Too much to do, too little time!

I can't believe June is gone. July is here...already. My blog has been neglected and my knitting has been slow going. I've been busy with all the everyday goings on, plus I've been busy getting ready for two special visitors. My sister "D" who I've never met is traveling with her husband from Oregon by train to visit me. I'm super excited and the wait seems endless. Originally the cross country journey was supposed to be three and a half days, but due to the flooding in North Dakota they had to be rerouted to a southern route through California which made the trip a day longer. Then once on the trip they were rerouted once again. This time they had to stay overnight in Denver. Again they were delayed another day. Hopefully if all goes well they will finally arrive here in the evening on this coming Sunday! I imagine they will be exhausted when they arrive. They do not have a sleeping car as one would have been too costly. I just hope and pray they have been having a pleasant trip. I'm sure there will be many stories to tell of all of their experiences!! Can't wait to see them!!   Just to help you understand our relationship: my sister and I have the same father. My birth father who died when I was five months old, was previously married to "D"'s mother and divorced, before he married my mother. Even though we have never met in person, I feel like I know "D". I have only talked to "D" a handful of times on the phone, but have corresponded with her for just about my whole life. My other sister "K" who is 12 years older than me, met "D" when she traveled to Oregon to spend the summer with "D" and her family the summer (1963) she graduated from high school. The plan is to have a reunion with "K" and "D" and myself sometime this coming week. "K" lives in Connecticut and we'll meet somewhere at a half way point. This should be interesting for them to see each other again after all theses years. "D" is the one who always sends me her beautiful hand spun yarn for my birthday. This year she didn't send me any yarn. Instead she sent me an amazing knitting book. This book has everything you every wanted to know about knitting, plus a whole lot more. It was a very special gift. As you have probably guessed, "D" and myself share the same love of knitting :) "D" was worried that she would run out of yarn during her train travel, so she mailed a large box of gorgeous yarn to me to make sure she would have enough yarn for her return trip. All those days on the train...you can only imagine how much knitting she'll be doing! We are also looking forward to knitting together during her visit. Looking forward to having another girl in the house...I'm so much out numbered with all of my boys. Can't wait!!

Now on to my knitting progress...I did manage to finished a couple of things. A baby blanket for my husband's niece who is expecting a baby. She's visiting this weekend and I wanted to make sure the blanket was finished so she could bring it back to Florida with her.Not knowing the sex of this baby I decided to make a white blanket this time. Since it's a Florida baby I thought a lacy blanket might be nice. Pine Forest Baby Blanket is a very easy pattern, but I have to admit I did have a little trouble and I had to rip back so many times that I lost count. It wasn't the pattern's fault...it was all because of me trying to knit when I was too sleepy. I've been super tired lately and need toothpicks to keep my eye's open!

The other project I finished last night was another bubble up towel.
This time for me! It photographed poorly. The yellow color is very washed out. It definitely is a bright yellow towel. The yarn also had some imperfections. The solid stockinette really accentuate the flaws. It's for me and will be a kitchen towel so that's fine. This one seemed to take forever to finish. I think I should have waited a little bit longer after finishing the previous one. The typical "second" syndrome...you know like the second sock syndrome ;)I also have to report that there was no sewing involved. I tried the method of picking up the hem stitches and bound off at the same time to form the hem. I definitely will be using that technique again. You all know how much I dislike sewing!!

Well, for those of you in the US, have a very happy 4th of July weekend. I know this 4th of July will be truly a special one for me. Happy Knitting :)


 

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Cute happenings

I've been a little bit under the weather lately, nothing serious, but I've not had the inclination to blog. Now that I'm feeling better I thought I'd show you my cute little guy (or gal) who I've been spying on from my  inside windows. We have a rather large rock in the middle of our back yard. Somewhere around or under this rock is the burrow or home of a chipmunk family. Pretty much every day this cute little chipmunk perches on the rock. He's either on the look  out for predators or is sounding off in alarm to keep intruders away or just letting everyone know that they are not to mess with him (her). He makes quite the racket producing a vigorous clacking sound. I really think he wears himself out the poor thing. I know I get tired just listening to him! I was quite surprise that Chipmunks make any kind of noise at all! They really are quite noisy :) According to my research this is how he(she) protects his(her) burrow and wards off the predators.

Miss Pink is thriving. I think she likes the heat and humidity. All of her new buds are now open. She has only dropped one of her old flowers. She now has a total of five flowers open. One of them is one of the original flowers from when I brought her home last March!
I'm really getting the urge to get another orchid to keep Miss Pink company. I've received so much enjoyment from this wonderful plant. I'm afraid it might just be beginner's luck. One of these days if I find the right one...I may just bring it home :) Time will tell....

Knitting wise I have nothing much to show you. I did finish a pair of double knit potholders for my kitchen. That's about it for finished items.

I'm working on a couple of things...one is a baby blanket that has to be finished by July 3rd. It's been slow going. Falling asleep knitting has been a big problem. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to rip it back. The pattern is super easy and I really don't have any excuse other than being tired. Part of the problem I think is that I've started listening to audio book recordings. Presently I'm reading listening to Debbie Macomber's Summer on Blossom Street. It's my first knitting novel :) These self contained digital devices (Playaways) are really cool. Plus the price is right. I'm borrowing it from my local library. It's the perfect vehicle to read and knit at the same time. I just love it. Our library doesn't have a huge collection, but you can download audio books to your MP3 player or take out audio books on CD's as well.. I don't have a MP3 player so it might be nice to get one sometime in the future. That way you'd never be without a book to read listen to. Usually I'm watching TV and knitting, but the summer does not have the best quality when it comes to programing and I detest watching TV just for the sake of watching it,  if you know what I mean, so I do think it would be worth it to invest in the hardware someday. I'm very happy and can't wait to find more interesting books to read listen to! Suggestions of good books to read are always welcomed :)

Well, time to leave you. Must try and do some catching up on my blog reading. Besides that I've been some what busy in preparation for a couple of special visitors who'll be coming to see us sometime soon. More about that later. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Now I can show you...

...the kitchen items I made for my "knit loving" daughter-in-law. Her birthday is tomorrow, but she picked up her gift yesterday.

This is a photo of some of the items. Four of the dishcloths I made previously. You probaby recognized them. Top pair are the Corner to Corner Striped Set and on the right, a pair of Circle cloths.



The rest are a couple of the new patterns I tried out. Now I have some new favorites, like these double knit potholders. Very utilitarian, unlike the fancier ones I made for her for Christmas. She tells me they are decorating the fridge as she doesn't want to ruin them. I hope she'll use these new ones, plus I always tell her there are always more where they came from ;).




Another pattern I tried out was a variation of Grandmother's favorite which is a very easy and beloved pattern, so I never anticipated all the trouble with this picot edged cloth. It was unbelievably frustrating trying to follow the pattern.This pattern has short row corners, which I had never done before, so I was unable to see just where I was going wrong. I was just about ready to give up when I scoped out what others said about the pattern on ravelry. I'm certainly not the first to have a problem and it was a relief to find a kind soul who posted her corrections for the pattern on her ravelry page. She's not the designer, but was kind enough to share her solution to the problems everyone was having with the pattern. In the end, the end result was two very pretty cloths. As my "Knit Loving "- DIL, says they are too pretty to use, but I do hope she'll use them as I will always make her more new ones :)



This next item is what I think is a rather elegant looking towel. I think it would make a nice hand towel or a decorative towel to lay out on your kitchen counter to drain your washed dishes on. It's a little dressy so if you haven't had the chance to put all your dishes away, it will look nice and less messy on your counter. Here some shots of the bubble up towel, another of my new favorites. It looks difficult, especially the bubble work, but it was really easy. I do love it and have another one on the needles for my kitchen at the moment.








Of course I can not leave you with out giving you the latest news about Miss Shirley Pink :)  One of her buds opened up this week and there will be another one opening shortly...
 

...need I say more?  She makes me very happy!

Spring flowers also make me happy as well. Here's a little sampling from my yard:

1. IMG_1084, 2. IMG_1083, 3. IMG_1082, 4. IMG_1128

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.