Monday Knits n' Stuff

As promised, here's the latest version of the chevron scarf--one repeat of Feather and Fan, plus 3 edge stitches. I'm using two skeins of Noro Cash Island (wool, cashmere, nylon) alternating every two rows. This is version 2; version 1 was 2 repeats, but it would have come out wayyyy too short. I originally thought even short would be okay, but there wouldn't have been enough to even tuck into a neckline. And, since these were two orphan balls that were on sale at Webs, well, this will have to do. There are lots more colors to come, although both balls have a LOT of black. We'll see how it looks!

Closeup of the afghan that I used as a background. This is one my mother made, in a creamy color, and it's HUGE. Mama made blankets! The pattern is very interesting--I may try to decipher it for my next scarf. (Yeah, I have some red Cash Island, 3 skeins, probably enough for a good long scarf.) I am fascinated by my mother's work, especially since she never did learn how to read patterns. She'd just work at something till it looked like the picture, and she did this with crochet, and tatting too.

Me, I've never been able to learn to tat. She really tried to teach me, too, for many long years!

Because there was just a small road trip today, with no photography involved, I'm treating you to some greenery.
These are seeds growing on a Burleigh Maple, one of two that live in my brother's front yard. The leaves have a nice russet-y tinge when they mature, and they turn a lovely chestnut brown in the winter.
It's been a very long time since I saw maple "helicopters" since we don't have a whole lotta maple trees in SoCal. Oh, our first house had a lovely tall thin maple tree in the side garden, but the next door neighbor used to prune it straightup from his side of the wall. It always looked a little odd, and when we moved out of the house, he trimmed all the branches on the tree so severely that it was dead by winter. This man was the kind who did not allow his grandchildren into the house--they had to sit on the front steps, and after they left he'd scrub the steps down with bleach. My husband referred to the guy as Twinkletoes.
All this because I wanted to share some maple seeds. Well, they are pretty and interesting anyway!

Cherries on a cherry tree. SoCal is also rather light on cherries, especially the sour "pie" cherries. But they are so pretty on the tree!

Okay, time for strawberry shortcake and knitting. This house has cable--whee!--and I get to hold the remote, too. What a treat! I have already watched one episode of What Not To Wear and two of Ten Years Younger.

Even with cable, my taste in TV is trash. Sigh.