Waaay too much....

Way too much time has passed since my last post. I'd love to get into some sort of habit regarding blogging -- time to try again. 


Lets start with some fiber talk.

Didn’t I JUST tell KD that I wasn’t, no, NOT going to buy for a KILO (a bump) of Corriedale fiber, no matter how good the price! But really, over night it just kept whining. Calling my name, it was. I held out ‘till a few minutes ago and then weakly succumbed to the lure of the DBNY website. Although I spent two minutes vacillating between Corriedale and Coopworth until I chose the former, for no good reason that I can think of.

This is on top of last weeks bunch of fiber bought from the same wonderful place, at ridiculously happy prices. Last week’s purchase was 2 bags of Louet’s Northern Lights Pencil Roving in wild colors (well they all look wild in the bag) and a Bag of Louet Merino/Silk (Merino 80% and Silk 20%) in Fuschia, and a bag of their superwash “wool” fiber in white. Yum. All arrived quickly, as advertised and are now being sighed over and admired!

I think I’m really happy?? Or I might be after I get over being a little bewildered at the idea of a KILO of white fiber. Maybe I have way too much white fiber? Gulp. Kool Aid anyone? A Ravelry friend reminded me there is also Wilton Food Coloring and RIT powder that can be used, at very inexpensive prices. Where are my Joann's coupons hiding?


I also have two new-ish hand spindles. A beautious feminine spindle called "The Rose" by it's inventor GrippingYarn, in sleek and warm toned Bloodwood. And my newest acquisition a bulkier, maybe more manly "Bulgarian-ish" spindle by SpanishPeacock. In the same Bloodwood, because I like it!


...I'm off to figure out how to get pictures back into the blog now I've stopped wrestling with the latest annoying blackouts of my BlackBerry. Don't get me started!! Although I love the touch screen and the camera in the BlackBerry Storm 2, I'm going to get a Verizon iPhone as soon as my contract is done. I am so over this aptly and popularly named "crack-Berry." This is yet another 'new' one. It's only new-to-me, it's clearly been used. It still isn't happy - and neither am I!


And, maybe I have way too many devices: I recently purchased a totally fun new iPad. I do want the devices I have to work seamlessly together along with my MacBook, so an iPhone would be a great addition. Can't say I've ever missed the PC since I switched to using Apple, about four years ago. I certainly haven't missed getting viruses -- haven't had a single one since I set up the MacBook.

" Faux Obama" Oil Spill Speech

I don't usually reference politics...but this video is an exception. Mainly because I've felt that politicians, in general, have demonstrated an appalling lack of leadership and political courage for far too many years. 


I don't have to agree with our President but I'd surely love to respect whomever it is.

Learning to Weave and my New Spindles...

I was so excited to realize I was going to be in Colorado in time to take Jane Patrick's Rigid Heddle Weaving Workshop, May 16th at Shuttles. 


Jane is Schacht Looms and she had us weaving on the Flip in no time. We picked out yarn, "direct" warped the loom, wove the scarf using "Tabby" or "Plain Weave" and then removed it from the loom. I was shocked to realize just how little yarn it took - this is what's left:

For the scarf project I picked Sport Wt Brown Sheep Naturespun in a Spring Green for the warp. The weft was an unknown mill end White Chenille. We wove a plain weave and left some spaces in between sets of warps and wefts. 

I was surprised at just how fast the project got done! We finished it in class. Although we used the 15" Looms in class, taking Jane's one day workshop really helped me figure out which size loom to buy. Shuttles was out of the 20"Wide size that I had decided on, as it's the most popular. Being only about $20 more than the 15". The 25" looked really wide to me and it was much heavier. It would be hefty to carry around, and so an order was placed for the 20".

Got my Schacht Flip 20" Rigid Heddle 8 Dent Loom Tuesday! Took it out of the box and it's still waiting for me to put on the apron rods. 

This is what the scarf project looked like just off the loom:

Really cool...then we were to full it in the machine. Instead I felted it, ouch! I left it in too long and it came out significantly smaller and tighter than it was supposed to. After panicking I stretched it out widthwise as much as i could. I was relieved that it did stretch. I was happy to see that, no matter the compression, it had maintained some of the intended and original character of the scarf. 

I'm okay with it as a narrow scarf - although I'd have made it longer if I'd known it was going to be this narrow. Still, it's useable. Also the fringes really needed twisting or braiding before felting as they turned out a bit clumpy. Live and learn...here it is after fulling (felting):

(The picture's are a bit fuzzy.)


I've been a busy bee since my last post. Not only did I embark on my new hobby but I received another Navajo Spindle in the mail in CO. This one in Red Oak from a Tennesee Woodworker, John Plutcheck, who makes spindles for one of my Florida LYS's, Uncommon Threads. It was mailed to me in Colorado. This one is very sturdy and has a shorter spindle than my Roosterrick. It's well made but far less delicate and elegant than the Roosterrick. It's also undecorated and did not come with a support bowl and hence, was less money than the Roosterrick. Still it spins quite well and is okay to use sitting in lower couches and chairs:

Here is the underside of the whorl:

Here is the bottom tip in the Cello Stop that I've been using, very successfully - this spindle also spins fast in it:

John accidentally included a small, approximately 5" Diameter Plate of Burled Maple. I sat wondering what to do with it after he told me not to bother returning this pretty little thing...flipping it over I saw a lip on the underside and had another light bulb moment! Lo and behold the NS spins in that also...and even faster than in the Cello Stop, although the lip needs to be a bit bigger as the tip will jump out sometimes:

Here is a closer picture of the Red Oak NS with the lovely sparkly 2.5oz art batt I'm currently spinning with. Of Superwash Merino and Sparkle, color Ocean Sky, by Etsy Shop How to Use Art:

AND...I got a very nice buy on Ravelry of a used, basic model, Little Meggie kick spindle, which, apparently, can also be used on a table and be made to spin by hand. They are very hard to find right now and this one is in super condition. I simply haven't had a chance to try it out yet:

This video shows how it is normally used. This is the same technique as used on a Little Meggie but it's demoed on a Mother Marion (scroll down to see it) instead.

Lots to learn....

A spinning week...

This is my new baby, a Navajo Supported Spindle. Burning Sun, is created and sold by Etsy seller Roosterick. The "original pyrographic (wood burned) and ink design [is] by Georgianne "Mother Hen" Jackofsky."  It's a beautiful thing. It comes with a special and matching wooden cup that supports the metal spindle tip while you use it. The bottom of the little cup has sticky stuff resembling the rubbery mesh underlayment used for rugs and stops it from skittering all over a tile or wood floor. I don't seem to need it as much on carpet. Although I'm now so used to it being supported and staying in one spot I do find I prefer to use the little cup, even on the carpet.


Burning Sun is seen here nestled in it's very own Neela Market Tote  along with some lovely Combed Merino Top fiber. The tote has two inner pockets designed to hold bottles or other market produce, like celery, upright. But that enables the spindle with it's 33" shaft to stay upright. I added red triangular and green coned knitting needle caps to the top of the spike to warn me it's there. And, hopefully that will be enough to prevent me from potentially impaling myself on the tip. Or, as it were, being hoist on one's own...spindle! The tote is inexpensive, comes in other great patterns and colors, holds one or two spindles and lots of fiber and even better, it's weightless!  

Breaking up is so hard to do...

Whether it's a boyfriend or a spinning wheel it's so hard to part with your first one! I loved this Double Treadle Ashford Traditional Wheel, but the time had come. After I got the Majacraft Pioneer, which is much easier for me to haul around, as well as my Navajo Supported Spindle for those really small spaces, I needed to move the Ashford along to someone who would appreciate all it had to offer. One really can't handle more than one at a time - come to think of it that goes for men too! 


I'd installed one upgrade, I'd replaced the little things that hold the spindle onto the maiden with the newest versions. They enable me to switch spindles quickly and easily. Maggie Casey had kindly looked it over while I was taking her popular Beginning Spinning Class at her shop in Boulder, Colorado. She declared it "a nice little wheel." Since she's sold them since the 1960's she'd know, and I certainly agree. She also suggested the upgrade I made to it. Maggie mentioned that she thought it had some pretty "tiger wood" on it...see the back leg in the picture and it's natural striping. So, I no longer have to look for a good home for my baby - it's gone to a Crochet designer who wants to be a new spinner and who loves it already! Gonna miss it for a while tho' - just like my first boyfriend!

I'm what? Cleaning....

I watched the Olympic's, lots and lots of Olympic coverage. I knit, lots and lots of knitting, and I drank tea, lots and lots of tea. I really enjoy the Winter Games!


The pattern that started the entire hat obsession was by Susan B. Anderson from her book Itty Bitty Hats. Once I got started I couldn't stop! I'm blaming Susan and her book. I knit hat, after hat, after hat, eleven of them! 


When DGD was visiting us she picked out the Heart on a String hat pattern from Susan's book, as well as the yarn colors for her new hat. After they got home Mom had to buy a new coat for her and low and behold it was a perfect match for the hat. Here's the hat...

Here's another of the darlings...The Little Pink Cupcake Hat. It's smaller than the others and soo cute, if I do say so myself...and I do! 

The I Love Violets Hat (on the left) was the second one I threw in for DGD. Naming them might be almost as much fun as knitting them.

After watching the Olympics and doing all that sitting and knitting I seemed to have been galvanized by all the energy I didn't use watching athletes do their thing in snow and cold and on ice. So now I'm using all of it organizing, cleaning and organizing....Truly, I've amazed myself! 


The closet and bed in the second bedroom have developed into major problems areas, they grow clutter when I'm not looking! Suddenly all the available space, very unfortunately, somehow maxes out. The bed gets totally full and the closet? Much the same. I tossed some stuff out, organized and sorted a lot of things that were already here. And I also dragged like things from various places around the house to be here with their buddies. Oh joy! And, oh ouch! I spent two days recovering from lifting the now sorted and re-filled plastic bins back into the closet.


And that huge Ekorness Stressless chair and ottoman that's been cluttering up my living room has finally gone. gone. gone. AND to a good cause.

A knitting friend's husband and the pastor of their church came to collect it last week -- oh the joy!! They took it off my hands along with a whole bunch of other stuff that I'd been saving and sold it in their semi-annual fund raiser. Color me very happy! But hey, that corner of the dining room now looks a little, hmm....bare? Funny how you get used to things filling a space and don't pay much actual attention to them until they're moved.

It's such a relief to have it just go.  So, tomorrow the garage?????

Navajo Spindle

I've had an impossible time trying to learn to drop spin. After looking at some wonderful videos on YouTube I decided that supported spindling on a Navajo Spindle just might work for me. I have neck and shoulder issues that prevent me from being able to hold my arms up for any appreciable length of time. It's felt awkward and then, after a short while, darned painful.

A friend posted this YouTube video showing Master Weaver, Clara Sherman carding and spinning on a Navajo Spindle. Watching this convinced me that if Clara could do it so could I. Of course I'm ignoring the annoying little buzz in my head that says Psst! She's been doing it her entire life! Then I fell totally in love with a beautiful hand made and decorated spindle called Navajo Sun by Roosterick from his Etsy shop. Along with Navajo Spindles they also sell unique and interesting pewter buttons.

I'm waiting with bated breath for the spindle to arrive....oh I do hope I can make it work. Some places I knit are crowded and have little available floor space to set up even my lovely smaller Majacraft Pioneer spinning wheel. Also it sometimes is just too much to take all the extra stuff along with the wheel and my knitting. This should prove to be much more portable. We'll see how I do.

I recently received my replacement Bass Pro Shop order. The first one smelled very unfortunately of mildew! A fishing rod? Noooo...a Bait Bag...to use for circular knitting needle storage! Mine is the double. 
Details and more pictures can be seen on my Ravelry project page.

Flowered Strips Scarf

  So this test worked out somewhat well. I emailed this from my BlackBerry. I thought it was suppose to end up in "drafts", not be posted directly, as it was. I need a bit more practice. 


This Flowered Strips Scarf is one of the newest scarves for a whole series that are being donated to a DAR home for rescued children. I had fun concocting this. See it on my Ravelry projects page.

'Night 'Night

Here is a worthy use of time and resources you might just have sitting around in your house: Project Night Night. Recycle nearly new children's books and stuffed animals and either make or purchase a blanket to add to the Night Night Bag. The bag is donated to children's shelters accross the country and is the first thing that greets the rescued child when they enter. Many times this is all the children have if they have to be rescued quickly, or come from homes that were destroyed. You can also start your own local version of this by purchasing their bags:
Home page: http://projectnightnight.org
Short video - scroll to second one: http://projectnightnight.org/video.html


A just got back from CO, via a business trip to CA. He enjoyed visiting with out daughters and granddaughter and returned with a calendar. All the pictures are from DGD C and it was created by DD#1. It certainly warms a grandmother's heart...and a grandfather's too! I flipped through them over and over....and I'm sure I will look through all the months again and again...

Round and round

Just found an excellent knitting tip for stranded work in the round on Ravelry: knit it inside out!


The BBerry came back to life after some work and now I have a new problem, double screens when I turn it on. Apparently it reacts slowly and I move fast! I have discovered the red phone button can cure many ills, at least temporarily. I do enjoy using the Storm 2's built-in camera and being able to email, message or send photos directly to Flickr. But using my Bberry seems to be a case of what's going to happen next? I do feel as if I go round and round with it, get one thing figured out or fixed and have another issue....start again....of and the inevitable once a week re-boot, that means you take the battery out. I suppose this clear the cache and whatever else it needs to do to 'think' clearly! :D 


Meanwhile I'm thinking of putting all my FO's into a pile along with the WIP's and trying to finish them all off by entering them into an event in Ravelympics2010. This so I can stop moving them from here to there and around and around, while starting new projects. Which just frustrates me and leaves them unfinished. 


Holy Mackeral....this Oatmeal Cookie Neckwarmer from Mod Cloth is very cool! It really would not be that hard to knit. Or you can buy it from them at $49.99.

Grafting made new.

OMG from a knitting standpoint this is a fabulous new technique for grafting: 
http://www.jonquilmom.com/JonquilMom/Easy_Graft.html

Not So User Friendly After All!

Due to my vast inexperience and after only one week of trying to learn how to use it I've managed to screw up my BBerry. There is a nasty little screen stuck on top of my Main Menu that will NOT go A.W.A.Y! Yerk! I was trying to load the Verizon Music app and managed that without a hitch. I was trying to find the downloaded phone ring tone that'd disappeared and refused show itself no matter what and that set off some sort of nasty aberration that landed this little box in my face.

Soooo, the world as I know it has now come to a temporary end. 

I discovered the BBerry can still be used as a phone, despite the evil box. That fact alone is saving it's life! Although for some insane unknown reason it only vibrates, the _______(fill in your own fave expletive) ring tone has now disappeared too! I may SCREAM!

New technology!

Another year has gone by, I'm back in FL after spending July to Nov. in Colorado and it's time for some updating. 


Here "C" is at the Denver Science Museum, picking up "moon" rocks. A good time was had by all!


DGD "C" is four and what a delight! Full of fun, personality and determination wrapped up in the charm that usually gets her what she wants.


I still love my Mac Laptop. Apparently I loved it so much during the past year we had to run out and buy an external hard drive. "Why?" you might ask. Oh, wait, could it be??? I managed to load up so many photos and knitting patterns rich with pictures that I ran clear out of memory! Oh yes, indeedy! Even with using Ravelry to store many of my patterns I have too many on my laptop! While I may be able to cut down the number of patterns I store on my laptop I certainly will have more photos coming down the pike. So, thank you iomega external hard drive. They're small, look nifty and do the job!


I now have a hand held device that I hope will enable more blogging. We took advantage of a Verizon offered twofer on BlackBerry's. I got the new Storm 2 9550 Touch Screen and A got the BlackBerry Tour. We are both very happy, huh, and just how often does that happen? 

Although it took two hours in the Verizon store and two defunct phones before we got devices that functioned properly and we got out we were able to leave. People were pacing around and around. An annoyed man was overheard, saying to anyone nearby: "It took less time to buy my car and was a lot less confusing!" 


I have to give a lot of kudos to "David" who was super patient with his slow and what seemed like overly complicated system and the problems he encountered along the way. He finally got us taken care of and out the door with two working devices.

The infamous "crackberry" site opts in with info, an in depth review and a video

This is a much shorter review with pics and an "unboxing" video!

Wowza...this is a fabulous touch screen, in either direction! It has a real click feel to it which you can watch for yourself if you look at the video at either link I provided! And the device is fun and yes, somewhat confusing as the entire concept is brand new to me and I'm still learning how to use it. I am happy to see it is fairly user friendly. Many things work the way I expect them to. And when it comes to technology, THAT always surprises me! 


The camera is easy to use. So far, amazingly, I haven't figured out how get it to take quite as good a picture as well as my old LG camphone! I'm still working on that. The idea of being able to blog and send pics right from the BlackBerry is exciting. Assuming I can figure out how to do it, it sounds easy -- we.will.see!


And why the paragraphs on this post look so far apart I do not know....

Lost in Time

First of all every time I try to edit this I end up with more problems, with the layout and font type and font size. So, please forgive the odd spaces. And why it changes the font to a random huge size, or back to it after it has been edited and saved, I have no idea. Grr. I am loosing so much time just trying to get this to line up properly. I.Give.Up.

Which is a nice segway to my post "Lost in time":

I'm really getting a handle on how and what to do with my photos and the Flickr account. Hopefully I can start blogging about some of my projects.

I've spent most of today falling into the bottomless pit that is Ravelry! I was supposedly loading up my old projects and one thing lead to another. Laughable or maybe downright scary is just how lost in time one can get. It was a good way to learn more about what the site has to offer. And it was alarming how much I learned about my "friends" knitting habits and interests...I didn't realize that every time one marks a favorite pattern, for instance, that "fave" can be looked at by all one's friends. Hmm, feeling a draft, perchance?

Finally finished the scarf my Dad requested. He moved from FL to GA and then to WI. This from a man who had said, very emphatically, when he moved from Massachusetts to FL, "I never want to wear anything but shorts and a T-shirt ever again!" He'd complain when it was 50 and he had to put on a jacket!

My Dad's already impatient and had muttered, during our last phone call: "I'd like it sometime before Spring!" No problem Dad. But I've got bad news, in WI Spring can be very 'late'. Then there are those days in Spring it snows...Plenty of time to use the scarf and the surprise hat. Both in Encore.

I'd serendipitously found the hat pattern when I wasn't even looking for a matching one. So,even though my Dad has not requested a hat, instead of mailing the scarf when I'd said, I took a few more days to knit one. I hope he likes it. And yes, I'm holding my breath.

Patterns: Cap Karma Hat by SmarieK --A Free pattern on Ravelry.

Scarf is mine, just happened to pick the same st. pattern 99 St Patterns by Leisure Arts.

In the box I included a pretty scarf knit in Dune that I'd made a few years ago using a simple K2tog, YO eyelet pattern combined with garter st rows. Part of an experiment to see just how little yarn could produce a hat [89 yards] it had sit quietly in my project drawer waiting for the right person. I hope B likes Mohair.

I've also been thinking about what my next lace piece will be...so many delicious patterns around online both free and for purchase. And a huge number of those patterns I already own. Not that that stopped me from acquiring more. I have, after all, something of an obsession with lace.

Uh oh, does that mean I have to get back on Ravelry?

New Adventures

Today was filled with little adventures.

I decided to try to get pictures from my phone-cam into iPhoto and then set up a Flickr account and load the knitting pictures in there so I can put them in the projects lists at Ravelry. Instead of banging my head every two minutes wanting to throw the PC across the room, I was confounded by just how easy it all was. Wow. Love my MAC. Some of it was so easy I found myself sitting staring blankly at the screen waiting for some other instruction. It was all finished and I hadn't even realized it. Had to look back at the Ravelry project page to find the pictures were already there, no fanfare, just efficiency. Gotta love that. Disconcertingly easy. I guess I'm too used to screens or pop-ups that tell me what to do at every step. 

One thing I could not manage to do was put a Ravelry button on this blog. Sometimes the help screens do not speak my language because I don't know proper computerese. That project will have to wait...

In today's other adventure I was used as a pincushion. I was in the Allergy Clinic getting a prick test. I'm trying to get a handle on my allergens. It's very difficult to knit black socks on tiny needles when your eyes are running tears all the time. Try driving at night...whooo. Lights do crazy things when they shine through water. With red and watering eyes I look like I'm crying, hung over or crazed. I'm also tired much of the time when I have no reason to be. I suppose my body is busy fighting off the allergens.

After my fun at the clinic I wasn't feeling great. I had some hits on the test and I guess all of that was making my immune system very unhappy. When I got home I threw in an anti-histamine and was really shocked at how hard it hit me. I went down like a ton of bricks and had to get horizontal pretty quick. Had to miss knitting night. Oof. N.O.T a happy camper.

Next adventure will be figuring out what to do about all this. After being on antihistamines every day for years I took myself off them...now I feel the affects each time I try even one.

The 12 Days of a FL Christmas:

12 -early birds dining

11 -tourists shopping

10 -hurricanes blowing

9 - manatees munching

8 - key lime pies baking

7 - flamingos flocking

6 - dolphins leaping

5 - golden oranges

4 - alligators snapping

3 - mouse ears in motion

2 - space shuttles launching

one seagull in a palm tree

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Back in FL

Well back again, back again, back again home [in FL]...although...it's getting questionable which one I consider to be "home". We blew out of CO on the heels of a 60mph wind gusts storm, in Eastern CO.

Too Long a Time Out

Wow! I just picked up my head and realized I've been missing in action for a very long time. I'm in Colorado again and have been helping #1 dtr with the selling of her home, sadly due to a divorce. Then with the shopping for, and purchasing of,  a townhome. Luckily it's only a block or two from the old house. That makes for great continuity, familiarity and the availability of the same park's, all important for granddaughter C. I helped with the physical packing and move. Due to all the moves I've experienced I'm somewhat of a pro at it. We discovered, in the process, that Home Depot has the cheapest prices on packing paper and also has boxes, other necessary packing materials and the plastic wrap and blankets used to cover furniture, the washer and dryer, etc.

#1 Dtr rented a POD and a very handy thing it was. We could take our time packing it and at the other end, unpacking it, all while it sat in the respective driveway's and in-between it was picked up and stored by POD and then delivered to the new location. And luckily it's not overly expensive to do this. 

In a bad market and under the gun they were very lucky to sell the old house [and it was old, with issues] in a week, for only $3750 off asking...that was amazing and a result of the right buyer, a wonderful backyard, a newish brazilian cherry wood floor beautifully installed by the now ex-son-in-law, and probably, most of all, a purely great location in a desirable town.

#1 Dtr was also lucky enough to find a wonderful buy on the townhome. It's older, but was built really well and in it's day [the 1980's] was probably very luxurious. It has three bedrooms [one on the main floor] with three full baths and one powder room in the mostly finished basement. New carpeting throughout, all walls painted out white and it had been well cleaned. An old kitchen but all the appliances were originally high quality and still work, old cabinets, again high quality and original to the house but in decent condition, excellent condition neutral porcelain tile in the kitchen and dining area. Open plan for the living room and dining area, a gas fireplace is located there. Lovely light, especially considering it is a central townhome and not an "end" unit. This is a small development is quiet and right near a high school and has been maintained well. 

It needed a new Heating and A/C system and the water heater will need to be replaced soon but it works for now. The basement was very clean and has a shiny light grey painted floor. AN area for the washer and dryer and also a large finished area with a new carpet and it's heated. It is warm and pleasant and will be a playroom for now and a family room in the future when a TV gets installed. 

The furnace has since been replaced and #1 Dtr has the luxury of waiting until she needs it to add the A/C unit and/replace the water heater.

This townhome is around 2,000 sq. ft. and for the price it's a wonderful bargain, $50,000 less than anything comparable that we saw, either new/newer or a similar age. When it comes right down to it I like it far better than the "old" house. It has tons of storage and a connected two parking space garage. In the front you enter an enclosed [by a wall and gate] front patio in the Southwestern or Mexican style, big enough for #1 Dtr's large patio table and any amount of people to sit around it, as well as room for plants, the grill and other seating. It has also has a small back deck off a sliding door from the eating area. A vaulted ceiling in that room [which shares a wall with the living room makes it nice and airy and very pleasant to sit in. All in all it's a great purchase and she can be very happy in it for a long time into the future. 

Things have calmed down a bit now she is in the new location and settling in. It was emotionally and physically difficult for her to deal with the divorce, the selling and moving and purchasing of the new home in such a short time period. If that wasn't enough, on top of that and at the same time, she was offered a new job that she subsequently decided to accept, by an old employer, the Westin Hotel. This was all from the beginning of August when thehouse was listed to Sept 15th. Enough to lay anyone out and even though #1 Dtr thrives on stress, this was not a particularly happy event all the way around. Granddaughter C is being shared by both parents and the going back and forth and all the physical changes/moves have been hard on her. But of all the children in the world an Aires child [with an Aries mother who understands her] and two parents who certainly love her, can do this better than anyone else. 

It has all turned out well, given the inherent difficulties, but #1 Dtr certainly felt the pressure and the drain of it all, none-the-less she has managed to rise to the top and ride out into the light.

More on #2 Dtr next time.

Driving me crazy!

This has been a long month of driving, driving, driving and more driving cars/small SUV's, getting estimates and wondering if I could manage to grow three more inches in my old age, so I wouldn't have any more problems reaching the pedals on the driver's side or the floor on the passenger side. Ish! 

I think we have now driven every small SUV made. Surprising were the nicely appointed and warranted Hyundai's, and to my extreme disappointment the dislike I had for the drive and steering of the front wheel drive Lexus [small] SUV. Also surprising was the Subaru Outback V-6, a car with an immensely powerful engine that feels like an old time very powerful American car, with a European suspension....IMHO that's the perfect combination! Only the seat, on both the drivers and passenger sides, which felt as though it had a bad spring poking a particularly uncomfortable spot, stopped me cold. Perhaps a trip to an accessory shop would yield a jell seat, or some such, which might solve the problem.

I may have driven too many vehicles -- of late I keep waking up feeling as though I'm still driving! 

Apparently Consumer Reports and I are perfectly calibrated. After I drive a vehicle A looks up the Consumers report on same and, we agree! Nice to know. 

I'm still busy adding knitting projects to an ever lengthening list on Ravelry. I've finished a few. Carole Ann's Comfort Shawl a group project on which I did a lot of knitting, is done and looks great. I'm knitting the 12 inches of ribbed leg on two "Socks for Soldiers" on which K did the toe-up feet. And I'm doing another shawl in cobweb yarn. All of which I've added to my Ravelry.com projects list. Still unfinished is the Mystery knit-a-long that has gorgeous snowflakes on it, put on hold while I finished Carole Ann's Comfort Shawl.

A serious look at the other WIP's hanging around the house is in order. "To frog or not to frog that is the question!"

Birthdays, Birthdays!

Well, it's been far too long since I posted here. So much has been going on.

Spring has always been my favorite time of the year. Born May first in England when the flowers of Spring are so very beautiful it's a wonderful time to celebrate. 

April brought, instead of rain showers, the birthdays of daughters #1 and #2 who are five years and three days apart, which never ceases to amuse me.  Also D1's daughter, our darling C, was born a bit early and ended up on her Mommies birthday. She's quite a gift - now three years old!

A and I are deep in the midst of car shopping. It's that time again as it's my darling car's birthday in June and it will come off the lease then. Luckily this time around it has been "the good and the not so good" rather than "the good, the bad and the ugly" as far as the whole experience goes. We've been all over the place and driving some unrelated cars. Although most are within the range of my current Lexus IS 350, which I've adored driving.

Mother's Day will come soon and that's the birthday of birthday's, honoring ALL Mother's, whatever time of year it occurs in any given country.