Awwwww......Life is back to Normal

It's been three months but life is good again!

Misty Says Hi!

Months go by and I don't blog a thing and now twice in one day. Can you say "work avoidance technique?" Yep, that's what I'm doing. I've got a lot of work to do this weekend, I'm aggravated by it and I'm avoiding doing it. So here's what Misty has to say about it all....

Firestorm

Firestorm

First, I want to talk about the California Fires. (Isn't everyone?) When I moved to California last year I was happy to be moving out of hurricane country. I was never in the direct path of the hurricane but close enough to worry. There were several storms where I ended up at the hospital when it was locked down because the winds had gotten above tropical storm levels. And then there was the infamous tropical storm where I fell on the wet tile floor on my lanai and fractured my humerous. (NO it was NOT funny!) Anyway, for those who have been through that you know how exhausting it is because it's non-stop hurricane news, shelter openings, wind speeds, tracking, etc. It's hard not to watch but at the same time, after about 24 hours, it's exhausting and stressful. Last Sunday, they started the non-stop coverage of the Malibu Fire. Here's a few images from here in Orange County. (These are from last night when the Orange County fires flaired up again.)

Silverado Canyon (the Santiago Fire)-This is not too far from where my cousin used to live.

Santiago Fire

These are the heros of the week.

Fires have burned in every one of these areas this week

Close up of the Orange County fire area. I live in the bottom center portion of the map - Aliso Viejo.

The calmness of the people who have been so affected by the fires. The strength and acceptance of those affected and the compassion of the community is overwhelming. We have managed to come away from this unscathed for which I am eternally grateful. For those who haven't been so lucky, I will say a prayer.

Needlework:

Did you see this?

It's the Tilted Duster from Norah Gaughn.

I made this:

I'm just noticing....did I put the buttons in the wrong place? Oh well....it's the Mary Pat twist. My apologies to Norah Gaughn.

I have moved on to a bunch of little things. They are having a craft fair at work that I agreed to participate in. What was I thinking? I am not a production knitter.....So far I have made a couple of hats. and am working on a scarf. The one good thing is that I get to use up a bunch of my stash.

I am in love with this book.

The Babydoll dress and the Mesmerize sweater are calling to me. The sweater is made with Tilli Tomas yarn but I don't know where to find any to purchase. I know it's very expensive but I'd like to give it a whirl. Isn't it always the way that when you have become obligated to knit things you find more exciting projects to take on?

Travels:

A few weeks ago I got a new GPS for my car. I love it. It tells me where I need to go and how to get there. I decided to take a road trip to test it out. We took a road trip up to Montecito, just south of Santa Barbara. It's where Oprah and Ellen have homes. We went to say "hey" but they weren't home. It's beautiful there with the closeness of the ocean and the mountains. We found a little hiking trail and took a bit of a walk. It was a nice day.

The first Frank Lloyd Wright

House in California

Montecito

Montecito

Ventura Highway

Be well....

Blog Fodder

I read so many blogs and think, wow, how do those bloggers come up with catchy titles and content. When I sit down to write, I want to have something interesting to say and lately I have been very busy at work. Now, that's a VERY good thing because for the past year or so, I haven't been too busy. I have a saying, "A BORED Mary Pat is a BAD Mary Pat." I'm sure my mother would agree that this has been a theme throughout my life. So, generally, I try to stay busy and keep out of the fray. I am full swing into a new project that will probably take me through to next summer. YIPEE!!! On the downside, it doesn't leave a lot of time for thinking about other things. I know it will even out soon but for now, it's a little intense.

A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to have dinner by the water. I didn't care where, or what kind of food, I just wanted to get by the water. So my roommate and I headed up the 73 toward Newport and ended up at Crystal Cove State Park. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Crystal Cove is between Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach. It is a beautiful beach area with a wonderful restaurant and cottages right on the beach. The restaurant is not just burgers and fries, it's a very good restaurant with a nice dinner menu.

The cottages are available for rent. They are so wildly popular that you have to call on the first of the month Eight months before you want to visit. They are rented out for the whole month before noon on the first day of the month. The State continues to renovate more cottages along the beach.

There are tidal pools with all kinds of sea life.

As I said before, the restaurant was quite nice. We ate outside even though the temperature was only in the 60's. They had heaters and blankets to keep us warm. It was very nice. It was blog fodder for sure!

Universe Smack Down!

So I went into work this morning, looked at my calendar and thought "Wow, no meetings until 1 PM, I can get a lot of work done!" That's when the Universe swept down, smacked me upside the head and said, "Think again, sister." I must say that I think I heard just a bit of sinister laughter somewhere around 10:30 as the morning was slipping away......

To update you on the cat wars, currently, Misty is sitting behind the television taking a bath and whiskers is sitting on a pillow in the chair watching with disdain. Things have not gone very smoothly with these two. Surprisingly, Misty is not the aggressive one. Oh sure, she growls and hisses with the best of them but she's not the one doing the chasing, if you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure it will all work itself out but in the meantime, the humans in the place are a little stressed about it.

Not much news on the needlework front. I have been working very slowly on Hanami. I have three of the seven repeats done of the first section. I started the Linen and Lace Cardigan from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007 and the Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits, Fall 2007 edition. I don't want to leave any room for boredom now because, as they say at work.....

"A bored Mary Pat is a baaad Mary Pat!"

Toodles.

2 Cats, 1 Room...now that's progress

The Move

The past several weeks have been NUTS!!!! Yep, I moved. It was a gruel weekend but we did it. We had some help on Saturday morning to move my furniture and a few of the heavy boxes that Karen and I couldn't get by ourselves. There are still some boxes around but not too many. I finally had a weekend off where I wasn't travelling and I was able to get quite a bit done. (OK...it really was just 2 weekends ago that I moved, I guess that's not too bad.) Anyway, the new apartment is lovely. It's huge compared to the one I had.

The Cats

Ladies and Gentlemen....In this corner we have the wise and experienced 15 year old welterweight claiming ownership of the human named Karen, who hails from South Florida........Whiskers!!!!!

In this corner we have the 4 year old heavyweight claiming ownership of all the furniture and the the human female known as Mary Pat with one year of California lifestyle under her paws.....Misty!!!!!

Let the games begin!

For the first week, we kept Misty and Whiskers apart. Only one was allowed free run of the apartment at a time. While each one knew there was some other animal around, neither one had to be bothered with it too much. Last weekend, we introduced them to each other by having each one in their cat carrier and letting them see each other. My oh my, that was not pleasant. We went back to keeping them separated. Misty took to staying under the bed. Whiskers for the most part was pretty laid back about the whole thing. She seemed to take everything in stride.

Since Wednesday, I thought we might as well just keep all the doors open and let them figure it out on their own. It's been very slow and there's been a lot of hissing and growling but we are making progress. You can see that they will at least be in the same room at the same time and be relatively okay with each other. (Click on the picture to make it bigger.)

Soon the hissing, growling and posturing will be better. Karen has been away since Thursday so Whiskers keeps looking for a human to attach herself to. She keeps trying to hang out with me but Misty will have none of it. The one good thing is that Misty can jump up high and will get on top of the kitchen cabinets to be safe and to keep an eye out for danger. The only rough time for me is when they are on each side of me and my head is in the middle....I hear hissing and growling in one ear and hissing and growling in the other ear.....not a good place to be.

Knitting

Not much progress on Hanami. I've finished the second of seven repeats of the basketweave pattern. I am becoming a little more comfortable with the whole lace thing but not ready to tackle anything more complicated than this for now. I am going to make another Lutea Lace Shell for a friend of my Mom's. That will be a quick knit once I get the yarn. I also have a crochet project to start. I'm not sure I have the right yarn for that one....I guess I better get my stuff out and figure it out. Did you see the Vogue Knitting 25th Anniversary edition....what a beautiful magazine. There are quite a few items in there that caught my eye.

I CAN knit Lace

Lacey Bits

Ok...so I don't have the skills (yet) to do MS 3 BUT I can do Hanami. I purchased Hanami a couple of months ago and started it in some Handmaiden Sea Silk that I have. However, that Sea Silk, which is still in time out, hasn't figured out what it wants to be yet. It was very clear that it just didn't want to be Hanami. So, when I got my yarn for MS 3, I decided to order some Zephyr Wool Silk in the Lady Slipper colourway. It is turning out pretty nicely....see......







This is the first of seven of these basketweave repeats. I have had some time to try to ponder why I can knit this but not MS 3. It all has to do with concentration. MS 3 is different each row and there are few repeats. While I may be fully capable of concentrating as much as is required for me to be successful at MS3, that's not what makes knitting enjoyable for me. I like the resulting fabric/pattern. That's not enough for me. I really need to be able to enjoy the rhythm of the knit (or crochet.) It's not that what I'm working on has to be all stockinette or all double crochet (although there is nothing more fun than stockinette in the round.....my favorite.) but I want to have enough freedom when I'm knitting or crocheting to be social. Some of my projects have been joyful because of their routine - see the Log Cabin Throw....some have been enjoyable for their rhythm and pattern.....see the Lily Chin Lace Dress......some have been fun because of the knitting challenge.......see Goddess and those damn short rows........it's all a process.

Misty's Oblivious

This is the picture of a cat who refuses to listen when I tell her that in another 48 hours there will be another cat in the house and we are moving. She just doesn't seem to care....go figure.

It's the 25th Annual MPA Packing and Moving Extravaganza....the California Edition

For those of you who know me, you won't be at all surprised by this....I'm moving again. Yes, it's hard to imagine that, once again, you wouldn't get a Christmas Card from me saying...oh by the way, here's my new address. One of my greatest accomplishments in my life is to make sure that I have more crossed out old addresses in my friends address books than any one else. I'm pretty sure I've got that one nailed.

This move is not a big move. I'm moving about an eighth of a mile, from one end of the apartment complex to the other. It is a move, though, nonetheless. It still requires buying boxes (more on that in a second), buying packing paper, bubble wrap, tape. It requires packing my crap up into those boxes. It requires cleaning; the oven (nope, it's not one of them fancy self-cleaning ones), the refrigerator (will they ever make a self-cleaning one?), the insides of cupboards, the baseboards, etc., etc. Then there's that thing that happens with short moves where you just don't think you need to pack something because you'll just throw it in the car and drive it over. My clothes fall into this category.

I am not the most driven of packers these days. There was a time in my life when I would just keep on packing until it was done. And if truth be told, I would do that for this move if this was Thursday and I was moving on Saturday. But, it's not. I've been packing for two weeks now and it really is just about done. Here's my routine....I think about what I'm going to pack. Of course, my best thinking is done with knitting needles in hand. I put together a box, pack it, label it, stack it and then go back and do a little knitting, watch a little TV and then pack another box, go see the new Harry Potter movie (it was fabulous by the way), and so on. Some mornings (like this morning) I get up, put a box together and pack it up. This way, I don't really feel like all I'm doing is packing and by Friday, it will all be done. One of the things I do to make my moving life a little easier (and believe me, I learned this the hard way) is that I buy boxes from U-Haul or Sam's or someplace so that they are all the same size and are made for moving. I am a nut about this. I find it so much easier to manage the move. It's just my little AR thing....okay?



So Thursday, I go pick up a cargo van from U-Haul. Why a van? Certainly I have more stuff than will fit in a van. Yes, that's true, I do but I also live on the third floor of a huge apartment complex. This complex has parking garages so you park on the same level you live on. This is fantastic except that the clearance in the garage is 8'2". Most moving trucks are 9' or more and they won't fit in the parking garage. So, to avoid the whole elevator thing, I opted for the cargo van and making a few trips rather than one. It is only an eighth of a mile after all and the bonus of being able to go straight from one apartment to van to the other apartment without stairs or carrying the furniture for long distances is huge. Anyway, I've hired some guys to come on Saturday morning and help me move. My new roommate should be here by then and we'll have to unload her truck too. Hopefully, they will be able to stay a little longer than I originally booked them for so they can help unload her stuff too.

I have finished the Lutea Lace Shell. I'm not 100% happy with it but I did some work around the armholes and the neck opening and it's a little better. Pictures to follow a little later.



Oh, and have I mentioned Ravelry. Remember a few months back when I talked about Misty and her Kitty Crack.....this is like that for knitters and crocheters. Oh my goodness. What a FANTASTIC community it is. It's like magic...I can be organized. I can see what others are doing. I can talk to other people. It's absolutely amazing. I love it and am fascinated by it. It has truly changed the way I think about my knitting and crocheting. I can see how others have interpreted the same pattern as I did. It should however, come with a caution label: Warning! Joining Ravelry May be Addictive!

MS 3:Realist vs. Loser

So here I sit on Sunday Morning, watching the Gentleman's Final from Wimbledon and I am having a mini crisis of character. About three weeks ago, I joined the bandwagon that is Mystery Stole 3. I bought my first lace weight yarn, ever, I bought my beads, I spent a couple of weeks swatching and anxiously waited for the first clue to come out. I was a little concerned about my abilities as a knitter. I haven't ever done anything this delicate, I am not a very advanced knitter but I'm willing to give it a shot. A week ago Friday,the first clue came out, I looked at it, I started it and I quickly learned that even though these are only knit, purl, yarn overs, knit 2 together's and slip, knit, pass slip stitch over's, all of which I am very capable of doing, the placement of each one of these in relation to the other was going to be a challenge for me. I didn't really have any trouble reading the chart. Following the chart was a different matter. So, I took some of the advice from the experienced lace knitters on the MS3 Yahoo! group and color coded the / and \ so I knew which symbol was which stitch. I covered up the chart except for the row I was working on and I counted and counted and counted. I also started, tinked, reknit, frogged, started again, counted, tinked back 4 rows, frogged, started again, etcetera, etcetera. I felt that I could rise to the challenge of this and continued to work through each row. I even figured out how to put in a "lifeline" so that I could rip back without fear of losing any stitches and easily get the piece back on the needles. I am here to tell you, if I really had to stake my life on these lifelines, I'd be dead by now. After 10 days of knitting and counting and marking lines on my chart with highlighters and check marks....

(Photo removed at designer's request.)

This is where my Mystery Stole stands today.

(I know it's hard to tell but there are three different attempts in this blob of silk and wool.)

So, now I am faced with this crisis of character. I DO NOT want to keep doing this. Seriously, I have restarted this thing 10, yes 10 times. I have restarted it 3 times in the last 8 hours. Yesterday, I spent about 6 hours on it and by the time I gave up, I had knit 8 fewer rows than when I had started in the morning on the same piece. Here's my question, am I a loser for "giving up" and not digging deep and muddling through, or am I a realist for saying, this is beyond my current capabilities and clearly I am not in the right place in my head to keep doing this over and over and over? There is no joy in this and why would I spend my "leisure" time doing something that only frustrates me.

I watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and think, what if they had given up when they couldn't get their serve just right or lost 6 or 7 matches in a row? What if they had allowed themselves to be defeated by a little bit of silk, wool, a couple of sticks and some /\ & O's?

Knit vs. Crochet

My Aunt is interested in what my theories are about knitting versus crocheting. So, let me give a little back story. When I would spend summers at my Grandparents house in Otto, NY my grandmother would always find things to teach me. One year it was swiss embroidery, another year it was crocheting. I fell in love with it. It made sense to me. I don't remember making a lot of stuff as a kid but it was always something that I did from time to time. I got so I did pretty much any stitch pattern and could read patterns, etc. As an adult, I went from crochet to needlepoint to counted cross stitch and then back to crochet. About 2 1/2 years ago, my sister came to visit and she was knitting up a storm. I have to tell you that all throughout my life, I have been around people who knit (my grandmother, my aunt) but I never really got into it. When I saw the beautiful things my sister was making, I really wanted to try it. At first, I thought I would just have to jump off the roof or something because I didn't know what to do with two sticks AND I had no idea how to hold the yarn while knitting. Cast on...bind off.....oh my goodness. Well, I have gotten over that and am an okay knitter and keep plugging away at it. So, here is my not so expert opinion are the pro's and con's of each technique.....

Crochet - PRO

• 1 hook. You only have one live stitch at a time. If you make a mistake, out comes the hook, RRRRRRIPPPPP back to where the error is and easy peasy, it's a do over.
• There is only one basic movement in crocheting....the put the hook through, yarn over, pull back through, yarn over and pull through loops....Voila! only one live loop on the hook. (We're back to that again are we?)
• It's fun and I can do it pretty fast and I don't have to think about it a whole lot once I get a pattern down.
• I can figure out where mistakes are and how I made them easily. I can usually figure out how to make them work or fix them.

Crochet - CON

• Depending on how you hold your hook (and I hold mine in an old fashioned way, sort of like a pencil) you can get some serious carpal tunnel pain going on.
• The resulting fabric can be a little chunky (for lack of a better word.) I guess what I mean is that unless you are working on very thin yarn, it can be a little bulky. It doesn't really have to be and I have made some really beautiful things that were not at all clunky or bulky. So this isn't really a con....it's just a difference.
• I forgot this one yesterday.....Crochet requires more yarn. It takes more yarn (about twice as much) to create a garment than with knitting.

Knit - PRO

• The fabrics and stitch patterns seem to be more delicate and fine.
• There are quite a few more patterns and supplies for knitting.
• It doesn't really have a bad rap.....crochet seems to be the ugly step sister of knitting and some look down their noses at it.
• It's fun and it looks cool.
• I don't have as many carpal tunnel issues

Knit - CON

• Okay, when you make a mistake you either have to live with it or tink (you know it's taken me 2 1/2 years to figure out that that work is knit spelled backwards which is what you are doing when you unknit each stitch.) There are few fast ways to get back to a mistake that's a few rows back. If you take it off the needles then you spend an incredible amount of time picking up those stitches, only to find out that you have missed one. This goes pretty well if it's straight stockinette or ribbing or something but throw in some yarn over, knit two together's in there and it's all over (for me that it.)
• I have to concentrate much more. The patterns aren't intuitive for me. I have to do something over and over and over again before I finally get it! (Sometimes that happens after I bind off, knowing that things weren't quite right. I think about it and finally realize a day or two later....oh, that's what they meant when they wrote AND at the SAME time or "when doing a decrease at the beginning of the row" doesn't mean bind off one stitch AND decrease at the beginning of the row...do I sound bitter....I can't talk about it yet.)
• Everybody's doing it these days.

So, what do I think....I think it's great to know how to do both. I love that I can switch back and forth between the two. I think somethings are better suited to knitting and some are better suited to crochet. I was just given a book that is full of patterns that are both knitted and crocheted. I think that is the perfect type of project. I am looking for just the right one.

There you have it. My opinions about the two. I enjoy both of them and I am grateful that my grandmother put me on the path to have this type of creative outlet.

What's Going On?

At the moment, I am writing this blog while live feed from Wimbledon is streaming in on my computer. I love watching Tennis. I have become such a big fan. This morning's completion of yesterday's Henman/Moya match was incredible. They stopped play last night because of dark in the 5th set at 5 all. They came back this morning and played the remainder of the set which Henman finally won 13-11 in the final set. WOW! It was fantastic. Henman Hill was packed. So much excitement for day two. I can only hope the rest of the tournament is as thrilling.

On to knitting news. About 6 weeks ago, I finished the Goddess top. At the time, I didn't have any pictures. The recipient of the top wore it to work the other day and now I have pics.

Here's some shots taken on the patio at our office.

I love this top. It was actually quite fun to make after all was said and done. I have discovered that I am a SLOW learner when it comes to knitting. I can read a pattern, understand the pattern, knit the pattern and realize that I really didn't get it at all. The other day I was knitting the back of a sweater and was doing the armhole shaping. I did it like I thought the pattern said and when all was said and done, I ended up with a neck opening that was about 2 inches wide....hmmmm.....something's wrong here. So, RIPPPPPPPP and out it came. I am now redoing the armholes and am bound and determined to get it right.

I am waiting for the first clue to the MysteryStole 3. It's from Melanie at Pinklemontwist and she says, "Starting June 29, I will post the first in a series of clues. Follow the clues (directions) and you'll have a finished lace stole at the end of the knitalong. This year's stole is not recommended for beginning lace knitters, but if you are comfortable with lace techniques and reading charts, you should be just fine. I will close the group to new members on July 6, so be sure to sign up soon!This year's stole will be made up of seven clues, being posted each Friday, starting June 29. The one exception I am planning on will be the Friday after the new Harry Potter book comes out. I will post July 20 (the book launch is July 21), and then wait 2 weeks so people can read the book and catch up on the Mystery Stole."

I am a little worried about the whole lace thing. I have knit my swatch about three different times. The latest was this morning. I think it's okay???? Maybe a size up on the needles????

Time will tell if I actually make it through this but it sounds like fun.

What do you think?

Better get back to work.....

730

730......

That's the number of days since I last got to talk to my father. It's the number of days since I was able to hold his hand. It's the number of days I have missed him since he died. It's the number of days I have wished that I could talk to him again, see him again, hear his stories again, get his opinion on something, watch him paint or just walk into the room and see him reading a book.

It's been two years and for the most part it is a little easier. I was blessed to be able to spend the last few months helping care for him as his health declined. I was blessed that he was able to function pretty well until the last week.

(This is two weeks before he died)

My Dad was a good man. He left me with many gifts, many of which I never appreciate until after he died.

The past two years have been a struggle for my whole family. I know that I am grateful for my Mom's and my ability to share how we feel about missing Dad without thinking anyone will think we are just holding on to the past. I'm grateful for the support that my sister has given me over the past couple of years. She has been accepting and generous beyond belief and has always been a good distraction for me when I needed it. I am grateful that my brothers have been able share their homes and families with me when asked. I am grateful that my nieces and nephews had the opportunity to know their Grandfather. I wish they could know him some more. He loved each and every one of them. I hope that in some ways, I can fill in some of the blanks for my nieces and nephews when they have questions.

I know that each year this day will be a little less painful but for now it's not.

Little Dress - Finished

How Cute is This?????

Here's the little dress finished and blocked. Really easy, very quick and quite cute.

I totally ripped out (AGAIN!!!!) the SeaSilk that I was working on. I think I'm just going to frame the yarn in a shadow box and be done with it. I am going to put it far away, let it think about what it wants to be and when it's ready it can let me know.

Atlanta, Florida, the French Open

How can a month go by and I not write anything. It has been a busy month but I don't think that's much of an excuse. So here's what's happening....

Party in Atlanta
This year's National Teaching Institute (AACN's annual educational conference for critical care nurses) was in Atlanta during the end of May. It was CRAZY busy before leaving California and exhausting while in Atlanta. We put on a full 6 day conference with around 7000 attendee's and over 1200 exhibitors. This is no rinky dink operation here. We take about 60% of the office staff (about 60 people) and we make it happen. It is very exhausting but it's also an incredible amount of fun. It's a time to interact with out membership as well. It was a ton of fun to reconnect with some old friends and colleagues. Some things I learned about downtown Atlanta:

1. Centennial Olympic Park is beautiful
2. The hotels are old and tired.
3. There are a lot of homeless people who are not shy about crossing the street to ask you for money. (A little un-nerving for single women walking at night.)
4. Life runs just a tad slower.
5. Don't get the duck at Daily's restaurant
6. Ruth's Chris steakhouse did not disappoint
7. When the cab you get into to go to the airport has a handicap plackard hanging from the rearview mirror, hang on!
8. The Georgia World Congress convention center is pretty easy to get around - for a convention center
9. The Velvet Lounge at the Hardrock Cafe was a lot of fun. It was a good time trying to correctly identify the musicians in the old music videos
10. There are hills.

Florida Visit

I flew directly to Sarasota from Atlanta for a few days of R & R post NTI. It was good to visit with Mom and just relax for a few days. I was thrilled to get back to my favorite hair stylist, McKenzie at the Met. I went to Eye of the Needle to see if I could get #6 - 24" Addi Lace circs and was told that they weren't even on the market yet.....hmmmmm what are all those sets that I have in my collection in CA that I've had for about 2 months? I guess they just haven't made it to the East Coast or at least Florida yet.

French Open

I am loving the Tennis Channel's coverage of the French Open. It really fits in nicely with my crazy sleep patterns since it broadcasts live matches starting at 3 AM. Since I get up between 4 AM and 5 AM usually, I'm in heaven. I'm sitting here watching Nadal and Moya play. Rafa Nadal just won the first set. The commentary has been very good....John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Thomas Blake. The tennis has been spectacular. The Nadal - Hewitt match was outstanding as was the Djokovic - Patience match. The Terre Bateau is in fine form. I love the sliding these pro's do to get to the ball on the clay. Looking forward to a good finals weekend.

Works in Progress

I'm about 2/3 done with a sweet little dress for a 9 month old coming from China to be adopted by a girl at work. It's crocheted and from the last issue of Interweave Crochet. I started to do it in Rowan Cotton but when I saw the label that said "handwash only, dry flat" that was probably not the best choice for a soon to be toddler. I switched to Lion Brand Microspun which will be easy to care for but a pain in the behind to crochet with. It is working up nicely and I can't wait to see it finished.

I'm also finally knitting up the Handmaiden Yarns SeaSilk that I've had since last fall. I have started countless projects with it and have ripped out those projects because either a.) the pattern I'm using is too intricate and get's lost in the varigation of the yarn; or b.) I can't count correctly when doing a repeat for lace. I have finally settled on a simple 8 row lace repeat that I saw on Knitty Gritty. It is as follows:

Row 1: yo k1 all the way across

Row 2: purl all the way across

Row 3: k2tog all the way across

Row 4 & 5: yo k2tog all the way across

Row 6,7 &8: knit all the way across.

The only problem I am having with this one is that when I get to the knit rows I forget how many I have done.

Have to go to work. I might be able to put some pic's in a little later.

The Blah Phase

Reflections

I guess it's only natural that after a wonderful, whirlwind trip with my niece and nephew, a great visit from my friend Karen from Florida and anticipating my upcoming week long travel adventure that is NTI (in Atlanta this year) that I would be a little blah right now. Why is it that every time I think...oh I should go write something on the blog, I also think.....I don't really have anything to say? I read so many other blogs and am amazed at the committment people take to continue towrite day after day after day.

So, here's what's been going on...

Wild Animals and Flowers:

After getting back from D.C and Las Vegas, my friend Karen from Fort Myers came to interview for a job at AACN and spent the weekend. I took Friday off from work and we had a day of rain. Seriously, it was the first day since I have lived in California (one year next week) that we have had rain all day....pouring rain. No, not Florida pouring rain but a good rain none the less. We drove around a saw a few sights on Friday. Saturday was a beautiful day and we decided to head to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The new Journey to Africa section is open and it was great. Here are just a few of the dozens of pictures I took......

The Wild Animal Park has some great ads. Here's one

On the way home, we decided to go to Carlsbad for some strawberries and we happened upon the Carlsbad Flower Fields.....oh my lord, what great beauty. Pictures can not begin to do these fields justice.

What an amazing surprise. If you are ever in Carlsbad, Ca from the end of March to the Middle of May, you MUST visit the fields. They are spectacular.

Knitting News

I have no pictures to show....I don't know why. I guess I just don't like the look of the projects while they are blocking on the big blue beach blanket. I have finished the Goddess Top. Mine really does look like that, I swear. The only difference is that I couldn't get the bind off towork the way the pattern said so I put two rows of a 2 x 2 rib on the bottom and it looks great.

I ordered some yarn from Jojoland yarns to make a mitered square blanket. The colors they have are spectacular and I love the way the varigations are more like shading. I just didn't like the way it was looking in the colors I chose so I decided to send it back. I know, SHOCKING! I sent yarn back. I would have just exchanged it but I was being so indecisive about the colors so I figured it's not the right time.

I found the Purl Soho warehouse! Yes, it is the warehouse where Purl Soho fulfills all their online purchase for Purl Soho and Piecework (the quiliting store.) It's a very dangerous place. It also a much bigger space than either of the stores but the displays are not the same....It's fantastic because it's like having a little bit of NYC yarn store heaven right here in Orange County. When I need Manos, I'll be heading there. They have the largest selection I have seen so far.

I am finally knitting a little something with the Handmaiden SeaSilk. It's very yummy. The problem is that the yarn is so beautiful that I have had a lot of trouble trying to decide what it wants to be. I have started and ripped out about 12 - 15 different projects trying to figure it out. I have finally found the item I want to do and now I'm not sure I'm going to have enough. I am going to carry on and see what happens.

I hope all my finger, toe, leg, eye crossing has been helpful.

What I Did On My Spring Break....

Wednesday, April 4,2007
0600
Dear diary,
I'm excited today. I am going to pick up E & K in NYC and go to Fl. I'm waiting for Prime Time Shuttle to pick me up to go to Long Beach airport to fly to JFK to meet up with 2 of my favorite nieces & nephews. I can't wait!

2345
We made it to D.C. Jet Blue was delayed for an hour and we spent a couple of hours on the tarmac but we are here. It's cold. We are off to Uncle Jim's house and then we'll start the sightseeing tomorrow. I got a lot of knitting done on the Goddess top. The front part is done (for now) and I've cast on the back. I really like the tubular cast on it calls for. Very tired, diary....

Thursday, April 5, 2007
1130

Dear Diary,
We made it. The kids and I got into DC via metro (God I love the Metro in DC) and got off at the stop by the White House. How cool it was to see the kids as they encountered the White House for the first time. They couldn't believe that we were actually looking at the Oval Office in the West Wing. From the north side of the WH we traveled around to the south side (or the pretty side as Kighla calls it) and got to see it in all it's glory. As we crossed Pennsylvania Avenue Ean got his first glimpse of the Capitol building. It was a wonderful moment.

1230
We wandered over to the White House Visitor's Center and found a lot of great things. Each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia had decorated Easter Eggs and they were on display in the center....check out Louisiana's egg....it's Emeril!


1430

The Smithsonian and the mall....DC really is an amazing place. So much wide open space, lots of beautiful buildings and history. We were going to go to the Museum of American History but it's closed for renovations until 2008. That stunk but we did make it to the Castle, the gardens next to the castle and then to the Air and Space Museum. Very cool!
1700

Back to Virgina and my brother's house. Ashley and Katherine were home from school....that's the last I saw of the kids for the night. All in all, a really wonderful day.


Frday, April 6, 2007
0900

Dear Diary,
We are standing in line to get tickets to the Capitol. It's FREEZING cold and the wind is really blowing. Ashley is with us today and she hates to have her picture taken....we'll see if that lasts for the whole day.


1700

We are back in Virginia again. Today was amazing. From the Capitol, we went to the Holocaust museum. It's very moving. I loved the Hall of Rememberance. From there we went to lunch at the Post Office Pavillion. Then it was on to Fords Theater (closed, no tours today), the International Spy Museum (tickets sold out for today and tomorrow but we scored some for Sunday) and then a metro ride to Foggy Bottom. We walked down to the Lincoln Memorial by the State Department and Navy Hill. The Lincoln Memorial is one of the most awe-inspiring places I have been. It's so incredibly beautiful that it is difficult to imagine it's spleandor without being there. Next up was the Vietnam Memorial....another powerful space. A walk back up the hill to the Foggy Bottom metro (with a stop at Jamba Juice for some lifesaving smoothies....how is it that Ashley doesn't know about Jamba Juice????) and then a great ride back to Virginia. I wonder what's in East Falls Church that everyone gets off the metro at that stop....




Saturday, April 7, 2007
2100

Dear Diary,
Snow!!!!! Did you check the date? Snow!!!!! Today's sightseeing takes us to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia and Antietem Battlefield in Maryland. Two amazing places. We left Kighla and Ashley behind to hang out in movie theaters and pools.....but we added Uncle Jim. Jim challenged us to find the person in the cemetary with the oldest birth date.....We found one person born in 1796. Very old. The confluence of the Potomac and the Shenendoah rivers, midpoint of the Appalachian trail, meeting place of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. It's breathtaking. One of the coolest things we did....Jim put pennies on the railroad tracks. We went around the town sightseeing and when we got back we went searching for them and found a couple of them flattened out......cool souveniers. Then it was on to Antietem. My camera ran out of disc space so no pictures of the events there. It's hard to believe that over 22,000 American's were killed, wounded or went misssing in one day on these grounds. Another awe-inspiring place. We had a wonderful time and were headed back to Virginia when all of a sudden, in the lovely hamlet of Boonsboro, MD, Jim's car just stopped. I mean....stopped. dead. Luckily, we were in Boonsboro. We were safe; we found someone to tow us back to Virginia.....what fun. A little scarey but we were safe.

Sunday, April 8, 2007
2200

Dear Diary,

We made it back to New York City tonight. It was another event filled day of sight seeing. Ean and I went into the International Spy Museum bright and early. No pictures allowed inside. It's a wonderful place to spend a few hours. I highly recommend it. From there, a quick hop on the metro to Arlington Cemetary. What a wonderful place. We saw Kennedy's grave (both John and Robert), and the Tomb of the Unknown's. We saw the Changing of the Guard. What dedication and precision. Another place I highly recommend. Take the time to go and see the changing of the guard. You will be touched forever by the solemnity and respect of the place. (Note to self, please turn your cell phone to stun during the changing of the guard!)

While Ean and I were being Spy's and Soldiers, Kighla and Ashley went to the Zoo with Jim and Carmen. They got to see the Panda's (both mother and baby), Gorilla's, Snakes and Elephants. They had a great time. From there it was off to the airport and back to NYC.

I am one tired but happy Aunt. This was a great trip and I enjoyed every moment of it. I know my father was watching from heaven and nodding in approval. I might not have known the answers to all the questions like he would have but I think I represented pretty well. I hope we get to go again next year. Now, it's off to Las Vegas!