We had a fantastic Harvest Festival this weekend! Penny's Halloween pieces stole the show and we are now looking forward to the larger version of this traveling arts & crafts show coming to downtown San Diego in October. We were especially happy with the success of the new Witch Wrap design. I encourage all our beaders to take second look at this great new bead finding because everyone who saw it in person just had to have one!

It was a while back that we discussed some of the events of our trip to Montana. Things have been pretty busy here so I'm just now getting back to it. Now for my challenge...How can I 'bridge' the two entries?....


Well, How's that???? This great bridge is just down the street from the cabin and we had fun spotting fish in the river while hanging over the side. Boy are they hard to see! I remember promising a photo of Penny's knitting project.



Here Mom and Penny are putting the final touches on Penny's fancy new poncho. Penny has been working diligently on this project and was so happy to get it finished. Mom helped her learn a crochet stitch to go around the border and then to lay out the design for blocking. In this technique, the whole garment was stretched to shape and pinned to a board and lightly steamed and sprayed with water. Model photos coming soon!

Another big project we tackled was a gate for the driveway at the cabin. Dad ordered a pair of ranch gates and we dressed them up with some metal pieces that I forged and fabricated.



Here we are getting everything welded into place for installation directly onto the gates. We found some 3 inch diameter well pipe in town and, with the help from a neighbor, were able to dig a deep hole in the extremely rocky soil and cement them in place. We designed and fabricated our own hinge system (pat. pend.) and welded it directly to the posts.



Here is the name side of the gate with the name 'Van Antwerp' spelled out in 1/2" diameter steel rod. It turned out even better than I'd hoped and all the hard work learning to spell in steel really paid off (now if my handwriting was only this good!).



The other side of the gate featured a silhouette of Sadie and Bud, the resident fisherpups and the cabin number.



Finishing this project definitely called for celebration and Dad and I were "dog" tired after a project that required lots of work both physical and mental. Mom and Dad have been painting the metal and we will post an update of the completely finished gate soon!



Still had time enough for one more go at the elusive trout...I tried flyfishing for the first time on this trip and it quickly become one of my favorite things to do!!!

Well, the wildness was really people-generated, rather than from the storm. LOTS of people in town trying to get away from Rita, LOL had to go to the store Friday morning for Grendel's prescription and wow the place was picked over!
We thought we'd have some family members coming in who live down on the coast and got provisions Thursday evening, the grocery store was jammed with people getting very excited about the fact that they were out of water! And it's always interesting going grocery shopping with the husband; for example, he picks up this giant bag of fruit, which we will probably never finish, then when I tell him to go get some toilet paper due to the potential guests, he gets one measly 4-roll pack...5 lbs of fruit, 4 rolls of TP. I mean really!
Spent Friday trimming limbs and getting stuff squared away in preparation for the storm that never came. Hey, most of that stuff needed to be done, anyway. It seems curious to me though that all the evacuations and alerts were focused on Texas, and not (it seemed) at all on Louisiana.
We send best wishes and hope to our neighbors in LA, they have sure taken it on the chin this month. There is hope for a cool front next week though, that will be a relief to everyone.

One odd thing that happened this weekend was the absence of our mail carrier! I put a package in the mail for Penny first thing Friday morning, and there it sat this morning, GRRRR! We took it to the PO today since we were out anyway having breakfast with Coco for her birthday! She got her very own scone and was most polite and civilized. That's her on my bead page.

Don't forget to vote in the top 25!

Here they are, the famous Silly Shoes from Austin:

Aren't they fabulous? I am still in love. They don't just look like tennis shoes, they are actually made like them! They are soft and cushy on the inside! I wore them with my Longhorns football jersey when we had company over for the Ohio State game and I'm sure they were key to the victory. Penny wanted a picture of them on my feet, but for some reason my husband wasn't cooperative. He seems to think they are ridiculous...so I nabbed this picture off of ebay, LOL.

I have also started knitting with my recycled cashmere, just a swatch so far to get the gauge. No problems at all, it is neat yarn, not just spun but I guess what you would call 'cabled'; this is cotton, but it's the same idea. It would show a fancy stitch nicely, the pattern I've picked out is pretty plain. Maybe I should do this one instead--could it be a sign that the example is the same color as my yarn? Ha Ha, and the designer has moved to Houston! That's almost an eerie coincidence...I did manage to mess up even the simple pattern a little on the swatch though; maybe I shouldn't push my luck...Picking out yarn is easy, settling on a pattern is so hard!

HEY! The next drawing for a free PennyMichelle finding is Friday the 23rd, be sure and vote in the top 25 (there's a button on the home page)then email Penny and tell her you voted! You can vote and email every day for another chance to win!

It amazes me that in spite of the fact that my school was quite tiny, and there were at least 4 other Kims there that I can think of off the top of my head, I always thought my name was sort of rare, uncommon, unpopular, whatever...
This is really funny when I gave it a bit more thought and realized there were 2 or more of only a couple of other names I could think of! How Unperceptive can I be?!
Now I have spotted someone on one of the beadmaking message boards whose username is Kimmie! Even the nickname is spelled the same! You gotta be kidding me! Not to mention such well-known beadmakers as Kimberly Affleck and Kim Neely...
-In case you had wondered about the 'Kimmie' spelling, it's how my Grandpa Q used to spell it
I was unaccountably surprised to take a look at the NameVoyager, a fascinating graph/chart of name popularity over the last 100 years. The name "Kimberly" peaked in popularity at #5 in 1970. Guess when I was born! Duh!
Pay a visit to the chart, you might be surprised yourself!

Ok, I finally finished that purse, so now it's time for another knitting project. What to do?

A couple of years ago, I found a super soft, plump and delicious cashmere sweater for $8. I bought one for me and one for Penny...I almost bought them all, I mean, $8, for fluffy bulky weight cashmere? This is one of the mixed blessings of living in a near-tropical climate; we may rarely get to wear our cool winter gear, but we have a lot of it because it's marked down to ridiculous prices.
So anyway, I have this fabulous sweater, only it's not really fabulous--it's the yarn that I'm in love with, the style of the sweater just doesn't suit me.
Long story short:
I UNRAVELLED IT. ON PURPOSE.

Deep breath, tiny scissors, and a couple of nights later I have myself a big mass of burnt orange yummy soft cashmere! It was an enlightening process, the sweater was very well made and I only wish I knew how they did this edging where the seams were sewn together...
So now I have to select a pattern. I plan to make a cardigan, so I can snuggle up in it every evening. But how to commit? Can I make it come out nicely? I will probably dither around too long and be working on it next summer--no no no!
At least I know I'll have enough yarn, right?

I'd actually been contemplating the unravelling project for some time, but it took a visit to this website to make me do it. It's amazing the yarns she's gotten from what were pretty ordinary sweaters. My 'never will be worn' sweater stash is in serious danger. As a matter of fact there is another under $10 cashmere that is next on the list! This makes shopping the bargain racks even more fun; I will call it 'Stealth Yarn Shopping'. If you decide to get into this, there is one caveat: look closely at the sweater's construction to make sure each piece is knitted separately, rather than cut and sewn together. Don't want to end up with a pile of strands...or heck, you could use those to make something funky, mix 'em with a hank of fabulousness from Teresa Stoa...Oh wow, my mind is reeling. All those luscious sweaters that rarely get worn for one reason or another will soon be turned into new favorites! Old favorites that have lost their shapes or gotten stained will be reborn!
Wakka wakka wakka! I'm off to raid my own closet!

PS-Target has some fun novelty yarns in the $1 section. Imagine, 2 bucks will get you enough for a scarf!

Here are some fun pictures from our trip to Montana last week where we visited Dan's parents' cabin...


This should give you an idea of the scenery...huge rock face hills surrounded by larger mountains and cut through with beautiful crystal clear rivers...aaahhhhhh...

Penny spotted this cool rock in the river that looked like a carved face!

Dan tried his hand at flyfishing for the first time and what did he catch???

a nice rainbow trout...YUMMY!!!

Penny needed to unwind after some very busy days leading up to the trip...here she is bonding with Sadie and taking a little break...
We will add more installments soon including Penny's Montana knitting project and Dan's metal gate project for the cabin!

Wow, how often do you get to see the #2 and #4-ranked teams in college football go at each other in September? And the game was so exciting, right down to the last minutes. And best of all?
TEXAS WON!!!
Ok, that's as close as I will get to gloating. It's not the kind of game you gloat over, just bask in some terrific football!

And LSU's win over Arizona State--was anybody not rooting for the Tigers?

Do you remember the felted purse I made for Penny a few months ago? Well, I finally finished one for myself. It was one of those projects I fell out of love with toward the end. But felting changes everything-the colors are so bright! And it's positively cuddly.



That pin is an original Imelda caterpillar. Yes, she started out as a pin! I think changing her to a necklace was a great idea, as you can swap out the beads to match your outfit, and Penny was able to make her some new shoes too.

Ok, I know we are eagerly awaiting blog from Mr. and Mrs. Penny's Montana trip, just wanted to mention the game and say GO HORNS! Wheee!

Well, I enjoyed my little break from the studio and managed to get all the show stuff crammed back out there instead of in the dining room. The last couple of mornings have actually been very nice, temperature wise. I guess we've turned the corner into autumn, thank goodness!

That probably also means I should try and get some beads made before noon....hmmmm,
interesting idea.....

One of the most fun things about doing a show is that I come home chock full of new ideas. Right now they are mostly being mulled over in my mind, but they'll be blogged, never fear! I bought some cool resin beads at the show, I want to make one of these funky layered necklaces that are supposed to be the rage for fall. I'll be using flower and heart charmers and also plan to raid my bead stash. I haven't strung on silk before, but I think that will be the best option, spacing out the beads by knotting--which I haven't done before either.

While looking for ideas for the show, I came across some new creations of Penny's--would you believe a cat lover's lariat necklace? This idea rocks! There's a teapot lariat too...that Penny is just sneaky clever if you ask me!

Don't forget to vote every day in the top-25 and email Penny for your chance to win a prize!
We're doing great this month, keep the votes coming!
(yes, I am the official top-25 shill...)
Penny and Mr. Penny will be back from their trip soon and will surely share some fun photos in the blog, can't wait to see them!
Today's official silly picture:

Is it possible to visit Austin and not have fun?
I only had a couple of hours before I had to set up for the show, and took the opportunity to buy some extremely silly shoes...even crazier than the ones in the photo on the blog page...I nearly chickened out and returned them, but the store was closed by the time I got back, oh well!

The Austin Bead Society folks were so nice, and my neighbors at the show were lots of fun! Yesterday, we had the pleasure of the company of Yeshi, the wonder dog!
This picture hardly does him justice, but you can get an idea of his unique smile:

Another canine visitor yesterday was noble Nellie, a service dog who now wears a doggie angel on her collar:

Of course, when there are dogs around, I just can't help but have a good time, can I?

I was so happy to meet some Penny Michelle fans and to hopefully initiate some new ones. I also met some ladies from a new Yarn Shop in Austin! Oh dear, if I'd only known, maybe I'd have escaped the silly shoes...maybe not!

And to top it all off, the Longhorns had a massive victory for the home opener.
I'll definitely be back for next year's Bead Bazaar!

I think there will be just enough time to recover before the Houston Bead Society show in November