Dream Swatch Head Wrap

Wendy Bernard's Knit and Tonic is one of my favorite sites and I was thrilled when my KIP bud, Jackie wore her completed Dream Swatch one day to one of our get togethers. (She looks fabulous in headbands). So, like many of her projects, I just had to copy her and make one up for myself. It was quick to knit up with a full skein of Koigu on #5 needles.

A Week at Table Rock

My darling neice Amy has been staying at the family camper set up in Table Rock for the summer before moving to Chicago to get her doctorate. I decided to take a week off and lounge around with her but we didn't end up doing much lounging -- we were on the go constantly. We spent a day jet skiing to Beaver Lake and sunbathing. Then spent another day at Silver Dollar City riding the amusement rides.

Went to Eureka Springs and canoed down the Kings River where I was amazed at the size of trout all around us just begging to be caught. We had a little adversity with the low spots where we had to carry the canoe and the strong storm that blew up on us at the end of our float but the adventure turned out to be one of the best highlights of our trip.

Spent a day fishing off the rocks in Golden where I caught a huge catfish. (I was actually knitting my Fixation socks while holding my rod in my lap and didn't even know I had this bad boy on the line!!) Why yes, that's a new rod and reel I bought at the new Bass Pro shop in Branson.










Went boating with the rest of the family who came down over the weekend. It was so hard to leave and come back home to the real world. Make's me really excited to think about the possibility of moving to a place like this at retirement.

Table Rock Socks

Completed these Cascade Fixation Ankle Socks during the early mornings and fishing time in Table Rock. I wasn't used to the elastic in this yarn so I had to start over 3 times, finally settling on a 42 cast-on to fit my foot. The support from the elastic makes them feel good on your feet and the Knit-A-Long blog is a lot of fun.

No Keepers

Dad and I went trolling all morning at Marion Lake on Father's Day. We each caught a white bass but no keepers. We blamed our fishing slump on the heavy algae bloom.

Reconstructed Denim Skirt

Do-It-Yourself reconstructed clothing is hot. I was drawn to reconstructed skirts at a Levi store in Chicago for $50 bucks and said to myself.....I can make that. My version is a low-waisted pair of $5 Levi jeans from the DAV. Pulled apart the inside seams, laid them flat and inserted a leg from another pair of old jeans and voila ... a comfy denim skirt.

Tip: Be sure to use a heavy denim thread and needle in your machine.

Softy Cocoon

It's taken me awhile but I finally completed the Berroco Softy Cocoon Jacket kit I purchased at Wool Connection last March. It's the latest shape in wraps knitted in an easy rectangle in mistake rib (knit 2 purl 2 over odd # of sts).

Tornado (Big Dog) Rally

It was estimated 25,000-30,000 attended the second Big Dog Tornado Rally in downtown Wichita this weekend. It was so much better this year with more vendors, bands and bike parking. Eddie Money put on a great performance Saturday night with all his oldies (I saw him in concert in high school!). Our good friends at M&M Choppers had their dyno set up and made a ton of runs. Ride On Melanie & Dawn!

Summer Skirt

This cotton skirt from Mac & Me was in the round, mindless knitting that worked up easily in two days. Substituted Bernat CottonTots for Blue Sky Alpaca. Sewed in four elastic thread rows at top of waist after completed. Also, added a few rib rows at hem to keep stockinette from rolling up.