In the Middle

Do you sometimes just not feel like doing something, even something you enjoy doing? I just haven't felt like blogging. Summer was pretty uneventful. There was no exciting knitting, knitting but not exciting. I just didn't feel I had much to share. I'm not sure I have much to share at this point but I feel like blogging again.

This is some recent knitting. Two baby hats, one child's hat and two baby bibs and a scarf that is stash busting at it's best. My friends and coworkers are accumulating children and grandchildren at what seems to be an alarming rate. I think this is linked to my age. I was at yet another funeral recently when I realized I am in the middle of my life. Considering the average life expectancy for a woman I am over half way but I don't like to think about that. What I came to realize at this funeral is that being 50 something I know a lot of people younger than I am and a lot of people older than I am. I have friends not much older than I that are going to be great grandparents and I have co workers who are younger than my own children. Working in health care and photography I see all phases of life almost daily and I realize what an amazing place I am in. I have been given the gift of caring for friends of my parents in their declining years, comforting and assisting their children in dealing with this new phase of their lives, sharing in the joy of my childrens friends marrying and starting families and I am still healthy and active enough to enjoy it. Many, many times I have heard elderly patients state they don't see what is so golden about the golden years. I now believe the golden years are the middle years. The years you can see the beginning and the end and appreciate what you have right now in the middle.

I wanted to try a pair of fingerless mitts. I picked this fun stripe from my sock yarn stash and knit away. What I learned from this project is, try them on as you go if you intend to wear them yourself. That way you would realize you would like the cuff a little closer fit and they could be a little longer here and there. The result was a fun little knit and a few teaching moments that hopefully I remember.
So, what do you do when you have knit fingerless mitts and still have yarn left over? Not enough for a pair of socks, maybe ankle socks but I didn't think of that at the time. There was this water bottle cover pattern I had been wanting to try. Perfect! Mindless knitting, perfect for a road trip and a little TV knitting. Actually remembering what I just learned from the mitts I tried the cover on my favorite water bottle. Perfect fit! While the water bottle clothed in it's new cover sat on the kitchen counter I realized I really didn't want a cover on my water bottle. I just liked the idea of a water bottle cover. Plus, there was still too much yarn but not enough to do anything with. I left the project lying on the floor next to my chair for a day or two and then it struck me. It wanted to be a reusable gift bag! So I knit on making it as tall as possible and still have enough yarn to make the icord closure. Two fun little projects, some lessons learned and just a little yarn left over. See it lying there in the middle? What do I do with that?! I am now on the hunt for a project to use up little bits of leftover sock yarn. Any suggestions?




My daughter was home for the 4th of July and we decided to make a fruit pizza for dessert. She created fireworks out of the fruit pieces. I enjoy having her home. It is amazing the things we talk about when we are working on projects together. I miss her.

A good friend, local retired doctor and nationally known author passed away this summer. I loved reading his articles each week in the newspaper, was honored to care for him when he was ill and am thankful for the influence he had on our family. He always closed his articles with, see you down the road. Thank you Don.

My New Love

This is my old love. It is the sign next to the door of our studio.
Though I still love it, something new has moved in to vie for my affections.

Isn't it lovely? It is a bird bath or bird feeder or just lovely garden art. What ever I want it to be.

After a day of rain several robins were perched on the edge enjoying a cool drink. Of course they didn't want to be photographed.
This is the detail of the legs.
All this metal work is done by a dear friend of ours. He was an orthopedic surgeon who dabbled in iron work until he retired. Now he does amazing things with metal. You can see more of his work here. Thank you David for adding new loves to my life.

Bad Juju

9/29/08

Imagine you are a 26 years old. You have had a lump in your breast for at least a year but since you have no family history and you are so young no one is concerned. Now imagine that lump is actually cancer. Fast forward 6 months. You have had a double mastectomy, radiation, a lung biopsy that is thankfully negative, your jerk of a significant other becomes an even bigger jerk and you finally send him packing and you are now facing radiation.
As soon as I saw the pattern for this I knew my friend Keri needed one. I don't like knitting things like this and I HATE stuffing anything so this was a stretch for me. I intentionally tried for unattractive since his lot in life is to be stabbed repeatedly. The heart on the front is of course for the jerk and the big C on the back is for cancer. She really is handling all of this better than I think I would have and she has a tremendous group of family and friends helping her along the way. Her life is better without the jerk and the cancer is loosing to her strength and faith. To Keri and a long, healthy life.

Motorcycles and Pretty Spiders

9/20/08

The weather was perfect all day long. Not too hot, not too cool, a very gentle breeze and productive. Late in the evening we were enjoying the end of the day on the deck and I got up from knitting to check the roses. This is who I found visiting my rose bush. Isn't she beautiful. I don't know that she captured her supper but she had the tip of the rose wrapped in a web. She had no objections to having her picture taken. Yes, I asked. I have this habit of talking to nature. Flowers, bugs, weeds... Thank goodness they don't talk back. I thought is was interesting that the browned tip of the rose is the same brown as she is. Coincidence? If the red/green/brown color combination works in nature it may inspire a future project.




9/21/08

Good friends, good food and a beautiful morning. We found a wonderful little cafe in Burlingame, Kansas that serves breakfast followed by an awesome bbq buffet. Wonderful people and amazing food. They love the biker groups and treated us like royalty.

Since we were already so close to Lawrence we rode on up to see the grand kids. It was a short visit as I had to be back for a meeting at church but a wonderful addition to the day.

I took this picture with a simple little point and shoot camera I carry in the car or on the bike. Obviously the date is wrong. It took me a while to figure out how to change the date and then remove it from stamping the photo. So much for simple.

Breakfast Ride

4/20/08

We took advantage of the second nice day in a row and rode with a group of friends to a little town about 30 miles away for breakfast. Good home cooking, bottomless pot of coffee and lots of fun. Came home and worked in the yard. Hubby mowed and I trimmed up rose bushes, cleaned up plants and took some of the houseplants outside. They were very happy as they just don't winter very well in our house. They love the back deck and will be beautiful by mid summer. Assuming the cats leave the poor plants alone.

New Yarn in the Mail

It is so much fun to see a package on my desk when I arrive home from work. If I order anything for my husband that needs to be a surprise I have to have it shipped to another address because he always gets to the mail before I do. That also means he knows how often packages arrive for me and where they come from. I'm glad he is the understanding, supportive guy that he is.

3/3/08

 

I have joined the Mystic Light KAL and this is the yarn I plan to use. This is not at all the yarn I had planned to use but I couldn't find what I had pictured in my mind and I was on a bit of a budget. Since then I have found a couple of yarns that would have mirrored the picture in my mind quite well. The budget issue is still there but not wanting to spend a lot of money on yarn was based more on the facts this was my first KAL, my first lace knitting and my largest project to date. I did not want to put a lot of money into a project I wasn't sure I was going to like. The swatch instructions were released last week and about 10 minutes into it I knew I loved the yarn and was going to like knitting lace. I was having trouble with my needles though so what did I have to do? Order new needles of course! That means there is yet another package winging its way toward our home. That also helps me justify not spending too much on yarn since I HAD to get new needles. The first clue will be released on the 26th. My needles will be here by then, my swatch completed and I will be ready to knit lace.

 

3/4/08

Since I was ordering yarn anyway I had to check out the clearance section that a new friend on Ravelry pointed me to. We both liked this lovely little yarn and the price was just too good to be true especially when you divided it by two. I can bust a yarn budget wide open without really trying. This yarn doesn't know what it wants to be yet so it has joined the stash to contemplate its future. I know it will want to become something wonderful. It will also be fun to see what my new friend's yarn grows up to be.

Coming up:

FOs

Road Trip

Exchanges

I don't often participate in exchanges because I am such a procrastinator. There, I said it. I enjoy the exchanges but I am always late getting them done. I have never not completed one but they are always late.

This picture is of a lovely skein of yarn I received from my partner in a theme exchange. The theme was "New Beginnings". This is what she had to say about this lovely yarn.

"This skein of yarn comes from a lamb's first fleece. A lamb's first fleece is it's softest and with shearing, it is the start of a whole new beginning for the lamb as it progresses to maturity."

I don't know what I will do with the yarn yet but I plan to knit something that is a "New Beginning" for me.

1/17/08