New Leaf (hopefully)

It's time to adjust the way I waddle thru my days.  I love that word "waddle" it reminds me of our Missy, the two and a half year old cat, who is slightly overweight.  In human charts she would be obese.
I have been thinking of ways to get her to walk with me in the hallways.  She needs a leash.  I am a little bit concerned that she would strangle me with it, or worse, use her claws like Garfield cat does.

I have a nasty habit to sway off the topic, and this post will be full of detours. If I ever get to the end of it.

Let's see, Yesterday I took the subway to go somewhere.  Did you notice, there are no escalators going down in some of the stations?  I counted some of the steps, but lost count since I had to stop and do some calming breathing.  Of course there is an elevator, but what the heck, the stairs would be
Good exercise for me. 

Coming back, you guessed it, I was able to use the escalator.  My exercise for the day was done.

This morning was another exercise session.  20 whopping minutes.  Excuse me, that is a lot for me,
The one who sits on the chair most of the day.  I cannot think of going to the gym anytime soon. 

I reached my toes, when standing up and bending down, including knee bending.  I could tell you that
To touch the toes without bending those cracking parts of your legs, it's a very remarkable achievement.  Penny, from Big Bang Theory, does it very nicely, have you seen that one? 
My touching isn't like hers, but more like Sheldon's.

Love that show.

This is going to be a good goal for me, to touch my toes.  Perhaps pedicure would then become an
Easier task.  Well, I can touch the dang toes, but not the gymnastic way.  Let's not go there. 

Talking about goals, Another football (ahem, it IS football) game on telly right now.  Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid playing
No goals yet at that point when I linked it.  Should I let them know about my goals? 

This year has been full of reading books, knitting and crocheting.  One of the most touching books I read was "Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah.  What a beautifully written book.  No wonder I've been a
Bit lost continuing my reading with other types of books.  Mainly some fluffy detective mysteries.

An other book by Hannah, The Firefly Lane I borrowed from the library, and is on my "Overdrive",  however I cannot get the right feeling of the story, so I took a break, I still have a few days left before I must return it. 

What did I knit this year?  Hats, scarves cowls and socks.  I crocheted a blanket, which should be slightly bigger but the cats have decided that it's good enough for them.

 

And then there was some other kind of crocheting, too

 

 

One more cat picture.  Merlin checking the Vet's supplies.

Time to go and get some coffee.

 

.

 

 

Keep going Girl!

First some whining,

back pain for over a week.  Have done too much lifting things, as in bags of yarn, boxes of yarn,
just yarn. Let me explain, I have a stash room (second bedroom) full of stuff, mostly yarn, in boxes, plastic tubs, and bags.  Decided to organize *organize*,  me?  Good grief!
Well, I did some, and now the back is screaming. Tylenol 3 snubbed, Arthritis Tylenol laughed, standing and leaning against the table helped after half an hour.  Sleep is great, no problem.

Should I just sleep?  NO, I must check the e-mail, check the Facebook, oh, and go to work.  Work
might have something to do with some pain to a degree.  Sitting all day, working on a keyboard, trying to get the correct information into the record archives, inside the data files.  That's hard work, and will cause discomfort sometimes.  However, I do love my work, and have always enjoyed going to the office.  Occasional getting up to go and fetch coffee or lunch, or water,
is a good thing.

Oh, I was not going to talk about work.  Back to whining.  No cork needed, since my whining has nothing to do with wine.

This is my solution for the problem, Aleve, which may cause tummy pains, but which is worse?

I realized something this morning, why is my back not in pain when I am in bed?  I have a padding with magnetic buttons inside.  Well, yeaah, sure.  This morning I took one Aleve, found another of those paddings in the linen closet.  Put it on my chair and what, I am practically pain free, unless I get up.  Is it Aleve or the padding with magnets?  Don't know, but I am going sit here all day, even
if I don't have the witch powers to move things around with the wiggle of my nose (I can't do it anyway, even if I was a witch, which I might have been in my previous life, which is another story).

On the reality side (whining isn't my daily topic):

What's up?  The Knitting goddess has been my friend for a good part of my weekly events.
There is a shawl, a scarf, a jacket, a freeform thing, another shawl, something that I don't even
know what, hats, and socks, but I am very organized (another "good grief).  Organizing is not a word I use lightly.

These are Hedwig socks (referring to Hedwig, Harry Potter's owl)  for my step-daughter-in-law.
I was going to add eyes and a nose but decided it was too much work.  :-)

Some baby stuff, little jackets and two blankets

Hat that will go to charity

This hat was meant for a friend, but it came out too small.  The brim is very loose, too. I have fix it, and then this one goes to charity, as well as

the baby hat here:

 I love this shawl, the yarn is size 10 crochet thread, Katie Jaipur, and the colors are amazing.

I have put this shawl aside for a few days, since I was busy with the hats and other things.

A scarf for my niece in Argentina:

The yarn, Patons Grace.

Forgot what this was going to be:

 

 And this is a Seraphina Shawl start, which might never see another stitch done:

 Crocheted this Edelweiss shawl in less than a week.  It will probably end up in charity section.

Guess who this is!  Merlin, of course, isn't he adorable?

Baby surprise Jacket.  Pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman, the knit master.

baby jacket in apple green cotton yarn, somewhere there is a pattern, but where?  Here!

Crochet bolero for my grandaughter in Argentina

a

And finally, some of the plastic tubs that have swallowed some yarn.  These and some others are going in the stash room, if I can find a space for them.  (wiping tears here)

 

There has been some serious cabbage cooking too, in my kitchen.  Cabbage soup, Cabbage rolls, 

Cabbage casserole, and last night a soup with chicken broth, cabbage, ground chicken, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, red onion, and some celery, that was in the back of the fridge, still good, surprise.

I have lunches for two or three weeks now.  Of course it's possible I will have something else, too, since I am already getting somewhat tired with cabbage.   

I don't really have recipes for my cabbage dishes, I've used my imagination, and googled a few tricks and so on.  I am a freestyle cook.

I am also reading a lot these days, Currently P. J. Parrish's Louis Kincaid series.

Of course some others, but these books are my latest fancy.

The first book "Dark of the Moon" came from library as it's not available for Kindle.

Have started it but not even half way thru, yet.

Came across with this post in FaceBook, and thought it was good

http://sinivalakosinsilimin.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/kiiress-duunis-tois-busy-working-work.html

Decided that this was enough for one post.  Have to go and see if my mess will disappear at least a little bit.  

More weaving

I made two more pieces on the weekend. That's about all I was able to accomplish, except about 5 rows on two socks.
Oh, and lots of sitting and staring in the air, attending to sick hubby (cold and fever), and generally just doing nothing.

The bigger piece has homespun yarn (solid grayish/purplish shade) by Sherri,
and the smaller piece has also homespun yarn, by Sherri, tambien.
That is the yarn on top of the smaller piece, looks like purple, and below and at the bottom the same grayish/purplish homespun as the bigger piece.

Don't you just love the words I use for colors.

I am eagerly waiting for my new weaving looms, one is spear's and the other is potholder loom,
both of them on the way. It's going to be a mail waiting week, as I have some books coming in, also.

The books that have been shipped are:

1. Margaret Hubert: Knit or Crochet--Have it Your Way: 15 Fun Projects with Complete Hook and Needle Instructions for Each

2. Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Daina Taimina

3. Crochet Embellishments (Leisure Arts #4419) Jean Leinhauser

However, they are coming from the USA, so it will take some time before I am able to enjoy any of my recent purchases.

Books and magazines

Do you ever feel like getting out of the house and go nowhere? I did today.

Instead of going to a yarn store, I decided to go to a mall where I could find a store with discount books. Lucky me, I parked my car near the entrance. By the entrance (inside the mall) there is a magazine, smoke, whatever shop. I just quickly glanced at the magazines and there were two that caught my eyes: Verena and Knitter's. Well, I just had to get them to add to my pile of magazines that will be great entertainment when I feel bored, and don't want to knit/crochet/watch telly.

I love my magazines for the nice things inside. Not that I will ever make anything from those patterns. That is not the reason I buy them. I used to buy gossip magazines, and after finished reading the articles, tossed the magazine in the recycle bin. Unfortunately my knitting magazines will not go there, they will stay with me forever. The only time I get rid of a magazine, is if I had
by "accident" bought two of the same. See, that is the problem with my magazines, I buy them,
glance thru and put away. Two weeks later, in a magazine rack, I look at the same magazine, and want it. Oh, well, this does not happen too often, thank goodness, but sometimes.

From that shop I went to the bookstore. I was looking for self-help books, I need those, to become more interesting. I believe that I might be a very boring person.
In that bookstore nothing is in alphabetical order. They have books in type order. Well, if one is looking for a particular self-help book, which was my case, good luck, which was exactly what the
storekeeper said, after I asked if they had this book "How to talk to anyone" He "recalled" seeing it, but didn't know where it was. I spent over half an hour staring at the mishmatched rows of books. Then I gave up and proceeded to hobbies section. There were some knitting books, but, wow, nothing interested me, so I continued towards the middle section where the paperback books on sale were. I found Debbie MaComber's book "Back on Blossom Street".
After reading Sue Grafton's book "T is for Tresspass", I wanted to read something that didn't require going back and forth and skipping pages. Let's hope that Debbie has done at least a similar job as in her book "A Good Yarn" and "The Shop on Blossom Street". To my delight, there is a pattern for a shawl, which I noticed when glanced through the book at Tim Horton's coffee shop.
Oh, and I must mention that I bought, in that same bookstore, a Learn Spanish Deluxe set. Only because there was this magic word on the box: I can load this to my ipod!!!, (I did not pay #39.00 for it, I paid $12.00, haha) it was on my pile of purchases. The Blossom book, a reading book for my granddaughter, and the Spanish lesson set.

After the trip to the bookstore, I decided to take a peek in Chapters store, which was nearby.

I was disappointed with the magazine section, they didn't even have those magazines that I had just bought in a smoke shop, of all the places. However, there was an interesting looking magazine, which I had not seen before, "Living Crafts" I had to get that one, because there was an idea for a Starry Starry Night project. I have to visit LivingCrafts.com and click on Winter 2009 Issue. Which I will do one of these days, I mean click on that. (I did, and saved the project)

I also got the book that I went for "How to Talk to Anyone". Hopefully I will be more talkative when surrounded by any type of people, like co-workers, knitting and crocheting friends, and anyone in general. (if I believe this, then I have truly a very naive personality).

I have not knitted a stitch today, and it might stay that way for the rest of the night. It's time to do some laundry and hope the room isn't too busy.

Time for summer socks

I've been knitting my socks for weeks, and got one sock done. It's been startitis syndrome time again. I started new socks practically every day...not really, but sometimes it feels like it.

I ordered some sock books, from Amazon, and borrowed one from Library.
The "Socks Socks Socks" book is from the Library. I have to return in at the end of this month, so I have to be very busy to get all those socks done, Hahah, in my dreams.

I have not started any from this book, though. Too many nice ones.

From the "2 at-a-time socks" I learned the "Magic Loop" method. I did practice with two circular needles, but got tired of the fiddling with needles and dropped the other needle and continued with one. This apparently is the ML technique.


I have not forgotten embroidery stitches. Found two marvellous stitch books at the library. I should go there more often, specially before I am planning to order books from Amazon.

Some other books I have hoarded lately







My son's SIL gave me a gift certificate for Chapters, one of our bookstores. I went and looked what they could inspire me, and found a great book, "Knits from a Painter's Palette" that I almost bought at one of the yarn shows, but my budget didn't allow it. Had I bought the book at the store, my gift certificate would not have been enough, so I ordered it on line, and here it is, my birthday gift from Sarah.

I love that book. I cannot stop looking at those amazing creations.

What's in the agenda today? Going to drive around in my new car, and perhaps get lost in a yarn store near the Beaches, heheh.

My friend Sherri is going to go to Purple Purl, and I am sure that I might head that way, too.
First I need to sort my sock projects, because one of them is coming with me. The one that is finished is the Nutkin sock, that I started a long time ago. The other one is still just a start, and not worth mentioning at this point. It will be a miracle if it ever gets done. I started it on my mini vacation couple of weeks ago.










Some time ago I had a birthday, and the office gang gave me another gift certificate, this time from Purple Purl. I bought loads of Noro Sock yarn to make a coat or something.
My boss gave me a hand-painted, wooden trinket box, which I love. I love boxes...hmmm...and of course I got flowers and a cake and lunch. It was a great day. I did manage to do some work, too.

Find That Water

The book came today: Julia Cameron's "Finding Water". Does this mean that I have to read it, or do I put in on the shelf and hope to be able to read it one day. Right now I am not too pleased with myself. I have not done my morning pages, as per Julia Cameron's "Artist's Way" book tells you to do.

I am still not sure who or what I am.

In less than two weeks I will be walking by the river, which is in the picture.

First Week

Let's see how long this is going to last. I did my morning pages after I arrived to work. Well, I slept in, and had to rush. So there was no time to write anything at home. I arrived 15 minutes early, after all.
I also did some "evening pages" after reading some pages from "The Artist's Way" last night.
Yesterday's Simple Abundance was about "how do I look". I did look fairly rotten yesterday, at times, because I felt rotten. I must start feeling better about myself, so maybe I would look better.
I left the book at home, and feel that I should call my hubby (I called) and ask what is the theme for today in the SA book. I have a sketch book, knitting, and The Artist's Way book with me, as well as the note book, where I write my "evening and morning pages".

Today's quote is "accepting yourself as you are today". How do I do that? Nothing is clear for me today. In other words, I should accept the fact that I am disorganized and alive.


While looking for my valuable books, including "Clones Lace" I found, on the bookshelf, "the right to write" by Julia Cameron. I am still looking for my rights.



This bag has nothing to do with what I am doing right now, other than it's another thing that I can't find.



Shame on me, to be such a disorganized individual. There must be a book somewhere that tells me how to organize my stuff. I do have one, called something like "organizing for creative people" close enough.



OMG, I took a peek in the pages...I found the book in Amazon, and I got

shivers and my heart started racing. Someone can come and organize me first.

Artist Way

You should know that every once in a while I act logically, and even think logically.
I have a filing cabinet that has doors, opening to two shelves, and three pull out drawers.
I have my art supplies in the cabinet part. Brushes, paints, pencils, sketch books, etc.
On my way home from work I decided to check in that cabinet, and sure enough, both Julia Cameron's books were there: "The Artist's Way" (paperback) and "Walking in this World" (hardcover!). The Artist's Way book is full of stickers, I am sure I have tried to study what is in it. Logic has worked, at least once in my life. or twice now.

I could not cancel my order from Amazon, it's already being prepared for shipment. Some lucky person is going to get the AW book from me. The workbook stays with me, as well as the "Finding Water".


Allright then, I will now go and read some of my interesting books. First the Simple Abundance and then Artist's Way, oh, and knit some.

I wish I found things easily

I spent a good hour yesterday, looking for a book by Julia Cameron. It's the "Artist Way".
I have had it for years, and I even bought another book by her, something to do with walking.
That one is somewhere safe, too.
What did I do today? First I checked the library listings, but all the copies are waiting for someone, or at least they are not available right now. Then I called a surplus bookstore, but the lady has not called back yet.
What did I do then? I went surfing in Amazon, and the water was high, and inviting, and I ordered three books. "Finding Water", "Artist Way", and "Artist Way Workbook". by the time I'll get home, I am sure my "Artist Way" has found itself in a visible place. No problem, I am sure I can find someone who has a birthday coming up, and wants the book. This is ONLY, if my own copy shows up.

A friend of mine sent me a book "Simple Abundance" and I am now reading it one day at a time.
The book is at home, so I can't tell what I read yesterday. I have not read today's entry yet.

I found it!

First, on Thursday I received two books from Amazon.com. One was Jenny Dowde's Freeformations and the other was ... oops, I forgot, that means I have to go and look, just a sec.

Yes, it was Yarn stash ideas.

On Friday, I received a beautiful ATC from my friend Janet. She is a master making these cards, but she's also a master with her paintings.


Here is the card:


And this morning, regardless of the stupid fact that I slept until 10:30,

I found the box my hubby and I have been looking for two weeks.

In the box I have yarn, bought from WOOLCO, if anyone remembers that store. One skein cost $1.89, which wasn't too expensive even then. This must be over 20 years ago. I know, because I had not met my now-hubby yet. I bought it when my mom visited me before I met him. Yeeeaaa, so the yarn must be 20 years old. Woolco closed its doors, in Canada, in the early 90's.

My mom made about 45 - 4" squares and I had made 5, different ones. I had also started something from a pattern that appeared in Vogue knitting, 1993. I must have thought that the squares didn't make anything nice.

I need to go grocery shopping, but I would like to stay at home and PLAN, I am good at planning, what to do with this treasure.
So, what, if my hand still hurts. I can plan, can I?

I still have to find a ball of size 20 red Opera thread, and the Clones Lace book. I need to look for something else, and those two will show up. I was looking for the book, when I found the yarn.
It works every time.