Thursday, January 31, 2008

Global Art Project


It is hard to believe that 2 years have passed since the last Global Art Project for Peace. This year I am going to do it again. Now is the time to sign up!My 2006 project, which went to a teacher in Taiwan, is on the gallery 2006 page. It is the blue knitted hand holding a crystal world globe. It is in the 4th row . Can you find it? Now click on it! It's all about me! I have participated in 2 of the Projects, I missed 2004, too much upheaval going on in my life at that time. My first project, which was a knitted ( of course) golden hand of friendship holding polished stones that represented, health, wealth, compassion and understanding and a crystal for the future. I was very happy with that one. It went to Julie in Arizona. I have no idea what I am going to do this time. It will be knitted, but I have no idea what. I had better get my thinking cap on! Katherine can explain this a lot better that I.



Monday, January 28, 2008

Woulda, coulda, shoulda


There are days that seem, for the want of a better word, "heavier" than others. I don't know why, maybe it's a little burn out going on in my head. I had to write a letter today, personal "business" related. I have only been avoiding it for about 3 years. Well, to be fair not really avoiding just ignoring...*smile. Yes, there is a difference. Of necessity it brought back memories, not all of them bad, it is just that the out come at the time was so disastrous.
I wonder if there is anyone who blithely goes through life satisfied or am I the only insecure one?...lolol

Oh crap. It is no fun revisiting one of life's failures believe me. Hopefully once this last bit of paper work is resolved I can put it behind me. Well, meaning people say, "Just get over it and get on with it." Yeah, well good for you. If only life were that simple. Time to list my successes and remind myself that life is to short for whining the "woulda, coulda, shoulda song" with a chorus of "If only...". There is no time travel we can't go back and change anything.......dealing with mistakes sucks.

I bought myself a daffodil plant and it is sitting in front of my computer just a blooming away trying to cheer me up.

Happy Birthday Lego



Lego is 50 yrs old today. Wow. If you asked Evan what he wanted to do when he grew up he used to say," Work for Lego." I always thought it was pretty cool too.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

I have had it.......

Periodically I get on here and have a rant on my inability to find a hair dresser. You will be relieved to hear I have finally found one that knows how to cut hair, now what do I do with this lid? I have been a blond(in varying degrees) for 4 years. I am bored with it. Twice during that time I had it darkened to a brown shade but I never had brown hair before and I didn't like that either. It looks like there is only one way, just let it grow out..shudder I have an appointment with the hair dresser this morning at 9. It will be interesting to see if she has any ideas....be back later

later that day...

I am so happy! surprised??? My hairdresser didn't show up so the owner came over to apologize and we got to talking. I told him my tale of woe and the next thing you know he had shade books out on the table and I was getting the royal treatment. He called over another stylist and I ended up with low lights and a new haircut. I am very please. This will enable me to grow out the bleach blond a lot easier. Carl likes the new look too!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Dreams and day dreams.

I come across the neatest pictures when I am surfing. All my life I have been a day dreamer. My teachers always made a point of writing that on my report card. Sigh Must have been my parents fault. They didn't want a TV in the house. My mother was convinced we would grow up illiterate. One of the benefits of that "lack" of television is that I have developed an excellent imagination. I think the artist must have been a day dreamer too. Just my two cents......

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Clever Sparrows

I am sitting at my desk at work and I can hear sparrows chirping. It is early and there is no sun out just another dreary morning. Except for this happy sound. Then I am aware there is a regular chorus going on. I went out into the showroom and I can still hear them. I look out the windows and not a birdie in sight.
So there I am wandering around the show room and listening. Directly above my head is the cold air return for the furnace. Now we all know hot air rises so the air coming out of that vent to the furnace on the roof is going to be warm. The sound is coming from that vent. The birds are on the roof clustered around the exhaust vents like executives around a water cooler.
Clever wee things. I always wondered how they survived winter.


Monday, January 14, 2008

Welcome to my Parlour.


The AntiCraft is a wonderful place to explore the "other side" of life. It is a blog, contest, pattern, writers....etc place to go.
"Welcome my parlour," said the spider to the fly.
I just know my daughter will be putting one ..or several..of these in her yard.
If you have a problem with mosquitoes then I encourage you to erect a "parlour" for the spiders in your garden.
Besides that I think it looks really cool.
It would make a nice arbour for a clematis plant as well.
Anticraft gets all the credit for this really nifty idea. I see that they have just published a book as well. I will have to pop into Chapters and see if they have a copy.
Oh, and make sure you read the "legal info" at the bottom of the Anticraft page..........clever, very clever

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Have you heard of Ron Mueck ?

I came across an article on this sculpture. One of those things you stumble upon while looking up something else that is totally unrelated. Look at this:Now Look at this!
I love these two ladies:
Now look at this:
It boggles the mind that he can work in two such diverse scales. Google "Ron Mueck" there are some terrific videos out there of his work.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Blog News


Corinne and I are busy working on the new knitting blog. We decided to make this a mother/daughter venture. Thank heavens she is more computer literate than I am and so far I think I have sent her at least 6 technical emails.
My dearest friend joined "Club 60" this past week. She chose to verbalize it by saying she was "entering her 7th decade!" Yikes I never thought of it that way. It's all perception. Look at my mother, she will be 83 in May, she is never home when I call. She is involved with several different programs and said even if she waned to she doesn't have enough time to work. Whoever said Great grannies are supposed to be at home sitting and knitting doesn't know my Mother! That is the beauty of knitting. It is portable and won't scratch my ipod.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

...and then again

why shouldn't I have my own knitting blog? Why should I care if anyone else looks at it? Maybe one day my grand daughters will get a kick out of seeing some of the things I have made. Ergo I am making a "sister" site to this one. A place where I can showcase what I have accomplished for me and anyone else who cares to visit.

Scrap that idea......

After racking my brain to come up with a catchy title for a knitting blog I decided to google "knitting blogs." No sense coming up with a name someone else is already using. Good grief, there are literally hundreds of them out there. Some of them are wonderful others are pathetic. The world does not need another one. I will just keep playing here. I will however share some of the better ones with you as I come across them.



I have a head ache and I wish I could take a nap. The day is dragging....

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Pneumonia Vest Pattern


I am assuming you have been knitting and are now wondering what is going to happen next. OK lets re cap.
4.5mm needle
3 balls Bernat Satin Yarn...if only one colour...more colours the more yarn you will need...(all those ends doncha know)
Cast on 66 stitches and knit every row for 134 rows that's 67 ridges on the front and 67 ridges on the back.
Now knit across 22 stitches and cast off the next 22 stitches then knit to the end of the row.
Turn
Place the first 22 stitches on a hank of waste yarn we will pick them up later. Knit the 22 stitches remaining on the needle for 32 rows ( 16 ridges). Put these stitches on a hank of waste yarn. Go back to the other 22 stitches and put them on the needles and joining a new ball of yarn knit 32 rows on them. This first row should be knit from the neck toward the side or you will end up with 2 ridges on one side and a big "ditch" on the other side.
When this is done knit across the 22 stitches, you just knit, cast on 22 stitches and knit across the 22 stitches on the waste yarn. Voila! you have just created the neck opening. Keep knitting on these 66 stitches until you have 67 ridges or 134 rows the same as the other side. Fold it over and sew up the 50 ridges on the side seams. These leaves a generous arm hole for ease of wearing. Weave in the ends. NO KNOTS please.
I am getting energetic now and knitting another one with 3 colours. Now I will have all the ends to weave in. I am a brute for punishment!..lolol

Whilst doing this I was having a think. I am going to open a knitting blog. I have some great patterns now out of print that I can post. I just have to come up with a snappy name and I will link it to this blog. Watch for it!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

"We Are Not Amused."


The comment was made famous by Queen Victoria. By the by I saw this little diamond crown in the Tower of London, I love it! If I was a Queen I would wear it!\anyway I digress.
I have had an aggravating day. The Dragon Lady is about to appear! I have been ..polite..understanding...encouraging...BUT...now I am pissed off.
I have repeatedly asked for paperwork, when a customer calls I need to know ...1. what was promised...2.what was done....3.what was ordered.I am on the front line. I will not be made to look like an incompetent fool. Heads will roll tomorrow morning!!!!! Mrs. Nice Guy has left the building!

Monday, January 07, 2008

Pneumonia prevention vests.....

Look at all these lovely faces. I "borrrowed" this picture from an article about a lady named Mary Burbidge, a nurse, who was in Honduras and saw children playing in the damp and cold. She came home and encouraged her friends to start knitting these vests. Just look at this colourful crowd! This should inspire us all!

I finally finished the pneumonia prevention vest I was knitting for charity. Who would have thought it would be so time consuming? My fingers want to purl the opposite row and these vest need to be knitted every row ( garter stitch, for the uneducated). I am blessed in so many ways. The least I can do is to crank out a few of these vests. I challenge the other knitters out there to do the same. They must be washable and the Bernat "Satin" yarn is lovely and soft and hard wearingcomes in great colours....and wonderfully cheap. So there is no excuse not to make them. I knit while I watch TV. I reward myself by knitting on my grand daughters sweater once I do a couple of inches on the vest. The children's sizes are harder to get because it's easy to knit for babies. So I cast on 66 stitches and knit every row, start there and keep knitting I will get back to you.....

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

The beginning...

A New Year begins today and filled with all our mistakes, procrastinations and hopefully some successes we have a chance to start all over again. My biggest challenge for the first month will be to remember that it is now 2008 every time I write a cheque.
My brother was born in 1958 and I can remember thinking how old this baby would be in say..1970...and 1990....and in 2000. Why, he would be 50 in 2008. This seemed such a ridiculous thought.
How many times will we all think or say today, "Where has the time gone?"