Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Family Fun

There was a time when my parents lived in Pennsylvania.  The house they bought came with many interesting things.  Among these was the board game Michigan Kitty.  It was a very old board with the instructions still with it, a card game of chance involving poker chips and lots of anxious waiting for the right card to be played.  We loved it.  Mostly because it required no thought at all, so if we happened to be consuming drinks that dulled our thinking process we could still play.   My brother and I really took to it.  It was so much fun to play that at one point I even painted the board onto a round patio table (the kind with an umbrella in the middle) so we could play out by the pool. 

Source of hours of fun

The parents moved again after that, always bringing the old board with them.  Another generation learned how to play.  Then, one time when my brother was up, we couldn't find the board.  I assumed it was at my house, as my children loved to play it, and it would have been natural for them to bring it home.  But it wasn't here.  Nor did my mother seem to know what happened to it.  Later on, when we had to clean out the house to put it on the market, my brother was sure we would find it stuck away someplace.  We didn't.  At that point I think we both decided to find a board for ourselves.

And we did--although his is a different edition, the game is the same.  Mine is like our lost one.  Needing to celebrate,  I invited the girls and their attendant families to a lunch and a Michigan Kitty day.  It was great.


Demonstrating chip placement


The star of the show was Miss T., now a whopping 11 pounds of adorableness.  We all took turns holding her and spending inordinate amounts of time watching her sleep.  Cousins and grampa included.

Happy baby

It was such fun to have the family together.  It makes us miss the Wisconsin couple.  We definitely will be playing a game or two with them when next they come east.

Meanwhile, back to the knitting needles.  I finished the two pairs of lace and ruffle fingerless gloves for the woman who requested them.  The one pair has a definite ruffle, the other more of a "ruff" so that she can choose which ever one comes closest to whatever she had envisioned.

Two pair of lace and ruffles


Also finished adding six inches to Annie's sweater.  Now am working on a hat for Alice which is to replace one I made years ago that I had lined with polar fleece.  This one is being worked from the top down with two stitch cabling to give it texture.  The polar fleece will line only the ear area.  The yarn is alpaca plied with merino/silk which has lots of colors in it.  Should go with everything.

Top down construction

Working from the top down allows me to make sure it will cover her ears before I start the ribbing.  My fault in the past has been to make hats too shallow when I start from the brim and work up.  

I also promised socks to her Mum, which I am excited to do because she has such small feet!  She also wants them out of thin yarn which means I get to knit on size ones or zero needles and I haven't done that for a while.  And I get to buy sock yarn.  My favorite yarn to buy!

It is pouring rain again.  It started with snow, turned to sleet and by the time we awoke was rain.  The temperature is at 32 degrees, holding steady.  I had hoped it would warm up so that I would feel comfortable driving, but at this rate I think I will just stay home and work on my projects. 

Rosa is being a good dog and is sleeping away the rainy morning.  She is really settling in now.  Since this last outburst when she was left at home and didn't want to be, she hasn't had another.

The guilty party


Which is good, as she doesn't have a bed anymore.  I put a towel in the empty bed cover and if she gets wild she shakes that.  But no more bed to shred.  I am looking forward to taking her to obedience class.  She is really a smart dog.  It will be fun to train her.

Right!  Enough talk.  I am off to do really important things.  Like make more coffee!!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Resumption


Ice on snow

With ice on snow keeping me indoors for the day,  it seems as if it is as good a day as any to get back on track with my writing.  It also is a memorial day for me--two years ago this day my mom slipped her earthly bonds and tired body to wing her way to heaven to be with her Lord.  It was icy that day, also.

The past year was one of all the ups and downs that are easier when spread over time.  They weren't.  We managed to cram in my father's coming to live with us, dying, emptying his house, putting said house on the market,  going to Wisconsin for a wonderful, joyful wedding,  having an East Coast reception for the newlyweds, getting a dog, losing three chickens to predators, gaining a brand new baby granddaughter on Christmas Eve, and many more of the usual life things that one expects.

They do


Moving forward, I have closed my Etsy shop and let my trade name lapse.  It was a five  year run in which time I found out that I really am not a business person.  I really don't like to have to make things just to sell them.  It's time for me to get back to making things that I want to make for the sake of the creating.  (After I get done with a pair of fingerless gloves that I am doing for a woman who is wanting lace with ruffles.)   Besides,  there are many baby things that need to be made.  Like these things.

Booties in alpaca

Cap and wrap around sweater


My new dog is Rosa.  She was a stray in South Carolina that got to a kill shelter from which she was rescued, fostered, and then finally trucked up to Vermont with 9 others so that I could adopt her.  I worked with Passion 4 Paws.  They are great.

Favorite thing to do--follow her nose


She is seemingly one of thousands that look just like her coming up this way.  Only about a year old, so full of energy.   The cats were not thrilled at having their home invaded by her, especially as she is still barking at them three months into living here.  Finnegan will actually sleep on the bed at night with her, which works until he gets off, then Rosa has to jump off too, in order to see where he is going.  O'Malley avoids her at all times.   She would chase everything that moves if she were not always on a leash when we are out.  Chickens!  She actually did chase them once when she escaped.  They have been living in a fenced in area since the bobcat (or fox) snatching.  They can only go out free ranging when Rosa is at doggie daycare or inside for the afternoon.

Now I must go and rinse my fleece.  Am working on one for Glo.   Projects on the needles include a pair of socks for myself, the lace fingerless gloves and an addition of several inches to a sweater for Annie. 

Nice to be back.  Hope you think so, too.