Friday is for...

Progress report. CPH is coming right along. It's actually a little further than this picture shows, almost ready to start the armscye decreases. Yarn is much darker in person--flash made it really red. It's a good choice for this pattern, though, as the cables pop and the tweedy bits keep it interesting. Yarn is wool, acrylic, and floor sweepings.

Friday Flahrs:
A clump of mini-daffodils. I love bulbs. Pretty flowers even when I'm too lazy/busy to get out there and garden.



Friday Cats:
Of course it's sleepy time. Simon found a nice cuddly spot of wrinkled quilt to curl up in; his barely-open eye says, will you please take that camera somewhere else?
Hi-Hi is currently majoring in extremely fluffy. I've been trying to figure out if that wide-body look is because he's gained weight, or if it's just his winter coat. I've got all the windows open upstairs, heater's been turned off all month, and it does get a little chilly in here.
Padua does not have mumps. Not even one mump. It's just the way the colors of his fur blend on that side that make him look that way. This is the mildly disgruntled look of a cat who's been "disturbed" for a photo and not offered a third breakfast.

Notice how he's got himself a nice crumply blankie to sleep on, too? What is it with cats? He has a perfectly fine purr-pad, but no, has to make himself a nest.
Hoping for a little quality knitting time this weekend--we'll see. D4 needs to have some work done on her car, so we're booked in for an EARLY appointment at her mechanic's, hoping they will get it done in one day. There's also a hint of a "family dinner" in the wind for Saturday or Sunday night. D5 is traveling east this weekend to spend some time with the East Coast relatives--lucky D5! Oh well, I might be headed there myself soon.
If you like to write letters, you might want to pop over to Domesticat's blog and read about her Knitterly Letter Swap. Did I sign up? Well, let me put it this way--you may not know anyone who has a bigger collection of stationery, fountain pens, colorful inks, and pretty seals. (If you do, let me know--she might want to swap letters!) Sounds like a fun idea. I think I remember how to hold a pen!

Cousins!

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Originally uploaded by trinknme.

Cousin time! Seems the only way I can upload these pictures is to post them from Flickr. Oh well, they are cute enough to warrant a post apiece!

Never too early to read...

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Originally uploaded by trinknme.

Carrot's got cousins! On his recent trip he got to spend some quality time with his next-older cousins. He's growing!

B in B, Part Deux

How much progress can one make on the Central Park Hoodie while walking around a quilt show?

This much.




A little quilty eye candy for you. This is Ellin's quilt, well it's really a collaboration. Ellin and her husband work together to produce amazing amounts and quality of work. Many of their quilts are destined for charity, or are meant to be auctioned for one good cause or another. This one was a labor of love and it really shows.
Way to go, Ellin!!

Th-th-that's all, folks! Unless I lean out the window and take another picture of a cloudy grey sky, and let's face it, you see one, you've seen it!

Blogging in Burbank

Sorry, too good a title to resist! The view from this hotel is not spectacular...we'll see what happens when the fog burns off. There are mountains in this picture, believe it or not, just hidden behind that brownish-gray curtain. I'm here for a quilt show, one of the larger ones in the area. I'm off to the show now and will probably post some pictures, if the Quilt Police don't take my camera away! (Just kidding, their stated policy is that pictures are ok and can even be posted as long as properly credited.)

I cast on for the Central Park Hoodie last night, but no pics yet--4 rows of ribbing is not exciting. So far, the Durango is nice to work with, feels soft and cushy and the fabric is looking good. I love the color--Dim Sum Mary used it to make her Wicked--and I think it will make a really nice sweater. It's going to come to the quilt show with me, in case I feel the need to sit and knit and rest the feet for a bit!

More later...

Wham, Thump, Bang!

Ever have one of those experiences when suddenly the whole house shakes and there's hideous noises coming from over your head? That's what happened to me today. I didn't remember till I went out to see what was going on that today was the day the roofers were coming. They did a lot of repair work, all over the roof, so I guess it really needed it. Good job, though, and nice fast response to the problem.
Simon says he doesn't think I want to shred stuff. I've already taken out five bags of shredding--do I really want to do more? When I could be petting a cute little cat?

Hi-Hi has the same idea. He likes to be near me--today he's "warming" the tubs of kitty litter. Isn't he decorative? He had a "needy" night which meant I didn't get much sleep--sigh. It was also one of those nights when the house didn't cool off so I had to run the fan all night so I could sleep.
Have I mentioned lately I don't like hot weather? It's been over 95 today.
Another reason there's very little knitting content in this post. We've been going through stuff. Bye-bye, beloved '80s sweaters. And all those turtlenecks I can't wear any more (too warm). And D4 is even getting rid of some of the clothes she wore in grade school. Did I mention she is well past high school?
Okay, here's the yarny goodness for today. Since the Harlot posted her STR, I guess it's safe to do mine. Also, there's the Yarn Pirate Bitter Valley that came to me courtesy of Seattle Marie. Yummy--very nice. Of course, mine will not be socks. No, it won't. Maybe a shawl, or a scarf or two, but not socks. I know, I might get drummed out of the STR club if it ever gets out... Now all I need to do is keep on clearing out stuff, until I have a flat spot to set up the swift and ball winder. That means, back to the shredder. After I evict Simon!

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!

Addenda Day

Padua was highly amused by the foot-foto day. Can you tell he's perched on top of the shredder? I can't leave it plugged in for fear one of the fuzzballs will shred a foot or a tail or something!
This is the first quilt top I did at Asilomar. One way that I like to work is to go through the whole process once, naturally trying to get a good quilt top out of it, but also to get a handle on how it's all going to work. This was a good example of that for me. Picking the right values of fabrics, for instance--and who would have thought that I, having endured the 70's and the stream of orange/brown/gold that characterized it, would ever decide to make an orange quilt? Or even have so many orange fabrics? Truly amazing. Anyway, I am very pleased with this quilt top, even though I made a glaring mistake. I'm sooo smart. I had to buy a new cutting ruler, since I managed to get away without one; I didn't realize that it was one of those newfangled ones that's actually 6 1/2 inches wide--and I cut my 2 1/2" strips with the wrong side, so they actually came out 3" wide! didn't even catch on till the blocks were all assembled and I was measuring them for proportions on the sashing. Sigh. It's okay though, because since I mean to teach this as a class, I think the larger blocks will actually be "friendlier" and less intimidating to prospective students. I hope! I also know that it will look a whole lot better once it's quilted--it is very square, as is the other one, but being pinned to a board makes them look a little askew.

You know I can't resist putting in wildlife photos when I can. Asilomar has quite a herd of deer roaming around--this is the view out of the window of our classroom. On this particular day, there were 6 of the critters grazing on the hillside. They didn't even look up when we went out on the deck to take pictures! Too bad I didn't take pictures of the "midnight raiders" aka raccoons, who knocked over our trash cans and then stared me down when I went out to see what the noise was!
Finally, some more flowers. These are along the sidewalk at the entrance to the Apple Farm's restaurant/gift shop. It's one of our favorite places to stop since San Luis Obispo is about halfway between home and Monterey and is just south of a particularly difficult stretch of road--the Cuesta Grade--so fortification is needed before or after driving it. Also (especially poignant today) Bob and I stayed there for the weekend to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. (Today would be the 44th.) The grounds are beautifully landscaped and even in the winter they put on a magnificent floral display--the purple stuff at the back of the picture is kale. Yes, that kind of kale! The tall green thing in the pot is another kind of kale, but this one has "bolted" and no longer looks like a flower.

One more note--I have resigned from the bookstore and am now a "lady of leisure." With everything that needs to be done here at home, I don't think I will be at a loss for things to do, and hopefully I'll have a little more time to do some of the things I love. It was a real wake-up call for me to find that my quilting tools and fabric were still packed up from my trip to Asilomar last year. There has to be something seriously out of whack when I don't touch something I love to do for that long! I still love to read, and will spend lots of time in the bookstore, but I'm hoping that I'll also be able to quilt, and teach a few more classes, and spend lots of time KNITTING up that yarn I've brought home!

Fuzzfeet for La

WHO wants pictures of my WHAT??




For this you woke me up?






Hi-Hi didn't want his feet shown, but here they are.

Home Again, Home Again

Lots and lots of goodies to share after my almost-two-weeks away! First, here's the stuff from Stitches West that followed me home. In back some spun silk and natural alpaca (both from Village Weaving and Spinning in Solvang), then (l to r) some Geisha, Spectrum, and STR Lucy from Blue Moon; some lovely heathered alpaca from Honey Lane; two shades of KPM, one from Yarn Lady and one from Foxyknits; and finally a lovely celery-green alpaca/silk, also from Village.



Came home to some mini daffs blooming in the yard. These little guys are barely 3" tall. Can you tell how dry and hard the soil has baked? It's been a very dry winter and there's no rain in the forecast. Scary. (This picture is especially for you, Sheepie!)
By contrast, here's a view of sunset at Asilomar the first night we were there. It did rain but only overnight; the days were clear, crisp, and very pleasant. Such bliss to work in such beautiful surroundings--I promise, I'll also post some pictures of the deer and the ocean and even of our little classroom building. We had a fire in the fireplace every morning (the elves come and lay it while we're at breakfast, apparently) and three meals a day, cooked by someone else and the dishes done by someone else too--a great week.
What did I do, you may ask? Well, here's one of my projects--the top is cut off but it does have full side and top and bottom borders. We were working on exploring the three-dimensional look--I think this quilt top is pretty successful at that. The blocks really do look 3-D and seem to float right off the quilt. I'm going to try to get this one, and the other project which I'll post later, quilted and ready for classes on the next shop schedule.





If you want to read more about our adventures at Stitches West--it was a real hoot, a great trip!--check out Jillian, Madge, Mary, and Annette's take on it. We even got to meet THE Ellen Bloom! Ellen even posted a pic of us on her blog--here it is, "borrowed" and with many thanks!
I think there are quite a few of us who will be making plans to return next year. I'm hoping to even have some wonderful hand-knits to wear. Can you spot the two SKBs in this photo, and Jillian's Marilyn? (She's got a good series of photos of it and details on her blog today.)
Lots more things to talk about but I'm still in the process of wrapping up now that I'm back home again. Two weeks is a long time to be away! No laundry facilities, for one thing, so I brought home a large suitcase full of grubbies. Most of the cats were pretty blase about my return, except for Hi-Hi (aka the big fat fluffball) who has barely left my side whenever I'm here. Even wakes me up during the night for reassurance that I really am here. Sigh. I guess it's nice to be loved.