All Hail The GRADUATE:

and if that isn't enough sickening self gratification for you, take a gander at all three bashful boys of mine:

and here be some of the Ceremony that catapulted the oldest into the world of the working and responsible adult (blah!):

And, lest you forget that this is a blog about craftiness, here I am proclaiming my "rock star-ness" for attempting my first knit garment and seeing that it just may actually fit!!

I will get into the details of just what the heck it is when it is complete. I probably shouldn't have counted my chickens before they hatched, but . . . to late now. Peace~DAWN  ¶ 6:53 AM |

  Something New To Do Well, I just can't let a beautiful thing slide by so I joined this KAL:

You need to check out the pattern. If for no other reason than to feast your eyes on loveliness. Miriam also has a beautiful shawl in the new Interweaves Knit mag. Of course it is way beyond my abilities at this time. It is the Icarus Shawl. Here is a link to the Seraphim Shawl. I won't be starting it for a little while but I went ahead and bought the pattern, have my yarn picked out of my stash and ordered my needles. I have been studying the pattern and reading up on reading lace patterns. It is like a new language. I will get it, though. I will.

I wanted to thank all of you who posted such nice words about my headband. I truely appreciate all the warm words and thoughts that you all sent my way. You make me blush.

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Holiday. I will post a few graduation pictures in the next post. We are so proud and happy for our oldest. He is a great person and I send him out into the world with a happy heart.

Peace~DAWN

  ¶ 7:10 PM |

  Tenn Ren Fest Pics **ATTENTION** please bring your attention to the editors note on the previous post if you are attempting to make the Saving Grace headband. Thank you. Now, back to our regular blogging.

How is that for a shorthand title. Anyway, here are some photos for your enjoyment from the Tennessee Renissance Festival. Let us begin with my sister or El Diablo as we like to call her (behind her back, of course. She doesn't know that she has these horns):

Next up is the Castle Gwyen. The man that hosts the Renissance here in Tennessee is building his own castle. He has been at it since the 70's so you can imagine how much green it costs to build such a thing. He and his wife do live in it and "grant peasants to view parts of it during the festival". Nice man:

The rest of my festival pictures include a lot of bird shots from the birdlady show and some other castle shots. Here are some fairies {opps, she dropped her balls}:

After all the shopping and people watching and beer drinking we went to Outback for dinner. Yes, we went from the dark ages to down under in less than 12 hours. Here is a shot of a cloud we saw after we finished dinner:

Have a great day!! Peace~DAWN  ¶ 7:25 AM |

  Saving Grace I have a tiny completed project to show you:

It is my first KNITTED PATTERN! simple headband, but still. . .

It is called Saving Grace headband:

Materials-- any small amount of WW yarn (I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes)

size 7 needles

CO 13

Row 1: K across

Row 2: K3, *yo, K2tog *{4 times}, K last 2 stitches

Row 3: K3, P7, K3

Repeat Row 2 and 3 {end with row 3} till 15" long. Bind off and sew ends together. It will stretch to hug your head and keep those trendils of hair in place. **if 15" won't fit your big head, make it longer** :)

Now, you are ready for the summer to begin!

Peace~DAWN

++editors note: had the second * in the wrong place. All better now (thanks, Amanda)++

  ¶ 11:20 AM |

  Cozy Progress Here is a sample of the progress I am making on the Cozy Poncho for Florida:

It is so pretty and soft. I'm using the Shine yarn from KnitPicks that I bought for that bi-och Beatrice. She is no more, by the way. She is being re-incarnated as a bag, a poncho and whatever else I deem her to be.

A little side note on the snake episode. I think the snake was a type of black racer. Not quite sure but I am sure it was NOT poisonous. While I may have appeared brave keep in mind that I thought the snake was dead when I got in the pen with it. I was probably about 3 feet away from it the whole time. When I realized it was alive, I could also tell it just wanted to get the hell out of dodge. Timber just likes to "play" with stuff, so he thought it was a new toy that just came in to visit, I guess. No more signs of the traumatized fellow, whew!

We went to the Tennessee Ren. Festival yesterday and had such a good time. I have some pictures to download and share with you in the next post. I was really good and didn't buy every little thing that caught my eye. I did visit the Crystal Mountain Oils stand and smelled my way into a slight headache. I also bought 3 vials of oil. I had just recently purchased some online from them, but I just couldn't resist. We had some good food and beer and watched a little jousting and the bird lady with her birds of prey. Missed the human chess match, to busy shopping! Saw a lady spinning and she had some homespun for sale as well as some wraps and ponchos. However, I was not impressed so I just moved on.

Friday is the big graduation day!! I'm okay, really I am.....

Have a great Sunday!!! Peace~ DAWN

  ¶ 9:14 AM |

  Yikes! Wild barking and crazy dancing in the dog pen only to find:

And you know what? He Did It:

Yes, that cute little face scared that poor snake into the "snake" fetal" postion and he stayed that way for about 10 minutes or so. I thought he was dead when I went out to take pictures (don't judge). I noticed as I took pictures that each one looked a bit different. Is that a head? Oh my God!! it's alive and it is moving. . . I remained calm and continued to take pictures (with my new photo journalist type camera) and I got him coming out of his coma and making his get away into the under brush of my raspberry bush. I hope he keeps going or tomorrows picture may be of a whole different theme [wild woman seen fleeing house for no apparent reason].
Peace~DAWN  ¶ 2:09 PM |

  Gifties Well, Mother's day came and went and I didn't even tell you what I got! How's about I show you instead:

That is a Panasonic Lumix 6 mega pixel 12 "somein' somein'" zoom digital camera! Yikes! bonus, I also got a bigger memory card and a case to lug it all in. See all those buttons and do-hickies? well, I haven't gotten even a fraction figuared out yet. But is sure is purdy.

We went to the Spaghetti Factory in Nashville for dinner and I ate way to much because I only had a tiny donut for breakfast. And because my husband is the charmer that he is we got an extra Spumanti ice cream for dessert. Which he ate. We then watched the conclusion of Survivor Panama and I was sad the Cerie got kicked off (I actually wanted her to win), but was happy to see Aras win in the end because he was my next pick. Wicked me, I laughed my ass off when he slipped on those rocks on the last day while drinking champainge. It was so funny. I'm glad that he only needed a few stitches or I may have had to feel really bad. I don't know what happened on Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy, yet because I haven't watched the tape. I hope it was good stuff unlike the ending for the Gilmore Girls which just pissed me right off.

Anyway, lest I dull your brains with anymore t.v drivel. . . have a great day! Peace~DAWN

  ¶ 1:16 PM |

  Tattoos for Two, Please Well guess what me and my oldest son did the night before mother's day. . .
I got a tattoo of a fairy frog prince on the front of my ankle. My son got a tribal tatto that he designed on his back:

We are less than 24 hours old in these photos. What do you think? We're happy!

Peace~DAWN

  ¶ 1:43 PM |

  Just Because
These are some beautiful roses that my husband bought for me the other day. They were the tightest buds and I wondered how well they would actually open and look! They are just huge! and the bonus, they smell really good, too.

Just wanted to say "HAPPY MOTHERS DAY" to all you red hot mama's who read this blog. If you're not a mama, you're still red hot, so "Happy Day".

I am still plugging along on the bag strap. I won't speak of this again. When it is done, I will post picture. K? I have begun a new project. It is the Cozy wrap from Knitty.com only I'm playing with the pattern a bit and converting it into a poncho for the beach. I have done 3 sets of the eight row lace pattern and so far so good. This one will be slow going, so there will probably be other projects in the works with it. Little ones, so I can get my "instant gratification" on.

Two new CD's in the collection: Godsmack"4" and of course, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS "Stadium Arcadium". This one is a double CD, people--2!!woohoooooo. I love me some Chili Peppers, y'all. Both of these cd's kick butt.
Peace~DAWN  ¶ 6:57 PM |

  Hump Day Post!!!   ¶ 1:39 PM |

  If I Were A Cool Little Handbag. . . If I were a cool little handbag, this is the one I'd be:

Do you see how cool this pattern is. . . I mean, really! I have 4 more rows of purling and the first panel is done, then I will make another panel just like it and a strap and then I will put the whole thing together and wah-lah! Oh, you wanna see a close up of the stitches *blink*

Oh, cameras are a funny thing. This is the same bag but the color difference it very odd. The first one is more true to the actual color. It is KnitPicks "Shine". I love this yarn and recommend it for all of your sportweight cotton needs. **side note: this bag is from "easy knitted accessories" and it is project #23 (found on page 102)**

Just for the sake of blogging: I went into the bank yesterday to deposit some checks and the teller that was helping me lost two buttons off the sleeve of her shirt while flipping through the checks. They literally just fell right off. She says, "Well, that's not cheap is it? I guess I know what I'm doing on my lunch break. Sewing on some buttons. Glad I found them both!". After a little more banter back and forth I said bye and as I turned to leave, one of her co-workers says, "Where did you buy that shirt at?" and my teller replies, "Goodwill." I laughed my way out the door. You can't make stuff like that up, people, you really can't. Good irony always happens in real life.

Have a great day!! Peace~DAWN

  ¶ 8:38 AM |