My new housemate

I have a new resident in my condo. Her name - as delivered to me is Angel Eyes. This is a temporary name as to me, Angel Eyes was the bad in Good, Bad and Ugly. This lady is too pretty for that.

Her eyes are an awesome green - more emerald than is showing here. This photo is the one which made me very interested in meeting her. It was taken by feralcatfriend and I want her to have the credit for the photo. I'll post more when Angel is more settled and less shy.

I've always said I'm a sucker for green eyes - and C always thought it was him......... that'll learn him!

I finished the felted bag for DDIL and one for DGD too. I forgot to get the photos first.

Mystic Waters is still on the needles and I'm almost finished with chart C. Five more charts and I'll be finished with that beauty.

So, from my home to yours - Have a very Happy New Year!
This is the 2nd time I've gotten these orchids to bloom - and I've had them almost 8 years. There are now a total of 7 blooms. I'm on week 2 of the blooming.

They are dendrobium orchids from Lowe's. Apparently they need to be outside during the summer and until the temp drops to around 40 at night. Then they can come in and will make buds.

Tis the season

So why has it been in the 70's for the past 3 days? Oh well, I can be jolly in spite of the warm weather. I went to the main Library today to get a library card and start browsing and loved the lights in the city as I was going home.

Knitting has been interesting. I've started the fuscia blossoms for the Market Tote. They are hard on my hands so I still have 2 inside petals on the first one. Then two more flowers, felt and done. Hopefully done by Christmas.

Mystic Waters has released the final clue - and I'm on the second. Should finish clue 2 and start clue 3 tomorrow.

Celtic Tote is on the sidelines for a bit. Since it is for me, I guess I can wait a bit for it. Also on the sidelines are Autumn Rose, Fair Isle Pullover, and the silver shawl for the daughter.

Next is to find gifties for granddaughter 1 who has a birthday the 22nd with Christmas right after. Grandson 1 is all set. Grandkiddles 3-5 will probably have late gifts from me as I'm making them. They are the only grandkids on their Dad's side so won't be short of presents.

So wishing you and yours all the joy of the season. Enjoy!

Oops and other words

Well, I had my Mystic Waters in a bag while I was going out of town. I had stopped in the middle of a row - first mistake. Then I started to take the knitting out of the bag - without looking -- second mistake. Tugging was the final mistake. All sorts of stitches fell off needles and unzipped themselves. After saying oops and other words not to be mentioned here, I ended up finishing the oops and unraveling the whole thing and starting again.

Almost done with chart A. I seriously doubt I'll be ready for the next installment (6?) when it comes out on Wednesday. I'm so glad I'm enjoying this knitting!

No, I Didn't...

...fall off the face of the earth, tho' I may have teetered on the edge a bit. : )

A quick summary of knitting follows:
1. Frogged Secret of the Stole as I wasn't enjoying the knit very much. This isn't really my style of knitting. I can and do admire the work others have done on the Stole.
2. Started Mystic Waters. I'm still slogging through Clue 2 (Clue 5 was released this week) but things may perk up a bit on the knitting front with this one.














Please note the color isn't quite as turquoise-y

3. Began the Celtic tote from Interweave Knits Winter 2007.
This shows one of the two cables on the front and back of the purse/tote. It will be outlined by a reddish brown yarn and then felted slightly. This curls a lot and I couldn't find pins to pin it out. If you can keep your wits about, it is a fairly quick knit.









I've also been doing a bit of work on Autumn Rose by Eunny Jang. I'm still working on the ribbing so won't post photos until I get into the pattern work. This is a fair isle style pullover with a beautiful deep scooped neckline. I've seen others finished work, including one on a woman shaped like I am (fluffy), and it looked wonderful on her - so I'm hopeful!

Last week was Thanksgiving here in the US. Thursday was quiet but on Friday DS and his family arrived - along with the two newest members, a Maltese puppy and a Shi Tsu puppy. They were very well behaved. The two grandkiddles went to the TN Aquarium with DH and myself and had a good time.

Saturday DH and I drove around, including going up Lookout Mountain. Folks, if you like windy, curvy, narrow roads with awesome views, the drive up the mountain is for you. I'm "nervous" about heights and only held the car on the road twice. I didn't look off the edge much, but didn't freak out. Yeah for me!

It was cloudy and had a few sprinkles but still a wonderful view from the Point (a National Park). I love the sign on the edge of the cliff. For those who are not students of the Civil War, the Battle of Chattanooga was basically won by default. The Confederacy had left the mountain so no one was there when a few Union soldiers climbed the bluff to the top. There was a fight and about 900 soldiers died and 3,000 were injured or missing, mostly from NY and IL. That isn't much if you look at other battles, such as Battle of Stones River about 100 miles NW of here where between 23,000 and 26,000 died and the river ran red with blood.















I grew up in New England where Fife and Drum Corps and the Revolutionary War were important to residents. Here in the south, the Civil War is much more a part of life with re-enactments being fairly common. I still love listening to Fife and Drum units!

I'm trying once again to post more often. Hopefully I can save enough time in my life to fit this in. Otherwise I'll have to post daily goals and whether they are met or not.

Update

Well it's time for me to post another photo of Secret of the Stole. I'm part way through hint two but hint 3 came out today.

This is a more accurate photo showing the pewter color. It's softer in feel than the photo indicates - that silk really makes this wonderful. I'm not putting beads on this although it was designed to add beads. I wanted to see what it was like first - maybe I can add beads to another version later on.

My circular needle is rather coiled and I've read that some people either steam it or dip it in boiling water to remove the memory so it can be more accommodating. May try that this weekend.

I've got to catch up on this as Mystic Waters starts Wednesday and I've volunteered to translate the chart over to written directions for the participants.

The weather is finally nicer as it is 78 F right now at 5 pm. Maybe I can sit outside and spin a bit this weekend too. I need to do a third bobbin and ply a real 3-ply yarn. This is still Blue Suede Shoes from Crown Mountain Farm. I have a lot of this left to spin too. Actually my fiber stash is larger than my yarn stash right now. I've got a lot to do to catch up a bit. I see so many beautiful fibers on line that I want to buy, but I really have to reduce the 5 bags (those super large ziploc bags) full plus another tote bin full... and more.

Back to my knitting for a while.

Enjoy!

I' ve been Tagged

I was told today that I'm tagged. There are rules that go with this so I'm going to cut and paste from FugueStateKnits to get the rules right:

Here are the rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they've been tagged.

This shall be interesting (for me anyway):

1. I was born in Wisconsin, lived in Kansas, Missouri and Connecticut before my 8th birthday.

2. DH and I met in Florida, married in Texas and our kids were born in Washington (state).

3. I was in one of the experimental classes for the "new math" in elementary school along with regular math classes.

4. My mother, my DH and I each have a younger sister named Cynthia.

5. I have two grandchildren with autism. I also have another grandchild who is ADD and yet is brilliant enough for a school for accelerated students. Finding ways to help them and their parents is a passion of mine.

6. I love to cook and bake. As such, I'm addicted to Iron Chef America and Good Eats with Alton Brown. The third show I love is Everyday Italian.

7. I enjoy almost all types of music but my DS would frisbee or break the CD's he didn't like of mine - so I must have purchased 10 copies of Phantom of the Opera before he left home. I'm still looking for another CD of Starlight Express.

8. I've had laser surgery called SLT on my eyes to help control glaucoma. It's a really different experience and repeatable if my eye pressures climb up again. Glaucoma is silent 99% of the time - no symptoms until it's very late. Please get your eye pressures checked per your doctor's recommendations. You can't be cured but you can be treated - and the treatment is painless and easy (I put drops in my eyes a few times a day).


Now the hard part for me - who to tag: Let's try Peg, Tammy, Claire, Dani, and I'll have to come up with 4 more tomorrow... my brain isn't working right now.

First Peek

Here's the first progress shot of Mediterranean Lace from A Gathering of Lace. DD will have to choose between this and Secret of the Stole as it progresses. This one is in Jaggerspun Zephyr, a blend of 80% merino and 20% lace.

Secret of the Stole starts around October 5th and there seem to be hundreds in the group for this mystery stole. I know they are all over the world and there seems to be a large German representation. That is so neat to me... what the world needs are more knitters and fewer warriors.

This is posted primarily as a bribe so that DD will finally look at this blog and see her birthday wishes from back in mid-July...as she said today - oops...