Things I LOVE

I LOVE deciding that I won't have surgery on my finger, since I am now able to do all the things I need to do and I don't really need the tip of my little finger to do those things. The thought of not having to go through surgery and PT is making me giddy with happiness.

I LOVE the blossoms on my tangerine tree - they smell wonderful

I LOVE my dog Buster. He is as sweet as he looks. I love Max and Greta and the cats, too, but I thought this picture needed to be shared.

I LOVE the book I'm reading: Too Far From Home, by Chris Jones. It's about the astronauts who were stranded on the space station after the shuttle Columbia was lost. Just a fascinating story!

I LOVE my Socks That Rock - This is the first sock, and the pooling colors are so beautiful. I thought this yarn would stripe, so I am thrilled that the result is this (front)

and this (the back)I sure hope the second sock will match. Progress is slow, as I only have about an hour each evening to work on this.

What I mostly love is that I have so many more things to list on this post than I did on the last.

Know what I hate?

I hate when I cut my finger and find out I severed the flexor tendon and I have to go have my finger flayed and fixed.

I hate that I can't knit. Believe me, I tried. I did about 12 stitches, very slowly, but the pain was icky and I gave up.

I hate giving up.

I hate waiting for the doctor's office to open so I can call them to schedule the aforementioned flaying. Craig thought I would take a photo of my sliced pinky and show it on the blog but I decided not to. I will post a photo of the after-surgery if it's disgusting enough.

I promise to post a pic of my STR sock which is going to be beautiful. I hope I can start working on it again soon.

Critters

It's March and the temps today hit the 90's. Whew! Here is what I originally thought was a hummingbird (picture taken with high speed setting while the moth was in flight - how cool is that?), and a lazy black bee which was blissfully buried in the same flowers.

Rockin' Socks

I used to hate knitting socks. I love it now that it's about the only thing I can wear here in the desert. Anyhow, I finished my first self-designed pair last night, and they are cute, and I will post a picture as soon as I make a light box, which I've been wanting to do for a long time.

Yesterday I got the first shipment of the 2007 Socks That Rock yarn 'n stuff (stuff being a binder and a button and a very cute teeny tiny skein of yarn for emergency use). The yarn they sent is too beautiful for words, so that will also have a picture (soon, I swear).

My daughter, who finds the best stuff online, sent me this link, in case you are looking for pirate bandages or other cool stuff. http://www.mcphee.com/index.html

More Grandma

Gosh, I really loved her. She died when I was 9 years old. I was with her (a trauma for another day) My brother sent this photo, which I can't remember ever having seen before, but I remember the hat and gloves, which played a large part of dress-up. Grandma had a box in her closet that had only dress-up stuff for the girls. I can still see the navy blue dress and the black velvet pumps. Thanks Pete!

Grandma's cherry tree

I just realized that I haven't posted for a long time. I also realized that I never posted the photo of Grandma's cherry tree. So here it is. That's me (the tall kid) and sister Andie with Grandma. The house still stands in Chicago, but the tree is long gone. Can you see the date at the bottom?

Oh, by the way, happy Valentine's day!

My fortune

My Fortune Cookie told me: Sheep will begin to unsettle you. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

My Christmas scarf

So my lovely daughter made me a gorgeous crocheted scarf to wear during my visit. I left it in Colorado for future wintry visits, but I have this picture to remind me of it (I wish I had gotten a full-length shot because it is one long mother of a scarf). The cute kid is my granddaughter Lexie.

Inspiration

I was reading Jane's blog (and forgive me for still not figuring out how to insert a link with just a title - call me lazy) http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog/ and she mentioned Jack Sprat, so I thought I would post these pictures of 3 trivets my dad made in the late 40s. They are too fragile to use as trivets so have been hanging on various kitchen walls for the last 30 years. There are also photos posted here of my mother's head, and a wood carving of a nude. The wood is mounted on a black background, and is hung in an angled alcove. Inspired by Jack Sprat, I took these other shots. I have a few other pieces of dad's work, but no paintings. Now, inspired by the thought of paintings, here is a really lovely Christmas gift I just received from my sister. Cherry blossoms, which inspire thoughts of my grandmother, who had a cherry tree in her back yard.

Our new addition

We captured him running in the wash, and he captured our hearts. Buster knows "sit", and "stay". We are working on "down". He's 7 months old (approximately) and is now at the vet being neutered and microchipped. I just love this boy. Greta is doing the kissing and Max is doing the racing.

Saturday skies

Thinking about sleeves

Since I want to add some color to the sleeves, I need to figure out where and how to add the vertical stripes. When I put the stripes in the body I didn't take into account the fact that I hadn't done fair isle in a long long time and my gauge was a bit tight. This worked to my advantage, though, since it gives the sweater some nice shaping. Bonus picture: Max says "Hi!"

Sweater news

I finished the body of the sweater I cobbled together from a few patterns. I bought a ton and a half of Cascade 220 a few months ago to make Jardin Anglais that was in knitty.com. I decided that the sweater was just too much, but I still loved the color combinations. So I started a Knitting Pure & Simple top down cardigan, with a few changes, added colored vertical stripes at the waistline (seen somewhere a long time ago), and finished at the bottom edge. I was working on a circ that was a bit small so I could never really tell how it would fit. Tonight I got to slip it on, without the sleeves, and it's just a perfect fit. I would take a picture but I'm too tired from casting off about 50,000 stitches in seed stitch. OK, maybe I exaggerate just a little. I'll start a sleeve tomorrow. I have a little time before I have to start thinking of how to incorporate the colors into the sleeves. Now, good night!

I can't believe it

In my town, which just hit the million people mark (yup, it made headlines), there were 5 yarn stores, not including my friend Kathy's shop, which has no commercial yarn. There are now 3. I walked into one of the former lys and only saw a small wall with a sad collection of yarn. When I asked where the yarn went, the owner said, "Well, we made a business decision, to either sell yarn or make money." I am so disappointed! Two of the remaining 3 shops are owned by the same people and the snob factor is high (not to mention the prices). Looks like I'll be going across town to buy yarn. I know I said i was not going to add to the stash for a year, but I really really need some cotton to make a couple of gifts (I know I have cotton around here somewhere but i just can't seem to find it). I am now thinking of maybe opening a little place myself. Then I could quit both of my jobs and do something I love. Hmmm.

Spinning, critters 'n stuff

A few pictures to make up for a lack of words...

I've been reading and commenting on several blogs and groups lately, and realized that I haven't updated my own blog, so here goes:

Old hard drive is still dead, bought a new pc and have been spending quite a lot of time recreating files and learning how to streamline (not to mention backing up).

I've been spinning nearly as much as I've been knitting, which had better change pretty darn soon or I won't have any gifts finished in time for giving. Here's the newest yarn I made:

It's a blend of Romney and mohair, and was a pleasure to spin. Here is a closeup:

I went to the 2nd annual Tucson Wool Festival, which was a success for everyone involved. Small and sweet. I bought a handmade spool for the Louet, and a pair of beautiful handmade wooden needles.

In keeping with the purple theme, here is a pretty sunset from last week . That's the moon.

In dogs news, Greta was diagnosed with pannus, which affects German shepherds and can cause blindness, so we are regulars at the vet and Greta is making a fashion statement when we go in the sun (UV rays aggravate the condition). She is such a good girl, tolerates the doggles even though she hates them.

And here's a critter we found in the garage - not the best photo - he was scooting into the plant to hide. He will grow up to be a Rustic Sphinx moth. The caterpillar is about 5 inches long, a real big boy!

Here's a Sphinx that was on our wall a couple of years ago

not getting better

Among the files I lost were all of my knitting files. Patterns, worksheets, photos, ideas, in every format. Some were patterns I purchased and downloaded and never printed. Oh, my aching head.

Now what?

Have you seen the ads that show a photo of, say, a car's back end sticking out of an upper floor wall of a parking garage? It just says, Now what? It's for state farm insurance, and the ads are clever and eye-catching. Anyhow, I am wondering about a one-picture ad that shows a person tearing her hair out and weeping because she bought a new computer and an external hard drive enclosure for her old computer's hard drive, which would, in a perfect world, act as a backup for her new computer, which is why she didn't back up 99% of her files before she installed the old hard drive in the enclosure. You know, the hard drive that stopped functioning that very same moment. Programs are gone, hundreds of files are gone. She now wonders what the hell she is going to do to reconstruct these files. They represent years and years of work. Can you think of what the photo would be? (Hint: it would be something involving me.)

It's Alive!

(Moon is from a couple nights ago)Well, I am back. Been a sort-of busy summer, and I have just not been motivated to write anything down. Went to Chicago for my sister's 50th, and as a result was unable to go to her wedding reception 2 months later (damn that budget!). Went to San Diego with dh and granddaughter for a couple of days - had a nice time at Sea World. Worked alot, got better at spinning and knit plenty (I will post pictures later). Well, "plenty" is a relative term, if you consider plenty to be 2 pair trekking socks finished, 3 shawls started, 1 camisole nearly finished (only need to do the straps - what IS my problem?), 1 sweater started, many projects planned.

It has also been very rainy here in the desert. Last summer we had to mow our little lawn maybe twice. This summer we have been mowing every 2 weeks and the lawn is lush and green. Mushrooms abound. Allergies are at peak level (ah-choo!). Cacti are blooming and my roses are coming back from near-death. I'm glad it's almost fall.

Oh, it's so awful

This is the street in front of my house.

We are calling it Lake Running Bear. The water is emanating from our driveway. The water department hasn't shown up yet. The insurance company hasn't called us back. Water is scarce in Tucson, and having it leak, nay, pour away (unfortunately I can't post the gurgling sounds the driveway is making - you can almost see the water move in this picture)

is a terrible thing.

Trekking badness

I was nearly finished with first TS when I decided to try it on (for length) and wouldn't you know the whole damn thing was too small - could barely fit it over my heel - so it has been frogged and restarted. My gauge got so tight it was like knitting chainmail. I trekked with it to the Antiques Roadshow taping but since no cameras were allowed I couldn't take a photo. AR was lots of fun, had a book and ring appraised. Everyone was nice, the crowd was huge, and we had a great time. There was a couple there carrying around a 18x24 shadowbox frame. I kept trying to see what was in it. I finally got a glimpse. It was a 3-D picture of Ronald McDonald. Really. After the first glimpse it was like a horror movie where each time I looked, there it was. We had a good laugh anyhow.
After I frogged the sock I decided to finish the pretty pink prairie tunic I had started a couple of months ago. It's done but for the blocking, and I will get a picture up soon. In the meantime, this will have to hold you over. A gaggle of cousins, including me on the right, all the way in front. This is 1957. Back when we were all so adorable.