Heavenly Voices

Have you heard of Eric Whitacre and his music? 

I was first introduced to his music through a TED talk. 

Back when I was in various choirs in high school and college, we sang beautiful, soaring eight part choral numbers by Bach,  F. Melius Christansen, and others similar composers. But a couple of my nieces have sung Whitacre's music during their time in choir. 

Earlier this month, he and the Eric Whitacre Singers were at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee and I was lucky enough to attend, along with my sister, nieces and nephew. 

To hear them...in person...

in a place so beautiful...with such perfect acoustics...is nearly beyond words.

Moving.

Profound.

The Year In Review - 2016, Part II (Or How We Came To Have A Fourth Cat)

The Haus doesn't have air conditioning so in the warm summer months the windows are open much of the time. In the latter part of July, I kept hearing the sound of meowing in the Haus but couldn't tell where it was coming from. I'd check on our three cats...all accounted for and not in distress. Hours later or the next day, same thing; more meowing and checking on our cats.

This went on for a few days until I saw a little animal in our bushes - a kitten. It was skittish when approached. Last July was a month of severe thunderstorms with heavy downpours at least once a week. The kitten took shelter under our back porch and continued to cry outside our windows. I couldn't stand it anymore. I started feeding it and it quickly became less skittish.

DH put his shoe out for it to explore.

It enjoyed attention and petting. It was very young and emaciated. The county we currently live in has no shelter. Shelters in surrounding areas require a pretty high payment for dropping off abandoned animals. So we decided that rather than spend that money on surrendering it, we would take it to a vet in order to see if it was healthy and whether it was safe for our cats to be exposed to it. 

After having it checked out (and confirmed it was a relatively healthy 5-6 week old "she") we took her home, isolated her, and began the long process of introducing her to the other cats. 

She looked a little rough at first.

We named her Coco because of her black and brown coloring.

An integral part of introducing her to the other cats is the shameless use of bribery with soft food (or kitty cocaine as it's referred to in the Haus) as we begin feeding them together. Check out the body language of the others - the patent distrust and simmering resentment towards the newest feline addition is evident. 

But after a couple of months she was fitting in...

even with The Grumpy Old Man of the group. 

I'll Have What She's Having

Menu from the local meat market for this week.

I think 'll pass on today's special. 

Reason Number 239 Why I Love Wollmeise

I knit the Shapely Shawlette out of a deep purple Wollmeise Twin.

Then I blocked it.

This was the warm water after the shawlette was left soaking for 30 minutes.

No color in the water. 

The Year In Review - 2016, Part 1

At Sun Valley Fibers January Thaw, the knitters showed off their knitted socks.

Planning started for an end-of-the-year trip.

Moment of comedy - the announcement of a surprise birthday party, written in large letters on a chalkboard in a bar.

In April, we welcomed our first grand-nephew, Everett.

In summer we visited DH's brother & his family in Bozeman, MT. We headed to Yellowstone for two days. 

Not far from where we were staying was Yarn Scout, a great yarn shop with a very good selection of yarns, including many local/regional indie dyers. 

Sweetie and the other cats continued to be chill until an interloper entered the picture.

More on that story to come...

The Year In Review - 2015

While this may look like a remake of Psycho, it was my attempt to get some blocking done in a cat-free zone while at a knitting retreat.  I took a few projects (OK, a couple of years' worth) of projects including a red scarf. 

In fall, my mom was a vendor at WI Sheep and Wool. While being her wheels, I had a chance to take a class on rug hooking with precut strips of wool fabric.

This is my start on a trivet.

This is the sample for the class.

Also in fall, there was more blocking done in the beautiful sunshine.

Day is done.

In October, I was lucky enough to attend a fall retreat at Schoolhouse Press. The retreats include a trip to Schoolhouse Press headquarters, with the famous walk-in closet full of Elizabeth's sweaters - that you're allowed to carefully handle.

Baking Christmas cookies with friends in early December.

And the cats celebrated New Year's Eve by making their own confetti.

The Year In Review - 2014

So to bring the blog a bit up to date, I'm going to briefly cover the last couple of years.

Beginning in 2014, first there was Meg Swensen's Knitting Camp in July.

Sweetie (our 3 legged cat) was one relaxed cat.

I met up with friends at Vogue Knitting Live and was privileged to meet Barbara Walker. 

My knitting group exchanged Christmas presents - we picked names and made a shawl for the recipient. 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

OK, kids. Here I am, hoping to hop back onto the blogging train in the midst of major life changes.

It has been a long, long time since I blogged regularly. You may have notice the posts dropped off after November, 2012 and disappeared the past two years.

While I was away work kept me in the public eye and yet my work couldn't be discussed publicly. The job severely limited my free time.

It's been so long that the Yarn Tracker has turned into a fable...three years and 11 months since I bought yarn? Ha!

Since the first of the year, my career has changed and the location of the Stash Haus will be changing. (Could we turn this new adventure into fodder for HGTV? Probably not. I don't think they'd be interested in folks who have as low of a budget as we do.)

As part of the changes, my goal is to be back here on a regular basis. My new job will still be intense, but I think I'll have more time for crafting and blogging, especially once we find the stash a new haus.

Farewell, Robert Osborne

“There is a time for everything – a time for being born and a time for coming of age.  There is a time for death, too.” I Remember Mama - 1948 

Robert Osborne, 1932 - 2017

The tributes here say more than I ever could. Thank you for the history, the insights, the hours of true entertainment,  and for making me a fan of classic movies.