The Scarf for Debi

I used one of my old patterns for this scarf (see next post above from 2/6/14 for pattern), using Classic Shades in their variegated yarn and a size H hook.  I really love the way it turned out.  I took out the last 36 inches twice. The first time because I found a very serious crochet error, and the second time because I put the yarn in backwards! The stripes were not coming out to match.  I think the final product was worth the effort.

I didn't block it for fear of making something bad happen, but I think Debi might have taken a crack at it.  She would have to know a great deal more about how to do it than I do!

The true colors are showing with the shawl on the couch.  And it can be flatter around the next than I have it here.  Hopefully it isn't too long to be of use for Debi.

I was very blessed to have Debi for my partner as I received not one, but two scarves.  The first one, a coral/grey cowl type scarf (so gorgeous!) she said came out shorter than she thought it ought to be, so she sent me a beautiful purple one with beads. Stunning!

Now I am working on a pair of Mary Jane Slippers for myself.  Can't wait to finish them!

Sami and other strays…..

My sweet Sami has a large tumor that, so far, appears to be cancerous and inoperable.  I will know more early next week.  This particular ordeal has me thinking I just don't want to add another dog or cat to my life ever again.

Then I saw this post by my DSIL who is an animal advocate in Idaho.  I got to thinking that I may not add one any time real soon should I lose Sami, I should add one so that an animal who are waiting patiently for love and affection and a good home won't have to wait forever.

If I remember correctly, weren't we put on this earth to till the soil and protect the animals?

Unsubscribe….

Have you ever purchased something from a store…say The Gap…and at the end they ask you if you want to receive emails?  You check NO, and go on with the purchase.

Then you start received emails and you think, oh…I must have clicked yes…and think nothing more of it?  Well, I have been keeping track…and ALL of the Christmas sites I visited are sending me emails although I said NO.  So irritating.  Blair is one also.  Frustrating.

Crochet? Yum!  I am weaving in ends today and will be mailing off the scarf I have made for Debi.  I love it…had to take it almost 1/2 way apart not once, but twice…errors on my part of course!  I am easily frustrated when I must frog something, so you can imagine my level of angst having to do it twice and so darn much of it!

Progression photos.

At least it is back together and ready to get mailed out!  I do love the yarn.

New Sofa and Love Seat…and new windows!

I'm more thrilled about the windows than I am anything else right now.  Double paned vinyl windows all around the house.  Almost all were put on today and tomorrow the slider in my bedroom, along with the small window in my bathroom will be installed, as well as the new doors. 

This is called the Madison…nothing really Southwest about it, though.

Its a Titan steel framed door with a dead bolt that will act as the screen and security door. :o)  It's in a Cranberry color.  I'm keeping the front door with the peep hole. The screen is a sheet of metal with holes poked in it, and although the door will be in what they call Wineberry, the screen will be a color similar to the color of this door…perhaps a bit more tan.  

In back I'm putting in a full glass door with a mini-shade installed in the double window so I don't have to clean it.  I would have put in the rest of the windows that way, but it tended to get a tad expensive. Some day, though…..some day.  I think they are awesome!

Then the screen door is a storm door.  It is full glass, too, but you can pull the top half of the glass down into the bottom half and it stores seamlessly in the bottom half where you can't see there are now two.  Then, as it goes down a screen unrolls from the top and you end up with a screen for air readily available when you want it.  Also in the same Cranberry color, and it is called Tradewinds. This is what it is supposed to look like, except this is white instead of the Cranberry color

Now the photo below has nothing to do with anythings.  I just found it to upload and was so surprised at how it is showing snow.  I have no clue how that happened.  Sid took me to the mailbox to take photos of the sheep going by.  They were walking them about 65 mile room near Vale, ID up to near Bear, ID I think.  Might have been Indian Valley.  Hopefully it will still look like an active snow when I post it.

So why is this one so sparkly?  It is as if Sid has come back to snazz up the photos for me!  I have no idea what is making it do this…and hope you will be able to see it. Magic.

Oh…this is the couch.  I am not real happy with it, either.  The one at the store felt different.  Notice how each seat has a round puffy look? Well, that is not a regular pillow seat…it is a bunch of fluff.  The metal in the arms are also covered  in the fiber fill. Needless to say the

I role off top!

Darn it…I never would have purchased it had I realized the pillow top cushions were not cushions at all…just stuffed fiber fill.  Pretty to look at.

…………

It's a day later. Did not post. Men here putting in slider and new doors. This house will be practically new by the time I am finished!  

Balloon Fest

The annual Balloon Fest hits our small town this coming weekend.  Sounds like it should be fun!  A person can even ride in a balloon across the lake and around a bit for $200, or you can just get up in the air tethered to the ground for $20.  I'm more of a tether type gal!  

This is the London Bridge…it really isn't very large but kind of majestic.  The skies are almost always this blue, although once in awhile there are wispy clouds.  The shade is fairly cool, but once you are hit by the sun it is quite ferocious.  I'm not sure why it feels hotter in the sun here at 65 than it does in Oregon at 80, but it does.

I'm working diligently on a scarf for an exchange in my group on Ravelry.  I picked out a pattern I had posted about in one of my blogs a couple of years ago…hopefully Debi will like it.

I'm using Watermelon from Universal Yarns Classic Shades.  It is machine washable 70% Acrylic/30% Wool…soft and vibrant! This is a small photo from their web sit which makes it a tad blurry when I enlarge it!

Now back to the grind!  A relative of mine who lives in Ft. Mohave posted a photo on Face Book which seems to be a big theme down here this winter….

January 7, 2004

It almost seems like yesterday that I spoke to a friend of mine while working at the Sheriff's Employee's Benefit Association in San Bernardino, CA.  He and I were once in law school together.  He became a lawyer for a firm in the greater L.A. area while I practiced law as a criminal defense attorney in San Diego.

Eventually I started working for S.E.B.A. - a fancy name for something that is/was actually a labor union.  Great people and a really great job, but not what I wanted for a life as it turned out.  

I had begun to feel that I was missing out and if I didn't get married soon I would not be fit to marry…being 57 then.  You get set in your ways…so, he began to tell me about his joining Match.com and all the dates he had and the lovely vivacious women he met. So I started thinking about that…..

However, when I went on Match.com they matched me up in my area…for people who wanted to DATE.  I did not want to date…and about half the men I saw I knew already…so I decided to answer the call to delve further into the internet love matching and joined eHarmony.  10 years ago today.

Two days later, January 9th, I received my first questionaire from a guy in Idaho to get to know him. That's how eHarmony did it…you are pretty anonymous and they have the questions lined up…you just do a check list on the ones you want to ask.

Two places that interested me were Idaho and Georgia for different reasons.  So, he and I corresponded.  On February 13 he flew into town and I picked him up at the airport in Ontario.  I was so exhausted from working and getting ready for his trip when we met in person for the first time.

See!

 After he registered at his motel we had coffee there and he said to me, "Do you want me to ask you to marry me now, or do you want me to wait until tomorrow?"  :o)  I asked him to wait, which he did.

We visited my family in San Diego, and then come back to San Bernardino.  At our dinner, in Kentucky Fried Chicken, he asked me and I said yes.  We sat and chatted for over two hours and then it dawned on us that the place had closed!  The kids running the restaurant were somewhat gathered in the corner watching us smiling as he and I held hands and talked about marriage and our new upcoming life together.

A memory that will last a lifetime…..a simple day, with simple pleasures….and it turned out it was also his daughter's birthday…Valentines Day, February 14th, 2004.

I flew up to see his place and meet his family the next weekend…and then the next weakend???

We married on February 28, 2004.

So the month of January always brings these overwhelming memories for me of the new life I embarked on, and the all too short marriage to my dear Sid.  We fussed a lot, and I was as hard to live with as he was, so I gave as good as I got…but we had a good marriage, one that could have been better…and lucky for me (VERY lucky for me) I have been accepted by his family and his first wife's family as a sister, aunt and friend.  

Although I do not have his hand to hold any longer, he holds me nonetheless with great care and watches over me through the love of his children…now my children…grandchildren…sister's and in-laws alike.

Who would have thunk it!???

I miss him oh, so very much.

Who wants a scarf??

In the Cat's Crochet Corner group we are doing a scarf swap.  I started one and realized it wasn't soft, and wasn't wide enough…I'm going to finish it for myself, though…

It is called the Magical Mitered Scarf and is in the Crochet! magazine…don't know which issue as printed it out.

This is the photo in the magazine. Pretty nifty, eh?!!

My version wasn't coming out quite so wide…so switched my pattern to something a little different, a little wider, and to a yarn that is softer. 

I sure hope Debi loves it. XXXX that. Gave her the Rick Rack Stitch scarf instead. This wasn't soft enough for a gift I think. May finish it for myself.

Both my scarf and the pattern photo remind me of this sunset from the Portland International Airport. My neighbor took this photo with his phone…my iPhone has NEVER captured the reds and pinks that HIS phone captured.  Isn't this gorgeous?

He said that this particular sunset made the news.  I can see why!