Wildlife in the City

OK - knitting stuff first...

Using my hand-dyed Superwash BFL from Yarn2Dye4 I made Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style.
I did 11 repeats, 3 more than the pattern called for. The pattern was easy to memorize and a very quick knit. Bind off loosely is an understatement. I knit this with a size 6 needle and bound off with a size 10 which still wasn't loose enough; the bind-off was too tight to get the edging points as shown in the book.
Other than that I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Before blocking it looked more like I was knitting an egg crate than lace.


For living in the city we have our fair share of wildlife in the backyard. There are lizards everywhere eating every bug they can find. I had very few snails or aphids this past Spring and very little catterpiller damage on any of my greens. Yesterday while going in the back door I noticed a baby right near the back door at eye level. (for size reference the medallion is the size of a dinner plate)


He was such a perfect minature.

Can you believe he just stayed there through his photo session with The Photographer never moving except for a slow, infrequent blink. Did you see those TOES!!!

And don't get me started on the blasted squirrel!!! I haven't gotten to a ripe tomato ahead of him.
I feeling like I'm living in a Chip and Dale Cartoon. I've started cutting tomato clusters the second I see any warming in their color.
I may not get the whole "vine-ripened taste" but I'll have some of my own tomatoes! Blasted *#@%^* Squirrels!

Sorry, I'm Boring lately!

I'm too boring for Blogging. Lately, nothing I'm knitting is worth it. Two out of three projects look the same as the last time they were photographed. Ink Spot, started the second side which looks the same as the first. Milkweed project is about three quarters done but looks like unblocked lace does. The un-named Knitty project, I'm on "that island" knitters dread.

I did knit up a sample for the shop in an Organic Cotton.


This is the eloomanator Diagonal Knit Dishcloth.
and a close-up.

It was a quick knit and fun to watch the pattern emerge.

And I knit up some of my homespun,

This if from All Spun Up, sorry I can't find the colorway name. Lovely fiber!

And used it to start Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf Pattern

This scarf is done now but needs to be blocked to open it up. Again a quick and enjoyable project. And a great pattern to display long color runs.

I dyed some BFL superwash fingering weight yarn a light Turquoise.

It was kettle dyed and came out a very faint semi-solid. It's destined to be Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle.

That's it for my knitting. The garden has had some spectacular spring blooms.

The Graham Thomas Climbing Rose was severely cut back this year - guess it like it because it's out done itself with roses!

The Asiatic Lillies have kept blooming through rain or shine.



And the Jacarandas in the neighborhood have bloomed in all their glory.

(Yes, they're beautiful trees but you want to view them at someone elses house. Messy and sticky debris!)

The Photographer and I went to the Ocean Beach Farmer's Market a couple weeks ago. O.B. never got the message that the Summer of Love is over.

Annie say, "Hey."

Mother's Day Catch-up

No excuses, I just haven't put in my blogging time - mea culpa.



This is a long shot of my Mother's Day Picnic Breakfast. (We're under the big center tree.) This is Lake Murray in La Mesa. (It's really a reservoir, there's little open water here in Southern California.)


This is the view from the opposite direction.


Party Crashers.


And here I am trying to unwrap a roll of paper towels. (Is it just me or are they making plastic indestructible now a days!!)

We had such a good time that we're planning on a Father's Day picnic at another water side location next month. My girls gave me some wonderful presents. The gardener daughter gave me a couple of plants for the front yard remodel. (Due to up coming water rationing we've turned off the lawn sprinklers and are getting ready to take out all the grass. I'll sure miss all that cool green.) She gave me a Tree Mallow, the flowers are 2 inches in diameter.

and a Leptospermum

both plants have very low water requirements.

The traveling Photographer daughter was in Portland, Oregon last month and surprised me with Shibui Sock yarn from Knit Purl.


When she first told me she would be in Portland I told her she could go to Knit Purl and buy me this sock yarn, intending to pay her for it; then I forgot about the whole thing. So I really was surprised when I opened her bag. I have great daughters!

Later that afternoon the four of us went and saw Star Trek. I loved it! Even better was I had enough passes and gift certificates that we ended up paying $1 for 4 tickets, two drinks AND popcorn! Not sure which was more fun the movie or buying the tickets for a buck!

Knitting Content: now what do I do?


These are the cuffs for entrelac fingerless mitts out of Silk Garden Sock.

They're huge - I can pull them all the way up to my elbows and they're still loose. I'm using a size 1 needle and don't think that they would be much smaller if I went down to a zero needle. Only way is to rip the whole thing out and rework the pattern to take one of the squares out - not sure that's going to happen. I even tried them on as sock cuffs and they fit around the largest part of my calf but that would be ALOT of entrelac. Just not sure where I'm going from here.

Ink Spot Scarf doesn't look much different. I've been carrying this around with me but I keep making mistakes and take out as much as I knit. I'm afraid this is going to have to stay home and go back to being my early morning project. It's not a complicated pattern but what with it being black I do have to pay attention and count.

I've started sewing the barn-raising squares, getting the 4 corners to come together is fiddly. It'll get there - eventually. I bought a warm semi-sold chocolate by Mama Blue for the crocheted border.

Still working on my milkweed scarf submission; I'm on the second ball of hand-spun. No pictures because it doesn't look like much until it's blocked. I'm worried about stretching my handspun out at blocking - there are a few thing spots.

A Knitty Sweater has been started in Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool. but that's all that I can say for now.

You've heard of Square Foot Gardening? I found planters that are exactly a square foot and the idea just grabbed me. There are three now but I'm headed out today to see if I can find more since the original three are looking so good.


There is no way I can plant too much flat leaf parsley and cilantro!

And to close here's a photo of a visitor to the front yard. This is taken through the front window, he just sat there and stared - No Fear.

Holiday Panic

I do know how to operate a calendar but I still can't believe it's only 10 days until Christmas. How could it be time for the Holidays when it was 80 degrees last Wednesday?

It's suppose to go from Summer through Autumn and then when the leaves really start to fall you start getting in the Holiday mood. (This year from the heat of the never ending summer the leaves just turned brown but are still stuck on most trees.) I'm not ready! I have no gift knitting to show you. No cookie baking (how could you even think of turning on the oven when it was so hot?)

I'm forcing myself to listen to Christmas Music hoping that will get me in the mood. We pulled down the decorations Saturday and I worked on it off and on this weekend. I did some shopping on Friday that helped - retail therapy I guess. I mostly bought gift cards as my family is the most uncommunicative gift recipients ever. I was going to go out shopping today but it's pouring outside - I Love It! (Finally some weather other than summer heat.) Since I'm staying home this morning I'm wrapping the few presents I've bought throughout the year. Between the economy, finances and time Christmas will be lighter than usual this year.

Daughter #2 and I discussed what cookies we still had time to bake - there won't be much of a variety this year.

Here's a picture of my ONLY Christmas Knitting


Mini-Mittens from Pink Argyle. I originally had visions of making a couple dozen pairs to hang on a tree but I believe I'll stop at one pair, Thank-you. These are TINY things; they just fit the tip of my little finger.

I haven't made any further progress on my Hey Teach sweater. Out of guilt of leaving this project laying there I've been pulling out UFOs; I've finished two pair of socks and am close to finishing a third pair. Pictures as soon as the sun comes out again. We have rain in the forcast for the next week - that has to improve my Holiday Spirits, right?

The majority of the plants around here also seem confused over what Season are we really in but the Christmas Cactus is right on schedule.

More Noro and Giant Flowers

Yes, yet another new thing. Above is a close up of the Midwest Moonlight Scarf from Scarf Style. I'm making it with Noro Silk Garden, color 284. Funny thing about this colorway, I knit through two skeins and it wasn't until I pulled out the third that I found orange in it. Doubled checked that it was the correct color and dyelot - it was. So now what? I removed the orange from the remaining three skeins.

This was very hard for me to decide to do - it felt like cheating. Like there are Noro Police that are watching for tampering. Isn't that silly; it's my project I can do what I want and I didn't want orange in there with all the cool blues and purples.

When I'm working at the Yarn Shop, which is air-conditioned, I work on my Curlicue Afghan. We have another two months of summer weather locally before I can look forward to cool enough evenings to comfortably sit and work on this project in my lap.


I've completed the first four sections and you can see that it's laying pretty flat so far. Keep your fingers crossed that it will continue to lay flat! I'm only using colorways of Noro Silk Garden that don't have reds, yellows or oranges. I haven't done skein surgery so far, just knitting as it comes. I am enjoying knitting this, seeing how the color sequence will play out in each section.


This past Sunday was my Birthday and I received a couple of nice presents. A very nice and roomy Striped Green Tote (from Target) that I've moved my Curlicue project into.


And a very odd vine that I first saw at the San Diego County Fair this year. It was so different from anything I've ever seen before I was intrigued. Daughter #2 set out to ID the plant and then located one for sale. Both daughters gave it to me.

Aristolochia Gigantea; Giant Dutchman's Pipe
The flowers are easily 12" across. Supposedly one of the largest flowers.

This is one of those plants that's pollinated by flies rather than bees. Suppose to smell like rotting meat but so far I haven't smelled anything bad or good.

Else where in the garden I'm vying with a squirrel for tomatoes. He'll eat them greener than I will so he gets two for every one I claim.

(sorry for the blurry picture, it was in the shade and inside the tomato cage)
It could be worse; somehow most of my tomatoes are a yellow variety. Striking looks but little to no taste. I think the six-pack's labels were tampered with, the Red Beefsteak tomatoes came out yellow the same as the six-pack that was suppose to be yellow. I do have some Red Roma tomatoes that are Red and are Roma shaped. Picked my first one today.

The Roma tomatoes are in a different area that the squirrel hasn't found yet. Maybe I'll give the yellow tomatoes to Mr. Squirrel in hopes he leaves my Roma's alone. Think that'll work?

The "C" Word

Yes, don't fall off your chair but I've been Crocheting this week. Last Tuesday I cut the tip of my index finger while slicing a tomato for a sandwich. It's not serious but it's the exact spot I use to push the tip of my knitting needle. Two hours of no knitting and I was already going crazy; that's when I remembered the red yarn I'd bought for the Red Scarf Project. A short search through my pattern binders, a quick run to Michael's to get the right size hook and I was ready.



Just pretend the picture color is a true Christmas Red - I just couldn't make the camera give me the right color.

This is Paton's One-Skein Crochet Scarf in Mauch Chunky in Poppy. Took most of three skeins of this yarn, approx 325 yards because I made the scarf wider to fit into the Red Scarf Project requirments. I'm almost finished with another scarf - same pattern, same yarn. (Right now I can't find a link to the pattern, Sorry.)

No offense meant to Crocheters but crochet just doesn't do it for me like Knitting does. I get bored while I'm crocheting - maybe because this was a very simple pattern - but there's no chance crochet will replace knitting in my life.

We've got a squirrel in the backyard that's getting to the vegetables just before they're ready to come in the house so I've been picking a couple days early.

This is what came in today.

And I leave you with a picture from last year that I took while driving to Flagstaff, Arizona. We were headed east on Highway 10, just west of Palm Springs.