The Crafty Lizzard

The 4th of July has long been an outstanding family tradition at my parents' house.

7. My dad's yard is, as it was put today, better than a lot of parks. There's usually something really cool happening too. One year, it was a baby hawk. This year it was cactus flowers

and twin fawns.

Unless you have grown up with me or spent a lot of time at my house, you might not know that I am a huge teddy bear freak! As I sit here and think about it, I believe the only room in my house that doesn't have a teddy bear in it is the bathroom.

I started as a little girl always asking for a bear for birthdays, christmas, any holiday really. In fact, I remember many birthdays as I got older that mom said (kinda like a can-we-please-do-something-different statement) "don't you want anything else?"

I had huge bears, tiny bears, bears that squeaked, figurine bears, posable bears, etc. etc. etc. I even threatened to have a small one (appropriately named Baldwin) on the piano when I did my recital in college.

So today I was downtown at Knitter's Connection shopping for some fun new yarn. I was peeking at about the 3rd alpaca booth when I turned around and, lo and behold, this guy was staring back at me.

So cute and when I reached to pick him up and my hand disappeared into his fur...'cuz this bear is made from Alpaca so he is incredibly soft and squishy!

And...he hugs well, a very important thing for a teddy bear to do!

It has taken me all week to get to this post but here it is....

Well...not exactly. We left her in the capable hands of the 19 and 6 year olds!

These little guys were introduce last Thursday by K at knit knite as "Diabolical Cuteness". She really is evil (yes, you heard me, K...Evil!). This pattern is SO easy and fun. It's like Lay's potato chips -- you can't stop at just one. It's impossible. This is the perfect way to use up all the little bits of yarn that won't make much of any other project. As another knit knite buddy thought up -- these would also make wonderful catnip toys or even sachets for drawers! How wonderful to have a little alien lurking within your drawers! (She chuckles to herself.)

I have now finished the Diminishing Ribs sweater! It's now washed and blocked (sort of). I'm trying to wait patiently for it to dry....it's hard, really hard.
I made my goal of having this done by the Clambake (more on this later) so that makes me the happiest! Now I need to do a bunch of socks while I figure out what the next big project will be.

In other news, I made the best sandwich EVER for dinner tonight. This is one of my reasons why summer is my favorite season -- fresh tomatoes! This is a beautiful BLT with the first beefsteak tomato from my garden! Nice crisp bacon, tasty Tuscan bread, spring greens...mmmmmmmmmmmm. It was very messy but oh, so worth it! Hopefully, this is the first of many.

Now, a word about the clambake. My family has a clambake every year. This is basically our "family reunion". We steam a ton of clams, have lots of grilled chicken, corn, and tons of other food. (Oh, yeah, drink too!) This party has been happening since long before I was born and I believe will continue for a long time. We always have some family that can't make it and they are always sorely missed. The whole day is spent eating, drinking, playing and just talking. Last year, as we sat around the fire pit (til the wee small hours of the night) we were really missing having some musical fun. (Most of my family are musicians of some sort or another.) So this year I decided that I would take matters into my own hands and have been working up a setlist of simple (like, 4 chord simple) guitar songs so that we can have at least a little sing along. Wish me luck...I have 5 more days...the party is Saturday!

Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted. I've actually thought about it recently -- just haven't actually sat down to do it. So here I go:

#1 happy event -- Not your typical high school reunion

Instead of having one class get together for a reunion, we had a band reunion. We even managed to have all three band directors there. For anyone that was involved in high school band you know the friendships that are built during the mega amounts of time spent together. This was an entire day of reminiscing, smiles, sights, smells and laughter. It was also an afternoon that was too short.

#2 happy event -- The garden coming alive.

I come by my green thumb honestly and have loved talking with my dad about the garden. It's been so amazing this year to watch the stuff I planted last year grow exponentially! The flowers are exploding into bloom, the vegetables are slowly appearing, the mint is aggressively taking over, the sage has a lovely fragrance, and the comfrey is slowly turning the waste pile into compost. Every afternoon there is a feast as all the bees come to collect. The other afternoon had an added surprise when I looked out saw this butterfly (or moth....not too up on my insects)!

#3 happy event -- 4th of July

This has turned into the traditional photo taken on a very traditional picnic day. Ever since my parents moved to a house on the parade route the Troyer and Willis clans have worked, watched and feasted at the Troyer house for the 4th of July. (This year marked [we think] the 20th year!!) We have added other clans and friends throughout the years but the party remains the same. After getting our ears blasted by the quarter mile line-up of fire trucks we head to the back yard for some wonderful grillin' and food with some fun thrown in after -- messy sandboxes, lots of kickball, some monkey-in-the-middle, some swinging and lots of laughter!


And because through all this I have not been neglecting my knitting:
This is almost finished and this is the first picture I've taken of it. So sorry. But here it is in all it's soft glory. Soon it will be headed to the intended target. Hope she enjoys it!

during Choir class of my 8th grade year, I was summoned to the Principal's office. I guess I must precede this story by saying I wasn't the type of kid to get called down to the office. My brain shorted out until my dear friend turned to me with great excitement and said "It's the baby!" This being my best friend (who's part of the family), she knew that my brother's wife was pregnant. I got to the office and there was my dad with my 2 year old niece. To make a very complicated story short -- My niece, Amy decided very quickly to make her appearance in the world. No one was left to watch her sister so I was called into Aunt duties from school.

Tonight, that niece looked like this....
Amy has made it through high school. Loving band, hating math, laughing with friends. All the trials and tribulations that make up the drama of high school. And yes, she will learn to deal with some of us saying, "Oooh, the day you were born..." (and to us it will feel like it was just maybe 5 years ago.)

Sitting up in the balcony, paparazzi-like were her sister (Cora-now 21) and I. With cameras poised we were set to catch the action in the beautiful venue.
This is the beautiful Civic theater in downtown Akron. An old remade movie house. Awesome. As I walked in tonight, memories kept flowing. I realized that I had not been to this theater since my prom was held here 14 years ago. They've made some changes and it's nice to see it's still wonderous.


May the good frenzy that surrounds you in this picture stay with you. Congrats!

So today on my little mini-vacation, my mom and I took a trip to the local yarn shop her are of northeast Ohio. Yes, we visited Miss Chickpea's Funky Fiber. Personally, I was on a mission to pick up some Malabrigo Sock -- and to see the store because a new yarn shop is always heaven! While I was searching the sock yarn rack, mom found a vest pattern that she wants to make for my niece. She asked me how they got the color like it was on there and as I looked up...I whooped in excitement. Mom was standing in front of the many, many colors of Noro. It has been a long time since my mom has knit with any really good yarn and I was bound and determined she needed to experience the love of Noro. After showing her how the colors go and that the particular Noro she was looking at was a worsted weight (so therefore, easy for her to knit with) and she really didn't need that much for the project she jumped in. Pretty soon my mom will not only have a vest for my niece but one for herself as well! Yay!

As for me, I did find the Malabrigo and couldn't resist 2 of the colors there....Grape and Turner.
I will have to come up with the perfect patterns for these.


I also picked up a hank of Happy Feet in a bright, bright pink.

So now, after today's field trip and Kristie's generous de-stashing Thursday, I am not allowed...repeat, not allowed....to buy yarn for a while. (read: major yarn diet for the next few months. I was supposed to be on one anyway.)

Well, I'm off to bed for tomorrow is my niece's high school graduation...I know that it's cliche but wow... time has flown. She is 18 and no longer the little girl that said "double-me" instead of "double-u (w)". Now she's a very beautiful young woman with so much road to wander.

Ok, so I finished the blanket for Jeff and Marie's Little One. I knew that I had to soon because her baby shower was this past Saturday. Little did I know that I would finish it because he decided to grace us with his presence on that very day (and at the very time no less!). Simon McKinley Hurt was born around 2 o'clock on Saturday. He weighed in at 5 lbs 15 ozs. and was 18" long. Everyone is healthy and happy! (Plus, all are a little relieved that the new dad won't have to leave the wedding that's in a week and a half!) According to Jeff, he is still getting used to the world and they are already getting used to the different sounds that he is making.
So here are the final pics of the blanket:
First a full view:
The final dimensions are roughly 32" X 30". I love the textures that happened with this stitch pattern: a border of garter, a stripe of stockinette, a cable on a background of seed.
And now for a close up of said texture:


Now to finish up some of the other projects that I have going on (of course, this is going to happen while again being SO busy I crash almost as soon as I get home - read: when I finally get home.) Let's see: another Solo & Ensemble, another musical, a wedding, a Good Friday gig, another Solo & Ensemble -- yep, I'm Busy! This weekend I do have some free time -- Yay! Hopefully, I'll actually get some time to socialize with my friends!

...A merry little Christmas!

I apologize for this last Photo being a few days late. We had a massive influx of people at my parents' house for Christmas -- we sat down to dinner (which actually happened on sat) with 16 people. The whole house was filled with people, noise, and smells of cooking. After dinner (well, more like lunch) we sat down to open presents...I don't know how it is in your family but with mine, someone always, I mean, ALWAYS ends up with ribbons on their head! This year it happened to my oldest niece, Cora -- almost 21 years old and still gets ribbons in her hair! :)



Then, after that melee was over we had entertainment from the 4 year old Carly's karaoke machine. It took her a little bit to get it but then we got every Christmas carol in the book. (Sorry, I didn't get a pic of this but I was helping with dishes halfway across the house.)

Finally, some of us had to escape the confines of the house...especially since it was a balmy 65 degrees. This let the kids get some energy out and of course, let some of us big kids have a little fun too! My nephews and niece ended up having races -- the boys having to hop to keep slow enough for the new razor scooter. These are (from left to right) Zack, Carly and Ben trying to outdo each other.


We had some nice discussions about how our traditions came to be, how we've added to those traditions, the many memories, and of course the family members no longer with us. Each year gets a little more crazy and hectic -- but worth it just the same.
Merry Christmas!