theraineysisters knitting and so much more

My oldest daughter is a senior, need I say more?

I feel like I am living in the Old South under the hanging boughs of a giant Weeping Willow, waiting for Rhett and the boys to bring me supper.

Or maybe Mardi Gras?

We are just nerdy enough to be happy she got tee-peed on Senior Tee Pee night!  And the cops were out searching every car for suspicious quantities of Charmin! 🙂

I stayed up until 2am reading the last of Harry Potter #6…I am shocked, saddened and afraid to read #7.  I do not expect to get much knitting done this weekend!

And of course, GA started up again last evening.  I thought it maintained the continuity of the previous seasons.  I’ll keep watching.

Here it is — I got a picture of the silent auction bag pre-sale:

I think it turned out cute — they used matching ribbon and allowed some of the contents to show.  There is something in the bottom which makes it very round and flat.

Here is a picture of the bottom, which creates a nice starburst pattern:

Like I said, it’s not my favorite, but I hope it finds a good home! 🙂

I have been plugging away on the third Hemlock, but a picture would not add to much of anything.  That is all I have been working on knitting-wise EXCEPT for the fact that it is United Way time at my place of employment.  One of the fund raising activities is a silent auction of Themed Gift Bags — you know, A Night at the Movies with DVDs and popcorn, or a golf-themed bag.  The Team Captain for our department had the decidedly brilliant idea for a knitting related theme — now you can see how well I have trained my co-workers!! 

I of course jumped on the idea and donated most of the stuff, and did the shopping.  We started with a felted Market Squares bag that I made a while back and never really cared for.  It was in gaudy summer colors and was not felted enough.  I threw it in the washer one more time and it did improve.  

Our LYS donated a gift certificate to a series of learn-to-knit classes (I would give the name but don’t want them to get inundated with requests!).  It is a total win-win for the yarn shop: it costs them nothing to add a student to a class, but they gain a future customer!  We purchased a gift card to a nearby coffee shop, and then filled the bag with yarn from my stash, knitting needles, a zippered accessory bag, lots of knitting accessories and a very basic learn to knit book.  The estimated dollar value is more than $230 but the cash outlay was only $50 — thanks to my stash and generous donations!

The auction is next week so we’ll see how it goes.  I really hope it brings a good price.  If it’s a hit, I’m not sure what we’ll do next year – I don’t have any other bags I want to donate!  It’s a great cause so it is a nice way to get use out of things that were gathering dust in my yarn room.

I hope to get the Hemlock done this weekend and then I can move on to something I am thinking about…

In Answer to Your Questions:

The picture at the top of our blog was taken in Florence during the first of many road trips for Sally and me.  The year?  None of your beeswax!! ;)  Though the fashions would indicate that it’s VERY recent! 😉 😉 😉

I do not have a picture of the Market Squares Bag that I donated — what a doh!  I forgot to take a picture.  I’ll try to catch one before the auction.

And in answer to your questions about the Hemlock Throw, I created a pdf file that combines all the pieces of the pattern into one place for your knitting pleasure!