Interesting Technological Phenomenon

Interesting, frustrating.  My last post must have shown up on your screens, since I received comments, and it is on my list of posts--but it isn't on my blog screen.  So I'm posting this little piece just to test the system.

Whirlwind Life

A quick post to let you know I'm still alive.  First of all, WELCOME!! to my new followers.  Thanks, Anne, for responding to my question on your blog.  There are no pictures today, as I'm working on the same projects and there isn't enough progress to show pictures:  Irish  Moss--back is finished, started a sleeve and a front.  Zack in Black--no progress. 
My dear SIL who visited from Ontario yesterday, put in an order for a black shawl, so I'll have to get some yarn and add that to my list.
We're busy in the greenhouse.  I didn't take any new pictures there, since it's the same as last year and every year.  If you are interested, go back to some old posts about this time of the year.
I had my last (I hope) dental surgery  last week.  (HA, HA, I was going to say "I had dental surgery in my mouth"--that's how tired and brain dead I am.)  For the last few weeks I've had to make 3 trips to the city each week to pick up young plants, and in between, do the seeding and transplanting.  I also organized and MC'd our local World Day of Prayer on March 4.  And the family I share looking after my church (cleaning and preparing for alternate Sunday services) were on holidays, so it was my job alone--and we had lots of snow, so there was lots of shovelling.
Kubota Man agreed to find his own supper after we got in late from the greenhouse, and I think I shall just scramble a couple of eggs on an English Muffin--or maybe just a meal-replacer (mouth still sore).
Till next time.

Major Catching-up to Do

It sure has been a long time.  We're all healthy, and confused by the weather:  A few days of minus 30 then a few days of plus temperatures.  Lots of ice.  Will start by catching up on projects since the last time I shared with you.  The girls all got cocoon scarves, also my 2 best friends.
The girls also got their perennial socks, this time with metallic threads in them:

Kubota Man got his Retro sweater.  He wanted one like his grandpa's heavy sweaters with deer and fish on them, but no pictures.  He chose Briggs &Little yarns, Sheep's Grey and Light Grey, which I plied together to make bulky weight.  He practically slept in it for the first few days.

Daughter #1 got her Mary Maxim Swing coat, which I had to knit twice, because the pattern didn't work out right, and with the gauge the pattern required, the sweater grew and grew as I was knitting it.  So, having made a poor product, I frogged, and re-knit it with smaller needles, the way I thought it should be--and it worked.  She loved it!

I've also started on my 2011 goals:  this year everyone gets their sweaters as soon as they are finished.  Youngest daughter's 2011 sweater.  She received it and wore it right the next day.

And there are always the Prayer Shawls: 2 more Rainbow Baby Shawls:

A pair of socks for me (the raspberry aloe vera socks) and a pair for my cousin in Germany.

Also a white wool scarf with multi-colored metallic threads:  I call it the Snow Queen Scarf--a gift to myself.

Then for a while I was working on a test-knit for a ravelry friend "Brunhilde", sorry I can't do the link.  At the time of this picture, the long sleeves weren't finished yet.

Another project that I'm just loving is my Design Challenge for a Ravelry group.  Here is the yarn from Virtual Yarns (Alice Starmore's site) in the Shetland Islands.  I can show a sneak peek of the ribbing, but the sweater can't be revealed because I have submitted it to a magazine.

And, finally, the start of some more 2011 projects:  Zack in Black, a sweater that Dughter 3's boyfriend requested;  Black, with a bit of red trim.

My Irish Moss sweater from the Alice Starmore book:  Aran Knits.

So that's all the knitting news.  I'm almost finished the re-decorating, just the back porch and crown mouldings left to paint.  The downstairs and two bedrooms of crown mouldings will be on the agenda for Fall.  Next week we are going back into the greenhouses again.  That's kind of a bittersweet time.  It's exciting when we first start, a nice change from winter, but it soon gets to be too much work.  But spring comes quickly once we're in the greenhouse.

In the middle of March I will get phase 2 of my dental implants, then a new denture to clip on, and, I really hope that is the end of my painful mouth.  But since I put on 15 pounds over Christmas and due to inactivity, I hope that being able to eat lots of raw veggies and the spring work will help me get trim again.

Till next time :  Memories are stitched with love.

No, Hades has not Frozen Over

Yes, I am posting twice in a week.  That's because I have something to show you.  The days are the usual garden/yard/farm/nursery work, since we are having a fall with lovely weather.  And I've made time to knit, and knit, and a bit of crocheting.  Daughter #2 's Aran Hoodie is finished (for Christmas).  The front looks a bit rough because I haven't got the zipper yet, and its just pinned.I also finished 2 more Rainbow Baby Shawls for the prayer shawl ministry at my Church.

The family is coming tomorrow for Thanksgiving, so it's been busy cooking since yesterday.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Blogger friends.

Till next time:  You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart,your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world, but a world lives in you.  (Fredereick Buechner, Telling the Truth)

Just Checking In

I know it's a cliché, but time does really fly.  We're so busy with fall work, now that the weather has improved.  Garden is cleaned, flower beds in progress.  Deck is still messy with dead flower pots.  I emptied the compost from one of our 4 compost heaps onto some flower beds.  They look beautiful with the weeds covered up (pictures to follow).
Kubota Man Jr.'s Aran sweater is finished, and Daughter #2's aran hoodie is almost finished.  I also did 1 1/2 more  Rainbow Baby shawls. 

Trying to sneak in some work on the Fair Isle Design Challenge.  When I turn 65 in January, our Health and Dental plan is gone, so I've been spending lots of time finding a new plan.  Today we made our decision--good feeling.  Also had to apply for my Old Age Pension--done.

In November I'm getting 4 implants into my lower jaw to better hold my lower denture--I've had my dentures for about 40 years, and the lower ones are now hard to fit properly, since the bony ridge is disappearing.  That will require some surgery to put the base of the implants in, then in several months, another bit of surgery to insert the posts--and new dentures $$$$$$$$.  But I don't have to look forward to eating baby food and jell-0.

I took 5 lambs to slaughter last week.  We have never had lamb, so I'm collecting tried-and-true, delicious recipes.  I'm told that with lamb it's a love-it or hate-it relationship, and also depends on how the animal was fed and how it's handled and cooked.  My priests are from India, and they love any kind of sheep meat, even mutton.  So, if we don't like it, "Merry Christmas, Father James and Father Francis".  Also daughter #3's boyfriend is from Fiji,of Muslim heritage, and he likes lamb.

Welcome to my newest follower!

Till next time:  You have powers you never dreamed of.  You can do things that you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what youcan do except the limitations in your own mind as to what you cannot do.  Don't think you cannot.  Think you can.  (Darwin P. Kingsley)

Do I Have any Blog Friends Left?

I can't believe how the summer has flown.  We have worked really hard to get the yard improved from years of not having the time or strength to keep up with it. (I'm talking about a couple of acres of yard).  The garden has been fairly good.  We've had tons of tomatoes and cucumbers.  Now it's almost time to clean it up.  This week, weather permitting I will have to do some "Round-up".  I can worry about going green when the weeds are under control.  And I still have to plant about 10-12 trees--a black birch, a linden, a Schubert chokecherry and several Tower Poplars.
The wedding shawl is finished--the wedding is over (my friend from the Theatre).  Here it is all blocked out.

Can you see the Swarovski crystals in the eyelet row next to the border?

Are the crystals more obvious here?

Some time ago, I made an Aran pullover for Kubota Man Jr.  It was made with Patons Canadiana, which, years ago, you could machine wash/dry with your regular laundry.  I guess they "improved "  it, because when he washed it , it doubled in width of body and length of sleeve.  The company replaced the yarn (which I will use for an afghan)

This is its replacement.  I am using the good-quality, and reliably machine wash/dryable "Sayelle" yarn which I bought at Eaton's Department Store.

My sister had another cancer scare, but the tests came back favorably.  I had been working on a Mary Maxim kit for her (which she requested).  I did not enjoy working with that yarn, but she will enjoy the sweater.

And, of course, I've been spending time with Mom.  Behind the Nursing home is a lovely park with a man-made hill and a beautiful pond.  It is about a  1 hour walk around the park.   Mom loves to sit  by the pond, look at the birds, the insects, we pick a boquet of wildflowers (like we used to do when I was  a little girl), and sometimes we burst into spontaneous song--old German favorites:  Lieserl Komm Her, Sah Ein Knab ein Röslein Stehn; Ich Hatt Einen Kamaraden, Das Wandern ist des Müller's Lust, etc.(ovbiously, this list is for my German Blog Friends).

Off to the city tomorrow to get new orthotics, and see the Dr. because my legs are being very painful--I suspect I have bursitis on the hip.  Then a prayer service in the evening for a friend's son-in-law, who died at age 53 of a massive heart attach, in the presence of his 12-year old son.

Below is a glimpse of my next challenge.  On one of my Ravelry Groups there is a Fair Isle Design Challenge.  So I ordered one skein of each color from Alice Starmore's Virtual Yarns website (must use that yarn) at the cost of about $145.  That's so I can design and play with the colors.  Once the design is done, I have to  order the yarn for the sweater.  I'm still charting and playing with the colors--it is a limited palette of 31 shades.    Also, I  have been test knitting for a designer in Washington.  She had a design published in the new fall edition of Vogue magazine.  I'm expecting a parcel for one more knit this week.

Life is good.

(By the way--I have been visiting all my favorite blogs, and some new ones, but I am having trouble leaving comments.  My internet line is so slow, that waiting for the comment box to open it interminable, then waiting for it to post so I can close down also.)

Till next time:  Tell someone you love: I ask myself why I have been blessed with someone so understanding and so caring...

Perhaps it's because I can truly appreciate you or maybe it's because God knew I needed you so much.

Starting to Catch Up

The promised rainy (actual thunderstorm) day has arrived.  We are having power interruptions, so I don't know how the uploads are going to go.
First a glimpse of my beautiful world:  An On Top Sunset Shades Begonia.

One empty and cleaned-out greenhouse--only 2 more to go.

Furry sheep:  "We're just cooking in this heat.  Please shear us!!"

Pleas answered.  Here is our shearer.

I thought I took a picture of the naked sheep, but when I transferred the images--no naked sheep.

But I did find a "Furry Flower" in the garden.  Very aromatic.

My rock garden, roughly cleaned. Needs another going over after the garden is all done.

Lovely lilies.  I zoomed in on these because they are just the size of the last joint of my thumb.

I have finished the orange/fold mohair shawl with Swarovsky crystals in the border.  Will share this after it is blocked.

I'm also busy winding Virtual Yarns 2-ply skeins, as I am planning on taking part in a Ravelry Fair Isle Design challenge.  I ordered 1 skein of each color, and when the swatching is done, I will order the yarn for the sweater. 

Now I have about 3 hours of work to finish cleaning the garden.  I commited to 3 hours a week at the hospital to look after the flowers and shrubs.  The unpredictable weather is making me sorry I agreed to do this.  I thought that I would go on Thursdays:  Put in my 3 hours in the morning, visit Mom in the Nursing Home, go to the nearest city 20 miles away for groceries --kill one day to get it all done.  It has been either raining or drying up from rain.  The hospital landscaping is all planted into clay.  The folks who did it had not the foresight to improve the soil.  The plants are struggling when it's too wet, and they are choking in the concrete-like mess when it's hot.  I told the hospital administrator that the beds will have to be dug out this fall, and some compost/composted manure dug in.

If you would like to see more flowers, go to my other blog.

Till next time:  Once abolish the God and the government becomes the God. (GK Chesterton)  (scary thought)