Time Flies...When You're Knitting

No pictures today (of Leda), but I am officially and happily back to my previous spot. All-in-all an enjoyable 10 days.

I've been thinking of my friends lately...a couple very close friends are going through some really difficult medical situations. And once again I can't help but marvel how crafts are such a Godsend. The built-in friendships that occur when you create your projects, rip them out, look forward to the next ones. The built-in activity that keeps you company when you can't sleep, works as a built in watchdog that lets you escape into a project if you just want to be by yourself, keeps your mind busy enough to pass the time while waiting for a phone call or a office visit.

On Monday, Dave and I went to the 3rd Annual WesFest concert. A benefit to fund the Berklee College of Music's endowed scholarship for students of the bass guitar. Wes Wehmiller is the inspiration for the scholarship, and every year I wish more and more that I had known him well. Based on my love for his family and friends, I know that he was truly someone special.

The show was unbelievable. Fantastic music with musicians that I love and respect...all of them surpassing every high expectation that I had for them. This was the first time that I had ever seen legendary gospel bassist, Andrew Gouche, and he and his band were truly amazing. And of course, Mike Keneally, Muther Eff, Kira Small, Danny Mo....WOW! I still haven't come down from the experience. The website has links to all of their bands...and I think you'll be amazed!

Time Flies When You're Ripping

I have nothing. No update pictures. No rows. Just a very pretty yarn ball (no tangles, thank you) that once was Rows 9 - 39 of Motif 4. Grrrrr..... It's a good thing that I'm doing this for fun. ;-) The funny thing is that I still don't exactly know how I managed to rip out all of those stitches in such an ugly way. I just know that I had my knitting on my footrest right next to my laptop. I got up (quickly) and was carrying my laptop so that I could answer my work phone. 15 minutes later I had one ugly tangled mess. Needles out and yarn wound tightly around the cord on my computer. OK, I lied....I guess I know exactly how this happened. So, here's a picture of the prize. Again - total rights/acknowledgements to Melanie from Pink Lemon Twist for the beautiful pattern.

What did you knit today??

You know what I did with my knitting today? Work on Leda's Dream? No. Start my sock? No. The Wedding Cake afghan? Nope.

I used my knitting bag as a footrest. A nice comfy footrest. Oh, and I cracked a pistachio shell with one of my old knitting needles. I promise I didn't bend it. I just needed the leverage.

And then I watched movies...all day long. Lots and lots of movies.

First I got sucked in by Shadowlands . I really like it a lot, and it makes me cry every time I see it. I don't think that it is out on DVD yet, but they've been showing it lately on Ovation, so maybe it is coming out soon.

Then Who Framed Roger Rabbit? came on. I have the DVD, and it still sucked me in again. It's just clever and funny.

War Games was next with a very very young Matthew Broderick. I was in high school when that came out, so I actually remember it as a theater release.

And now I'm watching Surf's Up. Very cute so far.


Later, dudes.

Leda's Dream - No Nightmare

Boy, I thought that my "Leda's Dream" stole was going to turn into "Leda's Nightmare". I had set it aside for a couple months because I was working on Christmas and Birthday gifts. But, I love this project and picked it up again, thought to myself, "should I put in a lifeline?", and promptly didn't. I was fine for 4.5 seconds, when I realized that I had flipped my charts when I converted them to my new chart board. Oops. Tink. Tink. Tink.

BTW, I'm actually about 4 times further than this photo. It's a little too dark to take a new one, though.

The funny thing is that I used to be a little bit intimated by going back. This time, I looked at it like a puzzle, and I was able to go down a couple rows to correct the yarn overs, etc. I spent almost an hour getting it fixed...but I did it. I'm pretty pleased.

Comet Wall Ornament Finished

I really like this one a lot.

Fun to crochet and the thread just shines...especially when it catches the sunlight. I used DMC 5 and a US8 Boye hook. I can't wait to make one for myself, but I sure hope that my mom-in-law likes this for her birthday.

It's surprising durable, too. I've had to manhandle it a bit, and it has travelled in wind and rain with absolutely no harm to it. Good thing, since it's home will be in snowland. :-)

This is my first post directly into blogger. I'm officially switching over to it from Live Journal. There's a lot that I like about Live Journal...especially the additional templates, editing tools, etc. but Blogger has 3 huge selling points for me.

1. You can post video.
2. More people have Blogger accounts, so I might get more comments. (Please)
3. I can have buttons somewhere other than my profile. Hurray!

Magic Crochet is Magic

My superfantastic uncle Rich gave me a great box of Crochet and Knit books from his Mom, Doreen. Many years ago, Doreen and Art, graciously let me and Mom stay with them when I was recovering from surgery. We spent many many hours going through all of her craft books. In fact, I still have some photocopies of afghan patterns that she gave me. Long story longer...after she moved from her house, the books went to Rich...and then to me. And I LOVE them! So far, I've completed the Santa stocking. And now, (please don't be reading this Mom-in-law!), I'm making this really pretty Wall Ornament from a Magic Crochet magazine. It's so much fun to do. I don't really know what the heck I'm doing. (That's a little bit of a lie, but not too far from the truth.) Anyway, I'm really enjoying it, and I've already completed the center floral motif. More later.

I did complete another one of the San Diego Fire Blankets.

Honest, It's Finished

Dave was a little shy about having his picture taken, so I decided to model his hat. (BTW, it does look great on him.)

On another note, I'm pretty excited. I checked Ravelry so that I could add the Director's Hat as a project. I had a message and was asked if my Santa Stocking could be used as the photo for the pattern author. :-) That just made my day.

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Dave did offer to pose with our pet tumbleweed. Believe it or not, this thing jumped over our fence.