The week that was

Early in the week we had freezing rain. UGH!! The next morning the sun shone brightly and all the trees looked like spun glass. Amazing!

I received a prize from a Ravelry group of a project bag. My DH calls these cows! The bag was made by Blue Tulips, who has an etsy shop.

Inside the bag is a shawlette from CPY Panda Silk DK yarn (another prize from a different group). I followed one of their patterns and ran out of yarn. The shawl is now finished and being blocked, so more photos of that later.

I finished the Tulip socks for DD the remodeler. It was a gray day. She is plugging along on her bathroom, taking showers elsewhere, like the "Y". Destruction has finished and she is beginning to build back. Luckily she has family and friends to help and advise.

Another baby hat was finished. This one of sock yarn. It will fit a larger baby.

I'm designing a shawl from this sock yarn. It should be a one skein project.

Signs of the season

The times, they are a-changing

These maple leaves were the first color I've seen, with this tree far ahead of the others in the neighborhood. I'M NOT READY!!

Dogwood trees show color and seeds. I don't remember seeing the seeds before. I don't often walk the dog past this tree, but remembered it from when it flowered.

The oak trees are bombing us with acorns. Squirrels are eating them like crazy. Cars run over them in the streets.

It's Goldenrod time. Luckily I'm not allergic. I was surprised to find these in a front yard, but I've seen other plants around too.

The Black Eyed Susans have been blooming for a while, but they also mean the end of summer.


We have Socks

I've been working on a pair of socks from a mystery pattern on the Crystal Palace blog. They are finally finished. The beads were an afterthought by the designer, so not in the pattern. I got a better picture when I finished the first sock.


The yarn is CPY Panda Wool. It's 51% Bamboo. 39% Wool. The color is Ultramarine, a blue green semi-solid. Teh pattern had 3 heel options, from plain to fancy. I usually wear heelless shoes, so I chose fancy. There were two instep options regarding where the "leaf" pattern is placed. I don't know if I wish I had placed it closer to the ankle.

Same old, same old

Thursday I went to the Judson Manor retirement home again. I haven't seen any of the apartments, but her are a couple of views of the lobby.

It's been a boring week. Work goes on. I love what I do, but there are boring parts every day. I'm remodeling a couple of sun dresses for a lady with a big bust. I'll try to take pictures of the second one before deconstruction.

I am finishing another pair of socks for Plymouth Yarns. These are for men. I will do at least one more pair for them. I'm using Happy Feet yarn and two color patterns.

I did payroll taxes yesterday. The only good thing about it is that I'm paying a lot less money this quarter than I did a year ago. I'm down to one employee and she only works about one day a week. I've been making more money for me since my second lady left last fall. She did me a great favor. Her timing was really good. Business fell off about the time she left, and really hasn't picked up since.

Weather in Cleveland is still chilly for this time of year. I don't mind, but keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and the real summer to kick in.

Weekend with Family

We had a family birthday party today at our daughter's house. MB is getting better at baseball. It is a favorite family activity, making it easy for a little one to find someone to throw the ball.

EB was flying, with help. Doesn't this look like fun? At 4 yrs old, she needs help.

I took my knitting and finished another sock. Like a dummy, I failed to wind the yarn for the second sock and bring it with me. I had to start with the leftover yarn that I had. It kept me going. I didn't knit much after dinner.

The birthday socks are complete. They were a hit at the party, with "ooh"s being heard when they were held up for viewing. Of course, I'm trying to sell the pattern, so no good pictures.

The other big hit was the fleece hoodie for littlest grandson. I don't think he knows what he got, but he loves how soft it is. I bought the fabric last February. It's not easy to find a small print for a little boy. I have 2 more hoodies to make for next January/February. I'll start looking for appropriate fabric soon. So many of the prints seem to be sized for blankets.

He quickly got tired of presents, and fell in love with floating tissue paper. He wasn't the only one opening gifts, but I think he just got tired with all the people there.

I talked in an earlier post about one of the retirement homes I do alterations for. This week, I went to the other retirement home with my camera. I got a skyline view from the room I work in. The building is built on a hill. This is floor #7. Downtown Cleveland is to the left and you can see Lake Erie on most days straight ahead.

Outside the door on the same level is a garden which is handicapped accessable. Many of the plants were donated by residents.

Digging out

I've fallen in love with fagotting. The shawl border is almost finished. I started for the final time on Thursday night at the Susan Yarns sit and knit. The diamonds continue the body pattern, even when doubling up the attaching points, everything fits together really well. I've steam blocked the border, but think when I block the whole shawl the border will stretch more.

I'm finding the snow depth gives interesting images. I really miss walking the dog. It's interesting, sometimes I don't want to do it, but she loves the snooping, and the walk is contemplation time for me. My legs miss the exercise, but most of the walks aren't cleaned and I refuse to take her in the street.

Today the sun shone and it got above freezing. There is some interesting scenery out there. There's the icicle jailhouse look from our upstairs porch.

The depth really shows on the bench and birdbath. Bronte really had fun running around the yard today. It's hard to get a good picture of a fast dog.

I have started another sock, and am plugging along on my Noro mitered square cardigan. I still have 1/2 sleeve to go on that. The sock is Onion Domes from KnitNet July 2002. The pattern has a short leg, with the heel starting right below the color pattern. I prefer a longer leg. The pink yarn is Bernat Hot Socks in Hot Tamale color. I don't know what the contrast yarn is.

Knitting along, U is for...

Christmas stocking
The Christmas stocking is finished. Here's the progress picture. The stitch pattern is from one of my Japanese books. The basic stocking is a pattern I've been using for family stockings for 35-40 years. This stocking is #26 in the series. Within a family the stocking colors alternate red, green, red, green. Each stocking is unique. The guys get stripes of some sort. The gals get something more pictorial. Since no 2 are alike, the series can go on as long as I'm able to knit. Here's the finished stocking.

U is for... undressed trees
The trees have been partying in their prettiest clothes, but now it's time to go to bed for the winter. They drop their clothes at their feet, or sometimes they are scattered further about. Soon they'll all be naked and asleep.

Excitement at work
A couple of months ago, the truck that empties the dumpster had an accident. It seems that when they raise the dumpster, the truck is put into neutral and the motor gunned. When the truck is in reverse instead, this happens. The hole was covered with plywood for quite a while, while insurance was worked out, bids were gotten, etc. One day work started. When all the damaged wall was removed, it looked like this.

There are 4 roof supports in the picture. I watched the wall be put back together. The original hole took 15 sheets of plywood to cover for the night. The building houses a car repair garage, so had to be secure overnight. Finally, the work was finished. The whole top of the all was repaired and tuck pointing was done. There's a new glass block window to the left.

Sweater progress
My Noro sweater body is finished, and the sleeves are started. I worked really hard to finish the socks by the Sunday deadline for gifting, so it grows slowly. The band has been redone. I misread the pattern and picked up too few stitches.

TNNA and travel

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Sunday, June 8 I went to Columbus, OH for the TNNA show. I'm not a yarn store owner, but when it's a couple of hours away, it's a good time to meet and greet suppliers, yarn suppliers, and other bloggers. I saw Lucy Neatby, the rainbow lady. I talked with Lily Chin, Margaret Fisher, Lynn H. Franklin Habit, Annie Modesitt, Chrissy Gardiner, Joan McGowan-Michael, Helene Rush. Shannon Okey, Kristin Nichols, Jackie E-S, Beth Brown-Reinsel, and Sheila Ernst.

I also talked with Chris Blysma of Knitting at Knoon, Katerine Cade of South West Trading Company, Joe Antal of Oasis Yarns, Interweave Press and XRX. It is a trade show after all. I'm hoping to do more designing and teaching in the coming year.

I got home around dinner time, and late that night, got on Amtrak for Chicago and then San Francisco. We have traveled by train before. We start at dark-o-clock in the morning, after staying up half the night, because that's when the train comes through. We then go to sleep and wake up in the Chicago area, where we change trains. We take the sleeper from Chicago, so have a nice lounge to wait in and a couple of hours to go outside and see the area near Union Station. Here's a picture of the Chicago River from last trip.

It was gray and overcast this time. There had been a lot of rain in the area. Here's the Mississippi as we passed over it. We didn't come back this way becasue of the flooding, but that's a story for another day.

We passed lots of farmland .(no pictures) When we got into Denver, we were told that we were going to miss the most spectacular part of the Rockies with the Moffet tunnel because of track work being done. We've seen it before, but still... The scenery can still be boring, but a lot different from home. There is bleak desert in Nevada. In the Denver station was a piece of railroad history. These cars are called "private varnish." We saw a different private cart last time through.






When we got into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, there was still snow.



The Reno station has is now finished. The trains were blocking traffic, so they dug a ditch and ran them under the streets. The work had started when we stopped in 2005. Now it is finished. This is a
"smoking stop," where you can get off the train, but not leave the platform.



We saw a spectacular sunset in Utah and an equally awesome one in Nevada.




The train portion of the trip ended in Emeryville, CA. We then took a bus across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.


The entire trip took 3 days. We got off the train late Wednesday afternoon. We had a wedding to attend and family to spend time with. Much knitting was done on a purple sweater. It wasn't finished until the trip home. and still needs a good bath before its formal portrait.

I actually packed 5 projects, including 2 pairs of socks. This is excessive for the amount of time available, but actually was a good thing. Just before we left, DH decided to have the 3rd floor of the house insulated. When you hire a professional, he has his idea of the right way to do things. This meant that all plaster and lathe needed to be removed and the "living space" insulated, rather than the roof. We will have plaster board for the walls, damaged plaster will be gone. Unbelievably, 1/4 of all our belongings were moved in a little over 24 hours. A teenage grandson and daughter with strong husband did the work. DH couldn't help because of medical problems and I was at work and TNNA. We have stuff piled in much of the house and in the garage. There is a dumpster in the driveway, so we are a 1 car family for now. My yarn stash is not available! Even many of my summer clothes are buried. The ideal time to tear apart the house is when we aren't there, but even without construction debris it's a mess. Even the dog was a dog camp for the duration.

Spring has Sprung

I have been knitting. I'll show you later.

Last week end I was teaching crochet for knitters at Knitter's Fantasy in Youngstown, Ohio. This is a new location for this event, but it seemed to work well. The even had outgrown the previous location and this one has more room. I taught the same class twice. I need to work on it some more to expand it to 3 hours. I have until TKGA in September.

I had 3 designs on display in the market. All of them are for Oasis Yarns. The green scarf is crocheted from their Seduction Silk. I called it Spring Garden. The red shawl is also from Seduction. It is knit.That stuff is wonderful! I called it Queen's Lace. I just found out that you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.


Here's the Snakes and Snails sweater in the wild. It's shown with Aussi Sock. That's the yarn it's knit from.










Trees in my neighborhood looked like this oak tree - lacy, but bare.












Today, there are trees with green lace.







Forsythia is in bloom, grass has turned green. DH calls it "that ugly shade of green" that means mowing is required.


I've been knitting on the girl sweater from Aussi sock. Both sweaters have a TNNA deadline of June 6. I'm on the last sleeve of Sugar and Spice. But still have the neckband to do. I'm not sure how I will attach it. The ruffle will also go around the neck. I'll put a life line on it, so if I don't like the attachment I can retreat. These are the same yarns as Snakes and Snails.