Cat On A Heat Pump....Still Life (aka....Saturday Snapshot)

 

 

 

 

One of the neighborhood cats (Joey) that stops by now and then....

Book Spotlight....

I tend to re-read a lot of books - and many of them (like this one here) - I re-read over and over again.  It just brings me comfort. And lately, it seems like I just can't find "new" books out there that appeal to me enough to pay for them!

I'm re-reading this one for probably the third or fourth time now! 

House & Home by Kathleen McCleary...

Ellen has two little girls to raise, a cozy neighborhood coffee shop to run, terrific friends, and a sexy, if irresponsible husband.  And she adores her house.  But as her 18 year marriage heads toward divorce, she is faced to lose it all....

First line:  The house was yellow, a clapboard Cape Cod with a white picket fence and a big bay window on one side, and Ellen loved it with all her heart".

The Sad (and pricey) Saga of a Scarf....

I started this scarf over a year ago. Just worked on it here and there over the months...other projects kept getting in the way....  I think the scarf felt like it wasn't being paid enough attention to. So about three weeks ago, it decided to unravel itself.  No fault of my own, of course. Not that I was watching tv or anything and not paying enough attention (or so it thought) to it.  And when I did deign to turn my eyes back to it (hey Scandal was on - what can I say)!, it had unravelled all the way down - over 50 inches...  I sat there looking at it for awhile, hoping against hope, that my eyes were deceiving me....but alas, I was wrong.   To put the cherry on top of the ice cream, I couldn't save the yarn. (don't ask - that is a whole 'nother story)...  So I went back to my LYS and found the one color, but they didn't have the other.  I waited a week or so - went back, still no go. So I bought another color, one I knew probably wouldn't look right.  And I was right - it didn't...  So back I went to get another color - knowing it probably wouldn't look right...  I was right...it didn't.  By now, I am into this scarf, the scarf that "isn't" at a price of over a hundred dollars!  I'm almost embarrassed to even say that here...
My sister will be happy - in her Xmas box of yarns - she will get these yarns that the scarf and I deemed were not right!  So all isn't lost!  I figure I would have spent money on yarn for her anyway, so I'm ahead of the game. That is my story and I'm sticking to it!!  The scarf and I wanted the original colors and darn it, we will get them!  I gave up on my yarn shop getting it in, so ordered it online!  And as soon as it comes in, I will be starting again.  I promise scarfie I will pay more attention to you this time around!  And look forward to wearing you "next" winter!

My small town....

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo looking down Main Street of Old Milford (Milford, Ohio that is)..  It is the small town I grew up in.  Right up until I was 24 years old and moved away from Ohio to live in Virginia with my husband. It is the town I walked around - played around - rode bikes around - drove around (when I was old enough) ...
When I go back for visits, I still start off from the street where my parents still live - walk all the way down and around and back up - past the school where I went until the sixth grade - past the school where I went to 7th and 8th grades - past the church where we went on Sundays - and then back to the street where my parents still live...   I was homesick the moment I left home in 1974 - and all of these many many years later - I still feel that way. It will always be "home" to me - and one day, soon I hope - I want to live there again.....

10 Things I Wish I Could Learn Instantly....

The challenge for the ten on Tuesday this week is to list ten things we wish we could learn instantly. I thought I would have problems with this, but I jotted them all down in a matter of - well...an instant!

1.  How to sew - not so much to make clothes - but to make pillows and carryall bags, curtains,  etc. etc... just small items for personal and home use.

2.  How to knit socks on circular needles (heck, on any needles)! Even though I don't wear socks often, I know I would enjoy knitting them over and over....

3.  How to speak French. My dream one day (if I can get over my fear of flying that is) is to go to France....  Speaking French would be a bonus - plus I just love the language - so even just speaking it here would be fun!

4.  How to crochet.  For one thing, some of the items I would like to knit - call for crochet borders. So I just don't knit them. And that is a loss.  I would also like to crochet other things - bags, baby items.... So this skill would come in handy.

5.  How to decorate cakes - no real reason - just for fun again....  something I would find soothing and enjoyable - especially in times of stress..

6.  How to bake all kinds of breads - yum!

7.  How to paint pictures - especially water colors. I've tried my hand at watercolor pencils here and there - but to be able to actually paint on a canvas - ahhhh....bliss.

8.  Lace tatting. I've always been fascinated by this. It looks quite hard to me though!  But if I learned, it would become a craft I would practice often.

9.  To spin yarn on a spinning wheel!  Oh my I want to learn this.  I'm thinking about taking a class at some point - but starting off on a spindle.

10.  To weave on a loom!  This is another art that I so want to do. I read magazines about it (and spinning) - but that is as close as I've come so far.

Onward and Upward - Windward!

Windward - take two!  I started knitting this a couple of weeks or so ago.  In my excitement to see how it would all turn out, I kept messing up - dropping stitches - increasing when I shouldn't - on and on....and therefore, it was looking pretty ragged. Granted, all the "whonkies" were on the wrong side and no one would have seen them (most likely). But I would have known they were there.  So, even though I had about 120 rows done, I took a deep breath, and frogged it!  I immediately cast back on and started over. Well, first I cried a bit - then I started over - LOL!  I'm now growing ever closer to being back where I was before. But it looks so much better and I'm so much happier!  I was also able to find another skein of this yarn!  I knew I wouldn't have enough and did not know what I would do....  I checked my LYS - no luck. I checked two places online - no luck.  Then on Amazon, one seller had one lonely skein!  I clicked "buy" as fast as my fingers could hit that button!  And now I'm set!

Happy Knitting!

I've been so loving my knitting projects lately!!  Above you see Nangou (on Ravelry).  I've also started two others that I'm enjoying quite a bit - Orbit - and Windward (also on Ravelry - of course)!  Windward is a funky whacky looking scarf - that looks like it would be very difficult to knit (well, for me that is). But it is the simplest thing in the world to do. I love those - the ones that look hard - and everyone just raves over my talent.  But in reality, (and don't tell anyone) - they are actually quite simple.  I'm one of those people also - who wants their patterns "spelled out" - step by step - line by line.  The ones that tell you how many repeats to do to get the same basic results. Not that you can't do more repeats - and sometimes I do. But I just don't like "winging it" with a pattern.  Not my style - not my brain capabilities!