OLD GLORY STILL FLIES

The large flag draped the coffin of my Uncle Harold, who served in WW2 in the SouthPacific.  He was, oops,  is a Marine ("Once a Marine, always a Marine") and he survived the GuadalCanal invasion.  I have never met a Marine who could talk about those days, without choking up with tears rising in their eyes and some of them spilling over, as they began to relive those sad days.  It was easier not to talk about that day.  In those days men didn't boast or complain about the horror they witnessed.  He was a big man, standing 6'4", and he talked like a gangster, for you see, he was from New York, and this little girl idealized him.  He was my Uncle Harold.

Swift and Ball Winder!

This makes life a lot easier!

Sure is an interesting and uncomplicated

Swift - Skeiner .

www.paradisefibers.net

ordered on the 8th and received the 12th via UPS!

The worst part of buying  toys is the waiting, so 

when I received this in 4 days I was pleased 

and quickly assembled the swift, connected the

Ball Winder and started balling up my

yarn. No mess up, works smoothly

Ravelry subject of Vernena's Knitting on the Internet 101

Ravelry.com receives a positive critique in Verena's first English speaking knitting Summer 2008 magazine!  Europe's top knit magazine is acknowledging the knitting and crocheting community we know as Ravelry, "which may have truly revolutionized the way knitters use the Internet" they tell their readers. A glowing report on our new community, and the article goes on to recognize Jessica and Casey's all encompassing site. We all share the glow. Congratulations, and while  they are praised,  we are blessed.

Verena Knitting Summer 2008

Europe's top knit magazine Verena knitting Summer 2008 was laying on the table at my LYS, ABC's of Creative Pursuits, the cover shows a beautiful summer, short sleeve, scoop neck, orange-red cotton sweater.  This is the first issue published for the English speaking knitter.  OMG the patterns are original and don't seem a rendition of some other pattern.  The styles are the difference between the W store and the B stores.  This magazine even has children patterns for boys and girls.  I bought the magazine and took it home, filled a tall glass of sun tea and ice cubes then sat down to study the pics and then did a read of a couple patterns to see if I could follow the directions.  I called the 888 number and paid for my subscription and they are going to delay my first issue to be Fall 2008, so I won't get a duplicate of the "S 2008 issue.  

You need to see this publication you won't believe the value until you see all the patterns and the colorful pictures of models posing in the charmers. 

Halter top with strap

While cruising the Ravelry.com site, a community of knitters and crocheters,  I saw a darling baby bib that talented Designer Dehbiknits posted in her projects. As I studied the bib, with a thick strap, attached at one side, and fastened on the opposite side with a button and buttonhole connection I invisioned a halter top.  I don't have anymore babies in my life, all the grandkids are grown past the bib stage, six grandkids being girls, so when I looked at the bib, I  invisioned a halter top, with that  fashionable strap, which, for modesty's sake, would hold up the top. Not having a pattern, and being at a kindergarten level of learning and knowledge, in my knitting experience, I CO 149 st and used a seed stitch for the first 1", which is the bottom of the tube. I continued knitting, using a circular needle, in a st st.  I have communicated with Dehbiknits, who has an interesting blog, http://dehbi.wordpress.com about using her pattern to develope a top pattern for my granddaughters, and she was delighted.  

I wanted a 100% cotton yarn,  and decided that Red Heart Carefree Cotton, a blend of 51% cotton/49% acrylic (pink).  I swatched, first with Lion Brand Cottom Ease 50/50 blend (smoke lavender), and proceeded with the Red Heart.  The seed stitch, using the Lion Brand, was not as "sharp" and pointy as with the Red Heart.  I also, did a swatch using Louisa Harding's Nautical Cotton 100% cotton (grape-magenta) and my preference would be this gorgeous yarn, but the price is almost double the Red Heart.  The cotton/acrylic blend would dry faster than the other, so this is the choice of this knitter.  The Harding cotton will be used for me...

  

The third dependent

MayBelle rescued from SPCA

THE DEPENDENTS

Golden Retriever is Queen..............and Ajax

A BORDER OF HOLLYHOCKS AROUND THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

JACK GAVE MY GARDEN A BORDER OF HOLLYHOCKS

Jack cut out the wood per my pattern to give a protective picket fence to keep our hound dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, from digging up the garden.  It also took a "hot" wire around the fence to keep him from chewing the pickets.  Battery hit it at one end of the garden and went to the other end and hit the hot wire again, and he never went back to the garden fence.  He was a wonderful dog. We rescued him from the local SPCA.  

SPRING'S PROMISE

ELEPHANT GARLIC Originally planted 8 years ago, this garlic has not been replanted in a planned way.  These are garlic from the self seeding little garlic bulbs, that are left behind during the harvest.  This year I am saving all the seed bulbs and will plant them as they should be.  These garlics are large, you are looking at the clove of garlic, yes, they are large, one clove equals the garlic. They have a wonderful taste, different from the small commercially cultivated garlic of California.  You can get these from your produce man at the local grocery store, just ask, then ask again, and finally they will get them in.  

SPRING'S PROMISE

SPRING'S PROMISE

SPRING'S PROMISE

Zucchini is forming at the base of the flower.  This is definitely Once upon a creation.

SPRING'S PROMISE

Pick the Zucchini before it gets gigantic and you won't have all the seeds to navigate, while eating it.  Nutrition is a good thing.  Many more are growing on the bushes.

SPRING'S PROMISE

SPRING'S PROMISE

SPRING'S PROMISE

TOMATOES START WITH A FLOWER

SPRINGS PROMISE

 My garden was planted late in April, not in early February, as is the routine of these past years.  Normally my zone has 362 growing days, but this year we had a couple of days of freeze, so we didn't have the familiar May tomatoes, fresh from the garden. There is a promise a creation growing safely in His view.

PLATTER OF PALE YELLOW ROSES

When it comes to blank white china, this is one of my favorites.  These Yellow Wild Roses were painted to be a very pale yellow, because I wanted a frame of a warm gray rim.  Yellow and gray are a complementary color combination and it is unique.

FUN WITH PHOTOGRAPHY

Jack and Cindy

HAVING FUN WITH PHOTO PROGRAM

Sally and Traci

DO YOU SMELL THE CINNAMON ROLLS

Cinnamon Rolls fresh from the oven, a treat for Jack, when we returned home from Bible Study tonight.  We have been studying the book of Romans.  Jack has been leading our study for years, and we are all blessed because of this.

The Picture that captures it all

Peace Roses with rain

We love roses, one of my favorites is the Peace Rose.  Jack tends to them and picks them and brings me a bouquet.  We are never without roses in our home.

A Spinners Dream Bison Fiber

Imagine a meadow crowded with Bison, who are shedding their winter mantle.  Next time I am in Wyoming I will be gathering the shed fur from them, but only after they have taken their calves and grazed their way on down the meadow.

The Dependents are the Bosses

We have the best animals, they are buddies, they take walks together, if the cat MayBelle is awake. She will walk at night with her buds.  They watch out for each other, well, especially each other's food.  Queen, our rescued Golden Retriever, 98 pounds of love and devotion has hip slippage, so our Bichion, Ajax,  has to be scolded for running her down and nipping at her hind quarters.  Queen has plenty of patience for her little bully buddy. MayBelle, when awake is usually being hauled down the hallway by Ajax, and all the time he is pulling her by the furry neck skin, she is batting his face with her paws, with her claws retracted, most of the time.  It looks like a boxing max.  MayBelle bats and Ajax dodges.  When MayBelle has had enough she will take a running leap up onto the bed, and with a distained expression she cleans herself again.  

Memorial Day Blog Read easier with the RSS on your address bar click it

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MEMORIAL DAY FOR THE FALLEN AND for ALL OF US

EVERY YEAR MY HUSBAND GATHERS TOGETHER ALL THE WOOD CROSSES HE HAS CUT OUT AND PAINTED OVER THE YEARS, AND HE COUNTS THEM.  EVERY YEAR MY HUSBAND, WITH TEARS OF SADNESS AND MEMORIES OF DAYS PAST GENTLY CARRIES THEM TO HIS WORK BENCH. HIS MEMORIES OF PAST WARS ARE ON HIS MIND, LIKE WHEN HE SERVED OUR COUNTRY IN THE NAVY DURING WORLD WAR TWO.  HE HAS  RESEARCHED HOW MANY MORE OF OUR COUNTRYMEN AND COUNTRYWOMEN HAVE DIED THIS PAST YEAR IN SERVICE TO HIS BELOVED COUNTRY.  Every year he adds up the difference from the deaths of the previous year and does his subtraction and addition, in order to be correct on the count of the new crosses he will make this year.  This is a very emotional time for him and for me, but I will have to admit, that he is more emotionally attached to his ongoing service to our military and their loved ones.  He faithfully goes to the lumberyard for wood, he stubbornly paints each cross, not before it has become a cross, but after the wood is cut and sanded and assembled, then he will paint the wood  crosses a fresh coat of white paint.  

He will take his treasure to his Church and there he will measure off a grid, and he doesn't fudge or get lazy about this grid.  You see, he isn't doing this in a hurry, just to get "the job" done.  He never lost a child to a war, but he lost friends to WW2, and even now he has very few of his High School friends left, or the friends he has had throughout his adult life.  He continues to see the surviving High School friends of those innocent days before the "Big One".  He has told me a couple of times, "almost all my friends are dead".  So he lays out his grid on the green grass lawn that faces a busy country road, where much developement is providing homes for young families, of whom some are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some of those young families are fatherless now and or motherless now, because of, mainly Iraq.  His grid is coming together, line crossing line, it is ready for the ritual of hammering into the ground the precious crosses, some old, kept in a dry storage shed, protected from the weather. Some smelling of fresh paint, which will represent the freshly killed.  He goes through his ritual of placement, just so, just straight, and all the time he is thinking about the brave and patriotic who lay in a grave somewhere in our country. He wonders about the kids going off to school knowing that their daddy or mommy is in Iraq. He thinks about the kids who just talked the on the telephone or just read an email from them.  He sniffles back tears knowing some kids no longer have their daddy or mommy, because of their patriotic service to their country.  He blows his nose into his moist handkerchief, and he goes about his heart felt duty to remember these fallen warriors. His service of reminding me and you that someone died thinking they were serving an honorable cause is heavy on his heart.  His heart isn't very strong anymore, but it is strong enough to be angry about the physically wounded and those who suffer a not seen wound that lurks in the recesses of their mind.  I have tried to help him with the installation of the grid and the crosses, but this is a job that only he can do, it is his prayer, it is a sacrament.  

When the Church school kids come out to the Memorial Field, for the ceremony, they don't know who my husband is, no Jack stands quietly to the side and observes the kids as they are made aware of Memorial Day and what it means to them.  He doesn't miss a thing, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars standing at attention, with their old bugles and trumpets, he hears the taps, but only because he has his hearing aids in and turned on, he hears the kids singing our countries songs, and he notices the children who stop at a cross, or touch the cross, or touch one of the flags that Jack has placed into the ground in-front of all the crosses, that he put there, making sure that his respect was shown by how straight they stood, how each flag was unfurled casting a little shadow of comfort.  This year Jack wasn't able to take care of his prayer, his sacrament.

WITH TEARS OF SADNESS MY HUSBAND GIVES SERVICE TO OUR FALLEN DEAD---MEMORIAL DAY

WITH TEARS OF SADNESS MY HUSBAND GIVES SERVICE TO OUR FALLEN DEAD---MEMORIAL DAY Continued

NEON SOCK YARN

2nd dye job:  Only 2 colors used, pink and yellow.  The yellow ran into the pink and orange was the result.  This was the plan.  Thinking the colors too neon I knitted up a swatch in order to see how the colors would appear dispersed throughout the knitting.  I am pleased, but I am considering over-dye to calm it down. The sock yarn is an inspiration to my knitting, because so many of the sock yarns, that are not custom dyed, are too conservative for my idea of fun in a sock. I love dying the yarn, now I want to knit with it, and produce a one of a kind happy look  pair of socks.  BUT, for whom?

California September Sunset

Camped atop the San Simeon State Park, we were fortunate, at sunset,  to have this beach view site.  "The Heavens declare the Glory of God".  So serene and meditative at the end of a day of Pacific Coast activity.   

First Yarn Dye Job 3rd pic

Talking about living and learning..............sigh.............I published the dye job in reverse progression.   

Isn't this 550 yard ball of hand dyed wool yarn beautiful.  

Any suggestions what this yarn could be made up in?  

I should name it too.

I encourage all of you to go take a lesson on dying your own yarn, this is very satisfying.  The class was inexpensive and being lead by a knowledgeable teacher, at my LYS, made the process so much easier than doing it on my own at home.  She had everything laid out and gave a short lecture and then we jumped in and did the deed. 

First Yarn Dye Job 2nd pic

Looking closely you can see the areas of "halo color" that will stall the use of this wool yarn, but I am still thrilled with the beauty.  Visible is the spiral fiber that drew me to this yarn.

Live and learn. 

First Yarn Dye Job 1st pic

550 yards of Licorice Stick yarn, which has a fiber wrapped or spun in a spiral around the main wool fiber.  This spiraling fiber uptakes the dye in a darker hue, and adds much interest to the overall appeal of the yarn.  Although, the uptake wasn't as obvious on the orange areas.  Live and learn. Next time I will be more attentive to the areas where the colors join.  My instructor is the owner of my LYS, and she warned me 4-5 times about this area, but I was too cautious and, as you can see my yarn has anemic or halo areas.  I hung the yarn, using 2 plastic clothes hangers, on the fan.  I left the fan running through the night, and in the morning the yarn was dry.

I started teaching China Painting in 1978. The art of painting on porcelain china comes from a desire to have beautiful art for my home, and to have lovely pieces to leave to my family, one day.   The china is painted on several times,then fired in the very hot kiln, causing the glaze to soften and receive the paint deep into it's mystery and then it is cooled very slowly.  The depth of the subject, the perspective and different shades are achieved with consecutive paintings and firings.  The Wild Rose is a favorite of china painters, as are all Roses.  In my classes the first subject painted is the Pink Wild Rose.

Sarah's Yellow Butterfly

Sarah's favorite color is yellow and she loves butterflies.  I created this stained and copper-foiled  leaded glass panel just for her.  She hung it in her bedroom window, where, when the sun shines on it the butterfly takes wing.  Butterflies are like Sarah, beautiful and welcomed.  

Orange Roses for Gracie

The platter has orange roses, because Gracie's favorite color is orange, and so I painted them with her on my mind.  The drama and depth of the background is rich, as is a thriving garden's soil.  I am please with the result.  The Roman Gold edge will be applied and fired on in the kiln, before it is entered into the 2008 County Fair.  Maybe this platter, when given to Gracie, will be accompanied by a ribbon from the County Fair's judges.

Tessa's Socks are Looped Magically

I knitted the first pair of socks since I was in High School at 16 years old, but this time instead of the 4 double pointed needles I learned the Magic Loop way of knitting 2-at-a-time SOCKS, by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  The first try seemed impossible to fathom, then I frogged the socks and turned off all the noise makers and concentrated on the task at hand. So on the second try, second row I started to fly through the rows, until I got to the gusset.  I kept going and going and finally I was finishing the toe.  As you can see I switched up the colors so the socks look like a pair instead of a mismatch. Soon I had the chain 3 slip stitch into each loop at the top of the ribbing, to give a feminine  touch, again switching the colors, and the socks were done. Different colored yarn is to keep the knitter from confusion.

I am excited to have my own blog, but after my Granddaughter Hannah created this lovely Gerber Daisy background and set up where this and that would go, I suddenly became a woman with a loss of words syndrome.  I swear this is the first time this has happened in a very long time, the last time this happened was when I was madly in love with, well, he will know who he is. 

Tonight I realized that I have a trove of silly and maybe funny posts that I have made at Ravelry.Com, a knitting & crochet community, which is the best site I have ever encountered.  So, if I am being silly again, by entering these posts, then forgive me, and endure, because this might be what I need to brake up my unfamiliar mental block or writer's block, not Senior Block.  

If you have noticed that I am as silly as a 16 year old, and you can add and subtract, and good for you, and you picked up on the fact that I have grandchildren you have discovered a dead give-away that something isn't quit right, this woman is how old? then you are really taking this blog into your imagination.  Well, you have discovered the truth about all us silver foxettes, we are not our chronological age, no we aren't.  One day you will know what I have said, because you will experience this phenomenon , but I will not explain it here, and I do not presume to speak for my peer group or age group.  I only want you to know that the silver hair is not a clue to age, at all.  When you see "us" in the LYS, please be comforted by the insight that "we" are still ticklish and that speaking for me, still love Rock N' Roll, Hard Rock, Country, Folk songs of the 1960's and '70's, Blue Grass, Long Hair, Christian, some Jazz, and I especially like to play my music loudly.