On the needles

What am I currently working on?  Well, not losing my mind mostly!  Knitting-wise I currently have two projects going on, a Central Park Hoodie for me, and a Woodland shawl for me, notice a trend here?  I really should start something for someone else soon so I don't feel guilty about all the me me me me me that's going on!

The fronts and back knit in one piece

The second right sleeve

I am really enjoying knitting the hoodie, it is my first time making a larger, long sleeve sweater like this I have only made a short sleeve cardigan and a short sleeve pullover before, Hey Teach! and Silken Scabbard.  I can't wait to get it done, especially with the weather going the way it is!  With it being August and still chilly in the morning half the time I actually could wear it in the mornings and possibly in the evening despite it being summer, and this in spite of the fact that it is made out of Wool of the Andes!  The only problem I have had so far is having to knit 3 sleeves, yes 3.  I decided to do them in the round so I don't have to seam and my first attempt was both too tight and too short so I frogged that sleeve and tried again.  Luckily the second time seems to be working well so far, and the yarn has held up really well to being knit, ripped, and then knit again. 

The shawl is my first attempt at beading, I am using a bloody tiny crochet hook to get the beads onto each stitch which is extraordinarily time consuming, but well worth the effort in my opinion.  I hadn't know what I was going to do with this yarn, I ordered it on a whim just to try out the Palette yarn you see.  Then on one of my crafting get-together days with friends Chatty-Cathy brought her beads and she had some that perfectly matched the color of the yarn, so she insisted I take them and use them with the yarn (they had been purchased by her on a whim as well while she was shopping in Little India).  I had to order a third skein of the Palette yarn as I think just the 2 won't be quite long enough and at $1.99 per skein I'd rather have too much than not enough!  Now of course I envision wearing this with the perfect summery white/ivory dress so will have another project of sewing a dress for myself next...

A day with no kids...or knitting even!

That's right!  I got to go to Glen Ivy Hot Springs & Spa with a couple of friends on Friday.  Chatty Cathy told me she and Missus Gordon (#24's biggest fan!  really, she is!) would be going on Friday and would I like to go too?  I'll admit that I'm not much of a spa person, for me the draw was to get away with some good friends for the day and not have to worry about the kids.  Since Chatty and I have connections and were able to get in with complimentary passes, it was kind of a no-brainer for me.  That is provided Mister Vonkysmeed would watch the munchkins for me, pretty please?!  Bless my sweetheart of a husband he simply waved his hand at me and told me to have fun on Friday.  I must've done something right in a previous life, I so do not deserve this man!

Best of all, there were no kids there at all!  Not only did I get a rest from mine, I didn't have to deal with anyone else's either.  It was a truly lovely day, after the June gloom that we get on the coast every morning it was a welcome relief to go inland and enjoy some sun.  During our visit we were able to enjoy all the various pools, baths, steam room, and of course the lounge pool (Missus Gordon's favorite place to be!).  The lounge pool kept us occupied for a good three hours, talking, laughing, gossiping and admiring all the cute swimsuits wandering around.  Missus Gordon complained that you can never find cute swimsuits when shopping but here there were a whole bunch of them!  The best was a red and white polka dot number with black ruffled trim all around the edges and black satin bows on the straps, sooo cute!

And when the sign says the mineral baths will make your silver jewelry tarnish, let me tell you, they aren't kidding!  I think it's going to take me a good half hour with my polishing cloth to get these suckers to shine again.  But boy did those natural hot spring waters feel good, smells bad, but feels great!

When it was finally time to go I discovered a nice little surprise message waiting for me on my cell phone from Mister Vonkysmeed, he titled it 'Looking for mama'

Although I really enjoyed my day, seeing that image definitely made me want to come home and see my little ones again.  I unquestionably needed that time without them for all that!

Desert wildflowers: a photographers road trip

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Here in lovely Southern California we have the amazing miracle of wildflowers blooming in the middle of the desert every year for a  few short weeks.  Due to our recent rains this year is even better than usual (or worse if you have allergies!).  Up until now I have never had the opportunity to go see them, but my brother Grumpy invited me to go along with he and his wife, Chatty-Cathy, on a visit to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to take some pictures of them.

So after getting up early (for me) on a Saturday morning and driving for a couple hours to get out there I was suddenly confronted with a hike, uh, hike?  No one said anything about a stinking hike!  Oh well, here we go anyway!  Good thing I was smart enough to wear jeans and sneakers.  None of us got exactly what we expected.  We all were assuming we would observe flowers as far as the eye could see, not so, this is the desert after all.  What we did get was the normally brown and dry desert plants awash with color.  Mostly yellows and greens with some reds and purples, it really was quite lovely.  The sounds of the bees was amazing, I don't know where they all came from but the buzzing was non-stop around the plants.