Knittinggarden

I'm here!  There has again been a significantly long break in blog writing but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing posts in my head all the time.  The person who invents telepathic blog writing will have my business. Anyway, we are currently on an extended road trip from southern California back to Washington.  This is our big "seeing the sights of the West" trip and so far we have covered Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Crazy Horse monument, Mt. Rushmore, and Devil's Tower.  We have stayed in Vegas, Grand Canyon, Durango, CO (great little town), Denver, Scottsbluff, NE, Rapid City, SD, Gillette, WY, and are currently in Cody, WY on the way to Yellowstone.   It's hard to remember what room number, what hotel, and what town we're in... Making things more interesting is the fact that DH has to have kidney dialysis every few days, so we had quite a time planning this trip around cities that had available dialysis facilities on the days that it was n...

What's that, you say?  A knitting blog talking about knitting?  I've had time enough to pout over the ignominious defeat the Seahawks brought upon themselves, so it's back to the other stuff.  I've been knitting and spinning along as usual here in the lovely desert, where it was 89 degrees F two days ago.  Like last winter, we have had unseasonably warm weather just when so much of the country  is facing unusual cold and snow.  Sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it! After showing you the sweater that I made for the Princess, I've slacked off on updating anything, so this will be a show and tell.  I also knit a cowl for her out of The Plucky Knitter Single in the color Rachel.  It was exceedingly soft yarn and very nice to work with.  She probably hasn't worn it since she posed for the photo, but oh well.  She picked out the pattern and seemed to like it. Then by request I made some USC themed socks for Ms. Hollywood as a s...

One more time.  Go Hawks!

And that is all I have to say about that.

It's gotten a bit chilly here in the desert; even some frost!  Today is a picture postcard kind of day with snow in the closer mountains.  It rained last night, which is great for this region.  I started making myself some fingerless mitts yesterday and hope to be done by Saturday when we have to stand outside in line for a movie at the film festival.  Why buy something when you can stress yourself out trying to make it, right? Wishing everyone a safe, happy New Year's Eve.  We're looking forward to a good and healthy new year.

Christmakkuh.  Well, not really but I'm doing my best.  I love lights and used to have them up all year on the bushes in our driveway island in Seattle.  Here in the desert it just doesn't seem like December when the sun is out every day.  We had a couple of days of clouds and drizzle but it's still pretty warm.  So in this gated community, I'm doing the best I can. Lights on a potted palm.  Very festive, don't ya think? Happy holidays to all!

and through the desert to the Princess' house we went..... Not quite to Grandma's house, but better.  Even though I arrived on Tuesday to help prepare and cook, Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by the Princess and Prince Charming this year.  Although lack of leftovers is a problem, using someone else's house for the big dinners is always good.  And getting to spend a couple of days with grown children who we rarely get to see was wonderful! I drove from Palm Desert to Las Vegas on Tuesday, DH flew in on Wednesday after dialysis, Mr. Hollywood and his gf drove over from LA and my sister and brother-in-law flew in from Seattle.  We enjoyed having dinner on the dining room table we had sent down to the Princess when we got ready to move last fall and also relaxing on our old sectional.  Old memories were enjoyed and new memories were made. DH helped Prince Charming with his barbeque technique and a fabulous turkey was the result.  Here they are in their ma...

The good news is that the Princess was released from the hospital on Tuesday and she's able to eat fairly normally.  The bad news is that I came down with an illness (not surprising since I was in that hospital so much and barely eating).  I've changed my plans to go home about five times and now plan to drive to Palm Springs on Monday. See, the complication is that DH  recently started dialysis and I can't be around him with a low grade fever. Luckily the kids seem to  like having me around so it hasn't been bad. I finally went to urgent care yesterday after neti pot and other home remedies resulted in my fever going up and got some meds. I think I will be able to leave on schedule now.  In knitting news, I finished the big sweater and everyone is really happy with it. It's plenty oversized now that my 5'9" Princess has shrunk to 105 pounds or so. When she's back to normal it will still be great as it fits me with plenty of room, too. iPad photos in th...

So I've been a good girl for awhile; no refined sugar, no gluten or much grain at all, no dairy, no alcohol, exercise. Did I lose any weight?  No.  Here's the method that works. Fly at short notice to Nevada to keep your DD company in the hospital. She has a flare up of IBD and can't eat, so she's skin and bones. I sit here and knit (that's going well) and try to find palatable and healthy food to eat. That's apparently impossible in a hospital :). So I seem to have lost about 3 pounds since Friday. Not the most recommended way, but hey whatever works!! ( I'm not really serious here, ya know.) The Princess is managing well, her pain has lessened, but she can't tolerate food. So we're in a holding pattern, waiting to see what happens. I've been knitting her a big cardigan sweater and am almost done. It was going to be a surprise, but I showed her and she likes it. We've been planning a bright color for the pocket linings so I'm going to ...

I'm busy finishing up things here in the Northwest so I can head down and join DH in the desert in a little over a week.  I got a bit distracted this morning by the Great Blue Heron who stood motionless on our beach for a long time waiting for a chance to catch his breakfast.  I had to photograph him from inside the house so as not to open a slider and scare him, but I did the best I could.  He was big and beautiful.  (Heron's gender is chosen arbitrarily as I don't really know that it was a male!) I think he was unsuccessful in his fishing here and majestically flew away after spending at least a half hour here.  His wingspan was very impressive as was his graceful flight over the water. In crafting news, I've been working on a big sweater called Warm Wishes .  It's going to be big and cozy and a gift, so I won't say more about that.  I'm using Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted in the Thunderstorm colorway.  This yarn is amazing and I've al...