Why I Do NOT Live in Texas, part two

My daughter just spotted this car in a parking lot near Austin, TX, where she lives, and where she risked life and limb to take this picture. Back AWAY from that car, H! Don't DO that! These people are armed!!!

Yikes!

(Although I suspect Georgia might be just as bad, just not as obvious about it.)

Souvenirs

from my trip to Texas.

Two crutches.  One of two gowns from the ER.  

Strange souvenirs, you say?

Yes, they are, but this is why:

A very broken ankle from a fall I took less than a day after my arrival.  (Pretty, isn't it?  No? Sorry.) 

The nice people at the ER wanted to cut my jeans off in order to put on the plaster cast, which I would not be able to pull jeans off and on over.  I protested, and they sent me home wearing a hospital gown.  

Problem!  It barely tied closed in the back.  

Solution!  They pulled out what I thought was a robe to match the gown.  How nice, I thought. But when I got back to my daughter's house, I realized that it was just two gowns, one tied in the back, one in the front.  No beautiful matching gown and robe.  My daughter LOVED them, so I left one with her. I'm nothing if not generous.

What I have learned:  

*Look before you step, in case there IS a step where you don't expect one.

*Have lots of minions.  While I was at my daughter's house, I had four young minions, VERY willing and cheerful minions to do my bidding.  (It helped that I had an iPad and iPhone stocked with games.) Here I have one otherwise occupied minion, my husband, and he is not motivated by electronic games. Also, he works from home, so he does have other responsibilities and isn't so quick to respond to my requests.  rats

*I hate crutches.  Hate. Hate. Hate.

*If you are going to be incapacitated by an injury, don't  do it during the BEST WEATHER OF THE YEAR.  Dayum.

*I saw my first botoxed man.  I've seen a few botoxed and otherwise-enhanced women, but not men. My orthopedist came into the exam room and I couldn't take my eyes off him, not because he was pretty, but because he was botox-pretty  Not a good look.

However!

I did have a great time at my daughter and son-in-law's home, thoroughly entertained by their cute, funny, helpful children.

AND, before the aforementioned orthopedist I saw a couple of days after my visit to the ER could tell me NO, I went to Hill Country Weavers and bought some yarn I need, wonderful light Shelter from Brooklyn Tweed.  I can't get it in Atlanta, so I was determined to get it during my trip.

A sweater's worth!

So once I get comfortable enough to knit,  I am well-stocked with projects.

And apparently I will have plenty of time.

The Pet

My older daughter says that she had always wanted a hedgehog as a pet, so within the past year, she bought one.  It is an odd pet to have; it is nocturnal and prefers to sleep all day.  He (she?) runs on a treadmill in its cage at night.  On Tuesday, before I left Austin, daughter took the hedgehog outside so that she could clean his/her cage.  She put the hedgehog on the lawn and told me that it loved being outside and would scoot around, look for bugs to eat, and maybe try to hide in some shrubs.

This is Wembley when daughter first put him/her on the lawn:

Now for other news.

This structure is a ways off behind the pasture behind my daughter's home.

It's very mysterious.  What is it?  Why is it there?  No one seems to know.  We even found it on Google maps, and there are no clues there either.

Frankly, it looks like Bin Laden's compound to me, and considering that it IS in Texas,  occasionally a home to crazies, I think someone should be investigating it.  I would volunteer but I'm a coward.  And I haven't yet found a road in to that area.  Because I haven't looked for one.  I told you I am a coward.

Now, back to the hedgehog.  This picture is of Wembley after he/she had been outside for about 20 minutes.

It's a very lively, entertaining and exciting pet.  

Back From Austin

We are back from Austin, where we had a great Christmas with both daughters, son-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren. They might not be so wonderful for their parents for a few days - I did my best to spoil them. They didn't hear the word "No" from me!

I did not get my coveted turquoise Thunderbird (sniff, sniff) but younger daughter did give me this sparkly case for my I-phone. She knows well that I love all things sparkly, and potentially a bit gaudy, so this is a perfect gift. She also helped me find some glitter eye shadow, which I first saw on a waitress in Sayulita three years ago and have wanted ever since.

I thought that with this sparkly case, I would now be the envy of 12-year old girls everywhere, but then my 7-year old granddaughter stopped dead in her tracks and gazed longingly at it. She loves sparkles too. So perhaps I am the envy of 7-year olds everywhere.

What doesn't a TSA agent like to see? Long pointy things in the x-rays of luggage. I had wrapped these cool mushrooms (gift from older daughter and family, handmade by an artist in Austin) in bubble wrap to keep the stems from snapping off in transit, but they showed up in the x-ray machine. The TSA agent went through my luggage, finally saying in bewilderment, "She (the x-ray agent) says that there is something long and pointy in here."

At which point, my brain clicked on and I said, "Oh! Those are my mushrooms!"

Huh?

So we had to take them out and x-ray them separately.

I apologized for the mushrooms; he apologized for the delay, and all was well in the Austin Airport once again.

This is a gift from DH, but found by younger daughter at a crafts fair in Los Angeles. A mother/daughter team uses old knitted sweaters, felts them, and uses the felt to make pillows and designs. I love this pillow and have a favorite bird, the third from the top, right in the center of the pillow. He looks particularly cheerful to me.

While I was in Austin and not feeding sugary treats to grandchildren, I worked on the Yarn Harlot's one-row pattern scarf and finished it up last night. It's made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, colorway - Franklin's Panopticon. I made it on size 8 needles, and it's a bit lacy, but I'm leaving it as is. Otherwise I would have to take it all out, use smaller needles, increase the number of stitches, and use much more yarn. I'm too lazy for all of that.

So today is New Year's Eve Day. DH came home from Austin sick with some sort of head/chest thing and sounds as if he is at death's door. I have a pot roast in the crock pot and some splits of champagne in the refrigerator. AND, just too exciting for words - the plumber just left after installing a new water heater. The old one had a leak, which fortunately didn't blow all out while we were gone.

Woo hoo.

I hope your New Year's Eve is more exciting than mine and wish you a

Happy New Year!

Welcome Home, Knittergran

Welcome home, indeed. I finally arrived from Austin after 11:00 last night, thanks to weather delays caused by Ida, and this is what I found. Odd looking laundry room, you say? Well, that's because it's my FAMILY room, now storing my washer, dryer and other odds and ends from my former laundry room. Dh put a tile floor in the laundry room over the weekend while I was in Austin. But the grout is not there yet, and Dh isn't either. He's away on business. So this is what I live with in the meantime.

And how did Dh move the washer and dryer by himself? Did he buy a dolly from Lowe's, which is less than two miles away? Silly, silly question. Why do that when he has a perfectly good skateboard saved from his childhood?

But on to happier subjects. This is the world's sweetest one-year old granddaughter! And boy, oh, boy, did I spoil her!!! I gave her her first piece of candy corn, her first sip (many sips, actually) of a strawberry fruit smoothie, her first maple syrup, and so many other firsts (most involving sugar - I know how to win grandchildren over) that I can't remember them all. But she loved them all, and now, she loves her Gran.

This is grandson. I tried, really, really tried, to get a good picture of him, but he was having none of that. He's three, and a funny, funny boy. He also seems to have unlimited energy.

The two older girls, ages 9 and 6, weren't interested in having their pictures taken, so they miss out on being on my blog. Poor girls.....

Another treat while in Austin: We went to hey cupcake and bought the most delicious cupcakes ever (according to my older granddaughters). It was raining when we were there, and the place stayed really busy. With good reason! The cupcakes are wonderful, and of course, buying them is so much easier than baking them myself.

hey cupcake is across the street from my favorite Austin knitting shop, Hill Country Weavers, and we went there the same day. Even my granddaughters couldn't help themselves and bought yarn. Both girls knit now, and the older one (9) figured out by herself how to decrease stitches to make a triangle-shaped cape for one of her critters. She's addicted now. heh, heh, heh.

And as I posted before I left for Austin, I washed my hand-knit socks on the delicate/hand wash cycle of my magic washing machine with the invisible agitator and it worked GREAT!!! No damage, no shrinkage, no felting, and no colors running. (And the turquoise/brown pair usually runs like an escaped convict.) No more hand-washing of socks for me.

It was, however, hot in Austin, so it sure wasn't sock weather.

And now I'm off to call my most-favorite neighbor of all times to see if I can use her washer and dryer.

Isn't this pretty?

Isn't it? Sure, but I'm not too fond of it today.

I bought it a few years ago in Austin, Texas, picturing my grandchildren playing on it. And they did, last week, especially grandson who has never found anything he didn't like jumping off of. We had worried about him here - all the new potential dangers for Danger Ranger. I reassured myself and my daughter by remembering that the nearest ER is only 1.6 miles down the street from my house.

The week went by; no injuries to report; no trips to the ER. Success!

But last night, in the dark, I fell over it. It hadn't gone back to its normal spot in the room, because the coffee table is still out of its place. I can't help lift it - it's some sort of stone slabs on a wrought-iron base and it's really, really heavy. So I came downstairs late at night, fell over the hassock, and to protect my already-injured knee, let my face break the fall. O.U.C.H. I lay on the floor for a minute or so, waiting for blood or the pain of a broken nose. Nope. Just the normal pain caused by FALLING ON YOUR FACE from 5'10".

So no trip to the ER, but I look awful today. Fat lip, odds and ends of cuts, swollen nose. My husband is in Louisiana on business, so he doesn't get to see his vision of beauty.....He returns tomorrow and I hope my face returns to normal by tomorrow also. It's knit-night and I can't miss that!

I have moved the hassock to a safer (for me) location, and I swear I will not walk downstairs in the dark again.

And even though today is not Fragments Friday, which I learned about from Mary Ellen, I am adding a story to this story. The hassock is from Egypt, and I bought it in a specialty import shop/belly-dancing studio in Austin. I knew it wouldn't fit in my luggage so I asked for a bag to carry it on the plane in. I didn't notice until I was in the Austin airport that the bag had a website on it: http://www.wmdproductions.com/. (World Music and Dance Productions-but I didn't want to have to convince security of that) The rest of the writing was in Arabic. And there I was, going through security. I put the bag with the writing-side down and hoped for the best. I made it, but the store really needs to get a different web address.

Maybe I'm the real Danger Ranger ....

We were young, we had no money, we possessed the world through sheer enthusiasm.

Isn't that a lovely sentence?

It's in an essay by Garrison Keillor and I wish I had written that sentence. Just sayin'.

Well, I'm back to Georgia, where it is almost as hot as it was in Austin. Yikes!!!

I had a great time in Austin. It was such a treat to see grandchildren (and their parents, of course) EVERY day for two weeks. Little Elizabeth even changed during the two weeks; her body is telling her she must stand up even if her mind doesn't know what the heck she is doing. She gets quite frustrated by her body these days.

I had many knitting-related experiences. I went to three yarn shops and bought things I absolutely must have at each. And I met a blogger. On three separate trips to Austin I have met a blogger: the first was Barb Cooper, who is a wonderful writer and who has even published a book, The Mermaid's Purse, a collection of essays; the second was Wendy Aarons, who writes a really funny blog, but who is sort of shy and understated in person; and on this trip, Suna, who writes about her amazing and prolific knitting. We met her at the shop where she teaches, and she was kind enough to take time to chat with us and to show us around the shop. She is very talented, and I am especially envious of her lace knitting.

The only problem with the trip was my flight back. Why knit? Why knot? That's what I say, and I was very happy to have knitting with me on the flight. We all boarded a full flight, and once the doors closed and we were all trapped in the plane, the pilot announced that there was a thirty-minute ground stop in Atlanta. So I cast on a sock and happily started knitting. Time flew. Then the pilot announced that there was another thirty-minute ground stop in Atlanta. So I kept knitting, just muttering a few not-so-nice thoughts quietly so my seat-mates could not hear me. Then there was a bit more of a ground stop. Grrr......

Once we got going, the flight was short - until we were put in a holding pattern over LaGrange, Georgia. More quietly-muttered not-so-nice thoughts.

And then we landed. Everyone bolted for the exit. As did I. And on the way home, I remembered that I had put the extra dp needles, my favorite dp needles, my Knit Picks Harmony dp needles, in the seatback pocket. And I had left them there. RATS!

So I'm off to the Knit Picks site to order replacements, and a few other things I just must have.....

Austin, Texas

Day.... uh....??????

It's 6:15 in the evening and it's 105 degrees outside.

I don't know what $%^&*(&*#$ day it is.

It's one hundred and five friggin degrees!

Woo Hoo!

A couple of weeks ago, my granddaughter Elizabeth met Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot and was photographed with her. Today, older daughter, Elizabeth and I went to The Knitting Nest in Austin, Texas, to meet Franklin Habit, photographer, knitter, designer and author of It Itches, a collection of his knitting-related cartoons and essays. He is a big fan of babies and was happy to hold Elizabeth for her second famous knitters/writers photograph. He was at the shop to teach a class, and then, since it is Worldwide Knit in Public Day, he stayed on to knit with all the people who came in to spend some time knitting.

And shopping! I scored two skeins of his new yarn color, called Franklin's Panopticon, which is also the name of his blog. The yarn is made by Lorna's Laces and comes in several weights. It is blue, green, khaki and all sorts of shades of each. Mine is sport weight, but I think it will turn into socks....

Anyway, it was fun to knit at such a friendly shop and to meet Franklin, who was very gracious, and whom Elizabeth just loved!

Austin, Texas

Day One

Cost to have locksmith pick the lock on older daughter's neighbor's house where I am staying/housesitting so that I can get back in: $52.00.

Cost to spend two hours in my jammies, teeth unbrushed, at older daughter's house while we wait for the locksmith - and explaining WHY we are allowed to go in the absent neighbor's house to begin with - to arrive and successfully pick the lock on the neighbor's house: priceless.

Just in Time for Texas

First of all, I finished the second sock of my sparkly Berroco Sox Metallic yarn, but the sparklies don't show in the picture. I know they are there! And so will all my friends and family (not you, younger daughter) when I wear them.

These are not blocked. I don't block socks; I figure that's what feet are for.


And second, I finished my second attempt at the Bitty Bolero sweater. THIS one will fit Elizabeth, I am sure. But she doesn't get it till her first birthday, in October, and even if I gave it to her now, it is way too hot in Texas to wear a wool sweater, even one as soft as this one. It's made from 100% merino wool, and I am starting to think that out of all the wonderful fibers that are made into yarn (wool, angora, bamboo, milk -yes-milk, cotton, soy, alpaca, mohair, silk and ???? I'm sure I've forgotten some), I love working with merino the best. It is just SO, SO soft! This is Malabrigo, colorway Cuarento 237. And have I learned my lesson about the importance of making gauge swatches?
Probably not...

I've also bought yarn for a new project to work on while I'm in Texas, because, you know, there are just NO yarn shops there!

Oh, and I do have a new camera. Phew. Without pictures, how can I blog???

In the Nick of Time

Get it? Saint Nick? Nevermind.

Anyhow, I finished the stocking and finally sort of figured out the duplicate stitching. All of my Christmas knitting is finished and I'm free to knit whatever comes along next.

I also finished the second ruana, which was a large project, even though it's done on size 13 needles. I sort of felt as if I were knitting a blanket.

So on to Christmas in Austin!!!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Another F O

Last year I bought a Mountain Colors Mixed Fibers Throw kit, and finally, just before I went to Austin, I finished it. It sort of "hibernated" during the summer months. It was just too heavy and warm and fuzzy for knitting during Georgia's summer heat and humidity, air-conditioning not withstanding.

When I realized that I was going to Austin a month earlier than I had expected because Elizabeth had been born early, I tried to think of a frivolous but luxurious gift for older daughter. Having her baby five weeks early was stressful for her and I wanted to give her something she wouldn't have expected. I wracked my brain as I knitted away finishing this throw. And then I thought, "Duh. Why not the throw itself?" It's made of all sorts of textures of wool and mohair and it is wonderfully soft. The colorway is called Northern Lights and it's beautiful. (The colors don't really show up well in the photos.)

Anyway, I carried it to Austin and gave it to H. She and Elizabeth can snuggle into it during cold winter nights when Elizabeth wants to be awake to eat or to just hang out with her mom.

And now I'm going to order another kit to make one for me!

Oops...

This past weekend, I went to Austin to visit my wonderful, perfect, gorgeous and funny grandchildren (and their parents). I had a great time just watching and listening to them. Yesterday we stuffed them in the hot car (it was HOT in Austin-over 100 every day, and one day, even 105!!!) to take them to lunch, and then to a new yarn shop in town. It's called Gauge and it's great! Lots of gorgeous yarns to pet and drool over. The woman there was very nice, and didn't even seem to mind 22-month old grandson "admiring" the yarn. I told older daughter that she was to stop me from buying any more yarn, but she must not have been listening, because, oops, I ended up with this:
It's Lorna's Laces hand-dyed Shepherd Sock Yarn (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon) and it is really, really soft and the colors are ...well, you can see the colors. My daughter and I each bought the same colorway, and will make socks out of it. Great minds think alike.

However, I REALLY had not intended to buy yarn, but resistance was futile. One of the best reasons to knit socks is that no matter where you are, if you see a sock yarn you love, you know how much you need. The same is not true of sweaters and other items, so you end up either buying a new pattern in order to buy the yarn, or you leave the yarn in the shop for another knitter. But you can ALWAYS buy sock yarn!

And if you live in Austin, and love this particular colorway in Lorna's Laces, too late---we beat you to it and bought it all. Sorry...