Patchwork...and not much knitting

One day last week I was taking something out of the oven, using one of the patchwork pot-holders I made years ago, and I almost got burned because the poor old potholder was so shabby and threadbare. I decided maybe it was time I made some new ones, and that is just what I have been doing... Digging through my fabric stash (I don't really have very much) reminded me that DD once expressed her desire to have a quilt made by me, so I've started that as well.

Here's a shabby old potholder -

(Sorry, I forgot to fix the date-thingy on the camera...)

Here's some new ones -

And here's two 15" quilt blocks - Geese in the Pond is the pattern name.

This is basically a scrap quilt. I might "need" to purchase a couple fat quarters in a yellow print (I think the greens cry out for yellow and I just don't have any pretty yellow in my stash).

Knitting? Well, not much progress...I did turn the heel on the Dusk sock and make a bit of headway up the leg. And I have managed a few inches on the first sleeve of DD's sweater. It's my "idiot" knitting at present...just stockinette stitch with a few increases along the sides. I've been working on it when I go outside to chicken-sit (say that 6 times fast), but the weather has been pretty severe so time outside has been hard to come by.

In spite of the cold, windy, wet Spring weather, the peach tree has begun to bloom and the plum tree out back is gorgeous - all white and lacy. Sweet peas are up (about 2 1/2"!) and today DS thinned out the lettuce, spinach and radishes and gave the thinnings to the chickens. Boy, were they ever enthusiastic about those little seedlings!

Monday, Gorgeous Monday

It's supposed to get up to 67 degrees today and 73 tomorrow!!! Then, rain on Wednesday. But who cares? I live for today and today the weather is glorious! Our forsythia is blooming, along with some early tulips and all the rose bushes are showing all kinds of new growth, even the ones that I pruned back to nubbins. (Yes, I still have to get those other bushes pruned - before they take over the whole block!)

To make matters even more wonderful, the house is full of the fragrance of home-made bread. Actually, home-made Po' Boys for our French Dip Sandwiches (tonight's dinner). Using up some Bar-B-Qued steak that DS fixed last night.

There's been more knitting goin' on! As I may have mentioned, with DD's sweater in no hurry to get finished (it won't really be "needed" until next Fall), I felt the need to get some other things on needles. Actually, I already had one WIP on needles, but I had forgotten all about it (it's from years and YEARS ago!) until I was digging through my yarn stash (for Ravelry). Here it is:

(You can see I've got the date stamp on the camera fouled up again)

This project is from the Summer 1998 issue of Interweave Knits. It's supposed to have a rectangular crocheted base but for some reason I substituted a round knitted base. It was completed up through the middle of the darker blue section - now I've completed the knitting (except for the I-cord draw-string) and am working on the crocheted straps.

Here's a close up of the crocheted eyelet section at the top of the bag - for some reason I just love the look of it...

(I'm a miserable photographer! That's the camera strap on the right.)

This project in IK actually has two bags/purses and I made the other one years ago and really like it - except I made the crocheted straps as directed and they are too long (they stretch-out quite a bit). I know I could re-do but a knot strategically positioned in the straps works fine...

Here's a pic of that first bag/purse. It holds my portable quilting supplies so when I go to my friend Jan's house to quilt I'm all set. Finger cots...check, quilting thread...check, baby powder...check, needles...check, thimble...check. You get the idea.

A "new" WIP - lace. You know, I've been kicking myself because "I can't knit lace" - but that's not it at all. After all, Pookie's Shrug and The Bean's Shrug are both all lace, and the Purple Fountain Lace socks were lace (duh). It's just that lace weight YARN gives me fits. I found a pattern for a scarf (in one of those old IK's-staff-all knit-their-take on some theme - in this case scarfs) that didn't look to be too complicated. It's garter stitch lace, it isn't too big and the pattern is all knit stitches, yarn-overs, and K2togs. You'd think I could handle that, right? Well ... would you believe this is my third try? Yep, ripped it back to nuttin' twice.

Sorry it's so blurry. I tried to stretch it out using "paper-weights) to show the pattern...The yarn is Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud in the Iris color-way. I just can't justify spending money on new lace weight yarn until I prove to myself that I can knit with the stuff. But my heart is yearning for red. Or bright spring green. Or vivid aqua. Oh dear.

And lastly, a sock in progress. My own pattern (using Barbara Walker's patterns for the lace)...

The yarn is Knit Pick's Essential (I think) in the Dusk colorway.

I loved the cover of the next-to-last Knit Pick's catalog. Which inspired me to take this pic:

I'm hoping to need a larger sock-drawer soon.

Woo Hoo!

Happy dance! It's the first day of spring! And it actually feels like Spring here in the Treasure Valley of Idaho. Some of our little wild violets are blooming out front - they smell so sweet! I still haven't gotten outside to prune the rest of our roses...I keep looking for growth on the ones I already pruned (none that I can see so far), but the giant, un-pruned roses are showing all kinds of new growth.

Also GREAT BIG Happy Dance - I got The Bean's Shrug finished last night.

Elfin Lace - on the arms...

Mrs. Montague's Lace on the back.

The Shrug really doesn't "go" with this shirt, but oh well!

I've also made a little bit more progress with DD's sweater back...

And, another GREAT BIG WOO HOO - since I've only got one WIP going right now, that must mean that I can start something else! (After all, DD won't need this sweater til next fall, right? What a happy thought!

Now, what's it gonna be? I have quite a bit of sock yarn and I can always use socks. But I keep thinking about lace...and something earthy in garter stitch. Or...

Oh, dear.

Finally, DS gets home this afternoon after being gone all week. What's for dinner? Home-made bread Brat roll-ups. (like hot-dog roll-ups, but with Brats instead). And Green Beans. Yum!

There's been knitting going on...

How can a whole week have flown past since I last posted? It's a time warp, I tell you. Guess that's what happens when one stays busy.

Showing the bottom...

Showing both the fronts.

I have completed both fronts on DD's sweater-in-the-making. The first one involved much frogging and re-knitting. Despite having measured gauge (on the idiot shawl I started with this yarn) I got about a third of the first front done when I realized that I was getting different gauge than I thought. So, RIPPPPP... Then I got to the second section of the front and didn't like it. Not. One. Bit. So, RIPPPPP again. I liked the reverse of that section so I re-knit it wrong-side-to so to speak. Then I got to the armhole decreases and almost up to the neckline decreases when I decided that the armhole just wasn't quite right, so (you guessed it), RIPPPPPP... and I re-knit that section. The second front went much quicker because I had worked out the problems on the first front. I am now about one fourth the way on the back and it should go OK because it's just like the fronts only back-ier.



A nice surprise this past week. Back-story: I used to be the proud owner of a Bernina 830 sewing machine. I'd had it for at least twenty years and loved it. About a year ago I got it out to do some mending and it wouldn't work. Like, it had been turned to stone. So I took it to the little shop where I bought it so many years ago and left it there for Scott to fix. Scott called some weeks later (he had a BIG back-log of sewing-machines-waiting-for-repair) - long story short, it was going to cost a bundle to order the needed parts because Bernie was so old, and he offered me a nice big fat trade-in on a new Janome. (What's a Janome? I wondered) - He had stopped carrying Berninas. So the Curmudgeon and I went to the shop and I tried a Janome and I fell in love with it and we ended up buying it (for a fraction of what the Bernina had cost us all those years ago). Not very long after that the Curmudgeon died and I had other things besides sewing on my mind.

Now to last week. DS was gearing up for several weeks out of town with his job (home on weekends) and he realized that he didn't have enough changes of clothes to survive a week without a washing machine. But, he did have several pairs of jeans that he had ripped out in the crotch, or that needed belt loops re-attached, or whose pockets were ripping off. My old Bernina didn't do denim - at least not where multi-thickness seams were involved, but I decided to try the Janome. Amazing! This little sewing machine just ate up those seams and all the jeans got mended in jig time. What a nice thing.


I'm about a third of the way through "Ursula, Under" and loving it. What a neat book.


One last thing...I have an ancient Crock Pot and I want to find some truly delicious recipes to make with it. I've always really liked the idea of crock pots - but sadly, never found any recipes that we liked well enough to make a second time. If you read this and have any suggestions, please pass them along to me.

Monday, Monday

So...I frogged the shawl and have started a sweater for DD. She's very picky about her clothes...not so much about how they look, but about how they fit and feel. So I've taken measurements from a sweater she wears a lot and am trying to re-create it, hoping that it will feel "right" and fit her, too. I'm trying to throw in some of my own personal design touches so it won't seem like such a blatant copy. Working with yarn at this gauge is amazing - it knits up so fast! When I get a bit more done on it I'll post some pics.

And yes, I'm still working on The Bean's Shrug. You know how I am about starting new projects. I love the starting so much more than the finishing!

In addition to knitting today, I need to haul out a whole bunch of re-cycles, gather all the household trash, do laundry, bake bread and figure out what's for dinner. That last one could be very simple. As a good friend once said, "Toast is a hot meal." (And toast made from homemade bread is a gourmet hot meal!)

LATER

Well, I haven't done everything on my "list" today, but I've made good headway. The Bread...

is in the oven. Can you smell it? I think we'll have cheese omelets and homemade bread toast for dinner.

In a totally unrelated corner of my life, I have begun to read Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill. Recommended by DD - in fact, she bought it for me along with a copy of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. And, I have a copy of Anne of Green Gables waiting in the wings. (I'm probably one of the few people my age living in America who has never read A.of G.G.!) What fun, to have three amazing books waiting to be read.

I recently re-connected with an awesome knitter (through Facebook of all things!) and if you're on Ravelry, check out her knitting. MaureeninFargo. She is amazing! When I grow up I want to be her.

Finally....

Birds

First of all, there's not a lot of news on the knitting front. I've been in frog land, ripping and re-knitting a section on The Bean's Shrug three times now (aarrugggghhh). Nothing as bad as the Harlot's tale of woe (see her March 6 entry), but gee whiz - why couldn't I get it right the first time? Also cast on (Bad Grandma! Bad, bad, bad!) for a very plain rectangular shawl with some Lion Brand Homespun that was given to me several years ago...I really like having some "idiot knitting" (very plain and simple and either doesn't require a pattern, or is SO idiot-simple that even I can remember what to do) - hence the casting on of said shawl. But two things: first, this yarn is driving me slightly bonky - it's so filament-y and fuzzy that I constantly have to undo and re-do stitches just to get rid of those extra strands that hitched onto to the just-knitted stitch, and shouldn't have (extra credit if you understood that) and second, DD just about did back-flips when she saw the yarn (colorway "Quartz") - she loves it! So now I'm thinking maybe I ought to find a sweater or vest pattern for the yarn and make something she can wear. Hmmmmm.

Birds. Yes, I love birds. Yesterday I looked out our living room window and our big Ash tree out back was full of these:

American Robin

I counted 28 at one time! And they were all facing the house, their big red chests looking like ornaments in the bare branches. I didn't even try to take a picture...I just sat there and enjoyed the scene.

And...

A couple of weekends ago, Pookie looked out the same window at the same tree and said "Grandma, look at that bird!" We looked up the bird in the "Birds of Idaho Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela and found out that we had a Downy Woodpecker in our tree. I have seen Downys in our tree on several occasions. They're beautiful little guys.

And...

Several days ago I spotted a "new" bird at our feeders out front. We regularily see house sparrows, house finches, Juncos, and chickadees - and they all pretty much stick to our regular bird-seed feeders or ground feeding, but this new little bird was at the thistle-seed feeder and was much smaller than the other birds. I think it was a Pine Siskin like this one.

Pine Siskin

And, finally - I love this pic! Emailed to me by a dear friend...

Babka's Eggs

She says that since all the roosters were "dispatched" (by one of her Chicken Lady Friends), her remaining hens are super happy girls. Aren't those eggs just gorgeous!

They're Shrugs - not Shawlettes

Just the other day I saw a pattern (somewhere?) for a Shrug, and it had sleeves with a shawl type piece across the back. It was constructed like the "Shawlette" I knit(ed) for Pookie and the one I'm knitting for The Bean. So now I know. They're Shrugs.

Pookie - all smiles - with a few of her beloved animals.

Part of the back and sleeve.

The Bean's Shrug? Progress is being made. I'm past the center back portion and about two inches along on sleeve number 2. (Yes, I did finish the Purple Fountain Lace Socks.)

Apropos of nothing, one of my favorite things are "Bird Trees". The Curmudgeon and I always called them that. A "Bird Tree" is a large bush or a small tree where a flock of birds has gathered and they all begin to chirp and shout at each other. (The McLaughlin Group on PBS sometimes remind me of Bird Trees - the talking heads on said program all talking and shouting at once... But, Bird Trees are much nicer and the birds probably make more sense than the talking heads.)

Also apropos of nothing, I heard a profound statement this morning on Religion and News Weekly (PBS). Forrest Church was speaking in an interview with Bob Abernethy and said "The opposite of love is fear." Without thinking much about it, I would have said that the opposite of love is hate. But, I think he's right - it's fear. And then, fear begets hate. It might be helpful to remember that those who hate us most likely fear us. Hmmmm.

Recently a friend of mine (a very wise woman whom I love deeply) also said something profound. I can't quote her verbatim, but the essence of her thought was this: Isn't it strange that religious fundamentalists (of every stripe) tend to be anything but fundamental in their words and actions? Every major religion (that I know of, anyway) preaches love, forgiveness, service, acceptance, non-judgment of others to name a few of their fundamental beliefs. Yet, "Fundamentalists" often preach hatred, retribution, exclusion, etc., and are super judgmental of anyone different from themselves or who disagree with them. Another hmmmmm...

And here's something that I think is hilarious. The Bean's sixth grade classroom has been the recent home to an incubator complete with fertile chicken eggs. Recently, the eggs hatched and the kids in the class got to name the chicks. One little yellow chick was named "Omelet". Don't know why, but my funny bone gets tickled every time I think about it.

And lastly, Clem takes a breather.

And the Frogs were heard in the land

(Did you hear them? Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it...)

Yes, I did it. I frogged the Fair Isle sock all the way. It was a good thing. I could tell that I was not going to be happy with that sock! Sometimes when I make knitting mistakes I just let them go - I know they're not gonna bother me. But other times, I know they're going to make me nuts and the only thing to do is go back and fix them. In this case, I had messed up not once, not twice, but several times on the heel and the heel was driving me CRAZY (as I may have said before), and there were other issues going on, and, well, ripping was the only solution. I'll probably try these socks again someday, but in the meantime I'm finishing the second purple Fountain Lace sock and then I AM GOING TO FINISH The Bean's Shawlette. Honest.


I debated thismorning about going outside to prune another rose bush. Or ... making cookies. The cookies won. (The Bean will be so happy when she gets home from school!) Also on today's agenda: homemade Beef and Vegetable Soup (recipe from this season of America's Test Kitchen) and maybe homemade crusty French Bread. I haven't made French Bread in years, but I make and bake "regular" bread about twice a week. The aroma of baking bread...one of my favorite things on earth.

(Hey, didja notice? I got the date stamp thing fixed on my camera. Yesterday afternoon I was complaining about the date thing to DS and he gave me one of those looks. You know, the kind of look that says "Oh, you poor pitiful thing. You are so totally clueless!) "You just go into the menu, Mom, and use the arrows to navigate around and re-set the date." Me - "There's a menu?"

Another favorite thing - our Chickens! Yesterday afternoon DS was out back cleaning out the garden beds and he let the chickens out to forage. They were so happy.

This is Penelope, one of our three hens. I wish you could click on her image to embiggen the pic, but I seem to have lost the ability to make that feature work in my blog. Chickens are so cool. My grandma and my Aunt Jean both had chickens when I was a child and some of my favorite memories are the times I helped feed those chickens and gathered eggs. My dear Curmudgeon's family had chickens when he was a boy and one of his chores was to clean out the chicken coop. He ended up hating chickens and wouldn't even entertain the notion of having them during our time together. (He's really missing out now. DS does all the clean-up, and with only three hens it isn't such a terrible task. And we get fresh free-range eggs. Scrumptious!)

Feels like Spring! Did you hear a frog???

It is achingly beautiful outside today! I worked out front and pruned three of our huge, overgrown rose bushes. Here's a pic showing one of several left to prune, and an "after" pic showing a couple that I pruned today. None of our roses have been pruned in several years. The Curmudgeon used to love doing the dead-heading details during the summer months, but he wasn't so big on doing the big winter cut back stuff. I hope I haven't killed them!

My plan is to dig out all the grass and weeds around each bush and maybe plant annuals around the roses. But then...that's been my plan for at least six years. Who knows if I'll get it done this spring.

This is my little dog, Clem (short for Clemson). He hates it when I go outside and don't let him come along. So his little nose is out of joint from being relegated to the house while I was out side this morning.

He'll forgive me soon though, because after finishing this post I'm going to go out to the back yard and engage in some chicken-watching (our three hens just fascinate me and they're almost as good as meditation when it comes to calming the heart). Clem thinks the chickens might be good play-mates, but they're not very cooperative in that department.

Knitting? This is supposed to be a knitting blog, after all. I'm about to rip out the Fair Isle socks. (I'm sure I heard a frog just now.) The heel is driving me CRAZY! And, although the sock looks plenty big, it's really hard to pull over my heel - stranded knitting isn't as stretchy as stockinette or ribbing. I'm thinking I might do-over: add a pattern repeat going around the leg, lengthen the leg and try a Priscilla Gibson-Roberts heel in garter stitch. I know that will mess up the beautiful heel pattern that Katherine Misegades charted for this sock, but...hey, sometimes you just have to give a sock another chance at life, and if that means simplifying things, well then you do what you have to do.

That's it for now. Out I go to commune with chickens :-)

True Confession Time

The Purple Fountain Lace Socks? Well, they're not the only new WIP I've begun while needing to finish The Bean's Shawlette... I also cast on for some Fair Isle Socks (yes, I know! I really am BAD!!). Not once, but twice. The first time, I began with an inch of 1 x 1 ribbing as called for in the pattern, but it looked so wonky that I ripped it out and started again, this time with a braided edge that I liked from some long-ago mittens. (Speaking of ribbing...I love the way my 2 x 2 ribbing looks, but every time I do 1 x 1 ribbing it looks like crap! Why is that, I wonder.

Here's a pic of the first couple of inches or so. The pattern is from "The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection" found here, and the wool is Icelandic Wool found here. I love knitting with this wool - It's springy and earthy and very appealing. It also felts like crazy. How do I know? I knit another pair of socks with this yarn several years ago and my Darling Curmudgeon accidentally washed them - and dried them! They were never the same!

I have knit a few stranded projects in my time, but I'd be the first to admit that I don't have a lot of expertise in this type of knitting. However, I found a stranded knitting technique here that I really like. Why? First, the yarn doesn't get all twisted (which drives me crazy) and second, I have more even tension with this technique: the floats on the back are only carried over a maximum of two stitches at any time, so there's less possibility of having extra loose floats or extra tight floats.

I finished the first Purple Fountain Lace sock and only have a few inches to go on the second one but I'm such a WIP whore that I couldn't even finish before I schlepped off to the Fair Isle socks.

As for the Shawlette? I'm going to pick it up and actually knit a bit on it soon, I promise!

Some knitting in spite of everything

This past Christmas was low budget. Without the Curmudgeon's income, there was/is no extra $$ for much of anything. So I did what frugal knitters do. DS and DD and I agreed that we wouldn't spend any money on each other and that we would just focus on the two grandchildren. I found yarn in my stash (oh, thank heaven for little stashes!) to knit hats for each of the girls and also knit a "shawlette" for the youngest one. Actually it was supposed to be for The Bean (oldest), but in spite of all my efforts it turned out too small, so I gave it to Pookie (youngest). When she comes to stay with us next weekend, I'll try to remember to have her Dad pack it with her stuff so I can get a picture. I did start another shawlette for The Bean and am a little over half way done, but I've been working on other projects...I'm so easily lured away from WIPs to start other WIPs. Anyway, here are a few pics of hats.

The Bean's Hat, Side View

Same Girl, Same Hat, Front

(By the way, I have no idea why the date stamp on the pics says January 6 of '06... these pics were taken just the other day...why is my camera smarter than I am?)

The Bean had seen a pic of a similar hat in a catalog from Limited Too (?) or some other tweenie catalog and wanted one just like it. This one isn't "just like it", but similar enough that The Bean was very pleased.

And here's Pookie's hat.

Back to the shawlette for just a second. I don't know what to call it - maybe it's a shrug? I don't know. Basically it's a shawl with sleeves. (I've sewn the one sleeve so maybe you can see what the heck I'm talking about...You start at the wrist, knitting flat (not in the round),

then increase a few stitches along the arms to make the sleeve,

and knit across the back

and then reverse the process for the other arm. (I haven't gotten that far yet.) After you're done knitting, you sew seams from each wrist (end) of the shawl up the arm to create sleeves, leaving the portion from the upper arms and across the back open so it acts and feels like a shawl. Again, The Bean had seen a picture in a (knitting) catalog and thought it was really cute, hence my attempt at knitting one for her.

And what has lured me away? (Bad Grandma!) Socks, of course.

I'm working them toe-up, using Judy's Magic Cast on and following Wendy's generic toe-up sock with gusset, but making the socks my own by incorporating Fountain Lace and Double Eyelet Cable (from Barbara Walker's books). This is only my second time knitting this type of toe-up sock...I swore I wouldn't use this type of construction again as I sweated through the first pair - but then when they were finished and I wore them, I fell in love with the fit and comfort. So, I've used it again with these purple socks (and still had problems along the way) but I persevered and am now past the heel and working on the leg of the second sock. The problems, by the way are because of ME, not Wendy's pattern. It is superb, as all her patterns are. It's the "knitting the stitch together with the stitch that wraps it" that seems to be my big challenge. Don't know what my problem is...

Grief

It's been so long since I've posted I've mostly forgotten how.



First, sad news about my dear one. Last April my darling Curmudgeon had a heart event in his sleep, and even though the EMTs did finally get a heart rhythm back, he didn't ever "wake up". It's been about 10 months since he died and I still feel as though I'm on an emotional roller-coaster. Those five stages of grief? What no one tells you is that you don't necessarily move/progress through them smoothly, transitioning from one stage to the next. For me, it's been (and still is) a hodge-podge of profound grief one day, ballistic anger the next day and "calm" acceptance another day. And on and on.











This pic was joyfully discovered in my camera's memory after he died. I don't think I took it - maybe The Bean or DS/DD snapped it. As I look at his face in this tableau, he looks worried or maybe in pain. He also looks more haggard than he looked when awake. We used to tease him unmercifully about falling asleep anywhere, any time, and if any of the cats had access...well, they regarded him as heated furniture.

While he was in the hospital (connected to all kinds of machines in the hours before he actually was un-plugged and subsequently "died" for real) the cardiologist told us that his heart was only functioning at about 60% and that it had most probably been that way for a period of several years. Now, of course, we're all so sorry that we teased him for falling asleep anywhere anytime... Poor guy! He needed it. And, we're all still amazed at how hard he worked, how much he got done in spite of 40% less output from his heart.



And, despite his haggard, pained look, I'm so glad I have this picture of him with his beloved cats.

I'm planning on posting again soon - and with knitting content. Yes, there has been some knitting.

A Brighter World and New Projects

Firstly, my cataract surgery last Tuesday went smoothly and I was amazed at how different the world looked, even as DH drove me home after the procedure. If I shut my left eye and looked out of my right eye (the eye that had just been operated on) everything looked "clean" and already distance vision was improved. On the other hand, looking only through my left eye, the world appeared yellow-ish, as if there were a yellow filter over that eye.

The next day, at my one-day check-up, I was able to see 20-30 through my right eye, and the Dr. was very pleased with how good my eye looked. I asked him about the color change between the two eyes and he said that cataracts are yellow, so looking through a cataract is just like having a yellow filter. A-ha! Later that same day I was out back with Clem and saw twigs (!) on our big ash tree! I haven't seen twigs (except close-up) for years... I go to see my regular eye-doctor in two days and if all looks well, we may be able to schedule the second cataract surgery for two or three weeks off. I can't wait!!!!

Knitting:

Last week I ordered yarn for two projects... The Pirate Hat yarn came already, but the needles aren't here yet - rats! The pattern can be found here - thanks to Adrian Bazilia at Hello Yarn! for sharing it. The mittens are called Sea Mineral Mittens - I first saw them here, and the pattern is free on Ravelry. I ordered KP's Palette yarn in a colorway similar to Nanette's. (Her blog, by the way, is chock full of information about stranded knitting, gloves, mittens - and she has several highly-reviewed booklets and pamphlets for sale - check it out.)

I'm still (still!) working on the ribbing for the first Anne sock, and have done most of one repeat of the snowflake pattern for my Snowflake Shawl. (Not anything to brag about, as the pattern is only eight rows - but each repeat of the pattern increases the stitch count on the needle by eight stitches...I don't even know how many stitches are on the needle right now, but it seems like a lot.)

It snowed again last night, and today is all drippy and sloppy. I'm not going to complain too much, though, because we're supposed to get an Arctic blast out of Canada this coming week, with night-time temps in the teens. Brrrrr!

Backyard Birds

I always go out back when Clem goes out for his periodic potty breaks, and one day last week while I was sitting in the cold waiting for Clem, I heard a "new" (to me) bird somewhere in the area. I listened and listened and tried to whistle back to the bird, and looked and looked and never did spot him/her. Then a few days lataer, DD came outside with me and she spotted a Big Blue Bird on the fence. My eyesight is so poor right now that I could not distinguish any features - except that it was, indeed a big bird and it was blue. (Cataract surgery tomorrow on my right eye! Yay!)

Could this be the bird I had heard? I came inside to the computer and went here. I was pretty sure that the bird must be a Jay bird, but didn't know which kind of Jay bird. I typed "jay" into the search box and then checked out all the different Jay birds. Each bird "page" has a map showing the bird's range, along with other facts - one of the best features is - there are recordings of the bird-calls with each bird. Using this wonderful feature I found out that our Big Blue Bird was a Steller's Jay. He/she stayed around off and on all day, flitting from the fence to the ground, peckng for goodies, then back up to the fence. I have only seen one Jay bird around here once before and that was probably five years ago or more.

I really am excited about getting my cataracts removed. I opted for the "enhanced" surgery - so if all goes well, after both eyes are fixed I should have very good distance vision and only need to wear glasses for reading. I am very near-sighted and have worn glasses since I was about 11 years old. (I clearly remember my fascination, after getting my first pair of glasses, with being able to see individual leaves on trees! I knew of course that those big green blobs (trees) had leaves, but had never thought about being able to distinguish them, one by one.)

On the knitting front, I am still working on the ribbing for the "Anne" socks. Another inch or so and I'll change to #3 needles to finish the leg.

A New Sock and A New Friend

So, there's the new sock - with the heel just completed. Some ankle rows and then a ribbed (2 x 2) leg and the first one will be done. The yarn is Schaefer Yarn "Anne", 60 % Merino Wool Superwash, 25% Mohair and 15% Nylon - I bought it here. I think I bought way too much yarn: each skein has 560 yards in it and I bought two skeins. (I have BIG feet, so I'm always paranoid about not having enough yarn...) I'm more than half way through this first sock and the first yarn-cake (one skein) still seems pretty hefty.

I'm knitting these socks on size 2 (the larger size 2) Harmony Wood dpns. Did I say how much I love Harmony Wood needles from Knit Picks?

On a completely non-knitting subject, above is a picture of Clem, my new Puppy Dog. (We just got him the weekend before Thanksgiving.) I used to have a half-scottie dog named Annabelle. When she died a few years ago, I knew that someday I wanted a lap dog... In the meantime, we baby-sat several big dogs for various friends of our kids, and when the latest one went back to her family, I began looking in earnest for "my" lap-dog. I haunted the local Humane Society and read the classified ads religiously. No small dogs at the Humane Society (over a period of several months) and all the dogs/puppies in the paper were way expensive. Then, there was an ad for a seven-month old Chihuahua for $100...I hadn't thought that I wanted a Chihuahua, but I thought "Why not? I'll just go look." Well, when the lady brought Clem out to meet me, I just fell plumb in love!

It turned out that she had a kennel and raised long-haired Chihuahuas, and then her geographical area got annexed into a nearby community and that community doesn't allow kennel licenses. She had to either move (in a ridiculously short time) or get rid of all her dogs but three... The seven-month-old in the newspaper ad was already gone, but she still had Clem left and, like I said, I loved him at first sight.

He is a character - the heart of a lion and the bladder of a Great Dane. When I take him outside first thing every morning, his first pee lasts a very long time! He is fiercely protective of me - to the point that he doesn't like it when DH gives me a kiss! And, DH wants to play and cuddle with Clem, but Clem won't have anything to do with him. I'm hoping Clem will mellow out in time.

Yesterday I gritched about the weather - all that melting and dripping. Well, today our back yard is nearly free of snow and I swear there's new green grass out there! The birds have been numerous and noisy all day! Our neighbor's back-yard Oak trees and our Ash tree have been full of robins all day and our Juniper "Bird Tree" has been so noisy that you can hardly hear yourself think when you go out back.

I hate to say it, but I'm thinking Spring - and I know better! January is, after all, a six-month-long purgatory, where Spring is too distant to even dream about.

Uh...it's been awhile...

It's been so long since I've posted, I'm wondering if I can remember how to do it... So far so good - I remembered how to sign in to blogger :-)

It's January. Ugh. I had a friend (God rest her soul) who loved January. She saw it as the clean-slate month and liked the idea of "a fresh start" and "new beginnings". Nope, not me. For me, January is like a six-month-long purgatory while I wait for February. Actually, February isn't all that much better...but at least in February you can more easily anticipate Spring and warm weather.

We've had more snow this month than last year's total. I do love to watch the snow come down - but really hate the melting-off stage. Today is one of those melting, dripping days.

Knitting? Right now I have two projects "actively" on the needles. One is a triangular shawl found here. I call it my snowflake shawl : Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud (lace weight) in the Iris color, needles - Harmony wood cable needles, size 6 (I LOVE the harmony wood needles from Knit Pick's) . (Yep, that's the same yarn I used when starting two or three other lace projects that fizzled. I ended up having to throw away some of the yarn at the beginning of the yarn cake because I had frogged it so much that it was pretty wonky. Oh sigh.)

I'll save the other on-the-needles project for another day. I've forgotten how to position my pics within the text of the post. Drat!