I think we people have a bad habit of praying when we need something and forgetting to be thankful when our prayers are answered.

One of the worst emotions I think a person can ever encounter is the sick feeling of having hurt someone when you thought you were doing good. That happened to me yesterday.

The night before a little stray dog approached me in town when I was visiting my mom. As I parked my truck she came shivering to me from behind a dumpster with a "Can you help me?"expression on her face, but she was so timid I couldn't approach her. She was skinny and shivering so bad. Several other people parked while I tried to call her and I asked them all if they'd ever seen her- and they apatheticly said no.

I asked my husband to bring me a dog crate and I was able to lure her into it with some delicious smelling hot meatloaf fresh out of mom's oven...She got a flea bath right away, but she's got mange and might be pregnant too... more vetting than I can afford- the next ten hours were spent trying to muster up the gumption to take her into the pound- but she'd been so happy snuggled in that crate with a hot water bottle getting the chill off her bones- It was hard to think of her on a concrete floor without anybody fat. maybe I can find a terrier rescue to take her in where she's be fostered in a home.... she would hop on 3 legs when I took her out the cold was so hard on her- how did she make it before? I made a little shirt for her out of one of my daughter's old turtlenecks- just slipped it over her head with the back in the front and rolled up the sleeves- cut a short slit up the back so I could cinch up the waist with a knot... oh she was happy in her pink shirt!

Then we were getting ready to go out- I was changing and asked my husband to take her out- and she ran from him!! By the time I was able to get outside-she was GONE into the night... in a new place, without a name to call or acollar or a sense of where she was... and wearing that damn pink shirt!!! Iwas just sick.I just thought of her getting tangled in some brambles or a barbed wire fence... as a stray dog she had a chance- but as a stuck dog she was a goner! I imagined the cuffs on the arms getting soaked and unrolling, tripping her... finding the pathetic scene months from now hanging from a fence... argh. My husband must have gotten up 10 times in the night to check the crate we'd left on the back porch for her if she came back... and it began to pour.

Finally the next day after noon- she came back- without the shirt. She got some dewormer and must be feeling warmer now because she likes tosleep on the top of the crate (like Snoopy). She let me pick the brokenglass out of the pads of her feet with some tweezers.

No puppies. (yet) The bulging belly seems to have been mostly composed of deer hair. I'll spare you the details.

SKULL CAP

If I have to knock Brandon off the top of this page, I'm going to have to replace him with another cute guy or my readers will protest. Yeah, the sad news is that I won't be posting any pictures of Brandon doing a victory waltz with me, someone else won the American Hero Grand Prize- but hey- it was Brian Horn the founder of AnySoldier.com... so I'm not complaining! (even if I am a little dissapointed that our efforts for Brandon didn't pay off in the way I'd hoped) They are still all heroes and we love them all!

Isn't he adorable?

(try me.)

Here's Angus modeling his brand new hat from the pattern "We call them Pirates" What a fun knit. I didn't know what size I'd get- but with 3 men in the house I figured it would fit one of them. Older brother Broadus is a bit jealous, so I'm going to try to hunt up a set of needles to stretch my gauge a tad and use up the rest of this yarn which was purchased originally for the "WTF over?" hat.

This hat, below, was made for the purpose of an online auction to raise a donation for AnySoldier.com

Also on the AnySoldier front- here is a set of 8 pillowcase tops which I made for Christmas presents for paratroopers of the 173rd who are currently in a remote part of Afghanistan. These were shipped out in early December and feedback is starting to trickle back in. Each pillowcase top was backed with soft warm flannel and shipped with a pillow and a few cans of Copenhagen snuff and a big Hershey bar.


The original idea for these came from a classic Chuck Norris joke which says that everyone has Superman sheets- but Superman has Chuck Norris sheets. I always think of our soldiers as Supermen- and I thought if anyone should have Chuck Norris sheets it would be them (did you know that bedding is a prized care package item and that many soldiers will go their entire deployment without a pillow or set of sheets?) - after shopping around I found out that they don't make Chuck Norris sheets... so I thought that I would have to just make them myself.

I did some research and found out about a product called "Bubble Jet Set" which allegedly will make regular old printer ink waterfast when printed on treated fabric. I'm not going to be there to see the long term waterfastness of these pillows... I feel a little uncomfortable not having done any tests beforehand - but from what I understand- these guys will be lucky to get a hot shower... I really doubt the pillows will be washed much, if at all before this deployment is over.

In order to get your fabric to run through a printer it needs to be backed with butcher paper for stiffness. I spent a few days working on photoshop collages of military themes for paratroopers (Including lots of Chuck Norris facts) - these were specially customized for our heroes of the 173rd "Sky Soldiers". In the end I had about 20 various layouts which would print on 8.5 x 11 either verticaly or horizontally. Each pillow top required 7 pages of printed fabric which was then pieced like a quilt.

On a final note, I was forwarded a very beautiful thank you note from a soldier who had been a recipient of some of the "Sew Much Comfort" retrofitted clothing (see the link in my sidebar) If you have sewing abilities, please consider this very worthwhile way that we in the civilian sector can give back to the brave men who give so much to our country.

"My name is XXXX XXXX . You probably don't remember me or my story but, I remember you every time I open one of my clothes drawers. I received some of your clothes during my stay in Walter Reed Medical Center, as I was there recovering from wounds I received in Afghanistan on XXXXXXXX. I was very badly wounded and your clothes with the Velcro sides allowed me to change my clothes with less pain than I would have been able to otherwise. When I left Walter Reed for XXXX my wife contacted your group asking for help again. I am very happy to say that your group was able to once again help me and sent me more pants, shorts, and drawers which I still use today. I just want to thank you and your group for all your help I had broken my pelvis, shattered my foot and broken both my legs. Without your fine clothes I don't I would have been able to be dressed without being in terrible agony so I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you and the volunteers who help you do it really means a lot to me and my wife. If you can thank everyone there it would mean a whole lot to us. By the way I came though fine my pelvis was fixed, my legs healed and I lost my foot. Don't worry about the foot though it was my left one which I never liked anyways and I have a prosthesis already so I am walking already. Once again thank you and keep up the good work"

VOTE FOR BRANDON!
2007 American Hero Award

Last week I nominated Brandon Rork for the VA Mortgage Center 2007 American Hero Award. (this is an award for active duty servicemen who were deployed in either Iraq or Afghanistan)

I was thrilled to learn he was chosen as a finalist and that has already net him a sweet $500 prize.

Now there is public voting to determine the winner- and $5000 is at stake.

Our man is from Norwood Ohio- and he is an amazing hero who has Rambo caliber prowess with a machine gun!! He just got home from an extended tour in Iraq serving with the 10th Mountain Division.


Read the full account of the events written by his Commanding Officer!

He is AWESOME!
See a picture of the huge truck!


This was his view from his watch! That's the truck!

This is the hood ornament from the truck he now keeps in his pocket.

If you go to the Bengals game tomorrow- from what I understand they will be honoring Brandon at the game- he's the real deal- a standing ovation- you must read the full story to appreciate what a blessing Brandon's quick thinking and actions were: A suicide bomber drove a dumptruck loaded with 7 times as many explosives as what was used in Oklahoma City through the gates of their patrol base! Brandon machine gunned the engine block and got that truck stopped. They even managed to disable the driver, get him out of a suicide vest and take him into custody alive! Had that truck exploded, the loss of life would have probably made the bombing on the barracks in Beirut look like small time.

The voting will continue till Jan 11, 2008.

UPDATE: VA MORTGAGE NOW REQUESTS ONLY ONE VOTE PER DAY.

Vote for Brandon! Read the WHOLE story- they way the cut the paragraph on the contest page- it almost looks like he was nominated because he's a translator...

well... translate THIS you wack-job suicide bomber- ratatatatatatatatata!!!!!!!!

Can you hear Brandon now!?

http://www.vamortgagecenter.com/hero_vote.html

Please pass this on to all your friends and anyone else you know who wakes up in a free country!

keep voting! Every Day!

and have a very Merry Christmas!

ACID BLUE

WARNING: INTENSE KNITTING AHEAD

Objective: To knit a black hat in the round with a four letter word in blue on the front.

Is Intarsia the proper technique to tackle this problem? NO... most obviously because the contrast color yarn would wind up on the wrong edge of the design after one round.

How could we employ two color knitting with floats without making the full circle with our contrast color?

I devised a strategy which uses my ambidextrous knitting technique and three strands of yarn.

This process is a little like rubbing your belly and patting your head while walking and chewing gum. No one element is that difficult- but together they may make quite a muddle. Thankfully it's not important to do all aspects at the same time and if you break it down there are specific events occurring all around the circle of your needles (making the long stretch of no design a little more interesting to knit even!)

First- a person really needs to know how to knit in both directions- we won't be flipping back and forth in and out and purling inside our tube of work. If someone would like to translate this ambidextrous technique for the purlers- please be my guest. But for today- we knit in both directions. Oh- and before I forget- I made this up- but that's not so say that it hasn't been done before- if you have seen this method elsewhere- I'd love to see how it's presented!

The Action of Knitting

We are going to pick a point in our unpatterned stockinette to have our "seam" now this seam will be virtually invisible, perhaps a slight stiffening of the material and minute distortion of the stitches- so if you are doing this on a sweater knit in the round- I'd put the seam on the side not down the middle of the back. It's not important where the seam is- just make it somewhere away from your pattern zone. Mark this point with a stitch marker.

You can see in the above illustration the break where we "bounce" off that stitch marker like a tether ball- we swing back and forth bouncing off that marker without ever crossing it with our knitting. (think of knitting as the verb- our action of making stitches)

OK Sarah- Won't that just make a flat piece of knitting? We have all made blankets on circular needles doing that.

Yep- you are right- it would - if we were only knitting with one piece of yarn... but I'm going use two pieces of yarn. Now in my sample hat here- I used two strands of the same black yarn- so the difference is invisible. But for the diagrams here I am showing red and gray yarns for contrast.

One strand is going to travel in a clockwise direction and the other will go counterclockwise.... throughout the whole process these pieces of yarn will be put down to rest and picked up again- but continue in the same direction they were originally headed.

Now here is the tricky part - at that seam marker- Say you are approaching the marker from the right side with the gray yarn... when you get to the marker- pick up the red yarn in your other hand- hold both strands good and tight as you knit the first couple of stitches because they will want to loosen up- but you change direction and begin knitting with red- backwards. This will bounce you back toward your design and you will find your contrast color waiting there for you where you left it- ready to be knit backwards across the design with floats. When your red yarn has made an almost full circle and you are now approaching your marker from the left- you pick up the gray yarn- hold tight- and reverse direction- knitting with gray now.

The crossings of these two strands are almost like shoelaces crossing and climbing- and they are almost invisible - little x's instead of the = of a typical purl bridge.

When you knit past your design- it's pretty self explanatory- your contrast yarn can go back and forth- almost as if you were knitting flat- while your background colors will interlace row by row and produce the background field (come to think of it- it might even be fun to do this with two colors of background yarn!) The only tricky thing I can think to add is that you should carry a small float past the end edge of your design (I've been going 3 stitches past the end) and then twist the contrast color around the working yarn to hold it in place for when it doubles back. If you don't float past your design- the design will not be motivated to spread out wide and might just crunch up on it's supporting floats- by tacking the contrast yarn out into the stability of the stockinette it's going to work out better - but it will produce a slightly quilted effect when put under heavy tension. You will also (this will make sense when you do it) need to twist the contrast yarn so that it goes smoothly upward toward the next row it will be worked in.

Shooty aplenty

A fantastic visit last week from friends from Nebraska... they brought cameras (if you notice the outstanding jump in photo quality here), guns, ammo... and even empty Starbucks Double Shot Espresso cans. I got to try out all the guns and really enjoyed shooting this rifle with the scope. ... which actually allowed me the pleasure of hitting a target- over and over. (about 45 yards) One (surprise) can was still full of coffee and afforded a spectacular gusher when hit- wow!

The pistol grip shotgun here... although very fun to look at, I didn't enjoy quite as much shooting from the hip as the precision of that scope.

Yesterday John and I went out for a little more shooting practice and I got to try a single shot shotgun and a .22 revolver. Once again... eh... not liking a shotgun too much. The revolver was fun as all get out- and although I was very close to my targets (about 30 feet) I was able to get all six shots on the same board! -lol

Here's a look at some of that.
The boards were about 18 inches square and these scans- they are just a portion of that-

the larger circles are about 4 inches across.

Win some / Lose some

Did you know that there is a holiday called "Sweetest Day"? I don't. I never heard of it before I moved to the midwest. I don't have a Hallmark store nearby that pushes the idea into my periforal guilt cortex. I don't feel that Valentine's Day is only half of the semianual celebration of romance. I mean... if you include a couple's anniversay and birthdays- that would make 5 love holidays a year... and comon folks... isn't every day a love holiday?

So I confess that in this duo- I am the schlepp who totally - without even a twinkle of recognition- misses this moment to dump a fivespot on a card. My husband, never defeated, persistently reminds me of the holiday with sweet, caring tender gifts and cards. This year, he bought me four very expensive tires for my truck... and then for the little box that makes every woman's heart race... there was an iPod nano. (which came free with the tires)

oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. STOP/EJECT REWIND ....

Last week I stumbled across a box of cassette tapes. It was a mix of tapes which belonged to John and I in the years before we were married to each other. Most home made tapes from friends, and due to our unusual musical tastes- some very underground stuff... Hoist from Philadelphia, Bucking Strap from Cincinnati, Theater of Hate from a show in Sweden, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, CCM of Pisa, Joan Jett live... lots of unmarked tapes too. I'd been recently lamenting the loss of music to my life, when it used to play a pretty big part. While the hip music scene has evolved to mp3 downloads, I'd been left behind. I dusted off this box of tapes and resolved to listen to them, and either mark or toss them...

Then, before I got to start on that project- I got the new iPod. I went to my mom's house to use her high speed connection to do some downloads. In the mean time, John came home to a cold empty house and was feeling under the weather. He lit a fire in the woodstove and went out to the garage to do a little work. When he came back in, he found the fire roaring and the CD/Cassette player and box of tapes beginning to melt to the top of the stove....

Did I say how much I LOVE my iPOd!?

If you have any suggestions of music you love to listen to on your iPod- for working out or just working ... I'm all ears! I have been enjoying KT Tunstall, Muse, No Doubt, Nickleback, Emmy Lou Harris... it's all over- try me!

AMIDALA

(in purple costume)

YODA

UPDATE: Lost horses claimed!

The horses had a four day holiday at Great and Small Farm and were claimed on Sunday night... leaving on Monday fornoon. They came from just a few miles away at a homestead which lays on the other side of a creek from the road- so not visible as you drive by- which might explain why no one could say they had ever seen these animals before.

It turns out the beautiful horse belongs to the Chief of Police. Currently I do not know if he knows his horse was ever missing because this other guy was supposed to be taking care of him... perhaps the reason why the lost horses were not called in and reported to the Sheriff was because he was hoping that he'd find the animal before the chief of Police found out... !? (maybe I'm reading too much into it)

Wild Horses.... not actual wild, or feral even... but currently lost... arrived at my farm sometime in the pre-dawn hours of the day. Causing a big commotion among our resident herd of four. A cute pair, I know they look like a mommy and baby, the big one is actually a he, and the little one is a pony. Spoke with several nearby horsemen, none of us recognize these animals. Call to the sheriff- no leads. (the sheriff has let me down in this way before- I once called in a different found horse, and the owner had called in a lost one... but the sheriff's office failed to make the connection that my found red mare with the white stocking was one and the same as the lost red mare with the white stocking)

Drought report- Horrible. Hay- scarce and expensive... and it's only September.

Every person I spoke with seemed delighted to suggest to me that these animals may have been purposely set free rather than to starve inside their pasture fence or face their fate in the market of horses being unloaded by all the people who can not afford to feed an animal twice it's market value in hay in a few months.

18 hours so far and no one has come looking.

A beautiful gift!

A swift!

I received a wonderful gift the other day, from a person who may not have even understood fully what a truly wonderful and appreciated thing this is. She's never even seen my spinning wheel, so she had no way of knowing that it is the exact color as my spinning wheel. The wood turning looks as if it was even done by the same craftsman. And this... the weekend of the community wide yard-sale... To think that she could have set it out and instead she set it aside for me. It's a very small delicate piece with a stamp on the bottom which says "Made in Italy" The woman who gave it to me, Ida, hails from Brooklyn and is as Italian as they come. I hope to find that there might be a little bit more to the story behind it.

For those who are not familiar with the job of a swift... I am sure you have seen cartoons of a patient old man with his hands held out while the old wife is wrapping a ball of yarn... if she had a swift he could be out golfing. It allows you to wind or unwind a large hank of yarn (for example for dying) without it becoming a tangled mess.

FIVE!

Wow the time sure flew by.

That little baby in my avatar is five.

(and yes, I'm wearing the same dress for our portrait)

We wrapped up a week long birthday celebration with a "Tinkerbell Tea"

Originally we'd planned to have it in a grape arbor outside, but due to my run of bad luck with thunderstorms and events I plan- after a summer long drought- we had a big storm 45 minutes before the party was to begin. The last time we had a good rain was way back in mid-July when I had planned a seminar to introduce people to AnySoldier. (There was even a thunderstorm at our outdoor wedding in 1995) Had I picked up on this trend sooner I might have planned something earlier in the summer and we'd have had rain when it could have helped! So the party was moved inside to Grandma's apartment.

Instead of floating around inside the leafy walls of grape vines of the arbor- the giant fern stood in as a Fairy environment and I think it worked out very well, combined with their little notes, the whole thing reminded me a lot of "the Chuckle Patch" from the Magic Garden (does anyone remember that show?) There were seven Fairy guests, and six little girls. (One special fairy is for a friend who could not attend) Each fairy had a note which told her name, her special talents and loves, who she was attending the party with and where we might find her in the future (in a tree overhead, dancing with autumn leaves, collecting raindrops from a rainbow... etc)

The fairies were a Dollar Store find- only a buck... but no wings. The winged porcelain dolls they did have were, frankly hideous... they looked more like trolls than fairies, so I got the ballerinas and took on the "figure out how the heck to make fairy wings" burden on myself.

Of course crafty readers I will tell you my solution: I got some iridescent crepe type fabric in a few shades and some white floral wire. I taped the floral wire to the fabric with wide packing tape and simply cut the wing outline- the upper wings are long and leaf shaped and the lower pair are smaller and rounder. The tape is clear- it prevents fraying and adds just a little stiffness. This will not hold up to regular play- but it should be fine for ornamental or decorative uses. I did wings and flowers for the seven fairies in under and hour. Composing their notes took a little more time.





One aspect of Birthday parties that always bums me out is that your precious birthday child inevitable turns bratty during the present opening scene- and all the other kids seem longingly left out. So we kept the presents to the family party and at the Tinkerbell Tea every girl got a gift. Each bag was tailored to her age and personality as well as her fairy's attributes (or was it the other way around?)

I was concerned that the bags may not have been perfectly fairly balanced in terms of whatever the heck it is that can make these things turn sour- but to my delight, each girl seemed to respond as if she had gotten the very best gift.

See ya (see ya!)
Hope you had a good good time...(na-na!)
Hope you have a good good morning, to ya
Hope we get to see ya again!
(Nah nah! Na-nana-na-nana-nah)

Anyone who is a regular reader here will know that I am a big fan of amphibians. A three minute video of the American Toad Amplexus? Comon!? I know. Here... wait folks please... hear me out. This Frogman is not like the others... really... he's a MIME! Please... just six minutes of your time- I know you will laugh. (Stay through all the credits)

***La farándula***

Parents caught out on the town: evidence posted on internet at MidwestLatino.com!

It was a great night for a martini and a cigar in downtown Cincinnati at the Havanna Martini Club. The giant band was smokin' and the dancers were hot stuff!

Are Salsa lessons in order?

My "Before" "Crying in the parking lot" and "Mustering up a smile" pictures.

I don't know if anyone really cares about the drama of me getting my hair cut. But here is the result... it's much shorter, and lighter in weight and color. Now that I'm home I should thank the sweet stylist named Rayanne (pronounced Ryan) who did the most gentle job with the foils and gave me a haircut that is "ponytail" friendly and probably won't look like hell with two inches of roots.

Never mind all that, I did literally leave the salon in tears because it was the cap on: "Let's highlight Sarah's inability to communicate or be heard by anyone" day. My hair is not anywhere near red or red highlights, and I don't seem to have any bangs to hide the deepening frown lines which now make my face look like I'm in pain all the time... and on top of all that, I didn't even get a blow dry. I actually came into the salon with pictures, so how I managed to not be clear enough is beyond me.

I guess she did find the line I was looking for when I said, I want to go from Christian Fundamentalist long, to sexy long. It's a nice haircut... it's just not quite the makeover I'd hoped for.

Update on the poultry-eating frogs: It's horrifyingly true! Yesterday my son's attention was drawn to the pond by our red hen flapping her wings wildly- when he got there he discovered her distress over one of her new chicks out in the water as if drowning. Before he could get something to scoop it out- a frog surfaced and finished what he'd started and dragged the chick under.

So it seems that the frogs are now making like crocodiles at an African watering hole! - going after the little animals who come down to drink.

The duckling update is that we are down to just one, the other succumbing to the affection of baby Angus. The remaining duckling, M&M, is growing fast and will soon have to find his place in the barnyard pecking order. He carries a name which is a little tougher than a little duckie deserves but when Fiona named him after her favorite candy, she didn't know it was also a rapper. A candy wrapper.

The other news is that I did pass the quality control check for producing the retrofitted shorts for "Sew Much Comfort" I received a package with all the supplies I need to make SIX new pairs of stylin' basketball shorts. That will be a lot of very satisfying work which I am going to get started on.... right now!

I had a birthday last week and I'm going to treat myself to a new hairstyle. Maybe next week I can post before and after pictures!

Last week we had four little blue swedish ducklings hatch naturally under their mother. Unfortunatly we lost two of them in two days- probably to the big bullfrogs (yes- a bullfrog can eat a newborn duckling!) So I had to make the sad decision to take the babies away from their mother and hand raise them at least until they were too big for a frog to swallow. So now, much to the delight of baby Angus, we have ducklings in the bathroom.

Ducklings love to eat their greens and you can put some fresh picked clover along with some water in the blender for a second, or snip up some fresh spinach with scissors, dandelion greens are great too... drop the greens in fresh water and the babies will dabble it up happily.

Fiona shows off the babies and her new "I did it myself" haircut.

We did a cute litte duckling craft. I smeared some washable children's paint in the bottom of the bathtub between some sheets of typing paper and let the little ducks track it all over- the little pit pat of their feet was so sweet, and their tracks made very cute stationary. The art in the project came in knowing when to remove the ducklings before they left any extras.

Patriot Indiana

July 4, 2007

Patriot Indiana is the only town in the Untied States named Patriot. It's a quiet river town in an oxbow of the Ohio river far from the nearest highway or bridge. Population in the 2000 census was 202. Despite the small size, Patriot has a big heart and puts on the best fourth of July parade they can muster which consists mostly of all the firetrucks, the ATV riders and some horsemen.

Today I decided to take my camera along so I could take some photos to make a CD to send to servicemen overseas. I wanted to share a little piece of our country with them and let them know how much we value our freedom.

It is really an amazing thing to watch the smiles light up when I told people what I was doing. I have never had an experience like this as a photographer- but the people just were so open and full of pride and love. I know my pictures are not technically perfect, it's just a little Cannon PowerShot... but I think the love these people have for our troops surely shines through all my exposure problems.

After the parade was over there was a dedication ceremony of a memorial park in town. The park consists of a gazebo, two memorial stones, the old school bell and many flagpoles which fly the flags of each branch of the armed services. The American flag on the center pole was raised by an Iraq veteran from Patriot (in the foreground in the gray shirt) who brought the flag home and presented it to his hometown two years ago.

I 'm just posting a few select photos here, the rest can be found in an Album on Flickr.

It was an honor to meet this gentleman, Russell Fitzgerald, a veteran of WWII. When I asked if I might take his photo to send to our soldiers stationed overseas, he removed his hat and nodded. He arrived in the theater in North Africa and then fought in Italy and France. I told him that I had lived in Italy and the Italian people still deeply love Americans for what you guys did.