Wishing I Was in Alaska

We've bitched & moaned and barely survived our mini heatwave here in Southern NH... with the past 2 days being a sweltering 98+ degrees with high humidity and plenty of "bad air quality" warnings. Right about now I'd kill for do almost anything to take one of my dream vacations (Alaska & Hawaii top the list for those of you who missed my Virtual Vacation answers)! I just checked weather.com and get this - today's high in Anchorage is a lovely 66 degrees! Fortunately, we are now in the midst of a "cool down" - today's high's are around 88/90 (still high humidity - ick!), then we're supposed to move in to the 70's tomorrow - woo friggin' hoo!! Did I ever mention how much I love fall?! The cool down is an added relief as this is NASCAR weekend at NHIS and we will be up at the track on both Saturday & Sunday (70 degree is a dream for any NASCAR race weekend!).

So Alaska... even though I may not be able to drop everything and run there now, I did receive some wonderful Alaskan treats from my Summer Dishcloth Swap pal, the lovely Martina! I do appologize for taking so long to get this posted, as I received my package last week. Here it is...

Martina made me 2 beautiful cloths is gorgeous shades of purple and included the sampler booklet that she used the patterns from! She also sent me 2 skeins of Knit Picks Shine in the crocus colorway and a skein of Dale of Norway Stork in a lovely lilac shade (which I can not wait to knit up!!)... and for the super goodies, here's a close up...

A small jar of Alaska Tribal wild blueberry jelly, Seattle Chocolate's truffle bar (yum-o!) and the coolest soap ever... Seaside Opus "Soap in a Parka" rosemary lemongrass soap! This is so cool... the soap smells wonderfully amazing and its all wrapped up in wool. I can't wait to use it!!! Martina called it "soap in a sweater" - true! Thank you Martina... everything is absolutely wonderful and very much me!!! I'm now signed up for the 2nd round of the swap and can't wait to see who I get to spoil this time around!

It's not quite FO Friday yet, but my FO from last week is another Duduza Doll, which I dropped off in the growing basket at Joanne's last night (I meant to take a pic of all of them, but forgot... Joanne said she was going to take one to post on her blog this week though!). Here she is (yes, its a she... note the pink beaded hat!)

And as I taking the photos, Zeus decided she might be good to eat needed to be sent off with a kiss, so I let him pose with her...

Did that get you saying "awwww??!!!" If not, how's this for an "awww" moment?

That's my niece Tabitha with Miss Lola at the family cook out we had at Mom & Dad's last Saturday (special note for my friends & family who haven't figured out when something is underlined in my blog text, its a link to a photo or website the lesser experienced blog users, make sure you click all of the links to the names for more pics - I even spent an extra few minutes going thru and putting the links in blue for you this time!). I love the sweetness of the pic on the left and the one of the right was the "doggy, doggy, doggy... hi doggy, doggy" pic. Lola drew the short straw and got to go since we try to only take one at a time to events/outings, sometimes 2 when its the dog park or something, but for visiting family or friends and hoping we get invited back one works well. For those of you thinking we should take all of the children everywhere, have you ever tried taking 3 spazos who weigh in at 65, 90 & 120 pounds??? Yea, I didn't think so... Zeus had just gotten to go for an r-i-d-e earlier in the week too... see???

Here are some more pics from Saturday...

My nephew, the little heartbreaker Jacob (please ignore the evil empire outfit... his parents thought it would be funny...)

Tabby & Jake are 2 of my brother's youngest (youngest Benji was home with pain from those darn pieces of white bone pushing thru his gumsas he is teething and not the happiest little camper). This is a picture of the 3 from last Halloween. Tabitha is turning 4 next week and Aunty bought her this beautiful dress, which she promptly had to model...

My brother's oldest/my oldest nephew Matt just turned 20 - and boy does that make Aunty feel old!!! I've got to go and dig up the great pic I have of he & Lola from when she was about a year old and put it up so everyone can compare it to this one...

Speaking of Lola, my little girl is turning 5 next week (that links to last year's birthday pic)! I just can't believe how fast time is going by (I swear after 30, life goes into instant warp speed...)! She spent most of the day keeping an eye out for dropped food (and yes, she got enough for all 3 dogs plenty!)...

Back to knitting... I do have several WIP's but nothing that was worthy of a photo. I cast on this tank top Tuesday night and got a couple of rounds worked. I've picked up my alpaca shaped scarf and worked some more rounds on it (no hurry for it, esp when its 98 friggin' degrees!). I did finish the first of my ankle socks, but forgot to photo it... and need to cast on the second one. They've been a slow knit because they're kind of boring, but I will finish the pair. I wound up some yarn the other knit to start my shawl and another pair of socks...

I have done a little bit of stash enhancement this past week, but since a couple of packages just arrived I don't have photos yet. I will say this... to all sock knitters who haven't checked out The Loopy Ewe yet, click below!!!

This place is wonderful and I have my secret pal (who has yet to reveal herself) to thank for introducing me to them! Loopy is run by some wonderful people and they have a great selection of hand dyed sock yarns. They also run "The Loopy Club" where you get all sorts of fun stuff... with each of your first 5 orders they'll send you a free gift, then you are an official Loopy Groupie which gets you a whole new set of gifts & perks! Also, they keep track of your spending and for every $250 you rack up, they'll give you a $25 credit - nice!

I wanted to thank everyone who's contributed to my ASPCA fundraising efforts thus far (see the banner/link at the top of my blog), including Lisa, Karen, Christy and Dad C. & Sue ... however unless you tell me that you contibuted, I don't know who you are and can't thank you personally (since my counter only shows total $ raised, not who donated)! So far I have $65 in donations that are unaccounted for... was it you? Please do remember that every little bit turns in to something big and I do hope you can contribute if you have not already.

Well, back to wishing it were Friday work for me ... my lunch hour is over! We're heading up to ManchVegas tonight to see Cirque du Soleil Delirium. I love Cirque du Soleil shows - this will be my 4th different one (I think... or is it 5th?). Happy knitting & racing to anyone heading out to NHIS this weekend!

Dog Days of Summer... and a FO too!

This post is going to be a little photo catch up from the past week... and I even have a FO for your viewing pleasure (though it was really finished last Saturday)! Here is the petal dishcloth I made for my pal, blogless Cheryl in Texas, for the Summer Dishcloth Exchange...

This was a fun knit and I do plan to make more of them. They would make a great trivet or doily for your table as well! I just got an email from Cheryl and am happy to report that she loves it & the package of goodies I sent. She even nominated me as a Terrific Treater! Cool! Its just so awesome knowing she loves the things I picked out for her. I had fun with this swap (even though I've yet to receive my package, though my spoiler says it is on the way - yea!) and have already signed up for the Round 2 "Dog Days of Summer" dishcloth swap... have you (hint: click on the link in the above paragraph!)?

I thought I had taken a photo of the Duduza Doll that I finished on Sunday, but it wasn't on the camera... next post. For now I have some "getting organized" pics. One of the anniversary presents Matt got for me was this gorgeous jewelry box from Bombay Company. He got it thinking I might be able to organize some things in my "knitting corner" (and it actually matches the wood of the bigger Bombay Co jewelry box I have so if I ever wanted to put it near that one it works too)... He was right and had a great idea! Look...

The top has a nice metal "dish" that is always open (the top closes on each side around it - great catch-all for little things like stitch markers & darning needles) ... then each side of the top opens for more storage, as well as a drawer. I've now got all my notions and gadgets tucked away and - get this - they're a heck of a lot easier to find when I need them now!

Doggie update... I've heard from Dottie's new family a couple of times this week and it sounds like she's settling in quite nicely, which is wonderful news! Here's a little photo journey of her last couple of days with us as she was really starting to show her personality and settle in...

Hanging out with Teutul...

I'm damn cute ... and you know it!

Trying to get Lola to play...

She got Lola to play... and wrestle!

Exploring the great outdooors...

Proud foster Mommy (now Aunty

Nichole?) with another success...

Getting her measurements taken (you just never known

when someone will make a custom fit gift)...

And yes, that is my new sheep tape measure she is "exploring"... but at least she didn't eat it like the one Dustee enjoyed! :)

We're taking a couple weeks off from the furry houseguests now, since we have a couple of busy weeks and weekends coming up. So our kids will get some down time as well, though they do seem to be missing Dottie almost as much as Lola missed Dustee!

In knit/fiber related news, I received my registration packet from The Knit & Crochet Show and am looking forward to a fun filled day of spending way too much money browsing & shopping with Mom-Sue that weekend. Sadly Joanne realized she has a family event to attend and won't be joining us, however she and I did sign up for a Double Knitting class next month that I'm very excited about!

We're off to Gloucester for a family cook-out tomorrow and I hope to get some knitting done while there! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll leave you with some recent photos of the kids...

Lola wanted to show off her very own "Lapdog

Creations" logo pillow that just arrived...

Zeus just wanted to look cute...

And Tut, well he was just happy to

once again be the baby of the house...

Happy Summer... Happy Knitting!

Happy 1st Day of Summer!

You Should Spend Your Summer in Europe

You're in to almost all forms of culture - art, music, architecture, food...And spending a summer at the beach sounds pretty darn boring to you.So head off to Europe, where you can have your tiramisu (and even eat it on the beach!)

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Anyone volunteering to send me to Europe for the summer??? Yea, I didn't think so... but maybe I'll get a European spoiler in the Knitter's Virtual Vacation Swap??

Note to all doggy parents, rescuers and lovers... please take a second to check out my sidebar for the Dog Detective website. A fellow dog Mom forwarded this to me -- great source for lost / stolen / found dogs across the country. Help spread the word about the site!

And a special thank you to those of you who've already donated and helped me in my goal of raising $1000 for ASPCA (see the fundraising banner at the top of my blog)! Unfortunately they don't tell me who donated, so unless you send me a note I don't know who you are... so far I do know of Lisa, Karen and Christy. Thank you ladies - you are awesome!

I promise some actual knitting content coming soon!!! I finished another Duduza doll over the weekend and already cast on another, plus have several other WIP's - my ankle socks, lace headband, shaped scarf... and am about to cast on a shawl, tank top and felted bag. :-)

Duduza Dolls Charity Project

I wanted to post about the latest charity project that Joanne of A Knitter's Garden is supporting, Duduza (comfort) Dolls for CHABHA. Joanne is recruiting her customers and guild members to help in knitting these adorable little dolls - can you help too?

This is my first little creation (which sort of looks like a weeble-wooble).

And here's my little guy hanging out with a couple of buddies at knitting guild last night (note that Joanne's first doll was a little on the large size, but I believe that all sizes are welcome!).

Please click through all the links above to find the pattern, background on the project and more! If you live nearby, you can drop off your donations at A Knitter's Garden, as Joanne will be putting together a large box of dolls to send. You can also mail your dolls to Joanne or to the organization directly. These dolls are a fun knit - and quick too! I made my first one in just a couple hours on Sunday while watching the NASCAR race and I'm looking forward to making some more!

Also, I wanted to throw out a quick little announcement for the new album by one of my favorite bands, Sister Hazel (remember "All For You"?). They don't receive a lot of the commercial marketing anymore, but are still making great music. Would you please take a second and click on the picture below? I'll earn a nice autographed poster if I get 25 click thrus! All you have to do is click, but of course I highly recommend purchasing the new CD for some good tunes this summer!