Up All Night

Have you ever had an endless night?   It could have been due to a chance first meeting, a great party, a newborn or one of the thousand other reasons/events that life throws you.    I had an endless night last night-no desire or need to sleep--I was knitting-endless knitting, that brought me peace, calm and a clear mind (that's unusual in the middle of the afternoon, let alone in the middle of the night) .  I had to force myself to get to bed.   My sleep patterns have been strange lately-sleeping til 8 a.m.or falling asleep at 3 p.m. and not getting out of bed til the next morning.   Is this what retirement does for you?   Maybe it's the adjustment my body is making after following a bell schedule for MOST of my life.  What do you think?

The Sunset in Hilton Head

Making discoveries

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving

I have discovered a few knitting groups in the area over the last few weeks  There is the knit night at the local pub (every other Monday night) and Anita's place "The International Knitting Studio".  Anita is a jewel- a woman who has knit most of her life, and is willing to share all her knowledge in her charmig way.  Kind, friendly and patient in all that she does.   I also joined the Newcomer Club and they have a knitting group also.  

Knitting update:
Surprise Baby Jacket-from the Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmerman- Yarn BabyBoo/Sidkar in pink, lilac and turquiose. Absolutely loved making this - great to see how a strange shaped piece could be transformed into a lovely jacket
Finished some xmas gifts today- can't post them till after the 25th of course. 

By the way- my laptop is driving me crazy-every other key stroke is NOT showing on the screen!!Do I have some kind of bug?  I'm going to leave this sentence uncorreced  (See what I ean? that's mean!!) 

Contests-Namaste Bags

Hi,  I have been asked to review a book and post a contest on my blog.  Looking forward to doing that but in the meantime I've been looking at other contests to get an idea of how to run it.  Anyway I found this contest today, you may be interested in it  Knit, Purl Girl is a great blog   Check it out  Namaste bags are wonderful.  I have the clutch and love it -
http://www.knitpurlgurl.com/2009/11/namaste-hermosa-bag-review-giveaway.html?

For Kate

Some of the 2009 finished projects!!! My daughter modeling

Purple wrap

Norah Gaughran

See I actually have been knitting and crocheting!!

On the needles: Big Afghan (three strands of yarn in a baby pattern)

Lucious Lace (ravelry pattern) in Ella Rae merino/silk blend and of course all the top down patterns I'm designing!!!!!!

Touching Base

Hi, Have had a wonderful month, traveling on the East Coast. Savannah, Charleston, Hilton Head and Rhinebeck of course. The Sheep and Wool festival was wonderful. Visited with friends from the past and spent a terrific day in class with Lily Chin, She is unbelievable, the knowledge the humor and great teaching techniques. I have loads of photos, finished projects, travel and more knitting to do. Promise I will post them, but you know being retired really is time consuming ---where did I put that to do List???????

Well this really takes the cake!!!

Hi All- as you may recall I had to run to get fingerprinted---here's the funny story that goes with that experience. Seems that with new technology, fingers are scanned to a computer- sort of like the grocery store scanner. Well, it took longer then usual to scan my prints!!! And do you know why???? Seems my 47 years of knitting/crochet have WORN AWAY MY FINGER PRINTS!!!! Can you believe it??? By the fourth attempt and then doing each finger individually numerous times, the policeman said we did the best we could and they would call me back if needed. I laughed all the way out the door!!!

Busy, busy

What can I say-if anyone said retirement can be boring, they can join me and help me find the time to do everything I want to do!!! I have been so busy, and somehow the days are going so quickly, more projects have been added to the mix and at the end of the day I really have to concentrate to remember everything I did!!! (Guess that's what happens as you get older)
The past few weeks have been filled with painting rooms (5 rooms in 3.5 days-have I got the best painter in the world!! oh it's not me!), hanging curtains / artwork and buying fabric for new curtains. It's time to find my sewing machine (that is in a storage unit) It's time to get sewing. Yes I sew also-It's the Home Ec. teacher thing.

on a knitting note- I have been very busy --even took pictures, can't post them now, I've got to run to the police station to be finger printed--Volunteered for Mentoring Alliance in Sonoma
www.sonomamentoring.org and need to have the prints done!! Wonderful organization, definitely a excellent program and should be used a model for other communities to follow. I'll be back --

Sunny and Hot

Again the days have slipped away-but all good things to share. Traveled to California with my cat and she is definitely a California Cat. Loves it here and so do I --- My knitting has suffered though--hardly touched a needle and when I did it was to crochet- again for my daughter. This is the photo of the piece I'm working on in Patons Glace-soft green and size E needle. Better Homes and Garden pattern. Once it is done I'll post the final product. One of these days I'll make myself something!!!

Dim Sum

Saying good-bye is not an easy thing to do, so since I like to do things the easy way, it's best to not consider a good-bye a good-bye. Better to spend time sharing a meal, talking about the next time you will see each other, plan for future trips and make sure that where ever you go the people you love know that they are welcome to join you any time. Dim sum is a great meal to share- with the delicate appetizers spinning around the table- you get to know people, what they like, how they treat each other and how much they care about each other.

Where has the time gone?

It's hard to believe that the month has passed and that I haven't been posting. It's been a busy month, knitting gifts so I can't share now. It's hard to believe 34 years have passed--I started teaching in 1975-ages ago, yet I remember those first years so clearly--as if it where yesterday. Tonight I'm off to my retirement party. So much to be thankful for a wonderful daughter, great friends and rewarding career

Finishing

Actually finished projects--afghans for donation, sweater for my daughter, you know the one I started in December. I should get a photo posted soon. Went to the Westchester Knitting guild meeting on Monday night, thanks to Donna (no car now). It was fun, informative and there was a goodie bag, thanks to Lion Brand Yarns. At some point I have to make a trip to their Studio in the city. Well it seems that we are going to have a nice size group of women going to the NY State Sheep and Wool Festival, this fall. Looking forward to that!!!

Project Update

Loved making this shrug. Plymouth Yarns Pattern - Plymouth Fantasy yarn- Quick and Easy

Rib stitch all the way!!!

The spell is broken

The last 48 hours have been a comedy of errors--a dark cloud followed me but now the spell is broken!!! I'm not going to go into all the details but let's just say I have had car problems, lock outs, lost mail, missed appointments, a robbery and an accidental black eye. Mind you that these are all separate incidents--and I'm prefectly safe, healthy and happy.

You know when I was talking about a positive attitude, well this was certainly a test of my ability to maintain that "half full" theory. I'm proud to say "that a good attitude got me through it" . Now you may ask, how do I know the cloud is gone?--I know!!!-the mail was located and the stolen item was replaced (not with the original, but a replacement none the less). My friends tell me with all that bad luck--I should play the lotto!!

The purple shrug, (purple my favorite color, it matches my eye)

It's not blue this time!!!

Realizing that almost everything I knit in the last year is blue, was quite a revelation!!! I love color, but obviously blue must be the favorite. Although all of my knitting is for others, somehow I must believe in my heart that blue is their favorite color also. Perhaps it's the soothing feeling of blue, light blues, sky blues, ocean blues, cloudy, dusty blues, that draw me to this hue. Whether it is bright, jewel or muted my hands and mind are relaxed and calmed by blue.

Today was a wonderful day. Took a pilates class and then dropped quilts off for the local Project Linus group. The group was meeting at a quilt and knit shop nearby.

My students have been working on these quilts over the years, a little bit at a time. Each quilt passed on to the next student who stitched a row of blocks together, added a border, layered the fabrics or hand stitched ties. I could not tell you the number of students who touched these quilts, it could be in the hundreds-many hands make light work.

Project Linus is a great organization. Today's meeting was my first, but definitely not my last. Women and young girls sat and sewed squares or labels and crocheted and knit blankets. Many hands make light work! I ended up spending the afternoon-enjoying the company and feeling of giving. Today is a wonderful day.

Oh by the way, the blanket I worked on was multicolored, jewel tones with a bit of blue and I purchased yarn for my next project!!! Purple, it's not blue but pretty close.

Finding Beauty

Stress can be deadly. I'm talking about the bad stress, negative thinking - over scheduling, everyday life that happens-illness, loss of loved ones, loss of job, money problems, confrontations, loss of faith and list can go on and on. I think it's crucial that we learn how to deal with stress, I believe that having the skills and knowing and practicing stress management techniques adds to the quality of life. I spend much of my time teaching these skills - in my classroom and though knitting and hypnosis.

The way you see things (cup half full or half empty) will make a difference.

Finding beauty in the world fills the cup.

Sharing images from my last trip to the west coast.

Enjoy isn't that rainbow, unbelievable!!!

Discovering New Things

They say that keeping your mind sharp, reading, following your interests, learning new things and activity (mental and physical) will increase your chances of having a healthy mental future. This week I read an article refering to a study that suggests knitting "may" delay memory loss!!!!

The study comes from the Mayo Clinic

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7896441.stm

It's so nice to know that my hobby will help me in the future as well as giving me joy now.

Special Olympics

What a great Idea!!!! Knit or crochet for the Special Olympics. Donna, Mary and I made these scarves

And to my delight a group from the organization walked in the inaugural parade-proudly displaying the beautiful scarfs.

Progress Report

Just an update

but I had to stop to work on a baby sweater - more to follow.

Blue cables

This is my new project, I know I said that I wouldn't buy more yarn or start anything new, but this is a gift for my daughter. The yarn is Berroco Palace and the pattern is by Norah Gaughan. Great feel of the yarn, but this is definitely a pattern that needs to have rows marked and counted. I knitted at least 6 inches and decided to start again. Back on track now and devoting at least an hour to knitting each day.

Lots of knitting -- no time to blog

Although I think a blog is a wonderful way to share information and journal life, it seems that when I have free time and it comes to choosing between posting to a blog or knitting--knitting will always win out. I'm been busy knitting and will post pictures soon!!!! Lots to blog about and that will come soon also. By the way I just ripped out the last 3 days of knitting!!!!!!!--Gauge ---oh gauge---why do you mislead me!!!!!