Well I finally got a few pictures of hummingbirds. My feeder has been such a hot spot this week that they actually emptied the big feeder. However, I have only seen females so far. Do they migrate before the males to set up housekeeping? 
This happens to be one of my very favorite pictures of Sophie and it seemed very apt for today’s tale. Eldest Son is a temporarily (he hopes) schedule wherein he has to be at work at ether 5 or 6 a.m, which means that he has to get up between 3 and 4 in the morning. IN THE MORNING. He is not a morning person. Several days ago he was sitting at the kitchen table eating his breakfast with the dogs keeping him company. (They adore it when anyone gets up at an ungodly hour. This is dog party time.) He got up from the table and Sophie walked over to the back door indicating that she would like to go outside. He said he thought she might just want to play and he was reluctant to let her out in case she barked. So he went about his business of getting ready, took a shower and went downstairs to his room to get his keys (a shirt, a book, something). What he found when he went downstairs was a line of dog poop from the stairs to his bedroom door. He cleaned it up and went to work fuming. Sidenote: I cannot recall a single “accident” from Sophie since she was a puppy. When he came home and told us this stinky story, both BG and I laughed our asses off. She was telling him in no uncertain terms that when she went to the back door, she had to GO! Eldest Son thought it was some sort of retribution, but both BG and I explained to him that she does not have a vindictive bone in her body and we both thought it was a small stroke of brilliance to tell him in terms she hoped he would understand, that when she goes to the back door, she has to GO.
I also told Eldest Son that in future, he could a) just leave the door open and don’t worry about the neighbors or b) wake me up to deal with it, not the first 3 a.m. wake up I have had in my years as a mother.
I think everyone got their point across.
Ok, I have not totally disappeared. And my new absolutely favorite charity web site is Warm Woolies. http://www.warmwoolies.org/index.html They donate knitted garments to children on Indian Reservations in this country and in countries like Mongolia, Afghanistan & Russia. All garments must be made of wool as it is the warmest and as all of us knitters know, it it the only fiber that retains it’s warmth even when wet. On the page of often-asked questions, one is: Do I need to use superwash wool? The answer is: No, these people do not have washing machines. Often, running water is an issue. They also will send you a box of wool that you promise to knit up and send back to them. All you have to pay is postage. It is great. Now I can knit forever, gauge is not real important, and I am doing something nice.
I already sent them several socks, a hat and a vest, I have this sweater and vest, as well as a pair of socks and another sweater that I am halfway done with. After that I will make more socks with the rest of the yarn they sent me. I love it. I realized after making several adult sweaters that I vastly prefer making little people sweaters, so this is perfect.
I will post a pic of me in my braces along with a PT update next time.
I was on a wild bunny kick for the past few weeks. I think it is because I was so intrigued with this pattern. You knit a square. Just a square of any size with any yarn and with a few stitches and some stuffing you can make a rabbit. These are just a few. I was generally doodle around the computer last night and I found this great site that donates woolen knitted items around the world to children. The organization is Warm Woolies and their home page is http://www.warmwoolies.org/index.html. I used to knit for the Seaman’s Institute that donates knitted items to merchant sailors who are often from poor, warm countries and have not warm clothing. However, I like Warm Woolies because they donate children’s clothing around the world. They only accept garments made out of wool because they need WARMTH. On the page of often-asked questions, one is: Do I need to use superwash wool? The answer is: No, these people do not have washing machines. And it doesn’t matter that the socks are made of thick wool that may not fit in shoes, as these kids may not have shoes.
This is where I will now send my extra knitting.
I was waiting in the car today at one of our stops on the way home from NYC and an orthapedic visit. (My knees are coming along fine and the important things are that I walk and do my hamstring stretches.) Since we live two states away now, when we take a trip to NY or NJ we tend to save up errands and have many stops along the way. I was sitting in the car at one stop and pulled out my travel knitting, always a baby sock. As I knit the slip/knit heel flap pattern with the fine, smooth bamboo needles, a feeling of total contentment came over me and I thought about how much I like knitting socks. I always have a couple of balls of yarn & a baby sock in some stage of doneness in my small car knitting bag. They are compact, easy to shove in my pocketbook, and I really think I could knit socks in my sleep, so it doesn’t’ matter where I left off, I can pick it up again after a quick glance. And of course with baby socks, I make up the color patterns as I go, so if I forget my original idea, another one will work as well.
The pictures above are my mom’s white lace shawl and a leaf pattern winter sweater for me. Check October 19, 2008 blog entry to see my strawberry pink shawl, the same pattern. Mom’s is about ¾ done. I have been alternating among socks, shawl and sweater for the past few months and it is an excellently diverse selection of knitting. If I get tired of cabling, I go to lace knitting. When I tire of the intricacies of lace knitting I move on to the fair isle sweater, when that gets too repetitive, on to the cable sock. I have been mostly concentrating on the sweater the past two weeks, I think I am ready for some lace.
My stash of sock yarn is sadly low and I am going to have to figure out how to afford some more in the near future. Hmmmm. Birthday and Christmas are past. Mother’s Day?
How’s this for a cooking mistake? And a good fix. When I make quiche or spinach pie (or apple pie) I make my standard pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking which makes two one crust pies or one two crust pie. I made quiche a month or two ago and my favorite spinach quiche recipe makes two one crust quiches. Yesterday I was making spanikopita. Instead of making little individual Filo dough pocket pies or turnovers, I just make one pie and usually use my pie crust, not Filo. I cooked the spinach, made the pie crust, rolled out the pie crust, & put it in two pie plates. I filled the pies and thought to myself, they look a little skimpy. About half way through the cooking, I checked the pies and thought, damn, they look really skimpy and the filling looks like it is going to dry out. I closed the oven door, started to walk away and then the light bulb came on over my head. I was supposed to make one two crust pie, not two one crust pies!
I thought about it a minute then took both pies out of the oven, scooped the filling out of one and into the other, then I cut the bottom crust away from the sides & slid it on top of the now full spinach pie. It came out just fine with a slightly sloppy looking crust. And it tasted great.
It has been about 3 months since my last blog. During those 3 months I had bilateral knee replacements with the additional new wrinkle of new kneecaps. I have lived without kneecaps for over 30 years. When I went to my surgeon (who did the original surgery on my knees) and told him it was time for new knees, he looked at my file and said, ok, you need both, we’ll do both at the same time. And he told me that there was a new innovation in TKR, they would give me new knee caps too. This is such a new aspect of TKR that rehabilitates & doctors at the rehab (where I spent a week after a week in the hospital) had not seen it.
I finished these gloves a few days ago, and I finally got the pictures on my computer. I am very happy with the patterns, there is a nice simple cable on the wrists & back of the hands, and then stockinette stitch across the palms. But the yarn I used, although very pretty, is too stiff. I am going to make another pair out of a softer acrylic yarn from my stash. I have several skeins of purple heather that I think date back to my grandmother making me an afghan when I was in grammar school. We don’t want to calculate how many years ago that was.
I finished Mom’s sweater in record time and it looks great. The pattern is February Lady’s Sweater from Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/february-lady-sweater#
For Christmas last year my sister gave me Sox Stix, 5 wooden sock-size needles in a cute little fabric bag with a drawstring. It was a much appreciated gift as I certainly knit enough socks and one is always misplacing those tiny little skewer-like needles. As a matter of fact (sidebar) once when visiting a friend for a few days, and, of course, knitting together, she told me that she found one of my sock needles in a kitchen drawer. Her housecleaner had found it and assumed som dope had left a skewer in the living room.
Back to this story: a few days after last Christmas. I had put my new Sox Stix in my knitting bag in anticipation of making yet another pair of baby socks and my knitting bag was in my home office. I was working (or playing) on the computer and I gradually became aware of a noise that sounded like a dog chewing wood, not a sound I ever wanted to hear. I turned around and there was Luka chewing on my brand new bag of Sox Stix! I yelled, grabbed and she ran from the room. She had actually gone into my knitting bag, rooted around under several skeins of yarn, taken the little drawstring bag out and was happily (and somewhat daintily) chewing on them through the bag. After my initial surprise I examined the needles and found them remarkably intact. The bag was fine (a little soggy) and there were a few minuscule dents in the needles. All in all, no harm done although I certainly was puzzled as Luka had never shown any interest in my knitting before.
Fast forward to last night, eight month later. I am using the Sox Stix to make a pair of Almost Fingerless Gloves. http://fiberfiend6891.blogspot.com/2007/12/almost-fingerless-gloves-free-pattern.html I am using 4 of the 5 needles and the remaining needle is in the bag on the coffee table two feet in front of me along with the usual detritus, phone magazine, notions box, TV remote. The gloves were in my lap and I was talking to RG, not paying attention to the coffee table. Out of the corner of my eye I see Luka’s head on the coffee table. I quickly turn my head and see that she has ever so carefully taken a corner of the bag in her front teeth and is s-l-o-w-l-y pulling it off the table. I yelled. She jumped. What is it about that little nylon bag? I told her to go away. She did. And about 10 minutes later (I guess she gauged it the optimal amount of time for me to cool off) she came over and all 70 pounds of her climbed into my lap and she was contritely licking my face. Sigh. Knitting with dogs, always an adventure.
