One Knitterbug...

...can't get enough of the fuzzy sparkly yarn! (Thanks to D1 for the pic and the post idea!)





Look carefully as this may be the only knitting content today!








We had a visit from a little frog...



This is Deryk. He's just two weeks older than my grandcarrot. Isn't he a sweetie?


Check out those lashes.

He (and his mom and brother) brought lunch. We had a picnic on the front porch.
Simon would prefer that I not blog. He thinks that sitting on the mousepad is a good way to redirect me to more important matters.

Such as feeding an adorable kitten.

It isn't so much that he's hungry. He just wants to know that I'm still on duty here.
Of course, once a boy's been fed, he needs to clean up.

What better way than to perch on Mom's next project? Yes, that's some Colorado Yarns Durango, in a lovely deep red.
Gonna be a Central Park Hoody, I think.
Simon says he has long eyelashes too, and even longer whiskers. Why do we think that skin-child is so cute again?

First lilac of the year. No, my street doesn't tilt like this. It's just that, to get a good shot of this blossom, which is WAYYY up there, I had to do some contortions.



D4 takes much better flower pictures. Of course, her subjects were also much closer to the ground.

Yes, the lawn does look that dry and brown. Hey, it's supposed to still be winter. Is that why we topped 90 today?

In other news, we're still waiting for some progress reports. I don't mean to sound all mysterious about this--it's just that, while I have no qualms about sharing my information, these particular problems aren't mine and therefore aren't my place to blog about. Thanks for the encouragement and support. It's very much welcome!

UFO Roundup

Yes, I know I haven't posted much about the UFO situation around here. It's hard to come to terms with the critters when you're 500 miles north of them. Thus, it's easy to blissfully shop for yarn while ignoring what's hiding at home.
But I have plans for some of this yarn. First, there's a view of the first layer of the box that's going out today. (I send this sort of thing to the XRX offices, where they pass it along to their local prison, which has a program where inmates can earn the privilege of knitting. They make stuff for the kids on the local reservation. A great win-win for all!)
Next up, two UFOs that have been lurking in bags and boxes. One is a pink fuzzy sweater out of Paton's Divine. I was going to put it in the box but then I relented. I think I still like the fabric it's making, and it would be a nice little sweater for one of the granddaughters.


Then we have the notorious cotton denim--Elann's Den-m-nit, in ecru. I love the look of the finished sweaters--I have blanked out the designs on the cover and won't show you which one I'm making, due to some copyright issues which AS pursues rather vigorously. I'm doing Inishmaan. This book is, as far as I know, still in print and was available from several sources. Great patterns! I just don't know if I can knit a whole sweater out of string. I'd better adjust--I have quite a bit of this stuff.


A half-ball or so of these little guys. I made a scarf out of them and it went to my DIL. I was going to make another one but I am SO over fuzzy sparkly yarns...

Last layer of the box. Note t hat large lump of white in the front--that is another UFO that is now going bye-bye. I'll let the guys unravel her. It was going to be the cover capelet from Knitting On the Edge--see the little sample pink knitted rose there? I may make the capelet yet (D3 requested it, in ivory) but not in this yarn (LB Jiffy). In fact, I'm going on a hunt now for more of this stuff, which will go to a different charitable group, the shawl knitters. Hey, I'm working on a shawl for them out of Jiffy, too, but I know I just don't want to do any more than finish the current one. Spoiled by all that good alpaca and merino and STR and Yarn Pirate and... Yes, my STR club yarn arrived. I'll blog it, and the YP that came from Seattle Marie yesterday. Today I'm on a purge binge! and besides, I don't want to post any spoilers.

Here We Go Again!

I think this is wind damage. We've had a lot of hot dry wind lately--one reason the temps are up into the 90's. The good thing is, when I called the roofing company, the response was immediate: we'll be out tomorrow to fix it. Since that means "today" we'll find out if they meant it. They'll also need to check the rest of t he roof--don't know if you can tell from this photo, but the angle is very steep, and I don't climb up there!

This is what I see when I look out of my back window. Good t hing we got out of the habit of using that door, since the bush is so heavily weighted down that you can't get past it! But it's gorgeous to look at.

Some quilt-y eye candy for you today. This is one of "my" quilters with his grandson, who is making his second project. Noah was very proud of this, and I think he'll be back to quilting next time he visits the grandparents! This is a charity quilt, one of many this couple has made. He cuts and measures and presses, she sews and quilts. We all want to clone him!

Since the news came out about the closing of the quilt shop soon (owners are moving away) it was a very somber gathering on Tuesday night. Felt like a wake! No one wants to see the group disbanded and scattered, so we're exploring alternatives. One problem is that the shop has provided so much visual and creative stimulation that it will be hard to replace that unless we can find another shop (in the same geographic vicinity) with enough room and a spot on the schedule.

Finished!

Look! It's a real FO!! Well, she needs blocking and fringe, but the knitting and crocheting (along the two short ends, to hold the fringe) is done. Arm courtesy of the Knit Devil.




Here she is with a random Coffee Bean customer--sorry, lady!

Close-up of a corner. Won't take too much blocking, but she definitely needs a bath after all the places she's been--I wouldn't want to do a bacteria count on her! Stats: Rowan Tapestry, can't remember the color and I think 7 balls. Oh dear... that's the problem with taking so long on a project!





Mom and Ds at the LA Music Center--the opera was Mahagonny, and Patti and Audra were in fine voice. Beautiful singing and a good time was had by all. The sculpture in the fountain is called Peace on Earth; the water levels change all the time and it's most interesting. Here's D3 (Carrot's mom, aka Caitlin), D4 (birthday girl and opera/musical fan, aka Meighan), moi, and D5 (aka Courtney).

Lastly, a couple of pictures of GiGi, who went to join her "daddy" and other cat-siblings today. She was almost 20 and declined very quickly.

She's been a good cat all these years and has contributed lots of fun and love to the family.

She was the "fetching" cat--she'd retrieve her paper "balls" anywhere you threw them, even if it was inside someone's shoe (boots were a little tricky, but she managed) or on top of the mantel. She loved to sleep with me--no, correction, she'd permit me to share HER bed and HER pillow, although she'd be very vocal about it if I dared to overstep my assigned area.

The other problems that have been weighing so heavily on me are continuing, although there has been progress in some areas. This week is going to be the most critical time and I won't really be able to rest easily till Friday at the earliest--so if you have any spare prayers, good thoughts, good wishes, etc, please direct them our way. Thank you!

Full Worm Moon

...with crape myrtle seedpods and frostbitten orange tree.

Artistic, no? Yeah, I didn't think so either. What is it with these full moon names? I am rather amused.

This is going to be a rather short post today, as I am feeling pretty wiped out. You know how my last post was so upbeat about all the time I am going to have and all the fun things ahead? Well, that'll larn me to challenge Whoever is in charge of "stuff." We've suddenly had a whole series of sad/bad/challenging events and I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Would truly appreciate any prayers, good thoughts, etc that you'd care to send our way. I will fill all y'all in on stuff as it goes along but not today, 'kay?
Oh, if you leave me a comment, please be aware that Blogger doesn't let me reply to you. So unless I have your email address, all I can do is try to track you down via your blog or whatever. You can email me at mehitabel AT earthlink DOT net if you have any questions or private comments.
Also, I think I was crowing too much about the joys of unemployment. I found out on Sat. that the quilt shop where I teach on Tuesday nights will be closing down in mid-May. So my last class will be the night before I leave on my tour of France and as it turns out, that will be the last week they'll have classes. I don't have a lot of info on the closing yet, but I'm sure there will be some coming along and I'll pass it on for anyone who's interested. I do know the owners plan to open a new shop in the Phoenix area, and will be selling fabric there--but I'm sure they won't be moving all of the inventory, fixtures etc.
Enough for now. Off to the opera (Mahoganny) with the daughters and friend!