Goodnight

A couple of sunset shots to bid the weekend farewell.
Why must you disappear so quickly?
(now if I hand-dyed my yarn, these would totally be inspiration shots)

Oy vey.

I am such a bad blogger! One post this month? Yikes. What's worse is that when I realized my only post was on September 1st, my first thought was, "Wouldn't it be cool to have posts only on the first and last day of the month?" (instead of being motivated to post immediately) And I've had photos of projects to write about for weeks! Yeesh. Forgive me. I'll try to get my act together.

**back to our regularly scheduled programming**

The Gator bag! Here's a photo synopsis of the process:


Before.


And after! Blocking up nicely.



See? Not so cat-in-the-hat afterall.

Once again, I decided that I liked the "purl side" of the bag better. (as seen above) The difference is slight at a distance, but you can really see it in these close-ups.


The "right side." (smooth stockinette stitch)

the "wrong side" (bumpy purl)

I like how the color transitions are more mottled with the purl-side out. The beauty of these felted bags is that they're basically reversible, so if someone liked more defined stripes, it could just be flipped back. Which look do you like prefer?

endings and beginnings

Today I finally faced the fact that summer is officially over. It's the first day of September. Classes have been in session for a full two weeks now at WSU. But with the official start to the college football season today, I just can't deny it anymore. I was knitting up a storm as we watched the Cougs battle Wisconsin, and decided that stripes would be more fun that making a true twin of my latest felted tote bag. There I was, thoroughly enjoying my bright orange-blue combo, when my husband commented, "Wow, that's going to be a Gator bag." (My husband, a Florida State grad, is a certifiable Gator-Hater). Oops! Sorry, honey! He forgave my Pac-10 obliviousness. (And to his chagrin, I haven't ditched the color combo). Right now it's looking a little cat-in-the-hat, but I promise that will change ....

stormy nights

Wow--the lightning storm that blew through the Palouse last night was a sight to be seen. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've seen winds of that force (granted, we are decidedly not in hurricane or tornado territory!). The trees in our backyard just seemed to swirl in circles, whipped from every direction, wind alternating with sheeting rain. And the lightning strikes! Beautiful. I love a good storm. Luckily the power held out for us, but there was at least one casualty. A massive tree branch fell--approximately 8 feet tall, a good third of the tree.

Larger than your average Christmas tree!

Definitely showing signs of disease.

Where the branch used to be.

Amazingly, our patio plants appear relatively unscathed.

Storm? What storm?