#59 of 356 - Hmm, Sunday and Great Big Sea for Me

The dear daughter is taking me to see Great Big Sea for my birthday in March, whoo-hoo!

This photo was taken during the Uprooted Tour in 2002. My wildest dream came true as three of my favourite Celtic Rock and Trad groups, Great Big Sea, Seven Nations and the Young Dubliners were on tour together. We three girls saw both the Vail and Denver shows that tour.


I'll be tired tho, as I will have walked in the Denver, CO Saint Patrick's Day Parade that morning. Oh well, GBS Rocks! This will be the last opportunity for Erin and I to see the band together, as Erin leaves for the UK this summer. We first saw them together at Red Rocks Amphitheater when they opened up for The Chieftains and Sinead O'Connor. That was also a fabulous show. Whatever else you think of Sinead, her voice was ethereal within the confines of Red Rocks. However, what we came away with was CDs and Tees from GBS and deserted island choice of music for me.

So Katte, put the coffee on, Erin and I will likely be spending Friday night the 12th of March at your house.

#58B - Hodgepodge Life Tribe Talk

A friend of a friend directed me to this blog by Gay. I like her artifact looking jewelry very much. She is also a The Secrets in the Sauce blogger as am I. I've seen her blog in passing, but today I really poked around and came away with another blog post for today...

For my 5 + Hodgepodge Bloggers I have picked:
Rebecca's
Anne's
Nic's
Diana's
Frewen's

#58 of 365 - Guardian Angel, thy Name is Stephanie2

I really hate going to the PO, well, I really hate doing business at the USPS. So to avoid a meltdown on my part, I use a contract PO branch inside one of the local Christian Book Stores. In this town, you can't swing a cat without hitting one of these stores, mind you. Though, they don't all have mailing facilities. This is me, mailing off an IME book and some Asylum yarn. That is Stephanie 2 (there are two Stephanies that work there) helping me out. She makes the chore of sending out stuff such a pleasure. She has the patience to put up with making up the postage in stamps instead of a sticker as the IME folks like to collect the stamps as art supplies or to add to the art in the books. Thanks dear one.

#57 of 365 - Art Today

Today was primarily devoted to doing the art that I bought some of the supplies whilst doing yesterday's errands. Deborah came over and kept me company while I played in the 3 Moleskines I have in hand from the Ravelry International Moleskine Exchange. I gnerally do a theme of art in the books that come my way. Today's turned out to be a Spring themed poem with steampunked fleurs. Don't ask me why, just the mood I was in I suppose, as I am SO ready for Spring to arrive.

The ingredients for these pages are patterned paper, green flower shapes, gears, and rhinestones, with tags, ribbons and yarn. Sorta of Shabby Chic meets the Industrial Revolution. The bit of poetry is from "A Celtic Miscellany" by Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson. It is from the chapter on Nature. What I used is as follows: May-time, fair season, perfect in its aspect then; blackbirds sing in full song, if there be a scanty beam of day. Waxing philosophical to boot...

#56 of 356 - A Day of Errands for Errands Sake

Spent the day taking care of business, banking, shopping, art supplies for the Moley Round Robin, last little bits for the Saint Patrick's Day Swamp on Ravelry, which is Irish themed and green. Failed at finding new jeans tho. I am SO tired of the ones that slide off my ass. This is me, tired...

Yanno, the usual stuff... Gotta tell you, I hate buying the bulbs for the over the stove light in the kitchen tho. Why-o-why do they burn out so fast? ... and me with the Black Hole of Calcutta for a kitchen...

We did have a lovely lunch at La Baguette tho. We also picked up a crafted loaf of Euro Rye Bread to go with the Nutella I bought at the Wal-Mart.

After lunch, we went to the Bead Gallery to find some Tiger's Eye beads, so I can send them to my friend, Frewen in the form of a necklace, in hopes of incentivizing her to make me a Mother of the Bride hat that looks like Tiger's Eye for the DD's wedding. We found some cute penguin earrings for the DD who is fond of penguins (which I did not know, until I made some penguin stitch markers for my friend, Becca aka KnitswithPenguins, and so she now does). She may also make stitch markers from them if she can't find ear wires that don't react badly.

Here are the penguins and here's some of the Irish Swamp goodies and the beads I selected.

#55 of 365 - Bellatrix Yarn and Bellatrix Stockings to Come

Again With the Socks!



However, there is a really good reason to talk about these. They are actually going to be knee-high stockings, instead of socks. The yarn was custom dyed for me by my dear daughter, Erin. She has a wee indie dying project called Asylum for Wayward Yarn.

Her colourways are primarily based on characters from books, movies and television shows. There are Outlander, Harry Potter and Moonlight ones so far. It's base is Knitpicks Bare in a Superwash Merino Wool and Nylon (75/25) dyed with Jacquard and Cushing's dyes. The colourway is called Bellatrix, Mark 1. It is a black, grey and purple yarn. It is very mysterious and smoky and was dyed at my personal request for this particular pattern. Bellatrix is one of the three sock/stocking patterns named after characters from the Harry Potter books that you can find over on Ravelry.



Anyway, this is my fourth or fifth attempt to get these silly stockings started as I am that determined to knit them. I kept frogging them as I was missing an important step (DROP ALL THEM Dad Gum YARN OVERS, YOs) whilst trying to knit them and they kept growing and growing and growing as I was knitting into the YOs like I would do with lace knitting but without a matching K2tog, which is so necessary to keep the shape you are striving for, sigh... I gave up trying to figure it out on my own. I mean, isn't that the definition of insanity, doing something over and over and expecting different results? I finally asked for help with the dang stitch today, as I was at Knitter's Kove for the Wednesday morning knit-in.


I also met up at the store with my friend Sharon today. I am attempting to help get her started on her own sock project using two circular needles instead of 4-5 DPNs. She was definitely getting the hang of it by the time knit was winding up.



and here is our Sharon, about 2 rows into the process...

#54 of 365 - Favorites of the Musical Variety and Last Summer Rocked

Here's a photo of me with most of the band, 7N at Scruffy Murphy's last summer. It was the second of their shows last summer for theColorado Irish Festival. The first show was a sign-up gig for the volunteers working the Irish Festival and they were re-booked for August after the Festival. They look "scairt" and I look like I'm about to take the mike to sing and that is indeed a scary thought. I have been a fan of the band since I moved to Colorado over 13 years ago, but this is was the first time I have had my picture taken with the band.

Here is a shot of the crowd at the Irish Festival waiting for Gaelic Storm to take the stage. Gaelic Storm is famous for being the band playing during the Steerage Ceidhl in the movie, Titanic.

#53 of 365 - Socks, Yet Again

I love socks as you all know, I also love clog style shoes. These socks are clog socks as the design only goes up the back of the heel. These were mostly knitted whilst sitting in court listening to testimony regarding the return of our congregation, Grace and Saint Stephen's real property last spring. We, on the right side of the courtroom were regular Madame DeFarges. About 6 of the women on our side of the aisle knitted during that seemingly endless trial. Our property was returned to us by judicial decree and we returned to it on Palm Sunday, 2009. I have made two pairs of these socks, one pair in wool and one pair in cotton. They are both really smooshy and show off nicely when I am wearing a skirt or a pair of shorts. This is a photo of the wool pair, I can't seem to locate a photo of the cotton pair at the moment.

#52 of 365 - Today has Been a Good Day, So Far

Got up this morning to head out to church, it was slip sliding away getting out of my neighborhood. We had an inch more of snow during the night... Got to church safely enough, thank you, God. Went to Adult Education where we learned about the origins of the church in Britain along with other historical information. More reading for me, which is not a bad thing.

After church, I went to the library to print something out and pick up a couple of movies that had come in. There I was treated to the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony's Apollo Quartet playing some selections in the atrium of the library. What a lovely treat for the ears!



Now I am waiting for the onion soup to finish... Nom!

#51 of 365 - Got Our Geek Card Punched

We went to see Avatar today, finally. It was Pocahontas and the Smurfs on Steroids, but it was definitely worth seeing if only for the special effects... I knit whilst waiting for movies to start as well... Sadly for us, we bought New Moon Cookies for a movie snack. That would be a No. We promptly took them back after the movies was over as we did not thing they were edible.

#50 of 365 - Then and Now

I got this far yesterday. Along the way, I discovered that my stitch count was way off. So I FROGGED IT (rip it, rip it)! Sigh! I also thought I should, maybe, be using a bigger needle size as well. This is the pattern from Knitty.It is called Citron.

I am doing it as an orange slice as oppose to a lime slice which is the colour of the original shawlette. I am, therefore, calling this one, Orange Zest. Again, my thanks to Rebecca for de-stashing the oranges I will be using to make this little shawlette.

Now, I am at this point on the bigger needles and I like the way that is working out. I have just gotten to the section that was giving me fits yesterday, we shall see what we shall see. More shall be revealed, as I am so fond of saying...

#49 of 365 - Well How About That

I did miss a day, whoops.

#48 of 365 - Four Weeks Later, It's This

This is the block I chose for the Block of the Month for March. I am a big fan of Celtic Knotwork and I usually choose it for the block to be turned in in March (for my obvious reason, as it being the month of St. Patrick's Day.

We had a Miz Sheryl back with us after a rather lengthy hiatus. It was grand to see her. rebecca is knitting on a wee pair of Mini-Mochi socks, love the colour of them, for certain.

That's her on the left and our Rebecca on the right.



This is the quilt I won in the In-House Raffle today, shiny. It was made by Anonymous.




Funny old world,isn't it. I got tons of compliments on the Feather and Fan shawlette I was wearing today. The whole thing was an experiment that apparently worked very successfully...

# 47b of 365 - Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday in Merry Ole England and Fat Tuesday or Pancake Day (for the secular) in the US of A and Mardi Gras to the French speaking populations of the world. I would include other names for this day, but as my heritage is British and French, and I was born in America, I think these will suffice. I think It is the day and evening to clear your larder of all the goodies in anticipation of the fasting period that is Lent. Lent is a period of reflection and penitence in preparation for the celebration of Easter, when the Light returns to the world.

In anticipation and celebration of this quiet period coming upon us, Erin and I are having Pumpkin Pancakes and Maple Cured Bacon for the Supper...

Herewith, the photos to prove it...

#47a of 365 - New Works, What A Concept

Here are the latest in the New Works Department. I rather think that you have had enough of the Thoughts for awhile. Although you are still going to get some thoughts.


This is my Feather and Fan Shawl in a single ply of handspun. Technically, it's a shawlette and I rather think that I will wear it as a neck scarf more than any other way. Yes, it is pretty in pink! What you get see is what you get when you help someone else de-stash their yarns and then use them. It is an experimental shawl anyway, to see what happens when you knit a single ply of yarn for a lace type shawl. I have an idea in mind for some of my own handspun, so this was a process knit... Process knitting is basically for the pleasure of knitting and learning something new.




This is Jenna's Mini-Multnomah. It's done in handspun as well, Although it's a two- ply with very short yardage. It took every inch there was of the one skein of pink and the two skeins of multi-coloured. The cool part is it is going to be exactly the perfect size for Our Wee Jenna. Multnomah is a free pattern from Ravelry.

#46 of 365 - Old Friends and New

The joys of the internet is reconnecting with friends from the past. Lysa and I went to the same tiny high school in New Jersey and somehow we both ended up in Colorado. This photo was taken at the Long Peak Scottish-Irish Festival in lovely Estes Park, CO this past September. Lysa is a Stewart and I, of course am a Blair.



Then there are newly met friends. That would be Shaun from Clan Rose. She was there with her workmates as the boss was a festival sponsor and took his whole team to the festival for a day. How cool is that?

#45 of 365 - Happy Valentine's Day

To my dear friends and family.





...and now for something completely different. This adorable sprite awaited me upon arrival to home yesterday. It was just what I needed to greet me after a really funky kinda day... My dear friend, Jane gifted me with it and 5 wonderful Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Now to think of a name for the sprite, suggestions anyone?

#44 of 365 - Olympic Knitting

Here I am, home at last, sitting with Big Blue on my lap and knitting on my Ravelympic and/or Yarn Harlot's 2010 Knitting Olympics project. It is a Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl being knitted in a single ply of unknown hand dyed handspun, that our friend, Rachel de-stashed last weekend. I probably don't have enough to make the full sized shawl so I will knit til it runs out. More shall be revealed as they say. The Olympic Challenge for me was to learn a new stitch, which is the Feather and Fan. I think that it will become like New York Beauty quilt blocks, something I return to just for the pleasure of it.

The gist of the Olympic knitting efforts on Ravelry is to put together at team and project or challenge and start it during opening ceremonies and have it completed when the torch is doused in 16 days. Knitters, crocheters and spinners all have many different projects going on. Stephanie McPhee, the Yarn Harlot 2010 Olympic Knitting is an individual project or challenge.

#43 of 365 - Colorado Train Museum

I spent the morning at the Colorado Railroad Museum. I was quite impressed with the rolling stock on site. One of the museum volunteers, Rex took me to see it. I, therefore had a personal tour guide. If you are ever in Colorado you should take an opportunity to visit this little gem.

#42 of 365 - I Almost Forgot and I Did Misplace

Whoops, what was I thinking? I nearly forgot to post today and I have been doing this for 42 days, one would think it would be automatic... I even commented on Rebecca's picture a day, which should have reminded me already.

I went out today to get the green Wild Foote yarn from Brown Sheep for Kevin's kilt stockings that came in at Shuttles in Boulder. I also stopped in at Gypsy Wools , sadly nothing jumped off the shelf and had to come home with me. Then I ran by the library for a DVD. the last stop was at Big Lots to pick up a pair of readers, as I have both broken one pair and misplaced another pair in the last 4 days. How sad is that?


So, what do you think?

#41 of 365 - What You Do, When...

If you knit like I do, occasionally you'll want to wind some yarn without aid of tools. I am dog sitting in Broomfield this week and therefore don't have my tools of a ball winder and swift, nor do I have a willing pair of hands. Here's the solution. Either use your feet or use your knee. You can also use the back of a chair, but there is not an appropriate style in the TV room of this house.



If you do either of these, you can end up with one of these. This is some hand-dyed handspun, that my new friend Rachel was de-stashing last weekend. I thought that they would work well together as a shawlette. It is styled on the Multnomah. More shall be revealed... This is likely going for Miz Jenna's birthday giftie in May.

#40 of 365 - Big Purple or Otherwise Known as the Moonlit Birch

It's done and it's big. It's light-weight, warm and fuzzy and I love it a lot. I like the Birch pattern from Rowan well enough that I think I will do it to gauge in another yarn as a Super Secret Surprise for Someone... The pattern is available for free over on Ravelry, just search for Birch by Sharon Miller. This one was knit from the top down which I hadn't done on a BIG shawl before, so it was about the process more than anything. When I have someone to take a proper picture, I will show you just how big it really is...

#39 of 365 - How I spent my Day

It's snowing and has been since yesterday, so I am watching movies and snuggling under the blanket. I am wearing Hope's Monkies on my tootsies!

#38 of 365 - Twin Sisters from Different Mothers

I went to my church home away from home today. Lovely, historic Saint Thomas in the Park Hill section of Denver.

There I met another Leslie. Our name is not that common and it's so fun to talk about being a Leslie.

That's my friend Judy's finger in the picture, don't ya know...

#37 of 365 - Hats Again

My buddy, Clay and I in our flat caps helping Scruffy Murphy's to celebrate 5 years of serving libations and Celtic Music to Denver. Potcheen, a Celtic Pirate Band played to an appreciative crowd and a good time was had by all.