July update

Ok, long past due for an update. Missed June altogether! So, where were we? Oh, I was waiting for yarn to finish the Botanica. It is finished but needs blocking and someone to model it. My manikin is too shaped like me. LOL

Finished the leafy shrug but was totally unhappy with it. Frogged and started a different design. Since this was the 3rd try I didn't take any pictures, didn't tell anyone about it, didn't want to jinx it! Ran out of yarn again and ordered more. Back ordered of course. It is now waiting to be finished.

The problem with having to wait for more yarn is that I start other projects. Can't stand not to be working on something.

Bought an afghan kit I've always wanted and started it. It is waiting now.



Had to make some more hats. Alex calls it a "watch cap with a bill". Another one for Alex, one for my brother Greg and one for nephew Alec.







Then I got all interested in my Ginny doll who needed some decent clothes. I joined 3 Ginny doll groups and designed a nice little version of the famous February Lady Sweater for her. A link to the (free) pattern is in my links list.







Started hunting on eBay for outfits and found one lot of four that I liked. Won them and was very surprised when 4 Ginny dolls came with the clothes! The bride and the one in plaid pants are called "skinny Ginnys" and their clothes don't fit the other Ginnys. The blond with the green sweater and the brunette in the swimming outfit are most like my original Ginnys (which are long gone) and are from the 80s. The 2 larger 10" dolls on the upper left came from a quilt show long ago and are hand made with cloth bodies and soft plastic heads, hands and feet.



Oh yes, my sister Nini needed a birthday present so I made her this. She likes it!



Oh and I started another purple FLS for ME! Got the body joined and put it on hold to start...



this, which was supposed to be a swim cover-up because I started swimming laps again. Anyway the yarn, a cabled Aran cotton from Elan, is just too heavy. So I will finish this to be the jacket it wants to be. Oh yeah, it's crocheted.



So I started another, a "duster" with what I thought was an acrylic mystery yarn that I had a lot of. Turned out to be a different mystery yarn and not acrylic. If I had finished this and thrown it into the washer you would have heard me scream coast to coast! Frogged it and took up a cone of machine knitting yarn in the same gauge and the right color and am happily crocheting away.




So that's where I am right now, beavering away on my blue duster. My goal for the summer in swimming laps is to gain enough strength (build muscle, loose fat) to be able to get out of the pool by myself and not have to use the silly lift chair. See, when they renovated the pool they took out the steps! Now there are only nitches in the wall which is great if you are strong enough to pull yourself straight up. I'm not (yet). I try to do 20 or more laps every other day if life doesn't get in the way. Ok! Back to the duster!!!

Socks!

While waiting for my rescue yarn to get here I picked up a pair of socks I had put down last year when I needed to get my Christmas knitting done. They are based on Jeannie Townsend's Cascading Leaves pattern. Jeannie’s sock would never fit me as designed. So I redesigned it to fit my big, hard calves, many times sprained/broken/permanently swollen ankles and insteps. They fit me perfectly! This is the first pair of socks (other than thick bedsocks) that I’ve knit for myself. :o)



My rescue yarn came yesterday so back to Botanica!

Out of yarn!

Well, it happened as predicted. 294 rows done out of 384 needed. Found a skein and a half for sale and it is in the mail to me from Florida.



So I spent time entering all my knitting books & magazines into my Ravelry library. It's pretty cool. If I click on anything in my library I get a list with pictures of all the projects in the book or magazine. If I click on a project I get a list of all the other folks who have done the project. I can see pictures of what their projects look like, what different yarns they used, notes they made. It's like a knitalong for every project!

Then I entered all my knitting needles and crochet hooks, except the steel ones because the form isn't set up for that yet. All of Ravelry is a work in progress. It is still a Beta and is already so big they are getting a new server.

My Summer Interweave Knits just arrived. Gotta go!

Time flies...

Well folks, I really must apologize! It has been a busy year so far and I am loving it!

Alison lost her colon unfortunately. But she is home and much better now and trying hard to gain weight. What a problem to have eh?

The reverse mortgage went through and it was SUCH a joy to pay off all our bills. So far living on our income is working fine. My biggest worry now is what happens when I am widowed and have to pay off the loan so I don't loose my home. I'm working on it.

Meantime I have been knitting like mad. I mean, I'm really on a roll!

I had all this gorgeous red CotLin from KnitPicks and made this for me. Yeah, it's crocheted. But I love it!



A purple February Lady Sweater that was supposed to be for me. But since my sis is a "purple person" and would probably rip it off my back, she will get it for Christmas. I have the perfect buttons for it.




Then there was this really neat hat I just had to make. Alex is modeling it but his friend took it right off his head. So I will make another and maybe e few for gifts.




And then SIL Mary's birthday was coming up and she loved the purple FLS. But she's a red head and loves green so I took her yarn shopping and made this. She's a happy girl!




Then I took some time and finally got most of my yarn stash posted on Ravelry. That was a job! I still have more to post but I was so itchy to be knitting again so I made this hoodie for my niece Mary. She loves yellow. She doesn't know about it yet. I plan to get a pic or 2 of her in it someday.




Then my new Vogue Knitting mag came and the cover got me all excited. So I started the Botanica Medallion Cardi for my other niece Laura. She looks exquisite in coral and I had this in my stash so... I am hoping to swap with another Raveler for a few more skeins to finish it.




I'm up to 140 rows on the outer ring so I'll take another pic tonight.

I'm gonna be 61 in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll get yarn???

Aran Isle Slippers & M&Ms

As you've seen in a prior post I have been knitting Aran Isle Slippers as gifts. The pattern is in the Holiday issue of Interweave Knits (pg. 80). I found the single sole to be rather thin and flimsy So I knitted 2 more soles, 2 stitches narrower than the originals, and sewed them into the slippers, wrong sides together. It makes for a cushier sole, puts a stockinette side against the foot for more comfort and stabilizes the shape of the slippers. The slipper soles are shaped to be right and left so the second sole for a right slipper should be a left sole and vice versa. And I made the inner soles 2 stitches narrower so there wouldn't be any bunching when it is sewn in. It fits perfectly.

These are for my SIL Maria.




The M&Ms? I'm eating the red ones as a visualization of red blood cells in honor of my friend Alison who is fighting for her life. She has Lupus which is when the body's immune system goes crazy and attacks its own body in error. One of the things it has done to Alison's body is to cause Crohn's which is a devastating disease all by itself. Alison's doctors have the nearly impossible task of trying to get the immune system toned down enough that it stops trying to kill the whole body and just do the once-in-a-while job it is supposed to do. She has just started on Humira to do just that and stop her from bleeding to death with Crohn's.

When your body is fighting an infection you have a lot of white blood cells running around in your body. Alison has waaay too many. She needs more good, robust, healthy red blood cells so I am visualizing on her behalf by eating the red M&Ms. Does that make any sense? I've been praying for Alison for many years and I thought maybe I could mentally send some more power to her battered body. I hope it's not just a silly excuse to eat red M&Ms. :o)

Alison's blog, http://spindyeknit.com/, is on my list of favorites if you want to take a look. She's a fighter with a positive outlook on life. She is a gentle soul who is always doing something kind for someone else. She is loved and prayed for by many but there is always room for more. She's been too sick to read her email but she can read her blog comments on her laptop without having to sit up. So we are leaving lots of comments on her blog. If you go over tell her Gretchen sent you!

Big Day!

It's been an exciting and nearly overwhelming day for me so I thought I would share a bit.

First, My Delaware Holly slipper sock pattern went up for sale on the Sockathon website today. A new experience for me. It looks like this.



Second, we got our property appraisal for our reverse mortgage today, A LOT more than we expected for our old Victorian that we bought "as is" 21 years ago. Still hard to wrap my mind around being able to pay off all our bills and live comfortably without using credit ever again.

Third my baby brother's first novel came in the mail from my Mom. I'm proud of my baby brother!

Found out we have to arrive at the hospital at 6:30am for Alex's 8am surgery on Wednesday. Getting up at 5am is not a pleasant aspect for this old night owl!

And lastly, I finished my brother Greg's Aran slippers, a late Christmas gift.



Not a bad day! Except for 2 very sick friends that I am very anxious about, 2009 has promising beginnings. I will keep praying! Bless us all!

Happy New Year!!!

Well folks, here's to a much better New Year, for us ALL! We are SO ready! Alex has surgery for his cantaloupe next week, finally. And, if all goes well, our reverse mortgage should be coming together in a couple of weeks. It will be so good to pay off the bills, buy groceries without credit and not worry constantly about how to pay the next bill. Seems this old Victorian we have lived in for 21 years is worth a lot more than we paid for it.

So, here are a bunch of pictures I have been saving up for my blog.

Our modest little Christmas tree.



Finished Bramble Bag for my SIL Mary.



My clean studio just before the house appraisal.



Alex giving the kitties a taste of some new kitty crunchies he just brought home from the store.



Necklaces knitted for my nieces. I made extra balls for kitty toys because they kept running off with the ones for the necklaces.



Nephew Seth's Candy Corn afghan.



And our little Christmas table waiting for company.

Time to catch up... again!

Well kids, it hasn't been a very good year. But Life goes on and I'm still praying and thinking positive and doing what I can.

My sales on eBay are going fairly well. I could do better if I wasn't so discouraged about shipping big, heavy items. I have knitting machines to sell because I'm only going to keep one. I have vintage sewing machines I would like to sell and they have to be very carefully packed so they arrive intact and unharmed. I've done it before with good success. I just need to work up the energy.

My Machine Knitting Bookshelf is empty except for a few that nobody seemed to want. I haven't decided how to sell the MK magazines yet. And I have lots!

So where were we? My 60th birthday was quiet. I'm happy to be a little closer to my social security. What next? Ah, 4th of July. Hubby Alex played one of the Benicia Founding Fathers with the Historical Society in the parade. Behold Robert Semple!



Then I spent nearly 24 hours a day recording the Olympics. Most thorough Olympics I've ever seen. Recorded 30 tapes that I dubbed to 27 DVDs. That's a LOT of commercials eliminated!

We had a few heat waves although not as bad as last summer. Cleo found that she likes to hang out in cool places like the bathroom sink and the tub.





Last year my credit union (EBTEL) was taken over by Sterlent CU. This year Sterlent was taken over by Patelco CU. What a pain! They have messed up my accounts SO much! I want to move all my accounts to a nice little local bank around the corner. No more deposits "lost in the mail". The last one I mailed (never again) was 2 weeks late so I was advised to get the check writers to stop payment and write new checks. Case closed right? No! After 4 weeks Patelco decided to post the deposit without notifying me or questioning the deposit slip date of a month before. And when the checks bounced they tried to charge me! I did what they told me to and they are going to try to rip me off? I don't think so! All charges reversed. Now I am trying to refinance my equity loan so I can pay off Patelco and get my accounts out of there.

So let's see, what else has gone on? Hubby Alex turned 73 last month. He is always in such perfect health that we got a new life insurance policy that goes to 120 years and costs a LOT less than the old one. A couple of weeks later I find this massive swelling on him, about the size of a cantaloup, that he should have told me about months ago! It's called a hydrocele (look it up) and will have to be surgically removed in a couple of weeks. I'm really tired of hospitals this year.

Again I am knitting Christmas gifts. A pair of gauntlets for someone who appreciates knights in armor and all that.



A couple of little cabled bags that still need pretty button closures.



And a Bramble tote bag that isn't finished yet. See the boo boos? I might just keep this one.



So that's where I am now. Watching the election returns and dreading the takeover of our country by a man who is not a natural born American, has terrorist and communist leanings and couldn't tell the truth if he tried. Lois, can I come live in B.C.?

Anything Nice...

Hi Folks. I know it's been a while since you've heard from me and I apologize. Me old Mum taught me, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Well, there's been very little nice to report on for quite a while. But darn it! This can't go on forever can it? I figure, today is the first day of my 61st year on this old earth. Well actually yesterday was my 60th birthday, but I'm a night owl and for me it is still "today". So, anyway, it's the beginning of a new year for me and I really hope things get better.

So where were we? Oh yes, the big storm that took down our trees and our wires and our neighbor's wires. A nice lady artist had taken some of our chunks of wood to work with and she came back for more. And while she was at it she cleaned up the first stump closest to the house. It's hardly noticeable anymore and hubby has made a new bonsai display area there. The old tree in the back is still lying where it fell and most of the debris is still there. For my birthday hubby says he will plant a veggie garden back there. It would be nice...

Had a huge scare in February. A very close family member attempted suicide and was in a coma for a few days. The hospital was about an hour and a half away but I or hubby needed to be there every day. I was so afraid. There was pneumonia, liver damage, brain damage. A sad, damaged psyche that can't or won't be fixed. He got better. He went home. He's trying. But I can hear him sliding back when I talk to him. A constant, wearing worry.

Which wreaks havoc on blood pressure, etc., etc... I am a well lubricated pin cushion. (smile) Only ruined one dress with blood stains. Naturally it was in light spring colors.

With gas prices so high and all that driving back and forth to the hospital for weeks, our already stretched very thin finances took a huge whack. Property tax didn't help either. Putting groceries on a credit card only works for so long. So now I am selling my things to help make ends wave at each other. My Mom is mad at me for not managing well. She's not the kind of Mom who will just hold you and let you cry and pat you on the back and tell you everything is going to be ok. She wants to move back to Oregon and it's just breaking my heart. It took SO many years to get her to live close by so we can help when she has one of her falls. We've been through all that a few times now. Oh well, at least she is still ABLE to move back to Oregon.

More later...

Gifts and Storm results

I received so many wonderful gifts I still haven't absorbed them all. Remember to click on the pictures for a better look, especially the storm pictures.



There's a beautiful Spode Blue Willow teacup and saucer, a wonderful swirled glass vase with a signature that is partly ground off, a charming snow globe music box that plays Take Me Home Country Road, an interesting apothecary jar, 2 different books about communicating with my cats, a bar-B-Q cookbook, A book of letters between Queen Victoria and her eldest daughter, The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal and German Empress and Queen of Prussia.



Beautiful golden ornaments and munchy goodies that were in my stocking, and the ornate Oriental Duck is an addition to Alex's duck collection.



The fabric shaver (that really works!) that I've always wanted from my wonderful DIL.



The DVD I've been waiting for, and I can't believe I haven't watched it yet!



Self explanatory!

And now pics of the aftermath of the weekend storms. One of our 100 year old black acacia trees fell down and took out our and our neighbor's wires. The other black acacia, also as old, had been leaning over the years too and needed to come down. My dear brother and his father-in-law came with their chain saws and took down both trees. Mayhem is left in their wake but we are grateful, nonetheless.



This is the new view from the bathroom window. The kitties will miss chattering with the squirrels and watching the hummingbirds at the feeder.



The sad view from the porch.



What's left of the beautiful old tree that the squirrels used to hang out in. A lady wood turner already came by and took some very large pieces of trunk. I look forward to seeing what she does with them.



This is what's left of the old tree that fell. My brother was going to finish cutting down the main trunk and cutting up the fallen trunk but his FIL was worried about traffic backing up on the way home and another storm was coming in.



Smashed storage and benches. Lots of crushed beginning bonsai trees etc. All those buckets and bags and stuff you see in the pictures is stuff my pack rat hubby has brought home from other gardens, now exposed to the light of day.



The other side of the yard. Timber bamboo as big around as my arm not to mention about 40 other kinds of bamboo. With that huge head of a statue back in the jungle you could almost believe you were in an Indonesian jungle.

Well, that it for now. I'll check with my neighbor tomorrow about her pictures. Another storm is coming in tonight!