Catching Up 4/12/2026

 I thought I'd post a bit about what's going on in my life right now. First of all, my husband bought me a new laptop! We did the taxes last week and we're getting a nice refund. YAY! Thus, the new computer. My old Lenovo is getting obsolete because it runs Windows 10 and that's it. It can't support 11, so it's days are numbered. 

He decided to get a Dell 16 DC1625125. He bought it from Amazon and I think I like it. I'm using it right now. One of the things I like about it is the right shift key is in the right spot on the keyboard. The old Lenovo did not have it in the right spot. It has Windows 11 on it so there's gonna be a learning curve. 11 doesn't look or work like 10 at all.

The laptop arrived Friday. I looked at how to get the old stuff from my Lenovo into the Dell hoping there was an easier way to do it than the last time I moved into a new computer. There is software that will do it for you. I looked at the various choices and decided to purchase PC Mover. I was going to do it Saturday, but I felt absolutely horrible that day, so I didn't get to it until this morning. Let me tell you, it was worth the price! I had to install the program on both computers, then I clicked on the start button and it WORKED! It was super easy and now everything from the Lenovo is on my Dell. All the apps, programs, files, pictures, and everything else. There were two small problems I had to solve. The first one was it said I needed to install a utility program in order for one of my programs to work. I clicked on install, and it tried, but it said something else was using it right then, so it couldn't install it, which makes no sense to me. It said it would try again later.

The second issue I had was with the pre-installed Microsoft web browser, called Edge. Of course, it set itself up right away and I used it to get everything downloaded and going for the transfer. After installation of everything, it wouldn't let me visit Facebook with my web browser of choice, Chrome. It kept saying it didn't exist. I had to change some settings, including setting Chrome to be my default browser, and then going to the Facebook website and signing out on the old computer, then signing in on the new computer. It seems to be working now. We'll see how it goes.

I have been doing a lot of cross stitching on the train. I have all the cross stitches done on the train itself and I'm working on the tracks now.

The local spring wildflowers are starting to bloom. The Squill down the hill is in full bloom. It's so pretty!

I love the shade of blue.

A few weeks ago my husband and Ruth went for a walk and took Zoey with them. Husband made a bunch of walking trails on the property during the winter since there wasn't any snow in the woods and we needed someplace to walk that was safe. Anyway, when they got back Zoey was limping her left back leg. No one saw how she injured herself, unfortunately, because I would like to know. I took her to our veterinarian and the doctor said Zoey's sprained her equivalent of the groin muscle. She said keep her indoors for a couple weeks and gave us some painkillers for her. She was doing fairly good at the end of the two weeks, but now she's limping and in quite a bit of pain again. She's been tearing around the yard, and walking with husband. I don't know if I should take her to the vet again or not. We're out of painkiller now. I'm a bit frustrated.

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//

Pearls and Cubes

 I have a new necklace and bracelet set.

This is from a Facebook video tutorial for a bracelet here:  Easy and Elegant Beaded Bracelet 

I used the same tutorial to make the necklace too.

It's done with 2-needle cubic right angle weave. I used Preciosa 4mm AB Clear bicone crystals, 4mm glass Ivory pearls, 4mm Purple Velvet cube crystals and 2mm gold plated round beads.

I used this inexpensive box clasp on both pieces. It's super easy to put on.

This is the bracelet.

I have been knitting. I felt the need to take a break and do something small and easy, so I'm doing this scarf.

I don't need a scarf. I already have several and I don't wear them very often, but the stitch pattern looks so intriguing I had to make it.

We've been having quite a few visits from the local wild life. I got this picture of a large flock of wild Turkeys that have showed up a couple times now. There are 30 in the flock. They were eating the bird seed that a fat bratty squirrel dumped on the ground by opening the top of the feeder and turning it over.

I wish I could make that squirrel go away. He's been a real pain in the neck this winter.

Speaking of winter, last weekend we had a big snow storm and we got about 14 inches of snow out of it. We were told it was going to be about an inch. Boy, did the weather guys get that one wrong. It has all melted away rather quickly. The temperature was up over 60F on Friday, but it was cloudy with occasional showers.

That's the news for now.

Live long and prosper \\//

New Project

 Guess what I got to do yesterday? Knit outside, in the sunshine! The temperature was well over 50F. It was a beautiful day, so I dragged my camping chair out and set it up in front of the garage. It was blissful! 

I put together everything I need for my next project which will be a mohair cardigan I promised to make Ruth over a year ago. Here are the yarns I've chosen.

When I closed my shop back in 2006, I brought some yarns home. This is one of them. It's a sport weight Navy Mohair with a multi blue novelty thread with little puffs on it. I purchased two other yarns to go with. A plain royal blue Drops silk/mohair that is sport weight, and Lion Brand Heartland in Olympic which is blue.

I've made this cardigan before in 2011.

Me in my orange mohair cardigan.

I worked on the test swatch yesterday. Pattern calls for 2 bulky weight yarns, and 2 carrying threads as well as size 15 needles. I used 3 strands of the novelty mohair, 2 strands of the plain blue mohair, and 1 strand of Lion Brand Heartland in blue. The gauge was way off. I needed 8 stitches in 3.5 inches, I had 6, so I removed 1 strand of the novelty mohair and tried again. Got perfect gauge!

Half knit swatch

I can't cast on just yet though. I've ordered a thin metallic gold thread to knit into it. It won't change the gauge. Just add a little sparkle, which this pattern needs.

That's it for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Bicycles For Sarah

 Mittens are done.

Pattern: Bicycle Mittens by me. (Unpublished)

Made For: My daughter Sarah

Size: Womans Medium

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Wool
Content: 100% Superwash Wool, Worsted weight
Colors: 227 and 863

Needles: Circular size US 5 (3.75mm)

Started: November 19, 2025
Finished: February 26, 2026

Comment: I actually started with a free published pattern called Ragbrai Mittens, written by Bill Turner, but there were problems with it, like I couldn't get gauge using size 5 needles. That's the size required, but he did make a note that it might have been size 3 and there was no way I was using size 3 needles on worsted weight yarn. They would be cardboard! 

Back of hand

The size was written for men and I would have to recalculate the whole pattern to make it women's size Medium. Since I was going to have to recalculate anyway, I decided to just integrate a few things from the pattern that I liked, like the bicycles, and do my own thing. In other words, it's been "modified".

Palm side

I decided on Corrugated Rib because it's so pretty. Then, to really girly it, I put in a Latvian Braid.

Here's a close up of the bicycle on the back of the mittens. It's a pretty easy knit. I put in some spotted diamonds. I didn't want to get complicated.

I kept the diamond pattern for the palm side. It was easy to memorize so I wouldn't have to look at the chart. The chart for the back of the hand was complicated enough.

I used the thumb chart from the original Ragbrai pattern because I really like it. This is the back of the thumb.

This is the inside of the thumb. Again, this was easy to memorize so I only had to follow the back side chart.

I am very happy with how they turned out. They fit perfectly, and they will be nice and toasty warm, being made of wool.

That is the last Christmas present I needed to finish. Just need to get them into the mail now. Better late than never, of course.

The weather has warmed up again. It was a glorious sunny day with a high of 50F today. It's supposed to be the same tomorrow. I really wanted to spend some time out in the sun but it didn't work out for me. Too much indoor stuff to do. Anyway, this winter has been so unseasonably warm that my Salome daffodils have sprouted, in February! I sure hope everything doesn't suddenly drop into subzero temps and tons of snow. If it does a lot of buds are going to be killed off.

I have finally ordered the knee braces my doctor told me to get for my arthritic knees. They've been pretty painful the last few days. I've been doing the physical therapy exercises and I got a little bit carried away last weekend and did way too much.

I got the mittens finished on Thursday and found myself without a project to take to Knitting at the Rathdrum Library. I was going to start another pair of mittens but I couldn't find a pair of size 2 circular needles. They're around here somewhere. I can't believe I haven't found them. I must have at least 5 pairs of them, all 24 inch circulars. Argh! Time to start putting the unused knitting things laying around the house away so I can find them when I want them. My house is such a mess right now. I'm such a pack rat. Anyway, I have a scarf pattern and the yarn for it that I am planning to make, so I started that at the meeting. I'll blog about it some time.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Glass Pearls

 I've finished another necklace! This one is just strung beads. No weaving. I used some beading wire, Accuflex, so it would last longer.

This is the tutorial video here: Pearl Necklace. Remember you have to have a Facebook account to have access to it.

I used 3 sizes of glass pearl drop beads,  vertically drilled, for the focal point, as well as some tiny sterling silver 2mm beads that I found on Amazon, and some small silver spacer beads from the stash.

The rest was done with the 2mm sterling silver beads, 3mm round glass pearls, and 7mm by 5mm glass pearl teardrops. I am quite surprised at the quality of both. I figured they'd be cheap looking and feeling but they are quite well made. I haven't done much with glass pearls before. I usually get real pearls but I didn't want to spend the money that would require.

I added a 3 inch chain so I can vary the length of the necklace when wearing it.

I used a plain silver lobster clasp. It came with the chain which I did not expect so it was a nice surprise. I attached the clasp with silver crimp beads.

I am super pleased with it.

Last Friday was our 44th wedding anniversary. I planned to wear the necklace when we went out to dinner. I decided to make a matching bracelet too. It has a silver fold over clasp because it's super difficult for me to do a spring clasp on my wrist.

Speaking of our anniversary, my husband got me red roses! they are so beautiful.

I got something new to help with photographing small things, like the jewelry I make. It's a small collection (7) of very nice cardboard backgrounds and a stand to clip them on to, a small backdrop set. Each cardboard has 2 backgrounds. This is front of the page I used for the above necklace.

This is the back so you can see the stand to clip the background to. You'll notice the blue marble background on the back too. It came with the clips and a small roll of tape to help keep the background in place on the table. It's pretty cool and very handy.

One of my Phalaeonopsis orchids is blooming!

It's so pretty. 

It also helps to make winter a little more bearable.

We got a bit of snow a few days ago. It was about an inch. It's already all gone and temps are going up into the 40's next week. Meanwhile my daughter that lives in Rhode Island sent me a picture of the snow she has. It's pretty deep, well over 2 feet for sure. Winter is so weird this year.

Live Long and Prosper \\//

Necklace Finished

 Got it finished. Facebook video tutorial is here:  Necklace

Here's a close up of the focal point. I've used 3mm and 6mm glass pearls, and 6mm purple glass beads. I can't remember where I got the purple ones, or even what they're called. I'm pretty sure they're Czech made. Any 6mm roundish beads will work.

I'm looking forward to wearing it. Haven't gone anywhere this week yet.

Now I'm working on a pearl necklace. Glass pearls of course. Can't afford the real thing.

I worked on it last night. This morning I looked at it and I'm not quite happy with it, so I'm gonna take it apart and do it over.

Still warmer than normal. There was an attempt to snow on us last night, but it was more half snow half rain so not much was around when I got up this morning. Hopefully, it piled up in the mountains.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Beading WIP

 I didn't get the mittens done last week because I'm being distracted by beading. I'm almost done with this pearl and czech bead necklace.

 The pattern is here: Necklace tutorial

I am using 3mm glass pearls and some 6mm Czech glass beads. So I've modified it a bit.

Last week I took Zoey to the vet. She went for a walk in the woods with my husband and daughter and came back with a slight limp. No one saw her hurt herself. I figured she pulled a muscle and would be fine in a few days. Nope. It was getting worse. So, to the vet we went.

Turns out she's sprained her groin muscle pretty badly. She's been put on a painkiller and we have to keep her quiet and indoors for 2 weeks. Ugh! So far, so good. She's been very well behaved and isn't fighting the pills I'm giving her at all.

Still no snow. It's been in the 40s during the day. We've had rain, but not much. A new gal came to our weekly knitting group at the library and she said something about winter not being too bad around here. We all were quick to tell her this winter is a freak. Not normal. Don't get used to it. 

Speaking of the Rathdrum Library knitting group, we're suddenly getting knitting visitors to our meetings. Not everyone who comes joins the group, but we've had 2 people join in the last month. They are great gals and fit in to the group wonderfully.

Another library development I haven't blogged about is the problems the library is having. Some extremist Christian Nationalist got voted to the board of trustees and they are wreaking havoc! They are trying to ban books and destroy the library system. They started by refusing an annual donation given every year to help the libraries out. They shut down the community book sharing system so books can't be sent to other libraries in the county. Then they laid off a whole lot of employees because there's not enough money. After that they changed the hours so it's not open as much, including being closed on Sunday and Monday because of "lack of money". Yet, when offered the money they needed, it was turned down! They've been talking about having a "Smut Room" for the books they have tried to ban. Now they've decreed that we must have a chaperone at every group meeting held in the library. So now we have a girl young enough to be my granddaughter keeping an eye on us every time we meet, and she doesn't even knit! 

The new rule is extremely insulting. Our group doesn't need someone keeping an eye on us. We're not children! 

In addition, they are working to get a law passed making librarians responsible and liable if a child checks out an inappropriate book. This includes jail time! This is so unreasonable, and downright crazy! There are safeguards already to prevent children from doing that. In addition, it's the parents job to keep their own children from reading something they don't approve. Local people, rightly, are unhappy with what is going on. I expect the next board of trustees election will make some changes. 

We've had several of these people get into local political agencies and they've caused no end of trouble. They got on the board for North Idaho College and did so much damage the college almost lost it's accreditation! Fortunately there is a huge backlash from the public and these people are getting voted OUT! Meanwhile, there's so much damage to be repaired. It's a Trump town. No doubt about it. I wish they would all move away and leave us alone. We'll keep fighting them until they are all out of local government positions.

Live long and prosper. \\//

A Pretty Little Necklace

 I mentioned I'd made a necklace a day or two ago. Here it is.

The Facebook video tutorial is here: Elegance-192

I used gold size 11 seed beads and 4mm Bicone clear AB crystals to make it. Also some gold chain. It's the first time I've used chain in my jewelry.

The pattern has you use a crystal teardrop for the focal bead, but I didn't have any, so I used this glass bead instead. Someone gave it to me about 15 years ago.

It was surprisingly easy and quick to make. I've ordered teardrops do I can make more.

I have more progress on the mittens. Getting excited about having them done.

We had a beautiful day today. Got up to 45F with sunshine, blue skies, and the occasional fluffy white clouds drifting over. I was going to go sit out in the sun for awhile, but I had too much to do today. Maybe next time.

Zoey is still limping so I've made an appointment at the vets at 8:20 a.m. tomorrow. I'll let y'all know the results.

Live long and prosper. \\//

I've Been Playing With Beads

Warning! Lots of pictures.

For the last 2 weeks, I've been playing with beads. For some reason, a video reel popped into my Facebook feed of a bracelet made with 2-needle Right Angle Weave. It was so pretty I had to try it out. I've made 5 bracelets.

This is the first one I made. I have quite a few glass pearls in the stash and this used some of them.

I used gold and black size 11 seed beads and 4 mm glass pearls from the stash in this bracelet .

I found the cutest clasp on Amazon, of all places.

My daughter liked the above bracelet so much I made her one.

I used a silver clasp that I found on Amazon.

I used silver and dark green size 11 seed beads and 4mm glass pearls  from the stash to make the bracelet.

I found this bracelet tutorial on the page for the first bracelet.

I found a simple pearl clasp for it, again, on Amazon. It matches the bracelet so nicely.

I used silver size 11 seed beads, 4mm Czech fire polished crystals in a pale blue, and 6mm glass pearls  from the stash in its construction.

I thought about my daughters wife and made this for her. Same pattern as above, but I changed the beads used.

I found this really simple folding clasp on Amazon.

For bracelet construction, I used silver size 11 seed beads, 4mm clear AB bicone crystals from the stash, and 6mm Natural Stone Colorful Selenite Gypsum Beads that I bought from Amazon.

Then I made this bracelet for daughter. She wears a lot of green because it goes with her red hair.

I again used a simple silver fold over clasp like the bracelet above. The beads are silver size 11 seed beads, 4mm lime green bicone crystals, and 4mm glass pearls from the stash.

I am surprised at the quality of beading stuff I bought from Amazon. I didn't expect that. I've since bought some more very nice glass pearls and 4mm bicone crystals (Preciosa) for other tutorials I want to make. Everything is very good quality.

If you are a member of Facebook, here's a link to the FB page I got these tutorial videos from: Wedding Decoration Ideas . I was going to link directly to the first bracelet tutorial, but I can't find it. She's got a LOT of videos to scroll through. 

I promised my daughter a knit cardigan some time last year. I've got all the yarn, but now I can't find the pattern. It's around the house somewhere. I will keep looking because I can not purchase another copy. They are no longer available. Sometimes I wish I kept my stash more organized. Not enough to do anything about it, of course.

Live long and prosper.\\//