Life's a Stitch

Goodbye Ms. Amazin' Grace

I am sad to report that Gracee Mae passed away Tuesday, at age 11 1/2, from bone cancer that had obliterated her hip bone before showing any symptoms. What a shock. We took her into the vet on Sunday as she was in pain and had a slight limp.The vet thought it was backstrain and put her on pain meds and lyrica for nerve pain. The pain steadily got worse and we took her in on Tuesday. She was x-rayed and a difficult decision had to be made. Our sweet Gracee girl is gone.

Warning for Ornithophobics: birds ahead

Someone in my life, with whom I am very close, has a fear of birds stemming from an English childhood pigeon incident. You know who you are ;-) and it's best that you leave. I miss the birds of my east coast childhood. The red cardinals and the jays lighter in colour than our deep blue Steller's Jays. Still there is enough variety here to keep me bird enthused. These are the birds of my neighbourhood(s):

Eagle on the ground:

Same eagle in flight - reminds me of a story when my son was two, lying on the kitchen floor, looking out the skyight above him. "Mommy Mommy, airplanes!" They were, in fact, three bald eagles swooping above.

Steller's Jay:

And our new desert neighourhood bird, a Roadrunner:

While hiking in the woods the other day we saw a Pileated Woodpecker, but he wouldn't pose for me. And my most memorable neighbourhood bird sighting was a Barred Owl with a rat still squirming in his claws. A reminder of  how close to nature we live. 

Summer Flies = Super fast knitting projects

Two in short succession. The first one was so quick and satisfying, thought I'd throw in the always fascinating self striping factor.

Pattern: Summer Flies by Donna Griffin, with variations explained below, different from my first Summer Flies with Variations.

Yarn: Drops Delight, 2 skeins, colour 05. Goes well with the blog theme colours, doesn't it? About the yarn, which is a self striping yarn similar to Noro, there are differences:

• there was only one knot in two skeins
• this yarn didn't pull apart in the fluffier areas
• although not as exotic a blend, the Delight being wool and polyamid, it is a reasonably priced alternative
• the gauge is comparable to Silk Garden Sock, but  knits up a bit loftier.

Needles: US size 8, last row and bind off in size 9.

Finished blocked size: 55.5" (along the top edge) x 12.75" at its deepest point.

Thoughts: Almost as fun as the first time, again knitted the knotted openwork loosely. I admit, I preferred knitting with the Madelinetosh Pashmina. Reality check: this yarn cost $13 in total. Alternating between the two skeins as the project grew helped make some of the stripes thicker, but resulted in many ends to weave in. 

My variations:

1. After the knotted openwork I added another section of ridged eyelet.

2. I added one section of a Feather and Fan stitch (an 18 stitch repeat), still starting and ending with the K3 and y/o's.

3. I finished with a tailored ribbed ruffle as follows:

Row 1: Knit all stitches, increasing until you end up with a multiple of 8 stitches. I needed to add three stitches across the row.

Row 2 and 3: K 4, P 4 to the end of the row.

Row 4: *K1, K to the front and back of the next stitch, K2, then P1, P to the front and back of the next stitch, P2* repeat across the row.

Row 5 and 6: K 5, P 5 to the end of the row.

Row 7: *K2, K to the front and back of the next stitch, K2, then P2, P to the front and back of the next stitch, P2* repeat across the row.

Row 8 and 9: K 6, P 6 to the end of the row.

Row 12: Bind off in knit and purl. 

You could make it longer, but again, weighing my yarn prior each of the last few rows, this was the end result. 

 

Life's a stitch or eight

No knitting here for a bit, having done a poor job of chopping an apple, slicing the finger instead. The result? Eight stitches, antibiotics and a tetanus shot. I still plan on posting the recent FO once the pictures are taken. No photos required on this post however, you do not want to see it.

Oh what a beautiful morning

That's the beauty of the Palm Springs area in the springtime:

Vacation pictures, part 2:

White wine spritzer with a palm tree swizzle stick.

Compared to life in Canada, everything seems bigger in the US - Marilyn Monroe, for example.

Margaritas at Macarios:

Hamentashen at Sherman's Deli. Hamentashen on steroids, that's a Canadian toonie, a very large coin next to it:

For that matter anything at Sherman's. The sandwiches, sides of chicken livers and latkes:

And their dessert selection:

You have to do a lot of knitting to burn off a trip to Sherman's ;-)  Next post: another finished project.

 

 

Pardon our dust...

We're renovating the blog, and it may take a bit to get it right. So far, so good. What do you think? Big thanks to the son.

It already feels like a dream

The older my kids get, the possiblity of everyone tgether on vacation seems like a remote possibility. We were fortunate to have it happen. Seven if us, including Baby Rye, in our two bedroom condo in Palm Springs. Cozy but fun. On our last night together we talked of our highlights:

Two of my S'sIL were in Phoenix celebrating C's brother's 80th birthday. We couldn't go so they brought the party to us even though it was a brief visit the end of their trip, so appreciated:

We picked grapefruit in an abandoned orchard and made grapefruit mimosas the next morning:

 

We hiked to an oasis:

Ms. M edited her Master's thesis, which she successfully defended this week and starting May 1st she is officially a PhD student:

You go, girl!

And we were bouyed by baby smiles:

Part 2 to follow, including the best sky picture ever.

 

Vacation knitting

Part of the fun of trip anticipation is the plan for travel knitting. Used to be I could take several projects, but with recent weight limitations I limit myself to one or two small ones. The result is quick progress.

Pattern: Summer Flies by Donna Griffin, with variations explained below.

Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina, Stargazing colourway (royal to navy blue with green flecks), a birthday gift from Blogless Marsha. 

Needles: US size 7, last row and bind off in size 8.

Finished blocked size: 59.5" (along the top edge) x 13.5" at its deepest point.

Thoughts: The perfect pairing of yarn and pattern. Could this have been my favourite project ever? The knotted openwork was a slower than the rest, but fun. The key is to knit that section loosely.

My variations:

1. After adding two extra repeats of the knotted openwork, knowing that I would have enough yarn and wanting to avoid a frilly ruffle, I knit through Section 7, Row 2 of the pattern, stopping just before the row where you the knit through the front and back of each stitch.

2. I added one section of a chevron lace, with a bit of stockinette above and below, similar to the one seen in the pattern "My version of Summer Flies" by Alla Postelnik, but without the increases described above and adjusting the amount of stitches across one of the stockinette rows to accommodate the repeats.

3. I finished with a tailored ribbed ruffle as follows:

Row 1: Knit all stitches, increasing until you end up with a multiple of 8 stitches. I needed to add three stitches across the row.

Row 2 and 3: K 4, P 4 to the end of the row.

Row 4: *K1, K to the front and back of the next stitch, K2, then P1, P to the front and back of the next stitch, P2* repeat across the row.

Row 5 and 6: K 5, P 5 to the end of the row.

Row 7: *K2, K to the front and back of the next stitch, K2, then P2, P to the front and back of the next stitch, P2* repeat across the row.

Row 8 and 9: K 6, P 6 to the end of the row.

Row 10: *K3, K to the front and back of the next stitch, K2, then P3, P to the front and back of the next stitch, P2* repeat across the row.

Row 11:  K 7, P 7 to the end of the row.

Row 12: Bind off in knit and purl. 

You could make it longer, but weighing my yarn with each of the last few rows in order to use all my Pashmina, this was the end result, a perfect size.

$35 for carry on?

Remember when you could take more than one piece of luggage on a plane, sans fee, prior to the degeneration of policies that limits you to one checked piece totalling 50 pounds for $25? If you fly Allegient, the used-to-be cheap West Coast airline to sunny climes, you now pay $35 for even carry on.

I'm not known for packing lightly. On a recent trip of three weeks, I weighed what I didn't wear, and it came to 8 pounds. My New Year's resolution, and promise to my not-so-luggage-inclined-spouse, was to buy a smaller, lighter suitcase. Costco cooperated and I've been given a chance to prove my new ability.

I did great with 36 pounds for a two week trip. But herein lies the problem. Mail order. For some reason, shipping costs to Canada plus applicable taxes and duties, make mail order an exorbitant proposition. The end result is shipping those items to my vacation destination, resulting in extra poundage on the return flight. In the meantime I'm gratefully saved by Blogless Marsha, whose home serves as my shipping depot in between trips. 

And then there's shopping. My knitting souvenir purchase was Madelinetosh Pashmina, go figure, in the Magnolia Leaf colourway. My 6th Clapotis-to-be?

 

Hooked on kitchen gadgets

It's all about the tools, right knitters and home improvement people? With the right tools you can do anything. Zucchini spaghetti - I've tried every gadget on the market and this one wins:

 

Try it you'll like it. If you like zucchini...