the PoA-style Ravenclaw in movie colors that I bought the yarn for before I even completed my first scarf. Unlike that first one, this one I did all by myself. It took a few–okay, four–tries to get it started properly. At least I managed to fail in a […]

It’s been a couple years since I used this space to do a quilting to do list, so I figure the time has come for an update. There were twelve projects in my queue back in December of 2003: seven baby quilts (!), a thank you quilt, a memory quilt, and three things for me: […]

Because it’s very, very quiet here at the office today–quieter even than it was on Friday, since my most talkative customer was in then and is off now–I felt unconflicted about taking my whole lunch hour, so I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I opened up the files for the book […]

Part of me wishes I had fabulous weekend adventures to report, about how I put on a fancy dress and danced in the new year atop the Eiffel Tower in Vegas (example only, not something I would actually do), but most of me is happy to have had a weekend at home after two away. […]

Once upon a time, three children were born with special powers. Inflammo could make fire with his eyes:   Quasso needed only to glance at an object and it would shatter:   Fortunately, their sibling, Restituo, could make everything all right again:   (This entry brought to you by the safety information card for the […]

Today I am back at work after five days off and have to say that this whole getting up early without then heading somewhere warm and/or fun does not seem like a good idea at all. It isn’t that my job is so horrible, but it sure isn’t as enjoyable as sitting around eating Triscuits […]

A definitive sign I’m really a grown-up, my large collection of Eeyore shirts and watches notwithstanding: I did not wake up this morning, Christmas Day, until Mr. Karen gently shook my shoulder and let me know the alarm clock hadn’t gone off. We needed to get up right then or we would be late for […]

At this time of year I try to focus on the goodwill toward men part of the Christmas story (which I learned as a child from Linus on the Charlie Brown Christmas Special because the Unitarian Sunday School I attended was not so much about the Bible), but it’s hard. At almost every turn I’m […]

See this guy? He lives in front of a Ramada Inn in Minneapolis, where Mr. Karen and I spent the night last Wednesday. We’d planned to sleep in Idaho Falls (which is, quite sensibly, in Idaho), so being in Minnesota was rather disconcerting. It wasn’t even in the same time zone as our intended destination. […]

I’ve been gone since Wednesday night. Did you miss me? No, of course you didn’t, because in a break with normal ski trip practice, I took my laptop along and kept posting entries. Not about the trip (though the picture from a couple entries back was taken out our hotel room window in Wyoming), because […]

If the 70s knitting I shared the other day scared or scarred you, you will probably want to click away from this page right now, because what I’ve got to show you today is worse. Thanks to the Friends of the Library used book sale, I have obtained a copy of Don’t Throw It Away!, […]

Ten things I need to say, some trivial, some not: 1. I am never completely relaxed with you because I think you might secretly hate me and just be biding your time until you publicly humiliate me. So why do I hang around? Because I admire you and would like to be your friend. I […]

It’s one of those Sunday nights when instead of enjoying my last few hours of freedom from the office, I’m feeling tense and anxious for no good reason. I don’t think it’s because I didn’t get everything done on my to do list–I never expected to when I wrote it out Saturday morning. I don’t […]

The first Christmas after Mr. Karen and I moved into this house, we hosted a family holiday dinner. One thing I knew needed to be on the menu was Grandma Salad. That sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? I guess it’s no different than other famous salads–there’s no Caesar in Caesar salad or Cobb in […]

In browsing my bookshelves after I decided I was a knitter, I found I have a copy of Wild Knitting, a 1979 tome I no doubt got from a bargain table. I wasn’t a knitter when I bought it, so whether I’d make any of the projects wasn’t a factor in deciding to bring it […]

After the low of losing Bubba, I had the high of visiting Grand Targhee for the first time. I liked it so much I want to move there someday. We’re going back this winter, and I hope I still feel the same way. They’ve had three feet of new snow in the last five days […]

It’s December. If you were reading last year at this time, you know what that means: time for me to start posting entries like crazy. I’ll be participating in Holidailies for the fourth time–it’s a Hat on Top tradition now–but that doesn’t start until December 7th this year. However, there’s something new to do right […]