Sunday, April 26, 2015

Is There Such A Thing As Too Much?

I don't think so - not when it comes to knitting projects!  I keep each individual project I'm doing in a paper bag - the kind you get from Starbucks or Bed Bath and Beyond - or other shops I visit!  Right now, I have about 20 of these bags sitting in my family room....  Sometimes there is more - sometimes (rarely)...less....
Most of the time, it comforts and soothes me to see them all sitting there - patiently waiting for me to pick them up and knit a bit on them.  Other times, it stresses me out - LOL!  Right now, it is calming me...


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Re-reading....

I re-read books quite often.  This is one that I'm doing just that with right now....


Joy for Beginners.....by Erica Bauermeister....

The main character - having survived a life-threatening illness - celebrates with six close friends.  They challenge her to start her new lease on life by going white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon with her daughter. But she is leery of taking that risk.  But then one of her friends poses a pact - if Kate will face the rapids, each woman will do one thing in the next year that scares her. What are those things? Ahhh, you will have to read this book to find out!

A passage I read yesterday that I loved...

"The bookstore where Caroline worked was a perfect example, designed as a place to linger as much as shop, incorporating a bakery and cafĂ©, a fireplace surrounded by oversized chairs for colder days and a patio outside for summer ones.  It could have felt chaotic, a party full of strangers unable to introduce themselves, but instead was more like a genial conversation - the metallic clink of silverware set against the contented sigh of a book being slid from its shelf, the murmured comments of a knitting group seated at a round table in the three-sided alcove that held - was it intentional or simply serendipitous? - the house, gardening, cooking books.  Smells of cinnamon and yeast settling in between the covers of books only to rise from the pages when they were opened later at home"

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Ten on Tuesday - Ten Things That Delight Me....




1.  My cat Buddy. He always makes me smile or giggle or laugh out loud.
2.  Antics of the squirrels - especially when they get crazy in the springtime.
3.  Going to the yarn shop with my sister last fall (at least 3 or 4 times we went)!  Guess that should say "delighted".  It was on her visit here from Ohio that we got to do it. But now when I go on my own, I can "feel" her there alongside me.
4.  Buying lots of yummy glossy magazines, and then curling up to read them with a cup of coffee by my side.
5.  Going up and down the aisles in the fiction and mystery section at Barnes & Noble - just picking out whatever title or cover grabs my attention. Sometimes some of them come home with me....
6.  Browsing patterns at Ravelry. I could do this for hours. Oh, that's right! I do DO it for hours!
7.  That my sister now has a Smartphone and can now be on Facebook. She doesn't have a computer. So for the first time, we can chat back and forth a bit during the day online - and she can see my blog!
8.  Knitting of course!  All the joys this has brought to my life, in various ways, go unnumbered.
9.  Listening to the birds chittering outside my window in the mornings before I get out of bed.
10.  Driving around in the car - singing out loud to my music CD's



Sunday, April 12, 2015

Parts of My Week....

were spent....

going out to dinner for my husband's 72nd birthday Friday. Had a really nice server. Especially liked her saying "my pleasure",  when I said "thank you".  Much nicer than "no problem"....

taking walks and watching the trees start to bud.  It always amazes me how different all the leaf buds look as they are opening up. This one is in my backyard...




knitting a bit on this cowl.... (Three Color Cashmere Cowl)... pattern
on Ravelry. 
I could not afford cashmere yarn in three colors. But the yarn I'm using has 15% cashmere!  Close enough for my pocketbook!

and parts of my week were spent reading this mystery. Third in the series by Julia Keller. 

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

A Study in Black and White....

A cowl I've got on the needles. Can't wait for this to be done - hoping the yarn won't be too itchy on my neck!  I'm using Zauberball for the first time.
The Pattern is called "September Circle" and is on Ravelry....
I'm also doing a re-read of "The Obituary Writer" by Ann Hood. Think I like it better the second time around. Don't have to think so hard as I try to figure it all out!



Sunday, April 5, 2015

Flashback and Happy Easter!


Not sure what year this was taken!  Of course, my Mom always dressed us alike on Easter - for many many years.  Looks like our purses or whatever we are holding are different....  Oh, I'm the cute one on the left - LOL!