No cancer! Hat was right on

No cancer! Hat was right on

• Feb. 17th, 2010 at 1:02 AM

Hi,
I went to see the Derm and have the stitches removed.  The labs are clean.  Cancer all gone!  Happy dance! He said it is not the kind to come back.  I knit a blue watch cap for my doctor.  A little something for his convertible.  Must have been the right thing to do, as he loved it.  I do not have health insurance and he gave me the  "student rate",  telling me I surely must be a student of something.  Good Doc!

I finished my German socks.  Notice the toe.  Lately when I do toe up, which is most of my socks, I increase one stitch each "corner" too much, go an inch even, then decrease to the desired size and carry on down the foot.  This makes a little extra wiggle room in the toe.  I like them that way, but they look a bit funny off the foot.  You can't tell by looking on the foot.



The tops are shorter than usual as these are for me and that's how I like 'em.  Upside down Balbriggan heel.  First tiem for me and I'd do it again.  No turning, justa bunch of decreases.  Directions in Nancy Bush's Folk Socks.  There's a funny story there.  Some years ago, when I got that book I was avidly reading it as soon as I got it out of the Amazon box.  My Daughter came in a said,  "Well, Mother,  it's about time you are reading something again.  Since you got all sock crazy, all you want to do anymore is knit socks."  I held the book up so that she could read the title.  "Oh, no, not a book about knitting socks.  You're too much."  I laughed. 

Nathan was here for the weekend.  We had a great time.  We went with Dare to Pat and Oscar's.  All Nate's favorite stuff, bread sticks, pizza, pasta, salad, BBQ chicken and lots of  extra parm on top.  Very Nathan.



Six year old heaven.  The adults had a good time too.  Different kind of Valentine's Day.

I'm listening to Jazz 88.3, Herbie's latest release, way cool.  Current tune is originally from Nirvana, I kid you not.  I'll have to put the CD on my wish list.

So it's off to bed with me, Lilo sez Goodnight!,
Julie

• Location: at home in San Diego
• Mood: tired
• Music:Jazz, Herbie covering Nirvana

knitting olympics

Hi,
I joined the Knitting Olympics over at the Yarn Harlot's blog.  I'm knitting a Victorian collar.  Also a cap for my doctor.

I'm in great shape emotionally, very fired up to be supporting the women's meetings this month and the youth division for Rock the Era.  I've been having a lot of fun doing vigorous activities. 

I went to the doc this morning to find out why I have been having something dragging down my health after I got over the bronchitis.  I thought I had a lingering infection in my lungs, but no, they are clear.  Then she found a a urinary tract infection.  Either bladder or kidneys.  Further labs will tell which. I just started an antibiotic today, so I am sleeping a lot. I fell asleep this afternoon, went to visit a friend, then slept again right after dinner and just woke up after midnight. The antibiotic really knocks me out.  But I expect in a day or two this effect will be eased and I'll be running around again. Good she found the "silent infection" before it could cause lots of  kidney damage. Good Dr, huh, must be, her name is Julie, too!

I'm getting ready to go to San Francisco next month with my sisters. I'm getting so excited.  It was so much fun last year: 1 week. 3 sisters, no husbands, lots of crafting.  Last year we laughed so much our cheek muscles hurt.

Nathan is coming soon, happy dance!!!!  Silly besotted Gramma.

See you all soon,
Julie

• Location: at home in San Diego
• Mood: sleepy
• Music:none, watching TV, Olympics have started, you know

Another S'mores hat

Hello,
Today was cool and sunny and breezy.  I finally feel well.  Dan was in LA so I had a quiet girl's day out, chatting with my friend Flore.  Now it is evening and Dan is napping, so I still have the house to myself.  Nice. 

I also am finishing up a second hat from the last of the S'mores yarn.  I am experimenting with a stretchy bind off from Knitty.com.   It's called Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php.  Ha-ha, funny how that copied from Knitty.  Anyway, the bound off edge is teal blue to bring out the light blue in the colorway.  And it is indeed very stretchy.  I might use it in the future for toe-up sock tops.

My daughter told me she is going on a cruise.  I'm so happy for her!  Sounds like so much fun.  Cruises are so cheap right now, it almost saves money to go.  Best of all, I'll watch Nate for her.  I'm just a besotted Gramma.

From Daisaku Ikeda: "Remember that "The voice does the Buddha's work."   Let's chant resounding daimoku, give a courageous and impassioned "lion's roar" and engage in dialogue that strikes a chord in the hearts of others.   Let's win with voices that resonate with such warmth and confidence."

and...Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda for Sunday, February 7, 2010.  "Your environment does not matter.  Everything starts with you. You must forge yourself through your own efforts.  I urge each of you to create something, start something and make a success of something.  That is the essence of human existence, the challenge of youth. Herein lies a wonderful way of life always aiming for the future."

Lilo is sleepy and she sez: G'night, All.  G'night, Lilo.
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: hopeful
• Music:Tchaikovsky piano concerto

Nate's Birthday sweater

Hi,
It's a cold breezy overcast day in San Diego.  The weatherman is predicting rain.  So I'm staying in and drinking lots of tea.  Also a slice of the yummy turtle pie I made (chocolate turtle jello pudding, oreo pie shell and a big heap of whipped cream on top).  Did I tell you what my daughter Amber said about whipped cream?  Since it is mostly air, it's fewer calories to put a blob of whipped cream on top of your coffee than it is to add milk to it.  She wants to write a diet book about food label reading called "Eat more whipped cream".   Since I have always been a fan of whipped cream (Schlag, Bitte! ) this is right up my alley.  I fear she is basing her calculations on a small blob of whipped cream, which is not how I squirt it on!  Oh, well... I don't use small amounts of milk either, so maybe it still applies. 

Here is the sweater I was working on in the Guild meeting, finished at last!

Size 7 circular needles, the black is Lion Brand Baby soft and the blue is Mexican wave  (long discontinued). About 4 st/in.   I had made myself a wimple from the Mexican Wave, but I was no longer wearing it. So ripped it and balled up the Mexican Wave to use for something else.  When I needed a second color for this stripey design, I pulled it out and tried it.  I love the effect of the gradually changing colors.  I so wish they had not discontinued Mexican Wave.  Nathan's birthday party is Saturday, so none too soon!



Does anyone know of another kid-friendly (i.e. washable) soft sport weight yarn with a long color change?

I stuffed Dan's newest warm and tweedy watch cap into the neck so you can see the line of the neck.  It's so hard to photograph black knitting.  So you get a 2-fer photo.  I make him lots of warm hats.  What can I say, bald men are sexy!

Today I received a recent encouragement from Daisaku Ikeda in an e-mail from my friend Julia.

February 5, 2010 
--TO MY FRIENDS--
The busier we are, the
 more we should begin with prayer.
Let's stop spinning our wheels
 and getting nowhere.
It's also crucial to get sleep.
Every day, let's take wise leadership!

I like this, less wheel spinning and more sleep!  I'm still fighting off the tail of the recent bronchitis relapse, so I really get the sleep part right now. 

I had wanted to attend the festive opening of the "Ghandi, King, Ikeda" exhibit at SDSU in the Library Addition, 1st floor, and Donor Hall, 1st floor, Love Library, but given my health constraints, I will see it sometime later this weekend. Check it out at http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsuniverse/news.aspx?s=71845  Someone said this is Aztec Center, but I am not so familiar with SDSU, so I will have to check it out when I get there.  State has surely grown over the years.

Lilo is outside chasing the cold wind gusts and being a cat of great winter mystery.  So, without any Lilo, bye for now.
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: mellow
• Music:none, listening to Dan Chant

Hat to match the Smores scarf and bright slippers

Hello,

It's a cool clear Wed. evening in San Diego, about 54F.  The bronchitis is back, so I have no energy and have been sleeping a lot.  Loooong nap today.

I just got home from the knitting guild meeting at the La Jolla JCC.  It was a lot of fun.  Amy Singer was there.  She has a new book out and we were part of her book tour. 

I took a few items that I have finished for show and share.  Some of the girls wanted patterns for the stuff where I was just doodling with yarn and needles.  So as I finish writing them up I'll put the patterns here on the blog.  One of the requested ones is this hat below. 

Here's the hat to match the Smores scarf I blogged recently. Feather and fan.


Soft Little Feather and Fan hat pattern.

100% wool sock yarn from Knitpicks, color shown is discontinued, Smores.
Size 8 needles.
Gauge: 4 st/in
Knit flat and seamed.  Could be done in the round if you prefer... I happened to have straight needles handy.
I did the M1 as a backwards-e.
Cast on 7.
Row 1:*K1, M1 across, end K1. = 13 sts
Row 2 and all even rows in this section: K all.
Row 3: K1,* M1, K2. Repeat from * to end. =19 sts
Row 5:K1, *M1, K3. Repeat from * to end. = 25 sts
Row 7:K1, *M1, K4. Repeat from * to end. = 31 sts
Row 9:K1, *M1, K5. Repeat from * to end. = 37 sts
Row 11:K1, *M1, K6. Repeat from * to end. = 43 sts
Row 13:K1, *M1, K7. Repeat from * to end. = 49 sts
Row 15:K1, *M1, K8. Repeat from * to end. = 55 sts
Row 17:K1, *M1, K9. Repeat from * to end. = 61 sts
Row 19:K1, *M1, K10. Repeat from * to end. = 67 sts
Row 21:K1, *M1, K11. Repeat from * to end. = 73 sts
Row 23:K1, *M1, K12. Repeat from * to end. = 79 sts
Row 24: K all
Row  25: K2, *YO, K1, YO, K4, (K2tog X4), K4, YO, k1, YO, K1. Repeat from * , end K1.
Row 26: Purl all.
Row 27: Knit all
Row 28 : Knit all.  (Raises garter ridge.)
Repeat rows 25-28 8 more times.
Knit 4 rows.
Suspended bind off. leaving long tail.  Sew or crochet  side seam. ( I crocheted mine.)  Using soft sock yarn makes a wonderfully soft hat. 

I made some more bright slippers from the 1960's yarn. My camera does not want to give them to livejournal.  Maybe next time.

Lilo stopped by to say good night.  Good night, Lilo.

Bye,
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Music:Debussy

Yet Another UFO bites the dust

Hello.

Happy Campers, I hope?  I'm one.

Its a cool winter evening in San Diego, 53F.  I'm still getting well from the major bout of bronchitis I had just after Christmas.  The tail end cough just will not end.  I had to stay home tonight to try and clear up my aching chest.

But, nonetheless, I am working along on my UFO project.  Here's the latest FO.  Yarn is from Maria's in Chula Vista, something Mexican.  I am crazy about the colors. 
I 

Cute collar for the presents drawer.  My own design.

Tomorrow night I am going with my sister to see Amy Singer at the local guild.  Should be fun.  I'll let you know how it went. 

Lilo came by to say "good night" to everyone.  She loves to blog.

Good night,
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood:busy
• Music:Nestor Torres, dances, prayers Meditations

I'm in love with purple

Hello, Happy February!

It's a lovely, cool (60F) clear sunny winter afternoon in San Diego.  The birds are singing and there is a gentle breeze from the ocean.  Lovely and peaceful.

Here is the latest in the series of UFO's I am finishing.  The yarn is the bright stuff from the '60's my friend glommed onto for me at a yard sale.  I love the bright purple color.  I think this one might be mine.  All ir needed was the gray edgeing.



The stitch is Lotus Blossom Stitch, but the blossoms are upside down since I worked it neck down, so they look more like fuchsia blossoms.  I can write up the pattern if anyone wants it.

The UFO campaign I'm on right now is so exciting.  It appears that I have many projects with just a little bit of work left to do.  So, a small effort on my part is yielding a beautiful finished object.  I'm loving it.  The drawer where I stash presents has several items already and it's just February.  My eventual goal is to finish enough projects that I can actually keep the rest in the designated bins, instead of all over the house!  The Yarn Harlot was talking about watching Hoarders and jumping up to get her house cleaned up.  Well, I'm a long way from cleaned up, but the impulse is the same.  Next up is another  pretty little shawlette/collar made from colorful Mexican yarn that only needs a button to be done. 

Enjoy your day!

Later,
Julie

• Location:at home in San Diego
• Mood: cheerful
• Music:The King - It's time for Elvis, Baby

Hot chocolate and Oreos? Another UFO bites the dust.

Hello,

Here's another UFO hitting the finished object pile.  It's the end of January and I have many of the Christmas 2010 preosents ready. Yahoo!  I love this UFO  method.



This is a lovely soft scarf (the kind that pokes thru itself) in yummy soft wool sock yarn from Knitpicks.com.  Feather and fan stitch.  The colorway is called something like hot chocolate and Oreos, if I am remembering right. No, I found the ball band (miracle).  It's Smores.   It's been discontinued now.  I have one more skein, so I'm making something to go with it.  I haven't decided just what yet.

I've been working on a Buddhist meeting, an SGI  Women's Division Kick-Off Meeting.  It was today and it went great.

Just in case you missed it, here's what I said for the welcoming  words: 

"I want to welcome all my beautiful Myoho Sisters to this meeting, the Central Area Women's Division kick-off meeting. We women rock! And especially I want to welcome our guests today. Thank you so much for coming and checking out this incredible practice. Give it a try, stick to the person who brought you, and soon you'll know why we are all grinning so much.

What are we kicking off today? The wonderful women-led 4-divisional district meetings for February, 2010. They're going to be great!

The February meetings are traditionally a great time for us to introduce so many of our friends to this wonderful practice, so I hope you brought  your friends to this meeting. And I hope you are all chanting to be able to bring ALL your friends to the February district meeting, too, for this will guarantee their absolute happiness in life. The women's division have such tremendous power of faith and abundant joy that the meetings you are planning in your districts are sure to be rousing successes.

Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo with conviction and joy, looking into the future with confidence, setting goals and reaching them and helping each other do this all along the way, this is a most wonderful way to live. This is what it means to live the vow we made as Boddhisattvas at the Ceremony in the Air, practicing together with our mentor, President Ikeda, creating the greatest possible benefit for ourselves and mankind in this precious lifetime.

This practice is the best medicine for whatever the karmic illnesses of mankind are. So let's share the wealth, and let everyone know about this wonderful practice of the Lotus Sutra, let's tell them about chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to the Gohonzon to make all our dreams come true and help others do the same. Nichiren Daishonin said in “Letter to Niike”, “When one encounters this sutra, one will overflow with happiness and shed tears of joy. “

I have a long list of things I am chanting for, do you? I hope so. I keep crossing things off the list as I accomplish them and I keep adding even more to it. The list just gets longer and longer. Isn't that how it's supposed to work? Chant, joy, benefit, appreciation, repeat. Chant, joy, benefit, appreciation, repeat. It works like the shampoo.

When I was a new member I had a very short list. I had lots of problems, but my natural nature was so negative, I could not imagine any of my issues being solvable by chanting, or by anything else for that matter. So I thought I had nothing much to chant for. My sponsor told me to make a list, but I could not think of a single thing to put on it. With time, as I chanted more I developed more and more hope and I thought, “Well, maybe that problem is something I could chant about. Gee, maybe this other one, too. Oh, how about this one...” As a result my list grew and grew and my benefits began to pile up like purple flowers drifting under a Jacaranda tree in the Spring. “U mandara ke”, like it says in the 16^th chapter of the Sutra that we chant during Gongyo, right? The Boddhisattvas of the Earth receive benefits like abundant mandarava blossoms floating down onto their heads under the tree, right? Every time I see a blossoming Jacaranda tree with heaps of purple blossoms underneath it, I am reminded of this image Shakamuni chose in the Lotus Sutra to describe the tremendous benefit we derive from this practice. We don't have mandarava trees in San Diego, but we have Jacarandas.

President Ikeda said in Words of the Week for this week of January 25, 2010, “The SGI is the hope for humanity. Let's continue to sow the seeds of peace of the Mystic Law for the sake of the future. The accumulation of steady efforts will cause the flowers of victory to bloom without fail.”

So get your lists fired up, girls, get your firey determination in gear, chant abundant, joyful Daimoku and give this upcoming February meeting your very best shot. Then, you'll be calling me, to tell me all about your great benefits. And we'll both be lovin' it.  I hope you enjoy today's meeting!"

It was a great meeting.  Everyone had such a great time.  So, after a nice nap I was ready to take on my project of finishing up all the unfinished things, one at a time. 



Lilo came in from her evening adventure in the cold and now she wants to play with me.  She's getting feisty about it, since I am busy blogging.  Good night , Lilo.

Good night, All.
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: content
• Music:the Salsa compilation from Brynna and Aolfredo's wedding

Thursday means Mexican Soup

Hi, Everyone,

It's sunny but cold here in San Diego.  So, it was time for some yummy Mexican soup.   I still have a cold so it is my "Mexican medicine".  My first mother-in-law was Mexican and this is a variation on her soup.

Memo's soup

2Tbsp bacon drippings or EVOO
8 oz ham, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, sliced (I could have also added carrots and green peppers, but I did not have them on hand)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1Tbsp crushed red pepper (like comes with pizza)
4 big chicken thighs with bone, cut into thirds
1 large can hominy
1 med can tomatoes with peppers
1 tsp salt
1tsp leaf oregano, crushed in your hand
4 cups water
1/2 Cup red wine vinegar

Saute the onions, celery and ham in the bacon drippings until they begin to brown.  Add the pepper, cumin, red pepper and the garlic.  Cook until you smell the garlic.   Lift the onion mixture into the crock pot.  Brown off the chicken in the remaining oil.    While it cooks, add the hominy, salt and the tomatoes to the crock pot.   When the chicken is brown, add it and the oregano to the crock. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, also the water.  Scrape up the fond (the brown bits) real good, as they add so much flavor to the soup.  Add the resulting broth to the crock.   Set the crock pot to low and cook 4 hours.  Taste and adjust seasoning.   Serve with quesadilllas or cheesy toast.   Add a salad or fruit and you have a great cold day dinner.   I had fruit with mine.   Yummy.

I gave my freind Barbra a bowl of the soup when she stopped by today to knit and talk.  She is studying fashion and is using me as a model for her plus size swim suit line.  I hope she makes a mint.   This is an area that needs more young designers to make the suits fun.

I finished a shawl from the UFO collection.   Purple and magenta.    7 feet long and about 15 inches long.   Crochet, mixed patterns.



The yarn was from Mexico.  A few years ago (like maybe 4) Dan and I went to LA to attend his sister's graduation.  We stayed at the Miyako Hotel in Japan-town.  http://www.miyakoinn.com/   We got a great deal through AARP.   We had so much fun.  They have Japanese style rooms, too.  They were so Japanese, the breakfast menu included natto, super stinky fermented soybeans.   The neighborhood included great Japanese food, jazz clubs and a fun local micro- brewery.  We had a blast.   I'd do it again in a New York  minute.

Anyway, in the neighborhood was a yarn shop that specialized in yarns from Mexico, and I bought this yarn.  Good thing Dan speaks Spanish.  Great colors.  And now it's done.  There are leftovers of the yarn, plus some of the other purples I bought at the same time.  So now I'm working on a new one where the colors shift gradually.

Enjoy my soup,
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: relaxed
• Music:Santana, Supernatural

Reviving the languishing UFO's

 

Hello, Friends,

I hope you are warm and dry. It's a cold, wet, stormy and windy Friday night here in Southern California. We should not complain, as the rest of the country gets this stuff all the time, but for us it's unusual. I know, I know, it's called rain...
.
 

It's good to hear back on some of this stuff. Glad you liked the free baby leggings pattern. I'm going to do another one in a solid color. I'll post when it's done.
.
 

Today I finally put the buttons on a cute toddler bolero that has been a WIP for a very long time. It's my own design, the yarn is some simple washable stuff from Michael's, size 3 needles.

I got frustrated with the lace at the sleeve hems, put it aside and there it stayed in the bottom of my WIP stack by my chair for a long time. My knitting chair has a nice heated massage pad in it that Dare got me for Christmas a couple of years ago, so I was motivated to sit there today, warm up and dig through the stack. The lace is right side up on the bottom edge, but would be upside down on the sleeves as they are picked up from the armhole and knitted down. I finally found it and pulled it out and the answer to the lace problem was so easy I finished it up in no time. Funny how that works. Answer? I just let it be upside down. It looks great that way. Only 4 rows of lace. Now, I just finished sewing on the cute green triangle buttons and we're good to go for my niece's birthday this spring.  I think I'll make a plan to resolve (either finish or rip) one UFO a week in 2010. 
.

The baby I originally started this for is in kindergarten now, but who's counting. Babies are like buses, if you miss one another one will be along soon. So if I can't finish a baby gift in time, I give something else and finish at my leisure. I have a couple of pairs of cute baby booties made up in my gift drawer at all times for emergencies. Let me tell you why.   My daughter called me late one Wednesday and said she was going to a baby shower for her boss and could I make something homemade, it's so much more special than store bought. “Sure”, I said. She replied, “OK, Mom, the Shower is Saturday and she's having twin boys, so it needs to be 2 cute blue things.”    I did a hand crocheted contrast edging on 2 store bought blue blankies.   Cute and fast. LOL.
.

I also want to show you a couple of fun slippers I designed. I wanted cute turned up toes like Turkish slippers and enough fabric in the back that they'll stay on. Pull on loops to help me get them on quickly.  Enough foot coverage to keep me warm. Sexy would be nice, too. I think I got the requirements all covered but the last one, sigh. I'm still working on that. Warm and comfy seem to be in conflict with sexy ... Story of my life?

The pinks are a ladies small and the grays are a ladies medium. Hmmmm.... I wonder who fits these?

Don't you like the knitted in purple beads on the pink ones? I used short rows to turn up the toes. Yarn is more of the 60's WW stuff, size 7 needles.
.

Here are a few Warming Words from my mentor.  Something to warm the heart on a cold winter's night.    "The ungrateful feel that it is below them to show any kind of appreciation. They are under the delusion that showing gratitude to others diminishes their own worth. But it is this sense of appreciation that elevates, enriches and expands the human spirit. A lack of gratitude is actually a sign of arrogance"    - Daisaku Ikeda

Ta Ta,

Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: mellow
• Music:Metropolis