What passes for Yard Art in Cal

My most treasured piece of drift wood. It inspires many sketches and makes a fabulous backdrop for small jewelry pieces.

Yard Art Two

This Bird House was made by a friend. It hangs up there, sweetly sharing space with my bedraggled Spider plants.

Yard Art! What little I have...

This is all inspired by Rissa's Blog. You should see her birds, they are great!

Yard mobile, worn out and rusty but it moves in the wind. Created by B, or DD2 in her sculpture class in college. It's a little bent this morning because it took a tumble in the high winds of two days ago.

Tweaking

I've tweaked the code, so you now will notice that all the links open to a new page.. so you don't have to click on the BACK button to get back here now.

BUT.... You will have to click the BACK button to get back here from the comments page. I haven't found the old script I used to have before Beta, to do this little fixture. The comments always navigate away from my blog. Sorry!

I love to tweak...

And, I beat the bug; just a little chest congestion and it's gonna be GONE!

Gretchen

Yes, this is pathetic, but it did take me a half day to get it cast on. And I've ripped back to the 18 stitches over and over again ( drama!) after making it up to the first patterns rows. I sooooo want it off the DPNs so that it will be easier.

Battling with Rhinos (virus types), New Year's Resolutions and Mice and Men and....

Thanks to all your good wishes and Good Health Vibes sent my way, the Rhino virus and I have fought each other to a stand still. It didn't get me yet, even after I stupidly stuck my face into a beautiful and irrisistable oriental lily, breathed in deeply, and was sent reeling back with a gasp. The flashing migraine within the space of two minutes that lasted the rest of the day was my reward from Mother Nature. Wheee! How old am I? How smart am I? Don't answer that!

Last Year's Resolutions still look pretty good to me, since I didn't get to really carry them out, I'll give them another go. My fear of raised garden beds is now so well established that DH allows me out in the Garden again. Gimme that hoe and quickly before he can stop me!

I've only added one NEW resolution. I am going to join CODE PINK because I adore Diane Wilson, who is a co-founder of Code Pink, and it has a local chapter I can actually get my body down to to do things with the group from where I live. I've wanted to do this for three years. I put a join up in the "Things to Do for Others" Link List.

Oh yes, a Piccy of the center of Gretchen, who is giving me fits will be posted after dinner.

PS ... When I can figure out how to do it, there will be a "What I am Reading" place on the blog, like other more clever people have, and so that you can see what a Pinko I reaaaally am. What I am reading now is a book by Chalmers Johnson, of Blowback fame, which is entitled, The Sorrows of Empire. After that there's a book by Lucinda Shroeder that DH found that I can't wait to read.

Happy New Year!

Yes, this is early but I'm coming down with something and can't be sure to be here on that day. I'm sure you noticed a crankiness of the last two posts. I've pulled out the dragon slayer, Annie, Nay and Kali, but this Rhino (virus) is probably unimpressed. It's seen all my defenses. Rez me?

Well, Tis the Season! I have not coughed on this post so you are all safe... from me anyway but beware the holiday shoppers and poor defenseless workers who are sounding like they are croaking and snuffling while they are in the queue, or handing you money from the till. The clerks can be forgiven because, after all, they caught it from customers!

This is from an old Better Homes and Garden's Mag. It's what I want. I just don't want the sink or the wine fridge or whatever it is. Doors there would suit me just fine.

Would it be so bad?

I didn't like what was going on with Gretchen, so I've spent a half a day (yes, it's just me because this should be easy to do) trying to get it cast on. This shawl is a beautiful Pi style shawl, and so, of course, it starts in the middle. If I can't get it cast on with figure eight or regular cast on in the next day or so of consistently trying, I am just going to crochet the first row and pick up stitches around the edge. I don't think it will matter to anyone at all since the yo'rs occur on the second row out anyway. Has anyone ever tried this? I do not know, but I'd be VERY surprised if they had not.

LATE NIGHT UPDATE>

72 stitches on Gretchen. Gawd I am tired. But very happy.

I'll just sneak up in the fingerless gloves again and knit them for solace. I had to steal their needles for a time. I hope they don't slap me around.

Maybe I will go sit in the corner and eat all the Christmas fudge. Oh that sounds so good!

My brother, who is a carpenter (framing and finish carpenter no less) is in town! I can consult him on the kitchen and the built in china cabinet that DH is going to build me. If it's not totally illegal, I will post a picture here of what I want built. This is not asking too much of DH, since I asked for this to be mine by the time I was 35, to have one built by the time I was 45. I am now 64.

Happy New Year!

TheHoliday MEME, which I stole somewhere....

I got this from Ali's Blog and if you want to see an adorable little white doggie.. go see!

The Holiday MEME


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Egg Nog, I can’t have chocolate anymore though it drives me crazy to smell it.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? He used to. Now we just have the tree, no presents.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored lights, and this when we remember where we put them last yearafter taking them down!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes, and we used to go to the mountains to get mistletoe but we don’t anymore. Sometimes kids come by selling it and we help them earn their Christmas money by buying it.

5. When do you put up your decorations?
Usually the day after Thanksgiving, but I am really not decorating this year much at all.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Buttery Candied yams.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? The absolutely enormous tree my dad brought home when I was 4 years old. He got it for two dollars on Christmas Eve because the man selling trees said that if dad could get it home on his bicycle then he could have it for two bucks. It is still the most beautiful tree I can remember.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? From kids at school when I was in the first grade

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? It was always Christmas Day. Until all my Uncles, Aunties and Cousins came to California, then it was Christmas Eve for one year. We hated it, and went back to the old way.

10. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree? Clear glass and things that are handmade by the kids when they were growing up. Colored lights.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread?
Love Snow. We don’t get very much where I live and I love snow because we don't have to drive in it everyday to get on with daily lives.

12. Can you ice skate? Nope but I sure can roller skate.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a child? When I was thirteen years old, my mother bought me a full sized tea set of moss rose design. It was so beautiful.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with family, on both sides, seeing my daughters, decorating the house with my Hubby, seeing my sister, her DH and our brother.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Home made Pies both Mincemeat and Pecan

16 What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to look at the Christmas lights, and going out with my sister to snag a Christmas Pin from the local Macy's.

17. What tops your tree? A ceramic angel with a lace dress and feathered wings.

18. What is your favorite holiday book? I haven’t got a favorite book except I do like to read The Gospel of Luke in the Bible. I love the story of the Birth of Christ.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? "Carol of the Bells".. Here’s a link to the lyrics

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy? I love,love peppermint, especially when we are outside in the cold night charging around looking at light displays. I like that cold fresh feeling it gives you when you inhale. Stunning!

Merry Christmas ..

May you who are celebrating it with me have a great day from top to bottom.

I am going to go check on the stash of movies and try to locate "One Magic Christmas". Remember what the angel says, "What ever happens, don't be afraid".

DH and I love to watch it because of a lot of reasons but the Cowboy Angel in the tree is my best reason.

Enjoy the Season!

The Six Weird things about me MEME.

My blogging buddy, AR , who has some darn cute things on her blog post this week, threw down the gauntlet a few days ago, and I am just now getting my act together!

I did another similar MEME that was only five so...Being from California I have more than the original five, of course, so here goes:

1. I believe in UFOs. Whatever they are, I think people have really seen something that hasn’t been explained. Other’s have faked them but some of the sightings are not explained by anything we’ve come up with yet.

2. I don’t like blue foods outside of whole blue berries, and blue flowers. Do not give me a blue frosted cupcake, please. Ick and double ick!

3. No matter how many times I watch a movie in which an actor takes a fall, I still have a big physical reaction to it. An electric shock goes through my body. I’m trying to desensitize myself to the policeman falling off his horse in the movie, "Trapped In Paradise" and it’s not working at all. I think I will just turn my head away when it’s about to happen.

4. I’ve never, in my life been afraid of dogs and hope it is always so. Rather big stray dogs at a beach have come to sit down beside me and snuggle up. But, I am starting to wonder about pit bulls, though none of them have ever personally attacked me. I have been afraid for other people dealing with them.

I think this is the weirdest thing that dogs and I have this affinity. I have no clue as to what is going on here. Perhaps it is that I love them so much? I love their eyes, and everything about them. I was raised with Doberman Pinchers in the house and they were all gentle dogs. Maybe I’m just calm around dogs.

5. I like to eat flowers. A salad made up of all edible flowers would be very exciting to me. I would have to eat it all. Yum! I would be checking for bugs, though.

6. I believe in invisible people. It’s an unshakeable belief. I just know they must be there though I’ve never seen one. Actually it would explain a lot of things in life if it were they who were doing them. They may just exist in another dimension that our eyes have no access to because our eyes weren’t made to see invisible beings emitted wave lengths. Please, I’m not a scientist .. And beliefs have no grounding in science so this won’t change no matter what I read. I will always just think that nothing we invent can ever reveal them.

Today and Tomorrow

My sister had a pretty bad day of it, suffering a lot of nausea, and we almost didn't get to go. But, she was determined to not let this stop her because she very much needs to keep her balance and her harmony, literally and figuratively.

We had a generally good time while out and about but she took a nap when we got back to my house. Keeping her spirits up and listening closely to her are what I need to do most now. She really has no one else she can vent to, save myself, and I have to remember to just listen and try to assimilate what she says with the view of getting a secure insight into just HOW I can help her. This is not easy with someone who is changing rather rapidly before my eyes, out of the confident and steady person I know and into someone who is going to need my very best and wisest counsel.

We didn't find a pin she liked ( no white metals where left that were pretty) but I found three little snowmen in a group and a lovely enamelled cream colored Poinsettia pin for myself. We will go earlier next year, like the day after HALLOWEEN!

Also, week by week, I'm planning cheermeups for her. When I came out of the powder room I found theposter for "The Devil Wears Prada". I told my sis that everyone said that they liked it very much, and the ad said it came out on DVD on December 12th. So, next week we are going to just take it easy, put up our feet, and watch Meryl Streep take off in her high heeled kickers on the little screen while we eat some popcorn and boo the devil.


In preparations for starting the new items tomorrow, I tore through all the yarn bags ( no easy task) and got all the sock yarn out and searched for the Lorna's Laces Icehouse skein. And, it was a pretty desperate search, let me tell you. Finally after remembering that some sock yarns were in the freezer, ( yes, I fear the moth from hell!) and some in a small square basket in the bedroom, it is now all accounted for. The yarn from Angelica's arrived today and the two skeins of Icehouse are snuggling together in their little bag, moth free.

I have also found the three lace weight skeins from The Fiber Denn, and several balls of yarn for lace weight shawls that my DDs bought me- they were in the freezer with some of the sockyarn. I have decided they will NEVER get all jumbled up like they were today. To this end, I WILL produce the Mother of All Yarn Charts, with the computer, and never go wild moving yarn gain without the proper permits and invoices. What else is a computer good for besides keeping track of "stashes"? Well bloggings pretty cool. You can bore yourself and all your friends with trivia, like now.

This is what comes of having a childhood where crayolas were introduced before the age of three. Color was the end all and be all of our young lives, and it didn't matter where the colors were, they caught the eye, embedded themselves and took over the gray cells. Color vision and hands with opposable thumbs are still the best and highest good. Legs and arms only serve the eyes and hands. I blame Mom.

Tomorrow

My sister and I are going out to have a bite to eat, and then we are going shopping at Macy's for a Christmas pin. We used to do this, before she got sick, every Christmas for years. We have a lot of fun but since we both don't get tired at the same time, I usually find someplace to "park it" and just wait for her to finish all her tromping around the Mall. This is the perfect time for a little sock project.

We are very close sisters, and I made a promise to take care of her for the rest of my life if God let her live after she suffered an accidental poisoning when she was four years old. We are separated by almost 10 years and when I moved away from my hometown we missed each other terribly.

We have had so much fun together over the years. She has lived with DH and me twice, once as a teen and then again as a re-locating 25 year old. She's a lot like a 5th daughter to me. In fact one time one of my rockhound friends, who is a skilled palm reader, surprised me when she stated emphatically that I must had five daughters. I had never even mentioned my sister and our closeness, or the fact that I had a sister to this friend. But, nonetheless, she was sure, and told me this certain line on my hand, and she showed me, indicated positively that I had five daughters. Perhaps I had had a miscarriage. Then I told her about my sister, and how she was "my" baby doll and my vow to care for her, and how close we were. She smiled, that wise little women, and nodded her head.

As a lot of you know, C has Parkinson's and a very stressful life since she must work full time to help support her family with not a lot of frills in her life. She is nauseated almost every day because of the medicines she has to take to easy her symptoms do that do her. C is one of the most courageous women that I know. She tells me not to worry because she is really tough, that God made us all tough or we wouldn't have survived our Psycho Dad. Well, C is a lot tougher than I am. I couldn't do what she's been doing. It's very hard to stand by and watch her go though this, so that bring me back to how we make sure to keep our little Christmas rituals. No one could have a more loving, OR tough little sister. I firmly believe this to be true.

You might notice that I fiddled with the bars for Projects unfinished and finished. I've added a couple for new projects, and moved a couple into the out of my hair at last! finished . Today was the day to sort the yarn and get everything ready to start off the coming week with some happy knitting. Several months ago Pugnits sent me a generous cheery-me-up of her lovely hand dyed yarns that included some beautiful for sockyarns. I found it in with the aran sweater! This is and illustration of happy serendipity when you go after one thing you dread, and find great and wonderful!

The skein is so large that I'm thinking I'd like to start a shawl with it to wear with all the brown or blue dresses that I own. It's brown and blue together with while and so delicious looking. I'm going to pick a lacy knitting pattern from one of my stitch collection books, and put it up on the progress bars as the Earth&Sky shawl.

DH disconnected his sound card. He's waiting to see if the company will offer an upgraded driver that is compatible with the New release of Windows. We will see.

Annie and Steve, we are looking forward to seeing you! Yeay! I'm so ready to have a chinwag and hit the yarn shops with you Annie. Steve, there's lots of great stuff here, like the ship museums along Harbor Drive but I wouldn't call our ocean warm.. It's freezing!

Girls. The Christmas Fudge will by on it's way Tuesday at the latest. But we won't be on line as much. The elves are really getting busy around here and I have to be careful not to get an elbow in the eye sometimes in the kitchen.

I'm sending a lot of Love to all who read here. May your days be a sweet ones with as much knitting in it as you can stand (except for Steve). Forget the world for at least an hour a day. It will be there in your face the rest of the time but forget for one hour and you can hope to survive it.

Stash Building, Flying socks, and a new Bug.

I'm sorry to be so disorganized with my posts but the beta has me boggled. I like it, for the most part but it is so fast and efficient that my old way of doing things is not going to work anymore.

The sockette came from Roxie on ebay and is delicious looking. The Trekker came from Little Knits and I will try to figure out how to hot link that in. Wow! Beta stuck it right in! This is fabulously cool! Handsprings! They got my yarn out in record time even with a humongous storm howling though Seattle. Kudo's to Sue! Tomorrow some LL from Angelica's to match a lovely skein from Crey quite a few moons ago. It's the Icehouse color, in all the colors I love so much.

Socks! I tried to get the word Kitties on there but Sheesh, I'm not adept at duplicate stitch on knit in the round, bent and squirmy articles of clothing! The word "Kitties" looked far too much like "Kiddies" so I wasn't sure. I cut it back out and threw in the towel.

The lovely dragonfly was a gift from DD2 who makes me the loveliest creepy crawlers. Thank you B! She also makes Tarantulas, which need to to photo'd and blogged. Those protect the dashboard of the Jeeplie.

My knitting hubby is still fighting his computer troubles so the new needles and yarn are waiting patiently. He is itching to get his fingers into a novelty yarn scarf I tell ya, then move up the ladder to knitting his own slippers. I can't wait to pawn off this aran sweater on him. Shhh! heehee

All finished and winging their way North very soon.

A Bug! Actually it is my moth repellent

 

Yummy Sock Yarns

Trekker and Socketta with a little Lorna's to come soon.

 

A little Rododendron Consolation for angst rant.

This beautiful plant is at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, and if you get a chance, go say ,"Hi", when you are there like in May, June or July. 

Red Bag finals, and I switched to Beta and there's been nothing but trouble since

Here she is all stuffed out with yarns and ready to go. This is not so bad and I might just make another one out of some of the Paton's felting wool that is peeking over the top of the lip.

Blogger is now a real PITA and I'm seriously thinking of moving to Wordpress after the holidays.

I've finished a pathetic little heart shaped blob on one of the bed socks and that's all I can hope for atm. As a cheermeup, I ordered a skein of yarn to match an odd ball I got in a KR Christmas exchange a couple of years ago. It's Lorna's Laces Ice House, and I hope to make a nice pair of socks with it.

Some other yarns I've recently bought were from Little Knits and they are trekker colors. I'll post some pictures of all the yarns as soon as I'm over being totally and utterly fried over this new blogger not working anymore with Picasa, whom Google owns as well. So sad.

DH still wants to learn to knit but he's been struggling for a couple of weeks with our health insurance. I really feel sorry for him as it's been a royal mess. He has to do it because he understands the whole thing. He's made dozens of phone calls and gets stressed out over it all. Two companies were bought out in a confluence of events that I just can't describe the complexity of. And all of which just complicated things even more. Our consolation is that we will, indeed, have health care at some point, hopefully before something serious befalls us.

Evil Son of a French Market Bag

 
 












The Red Bag, on it's way to becoming a shocking Pink!

After washing it in my own front loader twice and drying it in the home dryer, we put the French Market Bag through two commercial washers and dryer. Then after toting up the mileage, the quarters and the angst, we decided that the old fashion way, Boiling it to within an inch of it's life and using a potato masher on it, might save my project and stop our carbon footprint from sinking through the asphalt on the way to the only laundromat in the county, apparently, which still had top loading machines.

So, I froze the bag, dry, in the freezer, ripped it out and plunged it into boiling water in the biggest pan in the house. For 15 minutes it bubbled away, popping red water all over the stove and down the side while I pounded it with the huge wooden spoon and the masher. I then picked it up and plunged it into the coldest water I could get in the kitchen sink. If I could have had snow, I'd have flung it out the back door into a snow bank and run the car over it for five minutes.

I viciously rung the darn thing out, slammed it into the dryer and narrowly missed sticking a trio of fist sized rocks we have laying around the place in with it. DH had suggested it earlier, but had not meant in OUR machines. Too delicate.
This will all be repeated tomorrow. 

Two the Charm? Manly knitting update....

 
















Picassa had a hiccough and spit out the first post about this into cyberspace. Sooooo, here is a simpler one, a post with just a few words about kitchnering the bag, the toe, then felting the bag. IF the red blob comes out nicely, I will not subject it to the treatment I've heard felted things are sometimes subjected to. I will not drive over it several times, in the street, with the Bounder and then boil it in a couldron full of water on a wood fire in the back yard at midnight. Even though I reaaaally feel like punishing something, ANYTHING, at the moment.

UPDATE: His computer is on the fritz, so that's where the knitting time has gone. As we all know, IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING!!

Yesterday Morning ...

B and Jazz
















Two nights ago I showed Bo the video called, "Real Men Knit". And yesterday morning, he asked me about some slippers that I'd made for him as they were wearing out, and he really likes them. I told him I would make him another pair.

The next question he asked me was, "Do you think I could learn to knit some like them?" I started smiling from the inside and said, "Of course, you can!". I told him I believe that nearly everyone can learn how to knit. They just have to be patient with themselves, decide that speed is not the issue in the beginning, and that he would see that it could be a lot of fun.

He struggled with his knitting off and on for that whole day. He brought the swatch to bed and knitted along with me until he was too tired to keep his eyes on the needles, and they had fallen out of his knitting a half dozen times. The first thing he picked up was his knitting this morning, and patiently continued. I'm going to get him some large stubby needles and some thicker than WW yarn out of the stash. Metal size 10s are just not cutting it.

I promise piccies when he consents to them but right now he is struggling with his needles and yarn. But, I think I'm going to have knitting buddy. and how cool is that? Yeay!

And now the knitting progress report: The bag handles are 1/4th done( meaning I have one of the wings getting up to the skinny part. The socks are 3/4th done. I've decided to put some decoration on them but it's a secret. Simple but nice. Piccies in the morning!

Black, the Lovely, the truly Delicious.....

 


















I love black. It gives definition to life.

1. Closest black thing to you? The cover of a memo pad

2. Ever enjoy hurting people? No. I've been hurt too much myself to like such a thing.

3. Are you sophisticated or silly? Clothing? I like both ethnic dressing and whimsical dressing, and sometimes I like to dress WAY up. I am too serious to be silly, though.

4. Do you have a lot of secrets? I'll never tell.

6. Does the color you wear affect your mood? If I am going out to take care of a business matter, I dress for that. My mood is subdued, serious, and watchful so my clothes reflect the seriousness. If I'm partying, I wear my party clothes which are a rainbow of colors, so yes, I suppose my mood affects what I wear.