Spring is making me smile...

Yippee!!  Yahoo!!  The leaves of the cottonwood and aspen finally started to pop out!!  We have had crazy days of rain and sun, and the trees have decided it's safe to leaf out!  The temps have settled into spring...thank goodness!  We are all so ready! 

There are two rows stacked so far.

I'm still working on getting all that wood stacked.  When my ukulele student came by for a lesson yesterday, her mom INSISTED that she stack wood while she waited for her daughter.  WHAT???  She was so thankful that I had been helpful to her in another project, that she wanted to help me out with this...Is that something, or what? 

There's still plenty to do... and I hope to tackle more today.

This little creature was hanging on to the wood pile.  Anybody know what he is?

Keep dancing...

Even if some days you look a little shaky...

Gettin' down on the ukulele

I have piano and voice student who wanted to play guitar too.  But she's still so little, I suggested she start on the ukulele.  So, now a year later, here we are, preparing for her first recital on the ukulele. 

To give her lessons, I had to dust off my old ukulele and relearn what I had stepped away from for years!  It's been really fun, and I've managed to learn a lot of new stuff too.  I decided I needed to graduate to a better (newer) instrument, so at Christmas I was gifted with this standard size ukulele.
 

Just a month ago, my student was introduced to... and bought a gitalele.  What?  Yeah.  I'd never heard of it either.  It's a 6 string ukulele that looks like a small guitar, but is tuned like a ukulele. It is a pretty nifty instrument!  Evidently there has been a big upsurge in sales and popularity of the ukulele in the last few years.  So, we're right on trend. 

Have you ever heard of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain?  Check out this YouTube link:
whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_EP7RObKw

Cotton Sweater Shawl

I got started on the sweater shawl that a friend commissioned from me.  I decided to make it out of cotton, rather than wool.  This is a worsted weight yarn, and it's thick and thin, not an even, smooth texture.  Because it doesn't have the "give" that wool has, it's not as easy on the hands, either.  I had to go from size 6 needles down to size 4 to get the right gauge.  That gave the the opportunity to use the glass needles I bought in Reno last fall.  Oh, they are smooth...and are working well with this yarn.
I'm anxious to see how this garment looks and feels as I progress.

This is what the finished wool sweater shawl looked like tied in the front.

Badlands on the Plains...

I finally finished up some needle-felting I started a couple months ago.  I made a backing/frame out of old cedar remnants for this piece, which was wet-felted, machine-stitched, and needle-felted (in that order).  The hills are felted to look a bit like the badlands near Dubois.  One of my friends gave me a rusted ol' horseshoe, and I am also using a railroad spike I found years ago.  Another friend picked up some rusted barbed wire off her dad's ranch, and I used that to frame the weathered cedar. 

Cutting and bending the barbed wire was tough!!  It was really hard on my hands, so I don't know if I'll do that again.  However, the creative aspect was fun. 

Not just a dusting...

Yes, on May 1st, we got hit with yet another snow storm...and it's not a dusting!  

My neighbor measured it at 6 inches...and it's still snowing lightly.  It's heavy and wet, so I guess it's good news for us 

on the high plains.  

We must be grateful for every bit of moisture.  

(Even though I want to complain about shoveling snow, I am biting my lip and SMILING.) 

Yes, this moisture will "green" things up significantly.  

So through clenched teeth and a forced smile, I'm saying, "Yahoo!"

You never know...

A little over a week ago I walked into Brown Sugar Roastery for a cup of coffee for the road.  I was wearing the sweater shawl I knit this winter.  The proprietor saw me wearing it, and she couldn't get over how nicely in lay over my back and shoulders, and the "sleeves" tied in front. She loved it! Right on the spot, she commissioned me to knit one for her.  I said I'd do it.

I decided to make hers in cotton, so she wouldn't  have any trouble washing it (or blocking it).  I picked out these variations in blues in Araucania Yarn, called Patagonia.  I needed 800 yds., and this yarn was on sale at 50% off.  Yippee.  So, it's time to get some of these skeins wound into balls and get started!

 I'm thinking I might want to eventually make myself a cotton version of this sweater shawl.