Starting over. It can be a good thing or something not so good. Starting over and ridding oneself of all the extra stuff that is accumulated over time can be cleansing and liberating. It is the time to refocus…to reprioritize…to figure out what is important and what can be given away. What once seemed precious is now discarded. And the materials for those projects that were going to be worked on “some day?” Well, as I have grown older, I realize that some of those projects are never going to be completed, much less get started. So, out they go to charity or to someone who will complete them. That is really a good feeling to not feel the pressure to get it done.
Starting over. It is a good thing. Thank you for patiently waiting for this post.
Blue Ribbons
The County Fair is long over. The midway is empty and quiet, and the rides are packed up and in winter storage. However…..the excitement remains that I won Best in Show blue ribbon in the Sweater category for the Central Park Hoodie I knitted last winter for my daughter! I knitted it in Berroco’s Vintage, a worsted weight, wool blend yarn, she choose at the Memory Hagler Knitting Shop in Birmingham. I used buttons found in a Button Jar at a close friend’s house. They are perfect for the grey yarn and she had just the right number needed. It was meant to be!
Central Park Hoodie
In another category, the Charlotte Raglan Tee earned a blue ribbon, too! I called this my Tornado Tee as I started it on April 27th, a terrible day in Alabama’s weather history when so many lives were lost; and from which people are still recovering. It’s knitted in Lily Chin’s Chelsea. On a spur of the moment impulse, I entered a yellow Peaches and Cream soap bag and it won a blue ribbon in its category! The woolen Habitat Hat and the Angora Breast Cancer Awareness Scarf also won ribbons. My daughter knitted a slipstitch scarf that won a blue ribbon in the Junior knitting category! Just as exciting was the Best in Show blue ribbon for her delicious chocolate fudge in the Junior Baking Category! She also won a blue ribbon for her sugar cookies and a red ribbon for her chocolate chip cookies.
Beemer
My life is far from being dull and routine. The biggest event in the past month was my miniature schnauzer almost dying from undiagnosed diabetes. Beemer was lethargic, vomiting and was practically skin and bones. When I left him at the vet’s we were not sure if he would survive the night. But he did and after a weekend of IV fluids and monitoring blood levels I was able to take Beemer home Monday afternoon. Right now I’m giving him eight units of insulin twice a day. He does not have your typical schnauzer cut so we were not able to see that he had lost a lot of weight. And he’s not your typical house dog. In fact, the only time he wants to be inside is when it’s too cold or too hot. So, we were not watching his water intake closely.
Today, Beemer is back to his usual sassy self, barking at passing white cars (my across-the-street-neighbor’s dog taught him to do that) and biting the tires of Bike Man’s motorcycle when he rides.
Beemer, the camera shy dog
Bike Man's restored vintage BMW bike
With all the vet expenses, it’s a good thing I have a great friend who brought wonderful sock yarn when she came to visit for the Colorfest! I had too much fun….. so much fun that I forgot to take pictures!
And speaking of pictures…..There’s another reason for my neglect in blogging. My computer has died. Died as in the screen fading to white then going black. BLACK! Nothing. Zilch. Zero. All my pictures, all my partially written blog posts in Word, and ALL my knitting pdf. files are unobtainable right now. My Life is in that little, thin, black laptop. Right now I’m writing to you from the Bike Man’s laptop and it’s just not the same.
But my knitting goes on.
The Toshiba Tecra's Guts
What To Expect
Moonglow Alpaca Farm
Live Oak Shawlette
Smocking
Mentone’s Farmer’s Market
Lookout Mountain Knitters
Gloves to match the Central Park Hoodie
A hat to match my Cable on the Side Mittens
My Knitting Circle 
Great to hear from you. Glad to see you are back in the world of computers.
I was unable to get to some of your links. I think you may have included http twice so it wont make the link. Could only see the link to the Central Park Hoodie, which by the way is absolutely fantastic. Well done.
Thank you so much for letting me know about the broken links. You were right about the “http” being included twice. I have edited it to make the corrections and to add a picture of Beemer. It looks like my daughter is choking him but he hates to have his picture taken. The only way I could get his sweet face was to have her hold him. As soon as he hears the camera turn on, he starts slinking away. Why? I do not know.
I’m glad Beemer is OK. That must have been so scary.
Im sorry to hear about your computer. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing it’s all inside and won’t come out.
CPH is looks great. I love the color and the buttons are perfect.
Beemer is fine now even though he lost a lot of weight. But that’s a good thing with diabetes. I had this same experience years ago with a cat and gave Nicki injections twice a day, too. But in cats, diabetes can resolve which it did and I almost killed him with an overdose when he no longer needed it. That was a scary day, too. But he lived to be 18 years old. Still miss that cat,
Welcome back 🙂 I also love the color of your CPH.
Thank you. I’m glad to be back. The daughter picked out the color herself. And I had enough yarn left over to make a pair of gloves to match. More of that later.
Love the CPH! My friend knitted it in green and it’s such a cozy cardigan. I hope that your computer can be fixed soon too, how frustrating!
So happy to hear that the pooch is okay!!!! Been there with the computer, a few times. Good luck getting it back up and running,