Hamming It Up

Anna's dwarf hamster, Claire, died before school was out. She wanted to get another hamster but I said she had to wait until after we were back from vacation, since we would be gone for two weeks.

Of course she did lots of research on what kind of hamster she wanted to get next. She talked about a certain type of dwarf she wanted to get for a month. After vacation, she was still a little sad about Claire and wanted to wait a little awhile before getting another hamster.

One day as we were going to Michael's, she asked if we could go to the pet store and look at hamsters. I said no because I did not want to get a hamster that particular day. The cage at home wasn't ready. She kept asking and asking. I finally said o.k. but we were only going to look and I didn't want her to get upset because we weren't going to get a hamster that day. I knew she would fall in love with one anywhere we went.

We went to the store and she fell in love with one little hamster. She asked if we could take it home. I said no we could come back another time. She kept asking and giving me that "look". O.k. the hamster came home with us that day because she was really cute and seemed nice and interested in us.

So I would like you to meet Angelica. I think you will agree that she is adorable (She is a regular hamster, not a dwarf and not the kind Anna had researched.)

Hot Hats

I finished the hat we started in our knitting class. Actually the one above is the second hat I made. The first one was kind of roomy fitting for me. I gave that one to Frank. I had only used a little bit of the second skein of yarn that we had for class, so I thought I would have enough to make another one. The class sample had a big tassel on top and I decided not to put that on.

I made a few adjustments for the second hat that worked out really well. I was surprised since I don't know that much about knitting. I didn't cast on as many stitches to begin with and I shortened the length of it. Much better.

Anna managed to finish her hat as well. We both had the same yarn, just in different colors. Hers goes well with her eyes.

Fabric Finished

I have finally finished processing the fabric I dyed. This first pile was done with Pimatex cotton.

The second pile is a Bleached Muslin from Dharma. As you can see from a few fabrics in this pile, they are not all solid. I didn't manipulate the fabric as much this time. I'll have to work with it and see if I like it that way or not.

The last pile is miscellaneous, cotton fabrics.

Tie Dye

While I have been dyeing fabric, I also tie dyed some t-shirts. Here are how they turned out. I sometimes buy white or light colored t-shirts at garage sales or thrift stores with the intent of tie dyeing them. The two green shirts were already a chartreuse-type green to start with.

Today, I have finally gotten to rinsing out the dyed fabrics. Some of the very lightest gradations didn't take much dye because it was mostly spent. They look almost white. So I think I will have to dye those again. Hopefully, pictures tomorrow.

Dyed

I managed to get some fabric dyed today and, thankfully, it was not over 100 degrees. However, I didn't get it all finished so will need to try to do some more tomorrow. Anna wanted to help me mix a few colors and now claims those fabrics to be hers.

Dyeing of Heat

Today it was probably around 105 degrees here. A good day to do some dyeing as the dye tends to set better in warmer temperatures. However, I did not get around to it. I did get my dyes all mixed up and ready to go.

Instead, Anna and I spent our hottest summer afternoon making wool hats. Hmm? We went to a knitting class to learn to knit a hat. It was our first time using circular needles (and it will be our first time using double pointed needles when we get to that point). Here is my hat, so far, in a lovely variegated green wool. I might be able to finish it soon, depending on how that double pointed needle thing works out.

Long Island

Although we had a couple of cloudy/rainy/stormy days while we were in New York, we had several wonderful days on the beach to play games . . .

go sailing,

hang out on the beach,

attempt fishing (Frank cleaned up the old rods and tried to get them working but it was not very successful),

play in the water (although Frank and I were the only ones to get in the water consistently and spend some time in it as everyone else thought it was too cold),

and go kayaking.

New York

After several days in Edisto, Frank's parents picked us up and we drove to Long Island.

Along the way, we picked up Frank's sister, Susan . . .

and our niece, Alexandra.

Usually when we go on a trip, I will keep a travel journal to write down all the things we did. That way I can go back and read it, since my memory is not the best. This time I decided to do a pictorial journal since I knew we wouldn't be doing much but hanging out at the beach. Here are a couple of pages.

ARRRg, matey

While in Edisto we drove past a shop called the Pink Pirate. Since Anna is currently obsessed with the Caribbean and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, she wanted to go to this shop.

It was in a pink building and even had a pink pirate flag outside.

Although they had one small room dedicated to pirate stuff, the rest was, surprisingly, jewelry, clothes and girly stuff. We got Anna properly outfitted. (The earrings are parrot earrings.)

Edisto Up Close

Frank found this shell in the ocean. . .

but this guy was still occupying it, so we put it back.

Does anyone know what this is that washed up on the beach?

Edisto, S.C.

We met up with my family and spent our first four days of vacation in Edisto, South Carolina. It was our second time there. We enjoyed the beach.

We're Back

We have been away on a trip to the East Coast, which is why there has been no activity here for a couple of weeks. We got in late last night and are unpacking, grocery shopping, doing laundry and trying to reacquaint ourselves with the home schedule. I will definitely put up some pictures in the next few days.