Sock Club #1... Again

A little while ago I wrote about the first pair of socks I knitted for the Twisted Yarns Sock Club. If you didn't catch it before you can see it here.

At that time I could not show you what they looked like. Now I have a new camera so...TA DA here they are...

Definitely a stretch for my knitting skills and I learned a lot about how to keep track of where you are in a stitch pattern that is sixteen rows long.

One thing I don't like about them is that my pale skin showing through the dark red lace pattern is relatively unattractive.

To test this theory I made another pair, same pattern just different yarn.

This time I chose a sock weight yarn by Cascade in a creamy white.

Here's how this second pair turned out:

Very successful I think... even with a few messed up stitches.

The good part about doing the same complex pattern a second time is that I got a chance to use everything I had learned from the first pair in the second pair. I even felt confident enough to do the fancy heel that I had eliminated in the first go round.

Now I am well prepared for the reveal of the next entry in this year long journey of sock knitting madness.

I wonder what it will be this time?

At Sweet Sadie's

When I visit a restaurant I not only enjoy the food and drink but I also note the ambiance of the place. Things like comfortable seating, adequate table space and interesting things to view or read all add to my dining pleasure.

For some reason I have been designated as the official seasonal decorator for Sweet Sadie's and I am very much enjoying the work. About once a quarter I will be switching out seasonal deocrations for others more appropriate to the new season.

At Christmas I got to set up and decorate a tree even though I did not have one at home. I set out little poinsettias on most of the tables, hung wreathes in the windows and strung all of my Christmas lights around the walls and windows. I also had a christmas quilt laid along one of the half walls separating the eating area from the corridor to the rest rooms and ordering area.

For Valentines Day I added some red themed wreathes and a purple heart quilt I made many years ago.

At this time I have a double Irish Chain quilt displayed as well as little glass flower pots with Daffodils in them.

More permanent additions have been pillows added to the long benches, a magazine bin with current magazines from the Kingwood library's patron donations and several copies of old family photos.

The pictures above are of my great great grand aunt Amelia (I think) and a family gathering in Antigua of my grandfather's family. I hope to add more photos as time goes on of other family members and maybe those of some of our patrons' families.

My biggest surprise in dong this is how many male patrons love the quilts while the women seem to appreciate the magazines and flowers.

Maybe this is a new occupation... or pre-occupation?

Have a good week!

Adding Insult to Injury

Its spring in Texas and that means that the pollen counts are going through the roof. One report is that the pollen counts here are the highest ever recorded here.





Generally that means that EVERYTHING is covered with a layer of chartreuse powder. This powder is supposed to be pine pollen and, even though I have lived most of my life surrounded by pines, I have never seen this stuff until I moved to Texas.





This powder gives every car a layer of dirt that just makes you want to wash your car... daily! If it rains your car can be washed for free or it can then be spotted with the fine powder.





I had just decided to wait out the season when I came out of the house the other day and saw this all over my car:




In about four hours one morning every bird in this part of the world decided to crap all over my car. Not the usual white stuff but some sort of granular brown stuff.

It was thick and sticky and did not fall off at highway speeds. I finally broke down and used a power sprayer to get most of it off the car.

The really strange thing about all this is that only my car, in my immeadiate neighborhood, seems to have been blessed with this bounty. AND it was not repeated later that day or any other day since.

I guess I was lucky.

May your luck happen in a traditional manner this spring like wonderful flowers, chirping birds and other simple peasures.

Six Word Memoirs

There is a story out there that Hemmingway was challenged to write a story of only six words. This is what he came up with:

For Sale - Baby shoes. Never worn.

Those six words do tell a whole story and Smith Magazine was inspired by it to solicit six word memoirs from its readers.

The first compilation of those submissions is a book called 'Not Quite What I was Planning 'and I just returned it to the library as I now have my own copy.

It is one of those books that you dip into every once in a while and get inspired on every page.

One I like is:

Editor. Get it? (can't remember you wrote this one)

That made me laugh out loud.

Others are heartbreaking.

Born with Glaucoma... Fading to Black... (Susan Giutso)

I have, of course, been playing around with what I could use as a six word memoir. So far I have come up with:

Bella, Maria, Paul, Mary, Jane, Alex.

which is a list of some of the people and animals who have been adopted into my home over the years.

Another is:

I shouldn't have said that, again.

which relates to my habit of opening my mouth before thinking about what to say.

I'm sure I can come up with others but until I do I will continue to enjoy my new bathroom book.

Do you have a six word memoir in you?

For the Scrap Lover in You

Got scraps?

Of quilting fabric that is.

Little piles of fabric that are too big to throw/give away or a bunch of fat quarters you have no idea why you acquired them in the first place?

My fabirc sorting goes from yardage to fat quarters to scraps to dog bed filling.

The biggest piles seem associated with fat quarters and scraps.

(Dog bed filling just seems to fly out of here every couple of weeks to those generous souls who make beds for local animal shelters.)

I just came across a web mystery quilt project that will officially start in May. This seems like the a good way to use up some of my scraps in something other than another Chinese Coins quilt for the dogs.

Check out Erik Homemade's Coffee Break ezine for more details.

My Poor Babies

After I took a shower this morning I glanced over to the window above the tub to see this very sad sight.

Don't they look pathetic?

Lounging on an old pillow and small doggie bed in front of a window covered in dog spit...what a horrible life they have!!

Of course the window was cleaned yesterday morning and the mess is from just a few hours of me being out of the house, and them in the bathroom, yesterday afternoon.

Its easy to clean the window but I really think I need to make them a long cushion for the window ledge.

An old body pillow covered in doggie fabrics seems like just the right thing for them.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great weekend!!

Liberty of London at Target

Although I bought dog toys at Target today (see previous post) I went there to see the new line of Liberty of London items they just started marketing.

Before I go on, please understand that Liberty of London prints are legendary. I even bought some years ago and made it into a dress. I spoke about it earlier here. Although my dress has been washed a zillion times the fabric still maintains its bright colors and wonderful hand.

What I saw at Target today is not the same quality although the prints were wonderful.. The fabrics were thin cottons or polyester and would probably not last through 10 washings without having holes occur

BUT

they have lots of other, non-clothing options with the same prints on things like dinner ware, yard tools and BICYCLES!

For a small investment you can a bit of Liberty of London for your space.

Not a bad deal when your expectations have been set correctly.

Another Bad Dog Toy

I was in Target this afternoon and found what I thought would be good chew toys for Kimora and Alex. Alex, as you know, is a huge chewer while Kimora chews, I think, just because Alex does.

I bought two different chew toys by Petstages. They were both advertised for Power Chewers. One was a mini Orka, and the other a mini Barbell Chew. Both boasted of many hours of chewing pleasure.

Pure puffery.

Within two hours both were down to such small bits that I had to get out the vaccum cleaner in order to clean up the mess.

I got each of them for about $4.00 each while Amazon has one for $7 and the other for $2. I don;t understand the pricing but more than $0.10 would be too much.

I wonder if Alex will need a stomach pump to get any random bits out of his gut? I hope not!

Ready for Borscht

Not really but I just had to share this cute little drawstring bag I made during two bad movies and one good one this past weekend.

I am going to line it with some silk so it can be used for little knitting projects like making premie hats from the leftover yarns I have from making socks.

The bag is part of a kit from Knit Picks. The kit looks like it will have enough yarn in it to make more than just the six bags in the Kit.

The kit did include beads for this bag but I just couldn't see beads on a beet.

The only difficulty I had with ths pattern is that the majority of the instructions are in chart form ...not my favorite way to knit a pattern.

A clever part of the project is that the whole thing can hang off your wrist as the leaves (there are two) are joined into a loop.

How cool is that?

The bag turned out to be about nine inches long with a five inch opening. It can hold at least half a dozen little balls of leftover sock yarn. I really will have to line it if I do not want the needles to fall through the holes in the knitting.

Have a great week!

In Memoriam

Finally, after much abuse and the last 13 days buried in the backyard, my Canon Power Shot has finally bit the dust.

It is dead.

Completely kaput.

Gone to the great camera graveyard in the far beyond.

It's battered mechanical bits are frozen solid.

The battery pack is dead.

Even a new battery could not get things going again.

So Mr. Canon, you make a really tough product but even the toughest product can only take so much from my wild boy, Alex, the bandy legged Dachshund. I took myself off to the store the other day and bought a new Canon Power Shot. I am sure that Alex will try to defeat your product quality but I am going to try even harder to keep the new one out of his field of view. Yours truly, A very satisfied customer.