Rest in Peace

My morning routine consists of flipping on the tv and iPad, almost simultaneously.  After checking emails and playing a couple of scrabble moves with friends and family, then one of the first web sites that I look at is our local obituaries.

Since I worked a shift last Saturday at our local in-patient hospice, I wanted to check to see if any of "my" patients had passed during the week.  Yes, one of the patients of a family I was privileged to both serve and talk with had died the afternoon I left shift.  Cancer was her cause of death.

We are privileged to have such a caring and compassionate staff at Western Colorado Hospice and Palliative Care. 

And on another note, my friend who had the mastectomy this week was informed by her surgeon that he "got it all" and that neither chemotherapy nor radiation would be required as adjuvant therapies.  That was certainly good news!  And by the way, only ONE of her lymph nodes was removed (sentinel node).  This less aggressive method of taking only the sentinel lymph node goes along with the current thinking regarding lymph node removal cited in the most recent literature.

For all of you undergoing aggressive medical treatments of any kind, keep up the good fight.

Wrens With Attitude

I came across a cool blog post by Andrea where she was talking about birds, their teeth and their expressions.  She says, in part

...no real bird has choppers like cartoon birds. Here is a list of cartoon birds that at one time or another have had dental issues: Woody Woodpecker, Donald Duck, Woodstock, Daffy Duck and Iago. Some claim that the whole cartoon bird with teeth phenomenon started in an attempt to give a bird the character of a human.

Andrea then goes on to say that her images may portray the bird's expressions to be surprised, angry, happy, etc.

Cute expressions, eh?  I think she captured them pretty well.  She has a lot of cool artwork for sale in her etsy store that you can find at BadBirds Art and Embroidery Patterns.

Along that same line, here is a close up of some wrens I am working on in oils.  The canvas is 12" x 36", gallery wrapped.  I'll add some different bird expressions on the second canvas, using some of Andrea's tips.

Ash Wednesday 2011 and Links

Most of the web sources speak of Ash Wednesday and Catholics.  But ... how about Lutherans, Episcopalians, and other Christian denominations and their observance of Ash Wednesday?  We observe it with ashes placed on our foreheads, also.

From Pie and Coffee, a thoughtful link with this passage included:

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you”  –Matthew 6:16-18

from 24 US News:

Traditionally, the ash is a sign of repentance and carry the cross of ashes tell the world that you repent of your sins. The ashes were mixed with holy water burned the remains are made of palm leaves of the state of this year’s Palm Sunday service.

from People for Others:Change and conversion are not the same thing…

Change is required of us all. No one and nothing can stand still, cemented in the place, the work, the era that we had come to take for granted. However comforting the thought, however desirable the situation, what I am now, where I am now, will not always be.

Forcing Hyacinth Bulbs in Water

From The University of Minnesota  Extension Service, some advice was given here:

Hyacinths, crocus, and narcissus also can be forced in water. Special clear, glass vases are made for hyacinths or crocus. The bulb is placed in the upper portion, water in the lower portion. The vase is then kept in a cool, dark room (preferably under 50 degrees F) for four to eight weeks until the root system has developed and the top elongates. At this point it should be placed in a bright window, where the plant soon will blossom.

On March 4, 2011, I dug up some grape hyacinths from the back yard and put them in small glass jars and placed those vase jars in a box in the garage.  The temperature in the garage averages about 50 degrees F, but is colder at night.  A few more bulbs were placed on the kitchen window sill.  We will do a simple experiment and see what happens in a few days.

...more information about forcing bulbs from The World of Gardens:

Put the bulbs on the vases (one bulb per vase) and refrigerate for 12-14 weeks. During this time make certain that the bulb’s bottom is in contact (barely) with the water. Keep the vases full at all times! During these weeks, the bulbs will develop roots growing into the water. Remember, the bulb must be in contact with water. Just putting a bulb in a bag in the refrigerator doesn’t work (believe me, I tried it once). After the 12-14 weeks (better to error on the long side), remove the vases and place in a sunlit window. Within a few weeks the bulb will sprout and bloom. Crocus blooms are so fun to do this way. Hyacinth smell wonderful.

Update: 3 days later:...

here is a picture of a few of the dozen glass vases on the kitchen window sill, receiving sunlight from the west:

Those vases in the forefront were moved from the garage after 3days without sunlight, and you can see that there is no green growth on the tops.  The hyacinth roots on the left of the picture were in filtered sunlight all weekend, and are looking much healthier.  It is a learning process. 

We'll see if those bulbs actually bloom indoors.

Baktus Scarf

This Baktus scarf (free download here)

although unblocked, holds its shape amazingly well.  It is made from hand dyed sock yarn by Jelly Bean in the UK, edged with lace weight yarn in a contrasting color.

Designer Strikkelis says:

This is my version of a scarf that was all over the Norwegian blogs a couple of years ago.  The principle is to take one or a couple of skeins, and knit a triangle using your exact amount of yarn.

A good way to use up one of those single skeins of sock yarn in bright colours.To be able to know when I had used up half of my skein, I used a scale:
I weighed my yarn before casting on. Weighing the skein every now and then, I started decreasing when I had about 50% of the skein left.

This is a clever way to never run out of yarn while knitting up this scarf.

Since the yellow yarn used for the crochet edging was lace weight, I used the navajo plying technique to hold three strand together, thus making a three plied yarn with a more substantial look and feel.

Lucy Neatby gives a YouTube video on the navajo technique of creating 3 strands of yarn from 1:

Breast Cancer: One in Eight Women Diagnosed but does it have to be my friend?

Another friend has to have a lumpectomy in the next few days.  Well *&%$#@*  ...darn.

Breaking news on breast cancer can be assessed on the following sites:

Lots of facts here and televised, too  recently on Oprah
More here about less under arm lymph node removal  and also here at the ACS site (2/9/2011) and here on the UK Daily Mail (at 2/9/2011) (Yes!)
Go to Science Daily with news about breast cancer rates NOT declining in the US (at 2/28/2011)
Here is information about smoking and breast cancer (at 3/2/2011)

Enough.  Go get your mammogram, lady friends. 

Stay calm and focused, special friend, as you see your surgeon today.

The Favorite Spot

Nephew Jeremy McCarroll, avid camper, hiker, fisherman, father, worker, writer, and all around good person, has a favorite place.  That place is a good place to be and is detailed here on his blog.  If you don't go to the link and browse around, I'll make it easy on you:

The Spot and its rules:

1. The Spot is The Spot. It has always been The Spot, even before it was The Spot.

2. There is no way to The Spot. The Spot is the way.

3. You cannot find The Spot, but if you look for it in earnest, it will find you.

4. The Spot looks as good on a beautiful spring day as it does in the dead of winter. The rule is you can’t argue with that.

5. Respect The Spot and The Spot will respect you. Disrespect it and you may take the Walk of Shame.

6. Never disclose the location of The Spot to those who aren’t prepared to truly know The Spot.

7. There really aren’t any rules for The Spot.

(Jeremy and his daughter from his blog)

I love that he said of his weekend camping experience that he was not rushing to find the best camping spot with the most level tent ground and that he said in yesterday's post:

I guess what I’m getting at is I am passing on my spot, the best one, to the next person who gets there.

And so I thought about that for a bit. 

 

Here is my Spot that is:

• a place where I am alone (relatively) with thoughts
• a place where I can love and be loved
• a time apart when reflections relate to actions and consequences can be examined
• where I can be productive and where the end results might help someone else along the road

…generally, that spot is in my easy chair in my house, with knitting in my lap and large windows to look through and beyond.  But it often changes.

Where What is your Spot?

Be sure to check out Jeremy's Glossary of Camping Terms.  It is a hoot and oh, so accurate. ( I've been known to walk the Walk of Shame.)

The Human Web

I am still surprised the six degrees of separation theory among humans actually occurs.

Sunday morning I was breakfasting with a woman whom I had never before met.  We were both in Phoenix for a few days but, coincidentally, were both living in Colorado.

Not five minutes into chit chat, she mentioned she was from Castine, Maine but was staying in Colorado for a few months.  Hmm...I knew of that small town of Castine, Maine.  Why, ten years ago while on a cooking class vacation in Italy for a week, I had met a couple who were from Castine.

Hmm... the man's name was Harry and I had a recipe book he had compiled and sold in 2000.  And by golly, that cookbook was still on my kitchen counter. In fact, the book and Harry are mentioned in this post from almost year ago, along with one of my favorite recipes from his cookbook:

The woman across from me gasped.  Harry and his wife were her very good friends.

She wrote down the names of the recipes that were my favorites from the book and said she would be sure to tell Harry that we had met.

Six degrees of separation

(picture from Wikipedia)

It is a small world.

Crochet Sue and Ophrah

Do you crochet?

(from Craftzine)
Sue would be cool at my play station.

Meltdown at the end of Day One

Those 5 days (3 in tournament play) in Phoenix went quickly while playing the 23rd (?) annual Phoenix Scrabble tournament with co-directors Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen.  Eighty opponents played one another in mostly good humored competition.

One quick story:

At the end of the first day of tournament play, a Division One player (top division) was frustrated when his opponent played a seven letter word and bingoed out, leaving him with a rack of tiles counting against him.  He slammed down his tile rack and stormed out of the tournament room and did not return to play the remainder of the tournament.

The word his opponent played against him was
 " M E L T D O W N " .

"Good News and Ah-Choos" by NPR - Health

The podcast showcased here is important to me because it deals with breast cancer and spina bifida, two health conditions with which I am much too well versed.

If either breast cancer and lymph node removal and/or spina bifida has touched your life, please go to this site and do a quick download and listen to the first ten minutes of  THIS PODCAST.

(photo shown at referenced NPR Health site)

You will be happy to know there is some good progress with research and surgeries going on with both conditions.

Make Custom Buttons the Easy Way

That clay you buy in hobby stores has so many uses that I completely forgot that it could be used to make buttons!!

It is an amazingly easy tool for creating beads.  A couple of years ago, I did a post on making beads for earrings, thusly:

(layering colored clay with gold leaf)

(rolled into a tube, cut into pieces, and then rolled again in the palm of hand for a bead)

There was a stash of clay still in my craft closet that had not seen the light of day since 2008.

Thanks to KnitDragonFlies and her recent blog post on making custom polymer clay buttons, she brought to light using polymer clay for making buttons.  So out came the Fimo from the box: a bit dry, but still pliable after exercising my hands with the stiff polymer.

It would be just the ticket to make one inch buttons to match my newly sewn Knitting Workshop Tribeca Shirt.

I mixed some blues and green Fimo together to create an aqua-ish color that matched the blouse fabric, then streaked it with purple straight from the package, layering them together and rolling this mixture into a tube.  Then the tube was cut into 1/4 inch circles and further rolled down to make a flatter circle.  The top of a pill bottle was used to cut out button circles, similar to cutting out biscuits from dough.

I also made some matching beads for earrings from the striped purple and aqua clay mixture.  Then the cookie sheet came out and the beads and buttons were baked for 30 minutes at 230 degrees F.

After cooling, I applied clear nail polish for a lacquer finish.   Here are the buttons pinned onto the fabric:

The aqua is not a perfect match to the fabric, but they will do.  And it was fun to create a one-of-a-kind accessory.

Friends Forever

First aired in 2009, with over 2 million hits, you might not have seen this...

77,777 visits to my corner of the world

After almost three years of blogging on this site:


Compared to The Huffington Post with 28 million visits a month, my blog readership is definitely small potatoes. 

But that number will all the sevens in it just struck me as somehow significant.

Take the 10 Minute Art Challenge

Ninety-one entries as of 2-9-11 came into The Daily PaintWorks Challenge found here.  This is a fun experiential art challenge.  More information from the same site says:

The rules: Get a timer. Divide your canvas or canvases (I used 2 - 6x6in Raymar canvases) into 8 or so small squares (or rectangles). They should be smallish – a couple or 3 inches square or thereabouts – they don’t have to be perfect. Now choose ONE object. Just one. Set your timer for 10 minutes. Paint your object in the first square. When the timer goes off – stop! I mean it. Repeat until you are done. You can rotate your object and/or change the light for each new square.

The objective: You want to get a feel for your object in terms of brush strokes. Make sure you SQUINT and SIMPLIFY! Whatever you do, DON’T get bogged down by the details or you’ll never finish. Try to think of it NOT as an apple (or whatever you’ve chosen) but rather just shapes and colors and values. Paint what you see – not what you THINK you see. If you find yourself doing the same thing every time – experiment! You won’t learn unless you try something different. Expect the first one to be bad – you are getting a feel for just how long 10 minutes is. They will only get better.

Carol Marine of Austin posted the above challenge on the Daily PaintWorks website.

Here are some of the entries for Carol's challenge:

Now YOU try it.

Here is an owl I chose to view, and then paint:

Looking for shapes?  I think not...still too focused on detail!

The fourth attempt was the better one.  But it still had too much detail.  However, it did look a bit less like a cat and a bit more like an owl.  Back to the drawing board.

The 10 Minute Challenge was a great exercise. IMHO.

Norwegian Shawl (Sivia Harding)

Four months later, the Sivia Harding Norwegian Shawl found here on Ravelry is finished.  Dimensions are 74" x 33" from  2-ply, Cascade lace weight yarn, hand dyed in Cherry Creek, NC.

(blocked and drying)

Here is the couch wearing the shawl:

Of all the shawls in all the towns I've ever knit, this one was the most difficult (for me) to finish.  But I'm glad I did, and ya can't say it will ever be too small at over six feet in width.

Sivia Harding has a wonderful line of knit patterns found here at Sivia Harding Knit Design.

Half-Time at Super Bowl

Were you underwhelmed with Super Bowl entertainment?

The Black Eyed Peas brought the youth, but little else. "I Gotta Feeling" the NFL will be looking to try and find a better balance in time for Indianapolis next year.

picture: Dave Martin/AP

Hope your snacks and friends made it more enjoyable.

Thursday's Thought

Thanks, Dottie.

Hospice and Knitting: The Beat Goes On

A new group is starting up tonight at our local hospice (Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Colorado) where I volunteer.  The group is "Knit & Chat" for both staff and volunteers.  It will be a chance to socialize, knit and gain information to help with patient care.

In 2010, the Education Department at hospice offered Online Education.  I completed a course in one day entitled "Because You Never Died Before".  Great information, excellent speakers, and a quick test at the end.  I'll be taking more online courses this year.  We will likely chat about some of the new online offerings while we knit.

This is my current knitting project, still on the needles, and found here on Ravelry.  It is the Norwegian Scarf found at Silvia Harding Knit Design.  The yarn is laceweight, 100% silk, hand dyed, purchased in London in October.  About another month of intermittent knitting, and it should be finished. This Norwegian Scarf is what I'll be working on tonight at the Knit & Chat group.

This  is the Bandito scarf I finished on Sunday.  It was an easy pattern with good stitch definition, and I'll definitely be making more scarves from the Bandito pattern (free).

And back to hospice: if you have ever thought about volunteering at your hospice, now is the time.  It is truly a rewarding experience.

Modge Podge is Genius

A great idea for creating artwork on canvas by scanning color pictures and using Modge Podge can be found here.

That useful product Mod Podge is a favorite medium when decoupaging. It is fast drying, and tough as nails. A little goes a long way with this finish, and sanding between coats of the varnish is not necessary.

A couple of examples from Charlie Harper Wall Decor:

On another note, here are a couple of picture frames I finished in a few hours using photographs and Modge Podge:

More information about how to decoupage picture frames with photographs and Modge Podge can be found here.

An inexpensive, fun, and quick art project for both adults and kids. Genius.

Grace

Grace

is the force that infuses our lives and keeps letting us off the hook.

It is unearned love - the love that goes before, that greets us on the way.

It's the help you receive when you have no bright ideas left, when you are empty and desperate and have discovered that your best thinking and most charming charm have failed you.

Grace is the light or electricity of juice or breeze that takes you from that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there.

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.

by Anne Lamott

Sewing Notions: Necklace You Don't Want to be Without!

When knitting or sewing, it seems like embroidery scissors, a measuring device, pins, knitting bead markers, etc. never seem to be quite within easy reach. While browsing craft ideas, I came across a clever sewing caddy which could be made fairly quickly and inexpensively. When I saw the picture of this sewing caddy, along with a supply list and directions, I decided to make a similar one.

Here is what I found at the website Sewing:

Neck Ribbon Caddy Supplies:
1 1/8 yard (103cm), 1½” (3.8cm) wide blue plaid ribbon
1 1/8 yard (103cm), 1½” (3.8cm) wide blue grosgrain ribbon
½ yard (45.5cm) 3/8” (1cm) wide blue grosgrain ribbon
1 tape measure, 1 handful polyester stuffing, red felt scraps, embroidery scissors, thimble, sewing gauge

Directions:
1.Cut: Make a heart pattern. Cut one 1 1/8” x 4½” (2.8 x 11.5cm) pocket strip and 2 hearts from felt scraps. Cut 3/8” (1cm) wide grosgrain ribbon in 2 equal lengths. Cut tape measure off at 39½” (100.5 cm).

2. Assemble: Center and pin felt pocket strip to one end of plaid ribbon. Zigzag or use a decorative stitch along sides of felt pocket. Loop one narrow ribbon through scissors. Pin ribbon ends at raw edge of plaid ribbon and machine baste. Layer heart motifs together. Edge stitch, leaving 1¼” (3.2cm) top opening. Fold other narrow ribbon in half; center and tack fold to inside heart pocket. Center and machine baste ends to other plaid ribbon raw edge. Center tape measure on wide grosgrain ribbon. Edge stitch tape on all sides. With right sides together, stitch wide grosgrain to plaid ribbon with ¼” (6mm) seam across “heart” pocket end. Turn and press. With wrong sides together. Edge stitch ribbon sides.

3.Pin Cushion: Measure 4¼” (11cm) from open end, stitch across. Stuff tightly. Turn ¼” (6mm) raw edges inside and stitch closed.

I already had a small pincushion, so I did not need to make one. And instead of felt for the pocket, I had stashed pink flannel which I sewed on for a reading glasses pocket. The pink valentine heart bows were previously bought for my doggy, but she does NOT like to wear head ornaments. So I incorporated the bows as extra bling on the neck caddy.

The picture below shows supplies purchased for the project, and my resulting caddy is the bottom photo.

Now how neat is that?!

What Are Your Favorite Apps?

Here are mine, many that were free:

What are YOUR favorite apps?  Word-of-mouth is sometimes the best way to find new apps, so I'd appreciate your telling me which ones you find useful.

craigslist Flow Chart for Finding What You Need

For a while now, I've been meaning to check out craigslist.  There are a few household items I'd like to see up cycled or recycled or just plain old GET RID OF.

In comes a great little ditty about how to find that special item you've always wanted by using craigslist.

This handy chart, found on the blog Dude Craft, is an easy way to navigate what you are looking for:

(the design is from lunchbreath)

I'm off to check out listing my 20 year old green bamboo armoire, which is apparently Zen.