• It's been hectic here, last minute knitting, excited children, colorful lights and shopping! Here's something to warm the tummy and give a bit of comfort!
• BEEF VEGETABLE BARLEY SOUP
• 1/4 tsp. thyme 1 beef soup bone 1 lb. lean beef stew meat, cut in sm. pieces
• 1 to 2 tbsp. cooking oil
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1 c. carrots, chopped 1 c. celery, chopped (include some leaves)
• 1/4 tsp. marjoram
• 1 (1 lb.) can tomatoes
• 2 tbsp. dried parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 peppercorns
• 3/4 c. pearl barley
• Brown beef (cut up in small pieces) in oil in a large kettle or Dutch oven. Add water, soup bone, and herbs and spices and bring to a boil. Simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove bone, skim fat from top of soup. Add vegetables, cook about 30 minutes. Add barley. Cook about 10 more minutes until barley is done and vegetables are tender. Makes6 to 8 servings. Freezes well. Tastes best on second and subsequent days

Just as I was online drooling thru a wishlist of knitting books, Mom called to let me know she had ordered two of the same book. Talk about happy...oh yes! This (Knitting Beyond the Edge, by Nicky Epstein) was one of the top of my list! I love it! You can fancy up a bought sweater if you don't have time to knit and make it special, or add that magic to something handmade. Heaven knows what might end up decorating the baby sweater I'm currently making. I hadn't decided yet how to dress it up for a girl, since it's green and yellow, somewhat plain so far. (I like green and yellow, I'm sick of knitting babypink.)

I taught Mom to knit last summer, then she put it away in favor of crochet. She has a pink confection of baby blanket that is now big enough to tent the stadium. I can understand how that happens.
Last night I had about 9 inches of surplus length on the baby sweater front to ravel back to the right size. I blame that on the phone....

Last week our daughter's best friend was clearing out her mother's stash of crafts, long un-used and stored in boxes. So when T. suggested I take some of the yarn, I of course said "sure..I'd love a bit of extra yarn.."
H. kindly delivered the yarn to my back deck. It wasn't just a skein or two, or even a half dozen skeins. It was over 200 skeins of ragg wool. 85% wool, 15% nylon, and Google turned up the wonderful uses for it...outdoorsy types with warm, dry, woolen feet...endless snuggly afghans..this stuff is really useful!
I sent half of the mountain to our younger daughter who is now addicted to knitting too. I then spent 4 days trying to remove a ghastly odor from the wool. Keep in mind, this wool normally has a bit of natural lanolin in it, not enough to feel oily, just a teeny odor of it. Also keep in mind this wool has been stored in plastic, in cardboard boxes for apparently quite a few years. Generations of mice have potty trained their young on the plastic...the wool never had a chance to breath inside it...(can lanolin become rancid?) Other than the odor, the wool is in perfect condition.
I took out 6 skeins to experiment on the cleaning and deoderizing of it...and 4 days later, can attest that it is soap-proof, eucalan-proof, bleach-proof, Dawn-proof, fabric softener-proof, 3-minute miracle-proof and that no amount of soaking and drying has done anything to improve it. (If you ever decide to wash skeins of wool, try a bit of the Aussie 3-minute Miracle rinse on it, it makes it so nice!)
Our daugher, A. is enjoying this whole thing immensely! She piled her stash into a wooden box and threw in one of those air fresheners with its own fan.
The 6 skeins I've subjected to every punishment I can think of does smell "better"..but only in comparison. They smell like dirty socks now.
109 skeins to go and I'm not quite ready to give up, but honestly, I'm getting to that point. It just annoys my thrifty streak to toss it. It would've been wonderful to dye in deep, plush colors for afghans, and absolutely grand for warm woolen socks.
I think today, I will put another 6 skeins out in the sun and try this again. It's 109 skeins of wool, for pete's sake...and sheep do not smell like little flowers, but somehow, the wool is made nice. I can do this....it might require a PHD in Chemistry, but I know I can do this...

Wishing everyone a wonderful Day, may your homes be filled with laughter and dear ones!

(This is our youngest grandbaby, picture courtesy of her talented Aunt who does professional photos. Aunt A. does magical things with her camera! Of course she had a magical subject as well!)

Still working on the infamous sweater, and since it's a gift, I can't show you....T. would peek!
And...still guessing at how long her arms are! But then it's knit from top down, so sleeves can be unraveled back to right length, or added to if needed.
The hiking scarf is finished...it was fun, not as challenging as it looks, except dancing with that cable needle. Now I'm puzzling what the next projects will be. I'd like to work with crochet for a while too. I have crocheted since I can remember, but have odd problems understanding the directions on patterns. Knit directions are simple. Whatever I am going to do involves the next stitch on the needle....not "skip 2, double treble 9 times in 3rd stitch from next sc under the back cable" which tends to stall my brain while I translate that to something in my hands. I made up that direction, but it's quite likely to exist. Crochet patterns are awful. They do lead to sudden bursts of creativity, often accidental ones. I love items that combine both knit and crochet. The crafts should not be exclusive of each other, in my opinion. Both create equisite laces, a crochet stitch is a more 3 dimensional form, whereas knitting may not be as reversable generally and has wonderful texture opportunities.
My mother used to be able to crochet the loveliest, finest thread counterpanes and tableclothes, apparently made of spidersilk and crocheted with a mouse whisker. The antique patterns flowed from her without written instructions. If she ever saw it, she could make it. So between her and my beloved grandmother who crocheted and tatted such incredibly fine handwork, learning to read instructions blew my mind entirely.
Neither of them knitted as much....so I proudly walk my own path among my talented mothers. Maybe I had to carve my own little niche, however humble. But then great-aunt Ada knitted the most fragile laces that seemed to spring from that never-ending well of talent....as did my great-grandmother...
*sigh*...I'm so doomed in comparison. But I'm AM the only painter! (Except for grandmother's handpainted china she did..) And I love memories of all that ability, talent and humor that has followed me thru my life, bestowed by the ladies before me. I think of them often and with gladness while I knit on. I miss them very much.

• For many years we have kept these words in our home. Many of you know them well. They remain as cherished as ever.
  
  DESIDERATA
  Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others; even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
  Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
  Keep interested in your own career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism
  Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
  Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
  You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
  Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul
  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy
  MAX EHRMANN 1927

Look, Mom! I'm knitting!

"I have 20 tiny needles of my own and I'm helping!"

Before and after! Well, not entirely finished, but what a change!

My favorite Martian!

I wonder where this is going....

Pardon the early morning haze.
While taking a short break from the irish hiking scarf (lately if I sit down long, I fall asleep!) I had a sudden urge to make a something. So far,this is the result. I plan a longer...thing...(what is it??) somewhat like a poncho only shorter.
Nope...don't have a pattern...didn't scribble down what I was doing or how many I did. The theory was to just do it, and if it was awful, well...skeins can be stored in many forms. Or just rewound.
So far it drapes over the shoulders with a ribbed neck. I plan it to go down perhaps to the elbow. Just a warmer while at the computer or in place of a sweater. Possibly something to experiment with pretty edgings.
Any ideas for a stitch pattern to finish the length of it would be nice, since my brain seems to have stuttered to a halt. (I so need a clue....!)
Whatever this turns into, it did give me some wonderful ideas for fluffy, ruffly bedjackets and such. Help me out here...
Meantime, we'll be painting our house and deck for two days. Yes..that painting that didn't get done in September, but two months behind plan is normal.

It was lovely day to sit back and knit! My two scarves are fun and I've learned to cable reliably and do a bit more modular knit. This is the modular scarf, growing along nicely, or at least it was until I ran out of yarn for it. I'll find another skein somewhere and finish, that's the new Strata yarn. And the Irish Hiking Scarf, my first real cabling project. They're both fun to do!

Boo!

.. "trick or treat, smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!"

I would be blogging, but I've been busy holding a memorial service for my lily bed. You can see why.
It's been busy all this week, altho for the life of me, I can't explain just what I've gotten done. Aside from a few more hats, they keep me sane when my fingers itch for knitting and I can't seem to count past a 3 stitch repeat without losing it. That probably would happen to anyone dealing with a 2yr old roaring thru the house gleefully attempting to round up 3 cats, couple dogs...
I did get a pie made tho. It was a nice pie. Brief, but nice...



Buttermilk Pie:
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (yep..buttermilk)
1 stick butter (I'm fairly sure you can substitute cream cheese for the butter.)
1/2 tbspn vanilla
Cream the butter and sugar, dump the rest all together, mix up into ghastly, lumpy mess and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Chill the pie before you serve it. It's yummy! You can experiment with adding lemon juice and zest to the ingredients for a nice change.

EDIT: Leave off the butter, replace that ingredient with 4 oz. (I use 6oz) or more cream cheese. Add a tblspn. of lemon or lime juice. Bake until lightly browned on top. It's a lovely pie and this change vastly improves our old family recipe.

Our 36th Anniversay today.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more then whole Mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.

Thy love is such I can no way repay,

The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.

Then while we live, in love let's so persever,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

And that pretty much says it :)

Scarf is done! Will try for better picture later!

It's a nice scarf that knits up quickly, inspiration by The Yarn Harlot.

A purple hat for a granddaughter that loves that color! She fell down on the playground last week and is sporting a cast that perfectly matches the new hat. The scarf is on the needles and will be finished tomorrow I think. Soon all the little heads will be nicely covered and warm around here!

Guess who came to live with us!

This is Cooky (yep..very original name). She's 7 months old, from the humane society shelter in Forsythe, Ga. She's gone from a scared little creature to Attila the Hun...in a good way. She's perfect! Excellent manners, good company, great with the grandkids....please support your humane societies, folks. Lots of wonderful fuzzy people that need a helping hand, and receiving Cooky with her shots all done, veterinarian visits taken care of, spaying and general care for only a nominal fee....well...you have to know the great people that help these little ones out are in the hole financially for it. It's a labor of love. And if you can't support the societies with money, offer a couple hours a week helping with time, send a "care package" (contact them for things they need) and neuter/spay your pets if you aren't a licensed breeder. Love comes in all sizes, shapes and colors and this is the only life these little ones get. Help make it a joyous one!

In answer to the question of what yarns I used, the shawl is WoolEase (I think by Lionbrand) and is a little wool/acrylic blend that survives lots of use. I used 6.5mm needles (us 10 1/2) or so..something big enough to keep the drape loose, but not so open as to loose the warmth. It hasn't pilled at all. The hats are from those single skeins I end up with and know not what to do with...(they multiply when I'm not looking) and I just finished another hat, in grey with a couple black stripes. Definitely a guy's hat. I seem to be dropping hats off my needles like the sycamore outside shedding its leaves. I'm sure it's because I'm avoiding the endlessly monotonous autumn red pullover....
My chair was handy for the backdrop since my poor camera is plugged into the wall.

Where there's a cord, there's a way...

Still no batteries handy, Bea, but I did find that elusive power cord..and added a few pics!
The kids hats I made this weekend, the comfy shawl Theri is kindly wearing for a picture (it's plain, but sooooo soft and nice!), and Leo diligently holding down a crocheted blanket. That shawl was made a month or so ago, I just happened to like it a lot.
Leo is the starveling kitten that turned up on our roof last Easter. I'm very glad he did.

 There...here's a picture of the very handsome Nelson!  His description in the Humane Society has been amended to "no small children" so perhaps soon he'll have exactly the right home!

Well, on the puppy news...Nelson (half Jack Russell, half Corgi, so a bit larger than we planned) came to visit from the Humane Society in Rockdale Co. Wonderful little guy, but sadly not for us. It was hard to take him home again, he attached to me completely, but bit at anyone that came near me and as he was already a year old, changing his habits would have been slightly harder. We have five grandchildren, all animal friendly types (they grew up with all sorts in our rural home.) and not given to pulling whiskers or annoying the beasties. Nelson is perfect for a quiet home with his own adult person. We continue our search for a sociable little goof that will simply keep my husband company and limit his aggressions to more minor expression. If we were looking for a doggie for me, I'd have immediately chosen the wonderful Beagle-Bassett 5month old pup. The perfect Gomer Pyle kid! We'd love an adult dog, since most people adopt the cuties, but we might have to consider younger ones too. On the good side, the extra socialization surely did a little to expand Nelson's world, and the hugs did him good too.

Then for some reason I knitted four kid's hats. I thought the Strata skein (the only skein left at our local Walmart) was the ugliest knit in the world, but when done, it's the kid's choice of the lot and is quite cool!! I'll have to get some more of that stuff, it appears to be relatively indestructable and not as scratchy as I thought!
I have to get some batteries for my camera, this is driving me nuts!~

And where have I been lately...well, the camera is down temporarily, but the plain knit sweater I've been diligently working on is coming along nicely. It's taking forever, but it's getting there. Also a couple kid's hats on the needles for a break from the total monotony of endless sweater. I battle the urge to suddenly start cabling all over the sweater in an effort to stay awake when I work on it, but I slog onward. It's sort of a fallow time for me. I enjoy restfully fallow times, they're followed by rebirths of creativity, of family laughter, glorious seasonal moments, nostalgia..fallow times rest my senses and my heart. We're human. If our souls don't take a rest time, perhaps we become desensitized to the wonders of life. I can't explain, I just enjoy it in the rythmn of living.
And while loving the mellow days and readying for autumn slipping into the trees with brilliant paints and frosty fingers, we've been learning Italian. It's a lovely language! We practice and attempt to limit our communication to the extent of our Italian abilities, which leads to hilarity and confusion. Somewhat like babies learning to talk.
Will post more later, right now my sweet husband is nudging me. We're off to find a little housedog to keep us company. We'll scout the humane shelter in Atlanta and see.

Comfort stuff!

Try this out, it's seriously good!

Green Chili Corn Chowder
- 1 tbsp. canola oil- 1 1/2 cups 1/4" diced celery- 1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic- 3 oz. Mild Italian Chicken Sausages 1/4" dice- 1 4 oz can mild chopped green chilies- 2 tbsp. flour- 3 cps 1/4" diced red bell pepper- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels- 1 1/2 cups 1/2" diced small red potatoes- 2 tbsp. minced fresh cilantroHeat oil in soup pot over high heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic; saute 1-2 minutes until onions are translucent. Reduce heat to low, stir in sausage and green chilies, sautes 1 minute. Stir in flour; continue stirring, and cooking for 1 minute. Return heat to high, gradually whisk in milk. Bring soup to a boil, continuing to whisk the soup very often to keep from scorching the bottom. Add bell pepper, corn, and potatoes, allow soup to return to a simmer, simmer for 8-10 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Adjust soup to taste, adding salt, or fresh ground pepper to please your palate.

I have been so neglectful of the blog! Somehow it got lost in the daily stampede of life around our house. Then again, I couldn't type fast enough to keep up with the chronicles!
On the good side, couple baby sweaters done, pair of socks done, wonderful buttons have been found, a few kids hats have been made, dinners fixed reasonably on time (or the 2yr old would make me regret being 5 minutes late), dogs bathed, cats cuddled, 6yr old's homework seen to..hmm..there's more, I'm sure..there always is. Oh..and somewhere in all that, I found time to read Michael Connelly's "The Lincoln Lawyer" which was a good read. He's one of my favorite fiction authors.
I did not get the house painted or the deck resealed yet. That was one of my goals for end of summer, but there's still time here. Georgia weather melds softly into fall rather than suddenly slamming in. Sometime in September I'll find a paint sprayer thingie and freshen up the house outdoors.
The Knitpicks needles have been a delight in case you wondered. I don't use the DPN's, since they are extremely slick and slither right out of my knitting.
Yarn? Oh yes..tons! I ordered some from Knitting Warehouse and due to a snag on the final page of ordering it, it tripled ordered. But it's washable and soft, so it'll be perfect for busy young moms that throw everything into washing machines. Hope everyone likes autumn red. And grey.

And yes...I played Warcraft a bit. *blush*

In progress

Settling back in after a weeklong visit to the family we rarely see these days, I've been muddling along on redesigning and learning again.
My present victim is a baby sweater that I'm sort of creating as I go. Yup, there are flaws in the design, but that's how I learn new methods.


The other pic is of a disastrous choice of yarns (it was all I had at hand when I decided to tinker with things..) and will live forever in the UFO basket. I'm remaking it with softer, prettier yarn.

Trip

Our Genealogy Trip to Mo

This is our trip to rediscover family connections, add to the Tree and enjoy new people.

Family pictures

A grouping of women thru time.

The old town, Charleston, Mo

Much as it was long ago.

Yesterday, my DH found some huge, fresh shrimp and brought home a couple pounds, I already had a lovely wild salmon on hand...
So last night was a wonderful and easy dinner! Broiled salmon on a bed of rice with a layer of sliced onions, a layer of sliced lemons, my own special sauce that has been altered to use olive oil instead of butter (it's healthier and tastes good!), shrimp scampi a la' Mom..it's all about the olive oil, garlic, Pescino, paprika, and a couple other little dashes of this and that, and finally sprinkled with freshly (and finely) grated parmesan. A side of fresh greenbeans crowned with pearl onions and crusty bread to dip. Sounds complicated, but it's one of the easiest things to fix! And fast and such a pretty dish! Our son and his tot drove up exactly as I was taking it out of the oven. How does he do that??
Okay, chortling and tummyrubbing done...been thinking about some of my knitting projects. There's been a dismaying number of disasters in my "redesigning" projects. The most recent was discovering I had carefully knitted the front parts of a baby cardigan and...they were both the left side. Rip, rip, rip....
The other cardigan, the one done in that gorgeous Sonata cotton...yeah that one. The button band refuses to pick up properly. Did I slip that first stitch of every row just so it'd pick up perfectly? Yep. It's a perfect and neat selvage. Does it work? Nope.
Solution so far...I knitted a separate button band using a provisional cast on just to see what was going on. Haven't tried to put it all together yet, I'm waiting for my knitting disposition to improve. Meantime, am over halfway thru knitting a warm, wool sock while I consider things. It's entirely possible that I'm far too tempted to leap into a new project and have been woolgathering instead of paying attention to the cardigan. (Yep, I said that..you may now all groan in unison.) And part of the problem is that I have three new knitting books. One of those I bought just for one particular pattern in it. I love 'em all, but that pattern...I love it. It has no diagram and goes strangely in one direction then the other, I'm not certain I understand the pattern at all...but I want it on my needles asap. Gotta try it! This might be one of those week-long learning curves.

July Color!

It's July and the colors are blue/violet. Hmmm...from my favorite and battered chair by the window with it's violet flowers, I see...a beautiful spill of fabric as I knit a sock with bright violet needles! There are grapes in the kitchen and out on the deck my ice cream maker cranks out something wonderful for a hot summer day, to go with a bit of blackberry cobbler for a grandchild.
And to start the day just right...
three new books arrived in the mail!

oops..

Postponing my anxiety fit til next week. Somehow I misread that calendar? Not unusual, just ask my family...
On the other hand, a package arrived with a few spare dpn's to take with us, I find I love those Bryspun dpns. And hopefully a couple books from Alibris will get here this coming week, so Corky won't have a chance to chew the box to shreds while I'm not here.
For the trip, I bought a nice box to hold the knitting neccessities. It has a handy top thingie where I can put the smaller notions, and the bottom thingie for yarn and such immediately fell apart soon as it was home. *sigh* My new shoes are wonderful tho!
Halfway through the first sock for Theresa...nice warm wool! She loves keepsakes, which is good, since as soon as she forgets they're handwash only and throws them into the machine they'll felt into cute little Christmas tree ornaments....

Tomorrow...tomorrow...

...We'll be off to Missouri and Tennessee!
My husband Allen and I are going to visit family, fill out more on the family tree he's been doing for a long time (it's becoming an epic), see new sights.
It's been rainy all week here and because pickup trucks and men go together like peanutbutter and jelly, I'm curious to see how a suitcase repels water. My beloved old van faithfully took us everywhere for years, daily trips thru Atlanta and beyond, even to California and once to New Orleans. It's tired and not as reliable as it used to be. Therefore...this time it's the truck. That utterly male and impractical vehicle. All you truck lovers need not tell me how wonderful trucks are, tell the kids that. It's the van they always want to borrow for moving, rambling, shopping, towing boats and trailers. It's a big service van. No fancy stuff..and I want another one just like it!
This will leave our son and a two year old grandson in charge of the house, three cats (one is a young lunatic, two are elderly persnickety aunties) a parrot that loves pizza, three dogs (plus a stray that has deposited a litter of cuties under Allen's woodturning shop) a flock of chickens, eggs they've hidden in unique and imaginative places....this frightens me just a little. Will the house still be standing in a week?
Will my computer still function? Do I have enough dishes to last them a week? I will be clutching my cellphone and praying the whole time we're away. I'm taking a stash and needles with me, plenty of sock yarns and hopefully two new books from Alibris will get here today to keep me occupied on the drive. One has a nifty baby sweater I want to knit!

Family ties

Well..as much as the family disrupts my attempt at a sedentary mode, we missed our oldest daughter very much over the fourth of july dinner. She's been recovering from a bit of surgery that followed the complications after Anna's birth. It was a lovely weekend, but there was definitely a large piece missing with Theresa and her family not here.Sometimes I'm guilty of seeing the crowd as a constant and maybe don't appreciate each individual within it as much as they deserve. Maybe it's way too easy to fall into this, especially when faced with a half dozen tots holding out plates at once. But that's a reason...there's no excuse for it.
I think I'll go knit her some prayer socks. She's not a shawl person.

The Heart's Homeplaces

A beautiful stormwashed field in late evening and a peaceful meander down to the pond. Places to muse, to knit, to ...be.
Sometimes I look at my houseful of family and all they entail and I think about the folks that have homes so tidy and orderly that one almost whispers in them for fear of disturbing even a mote of dust. I think about the geometrically trained flowers and exact treeforms in pretty magazines.
Then I look around me and smile...and my heart sings.

Practical knitting!

Okay, I spent 3 days gnashing my teeth, ripping out, experimenting, gnashing, ripping, experimenting some more...and ended up with my own little sock method. My method, of neccessity, requires no mental efforts, no math other than the guage for inches and the ability to count off half my original number of stitches for the heel. I am probably the only person in the knitting world that couldn't figure out socks before this. I am intimidated by pages of instructions and have the attention span of a guppy. My attention span is caused by our kids and their tots that seem to be at our house almost constantly. We cannot comprehend the "empty nest syndrome" others speak of. I tried not cooking, but then they brought large containers of fried chicken from whatever greasy place they passed on the way. Yuck. There's no solution, other than to learn to live with the chaos of a noisy, cheerful family. We're loved. So are my biscuits and home cooking.
Back to the practical knitting tho...last week, I happily turned out 3 pairs of socks and one little toe-up (also my own method) prototype. Easy!! And now I can pick up any yarn and knit a sock without referring to silly instructions that look like Feinstein's cookbook. I call this practical knitting! Today...I am ripping out a half done cardigan for the littlest grandbaby and doing it by my practical method as well. Little or no seaming, neatly done and easy to pick up and put down a few dozen times a day.

Things I learned about socks:
1. If you slip that first stitch of each row you knit on that heel flap, picking up the gusset is super easy and neat.
2. On the first knit row after picking up gusset stitches, knit those picked up stitches (only those!) thru the back loop for that extra twist that snugs them up.
3. Learn that funny little figure 8 cast on to two needles and knit toe-up. Much easier to have that sock finished when you finish knitting and not sitting in the corner waiting for a grafted toe job. Especially if you have small children that interrupt grafting a lot. I have a link to a site that explains that toe thing, if anybody wants it. Once learned, it's with you forever.
4. The inside of the elbow to the wrist where the hand begins is the same length as that person's foot.
5. The length of a person's foot is the same as the circumference of around the heel and over the top of foot just below the ankle.
6. It's easier to measure someone's arm from elbow to wrist than to tackle them and measure their feet. It also doesn't tip them off that they will be getting handmade socks for Christmas.
7. Measure a kid's arm while they're napping. They don't wiggle as much.
8. Knitting toe-up works out exactly the same as knitting toe-down, just start the "heel flap" that normally you do just before the heel turning part when you get to the beginning of the ball of the person's heel. It's about 1/3rd of the foot length, I think. Don't do anything fancy to it, it's going to end up on bottom of the foot. You can do reinforced stuff to the turning part or just past that, if you really want to have that.
9. When you get done with the cuff, you have instant gratification, because it's finished! Tuck in that tail of yarn and gloat!
10. You can fix a nice cup of tea for your best friend who knitted her sock top-down and is trying to kitchener her sock toes while a two year old piles 7 stuffed toys in her lap to be kissed.

Ever have days when your kitchen looks like this?

And what you really feel like is this?

..and more..

The plain brown shawl in soft, washable wool that youngest daughter and I are doing as a KAL. Yep, we're both bored to tears with it, but heavily fringed we'll enjoy them when done. She's learning to knit, I bribe her with wonderful knitting toys.

And then the beginnings of another fluffy little blankie for Anna. It's blurry, not sure why..

And finally, a finished crocheted shawl with the filigree rose, done in cotton.

I have a lot of things on the needles, I know. They do get done tho, really they do! I'm not even going to think about the socks..

Ahhh...I love the printer!

It has a thingie on front where I can insert the camera card and circumvent the need to find a cable to download the cam to the puter! So we can play catch-up now!

This is the back and fronts of Tay's little cotton beach cardi, hopefully I'll get that matching yellow T-top made soonish to go with it.
Then on the right is the cardi in progress for Anna (no idea why it looks orange on here, it isn't!)
The bag in the middle is a little cotton crocheted thing that exactly holds Anna's red (wine-colored) cardi while I work on it, excellent to loop on my wrist and hold sock yarns and whatnots as I chase around the house after the little ones. (It's supposed to keep me young, riiiiighttt...)
Not sure how these are going to do on one post...let me finish on next one here...

I think I'll stay put here..

I lack the will to redo my links and sites on a new place. Or I might scribble on both sites out of general wickedness.
I haven't posted in so long! But we've been delightfully occupied with the newest little one!
She looks so much like her mom at that age. We adore her...she never fusses about little things like....well..no..we didn't really put that little cardigan with the orangutan length sleeves on her. But she wouldn't have fussed, I'm pretty sure. Sleeves are being ripped back as we speak...I blame that on her 2yr old cousin who helpfully (and repeatedly...) brought me all the pretty dpn's that were holding the sleeves in progress. Maybe I thought I was knitting a head start on his next "helping" me, I really don't know...
Our youngest daughter is revisiting her new knit skills and we're doing a simple shawl together. We're both bored to tears with our shawls tho. This could lead to a dozen new projects at any moment.
I'm still campaigning for a new digital camera. It will happen, I promise!

Am I moving?

I'm considering it seriously, altho I've gotten rather comfortable here and learned a little html the hard way.
I imported here to http://grandmother.wordpress.com/
and could really use your opinions. Go see, tell me what you think..Wordpress does have advantages..it's easier to add links, doesn't take me 2 hours to figure out how to talk to the template code to make a thingie or decorate. On the other hand, personal decorating is limited in Wordpress, but they'll probably figure out toys for that soon.

Let me know!

Oh..and I did find my beloved old spindle! Corky finally gave it back with only a little slobber on it, so I'm very happy again.

Anna is here!

Lovely Anna Elisabeth made her appearance..the day after Easter! 7lbs, 8oz. of noise and dimples! Pictures forthcoming (it's that silly camera problem again..)as soon as I can, meantime all are well, even if my post is so long overdue. She's going to be brown-eyed like her mom and has beautiful brown hair. First baby in a couple generations that didn't arrive looking like Winston Churchill on a bad day.

My favorite fat old hen proudly hatched 5 chicks on the same day, it's in the air..!!!
So we celebrated with a family cookout and discovered the yummy fragrance on the wind enticed a ragged starving stray kitten to our roof. He's a sweet little buttercream tomcat and is quite fat and sassy since moving in with us.

Obviously..Spring has sprung!

Okay, that makes two jammie bottoms, two sweaters, a baby blankie..and the latest addition to the family still is being coy about making her grand entrance.
Possibly she's waiting for gramma to get a new digital camera? (this is my argument, anyway)
But if she's waiting for a Faire Isle miracle, it's going to be a while. I can't even begin to focus on choosing a pattern and the idea of steeks still makes me shudder.
(Edit: These are finished, but no pics of finished items.)

Oldest daughter is about to pop! The new baby is apt to make an appearance by this coming weekend and I still have half a leg of jammie bottoms to finish, two sweaters and a blankie to put together! (Panic!) Since she’s so near term, we’ve kept her 3 year old, along with our son’s 2 year old..you can imagine how much knitting I’m getting done here! Ack! In our little retirement cottage this is bedlam!

I have been a very naughty gramma ... but..but..it was so pretty! Knitpicks had the Palette yarn for such a nice price..and Christmas will be here again before we know it! (that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it)
So many colors! Now doesn't that look like molten sunshine!
I'm not even going into the Inox spree last week....

Okay, I'm just not into making a sweater for myself. It's been frogged and returned to nice skeins (it was green, it was boring...and 80 degree weather didn't motivate me) so now I'm planning Dale of Norway! I have wool to dye when I decide on the colors for them...yes, "them!"..I want to make one for a 2 year old grandson, a 7 year old granddaughter, my 6'2" son..this could occupy me for the next three months! And of course the newest to arrive (Soon!!) will have soft, handknitted things while I ponder the colors for the others.

A Blog Reborne

A Blog Reborne *Cheers!* Now that's some bobbling! Good job!

The sweater I decided I should knit for myself is going to take forever and many reruns of "Law and Order" to finish, so I thought I'd add a few visuals of the Unknitters Association that inhabit our lives (and delightfully so!).
Dinah, the reigning Dowager tabby is 16 in March. She effectively raised our three children to respectable adulthood and declines to raise the grandchildren. Job well done, Dinah!
Embers of the tender heart and vacuous mind gently urges the grandchildren to new mischief at every opportunity. She's 6 and uses decoys of black fuzzballs she creates here and there to evade the results of her complicity.
Corky..is Corky. Half chihuahua, half schnauzer, he's the constant companion of the two year old grandson and a chewer of many knitting needles and...well..his list of sins is long. He still refuses to confess as to the whereabouts of the missing drop spindle.

While I knit along, I thought I'd post a couple pics of a few things my DH has made. The odd one by itself is made from a banksia pod which grows in Australia. I can always tell when it's been in the house, I can smell it...no one else seems to be able to, but I detect a pervasive and inescapable odor from it.
These are just a few things he's done, I love watching him turn a twisted old burl into something lovely and flowing.
If my drop spindle doesn't reappear somewhere soon, he'll have to make me a new one. Here's hoping the spindle wasn't one of Corky's victims.