Purling Oaks

Isn't that the cutest face?

Thanks, Angie, for such cute contest winnings.  The sheepie is just the cutest stuffed toy I've seen in a while.  The yarn is lovely and so soft. 

This place seems like a dream shop to me.  Pottery lessons and yarn in the same place!!!  I'm not good at either but I love to play with them both.  Way back when, before I started my current traveling job career, I took pottery lessons on Wednesday nights.  I have still have most of my chunky fired pottery.........that didn't blow up in the kiln, that is.  Someday, I'm going to play with clay again.  Delicious, squishy, wonderful clay.

DH and I are about to embark (with the help of our general contractor) on the basement redo project as well as the tear-down and redo of our sunroom (aka room with a moat).  It is very exciting but also full of crossing of fingers and toes that no weird things happen during construction, like, say, a geyser springing up in the yard.  Heaven forbid.  That would be just too much of a "design element" to work around, don't you think?  At least, there should be blog material for a while. 

Oh, Cookie, the contractor is wondering where to order that stripper pole.....

Why did I wait?

I bought my first pair of Crocs this week. I was definitely not a leading comfortista in this area. I *love* them. They are the Beach model in sage. Very comfy!

Char is stuck in Chicago traffic so the footie is getting some well deserved attention. Later today we will head over to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair. Have a great weekend!

Soaked Saturday

I think Mother Nature likes balance but I wonder if she is working on balance somewhere else besides North America.  We've had probably over 4 inches of rain this week in Wisconsin, while my friends on the left coast are suffering with none.  Perhaps the balance is that we are all less than happy with the situation.

My brother and his sons are in Wisconsin for a quick visit so DH and I will be in the Fox Valley for a day then back home to host a small family gathering on Sunday.  I don't have much in the way of knitting content so I'll share a few other fun things.

I won Kim's contest and my loot winnings arrived this week.  I'm looking forward to knitting two socks on one needle.  Perhaps that will be the key to me having more socks.  :D  I'm really enjoying the sandwich cookbook.  I love old cookbooks and this one has a copyright of 1941, so it is older than I am.  I'm going to try a few of these recipes, especially the ones for fancy bread in the beginning.  Maybe not the prune bread though........

Here are the purchases I made a short while ago in Mayville at Loose Ends Yarn Shop.   All of my goodies were locally made.  Michele made the bag from upholstery book samples and adorned it with buttons  The yarn is handspun and is really a coral pink.  It changes in different lighting.  I don't know the yardage but I fell in love with it and had to have it.  The pin was also crafted in Wisconsin. 

I think cats can read...

Look what my twin, the Marvelously Evil Stacey, sent me!  She's so creative.   I love the stitch markers!  They are very cool (or should I say hot?) and quite seasonal with the "bite me!" and the SOS08 markers.  Here's the whole package with the very clever handmade card and hollyhock seeds.  Thank you, Stacey!  I know exactly where I'm going to start a few this week. 

I think Black Dot can read.  She was VERY interested in Stacey's stitchmarkers.  And here is what she was trying to do to the black marker..........

It was a lovely day on Monday.  We had very low humidity, blue skies, and temperatures right around 80 degrees (F).  I made a bunch of calls and emails for the basement-related reconstruction, read through the great studio re-organization contest entries, and then ran errands and did some shopping in Madison in the afternoon.  When I returned home, I wandered around the yard, camera in hand, primarily to properly blog my Stacey-gift.  The cats were following me and DH as we discussed the chain-sawing of several large trees that fell in the recent storms.  Blue and White Dot were wrestling, as they do regularly, and I was able to capture the fun with the video feature on the little camera.  Watch for the hanks of fur on White Dot's paws.  Fuzzle enters into the video near the end to check out what the boys were up to.

Please enter the CONTEST!

Squirrels, Sun (or not) and Spinning

The sun attempted to make an appearance this morning. Although it showed up for what seemed like a brief moment, it was pretty through the light snow and haze of clouds. A nice start to the new year, I think.

DH is still under the weather with his cold or whatever. He usually toughs his way through colds but this one has really sapped his energy. I really hope I don't catch it. He has been (really) pretty easy to care for unlike the guy in the clip at Norma's today. If you haven't seen it yet, it is very funny, especially if you are a female.

Squirrels have been a constant sight at the birdfeeders the past couple weeks. Today, Blue watched while this really big squirrel worked his way through the bird seed. Hmmm, how did that squirrel get so big, I wonder? *g*

Today Jen and La published their Fourth Annual JenLa Knit Blog Awards. Purling Oaks won the Home Away From Home Award!!!!!! Whooooo! I was so surprised to see this blog listed when I read through the awards this morning. Thank you, Jen and La!!

I'm participating in NaSpiMoMo this January. I plan to spin everyday, if only for a short while, even if I'm traveling. I haven't spun in a long time and my wheel and I are barely acquainted. So this will be a good opportunity to develop my spinning skills some more and maybe even produce some yarn. *HA* This is where I'm starting today.
I'm using a Nina dropspindle and merino top that I purchased from the Weavers' Cottage when I was visiting my brother in California. It's been in the bag for *ahem* over two years now, so it is about time I spun up the fiber.