Wesley Dec 2009 011

Wesley Dec 2009 011
Originally uploaded by cathyes61

Wesley's first snow.... looking for snowballs I was throwing to him. Hilarious!

A Very Long Time

It has been a very long time since I have updated here. Very busy with my new job. Enjoyed the birth of my 3rd grandchild. I guess I need to share that I am now the proud "momma" of a 13 week old boxer/rottweiler mix puppy. His name is Wesley and has so much energy. I've had him about a week now and house training is going okay....

Learning about "Korean" Alpacas

Wow! That is about all I can say about today and this past weekend! Yesterday I had the pleasure of keeping one of my very best friend's mother company for the day. We watched Momma Mia and The Sound of Music. We had popcorn and tea. We had fun.

Today though.... I went with another one of my very best friends to an alpaca farm just outside of Marydel Maryland.

A couple of days ago, Rena asked me if I wanted to go see the Cria at the alpaca farm. I did not know that "cria" was the name of a baby alpaca. To help me remember what a baby alpaca is, I have been referring to them as "Korean Alpacas".

Well today we went to Dragonfly Alpaca Farm. We met Dede and Roger and 20 or more alpacas, their dogs, cats, a goat, a horse and a sheep and a guard llama. And beautiful gardens. We played with alpaca fiber. It was a day of total relaxation.

Here are some pictures of the alpaca:


This is a mama and her baby (cria)


This is a papa alpaca or "herdsire"

This is a pet cria - the fiber is different than the other alpacas
It is very soft and fluffy, very difficult to spin. I don't spin so I don't
know. I just thought he/she was so adorable. This one is moving
to Missouri I think. They have another alpaca that will be moving
to Ohio. Fiberlicious Alpaca Fiber.... soooo soft!!!!

I felt so welcomed and relaxed at this farm. Dede and Roger
are awesome and they have beautiful gardens! I was so enamored
by all the alpaca that I forgot to take pictures of anything else.

I did get a picture of the llama....



I have one more picture that I have to share....


Making homemade chocolate chip/almond ice cream to top off the day

YUMMY!!!!

It has been an awesome summer so far!

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a potluck dinner at Stitches with Style in Newark and was able to sit, knit and chat with Wendy Johnson. She is a wonderful person and someone that I know I could be great friends with. Very down to earth and has a great sense of humor. If you ever have the chance, go visit her blog, Wendy Knits. She has beautiful designs available for free and her 3rd book is available on Amazon.com for pre-order. (Which was done by me last night) I am in the process of knitting my first pair of toe up socks, Wendy's Serpentine Design.



I also thoroughly enjoyed spending a weekend with my mom for her "belated" birthday celebration. I gave her my very first lace project "Ishbel" and I think she loved it. This time for her birthday, we started in her hometown of Vineland, NJ and with using Garmin and my mom's wishlist, we went on our "Knitting Safari" as mom calls it.
We went to several wonderful knitting shops, Marlton, Haddonfield, Mt Holly and Princeton. My favorite shop was Woolbearers in Mt Holly but I had the most fun in Princeton. We went to an excellent Italian restaurant called Theresa's and the couple sitting next to us, the beautiful lady was also a knitter. Her poor friend... was not a knitter but patiently waited for us to stop talking about fiber, stores and projects and stash. After dinner, we went to a little ice cream shop called the Bent Spoon. They had very good ice cream but my favorite shop still remains to be Zippy's here in Dover. He has excellent ice cream! I should know, I am always trying out his new flavors.



At the beginning of the summer, my 3 children, my 2 grandchildren and hubby and I were treated to a vacation by my father to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It was so wonderful spending quality time with everyone! We tried making it a technology free week but of course my oldest son used his cell phone to access the internet daily. So much for technology free. This first picture I love. It is a picture of my 21 year old son teaching my grandson how to jump the waves.


This is one of my favorite pictures from the week in the Outer Banks. My 2 year old grand-daughter loved going to the beach. Everyday she would march herself and her toys down the street saying "Come on Mimi (supposed to be Grammy) Hurry up, we have to get there" She is a very determined and sassy 2 year old. I love both of my grandchildren so much!









And of course, no vacation is complete unless you visit the yarn shops in the area. My hubby and Dad were fishing and I took a day to myself and visit 2 wonderful shops. The first one was in Manteo NC called Fine Yarn at Kimbeeba and the second was just outside of Kitty Hawk in Southern Shores called Knitting Addiction. Beautiful shops and I can not wait to visit them again.





















Just two more pictures to share. Fourth of July in Dover is great. I was having a great time at the parade with my daughter, her friend and my boys and 2 grandchildren. The only damper on the parade was this "Antique" Corvette. It is a 1979 Corvette. The year I graduated from high school. I will always have a problem with considering myself as being "antique"









The last picture I want to share is of my 3 cats eating their dinner. I finally was able to catch them looking like chocolate filled Oreo cookie. I know, I'm weird but I have wanted this picture for a long time.

Bengi is on the far left, Kiki in the middle and Spencer on the right. Yum, Yum, dinner time!

It must have been a cold night

I was going through some of my pictures on the computer today and came across this picture I took this past winter. Who needs a blanket when you can have one made of cats! Never thought I would ever get all 3 on my lap at the same time. I would not have if I had tried to. This has been the one and only time I have had all 3 on my lap. Truly a night to remember. :)

A Very Sad Day.....

At 8:30 this morning I put my faithful friend Sallie to sleep. I put all 90lbs of her in my lap where she always wanted to be and held her until she was gone. She is at rest and no longer has any pain. We buried her in the back yard where all our other pets are. It has been a difficult morning. She went to be with her first owner Pat, the hospice patient of mine that gave her to me 13 years ago. I will miss Sallie very, very much. I was looking through pictures and came across this particular one. It made me smile. It was taken in Maine 2003, the last time we were on vacation there. Sallie was such a patient, smart, kind and funny dog. There will never be another one like her. She is irreplaceable. This has been a hard week for me. I know it will get easier with time but it hurts today.

Sallie - The Best Dog Ever

Just a picture of my awesome dog, the best dog in the whole wide world. I have so many other things to blog about as in my wonderful weekend at the Merry Sherwood, the trip to the beach with the grandkids, Mother's day etc... but I need to post about Sallie. Sallie is 14 this year. Back in 1996 when I was a hospice nurse, a patient of mine could no longer take care of Sallie. In a heartbeat, I said I would. Sallie has been with us for 13 of her 14 years. It is time for me to let go. I can see it in Sallie's eyes. Pat is waiting for her in heaven. I have been selfish for a while but it is now time. I made the appointment at the vet for next Monday. Then we will bring Sallie home to rest in our backyard with our other beloved pets. I am so sad.

A little book found

I have been going through books and found a book about happiness. This one touched my heart. It was written by Elizabeth M. Gerus

WHAT DO I NEED TO BE HAPPY?

Give me an outlook that's cheerful and bright
Give me a heart that is loving and light
Give me the spirit to willingly try
And faith that grows stronger as time passes by

Give me the wisdom to honestly see
The wonders that every day holds out to me --
To hear every sound and rejoice that I've heard
The whisper of rain and the song of a bird

Give me one friend who's devoted and true
And I will ask nothing, Lord, further of You
For I will be blessed and, with Your help, I'll give
My best to the world every day that I live!


I have been blessed with a few really good friends and a great family who have stuck by me thick and thin and I love them so much!

I wish this for everyone else.

So little time for everything

I have not been very good at keeping up with this blogging thing. A lot of things happening that has kept me away. I am focusing on making a shawl for a special someone in my life (can not say who since she may read this).

In the next couple of days I will be posting about my awesome weekend at the Merry Sherwood in Berlin Maryland. I had a great time and am looking forward to the next weekend that Stacy may schedule.

I am waving Hi to all my friends. Next post will have pics and updates about everything!

Fun Stuff

Just thought I would show off the next 2 items I have on my needles. The first is a pair of socks for my brother-in-law Tom. He has been on me for years to make him a pair and so I call this pair of socks "It's about Time Tom Socks". These are the first I have ever done 2 at a time and I am happy so far!




The next project is the pattern from my first ever sock club. I decided to treat myself this year since I have stopped smoking and joined a sock club (or 2). Anyway, this pattern is called Wullenstudio Lace Petal socks from Sheila Rovelstadd Designs. Sheila's sock yarn is so soft and squooshy! I love it! Her web site is www.knitswithsticks.com if you are interested. She names all her sock yarn after songs and this colorway is called "The Girl from Ipanema" I remember this song from when I was young and I would play it on our player piano. It was a fun song to sing!






I hope everyone has a happy Sunday! The weather is gorgeous here in Delaware today. I may go and knit on the deck today.....

The knitted Shawl

I was at work last night reading one of my magazines...think it was Reader's Digest and came across this little story....

"I've always wanted a beautiful shawl to wear with my winter dresses. so when I opened the present from my sister and saw that it was a white and silver shawl, I squealed in delight.

'I love it!' I told her that evening. 'I wore it all morning.'

'You wore it?' she asked smiling, 'It's a skirt for the Christmas tree.'"

For what ever reason this really tickled my funny bone. Must be due to the fact that I am in the process of knitting my first shawl and it is going to be a present for my mom. I just hope she can tell it is a shawl.

Dying and Living to tell about it a few days later

I had such a great time on Friday. Rena called me and asked if I wanted to dye that day. I told her not really (knowing all the time she was referring to lace and not death itself) Anyway, Rena came over with some fingering weight she purchased from Knit Picks. This was to be our test dye. The resulting picture looks like this. I think it is absolutely beautiful! Rena is planning on making a pair of socks.

Next plan was to dye the skein of Wollmeise lace I received in one of the last updates. The only lace that was available was natural and I never thought about dying it after I ordered it until Rena suggested it. The beautiful skein of 1700+ yards of soft Wollmeise lace looked like this:


Rena had looked up the process of dying on the internet. The only process I ever knew of was the process that I taught within my hospice career. This was going to be a lot more fun......

First the lace needed to soak in vinegar. My son Jason came in the kitchen and thought it was a bowl of angel hair pasta. Good thing we were there to tell him differently. He has been known to eat what ever he sees in the kitchen :)

Next we mixed the dyes one by one. I had decided I wanted to do a combination of green and blue. It took a while to mix the colors..... It was a process that took both of us to do

First with Yellow???? I wanted green and blue. It took a little convincing from Rena that yes Cathy, yellow will brighten the green and blue. Good thing Rena is more artistically inclined than I am....

Very, Very tired... had worked all night but going on this dying process/adventure was keeping the adrenaline pumping. Anyway, the next step was to put canning jars into my canning pot keeping the temperature of everything about 170 degrees. We did not want the liquid to reach boiling point because then the wool is boiled and would not look beautiful at all knitted up into a shawl.



Next step is to add the lace. It starts soaking up the color instantly. We used a turkey baster to make sure all the lace was colored. This was a long tedious process.

The colors are stunning....


It is finally done and ready to go to the sink for rinsing.


I was so afraid that too much color was going to be rinsed out.


Obviously not....


Now to take it outside to dry in the wind. It was a cooler, almost colder day but the wind was blowing and it should do a good job of drying the lace....


The lace is now inside hanging in the laundry room to make sure it is completely dry before we wind it. I know this will make a beautiful shawl or possibly several beautiful shawls. I learned so much that day. I gained a great deal of respect for all the indie dyers that support my sock yarn addiction. I can not imagine the volumes of yarn that is dyed just to satisfy all the sock knitters. No wonder it is a feeding frenzy when the dyers update their online web sites. I also learned that through this appreciation that I probably will not make this a habit. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but I can not afford to be tempted by one more fiber related hobby. I will be proud of this hank of lace, I will knit it into something beautiful. I will possibly dye another hank of natural if I ever get another one.

Thursday

Good morning!
I bet you are wondering why at 541pm I am saying good morning? Well it is to me. I work nights and am now enjoying the sunset. Crazy shift if you ask me. I thought I would share pictures of my pets today and the story of how/why I have them. Probably boring reading but they are such an integral part of who I am.

Sallie is on the left. She is a boxer/black lab mix and just about the best dog ever! She is 14 years old and came to live with us when she was 1 yr old. I was a hospice nurse and I loved this dog that belonged to a wonderful woman named Pat. I looked forward to visiting Pat due to her undying humor and this awesome dog. One day I arrive to Pat's house and she was crying. She was becoming weaker by the day and was to give Sallie to her brother. Pat told me that her brother no longer wanted Sallie and she did not know what she was going to do. I didn't even hesitate. Sallie came to our house to live that weekend. She was ornery at first but has been the most faithful, fun-loving dog I have ever owned.

Winston is the miniature sheltie sitting to the right of Sallie. We became Winston's family when Winston was 9 months old. A friend of ours purchased Winston from an Amish family and then realized he did not have time for him. That same year, my son was hit by a car and essentially bedridden for 5 months. This friend gave Winston to Brandon to keep him company. Winston is 7 years old, Brandon is 16 and loves to keep the company of girls now. :)


Bengi is my orphaned kitty. The medical Director of the Hospice I was working for found Bengi and his siblings next to their dead mother. Bengi's siblings did not survive but Bengi did and was hand raised by a veterinarian. Bengi sits on my shoulder when I am falling asleep to make sure I fall asleep and then leaves. If I am watching tv, he will put his paw over my eyes. I know he waits for me to fall asleep because when I pretend to be asleep, that is when he leaves. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he repeats the same thing until I am back to sleep again.



Kiki is my purebred Siamese. I really do not believe in buying my pets since there are so many homeless animals out there but I have this thing for blue eyes. I did not have any blue-eyed children so I could not resist. My heart melts when I am around this cat. I am definately hers. She sleeps in my arms. She sleeps in my lap. She sleeps on top of my arms when I am typing. She follows me around the house just like a dog would. She meows at me until I give her the attention that she demands.





Spencer is our special needs Kitty. Orginally I went and picked out Spencer for a friend that was looking for a tuxedo kitty. For what ever reason, (I think it was because he was a he) my friend did not want Spencer so not being able to just get rid of him, I kept him. My son fell asleep on top of him and we almost lost this handsome man due to oxygen deprivation. His eye sight is poor and he has some hearing problems. He also has had a broken right paw (when he became stuck on the bed with his claws and fought his way unstuck) and he also has had a broken right hip. He walks funny and doesn't always see where he is going.
He usually doesn't pay me much mind but lately he has been and I have had all 3 kitties sleeping on my lap when I am trying to knit.

So that sums up the furry ones that live at my home. I love them all very much. Well I have to make my family dinner. (Really hard to do since my body is saying it is breakfast time but what is a mom to do?)

Until next time..............

Another day

I get daily emails from this place called Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? I get sent the funniest pictures.
I particularly loved this one. I really enjoy knitting socks. I have a whole laundry list of people that would love to have some of my knitted socks. The last time I made a pair for me was about 2 years ago. This cat saying "Sry, sox unvaybel at dis teim" just struck me as being really funny.





This picture I was sent today. I have seen this happen at my house. Cats certainly are the dominant creatures in our lives.

I saw the Doctor on Wednesday regarding this lump I have in my leg. Wanted to make sure it wasn't a clot. I have Factor Five Leiden which makes me develop clots easily thus the reason I've had 2 blood clots in my lungs this past year. Anyway, I have phlebitis in my left leg along with a clot in my superficial vein. The doctor started me on an antibiotic and suggested that I take a week off from work. I just had 2 1/2 months off work from my last lung blood clot and do not feel as though it would be a good idea for me to take another week. I did stay home last night because I wanted to keep warm compresses on the site at least one day. So, today I plan on knitting and keeping the compresses on, hopefully the site will shrink and I do not run the risk of this clot breaking loose. Today I am going to work on my grand-daughters sweater so I can have it done before the cold weather goes away or she outgrows the size I am making her. I'll have to post a picture here when I am done.
I hope everyone has a really great day!

New additions to Ravelry completed projects

Slowly I am adding some of the completed items from the past few months. The Pescovegetarian hat and mittens along with the scarf were made for one of my best friends Victoria. We have known each other since 1984. Over 20 years. We have had a great friendship over the years and I thought it was time to finally make her something. Well that's it for now. I am at work and just wanted to write a quick post.

January 26, 2009

Good morning faithful followers!

I am not very good at this, I rather be searching through Ravelry, knitting or spending time with the family. I am going to give this a go and see what happens. There are some awesome blogs out there with some awesome knitting being shared. Hopefully I will be able to share all the wonderful things that I have been working on. I swear I have ADD (adult style). There are so many things I am interested in, so many things I want to do, so many things I start. Definitely have a case of startitis. My most current projects I have been working on are a pair of Birthday socks for Carol, a shawl for my mom for her birthday, a sweater for my grand-daughter for her birthday, bed socks for me! I probably have others somewhere in a bag just waiting for me.

I am so new to this blogging thingy. I need to figure out so much to make it so much more interesting. Hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures. For now though, I have to get back to my knitting.

Hooray! Figured out how to add a picture. The cats are Bengi, my big black furry male and Kiki my beautiful siamese. This is how we sit every night. Gotta love it!