The Bethlehem Star

I love to see the incredibly beautiful array of celestial bodies;  tonight is the convergence of Jupiter and Venus in what looks like a super-star which is called the Star of Bethlehem.

How cool is that?!

The Lord God delights in beauty and order.  Amazing to see His handiwork!

Tour de Fleece 2015 Preparation

I am getting my fiber lined up for this year's spinning marathon to echo the scheduling of the Tour de France.  I am totally disinterested in sports but I do like the 'sport' of textile and this is a fun competition!

I have been collecting my rovings and I pulled out this fleece I bought last year and got it ready for washing. 

It goes into the tub of hot, sudsy water....twice. 

After two rinses, I have a very creamy soft pile of Florida Gulf Native fiber! 

After I spin it out in the washer, I lay it out on the old sliding glass door screen to dry!  The cats only knocked the screen down twice-not bad!

While I was waiting for the fleece to soak or rinse or dry, I dyed some more superwash roving. 

It is in shades of grey to black.  The 'race' begins on Saturday.  

Travel Wearied

When my kids started growing up and leaving home, we would look at the moon together and know it was the same moon and it would make the distance shorter that separated us.  This is the moon over Washington.... 

We had a good day of flights, it is just very hard to travel all day and into the night.  

I finished the cuff on one sock and started the second while in the air!

The moon was up in the Florida sky.........yup, it still helps to remember we are connected!

The Cereus was in bloom when we got home!

The socks are finished!  This is the Zigzagular sock pattern.  I zigzagged all over this country to knit them!

Globe Trotting Finale

Taking the path that leads to home.....

Getting to know you.......

We visit this tree of the best fruit I have ever had every few hours. 

To correct my earlier naming, this is actually called a Rainier Cherry.  By any other name, it would still be the best fruit I have ever eaten........kind of like a nectarine but small!

Delicious! 

I made the double knit wash cloth for Aria.  Finally!  Something she liked from me!   

I keep trying to take a picture of her, she keeps avoiding me saying, "No, thanks!" 

She is a good eater so at the table, she is at least contained for me and the camera.

See, she is wearing the headband as long as it isn't worn as a headband.

I do like a woman who knows her mind! 

Did you notice she is also wearing her favorite outfit?  As long as we stay home, it is tolerated by her parents.

We had a ton of fun decorating the driveway with stories and drawings.

And Aria bursts into song when the mood strikes.  

Did I mention that I am loving being here and getting to know her. 

And Mila..........I am trying to memorize every part of her.

The guys did this today!   

They saw this guy on the golf course.  They also saw a mom and fawn but didn't get the pic of them. 

How's this for scenery?  It is an amazing backdrop, heh?! 

Yes, it is a beautiful Mt. Rainier....and did I mention that your cherries are the best fruit I have every tasted?!

Endless Yarn and Forever Love

I used up the left over dish cloth yarn for a head band for Aria.

She hated it.  You win some and lose some with a two year old! 

So I cast on for another dish cloth, albeit a small one but it is double knitting so I get to use some rusty technique skills.  So far, both girls have napped at the same time each afternoon for some down time for me, too. 

Then Mila needed a body nap so of course I set the knitting aside.

Then Aria woke up and joined in the snuggle.  It was wonderful.

Short and Sweet Knitting

A bit of Brioche dishcloth knitting to cleanse the palate after a heavy meal (big project). 

I wasn't sure the variegated would work but I am happy with the subtle shift in colors.

I will be leaving this here for their kitchen.  And this one, too.

It is so nice to have a quick return!

A Different Father's Day

Our gathering-Bill and our son, Jared on the right, Jared's brother-in-law and father-in -law on the left.  It was a good family time.

Finished!

Mila is happy with her new blanket!  

I am happy to be done knitting it. 

I tried to photograph Aria in her new skirt....she is constantly in motion!

But she does hold still when she holds baby sister!  (Gratefully!)

Getting to Know You!

Last night cuddles before the girls went to bed.  Bill isn't one for lots of newborn time but he has to get to Mila in a short amount of time! 

During the day, we each steal outside to pick one of these Pacific cherries.  They don't look ripe like the Bing cherry but these actually taste better to me!   

A whole tree of them just waiting for us........

It's good energy food for baby time!

Our New Grand Baby!

Mila Janette has made her entrance into the world!

Mila is Polish for Jared's roots and Janette is my Mom's name-how wonderful to unite the family. 

Mila is 9 pounds 1 ounce which just about burst her mom's carrying capacity but both are doing well.

I need to do  a lot of knitting to catch up! 

I am hoping the day of flights will allow me to finish when I meet her!

As the Week Closes

Friday morning I painted my ceramic yarn bowl...I had so much fun!  I used the Folk Art brand of acrylic paint, it is the enamel type so that it dries in 24 hours to a very hard finish that looks like it has been fired.  Just right for this project! 

In the afternoon, we went to Orange Park to visit so the guys could go play golf for Bill's birthday.  (It is next week.)  We girls had  great gab and thoroughly enjoyed the cousins.  I didn't get a pic of Eli....bad grandma!  Trust me, he was sweet as usual. 

This morning, I got right to work on the creative things in my head that needed doing!  

 I wanted to do the rainbow roving like we did in Georgia.  It was so satisfying.  I load up the jars with the roving divided into sixths.

Note to self, put the jars into the canner before loading them up with fiber!  After a few interesting starts, I did get them loaded and into the oven for 25 minutes so the dye would be fully exhausted. 

I rinsed it out and there was no dye in the rinse water!  Lovely not to have any bleeding when you have a multi-colored yarn in the making.

I dyed some more of the Lopi yarn.......now it is a beautiful denim blue!

It was a beautiful day without a chance of rain so the roving and yarn went out to dry! 

Bill was outside working on storm damage clean-up.  He not only picked up all the branches, he also mowed and it sure looks nice again! 

And he is working to make several of the palm tree bases into a beautiful oasis!   

Back inside, I decided to try this pattern for my Seattle grand daughter.  It went so well, I plan to make them for all of my sweeties and a few more girls besides! 

I made a few size changes so that I could make one for Aria's new yet-to-arrive sister, too.

This pattern has tons of possibilities and an easy to follow formula to make them for a variety of kid ages.          

The fiber was dry in no time and it went into the pile of future projects! 

I did some quilting next.  I wanted to get the quilt done enough so that the quilt top and batting no longer hung on the floor. 

Yes, mission accomplished! 

And I finally finished organizing all the 'stuff' I store under the quilting frame.  I even labeled the drawers and it looks and works so much more efficiently now!

Time to knit some entrelac!