Summer 2007

 

This is a wonderful photo of the house from the road after the old tree was taken down -- sad, but it had to go.

 

My favorite "flower" -- what can I say?

"Help" with flower granny square colorings

I finally got all the Cascade 220 colors from four different sources, so with taking out the heathered colored ones (that didn't look heathered on the internet) I'm working with 27 colors.

Luckily for me, the untrained artist, there is the Palette Generator to help out if I want to use color schemes from photos. A GREAT resource!

And there is similar one to help out with stripes -- this will be useful when I use the leftover yarn for a ripple afghan.

And the most wonderful tribute to Elizabeth Zimmerman....

For those of us who knit, no explanation of who Elizabeth Zimmerman is needed.

But for your viewing pleasure, the most wonderful grown-up item: one of the most fabulous things I've seen on the internet in a LONG time.

"The Adult Tomten Jacket" by brooklyntweed.

Chanel couture, patchwork and Vanity Fair magazine

This August's Vanity Fair magazine has a Chanel ad on the inside front cover.

The model is wearing a white vest full of red and black diamond-in-a-square patchwork motifs. The color scheme with the flying geese edging could be Krygyz in a minute!

Although that block is normally called: (I'll eventually find the name)

Fast DSL and crafters on the internet

One of the many pluses of the cabin is the super fast wireless DSL internet up here.

It lets all of us be on a computer when/where we want, and also leads to lots of web cruising by all.

MY cruising of course involves craft/knitting/crochet/quilting blogs -- non-stop, it almost seems.

But crafters these days: oh my!!

-- A quilt from corrugated coffee sleeves

-- a knitted IPhone with step by step instructions

-- cupcakes with knitted marzipan toppings

-- and a knitted brain purse (literally) (must re-find the url!!)and another shot

But not to be outdone in the serious/math wise department: (crocheted) coral reef

I'm a pirate

I admit it.

I'm taking some color themes from photos and crochet patterns from three different online craft blogs and working up some flower granny squares. Suffice to say I thank the authors but won't be posting any more about it -- although the enjoyment I'm getting personally is immense. And then I'm sure I'll have enough for a ripple afghan leftover!

I also have my tonal taupe/soft pink/white typical granny squares that I'm working on (started in London) with Rowan wool cotton -- a dream yarn if there ever was one.

And ... also am knitting Rowan hand cotton bag ... lots to work on. And lots and lots of books up here to read.

We have discovered www.pandora.com -- a radio station where you can pick your titles and they do a stream of like minded artists. Hopefully they will continue to be able to broadcast -- there are current copyright issues at the moment that they are trying to work out, along with other internet sites.

Bear Valley, summer 07

We've been up here since July 3, and it's a lovely place to recoup.

The plane trip (27+ hours of daylight) to SF (Almaty, official 4th of July reception, Moscow (Sheri I makeover a Breeze), Delta to NY, JFK to SF) was hard on me, stamina wise. All in all, there were no problems except the mind-blowing crowds -- JFK was the most crowded we'd ever seen. The Delta passprt area was handling 2 or 3 plane loads at once, so the "Disney Land" lines looked endless, but it wasn't too bad. But then we had to go outside and then back inside to get through security -- strange, and a little exhausting for me. But then we got upgraded to SF -- the flight was oversold. In fact the whole "airport" seemed oversold -- I couldn't even get near the restrooms!

I had my medical appointments in SF and then we came up here. Julia was here for a couple of days, and we also had a few days of quite warm weather. It's now back to the normal extremely pleasant and oh-so relaxing atmosphere. Chris is also here for a week -- he was to help me out when John was gone. It's great to see him and I am sure a nice break for him from the NYC summer weather.

I finally feel quite a bit more rested and in a lot less pain, although a morning with a shower, hair wash and blow drying still does me in. I have the pulley upstairs on the balcony door to use, along with my new PT purple dust mop with the long handle.

Unfortunately Mark's back has gone out and he has had to cancel the long-planned hiking trip with John who is handling the disappointment well. John has enough to do now, as we are as we speak trying to fit the new gas stove into a space that is literally about 1/2" too small -- Formica counter tops are in the way. Otherwise, the electrical and gas items needed have gone fine. We're doing other projects, too, including talking of closing in the 2nd floor and removing 2 sets of bunks to make a "room" and get a queen size bed in there. A bathroom up there is also under long term discussion.

Life goes on: Arm surgery and the rest

 

At the end of May the orthopedist in London decided the arm wasn't healing properly so off we went again to London for surgery, two erector set plates and 12 screws. And a long scar, of course.

 

 

 

Actually, it all went well. I had a private room, 2 nights in the hospital, 10+ days in London "in case of complications", lots of TLC from the Embassy London medevac people and gorgeous x-rays to show all my new hardware. In the end, it was good that I went -- I now also have "British bone" from the UK bone bank in me, so I obviously needed patching up. And it was all "just unlucky" -- every doctor has told me that this bone usually heals.

And, in spite of what the doctor said would happen, I DO NOT set off alarms through security at airports. The best bonus!

Spent my birthday a few days after the surgery with the most wonderful birthday cake from Selfridges. We didn't eat the cake, but saved it to take back to Astana. It mostly survived the suitcase with a break in the "tart". Now I just have to find a polka dot teapot!

 

 

I also received a lovely denim-colored Parker pen, a snazzy journal notebook and more goodies. We stayed at the London Grosvenor Square Marriott hotel, so our big decisions every day were where to eat and how far I could walk, stamina wise.

We were right up the street from lots of restaurants, so we had a lot of Italian food, 3 trips to the local Lebanese place for falafel and of course Starbucks for breakfast. We of course left London with the requisite large Starbucks London mug. John has one from San Francisco.

So then back to Astana for a little bit, and then on to ....

Bear Valley!