Happy 4th

We all celebrate in our own way.

I planned on writing a post about celebrating the 4th because I haven't been on here in a week or so but then I saw the last date and it was the middle of June. Where did the time go!?!

Many people in Minnesota all but live at the cabin in the summers. We all go "up north" or "to the lake". There are well over 10,000 lakes - actually 15,291 lakes over 10 acres in size. We love our cabins. My family was no different.

Grandpa built a cabin in the 1940s that would house the family when the big bomb hit )people did that thing back then). It was 2 hours north of Minneapolis and had multiple buildings for all of us to stay at. The main cabin had 2 bedrooms, a porch and a large main room/kitchen. Then there was the guest house and the screen house. Many weekends would be my grandparents; my family, Mom's sister and brother's families. Six cousins to hang out together and enjoy our freedom.

July 4th weekend would include going to the local small town that had fireworks on the beach at night. July 4th has always been a family time for me and the changes in my family are most noticeable on days like today. But the 4th is still a day to celebrate what we do have.

I'm so grateful to grow up in a country where we can celebrate our freedom and families on a day like today. For the most part we don't worry about bombs going off in the neighborhood. We may disagree about the "other" political party but rarely do these disagreements turn to violence or the government throwing us in jail. I know our country is filled with flaws and problems but I also know we have it so much better then most of the world. We just assume we'll have enough food and fresh water. We assume we can complain about the government. We assume our life will be basically a good one. We are a very lucky country and today we can celebrate and remember how lucky we are.

(sorry everything is all mushed together - blogger isn't letting me format properly)

Here is hair, there is hair, everywhere is Bert Hair

Last summer we added a new member to the family when my cousin's daughter got married. It was a long awaited event because all of us really like the groom. They are the perfect couple. Well - they aren't the perfect couple anymore. Life happens but in this case - life happens in a wonderful way. The perfect couple is now a perfect family.

Layla joined the family this summer and we all got together Labor Day to meet and greet at her Aunt's house. She is 7 weeks in this picture. Our family always seems to do things in a big way. Layla is currently at the 98% in height and weight for her age. I'm guessing she'll graduate college on a basketball scholarship when she's 7 or 8 years old at this rate!
But she is beautiful, sweet and will be raised very well by her fantastic parents. Best of all her grandma is a knitter so between the two of us (mostly her grandma!) she will be covered in cozy knits while growing up!

Speaking of "covered in" I have a problem in my house that I try to ignore. Bert is not a big cat. He is only 9 lb. He is a short hair cat. But- he is a British Shorthair which means a very thick coat. Apparently that breed also means the thick coat regrows itself daily. I get tons more hair off Bert with short hair and only 9 lb then I do off Chief (a Ragdoll) with long hair and a big 18 lb. Go figure!

This morning I combed Bert's back. Straight back from his neck to his tail. Didn't comb the sides. Didn't comb the belly. Nothin' but back. Every stoke of the comb brought up more fur - lots more fur.

Here's a shot of the fur taken off Bert's back this morning. I'm sure I could have gotten more if I kept going.

It's no wonder I have a coating of fur on everything I own. I actually went shopping for pants the other day and ended up with cat fur on the pair I tried on in the dressing room where they had never even seen Bert. It's sad but I do love my little boy and a bit of fur isn't going to stop me from stritching his back whenever possible. But this doesn't answer why he is always laying around with his belly and feet in the air. He must be so hot with all that fur!

Being a knitting blog I should throw in some knitting. Here's a red cabled vest I've been working on. It's done but I haven't had the time to write up the instructions or block it. The picture is kind of bad on purpose - I don't want to give away all the details until the pattern is ready. It will be for larger sizes because there just aren't enough things that go over 48". If I can't find what I want - I'll make it and hopefully find time to write things up and share my designs with fellow biggies.
Today - off to hunt up yarn to finish a shawl I've been working on. Wish me luck!

Rust Goes Green keeps on going

I have a stat counter on my blog. I think most of us do. Tell me who's been here to visit, how many have been here, where you come from. Just a lot of fun facts. Today's fun fact is- I had over 1,800 visitors already today. I thought the day I hit 600 was huge. This is monumental! What caused it? I check where people came from and most came from the same spot. http://www.dailycrocheter.com/day.php

Heading over to that site turns out I was the crochet pattern of the day today. Rust Goes Green has had an interesting journey this past couple weeks. As a result I submitted a crochet pattern to a magazine. It's time to get back to designing and enjoying that part of my life again. I have a few ideas for knitting and this is why I've been pretty light in the knitting photo part of the blog.

In other news. I've had some family trauma the past couple days. Mom ended up having to go to the hospital with swallowing problems and slurred speech. So far with all the tests they've done they can't find a reason. More tests tomorrow. This and a few other family things have limited my blogging time and knitting time other than the sock I keep in the car - just in case. It got a lot of action yesterday between waiting for doctors and tests.

I'll get back to stories about the Yarn Shop I worked in back in the early 80s soon but, sorry, not today. When I do, you'll hear about my notes I have from Elizabeth Zimmerman, my first tries at designing, what kinds of yarns we used to knit with and probably the best shop owner and best mentor a young girl could hang around with - Vivian Skoog.

Take care -

Family

WARNING - really bad cell phone pictures ahead!

Well, the cats out of the bag. I told some of my family this weekend about the blog which means I have to watch what I say - no Christmas present talk or other things I don't want them to know about. Not that the blog has been very revealing but it was my secret little thing that no body who really knew me knew about. Freedom of anonymity is gone.

My bro and SIL came in town Friday and are still here but they're staying at Mom's apartment. They're seeing first hand what it's like to deal with the memory problems. We did get the whole family together (cousins, aunts, uncles) together at a small Italian restaurant Saturday night. everyone enjoyed the evening. SIL told LA fire stories (she's a captain for LA county). Dad seems to follow the conversation on his end of the table pretty good. Afterward some of the family came over to the house for a while to talk some more. Naturally Bert vanished when they arrived, while Chief allowed some of them to pet him.

I'm so handsome, of course I'd let them pet me! - Chief

I did manage to do a little knitting this weekend. I cast on a glove to knit a little bit and the next time I looked down it was most done and a great deal of time had pasted. This is the Cabled Glove #29 in Vogue Knitting Fall 2007. It's in Woolease because the person I plan to give it to is not big on wool and I figured Woolease would give the glove a bit extra warmth and body over regular acrylic. The wrist required paying attention which is how it got done so fast. I didn't want to stop in the middle and have to figure out where I was!

I warned you the cell phone pics were bad! Better pics next post.