Victory Garden

I went  to my garden plot today to weed.  It has rained and I guess it's been a while since I was there.  I barely recognized my space and had a hard time finding it.  In such a short time, the weeds had practically taken over.  Marlene told me this would happen, but my pride got in the way.  MY garden will never be taken over by weeds. Ha.  Famous last words.  So, I'm red in the face and wiser from an hour in the hot afternoon sun.  (But I love it!)

 My back yard stuff is doing fine, since I can check on it every day.


I cut apart the things from my little frame loom and put the white linen runner on the breakfast table.

I still haven't warped the loom for some fresh weaving, but it's been very busy at work and I am just too pooped at night to start a new project.

I took out some of the coral yarn and had a great idea for a cable project.  Then it hit me Coral Cables!  I'm so clever.

I'm thinking a small throw pillow would be cute, simple to knit, and just the right size since I've only got 4 skeins of yarn.  By the way.  Some people pronounce that, "skeens" and some people say, "skanes".  You can say it either way; I don't mind. ( Did you just say them both out loud?)  :-)

Part of my job, on occasion, is to help people when they are moving.  Last week we helped a lady sort through some things in her garage, as she bought a high-rise condo in the city.  She has a lake house and some stuff is going there as well, but in her downsizing (post-retirement) I received several items that I have been wanting for a few months now.  Literally.
Two of these

a bread machine

a pedicure thing-a-ma-jig

and several other things like seeds for the garden, chocolate, party trays and a beautiful tin planter.  Somebody up there likes me!!

My personal life is going through some changes right now, and my attitude is to always keep my chin up, no matter how I feel inside.  Usually, if I stay positive, my life will follow suit.  If I give in to emotion and negative feelings, I can find all sorts of things to complain about.  There's an old song that is perfect for this occasion, "Count Your Blessings".  In light of the recent bad weather, death and damages to cities all over the country, I can't complain about my circumstances.  I hope you have things to be thankful for, too.   When I hear people walking through the rubble after a tornado, say that they're happy to be alive, I realize I should be too.

Albania is somewhere between Greece and Venice

This week I spent some time with a friend/co-worker from Albania.  She has a very thick accent and is very pretty.  She works at the airport gift shop and I only get to see her on rare occasions as her hours at her other job are pretty random.  Every time I ask her to remind me where she is from, and she tells me, it is clear that she does not like being mistaken for a Latin American.  She is European, through and through and has all the language barrier issues that someone like her would be expected to have.  She innocently says funny things at work that could be (and often are) misunderstood.  That's what makes her so charming.  She's a single parent, working very hard to provide for her children, and is such a lovely person.  Men hit on her and mistake her accent for ignorance. She is very bright and a joy to be around.  I just googled Albania, and I know exactly where it is!  Maybe she'll invite me to visit her homeland with her sometime!!

As I sit at my spinning wheel, listening to a classical internet radio station from Venice, I feel so far away from home.  Transported to where the trees are more beautiful, the yarn in my hands is softer, and the cappuccino in my cup is more expensive.  It must be.

I read on the Yarn Harlot's blog how  she spun her Jacob fleece, " underspun and overplied for bounce", so that's what I'm doing.  Trying to achieve bounce in my yarn.  I have a lot of flat, hard yarn that's great for socks or shawls, but I want something springy and bouncy like Tigger.  I want to squeeze it and have it go back to it's original hank position.

Update photo for proof that I really am piecing together the baby sweater.

And here's a pattern I'm seriously considering for my next project.  I need some soft, soft wool yarn - nothing scratchy, and most of what I've spun is a little scratchy, but that cannot slow me down.  I really have to pick something soon and this is the best looking candidate so far!

My back yard is looking really lovely - with little bits of color everywhere that surprise me whenever I go outside.  The little blue flowers were from seeds our children's pastor gave to all of us workers a few years ago. Forget-me-nots!  And I don't.

And the apple tree by the compost bin was a gift from my mom & dad when we finished homeschooling our kids.  It has apples again this year; two years in a row, thanks to Noah's ark levels of rain!

We had a birthday party Saturday night for my son's new wife.

At the end, my husband, son and daughter stayed up watching Grey Gardens, the original documentary.  No matter how wealthy a person is, their tastes and eccentricities vary as much as the hemline of the latest fashions.  That is one unsettling, but engrossing movie!

Skill Set

backyard at dusk

 I went to the doctor(s) recently and noticed something that really stood out to me; the skill and knowledge of those that were taking care of me, some more than others.  I noticed how some doctors and nurses were simply keeping the business going, getting me in and out the door with my insurance card.  But at least one doctor seemed incredibly interested in my well being.  She asked me all sorts of questions that at times seemed irrelevant to why I was in her office.  She was all about looking things up on the computer to find out the answer to what we were discussing.  And she seemed totally interested in bringing to me the best possible care that I would need.  I was really impressed with the level of interest she took in me as a whole person and wanted to integrate her skill with my needs.  What a perfect fit! What a refreshing change that someone would step out of the box for a moment and do a little more than expected.  Skill is a valuable commodity these days!!

As we celebrated the graduations last weekend of two young men in our family I noted that it takes a long time to earn a degree, and only about 5 seconds (I timed it!) to receive the diploma.

I am skilled at making homemade cappuccino!

 What a laugh. And yet, it is indicative of what our society values when it comes to skill and expertise.  We want McDonald's speed and price and Mercedes quality.

 As I've become a true lover of knitting, I see the great skill, expertise and man hours it takes to knit a garment.  I saw a large crocheted afghan this week that must have taken close to a year to make.

Simply beautiful! I know what went into each and every stitch made by some very skilled hands.  Amazing!  It probably looks so simple to the uneducated, but I know how hard it was to make that blanket. ( And can imagine the many loving thoughts that went through the mind of the person making it. 

I am such a slacker when it comes to my own projects - I am only just now blocking the Cocoa Bear Hoodie; maybe I can do the button bands on Tuesday or Wednesday night.  (Very long day ahead tomorrow!) I also finished the red wrap, but I can't remember if I ever named it.  Surely I could skim my old posts and find out, but as I said, I'm a little slacker, short and stout!

A New Day

 Last Thursday night my son and his wife joined us for dinner, and afterward my son helped his dad with a few work projects, while I joined my daughter in law for a little chit chat downstairs. On Friday my daughter and her husband joined us for dinner and more chit chat. They had arrived in town to pick up the key to their new place, moving back to our area after finishing school.  All six of us get along really well. Both of the boys are graduates this weekend and have an awful lot to look forward to.  Commencement speeches remind us of the big world that lays ahead, and they path they'll take to get there.

As a kid I remember my folks saying that if we didn't like the way things were, "There's the door!"  Teenagers don't like to hear that but it's probably good advice.   It prods the kids to be thinking about leaving someday and what the future will hold for them.  Often a boss will remind an employee how lucky he is to work for them, and if he doesn't like it, “There's the door!”. We are all looking for new opportunities but many times we have to walk through a door to get there.

As both my son and son in law have graduated they are thinking about "the door" to their futures; leaving school and academia, tests and papers, projects and the like - what kind of jobs they will be entering into, and how they will approach them, they will be looking at how their skills and acquired knowledge will fit into someone else' vision and/or needs.  There are other options as well, but whether one is self employed or employed by someone else, "the door" is there to be opened, as they say.
I'm so happy for my kids and their bright futures.  (I will have to admit selfishly though that I tried never to use the door analogy with my kids 'cause I never wanted them to leave!)

I love a good collection

My daughter is in the midst of moving and she and I talked on the phone briefly while I was on my way to the doctor this morning (speakerphone, heavy morning traffic with serious rain, going through a construction zone).  She could hardly hear me and I could hardly hear her but one thing was clear.  She's just like me.   She finds comfort in organizing things.   When you organize things, you realize that you have sorted stuff, like you did at the little table when you were in kindergarten.   Some things go together, and others don't belong with this group.

Last night I finished another Harlan Coben book (not on Kindle) and found a real satisfaction moving the books on my office bookshelf to make room for Live Wire to sit next to the four other hardbacks by HC.  I do have some of his paperbacks and even something on my Kindle by him.  So I realize I now have a collection of his books.  I have Mary Higgins Clark, Harold Bell Wright,  and several others on my book shelf.   Once I find an author I like, I will pretty much ready all their works.   It probably goes back to my OCD habit of collecting things and keeping them together.  I even imagine that people will look at my things with a critical eye and wonder why all the (fill in the blank)'s aren't together in a group like they should be. Like why are the salad forks mixed in with the dinner forks?  (Of course they're not!) But that would really bother me if people thought that.

In the garage, all my spinning stuff is together, but all my knitting stuff stays in the house.  It bugs me if something gets in the wrong guy's area.  Yarn technically can go in either place.  Weaving stuff pretty much stays here in my office because I say so.  Socks go in the sock drawer, shirts go with shirts, and pants go with pants.  Got it?

And when I finish a knitting project I have to put the needles back in the zippered knitting-needle tackle-bag I bought at the Bass Pro Shop. It has one side for DPNs and one for circulars, with ziploc pouches for each size.   I had to explain my putting-back action to my husband the other day, telling him that if I didn't put them back exactly where they came from, I would never be able to find them again.  But I realized as I said it that I was justifying all this to myself.  Organizing comes from wanting to have some sense of control over my environment.  Especially when you don't feel that you have any control whatsoever over your circumstances.  This is a permanent state of mind for me, and is probably why I retreat to reading or knitting whenever I can.  Nobody messes with my knitting and nobody takes your book away while you're reading it.  Two boundaries everyone respects without having to remind them or give them a dirty look.

Now, with all this organizing I have spent little time knitting anything much lately; and that is another story altogether.  I won't chase that rabbit.
But I will chase this little Cocoa Bear Hoodie.

I've finally finished all the pieces but ran out of yarn and had to get another ball.  The front left and right will need button bands  after I press the pieces tomorrow.

I'll pick up the stitches on the left and right front pieces, and allow for buttonholes on the left side.
Then I can sew all the pieces together and do one last blocking session.

In spinning news, I spun some of this very soft, if not dirty midnight blue roving last weekend.  It is very pretty on the bobbin, don't you think?

And finally the pair of Uncle Albert socks were drying on the patio table Saturday morning.  I'm extremely grateful for any little bit of sunshine lately.  It feel like Seattle around here lately!

I will be somewhat busy the rest of the week but in a good way.  And it's good to be busy to keep your mind from worrying about other things.  Kind of like going to the beach or reading a good book.  Being busy is an escape that costs very little and serves you well!  Like organizing your collections!

New Kid in Town

This is the new kid in town, in my back yard.  All the other trees have been here a while, but this one came up on his own and I decided to leave him by the fence, figuring that one day he'd be a nice addition to the edge of the flower bed.

Right now, like all new kids,  he's just getting stares from the other plants and shrubs.  The big trees are by no means intimidated by him.  They are mature, strong and tested by the winds and downpours.  This new kid will eventually be a veteran and another young sapling will assume the role of 'new kid' in the back yard.  By then, the veteran will have realized he's not got all the answers after all.   He will have learned to keep his mouth shut and at least appear to know what he's doing.  It takes a while to grow up.

My son will be graduating from college next weekend;  I got the invitation to his graduation ceremony in the mail last week, and I can't tell you how proud I was to read it.   I know how hard he has worked, keeping up with assignments, working and maintaining an adult life.  He's been on his own for a while now.

January 1991

I remember his first haircut, I remember when he learned to ride a bike, I remember his dad teaching him to cut the grass, and I remember him telling me he'd accepted Jesus as his Savior.
Almost two years ago, the week after his sister's wedding, he went to a ball game with some college kids from our church, and spent the afternoon with the lady who is now his wife.  They were married last summer. He and his wife came over last weekend, and he shared some of the work he'd been doing to finish up the school year; putting sound effects and music to three different motion picture clips.  I was blown away.  That's all I can say.   Blown Away.  Josh,  You are awesome!   Congratulations - we're so very proud of you.

With all this pomp and circumstance, I have to share a swatch with you that I made from my yarn of the month selection.  This is called Dolce Merino by Universal Yarn. It's actually Merino and Microfiber. 

I'd highly recommend this yarn! It's very squishy and springy - perfect for socks.  I am knitting a 1x1 rib on size 7 wooden needles.  Very knowledgeable looking gray if I do say so myself!

 And this second swatch is made of baby alpaca and merino but it's called Camel Hair by Ornaghi Filati.  I knit this on some antique Boye 5's.

Lovely isn't it?  Soft and light with a little halo. 

Sunshine on a cloudy day

The Uncle Albert sock stared at me the other day; rudely, if I may say so, until I picked him up and started picking a hole in his middle until he settled down.  He was trying to get my attention, I'm sure, and well, he got it!

I've reminded myself of how dumb it is to used a waste thread for the afterthought heel that is virtually the same color as the sock.  It was nearly impossible to find the dad-gum stitches!

I finally got them all on a couple of needles and began knitting around the heel opening and decreasing the number of stitches.  Hallelujah! It's time to put that UFO to bed!

I have been watching more than a reasonable amount of YouTube videos of weaving techniques.  I am ready to try the direct warp method.  Instead of doing the whole warp thing on a warping board with a criss-cross, etc, (you weavers will understand), I'm going to try the Readers Digest condensed method where you just pull the loops through the heddle slots and cut and thread the holes.  I need to pick up some warping yarn on a cone soon.
But I'm way, way too tired to do that tonight.  I'm having a hard time typing this post to be honest.  It has been a long day (several days actually) and I'm ready to prop my feet up tonight and watch a movie.  I plan to knit on my red wrap because it's bright and I don't want to wear my granny glasses to read a pattern.

I just want to do some of that plain ole' brainless knitting. That phrase is just laying on the table ready for a smart remark but please don't do it, okay?   Remember how tired I am right now?
 
We had a nice cup of coffee last night after dinner, outside on the patio.  The birds were all feeding, before the storm came through.  The wind was blowing but it was warm and the sun had not set yet.
Those are the kind of moments I cherish. Just talking and chatting about nothing in particular. Enjoying the moment.  That's when you know you are real true friends.  

Lately I've been seeing a little something making the rounds where a well known person does something pretty impressive for a little less than 10 minutes.  This small act has convinced lots of people that this person is the real deal.  Someone to admire, respect, and support.  This really, truly bothers me because I know for a fact that anyone can act "all nice" in public for short periods of time especially when a lot of people are watching.  But take a look at  that same person under pressure.  Watch that person when they are seriously inconvenienced, or even pushed just a little too hard ( beyond their comfort zone).
Do they lash out at others? That is when you need be forming the decision about whether this person is the real deal or not.  Whether they should be respected.  How do they treat the people who work for them?  How do they talk about their fans, employees or support personnel?  Do they become rude and impatient, demanding that somebody  take care of this 'thing' now? We should ask ourselves, "Do I act this way?"
It's extremely important that we not continue to teach our young people that celebrity is to be admired.  Rather lets applaud character, kindness and integrity.  Truthfulness and patience should be rewarded.  I love the quote that says, 'Be nice to the janitor, he may own the company someday!'  You can bet that he will remember who treated him poorly back when he was "just a janitor".

Not a dream weaver

As a novice at almost all things in life, my expectations for my latest weaving project were minimal.  The warp is really old and I have been adding all sorts of yarns to the weft but this week I decided to finish off the thing.  There's a ball of linen singles in the garage that is amazingly white and shiny and looked like the perfect finish to the warp.

It is so easy to weave on this little frame loom (rigid heddle loom) that I only lift the heddle and lower the heddle.  That's all.  But the finishing is the part that requires more skill and is probably why I kept putting the loom in the back-most part of the shelf in the garage.

Tying off the threads in a fancy little embroidery stitch doesn't necessarily look nicer than the square knots (overhand?) that I usually use, or the twisty technique I've used in the past.  But I did it.  I tied off everything last night and clipped and removed everything.  There will be coasters and a potholder as well.

front and back of potholder (my first!!)

navy blue coasters

As the rains have finally ceased today, I found a lovely purple flower trying to peek into my back yard this morning.  It looks like a little child being sneaky!

And with all the rain, and subsequent sun, my lettuce is off to a great start.  I added a little garlic clove last week and it came right up.  That was fast.

I got my results back from the doctor yesterday and they were pretty good with one minor issue. Above 'optimal' LDL cholesterol.  Dangit! It's like getting your test back from the teacher with a great big A-minus at the top.  I want to dismiss it and try to eat less cheese, but my husband sounds the bell of truth.  Honey, just face it; join the crowd.  The rest of us have to deal with all that stuff and now you do too.  You haven't done anything wrong, you're just getting older.  (There it is again.)

Bon Appetit, Italy!

The new issue of Bon Appetit arrived yesterday and I flipped through it while eating my supper last night.  Usually it does not pique my interest but this one is different; it's just really cool with lots of Italian things including espresso, pasta and tiramisu.  Hoo Rah.  (By the way, I made a couple of killer pizzas Monday night!)

Here's a gift I received a few weeks ago from some people I work for.  Two award winning wines.  Hoo Rah again.  Gratitude comes in all kinds of shapes! I like it when people choose to show appreciation rather than say it!!!

The little Cocoa Bear Sweater is almost done.  I've completed all the parts except for the front which I started tonight.

what's left of yarn

back, arms, hood

front left

I will block it when finished and then wash and block again after piecing it together.  It will need to full and shrink a bit since it's looking a little large right now.

Yesterday I spent the entire day cleaning the garage.  Yes it looks like a million dallahs! I listened to an audio book and did not stop cleaning till the job was finished.  And I couldn't wait to make a place for this stuff.  More of what I got from my friend Saturday morning!  (Carded Wool)

I feel so blessed lately, in spite of the vivid reality that there are things I cannot change about this world or the people in it.   I have a bookmark my father in law made years ago that says simply this, "Be still and know that I am God." Ps. 46:10
Life is always a challenge, and many times we have to hold our noses and take the plunge, so to speak.  Dive in and do what we know we have to do, regardless of the repercussions and/or consequences.  Sometimes it's scary, and sometimes we just don't know what to expect.  Then when we've done it, all that's left is to be still and wait.   That's almost as hard as the 'doing' part.

Apples and Oranges

Last year I got my first batch of apples from this apple tree and if the blooms are any indication, I should have more this year as well.  Yahoo!

And now that Spring has fooled us into thinking it would be warm (said with annoyed inflection), we are having another round with cold winds and rain.  So my Snowball Tree is looking right at home in this cold weather.  I'm glad I snapped this picture last weekend when it was sunny! Such a lovely tree when it blooms, even though it desperately needs pruning.

check out the bird's nest!

Today I paid a visit to a friend who's having several rounds of chemo and some radiation.   She patiently explained to me what exactly is going on with her body and the treatments, as I have very little firsthand knowledge of cancer and how it's treated these days.  Both my grandfathers died of something akin to lung cancer and my grandmother died of ovarian cancer, while I had a cousin die at a very young age of a rare form of cancer.   All these happened at least 25 years ago or more and research has come a long, long way since then.   Treatment is so much more effective and doctors are able to diagnose cancer at a much earlier rate than ever before.  So my friend has a much brighter future than anyone I ever knew as a young person.
Thank God for doctors and researchers!

While we visited, my friend allowed me to peruse her stash of carded wool, and I came away with some very nice goodies for my spinning wheel.   One was this box of carded camel down.

It's as soft as it looks and I am so anxious to spend some time with it; maybe later tonight or Monday night. And here's a whole pound of carded mohair - very shiny and sturdy.

I have to take a moment this week to pay a special tribute to another lovely lady, my mother in law.  She passed from this earth April 19, 1997 quite suddenly and her loss is still felt.

                                                                   Tom & Betty 11/95

She was another classy person who was dealt her fair share of grief for one lifetime, yet she maintained a strong faith in Jesus and saw to it that we all knew how much she loved her family.  I was very intimidated when I met her, and I'm sure she had now idea how nervous I was.  I was very aware that I would be taking away one of her boys and she had run a tight ship, so I had a lot to live up to.  Over the years she taught me lots of things about cooking and keeping house and raising kids. Her advice was always wise and straight up, but only when we asked her for it.  She was careful not to interfere.  She did a great job of raising her boys, and I will always be grateful for her example.  And if that weren't enough, she could knit as well!  Holy cow, what a lady!!