I Need to Write A Blog Entry

I was looking at this blog yesterday and thought OMG, I just need to lighten up. Not that it's not good to acknowledge the passage of time and that it's completely normal to grieve the loss of loved ones (especially a dad) but there is more going on in my life than just being sad because I don't get to talk to my Dad in person. So, today I was thinkin...I need to write a new blog entry. But what do I write about?

Tiger...Did you see the US Open from Torrey Pines this past weekend? On Saturday, I thought Tiger's play on 17 & 18 was nothing short of spectacular and some of the best sports I've ever seen. It was so obvious he was in a great deal of pain and it was like his natural ability and instinct kicked in and he just did whatever it took to get off the course and get out of pain. His play on Sunday to tie Rocco and then the same on Monday was just awesome. It's even more incredible today to find out he played 91 holes of golf with a tibial stress fracture and a torn ACL. Most of us would be on the couch sucking on a bottle of Vicodin Water.....

Tennis....And I use the term loosely. My roommate and I have been going to the tennis courts this week to hit some balls around. Let me just say right now....we totally suck. Enthusiasm, we've got plenty of....skill - not so much. It will get better.

Knitting - The good news: I have finished all the pieces of the Cabled Cardigan. The bad news: I can't sew the sleeves on to save my life. I have sewn the right sleeve on twice and ripped it out twice. They say the third time's a charm. I must finish it so I can start on something new. What is it that I think I need to finish something before I start something new? Character flaw? Certainly not extreme knitterly behavior.

I think I'm all blogged out.....

1095 days +1

6.11.05 - Three Years -

Still Missing Dad

Boggity-Boo, Shnickel Von Fritzmeyer, Shnickelfritz, Doodle Bug - Whiskers (1992-2008)

All better now.

Mohawks and Woody's

Whirlwind

The last few weeks has been quite a whirlwind. I spent a few weeks finishing up the bulk of the large project that I've been working on for the past 9 months....it was just like birthing a baby. Not that I'd really know what that's like but it seems appropriate. Anyway, it's 95% done and I'm having a difficult time forcing myself to tie up all the loose ends. I have a couple of weeks so I know I'll get it done. I'd hate to actually get something done with time to spare!

The day after the big part of the project was completed, I headed to Chicago for our annual large conference. It was 10 days of sheer exhaustion.....more than 9200 critical care nurses in one place.....exhausting. Once again I experienced "NTI Feet" which is a condition that can only be experienced; not explained. It takes the right combination of shoes, blister block, moleskin, toe pads, bunion cushions and drugs to make it through the week. Once it's all over, the feet go back to normal fairly quickly, thank goodness. This weekend I treated myself to the "Royal" Pedicure at my favorite little nail place. It was 90 minutes of absolute heaven. I think the feet are finally back to normal.

As exhausting as NTI is, it is inspiring and fun at the same time. This is the first time we've had an NTI in Chicago. It was also the biggest one ever! Chicago was chilly at times, rainy at times and quite springlike at times. I which I'd had more time to do some exploring. Maybe next time...in 2011.

Weekend in Florida

After NTI, I made a quick trip to Florida for a visit with Mom. It was good to spend a few days with her. I miss her a lot and it's the hardest thing about being in California. Mr. McGregor and Miss

Maggie (the Yorkie and Shih Tzu) acted like I was just coming home from work. It's been a year since I visited Mom and the dogs were very excited to see me. Mr. McGregor decided that I needed to hand feed him (reminiscent of the days when I lived with them) and Maggie dropped my Mom like a hot potato when it came time to decide where to sleep. We had a nice visit with my Uncle, and some friends of my Mom. We had a wonderful walk on the beach and the water was so tropical, clear and warm. I miss that. Mother's day was nice and then it was a quick trip back to California.

Catching Up on Shopping

This weekend was the time to catch up on shopping. A quick trip to Sam's, Costco and Whole Foods and life is good again. On the way to the District, we were driving up the 73 Toll Road and saw this......

I know it's hard to see but this is a genuine old Woody WITH a surfboard on top. It was very cool!

Today was a day for the Orange County Swap Meet. I don't do that very often (it's been a year and half since the last time) but it was fun. It was HOT today but I got some really good deals.....$5 clip on sunglasses so I don't have to be blind.....some cool splatting tomatoes, some poppy coasters that I've been looking for and a new cool purse. One of the funniest things I saw was this:

Yep, that's a blue Mohawk on the top of that guys helmet. He told us he'd made it himself. The funny thing about this is that about 30 seconds before this picture was taken, he was on the ground with his bike on top of him. He had forgotten to take the lock off his wheel before trying to move in a forward direction......the things you see on a Sunday morning.

Next weekend is Memorial Day already. My roommate's planning a party at Lucky Strikes bowling lanes. It ought to be fun.

Ain't it Purty

Obviously.....all efforts continue in the work avoidance project that I'm on today.........

Buried Alive....With Ants In My Pants!

So, did you ever have one of those times in your life when you have a ****load of work to do and you know there isn't enough time to get it all done? AND at the same time, you have ants in your pants?....That's me. I know that it is one of my work avoidance behaviors but it knowing it doesn't help. See, the conversation in my head goes like this....

Me:
"You really need to get those assessment items done....you only have about 6 weeks to write, oh, I don't know....maybe 700 test questions!"

Me Back:
"Yeah but I've been working every weekend since October and most nights after I get home from work, I don't wanna do anything else."

Me:
"You know that if you just start doing it you'll get into it and it will be okay. You'll feel better if you just do it."

Me Back:
"You don't know what you are talking about. I can't do this...it's too hard.....I'm not smart enough to do this."

Me:
"Yes you are. You are just making excuses. You can do this and you are running out of time. Just pick up the pencil and start. You can't use the excuse of not being organized anymore, you spent last week taking care of that."

Me Back:
"Wait, I can't start yet. I don't have all the learning objectives in the right order. I've also changed the outline so I need to create new learning objectives for the stuff I added in. See, I'm not ready yet."

Me:
"Liar"

Me Back:
Uh uh. I am not a liar. Seriously, I have to do that before I can start. Look how nice it is outside. It's finally really warm out. I need to go to the beach."

Me:
"The beach! Are you kidding me? You aren't going to go to the beach. The water's too cold, you are NOT going to just hang out and do work at the beach. I know better than that."

Me Back:
"Well, I'll just go to the beach and sit outside at a Starbucks, drink coffee and work." Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Me:
"Liar! You won't do that. You'll take the crossword puzzle and work on it instead. Just who do you think you are kidding"

Me Back:
"Seriously, I just need to go outside and play for a little while, then I'll get back to work. Really I will."

Me:
"What are you going to do?"

Me Back:
"I think I'll go return stuff to Costco and Coldwater Creek. I'll be right back."

Me:
Right back? That's all you'll do?

Me Back:
"Yep, that's it......

2 1/2 hour later the conversation looks like this...

Me:
So......Now you'll get to work on those assessment items, right? You promised.

Me Back:
"Sure, I'll get right on that. I just have to send an email, catch up on blog reading and oh, yeah....I should write on my blog too....I haven't done that in a while....then I swear to God, I'll get right on it.....

Me:
"Liar."

Happy St. Pat's Day from the Cats

'Nuff Said!

Good Cat Gone Bad

Dear Ellen,
I wanted to let you know of a situation that has occurred since I was at your February 29th show. You see, this is the sad story (with a happy ending) of a really good cat gone (temporarily)bad. It is a difficult tale to tell because for the first five years of Misty's life, she has been no trouble at all. She doesn't talk back, she cleans up after herself, she contributes around the house by putting her toys in the just the right place. She has always been a pretty finicky eater....no people food, no wet cat food, no kitty treats; strictly a kitty kibble kind of kitty girl. All that was changed by visit to your show.

It started out well enough. We danced, we saw Stryker, we listened to your monologue, we danced some more, and then it happened. You announced your partnership in Halo and that we were all going home with an assortment of Halo products. It was exciting because gifts are a good thing, especially gifts for a best friend like my little Misty. We watched the rest of the taping; the guy who won a million dollars on the Price is Right, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Janet Jackson. It was great. As we piled out of the studio, we innocently picked up our bags of pet products, Janet Jackson's new CD, Dr. Wayne Dyers book and went on our way. There were cans of cat food, bags of cat food, bags of dog food and kitty treats. I was excited to bring them home because if they were from you, they were bound to be great. Little did I know that I was carrying home illicit, extremely addicting drugs to my sweet innocent Kitty Girl Misty.

In the bag were some freeze dried chicken treats that are certainly innocent looking enough. I mean they look like actual pieces of chicken. Like I said, Misty isn't a cat that eats much of anything other than her normal Kibbles. Misty was a little hesitant and tentative about eating the treats. She was interested and she wanted to try it but in her heart of hearts she knew it was not in her best interest to try it. The other cat in the house, Whiskers, an older cat that was already tainted by eating people food, wet food and kitty treats for her 16 years, just went ahead and gobbled the freeze dried chicken treats down. Unfortunately, things deteriorated quickly. Misty tried little bits of the "Funky Chicken" (I believe that's their street name) and it soon became all she could think about. She had become a Funky Chicken junkie. She spent her days guarding the container of Funky Chicken preventing Whiskers from getting close to it at all. In fact, after a day or two, the only place Misty would hang out is in the kitchen. Gang wars ensued...there was much hissing, growling and swatting. No way was Misty going to let Whiskers steal her drugs. I'm telling you, Ellen, it was getting ugly. My sweet, innocent Misty had turned into a thug. She would do anything for a Funky Chicken fix. After a few days, I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to lose my sweety girl to the darker side of kitty life. I decided that it was time to stage an intervention. It was a tough couple of days. Misty was mad, she wouldn't eat, she was in pretty rough shape. All I could do was support her through the tough times. We wouldn't even let Whisker's have any Funky Chicken, after all, Misty needs EVERYONES support. Misty is better now. She knows she can't have any Funky Chicken for a while(and let me tell you, Whiskers is pissed) although she does hold out hope when I open the cupboard where it is stored.

Things are back to normal, finally and I think she's found the next best thing in Spot Stew. Misty and Whiskers give it two paws up! I just thought you'd like to know what a hit your Halo pet food has been around the house.

Thanks for helping us keep our pets healthy so we can have them with us longer.

Mary Pat
P.S. Whiskers thinks she might give another flavor of treats a try without telling Misty.

Coming Up For Air

Where in the world have you been?

October 30th.....How can it possibly have been since October 30th since I last wrote? It doesn't seem possible. Oh well, there it is...right there on the page, the proof that it has, indeed, been four months since I blogged. So, what's been going on?

#1 Work

I wish I could say that it's an incredibly active social life and travel schedule that has kept me from writing. While there have been moment of those that have interrupted my blogging, work is the main reason for my absence. I have been waist deep in a major project at work and while I'm still in the middle of it, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I am loving what I'm doing and truth be told, I love being busy. It has just been busy.

#2 The Holidays

Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. Thanksgiving day I went to see the Jersey Boys which was a lot of fun. It was nice to be doing something non-traditional. It was a packed audience so I wasn't the only one. The music was nice and it was enjoyable. The Orange County Performing Arts Center is a beautiful venue and I look forward to going to more events there.

I did cook Thanksgiving dinner for my Aunt, her fiance and my roommate on the weekend. It was fun to spend the day cooking and the meal turned out really great.

Christmas was very busy. My mother made the trip from Florida and spent the week here. We went to see Cirque du Soleil and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular while here. It was great to have her here for the week.

We had some friends from Fort Myers come for New Years. It was a blast to have them here even if I was sick most of the time they were here. We had tickets to the Rose Bowl Parade and they went ahead and made the trek to Pasadena. I spent the day in bed with my cat.

January came and went without a lot of fanfare. I did go to see a taping of the Ellen Show. It was a very rainy day and we only made it to the Riff Raff Room but it was fun. While we were waiting we took the NBC studio tour. That was a lot of fun. We got to see Jay Leno (he waved to us!), Allison Sweeney (DOOL and the Biggest Loser) and Mary Beth Evans (DOOL.) It was quite the Hollywood tourist day.

At the beginning of February I went to Washington, D.C. for my niece's Quinceanera. That was a spectacular event....15 teenage boys in tux's and 15 teenage girls in strapless dresses. A quick ride up the beltway to see my Aunt & Uncle in Md. (and visit a nice yarn store) and another one out to Sterling to see my brother and celebrate his 50th birthday wrapped up that quick trip.

#3 Knitting & Crocheting

With the increase in my workload, knitting and crocheting has taken a bit of a back seat. I did finish the Tilted Duster before Christmas. I did another Lutea Lace Tank for a friend of my mothers. I did a production piece for my sister and am now working on a knit dress for a friend and a wrap for me (I think.)

#4 The Pets

Misty and Whiskers have been doing pretty well. Whiskers had to have some surgery and spend a couple of days in the kitty hospital. Misty was a little freakked out when she came back from the hospital. It's all back to normal no

Thanks for listening....

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!