Hi From Mazatlan!

Just a quick hello from Paradise! The weather is perfect, and we are having a lovely restful time. There was an 8.8 earthquake in Chile this morning and the Pacific is in danger of big waves, but they tell me that we are protected here by the Baja Peninsula, so the only waves we get will be from the full moon. Tonight we will go to the Fiesta. Great food, entertainment, and in a beautiful old hotel. I'll post pictures next week when I get home. Adios!!

Travel Project

I want to be able to knit on the plane and since those seats are so tight, I've set up a sock project. But first I had to finish what was on my needles.

This yarn is not really a sock yarn, but I thought I could use it anyway and end up with some warm boot socks. I do not recommend this yarn for the size 2 needles I used, or for socks. It is not spun together like conventional yarn and would twist into a knot if I pulled too much out of the skein at a time, and it split like crazy. It took me twice as long to finish these socks because I had to make every stitch carefully to keep from having all those little loops because I didn't pick all the threads up when forming a stitch.

I made it, though! And they will be nice boot socks for someone on my Christmas list. They really are a full purple color but, even though I love my camera, it hates purple and won't show it right.

You might remember this brand of yarn from here.

I absolutely LOVE this yarn. As with the last color, it's 50% merino wool, 25% bamboo, and 25% nylon. It knits up quickly because it's so easy to handle, and this particular skein is one of the self striping colorways that I love. Not sure who'll be getting these, I claimed the last pair. One DIL is allergic to wool, so I felt I had to sacrifice and wear them myself.

I scoured the Internet to find a toe-up sock pattern-found a nice one on Ravelry. I've pretty much gotten the hang of the Kitchener Stitch for finishing the toe, but I don't like how it looks, I'm shaky about how well it will wear, and I want to be able to use up all the skein and make the sock as long as possible. I'm already a convert, and next I'm going to try the Magic Loop using one circular needle. One thing I did, though, was to bury the starting thread right away. I spent much too much time pushing that thread out of the way, so away it went. When I'm done, I just have to bury the thread at the cuff. In order to make both socks identical, I pulled out enough yarn to match colorways on both skeins, and I even made the beginning slipknot on both, tucking the knot for the second skein back under the label. (We'll see how that travels-no biggie-I can redo it) The only thing is I'm so hooked on it I'm almost done with the foot on the first sock. I have to go to town today, so I'd better hit JoAnn's again for more of this yarn to tuck into my suitcase.

I am so looking forward to sitting on my balcony, sipping coffee, watching the ocean, and knitting. Yep, that'd take anybody's stress away!

Speaking of stress, the DIL that is staying with me is Bi-Polar. Things are pretty stressful in their lives right now, so the other day I loaned her a crochet hook and gave her a skein of yarn. I coached her a bit and she is really going to town. She says the crocheting has carried her through several Bi-Polar episodes already. Between that and the supplements I'm pouring down her, she might be much happier when they finally move out!

Oh, and the knee is healing just great! Still tender if I touch it right on the bump, but the swelling is gone and I have most of the flexibility back. Lighthouse here we come!

Better Today

My knee is not nearly so swollen today, and the pain is a lot less. I still have to be careful climbing stairs, and I won't be doing any crouching for a while, but I think I can coast for a day to see if a doctor's visit is in order. I don't swell much or bruise easily so sometimes it's hard to tell what's going on. My self-diagnosis is that I bruised the bone pretty badly and hopefully there isn't a crack or bone chips. I fell directly on it with all of my *** pounds so that's a lot of force.

The last two trips we've taken, we've had family along that couldn't walk well, or had no energy, so I've been looking forward to doing some hiking or just lots of walking. We don't leave til Tuesday and we'll be there ten days so even if most of the walking has to wait until the last half of the visit that won't be horrible. I kind of need some "happy hour watching the sunset" time anyway.

Well off to the sewing room. I have a set of lined curtains to finish for the neighbor before I leave and I have a couple of hours left on them. Hubs went fishing, the bum!

Remember This?

Well, we're going there again! Since we have such tight quarters here at the house, and since we have a ton of timeshare points to use, and since plane tickets are so cheap, we're running away from home for 10 days. Actually 12 if you count the two nights we'll spend in Billings-plane ticket prices from Bozeman are outrageous so it's worth a little gas to drive to Billings and stay with either Stan's sister or mine. And they can take us to the airport.

It's just Hubby and me. Nobody to slow us down, nobody to veto our plans, and we can just chill by ourselves for that time. We can take in activities that we don't usually have time to when we only stay a week. Plus the people of Mazatlan are lovely.

We leave Tuesday (yep the 23rd!) and will fly back to Billings on March 5th.

In my mind I'm already in Mazatlan.

I. Cannot. Wait!

Update: tonight, I got up from my chair to walk across the living room floor, and fell over my feet. I landed straight on my right knee. It hurts like the dickens, so I suppose a doctor's visit is in order for tomorrow morning. Hopefully it's not serious-my reservations are non-refundable. I have several offers from friends and family to go with me and be my fetch-and-carry person, just for the chance to bask on the beach.

Bears

I finished two Memory Bears for a lady in California. She lives here part time and that's when she got my phone number from Hospice. She sent four garments-two sweatshirts and two flannel plaid pajama bottoms-and told me to use my own discretion for what to use in each bear.

I combined the two fleeces in one and the two flannels in the other.

One bear is pink with gray ears and feet.


The other I made from the red flannel and made the ears, feet, and vest from the black.

I try to do something special on each bear. The plaid one got the vest and the pink one got hearts.

I hope they are sweet reminders of this lady's friend.

Unbelievable!

This was on our local news this morning. Gives me the chills-how can someone be so cruel to anything weaker!

2/4/10 Update-the cat was put down yesterday because his injuries were too bad, then today when the authorities tried to arrest the man for felony cruelty to animals he holed up in his apartment and killed himself. What a tortured soul!

I'm Still Alive....

It's just been so busy around here that I've barely been able to sew or knit, never mind blogging! The kids are moved in (sort of) and are slowwwly putting away their stuff. I'm trying not to stress over all the STUFF, but it's hard-when you get older you like your little orderly life and chaotic surroundings can really discombobulate you. They're just waiting for a couple of paychecks so they can have rent and deposit and then they'll be on their way (I hope). I love them, but I've always loved my empty nest!

I AM grateful to be alive today. DIL and I were headed to town this morning and when we passed the Belgrade interchange, a van came down the ramp and moved over three lanes right into OUR lane and tried to defy the laws of physics and occupy the same space we were currently in. I kept moving left, thinking, "Surely he sees us! Is he really moving all the way over?!" I started braking carefully and moving even closer and closer to the median. Just then my tires hit a patch of gravel left from Monday's snowstorm. My car started spinning! He had sped away, so I didn't hit the van. All I could think was, "Lord, don't let there be anybody behind me!" I kept gently braking and counter steering, and after about the fifth spin around my car straightened out. Then I was furious! I hit the gas and sped up alongside the van, honking as I did. He looked at me like I was crazy. He didn't even notice that he almost ran me off the road! My DIL got the number of the cleaning service on the side of the van and called the dispatcher. After she explained the situation, the dispatcher called the driver, then he called us and apologized. My DIL said, "Fine, but next time use the mirrors for what they were intended!"

We're both fine and are really aware of how bad it could have been. We must be still on this earth for a reason. God really spared us! If it had been icy the chances are good that we would have been seriously injured or killed.

The adrenalin has subsided and I'm exhausted, so here's hoping I sleep without dreaming about spinning cars!