Not much new

Ryan painted this female mallard from a picture he took in Sweden at
Växbo Kvarn, the linen museum near Järvsö. He just mailed it off for a state contest. Here he is with his instructor Carol Noble at the classroom in the Arts of Snohomish gallery. She's been a tremendous teacher and a very caring person. He's now working on a painting from a picture he took of Kronobergs Castle ruin outside of Växjö. I can't wait until it's finished. He is a sweet and funny guy.











Not much new here knitting wise. Sounding like a broken record it's still hard to concentrate when knitting. I'm constantly making mistakes but hopefully this too shall pass. Just a few pictures from my stash. CPY Merino Frappe' and Stripe, and Mountain Colors Twizzle "Ruby River"















Had a nice chat with Barbro this morning. Love those calling cards.
It's so amazing to be able to talk to someone clear across the world
at such reasonable prices now ! This cheered me up.

Another board meeting today so off to work on that ! Besides, Wennie the Corgi, is wanting to play "toy" ! Who could resist that little face standing up on her short little legs with her squeaky toy ! I LOVE dogs. They are always so happy.

Focus on the positive. Life is a blessing and a gift.

Queen of the Unfinished Projects

Started yet another project. I like this CPY Merino yarn so much I bought more. Sheesh, I am addicted. Anyway, I used Merino Stripe-Meadow Violet and Merino Frappe-Charcoal. I like the way this turned out and want to play with a bunch of different color combinations in the future. I'm trying to jump start myself this morning with lots of coffee in my new mug purchased at the Nordic Heritage Museum gift shop. Blue is my favorite color and it has mini Dala horses on it. What more could one ask for !

A second cousin of mine in Sweden works for a logging/paper products company in Växjö. He said he'd like some logging pictures for his office of his great uncles who migrated here and worked as loggers. I've been trying to dig thru boxes looking for some. Here is my morfar in a picture called "The Human Fly" He was a high rigger. I never met him as he died in 1943. I'm afraid of heights so I don't take after him !

He grew up in extreme poverty in Värmland. There were eight kids and the parents in a two room cabin. The second room was for storage. They had no horses and had to walk everywhere. They had oatmeal for breakfast and dinner, potatoes and dried salt herring for lunc everyday. If the cow was giving milk they had that on their porridge. He, his brothers, and father would walk to Sundsvall to work in a large sawmill for some months during the year. That is 380 miles one way ! In later years they would take the train.
Morfar came here to find a better life and he did. I have the contract from the Liner company to get him to Bellingham. It was $100 in 1910 for the ship and train trip. I found you can search on the Ellis Island website for passenger lists and pictures of the boats they came on. That was very interesting.

Winter Wonderland

Much to our surprise it started snowing last Wednesday and thru the night. When we awoke Thursday morning there was 8" of snow. Thankfully I had the day off so could enjoy the beauty of the crisp clean wonderland. Tess and Sherman, the minis, played in it on and off all day. Tess was extra cute by burying her head in as deep as she could and then flinging the snow up in the air over and over in what seemed like much joy. Wish I owned a video camera. Wennie was funny to watch with her body just above the snow and her little Corgi bunny butt dashing thru it all. Mari, our ten year old Lab/Whippet mix had mixed feelings about it all. She definitely takes after the Whippet side with her demur and ladylike demeanor. She hates water and will walk miles out of her way to avoid a mud puddle. In her eyes it is only fit for drinking !














This is my progress on the Crystal Palace Mitered Shawl.
I like the feel of the yarn.











We had another board meeting today for the Nordic Knitting Conference. I think it went very well. I appreciate everyone's hard work. Registration will probably be up by late Spring.
We also talked about having a tour of the Museum's fiber arts related artifacts and behind the scenes collection. That will be fantastic I think !