Winter Desktops

Happy New Year!

Hope we get more rain and a snow pack.

This year I tried out these photos as desktops.

I like this one the best so far.

This is the one I'm using now.

I used this one to celebrate when it rained.

This one is just for fun on a cold clear day.
Very cold.

Still Snow, Still Decorations

Surprised to see the snow still around this morning.

And the Christmas decorations still need to be put away.

But I think I will leave them up for the rest of December.

Morgan got me up early this morning.

So, she got her breakfast early.

I'm going to have to watch the clock more closely.

The alarm for her breakfast

was going off

when I brought her in from her walk

after she ate.

Morgan is getting sneaky.

Or, just hungry?

Sun And Little Snow

So I took a photo of the old oak tree.

I love the old tree.

Finally, after the snow and rain

most of the leaves are out of the trees

so my plan must be

to start raking them up as soon as the snow has melted.

That is the plan.

I think I should make sure I carry it out

before my eye treatments.

But it is cold

and I may wait until next month.

I guess I will just wait and see what happens.

?

The myrtle doesn't seem to mind the snow.

Amazing stuff.

It made it through the year without being watered.

I was sure it would dry up in the drought.

It must have very busy roots.

Yay! It Snowed Again!

And I slept in.

Everybody slept in.

Even Morgan.

The chickens got a treat today.
Half of the big butternut squash got left overnight in the oven.
So, it was decided that the chickens
deserved the squash.

The chickens didn't eat the last piece of butternut squash.
It wasn't cooked.
I was thinking it was too hard
for them to peck apart.
Maybe?
They are the last two chickens we have
and very old ladies.
I think they will enjoy the baked squash.
Hope so.

Christmas Tracks

Yesterday when Kristine returned from Christmas festivities

she noticed some unusual

tracks in the snow on the front  deck.

There is only one type of critter around these parts

that leaves those kind of tracks,

can leap over the deck railing,

and whose cousins hang around with Santa.

First time I have ever know them to venture on the deck.

Christmas surprise!

Merry Christmas Snowy Morning!

When I got up to feed Morgan this morning

there was still snow outside.

Not a lot of snow and it is icy crunchy snow to boot.

Crunch

Crunch

Crunch

But it is snowy!

And that is really neat!

Have a lovely, wonderful Christmas!

White Christmas

Well, pretty close...

the snow might last in shady places 

until tomorrow.

But it is raining and hailing.

It was wonderful to wake up to snow!

Merry Christmas!

Winter Scarf And Hat

The scarf is almost finished.

Still have to work in the loose yarn ends.

Finished knitting on the scarf today. 

Just in time for some snow tomorrow?

Maybe?

Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Tree

Photo this morning of the tree.

Still looks pretty dark up there.

Today it rained.

I knitted the day away.

Our good neighbor gave us a Christmas basket

full of homemade goodies. 

I would have taken a photo

but I was too busy eating and tasting

all the wonderful things she made.

Amazing how the busiest people

find time to make and do so much for others.

Lofty Christmas Tree

Kristine put the Christmas tree together 

up in the loft today.

Pretty neat!

Especially, since from the kitchen

you can see at least two trees reflected in the windows. 

This photo looks very dark when this size.

Click on it and the trees show up much better.

Quilts I Have Made

My first quilt was for Holly's wedding.

(she wanted beige)

(machine)

My second quilt was made by hand for Dolores.

(My machine broke)

My third quilt was made for Jean.

(machine)

I bought a pattern for the first quilt,
but I made up the second two quilts myself.

~~~

Latest Quilts in the works...

Finished quilt (July 2011) hand pieced and quilted.
Self backed binding.

Now I'm working on finishing this top
and putting together
some Japanese fabric themed quilts.

Quilts need to be finished for Kristine,

then one for Kathleen and the kids.

And my sister,

and her kids,

and...

April 2013

Broken Dishes 

click on links to see more photos of the quilt.

Broken Dishes Finished

Making of Broken Dishes Quilt - HST

There are more quilts to add 

and I will do that

when I have finished them.

Yay!!! It's Been Raining!

California is getting wet.

It is supposed to rain all week

Wow! The deck is even wet.
Almost all the way up to the house.

And there is the new screen door on the slider.
Ok, I know it is hard to see.
The screen door is all rolled up.
It pulls out sideways.
Pretty neat!

It has been a rainy sleepy day.

I took a nap.

It turned out to be for the afternoon.

Who knew?

It turned out ok.

Tom is getting hamburgers for dinner!

I'm going to go knit on my scarf...

60's Beanie

Well, Kristine says it looks so 60's!

What I really like about this hat

is that by folding the edge inside

the hat becomes much warner

in windy weather

and keeps my ears nice and warm.

Probably having the light purple show up 

in the dark purple isn't the way 

an experienced knitter would have done things.

But I like the effect.

And I had fun learning how to make the

knitted i-cord top loop.

Well, back to knitting on my Dr. Who

type scarf.

I think I have become addicted to knitting!

10 Minute Scarf

Yep!

It takes me 10 minutes

or more

to get across one row.

I'm a beginning slow knitter.

This is a knit one stitch and

then perl the next stitch

all across every row.

Which means switching the yarn from

in front of the needle to the back

or from the back to the front

each stitch.

So, I'm slow.

But I really like the feel of this stitch.

And I'm enjoying listening to audiobooks

while knitting.

This is binge knitting.

Snow Dreams

My daughter sent me some videos

of snow falling in her backyard.

No snow here.

I have snow envy.

So, I comfort myself with this photo

of snow in my yard

in years past

and use it as my desktop photo.

At least my computer has snow.

This is late.

I went to sleep 

and missed posting yesterday.

Furry Wurry Throw

Kristine got a throw like this in blue

from her good friend.

Then Kristine went out

and bought this one for me.

Lucky me!

This throw is softer than

the softest plush stuffed animal. 

An early Merry Christmas.

It is very cold outside.

The leaves are all icy and crunchy

on Morgan's walk this morning.

Crunch

Crunch

Crunch

I'm going to go get my warm throw.

And throw it on me.

Smiles

Hat And Scarf

My hat

and a ball of yarn

that I am going to turn into a scarf.

There are so many scarf patterns out there

that I'm having trouble

finding a simple one.

I just want a scarf to wear to keep warm

out walking the dog.

No cables, etc...

I'm thinking a k1p1 rib maybe.

So I'm making test swatches.

And maybe an i-cord border?

Or how about the linen stitch?

Or...

There are so many choices.

Windy Flag

We knew that there was a storm coming through today.

Wind advisory, rain, possible power outages...

So I'm posting early

to beat out the possible no power threat.

This morning when I was walking Morgan

I noticed the wind.

Noisy rainy wind.

Usually the house flag just hangs limply.

But today it was flying horizontal!

And the tree tops were dancing!

I'm not walking Morgan under those trees

while they are dropping branches.

I tried to get some of the trees dancing

but naturally they calmed down when I was videoing.

I tried 3 times.

But it gives you an idea...

the trees bend much farther in stronger wind.

I came back to the computer to post this 

and I heard the wind start up

very loud crashing through the trees.

But I'm not going to get up again and try to catch it

in action.

The wind is great at pruning the trees

but I don't want to be 

under them while that is going on.

Looks Like Snow

Yesterday, morning I looked out the window

and I thought I saw snow!

But, Kristine told me later

that it was just leftovers

from the terrific hail that fell

the night before.

I went to bed early 

to hide from the thunder and lightening.

So, I missed the hail storm.

Must have been some hail storm

to have it still hanging around and making it

through the rain.

I am very glad we are having rain 

but some snow would be ok too.

We still don't have the tree up.

We made cookies though.

Somehow, cookies and Christmas

seem to go together.

Nature's Cleaner Upper

December 1st.

Dead leaves were still hanging on.

But.

this morning.

The rain and wind the last couple of days

have done a wonderful job

of clearing out

the dead leaves from the oak trees.

Which means that I can get outside

and rake my paths and the driveway

and not have them 

covered up with leaves again

inside of a few days

and have to rake them all over again and again.

I'm old and lazy and now wait each year

for the wind and rain to 

clear out the trees

before I get outside and rake.

Acres of oak leaves out there.

Gingerbread House

At least the gingerbread house

has some snow.

So far we have had a lot of wind and rain.

Very noisy outside last night.

This morning most of the leaves are out of the trees.

All good!

This was a lot of fun.

That is some neat cake mold.

Sifting powdered sugar

over the house

was a lot easier than decorating

it with colored frosting.

A lot less calories also.

What? No Water?

Got a phone call this morning

informing us that the water would be turned off

due to a repair

that needed to be done.

Since they didn't know

 how long the water would be turned off 

I filled up everything I could find

with water.

Even the bathtub 

so the water could be used

to flush the toilet.

Ha!

Turns out that we were the only house

with water

while the rest of the houses

near us were without water all day.

When we lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains

having to deal with no water

was faily common.

Either drought or damage

to the well tank

would mean no water

sometimes for days...weeks.

I think I over reacted to the 

"no water" scare.

Oh well...

I had lots of water

for pasta and steaming veggies

for tonights dinner.

Tree Dressed In Moss

Well, it does look like the trees

are dressed in a velvet coating of greenery.

During the hot. dry drought

you would have thought the moss was dead

if you could even see there might have been some there.

But it only took a few rains

and the moss came back to life.

I took these photos this morning

on my walk with Morgan. 

Not all the trees have mossy coats.

Usually, it is only the older, shady, biggest oaks.

Pillow Cover?

Well, so far it is a wall hanging.

A while back 

I gave some fabric and things away

because I wasn't using them.

Hate to see things not used

and go to waste.

A few months later

I received this lovely gift in the mail.

It is made from bits of

the items 

I gave away.

Pretty neat, huh?

Lovely lady made this

lovely gift.

Gift Animals

Yesterday, Kristine brought me a gift from

her friend, Mary.

A bag of yarn

and a booklet with directions on how

to knit animals.

Well, this will certainly keep me busy.

When I tire of knitting hats

I can start up an animal

to work on in fits and starts.

Christmas tree is still not up.

Sigh...

Christmas Decorating

Here is a photo taken by Kristine

of Tom and Bill 

decorating at Bill's house.

We still have to put up our tree.

Maybe we will put the tree up in the loft this year?

 Here is the beginning of a new hat. 

I did the German cast on with two different yarns 

and am continuing with them K1P1. 

I’m making it up as I go along.

Wood Toss

Gee, that sounds like a carnival game.

We got a load of wood delivered today

Oak and Madrone

tossed in the shed to keep it dry.

This was the shed yesterday.

I think we may need more wood

this Winter.

So there will be more deliveries.

Usually we have big piles of wood

on the property

drying out over the Summer.

But this year was so dry

we really didn't want all that fuel

laying around.

Hats Under Fire!

Tom and Kristine are watching NCIS.

The wood stove is going great guns!

 Morgan came over and laid down near me

 when I sat on the floor to take the photo 

of the bag of hats spilled out on the chaise longue.

 Kristine says that Gibbs is shooting the hats! 

Ouch!

I like word play...

hats under the wood stove...

under fire from Gibbs...

I think that counts as

hats under fire. 

Thanks to LindaG for comment caps

but so far I am doing fine reading text on the computer.

Soon I will have cataract surgery

and that should/may

have a positive affect on the glaucoma?

I can still see to knit 

but the yarn loops are not always easy to see

on needles of about the same color.

But I can still make them out.

I find myself changing needles sizes

according to color 

to contrast with the yarn

instead of sticking to 

the size of needle I should use.

Works for me.

It would be nice to have

a set of circular needles in two colors.

A white set for dark yarns

and a dark set for light yarns.

Wonder if there is such a thing.

PS

The hats are intended for my daughter

and family in Idaho.
But if I can't stop knitting hats
I will donate them.
Or become known at that hat lady?

PSS
It's raining!!!
Yay!

First Slouchy Knit Hat

Beekeepers Hood?

Hmmmmm...

No pattern.

You can tell!

Just me knitting

and knitting

and not stopping.

Straight knitting

is 

Zen.

Well, maybe not

but it is relaxing and fun.

Wish I could see better though

'cause I'm not too sure what it really looks like.

I'm having way too much fun knitting hats.

So far there is a shopping bag full of hats.

I think I should maybe switch

to gloves and socks.

PS

Those are Morgan's meds

in the background.

Poor little ol 'doggy.