Meet Willow

 We, as in myself, hubby, and daughter, have a serious mouse problem in our house. We are inundated with them. In the last week, my dog, Zoey has killed 3 of them in the living room-paying homage to her dachshund heritage. They've been in every room of the house. I'm finding nests everywhere. We've all gone on the warpath. But it's a hard task. I'm seeing just how much hunting and mouse maintenance Merino and Cashmere were doing. Something has to be done.

 I'd like to introduce you to my new kitten. This is Willow. 

We've had her for a week. I got her at the local shelter. She is now 9 weeks old, and she's feral. When I say feral, I mean it. You can't believe how hard it was for them just to get her out of her cage and into a small carrier just so we could meet her. I tried to touch her and she bit me, and scratched me twice. She's a very wild little girl. 

I decided to take her home. She's an incredibly beautiful little girl, There's a low chance of adoption because she's so wild. We took on the challenge. My daughter and I have been reading up and watching videos to learn how to tame a feral cat and we are making incredible progress! The first day didn't go so well, I got bit again, and we both got scratched. She's feisty! Since then, the progress is better.

We've set her up in the sun room in our wire dog crate, which is pretty large because I bought it when we had Cable. We've got the cat carrier for a little house, a small litter box, and all the things a kitten needs: Food, water, and toys. 

One of the things we're doing is, once we can get a hold of her, we wrap her up in a towel and turn her into a burrito. Like swaddling a baby. That way we can hold her without ending up bleeding and it's been quite successful! 

The first time I held her like this, she was pretty scared. I could feel her shaking in fear, but after about 15 minutes, she started to relax. I gave her a complete tour of the house, including where she doesn't belong-like kitchen counters and the table. I took her first selfie too.

She's a quick learner and is starting to understand we don't want to hurt her.

The second time I burritoed her, she relaxed right away and actually fell asleep in my arms. It's been so long since I've been able to do that. For the first time today, she asked to be picked up by my daughter and cuddled. 

She's vocal when she wants something. She wants to play with Boba so bad, but he's a little afraid of her yet. I'm looking forward to her being able to have freedom in the house, which should be in the next week or two.

Now, for more news. today hubby and I are leaving for the airport to catch a flight to Miami, FL. We are going on a cruise to the Caribbean. It's been 9 years since our last one (to Alaska) in 2017. We had to stop when my husband was laid off from his job. We couldn't afford it. Well, now officially retired and getting our Social Security, we can cruise again. My brother-in-law has a girlfriend and wants us to meet her, so he talked us into going with him and Trisha. We're taking Norwegian Cruise Lines Escape for 7 days visiting Cozumel Mexico, Belize, and two other ports who's names escape me at the moment. I am so excited! 

I'm taking two knitting projects with me. This ship has organized knitting get togethers. I've gotta do that! I'm taking the dog sweater,

and the scarf I started a few months ago. 

I don't know if I'll blog while away. I will have Wi-Fi, and I've installed the Blogger app for posting on my blog on my phone. I guess I'll have to see how it goes.

Our daughter isn't going with us, so we've got someone taking care of the fur kids. 

It's been oppressively hot around around here the last couple weeks. Our heat pump stopped doing air conditioning about 2 weeks ago. I got a repairman to come look at it today and, as I feared, we need to replace the heat pump. Good heavens! Have the prices gone up. Our old one was bought 11 years ago. We paid just under 5 grand. The new one is over $16,000! Urg. Fortunately, we've got money saved up for it. But really?!? 16 grand? Anyway, it will be installed next week so daughter doesn't have to deal with intense heat while we're gone.

And that is the news for now! Until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//

New WIP

I've finished knitting all the pieces for the mohair cardigan. I just.need to sew it together and do the collar and button bands. No pic of it, yet.

Since I'm at the finishing point, it's time to cast on something new. I've decided a smaller project is in orderso I've cast on a new sweater for Zoey.

The rainbow yarn has a story of sorts.

 

 Recently I noticed that Temu, the discount online store, has yarn. Most of it is made in China.  I'm a curious person by nature, so I decided to order some of their 100% worsted weight Acrylic varigated yarn. It was very reasonably priced at the time. 

It's been a surprise! I love it. It's an amazingly good quality yarn. Well made, nice and soft to the touch, and a joy to work with. It comes in a lot of different color combinations, some exceptionally beautiful. Unfortunately, as I mentioned already, there's no label, and Temu doesn't provide the yardage in each skein. So I've taken an education guess. They're 100 gram skeins, which average about 200+/- yards for worsted weight yarn. 

I have noticed some of the other yarns have yardage in the descriptions. I have bought more of their yarn. They have variegated worsted weight wool too.

I'm planning to make another mohair cardigan, this one for me, in shades of purple. This will be one of the strands to go with the mohair. It comes with a label, but everything is written in Chinese. Rats.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Blue Mohair Update

Just a quick post. I'm making good, if slow, progress on the blue Mohair cardigan. I finished the body a couple weeks ago. 

I immediately cast on the first sleeve and finished it earlier this week. I've got the second sleeve underway.

It will be done soon, hopefully.

We've been having sunny rather warm, weather, but it's summer. This weekend, though, it's rain and clouds. I'm sure the plant life is enjoying it. 

Gotta go.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Train Engine

 I have a couple WIP updates. First, I've finally cast on the blue mohair cardigan for my daughter.

I have 6 strands of yarn being knit together on size 15 needles. I've cast on 3 times before I finally started knitting it correctly. I messed up my increase after the ribbed welt first. I decided to knit it all in one piece to start rather than 3 separate pieces sewn together. That's why I messed up my decreases. I forgot I was doing the front pieces with the back and didn't increase enough.

Then I discovered I'd forgotten to add the gold metallic thread after the second cast on So I frogged it and cast on with the gold. Now it's right. 

While doing this, I decided I'm going to make myself another one, in purple. I've ordered the yarn for it. 

That's the knitting WIP. I've also made good progress on the cross stitch train. I've done all the back stitching and embellishment on the 2 cars and caboose. They are done. Now I'm working on the engine. I'm putting the large wheels on. They're done with a 1/8th inch metallic silver ribbon. I am not happy how it was looking. The silver ribbon is really flimsy and looks terrible. I can see the stitches behind right through it. Since taking the above picture, I ordered something else to use than the ribbon I had, and I've removed the wheels I'd already done. I'm going to be much happier.

We've had some beautiful weather the last few days. Perfect spring weather in the 70's, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and the flowering trees are blooming. The flowering plum is spectacular!

I've been making time to sit out on the deck and enjoy the weather, but it's getting difficult. The city of Rathdrum owns a dump across the street from us and they started burning trash on Monday. Urg. Ash is falling out of the air like snow. Way to ruin things for us.

I am having problems with my Roomba. It won't stay connected to the internet. If it doesn't stay connected, I can't tell it what saved job to do. I've tried all sorts of things trying to get it to work right to no success. It's been very frustrating. Not sure what to do. Maybe I can set it back to the factory settings, which will delete my programs, but I can redo them. In the meantime, I guess I'll get my regular vacuum cleaner out tomorrow. The floors are getting very dirty.

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

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. \\//

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. \\//

The Green Ripple

 One of the unfinished Christmas gifts is finished. 

Green Ripple for Ruth

Pattern: Shaded Ripple afghan by Melissa Leapman

Made For: Daughter Ruth

Size: 52 x 68 inches

Yarn: Maximum Value by Mary Maxim
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran Weight
Colors: Aran, Light Green, Medium Green, Dark Green

Needles: Circular size US 9 (5.0 mm)

Started: October 3, 2025
Finished: February 2, 2026

Comment: I can't believe it took me 4 months to get this done. The daughter is happy with it, thankfully

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. The hills and valleys aren't as wide as the purple one because she didn't want me to stretch block it out like one usually does with a lace pattern. She likes it the way it is.

Ripples are so fun to knit.

Zoey has given it her seal of approval.

I have bought yarn for a 3rd one. I want to make one for my oldest daughter and her partner. I guess I'm in an afghan knitting frame of mind.

I am working on finishing up the mittens now. The body of the first mitten is done and I'm about a third of the way through the second one.

I'm hoping to get them done by the end of this week.

This is my back yard as of earlier today when I took this picture,

and this one.

Notice the lack of snow. The first week of February and there's no snow! It actually got up to 50F degrees last Wednesday. It's been an unseasonably warm winter. There is very little snow up in the mountains. We've had plenty of rain though. I don't know what to think of it. I am a little worried about my flowering plants. They are starting to bud out. It's too early. Now we run the danger that temperatures will drop down to where they are normally this time of year and all the buds will be frozen, killing them. I hope I'm wrong.

Two weeks ago I saw an Orthopedic Surgeon about my knees. I got to see the x-rays of my right knee taken earlier in December. They were very interesting. The doctor explained to me what I was seeing. There is no cartilage on the inside half of both me knees. Plenty on the outside half though. He also showed me the arthritis. It was horrifying to see. Arthritis is bony growths on the bones. I figured they were small bumps. They aren't. They're huge triangle shapes pushing into everything around them causing a lot of inflammation and pain. I've been told my knees are pretty bad and I should think about knee replacement surgery. I'm surprised. I didn't think they were that bad. 

I have a high tolerance for pain, which I did not know. I've always thought I'm a real wimp. I don't want to replace the knees yet. I want to start with physical therapy first, so that's what we're going to do. I've been referred to one just a couple miles from my house. I'm supposed to wait until they call me. I'm not to call them. I expect at least a month wait, maybe a couple weeks longer. In the meantime, I've googled some mild exercises to do while I wait and they are helping quite a bit.

I've been beading the last couple weeks. I've made 5 bracelets and 1 necklace and I'm really having a good time doing it. I've been doing two-needle Right Angle Weave. More about that later.

That's it for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

The Snowflake Throw

 Finally! I can blog again. I'm going to post the finished details of the Snowflake Throw today.

Pattern: Snowflake Throw by Mary Maxim
Made For: A Special Friend

Size: 48 by 54 inches.

Yarn: Big Twist Soft
Content: 100% Acrylic, Worsted Weight
Color: 5020 Dark Denim

Yarn: Big Twist Value (Solids)
Content: 100% Acrylic, Worsted Weight
Colors: 5001 White, 5018 Light Denim, 

Needles: Circular size US 8 (5.0 mm)

Started: June 13, 2025
Finished: December 22, 2025

Comment: Oh my gosh, I love this afghan! I love the colors and the yarn I used for it. I loved working on it. It was a wonderful, enjoyable, challenging project. I'm so glad I made it!

It took a lot longer to make than I thought it would, but so worth the effort. Actually it's more accurate to say it took me longer to get it blocked than I thought. I kept procrastinating, which put me in a not so good position when we got back from our trip to get it finished. Sewing those 5 seams took quite a bit of time!

This is a free Mary Maxim pattern called Snowflake Throw. It is 6 panels sewn together. 

There are 4 stranded-knit square charts. 

The 3 colors are varied from square to square giving lots of varieties of squares.

So I never got bored with making them.

Between the stranded squares are rows of seed stitch and bobble stitch patterned rectangles. They were knit in all three colors too.

Another thing that was a challenge with the stranded squares is that the fairisle bit is in the middle. I had to be careful I didn't leave holes where it started and ended.

The blankets recipient is very happy with it. I offered to line the back, which I had planned to do (even bought the fabric) because I wanted to protect the floats from getting fingers caught in them, but ran out of time. 

As it turns out, I didn't have any loose ones anyway because I wove the floats every 3 to 4 stitches. 

It was great fun watching my friend open the present. She was so surprised! I'd worked on it right in front of her several times. I stopped doing that when the panels were done.

I did not finish the mittens for my oldest daughter or the afghan for my youngest daughter. Sigh. I didn't get nearly as much knitting done on the trip as I'd hoped. First, I found out I get car sick if I knit in the car while it's moving (Rats and Phooey!). Then, about a third of the way into the trip I started having problems with real pain in my knees which made it hard for me to knit for some reason. I couldn't concentrate on it.

I will talk about the trip in my next post, but I did manage to accomplish repetitive stress injuries in both of my knees, though the right one is way worse. The doctor said it probably was caused by getting in and out of the car so often, because we did a lot of that every single day of the whole three weeks. My Prius, being a sporty car, is low to the ground so I have to push up more to get out of it. It's time like these that I wish we had a two story house. I would have much better knees if we did because I'd be used to going up and down the stairs all the time so they'd be a lot stronger.

I was advised to use ice packs and rest my knees until the swelling went down, and she referred me to a specialist who has yet to call me. I think the holidays slowed things down. I'll probably hear from them in the next week or two. In the meantime, trying to get ready for Christmas  was pure torture. My knees got in the way, plus being extremely stressed because I couldn't do the Christmas preparation I really wanted to do. I had to really scale down my expectations. I was relieved to get what I could done, and it all turned out fine anyway.

We didn't get the tree up until three days before Christmas. I don't think I would have even done that much but I'd bought new lights and we wanted to see them on the tree. So we put it up and put on the lights. That's it. I intended to get some ornaments up but just didn't have it in me.

The lights are pretty. A little more purple in real life.

Last week I caught a nasty flu bug going around and it was one of the worst flues I've ever had. It was extremely painful! Every joint in my body hurt so bad I could hardly move. I cried quite a bit the first night because it was so  unbearable. I can only take Tylenol, which didn't do squat, because I'm on blood thinners. So I suffered. I'm much better now. I hope you don't get it.

Our weather still has been weird. There was NO SNOW on Christmas. In fact, we were still getting temps in the 50's. Some of the plants I have in pots on the deck are still alive, and unbelievable amounts of rain! Good lord! I haven't seen rain like that since I lived in California! It melted all the snow on the mountains and we had flooding everywhere. Only one pass going to Seattle is open because there was so much flooding and mud avalanches. It was so sad seeing so many peoples homes flooded. I'm so glad I live on a hill.

It snowed the day after Christmas. We got a couple inches, then things warmed up and it all melted and still, the rain. Our ground is not frozen yet, which is probably a good thing under the circumstances. That will change. The cold will be moving in to the area in a couple days.

Live long and prosper. \\//