Carolynn Sets a Good Example (and has fun doing it!)

Look carefully:
Carolynn returns from riding her bike to school with her granddaughter

Cathy's Blanket

Blanket detail

Carol's Blanket (and Beautiful Necklace)

Kathy Reports in on the Bridge Collapse in Washington

10:50 AM

5/24/13

Was there anything in your news about the bridge collapsing on I-5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington? No one was killed, only 3 people injured. 

Mike had driven over it less than an hour before it happened and was stranded at his model RR club between here and Bellingham. However, being a local he knew alternative routes and made it home in 40 minutes (usually 25-30 via I-5). 

Apparently an oversized load hit some overhead beam. The truck went on across and the span collapsed behind it! This will make a mess of traffic for months. 

On the news they said 70,000 to 80,000 cars cross the bridge daily. How can that be possible in a little corner of the world like this? It IS the main route between Seattle and Vancouver BC but that sounds like a huge number. 

We are already seeing many more trucks on Hwy 9 that runs past the bottom of our driveway.

Kathy

Mary-Claire Gets Ready for the New Grandbaby

Becky Suffers in Hawaii

Knitting by the pool

Kathy Wins Big in Washington

From Kathy D., May 18, 2013:

I would love to have dragged our whole knit group along these past few days. I visited 9 yarn shops and barely scratched the surface. I had broken my self-imposed budget by the second shop... This was the annual Local Yarn Shop tour ("Destination Yarn") of 24 shops from the Canadian border to south Seattle. 

Next year my friend, Nylah, who came to the knit group with me, and I have planned to hit the Seattle shops. Her daughter is now living there so she has an excuse to come up from Oregon. Each shop has a free pattern for a one skein project and gives a 10% discount on the yarn they are featuring for that pattern. Most of the places I went had both a crochet and knit version, or two different patterns. Shawl patterns were a big thing this year in the places I went and a couple had mittens or fingerless gloves. If one visited 8, 16 or all 24 shops, you could get in on a drawing at the end of the four day event. Wouldn't that be fun to win? (I don't even know what the prize is but it is YARN.) 

Once again I was struck by how different the ambiance is in each shop, how friendly knitters are, and how many different yarns are out there. That should be some comfort to those who buy yarn in case one day there is a shortage! Whew! all this and I get to hear the Skagit Valley Symphony tonight. 

On another subject, I found, among the tall grass, 3 more little hollyhocks looking for sun, so I transplanted them out of the vegetable garden before Mike rototilled and they look quite happy. Not blooming but leafy. I have gorgeous iris this year and some years there are very few. Who knows why?

*****

May 19, 2013:

P.S.: I had a call this morning from a shop in Bellingham called Apple Yarns to say I won yesterday's raffle! Me, who never wins anything! She told me it is a knitting bag with a set of sock needles (several sizes), some special Crafters Cream, and something else I've forgotten. 

I am taking pictures of some of my flowers. I haven't taken the iris yet because the weather has been so overcast and/or rainy since they started blooming.