And I neglected to mention...

I was just over at ChickenKnits and read about what she's been up to. Surprisingly, no yarn pr0n! What's up with that?!

But there were lots of cookies shown from her recent SnB Cookie Exchange. And her new haircut. And this meme that I thought I'd copy (yes, it had been a while since I'd had a chance to buzz by her blog...):

Things I've Done (In Bold)

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (I even got to live there for a bit, since I attended summer school one session!)
5. Watched a meteor shower (I think...sad, I know..)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (not any kind of big one...)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (see 41)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (knocked on wood with that one!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (Sadly, no. Even though my grandfather farmed fruit!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill ("I call them mental health days!"-I agree with ChickenKnits on this one; not physically ill, but needing to not be at work!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (in case you haven't figured this out, I am NOT athletic. At all.)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (many time over with direct-sales: "Creative Circle" stitchery kits, Mary Kay...-and failed! )
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen (nope! but I used to deliver and help in the kitchen and Project Open Hands)
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (maybe...)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Pat Morita-you know-"Arnold" from Happy Days-grew up in the area where my grandfather farmed; all Asians out there knew each other! He was "Nori" to them back in the day...)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit (Does the PTA being sued count?-lol)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant
So it appears that ChickenKnits says she needs to 'travel more'. I need to hit the important landmarks of my own country, I'd say! And I'm very East Coast illiterate!

So I neglected to mention that my quilt group had our big holiday party last week. I'll have to share what I got from my Secret Santa later on. But I had shared with ChickenKnits that fact that there is this wonderful turtle bar recipe one of the ladies in my quilt group makes. Funny thing is: out of the six of us who have attempted making these marvelous bars, NONE of us has been able to succeed! And it's not like we just aren't used of baking! Come on-you guys oughta know that baking and hand crafts go hand in hand and I don't know a hand crafter who can't bake!

So I'm gonna try and dig out that recipe and post it here! And then we'll see how many of you take a poke at it and succeed! (Then maybe you can explain what I did wrong!)

And some other goodies to share...

What could I possibly have been working on at quilt group? Well, this is a quilt I made in my second quilt class (see 72 above...though this was my second...), "Beginning Machine Piecing" way back when ... Pre-Lil'Emp, maybe 10-12 years ago! (YIKES!) I machine pieced it; New Pieces in Berkeley machine quilted all but the large center house block. I left that area unquilted so that I could hand-quilt the remainder! HA! Years later, still unfinished! If I thought I was not so great at handquilting before, try doing it years later! And what I completed last week totalled maybe 12 inches?...

And I believe it is True Confessions time...
See the lovely bump of Grafton Fiber Arts fiber? Isn't it gorgeous?...yeah, I couldn't resist. So I had set out to purchase a couple of skeins of Merino 5 to finish Solly's hat and ensure I had enough of another colorway for another hat and ended up with this awesome fiber! And I caved and got AlleyOop afterall...and another Cookie Next Door...and a heavyweight Brick STR! (ps-a shout-out to Jasmin who I got to meet during my whirlwind drop-in to Purlescence! Isn't the Knitting World wonderful? And we just never know who's reading! I was glad to meet you and hope to see you there again! And BTW, the striped yarn was from the WoolGirl Peppermint Patty Kit: Miss Babs Sportweight! YUMMY!)

The plot thickens..

IrishGirlieKnits and I were discussing how I wanted to give the gift of STR to my cousin's GF who spins and now knits. I mean, doesn't it make sense to want to share STR with the uninitiated?

But what makes more sense when you are yarn-rich and cash-poor is to shop from the stash, right? WRONG! No way could I part with any of my stash!

So IGK and I discussed how Harlotty would be so perfect for the giftee, but how I didn't want to give it up. How I thought I MAY have a Harlotty mill end and how even a mill end would be ok to give, right? But if I gave the mill end, it may be more of a Rare Gem and I could never replicate it again! So I should just buy another Harlotty and give her mine for now, right?

Well, IGK says, "Open them up and compare them. If the Mill End is Harlotty, give her the mill end! A mill end is still a nice gift!"

"Yes!" I agreed.

So look at the two, side-by-side...





LOL! What the heck is wrong with me?! Clearly, I was not recalling my stash colors very well! Totally NOT Harlotty!-lol! (FYI, Harlotty is below; the mystery mill end is above it..)


So for kicks, what did I have in mill ends? Here are a few from the STR stash...

The second from the right is kind of a 'cousin' to the Rare Gem Iam knitting the Ampersands with.
..similar color patterning, I believe, though different colors used

Crazy, I know...and that other one wasn't even a Mill End! It IS a Rare Gem!

OK, so yet again, I got a bit carried away in my blogging! What else is new? So much to say! And I WILL post that turtle bar recipe (hopefully) next time!