In The Night Kitchen

My youngest daughter is a hit and run baker. That is not a bad thing - we reap the benefits. She has always been a night owl. When she lived with us very often she would get out the bowls and pans and make cookies or some such in the middle of the night when everyone else was fast asleep. In the morning the cookie jar would be brimming with fresh cookies. How cool is that.

Now she is married and doesn't live too far away. She still comes over and bakes or cooks something and leaves. This last batch of cookies (chocolate oatsies) was actually made while we were still awake. They didn't last very long. Hey, Courtney, our cookie jar is empty again.

Courtney is also a pirate. :)

Finished Baby Surprise Jackets

I managed to finish both baby surprise jackets before Christmas. Then I decided to add collars to both. That wasn't hard with Meg Swansen's video to look at. I made collars for both jackets but don't have a picture of both together. I can see why people get addicted to making these. They are quick and fun. I have to get on to knitting something else now. Baby Anja needs booties and socks - and maybe hats.

No Time To Blog

I admit it. I am a pathetic blogger. I have really been too busy the past few months. I have found out I am going to be a grandmother for the first time. How cool is that? It's about time at my age.

I haven't been spinning as much. I have been busy knitting instead. I am working on my second Baby Surprise Jacket. Elizabeth Zimmermann has a wonderful pattern here. All you have to do is look on Flickr to see all the variations - well, not all the variations because they are endless. I am almost finished with this second little jacket and want to start a third. This pattern must have some addictive qualities to it. I think I will move on to another pattern of hers immediately and see if the same holds true. For all of you on Flickr who are also on Ravelry, if you want to show your projects to the group but don't want a prospective giftee to see it, all you have to do is bury your photo deep in your Flickr stream. How do you do that? Thought there wasn't a way to organize your pictures in Flickr? There is a place to change the date that you uploaded the photo. I didn't figure it out - another of my brilliant children did. I know the preggers one doesn't have the time to digging back through my old photos for fun.

Dawn Adcock has some wonderful notes for this pattern and I have the pattern in two of EZ's books but I broke down and bought the wonderful DVD that her daughter Meg has showing how this pattern breaks down and some wonderful variations on it. I think I will have to get more of her videos from Schoolhouse Press. This is a truly wonderful DVD. This video takes all of the guesswork out of it. Not only that, it is filmed mostly in the upper midwest which makes me think of my wonderful Michigan. We were transplanted to Louisiana in 1995 and while I love the deep south in the winter, I miss Michigan in the summer. No fire ants. No fire ants. No fire ants. lol Sitting on a blanket under a tree just doesn't seem like an option down here. I can't complain too much, though. I was able to plant pansies and snapdragons a few days ago. The few nights we have in the 20s doesn't seem to hurt them much.

Hazardous Waste Recycling

One day per year our city has a hazardous waste pickup at the Fairgrounds. It was today from 8am - 12pm. I'm pretty sure they stayed later than noon. I was in line to drop things some things off at 10:45 and didn't get to the front of the line until 11:55. Wow, it was encouraging to see all those people recycling but I couldn't help but wonder how much gas was used sitting in that line. The line was as far as I could see and was two cars wide. I got rid of batteries, fluorescent light bulbs and an old computer monitor. I wish I had brought my camera. One person was doing a survey to see if I recycle. Well, duh. As I left, I went past the point where I had gotten in line and that line was still double-wide and as long as it was when I started. I hope they all got in.

Ravelry Rocks

I just got invited to ravelry after being on the waiting list for a couple of months. It is the best site ever for knitters, crocheters & spinners with computer skills. I have also been a member of Flickr for over a year. I spend a lot of time on Flickr looking at others photos of yarn, knitting projects and fibery pursuits. Ravelry is a wonderful combination of the two. It is a way to get organized. I now know how many knitting needles I have and what sizes. So I wonder how I ended up with 3 sets of double pointed needles in size 5. Maybe I was thinking of pick-up sticks. I actually know I have more needles than are listed on my new handy-dandy chart. There are some in unfinished projects (hehe). Good thing I don't have to list those. Now I can log in my new fiber as I buy it, wash it, card it, spin it - and oh yeah, knit it. There are so many wonderful knitters on ravelry who have actually finished their projects, posted pictures and listed where they found the pattern. I see I have more books to put on my wish list. Organization is a good thing. Going back to card some alpaca now.

Cashgora

This is some cashgora fiber I bought from Fire Ant Ranch. It is so soft and the color is gorgeous. The red is a romney mix from cmwools.

Back to Blogging

I have been neglecting this blog since I discovered Flickr. I have been posting most of my pictures there but I have still been making yarn and got another spinning wheel. I do love those Kromski wheels. Here is a picture of my new Symphony with some cashgora that I have since finished spinning.