Cleaning out the Attic At Grandma's...

 

 

I've been de-stashing some sewing things, the patterns especially. My sewing patterns stretch back into the 40's -ones that Mother had - and a lot of mine from the 50's on up. Some, like these shown, are very interesting. Either it's historical or hysterical. You decide. If there are others that may bring a smile or two, I'll post them as we go along. Still looking for beauty that does not involve more boring clouds over the back forty.

Today I'm putting fingers on a glove and reading more in my economic tome. This is very painful but necessary to understand what went so terribly wrong. Since it's been years since I read it, I need to go back and read Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations". It's my oldest hobby, Economics.

The sun is shining, the containers in the garden need to be watered. Since that can wait another day, I'll just declare this a "Knitting Day"!

Red TrekkingXXL Hiking Socks Finished

 

At Last! These socks take an age to knit. Just the kitchnering left on the toes and then off to the hempathy finger finishing. Then on to Gretchen and the Drops Aran for DH.

One thing I've discovered, is that I just don't do more than one knitting WIP at a time very well. So, I will not start anymore socks or gloves until Gretchen is finished, though I'll do the Drops Aran for variety. I'd like to get it finished before this summer. If this coming summer is anything like the last, I just will not be knitting.

William Tell Overture for Moms

Joanne sent me this hilarious link. I don't think that Anita Renfroe misses a single word! Well, the colorful metaphors. hehe

Beautiful Ocean Colors Earrings

 

 

From here. Last week my sister came over to have a chin wag, and I let her choose the earrings she liked. She confessed to liking them both but has a thing about Round. She took to them immediately! Both sets are of Amazonite. So we set them up this week- last week's pictures came out fuzzy- with seashells collected from the Northern California Coast, in honor of the ocean colors.

ABC=P?

P is for Psychotic. Well, yes, a little of that, too, but Pink is much nicer to talk about. And, I like it very much, this pastel bit of Love.

So. P is for Pink!

Let's see. Without Pink we would have only red. Red is a very strong color, and it's not at all Cuddly. I don't like it in big amounts, only in little heart shapes. Pink gives us an alternative. Softness and something to wave in the face of the Bull (men) and make them sigh, or maybe even Puke, but at least they laugh at us as silly women and leave us the hell alone. It's all in a Psychotic's strategy, Yes?

So I'm in favor of Pink. I have no pink stones handy but there are a few Pinks that I may have used before... Here's a few all in one place now, to make a statement!

Pink!

Lovely Magnolias from a Friend!

Carnations!

Pink!

And one for the road....

Pink!

Stitchmarkers Galore for Gretchen shawl

 

 

 

I'm Rich! Top is Jade. Middle is Mother of Pearl, and the Bottom is Fimo "Foods". hehe. The gemstone SMs came from here, (along with earrings that FibreDen is creating now. Thanks Pugknits!)and the delicious plate of teensy donuts came from here. I put the big rings on the little donuts but will switch to smaller ones when those arrive from a supplier. The smaller split rings are very hard to track down! Sis is coming in 10 minutes and we are going shopping. More organizational bits and pieces. I'm whipping the habitat into shape for the holidays.

Kristi's Color meme

Kristi would like to have knitters answer these questions for some research she is doing. I first saw this meme on on Liz's Page, A Stitch in Time. The questions are interesting and anytime there's something to think about regarding colors it's a good thing. An escape hatch into a different world. Color is one of the best things in life, and mostly, it's free. ;-)

I've copied her intro, and the meme. If you would like to do the meme, I'm sure she would love to have your input. She suggests leaving a message for her on her blog.


Kristi says:

"I’m only starting to formulate the posts for these so if you have some specific questions about color or color and knitting, leave a comment! In the meantime, perhaps you would like to fill out a meme on color – either at your own blog and link back to this post or in the comments… Just cut and paste and answer and spread the word!"

1. What is your current favorite color? .......Green

2. Had your favorite color changed over the years?........ Yes, my favorite was yellow, then Blue, when I was younger.

3. Is your current favorite color one that is currently trendy? (Do you see it in the fashion rags or on the clothes rack or in the linen aisle right now? How about 5 years ago?).........I'm not sure, but it's been my favorite color for many years. Maybe 40 years.

4. What is your favorite color combination? ........Blue and brown.

5. Is that combination a popular one? (Is it used in prints you see in the stores and catalogs and magazines now? How about 5 years ago?)...........This combination has been used for ages in art. Chinese art uses it, and some other south asian art cloth; it's a favorite combination in Native American Art as well. It's used a lot in Ceramics.

6. What is your favorite way of using color in your knitting? (Are you a stranded knitter? Do you prefer simple stripes? Do you prefer just accents at the hems/collars?)...........I actually like fair isle knitting the best for combining color.

7. What colors look good on you? ..........Blues of all shades, pink, coral, very dark greens and browns, grays and shades of white.

8. What colors look bad on you?......... Yellows and green, tans.

9. Do you wear colors that don’t look good on you just because you like them? No, I really look terrible in the colors, even though one is my current favorite and one a past favorite.

10. What is your favorite neutral color? black/white/ivory/tan/brown/gray – if brown or gray do you prefer cool or warm versions of those or does it matter? And, how dark? I like Ivory but Brown as well. Very dark rich browns all the way to tans.

11. Is there a sweater pattern that uses more than one color that you’d like to make, but you wish to change the colors from what is published? If yes, which one? What do you not like about the published colors? Yes. If I were to make another fair isle for my brother, I would make it in colors of blue and brown with ecru and turquoise no matter what colors were used in the pattern. It's from a very old bernat pattern pamphlet and just uses MC and CC and what have you in the yarn choices.

We got some rain this morning...

 

And beautiful storm clouds hung around all morning before moving off to pile up over the mountains. I hope we get more rain!

Roots

 

That is a largish Redwood tub in the top of the picture...

The elm trees were in fact 60 foot tall monsters, so they had huge roots. We forgot about having trimmed the trees back twice, to below 30 feet, in their long side yard residency. Big trees attract lightning where we live, and one year the lightning hit one of the trees and came down into the electrical box, burning out the ground wire. The next summer we cut back the trees. They were about 60 feet tall at the time. So, thus, the huge roots DH is now having to dig out.

One really nice thing about the trees was that the tortoises would eat the leaves. When the roots sprouted, the tortoises could graze on the sprouts without stretching up too far. We would have had to have 50 tortoises to keep up with those sprouts, so the roots have to go.

Trying to beat it off an end of summer cold. I've been out in public at the start of Cold season! Foolish and dangerous behavior! ;o) The end of summer is always this way. I'm trying out the 1000 mg of vit C for 10 hours on the hour cure.

Going to go finish digging my trench... Rain, beautiful rain in the middle of the night for about a half hour. So different and beautiful. Reminds me of September rains of my childhood days.

Y'all have a real nice day.

I'm One Upping Halloween with a recipe for Thanksgiving

This was served at Rockhound gatherings in the desert for Thanksgiving. The pumpkin can be bigger but we chose the mentioned size because it would fit in our small RV ovens.

Baked stuffed Pumpkin.

A Sweet side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas

1 medium pumpkin - 8-10 inches in diameter

6 granny smith apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden or regular raisins
1/2 cup dark rum (optional)
2 tsp minced fresh ginger root
1 Tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Position rack in the center of the oven.

Cut off the top of pumpkin, and set aside.

Scoop out seeds with a metal spoon.

In a large bowl, stir together the apples, walnuts, cranberry sauce,
pineapple, brown sugar, raisins, and rum. season with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix well. spoon the mixture into the cleaned pumpkin, and replace top.

Set pumpkin directly on a cake pan or small jelly roll Pan because it will get juicy and you don't want that all over the oven.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until pumpkin begins to soften. Remove from the ove, and stir, scraping the sides gently, so that some pieces of cooked pumpkin fall into the apple mixture.

Serve on a big plate in a big shallow bowl.

Talk like a Pirate Day is coming.

September 19th.

And you can learn to Talk the Talk, here

I was wondering why I feel so insecure at the moment, this is how it translated:

Ahoy, me feel insecure and nearly in flames Gar. Arrr, is it because my country's leaders be out o' control and the outgoin' Director o' the Fed is sayin' the Iraqi war is mostly all about oil?

Aye, me parrot concurs.

Have some fun at the Talk like a Pirate Page, Mateys! Arrrrr!

Lordy this is the worst I've felt in an age. Maybe it's time to borrow a lot of money and buy up all the yarn I can lay hands on, or.... a mountain top, or maybe just a sail boat and run up that little skull and cross bones flag from last Halloween as we sail away to Hawaii?

More knitting.

 

See what having to sit around so much can do for knitting? DDs other fingerless glove to the palm. Won't be long now, L.

The house next door, after suffering from neglect, is now in the hands of "Someone Who Cares". No, not a new neighbor, but the realty company. Seeing as most of the shrubs in back and in front are dead from lack of water through most of a very hot summer, said company will have to reduce the fire hazard. Yesterday they showed up to do just that. It was amazing. We didn't call, but perhaps someone else did. We just tend to "worry, set, and fret", as Southerners would say. We did water what we could get at in the back yard.

I hope this means they will cut down that palm tree that's now interwoven with three vines as well as three years of dead fronds. The vines are morning glory, ivy and plumbego which have spilled over the common fence in an exuberant display of "wildling fever", the better to cover the earth. We did hack through them at times to try to save the fence, which is relatively new. We gave it up as a lost battle and just decided to enjoy our "jungle corner".

Knitting content. At last......

 

second sock up to the heel turn. The problem I have is that I should re-write the heel turn gibberish into something I can remember. Presently it seems obtuse, having probably been translated from Japanese to German and then into English. *Sighs* DH is one happy camper as these are his boot socks.

The late summer rains brought out this Eppy

 

It's a small hybridized plant, due to cross pollenation in our yard, that doesn't usually bloom until late winter. I turned around from taking the rose pictures and this bloom was right at eye height. Enjoy!

Rescued Rose, called Brandy

 

Our neighbor's yard is dying, and he loved this rose so much that we had to rescue it. It was in a pot, nearly in the shade and that's why it's so rangey. These blossoms are about half the size of the full roses that he showed me two years ago. It is a Tea Rose and beautifully fragrant. Dh had to detangle the pot from rank growth of weeds and an assassin asparagus fern, gone wild.

Vegan Additions to the Newest Blog List Feature.

I thought that you would like them, L and B, and R and S, if you are reading. I only wish I could partake of most of it. Anyway, Enjoy!

This was a rest day for the knees. They are doing fine, and re-check in 6 weeks to see how well the treatment was tolerated. Then six months to another round. Little children have to put up with worse, bless their little sweet hearts, so I'll not windge.

Jazzie is his old self again. I'm still watching the inside of his mouth, which he thoroughly resents. I think he thinks I want to take the other three teeth.

That sock is growing by leaps. The thumb is divided on the glove, and the new polymer stitch holders came. I'm not particularily pleased with them because they don't look as neat in person as they did on the web. I will learn to stick to little bits of gemstones! Much the best things! Gretchen is in need of 32 stitch markers so I'll be busy making little loops of yarn for markers, plus having to dig out the catalogs for split rings for the donuts.

Sis came today, and we had a lovely chin wag. She is holding her own but she is very tired. Her meds are both a problem, and a cure. So many medicines are. Next week we will do something even more fun, like go shopping at Linen and Things for china blankets. That way I can put some china away in the Hutch. I wish I could help my sister more, but perhaps that will come later. Right now we are "good medicine" for each other and that is enough. I couldn't do what she is doing, working full time and living such a stressful life off hours while dealing with the effects of parkinson's. She is amazing. I gave her Maeve Binchy's Copper Beach to read. And some tupperware that she was entirely thrilled with. It is autumn colors. She laughed and said she'd been wanting some that color.

Doggie progress and a "What Am I Up To" post....

Jasper is doing well; in fact he is doing very well. He has a double heart murmur but generally his heart is strong. Because of this complication, he's getting one of the most powerful antibiotics , post op, and one I took for pneumonia. So his heart might even do better if there are bacterial placs on the edges of the valves, as it will kill them, and his mouth is healing up very nicely. He has epilepsy, too, but this proved to not be any problem at all. We do have to force feed him in the AM so that he doesn't take the AB on an empty stomach. Baby food in a syringe. Suzi, I thought of you!

He started chowing down the dental formula of special dog food sent home with him from the vet. Yes, this IS very ironic, since he had all but three teeth remaining pulled out. I'm wondering how I would be doing if I went in for a cleaning and came out with 14 less teeth. Not as well as he, that's for certain. I would be demanding to know why. Why why why???

The knitting is going slowly along. Once my knees are done with their little dance with needles, the knitting will begin in earnest again, as will bike riding, though I am now afraid to get on the bike. I'll just have to grit my teeth and go ride that bike!
We are still looking for a new stove for the kitchen, though the old one may be able to be fixed. Looking for a new appliance is fun, once you get over sticker shock. They are now twice as much as we paid for this one 20 some years ago. We certainly got our use out of this GE, a brand which few people seem to like anymore.

Summer is over, even though the annual santa ana winds are making very hot days, the nights are very cool. The whole house fan is really amazing. No AC, but the WHF gets us through everything but high temps WITH high humidity.

I've started reading three new books. This month's book sale brought an embarrassment of riches. Whitethorn Woods, by Maive Binchy, and Censored 2003, The Top 25 Censored Stores, by Peter Phillips and Project Censored. This last is a collection of, you guessed it, stories that never made it through the censoring process at major media. Oh well, freedom of press is one of our rights that we will fight for, yes? I believe that we are over there fighting for democratic rights in Iraq, yes? Also, the library sent me a copy of David C. Korten's When Corporations Rule the World. This one is required reading for Economics 101 at Uni. I so love the Library system!

Tiny, though even more toothless doggie coming home.

We just have to give him more calcium, because his jaw is "loose". I hope it doesn't try to run away or anything.

Let me tell you, this is a big relief. Mentally, I will be off to hills to sing for a few days most likely, like Julie....But, I promise to take my knitting.

Here's something nice to look at, in the meantime....

Wick Ahrens Whale Sculptures

Geode, though not quite Amethyst

 

It's just a pretty, pastel lavendar. We did cut this one. The grapefruit one has still not been found. Maybe it rolled away one fine day, looking for it's missing piece? It's matrix? It's buddies? Maybe it made it as far as the Tijuana River and floated out to sea?

Nervous Knitting

 

Having ripped out a mistake in the ribbing- see Rho, it doesn't have to even by a LACE pattern - I started the green again and lo and behold, it's coming out a full inch smaller than the first glove in the ribbing. It must be true, this thing about knitting while nervous. The red is the mate to TrekkingXXL. But, cooler weather did bring knitting, just not Gretchen lace or the Aran sweater. Not ready to be thinking, not just yet.

Jazzie ran out and barked at the tortoises this afternoon. He has a squeeky little bark now but he has fun tormenting with it nonetheless. He's a dolly. I'm spending more time with him and knitting for the rest of the evening. Soaking up love and giving it back. It's that deep navy blue unconditional love of Aksobyah. The Imperturbable One. He is my only other Diety. :-)

Delicious Pink Beauty for your walk....

 

Taken at the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market Last Year. Enjoy! See you soon...

Arnie Cooper's Interview of David Korten in the September Sun Magazine

My Sun Mag came today, and in it there is a blockbuster interview with this amazing man. The article is called, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". David Korten has the talent of Brilliant lateral thinking. He's also armed with a PhD from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. I hesitate to characterize the interview because I don't feel adequate to do so. However, I would say that his thinking could change the destructive course we've been on for 6,000 years, one that is absolutely not a workable course if the human race is to survive in any but the most broken and war torn way.

It's cooler, I'm knitting again, minimally. Tomorrow the knees again, then Monday, because Jazzie is getting his teeth cleaned, I'm saying my goodbyes to him because I understand the risk of this unavoidable procedure.

Knit with me on Monday?

Lovely new tote patterns

 

Since I can no longer wing (Wheeee!) things, anxiety? Fear of Wasting Fabric? Anyway, I don't do winging anymore and so made a deal with DH over my *cough* extensive pattern collection. One old out for any new one in. These were so worth it that I spit in my hand and we shook on it. I want to make five of the knitting, project bags, one each for my daughters, and one for MEMEME.. The vogue is so beautiful in that channel quilted golden fabric that I'll make that one as well. The McCalls toile look bag, I'm going to put a tabbed zipper across the top and make it in green and pinky batiks. Ah, something to look forward to!

The weather report for all those lucky people who are still knitting and who live up the coast where it's cool: Five degrees cooler today, so only a 100 degrees inland, where we live.

All my laundry was done last night, and it's been hung to dry, all over the laundry room. I'm grinding away on gears that have only had 4 hours sleep, but what the heck. There could be a little soy dream in my future, Cherry Chocolate variety.

I added another Vegan site to the New Links area. Beautiful stuff! Art Food! Enjoy! The Wall Mart Guy has a very funny new post, too. Brain Food!

Vicki's Post Card

 

Okay, it was cool, I knit about 4 more rows of Gretchen

The only picture I could offer is fuzzy, unlike the silk yarn, which is, well, silky. I will try again this afternoon. This day will be another fight to the death to stay cool. I now have an infected ear. Jungle rot from living in this high humidity? My city might, if it got more actual rain, turn into a tropical rain forest. I'd really have to move then, further north to an artist's colony. Yay!

If you would like a picture instead of words, Above will appear the last of the postcards to arrive on my doorstep. It is from Vicki, who forged a whole new process of pain for making a postcard. She is sort of like our pioneer of processes, and she explains all on her Blog. She has a beautiful fiber blog and she has done amazing things with fabrics and fibers.

Ok, now to attach that other other, what-am-I-going-to-be-doing-with-my-time piccy.

New (to me) Movie

Maxed Out


Yes, it's political, but how could it not be? Both sides get slammed but mostly who has been in power lately, Dems and Reps alike. This movie is sad, scary and too real to be ignored. If you are one of the 5% who are healthy, sitting pretty, or are not worried about where the middle class is disappearing to, then I'd say you could skip watching it. But if you are worried about that middle class, we need to be on a crusade to save it, because otherwise we could become another Central American country. Or Mexico, economically speaking.

It was 104 where I live again today so just thinking of knitting makes me ill. Sorry there is no knitting content. Keeping me and the little doggie cool is the main concern of the hour.

Oral Histories of Pioneer Women, on the web...

It's been very, very hot in the house for at least a week. I've been able to do little else than to stay cool during the day, keep my little furry baby J alive with cooling fans and an ice pack made from ice and alchohol, and two zip lock bags. He's going to get a full fledged bathing tomorrow because he is showing the effects of this heat. So, I've not been doing any knitting. Sorry, nothing at all.

What I did do, when the computer room cooled down a bit late at night was search for any thing that might be on the web about my friend Esther, who was a pioneer in San Bernardino. I thought of her long interesting talks late into the night with DH and I when we were young. She was such an interesting Gal! So, I thought I'd found her here but, alas, it wasn't the same Esther.

Since it wasn't My Esther, I searched the web for more oral histories and found these two:

Bertha Wells Duguid, "How She Grew"


"I Remember it Well", Alfrida E. Willke


Since women's histories are so rare anywhere in print, the web is a great place to search for them. I thought you might enjoy reading these three. Go have a search for things like the Oral History Project, and even church instituted Oral Histories of their pioneer members. It's great to find out what women thought about their lives. This might even inspire you to record the lives and thoughts of women in your family, before it's too late. I wish I had been able to talk to my mother more, but we'd just started talking about her childhood when she passed away suddenly. And about the men. Well, they get way too much press. Heehee.

Tomorrow, the last three cards from the postcard group. Maybe it's four? I tell you my brain is melted into a puddle.

Trish, those are sunflowers

 

Canyoubelieveit??

Dove Family News

 

Two days ago, this little baby, who was far too small to be out of the nest, was still around. That was a week after the actual fledging. His fellow fledgling was noticably days ahead of him in feathering out and feeding himself. The parents had moved on. That's the end of dove adventures until next spring. I hope this baby makes it. He so obviously is trying hard to fend for himself. He will lose his "punk" hair in a day or two.

In my life, Q is for Quilting

Quilt making, actually the patchwork part, is kind of magical, almost like re-creating the brecciated designs in agates and jaspers. Quilting was how I thought I'd be spending most of the time after retirement, but rockhounding took over a large part of my time long before then. You see, I wanted to learn how to make the newer forms of jewelry that rockhounding threw into my path. So, we joined three Gem and Mineral clubs which promoted the sport, and the art, of collecting field trips and Lapidary. As a consequence, the time for quilting evaporated. Poof!

As aging rockhounds gave up the hobby, DH and I went to the backyard sales and gathered up their cast off equipment, rough and slabs of agates and jaspers, fancy small grained rocks like dumorturite and lapiz lazuli, anything that was colorful, hard, cutable and took a great polish. From this we are building a rock shop of our own. A corner of the garage for noisy saws and grinders.

Quilting sat languishing in drawers, totes and closets. I quit going to fabric sales over time. I quit making any clothing for DH or myself. I started filling up empty plastic restaurant tubs and kitty litter buckets with rocks and slabs from Quartzsite and Tucson, Summer rock shows of various clubs. Many rock shows later, and after collecting at least 1000 lbs of various rocks, I'm starting out again in quilting. It will all restart with the batik quilt for a grand niece. She's a real live doll, and she's been waiting far too long for her very own special quilt.