It's been a surprisingly productive year....

I made a cozy for my friend Sherry's tea glass. She carries around one of those skinny, double walled glass tea brewing glasses, but it got cold too fast and she was always having to drink cold tea. So I made her a cozy for the glass out of DK weight Superwash wool.

That it also fits a Hieneken bottle is totally irrelevant and happily circumstantial. :)

I also whipped out a Kindle cozy because everyone I know (except Katie) has one now.

This one fits the new generation smaller Kindle either 4G or plain. I made this out of a really squishy bulky weight acrylic and the added cables give lots of cushioning .

Oh, and market bags. Market bags galore. I use them, the girls use them, my friends use them. And yes we're in California which is kind of known as a huge tree hugging, environmentally concious state, but these bags are just fun. The pattern was free on Ravelry, and I had oodles of worsted weight cotton in my stash, so I just started knitting away. It's hard to stop too, because there are always left overs that are challenging you to make them into something useful.

And for the 52 cowl along group, also on Ravelry, I searched my stash and have come up with:

Malabrigo worsted for the birthday cowl. It looks great on Barbara, doesn't it?

Pound of Love for the Noble Cowl, given perspective here by Lucy Bear

Something soft and acrylic for this Comely Cowl

And this great chunky print that Theresa found that I turned into

this. This is the Growing Leaves Cowl, and it looks great on its new home. Theresa tells me she even sleeps in it.

And I've made a few scarves and some pigs and this week I've been playing around with some new ideas. I made 2 dozen wash cloths for Church World Service for their hygiene kits, and now I'm working on a little boy sweater. I have a huge stash that I need to work through, and as I get ideas out of my head onto paper and then translated into something tangible, I'll share.

For now just keep on knitting. See you soon.

Same old, same old

And here I am again with no sleep in sight and no more medication to help. I've had more nights like this than I care to remember in the last few months, but what the heck. It's the new year, so happy new year to all of you! May your treasures be big and your troubles be small this year.

I've decided I'm going to knit my self to my knee surgery, whenever that may be, and then after that I'll knit myself to my back surgery. Each project will coincide with a certain amount of weight loss and get me that much closer to my goals. Like this week. So far I've made a Kindle cozy and a coffee cup cozy, and I'm down 6 pounds. Not bad. Tomorrow I'm going to cast on for a cowl and we'll see how far that gets me. My plan is that by the end of the year I'll have a new knee, a spinal fusion, and a trunk full of stuff to sell on e-bay. What do you think?

Buck is growing so fast. He's 8 months old now and almost full grown. He's a treasure. And a terror. Depends on his mood I guess. And Lucy's opened up to him like I'd hoped she would. They almost sort of play which is an improvement of her trying to eat him. I'll post pictures tomorrow for sure. Now I'm off to play stupid computer games until my brain falls out and I can sleep.

This is an official complaint....

...although I'm not really sure who to send it to. Anyway:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Really, I think enough is just about enough. It wasn't enough for you when I fell in May and tore my hamstring. I kind of got that one back with a good massage therapist. But then I fell again the day after Labor Day, totally messing up my right knee and doing some serious damage to my calf muscle, and you just won't let this one go. I know this knee isn't strong. I know it needs replacing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that won't be next week or even next month. There are exigent circumstances. I'm doing the best I can, but these things take time. You really don't have to fling excruciating muscle cramps my way that don't stop with the affected leg but travel up my entire back. Now, thanks to our little delivery, I can't sleep. The pain has completely overridden my sleep medication and my pain medication rendering me wide awake muttering curses into the night. I've scared one cat up her tree and the other one under the couch. Sitting is uncomfortable; lying down is also not to be born. Standing sends bursts of fire down my leg from my knee; my cane has become the most important part of my wardrobe. You've ruined my life just now, and you've done such a bang up job that I think you should put in for retirement with full benefits. Please consider retirement knowing that your work will always be remembered. Please. Because I can't take too many more nights like this one.

Ever painfully yours,
candi

Buck

It's amazing how quickly little kittens grow. It was only 3 weeks ago that we brought him home and he was so tiny. Now he looks like a gangly kitty monster, all legs and elbows and teeth. He's still cute as can be though, and his entertainment value is through the roof. He still does the sideways kitty hop when he's playing, but he hasn't quite learned how to control it yet and he ends up tumbling all over himself. His favorite thing is to hide and ambush us as we walk by. He'll jump out and grab an ankle and hang on for dear life.

Lucy's not all that thrilled to have Buck in her life, especially now that he's discovered where she hides. And he can climb up there. And there's food up there too! Boy! This is the neatest place ever!!! But yeah, Lucy's not thrilled.

He's not always a brat, though. He's actually even adorable sometimes, like here..... I just love his little nub of a tail.

He's still fun to hold when he sleeps, but I've been able to do a lot of knitting the past couple of weeks anyway. I did finish the project for my young friend, and tonight I'll start on a companion project. I'm also making the pieces that will eventually go on a "nappy cake" which will be a gift for one of my knitting friends who is expecting her first child in a few months. It's kind of fun to make tiny baby things. They go so quickly and use up very little yarn. I'll eventually have to go buy the diapers for the "cake", but all the little things that go on it are being made from yarn already on hand. I'll take pictures of the pieces and then the final assembly when I get everything finished.

Lucy says: Really? Do we have to keep him?

It's been pretty quiet.....

Even the kitten's been bored. Actually, this is one of his favorite spots. He loves being close to us, and you can usually hear him purring from across the room.

There's been some playtime, though. Here he's playing tug of war with a kitchen towel. It must be great to be a kitten. Everything's a play toy.

He's learning how to be helpful, though. He helped me put the groceries away......after he'd beaten the bags into submission. And he checks out the dishwasher to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. He even offered to clean them once I reloaded it, but I told him no. There were a lot of dishes, and he's just a little kitten.

So I gave him an ice cube instead. His first ice cube ever. At first it was fun because it slid around, but then it got all melty and wet. Fun over!

I really haven't done much knitting this week either. I've discovered it's much more fun to hold Buck and try to get him to fall asleep. He's such a boneless little thing when he's sleeping. But I do have a project on the needles (actually more than one) It's a gift for a young friend so I can't say too much yet. Project #2 is a pair of Twilight Mitts, Project #3 is a shawl that I'm stuck on, and Katie's blanket brings up the rear of the list. There are others, but they're in hibernation at the moment to be dug out at some distant future date to exclaim "What was I thinking!"

The joys of kittenhood

I have to say that there really hasn't been much knitting going on this week. Buck has become the center of life at the Reiter household. His antics are highly entertaining, but he frequently needs to be plucked out of another bit of trouble he's managed to get himself into. He loves to be with us, and as far as Buck is concerned, "with" means "on" so he can usually be found on someones lap or chest just hanging out or snoozing away. So far he's be an absolute delight to his human family members, but poor Lucy has retreated to her Tree of Solitude. She doesn't think we need another cat, and certainly not one that keeps getting into trouble. It's only been a few days though, so we're hoping she comes around.
A few gratuitous kitten pictures.....Buck on John's lap
and Buck passed out on the back of the couch.

It's awfully quiet in the living room. I think I'd better go see what he's gotten himself into this time. Have a peaceful weekend.

My summer of learning.

I've learned a lot of things so far over this spring and summer. I've learned that we don't always need a job to feel useful and productive. I have a dear friend who is going through breast cancer treatments and the fact that I've been able to be there for her is very fulfilling. My mother went through breast cancer treatment many years ago, and I was stuck out here in California. It's something I've always regretted. But being here for my friend has truly been healing for both of us, and I hope the things that I learned long distance , if you will, will be a help to her as she continues to heal. And the bonus is that this experience has brought us closer in ways I never even considered. May I just say here that I love you lady. You are a shining example as was my mom.


Not all the things I've had to learn were positive things. I had to learn to say good bye to my dear, sweet little Curley cat in May, and it really broke my heart. But there was nothing to be done with the tumor she'd had growing in her lower jaw, so we did the right thing for her and ended what had to be horrendous pain for my poor little cat. She will forever have a place in my heart and on my desk, and on my desk top. I miss her every single day.
Lucy has really blossomed though. She's become quite a playful cat now. She has certain toys that are hers and she guards them jealously from us. Yes, she finally came out of her Tree of Solitude...........

Until this little guy came home with me yesterday. He's a brown tabby/manx mix and just adorable as he can be. John's named him Buck after the charachter in Ice Age 3

who is a swashbuckling weasel pirate/guide. I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the charachter really fits this little guy. I got him to sit down for a while, he likes chasing the courser, but... He fell asleep. We thought we should have pictures to prove he actually slept when he was a kitten, because with his high energy, no one would believe us.

I've been doing a lot of knitting too. I've made 2 pairs of socks (for me), 7 market bags (only one of which I use), and I have a pair of Winter Twilight fingerless mitts on the needles and a baby blanket for a friend of Katie's who is expecting.

Probably the most important thing I've learned over the last few months is patience. God works in His own time, and the day after I sent the request to our financial advisor for the last of our liquid assets, John was offered a fantastic job. And I know that when the time is right there'll be something for me as well. I'm just concentrating on getting my friend well again.

This being the month of July, I hope you had a wonderful holiday with all kinds of picnic and barbeque goodies. But I also hope you all stopped and gave a moment of thanks to those first Americans who fought and died so we could have something to celebrate. And now go out and truly celebrate your freedom. Thank a soldier, shake a Marine's hand, honor the vets, help where ever and who ever you can. God bless you all.