High School Coronation Dance!

My lovely daughter went to her last (she will be in college next year) high school homecoming dance this weekend. Doesn't she look beautiful? Boy, does time fly, it seems like only yesterday that she was playing dress-up  and parading around the house in princess and fairy costumes. Now she goes to real dances (still looking like a princess) with a real boyfriend. She had a wonderful time, says the evening was everything it was supposed to be!
Phil and I had a lovely evening as well. We enjoyed a much too large but very delicious meal and some good wine at Forbes Mill Steakhouse together with some friends.
Conrad made the best of his weekend a well. He used his imagination and a cardboard box to travel the world and beyond.
We didn't just play this weekend we did some work as well. We picked the last 1700 lbs of grapes and they are now fermenting away towards a delicious port. The 2009 harvest is over! We were too tired last night to properly celebrate that accomplishment but we will!

Blankets

I'm falling behind on recording my knitting progress. We have been extremely busy with the grape harvest, but now we are almost done. I think one more weekend will do it!

Back to my knitting, I have jumped on the Shelly Kang sock yarn blanket band wagon! Again it was Allison who pushed me over the edge. This time by giving me and Billie her leftover sock yarn scraps. It was impossible to look at all those wonderful yarns and not start the blanket. I very quickly discovered that it will take A LOT of scraps unless I want to use the same yarn many times. Since I like the scrappy look I want to try and limit the use of each yarn to two or three squares. To avoid having to buy too many new balls of yarn I have joined a couple of sock yarn swaps on Ravelry. I still haven't decided what size of blanket to make, but I do know it will be a long project, maybe several years.

The sock blanket isn't the only blanketI'm working on right now. I'm also knitting on this afghan (Exquisite by Carole Prior - in Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans ) for Lars. Since he is a college student and I'm sure all his laundry gets washed in one load and then thrown into the dryer,  I'm using Lion Brands Pound of Love 100% Acrylic. I'm hoping to have it done in time for Christmas  (he doesn't read my blog - so don't spill the beans to him).

New Wheel!

I am now the proud owner of a Kromski Symphony spinning wheel. Doesn't it look like it came straight out of a Fairy Tale? Phil asked if I am going to spin gold on it! It looks gorgeous in our living room, but it is easy enough to move it into the family room if I want company while spinning and it is whisper quiet!
It spins quite differently than Alison's Traveller that I have been using up until now and it will take a little getting used to, but who cares - more spinning for me! By the way Allison, you are 100% responsible for me getting bitten by the spinning bug and therefore I blame/thank you for this purchase.
The wool that came with the wheel is harder to draft than anything I have worked with before (not that I have experience with a lot of different wool), but it is getting easier the more I spin. It is true what they say - Practice makes perfect!

Syrah Picking

I had planned to go to Lambtown in Dixon today, but instead I stayed home and helped with the harvest. We picked 8 tons of Syrah to be made into a Rosé. Conrad once again acted as the historian and documented the day with some very interesting photos. Today's weather was a lot nicer (read not as hot) as last weekend and we had fun working together (family and friends alongside the hired farm workers).
Yesterday I broke down and started on my sock yarn scrap blanket . It is loads of fun to knit on, but it will take forever to complete! Alison has already contributed some yarn (thanks Alison) and I have a small stash myself, but even so I'll need much more leftover sock yarn before this blanket will be done. I'll post a picture when I get a little further along and there is something more interesting to see.