By Request

Some knitting! These are the main projects that are getting my attention (such as it is) these days.

This is a Comfort Shawl which will be headed for Conn. as soon as it's done. I'm using two shades of Jiffy--the darker one is called San Francisco, and I have no idea where it came from. The price tags say "Walmart $1.27" and I know for sure I didn't buy it there! (I went into a Walmart once, and it was so depressing I haven't ever been back. Target all the way, baby!)

Digressions aside, it's coming along. I think it will be warm and cheery. There will be two stripes of the paler color, and three of the darker. It's currently about halfway done, and it makes good "coffee knitting" or "watching something exciting on TV" knitting.

Next up, the Ab Fab in progress. It's coming out stripier than I had expected but I'm liking it all the same.
Definitely an interesting knit, unless one is (as I am) bored to tears with feather-and-fan. At least the color changes keep me awake.
Okay, here's my "problem child." I think this photo emphasizes the problem I'm having with this little blankie for Audrey.
The yarn is gorgeous--love the color, it knits like buttah, especially on my Options. The lace pattern in interesting, with only a few rows that require close attention. I think there will be enough yarn for at least 7 repeats, most likely 9. But I think the pattern is obscured by the yarn's variations. What do you think? It's currently one repeat and a part of a second in; should I frog it and use the yarn for something else?


Lady E III. I love the way the Tapestry shades--the color runs are long enough to do at least one and sometimes two blocks and the color-blocks don't pool much. It's another one of those wonderful projects--yarn, needles, and pattern all coming together to make for a fun and satisfying knit.

We're decorated for the holidays. (Thanks to D1 and her family for the wreath. It smells wonderful!)


Here's the holly bush I mentioned. You can see that the berries aren't as vivid a red as the traditional English holly, nor are the leaves as deep a green. On the other hand, they are also not as prickly, so it's a "friendlier" bush to have in the yard, and the effect is almost the same.

Been a while since you've seen a cat photo here, so I took a couple today while I was trying to fold laundry. My little "helpers" were equally busy.


Simon curled up in the basket and went to sleep. Can you tell which "parts" are visible here??



HiHi took it upon himself to keep the folded bath towels warm. Wouldn't want your towels to feel chilly, would you?
Didn't think so.
Camellia blossom, a large one--hand included for scale!


And, what's left of the berries.

Crumbs, and empty wrappers.

Yumm!

Holly-days happenings

...which reminds me, I need to get a photo of my big ol' holly bush all covered in berries. It's a Burford holly, not an English one--we had some of those but they have died off. I'm blaming the drought but the truth is, I'm thinking that even plants and shrubs have a life cycle and maybe they were just elderly.

Speaking of which...

I came home from knitting on Wed. to a porchful of packages, including a red and white box with some rather cryptic instructions:
"Close and lock doors.
Hide behind a large piece of furniture. Quietly open box. Savor and enjoy!"
This is what was in the box:

The box also stated:
Perishable! Once opened, contents may disappear immediately!"
Needless to say the box no longer looks like this.
Can I just say that chocolate-covered strawberries make an excellent breakfast?
Many thanks to D1 and her family!!
Oh, and happy birthday to Granddaughter Lizziebug today! Very special people are born on the solstice!
Another one of the boxes contained this tower of festivity:
Gevalia coffees and teas. From my bro. Who knows of my addictions!

The box of truffles is from son Jeff and his family.
Contributing to the delinquency of my diet, that's for sure, but so deliciously!

My darlings have taken my message to heart: I don't need more stuff! So, delicious consumables are great!

(Some rewards, I suppose, for being another year older. I got to talk to all the offspring, one way or another, as well as my brother.)


But, of course, not everything is going to be consumable.

Some things will just get used for "other things."
Like, for instance, this:

Yarn Pirate merino/tencel in Icicle.

I love the colorway. And the yarn is very soft. And shiny.

Hmmm...

Then there is the Austermann Inka, which just happens to come in a colorway perfect for the Laughing Carrots sweater. And of course, I do happen to know a little-boy-carrot who looks smashing in orange!
Props to Laura for alerting me to this special on Elann. I love me a good enablement!!

And then there was the STR order:
I am just nutso over the Pink Granite colorway. Had to have some Pond Scum.
I promise not to put them in the same garment. Well, maybe not...

On to some quilty goodness. Tuesday night was our last class of the year, which we celebrated with a potluck and some happy sewing.
Louise finished a tree skirt for her niece:

Drs. Harry and Ellin finished a wonderful batik quilt top. Here's Harry doing his Kilroy imitation.

Can I just say that these wonderful people sent off 14 boxes of quilts and clothing to New Orleans? 20 quilts, people! 20!! And some school clothes for the kids, plus they were able to raise some money with an art auction. As well as all the other things they do. Their particular focus in NO is the dialysis community, which has been hard hit and is having even rougher times. Not that many people in the Katrina/Rita disaster zone are having it easy; but when you add the additional problems involved with dialysis patients, well, it just multiplies exponentially. Ellin, a retired pediatric nephrologist, has remained connected to and committed to the network, and is putting a lot of time and energy into doing what she can to alleviate the sufferings.

What's really great to see is how much fun they have with their quilting and sewing and fundraising. Tuesday night, I helped them plot out another fundraising quilt, which will be for their granddaughter's school.

Whew, didn't mean to get so heavy there. Onward!

Anne is making a quilt for her granddaughter. This one is all blocks of the same design--Churn Dash/Monkey Wrench/Hole in the Barn Door, probably has dozens of other names too. The blocks are all different sizes, ranging from 16" down to 2.5". Her granddaughter specified turquoise and pink, so that's where the color combo came from. (Anne is SO not a pink and turquoise person--she had to buy most of the fabrics to make this--but there was a quilter's run on the Central Coast, and those shops did have pink and turquoise.)

In the midst of holiday prepping, the more mundane tasks still need to be done. Today will be devoted to paying bills, doing laundry, and if the stars align properly, I might even get to the cards. One never knows!
In case I don't get back to the blog before next week--I have been tapped for jury duty, starting on Monday--I'll wish you a happy holiday, whichever you celebrate, and a very good new year, too! (More on that. Going to be some resolutions for next year, you betcha!)

Enough, Already!

...with the LOLcatz? Okay then... on to other topics


Sweet Audrey, sleeping. I hear she does t---his for approximately 3 hours a day, mostly between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm.
FO Day at Montrose Monday:
Dim Sum Mary
and Patty finished their scarves. I especially like Barbara there in the background, holding her "kittens"!
She got some of Elann's new KSH clone and some Inka Alpaca and brought it for sharing.

Madgik is trying to get the last of her slippers knitted and felted by deadline.

Lastly, some of the cookies baked by D4 over the weekend. These are meringue cookies, known to my family as Forgotten Cookies (you put them in the oven, turn it off, and forget about them till morning--so they are always the last batch baked) and definitely a standby. D4 is an artistic sort of baker, so hers are piped onto the cookie sheet and not plopped, as mine always are!

Equal Time

moar funny pictures

By request, picture of the canine Miss Kitty. She's 12 (or so, in people years) and lived for a long time with my in-laws, who like many people in their 80s were not super active. So, when my FIL went to live at The Home (which is a tale for another day) Miss Kitty went to live with sis-in-law Linda, her husband, and their two mini dachsies. Kitty has been having a ball making up for lost time--she runs, she hunts, she lords it over the other two.

Yarn pics and knitty tails (tales?) shortly--gotta upload the pictures! Miss K. couldn't wait...

Miss Kitty, aka Miss Piggy

moar funny pictures

This is one of my Connecticut grandkittens, although I do think "kitten" is a bit of an exaggeration for her! Inspired by Barbara's version with Midnight in her cave, I was able to get Kitty's photo on the page.

We have another Miss Kitty in the family--my sis-in-law, Sadly Blogless Linda, has her parents' little dachsy, also named Miss Kitty. Maybe I'll need to look for a picture of that Kitty to put up alongside this one!

Counting down to Christmas and I think I'm getting a wee bit punchy here. What other explanation for my sitting here at the computer, doing LOLcats instead of cleaning/cooking/wrapping? Hmm. All right, I'll go work, and I'm hoping to have some knitting to share tonight too!

Those Pictures

The pink Faroese-style shawl in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, 5 balls.

Pattern is a Lion Brand one from Cast On back in 2004. I haven't checked, but it might also be available on the LB website.

It's a little on the short side but perfect for keeping the shoulders etc warm, and the shorter length means it's also just right for draping over your front if you're sitting in a chair or in bed, reading or whatever.
The front view here shows the inside of the arrowhead lace panel.


I did not do the crochet edging around the bottom, since I barely had enough yarn left to bind off fairly loosely.





The only drawback to this yarn is that it does shed quite a bit. I wore black pants one day while I was working on it, and it looked as if I had been rolling around in pink fur.

It's the alpaca content. The long crimped fibers give it away. However, the softness of this yarn is incredible. It knits like air and feels like a feather when it's on.
I'm hoping my friend will enjoy it!

Now, this unruly-looking tangle is the 9 skeins of Bartlettyarn I got as an ebay bargain.

I mean, this all cost me $10.52 plus $5 to ship it.


This is what it looks like now, all neatly wound into fat little cakes.
Then there's the last picture, of some similar yarn that's a little lighter in color. I'm not posting a picture of it rolled since it looks very similar to the Bartlett.

There. Now I can go take more pictures for another post!

No Pictures, Sigh

After trying a couple of times to upload some pictures tonight, I've decided to let Blogger sulk and post anyway. Without photos, this will be a short post!

I have an FO to report. The pink Alpaca Silk shawl was finished today, with about 1/2 yard of yarn left over from the 5 balls I started with. This didn't give me enough to do the crochet edge, but I think it looks fine the way it is. I took pictures of it, then drove over to my friend's house to give it to her. She has her next chemo treatment on Friday and I thought she might like to have it. Both she and her husband seemed very pleased with it--she has lost a lot of weight along with all her hair, and she feels the cold very keenly, so something snuggly warm (but light) will be good to have.

Other than that, it's been really pretty busy around here. D2 came to town over the weekend for a visit with the neurologists at UCLA, who will be evaluating her in more depth come Jan. or Feb.--whenever they can get the time. (She was in a bad accident back in 2002, her car was hit by a van that ran a red light and slammed into her little car. The head injuries she sustained have left her with seizures that are difficult to control. She's been referred to UCLA since theyhave a wonderful program there to evaluate and hopefully "fix" the problem.)

On this trip, she and her husband and daughters got to meet Audrey and visit with the Grandcarrot as well. We had a potluck dinner and a good time was had by all.

Don't know if I mentioned this before, but D4's car was sideswiped by a presumably drunk driver while it was parked out in front of our house. (Oh, yeah. I posted pictures. Duh!) Anyway, it looks as if the damage is bad enough for the insurance company to total the car. Guess who's going car shopping! (Naturally. There's something about making that last car payment...)

Pictures next time of nicely wound yarn, and the tangly messes it started out in. Also pictures of the shawl. Next I'm going to decide if I want to make another shawl--I have 5 more balls of Alpaca Silk in purple, which just happens to be D2's very most favorite color. The down side? It sheds like crazy. By the time I finished, I looked as if I had been rolling around in pink cat fur!

It Was a Party!

Just got home from partying heartily with the quilt guild members. Tonight was the guild's annual holiday dinner.
Here was the centerpiece for our table:

And here's dinner. Provided by a Mediterranean restaurant. It was pretty yummy.

I'd have enjoyed my baklava more if the nuts had all been shelled. Luckily I am a cautious nibbler where nuts are concerned, so I caught it without having to break a tooth.

We all brought fabric postcards to share. They were quite interesting--some of them were more "postcardy" than others.

After dinner, we played a game with them which involved passing them left and right and getting thoroughly confused. That way, we wound up leaving with a different card than the one we'd brought.

Some people had more fun than others.

(This group is saying Hi to Amy!)

So is the next one.

There were prizes, too. Each table contributed a basket full of quilt-related goodies.

This is the one from our table.

Pretty hefty basket--loads of fabric.

There are pictures of the other baskets, as well as other table centerpieces and more postcards on my Flickr page--click on the badge on the right to get there.

The guild does an Opportunity Quilt every year, and sells tickets all year long.

Usually the winner is someone who needs to be notified and we never get to see how he/she reacts. Well, not tonight.

Annette won! She's a very active guild member, and you can tell from that grin how delighted she is!

Want to see next year's quilt?

Okay.

Here it is:

Front.

Back art.

Tickets will go on sale as soon as they're printed!

Catching Up

...with some of the new books added to my library. D5 has said that she will allow Audrey to dress "funky" so that was all the permission I needed to get the Boho Baby Knits book! Besides, Beth is one of the contributors, so I'm just supporting a fellow OOPser, right?? Right!!

The other book, Kristin Nicholas' Kristin Knits, was raved about by Fay Lynn, so that's a good recommendation! Besides, I am all about the color. As well as the texture.

I'm not smart enough to figure out how to rotate this picture--that or it's too late to do it. Take your pick.
In any case, these two books feed into my curiosity about some of the historic aspects of knitting, and some of the kinds of knitting t hat have evolved over the years. Ethnic Knitting Discovery is from Donna Druchunas, and covers the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and the Andes. Norway, hmmm? I'm thinking Dale... among others!

I'm all about the fisherman sweaters. Here's a little proof: this box contains 9 skeins of cream-colored Bartlettyarn, destined for (perhaps?) one of the ganseys in the Cables, Diamonds, Herringbones book. While I love heavily cabled Aran sweaters, there is also something very appealing to me about the more subtle patterning in the ganseys. This book, by Sabine Domnick, is a new translation of a 2004 German original, and I love its combination of historical photos, patterns, and "workshop" approach to designing a sweater.
Because, of course, as we all know, I don't have enough in my queue!
I did join the Ravelry group dedicated to Knitting Down the Stash 2008, which I'm hoping will inspire me to actually--gasp--knit from my stash next year! One of the things I like about it is that it isn't a "no new yarn" kind of thing--rather, it's a way to utilize that yarn that called so eloquently not so long ago. Or long ago, as the case may be--some of it has been marinating for quite a while. I'm thinking of the white mohair that came from Australia when we were there in--was it really 1988? The Australian Bicentenary. Yeah, that was 1988.
But I digress. This is what happens when I talk about stash: the memories and associations come flooding in.
Maybe it's time for some of those memories to become garments, so they'll be more accessible. What a concept!

Happy December!

'Tis the last month of the year, already! The refrain I keep hearing is, where did the year go? Well, D5 has a good answer: her "project" took most of the year!

Now we enter into the busy, bustling, stressful/joyful holiday season. I'm thinking about putting up a tree this year, which would be the first time in five years. Don't know if the house will be ready, or if that should be the criterion for doing a little decorating--maybe it should just be done for the sheer joy of it. Even if no one but D4 and I will see it.

I think a lot of that will depend on how well the shoulder heals. It is making progress, slowly but surely. I can knit 8 rows now before having to give up. Note the Pollyanna quality I'm bringing to this: I said, I can knit 8 rows now. I believe the last time I said I can ONLY knit 8 rows. Trying to work on my grinchiness!

Even been using some of the Christmas mugs. I know, it's cheating if they never got put away last year, but still. They're cheerful and fun.

I do believe the East Coast-ers are getting some snow, which will add to the enjoyment of their holidays. Well, truthfully, might add some extra stress, too, but let's keep the outlook jolly.
Nothing like a few snow days to start the winter off right!
Meantime, here we can look forward to the "Christmas camellia" blooming again. It's that big fluffy one with the masses of inner petals. It grows by the front steps and is taller than the roofline--which, at that point, is a good two stories tall. It is usually in full bloom by Christmas, with brilliant red blossoms that stay on for a long time and make a gorgeous carpet on the ground when they fall.

Rose hips say "autumn" don't they? There are a lot of them this year, and perhaps I should look up a recipe for Rose Hip Jelly.

Nah.

So, while my yearnings for snow will remain unassuaged, I am going to concentrate on the good things around me.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll put up a little Christmas tree. I'll let you know if I do!