Happy 4th! -the blog post formerly known as I LOVE LAMP

Holy Fireworks Batman! An actual blog post!

Look how proud the kids are to be Americans (old photo....they are twice as big and twice as proud now).

And just how do people living in 125degree weather (that's Fahrenheit, people) celebrate the birth of American Independence? By getting together to knit with wool, of course! Even more obvious is that the meeting place be highly air conditioned. Today, in the parking lot, during the two seconds it took Stephen to unlock the car, I could feel the heat of the pavement burning my feet......through shoes AND socks! It's hot, I'm telling you! No backyard pool parties or picnics at the park for us. It's so hot than we don't even step outside after dark, when it gets all the way down to 110degrees, to see the fireworks. Good thing we have big picture windows.....

So, without further ado, on to the Great 4th of July Mitten Knit-a-Long, brought to you by Steve. It was all his big idea.

And it began last month in a little knitting store in Cottonwood, AZ, where we had escaped the heat of the city for a long weekend. The store is called something like Alley Cat Knitting and Gifts, or Yarn and Gifts, or something. If you are ever in that part of Arizona, you should go. They have beads too, and boots. Anyway, the selection of summer knitting was just what we were looking for......lots of linen, hemp, and yes, even COTTON! But what we really liked, just couldn't help ourselves, was an entire wall of Harrisville "New England Shetland" from New Hampshire. The colors were gorgeous, the yarn itself magical. I'd never seen it out of a bag before (it's always in those kits, you know, for gorgeous coats and jackets....but did I mention we live in the desert?), yet here it was, hanging free for all to see. And fondle. Wool fumes. Air conditioning. We lost our heads.

But it was perfect! Just the thing for souvenirs...and two skeins is more than enough for....MITTENS! Stephanie is always saying how she needs mittens in this heat to deal with her steering wheel. And E wants to try colorwork, mittens are perfect for that! And there's poor Illanna, who froze to death during her first winter back in New York. She really needs mittens! I just wanted an excuse to buy the yarn.

We bought a little of it and headed out. Back at the hotel that night Steve decided he wished that he had bought enough for him to join in with the other hard-core KAL-ers in our International Knit Circle. And the next day, due to more hot weather, a disappointing movie, and a search for ice cream, we found ourselves right back at the knit shop. And Steve ran in to get his own two skeins of the wool. We selected two skeins for each person, but decided later to let everyone have his or her choice.

Good thing we did that, because NOT A SINGLE PERSON ended up with the yarn we thought they'd want. Just goes to show you, that with a small project like mittens, people come out of their color-comfort zones. So, grab your wool, any color, and mitten-along with us this summer. We officially start at Noon PDT 7/4/08. Should be fun, and relatively sweat-free. Mittens are a small commitment in time and wool, and they are appreciated by everyone, even desert dwellers.

Happy Independence Day. Celebrate in the way YOU see most fit. Knitting, of course.

And Now some other things we have made but never published to the blog. If anyone is reading this & would like more info, please leave us a comment.

Back in February when we originally started this post it was titled "I love lamp", because Steve got this cool new lamp at Costco to light photos, and we love it.

We made all that pottery at The Artist Within.












































We didn't make this yarn, Stephanie did, we just bought most of it.






Spring Break Indiana!

We didn't make this either, Steve's sister did. Lily made the hat though.

And Steve made this picture.

This is a different baby cousin. Kiki made this hat.

These live in our carport, or at least they did until it got to be 110.

We didn't make the cupcake either, Melati did. Steve took this photo & the ones on her website. If you live in AZ, order some of these cupcakes now. They are the best ever!

Hope to see you all again, really soon! The summer knitting is just starting....
kikiandsteve