River valley

I was down in the river valley today.  Someplace I don't go very often.  I get turned around almost every time I go.  It's all curvy roads with wacky angles.  Give me a good straight road with other roads going off at 90 degree angles and I'll be a happy driver!

But 3rd DS farms some land down there and so I have to go once in awhile when I'm needed to help.

It's pretty down there.  Even with everything being brown now.

And the sky today was especially huge looking.

The river winds it's way around generally traveling SE and eventually ends up in the Red River down by West Fargo.  The Red River is one of the few rivers that flow north.  So this water going by today will end up in Canada.

This cow seemed curious about what I was doing.  Her calf was having an afternoon snack.

And once you pop out of the valley you are right back on the flat, flat ND farmland.

With that huge beautiful blue sky.  And the view that goes on forever.

Mostly he's sleeping but sometimes he's awake.

This "sunlight" isn't quite as warm as the stuff that comes in the window. 

Maybe if I lay on it she won't be able to do any knitting and I'll get some attention instead!

I think I like this chair.

I think I'll call it mine.

I'll just squeeeeze in here for a nap.

Ok.  I'll use it if you insist.  I've only made you wait several years after you knit it.

Watching birds out the window plays me out.

This pillow is rather hard.

What?? I fit in here.  I do!

Good vibrations.  And warm besides.

There isn't quite enough room for my head...or my feet for that matter.

Peek!

This summer's flowers

Please ignore any and all weeds!!

Storm damage

We were shopping in Grand Forks.

 We knew it was going to be stormy weather and were rushing as much as possible to get home before it hit.

 In the end the rushing didn't matter.  The weather was moving faster than we were.

We decided to park close to a brick building to help diminish damage to the pickup and wait out the worst of the storm.

I was on my phone on Facebook asking for suggestions if we should take off or hang in where we were.  2 people said stay put.  And so we did.  Good plan as it turned out.

I kept looking at the radar.  It was serious weather this time, folks.  Rain.  Hail.  Extreme winds.  Tornado warnings. 

There we sat.  In a pickup.  With the tornado sirens going off.  Rain and wind that looked like a snowstorm, visibility-wise.  Rocking in the wind.  Yea.

I'd been texting with 2 of our sons.  And then DH got a phone call from one of the sons in our hometown.  He said, "Do you want the bad news?".  Well, not really but go for it.

4 bins had blown down at our seed plant.

 

Here's number 1.

And a closeup view of some of the damage to it.

And here are bins 2, 3 and 4.

And a couple shots of the worst damage to the one on the right end.

There has been a stream of traffic going by to see them.  The guys that work at the plant said we should charge admission!  Gotta keep your sense of humor.  Especially at a time like this.

I'm dragging today.  I thought I slept but it sure doesn't feel like it. 

So to cheer me and everyone else up here are a couple pics of Teddy. 

Looking like the king of the house that he thinks he is.

The story of a knitting bag.

The life of this knitting bag started with "free" things.

I got this very pretty bag when I bought cosmetics. 

And one fine day I received an email from KnitPicks saying that I would get these items free if I ordered a certain $ amount of other things. 

Who can resist "Free"??  (Not me apparently!)

But the big dilemma was this:  I didn't know what to do with these things because I don't have a knitting bag that doesn't already have all the little knitting accessories already in it.

What to do.  What to do.

Aha!  I can make myself another knitting bag!  Dilemma solved!

Now just for the sewing.

I had fabric on hand because for years I have been planning on making myself aprons.  You know the kind like everyone's gramma used to wear?  Well, that fabric became a knitting bag instead of aprons!  Although, I do have fabric left over.  I could still come up with some form of apron from that...hmm. 

Anyway!  Back to the knitting bag.

I wanted this bag to be cozy and so decided to quilt the fabric together. 

I also intended to take step by step pictures but that didn't happen!  These are it.

 

But here is the finished product.

 

 

 

I added lots of pockets and a zipper to keep everything safely inside. 

 

We won't talk about how much trouble that zipper was to install.  Or how long it took to put the rick rack on.  Or that it actually took me 2 afternoons and 2 evenings to make the whole bag.  Yikes!

 

 



I'm going to forget all that and enjoy my new knitting bag.

That started with all those "free" things!

side note...I am compulsive but it is purely coincidence that the fabric on the front of the bag matches the back.  I honestly didn't plan it that way.  Nothing that I plan works out THAT good!

2nd side note....you can tell the front from the back by the color of the buttons on the handles.

The treasure became a shawl

I didn't knit either pattern that I mentioned in the last post. I did spend more time on Ravelry and found the one I loved the most.

 

 

The pattern is Positive Thoughts #1.  There weren't any beads in the pattern.

 

 

 

 

But when I looked at the pattern is seemed to be calling for beads.

 

 

And so I listened and added lots of pretty beads.

 

I think I love it!  

 

All the details are on Ravelry, here.