Hello, Kitty!

I first saw this cute-beyond-cuteness sewing machine at CraftORama in Austin. Since then, I've been semi-obsessed with finding one for my granddaughter so I could teach her to sew. Well, as it turns out, on the Target.com website you can do a search to see if something is available locally. And, low and behold, it was listed "in stock" at our local Target store. And it took me about a minute to hustle off to Target to get one.
I set it up across the table from my machine.
Our first "sewing club" meeting was pure joy and she was so excited! We learned to fill bobbins, thread the machine, cut out felt pieces and try out all the stitches. (basically, straight and zig zag stitches) I felt such a strong sense of this being a life changing moment for her. I kept imagining her years from now saying to her own granddaughter (or son), "my dear old grandmother, whom I loved so very much, taught me to sew when I was seven."
Her first project was a "hot pad" made from three layers of felt. She stitched back and forth across the square, using various colors of thread and trying all the stitches. Then we used pinking shears to even off the edges. And she proudly took it to her other Grandma as a gift.
I look forward to many, many happy days of sewing with her. And Christmas is coming, it will so much fun to make gifts.

Finally, A Blog Entry!

The knitting slump is over! I have scaled the highest peak and planted my knitting needle triumphantly at the top! What a moment! Whew, that feels good! (ooh, oops would you look at the dust up there...oh, well, I'll get to that in a little while)
First I must bask in the glory.
Yeah, it's just a baby hat, but sheesh, it's been months or centuries since I've knitted. I'm happy to see something! And I do love this hat pattern. This is the third hat I've made from it. This time I used a lovely soft hand dyed wool from Blue Sky. It is so soft. Now I just have to do the little tassels.


It all started with our recent road trip...passed through Austin...and our happening upon a fab place called Hill Country Weavers (and which was just a hop skip and jump down the road from CraftORama, we got directions from the girl there, more about that later.) Anyway, if you do happen to be in Austin sometime, the big knitter and I highly recommend that you seek out Hill Country Weavers. And here's why! The big knitter's been sorta on a yarn buying break, due to the fact that he has about 10 blankets worth of yarn still waiting to be knit. (and storage of 2000-2500 yards of worsted weight yarn for each blanket is a bit problematic!) However, he couldn't resist the above finds. Blue Sky handpaints and a tweedy-looking alpaca/merino blend from The Fibre Company. Both in big-knitter-friendly-colors.

Hill Country Weavers is a place like no other. Located in a big old house on Congress street, each and every room is stuffed full of every kind of yarn you can imagine. And a room just full of books. Really a knitter's oasis. And the people are ultra friendly too.

And then the icing on the cake, literally, to the left next door, what could be better ... the Hey Cupcake stand!
and of course the cupcakes!
...which was great fun to buy and photograph. But once we had a minute to think about it, you know these aren't on any kind of cardio diet in the world. And we just couldn't bring ourselves to devour them even though we paid 2 bucks apiece for them. So we compromised and split the bottom half of one just so we could say we got cupcakes in Austin at Hey Cupcake!

And then there was CraftORama, a great little eclectic fabric/craft place up the road from Hill Country. Here's my haul for my little crafty thing I'm into right now:
The pattern for the tote bag is from Amy Butler and the other two are Favorite Things pattern designs. I'm gonna try the circle skirt for my granddaughter. CraftoRama has a bunch of Janome sewing machines and a big cutting table set up at one end of the store. Sewers and crafters can rent time on the machines and the sales staff share their technical assistance. They also provide basic tools like rulers, etc. And the fabric is fabulous! I asked if they were going to sell on line and the (very, very friendly) sales person said they are working on a web store. Can't wait!!
Here's a little bitty knitting kit I picked up also. Everybody needs a felted ant! Well, the actual purpose of our trip was to visit Big Bend National park, which is in far western Texas. We just got there in a roundabout way. And our last knitting related stop before heading on to Big Bend was to visit the Old Oaks ranch, which is outside Fredericksburg. What a lovely place, with the alpacas, the ranch, the sculpture garden and of course the store. I picked up a brand new project...braided wool rug made from roving. The roving is from Interlacements. Don't know when I will get started with this one, I'm thinking reading the detailed directions would be a good place to begin.The Old Oaks Ranch offers a multitude of fiber related classes and also a yoga class, what a great idea for knitters, spinners and weavers!

And oh, yeah, Now On To Big Bend..
Since the park is literally on the US/Mexico border, we got to see a bit of the Rio Grande river. We also learned some about life on the border and the many changes (not necessarily good ones) that have come about since the border closed in 2002. This cliff is on the Mexico side: And here's a cool sandy little path we hiked to the old hot springs: And some petroglyphs: The Rio Grande: And an unfortunate sign of the times: Most of the dirt roads in the park are not recommended for motorhomes, even little ones like ours, so we will have to return sometime with a Jeep or 4wd car so we can see more.
And lastly...

Life 2.0

Found this quote...

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive."
–Howard Thurman

on an awesome website...

http://www.life2point0.com/

Happy Monday to us all...

Waldorf Doll

I've been playing with making some little Waldorf dolls. Here's the first one. The outfit and hat are flannel and the face is interlock. The ribbon accent is satin.I am using Maricristen Sealey's book for inspiration. It is a wonderful resource. But, since I'm bad at following instructions, this doll is an original design using basic techniques from the book.

3rd Drawstring Bag

Here's another drawstring bag I made for daughter # 3 for her birthday. This one's linen with a cotton lining. It has become her custom to ask us to donate to one of her favorite organizations for birthday and Christmas gifts. This year it was the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation . I put a little card inside the bag to let her know we had made the donation. It was a great 26th birthday for our baby!

This week, I got my Ravelry invite. My user name is mostlybears. I haven't added much of anything to my profile, but it's been fun to look around and see everyone else's projects. There are like 20 other Tucson knitters on there with blogs that I want to read. Ravelry is amazing and I couldn't help but make a little donation to the cause while I was on there. It felt like money well spent.

Still Crafting

Here's another drawstring bag I finished this week. I stashed H.P. 5 inside and sent to daughter #2. She is reading the series & I'm sending her one at a time from my collection.




Here's a cool crafter's blog that has loads of links to other craft blogs:


It's been great fun to look around. I really like Thimble's vintage buttons.

OK Here's An Interesting Sight

A couple of days ago, I heard some commotion outside the garage. When I came out to look, the Waste Management garbage truck was parked in front of the driveway and a couple of very nice but non-english speaking W.M. workers were talking excitedly and pointing at my garage.

I stepped out and saw a wonderful specimen there, just behind the car. A Gila Monster in all his colorful glory...throwback to the time of dinosaurs...and he was checkin' out the digs there.

I (of course, wouldn't you?) stepped back inside the house rather hurredly and got the big knitter to come on out. Well, the big knitter tried to gently persuade him along with a broom, but then he hunkered down between the gate and wall.

After much gesturing and quasi-conversation amongst the men, it was decided to leave him alone to his own devices. Then we went back into the house (and I closed the garage door to discourage his reentry!).

Later, we ventured out again just to check status and found he had moved on a bit further into the yard and then he was gone on his way. Apparently, if you leave them alone, they really don't give a dang about you and will leave you alone too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So...Here's everything you'd ever need to know about Gila Monster, which, by the way, are a protected species!! From the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum :

Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum)
Order: SquamataFamily: Helodermatidae (venomous beaded lizards)Spanish name: escorpión

Distinguishing Features
The Gila monster is a large, heavy- bodied lizard reaching a little over 1¼ feet in length. The head is large, with small, beady eyes; the tail is short and fat. The family name Helodermatidae means “warty skin,” referring to the beaded look of the dorsal scales, due to the presence of osteoderms (small bones) under the scales. The lizard is bright pink and black, usually in a reticulated pattern, but in a banded pattern in some populations.

Range
The bulk of this lizard’s range is in western and southern Arizona, continuing to southern Sonora, Mexico, but it can also be found in extreme southeastern California, southern Nevada, extreme southwestern Utah, and southwestern New Mexico.
Habitat
The Gila monster is most commonly found in mountain foothills dominated by saguaros and palo verde trees. It also uses washes that extend down into valleys. It may use burrows dug by other animals, or construct burrows of its own.

Life History
Gila monsters prey on newborn rodents, rabbits, and hares, though ground nesting birds and lizards, as well as eggs from birds, lizards, snakes and tortoises are also eaten. Young Gila monsters may consume as much as 50 percent of their body weight in one feeding, while adults are capable of consuming 35 percent of their body weight in a single feeding. They are active mainly during the day from March through November, and may be seen basking at the entrances to their shelters in winter and early spring. Hibernation takes place from the end of November through February. Some sources estimate they spend up to 98 percent of their time in their subterranean shelters. Generally an animal occupies two burrows over the course of a year, one from autumn through early spring and another during the warmer spring and summer months. The latter burrow is usually in or near a bajada, while a higher elevation, foothill burrow is used when cooler temperatures arrive. Little is known about reproduction in the wild. An average of 5 eggs, but as many as 12, may be laid in late summer. In southern Arizona, Gila monsters breed in May and June, with eggs laid in late June through mid August. The eggs incubate and develop from fall to early spring; young appear the following April through June. There is no other known egg-laying lizard in N.America where eggs over-winter and hatch the following year.

Comments

(i.e. most important stuff to know)
Gila monsters are one of only two venomous lizards known to occur in the world. The other, the beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum), is found in southern Sonora and further south in thornscrub and tropical deciduous forest.
Venom is produced in glands in the lower jaw and expressed along grooved teeth as the animal bites. Once the lizard bites, it generally holds on and chews more of the venom into its victim. Though the bite is rarely life-threatening to humans, it may cause pain, edema, bleeding, nausea and vomiting. A Gila monster’s venom is believed to be a defensive weapon. The animal probably does not need venom to subdue its defenseless prey and the intense pain caused by the venom readily causes a predator to change its mind. Before biting, the lizard will hiss, gape, and back away from its would-be attacker. If these efforts fail, it will bite with amazing speed. Gila monsters should not be handled!

Aah, Desert Life!

Baby Steps

I'm still working on getting out of the knittin' funk. Been doing a bit of sewing instead.


I had great fun making this "Olivia" drawstring backpack.
I wasn't too sure how to go about making it, (I wanted the straps to be adjustable and I wanted it to be lined.) and I guess I was feeling too cheap to go out and buy a set of instructions ~~wow, I really am in a funk!~~ so I took ideas from several free patterns that I found online and came up with my own instructions.
The straps are still long because I haven't tried it on my granddaughter yet and I wanted to make them the right length for her.
I was thinking I might make another one and do a little tutorial with the directions. I have a couple of fat quarters of material that might work. Of course, doing all that would require me to be fully out of the funk, so I would't be holdin' yer' breath on that one.

I also did a little bit on the baby beanbags. I'm done with the stuffing and sewing up part. I ended up using beans instead of the rice for filling. The rice was too dense and heavy. The pinto beans are a perfect weight and density.

I'm just doing a simple running stitch around the edges to give them some extra color. The T is my grandson's first initial.


Well I guess that's about it for now.

Knittin' Blues

Well, I'm still in a knitting funk, even though I did get my Cat Bordhi book last week at Kiwi. Lynn was kind enough to sell me her copy so I wouldn't have to wait for the next shipment. (Or maybe she sensed my desperation for new inspiration.) I also picked up a little bit of Maizy yarn to sweeten the deal.

And although I've read Cat's book from cover to cover (and I'm certain now that her brain is wired in a much different way than mine), I still haven't cast on a stitch.

So......I figured if knitting wasn't' going to do it for me here in the waning days of August, maybe I should tackle a whole different project. So here's what's going on instead of knitting:

1)Bathroom re-do (here's the progress photo, demolition almost complete. Shoot, I forgot to take a before photo.)

2) Recycled denim bean bags for my grandson. I found a whole unopened bag of sushi rice so I'm going to try using that instead of beans. Since we live in a dry climate, I'm thinking it just might work.As for the big knitter, he's still knitting away, unfazed by my current slump. Happy Sunday!

Dog Days Knitting

So I've been in a knitting and blogging slump for the past couple of weeks. And we had a great time at the beach in San Diego and I coulda' been knitting under our beach umbrella and didn't.

Oh, yeah, I visited a couple of SoCal knitting stores in the process and that didn't even cure me. And now we're home and I'm still in the slump. And the only way to get out, I think, would be to go buy a new sock book:This is the sock book I want.

And tomorrow, I'm going to Kiwi and see if they have it.

And I already have the yarn I need to knit a new pair, Panda Cotton in color 2342 Sprite Green:
So, I can just sense my knitting slump will come to an end very soon. Wish me luck.

And the Winner Is...

Wow-eee...I got a whole bunch of requests for the free tote bag, 31 to be exact, from comments and email, which is a lot for a little ol' blog like this.
Here's how I picked the winner: I assigned each person a number and then used the random number generator to pick a random number.

And The Winner Is....

drumroll...

Deb from Montana

Congratulations & Enjoy!

(Deb wrote in her email that "a while back I was addressing the fact that (my husband) would get so chilled in the winter (laying block, ice fishing....) that a blanket around his shoulders and neck would warm him faster. He agreed, but said that he would never ask for a shawl. But, if I would knit him a 'shotgun', so that he could ask in a very manly way for someone to hand him his shotgun, that would be acceptable. Of course, it couldn't be lacy or pinned..."

I love that! I immediately told the big knitter he should be making shotguns.

I got so many nice comments and emails, I wish I had 30 more totes, I would send one to everybody. Thanks for entering. And Deb, I will get this mailed to you as soon as I round up a box.

Now, here's a little preview of Big Knitter's Big Swatch from his Big Ball O' Yarn:

In contrast, my offering, a little itty bitty hat that I made from this free pattern (thanks, I love it) from Hello Yarn. I didn't add the anime face, but I made it from a softer-than-soft Sublime yarn, merino/silk/cashmere blend that I picked up at Kiwi, my fave lys.

And now, last but not least. Isn't this one cute face?

I thought you'd say that!

Danger! Male knitter in the household!

OK, so the big knitter handed me this (the yarn, not the mug)

You know, I gotta tell you it's challenging enough to have a big knitter in the house (just think of the yarn storage, for one thing); then he walks into the room holding this HUGE ball of yarn.

After laughing hysterically,while simultaneously admiring the yarn, I said: "You know what they say about men and compensation!"

I had to take out the measuring tape and check it out! This big ball o' yarn is 6 inches!

As a little knitter, I was duly impressed. I told big knitter it's only fair to share this with the world, geesh, so it can be appreciated, for goodness sake!

Enjoy!

(And, oh, one thing I do respect about the big knitter is that he's secure in his place in the knitting world, so he's a pretty safe target. Another thing is he never reads this blog anyway so I pretty much have wide latitude.)

What we have here, is a beautiful, gorgeous skein of hand-dyed Fleece Artist wool/silk, worsted weight. Wow, I'm pretty sure I remember laying claim to the finished project when we first saw the yarn during our Canadian Yarn Tour for Stash Enhancement. The big knitter ordered enough yarn for a big blanket and we got the box today from Threads In Time, along with a nice letter from the owner, Lynn.

There's no yardage info listed on the skein. (but I estimate LOTS). There are EIGHT skeins! I'll try to post some progress photos when we see how fast big knitter can knit this up.

Speaking of big boys, er, I mean...
I found this today, stashed in the spare bedroom. (Well, not this exact one, but I was too lazy to take the actual one out of the box for a photograph).

I would love to gift this totebag to a new knitting home, ASAP. It's a very big bag and made from heavy canvas; too big for my projects and the big knitter doesn't like the thick canvas. Here' a link to the same bag being sold on QVC.

Oh, yeah, another thing, I'll throw in the postage to get it to you. (in the U.S., that is.)

If you want a chance at this humongo...yeah, I guess that's the theme for the night...bag, just do this:

Leave a comment here or send me an email at: mostlybears at liveline dot com and I'll include you in a random drawing as soon as I get enough responses to make it fair.

Good luck and happy knitting.

One Tofutsies Sock completed

I'm making some progress on my Favorite Socks merino lace "anklet adaptation". I used a round toe but I left needles on the last 4 stitches just in case I change my mind after I finish sock 2.
I have to say, I didn't really think I'd like Tofutsies, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the way they feel. In the future, I'd probably do a k1,p1 rib instead of k2,p2 for a little more tightness, but all in all I'm happy.

Gratefulness

I came across this article about near death experience and heart attacks:

"Back From the Dead. Doctors are reinventing how they treat sudden cardiac arrest, which is fatal 95 percent of the time. A report from the border between life and death." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19751440/site/newsweek/)

Which flooded me with the memories of the Big knitter's Sudden Cardiac Arrest five years ago. He is one very, very lucky person to be alive. If you don't believe in a higher power...you just might have to consider it had you witnessed this event. As for me, I believe.

Suffice it to say, so many factors had to be exactly in place to ensure his survival that night, one must be compelled to ponder. After reading the article, I decided to make a list:

1) I had to be home. I had seriously considered running to the post office that evening to mail some bills and for some reason didn't.
2) I had to walk down the hall for no apparent reason and find him on the bed just before he died. Really there was no reason for me to go to the bedroom at that moment.
3) I had to know CPR.
4) Our daughter had to be home to run out into the street and flag down the paramedics. She also had to make the 2nd call to 911 after he stopped breathing.
5) EMS was not out on another call and arrived within 5 min. and immediately defibrillated. ***** MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR***** (actually two ambulances showed up at the same time, along with a fire truck)
6) Husband's heart had to respond to defibrillation. *******2nd MOST IMPORTANT******
7) Heart hospital was less than 5 minutes from home.
8) Husband's cardiologist was on call, early angioplasty took place within 1 hr.

He came home just under 48 hours later with a new stent.

We immediately purchased our own AED, which we still take with us when we travel.

He doesn't remember a thing after the initial chest pain. I suffered nightmares for several years afterwards. I believe I had PTSD.

But...

I also believe we were being watched over, somehow, that night.

"Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God." - Seneca

On a more knitty note, it occurred to me that I've been neglecting the Big Knitter's projects here on this blog. So I secreted a few of his WIP's away to the living room and took these pics:

And here's a little owl who has been seen frequently of late, in the rafters on the back porch:

He was hiding out today from our lovely afternoon monsoon rain. It cooled off a whole, ah, say 10 degrees. (105 to 95, whew!)