Knitting Up a Storm

I woke up to rain on the skylights this morning and it's continued on and off all morning.  We're ready to see the snow go.  According to the Bible story, a rainbow is God's symbol to Noah that he will bring the rain to an end.  I'm ready for that too.

I bought a book on how to knit stuffed animals but after knitting all the pieces up, was simply incapable of sewing them together in any fashion that was remotely cute.  I threw these pieces in the trash, put the book in a library donation pile and knitted Owen the blue bear.  I learned that I'd rather do all the shaping on my needles rather than do it this way.

At least I thought that's what I preferred until I got to the end of this "carrot" and find that I have knitted an orange codpiece.  The Arumagami book is challenging but I managed all the other veggies in the book, just not this one.  I'm looking on Ravelry for an alternative pattern.  I need to hurry though as Olivia's birthday is March 1st.

These are the veggies I've knitted so far and the garlic is my favorite.

I finished the market bag last night but in looking at it this morning I realize that it's inappropriate for a four-year-old girl.  It's just too big for her.

I tore it back this morning from 100 stitches to a base of 80 stitches.  The lace pattern is simply Row 1 - *knit 2 tog, YO* repeat, and Row 2 - Knit.  It should go quickly but if it has to be late, I'd rather it's cute and the right size.

I've been knitting away on my daughter's scarf (which she has asked me to sew into a cowl) but since her birthday is in April and this is almost done, I'll set aside for now.  I look forward to seeing it blocked.  These are all colors that she loves and wears.

I made the mistake of signing up for two art classes that were offered concurrently so have been spending huge amounts of time on my projects, and in fact, I have a class tonight which is five-week course sampling four printmaking techniques.  I did take my bin of handwovens to the last session of my drawing class and sold a couple hundred dollars worth, including the iridescent scarf, and they've asked me to bring my stuff back to our next session.  I've been weaving like a mad woman, in between everything else.

And then there's the issue of body maintenance - I try to get to three Tai Chi sessions a week and continue with my home program in follow-up to four months of physical therapy.  This week my body took a beating, starting with a visit to Urgent Care Sunday morning because I woke up with my right eye glued shut.  Stye!  Remember those?  I spent 2 1/2 hours in the dentists chair Tuesday afternoon getting prepped for a crown and tomorrow is my one-year follow-up mammo.  It's been a year!

My mother used to say that the demands of caring for her old body had become like a hobby, one she didn't like. Speaking of my mother, I found a box containing papers that she had saved.  I had a number of boxes in our garage in Red Rock but procrastinated in taking care of them to the point that mice made nests of most everything.  Ian found the mess when packing up the garage and put anything salvageable in a bin.

One of the boxes lost to the mice was all the artwork that I had saved from my kids school days so I was delighted to find that she had saved this of Christina's.  I'm using it as the image for my Dry Point class tonight.

Ian went to Costco Monday while I was at A6 for my volunteer shift.  iPads were on sale and this one came home with him.  He's already claimed my old one and can't believe how much he likes and uses it.  I'm deliberating on whether or not to buy an external keypad. I'm cheap!