Mid-Week Mumbling

mumble, mumble, mumble. There...you have it! It pretty much sums up the 1st couple of days of the work week. Nothing spectacular. Nothing dramatic. Pleasantly busy at work which translates into I'm almost keeping up.

At home? Sunday night I finished the first Sockotta sock. Didn't take a pic probably because I was so shocked that the Kitchener went really really well. Why didn't I take a pic the next day? Because I'm not sure where I put the sock. /shakes head. I just know it's NOT in the trash. It will turn up. 2nd sock is started. All the ribbing is done. (There's not very much)

Spinning? It gets worse and worse instead of better and better. Somewhere in my brain there is a tiny part of this process that has been misplaced. I'm hoping I dream it. When I was young, and after my Daddy's death, we moved to town. That term is being used somewhat loosely as it was a very small town. But they did have sidewalks and everyone in my class at school had skates. The kind that clamped on and you wore your skate key on a ribbon around your neck. Graceful me could not figure it out. I tried and tried. I went out really early in the morning when nobody would be there to watch and gave it my best shot. Which wasn't much. I stayed out until dark thirty...still more like someone walking on stilts. But then one night I dreamed I was skating. Fast and graceful to boot. And the next morning when I went out...I could skate! Wow! I was all over that town. Zooming up and down the sidewalks, skating with friends..skating by myself. It was just grand. I loved the sound of my wheels on the sidewalk*. So, I'm hoping that I will dream spinning. Instead of bologna sandwiches.

*When we moved to this town, nobody skated on sidewalks..they all went to the skating rink. I really couldn't skate well there and didn't like the feel of it. I had no need to go around in circles, not even backwards. For me it was about the breeze in my face and the trees going by. So the skates went by the wayside and I turned to my green Schwinn for that feeling. Sometimes I wish I could find skates like that but probably for the sake of my bones, it's best that they just live in memory.

Saturday Part 2

So, after I left the Rendevous, I decided on one more adventure. I was well over half way to Guthrie, and in Guthrie there is the bestest yarn store. It's probably about 60 miles from me and with gas so expensive, it's not usually an option. But hey, I was too close to miss it!

So, off I went. Katya, I forgot that the exit went off to the left! Yikes, I made it but I'm thinking that I will never forget that again. And I'm also quite thankful that my car actually stayed upright.

It's just a good thing I went to the restroom before I left the Rendevous! And all I could remember about the quilt shop you told me about was 'Stuckey exit' but after all that it's a wonder I could remember anything! Oh well, another road trip in the future!

So I get to SWAK on a mission. Remember back here I talked about sleeping through a tornado while dreaming about knitting a baby sweater??? Well, here's the sweater. And it's in this book.
Which I bought. So I can quit dreaming about it maybe. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to knit it...it's rather complicated to my less skillful mind. Sure is cute tho!












I also got a Fibertrends pattern for ballerina slippers. Close as I'll ever get to being a dancer, for sure. I've lusted after this for a long time. And there it was! And, of course I had to get yarn to go with it. So 2 skeins of Cascade and I'm good to go!

I came back home on state highways...those blue lines on the map. Good roads and incredible scenery. I tried taking pics of the horizon but I don't know how to make my camera do those long sort of pictures. There were places where, if my eyesight had been incredible I think I could have seen all the way to Laura's at least. As far as I could see there were gorgeous blue skies and white fluffy clouds in all directions. Amazing! It really needed a 365 degree lens!

Finally those blue highways led me to a Sonic for a burger, and home for a nap. Last evening was spent with new pretties and my sock. And bedtime came just in time. And, did I dream about the baby sweater?? Nope, I dreamt about a bologna sandwich. At least the grocery is easier to get to if it becomes a persistant dream. :-)

Oh...and Happy Mothers' Day to all you mothers and daughters and sons and sisters and friends.xoxox

Fiber Rendevous

Ohhhhh what a good time I had! It was a day full of nice shade in the sunshine, a gentle breeze and lots of fun people. I'd not been there long when I heard someone call my name. It was Katya in real life instead of in eMail, and she gave me this! A Peace Lily. And how appropriate since I'm told that my name, in Hebrew, means lily. Thanks you so much Katya! It was fun, too, meeting her friend and her adorable kids and getting to visit with folks I'd met at last fall's retreat. And meeting people that I only knew through the Yahoo list. Now I have faces to put with names. Not that I'll have the right faces with the right name, but hey it's a start. :-)

I only made one mistake getting there and it wasn't a disaster, I just got to drive through a town that I'd not been in for years. Whoa it's grown!

The Rendevous was held in the little town of Arcadia, which is northeast of Oklahoma City. It's most famous for this round barn and it's right on old 66. And the event was held at Fort Braxton. Not a for real fort but a great venue for such an event, or a family reunion...and in a way that's what this was. A family of fiber folks.

The directions stated it was right across from the barn, and I took that literally. So what did I find? A bunch of bikers! Wow who knew bikers knitted and spun??? They were all quite burly and tattooed but very nice and pointed me about a half block down the street. *G*

Right away I knew it was going to be a 'me' sort of day when I met this nice attendee. I'd never actually seen an alpaca before, but I'd love to have spent a lot of time with this one and it's friend/sister/whatever. I also didn't know they cried. The darker one was being quite pitiful. I was told it was because this babe was used to being around more. It's been weaned so it shouldn't have been missing it's mom, but that's surely what it sounded like. I'd wander around looking and visiting and then, every little bit I would go feed the alpacas a few more pellets that the owners had provided. This blonde one's hair or whatever you call it, feels a lot like my dog Zoey and they are about the same color. I was told that she was a standard poodle/??who knows what. Could she be an alpoodle? polacka? LOL

There were lots of spinners, a few knitters, a lot of dyers, and vendors galore. I got to watch someone use a drum carder; watch and visit with lots of spinners; hear about a lot of experiments in dyeing and such.I got a new spindle (since mine was at home on the dining room table..oops) and a 1:1 lesson with Kati. I was in her class last fall and it was a disaster for me. I couldn't do anything, I wanted to cry, I wanted a nap yadda yadda. But this time it made sense. I'm to spin for 15 minutes a day. She said that until I was a bit more comfortable that should assure that I didn't get frustrated and throw it across the room. LOL she must know me! The white part is some practice fiber that she brought me. The seafoam green is alllll mine! If I unwound the yarn on the spindle it would e an odd site. Some is soooooooooo tight and some is almost too loose to hold together. But I think when I actually get better..and I will..I hope... I'll put it in a little shadow box.

I stayed for about 4 hours and then headed off to part 2 of the days adventures. Which will be told after I see if this collage will actually upload.

April and May Showers

..or storms, bring flowers.I have no idea of what this is. I 'think' it's a shrub that got ahead of itself. It was, a few years ago, a twig planted by a bird. It's now a tree, and yes...it's totally trashing the roof over the patio and the garage. I was so fascinated by it that I put off trimming it, and now it would take more muscles than I have and a gas chain saw..so I'll do a Scarlet O'Hara and think about it tomorrow.

In the meantime, I totally adore it's blooms. Even when they fall off in the rain and become a design element to mud. And cover the patio. Because they smell soooooo good! You can even get a whiff of the scent out in front of the house. Not an overpowering sweet smell...just fresh and good.

So it's name is Flower Tree. And when I do have to trim off some drooping branches because they are threatening to keep me from leaving the patio, I ask it's pardon.

I took these pics late last evening, so the tree shot really doesn't show the little blooms that almost completely cover it but I wanted you to see how big it is.

Actual Knitting Content

I was afraid I might be charged with impersonating a knitter. It's been a long time since I've posted any. Much has been started and frogged and thought about and put in time out. It's all about the process, right?

First up...Cookie Socks. Because Cookie got the yarn for me. It's Sockotta and my first venture into self patterning as well as cotton yarn. Short socks for summer. So it's basically enough ribbing to hold them up and a lot of stockinette. For some reason, I seem to knit looser with this yarn. It fits, but the fabric is looser if that makes any sense. It's really weird to see a pattern forming. I'm thinking this must involve lots of math on the part of the dyers...well the computers that tell the dye when to happen. And lots of fun to watch. It will be interesting to see if the second one even halfway matches the first.And next up is a swatch. The British magazine Simply Knitting has a page in each issue with a pattern swatch. This one is called Giant Garter Stitch. The swatch is bigger in real life but just how much Giant Garter Stitch would y'all want to see. The yarn it's knit with is simply magnificent. Rowan 4 ply Soft. 100% merino and soft as a baby. I'd never be able to afford enough to knit something big, but I can enjoy it in these swatches. This poor swatch is a very simple pattern.
Row 1 (RS) Knit
Row 2 *K1, sl 1, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, k2 (slip all purlwise)
Row 3 Knit
Row 4 K2, *sl 1,K1, repeat from * to end.
Could it be much simpler? This was my project back during the cardiac weeks. You would not believe how many times I screwed it up. And yet the yarn held together and remained soft and bouncy. Yay Rowan.
Today's been a zoomy day full of errands. I had the day off because I've almost got too many vacation hours again. So besides laundry and vacuuming and such, there's been a trip to the library, the safe deposit box (to put up papers that were supposed to go back in January), the Dollar Store (yay, I have a new fan!), the grocery, the doggie groomers, and the gas station. Whew. Only place I missed was the post office. Every time I went by all the spaces were filled with folks mailing stuff before the rates go up I guess. Finally there were parking places, but alas it was closed.

So tomorrow all I have to do is drive off to the fiber festival. Yay! I'm looking forward to seeing lots of fun stuff and fun people. And according to the weatherman...no rain!

A Good Night's Sleep

That's what I had last night. That isn't unusual as I rarely have trouble sleeping. However, last night I slept through the tornado that hit my fair city!

First I knew about it was on the morning news. Duh! There is a siren a block from me and I'm told it was screaming for what seemed forever. Trees bending way over...big wind...and me snoring I guess *G* And I guess all the neighbors were out and about...and thought I was in the basement. Nope, just dreaming about knitting this baby sweater I saw online LOL The east side of the residential area got hit a lot worse than our side. Lots of tall stately trees are now stumps. It's sooo sad. The neighborhood that I lived in as a teenager had trees that almost went across the street like an arch but no more. Lots of business damage on the edges of town and tractor/trailer rigs tumped over on the interstate. In my neighborhood, there are some limbs down and trampolines in odd places and carports missing, and the sign at the Sonic DriveIn is pretty much gone and that's only about 2 blocks from me. But here at Casa Pobre, all seems to be no different than before. Perhaps the weather goddess looked down and thought that it was so pitiful nobody would notice if it were damaged. So I'm quite the lucky one! And the town was too. No injuries other than scrapes and stuff from the cleaning up. Even the truck drivers were ok!

There are some pics here. I'm not sure what all they show, it loads slow on dial up and I got tired of waiting. If you go there, in Step 1 chose News, and then in Step 2 chose the tornado.

Heh, and now a severe tstorm is headed this way so I have to shut down again. Maybe I'll have a nap :-)

Good Mail,, Good News, Good Grief

Apparently I forgot to bring in the mail yesterday. Thank goodness it's well protected from the rain. Because look what was in there...oh wait, skip the PCH stuff and the bills. It's this I'm talking about. Very good mail!

Can you read the tag??? It's REAL cashmere! Whoa..I've never felt it before. It's incredibly soft and I love the color and it's way thin. Laceweight? Right now I don't even dare think about knitting it. Just fondling it will keep me quite happy for a long time. And a really cool card featuring Fort Washington Park in Manhattan. And I learned it was reclaimed by an organization founded by one of my favorite entertainers, Bette Midler. And last but not least, chocolate! Immediately after clicking the pic, I sampled it. Quite yummy! Devorah, you are such a treasure. Thank you so much for the yarn, the card and for listening me babble for a couple of weeks. It's not like you had nothing else to think about. :-)

Good news! My cardiologist's nurse called me and said that the measurements from the ultrasound show that Marge is at the very low end of the spectrum of these aneurysms. So, we shall just watch it. If I am having no problems, I won't have to have another ultrasound for a year. We'll watch my blood pressure and I shall continue in my quest for decent cholesterol and other good things.

And good grief! Lots more rain this morning. There are some flood pics here. I haven't looked at all of them, but #25 was taken at the lake here. There have been roads washed out and folks with very wet homes. I'm quite thankful that I live up the hill from the creek and incredibly thankful that my basement is still dry.

I was trying to take pics of the golf course across from where I work and accidentally clicked the camera when it was pointed at some rocks along the sidewalk. I like this picture a lot. They sure aren't this interesting when they are dry. And the rain and distance made my golf course pictures just kinda wet and blurry. Oh well, enjoy the rocks :)

Oh and before I forget. If anyone needs some Cascade 220, Webs has it on sale for $4.89. You can find it here.

A Bit of This and That

The sock is tinked back now and waiting impatiently for me to return. But I told it I really needed to get this post done since morning just wasn't a good time for computers.

No more rain today, and I think that's a good thing. Soccer fields looked like little ponds and the creek by my house was rushing merrily along when I left for work. I don't know of anyone flooded here but I'm sure that in some of the low places it was close. Over 3 inches of rain while I slept. And more rain for tomorrow. I'm thinking the drought is over.

Yesterday was just overcast and muggy as all get out. So I stayed inside and worked on the quilt aka Summer Cover. Thanks to Heather Bailey and her (to me) very clear instructions, the binding found its way and the cover is now on my bed. The bright blue something on the bed of my machine?? It's a piece of painter's tape being used as a seam guide. Hey, it could have been masking tape! At least this doesn't make everything all sticky.


I find it odd. I've always had one heck of a time getting anything bound. I've got books that explain, and leaflets and many printed out web pages. But for some reason, when I found Heather's, it finally clicked. Maybe it was the soft colors that relaxed my brain enough that it could finally 'see'. Who knows? I'm just thankful for it and for her.

The bed looks sort of wonky and it is. I needed a bit more padding for these sometimes creaky bones and I folded a double bed size fluffy topper thing in half and it's on the top 2/3 of my bed. So there's a definite dip in the surface at about knee space. /shrug. I just know I felt so clever when I got into bed last night and thought about the fact that I'd actually made my cover. Sprt of Laura Ingalls syndrome, I guess.


And some knitting was done as was noted in this morning's post. But some in this house have other ideas about this knitting business!

Post Quick

I planned on a post with pictures last night...that was before I discovered that somehow I'd managed to knit my sock together while doing the gusset ROFL. Tinking is on the schedule. So, then I thought I'd post this morning and show you the quilt that got finished yesterday. But thunderstorms are rolling through again ... I can hear the thunder getting closer from the west and loading pics takes awhile on dial up.

We got almost 3 inches of rain during the night and there was some bigtime thunder! I awakened once when the house literally shook, and I could hear things like razors and nail brushes being bounced off the soap dish and into the sink. Good grief...I thought I should get up and turn on the tv and see what was up but I went right back to sleep.

When I did get up another storm was rolling through and as soon as it left, it was tub time and breakfast time and here we go again!

See ya this evening and hope that Monday thinks it's Thursday and is just a pleasantly busy day.

Not Quite Saturday Sky

It's still dark thirty here so I have no idea what today's sky will be. These were taken after work on Thursday. And we got nary a drop of rain. But a bit northwest of here, they had quite a downpour.

Quick Knitting Question

Circular knitting. Circumference about 19 inches. How long should my circ be?

Thanks and good night.

Hooray for Friday!

Oh, it's been the best day all week. I felt great, was busy and chatty and just back to my totally goofy self today. The ultrasound was done in a timely manner which meant I got to eat breakfast before I was totally a grump. And...medical miracle...they've developed gel that isn't icy cold. Woohoo! The young woman doing the test seemed to be quite skilled and competant and was nice enough to turn the monitor around so I could watch. I think she measured it a bit smaller than the cath showed so that's good. She was even patient with me when I was trying to tell her where she should be looking, and explained that she had to start at the top and work down in order to be accurate. She was very pleasant and professional but almost choked to death when I asked her quite solemnly..."Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?"

She also suggested I refrain from googling medical information *G*

Bad tornado in the western part of the state so I'll be glued to the tv watching the storm chasers' feeds.

Thanks for putting up with me this week. I'll try to be more crafty oriented and picture laden in the days to come.

xoxoxo

Back to "Normal"

whatever that is. I woke up feeling almost zoomy this morning and I'm hoping that it lasts for awhile. I really tried to stay awake all day yesterday but it just didn't happen. But also, I found myself needing to do something besides relax, and I'm thinking that's a good sign. LOL I talked myself out of it though and went back to reading a book. :-D

So, Heigh ho, heigh ho it's off to work I go. Word is someone (probably a DME company or a rehab place) is bringing us lunch and it's allegedly lasagna! Ummmm yum. Maybe not heart healthy but certainly soul healthy.

Also, I need to run an errand. I really screwed something up. In my need to "get everything done before Monday", I rather hurriedly put my new car tag on. I don't know how it is in your state, but on the license tag there are two stickers. One has the renewal month and one the renewal year. So, as I checked off the list, I went by the tag agency and got my new tag and put it on the car Saturday. Yesterday, while standing in the driveway visiting with a friend who had brought me a cup of ice from work (love love love crushed ice) she noticed that I'd put the new year sticker on top of the month sticker instead of where it belonged. You cannot get those things off even if you try immediately. So it's off to the tag agency again. In the meantime, I'm going to carry the paperwork that came with it.

Hope your day goes well. Especially you, Devorah!

Love, Susan XOXO

Good Stuff!

Hi! I'm awake and alert! What a concept. Much of yesterday was a nap, I think. Certainly the afternoon was. One of the folks at work brought me lunch and I think she must have put in some sleeping medicine. I did accomplish something other than feeding cats, dogs and worms.

A couple of weeks ago, I sandwiched my quilt top with it's batting and backing using spray basting. (Love that stuff at least the brand I used). It's been rolled up on a mailing tube waiting to be tied and I decided that yesterday was the day. So with pearl cotton, needles, scissors etc next to me I spread it out over me and working from the middle out, I got it tied. This is what I looked like for much of the day. And, when the yawns would overtake me, I could just slide down a bit and snooze already covered. :-D My feet are sticking up because hey, I have a loveseat and I'm longer than it is.

And, there are new things in my home. Cookie was kind enough to shop for some sock yarn for me. I want to try Sockotta and my LYS didn't have any and wasn't sure if she would be getting any. My color is 6670...pink and white and orange. Yum! Cookie's LYS though seems to have a wonderful selection and she shipped a skein to me. My color is 6670...pink and white and orange. Yum!The fun part was it arrived just after I got home on Monday. The Hello Kitty bag was from her also. It's sooo cute and will be put to good use. Thanks Cookie! It even outranked my great deli box lunch that the facility provided.

I stopped at Barnes and Noble before the test, and yay they had the newest copy of Simply Knitting!! I was so excited! With the value of the $ dropping, it gets increasingly more expensive to order it from Britain. And the project bag on the left was the freebie packaged with the magazine. The kitty? Well there is a bit of a confession attached to it. When I'm extremely stressed or scared, I find it quite comforting to have something soft in my hand. I'm a bit old for a blankie LOL, and this works and if I'm not really obvious, nobody really notices. Maybe it comes from years of sleeping with a cat on my arm. Anyway, I had the perfect softie to take with me. A wee little lamb, that when in my hand is completely covered. But, egads! Halfway over there I discovered that I'd forgotten it! This kitty is obviously a bit bigger than I usually use, but she was on sale...and she fit in my bag. So once I got in my little room, I had my new magazine, my knitting, and a soft thing to hang onto. Safe space indeed.

And the last good thing? When they did the test they discovered an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Why is this good? Well, because there was no clue it was there. And it could cause major major problems in my knitting/sewing/happy life. Friday, I shall have an ultrasound to accurately measure the size and that will determine how they treat it. Mine is rather hourglass shaped...reminds me of an insect thorax or something. I think I shall name it Marge. That sounds like someone who could either me quite nice, or a real b*tch. Should know next week what the plans are.

And now I shall go gather some leaves for the worms, have a shower and then figure out how I will entertain myself today!