Finally Some Pictures - The DSL Is Back

What a pleasure to have high speed internet back on line, it was the pits without it. Meanwhile I did get some stuff done as the following pictures will show. Other pictures and stuff will be posted on my other blog. The knitting went well, unfortunately for me, I can't seem to get the felting right.



I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or maybe it's just the wrong wool but for whatever reason the bowls didn't come out quite the way I thought they would. For one thing they are larger than I was expecting and they are not stiff. I will try felting them again when I finish knitting the messenger bag and see what happens.




Meanwhile, I knitted up a pair of slippers and again they looked like they weren't going to felt well.




Surprise, surprise, they came out really well and actually fit my foot. Now I will make a pair for my sweetie and hope for the same result. These will be great in the winter when we get cold feet.




This is the messenger bag that I'm working on and it will be a while before it's done. It needs to be 20 inches by 20 inches before felting and then a flap of the same dimensions. I suspect the only knitting that will happen in the next few days will be on the drive up to the cottage and maybe on the drive back. We're having visitors for the weekend at "chez cabin" so not much knitting will happen.



For all my Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day on July 1st and for all my American buddies, Happy July 4th...

We're Having A Heat Wave

The DSL is back thank goodness which means of course I can post pictures of my recent knitting projects. Unfortunately you'll have to wait another day or so, I'm just plain beat today.

I spent the afternoon going for blood tests, getting the heart monitor attached to me and visiting the doctor. For the first time I had a 45 minute wait to see him, which is very unusual.

It was exhausting because I'm still dragging this foot around and when I want to go anywhere I have to take the cast off to drive and when I get where I'm going I have to put it back on to walk. Together with my quick trip to the grocery store on the way home, it came on and off three times. Very tedious and to top it all off, the temperature this afternoon hit 35 c which is about 95 F. With the humidity it feels a lot hotter but still nothing like some parts of Europe. We are under a severe weather alter though which should cool things off a bit.

Still it was hot enough to make life difficult and I think the air conditioner on the old van is going, it just wouldn't/couldn't cool down...sigh. Now I'm crashed out on the sofa and I don't think I will moved from here any time soon.

So Much To Show - No DSL

I have a number of finished projects but with just dial up for now I can't possibly post photo's. I don't have the patience involved in waiting for a picture to load. I actually tried it one day and gave up after five minutes. What happened to us that we are in such a hurry these days?

Be that as it may, I have been promised (again) that tomorrow all will be well, we'll see. I finished three bowls and felted them. I also knit up a pair of slippers and felted those as well. They turned out quite nice. I think I will sew leather to bottoms to prevent slipping though, I don't really need to fall. My foot is still not better and I'm afraid it didn't heal properly. I also started a new pair of socks (can never have enough socks) and am considering buying more sock yarn. Knit Piks has some great cotton yarn from Italy that looks downright yummy.

I'm also working on a big book bag which will be felted and today I had to rip back about twenty rows. Really hard finding the beginning row again when your working in the round but I winged it. I'm sure it will all turn out in the wash, he he he...

Tomorrow I see the doctor and finally get the heart monitor (for two weeks) that I have been waiting for for two months. We Canadians have waiting lists, I'm told Americans don't know that word!

For the weekend were heading north again for some more quiet time at the cottage. Bass season opens Friday and my sweetie can hardly wait. I hope to have pictures next week of a nice big bass....Have a nice week.

I've Lost My DSL

I am so upset with Bell Sympatico these days. I have been having high speed internet issue for over a month now and that's not counting last year when they decided in their wisdom I no longer need high speed, grrr..

I had pictures to post of my felted bowls and also a birthday cake for my honey. He turns 60 tomorrow, yup the big six oh... I had planned to have a big party for him this year but that was before Mom passed away. We both agreed a party was not appropriate this year. We will make it up for his name day in November.

That's 24 birthday cakes I've baked for him. He is still as cute as when I met him and as he ages he is looking more and more like Leonard Cohen every day. I adore Leonard Cohen but love my sweetie more.

So no pictures for a couple of days, which they tell me they need to get me up and running again.

Busy Evening

My friend and me picked up a basket of strawberries on Sunday and I had planned to make jam yesterday. Too bad for me, I had a two day migraine from which I've just somewhat recovered. I needed to get this done before the berries went bad.

I didn't have pectin in the house so I went through some of the many cookbooks I own and found a sweet little recipe that used only sugar.

I also seem to have misplaced my candy thermometer so I had to improvise to find my jell point. I had a plate in the freezer and dribbled some jam on it after 6 minutes. Seemed to work, it jelled just fine. The other issue I always have with strawberry jam is that the berries rise to the top and the jell is at the bottom. This book told me to let the jam cool for 20 minutes before putting it into hot jars which is totally different from what I've always done. It worked, the berries are evenly distributed.

In between all this domestic stuff, I have three bowls ready to felt. I wanted to do at least half a dozen before running the washer but I may just do them tomorrow.

I sure hope they turn out...

Waste Not, Want Not

I'm kind of between projects right now, except of course of my shawl. It has been relegated to the unfinished basket for the time being. I'm also not in the mood to knit baby things, mostly because little Elliotte has enough stuff for the time being. I'm also not sure the "girl" likes hand knits, she never said.

So I started going through some of my leftover wools to see what I needed to clear out. Since I hate throwing anything out I'm knitting some bowls to be felted.


I have one finished and a second started. I probably have enough yarn hanging around to do a dozen so that's what I'm going to do. I do find it bizarre to use 10 mm needles after using 2 mm for socks. They seem so huge and clumsy but the knitting goes a lot faster.

In the spirit of the above heading, I won't be felting them until I have at least six. I hate to waste hot water...

A Little New Knitting

When I can't decide what to knit, and trust me, indecision is a huge part of my life right now, I go back to socks. Somehow they are comforting. On this pair I'm using a pattern that came from Pink Lemon Twist and is a twist stitch pattern that I have used before. It just adds a nice bit of interest to socks.
This I started in the car on the way to the cabin and it's from the leftover sock yarn. I hope it's enough yarn, I need to knit 19 inches.

That's about the only knitting I've done recently, my shawl has been relegated to the unfinished pile for a while and I keep looking at my yarn stash for new projects.

Here's my problem, I have a ton of books and magazines with lovely things I'd like to make. I also have a huge stash of yarn that I really like but my problem is finding a pattern where the gauge matches the yarn I have. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem, am I?

Missing Mom

I no longer have my Mom to help me do this...

So, as a late mother's day present the offspring ordered this for me...



It can never really replace Mom's hands but it will have to do...


We're going away for the weekend and I'm searching my stash for an easy project to take with me. It will probably be socks, they don't require much thought. I can't take the shawl project it requires some thought and we are going to have a four year old with us. That's a little distracting.

Another Quiz - Well, There's No Knitting!

Since there's no knitting happening right now, I 'm visiting a lot of other blogs. I found this little quiz here through this blogger.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Funny thing these quizzes, I always wanted to be a lawyer or writer. Politics interest me greatly but I think you can't be too honest in politics. Teaching never did interest me. The above pretty is pretty accurate, I spent twenty plus years selling real estate. You certainly need to be able to converse on the fly...

Try this quiz, it's fun.

Time For New Beginnings

There has been very little knitting going on recently but now that the offspring and his family have gone back home I will find some time for myself. I'm still grieving and I suspect that it will last for some time yet, but next weekend I plan a few days at my cabin in the woods. That's also where I have a pottery studio that I haven't used for a few years. The plan is to give it a good cleaning, get rid of all the accumulated spiders and bugs and check my equipment.

With a little luck and if the foot cooperates in the next month I will buy some clay and attempt to throw some pots. Most of my friends have already put in request for various things like mugs, berry bowls and platters. I will have to see what I can do.

Meanwhile, I'm awaiting delivery of a swift since I don't have Mom's hands anymore to help me. I'm going to try dying the yarn I bought a couple of months ago and see what comes out. Should be fun and I will post pictures when I get it done.

Meanwhile, to all the blogger friends to sent condolences on the passing of my Mom, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I also got a lot of email messages and they were deeply appreciated...Rositta