A sweet time with my Pooh

Hello, Everyone,
It's a clear early Monday morning in January.  The usual fog is missing today.  I feel pretty good and I'm listening to Roger Whittaker on Pandora.

I'm knitting 4 socks on one circ.  One pair  is a black pair with red toes and heels and cuffs.  The other is a dark blue one. I undid the bind off and put it back on the needles with the other pair so that I could add a red top edge to cheer it up a bit.  When I'm done I will have bound off in red on the blue sock and the black ones will be an inch or so longer.  I probably have another #3 circ somewhere, but I did not want to make the effort to find it.  So I'm doing the 4 on1 thing instead.  Also drinking herbal tea and eating bonbons.  The other evening Dan and I were leaving a meeting at 8:30 and thinking about having dinner.  I told him I needed an antacid, so he stopped at CVS to get me one.  He was in there a long time and when he approached the car he was carrying 3 big bags.  That's a lot of antacid, I thought. But, no, it was the remains of an after-Christmas sale on chocolates and cookies.  So now we have a little something for our tea, as Pooh Bear would say.  He is so good to me.

See you later,
Julie

beginning the new year

Hello, Everyone,
So far 2012 is turning out fine.  It's a coolish Sunday night in January in San Diego.  The weather is cool and clear, warm for January.  The full moon is out of this world, bright enough to knit by. I feel fine and I'm listening to Dan play classical music.  No idea what the piece is. 

We had dinner with Dare tonight at Red Lobster.  It was great.  Dare is so wonderful to take us to dinner once a week.  Great kindness to the old folks.

We finally decided on a calendar, bought it anad put it up.  I feel better now.  it's "In the pink". Silly piggy photos.  Nice and funny.

Lilo is being very good.  When it's cold she does not want to get put out, I think. No biting right now.

Heather bought me a new coffee maker (made here is San Diego, Aroma brand, 92123) for a Christmas pressie.  I just love it.  It makes my morning coffee or tea so easy.  4 minutes and I'm smelling coffee.  Nutty Doodle (coffee with hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg).  When you grind the coffee it all grinds in.  Until then you can see the nut pieces in the bag!  I get it from a local supplier in Old Town.  Perfect for winter mornings.  By spring we'll be drinking more tea in the mornings.  In the evening we usually drink decaf tea year round. Like right now, cinnamon spice holiday tea.

Keep warm and snug, my loves.
Julie

Hello, Everyone,

It's a warm Wednesday evening in January, what's with that?  I'm feeling good and listening to Phoebe Snow on Pandora.

I told my friend, My condolences on the new computer thing. I agree about the upgrade/downgrade confusion. I'm still not 100% on my new computer.  I'm still having problems with syncing.

Here's my lil buddy. Cute, huh?

I agree with my friend on Lipton Mandarin Orange Green Tea. Crazy about it. I get my hubby to take me to Denny's for it. Not that we don't have a ton of tea in the house. But sometimes I like to get out...

The time after Christmas feels so great as it is a time of knitting just what I feel like knitting, nothing to do with finishing a list.  I sent a couple of pairs of socks to my mother-in-law that were knit to her specs and she sold them to her students.  So, now I have 3 more pair for her.  I guess I ended up in the custom sock knitting business.  So far so good. 

I hope this link works.  Blogger wouldn't let me post the video so here is a link.
http://external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQByehofL-VpdilM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvthumb.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhvthumb-ak-snc4%2F50793_326416430711427_326415854044818_18709_1360_b.jpg

Lilo is back being the "bad kitty".  Last night she decided I was inconvenient to her in my bed, she wanted it all to herself.  So she got up, set her ears back, walked over to my legs and bit me.  I threw her out of the room, big sigh.  Here we go with the bad kitty phase again.  I had hoped she was over that. 


G'nite,

Julie in San Diego, where it is warm right now, like a misplaced spring we lost a couple of years ago, turning up unexpectedly now in winter 2012.  So much for the Mayans, they got it wrong.   Warm winter, not world annihilation.

Maybe now we can blog?

Hello Everyone,
I finally got my camera syncing with my computer.  Maybe now we can blog?

It's a surprisingly warm Tuesday morning in San Diego.  I'm feeling ok, although my right hand is giving me trouble. Listening to Cherry Poppin Daddies on Pandora. It's fun after all the Christmas carols.

These are some Noro socks I'm working on now that the holidays are over.  They look like bark.  Size 1 Crystal Palace needles, as the yarn is very think N thin. I'm not sure I understand why people are so crazy about this yarn.  I finished off 3 pairs of socks after Christmas that were already started.  They are the beginning of my 2012 Christmas gift drawer.  I cut back this year.  Only 71 hand made Christmas pressies.  Next year I will cut back more. I swear, although it's hard.

Lilo sez "Good Afternoon" to all her many fans.  She's lying in the sun of the open dooeway.

See ya,
Julie

Tiffany's shower and Salerno's

Hello, Everyone,
It's a lovely warm August Saturday night.  I'm listening to Andre Rieu.  Shmaltzy but fun. I feel ok, except for having pulled my back out a bit.  But hopefully that is temporary.

I have been out of town in July.  Heather and I went to Minneapolis to attend a family reunion. Via Amtrack!  Lots of fun.  I'll ask HC if she has pix I can post...

We're having a great weekend.  We were busy on the night of our anniversary, so we picked an alternate day to celebrate and it was today.  We went for a drive to the to the mountains.  In Ramona we stopped on a whim at Salerno Winery.  Wow!  What a fun place!  Mamma Rose is a fun lady who talks to her customers like old friends.  Herman, also called Frank,  is a retired Italian opera star who sings opera and makes the best Pizza ever in a wood fired oven on the patio. And, of course, the wine is great.  They have a red called Perfection that really is perfect.  And a sweet white aperitif I loved.

Then we went to Julian for apple-boysenberry pie.  Also great!  Lovely drive.

I have a new camera and I'm having trouble downloading the pictures I took.  Here's the link to the winery.

  http://www.salernowinery.com/index.htm

I'll post pix when my technical difficulties are solved.

Here are some pics from Tiffany's shower.  The shower was a lot of fun.

Arriving with Amber and the boys...

 Amber came down and we all got to spoil Evan.

 Brad Evan with Evan.

Big brother having fun.

Getting close!  Any day now!  Hang in there Tiffany.

Time for me to go to bed.  Lilo sez "Hello" to all her fans.  She is so glad Mom is back in town.

G'night,
Julie

Evan

Hello Everyone, 
It's a lovely warm Tuesday evening in San Diego.  I'm listening to classical music on Kusc.  

We just got back from visiting Evan.

 Isn't he cute?!

Evva, do you recognize the blankie? You knit it for Nate.

Proud big brother.

Lilo is clearly jealous...
See ya,
Julie

cousin Steve

Hello, Everyone,
It's a lovely afternoon in Southern California.

My cousin Steve came to visit from North Carolina.  Uncle Myles's oldest son.

He's the tall guy in the back row.  He looks just like Myles.

We went boating in the RC boat basin...  Click to enbiggen.

Gotta run, gotta take Nate back to his folks!
Love,
Julie

Reply to anna

Hi, Everyone,
It's a lovely spring Friday afternoon in San Diego.  70 degrees and a gentle breeze.   Just lovely.

I feel ok.  I'm listening to dance music on Pandora.  Gotta mix it up once in a while. 

Anna recently posted a comment asking about making an Omamori cover.  I tried to email a reply, but it did not go thru.  So here is the question:

Hiya, I want to make an omamori case for someone as a surprise. What size is an omamori gohonzon?

Thanks :) Anna


And here is the answer:

Hi, Anna,
The older ones are thinner and longer than the recent ones.  Different size of Gohonzon and different mounting.

Assuming a recent one, it's  2 1/8 x 1 1/4 x 1/2, including the white case.    You don't want it to fit skin tight, so I allow a little extra.   I knit a little beaded bag about 1 3/4 - 2 inches wide and 2 1/2 long, then add whatever top closure is desired.  or a top closure I usually have a few extra rows, then a row of K2tog, YO to make a place for the draw string, a few rows seed stitch and then bind off with beads on the edge.  Then I make a drawstring with 2 or 3 stitch i-cord and a heavily beaded bauble on each end.  It takes a little effort to install the drawstring, but it won't come out that way.

I just cover the Omamori itself, but let the original stainless steel chain come out to be used with the cover, as it is stronger than any chain I might knit.   If the cover should ever come off, you would lose the cover, not the Gohonzon. 

Good luck! These are fun to make as they are such a small project that you can go crazy with the beads, and it's still just a few beads, LOL.  A cover makes it nicer to wear the Omamori, as the beads create an airspace between the Omamori and you, which is nice, especially in the summer.  And it keeps the Gohonzon clean and dry. 


Cheers,
Julie

I knit a little cap out of bamboo to use with my c-pap headgear.  The cap helps keep the headgear from slipping on my head in the night and cushions the contact points so I don't wake up with interesting impressions on my forehead.  I made it 2 inches extra long, so I can pull it down where I need it.  I had a warm cap for the winter, this is my new summer cap, cool breathable yarn. and open lace stitch.  It looks silly, but is very effective.

I'm working on  2 Estonian shawls at the same time, LOL.  So like me.  Anyway, one is taupe and very sedate.  One is white and tomato red, very Valentines Day.  Maybe I'll give it as a Valentine next Feb.

Pics to follow when I get them blocked.  Unblocked lace is just a tangled looking mess.

Lilo is losing weight, sigh.  She has on-demand cat food, but I have fought all her life to get a little weight on her.  Her digestion is just terrible, she throws up a lot.  This time of year she catches gophers, eats them and throws everything up.  Poor baby.

Tata,
Julie

Pizza at the beach

Hello everyone,
It's a coolish Thursday night after a windy day in San Diego.  The on-again, off-again weather is giving me joint stiffness problems.  I'm listening to WQXR
Dan and I were at the beach finishig the laundry when we got hungry, so we had pizza and beer at Il Padrino in Pacific Beach.  Wowzers, do I recommend this place.  The dough is tender and tasty and the toppings great.  Wonderful pizza. We had a Shocktop beer, also very good, Belgian style.  Also a Stone IPA. Very hoppy.    http://ilpadrinopizza.com/

I'm knitting a new lace shawl. About half done.   Pictures soon to follow.

Heather sent me some photos, including one of my wedding.  Good memories.

We did have a fun wedding.  The pic is of the San-san-kudo. It was a Buddhist ceremony.

Lilo sez goodnight.

Bye, Julie

Lace, More lace

Hello Everyone,
It's a coolish Sunday night after an overcast day in San Diego.  I'm a bit stiff from the Sj, but other wise in high spirits.  I'm listening to Nestor Torres' Human Revolution, from Songs dances and prayers.

I got a new camera today (Thank you, Dare) and now I am trying to figure out the software that uploads the pix to the computer. I can take them, and then I transfer them, and then I can't find them...

  I had some new lace work I wanted to show you all.  I recently blocked out a bit of pretty white lily of the valley lace (Estonian lace patterns, Orenburg construction).  It's a pressie for Dan's niece.  We were unable to attend her Bat Mitzvah as we were exposed to strep while watching Nate, and we thought strep might be a decidedly uninvited guest at the party.

So,.. I wanted to show you the lace before I mail it off tomorrow... If I figure it out, I'll add it in.

Success! Above is the lily lace.

Meanwhile, Heather and Shannon blocked out the Night Song shawl I made for Shannon.  I modified the pattern slightly to have a few reverse stockinette stitches between the feather motifs to let them stand out more.  I also think the pattern has errors, which I corrected.   Here it is blocking.

Here it is unblocked above.

And all blocked out...

Heather took this pic of Point Loma looking out over the SD airport.  Nice.  Aren't we glad to be here?

Lilo sez hello to all her adoring fans.  I'll have to take a pic of her and lose that one too, lol.

G'night,
Julie