Friday, January 29, 2010

DOWN AND OUT


I was under the weather these last two weeks. First with a massive nosebleed which was bad enough to send me to the emergency room. Then I had an infected earlobe. This is from the woman who is almost never sick. The antibiotics and the pain meds (the first not taken in at least 20 years) threw my digestive track into agony so Everythingearin was one unhappy camper. Thankfully, after the first day I was able to sit on the couch, pale and wan, and knit a bit. Somehow none of the knitting or sewing seems to have been photographed. Hmmm.


Previous to all the blood I found a way cool mushroom on one of my walks. In the Agaric family (gilled), what I believe to be some type of Russula though perhaps not what I've linked to.




Friend Sharon sent me some wonderful African Violets and The Swamp Fox sent me a Duckie card. She's crazy about duckies and I rather like them too. My neighbor brought over a huge bag of Mandarin oranges but that was just coincidence.


I'll spare you any photos of me with a nasal balloon hanging out of my face. Believe me, you don't want to go there.










There continues to be all sorts of knitting and sewing. (Must.Photograph.Work.) Today I hauled both my serger and regular sewing machine over to the repair shop to get tuned up. The serger is fine but needs regular care but Lily is showing signs of wonky bobbin stitches. It feels rather strange not having them around.
I finally made it back to knit night.

Armed Response

The Squeakers continue to grow. it's just about time to have them spayed. I find I am resisting the idea of surgery - they are such happy little creatures but do not in any way want more kittens brought into the world. My day is spent listening to them poking and prodding until something falls over or crashes down. Lately they're been attacking the plant that lives behind my kitchen sink. After the second onslaught I took action putting bamboo skewers into the dirt. This doesn't hurt them (too much) but it does stop them from digging around. It usually works with squirrels too.


Opal, she who is afraid of loud noises and birds, getting into trouble with dirt. (It bit back!)







Opal looking adorable in my houserobe (snagged off the couch).
Wet Stuff

We've been having days and days of rain. Finally the skies cleared and sunshine fell right out of the sky. One is grateful for the rain (we need it) but it was lovely to have a break. More is on the way.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

YUM

Happy New Year to you all! So far things are going well. I finally finished the Four Seasons Vine Lace Vest (another wonderful free Ravelry pattern). I'm a little embarrassed to mention how much trouble I gave myself with this nice pattern.

I'm not one to make resolutions for the new year But If I Was I'd resolve to actually reading a pattern through before starting, marking the right size, doing a reasonable swatch, use yarn that is appropriate....well, you know the litany.

Though the yarn was much heavier than called for I ADORED IT. Fleece Artist Hand painted Scotia Aran Wool/Silk in either "Blush" or "Rose". I forget. I never tired of it: squishy, forgiving, LUSCIOUS COLOR. Just plain YUMMY.





The close-up is close to the true color. I bought two skeins at 250 grams per skein (410 yards) and had 119 grams leftover. Size 7 needles (my thanks to friend Sharon for loaning me her very long Knitpicks circulars for the neckband). Knit in size small (highly unusual), lengthened (it ended up hanging 22.5 inches on each side) because I don't do "cropped". It fits beautifully and I expect to get a lot of use out of it.



I kept going back to look at other Fleece Artist yarn and finally settled on this: Blue Face Leicester Aran in "Spring". The photo does NOT capture the beauty of this color way. I plan to make this sweater for myself after I get a few UFO's off my list.

In other knitting news:




I have made several earflap hats (Thorpe) that I somehow spaced photographing. All I have is this extremely cute and silly snap of Hubby. (Hear him screaming in the background? ".....You PROMISED not to post that photo!!!"" Well, blog food is blog food.





There was a request from Kate for her very own mitered hanging dishtowel from Mason-Dixon. Such a nice pattern and a very useful item in the kitchen and makes such handy dandy Christmas presents.

For someone knitting "From Stash" there has been a lot of yarn buying. I seem to be trying to collect all the Cascade 220 superwash colors. I have a lot of magpie in me (Shiny!!).




New Year's day was so nice. Hubby and the S. Hubby watched football and Sharon and I logged in close to 8 hours of knitting down in my studio. Tea, lots of food, and yarn, lots and lots of yarn. My hands and wrist ached. Such fun!



Adorable Kitten Photos





We ain't doing nuthing.

The Joys of Country Living


This is what I got when I turned on the tap this morning. Thankfully, it cleared up pretty fast.


Behind the Times

Being rather behind on my blogging I am just now telling you that Valerie and her husband Rob came to visit in the middle of December. We walked along the Buttermilk trail looking down on the South Fork of the Yuba River. We also took them to Empire Mine. Omar fell in love with Valerie. Who wouldn't? And, it Did Not Rain.


She gave me pretty yarn which I have yet to photograph. Trust me, it's Major Yummy. Photos soon.


Christmas
Having The Squeakers climbing everything in sight we opted for a Christmas branch this year. For years I rented two small but lovely rooms in Los Altos, CA. In the front yard of the house was an Blue Atlas Cedar tree that Katrina, the owner, received as a memorial tree when her husband died. I used to have Christmas branches from this tree. When I married she and another friend gifted us with the same type of tree. So, in a way it was also a tribute to dear Katrina, deeply missed. (Hubby built the frame for me - such a wonderful guy. I am so lucky.)

















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