WoW #3 (Whiskers on Wednesday)

Haven't WoWed for a while, so here are a few to enjoy.Receiving supervision while I trim the hedge along the driveway.Cold weather makes for cuddly cats.Norton inspects the Christmas cactus. The cactus is eleven years old. It used to be three times its current size, but was neglected for about six months when my house sitter stopped showing up. It is recovering beautifully!Frank was on hand to help me warp my new Kromski Harp, 32" rigid heddle loom. I managed to keep my discipline at the Kid 'n Ewe Festival this year and only bought one skein of yarn (Plain and Fancy) for An American in China, but the Harp kept calling my name! Speaking of Kid 'n Ewe, not all whiskers are on kittens!Still trying to get the Christmas knitting done and enjoying the cold weather.

If you wait long enough to change your header...

...it will come right back in season. Back with the chilly weather here, putting the "North" into "North Texas." We were fortunate Friday to have our heat pump fixed -- the fear was that we would need to replace our old unit. Should be able to get at least one more year out of it. If anyone in the DFW area needs a recommendation for an HVAC repair person, message me and I'll give you Hector's number.

College ball was the big news this weekend. I know, I know. I didn't think I'd ever write about sports on my blog, either. Cousins Dave and Jon came down from Nebraska for the Nebraska-UT game on Saturday. Nebraska lost 13-12 in the last second of the game. We had precious little time with them because it was a drill weekend, but were thrilled to have them come down. Managed to eat lunch with them Saturday at The Railhead in Fort Worth, and Jeff was able to give them a tour of one of our planes. (That was at the same time I was dying a slow death by power point/video presentation. Knitting kept me awake and sane.) We learned that a whipped cream bribe will get Frank to make an appearance in front of company and were reminded that Norton knows no strangers.

Jeff still has the crud, and I'm teetering just over on the healthy side of things, so I'm trying to take it easy. I would love to start posting pictures of what I'm knitting, but it will have to wait another two-and-a-half weeks until everyone has received their Christmas presents! My Ravelry page is short quite a few pictures.

Time to make breakfast/brunch. I'll upload some pictures later today.

Sum It Up Sunday

Earlier this week I had a successful culinary creation. I've actually been having quite a few lately, but there is photographic evidence for this one:Lemon Garlic Shrimp on a bed of spaghetti squash in a nest of green beans. Yum in any language. Almost forgot to mention that I had the pleasure of using our homegrown Meyer lemons for this one!

Tuesday involved a little field trip to the Dallas Arboretum. Gorgeous day and gorgeous landscaping! Need to download the pix and show a few in a post of its own.

Myron & Jeff removed our back fence yesterday. By Wednesday we should have a new fence put up in anticipation of dog sitting Tank regularly and Massey's occasional visits. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate. I need to build a square foot garden bed and pull the dirt from the fence line. It is obvious it was a dumping ground for leaves and some other organic debris and there is some good soil there waiting to be used. That will get us started with a few things (broccoli, radishes, lettuce). Still clearing out and covering the beds against the house. All I can say to that end is what a mess. Making progress also on picking up all the broken glass around the property.

Although the knitmeter has not been updated, there has been knitting. More starting than finishing, but progress nonetheless. Of course this time of year much of what is OTN falls into the gift category, so that severely restricts what can be posted. I'll see what I can pull together this week to get some knitting/yarn p0rn up on the site. If all goes well I'll be headed to Boerne this weekend! I'm the only one in our group going without a spinning wheel, so I've been trying to at least pull together the parts for a kick spindle. I think I can get the rest today and try construction tomorrow. The idea is to bring with me the roving I bought *ahem* last year and work on spinning it this year. I took a picture of my haul from last year to bring with me to remind myself that I don't need any more! Three finished objects resulted from that trip, and there is one WIP, but there is still more yarn...

Back from Blogging Oblivion with a Bang! (and a free pattern!)

It's the age-old dilemma: when you actually have something in life worth blogging about, you don't have the time to blog! No good way to restart other than to jump back in with both feet. So here is the pattern I finished months ago, and a link to it on Ravelry here.

Since March, I moved from Biloxi to Wichita Falls, then back to Mansfield. We recently took a very wet vacation to Maine, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. We've been fixing "those little gray pieces of... aircraft" and I've been studying, knitting, cooking, and trying to actually get moved in enough that we can start some remodeling. Yes, I know we've been in the house for a year, but I was gone for half of that, so cut me some slack! Throughout November I hope to "catch up" with the blog. Mainly knitting, gardening, and cooking content, with some travel and (hopefully) remodeling thrown in the mix. And of course, I will get back on track with WOW so Norton and Frank can get their face time!

Carrington Scarf

Here's a pattern that is reversible and works well with hand-dyed yarns.
Carrington Scarf
Finished size: 5" wide by 67" long
Materials: 1 skein Plain & Fancy Sport, 400 yards per 100 grams (used the WHOLE skein)
Needles: US size 9
Gauge: not critical, just make sure you are getting the drape you want
Notions: two stitch markers if you choose to separate border stitches from main pattern

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
[B]: Border
Sl1wyif: slip one stitch with yarn held in front of work
MK: Make Knot: p3tog & leave on left needle, yo, p3tog again & slip off needle
Rep: repeat
Sts: stitches
BO: bind off

Border: Repeat these two rows for first four and last four stitches each row:
Row 1: K1, sl1wyif, k1, p1 [Carrington stitch pattern] p1, k1, sl1wyif, k1
Row 2: [Sl1wyif, k1] twice [Carrington stitch pattern] [k1, sl1wyif] twice.

Directions: CO 33 stitches using the Channel Island Cast On. If you choose to make a wider scarf, increase in increments of four stitches.

Row 1: [B] K4, p1, *k3, p1, rep from * to last 8 sts, k4 [B].
Row 2: [B] P4, k1, *p3, k1, rep from * to last 8 sts, p4 [B].
Row 3: [B] K1, *mk, p1, rep from * to last 8 sts, mk, k1 [B].
Row 4: Rep Row 2.
Row 5: [B] K2, p1, *k3, p1, rep from * to last 6 sts, k2 [B].
Row 6: [B] P2, k1, *p3, k1, rep from * to last 6 sts, p2 [B].
Row 7: [B] K2, p1, *mk, p1, rep from * to last 6 sts, k2 [B].
Row 8: Rep Row 6.

Repeat these 8 rows until scarf reaches desired length or you are nearly out of yarn. Bind off using a picot variation bind off as follows: *backward loop cast on 1 stitch, bind off 3 stitches, slip last BO stitch back to left needle and repeat from * to the end. (Bind off using k2, pass 1st over 2nd, *k1, pass 1st on right needle over new stitch, rep from *).

Chart: Read odd numbered rows right to left and even numbered rows left to right.

This pattern will eventually be available in a pdf with a more legible chart.
This pattern is intended for personal use only. Please do not sell this pattern or make items using this pattern for sale. Thanks!

Sock Madness Tree House

This post is dedicated to all those knitting away on their Tropical Mer-tinis. The Bailey's is cold, the cookies are hot out of the oven, and as you can see, we just need to run across the street if we find ourselves short on supplies.

Darn, I have more pictures to load, but everyone must be playing video games right now. Sah-low! Time for bed. Will attempt to at least get more pictures posted, if not stories of diodes and diving pelicans!

Sum It Up Sunday

Yes, I am still among the living. There was the unexpected trip to New England, then the whirlwind final week before arriving in Biloxi. And of course there was nary a down moment to be had this first week. Well, I have walked/run on the beach four of the last seven days... And I did go out to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge... And today there was a brief exploration of old town Biloxi... AND Friday night I ate at The Shack... Okay, I confess, there have been a few down times, but not time to devote to sitting in front of a computer. Time on the beach is part of my physical training. I just HAVE to do it. And it IS migration season -- just can't miss everyone passing through.

I enlarged the picture once I downloaded it to my computer, only to be disappointed to find that these are the migratory cranes, not the Mississippi ones. (The MS cranes are banded on the leg above the knee joint.) The good part is that I still have opportunities to see the locals.

So much more to be said about everything, but for now I must go to bed.

WoW #3

I really need to get my hands on a video camera. Frank was in rare form last night with his lion.

The Soho shawl is finished but needs to be blocked. I also finished knitting a pair of slippers and now just have to felt them. Currently working on a fish hat. Knitting will come to an abrupt halt tomorrow as our weather is going to turn GORGEOUS for the next three days and the landscape is in desperate need of attention. If all goes as planned, I'll be off to school in 2 1/2 weeks.

WoW #2 (Whiskers on Wednesday)

Cold weather makes for VERY friendly cats.As far as the knitting goes...there was great progress being made on the Soho Wrap until Frank decided he needed to be in my lap. My hand is stuck underneath him as well. He really didn't see the problem with this. In his mind, the only purpose for my existence is to provide for his every need and meet his every whim. Whipped cream only leaves the refrigerator to be served to him. He can hear the can shaking from the other side of the house.

As far as the Soho goes, I WAS involved in a knit-a-long with several Sisters of the Wool, but I think everyone else has temporarily left the project for other things. It is simple, but there are a few issues with the pattern. The designer has been following our KAL on Ravelry, and to the best of my knowledge is updating the pattern with the hiccups we find along the way. It has been especially nice to work on it over the past two days with our frigid weather, because it is now big enough that it covers my lap (hence the Frank problem).

Happy as a Clam!

Finally finished this little guy. Now where's the linguine & olive oil? Kidding! Just the eyes, stuffing, and a whole lot of finishing work (for such a little guy), but he is just so huggable! Tonight I'll try to finish the turkey in between sections of the Soho wrap.

Had the most delightfully dreary Monday today. Fire in the fireplace & hot chocolate & knitting while cold & rainy outside kind of delightful. Started off the day with family/friends over for breakfast (ohhh those yummy banana oatmeal waffles!). My oldest niece and a friend are headed off to a semester in Prague. Yup, jealous. One day I will see more of Europe than the inside of an airport. One day. In the meantime... I refilled the suet/peanut nugget feeder, much to the delight of the red-bellied woodpeckers, wrens, and warblers. Will have to try to capture a shot at rush hour out here. In addition to the previously mentioned birds, it usually involves over a dozen mourning doves, half-a-dozen cardinals, downy woodpeckers, goldfinches, house finches, juncos, chickadees, tufted titmice, blue jays, and a couple of phoebes by the pool. The Cooper's Hawk comes through every so often to make sure everyone is on their toes.

Whiskers on Wednesday