Cedar Fire - Three years later

October 26, 2003 was the scariest day of my life. I live on the rim of a Canyon that the Santa Ana winds were driving a fire westward right toward us. Luckily the winds died down and the fire stopped a mile east of us. They named it the Cedar Fire. It will always be know to me and my family as THE FIRE!

That fire burned one of our favorite spots in the county, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Yesterday we drove up with Annie, The Dog. (That's her full name.) Here are pictures of what a horrible wild fire driven by Santa Ana Winds looks like three years later. It's heart breaking to see.

Color in the East basin of Lake Cuyamaca.
One of the few unburned spots.

And I finished a pair of socks done in Opal's Rain Forest Chameleon. How's that for total juxtaposition?

Three Dishcloths - Finished

It feels so good to finally be finishing things. I seem to always have lots of projects going at once; lots of starts very few endings. Then all of a sudden I find I'm finishing lots of projects at once. As of this evening I finished three dishcloths and a scarf that needs to be blocked before I decide if I like it. (Do I win the prize for using the word finish the most times in one paragraph?)

Here's the Darrell Waltrip Cloth that I did in Peaches and Creme followed by a close up so you can see the slipped stitches. I really like how the variegated yarn worked in this pattern.

Next is Victoria a Danielle Cote pattern (Note: this is an extremely difficult site to access. She has very small bandwidth; don't be discouraged, keep trying at different times.)

This is such a lovely and easy lace pattern.

Last is my Mid-Nov KAL on Monthly Dishcloths' Yahoo Group. I hope you can see the textural poinsettia pattern. The group had quite a time with bobbles but as you can see they came out rather well.

Wonder Bread Years

Last night I saw the funniest play at the Old Town Theatre called The Wonder Bread Years.
I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face faster than I could wipe them with a tissue!

If you grew up in the 50's and 60's I urge you to see this play. If you know who Colonel Sanders is you'll understand the life and times that the show is based on.

Pat Hazell was a writer on Seinfeld and at time you can hear Jerry Seinfeld's TV character in what Pat is saying on stage. (I think Pat Hazell may be responsible for all the rules of conduct that Elaine, George and Jerry were always talking about.)

This show is more a stand-up observational comic than a play with acts and such. Although there are lots of nostalgic props.

Yep! Fall is my favorite season.

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Charlotte's Lace Shawl

Here it is - finally finished and blocked my Charlotte's Lace Shawl. I used KnitPicks's Gossamer in the Caribbean colorway. For my first lace project this went well; gave me confidence to try more involved lace.

I'm currently working on the Forest Canopy Shawl in a discontinued colorway of Primero from Brooks Farm Yarn. I won this yarn in a Scavenger Hunt during the Lace Symposium on Knitting Beyond the Hebrides Group. That was one great week! So much information was put out there that I'm still reading and re-reading it all. Not sure if it's still posted on KBTH's Home but if it's still there it's worth joining just to read all their lace information and tutorials.

Southern California Handweaver Guild's 2006 Festival

Last Sunday I had a wonderful day at the Southern California Handweavers Guild's Festival .
It was held in Torrance, CA, (if you don't know the area it's close to Los Angeles International Airport.)

I was disappointed in their "show", all I saw was a couple woven placemats and a huge chess set but to be fair I didn't stay for their Fashion Show which must have been the main event. There were two big rooms to their Market Place.

Lots of weaving yarn and supplies

Stacks of Silk that were gorgeous in the outside light

I am fondling the merino silk roving (I look terrible in that side light - I should wear frownies all the time!)

Here I am choosing through the hundreds of batts offered at Nancy's Custom Handweaving Booth, I bought four bags of batts; two purple blends and two yellow blends.

I also bought two hand dyed roving braids of 50% merino/50% tencel from The Soap Plantation. I'd never spun this blend before but with help from several spinners in my Spinning Class it's a pleasure to work with. Very well behaved for such long, fly away fiber.

Here's a close up of my singles. Haven't decided if I'll use it as singles or ply it.

thanks to The Photographer for the Show pictures

Bird Watching at a Baby Shower

Attended my Niece's Baby Shower yesterday; look at the uninvited guest. He sat there for quite awhile

Sunset Picture

Sunset last night, November 3, 2006.
Courtesy of The Photographer

Proof that I have been knitting and quilting

Technical difficulties have been straightened out; not sure if it was me, Blogger or Photobucket but it seems to be working now. Here's a test post.

These are photos of my recently completed projects. First is the hat and scarf I made for Flagstaff. I decided the Monday before we left that we would need hats for the cold weather so I started this

hat















and the close-up. When I finished the hat I found I had enough yarn to make a scarf; I just copied the brim pattern of K2, P2 with a slipped stitch at either side.














I am pleased at how my handspun looks knit up.
I also knit The Photographer a hat out of Encore; finished it as we drove through Phoenix on our way home. Luckily, the weather for our week in Flagstaff was warmer than we expected; his ears didn't freeze while he waited for me to knit his hat.

Next is the Lace Blanket I made for my soon-to-be new nephew Joey.















It looks more like a washcloth in this picture but the floor reflection and the yellow yarn being so shiny keeps shutting off the flash. The blanket measures 36" X 44"

And finally there's the Pirate Quilt I made for my niece's Baby Shower this weekend.


















And a close-up of one of the blocks. (I don't know why this picture looks so strange. If you click on it to see it enlarged, the weird dots go away. Really I didn't quilt it that densly!) This was a quick quilt to make; four days start to finish.

Funny thing happened in the middle of making this quilt. Had the first few strips sewn when I discovered my iron had died. Had to go buy a new iron. (Did you ever hear of an iron just dieing in the middle of using it?)
It wasn't gunked up, wasn't the steamed stopped working; there just was no "on", no heat, nada! I've never lost an iron like that, usually one of the cats jumps up and the iron falls off the ironing board but that wasn't the case this time.

Speaking of cats...
My cats LOVE my robe; here's a picture two minutes after I laid my robe on the bed while getting dressed Wednesday morning. They don't usually tolerate being this close together but no one was going to give up one inch of their robe real estate! Left to right; Willy 16 years old, Sam, four years old and Ty, 9 years old.