3 AM Whining

meow

Huh?

Meow

MEOW

MEEE-OOWW

MARRRRRR-OOOOOWWWWWW

MAAAAAA-MAAAAAA

What do you what Bert?

MAAAAAA-MAAAAAAAA MEEEEE-OOOWWWW

Bert, come and get in under covers. Chief and I are here in the bedroom.

Bert comes to the bed and silence reigns supreme.

++++++

The following conversation is a sample of a typical 3:00 am at our household. Why can't he just come to bed. Why do we have to go through the dramatic scene in the hall every stinkin' night!?!

Old Projects - New Pictures

This weekend I went around the house and took some pictures of my old projects for you to see. Some knitting, some other stuff.....

Let's go to the living room. Several years ago Knitters magazine came out with their cable sampler afghan. A couple patterns each issue. It was great looking but after making 5-6 squares I lost interest. I took a couple of the squares and made a pillow from them. The other squares are sitting around waiting for me to decide what to do with them. This is Woolease and I think size 7 needles.

Next up - this little guy was sitting on the coffee table from our knitting night. It's the Mason & Dixon baby sweater from their book. I never finished it cause I decided it needed a crocheted edge or something so, here it sits waiting for an edge and a closure. It least it was a good example of what garter stitch can make...

Over on the other side of the room is my Grandma's table. It's a great old table but has a bit of aged look. So- it got a crocheted tablecloth. I made this one about 4-5 years ago. I can't remember the pattern but had to "show it off". On the table are a couple of my stained glass projects. No, not the lamp- the candle holder and the little box. They were a couple of the beginning projects we made in the class I took with my friend.

I keep my house pretty cool so over several of the chairs are shawls people can put on if they get cold. I've showed you the Victorian Shawl before so here's one of the others. This is a simple garter stitch on big needles shawl I made 20+ years ago. I think it was Reynolds Kitten but I wouldn't swear to it. The blue thing behind it was an experiment in my machine knitting shop days. I tried scanning an Escher picture and knitting it up. It worked out pretty good but it was just a long rectangle so I threw it over the chair so the cats sit on it and when company comes - the blue thing is put in the closet - clean chair....

You've seen Sam the Ram, you've seen the Grandma doll, well I like making dolls. What can I say. They don't need to fit your body. Several family members have some of these dolls. They're from Cottage Creations. The first one is Solveig. She's from the Sven Scandinavian booklet.

These 2 are Bridget and Paddy from the booklet of the same name. All the dolls are made from Germantown yarn. Bridget's hair was knit wool, washed and dried and then unravelled to get the curls. And, yes, you guessed it. I made them about 20 years ago.

Starting to see a pattern here? I knit a ton of stuff back then. From the late 70s thru much of the 80s I worked at the Yarn Shed Friday nights and Saturdays for a friend of the family and I knit whenever I was at the shop I knit. After that time period I did minimal knitting until I started managing a sewing/knitting machine store and eventually had my own shop. So, most of my knitting is the past 3-4 years or over 20 years old or machine knitting.

Next time I'll show you some of my designs from my machine knitting days. Until then, let me know how to convince Bert to just come to bed and not wake me up to tell him it's okay to come to bed. That darn cat!

Dad you were so young -and cute!

I've got a week off. To most of the world that means vacation - go somewhere to enjoy, kick back, knit, swim. Not me. It means I have a week to try and get the other house packed up so I can finally get rid of it. Let's see how far I get..

I was going through some old favorites on my web list and came across one that is very worthy: The Hunger Site. Everything you buy at this site helps feed people in 3rd world countries. Their site has some wonderful items to buy. If you're interested in a Guatemalan catnip mouse - this is your place. You want some Spirit of the Andes Natural Angora & Cotton Yarn and feed 50 cups of food to a 3rd world, BINGO-you got it. Banana fiber yarn -Yup. I have not bought any yarn from this site but the jewelry I got was high quality and the friends that got them as presents liked them. They also have additional tabs for Animal Rescue (partner with Petfinder); Rainforest; Literacy and more.

I haven't given you any pictures lately and don't have any new ones so here's some of my stained glass for you to enjoy.

This was one of my first angels. It was a present for Mom. The background is a table runner with cardinals on it. She's big into red and cardinals.

Keeping with the cardinal theme I made her a window for the front door. The front door has 3 - 12" windows running down it. This window is now in the top one. It didn't go with Mom's new apartment so I still have the cardinals at the house.

Moving on to a few quilts - Chief has always been a great help when I'm quilting. Here we're working on a African Animals quilt for Laurie. She kept it in her living room until the end. I think godson's brother has it now.
Last quilt for the day - My bro and SIL's anniversary quilt. The colors and stars actually mean things. I designs this one because 1- they liked traditional looking things and stars. 2- the reddish color is for Jan- she's a Fire Captain in LA county 3- the greenish color is for Jim, money. He's a regional controller for a major hotel chain. 4- the other "non" colors are because their entire house is boring beige, tan, off white, a little navy trim. You get the picture. I worked with what I had and this was the result. It's King sized and machine quilted on the Pfaff shown with Chief above.

Last but not least. Because of Father's Day, a couple pictures of Mom & Dad in their hey day. Matching shirts- how cute it that! They were so young and just beginning their dating. Full of hope and dreams. I wish them both a Father's Day of good memories of their life together even if the memories are few and dim.