Grace and Bunnies

A couple of FB acquaintances are bunny people.  One raises Angora bunnies and has been posting many pictures of these fuzzy bunnies.  Some look like fluffy bedroom slippers and have so much fur it obscures their faces and tail.  So I got the bug to knit bunnies.

Pattern:  Heartstrings Fiber Arts Knitted Bunny from a square.
by Jackie E-s
Yarn:  re-purposed Baby Alpaca grand.  I also used some polyester medium eyelash yard as I acquired a whole bagful at the last trade show.  What was I thinking?  For the fluffy one I used the baby alpaca and the eyelash yarn held together. 
Needles:  size 8 for the larger bunny and size 5 for the smaller one.  I used the cabled braid from one of Walker's books.

I've also got a new friend, Grace.

 

She is a Golding all the way from Vermont.  1.4oz, Birdseye maple with walnut shaft.  She spins well.  

My Ewa Beach Cotton on the e-spinner is plugging along.  I had some tension issues but seem to have figured this out.  I just have to relax and let the wheel have it's way.  

BTW, I used the shoe bag pattern from the last post to use up some Amy Butler stash (Amy Butler, Coreopsis in Peach, August Fields Fabric) for my Mixer beaters and made a a matching cover for the mixer.  It's such a happy print.  

The Hawaii International Film Festival is on.  My first film will be a documentary about the animators at Studio Ghibli in Japan, including Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of Totoro, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness.  The others are samurai pictures or have Asano Tadanobu in them. 

 

Travel Shoe Bags, and A Giro of Another Color

Loved this video and had almost all the ingredients!  Serger, grommets and a ton of fabric to destash.   The only thing missing were shoe laces and Payless had a 20% off entire store sale going on.  Lucky me.  Using shoelaces was brilliant as they are already finished. I used 36 inch ones for both sizes of the bag since I couldn't find any 27 inch ones. 

I tried to get fancy with some embroidery but I don't quite have the hang of it on my Janome.  The only mod I made was to round the open bottom corners using a CD as a template, to make it easier to serge around.  Also my "safety" 4 stitch serge did not look too good so I re-enforced the seam with a straight stitch on the sewing machine.  These are quite and easy and fun to personalize. 

I used a stopper knot to tie the shoelaces together.

Add.  I forgot to post about another FO
A Giro of Another Color.

My second one.
Pattern:  Giro, by Inês Sousa from Primavera Book
Yarn:  Koromo, by Noro
Needles:  Size 8
The pattern calls for fingering.  Koromo is aran weight and quite rustic I may add.  I used almost all of 3 balls.  I used a croched hook for the picot bind out.  The curved neck edge blocked to 62 inches.  I feels very warm, but it is pretty warm and sunny here today.   The Noro stripes behaved quite nicely.  The colorway was difficult to photograph.  The yellow and mauve actually pop out quite a bit more then in the picture. Love this pattern. 

Soft Almond Cookies

Being lactose intolerant I once thought it would be wonderful to make may own almond milk and bought some almond flour.  I found it was not to my liking so the flour sat waiting for the right recipe.  I thought about macaroons, but they sound like way too much work.  After I bought the giant bag of lemons I found the right recipe for both.  Soft Almond Cookies.

Blogless Muffy Multitasker took her second cooking class in Italy and told be about amaretti.  Those are still a possibility as I have a little flour left.   It uses only egg whites, and the Soft Almond Cookies use the whole egg. 

I changed the shape since I put too much egg in and the dough was very moist and I wanted to use my cookie scoop.  They are very moist inside and very lemony.  I will make these again. 

"Might Oaks from little acorns Grow"

Apparently from from the middle of the 19th century. It appeared in A. B. Johnson's The Philosophical Emperor a Political Experiment, 1841  (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/247100.html)

There be hat knitting and red scarf knitting and I'm hoping a Patch or two will happen.  I have a pile of fabric calling me from the sewing room too.

"Tis the Season of the Gnome

I love Alan Dart's pattern Yuletide Gnomes (Jultomtar & Teeny Tomte).

The Teeny one and the Small Jultomtar are my favorite.  I love the way the Noro Kureyon works up for the body.

This one is named Blue Leg, since the Noro color changes are always a surprise and one leg is very blue!  His hat came out very blue too, but has a light purple brim.   I experimented with some other eyelash yarn for beards but in the end the Sirdar Foxy won out.  It is a much thicker eyelash yarn and has some great shading for a beard.  Too bad it is discontinued.    I used Beaverslide for his boots and gloves.  I knit all the pieces in the round.  For this one I forgot to add the beads to weight his okoloe, but he sits okay.  I stuffed the gloves and boots with black roving and used fiberfill for the rest.  There is a pipe cleaner in his hat.

This year made me think about the differences between gnomes and elves.  From what I read, elves have pointed ears and gnomes do not.  Also elves live above ground and gnomes below.  One source said gnomes should always have red hats.  

In a fit of cast-on-itis, I started 3 blankets.   10 stitch blanket in Noro scraps, Round 10 stitch blanket in sock scraps, and  Grannies and Ripples by Stephanie Blaisure in Valley Yarns Goshen.  I ordered more Goshen From Webs and the next day it was the FB special!  Webs was nice enough to apply the code after the fact for me.  That's why I love WEBS! I encourage everyone to shop there.  Haha, like anyone really needs encouragement.   The round blanket may not happen as I'm discouraged by how slow it grows using sock yarn. 

Denver 2014

I'm a little late getting to this post of the last leg of my summer trip.  The whole adventure was planned around a wedding of a friend's only daughter.  I met Helen years ago while living in Denver.  She had moved from Newark and came to check out a room for rent in the house I was living in.  She didn't take the room but we hit it off and became friends.  She is one of those friends...separated by time and space we can just continue on when we get together.  She was a beautiful mother of the bride!

The wedding was held at Spruce Mountain on a beautiful day!  What a party.  There was general carousing and having fun till the wee hours. The smart bride had arranged buses so no one had to hold back!  She has been to all 50 states and 40 countries in her young life, pretty much all in 10 years since high school.  She is off to Norway for a honeymoon.  Good luck to them!

 
The sky goddess was flying the friendly skies, so BIL picked me up and barbecued.  I got to meet the twins.  They just turned 3 but were on good behavior while they checked me out.  My nephew brought the famous Jerry Garcia.  He is a two people dog...nephew and sky goddess.

Here he is pouting because the Sky Goddess left him behind with me while she ran errands.  I could not entice him with toys or treats :(    He loves to walk and chase his little softies as long as the Sky Goddess is with him.  While walking him on the golf course we spotted a herd of 7 deer and a heart shaped mushroom.

In Denver the anemone were in full bloom, and there are aspens instead of birch trees.  When they have leaves there is no mistaking aspens for birch trees.  In the winter with no leaves, the birch have more horizontal lines in the bark and triangle shapes where old branches have fallen off.    Just in case you wondered, cuz I did. The Sky Goddess has a green thumb!  Her house plants are huge and her garden full of color. 

I hit one yarn store, Fancy Tiger Crafts.

They had a small wall of Koigu and some nice upscale yarns in addition to other crafts such as fabrics, felting and spinning.

My nephew is a chef at Fruition, a farm to table restaurant in downtown Denver. While everything was most yummy, the Potato-Wrapped Oysters Rockefeller Parmesan-Leek Emulsion, Bacon Lardons, Baby Spinach was very special.

Not your mother's oysters Rockefeller.

Denver has grown so much since I was there last.  The medical school has moved to Boulder and the old haunt is abandoned and waiting for demolition.  Weeds are everywhere.  Aurora where the sky goddess lives has many teen-aged trees, golf courses and huge stores such as Target and JoAnn's.  It is high dessert, for sure.  I had forgotten how impressive the Colorado Rockies are.  I was blessed with great weather.  Not too hot and not too cold, and just brief drama and passing thunderstorm.

The last day we hit the Parker Farmer's market and found some wonderful Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford melons, and even a touch of Wisonsin.

Since coming back I've tried spinning again (some wonderful fawn colored Bond from Stitches Midwest)  .  My neck definitely noticed, so I'm taking it slow.  My f/u visit with the doc was favorable.  I'm still going to PT.

 Outlander inspired me to knit a beret.  In fact two.  Both of them came out ginormous!  I'm not sure they can be recovered, but I have some really nice felt, lol. Don't let the picture fool you.  There is a two inch tuck in the back.  All the indigo in my failed dye job washed out as planned.  At least that part was a success.  Knitting them up, though, I had really blue hands and nails!  I did learn that a proper bonnet needs to be shaved and molded before being ready to wear and the decoration goes over the left eye.  Who knew there would be so many hits about this subject?

 I also practiced some intarsia/Fairisle hybrid on the R2D2 Hat.  Need more practice.  








Teeny Carrot Top Tomte was more successful. Yes gang, Christmas is just around the corner.

Summer Trip 2014 Wisconsin

I'm a lucky girl to have some great sisters.  Number 2 picked me up in Schaumberg and put me up for a whole week in Madison, Wisconsin.  I really enjoyed her forest, gathering pine cones, watching the birds at the feeders.  I even observed the turkey family that has moved into the neighborhood.

It is a beautiful neighborhood to walk around.  Another great place to walk is the Pheasant Branch Nature Reserve.  The paths are well maintained and the walk easy.

 

We visited the Olbrich Gardens.  Lots of flowers including giant hibiscus and Thai Garden.  I missed the butterfly release but saw some in the garden. 

My sister is a great cook.  A new recipe was chicken with a plum sauce Yummy!  The Illinois peaches were on and awesome.  She baked a cherry pie from cherries her friend grew.  My favorite.  Pie cherries are hard to come by in Hawaii.  In addition we filled up on the Asian foods, Korean at New Seoul Korean  ...soon to be more new as it is moving to a new location.  Also very yummy Laotion food at Lao Laan-Xang Restaurant, Pho at  Saigon-Noodles and Chinese (Wah Kee Wonton Noodle).  For their anniversary, we ate at Lombardino's.  Very nice and totally yummy!

Update:  How could I forget Sushi Muramoto and Gail Abrosios's chocolates.  I know I was not eating non stop!

We drove to Milwaukee one day, past Miller Stadium (Home of the Brewer's, dontcha know) and saw the Kandinsky exhibit at the Milwaukee Museum of Art.  It was very interesting.  I'm glad we got the audio program to go with it.  I had no idea he started off a lawyer and and impressionist before he got to where he got.  

(Screen cap of google image search "Kandinsky")

We also visited the new improved National Mustard Museum, the Wisconsin History Museum. Badger bookstore and got our shopping fun at JoAnns, Hancock Fabrics, Wisconsin Craft Supply, Farmers Market and several thrift stores.  Whew, now that I'm writing it down, we did a lot of things together.  Aren't sisters grand?

This 1886 book was only two dollars at the Friends of the Library.  I loved the cover and the pictures.  It looks like it was never read.  It was printed in a very tiny font so I can understand why.

My sister and her husband drove me back to O'hare for my last leg of the the trip.  I got one last Garrett's popcorn fix, Chicago Mix, before heading to Denver.

FO: Chelsea's Cowl

Pattern:  Rivington Cowl, by Kirsten Kapur. Purchased as a kit at Stitches Midwest, 2014. $7 of the purchase price was donated to Chelsea's Light Foundation. 

Yarn: 

Breakfast Blend Fingering

by Bare Naked Wools

Light Fingering / 3 ply

50% Merino, 40% Alpaca, 10% Nylon 

 

Jilly (main color) 

by Dream in Color

Fingering / 4 ply

100% Merino 

 

Needles-size 6

 

Modifications:  I was a little worried I would run out yarn on the lace and found using a third needle to knit it on too fiddly for knitting on an airplane. So I substituted the Vogue Acorn Lace pattern which fit perfectly on the 192 stitch CO and had acorns (yay!).  I used the circs I knit the body with to knit the lace, a provisional CO and purled one row.  The first row was the wrong side, and when I came to the purl2tog on row 2, I purled 3 together including one stitch from the body to join it on.

Comments:  The final project blocked to 55 inches around and 10 inches wide.  The yarn fuzzed a bit as I knit (and frogged) but the final result was nice and soft.  The color work is more like knitting stripes with the yarn not in use carried up, so the body was quite simple. 

Stitches Midwest 2014

My first Stitches ever was great fun!  I had great weather and had some wonderful classes.  The marketplace was full of tempting items.  The people I met were talented and friendly.  The venue was perfect...lots of welcoming areas to knit and chat,  a large comfortable marketplace hall, and many classrooms.

 

There are many shopping opportunities close by like Woodfield Mall and Ikea. (which I managed to avoid!)  The hotel provides free shuttle service for shopping, but not to and from the airport.  Speaking of the airport, I was happy to find Garret's popcorn has a kiosk at O'hare on the B concourse where United lands and I got my fix of the Chicago mix.  

 

I went to a talk given by Franklin Habit who is such an entertaining speaker.  Later I found myself sitting at his table at a dinner, and discovered he lived in Waipahu for a time.  Who knew?  Lily Chin was fabulous in total hot pink with a vivacious personality to match. 

My first class was Artfelt Scarf, taught by Karin Skacel.  She is an excellent teacher. 

It uses a special paper that looks and feels like pellon, but dissolves in hot water.  The project is felted to the paper, wet, rolled up in plastic and dried in a dryer until it is felted enough.  The the paper is dissolved off.   I made the blue scarf but there were some cool examples of signs, panels in tops with handwoven fabric, and even a fish.

My second class was Using stash yarns to make a scarf taught by Deborah Jarchow.  She is an excellent teacher as well, and has a Craftsy class I had taken.  One of the best parts of the class was when we walked around looking at everyone's yarns and she helped us choose the ones we would use.

 Before

                                                                     After

My last class was Annetarsia, knitting Intarsia in the round.  I had tried this out before using a video to make Totoro's tummy and was confused.  Anne Berk taught the class and it was most helpful.  I learned how to make a yarn butterfly that didn't fall apart, and also found out about another type of bobbin to try out.  

Here's Totoro!

The new one is grey.  I didn't use a pattern.  He joined his friends in Denver.

After being bewitched by the Verdant Gryphon I bought some yarn and silk hankies to spin on Edward (the Bossie).

I swapped some skull stitch markers for a cool project bag made by Undergroundchic.  It's a nicely made pouch with Kaffe Fassett lininng. 

I also met Stephen West and Stephen Be who had a stall together as they are on tour together.  I talked to Stephen Be's mom almost everyday as she was a fixture there, and such a friendly sweet lady.  She has her own yarn shop, Christa's Yarnshop, just north in Ettrick, WI. 

There were many impressive knits walking around.  I think this Pi Shawl, knit by a young man was one of the most impressive.  Apparently he has been going to Stitches since he was like 9.  He is designing his own shawls, now, since that is what he likes to knit.

Boy I miss spinning

I have not spun one thread since the dreaded neck adventure started.  I've knit very little.  I'm doing my exercises to keep the muscles alive until the disc settles down.  I experienced a MRI.  This was one of those tests that was put into action way after I started my career.  There were a lot of bugs to be worked out after the test was thought up in the early 50's and led to a Nobel Prize in 2003 for it's application in medicine.  But then I digress.

There are a million screening questions about previous surgery, metal parts, shrapnel, etc.  I certainly would not want anything rearranged accidentally by a giant magnet.  Luckily I'm not claustrophobic...a friend shared her story of freaking out and requiring anxiolytics.  I kept by eyes closed the whole time and listened to the Mumfords. I figured something loud would drown out the noise.  Well sort of.  It  was like being in a machine gun for 20 minutes.

                                    I also visualized Nausicaa being rejuvenated by the Ohmu.

                                        or Arriety floating down the river in the tea kettle.

                                                       I can't float without relaxing.

The good news is that there is hope of recovery without surgery, but the bad news is that it's indeed a bulging disc slight compressing the spinal cord and impinging on the C5 nerve root.  It does not pay to get old.   So my plan is to go to on the great MidWest adventure next month.  I plan to take a drop spindle or two and signed up for some classes in an air conditioned place. Before coming home I'll visit some family.  When I come back I'm going to start spinning again. 

In the mean time, I make cards, shop, knit and sew a bit,  and eat and mostly watch the weeds grow instead of attacking them..  

Flip it cards are all the rage and there are a billion dies, cutters and methods.  The minion is made with the Stampin' Up Owl Builder Punch (Stampin Up UK Crafty Hallett Christmas Minions with the Owl Builder). I made several flip it cards following Stephanie Barnard's instructions, from The Stamps of Life.  She has a youtube video called "Make a Hidden Panel Card with Stephanie Barnard from The Stamps of Life".  Jackie Topa has a nice video on the Envelope Punch board sliding gift card holders.  After holding out on getting a EK Success Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, I broke down and got it, and now wonder why I held back.  It is quite useful for getting images stamped where you want them to go.

I saw the movie Begin Again since I like Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly. Adam Levine is quite good as well.  He makes a brief appearance in one scene wearing a cabled slouchy hat.  Try as I might I have not found a screen cap of that hat or the afghan Keira Knightly wraps up in when she crashes at her friends house.  What is is with these movie people?

Punch Totoro Tutorial

Blogless Muffy has been bitten by the stamping craze, and got me obsessing on the Stampin' Up Owl Punch.  Besides owls, there are so many ideas.  This appeals to me as it hits a fond memory of mine from childhood making paper dolls with my sisters.  We cut a lady out of a magazine, and glued her to cardboard.  From there we traced around her and designed clothing, complete with tabs to hold them on.  If I remember correctly they were stored in cigar boxes, no doubt from my uncles, especially Uncle John from Maui.

When we last got together to make cards, the gang was making owl medical folk, and I was hooked.  Furry Tale Cards and Crafts has a cute example on her blog.  I obsessed on the owl punch.   I searched for a Totoro, but couldn't find one.  So here we go. My first attempt. 

Materials

Owl Builder Punch from Stampin' Up
Large Oval Punch from Stampin' Up
Blossom Petals XL from Stampin' Up

Card Stock:  Grey or Blue, White, Black
Inks to sponge edges
Adhesive of choice.  I used Tombow Mono Aqua
Preparations

In main color, punch out 1 owl body, 3 smaller petals
In white, punch out smaller circles from owl punch and one oval
In black, punch out small eyeballs, heart and feet.  

From body, trim off feet and ears.  I made a little template for future use.  Trim the oval for the tummy.  Sponge all the grey edges and tummy piece. 

Assembly

Glue the eyeballs on to the white.
Glue feet on back of body.  Adjust up so just his toes are showing.
Turn heart upside down and glue on the back of the tummy piece to make his nose.
Add his ears and tail to the back.
Add tummy markings.  I used a glaze pen.  

The Landcaster says they still look like owls. Bah humbug to him, lol. 

Add:  7/19/2014

Tried some different punches.  Petal from small 5 pointed flower...a little too small imo.  Wedges from the scallop punch for tails and arms.  Also found some very tiny googly eyes that are cute. 

I saw a specialist for my neck/arm/shoulder problem and she confirmed a Cervical Radiculopathy.  My MRI is scheduled on Monday.  She also poked a really big needle in the muscles along the C5-6 vertebrae and injected steroids.  Not as bad as it sounds. The hope is that some of the weakness will improve over the next week.

Still no spinning, but I watch the Tour de France on TV and admire all the wonderful spinning going on and beautiful yarn being produced by folk like Mokihana on Ravely.  And I knit a bit because I can't help myself.  The Plover Shawl is working up nicely in my Blue Heron Metallic.

At the rate I'm going it will be a long term project.

On this journey with my neck issue, I'm looking back at the vinyl years...so much great music to review the past and make peace with it. 

Just a Little Knittin' to keep myself sane

Pattern: 

Foolproof

by Louise Zass-Bangham

from Inspiration Knits

Needle:  size 9
Yarn:  Cascade Tangier, colorway 6, Galaxy
Mods: none
Comments:  I made the shorter version which wraps around twice and can cover my head if I want.  The colors are better on the first photo.  Ravelry has many striped examples that are quite stunning.  I went with a self striping yarn because I have two skeins of Tangier and mostly because I'm too lazy to sew in ends.  This is such a clever construction, starting with a mini-shawl, and not requiring stitches to be picked or anything.  If I would have changed anything, it would be the YO.  Because of my size 9 needles, the holes were larger then I like and look a bit sloppy.    The yarn is very nice and comfortable against the skin.

After seeing Msknottyknits' beautfiul example on Rav,  I've CO for Plover Shawl by Amy Christoffers from Savory Knitting with my Blue Heron Rayon Metallic.  I'm thinking this yarn is too fussy for this pattern, but I will knit on for a bit.  

I am enjoying watching all the spinning going on for Tour de Fleece this year. Wish I could spin :(

The good news is that the pain in my neck/should/arm is much improved.  The bad news is that it is a pinched nerve causing the weakness and that can be very bad indeed.  I'm seeing a specialist soon.  The MRI is on hold until my records can be reviewed for mesh and clips and stuff I've forgotten about.  I'm trying not to freak out about the possibility of surgery.  Me and surgery don't have a good history together, but I just have to remind myself that I'm still alive so it couldn't have been all that bad.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed the disc will settle down before it gets that far.

Lot's of crepe myrtle in bloom at Ho'omaluhia and around town.  The lavender flower is a giant variety.  The red-orange flower beneath are from the Flame Tree.  The orange flowers on the top row, second from left are from the Sorrow-less Tree.  The Sanskrit word for this tree is Ashoka, which apparently means sorrow-less. 

Aloe Dye Fail, Skully stitch marker success.

Not being able to spin has left me a bit discombobulated.  I've limited my knitting to a few rows at each sitting.  The arm/shoulder/neck pain is improving, but the arm weakness is about the same.  I saw PT today and will see Sport's Medicine tomorrow.  The meclomen is helping the pain and not irritating my stomach so far like other NSAIDS, and it is on the WalMart $4 RX list.  YAY.  I really dislike taking meds.  My son had fun reading the two page handout that came with the pills and keeps asking me if I've had any sudden weight gain or puffing up. 

I'm knitting  Foolproof by Louise Zass-Bangham from Inspiration Knits. Not free but clever.  It starts off like a shawl and ends up a cowl.  There are no seams.  I'm using a self-striping yarn, Tangier to avoid having to weave in ends.   I must say, the striped versions with higher contrast are more eye-catching.

My aloe dyeing was a bust.  I was inspired by the lovely pink Kai got with aloe. I got a rather pale yellow which is actually quite nice.  I learned a lot.  First, always label packages of white powder.  I'm now sure the white powder was soda ash and not alum.  Secondly and most importantly, don't be in a rush when it comes to dyeing anything.  Third, my churro spun on the Navajo spindle was not spun well, and fell apart with the abuse. 

Mom brought a good point when I whined about the process...at least I have tried it.  I may try it again, too when the aloe plant gets out of control.  Somehow it seems better then throwing the thinnings away. Also cooking aloe does not smell too bad and is non-toxic.

In lieu of spinning in the Tour de Fleece I'm shopping online (mostly card-making supplies), surfing for inspiration and re-potting my poor neglected plants, including 3 sea island cotton plants.    I even managed a set of skully stitch markers and some very dangly acorn earrings.  The bone skull beads were funky smelling when I got them, and they were boiled, soaked in bleach and paint thinner and left in the elements for awhile (like years, lol) and they no longer smell bad. 


I'm signed up for Stitches MidWest...one felting class, and one rigid heddle class.  The only knitting class is intarsia in the round, so I'm hoping my shoulder/neck/arm problem will be better by then.  I was going to take Cherry Baby with me, but I decided not to spin for all of July and maybe August. 

So Sad, No Tour de Fleece for me :(

I've somehow messed up my arm and neck and can't spin.  I've tried resting, massage, exercises and even resorted to acetaminophen and naproxen.  I'm resigned that I will not be able to spin in the Tour de Fleece this year.  I have been  referred to a specialist. Sigh. Guess I'll keep off the knitting for a while as well.  My hands don't know what to do while watching TV anymore.  The pickings on TV are slim, but I've settled on Longmire, 24, Endeavor and the last season of True Blood. 

On a more successful note, my mom's pineapples are going strong.  She has harvested 2 already and this one is almost ready.  

She is coping with my dad's passing by doing what she always does when under stress.  She is cleaning and organizing...going through pictures, clothes, writing letters.  Many things have gone to the thrift stores.  She messed up her shoulder and finally saw her doc.  She was referred to PT.  But she never lets these sort of things get her down.  Her main concern is whether the cat (Kiko) chooses to sleep with her or not.  It's handy living next door to her, and I have breakfast with her 6 days a week now that I'm retired and get all the daily reports!

My quest for "cocktail" attire for an August wedding has only been 50% successful.  The search goes on.  The plant re-potting project is underway.  The Lancaster has reported a white fly infestation on the avocado tree in the pot.  Agh!  The trials and tribulations of owning a yard!  The Lancaster has been digging and laying gravel around for his great "drainage" project.  I'm not even sure I needed that, but he's usually right.  Guess I'll have to buck up and call the appliance dude to figure out what is wrong with the flaky dishwasher.  The Landcaster feels that is important and he's usually right.  Aah the mundane-ness of it all.

A Texas cousin came for a visit.  It was nice catching up and sharing stories.  He lost both his parents this year, one month apart.  His mom was my mom's sister, and mom is the last of the siblings.  This is the cousin that I met for the first time when he was 70!  I love his stories.  I'm not sure why I never got to share in his life growing up.  My mom never took us to visit them in Granbury, TX.  He expressed his recent awareness, that there is nothing like family.  It's never too late.  True too of old friends...reminiscing, we all remember different things and have different takes on what went down way back when. 

Retirement Brain

I thought I had today all planned out...breakfast with mom, knitting at 10, hang out until 2pm and doctor's appointment at 2:30pm.

The doctor's appointment for my sore arm and shoulder, and weakness in the arm.  I really didn't notice the weakness until I tried to carry the garbage bag.  I tried to see the Sport's Medicine doc, but they didn't consider knitting a sport.  I suspect my problem started after finishing the lace from hell.  Anyway, to get an appointment on a certain for an acute problem, I had to call at 7:30am that day.

2:30 seemed the perfect time. I could drive over after knitting, see the doc, and get my blood tests done for my routine appointment in August.   One problem...knitting was for next week.  Oh well, I had a great time at Aloha Yarns, and practically had Nanea all to myself.   And, I actually spent 7 hours without my computer. (not counting Wonbin the iphone)

Anne stopped by and I scored a 3 lb avocado!  Can't wait for it to get ripe.  I always worry about these massive avocados since a former patient got beaned on the head picking one.  She luckily did not get a concussion, but had a very impressive bruise that when down her back as well!

 Update:    6/27/2014 Here's what a 3 lb avocado looks like.  almost 8 inch tall and 5 inch in diameter. 

I've been referred for some xrays and to see a Physiatrist.   In the meantime I'm going to knit and spin on. 

Blogless Sandy had a good laugh.  She is reading a book about chemo brain, a type of cognitive dysfunction related to chemotherapy.  The symptoms sound similar to retirement brain, which I may be suffering from.  Mom and I spend part of each am determining what day of the week its and what tasks we need to get done.  This becomes a feat when there are no work days to schedule around.   Having calendars help some, but only if the data is entered correctly. 

I finished a little stashbuster.

Pattern:  Ruched Sleep Eye Mask
by Sarah Cores
Yarn:  Pakucho, organic cotton
Needles:  First 3 size 6, too holey.  Second one size 5.
I'm going to try these out on my night flight to Stitches Midwest.  It's so hard for me to sleep on planes.

The Moosie has Landed!

Moosie by Jonathan Bosworth
9 inch Tulipwood Shaft
28 grams.
Love this tiny work of art.  The whorl diameter is 1.75 inch

I'm going to try some silk on it next.

Another long term knitting FO while knitting with blogless Sandy and Nanea at Aloha Yarns

Quiviut Cap
Pattern:  Free on Ravelry, Osmena by Jenn Jarvis from Nipperknits

The Qiviut is incredibly soft and silky.  Knitting on size 1 and size 2 needles goes very slowly.  I did Jeny's Incredible Stretchy Bind Off.  I got this luxury yarn in Alaska at the Anchorage museum a few years ago and finally found the right project for it.

Yesterday was No. 2 son's birthday.  I can't believe he is the big 30.  Back in the day, 30 was considered over the hill and the age after which a person could not be trusted.  How foolish I was back then...but at least I was invincible!