Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Still too cold outside! Groovyghan status.

This is the first week since Christmas that we are not going to get a 'significant' amount of snow.  But, unfortunately, the temps won't be going above 30F for at least a week! To explain what that means for those of you who may never have experienced this type of temperatures, I took the dogs out for a run in the field, and after only half an hour my fingers were so cold, they had become numb!  Got back about 3 hours ago and I can still feel the effects.  And yes, I was wearing gloves! 

Finally got the final skeins of yarn for the Groovyghan (see previous post).  Though I had already started some of the blocks, I'm not real happy with them. The colors are great, it's the pattern stitches.  I did the blocks as per the pattern, but I'm really wanting something a bit more visual.  Need to hit my pattern diary to come up with something.  If anyone has any ideas, I'm looking for a 7" textural circle in a square.  These blocks are the ones on the left hand row of the afghan shown in the last post.

Had a great lunch out with my son today!  Since I had needed to go to the store to get the yarn, I drove him to college this morning, and upon picking him up we stopped at the Bee Hive in Sandwich.   Thanks Kiddo!

Oh, and I've been informed that I need to start posting some pics, especially of the crocheting.  I'll get right on that!

Hope all are safe, well and warm!

Sheila

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

New Afghan Using Stash!

In attempting to use my current inventory of yarn, I was led to a CAL (crochet-a-long) by a fellow member of ravelry.com.  The name of it is Groovyghan (free pattern submitted by Tangled magazine), which by the colors of the original, I believe you can tell why it's called that.  After looking through the projects submitted by members, I found this gorgeous one from member dvance, done in blues and browns, and just fell in love with it. 


Mine will be a duplicate of hers as my stash is pretty much the same colors!  Can't wait to get started, but still require a couple more skeins of yarn as I am short two colors.  As soon as this weather clears up, I'll head over to Hyannis to grab the last of what I need.




Thursday, January 27, 2011

Enough With the Snow Already!!

It snowed, again. Shocking, I know!  This is the 6th significant snowfall this season and it's still only January. There has been measureable snow (4" to 10") at least once a week for the past four weeks.  Enough already!!  Cape Cod doesn't usually get snow like this.  Though we have seen less snow than just 30 miles west, we are still getting clobbered.  Usually with the really heavy, wet stuff. You know the kind I'm talking about.  The stuff that makes your snowblower look like it regurgitating the snow instead of blowing it.

I hate snow.  And my back is killing me from shoveling, because I'm and idiot and have to clear everything before it freezes.

So in trying to lifts the blahs, I made myself find something positive about it.  I looked outside and saw my bird feeder.  I love the feeder.  The chickadees, whom I love, also love the feeder.  I keep it full and from September until April, I always have a couple of suet feeders to go along with the seed feeder for my feathered friends.  The past few days, due to the snow, and I'm sure, the lack of being able to access naturally occuring food, there have been a few newbies to the yard and the feeder.  I'm still trying to catch one of them on camera as I have no idea what it is.  This bird is about the size of a cardinal, and at first I thought it was a female cardinal.  But then I looked close and saw that the underside feathers of the tail and wings are yellow, the breast has a similar speckled pattern as a pheasant and there is a red marking on the top of the head.  I'll figure out what it is eventually,  There is also the hawk.  Okay, not such a good bird to have around if you want birds to come to your feeding station, but he/she is so beautiful and doesn't stick around long.  Just cool to see.

My usuals, Chickadees, common titmice (yes, I know that a Chickadee is a titmouse), cardinals, sparrows, Blue Jays, finches - they all come to the feeder.

An hour later.
As I was writing the above, my friend P called.  "Do you have the time to take a walk?"  Well, I always have the time to take the dogs for a walk, even if I don't have the time, I'll take it! 

P is K's husband.  K and I met in April-ish of 2004 while walking our dogs.  Arwen, my yellow Lab, was about 18 months old at the time.  K was walking Leah, her yellow lab, and made the extra effort to see if the person (me) who's car was in the parking lot at the conservation area, was still there and had a dog.  K is very good about socializing Leah, and will always make an effort for her.  This was the first thing I learned about K, and made me really like her immediately.  K is also the same wonderful person who brought Chip, my black Lab, into my life.  Another story for another day.

Since we first met, we have become good friends, and as we both walk the dogs daily, we try to get together as often as possible.  P owns a business that is very close to my house and I can go out through the woods along the ancient cartway to meet up.  The snow is so deep and so heavy that I was out of breath just getting to the meeting point.  P didn't feel much like taking the path, either so we hit the field with the ball and let the dogs run.  Now we're back at home, and the pups are properly passed out!!  It was a good time!

So, I guess I can add walking the dogs in the snow as a positive thing. They absolutely love running around in it, and who can resisit happy dogs?!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Molly's Afghans

Here are two afghans that I have completed. The smaller (cream) one is a doll-sized, the green one is an oversized baby afghan.  Both were given to the little princess, Molly, who lives next door. 

Welcome to my blog!  Though there isn't anything here, yet, I promise there will be more added!  It is my hope that there will be at least one person out there who may find that they have some of the same interests as I do, and, therefore, will follow along.  I've never done a blog before, so there will be much trial and error on my part, so be patient! I'll get it down eventually.

I hope to share with you things that I'm doing, which is never much, and all that interests me, such as my wonderful son, my beautiful Labs, Arwen (yellow) and Chip (black), books I'm reading, crochet or quilt projects that I may or may not have started, songs that I am totally trashing on the guitar, and the like!

So check back often, feel free to leave comments or ask questions and have yourself a fantastic day for me, as mine is usually quite boring!!