Saying good-bye to Winter

Okay full disclosure I haven't really had to experience "real" winter weather for an extended period of time since we moved the family to Arizona 16 years ago. If we are lucky it might rain alot during February but this winter I didn't have to put on anything heavier than my well worn acrylic sweater from Target...until the Chirstmas trip to Utah but that was only a weeks worth of coat wearing.

I joined the "Say Goodbye to Winter Swap" hosted by the High Fiber Diet Podcast. I had drawn Lorrieu for my partner and had a great time picking out some fibery treats for her.

My upstream partner was Kim from GA. She spoiled me greatly :

Thank You notes
seasonal pens One with a cute bunny on top
Sticky notes!!!!
Project bag with springy flowers all over it from MessieCraftie
yummy salty snacks my favorite, along with a well sealed bag of Hershey Kisses…yeah!!! they didn’t melt.
mmmmmMalabrigo Sock yarn in the Caribeno colorway
Newton’s Yarn Country Happy Feet Print

it was a lovely treat and wonderful way to celebrate the first day of Spring. BammerKT mentioned on the podcast how suprised she was that the swap had brought members of the Ravelry group together. I think its great it gave us a chance to get to know each other, do some cyber sluething, and help each other with clues, It was fun to joke and tease each other too. I believe when you try to do something kind for another person , without expecting anything back from that person friendships even cyber-friendships , can be built.

I'm sure I'll think of something better to say later.

Happy Spring!

Happy Patrick's day

Outake of the conversation I had last night with my 5yo daughter Banana Girl
BG: "Mom?"
me : yes Banana?
BG: "Can I wear my Sponge Bob shirt tomorrow?"
me: It isn't green, why do you want to wear Sponge Bob?
BG: "Well I love it and Sponge Bob's best friend is Patrick and tomorrow is Patrick's day."

Most of my life when the subeject of ST. Patricks day has come up I envisioned Leprechauns, Shamrocks, and people dressed in clothes the color green. After talking to my darling daughter last night all I can think about is that silly, big , pink starfish.

Knitters Unite.

I'm a huge fan of NPR. One of my favorite shows is "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" Its one of the few things that can truly make me laugh even when I am in my darkest moods.

Two weekends a go panelist Mo Rocca made a statement regarding his "hate" of handmade sweaters an that they were itchy. After being flooded with e-mails from the knitting world and Ravelry.com. Mo issued an apology.

Go to the show's rundown page, scroll down to Panel Round Two and click on that. In true WWDTM fashion it was hilarious. Poor Mo, its not nice to upset people who carry around the pointy sticks

My backyard......and a hat

Now is my favorite time of the year to be living in Arizona. Its been sunny and bright, so much so that when there is a gray and overcast day it comes as a relief from all the brightness that inhabits Central Arizona.

This time of year we are usually reaping the harvestfrom our "Winter" Garden, that we planted back in the fall. After seeding the last October, the chickens got into the garden and dined on carrot, sunflower, and peas (seeds). There isn't a lot of produce. Last week, the hubby patched the holes in the garden fence and instruced the children tothe need to keep the chickens out , and they pseeded again for a Spring/Summer garden.

For now the Lemon Tree is weighed down with lots of lemons, and is also starting to blossom for next years fruit. Lemon trees are amazing to me how they can do that all the time. We are picking the fruit and sharing it with whoever will take and enjoy free fresh lemons.

The Almond trees are blossoming:

Petunias are doing wonderfully well this year:

and our hens are giving us 4 - 5 eggs a day, this is plenty for our family an also gives us a little to share. I know there is more than 5 eggs in this picture, the children forgot to check for eggs the night before.

and there is always knitting. I knit two hats for Sydneyknits' hat drive for the oncology unit where here husband was treated.

The patterns I knit were Felicity and Odessa. Below is pictured Odessa w/o beads

Having knit this once without beads, helps me feel more comfortable with the pattern and next time I will knit it with beads.

Its Hip to be a Square

I love most music. I would listen to it all the time when I was going through my teenaged- young adult years. When I was in the Nursing Progam at the college my casstte player would keep me company and help me stay awake as I drove back an forth from my home to the school and hospitals where I did my clinicals. Whitney Houstan would cry with me as I experienced my first heartache, while Huey Lewis and the News would keep my spirits up when I was feeling discouraged with school, or my mom was very sick. I loved Huey Lewis and the News, I was even asked on a date to go see the group in concert. I still love listening to their music, even when Sesame street parodies it


I have been working on some "swatches" trying different stitch patterns. I use the plural form because I made more than one less than three. These were just an experiment and will probably send them to a friend who is collecting squares to make blankets.
Both are made from Berroco Nostalgia
L: brown
Reversible cable pattern
r: Red
Stitch: Gull Lace pattern

I have also been practicing,swatching whatever you want to call it with mitered squares. I really love the Sock Blankie by Shelley Kang, would really like to make one too. I just can't seem to get the rythm of the mitered square. I'm doing better than I was last year at this time.

My First Square

made with leftovers from Unique Sheep Verve. The finished blocking size was 4"

Noro Kureyon

needles: US#1

I loved knitting with the Kureyon sock yarn...after I skeined the ball, soaked and, wound it up again. The bigger square measure approximately 6" the smaller one are 3". It took several tries to match the right needles with the right yarn to get these sizes. They are fun to make and have thrown me off course from my other goal knitting. They have been blocked and ends woven in. Theya re going to be put away until I finish some other committments.

Happy Valentines Day!

Green Tuesday

Mom is a big fan of podcasts. She loves listening to Meghan over on the Stitch it Podcast. Meghan talks alot about " SPINNING! , knitting, and a few of her"favorite things" . In an effort to live a "greener" life she "dryer balls". A non-toxic way to make your clothes fluffy and static free in the dryer, and alternative to dryer/fabric softener sheets. Mom expressed an interest intyring some, but was not interester in buying the PVC ones available in the retail stores, and she really didn't feel like poutting forth the effort to make the wool ones. Enter on loving daughter who needs a good Valentines present to send to her mom. A daughter with a lot of wool who livesw in a climate that doesn't require a lot of wool.

Today I made wool dryer balls, using this tutorial It is a learning process. I am going to send the better felted ones to my mom and keep four for me, and see if they really work.

Monkey Socks and Muffins

I finished my dd's pair of "Micro Monkey Socks" . It is a downsized version of Cookie A's Monkey Socks. She loves them and in fact wore them for two days in a row (ew!). These are made out of the left over yarn from the Be Mine Socks. After a couple days of wear these litle nubs appeared on one of the socks. I was happy that they weren't ruined. A little disappointed in the yarn, but also I realize that this is what wool yarn does, and it is fix-able.

I freaked a little . As I am a novice sock knitter, little things like this do that to me. When I got brave i clipped the pills off. The fabric underneath was still intact, Phew!

I needed 2 dozen muffins for a children's activity tomorrow at the church building. Being the addicts we are in this family, blueberry or bannana-nut was going to do. I knew that I needed to make Chocolate-chocolate chip muffins. I found this recipe on the food network web-site. I think they turned out rather well, better than I evermade with a mix. i doubled the recipe and ended up with 2 dozen regular sized muffins, and 2 dozen mini-muffins.

Yum!