Garment Knitting

It's been a while since I've attempted any knitting other than socks or mittens.  I had a knitting meltdown a few years ago while trying to seam together sleeves and sides on a sweater for me.  It was awful -- lumpy, uneven seams; too much bulk in the armpits.  Just awful.  I hated it and finally threw it in the Goodwill bag.  Hopefully someone was able to reuse the yarn -- it was nice, brown wool. 

With some misgivings, I decided to knit Ruthanne a sweater for school.  She attends Christ the King Pre-School, wears a uniform, and needed a plain black cardigan.  I was determined to face my fear of seams.  Don't you just love pre-school pictures?

Whoops!  Here is cutie-pie Marcus leaning over the car seat.  I am putty when he turns those big brown eyes my way.

So, the sweater.  I studied and studied various knitting tutorials on the internet and, ta-da!  This is a pretty smooth, almost invisible woven side seam. 

 



 Even the underarm is fairly neat.

I am happy.  Now, buttonholes are a whole other issue.  I'm taking the finished-except-for-buttonholes to the hospital with me tomorrow while my Mom gets her new knee. 

 

I'll keep y'all posted on the new knee.  We're optimistic!  And only a little nervous.  --cds



Oh, It's Christmas!

Well, yes, it is the kick-off of the Christmas Season, I suppose.  But my delight today stems from the occurrence of two of my favorite things.  The first was not unexpected, of course, but nothing beats waking up and watching the early morning news and footage of a good Black Friday store fight.  A Fort Worth area Walmart had the best, in my opinion, with a free-for-all over Blue-Ray players.  I always hear about Black Friday store fights and think, "only in America," but apparently, according to the BBC, Black Friday brawls occurred in England today as well.  Copycats.

Second (and best), tonight's evening news included a report on yet another Tampa Bay area mystery monkey sighting - if you are keeping count (and I am!), that is the third mystery monkey sighting in the five years I've been living in Central Florida.  Like I said, Christmas.

Also, I've been knitting.  Pictures tomorrow of a new sweater for little Miss Ruthanne.  --cds

Insects Again, I Guess

So I've had this Bird of Paradise bush for about five years now, first in a pot, then planted next to the house.  It never bloomed - until just this past month, apparently.  Notice the big chew holes in the leaves.  I haven't seen what is eating it.  However.....

 

Take a look-see at this cocoon, or whatever it is. 

Now there is some architecture to that sucker!  Looks like it's made of tiny sawed-off sticks, not more than 1/4 inch long.

I was brave (though you'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now) and Googled cocoons and came up with (possibly) a bagworm cocoon (???) that turns into some sort of moth.  I'm not sure.  I can't look at any more pictures online -- too many ookie, gooey, slimey worm stuff; I'm just not down with the whole metamorphosis thing.  Worms are worms and they are gross.

Oh yeah, there are about four of these things hanging in the shrubbery.  If anyone knows what they will turn into, please let me know.  In the meantime, I'll be sending out my haz-mat suit to the dry-cleaners.  --cds

In Which Baby Goes To Its First Car Show

Probably the most coddled of our vehicles was loaded up and trailered (even though it runs just fine) to its first car show yesterday.

 



Here is Jim and his 1941 Dodge WC 1/2 ton with the 218 flathead 6 (I must get the lingo just right!), all set up at the Highland Park Labor Day Car Show.

There were more than 450 vehicles at this show, all types and ages, of muscle cars, Corvettes, hot rods, and other vintage autos.  Early on, Jim's truck won a Sponsor's Choice ribbon.

James talked and yakked so much with visitors, his voice was a little hoarse by day's end.

Shiney fender photos....

And, then, at day's end, TA-DA!!!  Winner of a trophy for one of the Top Ten vehicles at the show.

Very proud indeed.  And I don't mind saying very well deserved, either.  He has put nearly 40 years of hard work into this truck -- off and on work, depending on our finances and kids and work schedules, etc.  However, I foresee many more car shows in my future.  I need to start stockpiling books and knitting projects.  --cds

Swimming Pool Colors

Picked up the makings for a new project, identical twin bed quilts to brighten up Mum's newly painted guest room. 

I made such a rookie mistake, though.  I carefully calculated how much fabric I'd need for this particular design I had in mind (I never follow commercial quilt patterns).  I didn't exactly screw up the calculations, but I completely forgot I was making twin quilts and, therefore, only got enough fabric for one.  So dumb.  But luckily I was able to go back the next day and fix it all up.

Ma had turquoise on her mind for her new room (wood laminate flooring, white walls) and these colors will make it nice and bright and cheery (please don't judge by my crappy photos).

I have both tops done now except for a bit of a 3 or 4 inch white border, then we'll bind it in a darker turquoise, I think. 

Speaking of swimming pool colors, I've been trying to be more consistently swimming, but I have to do it in the early morning hours.  It's impossible to swim laps during the day when the pool is cluttered with bobbing heads -- that's all they do, just bob around. So I hop on my bike around 6 AM when it is still pretty dark.  Usually the Old Couple are already in the warm pool - he swims lap after lap after lap while she swim-walks the perimeter.  If I'm lucky, I get to finish my swim in the big pool before Splashy Guy joins me.  He a nice old guy, but he is a very splashy swimmer.  The best swims are like this morning's -- no one else was in either pool, it was still pretty dark, the stars were still out and dawn was just coloring the sky.  So peaceful.  Oh, and a giant Blue Heron landed on the fence and scared me to death with its loud squawk.  It was peaceful up to that point anyway.  --cds

Seriously?

Absent from your poor neglected blog for weeks and weeks, and you mark your return with a photo of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile?  I know, but it was my favorite vehicle from a recently attended car show.  We've been traveling and visiting, but are home now and I need to get myself organized, like, right now.

So my plan is to pop in here more often starting today with my sewing/artsy stuff doings interspersed, of course, with cutie grandchildren updates.  Back soon (pinky-swear).  --cds

Weather People Are Amazing

There was a pretty nasty apartment fire over Tampa way this afternoon, thought to have been sparked by a lightning strike.  I can't remember seeing lightning strike maps very much up North, but here in the Lightning Strike Capital of the United States, we see them every day on the news.

So our weather guy cues up the lightning strike map for the afternoon, zooms in on the apartment block, backs up through the time lapse until he sees a lightning strike over that very block (at 3:16 pm), and BOOM! the apartment is on fire.  Nobody has been hurt, all residents evacuated and the fire is out now, but isn't that just amazing?  I was amazed.  --cds

The Grand Canyon Essay

Because I am not a very adventurous traveler, I don't really have a list of places that I absolutely must visit and view before I expire.  That hasn't always been the case -- when I was a teenager and avid National Geographic reader, I couldn't imagine NOT wanting to travel to every single country on Earth and see with my own eyes all world's wonders.  Oh well, that didn't last long.  Instead I discovered the joys of independence and Vermont boys who worked on race cars (I know, I know... but it worked for me).  I also came to realize that all these historical places and lovely landscapes would be packed with, you know, People!  And what if I was exploring an ancient pyramid and discovered a gum wrapper in the sand? That would so totally ruin my vibe.

Thankfully, I discovered the genre of travel books.  Not guide books, but books written by actual travelers who went, saw and recorded, and most importantly, took excellent photos.  I even remember the first of this sort that I read, The Great Railway Bazaar-By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux.  I've ploughed through all of his books over the years (no pictures but he's an excellent writer).  Though I've read so many wonderful travel books, I think my favorite has been Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard.  Oh, and I once read a beautifully written essay on the Tibetan custom of sky burial, but I can't seem to find it now, and don't Google it, fair warning, because the Google search gets gross and definitely not beautiful.

Soooo, oh yes, the Grand Canyon.  Since we were driving home from Utah via all the state roads that we could (highly recommend if you're not in a huge hurry), we decided to stop by and view 17 million years of geologic history, no big deal.

Having stayed the night before in Page, Arizona, Jim and I drove in from the east on Route 64 (East Rim Drive), and stopped at almost every viewing/parking area.  Our first reaction (after thank God for good truck brakes)?  We would never, ever, ever bring children to these spots.  I'm serious, there is the roadway, there are some bushy trees, there is a very low rock wall, and then there is air.  And way, way, way, way, way, way, way down at the bottom, 17 million years ago, there is a river.  So lovely I don't have the words to describe it and certainly not the photography skills to capture it, but my eyes know true beauty when they see it.

Which sort of brings me back around to my love of travel books and my belief that I really don't need to physically travel to see the world, especially these days when such gifted photographers exist and are willing to share.  I won't bore you with the rest of my photos because they are crap and occasionally hysterical, like our attempt at a selfie with this view in the background while we clung to each other in the brisk wind.  Deleted, you will be relieved to note.  --cds

Four Years Old!

Our little Miss Ruthanne is four years old today.  She was VERY excited for her birthday even though she told me over the phone that she is not a grownup yet.  So darn cute. Here are some photos from their most recent Florida visit:

Ruthie loved the petting zoo and carefully set about brushing all the animals she could reach.  She was also interested in knowing their names and wasn't shy about asking the attendant for the name of each pig and goat.

Lunch with Doc McStuffins and Jake the Pirate.

Funny faces with Mommy and Daddy.

Clapping games with other little girls while waiting for Minnie and Mickey.

Both loved the pool, though Marcus seems more interested just now in his toes.

 

 

So there is our little Ruthanne fix for today.  Happy 4th Birthday Miss Roo!  --cds

Done Dyeing

Lucky for me I have the time, the space and the patience, because fabric dyeing is (for me anyway) a four or five day job.

While I do have a lot of patience for fussy jobs like this, I tend to get distracted easily, and also hungry and tired, so it all takes a while.  However, all done now!  Turns out it's hard to photograph velvet with my pea-shooter camera, but I'm very happy with the results.  The color stayed very true and rich-looking, I thought.

 

Not so happy with my attempt at creating a resist with blue school glue gel. I didn't give it much thought when it came to laying down a design and so I just sort of scribbled on some lines just to see what would happen (this had to dry out completely overnight first).

 

 Then I painted on a rainbow of color.

 

After the washout - the resist certainly worked well, leaving very white lines, but the glue spread more than I expected so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do with this piece.  I may try painting in some of the white with various colors and I might be able to use some of it in small applique or something.  The other length looks like camo doesn't it!  I'm kind of mad at myself for fooling around with this splotching technique - I don't really like it.

 



 

Too many colors going, but what will be useful are the spots where the blending occurred - I'll be able to fussy-cut flower petals and such, I'm sure.

 

These, however, are just down-right ugly.  Oh well, nothing ventured, blah blah blah.....

Silk ribbon, though!  Happy.

 

This strange bit is dyed cheesecloth.  One never knows when one might require some pretty purple cheesecloth.

 

As you might notice I also dyed a few stray cotton doilies.

I'm going to bore you here with a long string of photos of the bulk of half-yard solid color results.  Not exactly solid because a great deal of mottling and marbling occurred, but that is exactly what I was looking for anyway.  So let's start with yellow:

Hard to tell the difference between photos of red and pink, isn't it.  Geez, I need a photography lesson.

My one disappointment was that I could not get the dark blue I was looking for.  These are nice, but my Sapphire Blue dye didn't give me the rich blue I wanted.

I wish you could see this bright green in person - it almost hurts my eyes - a lot of yellow pops out and will be nice for leaves and stems and aliens.

This Periwinkle piece is interesting.

Look!  A person!  Freaky, huh?

 



I believe I will be doing some overpaintng on some of these to make the light backgrounds a little more interesting. 

Had better luck with the black this time around.  Despite these dumb photos, the dark parts really are pretty black.

So much fun.  All this makes me feel as excited as when I was a kid and we received a brand-new box of 64 Crayola crayons.  Ummmm, Magenta..... --cds