I is for "Icelandic Horses"

In 2003 I had a chance to visit Iceland with my Mom and a cousin.  We went to visit relatives and friends there and stayed for three weeks. It was amazing!  One of the highlights of my trip was having an opportunity to ride an Icelandic horse.  A relative of the family we were staying with had a herd of horses that they needed to move from one pasture to another.  The easiest way to do this was to ride some and lead the others (there weren't many horses - only four or six)  What a fun time!  We had to ride for about 12km :)  Man alive was I stiff the next morning (I don't get to ride often!)  Here are a couple pictures of me riding:

These are interesting horses.  They are native to Iceland and the breed has been kept 100% pure in the country.  They are also susceptible to diseases that they have never been exposed to.  If a horse is taken out of the country to be shown it is not allowed back into the country.  The horse also has five gaits intead of the three typically found in horses.  The ride is very smooth! 

H is for "Hoarding"

So I thought I would spend my blog today talking about Hoarding.  Our place needs a serious tidy-up.  Hubby and I are packrats but while we don't quite fit into the hoarding category in general there are some areas where we might fit that category.  We tend to keep a lot of paper stuff and we have more stuff than space to keep everything...  I have all sorts of cards from people from over the years and wonder if I really need to keep them, but I don't really want to get rid of them.  Maybe a good project for me would be to scan all of them and keep them electronically.  We also keep admission ticket stubs from entrance to events and stuff like that. This all takes up too much space.  Maybe these are more things that can be scanned??  Hoarders we likely are not, but we do have too much stuff.  Time has come to pare down and decided what to do with things we just don't use or need.  Tough to do but it's getting time to do it anyway. 

G is for "Graduation Day with a Graduate Degree"

Well, it was not today, but I wanted to post about my graduation day and graduate degrees.   November 4th 2006 was a very proud day for me (and for my family).  This was the day that my Doctorate degree in Economics was conferred upon me :)  After six long years of study, my comprehensive exams sucessfully under my belt and my thesis successfully defended I earned my PhD in Economics.  Here are a few pictures of that day:

Here is a half decent picture of the hood - quite fancy!!

To see more alphabet posts check it out here or here!

F is for "Finish it, Frog it, or Free it"

Welcome to my sixth post in the ABC meme.  To see more of these please visit here!!

Today's post for the ABC meme is based on another ABC blog I read and thought was a good idea (sorry for stealing your idea!)  I have to decide what to do with a project.  When I first saw the pattern for the Raspberry Dreams stole I absolutely loved it!! I also thought I had the perfect yarn for it!  This was my first attempt at knitting something in laceweight too.  Well this yarn is slightly fluffy - it has a slight halo on it and I found it nearly imposible to knit with... But I cast on (for the first time) on October 4th 2010.  And I was in trouble...  I used bamboo needles and found the tips too blunt to work with the yarn.

I tried a differnt set of needles - metal and sharper...  Still no success.  Then I tried some Addi Lace circulars - better but I was still having a bear of a time following the pattern. 

Maybe it is just me (several people report finishing this beauty without the heartache I am experiencing).  I dragged it out of it's hiding place a few weeks ago and gave it a go again.  At the end of my second row my stitch count was off again.  I didn't have the heart to frog it yet again (and this yarn is no fun to frog...)  I stuck it back into it's ziplock bag and stuck it away again (I have lost count of how many times I have done this...) 

After nearly nine months of working on this off and on I have decided the frustration is too much.  I knit for pleasure (not pain).  I shall set this yarn free!!

I think I will crochet something with it instead!  I have this pattern and I bet this yarn would look lovely in this stole!!  Some day I might conquer knitting with lace weight yarn.  Maybe some day I will try this stole again using a nice fingering wieght yarn.  But for now I am setting it and myself free!

E is for "Enjoyment"

Oops I am late in getting my post up...  In my defense I was out of town from the 1st until last night (the 6th) but that is probably no excuse as I could have had this ready early and then just posted...  Maybe one day I will get myself more organized :) 

So today I am writing about Enjoyment!  I like to focus on the positive and I like to get enjoyment out of as much of life as I can.  I love to do things that make me happy and I try to find the bright side of everything.  It doesn't help to mumble and complain about things and to me it seems to be a waste of time (mostly - there are exceptions when complaining is necessary and should be done, but not all the time as some people do...)  There are so many things in this world that can bring enjoyment!  A pretty flower, a sunrise, a sunset, laughter, rainbows, gentle rain, sitting in a sunbeam, sipping a nice cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, enjoying a good meal and conversation with friends, quiet, knitting, crocheting, and the list can go on forever! 

So how about it??  Try to look at things from a happy, positive viewpoint and ENJOY!!!

D is for "Discovery"

Welcome to my fourth post in the ABC meme.  To see more of these please visit here!!

I am a day late getting this posted but inspiration about what to blog about hit me lesterday late in the afteroon.  D is for the "Discovery" of a new hobby (or two)!!  Letter-boxing and geo-caching.  Now I know these are not new to many people but hubby and I checked it out for the first time yesterday afternoon!  What fun!!  I had heard of geo-caching and have wanted to try it for quite some time, but letter-boxing was entirely new to me!  We located our very first letterbox but we don't have a notebook or stamp yet so we just read through the other entries and put it back in it's hiding place.  We will go back and enter our stamp into the logbook and stamp our book once we get our kit together.  We also located our first geo-cache yesterday too.  What fun!!  I think I prefer the letter-boxing but they both are fun! Plus it makes me get some exercise so that is a bonus!!

C is for "Creativity"

Welcome to my third post in the ABC meme.  To see more of these please visit here!

This week I want to consider creativity.  First off I need to thank all of the great designers who create the patterns that we all dearly love!! 

I would like to try my hand at designing one day.  My latest passion is socks and I am considering some ideas for sock designs.  Maybe something lacey or with cables or both!  Maybe what I should do is sit down, shut up, and try!  I also like making scarves and that is something else I have thought about designing.  Maybe one day!!

Off to read other blogs for C :)

B is for "Baby Nine Blocks"

To see more of these please visit here
Today I will continue on my itty-bitty granny square theme :)  I really do enjoy making these!  I modified the following pattern and made it a bit bigger.  I have made several and have given them all away as baby shower gifts.  Here is the gallery:

These were all made with Red Heart Super Saver or Caron Pounders.  Hope you enjoyed viewing them :)

A is for "Around the World Quiltghans"

Today I am embarking on a new meme - every Monday will be a post that begins with another letter of the alphabet and there is a group of us taking part in this adventure.  Check out everyone elses posts over here!!

For me - A is for "Around the World Quiltghans"  This is a great afghan (in my opinion!!)  The pattern can be found here.  I have made several of them.  They are also an example of acrylic awesomeness!!!  All of the afghans pictured below are made with Red Heart Super Saver :)

Here is the gallery:

These all involve a HUGE number of little granny squares!  Each granny square is about 2.5 inches and there are a total of 2948 squares used to make these four afghans (and I am currently making another one which will have 1225 squares)  That makes for a TON of tails to tuck in!!  But I love making these :)

Hope you enjoyed :)