News From The Nest

The Pits And The First Day Of Fall

This week has been the pits!

First, medical tests.

Then, the icing on the cake - my husband's company announced that they will be closing his location in 60 days. 

This is the same company that announced they were closing his Virginia location the end of 2008 and moved him to Ohio January 5, 2009. After 8 months of Andy flying back and forth - working in Ohio for 10 days and flying home to Virginia for 4 - to keep his job - we relocated from Virginia to Ohio in September 2009.

Ironic thing - the company never closed the Virginia plant. We sold our home, moved away from my parents and our children and the company kept the plant open with a skeleton crew. 

Now, they're talking about moving him back there. 

Nothing has been decided for sure re: what comes after the 60 days but we do know that he is going to have to help move machinery to Virginia and help get the lines going there.  

So, if anyone knows of any job opportunities in the Dayton to Cincinnati area of Ohio, please let me
know.

Mom and Daddy left Tuesday morning in the fog. The weather was appropriately sad. Gosh, I hate it when they leave. We had such a good visit - just wish they would stay longer.

Fall is here and I love the colors and seasonal objects. A house down the road has decorated for Halloween. It's right on the corner and is definitely turning heads. This decoration is not yet rated!

Have a great weekend!

Where Do I Begin?

There's just so much to tell!

Yesterday was A Wool Gathering at Young's Dairy in Yellow Springs, OH. Terrific show and a super location. Mom, Daddy, and I were there by the time it opened at 10:00 AM. The weather was perfect! Perfect for donning a few handknits. Daddy drove separately so he could leave if we stayed too long. He went back home at lunchtime leaving Mom and me to shop 'til we dropped. 

We had a great time! Saw several breeds of sheep, alpaca, llama, angora bunnies, and angora goats. Watched sheep shearing, rope making, the Border Collies herding ducks, children dancing and playing instruments.

I bought several patterns - mostly shawls, one lace wrap, and a baby sweater with hat pattern. I rejoined the Dayton Knitting Guild and bought a very portable Lazy Kate for my spindles and adapters so it can be used with bobbins, too. I also bought a woven bag and three more pairs of ChiaoGoo lace circular needles. I LOVE these needles! Great pointy tips and smooth joins.

Mom and I ate lunch there  - cheeseburgers, homemade chips, and drinks. Later came the Young's Dairy ice cream! The flavor of the day was Wooly Wonka but we both ordered Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chunk. It was yummy!

Mom and Daddy got a  kick out of the number of people that spotted and greeted them with "you're Robin's mother and father!" even when I wasn't with them. They were recognized from being on the blog, visiting at my knitting group, etc. It really tickled them and, if you're reading, I'm glad you all spoke to them.

Today, we didn't do much of anything. Stuck around the house. Mom knit two Neckies (short scarf-like neck wraps with a button closure) and I made polymer clay buttons for them and for our woven bags (mine is the brownish one and hers is the blue one) that we each bought at A Wool Gathering. They turned out perfectly! We were really tickled how well they matched.

I finished knitting my first Candy Corn Hat for one of the grandbabies. This is such a cute hat and a great pattern. Can hardly wait to cast on for the second one.

I love making children's hats. Fast knits and just so darn cute! But, I agonize over what size to make. I need a bunch of baby heads of different ages around the house so I can try the hats on them to make sure they fit.

This Candy Corn Hat pattern called for worsted weight yarn. I used DK - Dreambaby by Plymouth Yarn - and a #6 needle. Since I used a smaller yarn than the pattern called for, I knit the child's size hat. I feel like it will fit the grandbabies. Landen is almost 4 monhts old and is growing so fast! It his doesn't fit, I'll hurriedly knit him another one so he can have it by Halloween. 

Before Mom and Daddy leave, I want to get pictures hung on the walls. I'm tried to locate all of my pictures in the basement that have been wrapped up since we moved here in 2009. Others have been just leaning against the walls in the hallway. Way past time to get them on the walls. I don't think I found them all but we can at least get some of them where they belong.

Andy has worked in the basement - framed the wall that will separate the furnace and water heater area from my studio area. Next are electrical outlets and sheetrock for that wall. Hopefully, he'll get a major portion of that done tomorrow before Daddy leaves so he can help him.

I wanted to show you pictures of the bedroom furniture. We LOVE it! This is the first bedroom furniture we've had. Almost 27 years ---- it's time. The wood is such a great color - very warm - and the design - so cozy looking.  

When we moved to Ohio in 2009, I decided it was time to have a proper bedspread or coverlet. So, with the dream of a king size bed in mind, I purchased that size coverlet and made do for the last two years by tucking, folding, etc. Now it fits! and I just love it! Still have to hang pictures in here. The apple one you see perched on top of the dresser is a watercolor I did that hung in our kitchen in Virginia. There's another one that I need to have framed to go over Andy's chest. 

Daddy, Mom, Lily, and I walked down to the pond to feed the fish this afternoon and then sat on the front porch watching the world go by. Earl Gray loved that he had outdoor company and occupied the fourth chair on the porch. He had a good snooze while I knitted.

Our fish are so funny to watch! Throw the food in the water and pond starts percolating like a coffee pot! They are so exuberant in the feeding frenzy that they literally jump right out of the water. We still have three HUGE catfish in the pond that we haven't been able to catch and get out. The little fish are so fiesty now that they just hurl themselves right over the ginormous catfish to get to the food. Just too funny!

All this Ohio activity has just pooped Lily flat out! She slept like this in Daddy's arms for the longest time today. She was dreaming about something -- her feet kept twitching like she was chasing something. She is one spoiled rotten little pup!

Tomorrow begins a busy work week. Mom and Daddy are planning to leave on Tuesday. Wish they could stay. I start dreading their departure almost as soon as they arrive. 

Hope you all have a speedy work week and thanks for reading!

Country Living

Well - it's been a super busy week. Mom, Daddy, and Lily arrived Wednesday. I'm not on vacation so have had to attend appointments. In between, I've been able to do a few things with them.

Yesterday, I was on my way home from an appointment when I met Mom and Daddy in Waynesville and we visited a few shops.

Today, Mom rode with me and waited in a nearby coffee shop while I attended my work appointment. Then, we headed to Columbus to attend the The Country Living Fair. Hundreds and hundreds of people had the same idea.

What a crowd of folks! 

We walked and walked and didn't begin to see everything there was to see.  After several hours, we decided to head home.

We were pooped and needed to save some energy for Saturday.

What's Saturday, you ask??? A Wool Gathering at Young's Dairy. I can hardly wait!

09/11/01

In Memory

September 11, 2001

 

May hope and faith lead us forward.

Punkin' Head

It's that time of year when fall is just around the corner. Here, in southwest Ohio, the temperatures are becoming a bit erratic - like they're trying to make up their minds as to which way to go. Maybe a bit in protest - trying to resist the downward slide into winter. A week or so ago, we had 90 + degree weather and next week is supposed to see highs in the 60's with lows in the 40's.

I LOVE the fall season and everything that goes with it. The colors orange, olive, brown, and gold. The smell of burning leaves in the air. Pumpkins - lots and lots of pumpkins. Gourds of all shapes, colors, and sizes. Crunchy leaves. The nip in the air. 

Love it all!

This year, I have two grandbabies who are in need of Pumpkin Hats. They are just too cute! I finished one today and will cast on for the second one tonight. 

I knit this Pumpkin Hat out of Comfort DK / Sport Weight yarn. It makes a very soft machine washable hat. Perfect for babies' heads. I just cast on 88 stitches on a size 5 or 6 (can't remember!) and knit for several rounds so the brim would roll. Then, I knit 10 stitches and purled the 11th (repeat knitting 10 stitches and purling every 11th stitch) to make the rib on the pumpkin. I repeated this on every row and every round until I started decreasing for the crown. I tried purling two stitches but I thought it was too much so went back to doing just one. I topped the hat off with an I-cord stem and a leaf.

Next up ---- Candy Corn Hats!

Labored

We labored away on Labor Day. (Note to self: Do NOT do this again in 2012.) 

We're trying to finish the basement into studio space for me. Andy has finished patching and painting the walls and is now ready to build a wall to separate the furnace/water heater area from the rest. We also have to lay a floor. Trick is - the basement is FULL of boxes of stuff that will be unpacked into the finished studio plus shelving, chairs, tables, etc. that will furnish the space. Add to the stuff that will go in the studio space when completed --- many hand-me-down antique pieces that we used in Virginia that just do not go with this Ohio house. They also ALL need refinishing, reinforcing, strengthened, stuffed, etc. which adds up to a lot of time and/or money.

So, with an extra day tacked onto the weekend, I got a wild hair. 

Let's have an antique sale.

An antique sale meant that somehow ALL that furniture had to get out of the house onto the concrete parking pad outside the garage. 

UGH!

We hauled an oak sleigh bed head and footboards and rails, oak wardrobe, oak dresser with mirror, mahagony head and footboards and rails, mahagony vanity table and mirror, 1928 Singer sewing machine, pine sofa with cushions, pine loveseat, magazine table, old wooden bee skep, 2 wooden chairs, Duncan Phyfe drop-leaf dining room table with extra leaf, 6 ladder back chairs, 1 captain's ladderback chair, dressing table with bench, wooden chair with cushion and fabric skirt, antique floorlamp with glass globe, mahagony carved mirror, walnut oval mirror, oak rectangle mirror, and assorted odds and ends. 

Whew! and OH my aching back!

Now, what to do with all the stuff that didn't sell????? One guy bought the three mirrors, the oak pieces (the chest and dresser that we emptied our stuff out of to add the pieces to the sale), the magazine table, the bee skep, the dressing table and bench, and the wooden chair with fabric skirt and cushion. That leaves a whole lot of stuff that just can NOT go back in this house!

Andy and I moved everything that was left back into the garage. So, if anyone is in need of some antiques, give me a holler and I'll show and tell for you!

Big news was that we went and purchased a bedroom suit - Labor Day Sale and all. We've been sleeping on a mattress and metal frame since getting married 27 years ago. It will be wonderful to finally have drawers to put our clothes in that slide open and closed easily, don't snag everything, and actually have knobs that aren't broken. I can hardly wait for it to be delivered next Saturday. We got a king bed frame but still have our queen mattress so there'll be a bit of a gap until we can save enough money or pay off enough of the furniture to get the king mattress. 

Here's a picture of the new bed. The matching pieces are really nice, too. They just all look very warm and cozy.

Saturday, I went to both the Panera knitting group (meets at Panera in Centerville at 9:30 AMish) and the Women With A Point (meets at Dorothy Lane Market in Springboro at noon). It was great to see the Panera gals! It had been a long time. 

Hats and scarves seem to be flying off everyone's needles these days. The Panera group had this cute assortment of hats and I finished the little green one with the pink I-cord tie to add with theirs.

The Women With A Point group had lots of potato chip scarves in a variety of colors to show. I think there are five different scarves pictured here. Here is Jan modeling hers. 

Karen had a pair of socks almost finished. I love this yarn (Online but I don't know the colorway).

Merry was giving a hair scrunchie tutorial. I took a picture of Diana wearing one but it came out too fuzzy to post. They were really cute - she bought the non-tangle ponytail bands and then used cotton yarn to crochet around them. 

Today, the weather is glorious! It was in the 50's earlier and is supposed to reach the low 70's. There is a breeze and some leaves are escaping their summer hold.

Fall is just around the corner!

The Unfolding