Martins in the Morning and other birds, too.

It sounded like a full orchestra tuning up out back this morning! Such goings on around the Martin Colony House! Scout Peabody still had his "tag-a-long" young one and he is trying to get it to go find it's own mate by pushing it off the house and chasing it away.

The rest of the Martins were popping in and out of various apartments and interacting with each other - all with much singing and screeing. The Beardsleys still seem to prefer the upper right apartment on the human house side, while Scout P would rather be on the other side in the same place as last year - away from the humans. He has always been a bit skittish. Mr B however, likes to listen to my music and sing along with it sometimes and he even sits and listens to me talk to him. Mrs B tolerates me just fine.

Mr and Mrs Cardinal showed up and even a pair of Blue Jays! The Doves (oh, we have multitudes of these things and also Grackles) were eating the stale sunflower seeds I put out the other day. Didn't want to just throw the seeds out! There were a couple of other gray birds I can't identify yet, too. Haven't seen the squirrels yet.

Now, you may think I'm a a bit nuts for naming these wild things, but I can only tell the two apart by where they are on the house and by some of their habits. I did not name any of the others because I could not find any little thing that set them apart.

This year, I don't know what to expect because we could have more than 4 families move in. I just have to keep watching! And this year, I have a covered porch to shade me from the heat of summer and late spring. What unexpected fun!

The Purple Martins are here! Scout Peabody was followed by one of his younguns and Mr Beardsley came, too! They showed up Friday, didn't see them for a while and then I saw 2 of them briefly Monday morning before I headed out for the day. I'm glad I got the house opened up in time! I love hearing them sing. Mr B is very, very vocal and he has a bit of a crest on his head. The only way I could tell which bird was which at first was where they went in the birdhouse! This will be the second year for our house. Last year we had 4 nests! And only lost 1 (maybe 2) babies. Now, we have a swing under the porch roof and I certainly do enjoy going out with my coffee and or knitting to listen and watch the families interact. I never considered myself a bird-watcher but I guess I am!

My First Sock-a-versary!

This month is one year since I made my first sock! And it's also my Continentality-versary, too! I also taught myself the Continental method of knitting last February. I don't know how many pairs of socks I actually completed last year - must figure that out - but by July I had made 11 pairs. I really, really need to get busy on Ravelry and update my entries.

I am wearing the second pair of socks finished this year - Ivory Meilenweit Broad Spiral Ribs. Finished them last Friday the 15th. And here they are:

These are for warmer weather and they are shorter than my winter socks. Heehee! You can see where my slippers have been!

First Pair of the New Year

I just finished my first pair of socks for 2008!

Pattern: Broad Spiral Rib ala B. Walker

Yarn: Smooshy by Dream in Color, color Gothic Rose

Needles: Addi Turbo size 0 (2mm)

Used: PGR short row heel and worked toe-up.

I am working on the Ivory pair. Number one is going up the leg.

I got most of this sock done at the hospital this week. Mom had cataract surgery (yikes) left eye. The toe of number two is waiting for a needle. I got a bad case of start-itis before Thanksgiving and used all the needles. I do not like when I do that! Especially when so much time passes before I can get to them all. I seem to lose momentum with some of the designs I pick and then they just sit. Well, this time the culprit is TIME itself. Which has been short in the past few months. I do like the Broad Spiral Rib pattern - it's easy to memorize and I can even work it in public. Plain ribbing is so boring! I have a pair almost up to the heels in plain stockinette and I don't want to work on them they are so boring. Well, maybe I should just bite the bullet and get them past the heel and then work BSR up the legs!

Rainy Monday - Time to KNIT

It's rainy and very cold outside! Supposed to be like this all week.

We've had the cable guy out here 3, no 4 times recently. Then the internet went out (the other guy caused it) so we had another guy out for THAT. Well, he messed up the TV again! ARgh!\#! He wasn't even supposed to mess with the TV part at all, just the internet. Annoying! The ijits think they know *every*thing. Yikes. OK. Rant over. Now to more important things:

Between loads of laundry today, I made this:I used the pattern I made up for the mini stockings I put in some of our C-mas Cards. I was aiming for earring size but it came out too big. Sooooo I ordered Carol's Los Lobe Hose pattern! Why re-invent the wheel when her pattern is already done and so cute? I have plenty of Koigu and Lorna's Laces leftovers to play with when it gets here.
The above sock (and it's mate) is almost done (see last post) and I've started another pair of Broad Spiral Ribs in ivory Meilenweit. (see below - the darn pics got mixed up again).
This is a larger row counter I made for the Padova sweaters I have going. I really do like these nifty tools! Much better than moving a post-it-note up and down a chart!
Above is the started BSRib. Notice the row counter in use. Below is K.C. trying to entice me away from the computer.
"C'mon, Mom, let's play! Aren't I too cute to ignore?"

New Year, New Projects

Socks in progress: Broad Spiral Rib (ala B. Walker) - both socks turned heels and working up the legs. I enjoy working both socks at the same time, each on it's own needle (magic loop). The yarn is Dream in Color - Smooshy, "Gothic Rose" which is a dark red. It's yummy and Smooshy is sooooo soft! A real pleasure to knit.
I made some row counters last weekend while my DH was in Houston at a Marathon. These are 8-row counters. To use, you just put the needles into the appropriate ring at the start of each row. The jump rings are 2 different sizes (as are the beads - size 8 and 'E' beads). This way, if there is a plain row between pattern rows, you can use the 'empty' ring to mark this row.

I also re-organized my beads while hunting for some for the project and put away beads I was finished with. I also am in the process of cleaning out my studio closet - which was all messed up from the holidays. My studio is slowly returning to 'normal' as I clean it up and de-clutter at the same time. The Goodwill box is full and I have to start another one!

This is my very first, officially framed, watercolor painting! I gifted it for Christmas. My Uncle loves his little backyard workshop and I happened to get it in photos I was taking of my grand-girls in April 2006. I Photoshopped the girls out of 2 photos and combined them to get what I wanted. Also took a little imagination for some parts!

There are some license plates hanging on the porch and I think these are from his old vehicles. I used watercolor, color pencil and pen & ink techniques. I had so much fun and learned tons. It took about a month to do with all the holiday preparations. There were some parts I had to re-draw into a watercolor pad and experiment with techniques and colors. I was very worried about the "pink" pavers but I think I did ok. It took many, many layers of color to get them right! Oh, the size is about 8" x 10". I want to do some more paintings but am conflicted because I also want to knit!

I have 4 sweaters in progress: 2 are "Padova" from Louisa Harding in her book "Venizia II" 2007, one for me, one for Mom. Mine is made from LH LaSaluteQuatro shade 03 (red mix). Mom's is Alpaca from Blue Sky in a yummy dark amethyst. So soft and pretty! the La Salute Q is fuzzy - it's mohair and it doesn't shed much! I have 1 sleeve complete so far. Lots to do yet but Hey, I do have yarn for the winter! Let it ice up all it wants!

Bunny Rescue!

Well, this is the last thing I expected to do today - rescue a baby bunny! When my DH got back from the dentist, I heard him yell and went outside to see what the.....was going on. He called me over to see this poor baby bunny laying in the grass on the side of the driveway. A cat was under my truck. Needless to say I yelled at that cat!
I got my gardening gloves and a box. He was bleeding just a little bit on his neck. Apparently, the cat had carried him as they will and was just sitting there watching him as my DH came up the driveway.
Not knowing anything about rabbits other than they are very soft, angora bunny hair can be spun, and they are vegetarians - we took him to the Humane Society where they took him in to the vet there and said he'll be ok.
We know at least one neighbor has a large white rabbit, so when no one answered the door, I took the above pic and left them a note. I hope they go and get him!

Last Chance

I just HAD to get in one post for December - it's been NUTS around here! I'll have to post for real after the DH goes back to work on Jan 7th!

Crazy month and too much going on. - OK last chance - talk to ya'll later with pics!

Ooops! Forgot to say that my KC is in remission! No insulin shots! Lucky kitty!

Holy Cow! Where did October go??

Between doc and vet appointments and the regular business of my life - October is almost gone already! DH is on his last week of vacation and we've only been to 2 places - day trips because we have to be back home to give the cat his insulin shots at 8am and 8pm. The weather has been GLORIOUS for both those days! It's actually fall-like for most of the day! We hope to get in at least one more trip - to Bastrop State Park - to hike around in the weather and the trees. I love trees.

This is my Ice Cream Shrug in progress: I did complete it on October 21 and wore it on the Day Trip to the Natural Bridge Caverns and The NB Wildlife Ranch (San Antonio).

This is The Greens Shrug (working name) in progress as of last night:

These are Eyelet Rib socks (WendyKnits pattern) completed the pair Oct 17:

One Mod: I used 4 rows between instead of 3.
K.C. is doing ok for now. At first the Vet had him on 2 units of insulin, then on 3, now he's on 2.5! Which is NOT easy to do - there's no half-mark on the syringe! But for him, I'll do just about anything, as long as he thinks it's ok.

October at last!

I finished some socks while taking care of Mom. These are my Dragonscale socks. More details on my Ravelry page in my projects. (I am knittybabe).

The Dragons in my new MaryJane Birkis! I love these shoes. I got brown, too.
Ravelry is great! I am slowly getting things put in. Haven't been home much. K.C. is doing a little better. Learned how to give him insulin shots (twice a day) and he went in thursday for blood work. He was soooooo MAD when we picked him up. He had to stay all day for the glucose curve. He would not stop growling until my DH took him outside! Any time anyone or anything made noise he'd growl louder. Poor baby!

We had to up his dose to 3 (from 2) so hopefully that will be better. He is still very tired from being there and being tortured. ;-) I hate to leave him. Well, we have a 2-week interval this time. I had to hide the carrier as soon as he got out of it. No reminders!

Mom started physical therapy this week! She is doing better and better. Still hurts, of course, but more movement today than on monday. OK. must go to bed....