Skip to main content

Phew



The boys having a ¨serious¨ talk

It has been over three weeks since something was posted here.  In that three weeks three major cities were visited:  Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix and Seattle.  While in MSP I spent tons of time with the ¨kids." And of course there was extra time with that growing grand daughter.  She is currently in ¨stranger danger¨ mode but will let me read to her.  And it is clear she's a little girl read to a lot.


A smiling Miss M
I also met for the first time my new grand beagle, Gussie.  She was recently adopted and has been a breeding female for most of her 8 years.  Gussie is very happy to now reside with her new family, has become very attached to my daughter-in-law and is very unusual in colouring for a beagle.  She is a dark brown where most beagles are black.  Meet Gussie:


Gussie resting, note her brown colour
The temperature for most of my time in the Twin Cities was in the mid 30 degree F or -1 C which is remarkably warm for late-January, early-February.  But just before I left the temperatures dropped to single digits F or around -13 C, a reminder that I had been very lucky with regard to the weather.

Then off to sunny and beautifully warm greater Phoenix.  My folks are down there for the winter and I thought I'd stop by for a quick visit.  Dad had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia but seemed to be doing well.  I helped with a bit of errand running and soaked up the sun.  Here's a shot taken on an evening before we could see the International Space Station pass overhead.  Sunsets are so lovely with the palm trees and pinkish-purple sky.



I arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday and Wednesday morning we crossed the border (again for me) driving to Seattle to watch Paul's son speak at the University of Washington.  It was a very quick trip, really only an overnight affair, but gosh it was fun to see a presentation about his research in Uganda.



So little knitting was done during this time frame it is not worth mentioning.  But you can be sure since I have taken such a long break the motivation to get back to it is strong.  There will be updates about the Jelly Yarn, the Upscale Baby Sweater and another sweater for Gussie.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m
Post a Comment
Read more