Senior night

Senior/parent night for soccer this evening.   

Pink!

Tonight the Girl of the House baked cupcakes for the Lace for the Cure fundraiser that the soccer girls do each fall.  

 

The bright pink is an important part.   

Sale to take place during Northfield's famous Defeat of Jesse James days festival tomorrow. 

 

Soccer tonight

Let the game begin!

On to the State Tournament

It is Girl of the House's final summer soccer season.

I may have mentioned that a few times?

We're fairly soccer obsessed around here.

She had one goal for the summer - the state tournament.

They're going next weekend.

We have one happy girl.

Last home game for summer soccer

Girl of the House had her final summer soccer home game.

Ever.

They have the best record in their division and move on to playoffs this weekend.

Then, hopefully, on to state.

But this was the last home game after ten years (TEN!) of summer soccer.

Our girl's grown.

Soccer Variations

From rainy and cold a month ago to hotter than hades tonight, it's been one heck of a soccer season.  

PS.  It's just not safe to leave three dogs unkenneled in the house. Even if you're only going to be away for a few hours for a soccer game.  

Summer soccer?

55 degrees and a light mist. 

I'm wearing fingerless mitts and my down puffy. 

What perfect June weather for GotH's soccer game!???

Although the new mittens almost match my puffy!  

Soccer season has begun

Girls summer soccer has begun, as evidenced by our 70 mile (one way) trip to Watertown this evening for the first game.

Luckily, this summer our league has four teams that are a minimum distance of 70 miles.  There's one team 20 miles away.  We're glad only half the games are away.

Hey, we won!

A battle with gauge, again

Several inches into Bekky's sweater, I realize it's going to be too small. She's a tiny little thing, but this would have been a very snug fit.



So I battle again with my old nemesis - gauge.

I'd been using the size five needles called for in the pattern. I believe I'll have to go up to a size seven to accommodate my loose knitting.


Goodbye sweater number one. Here's hoping there is only a sweater number two; not a number three, or a number four.




I've been gradually plugging away, washing the Coopworth fleece.










It has a wonderfully long staple,









and washes up a beautiful soft white.









Girl of the House has a soccer problem. She's addicted, I think.

She got a last minute call this evening. "Can you play up with our team? We're short several players." They literally discovered they were short when they turned up at the soccer field.

She threw on her soccer duds, and we were off to the game. Luckily, it was a home game!

She has practice Tuesday evening, she'll play up with the U14 team again Wednesday evening, she's off to a game in Rochester on Thursday, and practice Friday evening.




It's gotta be love.

The new ref

I'm glad we had so much down-time at the nudist camp, because we're back on the run again.

Paul's working 15 hour days, Monday through Saturday. Girl of the House has track after school. We run home, eat a quick supper, then she's off to soccer practice several nights a week.

Tonight she had her referee orientation.

In her spare time, she's going to referee as many soccer games as she can. This will be her first year of reffing.

The schedules of Paul and GotH make my schedule look like vacation. I'm glad I'm only 40 hours a week!

Seaman's scarf blocked

Housecleaning on Saturday...

One of the perils of a full time job - the cleaning needs to take place on the weekends!





My reward - blocking out the handspun Alpaca Seaman's scarf that has been knitted for so long!









This morning, Paul and I walked in the Carleton Arboretum with the dogs.











There are still a few shots of color on the prairie.














Girl of the House stayed home relaxing, and had the TV to herself with no parental nagging. (Not many bad things on broadcast TV on Sunday mornings, are there?!)

This afternoon she has the second day of soccer tryouts, for summer '09 traveling soccer. These tryouts will determine team placement.

Yes, we're overly organized here in Northfield...

Todays Agenda

Lawn mowing!

It's May 17, and we haven't mowed YET!

Paul's been working long hours - to work in the dawn, home after dark. He takes Sundays off and I hate to see him do chores on his one day off.

My new full time hours are still taking some adaptation on our part.

In the past, I worked four days a week. My off day, I could do the shopping and errands, and do more work around the house (like mow the lawn).

We'll figure it out yet!


When I'm not at work, I've been chasing Girl of the House around from activity to activity.

Traveling soccer began a month ago, but they had their first game this week.


Go Raiders!



I finished navajo plying the BFL. It turned out very pretty.

GotH would like a hat, and perhaps some fingerless mitts. She claimed this fiber as soon as she got a look at it.





Last evening I spun up the brown alpaca I bought last weekend.

I only had three ounces of it, and that's plenty. It's not perfectly clean - my hands actually got dirty spinning it. Lots of chaff. Quite a bit came out, and I'll get the rest out when I ply.

Truth be told, I purchased it because the vendor was such a friendly outgoing fellow, and after a nice conversation, I felt too guilty to not purchase something.

It'll turn out nice after plying and washing, though, I think...


I still LOVE this Majacraft Alpaca wheel! I've been spinning in various chairs, and on the sofa, and haven't found an uncomfortable position yet. My Lendrum is a bit more particular - it's definitely easier to spin in certain chairs/positions. And it's so quiet!

Took a (three hour drive, one way) with co-workers to Aitkin, MN this week. We were evaluating a software product we're planning to roll out in July. It was a very useful trip, we got lots of helpful ideas.

I didn't have to drive, so it was lots of knitting time! Second Happy Feet sock will be done soon!

Another freezing weekend

Another of weekend of call (my last - yay!) completed.

And it was pretty darn cold. Here's a graph from Carleton College showing temps Saturday morning til Sunday afternoon. That's a high of 24 to a low of -17. From a gorgeous snowy sunny morning to the deep freeze...

Sunday morning around 8 - at a temp of around -17 (windchill -35) - just before I went out the door to work. The sundogs were gorgeous. We had never before seen a full circle of sundogs. They looked more like a rainbow.
I finished Paul's Mountain Colors socks. I like the texture of the waffle weave.

Done toe-up, they have a plain stockinette foot and the waffle weave makes up the cuff. Mountain Colors Bearfoot is a great sock yarn. The mohair content helps it fluff up. It's superwash wool, so it can be machine washed. We just lay them out flat to dry - doesn't take long.

I finished the second sleeve on the Dale of Norway Osterdalen.

Can YOU tell which sleeve is unblocked? Of course, you can!

Now to cast on 278 stitches provisionally for the hem of the body...
Paul got a great mushroom growing kit for a Christmas gift from his brother & sis-in-law Harlan and Coleen. Portabellas! He harvested Friday, and we ate them all weekend. They were incredible! And they are s'posed to continue to produce a few more crops.

You can see H&C's mushrooms here. They had an excellent crop too!

Thank you Harlan and Coleen!

Tour de Fleece begins!

We were at a soccer tournament all weekend.
(notice the first place trophy cup?!)










So, I didn't get much spinning done for the Tour de Fleece.








I did get more of my coopworth fleece spun up.
Now, I need to card up more fleece!












Last evening, just so I could say I spun, I did up a few little bits of the class samples from Shepherd's Harvest.












I worked on my socks driving to and from the games. All I need to do on this one is graft the toe!










Friday night, we watched the first disk of Roots. I, of course, saw this when it was originally broadcast 30 years ago. My younger husband didn't see it. And it's a cool thing for the Girl of the House to see, too. Anyway, I started my satchel Friday night. Two strands of yarn, around and around - this pattern seems to fly!