A post from the Past: June 27, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 27, 2008

My late daughter’s friend A. or Monkeyspinner posted a photo of her friend PIPPA who made this hat in one evening. All I saw was a photo of one side of it on her head. I love this hat and the way the colors are positioned. 
I hope that I am not offending her by trying to make this hat. Autumn was a dear friend of my daughter Sierra and I am hoping she will be honored that I want to make a hat for Sierra’s daughter. And that she tells Pippa that this is who will receive the hat. 
So I did some sketching in my notebook to make something similar.


My change is by adding a black and a white stripe. 
I also did some K2P2 ribbing for the beginning.
I read about 15 different hat patterns to understand the basic knitting of hats and how many stitches to cast on for a child. 
Other than that I am winging it.

This is my first hat I have made by Knitting in all of my life.
I have never done color changes except for the scarf that I am making 


I have done some color changes in crochet but this is really different.







I have about 8 skeins of Red Heart yarn connected to this little hat. After I started this hat I read that you can't do "intarsia" with circular needles. Intarsia is when you have large color changes like a big red heart on a white background. 
I think when you have never done something new, you just jump in and if you knew how difficult it was or how it should really be done you would never start it. 

2 days of a few hours each day and I am this far.

Here is the sweater I started last Saturday. It is merino,cashmere & silk. The yarn feels so good to work with. I know it will be warm. It is my first ever sweater. This is just the bottom band.


Wednesday I dropped off Peanut for her day camp and I went to the local coffee shop and got the best cinnamon roll I have had in a long time. I love when there are a lot of layers cinnamom. Best of all the frosting was made mostly of cream cheese. Yummy. The coffee was a Mexican Mocha. They make the best coffee at this shop. The shop is privately owned, it's called Stell, they are on FaceBook.
They roast their own beans there. It is so yummy.

{This Moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit SouleMama leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Yes We had FUN at the FAIR !

I showed ya'll the knitting from the L.A.County Fair but I didn't show you the fun.
So here are the photos from our fun afternoon.

After the Textile Building we watched a parade.  I love the Clydesdale team of horses:




 There were also marching bands and old cars in the parade.  I just like the horses best.

Then Peanut couldn't wait any longer. She put up with a couple hours in the knitting building. Now it was time for a few rides.



We then found the National Parks Exhibit. It was my kind of place. I love spending time in this environment.
This is outside of the Exhibit.


It was 104 degrees and we were so so so hot.
We walked inside to a cool, humid building with these Rams looking down on us.

Deep inside we could see behind the Rams.

We saw a mosquito. Actually there was a wooden picnic table full of them.

Peanut looks pretty with the hydrangeas.

A strange waterfall where the water ran down fiberglass fabric.

Here is Peanut with a very large moose.

I think this park was Yosemite.

Peanut and myself with the deer.

Peanut so beautiful.  See the deer behind her?

Giant leaf fountain was strange.

The orchids were beautiful.

Then it was time for some food.  We went for the bbq ribs. Not real healthy with all those fries and bread.  But we were good and didn't eat any cotton candy or junk food that day.

Here is Peanut after eating almost all her dinner.

That coleslaw you see in the photo was not good. We didn't eat it.

Well we spent some time in the shopping buildings and bought a few things. Peanut got a doll and we both got a slushie cup maker thingie.

We had fun. We needed more time. We had to leave early because it was a school night and the fair is an hour drive from our house.

Thanks for looking.  Happy Knitting to you all.
Carol

Bugga Sweater, a Scarf and Whatnot

Hahahaha  Whatnot.  That is a funny word. Well I have been busy knitting lately. I had finished up some projects which means I cast on for a couple new projects. Gotta keep that balance going.
Here is my favorite right now. It is a sweater called Sprössling . I am knitting it with Bugga yarn in the color Northern Purple Gold Beetle.


I put a lot of stitch markers for every lace repeat. It works for me.

The other project that I am doing is a Farrow Rib Scarf. It is really a common pattern.
Here's Farrow Rib:
Multiple of 3 sts +1.
Row 1: *k2, p1* repeat across ending k1
Row 2: p1 *k2, p1* repeat across
I put it here because it has been put out there by many people even my local yarn store.
My scarf is being done in Malabrigo Silky Merino which is 51% Silk and 49% Merino wool. The color is natural.


The cute knitting bag in both photos above was from my sister Susan. I hope that she doesn't regret giving it to me because it makes a great project bag.

Here is a finished project.  This is yarn from my own handspun fiber. The fiber is Targhee and the color is called Lord of the Mountains.  It is from the Fiber Club at Crown Mountain .  I think that the club is closed for this year but the Exotic Club is still open for some of the months.  The fiber is excellent. We get TOP which is very soft and well prepared.

The hat is my own pattern.  I did a large cable around and then I picked up stitches at the top and knit till it closed up.  The hat was too small for me so Peanut will have it.


It's hard to see the cable because my flash was too bright I guess.


So now the WHATNOT.  I wanted to share some photos of my garden.  This was taken about a month ago.  After that bounty the garden took a nap.



I think the weather affected my garden. We had very very hot temps and then the weather went to foggy and cool.  So I may be ripping out the garden and planning a winter garden.
I have to wait because we always get an Indian summer where it will be very hot in Oct.

Here I made some chicken pita's with my homegrown tomatoes.  Oh how I LOVE homegrown tomatoes.


Here are my lettuce Taco Boats.  The white stuff is sour cream. There is chicken, cilantro, tomatoes and the lettuce. YUM


I've lost some weight with my healthier eating.  I will make a separate post on that subject.

Right now I am worried about Oli.  Aka Oliver Cat.  He went outside last week. I don't know if a bug bit him or if he is just allergic to a plant outside. He had a little spot under his chin where it looked like a scab. But lately he has been scratching it. Now it is a big boo boo. I cut his back feet toe nails.  I can't put a lampshade on him because it would ride on the boo boo.  I put neosproin on it too.  Poor baby.  No more outside for Oli.


So that is all I have for now.  Have a great weekend and HAPPY KNITTING & GARDENING.
LUV YA

Yellow Tomatoes are YUMMY

Lemon Boy

 VFN Hybrid. The first lemon yellow, not golden, tomato variety. Extremely vigorous plants produce large harvests of attractive fruit that weighs 8 ozs. or more. Flavor is outstanding, mild and sweet yet tangy and definitely not bland.  Indeterminate. 72 days. Lemon Boy was very prolific, tasty and disease free in 2008 in our garden, so it gets planted again!

 SEPTEMBER 2009 REPORT CARD: Very productive. Extremely flavorful. Great in salads. Started harvesting in late May! Some cracking, but tolerable. A 


This is from: Farmer Fred Rant
Note: the letters "V" (verticillium wilt), "F" (fusarium wilt), "N" (nematode), "A"(alternaria root rot) refer to the disease or pest resistance of some of these hybrid varieties.


Now back to Carol's blog. I just say that because the above is from Farmer Fred's blog.  So I am growing several types of tomatoes. This is the first time for me to grow Lemon Boy.  So far I am very happy with him. He was the first to give fruit in the garden. I have had several good meals with him and I have even gifted some. I am still waiting on the Roma tomatoes, The Early Girl and Celebrity tomatoes to turn red.  
Our weather has been very cool this summer.  So what has happened is that the tomatoes spend a lot of time on the vine without turning red.  We did have a week of hot hot weather. All that did was make cracks in some of the tomatoes.  The tomatoes don't like going from one extreme to another. Also the hot hot weather tricks you into forgetting to keep us with watering. So you get cracks.  Mine seem ok, not too deep.
Here is a place of my Lemon Boy sliced.  I drizzled some of this 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar from "We Olive".  It is just so yummy. If you have never tried good balsamic vinegar I encourage you to try it.

Tonight Peanut and I were swimming. I put some chicken breast in a bag to marinade while we swam.  Then after a long while I began the BBQ and put the chicken on to cook.  I wanted to cook some fresh zucchini so I went over and picked 4 fresh zucchini. I then washed a medium sized one, sliced it the long way and put it on the BBQ. 

Can you get any fresher than that?  It was so good. Even Peanut gobbled it up.

Have a good Thursday!!!

Happy gardening!

Working in My Yard

Today is so great for working out in my yard. There are clouds and the sun was ducking in and out. Very pleasant for working and planting.


First of all I want to share with you my bird. There are more but I only was able to capture one on the feeder. The other one was camera shy. 

Isn't she beautiful? I think this is a girl because the one who flew away scared was a darker yellow.

This feeder was hanging outside for at least 9 months. My DIL Anne told me to be patient because it takes time for the birds to feel comfortable to come eat. I have Thistle in the feeder for finches. 

So here is my achievement with my raised garden beds.

This is the overall view, above. Below are what each garden box looks like.

And

So the first box is full. You have to leave space between plants because they will grow so much bigger than they are now. In this box are several tomatoes, hot peppers and bell peppers. There is some cilantro too.

The lower box is only half full. I want to put in some strawberries or maybe some herbs.

Right now the lower box has zucchini, tomatoes and a cucumber. 

This year I am trying some new varieties of tomatoes. I have planted my favorite red tomatoes, Early Girl, Celebrity, and Roma. But I added a purple tomato and a yellow one that has a lemon touch.

I have a Mexican Lime tree. This silly tree seems to think that it can only bare fruit every other year. This is going to be a fruitful year.

Can you see the little limes forming? I am so jazzed.

You say all limes are the same? 

I say no way. The Mexican lime is smaller and the flavor is more concentrated. It really does have that flavor that you get in a Margarita or in a tasty mexican meal.  They are riquisimo!!! Ole !!!

My tangerine and orange trees are not doing as well. The tangerine has some little tangerines forming.

See if you can see them?

The baby tangerines are on the left side of the photo.

When I worked in the dental lab, my boss had several trees and would bring bags of tangerines to work for us lowly technicians. I would eat them all day. 

So that is when I planted my tree. It's been 2 years and she is not growing so good.  I do live in an area of California where citrus is grown. Behind my house is acres and acres of orange groves.

We do have the bees to pollenate the blooms.

In the month of April the fragrance of orange blossoms is so strong.  At first when you get up in the morning you say "ahhhh how wonderful", then after an hour it can give you a headache because it is so strong.

Well another thing left to blog about was a tasty dinner I made the other night. It was fresh baked salmon, mashed potatoes and organic string beans. Also there is a berry smoothie I made with organic frozen mixed berries, organic vanilla soy milk, and pineapple.

I like eating simple like this. It is also easy to prepare.

Do you see the pretty silver fork? Well after my husband died I decided to use my silver flatware all the time. We were married 28 years and only used it for special occasions. I figured that he got to use it maybe 56 times.  Isn't that outrageous? Why have pretty stuff if you only let it sit in a drawer? That is crazy I tell ya.  So when I moved to my new house one year after he died (2001) I vowed to use everything and not keep anything tucked away and sacred.  Hence, the silver fork.

One more thing on my mind. First the photo.

This is Babe. She has been my dog for about 12 years. She is 16 years old as well as I can figure. I rescued her from the local animal placement center.

She was Richard's and my dog. And now she is getting so old. Her hips are very weak and when it is cold she can hardly get up. She still eats, drinks and can go find a private place to go poddy.

She is partially deaf.  Alexis and I keep her in our prayers.  She is too old to play with Alexis and she is too weak in the hips to go for a walk.

I know her time is coming. She is a good dog and a sweet dog.  Here is a photo in her hay day.

Isn't she cute?  She is a mixed breed.

My dilemma is when will I know it is time to put her down? I guess when I see her in pain. 

Poor girl. I think I hate to see her go because it is another thing that Richard and I shared that will leave.

Time changes things. More and more everything around me is not how it was when he was alive. I wonder if he would approve of what I have done with my life? Would he be proud of the woman I have become? Would I have become so involved in the word of the Lord? I'm not sure he would have gone to Calvary Chapel or to bible studies. I love going. I love listening to the pastor explain the chapters in the bible. I really love the worship music. Is it so upbeat and everyone stands up, claps and sways to the beat.

A lot of people sing with up raised hands. Why do I feel uncomfortable to do that?  I like when they do it.

That is something to think about.

Would I be this strong in my faith if Richard were alive and didn't want to go to Calvary Chapel?

Tonight I will go to church with my sister Susan. We love going. Alexis goes to the children's class. She has a good time too. Then after church we come back to my house and Susan and I will watch a movie or a designing show. Sometimes we just sit and talk.

Last week we went to Penneys to buy Peanut some shoes. Peanut & shoes is a whole other blog.

I bought some summer shirts. Yeah.

It was fun. When we got home we said that we should have stopped to buy some frozen yogurt. Maybe tonight we will.

Ok, so that is it for today. Enjoy the nature that God has given us.  Hugs and God Bless.