Teachers Pet Finishes KAL

Way to go Kay Myers with her KILM inspired version of the KAL throw. She was bold in her design and it paid off. This will be an excellent accent in the great room of the Taos ski cabin.

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Finished KAL Inspires Knit Wits

Finished KAL Four Seasons Throw. Pattern By Design Studio. Knit in Manos Wool. Artist is Lynn Lilyquist with the Gasoline Throw. If you ever really looked at gasoline you know it is truly pink! Assisted by Linda Johnson. What you don't know is this is Lynn's second throw completed since February. Along with a sweater and various dish clothes...

My Two Sons

The end of another school year. Evan is sweet 16 and Ryan is 26! What a couple of crazy siblings dressed for youth Sunday. I don't often see them so handsomely attired. May we slow down the pace and enjoy the place we find ourselves in...

June NCKG

The program presented by past president, Colleen Davis featured redesign and new design using her unique and colorful techniques. This jacket was a high point. Lots of envious sighs went up as this was modeled.

Ball Winder Deluxe

A new category of Knit Wit has emerged. You know about the knitter, the new knitter, knitter quitter, the never knitter, and the latest: the knit assistant. You see her above. She is called Heike. The daughter of my best friend from High School. She can knit, but she has no passion for it. Instead she has a passion for organizing yarn and winding those pesky, sloppy hanks of yarn into nice neat cakes. She has mastered the swift and is looking for yarn to wind. Any takers? Knit Wits meets on Wednesday evening from 6-9... that's a lot of ball winding!

Hurts So Good

Wow! I have sustained a new knit related injury. After a lengthy session on square 10 of the KAL, I experienced a pinched feeling in my right middle finger. It almost felt like a little bug bite. I looked down and watched as blood pooled under the skin on the side of my finger above the joint. Dr. Marsha diagnosed the symptoms as indicative of a small ruptured blood vessel, just under the skin.

Two days later it looks like a muddy bruise. My hubby asked if I broke my finger? It does not hurt. There is stiffness in my joints of the right hand, but that is my norm. Last year I developed a bump on my right little finger that had to be injected with cortisone to end the pain. It still bothers me sometimes. The machine called the human bidy begins to wear out. If I can no longer knit in my old age, I pray God grants me the serenity to accept and maintain my sanity...

Where Does The Time Go?

The saying "time flies" is difficult to reconcile with airline prices. I am trying hard to book tickets to the family reunion in Michigan. This year 4 out of 5 of us are flying in. The tickets are pushing $600 and rising. I have delayed due to the fact that I felt sure that "people" will stop buying these tickets and the empty planes will need to fill seats with slashed prices. Not happening. So time flies, while we don't. Recession be damned. Grounded and searching the internet and stewing over the costs of the trips we have always considered non-negotiable and accessible. I feel like recessing!

Laptops on the lap generate heat. I am hot and tied down to this search and called to clean the house, do laundry, knit the throw that is due for a wedding gift by the 23rd of June, exercise the co-dependent dog, change the sheets (generating more laundry) and finish painting the dining room. I have it 75% done. The chairs that I want to recover are stripped of the old fabric and ready to go. When the list gets this long I usually cope by doing one thing and knitting until the urge to scream passes. So that is how the the time goes here. Never enough time in the day...

I told You So

From an email received today:

Subject: FW: Wine = Health

As Ben Franklin said, 'In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom,
in water there is bacteria.'

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that
if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have
absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria found in
feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila,
rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification
process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water
and be full of crap.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a service to my community.

Spring Babies

In the barns of Pebble beach there is a nursery. This little fellow wanted his sleepy mom to feed him. He nudged and prodded her to her feet. She reluctantly agreed to stand and nurse. Our family shared a moment with this new family. All babies are so miraculous...

Finally- Knitting on The Road

Heading south was a fruitful knitting session. I finished the second strip of my KAL throw. I cast on the third strip and began square number 9. The photocopy of the instructions folded in half, fit on the visor, for handy reference. The dog slept peacefully on my right leg. My knitting bag between my feet, I twisted my torso to the left and comfortable kept a steady pace until it was too dark to carry on.

The pup figured out that we were not giving her away and she settled down. She slept silently through the night with her Daddy and me in the hotel. She was a perfect guest at the Travelodge.

The apartment was outfitted with the necessities. We met roommates, friends and enjoyed the surprise visit of Uncle John and Aunt Roxanne. Dinner on the Wharf was complete when an otter surfaced beside the window and stayed for the entire dinner service. Sunset perfection...

Name Your Poison

Coffee or Tea, Morning or night? A pot of coffee every morning and a cup of tea every night. That is the daily m.o. I know, you thought I only drank red wine. Sometimes, I even drink water...

Knitting on the Road

My daughter lives in Monterey. The Monterey Peninsula is one of the most beautiful places in this country. The coastline is rugged and the ocean is cold, dark and deep blue. That is, if it is not a shade of green or turquoise. Breath taking. We had the good fortune to spend a few days with her last week.

The drive from San Diego takes us 7+ hours on a good day. Lots of quality knitting time. I have been known to cast on and complete a project during the ride up, and another on the ride down. A knitter's dream. I don't get carsick. My husband gets carsick if he is not driving. This adds up to the perfect road trip combination. He drives, I knit. I don't care what the rest of the car is doing. The kids have always been excellent travelers. First dog loved a long drive. Reading, music, Gameboy, Ipods, whatever.

This trip was different. The setting was right, all the participants were acting according to plan, except for one. The pup was having none of it. She is still a baby and let us know it. She cried and whined and fussed and fidgeted for the first 4 hours. Knitting was futile. I kept trying to help her settle down and she finally did- when I wrapped her in a beach towel and held her snugly on my lap. Swaddled like an infant she slept on my numb legs for the duration of the northbound trip. I knit 10 rows total on my KAL throw.

The first night there she kept my daughter up all night long. Every hour through the night Steezy cried and ran up and down the staircase of her apartment. I'm sure the neighbors thought she was throwing bowling balls down the staircase! Both arrived on the hotel threshold at 7 am. Blurry eyed and exhausted. Welcome to motherhood. I relieved my girl for a nap before our scheduled trail ride at Pebble Beach Equestrian Center.

Brynn works there as a guide. It was the high point of the trip. Through the Monterey pine forest to the sand dunes you crest the hills of Pebble Beach Golf Course and behold the ocean before you. The seals bark at the shoreline and the birds put on a show all around the trail. Perfection in the form of an 8 point buck appears and grazes along side the trail before bounding off into the trees that line the green. We descend to the beach,crossing the famous 17 mile drive road just in front of Seal Rock. I highly recommend this adventure.

The dog sleeps peacefully in the car parked under a cool shade tree at the barn. Bliss...

The Tortoise and the Pup

The warm weather a few weeks ago, woke our tortoises from their long winter nap. Hibernation ends with a feast of fresh vegetables, lots of water to drink, a bath, and an olive oil massage to the shell. You have to love a pet that sleeps for 3-5 months each year.

My husband is a member of the California Desert Tortoise Society. He has a true turtle love. We have 5 turtles. Three water turtles that have a year round pond within the turtle enclosure. The 2 desert tortoises have a heated house and free run of the enclosure. They come out to play in a portable enclosure whenever we are in the backyard to keep an eye on them.

It was time to introduce the pack (?) to our puppy, Steezy. The tortoise society usually won't approve a home with dogs as suitable habitat for turtles. Dogs love to flip the turtles, which can cause death. Our former dog Roxie was so mellow and gentle. Nothing ruffled her fur. She was a rare and delightful dog. Her hard shelled friends were a mere curiosity that barely raised an eyebrow. Steezy has some catching up to do.

She could not figure out what the heck was going on with the moving shells?! What is a turtle exactly? She was jealous of the corn on the cob. She was jealous of the attention. We will have fun during the getting acquainted period. The pup has always loved to flip her water and food dish, and they never made a move. Imagine her confusion and our entertainment as she tried to make sense of those 2 tortoises. I'm still laughing...