State Fair Knitting

It's State Fair time! This year I entered some knitted items into the Fabric & Threads competition. It was my first time entering, but it won't be my last.

I was lucky enough to win two ribbons. I won second place in the felted item category with my slippers. Now when I wear them I will brag about how they are award winning. Consider yourself warned.

I also earned a 4th place ribbon for my Mom's lace ribbon scarf. She assures me she will point out that it is award winning when she wears it.

I encourage you to head to the fair and check out the Fabric and Threads exhibit. Congratulations to all of my friends who entered the fair. I can't wait to see what you make next year.

Baseball

It has been a beautiful week here in Iowa. I happily took the afternoon off last Wednesday to spend the afternoon at the ballpark with TC and Seymour. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

The I Cubs won.

The food was tasty.

And my friends, as usual, were entertaining.



It's hard to believe it's almost the end of the baseball season. In a couple of weeks we are going to our last day game of the year. I'm going to miss spending the afternoon in the stands.

Vacation

Last month John and I went on vacation. We headed to South Dakota for a four days of hiking and exploring.

We started in the Badlands. I wish I was eloquent enough to describe how beautiful the Badlands are. Unfortunately, I'm not that eloquent, so I'll just say they are pretty.

We hiked about a mile in high temperatures (over one hundred degrees). It was very hot, but the view was worth it.

The next day we hiked Harney Peak. We earned a big dinner that day after hiking six and a half miles. It was a hot day. But the view was amazing and the hike was challenging.

After two days of difficult hikes we took it easy. We did three short hikes by the resort in the morning. The hikes were so easy it felt like I was cheating.

After hiking we headed to Mount Rushmore. We didn't hike up to the faces, but we did eat some ice cream and buy a Christmas ornament. It was by far our most touristy day.

It was a great vacation. Wedding planning is stressful, and I really enjoyed getting away for a few days and not thinking about the wedding or work. I'm already daydreaming of my next vacation.

Angie's Sandwich

Doesn't it look good? There is even pepper jack cheese on it.

Yes, this is how exciting my life is.

Summer

I've been very busy lately. Too busy to blog. I'm going to try to catch up over the next few weeks. For now I'll leave you with a photo of one of my favorite parts of summer: sitting on a patio hanging out with John.

Sock Yarn Scarf

One of the side effects of knitting a lot of socks is having a lot of tiny balls of sock yarn. I decided to work my way through some of the yarn by making a scrap sock yarn scarf.

This was mindless knitting at its best. The final product is a fun scarf perfect for dressing up an outfit.

Whole Wheat Lavash

I haven't been baking as much this year. Or blogging, for that matter. My point and shoot camera won't work with my new laptop so I have months of blog fodder I'm getting further and further behind on. I decided I'll just start where I can and try to catch up eventually.

So what is so amazing I'll actually start blogging again even if I'm full of excuses? Whole wheat lavash (from Peter Reinhart, of course). The bread was good on its own, but especially delightful when topped with Maytag blue cheese and drizzled with honey.

This is my new contribution to any party where I am supposed to bring an appetizer. I hope you are having a party soon because I'm looking for an excuse to make this again.