Florida Photos as Promised

During the first part of March we spent ten days in Florida for another "sun fix".  We had a great time, too, visiting friends and relatives all over the place, including Dee and her husband who kindly met us in Daytona Beach, not too far from one of DH's cousins in New Symerna.  Sadly we didn't take any people photos, but we did get a few nature ones.

Some kind of turtle

Moor Hen

Different shots of what I think is  an anhinga

Sandhill Crane (about 4 feet tall) 

Our hotel was down the road from the race track, and amazingly we got a nice room in a hotel nearby because it happened to be the week between two big races.  Who knew?

There's lots to see and do in this interesting state which is good because it's about as far away from here as you can possible get and still be in the continental US.  Nice people, too!

Where Have I Been?

Right after we got back from Florida, our choir began the final weeks of preparation for our concert last night.  We sang Mozart's Ave Verum and his final work, the Requiem.  The wonderful soprano soloist sang his Exultate and the orchestra opened the program playing his Sonata in C.  It was a wonderfully uplifting evening, but boy are we tired today. (There's a photo on our Facebook page.)  In the meanwhile, I did finish a couple of projects recently.

The Crazy socks are DONE!  It was probably the most complicated sock I have ever made with lots of unusual stitches and direction changes.  The cuffs were knit sideways and then seamed with a modified 3-needle bind-off.  All those direction changes made for a very interesting sole, and the "thing" in the gusset is on both socks and supposed to resemble a butterfly.  I started this project with a plain color yarn which was splitting badly so reverted to this choice which I thought was a tonal but became quite stripy. A plain color would have shown the different stitch patterns better, but this yarn made for a very fun sole.

My hair stylist is soon having her first baby, a girl.  Her color scheme includes lavender, so I made a pair of booties to welcome baby.  (They look blue in this photo though.💜)

As soon as our youngest GD saw her brother's zebra slippers, she asked for a pair.  How could I resist such a sweet request?  The first thing she said when I handed them to her was, "Do they have my name on them?"  That they do, and they even fit!

Just the other day I remembered a promise made last fall to make a pillow for my oldest GD using her latest completed embroidery.  Since we are headed that way soon, I thought I'd better get busy and here it is, ready to hand deliver.  If you click on the photo, you may be better able to see the chicken button.

Those are supposedly Bohemian chickens!?

 So know you know where I have been!  Hope you've had a good several weeks.

Back Home in the Rain ~and a Tiny Bit of Sun

We have been gone and with no way of posting, but now we are back home. I finally finished a pair of embroidered socks!  It was last year's mystery sock from the Knitters Brewing Company.

It's a fairly complex pattern, so I didn't want to overdo it with so much embroidery that you couldn't see the cabling.

 I also finished a scarf and a pair of booties.  Right now I'm trying to finish this year's KBC mystery sock which is based on crazy quilting. Can you imagine that?

Have a good week!  I'll be back with some pictures from our Florida trip.

More Fun in the Sun

On this chilly afternoon I've been looking at some more  photos from our recent trip to Arizona and remembering the warm, sunny days.  We spent an interesting afternoon exploring Montezuma's Castle National Monument, trying to imagine what it must have been like to live in this dwelling. Can you imagine climbing the ladder to get up here and trying to carry anything?  

Have you ever tried to grind wheat? Or Corn?

On the way back to Phoenix, we drove to Sedona and then through the Oak Creek Canyon where we spotted this waterfall. There was lots of snow in Flagstaff.

My sister and brother-in-law took us to Madera Canyon for a pleasant hike along the river. (This is also where we saw all those birds.)

The bark on this Alligator Juniper fascinated me.

We enjoyed relaxing and visiting with friends and relatives and also looked forward to the beautiful sunsets and starry skies at night.

And just before leaving the area, we drove to Taliesin West but didn't have time for a tour. Next time maybe?

On the way to the airport, we saw a first, this cell tower disguised as a palm tree.  I guess you'd not have to water it!  And yes, I did a little knitting, too.

When I saw this Daisy Stitch in a couple of patterns, I just had to give it a try. Both sides are interesting.  Soon I will try the mitts pattern where I saw it first.

The blue one is one of my go-to patterns, Grandma's Favorite.  I have another favorite started with the leftovers: the Almost Lost Dishcloth. Both are fun to do.

I haven't finished any projects lately except for these two dishcloths, but I have been working on some socks that I hope will one day be finished.  Stay tuned for that event!

Snow Here but Not There........

We've been back home for a couple of days and have enjoyed watching the snow melt. Here's what it looked like here last Monday when the schools closed for two days. (And thanks to our son for the photos!)

The railing on our front deck.

The plum tree in our front yard.  Fortunately it is staked!

This is the bird feeder hanging outside the window in the family room.

Meanwhile, this is the view from the back patio where my sister and brother-in-law are staying in Green Valley, Arizona.  We were there, too, enjoying the sunset.  We had just returned from a delightful hike in Madera Canyon and also saw this bird feeder.

Now we know why we never seen any of our state birds in our backyard.  They are all wintering in Arizona in Madera Canyon! (They don't like our yard in the summer either.)

I counted at least 12 wild turkeys there, too.

and Mexican Blue Jays filling their tummies

along with one very happy humming bird!

One afternoon, I was sitting on my sister's patio when I heard a snuffling sound and expected to see someone's dog.  Instead what should appear but this javelina, and in broad daylight no less.  As soon as I noticed him (?), he went down into the nearby canyon, but just as I was telling my husband what I'd seen, the little guy returned.  Thus, the photo! That's just a bit of our Arizona adventure.  More soon, but not much knitting has been accomplished recently.

Where Does the Time Go?

Here it is almost the end of January, and I've only written one other post.  How come the days go by so quickly?  I have, however, finished several projects.

As you may have seen on Araignee's blog, I made her a pair of mitts as a thank you for the soap she sent me.  The pattern is Fetching; the cables show up better on a plain color though.  i do a normal bind off rather than the picot one in the pattern

Lately I seem to be fixated on mitts.  This is the second time I've made these music mitts, and they are a fun project.

This time I used a Hatti kit, two actually, to make another pair of slippers.  There's probably enough yarn left for a hat.

Last fall, one of my grandsons requested a pair of socks in red and yellow, and I finally finished them.  Hope they fit and he likes them.

And at long last the seams in this sweater are DONE!  The pattern is Pacific Pullover and the yarn is Berroco Briza.  It was done ages ago except for the seaming which I always seem to procrastinate.

Here's the youngest modelling a hat made long ago.  Looks like it still fits!  Enjoy the last two days of January. Happy almost Ground Hog's Day.  Do you think he'll see his shadow?

Finally, a New Post! (And Some Finishes)

The grand kids "bug" got us, and finally I'm beginning to feel human again.  The plus side is that I've been knitting . (And little else, oh yeah, reading, too.) One of my resolutions is to pare down the stash, and so far, I've been good.

I finished this aging WIP.  The pattern is fun and a little bit challenging; the yarn has been discontinued, but I found some other colors in my stash so will probably make these again now that I've figured out the stitch.

It's definitely been mitts weather here, but these are part of a trio requested by DD#1 for the texters in her family.  (The blue on the right mitt is more true for some reason.)

 I can't find this free pattern on Ravelry, but this link should work. I've made the mitts twice and the hat once.  They are long and surprisingly cozy.

What do you give someone who's birthday is right after Christmas?  I found a pattern for slippers using Top This hat yarn.  Somewhere on line I read that you should use puffy fabric paint to make them less slippery, so that's what I did. It dawned on me that I could write the birthday boy's name on the bottom of each slipper, so hopefully it will work!  The newest TH choices, including this one, are supposed to glow in the dark, but that's yet to be proven.

I'm saving my last finish for another post, but in the mean time look at what our Norfolk pine is doing.  Now we know why its other name is star pine!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.