It is Wednesday again and that means it is time for the weekly Yarn Along.  I am joining with Ginny and everyone to share yarn and books.  This week saw no knitting rather a lot of time was spent on Ravelry for a new knit project.  I'm not sure why I wasted so much time.  I have two projects on the needles and one of them has been there FOREVER!  I am working on the back of Sylvi and it is not a talk at crafting or watch TV at night kind of knit.  But I am determined to finish it this summer so I can wear it next fall!

Today is Ginny's virtual baby shower.  I love baby knits because I feel like I have accomplished something.  I made a little washcloth out of very soft cotton.  Together Miss C and I picked out the kitty with the heart for the sweet new baby.

I have been reading a lot of travel books in the past week.  I had checked out books on Iceland, Croatia and Budapest.  I check out books from the library and then when we decide, I'll buy a travel book we can write in.  We are trying to decide where to go on vacation in October.  My list of places I want to visit is very, very, long.  But we have to consider places that are kid friendly and we've narrowed down our decision to Croatia.  In the next couple of months we'll make a basic plan of what we want to see and do while we are there.

It's late, I realize, but it is still Thursday!

*  Bryan had knee surgery this morning.  It was a quick scope to clean up some torn meniscus.  In and out of surgery in about 30 minutes.  We were in the surgery center for just about 3 hours.  I knew he was going to be fine when he wanted to go to Starbucks on the way home.
Funny side story to this surgery...the back story... he had ankle surgery seven years ago.  That was his first experience with anesthesia and it was funny.  In the recovery room he kept telling every person who walked by his bed that he and his good friend had been out drinking the night before and he drank five bottles of wine all by himself.  It cracked me up.

So today the anesthesiologist was talking to Bryan about the procedure and what to expect when he was in the recovery room.  He made mention that he would feel like he had a couple of glasses of wine.  And that sent me into hysterics.

*  Spring in Colorado is coming.  Bushes and trees are flowering, tulips and daffodils are blooming.  And it is supposed to snow this weekend.  And depending on who you listen to, we can expect anywhere from 8-40" of snow.  The 40" may be more in the foothills.   My mom's birthday is April 17th and she was born in a blizzard.  So it's nothing new for us, except today it was 70 degrees and gorgeous.  Just wait a day and it will change!

Happy Thursday!

It's Wednesday again and that means it is time for the weekly Yarn Along.  I am joining with Ginny and everyone to share yarn and books.  WooHoo!  I am so excited.  I finally finished the stitch block cowl!  I just looked at my ravelry page...I started this cowl as a KAL with the mamas at crafting on April 18, 2015!  I put this cowl aside so often to work on other projects.  First I had to finish my Hitofude for Rhinebeck.  Then I had to work on the sweater for the school fundraiser.  And I've made eleven (ELEVEN!!!) Colorado hats.
I was so excited to finish and photograph it that i didn't even weave in the ends.  I took some quick pictures before leaving for work yesterday.  There are three blocks and I"ll tell you, that second block kicked my butt!  I learned to use a lot of lifelines!  Every repeat I used a lifeline.  And there are still several mistakes that I think are quite noticeable.  I'm fairly certain though, that there will be one more snow this spring that will enable me to wear my coat and new cowl!   My stitch block cowl was made using Quince & Co Osprey in Bark, Nasturtium, and Egret.

Block one

Block two

Block three

I have enough yarn left in the nasturtium and bark and a tiny bit left in egret, but it should all be enough to make a hat or maybe some mittens.

We spent our weekend in Steamboat for the last weekend of skiing.  The last day to ski Steamboat was today.  There are some areas here in Colorado that will be open longer, thanks to a lot of late season snow, but for us ski season has come to a close.  Bryan will have knee surgery on Thursday.  He chose to have it in between ski season and mountain bike season.  One must have their priorities.

Miss C had one last ski lesson for the season.  She has progressed so much this year.  Next year she'll be saying to me "Come on Mom, keep up."  She was skiing easy blue runs with us on Saturday.  Makes this mama very proud.  Watch for her in the Olympics.

Saturday after skiing there was a free concert at the base of the mountain.  Ozomatli played and we danced our tired legs for over an hour.  There was good food, abundant drink and great friends.  A new tradition has been born to celebrate the end of winter.

How was your weekend?

Mama got a new toy this past weekend!
It's a dual barrel spinning compost bin! I've had a upright bin for many, many years.  It's warped from the sun so the lid no longer fits.  It is hard to stir the compost all the way through.  The bottom door no longer lifts up to get to the beautiful black gold at the bottom.

Costco had these bins last week so I jumped on it as soon as I saw them.  Bryan and I put it together.  We decided to put the bin in the garden.  I didn't want to lose the space, but it will be easier to just dump it onto the ground.  We put it so the latches can be opened from outside the fence so I can dump the mini bin from the kitchen without going into the garden.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours transferring the compost from the old bin to the new bins.   Toward the bottom of the bin was this beautiful black gold.  I spread it in the garden and will turn it in later this week.