random thoughts and stitches

It's been a surprisingly productive year....

2011-04-29T01:29:00.000-07:00

I made a cozy for my friend Sherry's tea glass. She carries around one of those skinny, double walled glass tea brewing glasses, but it got cold too fast and she was always having to drink cold tea. So I made her a cozy for the glass out of DK weight Superwash wool.

That it also fits a Hieneken bottle is totally irrelevant and happily circumstantial. :)

I also whipped out a Kindle cozy because everyone I know (except Katie) has one now.

This one fits the new generation smaller Kindle either 4G or plain. I made this out of a really squishy bulky weight acrylic and the added cables give lots of cushioning .

Oh, and market bags. Market bags galore. I use them, the girls use them, my friends use them. And yes we're in California which is kind of known as a huge tree hugging, environmentally concious state, but these bags are just fun. The pattern was free on Ravelry, and I had oodles of worsted weight cotton in my stash, so I just started knitting away. It's hard to stop too, because there are always left overs that are challenging you to make them into something useful.

And for the 52 cowl along group, also on Ravelry, I searched my stash and have come up with:

Malabrigo worsted for the birthday cowl. It looks great on Barbara, doesn't it?

Pound of Love for the Noble Cowl, given perspective here by Lucy Bear

Something soft and acrylic for this Comely Cowl

And this great chunky print that Theresa found that I turned into

this. This is the Growing Leaves Cowl, and it looks great on its new home. Theresa tells me she even sleeps in it.

And I've made a few scarves and some pigs and this week I've been playing around with some new ideas. I made 2 dozen wash cloths for Church World Service for their hygiene kits, and now I'm working on a little boy sweater. I have a huge stash that I need to work through, and as I get ideas out of my head onto paper and then translated into something tangible, I'll share.

For now just keep on knitting. See you soon.

Same old, same old

2011-01-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

And here I am again with no sleep in sight and no more medication to help. I've had more nights like this than I care to remember in the last few months, but what the heck. It's the new year, so happy new year to all of you! May your treasures be big and your troubles be small this year.

I've decided I'm going to knit my self to my knee surgery, whenever that may be, and then after that I'll knit myself to my back surgery. Each project will coincide with a certain amount of weight loss and get me that much closer to my goals. Like this week. So far I've made a Kindle cozy and a coffee cup cozy, and I'm down 6 pounds. Not bad. Tomorrow I'm going to cast on for a cowl and we'll see how far that gets me. My plan is that by the end of the year I'll have a new knee, a spinal fusion, and a trunk full of stuff to sell on e-bay. What do you think?

Buck is growing so fast. He's 8 months old now and almost full grown. He's a treasure. And a terror. Depends on his mood I guess. And Lucy's opened up to him like I'd hoped she would. They almost sort of play which is an improvement of her trying to eat him. I'll post pictures tomorrow for sure. Now I'm off to play stupid computer games until my brain falls out and I can sleep.

This is an official complaint....

2010-10-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

...although I'm not really sure who to send it to. Anyway:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Really, I think enough is just about enough. It wasn't enough for you when I fell in May and tore my hamstring. I kind of got that one back with a good massage therapist. But then I fell again the day after Labor Day, totally messing up my right knee and doing some serious damage to my calf muscle, and you just won't let this one go. I know this knee isn't strong. I know it needs replacing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that won't be next week or even next month. There are exigent circumstances. I'm doing the best I can, but these things take time. You really don't have to fling excruciating muscle cramps my way that don't stop with the affected leg but travel up my entire back. Now, thanks to our little delivery, I can't sleep. The pain has completely overridden my sleep medication and my pain medication rendering me wide awake muttering curses into the night. I've scared one cat up her tree and the other one under the couch. Sitting is uncomfortable; lying down is also not to be born. Standing sends bursts of fire down my leg from my knee; my cane has become the most important part of my wardrobe. You've ruined my life just now, and you've done such a bang up job that I think you should put in for retirement with full benefits. Please consider retirement knowing that your work will always be remembered. Please. Because I can't take too many more nights like this one.

Ever painfully yours,
candi

Buck

2010-07-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how quickly little kittens grow. It was only 3 weeks ago that we brought him home and he was so tiny. Now he looks like a gangly kitty monster, all legs and elbows and teeth. He's still cute as can be though, and his entertainment value is through the roof. He still does the sideways kitty hop when he's playing, but he hasn't quite learned how to control it yet and he ends up tumbling all over himself. His favorite thing is to hide and ambush us as we walk by. He'll jump out and grab an ankle and hang on for dear life.

Lucy's not all that thrilled to have Buck in her life, especially now that he's discovered where she hides. And he can climb up there. And there's food up there too! Boy! This is the neatest place ever!!! But yeah, Lucy's not thrilled.

He's not always a brat, though. He's actually even adorable sometimes, like here..... I just love his little nub of a tail.

He's still fun to hold when he sleeps, but I've been able to do a lot of knitting the past couple of weeks anyway. I did finish the project for my young friend, and tonight I'll start on a companion project. I'm also making the pieces that will eventually go on a "nappy cake" which will be a gift for one of my knitting friends who is expecting her first child in a few months. It's kind of fun to make tiny baby things. They go so quickly and use up very little yarn. I'll eventually have to go buy the diapers for the "cake", but all the little things that go on it are being made from yarn already on hand. I'll take pictures of the pieces and then the final assembly when I get everything finished.

Lucy says: Really? Do we have to keep him?

It's been pretty quiet.....

2010-07-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

Even the kitten's been bored. Actually, this is one of his favorite spots. He loves being close to us, and you can usually hear him purring from across the room.

There's been some playtime, though. Here he's playing tug of war with a kitchen towel. It must be great to be a kitten. Everything's a play toy.

He's learning how to be helpful, though. He helped me put the groceries away......after he'd beaten the bags into submission. And he checks out the dishwasher to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. He even offered to clean them once I reloaded it, but I told him no. There were a lot of dishes, and he's just a little kitten.

So I gave him an ice cube instead. His first ice cube ever. At first it was fun because it slid around, but then it got all melty and wet. Fun over!

I really haven't done much knitting this week either. I've discovered it's much more fun to hold Buck and try to get him to fall asleep. He's such a boneless little thing when he's sleeping. But I do have a project on the needles (actually more than one) It's a gift for a young friend so I can't say too much yet. Project #2 is a pair of Twilight Mitts, Project #3 is a shawl that I'm stuck on, and Katie's blanket brings up the rear of the list. There are others, but they're in hibernation at the moment to be dug out at some distant future date to exclaim "What was I thinking!"

The joys of kittenhood

2010-07-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have to say that there really hasn't been much knitting going on this week. Buck has become the center of life at the Reiter household. His antics are highly entertaining, but he frequently needs to be plucked out of another bit of trouble he's managed to get himself into. He loves to be with us, and as far as Buck is concerned, "with" means "on" so he can usually be found on someones lap or chest just hanging out or snoozing away. So far he's be an absolute delight to his human family members, but poor Lucy has retreated to her Tree of Solitude. She doesn't think we need another cat, and certainly not one that keeps getting into trouble. It's only been a few days though, so we're hoping she comes around.
A few gratuitous kitten pictures.....Buck on John's lap
and Buck passed out on the back of the couch.

It's awfully quiet in the living room. I think I'd better go see what he's gotten himself into this time. Have a peaceful weekend.

My summer of learning.

2010-07-08T23:45:00.001-07:00

I've learned a lot of things so far over this spring and summer. I've learned that we don't always need a job to feel useful and productive. I have a dear friend who is going through breast cancer treatments and the fact that I've been able to be there for her is very fulfilling. My mother went through breast cancer treatment many years ago, and I was stuck out here in California. It's something I've always regretted. But being here for my friend has truly been healing for both of us, and I hope the things that I learned long distance , if you will, will be a help to her as she continues to heal. And the bonus is that this experience has brought us closer in ways I never even considered. May I just say here that I love you lady. You are a shining example as was my mom.

Not all the things I've had to learn were positive things. I had to learn to say good bye to my dear, sweet little Curley cat in May, and it really broke my heart. But there was nothing to be done with the tumor she'd had growing in her lower jaw, so we did the right thing for her and ended what had to be horrendous pain for my poor little cat. She will forever have a place in my heart and on my desk, and on my desk top. I miss her every single day.
Lucy has really blossomed though. She's become quite a playful cat now. She has certain toys that are hers and she guards them jealously from us. Yes, she finally came out of her Tree of Solitude...........

Until this little guy came home with me yesterday. He's a brown tabby/manx mix and just adorable as he can be. John's named him Buck after the charachter in Ice Age 3

who is a swashbuckling weasel pirate/guide. I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the charachter really fits this little guy. I got him to sit down for a while, he likes chasing the courser, but... He fell asleep. We thought we should have pictures to prove he actually slept when he was a kitten, because with his high energy, no one would believe us.

I've been doing a lot of knitting too. I've made 2 pairs of socks (for me), 7 market bags (only one of which I use), and I have a pair of Winter Twilight fingerless mitts on the needles and a baby blanket for a friend of Katie's who is expecting.

Probably the most important thing I've learned over the last few months is patience. God works in His own time, and the day after I sent the request to our financial advisor for the last of our liquid assets, John was offered a fantastic job. And I know that when the time is right there'll be something for me as well. I'm just concentrating on getting my friend well again.

This being the month of July, I hope you had a wonderful holiday with all kinds of picnic and barbeque goodies. But I also hope you all stopped and gave a moment of thanks to those first Americans who fought and died so we could have something to celebrate. And now go out and truly celebrate your freedom. Thank a soldier, shake a Marine's hand, honor the vets, help where ever and who ever you can. God bless you all.

Wednesday, March 3rd

2010-03-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Not a very exciting title, I know, but it's not a very exciting day. And it's raining. Again. With the light and sound show this time for a little variety. I feel like I'm growing mushrooms in my ears.

We haven't been up to much. Lots of job hunting still going on around here. I think John may have a good possibility, but we won't know much until next week.

Lucy has settled in nicely. She likes to spend time in her "Tree of Solitude" but she likes to hang out with us even more. At night when we're watching tv, her place is beside me on the couch making sure I don't drop any stitches.

This is a little bit of what I've been up to. This is Heather's birthday present. I know it's a little late, but this one took a bit more time than I'd anticipated. This first shot is the back so you can see the mane and tail,

and this is the front of Heather the Pony. She's another creation of Paola Navarro of DeliciousCrochet.com. A very talented designer. I have several of her patterns, and I think my next endeavor will be her moose.

Debbie, my UIF friend in upstate NY is trying to gather 150 hats for a men's homeless shelter where she lives. She's in several groups on Yahoo, so she's asking anyone interested in participating to make hats for this project. I sent her 4 so far made from yarn already in my stash. She's going to be gathering hats until November, and then the idea is that they'll be given to the men next winter. I figure she'll get way more than the 150 she's shooting for, so I think I'll also make some scarves and neck warmers.

Shortly before Debbie asked for help with the hats, she sent a pattern through the list for a scarf that I just love. We used to have this as a free pattern at Super Yarn Mart when I worked there years ago. It's perfect for just about anyone, and I really love the way the one end goes through the opening at the other so you don't have to worry about losing it. It's also a one skein project, so you don't have to spend a lot of money, even if you choose a luxury yarn. My friend Victoria agreed to be the model for the picture, and then I mailed the scarf off to Debbie. Another stash project.

I'm working on some socks to try out the new 9" circular needles. I'm using a size 2 from Hiya Hiya for one pair, and a size 3 from Addi for the other. I need to find out which one gives me the proper gauge so I can knit my soldier socks the right size. It seems I knit quite tightly with double pointed needles, and the 0's and 1's that most people use give me a fabric that'll just about hold water. Way too tight for SFS socks. As soon as I get my current socks done, I can see which needle gives me the right gauge and start knitting those very big, very black socks again.

Also coming up will be a couple of shawl knit alongs. One is a KALendar one where a clue is given each month, and the other is a smaller piece with clues every few days. They should be fun.....if I can keep up. I'll let you know.

Doesn't it just irk you when.....

2009-12-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

....bloggers don't blog regularly? I know. But sometimes you just can't find anything to blog about, and then other times you can't find the time. It's been a little of both for the past 6 weeks or so, but I'm baaaaack! At least for today. :-)

Our Lucy has settled in well. Curley really doesn't seem to mind that we're a two cat household again, but Lucy's still not sure about Curley. They keep pretty much to their own favorite spots though, so while there's an occasional bit of hissing on Lucy's part, we haven't had any real issues. One really neat thing about adopting someone else's cat is that she came with STUFF! She has two cat trees and a self-cleaning cat box. You gotta love a cat who has her own STUFF.
This is her favorite cat tree. It's about six and a half feet tall, and of course she loves to be on the top. We've put it in a space carved out by the window of my yarn room (she's surrounded by shelves and drawers and bins of yarny goodness) so she can watch the birds and the neighborhood cats that like to hang out in the back yard. This is the position she assumes every time we walk into the room. It's her "pet me" position. Being the short person that I am, I have a hard time reaching that tummy. The lower part of the tree sticks out a bit making it a stretch to accomodate her when she wants tummy rubs. I think I disturbed her nap in this one.

In other cat news.....

.....Heather and Jeff moved to another apartment in their building that they like better. It's a bit larger, and the layout is better. Her cats love the new place, and I was able to spend some time with the boys on moving day. This is Martini. He's such a handsome boy. He has gray undertones making him look like he has a dirty face. And big? I think our family specializes in extra large cats.

Here's Floyd. Another armful of kitty. Very handsome and such a sweet boy.

And then there's Jack. This is a very rare moment because Jack has boundless energy and loves to play. He's the social one.....greets you when you come to the door, has to be in the middle of everything. He's odd kitty out though, because he's about half the size of his brothers.

And last month Heather got a wonderful surprise email from her former boyfriend telling her she could finally have her girl cats back. I don't have pictures of Keiko and Pele yet, but they're actually Floyd's older sisters. Pele is a beautiful gray with white feet (another large kitty), and Keiko is a tiny calico. Believe it or not, they all get along beautifully. Keiko has a bit of an attitude (she IS a calico) but she loves hanging out under the furniture or in the closet while the others gather in a heap on the bed. It's wonderful having them back in the family again.

We haven't seen Sammie and Andre in a while, but Katie assures us they're doing well. I'm hoping to get to see them this weekend. I miss having them here.

And I think this is where I'll stop today so this post doesn't go on forever. Tomorrow I'll have knitting news and pictures. Stay warm!

I'd like you to meet someone

2009-10-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is Miss Lucy. She's about 6 years old, and as you can see, she's a beautiful tortoiseshell kitty. She first came to our attention over a year ago when Katie brought her story home from work. Lucy's former owner had attacked her with a letter opener, and she was in pretty rough shape. But the loving care she got at the San Jose Animal Care Center made her as good as new and she went home with one of the staff members after her case was closed. But now Miss Lucy's people are moving across the country and they didn't feel it was fair to her to keep her in a tiny cat carrier for all those days and miles. So she now lives with us. She's a sweet tempered little girl, and we're already quite attached to her. She spent most of yesterday under the bed in my yarn room, but she came out this morning and we had some quality time. I figure it'll take a few days, but she'll eventually make it out to the living room. And we're making sure Princess Curley understands that she's still top cat.

I have no knitting to show you. Again. I've been knitting like crazy, but I haven't finished anything. That shows you how many projects I have going at the moment. But hopefully I'll start finishing things soon and get some pictures taken. Which reminds me, I need to add batteries to the shopping list so the camera will work. All these details..........

OTN: the blanket for Misty's cousin's baby
my Travelling Woman shawl
a Christmas colored market bag
various mushrooms
Katie's afghan
various sock lesson projects

On my list to start: Celtic Heart Mitts
Cabled Socks
Sea Urchin Hat
various holiday themed dishcloths
something in purple and blue - pattern undecided
various holiday themed flying pigs.

The first big storm

2009-10-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

And boy is it a big one! It's been raining non-stop all day, and the wind is really whipping the trees. I guess it had to happen sometime, but there are an awful lot of folks worried about their homes and businesses flooding or being damaged from sliding mud. Always serious concerns with a storm of this magnitude and duration. On the positive side, though, the ski resorts in the Sierras are cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a beautiful ski season. I'm just wishing I was some place warm. Rainy weather and I have never been the best of friends.

So what are you all up to on this blustery fall day? I've been knitting mostly with a brief hiatus to argue with the bank about our loan restructuring. It didn't end well. But the knitting goes on.

And I'm composing this post on my new netbook, an early birthday present from John. It's a cute little thing, but the keypad does take a bit of getting used to. I think it's a winner, though.

Currently on the needles: a baby blanket for the cousin of one of Katie's friends; a market bag started ages ago using left over cotton from the stash; a Travelling Woman shawl for me also using yarn from the stash (the spelling is the designer's, not mine); a couple of pairs of socks that I'm using as instructional aids; and some crocheted mushrooms intended for various uses. I desparately want to start a pair or two of socks to wear though. I have the yarn and the patterns all picked out, but I feel guilty about all the things already underway. I think I have a serious case of startitis.

I did finish something last week although I don't have a picture yet. It is a cute little pink sweater with mock cable ribbing. The mock cable continues up both sides of the front, and the general concensus from the Funky Fiber Fellows was to use a zipper instead of buttons. Very cute indeed. I'm just waiting for a picture from the baby's mother, and then you can see just how cute.

Well, I'm off to check on the soup and make sure the cat hasn't got her face in the soup pot. She seems to think that if it's cooking, it must be for her. No, she's not spoiled. Whatever gave you that impression?

Until next time.....

Where does the time go?

2009-08-21T06:11:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow! It's been almost a month since I was last here. Where does the time go? I guess it just sort of oozes by when you don't have any particular schedule or anything. I haven't been idle though. I've been making pigs like crazy and market bags and beanies. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures right now, but I'll get those taken this afternoon and hopefully posted tomorrow.

So what else has been going on? Well, we may both be unemployed here soon, and that's a scary thing. John's been on paid vacation almost all summer, and now that the contracts have been drawn, it doesn't look like his company will be getting them. Damn Army. Oh well. As a wise woman once told me, it is what it is. So we're both job hunting. I'll be taking the next civil service exams for the post office. I figure it won't hurt and I may even get a job out of it, and John's looking at some of the more lucrative contract positions. Maybe it won't be scary for too long.

We're taking a little trip the first of September. John's never been to Reno, so we're going up there for a few days. I plan to see Francine and go to Jimmy Beans Wool Shop, and John's going to hang out by the pool. He wants to see all the casinos too, so we'll make the rounds...have a drink in each one just to say we did. It'll be a nice trip.

Well, that's about it. Not too exciting out here right now. How's it with you?

THIS is what Sunny California is all about

2009-07-26T17:21:00.001-07:00

We don't often see this kind of perfect in California. This is my kind of perfect.....skies so clear and blue that they make you cry........

.....trees in glorious full bloom......

....absolutely NO haze to muddy the view of the hills.....

......Mission Peak rising clear and clean against the sky....

....and temperatures in the high 60's-low 70's. It just doesn't get any better.

It also doesn't last. I expect this coming week will see a return of too much heat, too much humidity, and too much smog. But this week was wonderful while it lasted. :-)

Lake Superior's North Shore

2009-07-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

I promised you some shots of our trip to the North Shore, and I apologize for being so slow to get them up. Vacation recovery seems to take an awfully long time now. And, of course, we helped Heather and Jeff move house. But without further ado, here are some of the pictures I took while in Minnesota along the north shore of Lake Superior.

Wild Lupine. It grows everywhere, and it's gorgeous. Purple, blue, white, pink all set against a very rich green background. I'd forgotten just how green Minnesota is.
The lake, taken from the car window on the outskirts of Tofte, MN.

We stopped at the Split Rock Light House and got a good look at how things were for the keepers back in the day. There were 3 keepers to make sure the light was working 'round the clock, and each one had their own house. The keepers' houses are being restored to their original condition as is the light house. It's not a very tall light either, but it sits on a huge granite promontory, so it can still be seen for quite a way by ships.

See? Kinda short. But still quite effective.

That's Heather, Jeff and Katie at the bottom of the lighthouse.

As I was sitting on the little deck outside the condo we'd rented, I saw 2 kayakers paddling by in the late summer sun.

And as we all sat around the bonfire that the resort lights every night during the summer, I got a pretty nice picture of the last of the sunset. I really like those soft pastel shades.

It was a great trip, and I think we all had one of the best times ever. It was great to visit with family and friends, and it was a lot of fun to introduce Jeff to things he'd never seen or experienced before. Thanks, Sam and Bill, for a truly great vacation!

I've been a bad blogger.....

2009-06-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

......but in my own defense I have to say that my life isn't all that exciting right now. It's been over a year since I was last gainfully employed and talking to the cat all day and watching crime show reruns does not make for interesting blog material. I haven't been idle though. I've been valiantly searching the job boards, filling out applications and submitting resumes, all to no avail. So I've been making flying pigs which I have no pictures of because Heather things my pictures are awful. She's right, of course, but then I never claimed to be a photographer. Still, I should try something new.....like light. It's pretty dim in our house. It helps keep the heat out. So next week I'll be taking pictures outside and maybe trying a light box (I looked up on the innernetz how to make one). So next week I'll have lots of pig pictures, and then I can direct you to my website www.yarncandi.com so you can see my newest venture. (and maybe order a pig)

I'm thinking about getting the knitting group in on my next project:

I's a tree cozy!! Don't you just love it? I don't know where this one is, but I think it's just about the greatest thing ever. I have a pine tree in my front yard that is crying out for one of these. Wanna help?

It'll have to wait until I get back from Minnesota, though. I'm leaving on Wednesday to go visit my family back in the old home state. Katie, Heather and Jeff are going too, and we'll be staying with my sister Sam. She's got a great time planned for us......a trip up to the North Shore where I've never been even though I grew up in Minnesota, a sight seeing trip for the girls and Jeff since Jeff's never been to the Twin Cities before, and lots of good food and libations. We'll only be gone 5 days, but it'll be a great 5 days, that's for sure.

When we get home, Heather and Jeff are moving to a new, bigger apartment in downtown San Jose. This little guy is already to go. That's Floyd two years ago when Heather adopted him. Cute little guy isn't he.

Well, now he fills the whole box. This is Floyd now. He's still a pretty cute kitty. It's nice to see they've cushioned him so he won't break in the move. Too bad there isn't anymore room in there for Martini and Jack.

I'll be back next week with pictures of places I've seen and people I've annoyed. C ya!

June 1st already?

2009-06-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! 2009 just seems to be speeding along. I can't believe it's June already. So how have you all been?

I want to thank everyone who took the time to check out the "Save Our Rangers" site and especially those who wrote to the San Jose City Council or the Mayor. Mayor Chuck Reed stepped in and saved our Rangers! He said he'd met with hundreds of residents and it was clear they thought public safety was a top priority, so the Rangers are saved. YAAAY!!

I've been working away on my flying pigs. Those little guys are sure popular. Heather helped me set up a website where you can actually order your own flying pig (or pigs) in a variety of colors and styles. Just go to www.yarncandi.com and see my little guys. I do plan to have other offerings, and I'm working up samples now. It takes about a day to make a pig from beginning to end, so it'll be a few days before I have pictures of all my different pigs. but you can get an idea. I'll also have things that aren't pigs too, so keep checking back.

Some of the things I've been working on lately:

a baby blanket for Afghans for Afghans made of
super bulky Blue Sky Alpaca in a simple mitered
square design knit on #17 needles.

my first fish hat from Knitty.com. The next one
will be a shark hat in the San Jose Sharks colors
for Katie to wear to the Sharks games next
season.

a corgi ornament for a rear view mirror.....I'm
not really sure why though.

a little dog base on pictures of one designed by

Jean Greenhowe who is a wonderfully talented
designer of knitted toys.

And, of course, pigs. I made a daddy Marine and a baby Marine for Trina and a personalized blue baby for Jackie. So now it's models for the website. I did take a detour to try my hand at hand felting, and I don't recommend it. It works, but you have to stand there a long time and agitate that hot water with, well, your hand. And did I mention it's HOT? So I'll borrow an older top loader when I'm ready to do some felting. I would like to make a couple of felted bags; just as soon as I get the pigs done. =)

SAVE OUR PARK RANGERS!!!

2009-05-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

If you live in the San Jose, Ca area, I urge you to go to www.sanjoseparkranger.org and do what you can to help save the Ranger program in San Jose. Even if you don't, please go and show support for our rangers. If San Jose gets away with cutting their program, your city or county or state could be next. We need our park rangers! They fill a vital role in protecting our communities by protecting our parks and park visitors. They are trained safety personnel and could very well save your life or the life of a loved one some day. Please check out the above website or www.lakecunningham.com and find out more about rangering and how you can help.

Thank you. =)

icanhascheezburger

2009-05-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here's another site you have to check out. It's called icanhascheezburger and the pictures are cute and funny, and they just may remind you of someone you know.

'Nother picture day

2009-04-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

So have you checked out "Not Always Right"? It's a hoot, and you really should.

Now I'll show you why I haven't been blogging more often.

These little guys are headed to Iraq to a Marine air traffic control unit. There's 8 in the bunch, and I hope the Marines get a kick out of them.
And right before those 8 there were these.......

....they were joined by another pink one and a green one and 4 of them went to live with John's boss. I found homes for 2 more, so I only have 2 little ones and the big one left. My next project is a Darwin fish, and then a bright yellow large flying pig. After that I really need to get some other things finished, but plans aren't definite yet. I may cast on something in wool as long as the weather stays cool.

We've had a lot of weather cycling this year, very wet followed by very warm, repeat often, and this is what you get when that happens.

Yep. That's my backyard. The grass is almost as tall as the fence, and the bushes are at least 9 feet tall. That wild mustard in the lower left corner? Up to my armpits. There are 5 foot tall spikenard out there and nettles that are 3 feet in diameter. I don't know what all is out there, but hopefully one day soon I'll find out. We plan to have a landscaper come out and clear cut the whole mess. I sure wish we could have him redo the whole area, but he gave me a rough estimate of $6K and, well, that just isn't in the budget right now. Eating is barely in the budget right now. But maybe we can decide what we want and start to work on it a little at a time.

Get your daily dose of laughter

2009-04-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

Do you read this? You should. This is hilarious. I know people can be really dumb sometimes, but these folks take the cake. I read this every day and it never fails to make me laugh. Check it out. And never, ever ask "how many pieces of chicken in a two piece meal?"

A Weather Reversal

2009-04-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Our weather has been gorgeous the past several days, a bit windy perhaps, but beautiful blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds, nice warm temperatures. And today it rained. My friend Di in Canada wrote me that they got 16 inches of snow. I guess some rain isn't so bad. But I've had enough. Every time it rains, things decide not to work well. This time it's a leg and shoulder and a thumb. Very frustrating not being able to depend on having all your parts working just because of a little weather. Ah well.

I did make it down to the park yesterday, but I didn't get the pictures out of the camera yet. The little pigs down there are pretty cute. There are some new calves too, but they were in the shade on the far side of the pasture hiding from their adoring public. I'm going down again next week so I'll see if I can get some more shots and post them all together.

I'm busily making pigs in rainbow colors. I'm not sure why. John asked if I could, so I am. Apparently his boss wants several to make a mobile out of them. That'll really make them fly! =)

The prayer shawl is almost finished and then I'll cast on for a super bulky baby blanket. It'll go fast. That one will be for Afghans for Afghans for a baby at the Cure Hospital. Then it'll be more beanies for soldiers and more pigs in multiple sizes so I can have a small amount of stock in order to launch an Etsy site. Can't put up a sign saying 'for sale' if you don't have anything to sell. I have the ideas, the yarns, the skills, I just need to be able to work a little faster. Anyway, pictures of the rainbow babies will be up tomorrow. They're darling! Who ever thought a yellow pig would be cute. Can't wait to make up the other colors. I think by Monday I should have about 6 finished.

Curley has repeatedly pointed out that it's way past her bedtime so I need to go to bed too. 53 years old and getting bossed around by my cat.

It's Picture Day!

2009-04-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures I've been promising. I finally had to go steal some batteries from John's "office" because I kept forgetting them at the store. Anyway, here, for your viewing pleasure we have Sasha the sheep,
the Harmonia's Rings cowl,

a close up of the moebius detail,

the prayer shawl in progress (only 10 more inches to go),

a little spring green from here in Fremont,

a little more spring green,

my lavender plant in bloom,

and our new firehouse. It took them forever to get this thing built, but it came out pretty nice I think. Sure looks a lot better than the old corrugated tin building that was there before.

And this is a shot down Central Avenue looking East. Kind of a pretty view.

Think I'll go down to the park today. Heather says they have babies. Have a good one.

Lessons learned

2009-04-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

I'm bad. I just can't seem to find the time to blog even though I spend hours everyday sitting at the computer. I guess I'm really not very disciplined, because what I'm usually doing is sitting here chasing eggs on FaceBook or playing Mahjong. I need a task master who will stand over me and make sure I do other stuff....like get out in the sun maybe, do a little yard maintenance, whatever.

That's not all I've been doing though. If I'm not glued to the computer, I'm camped out on the couch with my yarns and needles. I did finish the cowl I was making. No pictures because I need to get batteries for the camera, but it turned out really well. I'll take pictures tomorrow at a supplemental knitting get together and post them. I think it really did turn out great, especially for my first moebius project.

Now I'm working on a prayer shawl. If you don't know about the Prayer Shawl Ministry, I encourage you to read up on it. It's a wonderful way to show someone who is grieving, lonely, suffering in anyway that they are not alone, that someone cares.

The weather was perfect for a puppy rescue flight on Saturday, so John flew over to Livermore to pick up some dogs coming in from Modesto. He got them loaded into the Bonanza and started his pre-flight and lost rpms to the prop. So he had to unload the dogs, call someone to come and get them and take them the next leg of their journey up to Canada and then see if he could find a mechanic. Well, apparently airplane mechanics are so darn rich they don't work weekends. I would think that Saturday would be one of their busiest days, but nary a grease monkey in sight.
So one of the other pilots who flies rescue for the humane societies picked up the pups and John just went to Katie's where I went to pick him up. These are the guys who's flight to Canada was delayed a bit. The 3 on the left belong to the other pilot, the 3 on the right are the rescue dogs.
I learned a few things that day. Number one is that the freeway out to Livermore is undergoing construction and if you want to be sure you take the right exit, you only drive in the right lane. I didn't. Number two is that if you miss your exit and take the next one, God only knows where you'll end up. Yeah. But number three is there were sheep. Who knew? Sheep in Livermore.
And number four is that my daughter has turkeys for neighbors. No! Really! As we were headed back to the freeway, two turkeys came strutting right out of the brush along the side of the road. It was pretty cool to see wild turkeys, but I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised. I mean there were sheep.

I think I'll go hunt down some batteries so that next time I'm prepared.

Curley slep through the whole thing.

Just moving along

2009-03-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures to post this time. It appears that I need new batteries for the camera. I've put that on my to-do list along with buying eyes for the sheep I can't show you yet and getting a suitably goofy birthday card fot Katie. She turns 27 on Sunday. Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

I haven't been idle while I've been absent from the blog. I designed and made a sheep amigurumi (he's really cute) and I knitted another ruffle scarf (in purple this time) and I started a cowl called Harmonia's Rings. It's a design by Sivia Harding which will probably mean nothing to most of those reading this, but she's a fantastic knit wear designer. She's done some stunning shawls that I really want to try, but this cowl just caught my eye. If you feel a draft around your neck/shoulders, this would be absolutely perfect. Most cowls I've seen just cover the neck, but Sivia has designed this to come down over the tops of the shoulders too. You could put this on on a cold day and just go about your business without worrying about those sudden drafts that send shivers through you. I promise I'll have pictures and links next time so you can see what I mean. It's a great design, and I plan to make more than one.

The weather around here has finally settled down, and it looks like it'll be good enough for John to fly this weekend. He always complains about forgetting how if he can't go as often as he'd like to. He has a flight planned to transport some puppies from Livermore to Medford, Oregon. It's a little longer than he'd like (especially with a bunch of whiny puppies), but if the weather looks good the whole way, he'll finally be able to his first flight in for this charity group. He's really looking forward to being able to do this, and I can't think of a better cause; helping animals on death row get to their new forever homes.

Next time

2009-03-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

The baby shower yesterday was awesome. So many women in one place! My goodness! I don't remember most of the names, but I think I talked to more than half of them. A wonderful, wonderful group of people. Thank you ladies for including me. I felt very special. Wish I'd taken my camera, but maybe next time.

We got up nice and early this morning to go over to Ikea to look for a separate table to hold the new printer. We didn't know they were having a sale on a pot, a $40 pot for $10. The place was packed!!! Everybody trying to get this 'fabulous' deal. I have pots at home that I use all the time that are bigger than these things were. It was just crazy!!! So next time we have to go over to Ikea, we're going to check first to make sure they aren't having any crazy sale going on.

I was itching to get back to the needles and get something made for the Etsy store-to-be. So I made a ruffled scarf, and then I started an amigurumi sheep. This first one is for a gift for a fellow fiber lover, but it will be offered on my Etsy store, and maybe even the pattern. I'll also be making up a bunch of flying pigs, so once I get it launched, you can all check it out and tell me what you think.

And there will be pictures tomorrow. Right now Curley thinks I should feed her and go to bed.

This week.....

2009-03-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

.....I've been busy trying to get a project finished that had a thursday morning deadline.

I talked to Heather on Monday, and she asked if I had any extra baby things laying around somewhere as she needed a shower gift for Saturday, and could I then bring it down to the park on Thursday. Well, I don't have a lot of already made baby things laying around because I donate them to Newborns In Need or Afghans for Afghans, but I told her I'd come up with something.

Tuesday, she said that I was included in the invitation too. It's for Jeff's niece whom we met at a breakfast gathering for Jeff's birthday last year. A very nice young lady especting her first baby.
I remember talking to her for a few minutes about the joys of motherhood, and I briefly thought it would be nice to make something for her and meant to ask Jeff when she was due, but since my brain is a steel sieve, I forgot.

Well, a trip to Michael's, which is usually a disappointment because they have such a poor yarn selection, gave me the inspiration and the materials for this:

It's a beautiful knitted ripple baby blanket made of Lion Brand Homespun in the Waterfall colorway. Perfectly appropriate as the baby is a boy. I'm really pleased with the way it came out. The gentle, random striping of greens and blues is really a lot prettier in person, and I can honestly say this thing is WARM. I used a size 15 needle, so it's a rather loose knit, and the sort of boucle effect of the yarn makes it hard to actually see the stitches, but I think that makes it fit the name of the colorway so much more.

Unfortunately, the push to get it finished in time left me with a case of tendonitis in both shoulders. I wish someone could explain to me why it gets me in the shoulders and not in the wrists or even the elbows. Guess I should take a class on physiology or something. The good part is that ice packs and good drugs have pretty much banished the pain overnight, so I can enjoy the shower this afternoon.

Stay tuned for the next project: Harmonia's Rings by Sivia Harding.

Hah!

2009-03-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Beware the Timesuck!

2009-03-12T15:37:00.001-07:00

A while back, I got a thing in my email from a friend and former coworker inviting me to join Facebook. I figured why not. I mean it's not like I know that many people, right? Wrong! Almost my entire knitting group is on Facebook, both of my sisters, several former coworkers, and the list goes on. And what with poking people, writing on wall, commenting on photos, checking everyone's status, etc, etc, it really eats up the day. If I every find a job, I'm going to be seriously stressed about not being able to keep up with my peeps!

Curley says: "So many naps, so little time."

OTN: Classic Elite Star beanie for SFS

Moving right along

2009-03-07T15:09:00.001-08:00

The sun is finally out and looks like it'll be staying for a while, but it's rained so much we have this growing on the patio:

and the back yard looks like this:

Anybody have a couple of goats I could borrow for a week?

I pulled a muscle in my lower back moving large bins of yarn into my yarn room, so I've been taking it easy the last couple of days hoping the pain would subside a bit so I can move some more. While I've been benched (as it were) I made these:

They're going to their new home on Monday with the children of one of my knitting buddies. It always surprises me abit how different each one turns out. It's the same pattern and the same eyes, but just a tiny bit of difference in placement changes the look and the personality entirely. I think that's why I don't get bored making these.

Oh! Do you remember this stuff that I bought at Stitches West last week?

Well I turned it into this:

This stuff ruffles itself as you knit. It's great! And I found a similar product at JoAnn Fabrics with more yardage for considerably less money. I'll be working those up as soon as I can. My next project will be more beanies for Socks For Soldiers. Some of our service men and women may be coming home soon, but in the meantime, they're still cold. I've got a Classic Elite Star beanie on the needles now, and I hope to have enough finished to mail next week. They're pretty fast and easy, though.

I'm off to my knitting corner. You all have a good weekend and enjoy whatever it is you're doing.

Another month gone

2009-03-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

February bit the dust Saturday, but at least the weather was nice for it. Couldn't have asked for better in my opinion. The temperature was perfect even if the skies weren't entirely free of clouds. The only dark spot was the alternater in the plane seizing and forcing John to do a manual landing in Tracy. He was able to land safely and arrange for repairs, and then a friendly soul from Hayward who'd just stopped for gas flew him back home. Pilots are a great bunch.

I promised to show you the finished product of my cross stitch piece. Well, here he is.
The Holly and Ivy Woodland Santa in beaded counted cross stitch on perforated paper. I think he came out well. I still need to put a backing on, but I haven't found what I want to use yet. I still have a few months to go till Christmas, though

And I want to say a very happy, though belated, 50th birthday to my sister Jenny! I hope you had a wonderful time Jen, and may you live another 50.

And now my haul from Stitches West. This was the first year I actually got to experience the Stitches Expo first hand, and I was absolutely floored! I have never seen so much yarn in one place in my entire life. Miles and miles and miles of it. All different fibers and weights and colors. I was definitely hit with sensory overload. It took me all weekend to recover. =) But here's what I brought home: Tango Multi, a ribbon yarn from Universal Yarn Co that self ruffles. It's amazing, and I've never worked with anything quite like it. I'm working it up now, so you can see in a few days what it looks like.

Bryspun needles. These needles are endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation and are perfect for people who have joint and muscle issues who find knitting difficult. Do they work? I'll let you know. I've transferred the Branching Out scarf to the 24 inch one. I do have to say that I really like the tips on them. Nice and pointy without being too sharp.

And this lovely little skein is destined to warm the hands and heart of someone special this Christmas. 100% cashmere in fingering weight. I plan to make some gloves out of it.

Isn't this yarn a kick!? It's EKnits sock yarn in the Beijing Baby colorway. I thought it was great. These socks will be for me. And notice the little sock blocker key chain which was a free gift.

Creatively Dyed had all their end lots on a table for $3 a skein. I saw these and thought I could turn them into a happy, bright sweater for a little girl in Afghanistan. What do you think?

And all my goodies came home in a free tote bag from SouthWest Trading Company. I love their yarns. They're using all kinds of new fibers like corn and soy and bamboo and sea silk. Lovely stuff. I'm now signed up for their newsletter, and I have a very roomy tote to drag along to knit night with the group on Mondays. We're going to have show and tell tonight. It ought to be fun.

So that's about it. March came in like a lion yesterday with rain and strong winds, and it looks like it's still roaring out there. I'll be spending the day inside with my yarn and my books and my needles. I'm still trying to get all my yarn moved over to its new home in Katie's old room. Boy do I have a lot! You all have a good day where ever you may be, and leave me a comment if you're so inclined.

I've been a baaaaaaad blogger!

2009-02-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

I know. I don't stop by here as often as I should. No excuses really except there's nothing going on. It's cold. It's rainy. It's gloomy. Fun stuff. Besides, I'm missing Katie and these guys. It's not quite the same without them. The house feels a lot emptier.

I did finish the moc-a-socs slippers. They look pretty good, and they'll probably be warm, but they just need to go to someone with longer feet than I have. So I'm going to give them to Jessica on Monday, and I hope she likes them.

I cast on this scarf in a really soft angora/wool blend. It's called Branching Out and is a pretty basic lace pattern. It's also a pretty lace pattern. This is 3 repeats of the pattern, and I need to go to about 30 repeats. But I'm using the wrong needle. I have to find a needle with a sharper point to make passing all those stitches over a lot easier. It's going to be a gorgeous scarf when it's finished.

But while I've been hunting through all my stuff trying to find another size 8 needle with a sharper point, I came across this. Know what it is? Leave me a comment with your guess. You won't win anything, but it'll be fun anyway. I'll post what it is tomorrow.

And tomorrow is Stitches West! I'm so excited I can't stand myself. I don't know how many of you might be familiar with Stitches, but there are a few through out the year held in different regions of the country. Stitches West is held every year out here, and this is the first year I've been able to go. It's always been on a weekend when I worked, but now that the pesky old job isn't a problem any more, I get to go. Of course, I won't be able to buy much. But it's going to be such a treat to see all the yarns and pet them and smell them and just be in awe of vast rainbow of color. If allowed I'll take some pictures, but don't count on it. A lot of these things don't allow photography in order to hold on to their trade secrets. But I'll try! It's going to be so much fun!

I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Now what am I going to wear............

Still raining

2009-02-17T18:48:00.001-08:00

I thought someone said it was supposed to start clearing up today, but when I left to run errands this morning, this is what I saw. Lots and lots of dark, angry clouds.
And when I came out of Target.....

and the bookstore......

But when I got home, I saw these guys, and they seemed to be happy as could be.

Guess I'll just stay inside and play with my yarn. Btw, I found this while I was touring the knitting blogs and I liked it, so I stole it. Pretty much sums it up for most of us I think.

Catching up

2009-02-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

I know. It's been a while since I was last here, but I've been busy. I finished my KAL with the Christmas 2009 Monthly Make Ahead group on Ravelry. We did this:

It's a plain garter stitch (knit every row) scarf with a snake head on one end and a jingle bell tail on the other. He turned out kind of cute I think. I hope his intended recipient thinks so too.

And then there was this:

and this:

These are two afghans I've had sitting in pieces forever that finally got put together and mailed off with another afghan (sorry, no pic) and 4 dozen more squares. I've been in a lot of granny square exchanges with the UIF group over the years, and I like making squares much more than I like putting them together. But a young lady named Reiley asked for our help with her Pay It Forward project at school. For her project, she wanted to make blankets for charity, and since her mom is a knitter she thought she'd ask other knitters for help. This young person is only 12 years old, and she posted to the Christmas Make Ahead group asking for help with squares last month. Then she started her own Ravelry group for those who wanted to help her with her project. Her group has a membership of 184 knitters and crocheters who are making and sending her squares that her mom, grandma, and aunts are helping her sew into afghans. She's even started her own blog http://thehookiepookie.typepad.com/. You ought to click over and see what she's got going. It's amazing. Anyway, I donated 3 assembeld afghans plus enough squares to make another, and in the process cleaned out a large portion of my stash. I think the box weighed 10lbs. That's a lot of yarn. I wish young Reiley much success with this endeavor and with the rest of her life. I think she's going to go far.

Katie and the boys have been gone a few weeks now, and certain furry members of this family seem to be delighted. Our little princess can sleep in uninterrupted peace now when ever and where ever she wants. The back of the couch is one of her favorite spots; she's near me, but not actually in contact. That only takes place when she deems it necessary.

I'm working on a pair of slippers, but they've come out a little on the large side, so I'll have to make the next size down. No, I didn't swatch. I know I should have, but I figured it's just slippers, right? No big deal. Well, it is. They don't fit. So I'll try again, and this time I'll swatch.

But I made this:

And I think it'll fit just fine. It's a bunny for Heather's Rabbit, and I think he's cute. John thinks I should get out of the house more.

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

2009-02-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

Who knew?!? I love ice cream for breakfast. Back when the kids were in grade school, the fan went out on the fridge, and we needed to clear the freezer fast. Ice cream for breakfast. The kids thought it was so cool, they bragged about it all day at school.

Here's the history followed by the rules for the day.

The Ice Cream For Breakfast Day Story:Once upon a time there was a little girl named Ruth and a little boy named Joe. Ruth and Joe grew up in the back of beyond in New York state where it was very very cold. Every winter between New Year's Eve and Passover, life in up-state New York got extremely boring, so their parents invented a holiday to brighten up the dreary days of winter. It was called Ice Cream For Breakfast Day. This was a wonderful holiday for children and parents alike because to celebrate you had to eat ice cream for breakfast on the first Saturday in February.Well, Ruth and Joe grew up and went away to a university. They made many friends and taught them all about Ice Cream For Breakfast Day. After college Ruth had a roomate named Barry to whom she also told about this tradition. Many years later, Barry met Itzah C. Kret in Washington, D.C. and converted him into an Ice Cream For Breakfast Day observer. Nobody has kept precise track but through word of mouth ICFBD has been celebrated in many homes, states and countries all over the world. Some people give parties with musical instruments, others simply celebrate with family members. There is no right or wrong so long as you follow the 3 plus 1 simple Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Rules(1) Eat ice cream(2) forwith breakfast(3) on the first Saturday in February(4) spread the word The rest is up to you! You can become an Official Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Ambassador!

So are you gonna? It's fuuu-uuuun! Well, if you don't want to, fine, but I've got a carton of Mint Chocolate Chip in the freezer. See ya!

Things to do on a rainy day

2009-02-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

1) stay in bed where it's all warm and cozy
2) play with your toys

3) get creative with your food

4) have fun with the neighbors

If at first you don't succeed.....

2009-02-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

.....go back and read the instructions. And be sure you read what's actually there and not what you think is there. I started this the other night and had to rip it out twice because it wasn't coming out right. So I went back to the original pattern and read what was actually there. Well, duh! And it came out perfect. This is a knitted basket weave stitch (or woven basket stitch) that was published in a really old Mon Tricot stitch guide. I saw the dishcloth on Ravelry and immediately put it in my queue because it was such a different stitch, and I like learning new stitches. But the pattern directions weren't copied correctly, so I had to dig a little further to the actual source (which was the Mon Tricot) and voila. One dishcloth. Here's a close up of the stitches. They really look like they've been woven. The yarn is Peaches and Cream (available at WalMart) in the gum drop colorway. I used a 54 stitch cast on and just knitted until it was square. The bind off is kind of different: K2tog, * k2tog, pass first stitch over second stitch; repeat from * across row. You end up with half the sitches but a straight edge. Otherwise you have a ruffle for a bind off row. Then I just did a one row single crochet from the right side all the way around to finish. One more addition to the gift pile.

This is my other project this week. This is Mr Mosquito. He's currently sitting on top of the tv. The pattern says he comes out about 7", but he's actually closer to 10. That's okay. He's still cute. I love the way Paola Navarro does the eyes on her amis. They're so goofy. He's even got a uni-brow and hair. He's great and so much fun to do. Takes a lot of time though.

My projects this week will include a few more dishcloths that I have in my queue on Ravelry and a garter stitch snake scarf. One of the groups is doing a knit-a-long, and I have the necessary colors, so I'm going to join in. This one will also be a gift.

Sounds like Stupid Bowl is about to start. Better go get a good seat so I can make snide remarks.

Hump day

2009-01-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well, the mushrooms got made, and I think they turned out rather cute. Pink isn't my first choice for mushrooms, but it works for these guys. That's a Caron worsted for the light pink part and a dark pink sport worked double for the tops. The guy in the middle actually pops his top so you can put little treasures inside.

Moving day went off without a hitch, and Katie's settling in to her new apartment. She was back today to get the rest of her stuff and the cats. Andre seems to be doing well and is checking everything out. Sammie's under the bed. So all's right with the world for now. Saturday will be fun. That's when Billy moves in.

This is the latest family of pigs to wing their way out of here. They took off this morning for their new home with John's coworker. Thank you Diane. I hope you get as much pleasure from them as I did.

Next up is a mosquito amigurumi. It's a cute little design by Paola Navarro in Brazil. She does lots of darling little critters. I also like her Monkey wears Prada. But I'm working on Mr Mosquito for now, and I have to say that while the patterns aren't difficult, they are kind of involved. Where the pigs are one major piece with a few little extras tacked on, Paola's patterns have several pieces that need to be put together in a specific way. That makes them a bit more difficult to personalize, but I like them. They're fun and imaginative, and I'm learning a lot as I go along. I'll post some pictures when he's finished.

It's Moving Day!

2009-01-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

And Katie and Rich are off getting the U-Haul that Katie rented because the forecast was for rain. Nope. Another 'bright, sunshiney day'. The cats are locked up so no one can go scampering out into the street, the garage is full of boxes and bits of furniture, and as soon as they get back with the truck we can load up and head on out of here. Well, they can load up. I don't do "load", I have a note. But I'm in charge of lunch. I get to go get some large pizzas from Safeway's deli and a couple of growlers from Jack's Brew Pub and then try to find this apartment complex on my own. Ummmm....does any one else see anything wrong with this plan? No? Well, then stay tuned.

Ctrl, Alt, Delete

2009-01-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

I need a reboot. I want a do over. This week sucked!

I went out Monday night to go meet my knitting buddies at Panera and the truck wouldn't start. No turning over, no clicking noise, nothing. So I didn't go. I could have used the Pathfinder, but I don't like driving it. So I stayed home and did my knitting on the couch.

Tuesday I had the Sears repairman coming (dishwasher issues) so I couldn't call the dealer right away about the truck. The Sears guy said it was a clog in the line and cleared it right away. Awesome! Okay, not. The pump was also bad. They could fix it for $506 or I could buy a new machine for $378. So now I had to go dishwasher shopping. OH wait! The truck still won't start. Call up Ford and arrange to have it looked at. Call up AAA because we have free towing up to 100 miles and the Ford place is only 4 miles away. AAA jump starts the truck instead and I drive it over there. New battery and several mysterious maintenance things latter, I have my truck back.

Wednesday I go dishwasher shopping. I hate shopping for appliances. You need to have your lottery winnings in your pocket when you go looking, because I gaurantee what you want is not in your budget. But I got a decent machine for about what we expected to pay. Can you install that? Oh sure. We'll have our contracted technician call you. Two days later.

But it's finally installed and working. No leaks, not overly noisy, doesn't match any other appliance in our kitchen (guess we're starting over) so everything is good. The truck is running great, the dishes are done without me having to stand at the sink several times a day, Katie's packing her stuff in preparation for moving day on Monday, and all is, finally, right with the world. As much as we can expect it to be anyway.

My gingerbread man had a bit too much eggnog.

2009-01-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

But I like him anyway. This little guy is for the Christmas Monthly Make Ahead group on Ravelry. January is decorations for home or tree, so this one is for the tree. I have a couple other ornaments that aren't quite finished yet, but I'll be posting those in a couple of days.

I've also been working on amigurumi mushrooms for Julie....light pink on the bottom and dark pink on the top. Two are almost finished, but they don't have faces yet, and the 3rd one I have to wait until John can print the pattern out for me. So Julie, they'll be late, but you'll get them before the end of the month.

Tomorrow I'll be looking through all my boxes and containers for squares that have accumulated over the years. These are all crocheted and were intended for afghans, but I just never got them put together. Well there's a young lady on Ravelry named Reilley who is participating in her school's Pay It Forward project, so she's started a group on Ravelry and is asking for squares to be sent to her which she (and probably her mom an aunts) will assemble to be distributed in February. What a great thing she's doing, and what a great opportunity for me to help some one on several levels while cleaning out my stash of squares. So a large box or two will be headed to her this week. I think I'll take the time to assemble my squares first as this thing has really taken root with the Ravelers. She's going to have a lot of donations.

Back in the Saddle again

2009-01-18T00:55:00.001-08:00

Well, not literally. I wouldn't do that to any horse. But figuratively speaking, I'm back at it again after a brief hiatus to calm down some tendonitis. The marvelous thing about hand surgery is getting the use of your hands back. The not so marvelous thing is they're never quite as strong as before and they tire quickly. If you over work them, you pay the consequences. But this week we have OTN one pair of leisure socks in Knit Picks Felici yarn, colorway Coastal. These are working up very soft and the stripes are blues and soft greens. Both socks are through the ribbing and about 1 inch past at this point.

Another odd bit from my Ravelry queue is the garterlac dishcloth. I want to try a major entrelac project, so I thought a couple of these would help me feel more comfortable with the pattern. This is Lily Sugar and Cream cotton in the Newport colorway. Very nice, but the pattern is one you do need to pay attention to. Maybe I need to make a few more.

Another odd bit from my Ravelry queue was the Flickering Flame dishcloth. The ensemble comes with a back scrubber pattern, but I was thinking more along the lines of a hand towel to match.

An 2 more flying pigs were completed this week and have flown off to live with their new families. These two went to coworkers of Katie's friend Nicole. Thanks for sharing yours with your office buddies Nicole! All business is good business!

A side view so you can see the sheriff pig a little better. I really like the way he came out. Katie and I were talking about other pigs I can make like a firefighter pig and a nurse pig and a pirate pig. I'll have to see what yarns I've got in my stash.

No pictures yet, but I've started some mushrooms for Julie. She said light pink on the bottom and dark pink on top, so that's what she's going to get. I hope she enjoys them as much as I am, and even though she knows what's coming, I think there will still be a surprise or two for her.

and January marches on....

2009-01-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

....but I'm stuck here on the sidelines with a bad paw. i got a little carried away with the last set of pigs and ended up with a nasty case of tendonitis. makes everything more difficult. So Julie, describe what you want me to make for you--what color stems (bodies) what color hats (heads). your mom says pink, but that doesn't give me a lot to go on, so give me a few specifics. i always work better when i have specifics. and options. options are good. colors, sizes, etc. those are good options. let me hear from you soon. okay?

First FO's sighted!

2009-01-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

2009 is getting off to a good start. I'm actually finishing things in a timely manner. First is the baby surprise jacket Jenny requested for her friend who is getting ready to welcome a new granddaughter. Made with Bernat Baby Coordinates in pink, lavender and white.

Next is my first pair of Jolly Green Socks for Socks for Soldiers, knit with Knit Picks Essential in Grass color. These did turn out to be a 9/10. Seems KP shrinks a bit even though it's supposed to be superwash wool. Anyway, these were also mailed off today. I did like the feel of this yarn...very soft, but it's kind of splitty, and I think it'll most likely pill.

And last is the mom and baby flying pigs done in Red Heart's camoflage colorway. Yes, they really do make camo yarn. The wings are in TLC Thyme colorway. Next on the list are a couple of pigs for Katie's friend Nicole and another BSJ in an appropriate color for a little boy.

I think this is going to be a very busy and productive year.

WIP for January 2009

2009-01-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Well, of course there are pigs. Actually, there will be a mom and 2 babies done in jungle camo. Here's mom without her legs, ears and wings. Sort of a ball with a nose and tail.
And my socks for Socks for Soldiers. This is probably going to turn out to be a size 11/12 when all's said and done. I had intended to make a size 9/10, but I got carried away. The next ones will be a 9/10. I'm sure Kim can find someone to send these to who wears this size.

And finally, a baby surprise jacket for Jenny's friend's daughter's baby. Got all that? She assured me it's a little girl, so pink and lavender. The buttons will be pink. Very cute. I'll show you next time when you can see finished objects.

After these, I have mushrooms, a scarf, brown socks, and Katie's afghan. There's no rest for the weary. Also no job. Keep good thoughts and prayers for me that I finally find one soon. I may not be able to keep playing with yarn if I don't. =)

And so we start another year of knitted goodness

2009-01-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

This is officially the first finished object of the new year. It's a baby blanket for Sam and Conor (friends of Katie) who are expecting their first child (a little boy) next month. We both went to the shower yesterday and had a great time. I know I've said it before, but Katie knows some great people. Her friends are really the best. Anyway, the blanket is knit in Red Heart Baby Clouds (bulky yarn) on a size 15 needle. I probably should have used at least a 24" circular needle and would definitely recommend it, but all I could locate when I cast on were my 14" straights. It's just your basic dishcloth pattern, but done in this fat, fluffy, super soft yarn, it makes a wonderful blanket. 4 skeins blue, 2 skeins white, 1 skein green.

If the rest of the year goes like this, 2009 will be a banner year for knitted and crocheted goodness. Next up will be another BSJ that needs to be finished ASAP.

The year of the pig

2009-01-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

The Chinese calendar may have said that 2008 was the year of the rat, but here it was the year of the pig.......the flying pig. It all started when a I made a little stuffed pig with wings for a young girl in Canada facing surgery and a long recovery. John wanted one which he took to work, and the rest is, well, history. These are the latest.

group shot
babies

Aaron's Exel pig (see his little id badge)

Nicole's cop pig

Nathan's Hawaiian pig

the front of the Hawaiian pig

jungle and desert camo pigs

And I have plans for more. These are really a lot of fun, right down to the hand crafted dog tags. I see plenty more in sight for 2009.

Things I did over my Christmas vacation

2008-12-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

Okay. I'm really not on vacation. But the rest of the family is, and one of the things we did this week was take the Train of Lights from Sunol to Niles and back. Not a very long distance, and not a terribly long ride (about an hour), but a lot of fun none the less. We had supper at Bosco's Bones and Brew in Sunol, and then lined up for boarding plenty early. This is a real passenger train that is being restored by the Pacific Locomotive Society, and it runs on time. The train used to run all through this area back in the middle part of the last century. It reminded me a lot of the train I took from Minneapolis to Winnepeg when I was about 12 or 13.....quite different from the Amtrak I took up to Davis a few years ago. The seats were bigger back then, and of course, there was no internet service. John said it was a lot like the Great Northern trains he used to ride as a kid. He had a good time going back and forth between the cars, then and now. I was able to catch him before we actually started moving. After that he was gone until we got back to Sunol.

Katie had fun even though she doesn't like having her picture taken.

Heather and Jeff enjoyed it too. We were lucky to get seats all together. A lot of folks had to spread their parties out throughout the car.

I didn't get any pictures of the train while it was light out, but then that would've spoiled the effect of the lights on the train. There were maybe 6 or 7 cars all told plus the engine and a private club car (which is available for rent if you're planning to throw a bash).

They run other special trains throughout the year, and the fares are reasonable. You can also ride on the weekends and during the summer. It's something fun to do if you have young kids or out of towners visiting. We're going to keep an eye on the schedule and see about some of the other special trains, but we're definitely going to book next year on the Train of Lights again.

I need a postponement

2008-12-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

I'm not ready for Christmas. Big surprise. I had a list of what I was going to make and who was going to get what, but that was back when I actually had a prayer of accomplishing it all. Now I don't even have the list because I can't remember what I did with the notebook it was in. So do you think we could postpone Christmas this year until I a) get a job and b) find the darn list and c) get all the stuff made? Like, say, til next year? Next year I should be okay. Maybe.

So what have I been doing instead of what I should have been doing had I the proper resources?
This.
Baby flying pigs. Aren't they cute? They're about a third the size of the regular ones, but they just seem to have so much more personality. And Sam, I haven't forgotten your blue one. I just don't want to post a picture of him until you have him. It would spoil the surprise. =)

I'm also working on a propeller cozy for John's plane. It's knitted with glow in the dark yarn, and it looks pretty good. Just a little short. So I'll be rectifying that this week and finishing up a couple of things to get in the mail. I'll also be whipping up a couple of amigurumi mushrooms for niece Julie for her January birthday. Do you want those with faces or without Jules? And I'll be starting that BSJ for Jenny's friend's granddaughter probably the end of the week. It's a good thing most of my projects are small ones. Any other special requests?

It's been a busy week

2008-12-15T00:31:00.000-08:00

You probably don't recognize this, but this is the ipod dock that comes in Heather's new car, and I am very jealous. I want one in my truck so I don't have to listen to stupid radio advertisements.
And this is the inside of her new car. It smells funny. Where are the french fry smells and the Thai take-out aromas? Instead, it smells like.................new car!

And this is Heather's new car. It's a 2009 VW Rabbit, and when I took these, it only had 81 miles on it. Remember when you got your first new car? How it smelled, how it felt, how it didn't have any miles on it yet? Yeah. Good times.

Here is what the whole thing looks like. Just sitting there all cute and little and gas efficient. I think she could probably park it in the back of my F150!

In knitting news, I'm wrapping up the Christmas campaign for Newborns In Need. I have 6 gift bags that contain baby wash, baby lotion, wet wipes, hand sanitzer, a wash cloth, a onesie, a hat and a pair of booties. In addition, I've been using up some left over bits to make more booties and things. This is a pair of preemie booties next to a regular newborn size. In the backgrouns is a smaller preemie size bootie.

And here they are. Both of my contributions to the cause. Winnie in Las Vegas sent two pairs of newborn size and two pairs of preemie size booties that she crocheted in a soft pink worsted. These were made with the leftover from a ball of Bernat baby sport.

These are my favorite booties to make I think. They always come out looking good no matter how many mistakes you make. These are made with Patons Grace cotton yarn.

And last, we have 2 little caps that used up my Velvet by Wendy yarns. It's a very soft, sort of brushed on the edges, narrow ribbon yarn, and I love working with it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it anywhere and I think it's been discontinued. Sad for me, because it's such a delight to work with.

Tomorrow finds me off on a knitting adventure. No, I'm not going to go find another yarn store (remind me to tell you of Commuknitty some time). I'm going to see if I can make something that's never been made before, and I'll be using glow in the dark yarn. That's all I'll tell you for now. You'll just have to come back and see what it is.

'Tis the Season

2008-12-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Holy Guacamole! It's only the 9th of December and I have all my Christmas cards ready to pop in the mail box. I think that's a personal best for me. And I have my Special Olympics scarves finished; they went off this morning. This one is a shell stitch loosely based on the mile-a-minute pattern.
This one is made with a snowflake stitch......probably one of my favorite stitches. It works up thick and soft without being heavy.

Here's a close up of the stitch.

So two scarves for the athletes and their trainers for the 2009 Special Olympics made with Red Heart worsted acrylic in Delf blue and white. Each one is about 60 inches long. The shell stitch is about 3 1/2 inches, and the snowflake is about 5 inches.

In other news: Katie's moving out. She and a friend found an apartment they could afford out in Livermore. It's a two bedroom and cats are welcome. I think she said the rent is around $1050 plus the extra $150 a month for the cats. Not too bad really. Brand new apartment complex right down the road from Lawrence Livermore Labs. Hmmmm......

Anyway, our house is going to get real empty in January. But that's okay. I'm planning to turn Katie's room into my yarn storage room. I'm determined to finally get a handle on my stash! Maybe I can get things done faster if I can find what I'm looking for in there. And Jenny, I haven't forgotten about the pink and white BSJ. As soon as I find the yarn I know is there I'll be working on it. I'll let you know when I start it.:-)

Catching up

2008-12-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

I guess it's been a while hasn't it? In my own defense, there really hasn't been much of a change in anything worth blogging about, but since you all live there and I live here, I guess any change might spark some interest. So let's see if I can get you all caught up.

This is my new administrative assistant. Sammie has never shown any interest in being in the thick of things until just recently, but now every time Katie or I sit down at the computer, he jumps up to help. The thing is, though, he really can't spell, and he has a tendency to sit on the keyboard and make weird things happen with your data. But he's cute and soft and he purrs up a storm, so we let him stay. It makes using the keyboard difficult, but it's good for his self esteem.

I haven't been working on anything in particular and a lot of things in general. About the only thing I've finished is this pair of baby moc-a-socks for one of the Monday night knitters. She had a beautiful little boy about 6 weeks ago. So these will go to her tomorrow night.

I've also been working on a couple of scarves for the Special Olympics, and some squares for a blanket for A4A, and some soldier hats, and a pair of socks, and some booties. Nothing seems to hold my attention for long, though, and it's a major struggle to finish even the smallest project. I think I need a massive injection of enthusiasm.

Or money. I mean it's easy to have enthusiasm when you can afford to move on it, but when you have 2 fuzzies and an old appointment card in your wallet, not so much. You guessed it. I still haven't found a job. I haven't stopped looking, but the hope I had several months ago seems to be on vacation. Cheeky bugger. Didn't even take me.

Ah well. Christmas is upon us now and maybe Santa will bring me a job offer if I'm really, really good. At this point, I'm willing to consider most anything.

But Thanksgiving was good. We went down to the Fairmont in San Jose and met the girls and Jeff for dinner. Both the girls had to work Thursday, so it worked out real well. Major yummy dinner! accompanied by no cooking and no cleaning up afterward. That's something to be thankful for. But it really isn't Thanksgiving until your house smells like cooking turkey and your refrigerator is crammed to the top with leftovers, so I cooked a turkey with all the trimmings on Saturday. And the leftovers are all gone I'm sad to say. Maybe I should cook that second turkey that's sitting in my freezer.

Oh! The day after Thanksgiving, John and I went down to San Jose to the opening ceremonies of Christmas In the Park at Cezar Chavez park in downtown SJ. We parked near where John works and took the light rail the rest of the way. I can tick that one off the list of things to experience before I die. But at least we didn't have to worry about the crazies driving around down town. The ceremony was just after dusk, and it wasn't really that cold unless you were sitting on an iron bench. Then it was a little nippy. They had various dignitaries bore us all with speeches thanking the CITP members and gave awards to various support personnel (which is why we went at all) and then they had a sing a long and finally, finally flipped the switch for the tree. I do realize the pictures are dark, but....well.....it was nighttime and overcast. The tree is huge, and it looks pretty neat all lit up. If you're there I mean.

But this is the real reason we went. Heather was on duty in her class A's complete with her Smokey the Bear hat. Doesn't she just look official?

And this is Athena (friend of Jeff and Heather), Jane (co-worker), Heather and Jeff.

I asked her if she was cold, and she said with all the gear she had on it was impossible to be cold. That's good, cuz I was a popcicle! But we had a good time, and afterward we went right across the street to McCormicks and Shmicks for dinner with friends Athena and Troy. It was a great night, and we stayed out way past our bedtimes. I can't wait til we do it again.

An official declaration of felicitous wishes.

2008-11-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today my husband turns 5_ (he isn't admitting to what the second number is) and I want to let him and everyone else know that I wish him a very happy birthday. We went out to dinner with the kids last night to Elephant Bar, and he had a bit too much to drink, so he's taking it pretty easy today. But we had a great time with the girls and Jeff....good food....good company....good spirits.

I haven't been doing much beyond checking all the job listings I can find. There doesn't seem to be many listings for clerical work right now. Even the temp agency said they have nothing except requests for forklift drivers. Guess I should've learned to drive a lift when I was at the warehouse.

And while not job hunting, I've been making mittens for afghans for Afghans. They need 300 pairs of mittens for school age children by the 20th. So far I have 4 pair waiting to be mailed. I'm going to try to finish up the 5th pair tonight. If I don't make it, I'll just save them for the next time they need mittens. I've been reading the a4A blog, though, and it looks like they'll make their goal and beyond. Most of the knitters that subscribe to the blog are sending in multiple pairs, and there are hundreds more knitters who don't subscribe but are knitting like crazy. It really breaks my heart to think of children who have to go cold. I'm off to hunt for another pattern. Have a good week.

Excuse me, but didn't you get the memo?

2008-11-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

I thought the election was over. I thought a clear winner had been declared. So why is everyone so concerned about what Sarah Palin is saying and doing? It doesn't matter anymore. She's gone back to Alaska where she can see Russia from her front porch and hunt moose. We do not have to subject ourselves to this poorly educated, ill bred, back woods characature of a human being any longer. But it seems all the news shows what to do is focus on her and whether or not she's keeping the wardrobe purchased for her by the RNC and whether or not she's going to run in 2012. We haven't even sworn the new guy in yet. Let's not borrow trouble from 4 years down the line. It's time to move on to other things now. Did you know unemployment is creeping ever higher? Or that exercise may not give you and benefit at all if you already have a heart condition? Or that there's a brand new baby pygmy hippo at the Tarronga Zoo? There are new things to think about now; new things to worry about. Am I ever going to find a job? What are doctors going to tell heart patients if exercise really doesn't help? OMG! A baby pygmy hippo! How cute!

My email

2008-11-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

It's finally over.

2008-11-05T22:50:00.001-08:00

Whether you voted for him or not, he's the next president of the United States. And all politics aside, I wanted to show you this picture.

This is the creation of a truly talented young man named Todd Paschall. He has a business and a website called Crochet By Number and for a very reasonable fee he will transform a picture of your loved one into a chart that you can then crochet for your wall. Check out his site. He is truly amazing. He's made a chart for me, and when I get around to actually working it, I'll share it with you. Can't tell you too much in case the intended recipient reads this. I need to clear my project calendar and do a few practice pieces before I'm ready. Maybe for a birthday next year. Check out Todd's site. He is truly amazing.

It's finally over.

2008-11-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

It's been one of those days

2008-11-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

Please tell me......

2008-11-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

......that you didn't do anything this humiliating to your pets last weekend. I mean, really!!!!

But they are kind of cute, aren't they. It takes more patience than I've got to make ours sit still for this kind of stuff, and Katie won't let me knit them sweaters so you can be darn sure she wouldn't let me do this! =)

Ten Things To Do On A Rainy Day

2008-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

1. Read a book. I finished reading The Midnight Club by James Patterson. Good book.

2. Watch what you recorded when you were at the bar on Friday night. Pushing Daisies. Kind
of goofy, but we like it.

3. Take a nap. I'll get to this one later

4. Catch up on your e-mail. Done. On both email accounts

5. Do laundry. I have 1 more load left.

6. Bake some cookies. Good idea. Now where did I put those chocolate chips?

7. Clean that closet you've been meaning to clean for months. It's been waiting this long, it can
wait until after the nap.

8. Sort your stash. Just don't get distracted by finding left overs that would go perfectly with
that hat pattern you found yesterday.

9. Make a huge pot of soup/chili. That would necessitate going out in the rain to the grocery
store. Think I'll pass.

10. Veg out with the sticks and string and come up with:

These are the offerings I took to the bar on Friday. The hat and booties to go with the BSJ I'd already given Trina for Jenay's baby, the green BSJ with the Peter Rabbit buttons for Jackie's daughter Sam (for her baby), and a black beanie for Jenay's fiance who is scheduled to deploy again in Dec.

and the rain goes on........

and it's raining.........

2008-11-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big fan of rain any more; not since I got old and arthritic. Everything hurts. You don't want to get out of bed, but you might as well because the pain is keeping you awake. This latest chain of systems moved in Wednesday or Thursday, and except for a brief respite for the trick or treaters last night, it's been raining ever since. So there's not a lot of activity going on around here today. At least not on my part. But I have a few pics for you.

This is what I was looking for the other day when I caught all the Halloween decorations. This is about as colorful as the trees get around here, and these are special hybrids so that all us folk that have been displaced from places that enjoy lots of fall color won't feel quite so homesick.
But this is real California fall color. The temperatures are so mild that all the shrubs and bedding plants are still blooming.

I went down to Swiss Park last night with Katie so that I could give Trina the little hat and booties I made to go with the sweater for her grand daughter to be. I actually got to give them to her daughter Jenay (I hope I spelled that right). She's a sweet girl. Kind of upset that her fiance isn't quite finished with his debriefing after his recent tour in Iraq, but he's supposed to get his 30 day leave very soon. That'll cheer her up considerably.

So Katie and her friends had their costume optional party down at Swiss last night, and while I left at 8:30 I did manage to get this shot of the cohorts in crime who planned this little shindig.

That's Katie on the left and her friend Nicole as 1930's gangsters. Nicole's husband Nick was tending bar dressed as the latest version of the Joker, and we were also visited by a little Swiss girl (Jo-Jo), a wolfman, Hell Boy, and a couple of dogs dressed as little pimps. Sure wish I hadn't been so bad on the camera.

This one is Katie at home before the party.

They ended up having quite a crowd according to Katie. Maybe if I'd been feeling better I would have stayed longer and taken more pictures. And Katie said that Sam liked the little green BSJ with the Peter Rabbit buttons. The best part, though, was that there was still a huge pile of chocolate left in the bowl when I got home. A pretty good Halloween in spite of the rain.

Happy Halloween!!!!!

2008-10-31T09:47:00.001-07:00

It seems the neighbors are getting as involved in Halloween decorations as they do with the Christmas scenes. As I was coming home from the grocery store yesterday, I saw this:

On Sunday when we stopped for sandwiches at Togo's in San Jose, there were these:
Hers....

His.....

close up of hers....

close up of his......

And because Blogspot loads things in a totally unpredictable manor, here are some more shots of my drive home from the store yesterday. This one street was just a treat to drive down.

I didn't know we had so many cemetaries in the neighborhood. Or that the keeper of the boneyard was hanging out under a local tree.

Same yard, just tried to get it all in one shot. It wasn't easy.

This one is a close up of the sign that you can barely see in the photo above....sort of at the corner of the mirror.

And this is the yard right next door to the one above. Looks like some friendly competition....at least I hope it's friendly.

Same house, different angle....

And next door to that one is:

No names on the grave stones though.

Across the street we have:

and........

And for those who'd rather not be scared spitless, there was this house.....

Whether you like the horror movie type of decorations or the cartoon version, I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween with lots and lots of treats.

Japanese Tea Garden (or how I spent my birthday)

2008-10-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

What a week. My sister Sam and her husband Bill came out for a long weekend to help me celebrate my birthday. They arrived Thursday, did the Winchester Mystery House tour in San Jose, and then came for dinner with the whole family (not that there are a lot of us). Katie made her almost legendary stuffed chicken breasts (maybe she'll let me post the recipe some day) and the wine and conversation flowed freely. It was one of the best dinners we've ever had here, and we were actually able to use the dining room table for its intended purpose. No one thought I could do it, but while Katie took care of the rest of the house, I tackled the table. I guess I just work better under pressure.

Friday we went up to San Francisco to do the touristy things that one does up there. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped at the scenic overlook area on the Marin side. Sam, Bill, Heather, Katie and Jeff walked out onto the suspension part of the bridge while I sat on a nice cool granite bench and knitted. Then we hit Fisherman's Wharf for lunch at the Fish Grotto followed by a tour of a lot of the parts of San Francisco most people don't see. I'm not sure where we were supposed to be going, but the neighborhoods around the Presidio are really nice. Very upscale. And I think Jeff found the steepest hill in the whole city to drive down. Not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat, although it did remind me of a street in San Diego I used to have to use an awful lot. It was just as steep and had a bump in the middle. Anyway, it was fun to see the residential areas of the city and not just the tourist attractions.

On Saturday, which was my birthday, we took a trip up to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. The weather was beautiful, and I got some pretty good pictures. Too bad I'd had a bad case of camnesia the day before, or I could have had some nice shots of other parts of the city. This is Heather and Jeff in front of the main gate to the Garden.....
Sam and Bill on top of the Friendship Bridge in the center of the Garden.....

Jeff and Heather on the end of the Bridge.....

Heather, Katie and Jeff on top of the bridge.....

a beautiful Pagoda.......

everybody trudging up the hill to the gift shop....

and a view from the top of the hill looking down into the koi pond.

We also drove through Union Square which was Chaos in person. But where else can you see a 10 story Tiffany's or the biggest Macy's on the face of the planet? I'm really glad we didn't stop, though. There were way too many people for my liking. We opted instead for lunch at the Gordon Biersch Brewery down on the Embarcadero. The food was good, the beer (I'm told) wasn't, but since we weren't drinking it it really didn't matter.

Sunday we drove down and got the grand tour of Heather's park; again with the camnesia, but it was nice. We stopped at Togo's and got sanwiches for a picnic, and the weather was perfect again. We got to meet Buster the goat who acts more like a dog, always wanting to be petted, and see the behind the scenes parts of the park. It's a good sized piece of real estate. Afterward, Sam, Bill and Katie went over to Alum Rock Park where Heather had her party so Bill could see it while John and I came home to do boring things like laundry. Sunday dinner was just pizza, but it was great to sit around the table again and swap stories. It was a really special weekend, and a birthday I won't soon forget.

And the dining room table is still cleared off. Must be working on some kind of record or something.

United in Friendship supports Newborns In Need

2008-10-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

United in Friendship is one of the first online groups that I joined back in 2001, and over the years this wide flung collection of women and Ely have come to be like family. We share our time and our skills with each other. We share our joys and our sorrows. And these folks just epitomize for me what it is to be a knitter/crocheter. Each and every one of them has a generosity of heart that is unsurpassed. And these lovely people have helped me make blankets for Newborns In Need. I'd like to show you what these talented people have done to help those tiny babies born to mothers who have nothing.
This is a preemie blanket done in a lovely shell stitch by Gail in NY. These two are are granny squares done by Carolyn from NY. The blue one has a white border.

Carolyn also made this lavender shell stitch afghan and a tiny preemie one in blue.

Ruthi in Ohio made this blue and lavender treat using little grannies in the middle and continuing the granny method all the way around until is was the right size.

Ruthi also made this one with the lovely squares reminiscent of sunflowers.

These are all packed in boxes along with the 3 I made and will be sent down to the Fountain Valley chapter of Newborns In Need. This chapter teams with His Nesting Place, an organization that caters to the needs of underprivileged and under age mothers and their children and babies, and with the WIC program to help the neediest get the few comforts that could mean the difference in survival. They also team with the Harbor General UCLA Hospital. If you feel like helping out, we'll be making baby booties next. You can send them to me (send me an email requesting my address) or you can send them directly to Shelly Sanders at NIN. Her mailing address is on the Fountain Valley page of the national site. Did I hear you say you can't knit OR crochet? Pick some up at Target or WalMart on sale. Or little t-shirts, rompers, socks, bibs, whatever you see that you can afford to send. I will see that it's all delivered into Shelly's capable hands, and she and her group will make sure it gets where it's needed the most. The rewards are incalculable.

Here it is!

2008-10-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Ta da!Here's the 2nd Baby Surprise Jacket. It's made with Bernat Baby Jacquard print yarn in the boy and girl print. I used a larger needle this time, so it came out the right size. Trina was surprised and delighted and couldn't wait to call her daughter and tell her about it. I enjoyed making this one more than the first one; fewer confusing bits and better yarn, but I like the way both of them turned out. It's definitely a different engineering concept to the way we usually make sweaters. It's a fun knit, and I already have the 3rd one on the needles. I'll let you know when it's finished.

It's been a pretty laid back weekend. Katie and I went out Friday night, so we slept late Saturday morning. John went for a short flight out over Tracy. The rest of the time has been spent being lazy and watching the stuff we recorded during the week. I like this kind of weekend. No pressure. I did meet a couple of the knitting group over at Panera this morning. It would be good if we could get more people with work scheduling issues to come the one Sunday a month. You can never have too much knitting in public, and they have terrific pastries.

Andre discovered Ravelry and my Ultimate Gulp. Not too keen on either, but there's a cat for you.

Sammie has been spending more time with his friend. Apparently Shoelace was feeling a bit neglected.

We're really looking forward to Sam and Bill coming on Thursday. They'll only be here for a few days, but it'll be fun. They're going to go see the Winchester Mystery House on Thursday. Figured they might as well go then since they'll already be down in San Jose. Friday is a trip up to San Francisco to take in the bridge and some of the cool tourist stuff in Golden Gate Park and along Fisherman's Wharf. I don't know what we're doing Saturday, but we're finishing up with dinner at Claim Jumpers. It's going to be a great birthday week. I may even get some knitting done. =)

The rest of the family.....almost

2008-10-15T21:19:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd show you what the rest of my furry ones look like. We're such a big bunch of cat lovers out here. Curley is mine, Sammie and Andre belong to Katie but they live here. Living in San Jose with Jeff and Heather are Floyd......
.....Jack.....yes he's really a kitty.......and Martini (don't ask) who looks an awful lot like Floyd.
Then there are the girls Heather couldn't keep when she and Spencer split up. First is Keiko,
Then Pele,
and finally Maile. You probably notice that Maile isn't a cat but a long haired chihuahua. But she's still our little girl, and if Spencer doesn't treat her right he's in for a lot of trouble.
So that's the rest of the family. They're cute, they're fuzzy, and I wish Heather lived in a big enough place to take them all. Unfortunately I think the girls will be staying with Spencer and his new friend.

On a knitting note, the second BSJ is almost finished, and I wanted to try something a little different for the next one. If it doesn't work out, there's still time to make another one. But I don't want to have to buy anymore yarn since I still have no job, so I'm going to dig out my baby and sport weight yarns and see what I can come up with. So Jenny, how do you feel about stripes?

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket

2008-10-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

I finished it. Peter Rabbit buttons and all. There's only one problem.........

.......it's too small. Even for a newborn. I know Andre's a big cat, but even so you can see how very small this turned out. I took it with me today when I ran errands so I could buy buttons that fit, and one of my stops was WalMart. It's the same size as the preemie clothes they sell, so unless that little one arrives early, this sweater is destined for Newborns In Need and I'll just cast on for another one. They're really kind of fun to make.
OTN right now is another black Star beanie for SFS, a pig for Sam, and a pink elephant. My UFO's are still languishing, and my queue of want-to-knits is piling up on Ravelry. I really need to find a little discipline someplace. =)

{ETA-What sex is your friend's grandchild Jenny? I can probably find the appropriate yarn around here somewhere. And when in January?}

So about that Blogtoberfest thing.....

2008-10-09T14:47:00.001-07:00

......guess you can tell I didn't make it. It's just been one thing after another. I've been doing some online training courses provided by the temp agency to upgrade my computer skills, and they can really take some time! I only have 3 left though, so hopefully I'll be more employable soon.

Last weekend we went down to San Jose to Prusch Farm Park. They were having their Harvest Festival, so John and I went down to annoy Heather. Oh, come on! Don't tell me you never picked on your kid. It's one of the perks of parenthood. Anyway, I took a few pictures......

That's Wes on the left (I think that's his name), the back of Heather in her spiffy hat, John and Jeff at one of the booths.
I don't know any of these people, but in the middle of the picture is an animated tree. I thought he was cute.
You can just see the top of him as he bent down to hug a kid. All the kids loved this tree.
And there were several craft booths and some interesting environmental/ecology type stuff like bees and birds and renewable resources. It was really nice, but it just figured that Mother Nature would pick that day to deliver the first rain of the season. It didn't rain a lot, just enough to send us home.

So I spent the rest of the weekend trying to decipher my Baby Surprise Jacket pattern. This pattern was written 40 years ago by Elizabeth Zimmerman, one of the icons of the knitting world. It's knit all in one piece with only two seams, one across the top of each shoulder. It's a darling pattern, but I'll be darned if I could make sense of it. Monday night one of the knitting group suggested I check out the Ravelry BSJ group to see if other people have had the same problems. I did, they had, and problem solved. Several dear souls had written out charts and tips and spreadsheets; it was like BSJ for dummies. So here's what I'm knitting....

I know it doesn't look like a sweater, but it is. I'll let you see what it becomes when I'm finished. I finally was able to figure out how it will fold, and it's amazing. Such a darling little sweater. And no, it's not for a grandchild. At least not mine. I'm planning to give it to Trina over at Swiss Park for her grand daughter who is due to arrive in December. Don't tell!!

I'd better get back to my knitting. I'm being watched.

When Pigs Fly

2008-10-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

what more is there to say?

Blogtoberfest? Socktoberfest?

2008-10-01T17:55:00.001-07:00

I was wandering aimlessly through the blogosphere and noticed that there's an awful lot going on that I had no idea about. Do you know that in addition to being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and drink-yourself-stupid-at-Oktoberfest, this month is also Blogtoberfest when everyone who has a blog makes the supreme effort to post something everyday for the whole month? It's also Socktoberfest when anyone and everyone who can knit socks does so and posts pictures of them somewhere. I suppose I could participate in all of that. I have breasts, I could probably find a beer I could dring, I have a blog, and I knit socks. But you know me. I'm horribly inconsistent. I could give it the old college try though. Just don't tell anyone I never finished college. :-)
Andre.....
Sammie.....
Curley.....
.....doing what they do best.

Another kind of talent

2008-09-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

I don't have any knitting today; my shoulder is still recovering from its over-use, so I thought I'd show you some of these. I'm sure you've probably gotten these in an email from somebody (probably from me =) ). And I have to ask, what makes somebody do this? The person or persons responsible are undeniably talented, but why use food as a medium? Anyway, I leave you with some of the art that has recently grace my inbox.

UFO week-Day 7

2008-09-28T20:11:00.001-07:00

Which means that yesterday's post should have read Day 6, not Day 5. Sometimes the days all run together and I lose track. I really need to get out more.

Anyway, here is the pullover I made for afghans for Afghans from the donated super bulky Blue Alpaca Company 50% wool-50% alpaca. I haven't any idea what the color name is, but it's really, REALLY orange. A lot of orange dye rinsed out when I did the soaking and blocking. Now we're at the drying stage, and if all goes well, I'll be mailing on Tuesday.

And this is the vest from the left over yarn. Just a plain v-neck vest, probably about a size 8-10.

I discovered that working with that super bulky yarn did make the project go very fast, but it took a toll on my shoulder. So my needles have been still today while I've been dealing with a dandy case of tendonitis. Tomorrow I'll pick up my needles again and see what I can do about finishing the striped pullover before the deadline. I have to have the sweaters in San Francisco by the 14th of October. Two down, one to go.

Sammie needed to help me the other day when I was reading my email hoping for a bite on my resume. He thought the camera cord was particularly intriguing.
This afternoon he showed his friend, Mr Shoelace, his favorite hang-out spot. He can make sure nobody takes anything from the patio from this vantage point, and he's very close to a human in case he needs to be petted.

What day is it?

2008-09-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Let's see. I started on Monday, so that makes this day 5. I may have been away from the blog, but I most definitely was not shirking. In fact, I knitted so much I now have a nasty case of tendonitis in the shoulder. Nothing some time with my ice pack won't fix. And I did finish the Orange Sweater. I got the sleeves set in and all the ends worked in, and I even got a vest made from the remaining yarn. So tomorrow I'll block them and take a few pictures. I'm going to take the day off from knitting tomorrow to give my shoulder a rest, but then I'll start right in on the striped sweater on Monday. And Monday I have an interview, so keep a good thought for me. Sitting on my butt is getting old.

UFO week, Day 3

2008-09-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

YAY!!! The pieces for the Orange Sweater are finally finished. I just have to put them together now. This is the body done all in one piece......

.....and here it is with its sleeves. It should fit a 10-12 year old child when finished.
So that's one more UFO that can almost move to the FO column. Of course, I still have to use up the remaining orange yarn on another garment since it was donated for the cause. I'm hoping to get a vest of similar size out of it. It wouldn't be my first choice for making anything in the future because it sheds terribly. Worse than Andre even, and he's turned everything buff kitty color. But it's reasonably soft and will be very warm, and warm is definitely what we're going for in our handknits that head to Afghanistan. Tomorrow I'll set the sleeves in and give it a good rinse (it also leaves dye residue on everything) and then it'll get packed up to go to San Francisco for sorting and packing. I think next up will be the striped sweater since I only have the sleeves to do for that one too, and no seaming. So my UFO week is going pretty well so far.

In other news, I didn't get the job I interviewed for last week which is a disappointment, but I'm going to talk to an agency tomorrow and hope to be placed somewhere soon. As much as I enjoy being at home, it's past time for me to be working again. It has been a good 4 months, though. I've accomplished a lot in the knitting department, done a little yard work, and tried to dig the dining room table out from under all the crap. If certain other people who live in my house would lend a little assistance, I may actually have succeeded in that endeavor, but I haven't given up yet. I'll find it. I know it's there. I found the corner that was buried under all those books, so I'm sure that eventually I *will* succeed.

Day 2

2008-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday may not have started with a bang, but it finished well. I did end up getting the red and gray scarf finished and all the ends sewn in, so it's ready to be sent off to The Orphan Foundation of America in Virginia. Katie's moose is today's model. Doesn't he look handsome in this 100% wool scarf handknit in a simple rib pattern?
Here's the scarf with another that was crocheted from Red Heart Strata.....an acrylic self-patterning yarn that was new on the market last year. I figured one for the guys, one for the girls. And they're boxed, addressed and ready to go.
I also managed to knit 8 inches on the sleeves for the Orange Sweater, so that's coming along well. 5 more inches to the shaping and sleeve cap. I should be sending a box off to afghans for Afghans by the end of the week. John loves it when yarn goes out. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

UFO Week - Take 2

2008-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

UFO week has already gotten off to a less than noteworthy start. I got up this morning and was working on my red and gray striped scarf but then decided to go back to bed. Apparently my night wasn't long enough. So I'll have to try to make up the slack. My official list of UFO's for the next two weeks is as follows (although they aren't in any sort of order of importance or urgency): the red and gray scarf
the Orange Sweater
the friendship/prayer shawl (rectangular)
the blue triangular shawl
the striped sweater
the toddler sweater
the baby surprise jacket this one doesn't really qualify as a UFO because I just started
it, but by the end of 2 weeks it will)
the Katie afghan (it used to be the Matt afghan.....it's a long story)
2 pairs of men's size 9-10 socks in Army green
There are other projects of course, like the sweater that I knit about 5 years ago but never got around to putting together because I hate finishing work, and the log cabin squares afghan that I'm just sort of making up as I go along. But they'll have to wait for another UFO week. I think this one's full.

Fall is in the air

2008-09-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

And that means it's time to get out the heavier yarns. I've already finished one worsted weight wool hat for Socks for Soldiers. It's called Habitat, and it was designed by Jarred Flood of Brooklyn Tweed Designs. It's very cable heavy but not really difficult to do. The yarn I used is Mission Falls worsted wool in a rich chocolate color. I didn't pick the yarn, it was donated, but I loved working with it. It can be a little splitty, but the end result is an extremely soft whatever. Here it is on my reluctant model Katie. The photo doesn't really show the cables clearly, but the stitch definition is really more than you could ever wish. The cables just pop. This is one hat I'm sure I'll make again.

But over these really hot months of summer, I let all my heavier weight projects go by the way side while I played with lighter weight yarns and smaller projects. The result is that I still have way too many UFO's sitting here clogging up my space (and everyone else's space too). So it's time for a second go round of UFO Week, although I think this will be a 2 week stint this time. I really have a lot of UFO's. I'm sure you remember the striped sweater for the afghans for Afghans youth campaign........
......I have finished the body of the sweater and have started down one sleeve, but there's still a lot to do before mailing date which is October 12th.

Then there's this shawl which should have been finished months and months ago but still sits languishing in the pile. It actually is finished if you go by the pattern, but you'd have to be a Munchkin in order to wear it. It's way to small for its intended recipient, so I have to add at least 2 more balls of yarn to it and then remeasure.

I also have a rectangular shawl to finish, a red and gray striped scarf for the Red Scarf Project, the small child's sweater which is also designated for afghans for Afghans, a large Orange Sweater, the yarn for which was donated to a4A for the youth campaign, the log cabin squares afghan, and 2 pairs of very large Army green socks. So tomorrow, Monday, September 22nd begins 2 weeks of finishing my UFO's. Di (in Canada) is going to work on hers too, so I won't feel so all alone on this. I think the Orange Sweater will be first.

Sammie isn't at all interested. He's just enjoying the late September sunshine.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

2008-09-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Did you know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month? I didn't. And last week was actually Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. I didn't hear a word about it on the news or read about it in any of the national magazines I picked up. I haven't heard about on the radio, no adds on tv. But everywhere I look I see pink. Breast Cancer Awareness month is October, but already the major chain stores like Target, WalMart, even the grocery stores are pushing the need to help find a cure for breast cancer. I see adds everywhere. And this is a good thing. Women need to be aware of certain facts that could help save their lives, and we should all support the fund raising that goes for research and development of new treatment. I think we all know someone who has fought this killer; maybe even someone who didn't win that battle.

But what about our children? Who's fighting for them? Did you know that:

Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.
On the average 12,500 children and teens will be diagnosed with some form of cancer each year in this country.
One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.
Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.
Cancer remains the #1 disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.
In the U.S. almost 3,000 children do not survive cancer each year.
*Over the past two decades, only ONE new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use.
Currently there are between 30-40,000 children undergoing cancer treatment in the U.S.
As a nation, we spend over $14 BILLION (that's with a B!!!) per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on Childhood Cancer Research each year.
There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximately $595,000 for research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of childhood cancer.
Research funds are scarce as most money is diverted to well-publicized adult forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate.
Right now, this second, somewhere in America, there are 7 children fighting for their lives who won't live through the day.

I remember the Muscular Dystrophy carnivals we used to hold every summer in the back yard to raise money for research. They were fun, and the little bit we'd make I'm sure helped when added to all the other little bits sent in by other kids. But I never knew any kids who actually had MD. Unfortunately, I did, and do, know kids who had cancer. Kids who didn't win their battles. I think it's time we do something about this. I think if we put our heads together we can come up with ways to get the word out. Aren't our children worth it?

You can go to Curesearch.org to donate money; they even have a gift shop. Please help.

Just sittin' and knittin'

2008-09-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

All the days seem to be running together like they did when I was working. The only difference is I get plenty of sleep now.

I'm also spending less money, but that's because I don't have any. I sent out a plea for yarn on the Socks For Soldiers list for enough yarn to finish a black beanie I was making. The yarn is a cotton/lycra blend and makes really nice, stretchy beanies. Apparently the soldiers really like them. The only problem is that Classic Elite Yarns has discontinued making the yarn. So I asked the list. And, the generous souls that they are, i received replys from 3 lovely ladies who would pass their left over black Star to me so I could finish my beanie. I ended up getting about 11 1/2 skeins of this yarn plus 4 skeins of Mission Falls 1824 wool for leisure beanies. So I've been knitting up a storm. These are the first 3 of what I hope will be at least 7 black Classic Elite Star beanies. Number 4 is already under construction along with one using the Mission Falls. There's really nothing special about these hats except they're light weight and stretchy, but apparently they're perfect for summer time desert conditions.

This one was made from the 2nd half of a ball of Sensations Kashmira Pattern from JoAnn Fabrics. Sensations is their brand, and I haven't used a lot of it. Most of it seems to be novelty yarns, boucle, fuzzy, eyelash, but this particular yarn works up nicely and is 100% wool, so it fits the criteria for a leisure beanie. And being wool, it'll be nice and warm at night or during the winter. Hopefully soon I'll also be adding some Swish worsted wool beanies to my count. It's brutally cold in Afghanistan in the winter, and we have more troops being sent there.
I'm also working on a sweater for a young person that will go in the box for the afghans for Afghans box. Their youth campaign goes until October 12th, and I only have sleeves left to do.

This was a yarn donated for this campaign and not one I would have chosen myself, but it's very soft, and very, very warm. I'll have to take a few pictures so you can see it.

There are so many people who are in need, and being out of work brings that home to me in a new way. True, it was my decision to leave my job, but I certainly didn't think it would take so long to find a new one. I'm not looking for anything specific, just something I can do, but employers are so demanding in what they're looking for in a prospective employee. It's very hard for someone who doesn't have a job (or that all-important college diploma) to find one. So while I'm actively looking for a job, I'm also trying to think of ways to help someone who doesn't have a spouse with a good income or any savings. There are so many. I really hope that if you read this, you'll take the time to search the internet for ways that you can help too. You don't have to know how to knit, you don't have to have money, you just need the desire to share what ever you do have. Check out some of these.

Newborns In Need; the Snuggles Project; the Guideposts Outreach Ministries; Children International; Warm Up America; Socks For Soldiers; afghans for Afghans; or your local organizations, soup kitchens, church volunteer outreach programs. There is a lot of need out there. Just take a look. You'll be glad you did.

Our princess and her mouse.

California Heat

2008-09-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

It's been so hot for the past week or so that nobody has felt like doing much......except napping.

Sometimes, though, you have to rouse yourself for chores, because no matter how hot it gets, there's always laundry to be done.
And everybody is expected to help.
Unless, of course, you happen to be royalty.

Party in the park

2008-08-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Heather has finished her academy training and decided to celebrate with a party in Alum Rock Park in San Jose last Friday. She's always wanted a pony, so John thought we should give her one.......
.....actually, 16 My Little Pony balloons.

We had some uninvited guests, but they didn't eat much and they were quiet.

John wasn't paying attention, so I took this. He usually manages to slide out of view when people have their cameras out.
This is Jeff.
This is Jeff's hand petting a kestrel
It was a beautiful day, and I think everybody had a good time. I wasn't thinking clearly, or I would have taken pictures of everybody; friends, coworkers, classmates, family. The food was fantastic, the music eclectic, and the beer free-flowing. What could be better? Congratulations Heather!! We love you!!

So how was YOUR weekend?

2008-08-18T17:01:00.001-07:00

No, this isn't the same picture, just his favorite spot.
And that pretty much sums up the entire weekend.

Attitude is everything

2008-08-13T22:23:00.001-07:00

And apparently mine sucks. Instead of showing a little spirit, a little energy, a little pride.......

I pessimistically see that the catfood bowl is only half full.

I do my best to hide myself away so no one can see me.
Oops. A little hang over problem.
I guess tomorrow's another day. Maybe things will be better. Maybe I'll turn into the fastest knitter in California (the world title's already taken). Maybe I'll finally get a job. Or maybe I'll just curl up and have me another nap.

But on the knitting side, things are going swimmingly with the large child's sweater. The body is finished and I've started one sleeve. I've also got half of another beanie made for SFS. The request has come to start making heavier woolens for the troops in Afghanistan. And as long as I can make something that someone needs life can't be all that bad. It's a little sticky right now, but I'll give it 3 days. Everything will be different in 3 days.

Knitting with a purpose

2008-08-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

It seems that the more I get into the internet knitting scene, the more I discover groups that knit for a specific cause or under a specific challenge. And there are the social groups that just get together and share their love of knitting or crocheting or stitching while they discuss families, book, movies, whatever. And more and more I'm finding that people are tying their fiber activities to sports events. There are 'Stitch and Pitch' nights popping up all over; there were several Tour de France challenges that were renamed Tour de Fleece where the participant chose a specific goal to try to meet during the race, whether it be a knitted project or a spinning one. Now we have the knit-olympics going on. Several of the on line groups have thrown out the challenge to sign up, commit to a specific goal, and go for it. The deadline will be the end of the closing ceremonies in Bejing.

Now I think that's a great idea.....for people who have an attention span longer than that of a gnat. I don't, so I chose a project that I started 2 years ago that has languished in the pile of UFO's crying out to be finished. You might remember this from UFO week not so long ago.
It didn't get finished.
But I pulled it out yesterday after I finally got the cobwebs cleared out of my head and since then it's become this. That's Andre constenting to be a prop.
It's at 10 1/2 inches in length from the under arm and only needs 2 1/2 inches more before I can do the bottom ribbing and then begin the sleeves. I may just finish it by the 26th. This particular sweater is destined for the Afghans for Afghans box for their youth campaign.

Then I'll go back to this while it's still too hot to work on Matt's afgan. This is block #1 for my knitted log cabin afghan. I'm finding it a lot of fun to plot out the colors for each square. It should help me get rid of a lot of left over bits and balls of yarn too.

Curley and Sammie being ever vigilant. Heaven forbid that a bug or bird or stray leaf should land on the patio.
Curley is also an ace when it comes to napping.
Sammie doesn't like his interrupted.
Andre says "Enough with the camera already Gramma. I need a nap!"

Beware the beautiful blossom

2008-07-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

What do you see when you look at this picture? Do you see beautiful blossoms in lush greenery?

Do you see an example of God's handiwork? The miracle of the life cycle?

Do you see a quaint, rustic garden gate, or......
.....do you see and incidious invader that creeps in uninvited and almost unnoticed....

....until you have this? Meet the morning glory, Ipomoea tricolor. Also known as bindweed. Morning glory is the common name for over 1000 different flowering vines according to Wikipedia, but all of them have the same characteristics. They grow wherever they like, uninvited and mostly unwanted. In the north where they have winter, the vine is considered and annual because it dies and has to be replanted in the spring. But out here in sunny California, IT NEVER DIES!!! And it never stops growing.
It surrounds your house growing into the vents that provide aeration under the house. It's a good thing we don't have basements.
It grows up anything it can find like your electric lines and your phone lines.
It knows no bounds.
It hates other plants and invades their space too. Poor yucca.

If left alone, this cactus would be almost as bad as the morning glory, but it's being smothered by these pretty flowers and their agressive vine.
My roses didn't bloom this year. I wonder why?
So don't be fooled by this beautiful flower in its lush foliage. This is the vine from hell.

100 + 38

2008-07-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

The BBC's Big Read asked for nominations for "favorite book" back in 2003, and this is what they got:

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

of which I've read 35.

But someone else had a different list on their blog (can't remember which one). So I decided to see what the differences were and came up with these additional titles:

1. The Bible 10
2. Complete Works of Shakespeare
3. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
4. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
5. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
6. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
7. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
8. Atonement - Ian McEwan
9. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
10. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
11. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
12. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
13. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
14. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
15. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
16. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
17. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
18. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
19. Dracula - Bram Stoker
20. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
21. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
22. Germinal - Emile Zola
23. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
24. Possession - AS Byatt
25. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
26. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
27. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
28. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
29. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
30. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
31. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
32. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
33. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
34.The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
35. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
36. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
37. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
38. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

of which I've only read 10. So it looks like I've got a lot of reading to do if I want to find out what other people find enjoyable. Who knows? I might even like some of them.

I knew it couldn't last

2008-07-23T20:33:00.001-07:00

The heat is on the rise again, and it's becoming too uncomfortable to knit. I did work on Matt's afghan while I could, and we're now at 17 inches, but then it just got too warm to sit with all that yarn on my lap. I tried working on a mitten, but even that was too warm. So I've put up the needle for the night. Think I'll just go to bed and read.

I found a couple of lists on other blogs listing the top 100 books of all time. They aren't in any particular order that I can discern, and I'm not even sure they're the same list, but I'll puzzle that out and get back to you. Anyway, I discovered that I've read about 35 of the books on that list, so I have a lot of reading ahead of me if I want to read all 100. Tonight, though, I'm reading "Nothing To Fear But Ferrets". A saucy little murder mystery about a lawyer with a temporarily suspended law license who has taken to pet sitting to pay the bills. The murder-solving is a side thing that just ends up getting her in trouble. It's the second in the series, and I can't recall the author off-hand, but they're fun and I'll probably see if she's written any more once I can actually afford to go book shopping again. I think I need to pack up a few more boxes of already read books and truck 'em down the Half Price Bookstore so I can get some book money.

These are our stalwart guardians of the patio intent on keeping that dirty slab of concrete safe from marauding mocking birds and that stealthy calico cat that comes creeping around every now and then.

Aaaaaah! Relief!

2008-07-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today has been the first really comfortable day in a long time. Unfortunately it's not going to last as we're due for more hot, dry weather moving in sometime tomorrow and increasing clear through the weekend. I hate hot. I hate being so hot that my yarn sticks to me and I can't knit. I might as well be working on those days, but.......still no job. =)

So Thursday I started this:
This is the afghan that Katie asked me to make for Matt. It's a sage green boucle, a smooth dark green and a satiny black held together knit on a size 15 circular needle. It's really a very pretty combination, and the picture just doesn't do it justice. I started with 104 stitches and thought, based on the pattern, that I would have a finished width of 60 inches. Nope. 51 inches. So I had to rip it all out (7 rows) and start over, this time with 123 stitches. This will give me the width I need, but on the 4th row of the pattern, I messed up at the beginning of the row and didn't catch it until the end. It would have helped if I'd actually read the entire pattern through first. I mean it's only a 4 row pattern for crying out loud! So I ripped out that row and got it going right and this is what I have now:

Eleven inches so far and still growing. I'll work on it as long as it stays cool, but once the shows up again, it'll be a killer.

But when it's hot I have these that I work on. These are the little Snowman Mittens from the Mystery Mitten Knit-along. They really came out cute although the picture is kind of dark. These should fit about a 4 year old child....maybe up to a 6 year old if they have smallish hands. Anyway, these will go in the box for Children In Common.

Then I finished these. These were a UFO for a long time, but they're officially a finished object also destined for the Children In Common box. I think they'll fit about a size 2. And this one (along with its as yet unknit mate) will go in the Afghans for Afghans box. That box also has the larger green pair that were UFO's at the beginning of UFO week but are now finished objects. The second one will be started tomorrow, but depending on how the day goes, they may not get finished until Wednesday.
I also have one pair of socks still on the needles and 2 pair of legs waiting in the wings. I need to get my soldier socks knitted, but I also need to get some socks made for the children, so it looks like I'll be busy for a while. I wish I could knit as fast as young Stephanie in our Socks for Soldiers group. She can turn out a pair of socks a week without the use of a sock machine. And the ladies on the Afghans for Afghans knit-along are just cranking out shawls and vests and sweaters. It's inspiring, but it's also a little disheartening, because I know I can't work that fast. But I keep plugging away. Every garment made is one more child that'll be a little bit warmer this winter.

Sammie says hi.

Some Finished UFO's

2008-07-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

I know UFO week was only supposed to be a week, but I figured it was my plan so I could change the rules. Besides, last week was beastly hot and it's so hard to work with yarn when you're raining on everything. The yarn tends to stick to you and the needles and it just doesn't work well. But even so, I managed to complete the following:

The Wool Eater afghan. It's finished measurement is 47 inches square. And I'm so glad it's finally finished! Wool is incredibly warm (which is why all the charities want wool garments) but that makes it even harder to work with in the heat.
The comfort-ghan to be sent to Canada for the mother of little Katie who is having surgery at the end of the month. I think the squares work well together even though they came from several different people. It can be a challenge to make them all fit, but that's the fun part, too.

My supervisor made sure I kept working. If I stopped, I had to pet her as she figures idle hands are meant for petting cats. She wasn't very happy about having her picture taken. I woke her royal highness from her nap.
Another comfort-ghan, also going to Canada, for neighbors of my friend Di who had a house fire.

This is an older couple, and they've lost much. The little guy down in the bottom right corner is a monster I made for young Katie to keep her company. He's triangular and blue and hairy.
And these are finally a pair. These are big enough to go into the Afghans 4 Afghans box for their youth campaign. Now I need to get busy and see if I can churn out some more mittens for older kids--the campaign is for youth ages 7-14, and everyone likes to make little stuff. The older kids sometimes don't get much because it takes longer to make their sweaters and vests and socks and mittens. So I think the rest of my mittens will be for the older kids.
So now that UFO Week(ish) is over, this is the next item on my agenda. These are the yarns that my Katie has picked for me to make her boyfriend Matt an afghan. And she wants it big enough to fit his queen size bed. So, starting from the left, we have Bernat Soft Boucle in 'moss shades', Caron Simply Soft in 'black', and good old Red Heart Super Saver in 'dark sage'. This thing is worked in a knitted mess pattern holding all three strand together on size 15 needles. It's going to be a really fun summer project. See? Even Andre can't take it. It's rough enough being a cat and having to wear a fur coat. Why would a naked, unfurred creature want to sit under a heavy, hot blanket all summer long? He thinks I'm crazy. I have to agree. But then, for me, it's hereditary.

Such a handsome cat, and he knows it.

UFO Update

2008-07-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Inspite of temps like these, I've carried on with the comfort-ghan. Wool or acrylic, it doesn't matter when the temperature hits the triple digit mark. But thanks to a lot of gatorade I got through it.
Remember these? This is what the comfort-ghan started out as.

Monday I spent all day on edging the squares. That's important when all the squares were made by different people. Not all of them had the same number of stitches to a side. So I did a single crochet, chain one, skip one edging. That makes things a little more flexible when it comes to joining. This is where I left it Tuesday night. It was just too hot to continue past this point.
So yesterday I finished attaching those 3 squares and put a beaded border around it. The first round was single crochet in each stitch, the 2nd was a single crochet, chain one, skip one in a contrasting color, the third was solid in white, 4th repeated the 2nd in a different color, and the last round is a reverse single crochet in white. The two contrasting colors pick up the rose and the lavender. And I didn't have to buy anything to finish this one either. So YAY!!! One down and about 6 more to go.
Curley thought it was hot too. She's laying in front of the swamp cooler after I just put a new ice pack in. Poor kitty. They're all feeling it. Sammie and Andre spend most of the day under the bed sleeping on the hardwood floor.
And this is the latest addition. Her name is Athena and she's a pit bull mix. She was at the San Jose Animal Shelter where Katie works, and Matt went down to see Katie and decided he had to have the dog. So technically she belongs to Matt, but it's looking like Katie will be moving in soon, so it's really Katie's little girl. I think they're going to be a very animal oriented couple.
Today it's going to be mittens since I have 2 pair in progress that need to get finished. I also joined a mystery mitten knit-along that I need to get started on. I surrendered to temptation because these mittens are supposed to be knit for charity, and I have 2 charities that desperately need mittens for children. They also need hats and socks and sweaters and vests and blankets, but fortunately the knitting community is very generous, and I know these children's needs will be met. Until next time, happy knitting!

UFO Week

2008-07-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

And I'm off and running. I decided that the first project this week will be the comfort-ghan for my friend Di in Canada. She's going to give it to the mother of her grand daughter's friend. The little girl is having surgery later this month and it's going to be a very difficult time for mom. The comfort-ghan will let her know she's got friends praying for her and her daughter.

So.....this is what the squares started out as this morning.

They're all 12 inch squares from an exchange the United In Friendship group I belong to did ages ago. Everyone else has long since put their squares together, but now I'm glad I never got to mine. If I had, I wouldn't have them now for Katie's mother. And the little bear is another amigurumi that will go with the others and the 'ghan at the end of the week. The little toys will be for some quiet play while Katie is recuperating.

Another picture of the bear with our bear, Andre. He wasn't impressed. I guess lavender isn't really his color.
And a puppy to go with the others.
And a merry mushroom joins the group.
I think that'll probably be it for amigurumis for a while. I have an ever growing (as I discover more) pile of unfinished projects that I need to work on. And starting next Monday, I'll have Matt's afghan at the top of the list. But I may still find room for this. Check it out!

A Happy Independence Day to All

2008-07-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

I hope you're all having a good holiday weekend. We are. A little yard work, some barbeque and beer (for John; I don't do beer), some crocheting, and 'Independece Day', the movie that has become a yearly tradition. I even watched it when I was in the hospital after my knee surgery. Couldn't break with tradition, after all. So what did you all do?

I made this for Floyd (Heather's cat). It's filled with catnip. How cute is that? His very own 'shroom. Yo! Dude!

And I found a couple more UFO's for the pile for next week. This is a toddler sweater that may yet grow to fit a 6 year old. I'm working on it.

And this one is made with all my left overs from projects that were completed and mailed about 2 years ago. It'll fit an 8-10 year old child when it's finished. I need to see if I have more yellow and orange, though. If I don't, I'll just leave them out of the rest of the sweater.

I didn't take any pictures of my squares, but I'll be putting 12 12" squares together for a comfort-ghan for a woman in Canada whose daughter will be undergoing surgery later this month. I'll remember to take a picture of the finished project though, so you can see how talented all my crochet friends are.

I'm heading out tonight for an evening with friends. You all take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow I'll tell you about my trip down to Heather's park and you'll find out what a raisin tree is.

Ami's I have known

2008-07-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Amigurumi has been on the scene for quite some time now, but I only just discovered it about 4 or 5 months ago. The word is Japanese and translates roughly to knitted or crocheted toy. The short form, ami, as well as being a whole lot easier to say, is the French word for friend. So these are little crocheted friends. And when my friend Di, in Canada, asked me if I would make some for her grand daughter's friend, I jumped in with both feet and a house full of stash. I'm really having a lot of fun with these, too. There are books and patterns aplenty, but if you know how to crochet and the basics of geometry, you don't even need a pattern. These are the ones I've done so far this week, and it's only Tuesday. (This is the main reason the UFO's are waiting until next week.)

This is Exercise Kitty. No pattern. She's entirely my own design and a lot more involved than most ami's tend to be.

The flying pig (not my original design) was a must make. John wears a flying pig pin on his jacket as a symbol of his cynicism. This one is headed up to Canada, but I'll be making it again. Anybody want one? And the chick is my own design. It's a copy of the very first ami I ever made which is now in Iraq with some unknown soldier.

Closer view of the chick (because the pig one came out blurry).

I'm working on a mushroom which I'm going to fill with catnip for Heather's cat Floyd. I haven't seen him for quite a while, but he's still my grandbaby, and he needs toys too. I'm going to give it to Heather tomorrow. I think she'll get a kick out of it; a 'shroom for the cat. And I'll keep working on these little guys until I fill the box up. I have a few pattern books that I bought back when I first discovered them, and I have several free patterns saved from internet sources, so I won't lack inspiration. I may even follow the directions on some of them.

Battles I must fight

2008-07-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Ant War rages on. Spearmint oil works.....to a degree, likewise peppermint oil; much more so than the Raid anyway, and they smell better. But we still don't know exactly how they're getting in so we still have the little buggers around. I suspect they're coming up from under the house, but since I don't do "under the house" and John doesn't either, we'll just have to keep the oils around. I'm way to cheap to have someone come out for anything but termites.

Way back in February, I posted about all my UFO's. These are my unfinished knitting and crochet projects that have been shoved to the wayside because something new (read bright and shiny) distracted me. It's a common problem with fiber people. A new yarn comes along or a new project is showcased in the latest yarn magazine, and we just have to stop what we're doing and start the newest, hottest thing. I'm in good company. All the famous knitting bloggers (as well as some not so famous friends) have the same problem. So I am declaring next week "UFO WAR WEEK". I will set aside this one 7 day period to finish projects that have been sitting in old, wrinkly Michael's and WalMart bags and get this stuff out of my house. The sad part is that a lot of this stuff is for various charity organizations that could really use it, and here it sits. So, beginning next Monday (July 7th) I will spend 7 full days of waking hours working on my unfinished objects. Here are a few:

A toddler mitten that needs a mate,

A child's mitten whose mate has been started but I need another ball of wool to finish,

A prayer shawl that I started 3 years ago,

A gift for a friend meant for last Christmas.

And there are others. As I pull them out this week to collect them in one spot, I'll post some more pictures. And then next week, as they get finished, I'll post more.

So the battles rage on. Stay tuned for (not quite) regular updates.

Update on the battle...

2008-06-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm tentatively claiming victory for my peppermint tea concoction. I've only seen 2 ants since spraying everywhere with it this morning, but I'll be keeping a very vigilent eye out for any further little buggers.

And the battle continues.......

2008-06-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

I've almost decided that there isn't anything effective to be done about our ant invasion. They don't mind the Raid, there are too many of them for the liquid bait traps (unless I had about 30 more) they ignore the solid bait traps, and so far the natural 'solutions' haven't really solved anything.

BUT.....

I was doing some research on line this morning on scents that would repel ants. Peppermint, spearmint, garlic, anything with a really strong scent is supposed to be good for this because it inteferes with their ability to smell their food source. Well, at least that would smell better than Raid and I wouldn't have to worry about the cats, but I don't have any of those oils. What I do have is some organic peppermint tea and a spray bottle. So I've made an extra strong cup of tea and will be spraying like crazy today to try to eliminate my pesky invaders. I'll keep you posted.

On the knitting front, I have one sock completed, one black cotton stretch beanie completed, another beanie (and the other sock) started, and I'm still working on the Wool Eater afghan for Afghans for Afghans. I'm having a crisis of color, though, because I've run out of my darker shade of green and I really don't want to buy any more. I have one more round of the darker shade to go in the green sequence, but only enough to make it about 1/4 of the way around. I have an even darker shade that might work, but it will mean ripping out a whole round. I'm still deciding.

And I think my next project is going to be an afghan for Matt (Katie's boyfriend). Have I mentioned that this is serious? She's never wanted me to make an afghan for any of her previous boyfriends. She was looking through my pattern books yesterday, though, and picked out one that should work up pretty fast. Of course there will be pictures, so stay tuned.

I HATE ANTS!!!!!

2008-06-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

It was so hot over the weekend that all those little teeny, tiny black ants invaded my house, and I can't get them to leave. I've sprayed, I've cleaned (yes, I did so clean), I bought $30 worth of ant traps, and this morning they were as thick as ever all over my computer desk. John and I have looked inside and out and can't figure out where they're coming from, so they're probably coming from underneath the house where neither one of us will go. I'm beginning to think the damn house is built on an ant hill. But the thing that bugs (pun intended) me the most is that these little buggers are immune to Raid. So what else do I use? A couple of friends suggested sprinkling grits or cornmeal all around the house. The ants eat it, can't digest it, and die. Another friend suggested Chinese Chalk around the outlets. They actually sell this in the hardware store. I suspect it's some form of boric acid which they also sell in large jars for spreading around the outside of your house. None of these (except tgrits/cornmeal) sound very eco-friendly, and we do have neighborhood cats that hang out in the yard. I need a tried and true, natural, very effective solution. My herbalist friend suggested peppermint oil, so I'm off today to find some.

But other than battle ants, it was a weekend to just stay hidden inside, in the dark, and watch tv and knit. Well, John doesn't knit, but he was sitting there in the dark with me anyway. We watched a Tremors marathon. Months and months ago he bought all the Tremors movies with the intention of having a Tremors marathon day, but because of my schedule (working ALL. THE. TIME.) we haven't been able to. Until now. It was hokey, but it was fun. And I finished sock number one on the pair of leisure socks I'm working on and made most of a soldier beanie in the cotton/lycra from Classic Elite called Star. It's fun to work with, and the end result is something very stretchy. A good weekend.
Except for certain furry members of the family. Andre just couldn't find a cool spot. Poor baby.
Its much better today.

Our recent trip to Minden

2008-06-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Minden? you ask. What in the world is a Minden? It's a little town about 20 miles south of Reno where the best Beechcraft mechanic has his shop. The Bonanza needed to have its nose gear worked on because it hadn't been set right at the last check up. It was too stiff, and there was a danger that it would malfunction right when it was needed most. So John flew it over week before last, rented a car and drove home. He hates long drives. So on Sunday we did it in reverse and drove up in a rented car to pick up the plane with its newly (and correctly) adjusted nose gear and flew home.

This is Donner Pass. The last time I was through here was a good 13 or 14 years ago when Katie had a gymnastics competition in Reno. It was in February, we drove, and it was white out conditions all the way from just past Auburn to just before Reno. It was a trip to remember.

This is Casino Fandango in Carson City, Nv which is right next door to the Courtyard by Marriott where we stayed. Nice places, both of them. The casino has only been there about 5 years, but the hotel has only been open about 3 months. Very nice place to stay if you ever have a reason to visit Carson City. And actually, Carson City has a lot to offer the history buff; lots of old buildings, the governor's mansion, Kit Carson Rendezvous Days (which we missed). It's a city that's been around and can tell a tale or two. Plus the casino is a hoot. We had a great time.

These are the hills behind the hotel we stayed in. It's kind of difficult to see the color variations in this picture, but they're really pretty; sublte shades of green and grey and tan.

And this was the on the flight home. These are the snow fields above Lake Tahoe. I didn't realize that so much snow remained after the spring melt. It sure was a sight.

The sock was excited to see the lake and the snow, and it reminded me that it has those same colors in it. It's turned out to be a beautiful colorway, and I'm sorry I can't find more of it to make me a pair of Lake Tahoe socks.

This is where I want to live. A little lake just to the west of Lake Tahoe with snow on the mountains all year and NO NEIGHBORS! How perfect would that be? No noises and distractions. Just sittin' and knittin' for months on end because you can't get out to go anywhere. It definitely would require some planning, but the rewards............

And this is the majestic lake herself seen from the western side from 10,000 feet. I have never seen such a brilliant blue. It was absolutely breath taking.

But all good things must come to an end. If they don't, they risk becoming mundane and then they're no longer special. So we're home now and doing the same things on the same days in the same ways. But we have memories of a great weekend.

Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose, Ca

2008-06-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

I think I may have finally figured out how this works.....you upload the pictures first, and then fill in the text. That's what I've come up with, so that's what we're going to do.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the pictures I got at the park on Saturday. Not too many because we didn't stay real long, and a lot of the open areas of the park were cordoned off for the tamale festival. But some basic historic stuff.......

This is Emma Prusch. Her family owned the land and farmed it until 1962 when she deeded it to the City of San Jose to be enjoyed as a working farm in the middle of a busy city. Emma loved her small dairy farm and wanted future generations to be able to experience, in a small way, the Santa Clara Valley that she grew up in. The park is 47 acres and features San Jose's largest barn, over 100 community garden plots, a rare fruit orchard (which has something called a raisin tree that will require another trip to check out), and your typical barnyard denizens.
These 2 photos are in the old farmhouse which serves as visitor center and park offices. The bottom one is historical info about the family and park, but it didn't come out quite as hoped.

Thsi guy is a 4-H project......a rather nasty tempered young bullock destined to be "harvested" when he's all grown up and really grumpy. Heather says "harvested" is the new P.C. term because it doesn't make little kids cry.

One of several very noisy barnyard fowl running aroung. Roosters don't just crow in the morning all you ciy folks. The crow ALL DAY LONG!!!! There's quite a flock running free over the park, and the police department as well as the park rangers get 911 calls all the time about the chickens escaping. I think it's funny.
For my fibre enthusiast friends, this is a hand crocheted table cloth that they're using as a throw over this old chair. The chair could use some covering up, but I think this cloth is way too pretty and should be on the old table in the dining room. Maybe I'll suggest something to the rangers.
And this is the keeper of the castle. His name is Squirtles. He comes and goes on quiet little cat paws, and you don't even know he's there until he rubs up against you. Very sweet cat.
This is an old wool carder.....something else that may interest my fibre-y friends. I know some of you card and spin your own wool, so when I saw this I had to have a picture of it. Someday I'd like to leard how to use one and then to spin my own yarn. Maybe once we retire.
So that's the end of the pictures that I got at the park. There was one more of her old spinning wheel, but Blogspot only lets you upload so many at a time, and I didn't plan exactly enough. But there will be other trips to the park, and I'll share some more. I'm really interested in checking out the rare fruit orchard and seeing what else is growing on around there.

Glitches

2008-06-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

So I learned how to use the camera, but I still need to figure out how to get the pictures in the right spots on the blog. Every time I try to upload a picture, it goes to the beginning of the darn blog and I can't move or remove it. I've scrapped 3 drafts already today. Anybody have any words of wisdom?

And another thing.......I dug out the socks that I started forever ago for a friend in Canada (hi Di!) with the thought that it might be nice if I finished them, only to find out that the one completed sock was bound off too tightly, and I can't get it over my instep. So, off to the frog pond with that one. I'll have to take the bind off out and work a few rows on a larger needle and then use a different bind off so the socks can actually be worn. Then I can finish the second sock which only needs about 3 more inches.

And I didn't get any tamales yesterday at the tamale festival because by the time they opened the gates, it was packed and getting very hot. We were able to see Heather, though, and get a tour of her park, and that was really why we went. It would have been a lot of fun to stay and see all the stuff at the festival, but I think that's something I'll do next year without John. But doesn't she look great in her uniform? (And she snagged me a couple of tamales which I drove down and got today. )

Once I get this picture thing figured out, I'll post a little more about the park.

Guess what I learned!!!

2008-06-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Yep. I learned how to use that stupid camera. I spent the better part of an hour going through the software manual looking for instructions before I realized there had to be another book, though. And I didn't find that until I figured it out for myself. Pretty easy, even for a ludite. So here is a test shot of our side gate being over run by the neighbor's morning glory. I thought it looked kind of rustic and pretty, and I plan to rip all that damned weed out this weekend anyway. So here it is.

Then I took this one of the beginning of my Wool Eater afghan. It's a whole lot bigger than this now, but I'm holding off on another shot until I put the next colors on. Don't want to run out of film. (heh-heh-heh)

This afghan is really proving to be addictive. I don't know if it's the color sequencing or the fact that it only has a 2 row repeat, or what, but I'm loving it. Unfortunately, it's getting too hot to work on afghans for very long. I'll do some more tomorrow and see how far I get.

I'm still working on the baby afghan for Katie's friend, and that one is turning out quite nice too. It's a basic round ripple done in a rainbow of colors. I think I'll need to get some more green and probably blue, but that one should be finished this weekend and I can get it boxed up.

And I've got about 3" on the current pair of socks. Well, on one sock. I don't have another set of 2.75mm needles to start the second sock, so I thought I'd try doing just one at a time and hope I don't come down with a bad case of 2nd sock syndrome. These are turning out pretty cool. It's a self striping Regia yarn in a discontinued colorway, and I really like the stripe pattern. The dark stripes are a mix of blue, green, black and gold, and the light stripes look like Fair Isle. Kind of. I'm not sure if I'm making guy or girl socks yet, though. There isn't enough there to tell me, and I think I need to check with Heather. She knows these things.

We're planning to go to a tamale festival this weekend at Heather's park in San Jose. If we make it, I'll take pictures. :0)