A Shirt

I've been trying to upgrade my shirt collection lately. I bought one new pattern on sale a Jo-Ann's, and dug out some of my tried-and-true patterns.

Cute pattern, but not exactly what I was feeling at the moment.

I've made this one-turned out nicely, except I made it out of velour and I found myself constantly tugging and adjusting.


So I went with this one-probably bought in the 90's or earlier, but I think it will work fine. I'll just eliminate the shoulder pads. It's a big shirt and will be nice to wear by itself or with a tank top underneath.

Now what fabric-the one I bought in Billings a couple of weeks ago:

Or this one from my stash:

Turns out, that without some creative laying and pinning the green piece wasn't enough for the big top. Being in a hurry, which is normal for sewing for myself, I opted for the larger teal print. It's all cut out, but I had to get thread, and I still don't have buttons for it-why don't they make buttons that match the fabric that they manufacture? They could get together on this and make more money, I think!

I'm home from church with a bug, or I'd be sewing right now. I read about these bloggers that sew or knit when they're sick, but all I'm capable of is sitting in my recliner with the remote, moaning and blowing my nose!

I managed to get a job interview the other day. This would be a receptionist for an insurance agent. They have a ton of applications, given the economy, so I'm not holding my breath. But at least I know I have enough qualifications that someone wants to meet me.

Oh yeah, and the youngest grandkid started Kindergarten this week!

He was ready and rarin' to go-no shyness here!

Well, back to my recliner!

Trees

I spent some time on my deck this afternoon. It hasn't been too hot, so a late afternoon iced coffee and knitting session is a lovely experience. I'm almost finished with Gram's socks. Just finishing the ribbing on one, then I just have to turn the heel and knit up the leg on the other.

I did finally sew buttons on a baby sweater, though. This is a pattern I downloaded from Ravelry. No special goal-it went in to my gift stash for future babies.

The buttons aren't a perfect match-better than the picture-but not bad. I used the gray from the trim to sew them on to direct attention away from the not-quite-perfect color. I scoured Bozeman and these are the closest I could come.

I think this sweater will be one I make often. It's done in a bulky yarn so it goes pretty fast and it turns out pretty cute if I say so myself!

I love sitting under the trees. The birds serenade me nonstop and I love the shadows the sun shining through the leaves makes.

Add my own homemade mocha blended coffee and it was a perfect afternoon. Too short, but perfect.

Birthday Boy

Our youngest grandchild is five today! He's so excited about going to kindergarten-such a big boy now!

He's a cutie pie, too! And crazy about tires. He wants to own a tire shop when he grows up.

Another Road Trip

This time we met up with our son and DIL's church group, Imagine, and spent some time in Virginia City, MT. This is an old mining town that has been lovingly restored and is visited by thousands of tourists each year. They have two theater groups, The Brewery Follies-a bawdy, laugh filled musical revue that plays in the old brewery, and The Virginia City Players, a group that performs period plays from long ago, plus having a variety act. The Players are rated G, the Follies are PG, so since this was a church group with kids along we opted for the Players.

The Players have been holding plays in an old livery barn since the early 1950's-started by director Larry Barsness. Down through the years they have lovingly tried to stick with the original model and quite successfully, I might add. Stan's family started coming in the very beginning, even when money was tight. They would budget enough to get there at least once in the summer. I talked with the present director and he was tickled to know that there were three generations of people present who had kept the tradition alive. If Gram had been there it would have been four, but she was visiting my brother-in-law for the weekend.

About an hour's drive, so enough time for some knitting. I'm making a pair of socks for Grandma for Christmas. I decided, since it's the self-striping yarn, I would more or less work them together so the stripes would match. I got all the way up to the gusset by the time we got home.

Noses pressed to the window. Fascinating stuff for 5 & 6 year olds.

Pastor Randy checking out the weathered buildings. Some of these buildings were slapped up quickly to take advantage of the gold mining boom.

Isaac checking out the "Ye Olde Photo Shoppe."

As we left the Playhouse, we were treated to a bride and groom being carried around in a horse and buggy. We saw two weddings there-this must be something new, but quite a good moneymaker.

And finally and MOST importantly, homemade ice cream-made by a girl in pioneer dress with an old fashioned ice cream freezer.

Happy Birthday, Mom

She would have been 85 today. I still miss her as much now as I did when she died 7 years ago.


You still live in my heart, Mom. We'll see you again someday.

Dog Vs. Yarn

Both my Westies have the same habit-when I am knitting and my yarn is hanging down, they love to walk under it, letting it run along their backs. It must feel good.

The other day, I was knitting at my computer (blogging and knitting-the ultimate in multitasking) and Merlin was behind the recliner next to me. Suddenly a grasshopper coughed or something and Merlin flew out from behind the chair, under my yarn-couldn't leave that step out, and up on the back of the chair in the picture window. He immediately had my yarn securely tangled-around his neck, in his radio collar, around his feet. I grabbed him and the yarn, but he kept getting away and turning in circles, barking frantically the whole time. Every now and then he'd try to take off, but I did have hold of the yarn and he'd go back up on the chair, still turning circles and barking.

Of course I got the giggles, but I was concerned that I wouldn't get him loose before he got hurt. Finally, I got him to stand still long enough to untangle, but oh, what a circus!

I was knitting hats with a triple strand of yarn at the time, so the mess was even bigger:

Here they are, hanging out waiting for something else to bark at. Merlin's Radio Fence collar has done a number on my window sill. We're going to do some rearranging soon, so we can keep the barking machines out of the window and redo the sill. Wish us luck!

Road Trip

Well, Hubs had a coupon from Harbor Freight burning a hole in his pocket, so I grabbed my Hancock Fabrics flier and we hopped in the car and headed to Billings.

From Belgrade to Billings is enough time to get this much of a sock done:

This is sock number two of a pair. It's a Christmas gift-and I can't say who it's for but suffice to say I had to make the foot extra long to accommodate a size 13 shoe.

We haven't been to Billings since the tornado on Father's day, so I was sure to get some pics of the damage to the Metra:


Breaks my heart, but they are doing a great job of accommodating the acts they had lined up for the season. They set up tents for the Antiques Road Show, and moved Celtic Woman to Bozeman. (Yay!) It was the strangest thing-the tornado picked and chose what it tore up. The rest of the Metra grounds are untouched. The businesses north of the Metra were hit in the same way-some places destroyed and some didn't even have windows broken. I guess this is our welcome to the world of tornadoes-something Montana rarely sees.

My sis says all her cars sustained severe hail damage and they had to re-roof their house.

Anyway, Hubs got his tools and in return he had to wait for me to pick out some fabric at Hancock. Oh-here's a plug for Hancock Fabrics: I'm not crazy about Jo-Ann's because of all the fragrances they have. There's tons of candles, potpourri, you name it. I commented to the lady at Hancock that I noticed they didn't have those fragrances and she said it is a store policy not to have all that "crafty" stuff. It wouldn't pay anyway, since Hobby Lobby is right next door, but I thoroughly appreciate not having an asthma attack just shopping for fabric. I was in our mall the day before and it took hours before I could breath clearly again!

This is the fabric I bought. The three on the left are Lycra for some dressy T's and the other is a sueded polyester for a nice shirt. If you look closely in the upper left hand of the picture you can see a packet of sewing machine needles. I had a coupon, and my rule is-if you can't find something to use the coupon on, always buy needles.

This piece is what I bought in Mazatlan-also a Lycra. I got two meters-my Spanish hasn't developed to fractions yet, so I just got an even amount. I love these for tops and you can't usually find much Lycra in the States, but the Mexican fabric stores are full of it. Gonna have to take an empty suitcase one of these times. Their fabric is CHEAP!

Oh yeah-I got something at Harbor Freight. I got a hand held laser thermometer that you just point and shoot and it gives an accurate temp reading. Last time I got a ton of microfiber cloths that I have ambitious plans of making into Swiffer mop heads. Don't tell Hubs I like that store-gotta use the guilt factor whenever you can!