Yarns and Yards

In answer to a question I received in the comments about Tempted yarns, I love the way they work up. They knit up so soft that I want to wear them all the time. (Can I wear wool socks in the summer in Oklahoma? I don't think so.) This is the first Tempted yarn I bought in honor of OU. I love these socks. They are knit in a k2p2 ribbing all over. My favorite generic pattern.

In other news, my big guy and my son worked in the back yard all day yesterday while I was slaving away on the computer at work. They hauled and raked mulch and gravel. Now I *have* to go pick out some ferns and flowers to put back there.

There were two pairs of cardinals at the bird feeder this morning. Also a couple of hummingbirds and a few pretty little yellow birds at the thistle feeder. The squirrel wasn't there this morning, but he will be back when he sees that the corn has been replenished. I love to watch them, and the dogs are entertained by them.

It's a golfing day for the big guy and me, although the wind is supposed to be strong, getting worse as the day goes by. But I need the exercise. It is more fun golfing than walking.

Oooh, Sparkly

If you look very closely, you can see the sparkles in this Eclipse yarn from Tempted. It is not part of the sock club yarn, but I got it at my LYS in Tulsa. I swatched a pattern with it, but I think I am just going to make a simple, sparkly sock. If you have other suggestions, let me know. (Boy, do I need a ball winder!

The big guy and I got in a round of golf today, just before the rains came. It got up to 82 degrees and as the afternoon cooled, we started having thunderstorms. Hopefully no severe weather or flooding. We've had a lot of rain this spring. Makes it hard to get on the golf course or work in the yard. (Not that I want to work in the yard! Not my thing.)

I bought a hibiscus to put out on the patio. It is really full and lovely, red of course. Now I'm ready for some ferns, some petunias, geraniums and maybe some begonias. I have a nice place to decorate this year and a big guy to do it for me. He doesn't mind to get dirt under his fingernails. Yuck, that's the worst. I also want to replant the crape myrtles and lilacs that Bunny ate off even with the ground last year. She's a pistol.

Our dogs just came to the back door wanting inside. We didn't know they had gone out the doggy door and played in the rain. They were grinning like they had really pulled a good joke on us. Of course, we thought they were funny too. That's why we keep "dog towels" by the back door! But it is not so funny when they sneak out in the middle of the night and come back to bed wet!

Peach Basketweave Socks

Here is the progress on the peach sock. It is from Stitches of Violet, called Basketweave Ribbing Sock. I'm using Dream in Color Smooshy in (what else) Giant Peach. It is an easy pattern and I am liking it.

We spoke to Bunny's vet this week. She had conferred with another vet and they decided to go ahead and put Bunny on some Chinese herbs. If she hasn't had a seizure in a month, then we will start trying to gradually take away the phenobarbital. They said it is making her gain too much weight and is one of the reasons she eats inappropriate things (wallets, extension cords, boxes, etc.)

The weekend is supposed to be nice before another round of rains next week. So I think I will work in the yard some tomorrow, fill the bird feeders, etc. I'm anxious to put some plants out, but I'm waiting for the weather to settle down. Hopefully the last freeze is over!

Bad News

Our hopes were dashed again this morning at 5 a.m. Bunny woke us up by having a seizure. We had only reduced her medicine four days and already she proves that it won't work. We immediately gave her a dose of phenobarbital, and in about 10 minutes she had another seizure. Luckily, each seizure only lasted 30 seconds. That is better than before. And she only had two. One morning she had 6 grand mal seizures in an hour. We know now what to do so it isn't as scary as it was in the beginning.

We were hoping that her meds could be reduced gradually and that she'd be ok. I guess she will always have to take the meds, but it is good to know our parameters. Low salt diet, potassium bromide, and 2 phenobarbitals a day. That is what I expect the vet to say.

Our son was involved in a car accident last night. His face is all bruised up, has a bump on his nose, and his shoulder or collarbone is sore. Like the big guy, he is hard to get into a doctor's office. I'm afraid he needs x-rays on that shoulder. But he is on call with his job tonight, so I guess he's afraid they will tell him not to work until he is better. It was a friend's car. He would have been in a mess if it had been his truck. His payments are way high and his insurance has a ridiculous deductible. As with most young people just starting out, he has no savings to speak of. I'm sorry for the owner of the car, though. He's a good kid.

I'm really getting anxious to cast on for another sock. I have some black/gray/with silver Tempted yarn that is calling my name. I am still looking for an appropriate pattern to use and I'm open to suggestions.

Recent Finished Objects

The sock on the left doesn't show its true colors very well. It is made from Tempted's Sock Club selection for October. I believe it was called Hocus Pocus. The colors are black, purple, and neon green. I knitted it in my favorite generic pattern of K2 P2 ribbing. This is the softest yarn I have worked with lately. I heart it.

The sock on the right is made from Trekking XXL in colorway #147. The pattern is BFF by Cookie A. I love this pattern. It goes quickly and has pretty little cables in every other row.

My photos aren't as well done as Wendy's, I'm thinking of looking for a different camera. Now I have a Panasonic digital that I have had for a few years. Since I've started taking pictures of knitting, I have gotten more picky.

It was one of my days off today. We went by the vet and picked up some more meds for our little Bunny. The vet wants us to gradually back off on some of the medication and see if the seizures return. And she also thinks that the medicine is encouraging her bad behavior (grabbing stuff from the kitchen cabinet, for instance, and eating too much.)

We also went to see the movie "21." I liked it. We had seen the real person the movie was made about on tv the other day. It is remarkable to me that someone could be so efficient at counting cards. Never underestimate the intelligence of an MIT student!

The dogs were better behaved today while we were gone. I gave each of them a cardboard box to tear up while we were gone and they didn't destroy anything of mine, for a change!

Rainy Day

Today we took a "slug day." We had a tee time, but it was so wet that we decided not to go. It rained again today. So we won't be able to play until next week.

With the clouds, I didn't try to take pictures of my sock in progress. But I did get a nice shot of the doily Aunt G gave me for my birthday. Called "seashells," I think it is lovely.

We watched some shows we had recorded on the DVR, took little short naps, and rested. That is what a "slug day" is for. Tomorrow is a work day, maybe I can get some motivation going.

Birthday Presents For Me

Here is a picture of Buster and Bunny. I still can't figure out how to put the picture in the text. Oh, well, something new to learn.

Today I saw my sister at the doctor's office where she had brought our Aunt G. Surprise, surprise, Aunt G. had brought my birthday present! She had knitted me two dishcloths and crocheted a doily that she called "seashells." I love handmade gifts!

This aunt is the last of the 12 children in my mother's family. There were eight girls and four boys. My mother was the 10th child, the youngest girl. She died of colon cancer when she was 50. My older sister and I were both married, but we had two sisters still at home who were 15 and 12. It was difficult, to put it simply.

My dad was from a family of 10 children. He was the second and the oldest boy. He died of bone cancer at 78. There are four sisters and one brother left in his family.

How many first cousins, you might ask? Sixty-eight, I believe. One aunt had 13, and it went down from there. It is wonderful to have so much family. Dad's family stays close by having a family reunion every June. Mom's family has recently started to get together every year the weekend after Labor Day. One cousin came from Oregon this year. We also met another cousin that none of us had met before! That was great! We are hoping for some "new" cousins to show up this year since we have been getting the word out.

New on the Buster and Bunny adventures: Yesterday the big guy left the two little scoundrels alone while he did some errands. When he came home, he found the pantry door ajar. In the kitchen floor were six red potatoes. That is all that remained from the new 5 pound sack that had been in the pantry! They had eaten all the rest! Needless to say, they weren't hungry for their dinner last night.

My knitting has been dragging this week. We have been really busy at work and in the evenings I've been dozing on the couch. Maybe I can get photos for you tomorrow when there is good light. I'm about half way down the cuff of my second BFF sock. It is looking good!

Better Late Than Never

There has been more work than knitting this week. I did, however, frog the toe of my BFF sock and add an additional pattern. Either I miscounted or mismeasured when I put in the toe the first time. Now that one is fixed and I have started the second sock. I finished the ribbing and put in one pattern.

After our sister's lunch on Tuesday, the big guy and I played golf on Wednesday, went to work on Thursday, and worked in the backyard on the weekend.

The big ice storm in December made a mess of our trees. The big maple tree had broken limbs that we were mostly able to trim. The small maple was totally ruined. That is the tree that I planted as a seedling to shade the bedrooms of our children. I was sad to see it have to go, but we weren't able to save it. We did leave a big stump to use to put a bird feeder or a birdbath on.

We have some spots in the back where we are having trouble getting grass. (And the dogs love to dig holes.) The big guy has fertilized, seeded, begged, pleaded, all to no avail. So we have fenced the dogs close to the house and we are working on the rest. Last year we planted crape myrtles and lilacs and the dogs ate them off even with the ground. So this year we are going to try again, but now the dogs are fenced.

To make them a fun place we made a big sandbox around the remaining maple tree. Bunny likes to lay in it. If she could I know she would lay on her back and make angels in it! Buster would rather lay in the sun in the mulch. Sometimes we go out and bury toys in the sand for them to find.

There was never going to be any grass under the tree. Too much shade and too many roots. So we enclosed it with landscape timbers and filled it with red mulch. I put St. Francis out there and set the birdbath in it. We also bought some patio furniture out there so I can read or knit in the shade. (I'm worried about the shade after the ice storm stripped so many limbs out of the tree.) We got some big pots to put plants in. I'm thinking about a hibiscus in one and petunias in the other. I also want some hanging baskets and a fern. I will but them in the tree with the birdfeeders.

I need another birdfeeder that the squirrel can't get into. I would like for him to eat the corn and the sunflower seeds and leave the cardinal food alone. And it is time for me to fill the hummingbird feeders. In our area, we try to get them out by April 15.

I'm still trying to figure out how to insert pictures. If I accomplish it this time, I have one of Bunny downloaded. Cross your fingers.