Montone at the Movies

On Tuesday, Erin and I went to see Shrek IV. In order to avoid the top coating of our parking lot and the accompanying odor of creosote, on Wednesday, after a visit to Mountain Shadows Restaurant for brunch and Green Valley Weavers, Mimi, Erin and I went to see the Prince of Persia and Montone went with. In the background of this photograph is one of the Kilt Stockings I am knitting for my Da to wear to Erin's wedding in October.

Pikes Peak or Bust, the Alien has Landed

Yesterday, three generations of my family finally made it to the top of Pikes Peak. We drove, which was an experience in itself. There were no guard rails and numerous switchbacks on the narrow, very winding gravel and sometimes paved road. It was lovely and cool at the top. The views were amazing. I only wish there had been more signs giving us information regarding the environment and the weather station located up there like there is on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. However, going to the top of Pikes is now crossed off all our Bucket Lists.

I'm Versatile, According to Margi

WOOT!WOOT! I'm a Versatile Blogger, thanks to Margi from Maverick Crafter! How kewl is that and what a great way to start the day! Thank you so very much!







Here are the responsibilities that come along with the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award. (Margi at the Maverick Crafter is the bomb.com!)
2. List 7 things about yourself. (SEVEN?)
3. Pass on the award to bloggers you've recently discovered. (Official rules say 15 - I managed 8)

My 7 things:

1. I have never had a nickname. Closest I ever came to one was being called Lessis by my sister's kids because they couldn't pronounce my name.

2. I am passionate about everything I do including the very few people I let close into my world.

3. I'm a huge fan of Celtic music and all things related to my Scottish heritage.

4. I constantly have my nose in a book (or two or three at a time) and it doesn't matter the genre, fiction or nonfiction, I'll read it.

5. My favourite place to be in America is Canyon de Chelly (Canon de Tseyi), going to the UK this fall and will probably have a new favourite place to be.

6. I am a Scottish Heavy Athletics, ice hockey, AAA baseball and roller derby fan!

7. I played softball when I lived in Texas and New Jersey, I was never any good at it, however I played on some winning teams and made some key plays in the playoffs to get there.

I am passing the VBA on to the following and therefore making them Versatile as well.
Herewith:
Tala at http://corvustristis.wordpress.com
Rebecca at http://danceswithpitbulls.blogspot.com
Anne at http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com
Frewen at http://feltingneedle.blogspot.com
G-Girl at http://g-girl-knittingadventures.blogspot.com
Diana at http://otterwise.blogspot.com
Nic at http://nicknits.blogspot.com
Rima at http://intothehermitage.blogspot.com

The Aegis of Supper - Take 2

Again, many thanks to my friend, Helen for the largess from her garden. Tonight supper featured home-grown lettuce and zucchinis from Helen's garden and tomatoes and lemon thyme from mine. I made a salad from Helen's lettuce and some parsley and from my own tomatoes. I marinated some chicken tenders with lemon juice, lemon thyme, garlic powder and fresh ground pepper. Then I grilled it on the George Foreman. I steamed up the green zucchini and warmed up some corn tortillas and wallah!

The Aegis of Supper

My dear friend Helen and her lovely daughter, Molly joined me this morning for the Daughters of the British Empire luncheon and brought me some lovely veggies from their home garden today. Lettuces, cilantro, spinach, zucchinis and a yellow squash along with new red potatoes picked this just this morning.



So, along with herbs (rosemary, parsley & lemon thyme) and tomatoes from my wee patch, I made Shrimp Florentine and Oven-Roasted Brussels and Potatoes for the supper. There are NO left-overs...


I am going to save the lettuces and cilantro for a salad tomorrow.

Part Trois - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here's the last installment of photographs of what I got done during the Tour de Fleece 2010.



The green is my 3rd and 5th attempts at chain plying. Feel better about the 5th attempt, still need more practice to feel really comfortable with the process. The purply grey is the 80/20 Merino/Silk single, that I will make my shawl from to wear to Erin's wedding.

Part Deux - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here tis, the end of the race. All in all, the challenge to myself was incredibly helpful and fulfilling as I really concentrated on my consistency and learned to chain ply (Navajo Ply) better. My last two skeins of two ply yarns also were more balanced they my two plies have been in the past. So little by slow, I am getting better at this still new to me pleasure. I have only be spinning with this wheel for little over a year.

There are a few stray pictures that need to be rounded up as yet to complete the collection of what I did spin-wise this month during the Tour de France. There are also 2 skeins of 80/20 merino/silk drying and therefore still setting twist that I need to photograph as well.

I also have started spinning some cinnamon alpaca. This may be the last alpaca I ever spin as it is the grubbiest fiber I have ever spun. Not as dirty as the last alpaca I spun back in the Fall, but full of vegetable matter (VM) and foxtails. It's going to take me ages to get it all out before I can spin it, if I continue to hand card it. Going to check into borrowing a drum carder tomorrow in hopes of speeding that process up.

Spinning for Tour de Fleece

Here's some of my spinning. The Tour de Fleece is going well. Still have lot's to learn about Navajo or chain plying, tho. Below is my second attempt at chain plying, it's better than my first attempt but I still need to get better at consistency and not get my finger caught in a loop, OUCHERS!

No Pictures but Something At the Least

"Are ye traveling your neighborhood? Do you have plans to go somewhere soon?

Yes, I am travelling my neighbouhood. Currently, I am in Broomfield, dog sitting for the Labs. Will head to Elizabeth for the Celtic Festival, Saturday evening and judge the Bonny Knees contest. Home to spend the night with the doggies and then back again for Sunday in garb to be a Ren Scot. Then it's home for a few until the Rocky Mountain Highland Games and Festival.

Sew Expo - I Actually Sewed Something

Today I met my friend, Judy Wisehart in Denver for lunch and to attend the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo. It's become a regular thing for us to meet up there and walk through and view what the vendors are flogging. Normally, when we go, it's too crowded and hectic to really see anything due to the crowds. We usually attend on Friday, however, this time we both able to attend today and it was perfect timing on our part. We ate lunch without waiting forever in line and actually got to see what the vendors had to offer. Judy scored some trims and tulle for making dresses for her granddaughters along with a super duper spiffy ironing board cover.

I also ran into my friend and customer from Great American Quilt Factory where I worked for 3 years. It was kinda of odd tho as she was the only person I ran into today, unlike past shows where I would get lost from Judy because I was talking to yet someone else I knew. That's Sharlene and me.

I also did a Make and Take of a table runner on gridded iron on backing. It was really simple to use. I definitely think I will buy more of the grid to make some table runners as gifts. The other picture is of the few goodies I bought. Mulberry silk yarn for Erin to dye up along with silk sari waste to spin into some woolen yarn for a novelty. The photo includes the table runner top and some cherry pins. I also scored some hook and loop tape to close some 1700s period jackets that I intend to make later on. I found yardage of one of the fabrics in the table runner but there wasn't enough for the size of napkins I want to make to go with the runner, so I will order it from the website of Contemporary Fibers.

The strawberry buttons and the novelty hooks and eyes came from Denver Fabrics where I stopped on my way out of town. I need to find a warm grey fabric to make my Mother of the Bride dress and thought I might luck out there, but alas no. The one fabric I found that was the right colour and weight was very short on yardage, sadly and there was no more to be had. The strawberry buttons are for an Outlander Swap over on Ravelry. Strawberries being one of the symbols of the Fraser Clan, which is the clan of the main male character in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.



I did actually spin today as well for the Tour de Fleece... Again more shall be revealed...

Tour de Fleece 2010

Every year fellow Ravelers do various projects for the Tour de Fleece. The goal is to spin every day during the Tour de France bicycle race. We get to rest on the rider's rest days and spin more or challenge ourselves on the hard mountain days.

I have been spinning everyday and my challenge has been to learn to be a better spinner and also to get better at plying my resultant singles. I am practicing chain plying, which is also called Navajo plying and also double plying with more balance to the twist.

This is the result of spinning a henna hand dyed Corridale and a natural coloured Corri and then plying them together. This yarn is called Fort Yellowstone in honour of the natural single being spun at Fort Lupton, CO during Heritage Days and the dyed single being spun at the Yellowstone Highland Games in Billings, MT.

This is a Corridale sheep in Natural. This other one is a Blue Face.

More shall be revealed. I am waiting on a chain plied dyed Blue Face Leicester to dry as well as some custom dyed pink merino.

Missed a Day Cuz I Wasn't Saved by the Bell

Got to talking to my friend, Katte's cousin, Clint today about music and such. We talked about our love of the high seas and how he wants a Ship's Bell.

I told him about my favorite Celtic Rock bands, which includes Great Big Sea. The band is from Saint John's, Newfoundland and they perform a fair number of seafaring songs due to their proximity to the North Atlantic. They perform John Barbour, which one of my favorite songs.

This photo was taken during the Uprooted Tour's stop in Vail. Our wildest dream come true as three of our favourite bands were touring together that summer. They were Seven Nations, The Young Dubliners and the aforementioned GBS.

Happy 4th of July

These flags are courtesy of Bryn Hughes, an Urban Sketcher of my interwebs acquaintance. I so hope to meet him this year when he comes to visit his daughter, Anna here in CO.

We girls had a small celebration here at the house. I made oven roasted sausage sandwiches and my famous potato salad with blueberry/strawberry shortcakes with REAL whipped creme for the dessert. Geek that I am, the shortcakes were cut in the shape of the contiguous United States. I also gave Jes a lesson in biscuit making as she was having some serious fails in that department. I think I got her on the right track now.

We also had our own stitch and bitch. Mimi, Erin and Jes each started a new project. Erin's making a scarf in Field of Poppies from Fresh from the Cauldron to go with her Gretel. Mimi is making the Multnomah and Jes is learning to crochet by making a baby blanket. As for me, I tried out one of the new bobbins I just got for my spinning wheel. It's a different ratio than I am use to but I think I am spinning with it just fine.





Happy Fourth of July to all, be safe.

Saved - Garden Lovelies

Chocolate Iris and Dianthus from the McWilliams Parish house garden. We, the Grace Gardeners are trying to save as many heritage plants as possible from the garden in preparation for the restoration work about to begin there. We were awarded a grant to repair the facade and the work commences shortly. Hopefully the heritage roses can be rescued as well.

Saved - Where am I in the Numerical Sequence, I Wonder?

Post #2 for July, maybe I can get back on track... Saved - the needlework skills handed down from my mother, Jeanine. In this picture: Last month's block of the month for the quilt guild and a summer-weight Ishbel which I am wearing and a felted wool messenger bag on the table.

Saved - My Blogging Reputation, Maybe?

Saved As Well - The skills from the Past.

This is a wagon train spotted on I -25 heading north in Wyoming near the Oregon Trail tracks as we were heading to Billings, Montana for the Yellowstone Highland Games. Where I was going to demo spinning which is also a skill we are trying to save from the past. On the bobbin, a lovely glitzy fibre that my dear friend, Gina sent me from the New Hampshire Fiber Festival. Thanks again!

#106 of 365 - Farewell to the Gypsy

In Loving Memory of Our Dear Jeannie. A new bright light has entered into heaven. I shall miss her wit and art and her comments and encouragement on what I am trying to do with own my art.

"Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." Author Unknown

#105 of 365 - Leslie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

otherwise known as the Cat Attack.

#104 of 365 - New to Me and Painted New to Me

Here is the start of the painting of the big wheel on my used but new to me Louet spinning wheel that I got last year. There are still thistles to come, but I discovered that I don't have the paint colours I need. Can you believe that, with a bucket o'paints we have, Erin? However, the irony continued as the drive band broke last night on the wheel, which meant no spinning, yikes! Fortunately, Table Rock had one in stock, so I am happily spinning again.

The photo was taken with my used but new to me Sony Cyber Shot camera with a Zeiss lens that I got yesterday.

I am so much happier now.

Just a note: Sadly, Louet has discontinued this model with it's lovely painting surface.

#103 of 365 - Isn't it Ironic

I finally upgraded to a digi camera about 6 or 7 years ago. Such a deal, it even came with a printer. I was really happy with it, but for the fact I couldn't get extra photo cards for it. I mean to say, no matter how many I tried or the different brands of cards I tried, none of them could be read by my camera. Even Target gave me my money back on an electronic (which is normally against their policy, read the fine print) as the employee in the electronics department couldn't get one to read either. So for years, I muddled along with one card and downloading every picture I took as soon as possible. Then I mentioned my plight to our Rebecca (who apparently is officially old now). She say to me, she says, I have a few cards from Jack's old camera, want to try them? So we trade off and lo and behold 2 out of 3 WORK! Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Then my camera died.

#102 of 365 - Wee Dancer and her Seamstress

Today was the Kirkin o' the Tartan at Saint John's Cathedral in Denver, CO. Herewith is a picture of our little Bella, who debuted both as a dancer and wearing a Dress Blair kilt, no less!

The fabric arrived last week and I put my head down and whipped through the sewing to ensure that she was able to wear her dance kilt for the Kirkin' today. I must say, it's a challenge to get 180 inches of fabric down to 22 inches with the aprons.

#101 of 365 - Watch Tower or A Day Spent Rallying Around the Town.

The first thing we did this morning was to head south to pick up Rebecca and the BOM pattern for guild. Then far out to the east of town for the guild meeting. Met our Cheryl's lovely mother, Violet whilst there. Then after, a quick trip back to Rebecca's for some packages she needed to mail. Then we headed back to the west and downtown Colorado Springs for a sushi lunch at Yoo Mae and then a wander along Cascade heading north to look at the sculptures all along the streets as we went. We saw 34 thousand plus Helios, a snowman with rocks in it's head, giant metal koosh balls scattered across a lawn next to the giant Spanish dancers on the lawn by the Money Museum.

Also there were stone plinths, metal and glass figures, stone carvings, bronze sculptures and Patrick Dougherty's woven wood sculpture on the Colorado College campus.

During the wander, we saw bulbs about to spring into bloom, checked out an herb garden behind the McAllister House and found out that I qualify as a senior citizen at the Money Museum. Le sigh... I showed Rebecca the climbing roses we, the Grace Gardeners planted yesterday along the ugly chain link fence on the south side of the church. Then it was back down Tejon to Poor Richard's Book Emporium to meet up with Erin again. We also noodled through the goodies in the front part of the store. Rebecca and I felt up some kewl journals, no, really we did. We talked yarn with one of the clerks after she admired my Summer with Ishbel. I also saw the coolest pair of half chaps that would so work as part of a Steampunk outfit.

We walked east back to the parking garage which is over the bus depot. Which is when we got a closer look at the Watch Tower, which I am looking through in the above photo. There were black Suburbans and dark sunglasses abounding when we got there. The exit to the depot was blocked off by a bus and there were ARMED TSA agents littering the sidewalks. We still don't know what was up with that. Erin could only say, Mother, you would leave a baggie of bay leaves on the front seat of the car, hah, hah, hah...


In the end, Rebecca and I had a loverly day of art for art's sake...and by the way, Rebecca, I was right, it was a hawthorn.

Erin and I hit the Sunflower and saw a red fox just chillin' on a neighbor's lawn on the way there. Spooked the USPS guy right out...

#100 of 365 - Big Weekend and a Big Kilt

You all, dear readers will just have to forgive me for not posting since last week.

It all started on Friday afternoon with finding the shoes for both the bride-to-be and the MotBtb for the wedding in October. Whoo-hoo, another task off the wedding to-do list (a really big one, as shoes are difficult for the both of us).



Then the last regular season Avs game at the Can (the Pepsi Center, thus the nick-name). This was the last opportunity for Erin to see an NHL hockey game in an arena before she leaves for the UK this summer. After the game, we went and spent the night at Castle Judd and heard some really hopeful news on the home front.

From there, I segued to the Colorado Tartan Day celebration in Arvada all the long day on Saturday. Curtis, Boo and I were dressed in our garb as Ren Scots and out the door by 7:00 am. The village was up and operational by 9:00 am. Sadly, as my camera is now officially dead and not replaced as yet and I am the only one that is remotely regular about taking photos, there are no photos of the event for me to share with you.

Then it was back home to the Springs and the item referenced in the title of this blog. I made a big kilt and I made it all by myself without Judy's help and I think I did a pretty great job on it, all in all. I just came up for air today as the kilt is FINISHED and going into the mail overnight tomorrow to the Carolinas.



This is a picture of the kilt I made for my Da, but you get the idea...

#99 of 365 - Big Shawl to Be

So, yesterday I frogged a shawl that wasn't growing to my satisfaction. It was a simple triangle in Stocking Stitch, made be increasing at the beginning and end of every row, but I could see that it would be dragging the floor before it was a wide as I wanted it to be. I had been more and more getting to the point of decision, press on or frog. Frogging won, sigh! No pictures of what it looked like as I neglected that part. Oh well.

After my daily perusal of the blogs I read on a regular basis, I discovered the Mini Weaver's shawl on my friend, Judy's most recent blog post. I cast on for the new one yesterday. Here was the beginning of it as of last night.



Here I am as of today.

It's all scraps and skeins of these two yarns with some mystery yarns thrown in. The two yarns are Reynold's Lopi and Brown Sheep's LambSpun. They are blending together quite nicely. The weight and the shape of this shawl will make me very happy next winter.

This is a replacement big warm shawl for me, as Erin is taking the fringed triangle shawl (which is currently living with Rebecca) with her when she moves to England. It was made from the remainders of some Manos from projects of my dear departed Mum and therefore is sort of a family heirloom now.

#98 of 365 - Big Pizza

Tonight was Pizza Night.






I made a fresh tomato and Brussels sprout pie for me. I used fresh herbs from my "garden" which lives in pots in the bathroom as it gets the most sun. It's still too cold for them to go out. Nevermind the fact, that there was 5 inches of snow on the ground when I woke up this morning. It was yummy tho, nom!