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Well, one of my friends, who is a *very* accomplished knitter (she even makes things that are auctioned off at charity events!) taught me how to knit in just a few minutes, but somehow I haven’t figured out how to purl. I have another friend, who is also a very good knitter AND crocheter (is that a word? I guess!) – who I’ve been meaning to ask, but yesterday, I found a site that has illustrations of how to purl.

Anyway, I wish I had figured out how to do it about a month ago when I started a baby blanket (my first non-scarf project) for my new neice, who will be here later this month. The last time I was in Mobile, I visited the YarnHaus, and -this is how beginner I am – I asked the very nice lady that was working there this:

A blanket is really just a big scarf, right?

And the answer was…yes! I just needed to buy some circular needles so that all my extra knitting (the width of the blanket) would have somewhere to go. She gave me a free pattern that showed how to do it with both knits and purls, but I explained to her that I really only knew how to knit, and she said that, by all means, just to knit the whole thing and it would turn out beautifully anyway. Well, if I do say so myself, it is looking really pretty. It’s just 56 knits per row using five balls of Plymouth Yarn Heaven, which is sooooo soft, perfect for a baby!

I’m really happy with it, and I’m almost done with the third ball of yarn, so I just have two more to go and the blanket will be finished.

Once I finish, I’m going to practice my purling technique on one more scarf, then I’m thinking about branching out to other things….I’d love to learn the techniques I’d need so that I could make what’s on the front of the latest Knitty – how cute is that?!?! Hmmm….I don’t think I’ll ever get into making socks, but maybe some neat sweaters, or pillows, or hats, or….

Well, Celebration in the Oaks was different this year – no waiting in the car forever to drive through with the sunroof open, looking above at all the pretty lights. This year, because of….everything….it was just for people to walk through, which was perfectly fine with me. Here are a few pics (and a little tiny movie file) of it:

Here’s a huge tree made with poinsettias:

There were still lots of lights and pretty things to look at:

The different schools decorated trees:

I liked the display with the different neighborhoods – they had model trains and streetcars on tracks going around, too:

There was this fabulous, fabulous, display of ‘A Cajun Night Before Christmas’. The book is sold here at Amazon.

…and of course, Mr. Bingle!

Late last week, I went with one of my friends to Knit Nouveau in Old Town Helena, Alabama. My friend bought yarn to make a blanket (it’s going to be *so* pretty), and I bought – as usual(!) – yarn to make more scarves.

Here’s what I got:
Berroco Suede color #3729 (it’s ribbon in black but not super-black) – I’ll be knitting this with one of the yarns I already have.

Berroco Lazer FX #6002 (it’s yarn with sequins that is *so pretty* when it’s knitted with other shiny yarns – I did one of my pink scarves with it, and it’s just really nice) – I don’t have plans for what I’ll be knitting it with, but I definitely wanted to get more of it.

Two Balls of Linie 129 Logo (it’s the brown nubby yarn below)

…and three different yarns of complementary hues that will go together into a scarf:
Laines Du Nord – Cocotte (it’s the chunky wool with a little tiny ribbon twisted through it)
Laines Du Nord – Kiddy Print (it’s the kid mohair yarn)
Laines Du Nord – Opaline (it’s the chunky boucle)

Pretty!

My latest finished project – it’s Crystal Palace Yarns in Splash #7189 Tidepool. I knitted this on #17 needles, and really like it. Soft!

Earlier in October when we went to Kentuck, I posted (here) a couple of pictures of Myrtice West at the festival…so just last week, I got a very nice card from her, thanking us for buying one of her paintings. In the card, she said that she had lost a book that she was in due to a house fire, and she asked me if I knew where she could find one. Well, guess what!? I had it right in my living room, so I called her up and said I was going to mail it over to her. She was *so* nice on the phone, and she wanted to pay me for the book (Revelations: Alabama’s Visionary Folk Artists) but I told her that it was my gift, and that I wouldn’t let her.

Anyway, I mailed it off on Monday, and on Thursday, she sent me a huge package with a book that’s about her (and she signed it with a really nice message):

…it’s called “Wonders to Behold, The Visionary Art of Myrtice West” *and* two big paintings – bigger ones than even the one that I bought from her! She also enclosed in the box a wonderful letter telling me how much the book I sent her meant, and talked about how her husband passed away on June 9th when he was 85, and that they had been married 64 years last December 24th. (wow!!) She asked me to pray for her and her family, and she says that she prays that G-d blesses each house her art is at.

More pics of her artwork can be found here and here. What a wonderful lady.

Next weekend is one of my *favorite* weekends of the year! It’s Kentuck!

I’m *really* looking forward to seeing:

Music:
Willie King – blues, blues, blues. Oh yes. The Alabama Blues Project is trying to get a lot more attention put toward Alabama-born or -based blues musians (W.C. Handy – father of the blues, ‘Big Mama’ Thornton, Clarence Carter, etc), including a program they’re doing to get the blues into schools.
Red Stick Ramblers
Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas

Quilts:
Chris Clark
Hallie O’Kelley
Yvonne Wells

Other:
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr with York Show Prints

Art:
Alpha Andrews
Butch Anthony
Lonnie Holley
Jimmy Lee Sudduth

…and LOTS and LOTS of others. If you can get to Northport, AL (Tuscaloosa) next weekend, do! See you there!

Av and I have been to Grand Gulf, MS (Google Maps doesn’t recognize Grand Gulf. Grand Gulf is between Vicksburg and Port Gibson – there is a sign on the highway that will show you where to turn.) before, and decided to visit again last week since we were going close to it, from Vicksburg to Baton Rouge. I really wanted to see if the osage orange trees were okay, since the hurricane had brought down so many trees.

Isn’t this abandoned church so pretty?

Here’s one of the osage oranges. Some people call them hedgeapples, and others call them ‘brain fruit’ because of their texture (closer shot below):

…and they’re such an odd color! Up until earlier this year, when we first visited Grand Gulf, I had never seen one! I only figured out what they were called when I did a Google search.

There was a historic sign with the history of Grand Gulf:

The town of Grand Gulf began in the 18th century as a small British settlement. By 1828 it had grown to a village of three stores, one tavern, and several houses. There was a stage line to Port Gibson and steamboats stopped at its wharves. Incorporated in 1833, Grand Gulf received its name from a large whirlpool formed as the Mississippi River struck a great rock formation. By the late 1830s Grand Gulf had become an important port and trading center with seventy-six city blocks and about 1000 people. Grand Gulf’s decline began in 1843 with a yellow fever epidemic. In 1853 a tornado devastated a large portion of the town. Yellow fever and cholera epidemics resulted in further population losses. To make matters worse, the Mississippi River changed its course and began eating into the land on which the town was built. Between 1855 and 1860, fifty-five city blocks were destroyed by the river. By 1860 only one hundred fifty-eight lived there. During the Civil War, Federal troops and gunboats destroyed the remainder of the town. The town was never rebuilt after the war and today even the river has deserted what was once a bustling river port. All that remains are a few antebellum buildings scattered along what was once the outskirts of the town.

Besides the military park, all that’s left around here is some hunting lodges and an Entergy nuclear plant. Pics from our last visit can be found here.