Blue skies ahead . . .

watch out for the scouts!

Yep, when the rain finally cleared out this weekend, I spent Sunday biking around Minneapolis with Mr. Daisy, Youngest Child and his Bear pack or den or whatever they call it. Thankfully, everyone came home alive.

Although I've been still working on the "2-at-a-time" sleeves of my Turn of the Glass cardigan, I've progressed the most on my second Cabled Chemo Hat for the Minnesota Knitters' Guild.

Since I can't clean my children's rooms (they would notice!) or get them to clean their rooms, the Saturday Sevens have really slowed down. Just wait until they leave for college again, heh heh.

Trying something a little new is always hard!

I should have been spinning today but, really, I've been spending my last day of Youngest Child freedom walking the dog, reading a book and  - trying to make this button.

Just because. If you see it on the side of the blog, then I've succeeded. If not - the dog needed walking again on this lovely day!

From zombies to college

Any week that starts with zombies might be a bad one - unless they are made from delicious cake!

It's been a busy week at Chez Daisy - and it all started with a lovely wedding and some tasty CAKE! I didn't get a piece of this one so I'm hoping they are using it for their anniversary cake.

Then, we moved onto hockey camp.

As I am not the one at camp - I thought I would get some time off. Actually, I've reffed more home patio hockey games this week than I could have imagined. And what with moving all the patio furniture and actually making goals out of drying racks and towels - I think I've done mothers everywhere proud!

Any of my own free time has been sucked into participating in the Tour de Fleece - and you know, my rear end really appreciates a well padded bike short right now. Those spinning stools just aren't as  comfortable as they could be.

But the results are coming along and I am dreaming of what I'll be knitting this fall out of the Mystery Shetland Fiber.

Youngest Daughter will going off to college in August - so there also has been a lot of college themed clothes shopping going on. It almost makes me long for the days of high school uniforms . . .

Busy, busy, busy . . . ah, summer!

A busy, busy weekend!

Well, Saturday was 96 degrees F. and humid -  but luckily that all blew in after Youngest Child's Big Day at the Lake Nokomis Miracle Kids Triathlon.

Hanging out on the beach before his wave is pretty much his speed. He loves the music, making friends with the other kids and doesn't have any problem with the training. That's really all you can ask of an 8 year old!

There he goes!

The sun finally came out afterward and we were glad to go home. This week? Hockey camp will be the perfect place to be to beat the heat.

As for me, I'm making waves, no stripes.

I'm not going to have enough Cascade Fixation in green to make a second hat so GFMelissa gave me some of her leftovers and I'm making a striped chemo hat for the MKG service committee.

And I'm spinning up a storm of "Mystery Fiber - probably Merino" for the Tour de Fleece. 

The only problem is that my spinning stool is killing me! I seriously need a cushion or something - there is a reason wooden stools went out of fashion!

Time to run the race - again!

Youngest Child is at it again - he's racing in the Miracle Kids Triathlon on this Saturday, July 16 at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, MN. 

This is a kids triathlon where he'll be swimming 100 yards, biking three miles and running 1/2 half mile. He's racing in the name of Collin, 12 year old who is in treatment for B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.

This race (and its sister race in August at Lake Ann) is a fundraiser for the Miracles of Mitch Foundation and its theme is: Kids Racing for Kids Who Can’t. 

One proud Dad!

Because they spent a lot of time and effort describing MoMF, we took this explanation from their website:

"Daily Miracles … in the Spirit of Mitch

 The Miracles of Mitch are the daily good works inspired by 9-year-old Mitch Chepokas to help the families of children battling cancer in Minnesota. Sealed with a pinky swear between Mitch and his father, Steve, The Miracles of Mitch Foundation (MOMF) was created to honor Mitch’s desire to support these families during a stressful time in their lives.

Before he died in 2003, Mitch Chepokas used his own money to donate to other kids with cancer and convinced his parents, MOMF founders, Becky and Steve Chepokas, to continue helping these families after he was gone, easing families' financial burden so they can enjoy their time together.

MOMF assists families of pediatric cancer patients by: making mortgage/rent and car payments, purchasing groceries, hosting a five-day summer camp for current and past pediatric cancer patients and their siblings, hosting Minnesota Miracle weekend getaways, and creating specially-tailored quality-of-life initiatives for kids with an advanced stage of cancer."

My family and I hope you will visit our MOMF fundraising page here and make a donation to help this organization.  Youngest Child is  pretty excited about this hard work - if you go to http://www.miraclekidstriathlon.org  (the Miracle Kids Triathlon website), you can see what all the excitement is about!

Time to run!

Mystery solved!

As part of the Tour de Fleece, I picked up a bag of "mystery rolags" to work on from out of my stash.

(You must admit that not knowing what kind of fleece or when, exactly, you turned it into rolags is a sign that I should be spinning more!)

After working on it for a while, I decided to run the rolags through my carder (the rolags were pretty flat by now) and, lo and behold, when I pulled out the carder, I found a large bag of shetland fleece.

Three flat batts of Shetland

Possibly the first fleece that Mr. Daisy ever bought me at Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival!

The "un-rolaged" bag is 10 ounces and the (now carded and spun up a bit) bag of rolags is 4 ounces.

Here's the former rolags carded up into batts.

So, I've pretty much got the rest of the Tour de Fleece laid out before me. Shetland fleece, good to go!

I was going to call this post "Why you shouldn't knit at the movies."

The knife is strictly for effect!

I started this on the ride home from Mount Rushmore but then, I finished it at the movies. 

Unfortunately, when I got home, I discovered that I had made a mistake. A big one so, time to frog it back. 

A Fistful of

BFL!

First off, I hope you had a Happy Fourth of July. Lovely hot weather here topped off with a great fireworks display on the river.

Things were busy around here with a sci-fi convention for my daughters (and me, I confess. I went for the Torchwood and Dr. Who panels), one heck of a lot of spinning for Tour de Fleece (8 oz BFL spun and plied) and hat knitting.

It's not terribly fine spinning but I've been using the bulky head for my Lendrum and I'm not that familiar with its weight and ratio.

The skein on the far right is the biggest - I decided to spin two full smaller bobbins into one. I haven't counted the yards yet.

I finished my service project hat for the MKG. This was my trip knitting project along with 

this teeny tiny Splish Splash washcloth from Evelyn A. Clark.

I finally took three shopping bags of Saturday Seven clothes from Oldest Daughter over to the local rummage sale. I didn't photograph or count but it was way over seven items! How does she get that much extra stuff in her room?

Like you all have time on your hands . . .

Yes, it's 95 degrees F. outside right now and that is limiting our free time options. Until the weather breaks, it's time to explore inside entertainment options.

Knitting? Check.
Spinning? Check.
Playing games? Check (especially if  you are playing Dominoes or Dutch Blitz! We love these both!)
Playing on-line games? CHECK!!

Yes, I'm a sharing a big time sink of a game with you. The Floating City.

This is a free game based on the music of Thomas Dolby. Yes, the "Blinded by Science" guy. He has done lots of other things and this online game is the latest. Basically, it is a post-apocalyptic scenario in that time has gone awry, the magnetic poles are shifting and everyone is escaping by boat.

It is a slow but steady, "trading for supplies to get ahead" kind of game. It's oddly satisfying to check in every few hours to see if any of your trades have been accepted. And it is free so, that's something!

You can sign up at this link HERE.

Now, back to  your regularly scheduled knitting . . .