Ah, Morning!

I don't know about you, but I'm not really a morning person! I just poured the boiling water into my mug, waited the 3 minutes for it to steep, got ready to remove the tea, and realized that I'd been marching in place (exercise, don't you know) for hot water -- I'd forgotten to put any tea in. So I put tea in the toby -- tea bags seem to start a migraine these days -- dropped it in, and started again. Good grief!

At least I was able to watch the planning of the squirrels against the bird feeder. This has been an ongoing assault that Howard has successfully foiled for some time. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the current outpost as it has stood for some months. It has withstood squirrels landing on it and hasn't dropped to the ground as has happened to previous encarnations. Alas, it has created somewhat of a "me or the squirrels" mentality with my beloved. The same with the simple suet feeder in one of the other trees in the yard. Lest you chide him and point out that squirrels also need to be fed in winter, let me point out that he puts out squirrel food for them too. He resents it when the encroach upon the bird food. He REALLY resents when the squirrels pull down the bird feeders so they can get more of that yummy stuff. Enough so that he has been known to go outside when it is really really cold outside, mumbling rude things under his breath, and continue his campaign against the squirrels.

Annette's revenge, Mom, me, Serena, and Dad. She took a much better picture. Thank you, Annette!

No one really WANTED their picture taken. Annette, Mom, Me, and Dad.

Okay, so I'm out of order. This is enjoying herself on the deck, which should be near the bird picture. Oh well.

This is her miss innocent. Yeah, right. As if any of us really believe it.

another size help, look at the vacuum cleaner hose in the background.. She doesn't LIKE vacuums, can you tell?

And on the other side of the door, is the wallet thief herself, Tora-chan! The swift gives you an idea of her size, just over 6 pounds or 3 kilos! She isn't that big, but she seems to be all lungs when she wants to be!

The front of Serena's house, Tora-chan likes to look out the sliding glass door you see here.

Look who comes by the deck to entertain the cats!

View from Serena's house

Saturday!

What a topsy-turvy week weather wise!

We've had HOT and we've had cool. Our high today isn't going to make 70, but it is a nice start to the holiday weekend.

Knitting group this morning was small, but lots of fun. Jean started her first sweater, something she didn't think she could ever do. Jeanine finished the back of her shell, and will be finishing the front by next meeting! Whee! Becca is working on a purse for fair, and Marjorie is working on a scarf for Wil. I brought knitting, and didn't even pull it out. Scary thought, eh?

I need to sit down with my knitting in progress and decide who goes next, and just get going. The Clapotis was moved around quite a bit in the suitcase while I was gone, which means I have another mess. My fault, I know it. But that means I have a significant tangle to address. There are some days where it is easier to leave such tangles in the suitcase and pretend they haven't been seen. Such has been my reality since returning from Colorado. I am sure you have never felt that way! I had two balls of yarn for it left, they have become intertwined in the process. We will not discuss how thrilled I am at the prospect of once again untangling it. Only the fact that it is so beautiful and soft is saving it from a walk in the trash!

I'm Home

While I love to travel, two wonderful words are "I'm home!" My bed, my love next to me in it. Means a lot.

It was a good flight back (I highly recommend Frontier Air Lines for good service!), an uneventful (which is the best kind!) drive home, and in to bed.

Did finish the doll house afghan, one more to go before this series is done. Then a smaller series for a swap (the total is 16, so I think they are going to be baby bed sized!), finish the clapotis, Dora's sweater, and the other pending projects. Time to clear those.

Talked with the doctor's office this morning, with 2 migraines (both on the weekends, blech) it is time to get some medication here to take when they start. I am going to have to accept that when the left eye starts closing that it is the warning sign, even before I'm really aware of a headache. I seem to be oblivious to headaches until they have taken over, I've had them so long. Maybe that will stop them from continuing until the second day.

Wow!

We've been so busy, running around Evergreen, that I've not written! First of all, I owe it to all of you to blame a 6 pound cat. Did you know they can pick up a credit card case in their mouth and walk off with it? Talk about trauma! For two days we (read I) panicked, with all my ID, credit cards, medical information, money, and such gone. I was supposed to take an online class, but wasn't able to drive over to mom and dad's to take it. Instead, I was tearing apart the room at Serena's where I'm sleeping. I have NEVER made a bed so many times in two days as I did this week. As the last place I remember putting it was on the bed. Cat must have picked it up to play with it, and carried it to Serena's room. All day Wednesday was spent searching. That afternoon Mom helped me tear apart the room for it. Wednesday evening Serena and Annette searched as well. Thursday Mom and Dad came over to look for it, as well as Matt and Rachel, Serena's housemates. We were just getting ready to tear apart Serena's bed, with me protesting that I hadn't even GONE INTO Serena's room once I took the wallet out of my pocket when it was found. Darned cat. You would think that she couldn't have even picked it up. The little flap to close it must have been just too irresistable, as it flips back and forth. The stress level that caused was quite high.

Not much knitting going on, actually, I've done quite a bit on the doll house afghan, but it is amazing how little progress is seen when knitting with thread. I've still not figured out how many rows per inch, and I don't think I want to know the stitches per inch that I'd get out of it. I really like the way it is turning out, I'm becoming more comfortable with it, less like fighting with it. Although I don't understand why I see the stitches better on the left needle than on the right.

Serena's car had bad news today. The gas tank is not doing well. Instead of the car being good to go until the end of the summer, the shop thinks it should be replaced as soon as possible. sigh Isn't that the way life goes, as she just paid $400 to repair it this morning? At a different shop.

Onwards.

I hate packing

I hate packing. This is not to say, I hurry to add, that I am not good at it. But no matter how I plan, it always winds up a rush at the last minute. I head out today to visit family in Colorado, and this morning the clothes and carry-on needed to be packed. They are now done, except for my knitting, and I am taking a much-needed break to whine. Good grief! It gets done quickly, but the rush while it goes on! And suddenly, you are finished, and there is all this time left over, and you wonder what you are going to do for the next 3 hours, and why you rushed so hard in the first place!

Dora's sweater can't go along, the balls of yarn won't fit in my carry-on, now I have to start a new work in progress, which means taking the time to figure out a new project.

On another subject, why do little girls of 3rd and 4th grades, have poor self images? Why don't they believe that they are special just the way they are? Mr. Rogers told them, and they didn't believe him even then. I guess we as parents failed, or society as a whole is telling our children that they aren't special. Darn it. Each child is a unique gift, even when they cause us to want to tear each individual hair out by the roots. Or even clumps of hairs out. I loved/love them. I wish there was a way we could enfold them and reassure them of that love. Because I think even as adults there are times we wish we could know if our parents still love us that much.

Power!

Under the category of you don't realize how much you rely on it until it isn't there, count electricity high up there! We've been having thunderboomers rumble through with lots of rain for several days. This morning, just as I was powering down the computer the lights in the fiber room flashed on and off several times then stayed off -- for nearly 40 minutes. Now, we've been having warm weather. Not today. I believe our high today was 48. The house was decidedly chilly. You know, the kind of day where you want to walk into the kitchen and plug in the electric kettle for a mug of tea? nope! As for turning on the light so I can see to knit the doll house afghan, forget it! I did knit on Dora's sweater, which warmed me twice -- the wool of her sweater going through my fingers as well as the wool resting on my legs. Too bad it wasn't bigger! I figure that will be my plane knitting, as I don't want to risk the afghan being confiscated for the needles being weapons! They do have sharp points!

Even Worse Words

Turns out that lonely stitch is because of a broken thread. So, I've done my best fix, and it is going to become a folded afghan. That's all I can do at this point. I can't fix the middle section to show quality. Rats.

Rats, rats, rats, rats, darn! This looked much better without the detail of scanning! LOL sigh. I don't know what happened to the problem child at the bottom, but just look at that dropped stitch at the top of the afghan? I couldn't until it was scanned. I could see that there was a problem, but I could NOT see the stitch until I saw the scan. I wonder if needle and thread or a tiny crochet hook would be better? Magnifying glass here I come! Thank I can fix them both? WHINE! This is Gutermann 100/3 silk thread on 4/0 needles.

The Crash of the Headaches

Wow! FrIday was NOT FUN!

a Mgraine, a Sinus headache, and a Med Taper Headache all met together in one place for a conference. I waved a white flag, took an Imitrex (with doctor's permission) because all noises were vibrating badly in my head and light hurt and went to bed at 1. Of course, the phone started ringing wildly all afternoon, but Howard was a doll and fielded all calls. Other than trips to the necessary, I didn't get up until Saturday. I now know that when the eyes feel funny and there is a need to nap, HONOR IT. sigh. Today is better, but I'm headed for a nap, just in case. Another the med tapered again today and there is this interesting twitch under my left eye. But I've managed to get more rows on Dora's sweater, and one row on the doll house afghan, so all is not lost!

Girl Scouts, Priority mail

Started a mini session of Girl Scouts yesterday. How much fun! 4 girls, 3-4 grades. I forgot how much ENERGY they have. I came home absolutely exhausted, having had an absolute blast! We are working on positive self image. That it is all right to be themselves. That each one of them is special and unique and that is perfect. They are each making a book about themselves, and they can use as much paper as they desire to describe / color / paint / decorate / whatever in the 4 weeks. I've asked that they leave the books at the meeting place so they don't get forgotten, but they can take extra paper home and work on it in between meetings. We'll see.

Priority mail is odd. We sent two larger one-rate boxes to Serena last Wednesday in Evergreen Colorado. They were supposed to arrive Friday or Saturday. They finally arrived yesterday. We might as well have shipped them parcel post. A friend sends things to me and each time her post office changes my zip code. I guess they figure she doesn't know where I live. And it wanders Iowa. Finally someone gets frustrated and puts a note "send it to original zip code" and it gets here". MUCH later than the 2-3 days paid for. I don't understand.

Doll house afghan.

It isn't really clear, but you can see the doll house afghan I'm working on, the "yarn" is a red silk that is the size of sewing thread. Yes, that is a nickel for size comparison. That is a day's work on the needle there! Scary, isn't it. Actually, it is the equivalent of several day's work, because I'd had that much before and frogged (rip-it, rip-it) out and started over because I didn't like the way it was looking. Much better this time. This one is for Kyle.

Moving Right Along!

The Scarf, as you maybe saw, if finished, no pictures, as I don't know if the recipient sees this. The doll house afghan is toddling along nicely, I think. 1-2 repeats a time is about all I can handle, then I have to walk away. It is fun, though, to see it grow. Think a BRIGHT red silk against the shiny steel needles. Eventually I'll get pictures, but that entails asking Howard to scan it in for me. Right now I haven't decided if this one is the practice one or the "for real one".

I'm tapering off Prozac, the stuff decided it really didn't like my body. Talk about side affects: tremors, tic, stammer, loss of concentration, confusion, tears, sleeplessness, dizzy, as well as temper! Add to that the spring allergies and wheezes, and you have a very "interesting"? Mary! I'll try to keep posting, but that means I'm kind of out of it, people! Last night I was propped up about 60 degrees in bed, got up around 2 to shower, then rocked for several hours, then went back to bed and dozed some more. Right now I'm yawning, but not really sleepy.

I think I'll pick up Dora's sweater and see what I can do with that for a while. Seems safer than the doll house afghan!

Knitting group update

9 adults, 3 kids yesterday! Great turnout! I really don't consider it to be a class, it is a group. We have all levels, and it is a lot of fun. The group is working on:

• a sweatshirt in sugar n cream,
• a sport weight cotton pullover,
• sleeveless top in a nubbed cotton that just divided for the underarms,
• a purse,
• a pair of gauntlets that just finished the first one on double points (YAY!),
• an afghan using twisted stitches and yarn overs (!),
• 2 scarves,
• a paperback loom with handspun wool, learning to weave instead of knit,
• and several other projects that come and go so fast that it is hard for me to keep up! LOL

So you can see, a lot of levels are coming together, and we are having a great time, talking about life and knitting!

Yesterday I brought in an object lesson called, "When Good Sweaters Go Bad!" I'd bought some yarn for $5 a pound, knit up a sweater for myself, and it pilled. Badly. Horribly. Terribly. So, I fulled it lightly. Trying to control the pilling. But then, it went through the wash again, wish controlled the pilling for good, but did it for me being able to wear it. I had the 4th grader try it on (thankfully no pictures are available of the desecration) and showed how the sweater, though it fit her, actually wore HER, instead of her wearing it. We discussed terms of fit and style. And that it was NOT her fault that the sweater did not cooperate.

I then discussed what had brought the sweater to this point, what had happened, and two former sweaters that had also failed to behave. and pieces of them. One, my Mom's vest that had been knit on a very fine singles (bad Mary!) and biased badly so was fulled severely. The other was a jacket knit from Paton's Rustic which was downright miserable for me to wear. I fulled it too. They both were cut up into potholders and hotpads. The misbehaving sweater was then passed around with a pair of scissors for everyone to make their own potholder from it. We talked about why you can ONLY do this with wool, what would happen with cotton or acrylic, etc. It also sparked a discussion about, "oh, so this is what happens when you felt a sweater!" When everyone had gotten a large potholder, someone cut up the rest of the sweater and was able to make enough to give each person one more!

At the end of three hours, everyone reluctantly packed up to go home.