Picking up where I left off

Okay, looks like Blogger has managed to fix whatever the problem was. I have to "sign in" to their new "Cloud Picker" thing. Gotta love technology! I read about cloud storage in college last year. It will be huge. You can store an infinite amount of stuff, supposedly free of hacking, or people stealing your identity. Sounds too good to be true if you  ask me. There is and always will be someone smart enough to figure out a way around it.

     So, here's where I was yesterday:

Faire Isle Socks

cuff and leg almost done



Check my floats. Nice and even!




a view from my needle's perspective

 Mom's birthday is coming up, and I wanted to get these done for the Sock of the month club on Ravelry, and also have a nice gift for her. Although, when I looked in my sock drawer, I noticed I only have one pair of hand-knit socks to my name. How did that happen? I'm the knitter, darn it! Has that happened to you? Get so busy sharing the love you forget to love on  yourself a bit? February's socks are going to be for me, my friends. Selfish, I know. OH well.
Have a great Sunday!

I recently acquired this photo of my mother's grandmother knitting. She is wearing moccasins! Great-gramma Polly was a wonderful lady.  I did not know she knitted so seeing this was really cool for me. I think she would be happy knowing I am doing my part to keep the craft alive.

I am a member of Ravelry, an online social site for us knitters, crocheters, weavers and spinners. Once a person joins, you can find all kinds of groups to affiliate with. One such group I am having a blast with is the SISC (self-imposed-sock-club). We are following the Yarn Harlot's lead with a challenge to knit a pair of socks every month. We have quite the group so far, lots are already done with their January sock. I started mine:

At the moment, this is all the blogging I will be able to do. For some reason when I go to upload photos, this "Google Cloud Picker" keeps coming up and it's VERY annoying. I wish "they" would fix it. Grr!!

Just another day in paradise

I didn't get much knitting done this weekend, but I sure had a great time writing for my Tech Writing class, editing photos, and spending time with my kids.

In lieu of my incessant yammering, I present some pretty things to see.

Oh and I also signed up with QOOP to sell my photography. Here's the link!
http://my.qoop.com/store/Desert-Flower-Creations-9227779640536153



My new Banner on QOOP




Bronze statue at the High Desert Museum, Bend OR.




Near my Uncle's place in Eastern OR




Vicki wearing her new "Vicki" hat! Lovely!



Not too far from the horse's location  is this old homestead.

Looking forward to a good week. I have lots to keep me busy creating, writing, and taking pictures. Life couldn't be better. I even started exercising again. I even put "less sugar" in my coffee. Shazam! Did you feel the earth move just a bit? Yeah. Me and .. and.. L-l-lesssss sugar in my coffee. I think I can. I think I can.

Staying in

At the moment, it's raining ice. ICE. Seriously. Raining I.C.E.  I was going to drive to town and deliver the baby hats I have collected so far to the Cascade Medical Team meeting, but not now. My little car doesn't dance with ice. It might, but I don't want to take that chance.

     Now that I think about it, I haven't said much about CMT.(Cascade Medical Team, not CMT music station- get it straight, now..;) The link the their website: http://www.cmt-oregon.org/Site/Welcome.html
My good friend, Jill is a surgical tech that started going last year. Her parents go almost every year. They travel to Solala, Guatemala, set up a surgical unit in an old military base, and perform much-needed surgical procedures for the inhabitants. But there is MUCH more to it than I can say here. Midwives, Construction teams, and a support team all go. I believe there were over a hundred people that went, on their own dime last year. Jill and I cannot go at the same time because our work won't allow it. (There are only two of us who do our job)
    
     You should look into it. If you feel the urge, make a hat, a scarf, or socks for the newborns. They are about the size of our preemies. (4 pounds or less) the Oregon knitter's group on Ravelry has my mailing address, and if you private email me through this blog, I will give it to you. I will get them to the team. I want to go next year for certain. I suppose I need to start a fundraiser for me to go.

     Way back early December, the owner of the business where I did the Bazaar had me design a hat for her daughter-in-law. Here's what I have so far:

I'm learning how to chart and design. It's fun. It's also annoying. Especially when you're trying to concentrate, and distractions like email, kids, phone calls, and studying get in the way. ;) I think I counted the same row almost three times, and still had to write it down. Maybe I just have too much going on. sigh. Big, deep, from-the-toes sigh.

I also organized my bags for the Sock of the Month group on Ravelry:

I have a bunch of Sockotta yarn from almost 10 years ago (!!) that needs to get knitted up. I put those in the bags. I decided to just pick a random bag, then decide on a pattern. Self-striping yarn doesn't look good with certain patterns. I'm stubborn about that. Not wasting my hand-time on an ugly sock.

This is what happens when the wrong hands get into the yarn box. I salvaged most of it, but still followed the KISS theory and cut the tangled mess off.

I don't have near as much acrylic as I thought I did. That's a good thing. The pile is dwindling steadily. I am pleased with that. What I do have an ungodly amount of, is cotton. I'm thinking, "crocheted rugs' and "dishrags". Soon.



Have a wonderful Sunday. I have a date with Jack Skellington and a hat project.

Add your New Year's Cliche here

Epic! Awesome! Amazing! Magical! Okay, I'm done. Happy New Year!!
I remember waaaay back in 1987 listening to Prince's "Party like it's 1999" and reeling at the fact that I would be.. OMG 34! in 2000. Now, it's 2011, and, like 'Maxine" I could give a rip less how old I am. Besides - "It's not the years honey, it's the mileage" (Indiana Jones). Every mile has a memory for me. And I am SO glad I'm past the young mindset. I would much rather re-live my 30's than I would EVER my 20's.
Do you think about that?

In the meantime, let's ring in the new year with beauty.



My daughter wearing "Vicki"



Such girly girly-ness!

My mother's hat, "Berries" knitted with Knit Picks Pattern.



Yvette Entrelac Beret and Mitts from Knit Picks.




And the back view. They will love to see you walk away too!

 Such a wonderful way to end the old year.

I fufilled one dream already. I have a pattern for sale on Ravelry! I was so giddy with excitement I made like 3 trips to the bathroom when I got it all uploaded, opened my store, etc. (that's yet another tale to tell- let's just say I am glad I know my way around a computer). But, success! the "Mossy" hat is a pattern! yay!

Another goal is to open a storefront on Facebook, and get some more instructional videos up on Ustream. And get into OSU full time, and finish my Bachelor's degree. I like learning, but come on. I will be paying off student loans when I'm retired if I don't get my patootey in gear.

Other than that, the usual applies. (here's the cliche` part in case you missed it). Eat better, exercise more, blah blah blah..

What are some of your plans? I'd love to hear them!