Thursday, December 25, 2014

Now that was different.

We are spending our first Christmas without either of our girls and with no living parents.   It is a bit sad but surprisingly not weep in the corner bad.   We haven't had our parents around for the holidays for years so their absence was most noticeable shopping..you know those "this would be perfect for " moments.  Mostly that made me smile remembering gifts and moments shared.

Knowing that dds were together even if not with us made it less sad.  With the miracle of apple technology we shared a beer and opened gifts together on FaceTime.   It was almost like being there.  

So we have made it through this first holiday of different.  It wasn't all bad.  It was just different.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Dining out.

The best and worst experience.   We went to dinner at a near by Italian restaurant, that has been highly recommended...we received our drinks, had our order taken, received salads...then were forgotten. Until a person, not our waiter stopped by to see if we'd enjoyed our meal and saved room for desert.  We point d out politely that we'd never received our meal.   So 3 1/2 hours after arriving we finally left.  We did get food, no apology from management or even our waiter.   No comp like a drink or dessert.  And the food was only ok.  We won't go back. Yet I imagine it will be successful in spite of itself.

Last night we went to a new tapas restaurant.  The food was amazingly. The server attentive.  When the wine we ordered was unavailable we were offered a higher priced similar wine for the other price.  

Sadly because it is such a different food style I fear it may not last.  
So just in awe I indulged in desert.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Finished

This was one of those projects where the pattern is good and the finish sweater is nice but the knitting was painful.   If I make this pattern again I will make a smaller neckline.  It's a bit too wide for my taste, but Frogging and re-knitting is out of the question.   

Thursday, November 13, 2014

A treat for me.

For most of my life I only had hand mixers, and not great ones at that.  Finally I splurged on a kitchen aid.  Love it.  Now after 5 years in Florida I decided it would be nice to have one here.  Target online came through with early sale, plus my red card discount, plus a discount from all the med's I've filled lately.  So it was about as good a deal as I would ever find.  Only problem is its "professional ". So bigger then I expected.   Not sure where I will store it.  And I certainly need to start putting it to work.  

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Knitting in public

I had a lot of down time in between steps yesterday.  I had sentinal lymph node biopsy.  So I took advantage of the time as a good knitter should.    It's not glamorous like knitting in public in Paris, or charming like a fiber festival, or fun like a ballpark.  But it helped pass the time.  Besides what else can you do sitting around in your underwear in a backless gown. 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

October is for breast cancer awareness

This year is the year that my diligence in getting routine mammograms paid off.   So this appears to be my year to celebrate breast cancer awareness with a suspicious mammogram.  Following an ultrasound, then a next day biopsy it appears that I have a dcis.  A non invasive ductal carcinoma.   They also biopsied a suspicious looking lymph node, but that was benign.  Initially I was going to work with the nurse navigator and schedule surgery and follow up in Florida, but after a preliminary consult with the surgeon here I'm going to go ahead with surgery here next week.  Not because it was more urgent, but because he just gave us a good feeling and he has an opening next Wednesday.   So barring unforeseen findings in surgery..My plan is to meet with the oncologist here and the nurse navigator to coordinate follow up radiation in Florida.   

The surgery is outpatient in Brainerd.  So I am really glad we made the move to local docs in the spring.   I'll let you know how it all pans out.    While I won't be golfing immediately when we return, I can still participate in the dining component.   And I have no idea how other post surgical treatment will impact my energy level for golf..perhaps I will be on the friendly tees for while.   

But the bottom line is that screening really does pay off. 

On the knitting front I finished my never ending shawl and a couple of hats to donate as chemo hats.  



Sent from my iPad

Monday, September 22, 2014

Instant gratification

Well not exactly instant but close enough.  After the never ending drape front white sweater I needed something that would be finished in less then 3 months.  Poncho patterns seem to be everywhere on ravelry, although I haven't noticed many in store ads.  I wanted a top down version so it could be tried on in progress.  Emma Fassio's Nuovo Inizio was just perfect.   

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Bits of progress

I put the first sleeve of my drape front cardi on waste yarn so I could start the second sleeve.  I have only two skeins of yarn left and have a 3/4 sleeve done.  With the second sleeve and the neck edge remaining.   It will be close.   

Working on a cowl out of bernat mosaic.  You'd never know it was all acrylic yarn..

Fresh flowers from one of my shrubs.  They are a Limey shade of green and almost look fake.  
I wish I had the patience, and gardening interest to have a lovely cutting garden...but I don't so these will have to do..  

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Fall is around the corner.

Funny how you can feel it in the air. Cooler mornings and evenings, warm days.   The time of year when you never quite know what to wear.  The beginning of layers and closed toed shoes.   So it seems like time to send our socks off to the Carmen Arce school in CT. and a few hats to bundles of love in MN.  
  Just a wee bit of warmth.  

Monday, August 25, 2014

Great gift.


It was my birthday in July.  Dds gave me really fun yarn.  It arrived in the post on my actual birthday.   

It's awesome sock yarn.  

I bought 
I don't know if I will ever knit anything from it, but the construction approach is intriguing.   I saw a shop sample a year ago and thought if it was ever on sale....yeah knit picks.    

Fall shawl

I bought this yarn for a different shawl, but there was an error in the pattern.   We'll not the actual pattern, but the materials requirements.   So I didn't have enough yarn.  It was on sale at the time and when I went back there was no more.  So the yarn just sat..until I saw Mirasol.  

My yarn didn't quite fit the pattern, but I think it worked just fine,  


Just in time

Finished dd2 Tardis socks two hours before the debute of the new Dr.Who.  

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Whovian.

Dd2 is a huge Who fan,  and I really enjoy it as well.  So in honor of the new season with a new Dr.  I ordered us tee shirts.
And I finished her Tardis socks.  
We watched the last two episodes of the old dr. And the first of the new on this otherwise cool and dreary lake day in style.   

And we knit while watching.  

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Soooo not a farmer.

I guess this wouldn't be an example of sustainable agriculture.  The tomato is about the size of two golf balls.  

Monday, August 4, 2014

Finished!

Finally finished my everyday wrap.  It's a free coco knits pattern.   It is miles of stockinet in lace mohair.    Tedious knitting, lovely finished object.   

Friday, July 11, 2014

Couldn't resist

I saw this book and a sample last year at a lys.   I just broke down and ordered it from knit picks.   I don't have the yarn for any of the sweaters,  I'm not sure if I will ever knit one...but they are so pretty and the construction is so interesting, I just couldn't resist.  

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Measures of time.

I guess this must be some kind of a milestone.  I've been back in Minnesota long enough to use a complete 90 pod container of laundry soap.   
No pictures seem necessary.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Today it rained.

 Actually, it's been doing a lot of that lately. So everything is very green. The mosquitoes are thick. I've been working in my Pure and Simple drape front cardigan.   It's easy. Great for tv watching.  But lots and lots of seed and stockingette in light weight yarn.  
I'm using Elizabeth Lavold ViSilk. So the end result should be nice and drapy.

I knit a tardis cover for my new iPad mini.   But it turned out way too loose and unusable.   So it's going from this
  To this
I didn't frog, just knit directly from one project to another.  It will be a baby hat for charity.  Maybe the recipent will have someone in the family that will recognize a similarity to the tardis. 

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Clubbing

I bought a new golf bag for Minnesota.  So my red and blue fuzzy club covers didn't work here.

The new bag is green and black.
The stripes represent the club number.  I may make different bigger fluffier pom poms.  

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Guess that means we live here

We have a mail box.  I will go to the post office today and complete the paperwork that will start mail delivery.   

Friday, May 30, 2014

Medical ups and downs

When we returned from our road trip the dog wasn't well.  A quick trip to the vet and $200 determined ear infection, dry eyes with treatable inflammation, and worsening seasonal allergies.  Oodles of pollen here.  So with steroids for his ears, drops for his eyes, and citerizne and benedryl for his allergies he is on the mend.  

Sadly, on the road we received news that dh dad wasn't feeling well.  Testing reviled liver cancer.  Over the course of two weeks it progressed from Not curable but treatable with chemo. To spreading no chemo advised 4 -8 months, to rapid now it's more like 4-8 weeks and he will move from independent living to assisted living/hospice care.   All in the course of 15 days.   Dh is there, I am not.  We talked about it, and he said not to come.  Sibs that weren't planning on arriving until June or July have been convince to come next week so decision can be made. 

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

More time in the car.

 Drive to Connecticut and back for dd1 graduation.  She received her PhD.


Thank heavens for knitting.  3 baby hats.  2 1/2 socks...different pairs.  Started a shawl.  And a few levels of candy crush.   

Got in some bad golf with good friends in Pennsylvania.  
 Horrid weather.  

Now back in MN 
 At the lake.  With all the road trips we are way behind...so no docks or boats .
And finally we will get a new vet in this area.  Jack has a rip roaring ear infection. So time to move his care up here. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Spent a lot of time in a car

YWe drove from Florida to Minnesota.  From Andover to ideal corners.  From ideal to Mankato and back again.  So I've had a lot of sitting and knitting time. 

Finished except for blocking. 

Needs a toe and heel

Needs a sleeve.

That would be dd2. She completed her masters degree hooding ceremony. 

Brrrr!

I'm definitely not in Florida anymore.  There aren't even any visible buds on the trees.  Dh played golf this am...it was 40.  

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Back to basics

After floundering, trying to find the right pattern for the right yarn and my level of interest. I gave up.  I decided perhaps it was time to return to basics.  So I cast on a Knitring Pure and Aimple summer cardigan out of some yarn that has been hibernating in my stash for years.   
 If I'm feeling inspired I may modify the sweater.   But if not I will at least have a usable finished object in the end rather then a ball of rewound yarn.  

I also knit a quick baby hat using a free pattern from the Purlbee.   Someone at knitting was making a hat for charity. I wanted to try this pattern. I had the yarn. So voila.  
  Looks perfect with the TWINS theme.   

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Sometimes things just don't work.

I really like the pattern BRICKLESS.   I like the look it had with my Charleston yarn from Interlacements.   However, it was simply going to be to long to, be wearable.  I didn't want to use just part of the skein.  When you have 795 yards of unbroken yarn it just seems like to shouldn't be cut.   So it had been frogged again.   I will make Brickess out of different yarn and the charleston will have to wait for another day.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The yarn speaks

After knitting with Interlacements Charleston for 5 inches of the Abigal sweater pattern it was very clear that this yarn did not want to be a sweater.   The yarn is dry clean only, so now baby things, no kid things, no lap robes.  Nothing that might be high maintenance.  And only a project that used all of the yarn.

Luckily today when I was wandering on Ravelry I stumbled across the BRICKLESS shawl pattern by Martina Behm.  And the yarn screamed that is what I want to be when I grow up.  So with the miracle of Internet shopping I purchased the pattern.  It was my Masters Golf project.  The yarn and I are both very happy with the results.
  There are 795 yarns of unbroken yarn in a skein of that yarn, so it important that we both are happy.  

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Never a good sign

I got a hair cut today.  Told the stylist that I was feeling frumpy.  She gave me a stacked cut.  Sounded like a good idea....at the end after blowing and round brushing..and a little more clipping....she said if I wasn't happy with it call and come back in.......something seems a little wonky with my hair.   

I will give it the weekend. But think I need to go back....not sure how it can be fixed.  Hard to glue hair back on...

Saturday, April 5, 2014

My charmed life

Or my life in charms.  
 A knitting needle/skein, an alligator, palm tree, golf green, dd's birthstones and a small dot that says "live,laugh,love"   

So now I can wear my life around my neck as opposed to my heart on my sleeve 

Monday, March 31, 2014

Guests

Fil and sil are visiting from cold country.   Finding fun things to do with fil can be a challenge.   Sunday was sunny so for something completely different we went to watch a polo match.
Between trips to the airport and a rainy day I finished another pair of socks for the middle school kids.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Gambling knits

My fil and a sil are visiting this week.   Fil likes to gamble so we had a field trip to a Hard Rock Casino.  I lost my $25 dollars in about 10 minutes.  So I found a couch and a cup of coffee and got out my sock knitting.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Self discovery

I started this pair of socks three times.  Twice with cables and purling and once with a modification of Tincan knits rye.  My self dicovery is that I,really prefer letting th yarn do the work raHter then forcing it into patterns.   So Rye it is. Simple pattern fun yarn a winning combo.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patricks Day

We went to the square for music and frivolity and an early St. Pats party.   
   Which proved to be a really good idea.  Today, the actual St.Pats celebration is postponed due to rain.    We will be celebrating with a movie.  Dd2 returns home to the snow tomorrow.   

Saturday, March 8, 2014

My mistake

I been knitting the Mistaken Shawl by Dollybird Workshop. Out of some Noro that was given to me.   It is a nice pattern, but as I near the end I am convinced it is not the best use of the yarn.   
 So I am going to frog it and start over.    I fear if I finish it will just sit on the shelf. The yarn is to nice for it to languish unloved.  

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Too big on the inside

Finished the leg and part of the foot of tardis sock #1.   The only problem is that without any ribbing on the foot the sock  will be sloppy big on dd2.  So I will frog the foot and do a simple rib hat follows the placement of the slipped stitch.  Then the sock will be bigger on the inside but not loose.