gaysknits

there is something magical...

about nature.  i have always had an appreciation for the beauty of it but the function is the truly amazing part.  in nature things are simple. they are what they are. i had a dog once who had been living her life as a stray and she had reverted back to her wild self and stayed that way for most of her life. she had difficulty fitting in with the rest of the civilized world but had  bonded with me so fiercely that she became unwillingly to see any other life for herself. i have seen that more than once in a stray or in an abused animal. civilation complicates things. take the dragon lady as another example. she is sick and is prone to the most disgusting of intestinal problems and winters are a very trying time for her and for me and usually involve meds and vet bills and a lot of nose pinching.   bearded dragons eat insects and they eat veggies.  in summer months she eats fresh food right out of the yard.  mulberries from my tree, wild strawberries from the yard, raspberries from the garden. moths off the side of the garage wall.  she eats sorrel which grows out of the cracks of sidewalks everywhere and nasturtium & squash blossoms which i plant for her. this year i planted kale and mustard greens and collards and i hate to admit it but i am a lazy gardener and most of what i plant gets overgrown and weedy and well it's not a pretty sight but i had a bumper crop of greens this year and i kept her in fresh food all summer. she thrives on fresh food and loves to eat fresh food. in winter she will turn her nose up at most anything i offer. it's a pretty funny sight to see actually but that simply should tell us all something.  if a bearded dragon knows when vegetables from the grocery are spoiled or old or laden with chemicals why don't we know.  i daresay we do. we just don't care. i think i would have no stomach issues and digestive problems if i were eating  better food.  not that i'm going to eat better food mind you but i'm  just saying! if it were easier i suppose i would but things are just not simple anymore. we have jobs that are stressful  and houses that need repair at the very least or decorated/remodeled if you give two shits which i do not.  we grow gardens to look beautiful and do not grow gardens that feed us.  not that there's anything wrong with feeding your soul but what is important is survival and keeping fed and warm and dry.

birds build amazing homes out of pieces of grass and sticks and string and i have even found husky hair in some of the nests around my house. in other words recycling and keeping it simple and what is more beautiful than a birds nest and the process by which it is made. i have sat for hours in my yard and watched birds building nests and always am thrilled when i stumble upon one that has been left in the branches of my trees or tucked away in the bushes outside my window.  i found this nest while trimming my bushes to make way for a ladder that will reach the roof to do some shingle repair.  simply beautiful. later...love   g

i saw a small puddle of water...

in the basement last week and couldn't imagine where it came from and never gave it a second thought after i shrugged my shoulders and went upstairs with my clean laundry. i found another one a few days later and figured something was amiss but couldn't imagine what but when i saw  it for the third time and having ruled out some sort of a miracle i had a sinking feeling it was water rising up from the drain and indeed it was. in a weeks time a small puddle turned into a big one and by this morning when i was on my way out the door to a dr appt and the guy was on his way out the door to pick up some parts he had ordered at the boat store the puddle turned into a geyser before our eyes and we knew the  plan to call the sewer man on monday had to be changed and pronto. it was...the sewer guy came and rooted out my roots and advised me not to flush those flushable wipes down the commode anymore which when i pulled up the driveway the guy was vehemently denying that i ever did but i confessed that i had indeed become accustomed to giving the sink top and the commode a wipe with one of them and then flushing.  uh oh!  anyway we are unclogged and running freely now and roots and dog hair have been removed from the pipe and it may or may not be cracked but they will be happy to tell me if it is or it is not as soon as the little camera on a wire goes down there to take a look but it is unlikely that they will even bother to send the camera guy here because of the look on my face when he told me how much it costs to dig up the driveway and take advantage of their financing plans. phew...i will start to collect my extra pennies in a jar for the day when the roots can no longer be removed or the pipe has crumbled and i do indeed have to dig up the driveway. tonite i am stress free. i am off work until next wednesday. i have had my truck inspected and brakes checked and all is ok and my sewer is back in action so that i can sit here typing this post and sipping a strawberry margarita and washing  loads of laundry mostly towels from the youngladygrandaughters hair dying session last weekend

 

 and the rags used for mopping up the constantly wet floor.  i'm taking a little break from work because i have decided to minimize the numbers of days i spend there and have changed my schedule to work 4 out of 5 days so monday is now a regular day off for me and i took tuesday off to celebrate and do some work around the house.  brakes...check, sewer...check, dr appointment...check, grocery shopping...check.

i started this cowl at the dr office today. the yarn is some of my ellyn cooper handspun and  this 50% wool 50% silk blend is a winner and oooh la la so soft to touch and the deep rich colors are about as lovely as the bright and beautiful bowls on the cover of the crate and barrel catalog i got in the mail today.  i plan to do some knitting on it tonite and do some relaxing and unwinding. ah clean towels and clean rags and gyro's for dinner and a margarita and not a care in the world. isn't life grand??? later...love   g

even if they are "smalls"

i have an fo!!! smalls...a term i hear often from my friend the house sale biz.  smalls...they sell the best the people want smalls when they are doing their saturday house sale shopping.  anyhow smalls is what i have been knitting lately. small hats...small mittens...for small small hands and heads. i've been promising for years to stop knitting sweaters and i think i have been forced  to keep to my own promise to myself. i have no interest...so i am knitting smalls. any way...kids out grow things so quickly. i remember once i knit a hoody for the little guy and by the time i finished the thing it was already too small.  hats are where it's at.  i have a new baby boy to knit for and he is a baby boy living by the sea so a fish hat was in order and to go with...a pair of mittens to  keep his tiny hands warm because the weather can be severe in their neck of the woods.

the yarn is lion wool ease which is not my fav yarn but it is washable and not so itchy and that is a must for kids who don't like the itch.  it comes in many fun colors so there you  have it.  i was inspired by a baby boy outfit of brown courderoy overalls and a red fleece hooded jacket and the new baby boys mom likes blue so the colors were inspired by that.  i have plans to make a couple more of these for the boy oh boys belonging to my neice...colors to be decided upon later or determined by stash. i am now finishing up a pair of wool fingerless mitts i started last winter and gave up on when the temps started to heat up...we had a day or two of coolness in these parts so i'm in the fall groove now.  getting ready for some jeans and sheepskin boots and wool gloves.  i know the summer isn't over yet but i actually spotted the seasons first pair of sheepkin boots on a gal at the movies the other day when the temps got down below 85 degrees so you know fall is not far off.  any way i am having issues of late causing my basement to fill up with h2o when the washing machine drains so i have been hanging lots of wet towels on the line after they serve their purpose which is to sop up the floor and i figured while i was at it i'd take a pic of the fish hat and these cute little mitts hanging around before the dirty wet towels hog up the line sigh....i am so tired of issues.  i think i'll call A1sewer service and get this job done once and for all and in the meantime there is no doing laundry for me. ends are woven in on these babies and eyes are sewn on. to make this fish hat a bit smaller i used smaller needles than the pattern called for and to make the eyes baby friendly i used little felted flat cirlces rather than my usual favorite...buttons.  i made these by wrapping some wool yarn around my fingers and adding bar soap and hot water and rubbbing between my palms to felt and voila  felted discs suitable for sewing on in place of buttons which can choke the baby and we wouldn't want to be responsible for that now would we???  now i'm in the market for some cashmere...mmm. later...love g

procrastinating and nursing a margarita...

and a bad back. again. for the second week in a row. i am sick to death of it i might add. the bad back not the margarita. i am attempting to duplicate the mint mojito margarita i had at the beach this past spring to no avail. it's not all bad because i get to drink all the test cocktails and who could complain about that. next in line for testing is the wonderful watermelon margarita highly recommended by a cousin and expert on the subject and very yummy if the one i had at the steak house the other night was any indication. am now in the market for watermelon infusion.  no hurry i am still deep into the testing process on the mojito  variety.  on to knitting. i have finished a fish hat for a little one.  yes i know...i finished something who ever suspected i would even start something ever again.  i had my doubts. this pattern is free on knitty and it grabbed the attention of the little guy last year who stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted it on my computer screen, laughed and said "can you make me one??? "  i did and it was a giant hit and got worn every day of the season and was the envy of the eyes of all the preschoolers and a teacher or two.  when it came time to knit something for the newest addition to the family why look any furthur than the tried and true kid tested fish hat.  this one is for a much younger child one who was recently born and so needed to be a lot smaller but not so small that it would be outgrown in 2 minutes. making the hat on smaller needles did the trick and made for a much denser fabric which will translate into a warmer  hat and one that will most likley hold it's shape.  it is stretchy enough to fit my head so it should last through the toddlerhood of the new kid on the block.  it is so cute that i think i'll make a few more for the neices' two boy oh boys who are older and will appreciate a fish on their heads too.  i owe the youngest boy oh boy a christmas stocking because last winter all my knitting time was hogged up by the lady eleanor for the lady in the home aka mom  who by the way loved it and went directly to ann taylor to buy a new suit to match it.  she did not pass go and spent my inheritance along the way i am sure.  any way i owe the youngest boy oh boy a christmas stocking because he had to have a dora the explorer stocking that his older boy brother picked out for him... and they wonder why he has started biting his older bro. any way this fish hat is cute and just needs eyes but not button eyes because they can be hazardous when swallowed and although i expect the little guy knows better than to swallow his button eyes although sometimes i wonder...i doubt that the new kid on the block can be trusted to have that insight even though he is related to me so he must be smart.  ok the margarita is starting to take effect but the back ache is still with me so enough procrastinating...off i go to finish the i cord for the cute cute mittens to go with...better pics to come when absolutely fini!!!  later...love   g