Saturday at the River Festival

Jackie and I met up on our bicycles at Panera then rode together to the Old Town Farm & Art Market just opening for the season. We were thrilled to find a bicycle vendor booth with freebies from the Health & Wellness Coalition such as helmets, bike locks, reflective vests and t-shirts. The Bike Cave was also there for service and tire checks. Douglas Avenue was closed for the River Run making it smooth riding for us to the festival.

My neice, Amy, ran in the River Run and I met up with her afterwards at the Vagabond. Funny girl, drinking beer after a run. Then mom showed up and we walked around the festival taking in the music, art and a funnel cake. As if funnel cake wasn't enough, I also met up with Laurie and her husband at the food court for roasted corn and a corn dog.

I took a 3-hour class at Sheryl's Stained Glass in the Mosley Street Market. This little shopping center is a hidden gem in Old Town. (Sheryl also has a booth at the monthly colliseum flea market and Saturdays at the Farm and Art market). In the Mosley market she has a studio set up where she taught me how to solder small little pictures (two-sided) between glass to make pendants. I made two: Betty Boop for mom for mother's day and ladies on bicycles for me. I found I really like to solder and will be making more of these for certain.

Firefly Fringed Scarf

Just about all the cool Twist girls have made this scarf from Classic Elite Yarns (75% viscose/25% linen) and I just finished mine. The fringe is made by unraveling 7 stitches of stockinette from the triangle side of the scarf. It goes well with one of my most favorite Corona hats!

Echo Hills

Tonight's golf game was at Echo Hills. It's sad to me to think in a couple of months the course will be replaced with a big box store. It's a narrow course and we experienced many guys crossing over to play off of our fairway. It's all good but I had to pause when I saw a turtle crossing our path. That's something I haven't seen before. He hissed at me and went about his way. The course will be open for play until July 5th.

Riverfest Is Near

The Wichita River Festival is right around the corner. In case you missed it, I absolutely love working downtown. Especially in May when the festival is underway. The city is just setting up the food court that sits right below my office and all the action begins this Friday. In addition to our normal walks to the coffee shop during morning breaks, my coworkers and I will be taking in all the food and musical entertainment throughout all of next week.


I've managed to ride Hoolie around on my lunch hour a couple days each week. Today, I tried out a new lunch destination: a walk up Bierock stand in Riverside. It's across from the Riverside Perk coffee shop. They have a few different varieties of bierocks but I went with the beef and cheese. It was pretty good. There's outdoor seating and soon they will be adding Hawaiian Ice and ice cream to their menu.

First Run of the Year

My first motorcycle ride of 2010 started with a quick overnite 200 mile road trip to Oklahoma City. My friend Sharon had a club meeting and invited me, husband, her brother and his girlfriend, Dawn, along for the trip. We spent Saturday night hanging out in Bricktown watching people. Sharon has a new white paint job on her bike and Dawn had her first out-of-state ride on her Buell. I got to open up the throttle on my new engine and I absolutely love the crisp sound and improved horsepower. It was a good warm up to a fun summer ahead.

On the Patio

After a long day at work, it's nice to come home and lounge around on my patio. This is just one of my visitors. Isn't he cute? Cardinals, bluejays, robins and rabbits also stop in. It's a busy place. That is - when the bulldogs - are inside. This evening I finished a pair of ribbed wristwarmers out of leftover yarn from my most recent sock project and started on my Firefly Fringed Scarf in a nice shade of cypress green.

Green Thumb

I'm loving my green thumb this season. I wish I could take all the credit but I think our ice-free winter and low frost spring has had a huge impact on allowing the plants and flowers to prosper. Combine that with Miracle Grow feedings and I'm going to have a lot of fresh cut flowers to enjoy this year. My hanging asparagus ferns (from Dillons) on the patio are huge, my peonies are tall at thigh-high, the roses are full with new growth and clematis vines are in full bloom. This is my most favorite time of the year.

McGuinness Branch Socks

I've gotta say a pair of socks is my most favorite knitting project and just the perfect sized project to keep in a bag for a "Girl on the Go". I started these socks by Figheadh Yarnworks in Texas last weekend. They went with me on bike rides and even came in handy while babysitting a sleepy toddler. Now they're done and I'm contemplating what to knit up next.

2010 DFW Fiber Fest

The DFW Fiber Fest was one of the smaller shows I've been to with two standout vendors: Brooks Farm and Shabby Sheep. At Brooks Farm I got to meet KnittingFairy and purchase another one of her patterns, the Counterspell (beaded) Shawl, to be made from two skeins of Acero. Shabby Sheep had a sample Dixie Cardigan that I'll be making from Ellyn Cooper's spongy wool yarn. We went to several yarn shops in the area and I met another celebrity at Desert Design Knitz, Barry Klein. He's the owner of Trendsetter yarns and was having a trunk show. You may have seen him on the Knitting Daily t.v. show. Laurie and Pattie were very bad in this shop :) Then there was the wall of Noro at one my favorite shops, Woolie Ewe, in Plano. It was a very good day filled with yarn, mexican food, knitting by the pool and some beers with good friends. Just love Texas!

Indian Creek Golf Club

Laurie, Pattie and I are here in a Dallas suburb, Addison, for a girls getaway weekend of golf and fiber. We had an early tee time at Indian Creek Golf Club. The air was cool and the greens were very fast. We had a big laugh when Laurie drove her ball into a rough that was littered with white range balls just like hers...that was a fun adventure. Another high point was a stop later at a PGA Superstore filled with women's golf apparel and accessories. We were in golf heaven!

Exercise Before Knitting

This morning I found a 9 mile sidewalk route to ride my bicycle to Twist. (Actually I made a small detour to meet up with my KIP group at Panera first thing in the morning to grab a bagel and coffee). It was a crisp morning but soon turned off sunny and warm. The gang was all at the shop and I even saw an old friend, Tami, there learning to knit.

Jackie's on a crochet kick infatuated with granny squares and it was good to see our crochet master, Tamara, make an appearance in a doily shrug.

By the time I made it home, I figure I rode a total of 20 miles burning some extra calories before Easter brunch tomorrow.

Bicycle Thursday

I've been working to get my coworkers to bring their bicycles to work and Alisha brought her bike (Stella)
today so we could ride to lunch. Wouldn't you know we were under a wind advisory but that only added to the calorie burn factor as we climbed up and down the Arkansas River.

After work, Laurie, and I met up to ride around downtown and went to dinner. It's such a good way to get exercise and have fun with friends.

Greater Love for Stuff

How many times does this happen to you? You make a retail purchase and in return you get an actual handwritten thank you note from the shop a few days later. This is a first for me and it's such a simple act of appreciation and kindness that just blows me away. In fact, the last time I visited Stuff, the owner went out of her way to customize my purchase. I want to tell everyone I know while in Kansas City, you must visit this shop and invest in local, handmade talent.

Lunch Hour in Riverside

On days that I don't have appointments out of the office I'm able to ride Hoolie around on my lunch hour. It's a nice break in my day. Sometimes it's to Riverside Cafe for lunch or on a day like today, I just rode around the river and park.

Knitting in the Heartland

Becca, Judy, Jackie (my KIPer peeps) and I met up early this morning for a day trip to Kansas City for the 2010 Sunflower Knitter's Guild expo, Knitting in the Heartland. There were several alpaca fiber, yarns and spinning batt vendors. I came away with an ArtClub assorted batt and another Tracie Bunker felted dread ponytail holder. Our next destination was a stop at Stuff where I found the pretty Amy Labbe pearl cross necklace that caught my eye several months ago. It was just meant to be mine afterall.

Simple Things Shawlette

I found a simple pattern on Ravelry, Simple Things Shawlette, that's perfect for the denim colorway yarn I purchased during my last trip to Columbus.

The yarn hand dyed merino goodness by Neigborhood Fiber Co. at Wonder Knits. The pattern a basic stockinette design with garter eyelet ridges.

This scarf goes well with my vintage, denim Levi's duster. Yes, I've had it since the late 80's. It can also be snapped up the front for a dress and I like to think of it as retro-cool (NOT stuck in the 80s!) But then again, the 80's were the best...

St. Patrick Parade in Delano

I had some high hopes of riding my bicycle from home to downtown for the parade at high noon in Delano but it was too cold. So, instead, I loaded Hoolie up in the truck and unloaded at the stadium. Rode to the Vagabond for some coffee then over to Twist to find my spot facing Douglas Avenue. Jill and Shelly's kids kept me company as the parade passed by us throwing candy and beaded necklaces at the crowd. My favorite was the salon girls crazy, green balloon hair and hats. Then I rode down to Bicycle Xchange to take care of legal matters: a bicycle license, head/tail LED lights and a bell. Now I'm in full compliance with the city's bicycle laws.

Maiden Voyage

The temperature rose to 54 degrees today so I threw on some knitted mitts and scarf and took "Hoolie" out for her first ride over to Harrison Park. I made several passes around the park and discovered I need to get a bicycle bell. Pedistrians just don't have a clue when you say, "Passing on your left". I stumbled a couple times taking off after walking her across busy intersections, but come on, I haven't rode a bicycle since junior high. Then when I came upon a slight hill coming home I was thanking my lucky stars I have more than one gear. I'm in love with a bicycle...