Snapshot For August 25

Weather in SW Michigan ...
Beautiful! The past week has been perfect. Sunny, not too hot, cooler in the evening. What a shame summer is almost over. I'm greedy and would like more.

Really? ...
I have no more use for phone jacks in my house. Everything is 4G wireless now.

Something from the kitchen ...
I bought BBQ ribs from the deli at Meijer's. Cut them in half and had them with rice and brocoli two nights in a row. They were excellent.

I am creating...
Baby hats for Haiti. Here are numbers four, five, and six.

No more plain ribbing. Doing a stitch pattern is much more fun.

I am procrastinating ...
When I write something under this header, I'm finding that it gets done soon after. So do I want to write that I'm procrastinating finishing the decluttering and cleaning of the basement?

I am reading...
Just finished listening to Wicked Game by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush. It is from the library. The blurb on the back sounded like it was going to be a good book, but it was mediocre at best.

I'm not looking for more by the same author.

I am hearing...
The fan is going. Otherwise it's very quiet around here. Nice.

Outdoors ...
I must have thrown some phlox parts in a garden waste pile on the back three acres. They're looking healthy and beautiful. The phlox in my garden look spindly and brown with hardly any blooms.

The lesson: Composting is magic.

A few plans for the next few days
Church tomorrow. If there's an openhouse in a condo community I'm watching, I'll go look around. I'm not ready to move yet, but when the time is right I want to be informed.

Giving thanks for ...
A renewed interest in life.

And ...
This 1970 picture is daughter Heather wearing a dress, pants, and socks knit by Alwina Kern, my maternal grandmother.

I might even find this outfit packed away when I dig back into the basement stuff.

Vitamin D Needs Some Frogging

After row upon row of stockinette, I finally got to the bottom of the body of Vitamin D. The pattern finishes off the bottom edge with six rows of garter stitch on 362 stitches, which I did.

And the bottom curls. It's a seriously strong curl. It's an I don't think this is going to block out curl.

The plan is to frog the garter stitch, pick up 362 stitches and knit five rows of seed stitch. I hope that solves the problem.

Pattern: Vitamin D by Heidi Kirrmaier

Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure. 100% baby alpaca. Sport weight.

Color: Mystery Heather.

Needles: Options #4.

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch in stockinette.

I'm also knitting little hats for an October delivery to Haiti. Just got a call today saying more baby things have been donated so more babies can be dressed and asking if my friend Sherry and I could knit nine more. Sure.

Fog, Phone, and Flowers

A few days ago we had a foggy morning. I noticed that the blue heron who hunts in the pond was sleeping under the willow branches. When it was hazy daylight, I took a few pictures of it as it started its morning hunt for breakfast.

When I traded in my Frontier landline for a Verizon Home Connect 4G home phone (same phone number), I also signed up for a 4G wi-fi connection. There is no more Frontier (non)Communications in my home.

To celebrate, I bought a Android cell phone. Setting it up and learning how to use it has taken most of my spare time this week but it's been fun. Already I don't know how I got along without it.

Do you have any favorite Android apps to recommend?

Brother Dave sent me this eye candy from his garden. He lives in drought free Oregon.

Snapshot for August 11

Weather in SW Michigan ...
After several months of super hot weather, SW Michigan is in the low 60s this morning.

This little phoebe is all fluffed up trying to adjust to the temperature change and I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.

Really? ...
Yesterday I tried to change internists to move to a practice that's more convenient for me and is affiliated with the hospital I prefer. The entire practice was booked for physicals through August of 2013. They told me to make up my mind and call soon if I wanted an appointment for September of 2013.

Something from the kitchen ...
For an afternoon treat I've been cutting up a nectarine and stirring it into a cup of Dannon blueberry Greek yogurt. Delicious. And it helps me avoid eating something less healthy.

I am creating...
A friend from church is assembling newborn baby packets for the Thedes in Haiti. One of the requested items is a hat, so I got some baby yarn and knit a sample to see if it's acceptable.

The hat is knit in a 2x2 ribbing pattern which easily expands to fit a baby head and has enough elasticity that it doesn't fall off. When not on a baby head, the hat looks a little narrow, but it's really OK and very practical.

I am procrastinating ...
Cutting down the willows growing along the edge of the pond. I'm not sure I'm physically able to handle the job and I don't want to pay someone to do it.

It may be a job left for the next owner of this property.

I am reading...
I'm listening to Danielle Steel's Legacy on CD from the library. It's a predictable tale of a modern woman finding an Indian chief's daughter in her ancestry. Perfect knitting background for a moderately challenging pattern like the Vitamin D I'm knitting. Not fast paced enough to relieve the monotony of a simple, 2x2 rib mindless baby hat.

I am hearing...
Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), an album recorded in 2007 by the Terence Blanchard Quintet.

In 2008, it won a Grammy Award for "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album," and it gets my vote for one of the best CDs of all time. Every cut in it speaks to my soul. And the trumpet playing is double awesome. That coming from someone, me, who rarely uses a single awesome.

Outdoors ...
The Rose of Sharon bushes are blooming. They have a long tap root so they happily thrived and multiplied in the drought while other bushes turned brown and withered away.

Something new for me ...
After six months of a Frontier landline that only worked 70% of the time, I'm replacing my landline with Verizon Home Connect which hooks my landline phone into a 4G connection. It has all the same capabilities as a working landline, free long distance in the US and various islands, and I get to keep my same landline phone number.

(Note for the people who call me: My phone number hasn't ported to Verizon yet, so you still may not be able to get through to me. Call my cell phone.)

Home Connect is better than the landline, it costs less than the landline, and all I have to do when I move is unplug it from the electrical outlet and plug it in at my new home.

I asked if I could keep my Mattawan number after I move to Kalamazoo. They told me I could get a new Kalamazoo number for $15, but most people are just keeping their same numbers when they move and even area codes aren't linked to a geographic area anymore.

Giving thanks for ...
The love of God and the comfort of my faith.

And ...
Sunny likes to guard the kitchen from her favorite chair.

Progress on Vitamin D

I've been knitting on Vitamin D (the weird name of this sweater pattern) and making good progress.

There was an option to knit the sleeves in the round or knit them flat and sew the seam. My preference is to knit sleeves in the round. I knit these sleeves flat. My gauge for flat knitting is looser than my gauge for knitting in the round, and I'm guessing the difference would show in this stockinette and/or the sleeve would be too tight.

Each sleeve was knit with one skein of yarn and then put on hold. I'll finish the entire rest of the sweater before I finish knitting them. That way I can try the sweater on and get the sleeves just the length I like.

Pattern: Vitamin D by Heidi Kirrmaier

Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure. 100% baby alpaca. Sport weight.

Color: Mystery Heather.

Needles: Options #4.

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch in stockinette.

A Hat and Two Blobs

Blessing hat #5 is finished.

I know we knitters call this charity knitting, but I don't like to think of it that way. I'm praying that someone loves this hat and it's a blessing for them to receive it.

Anna Marie, the doily, is on row 38 of 62.

I'm in the process of getting 272 stitches knit onto one needle, so I couldn't get Anna flatter than this. Trust me, she's looking good.

She's lace. She's going to be difficult to show from now to finish unless I put her on multiple needles again so I can spread her out.

Between the 100% cotton yarn and the complex pattern to follow, she's going slow. Plus I take time to count stitches after each quarter round. Better to be super careful than to have to try and frog this slippery yarn.

This week I've just been knitting on Vitamin D. Last night I finished the last super long row of left front, left sleeve, back, right sleeve, right front. There are 386 stitches on the needle, resulting in a blob.

Tonight I hope to get it split into parts and start knitting on the left sleeve. That should result in a better picture next time. Or maybe not. Fuzzy gray yarn isn't the most photogenic.