Broken Foot & Babies!!

Broken Foot and I got the go-ahead from the Doc on driving up to San Pablo, CO for a few days. No hiking or riding. Which is a good thing because it seems the Universe had other plans for me anyway as you'll see......

Here is where Luna and I are hanging out right now. Just north of the Colorado border, about a hour's drive from Taos, New Mexico. San Pablo, CO is just 10 minutes from San Luis, CO.

Helen & Jim's Ranch, San Pablo, CO


Here is what is keeping me so busy. A baby raccoon, about 3 weeks old. Jim found him on the road. He's been named "VC" for 'vocal cord.' You would never think that something that fits in the palm of your hand could make so much noise when it's hungry or mad.

Baby Raccoon, "VC"


Here's his favorite place...under my chin. He even purrs like a cat!!!

Safe Under My Chin Asleep


Luna could care less. She gives him a nose sniffle and away on to better things...like naps!

What Luna Thinks About All This ....


There are even OTHER babies at the Ranch!! A momma goat died so we're hand-feeding two baby goats too!! Which makes for not much other time......

The 'other' babies at the Ranch


Some of the Angora goats just think Luna is the prettiest dog when she gets to visit.

"I'm thinking that Luna is very pretty." "Me too."


Here's the mountains view facing towards Denver.

The Santa De Cristo's from the front yard.


More baby stuff later when my internet isn't so slow!! Great weather right now. About 70*. Heaven!!

YoooouuWhhoooo, Becky!!!

Flower Basket Shawl


Lookie, lookie!! This is the first section/repeat of the Flower Basket Shawl. Becky at Knitting interrupted has already done THREE of these!! And it's only because of her Notes: FBS that I even started out with some concept of how to read a lace chart!! I just didn't get it before.

So I spent some time last night trying to start out with my Lorna's Laces 'Helen's Lace' trying to cast on and pretty much gave up on doing something so thin while learning. I just couldn't see each stitch. Especially where you're supposed to pick up and knit one stitch at the garter row salvage edge. So I grabbed some Wool-Ease and cast on as directed with the stupid little 'crochet and pick-up and knit' beginning from hell. I decided to do the first section thru and see how it went.

I'm just pleased as punch!! Look at the flower baskets and YO's. And, it's all because of Becky's great notes and support. Thank you Becky!!!! Your FBS notes made sense and I learned how to do something new. How fun is that??? I now have a basic concept of how to read a lace chart and COUNT my stitches AND Yarn Overs. I just love learning how to do something new.

So, Broken Foot and I will later today try to cast on with the 'Helen's Lace' I actually bought for the FBS. If it's still too thin for my first time out with FBS, I'll have to go to my LYS (Oh NO) 'Gail Knits' and find something oh so not thin. I don't want to double up on 'Helen's Lace' and have to try to keep up with the stitch count. And I'm a stitch counting fool!!!

Thank you Becky!!! Thank you for teaching me something that will effect the rest of my life. I'm sure learning how to knit lace will be a fun if not maddening endeavor because I think I'm hooked on lace!! Oh NO!!

So, I'm off to frog this piece and free up the needles. Wool-ease is 80% acrylic so it won't block out correctly. But I'm so thrilled with what I learned. Thanks to Becky!!!!

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(American Primitive)

Mr. Tuttles is so CUTE!!

Mr. Tuttles!!!


Well, he's really stomping around in the backyard now!!! We've been over 90* for the past few days which means Mr. Tuttles will now start eating me out of house and home!! He was banging on the sliding glass door this morning around 8:30 AM. So now coffee time includes feeding birds and Mr. Tuttles and making sure everybody has water for the day.

The annual Mr. Tuttle Weigh-In will be held over Memorial Day. He'll be weighed and measured..then and again on Labor Day.

What a cutie he is.

Star Wars!!,,,,,Oh I mean 'Store Wars'!

You HAVE to go watch this, wwwaaaaayyyy to funny!!!

Grocery 'Store Wars'


Thanks to Heather at Knit1, Crochet2 for the link!!

At Fourth Drop

I'm really starting to make headway on Clapotis. This picture doesn't do the color of this Berroco 'Softwist' #9455 justice at all. This is truly a RUBY red with a slight sheen. 41% Wool/59% Rayon which will be just great for use in all the air conditioned places in Las Vegas this summer. I'm so excited to see this piece really starting to work.

At Fourth Drop


Here's the right edge, showing four drops (the first is kinda curled under).

Very Nice


The Broken Foot continues to improve. We've had 2 beautiful days in Las Vegas meaning under 90* and I'm sure wishing I was able to be outside more. Really glad the break wasn't my ankle though. I can't imagine not being able to put any weight at all down. Hopefully, the Broken Foot is healing well. I am trying to really stay off of it as much as I can lately.

And, 'ya all know to click on the 'comments' word just following if you want to leave a comment, right?

Gail Knits & Trendsetter Trunk Show

Saturday, Gail Knits had a Trendsetter Trunk Show to which I took my Broken Foot. Wow! Talk about some really fun yarns and garments made from said yarns. Gail has quite the talent for picking out some of the most beautiful and fun yarns around. Her store is always full of delights and I was really good about NOT adding to my stash this time around as I had hoarded
gathered up much of her yarn selection on previous visits. But I did fondle handle a few.

Gail Knits, my LYS!


I just sssssssssssooooo wanted to take a skein of this purple and green yarn home but was strong and didn't as I have to wait until I have worked thru my AbFab which has similar yarn for fondling in the privacy of my own home.

Yummy, Yummy Yarn


Now I know I went over there to 'look' at yarn and did pick up a few extra skeins for my Clapotis since the yardage requirement had been updated. What I didn't know was there were 'secret' dealings happening in my LYS.

See as I'm moving slowly with Broken Foot, I can amazingly eavesdrop hear more than usual. I was standing close to the delightful and kind Gwen with my nose stuffed into a wonderful handful of yarn when I heard her whisper to Wendy........

"I Have A Little Secret I Need To Share With You....."


You see, pretty much I'm thinking that the whole world evolves around Gail Knits. Kind of like Moths to Flame, Mice to Cheese, Politicians to Shit, etc. And I knew, in my heart of hearts, that Gail ran the Knitting Universe though she tries to be oh-so-casual about it. She just goes about her shop, talking and helping, making yarn suggestions and answering questions like she has all the time and knowledge in the universe!!

Of course, she is very smart. She has Yarn Minions Angels to help. And they are seriously trained to entice help you with all matters relating to the Knitting Universe and your serious crack knitting habit.

Now these Yarn Minions Angels can suck weave others into their diabolical stitchery way of thinking. I knew that soft-spoken and kind Gwen was one to always be suspicious watch out of the corner of my eye. She has always been not-snobby-at-all kind and gentle with the fact though I find yarn easy to buy and I ACT like I know what I'm going to do with it....in reality I don't have a ****ing clue I'm a pretty new knitter.

So imagine my delight when I spied was privileged to watch Gwen PRONOUNCE Wendy as Co-Mistress of the Knitting Universe!!!

I Now Pronounce You.....



Co-Mistress of the Knitting Universe with Me!!


(I'm sure there was much champagne drinking in the backroom later, but I had to take Broken Foot home.)

Official Gwen and Wendy Now Run The Knitting Universe Picture


I am so scared for Wendy, because wellllllllllll.....I had always thought of her as kind and shy. And she has the most delightful smile. But then she brought out her 'Wrap of Power' and I knew, she too, was now a Yarn Minion Angel. It was the 'Wrap of Power' that finally proved it. A most beautiful item to lure those of us flapping around the edges of yarn desire, blinding us with, "OMG, have you felt this yarn?"

Wow, I am so coveting lusting greedily desiring loving this black 'Wrap of Power' she whipped up. Almost looks like Ravens Wings. I even have a Black Feather Hat that was my Grandmothers that would match it perfectly!! Not that I really have any where to WEAR said hat. I'm thinking it would be out of place in Costco....... But I soooo love this wrap.

So, now I'm pretty sure that both Gwen and Wendy are Yarn Minions Angels, I'll have to be EXTRA careful when I'm back in the crack yarn heaven known as Gail Knits.

They like ALL the same stuff I do and I'm sure will be even more than extra kind and push more yarn crack helpful the next time I'm visiting their place of worship business. Gail has them trained oh-so-well in all matters of yarn evilness joy.

Of course, there still may be hope for Wendy. As I was leaving she was trying to give everybody in Gail's computer a $50.00 store credit gift.

$50.00 Credit To Everybody Since I Run The Knitting Universe...


Oh yea, the Trunk Show. How's this for some interesting garments from Trendsetter yarns?

Trendsetter Trunk Show


And last but not least, I live in Las Vegas. We get to wear shoes like this every-damn-day if we want and NOBODY thinks its weird. There are a few things I just LOVE about LV. Like the fact that Rebecca (I think that's her name, sorry if I'm not correct) is as cute as a pixie AND had a Mickey/Minnie tee-shirt on (see the first photo). With THESE shoes. I just thought it was all so perfect. And I'm soooooo wishing........


I'm SSOOOO wishing these were MY shoes!!!


Of course, since I have a Broken Foot, she could just give me ONE!! Yea, that's the ticket!! R-I wear a 6 or 7. She could keep one and I could keep one. What do you think?????????

Lastly, here's more Clapotis blather:

Luna & Three Drop Clapotis


Big Clapotis


Clapotis Stitch Count Excel Spreadsheet will be posted when I'm done with this!!

Alan Watts Blues

Alan Watts Blues

Well I'm taking some time with my quiet friend
Well I'm takin' some time on my own.
Well I'm makin' some plans for my getaway
There'll be blue skies shining up above
When I'm cloud hidden
Cloud hidden
Whereabouts unknown

Well I've got to get out of the rat-race now
I'm tired of the ways of mice and men
And the empires all turning into rust again.
Out of everything nothing remains the same
That's why I'm cloud hidden
Cloud hidden
Whereabouts unknown

Sittin' up on the mountain-top in my solitude
Where the morning fog comes rollin' in
Just might do me some good

Well I'm waiting in the clearing with my motor on
Well it's time to get back to the town again
Where the air is sweet and fresh in the countryside
Well it won't be long before I get back here again

That's why I'm cloud hidden
Cloud hidden
Whereabouts unknown

(written and performed by Van Morrison)

Clapotis, Broken Foot & Little Ducks

Are these little ducks not the CUTEST thing you have ever seen? Unfortunately, the evil Carp fish or Darth Vader Strippers will eat them in one gulp. I fed them a meal of crackers two weekends ago off the back of the boat and haven't seen them since.

Little Ducks


Well, with all the foot-time, I finally finished Anne's shoulder shawl and will mail that up to her in Washington. Luna is putting the final touches on it.

Luna's Godmother's Shawl


I can't believe I'm finally HERE!!!!! I've CORRECTLY dropped the FIRST drop stitch on Clapotis!! I felt like breaking open a damn bottle of champagne!!! I'm still loathe to take out any of the life-lines for fear of still screwing up somewhere on this. But, boy, how fun is it to make it to this point!!! Hurray!!!

First Drop Clapotis


WOW!! First Drop Really!!


Here is the STILL Broken Foot. Can I tell 'ya what a pain in the ass this is???? Plus, it hurt more now! that the swelling has gone done. Go figure. Four more weeks of PITA? I'll be crazed. Maybe I'll start on the FBS.

Broken Foot


At least I have the best company in the world!!

My Healer

Foot Still Broken, Bad Clapotis News

Well, my foot is still broken and I guess it will stay that way for 4-6 weeks. If I was a smoker, the doc said it would be 8-12 weeks. Yikes!! Glad I don't smoke. I'm sure I'll be CRAZED within two weeks with this foot stuff. Ex-boyfriend Kenny joked that I'll probably gain weight sitting around all day. Jes, something else to worry about.

Bad, bad news on Clapotis. Seems I added a extra stitch on the just started Straight Section. Tried to fix it, but the fix was causing the 'drop stitch' to not drop. So I frogged to first LifeLine.

Tried for over 2 hours to get stitches on needle when then a stitch took the LL and dropped down three rows. don't know what to do with THAT or how to fix it. Frogged down to next LL. Stitch count doesn't match up with Row count. I'm sure that has to do with the first slipped stitch and the last stitches being KFB and PFB. They're supposed to be different and I can't figure them out as I look at them.

So, I think I'm going to have to frog this whole thing and start over. I can't EVEN tell you how frustrated and disappointed I am about this. And I really thought that if I put in some LL it would help me if I needed to frog. But since I can't figure out where I'm at, what's the point?

I just want to lay down, go to sleep and not wake up. I'm so frustrated with all of this. The LAST thing I want is a broken foot. It's May, the weather means I should be outside doing stuff. Instead I'm stuck inside, with foot up and a failed piece of knitting. I'm so mad.

At least Luna is still a perfect dog.

Broken Foot!!

How's THIS for ugly??? Broke my right foot in at least 3 places on this past Sunday. Will see the Ortho Doc tomorrow for boot/cast fitting. What an ordeal just getting thru the 'medical system' on this. And I have my own insurance. It hurts. Hoping for knitting time somewhere during healing time.

Broken Right Foot - YUG!


Luna is a serious napper.....Guess we're both in for down time for a few weeks.

Luna Dog Napping



Lake Mead gets its share of wild weather. This storm came up with 50 mph winds and rain, then was gone in 60 minutes.

Marina


Marin before rain storm


Marina during rain storm


I'm moving on the 'straight' section of Clapotis when I'm able to knit. Photos tomorrow.