2011, here I come!

Happy New Year to everyone. May the coming year be filled with health and happiness, accompanied by M&Ms and yarn galore. Well, ok, I'll be amazingly happy for health and happiness..........

I still have almost a whole day to finish my abc-along, right after attending a bridal shower............

Hmmm.....U is for URGENT!!!

Happy trails, everyone :)

Strange but cool

Perhaps it is all about turning 60 tomorrow. Perhaps it is simply fate. Whatever the reason, I have a new look to my blog. It's totally accidental, but I think I can live with it. Control freak that I am, I admit to being a bit annoyed with the way this whole new look evolved. Translation: pure luck.

Be that as it may, change is inevitable and constant. (At least I still have my beach picture!!!)

Crazy

I spent all morning working on the ABC along, tried to post it and it appeared in html language or something weird...so I tried to fix my template and I have destroyed it. Back to square one.

Ugh.....

OZ here I come

I'm going to be a bit creative with the abc-along. Here, in all its lateness, is my attempt to finish up with my head held high, sort of.

O is for Orthopedic Associates of Lancaster. Oddly

enough, I owe them a debt of gratitude for opting to send me

to Physical Therapy so I can get rid of my knee pain.

P is for pain and Physical Therapy and the pleasure I will pheel as I plop in my

chair to watch the Philadelphia Eagles tonight.

Q is for quilts, which are quite the rage in this area. Village Quilts is right across the street from LYS, the best yarn store in the world. I am quietly trying to learn this quaint craft. So far, I have quite the collection of scraps to work with.

R is for the reindeer sitting in the lobby of our brand new convention center in Lancaster city.

See them resting at the top of this blog post.

S is for our Subaru which we took to Strasburg on a snowy day to have it repaired . The sunset over the silent fields was splendid.

T is for the tinsel ornaments that have decorated my Christmas tree every year since I was born. We're both beginning to show signs of wear, but still sparkling.

To be continued...........

Christmas is cool :)

On the 2nd day of Christmas, the weatherman gave to me, a dusting of snow on the ground. On the 3rd day of Christmas, the weatherman gave to me, 5o mph wind gusts, and a dusting of snow still on the ground.

I think I just murdered the correct use of commas but I , dare I say, love the craziness of commas gone wild, really I do.

My goal for today is crazy happiness surrounded by too many wips to ever finish in this lifetime.

I have succeeded.

Day by day.....

Oh dear. I guess my very first a-b-c along has escaped me, unless I can think up letters m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y, and z in a hurry.

My brain has turned to mush, I suppose the result of too many days spent at the hospital with dear husband. Now that he's home and very slowly healing, I find myself in a semi-funk with no energy to think of letters and blogging.

That being said, I still have a whole month to do something creative. Stay tuned.

Life goes on

Columbus Day, October 12th, was more than memorable this year. No parades, just an emergency trip to the hospital after three weeks of sinus infection, followed by intestinal distress that will not soon be forgotten by my dear husband. After two endoscopies and sonograms and many more tests, the gastroenterologist ruled out lymphomas of any kind and diagnosed him with a very rare, probably congenital, condition which requires surgery.
He was able to come home from Lancaster General Hospital as of last night, armed with meds to get his strength back for

a return trip to have elective surgery for an aneurysm in his small intestine on Tuesday, November 9th. Until then, he stays healthy and avoids doggie hugs.

Whew...........

I've tried to include a picture of the view of Lancaster City as seen from the seventh floor of the hospital. We watched the fall leaves change at that window.

Brrr.........

I give you my "Blue Ice" sweater. Knit in Reynolds Blizzard, super bulky yarn. C'mon fall!!! I'm itching to wear this one.

N is for a novel idea :)

Hold on to your hats. Sure, you've all seen a horse, and maybe even a horse pulling a carriage. If you've ever visited Lancaster, PA, you've also probably seen an Amish buggy being pulled by a horse.

Bet you've never seen an aluminum foil covered replica of our Amish neighbors' mode of transportation. Even the locals were surprised when this work of art showed up outside the Mayor's home during a First Friday event last summer. If you squint your eyes, you might even be able to see the road apples that make any horse and buggy complete. ;0

M is for Mooooooooo

Moo-ving from Lancaster City to the countryside for the letter M:

Driving on Rt. 322, right before reaching Ephrata, you will see a place called the Udder Choice. Do yourself a favor and stop in for a wonderful lunch and a delicious dessert. My favorite is the Holstein which, of course, is comprised of vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate syrup and a cherry on top of whipped cream. Yummmmm.

In addition to the awesome ice cream desserts, the decor is a real treat. The walls are decorated with loads of signs from ice cream companies, past and present. Then there's the display of ice cream scoops through the years and the milk pail lampshades at each table. It's just a real mooving experience. :)

Of sinus infections and popsicles

My dear husband has had a terrible sinus infection for almost two weeks. He's had an awful time of it and the Vicodin prescribed for pain didn't sit well with him so the doctor suggested he stop taking it. Yesterday I returned from a drugstore run to find him flat out on the couch in a great deal of pain. To top it off, he had taken one of the Vicodins and, along with the intense pain, he developed intense pain in his stomach, along with a continued "loss of food and fluids". And he'd been doing so well....

Long story short, I drove him to the Quick Response center, something new in town for those occasions when you can't get to see your own doctor. I'll spare you all the gory details, but he was given a shot of Phenergen and off we went before he got too drowsy. Safely at home with the two dogs watching over him, I made my run to the store for essentials. I got the usual: Gatorade, applesauce, and grape popsicles. The popsicles were for me. Box of eight. I just polished off the last one.

And Ken? He's feeling a bit better today.

L is for Lancaster Creative Reuse Center

There's a new place in town whose goal is to collect and re-distribute materials for creative re-use. Check out the article about the Lancaster Creative Reuse Center in our newspaper yesterday and, if you're in our fair city, stop in and get creative. Our logo is Scrappy the "ugly" duckling . She's smiling cause she knows there's a beautiful swan waiting to be created by someone with just a little imagination and some creativity.

Gotta run...we're open today from 10 am till 2 pm.

Keep good thoughts.

K is for Keys

The coolest thing is happening right now in downtown Lancaster, PA. It has to do with something called Keys for the City.

I'll be walking down a city street and suddenly hear a piano playing. Outside. What a concept. Each piano has been adopted by a local business or non-profit, painted in a most interesting way and set out on the sidewalk for passersby to plunk out a few notes or a sonata. It's up to the individual. The other day I saw a man playing (from some sheet music he'd brought along) to an impromptu audience.

There was the usual Lancaster worry festival before the arrival of the pianos: What if it rains? What if they're vandalized? Isn't this a dumb idea?, etc. In the end, the pianos were placed in downtown locations and the magic began. If you happen to visit Lancaster this summer, listen for the music. It just might make your day.

and, of course, K is ALWAYS for knitting :)

A B C D elephant?

L M N no elephant.

The old kiddie verse popped into my head just now as I realized that I am WAY behind on my ABC-along.

Too much knitting...not enough writing.

Well, there can never be too much knitting. I must learn to multi-task.

Coming soon: the letters K, L, M and N

J is for Journey and Joy

I guess this is a vacation from my chosen subject, Lancaster, PA, but I was invited along on a road trip to Ann Arbor, MI a few weeks ago and feel like veering off course with the letter J.

Of course, I got to knit during the eight hour car trip, going and coming, thanks to my friendly driver. What more could a girl want? Check out my beautiful shades of blue scarf, aptly

named the Lake Erie scarf. A picture just doesn't do it justice. Isn't it great to discover new yarn shops when you travel? I stopped at Busy Hands in downtown Ann Arbor and invested in some ice blue Reynolds Blizzard

super bulky yarn for the Weekend Pullover I've been wanting to knit. I highly recommend knitting a toasty warm sweater in June.......visions of snowflakes anyone?

I learned a lot about Michigan on this trip, mostly about food and friends and happy family events. Zingerman's Deli provided the most delicious food, my favorite being their mac & cheese, no, maybe it was their sandwiches, or maybe the breads and pastries..... I could go on.

Life is a journey, with many twists and turns along the way. Some of them good, some bad.

J is also for Johns Hopkins, where I will go in July in search of a diagnosis for my periods of unsteadiness that have bothered me since a year ago May. Keep good thoughts. :)

It's been a month!

Mayday! Thank goodness it's June. I ended the month with a grand bout of unsteadiness, but I'm down to a slight wavering motion after three days.

I finished my Clapotis on the car ride to Ann Arbor, all but the last few stitches, which I'm saving for knit night at LYS. Today, I completed a pretty little baby sweater for my daughter's new niece, Violet Mari Hinton. The pattern called for Plymouth's Fantasy Naturale, a 100% cotton yarn. I'm a bit nervous about the yarn choice, but summer's here and it's a pretty little sweater. All it needs is ribbon for the neck closing.

So, all that remains is to take pictures and add to Ravelry. Happy endings :)

A rainy day in my head

Oh, the weather outside is frightful.... but I really don't feel delightful......maybe if I tell my blog about the Hey Teach sweater, I will magically be able to understand the darn pattern. Ravelry's no help either since everyone says it's just the easiest thing ever. Humph!!! My knitting buddies are afraid I'll frog the thing. Croaksville.

I is for Ice Cream

There are never enough ice cream stores. That being said, one of the best of the bunch is in downtown Lancaster. Carmen and David's Creamery is the place to be on any day of the week, especially if you are a bit adventurous......

My favorite flavor of all time is their licorice ice cream, which merges the best of two worlds into one delicious treat.

Even the flowers outside have an ice cream theme :)

Last evening, as I ventured downtown to "research" this blog entry, I forced myself to enjoy a toasted coconut cone, since my beloved licorice wasn't in the lineup this week. Check out the littlest patron:

Happy little Hollyhock :)

Must have been all the good wishes out there, helped along by all the info I could gather in Google- Land.

It all started to make sense. The sweater is 100% finished.

Hooray :)

Sad little hollyhock :(

Seems I spoke too soon about that lovely Hollyhock sweater. I have been trying to sew in the sleeves, make that sleeve, since I haven't moved past the first one.

I am not happy..... moving on to Google a solution.

Say a prayer.

Please.

H is for Horses!

As much as I wanted to let H be for Historic, I kept seeing HORSES everywhere I went in downtown Lancaster last week. Of course, a trip downtown always includes seeing a mounted police officer, usually accompanied by an adoring group of fans. (That'd be for the HORSE!)

Then, there is the artsy horsey in the window of a local gallery on Prince Street.

And, as I waited for the light to change at Walnut and Duke Streets, I quickly snapped some pictures of a very historic stable. This long building

was used as military stables during the Revolution. On the opposite side of the street, stood the Barracks where British and Hessians were imprisoned.

And then I remembered the

Horse Inn, one of Lancaster's best kept secrets. You seem to be on a treasure hunt as you follow the directions, hoping to find this little place. The second floor restaurant, once a speak-easy, exudes history....and the food's really good too.

Whoa!!!!! This post IS about historic stuff

Not to forget knitting, here's a photo of my Hollyhock cap-sleeved top in progress...to quote from the book, Knitting in the Sun, this top has "stylish architecture and modern ornamentation like its namesake, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, California, which was built for an independent woman with a passion for the arts."

Now if only I was better at inserting pictures, you all wouldn't have to read this post sideways to see the Hollyhock!

Just another day??

I was running late this morning getting to an appointment in downtown Lancaster, fuming as I sat in traffic that wasn't going anywhere.....I took a couple of alleys, arrived at my destination and found out that a building had collapsed onto Queen Street, the road I would have been on. It was to have housed the Lancaster Art Museum up till a few weeks ago, when the Museum opted to stay in their present location.

In what seems like a miracle, not one person was hurt. Debris landed on a transit bus, but none of the other traffic had started to move as the traffic light had just changed. Wow! No one on the bus was injured. (The only passengers were all seated on the far side of the bus.)

It's very sad that a beautiful building was lost due to the thoughtlessness of the company doing major excavation work next door to it. They had done absolutely nothing to protect the existing building as they excavated extremely close to it.

It's a beautiful spring day here in Lancaster and no one was hurt. Thank God.

Golly Gee. Here's my G.

Galleries galore..... In recent years, Lancaster City has become a mecca for art lovers. We've always had our museums, but now we have galleries, one more interesting than the next. Gallery Row used to house empty, run-down buildings. Now, it is full to the brim with cool art galleries. I am thrilled beyond words at the transformation.

Even the cellar window coverings have art on them...art is everywhere

you look these days.

Freiman Stoltzfus began by painting the people and landscapes of the Amish community years ago. Check out what he's painting these days...One of my favorites: Lady of the Irises.

It's been such fun to watch as the art scene evolves in the city. So many fine artists in so many artistic mediums..... awesome.

F is for the Fulton!

A lot of people know about Robert Fulton

and his steamboat. If you got to know him "up close and personal", you'd find out that he was born in Little Britain, PA, just down the road from Lancaster City. He traveled to Paris to study painting, then became an engineer, had something to do with the first submarine, and eventually died in NYC and was buried in Trinity Church cemetery.

Lancaster County is chock full of tributes to Fulton, my most unfavorite being the giant steamboat restaurant on Route 30, but I digress.

The best and the brightest of the tributes to Robert Fulton is the Fulton Theater, the Grand Old Lady of Prince Street.

The oldest continually running theater in America, it was built on the site of Lancaster's pre-Revolutionary jail where the Paxtang Boys, a local vigilante group, massacred the last of the Conestoga Indians, while they were being held there for their protection, thus inspiring all those ghost sightings of legend. The exterior wall of the jail courtyard is now the back wall of the theater, and before the recent renovations, the green room was reached via a creepy stone area that you tended to run through while peeking over your shoulder. (At least I did.)

This National Historic Landmark has been called by many names over the years :

Fulton Hall, the Fulton Opera House, the Fulton......It's also been many things during its' history. I can't say it any better than the following, copied from the theater website "From a meeting hall, to the "Queen of the Roadhouses" through Vaudeville, the movies, near destruction, salvation and on to the cutting edge of contemporary theatre, the history of this majestic place literally chronicles the evolution of the American Stage."

There's nothing quite like being part of a production and standing on that stage.

So there you have it: the fantastic Fulton Theatre.

A Baktus I will wear :)

Lacy Baktus, that is....... so much fun to knit and just as much fun to wear.

I'm sensing a pattern here (no pun intended) ...if it's blue, I will wear it.

It'll be keeping me cozy this morning as I drive to the Conestoga Area Historical Society for a pre-season visit. I can just imagine some pioneer woman sitting in one of those Conestoga wagons wearing something like my lacy baktus. I'll be wearing mine in my car, thank you very much.

E is for Eek!!!!!!!

Eek!! I'm late.

You'd think the letter E would be EASY! Well, better late than never. Perhaps I was waiting for Easter eggs?

A combination of the old and the new in Lancaster City is Eastern Market. Historically, the city had several markets. Central Market is the coolest of the remaining markets and well worth a trip to shop and eat and eat and eat......... more on that later. Southern Market now houses our Chamber of Commerce and hosts public meetings. But I digress.......

Eastern Market has been brought back to life as an open air market that operates from June through October at 308 East King Street. The

market offers locally grown produce, mult-cultural cuisine, flowers, coffee, live music and arts & crafts. The resurgence of this particular city market is part of a larger effort by the East King Improvement District.

Oh, yeah. They have a Carmen & David's ice cream stand. Yum!

Moving right along, E is also for Jacob Eichholtz (1776-1842), a native Lancastrian, who helped to bring portraiture into the homes of middle-class America back in the day (that would be the 19th century).

The Eichholtz House on South Lime Street is much as it was when he resided

there, with original wooden planks and window hardware. I was lucky enough to attend several Historic Preservation meetings there a few years back and was in awe of the architectural details and the history of the home. History is no stranger to the outside of the house. The rear of the home has beautiful plantings, a few of which were planted by Robert Eichholtz, the eighth child of Jacob and his second wife, who lived in the home until his death. Robert also left an etching of his signature in one of the home's larger windows.

Egad! That's enough of the letter E...time to think about flowers and Fulton and....oops. The letter F, coming to a blog near you. Stay tuned!

D is for Delicious!

For the longest time, all I could think about was drifts. They were everywhere. Check out the massive one outside my church last Sunday. I really didn't want to waste the letter D on those relics of winter, but my brain was stuffed full of them.

Then, today, I saw the daffodils trying to poke out of the dirt. Delightful!

And tonight? Hubby and I drove Downtown for First Friday and I made a wonderful discovery: D could be Delicious!

All I had to do was see all that delicious decadence displayed in the Bonbonniere's windows, and visions of drifts danced out of my head. This little confectionary shoppe contains a wonderful selection of candies and handmade chocolates from all over the U.S. and as far away as Japan. My eyes glazed over, and making a decision became very difficult.

In the end, it was the cocoa crispycake treat that traveled out the door with me, destined to be dessert. Yum!

Chocolates,

Toffees,

Caramels,

Licorice treats,

each wrapped up with a beautiful bow.....

Drum roll, please :)

C'est finis! I think I am blocking it correctly, but sooo many points to consider........there is not a picture in the world that can do this yarn justice. Even my husband commented on the completed product. Hooray!!!!!!!

And the gold goes to.......

Not me. At least, not yet....... My dear Ishbel gave me another humility lesson on the final night of the 2010 Olympics. Not to worry though. I made friends with it again, after tinking two rows and finding yet another oops moment.

So, I have entered Section D, and am busily knitting the last several rows before the finish line.

Life is good.

Ishbel gets the gold???

I'm calling the 2010 Winter Olympics the Shawl Olympics. As I watch the various sports, I knit either my Swallowtail shawl or my Ishbel. At this point, Ishbel is in the lead and may possibly achieve the gold medal by moving from WIP status to a beautiful butterfly of a shawl.

What makes this particular shawl extra special is the yarn. I purchased it at Knitty City, a wonderful yarn shop in NYC, where I had stopped to meet my blogging friend, Mary. The yarn is Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Coloi Disco Socka and has a silver glint to it. The glint may be silver but the shawl, and the memories associated with the visit to meet Mary in NYC, are pure gold.

Film at Eleven?

Pictures of the Talia Vest from SweaterBabe.com, a.k.a. theBlizzard Vest, taken outside in the snow, sort of. Added an indoor shot, just for good measure.

The Blizzard Vest

One good thing about the Blizzard of 2010 is the amount of time I was able to knit and knit and knit. It is with the utmost pride and hope in the blocking process that I post these pictures of the Talia vest by sweaterbabe.com, now commonly referred to as the blizzard vest.

Hallelujah and pass the snow shovel.

P.S. The buttons were purchased at Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia last Monday between snowstorms.

P.P.S. I love Rosie's :)

Knittin' honey :)

Dinner's in the crockpot and it's time to knit. After the massive snow shoveling we did yesterday, I am surprised I have any energy left to pick up the old needles. Funny thing, though... I have discovered there's always energy for knitting.

And, so it goes. I have so many WIPs that my head spins (no pun intended) when I think of them.

Lately though, I've been working on the Talia Vest by SweaterBabe for a few weeks and have reached the tricky part. Nothing like being snowed in to force me to dive in and try to figure out directions. After a few frantic pleas on Ravelry, it all started to come together. Stay tuned.

C is for Crepes.

Crepes. They're not just for breakfast anymore. One of the coolest places in town is Rachel's Cafe & Creperie, located on the Historic 300 block of North Queen Street. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and DESSERT crepes all on the menu and lovingly prepared. Yummmmmm! Fun decor includes the friendly mannikin greeting all patrons. (The letter C could also refer to one of the coolest block of shops in town. The Historic 300 block of North Queen Street is home to numerous antique shops, The Glassworks, Zap & Co. (more on this one later), The Onion Cafe, Mommalicious, and many more. Stopping in on a Music Friday adds entertainment to the mix. It's all good.)

As I waited for my crepe, I heard a voice ask, "Is that the Celebrity Scarf?" Sure enough, a fellow knitter recognized my cozy, warm scarf that accompanies me everywhere lately.

Can you believe that I'm at the letter "C" and this is the first mention of knitting I've made?

Let there be spinning!

And spinning, and spinning....

I finally got up the nerve to set the twist on all that fiber I spun. Into the warm, soapy tub of water went each hank of spun yarn, then a rinse, and then onto a drying rack with a mug suspended underneath each processed skein just to pull out any wiggly parts.

There are 13 different skeins hanging up to dry. How cool!

B is for Baseball.

It's almost February and the groundhog will soon see his shadow and plunge us into six more weeks of winter, but my thoughts are on baseball for this entry. Barnstormer baseball, that is.

Not that I am a great fan of baseball, but I do love all that the Barnstormers have to offer us. In addition to hosting our Stitch and Pitch a few years ago, the stadium is home to ice skating in the winter, music concerts, fireworks after the games, and has the most awesome entertainment area for children. When you're not glued to the game, you might take notice of the bumper boat section, the ca

rousel, a rock climbing wall and other play venues for the kids.

The Barnstormers' home, Clipper Stadium, is located on Prince Street, the entrance to the city from the north. Construction of the stadium, and the return of minor league baseball to our fair city, spurred an amazing renewal in the northwest area of Lancaster City. Creative reuse of many beautiful old buildings has taken place since the arrival of baseball. So, take me out to the ballgame and watch Lancaster shine!!!!!