Back to the living!

After a week with surgery and pain pills, I am finally feeling like myself! God, I hate pain pills! Triggers my vertigo every time! And I can’t knit or read!! But, except for a constant burning sensation in my back, I’m much better. You can always tell when I’m feeling better because the knitting is out.

I finished another baby bib and put buttons on the others. Ready for the hope chest. These bibs are so easy and very functional! They are from Mason/Dixon knitting. I also worked on my Mists of Avalon lace last night while catching up on Hero’s. Wow, what a story. I hated the opening show and didn’t want to watch the series, but DH plopped the laptop on the bed and now I’m upto the 11th or 12th show. Maybe it’s the drugs talking, but I like the show. Anyway, I’m about halfway done with the lace. I’m thinking of starting another lace scarf with water as the pattern. I have some beautiful blue llama laceweight down in my lair.

I’m on a roll with my knitting. I need to get spinning. I have a civil war demonstration in May at DD’s old elementary school. I love showing them stinky wool and wierd things to spin and then have them spin cotton with cotton swabs and a cotton ball. They always love it! The boys almost always spin longer threads. Can’t explain that, just fact. Even the male teacher spins longer than the women teachers. What a hoot!

This all makes me wish I had my triangle loom again. I loved weaving shawls on that loom! I sold every shawl I made from that loom. I don’t have anything to remember it by…But, I sold it when we needed other things. sigh… I’ll buy another one day. There is even a small traveling triangle loom that makes smaller pieces. I always thought I would have one of those when we retire and travel! I can spin on a drop spindle in the car. I could also weave in the car. See how practical I can be?

Here is the site to check out the triangle loom.
http://www.hillcreekfiberstudio.com/Tri-looms.html

Altered art

I went slap happy with my camera today and have a veritable slew of pictures. I must admit I am inspired to go to my underground lair and work on unfinished stuff. Summer beckons. We’ll see.

First, let’s look at collages.

These I call ancestor collages.

Now, let’s look at shrines.

First, a kitchen shrine made from a salt container.

Now for some altoid tin shrines.

And some wierd CD things.

Pictures at last!

Ok, here is a shot of DD flip-flop sock.

I have also been knitting out of Alterknits. Here is a before and after felting of PDA bags.

And last but not least, the tea cosie. DD called it a circus tent. Yes, it could be, but I like whimsy. Is it such a crime??

While DH has been a lumberjack in the woods behind our house, I sit and knit. Granted, the bags are for gifts, so I have not really been goofing off. I am being frugal and thrifty and all that good stuff that makes his german heart go pitter-pat. Love to make him go pitter-pat. But that is for another blog and not for children!

Spring in Atlanta

Spring has sprung! Sitting on the deck surrounded by my darling birds and dainty buds is lovely. Bear in mind I am a winter person and am still pissed that there has been no winter precipitation in Atlanta in years! However, I can appreciate the cool breeze and beautiful colors beginning to pop out.

I am working on a tea cosie that I will felt and then embellish. I was knitting while DH and I were watching “Supernatural” last night and found that the gauge got tighter when I am scared and absorbed by a show! At least I am throwing it in the wash to felt! Pictures to follow.

End of Dana-fest!

The last of the celebration! And it sings!!

Catch up day.

Well, I guess I haven’t sat down to post in several days. My, my. where has the time gone? Well, DH and I had lunch at a wonderful southern kitchen resturant on Thursday. Fried green tomatoes…need I say more? Then Friday was a cleaning day on account of company coming for several days. Oh, and there was game night with best friends Friday night. Saturday was a family day and our company arrived! So, here it is, Sunday morning. I must go to work in a few hours but wanted to update the KFLBP and, of course, knitting.

I am having a hard time sitting to knit for an uninterrupted hour. I knit on and off all the time, but it seems to be the straight hour or more that impacts the numbers the way I want them. It is like everything else concerning my BP. Dieting, walking, knitting- they all seem so easy that I put things off until later and then find I have lost an entire day. Stupid considering it is impacting my health. Oh, well, I will try to do better today. I am holding off on walking or working out until I see the cardiologist on Wednesday. Too much chest pain when I do anything. My doc says it’s probably stress and not to worry until I see the specialist. So, I worry not! But I do need to knit!

I am pretty far in the lace scarf for my Mists of Avalon group. I have gotten several more chapters in the book read as well. Love that book! I have one toeless sock done and will start the second today. I also may knit up a cupcake from One Skein for the fun of it. That is a great book. I must own it.

Well, must scoot. Man, I hope my band set their clocks ahead!

Feeling groovy!

Yep, knitting lowers my BP! Of course, I only did 40 minutes today of uninterrupted knitting but my BP started at 137/67 and ended at 122/73. I really need an hour or more to get it down to what I want. Must try to find a way to get paid to lower my BP! Now that’s what I call a perfect job!

I spent a lovely morning at The Dinner A’Fare making my dinners for the next month. You must try this place! The food is wonderful and it is fun to show up and make these meals with no clean up!! And cooking the food leaves very little clean up as well. Perfect. Ah, tonight I made Vegas Chicken with Crab succatash. A salad, green beans and brown rice rounded it out. The rice took the longest to make. Delicious. And cost effective! Since we are a family of three now, I do the half size. Just the right amount per serving with no leftovers. Yum, yum.

As far as knitting goes, I started a pair of Pedicure socks from Knitty.com. DD in college wears flip-flops year round and these are for those chilly nights. I am using hot pink Paton’s Classic Wool. It is basically socks without toes. Kind of like fingerless gloves, just for the feet. I am using #7 needles so they will go quickly. I read on the label this yarn felts. I love felting stuff! I must try needle felting sometime. Has anyone tried needle felting? It was new to the spinning guild I attended years ago. I just never tried it.

Well, that’s it for tonight. I must read tonight and get caught up in The Mist’s of Avalon. I worked several hours on the scarf last night. On to the sofa!

Knitting for lower blood pressure Day 1

Well, as I am someone who doesn’t like to go against doctor’s wishes, I started my KFLB (knitting for low blood pressure) experiment. I decided to knit on the lace scarf. I figured it would keep my focus and I love that pattern! So I took my BP and knit for 1 hour 45 min. Here are the numbers-

3/5/07
130/75
115/69

Look at that! 115/69 is where I am supposed to be all the time. I must find a way to knit all the time!
I will continue to monitor the knit/blood pressure situation. I bought yarn today…kind of filling a prescription I thought. Also bought AlterKnits by Leigh Radford. I want to felt a PDF holder and knit some other groovy things out of this book. So, I have plenty of “medicine” and will sit and knit after I teach this afternoon.

Speaking of blood pressure… nothing gets my BP up more that a trip to the dentist. So I decided to try something different. I usually breathe deeply and silently bless the hands of whoever is in my mouth in order to not jump up and run out of the building. Today, I closed my eyes and visualized myself knitting on my lace scarf. I have to say, I felt better than usual and realized the whole visit didn’t last long enough to do two pattern repeats. Not bad. Of course, I didn’t have my BP cuff along to verify my results, but I did think it lowered it and my general anxiety. Nice.

Knitting for lower blood pressure!

That title sounds like a charity knit-a-thon for people with high blood pressure! Well, that’s what my doctor said this morning. I need to relieve stress and although I was hoping she would tell me to forgo exercise and knit instead, she, in fact, said to add other things to my arsenal. So, I promptly came home and plopped on the sofa and picked up my Mist’s of Avalon lace scarf. I already did my “Turbo Jam” workout this morning and will walk for half an hour later with my DH. I do have to have an echo cardiogram soon because my benign heart murmur has changed. (whatever that means).

You know, I wonder how my BP is affected when I knit. I think I will do a little experiment. Before I pick up my knitting I’ll take my BP. At the end of the knitting time I’ll take it again. I warn you, I think I should post the numbers inorder to keep me honest in following through with this plan. I wonder if the project itself affects my BP. I mean, a dishcloth I can do in my sleep verses the lace scarf. Hmmmmmmm. Wow, what if my condition is SO impacted by knitting, that I need to knit all the time? How wonderf… I mean, oh, dear!

Ok, so I’ll still take my med’s which now number two and, ugh, workout and walk, but now I’ll take my BP before and after sitting down to knit. Let’s see what happens. I won’t be sitting there loafing, I’ll be following the doctor’s orders! I like the sound of that!

I must note that I spent a wonderful evening with one of the most gifted craftswoman and artist I know whom I love and adore (you know who you are!) this Saturday. We want to make a ritual of getting together every full moon for a glass of wine and to just be “Moon Women”. Life gets in the way but this time we did it and it was a total eclipse! Very cool. A little Pinot Noir and a full moon. What more could you want?

Morning work

Here is the multicolored tea coasters, teapot bib and teapot coaster I promised. It is not my best work, since I did not have the right hook size for the crochet thread, but I think of this as “shabby chic”. I started a green set last night with the proper size hook. I really love this one! It is a Phildar pattern also. I co-managed a Phildar Yarn shop in the ’80’s and have a HUGE collection of patterns and books. I love Phildar yarn, but wasn’t surprised when the business left America. I have used up almost every scrap of yarn I collected. I have just a few balls of their crochet cotton line. But that was so last century! My goodness, you should see some of the fashion sweaters from the 80’s. Shoulder pads even Joan Crawford wouldn’t wear! Very asymetrical and textured. I am much happier with classic, clean lines. Although I do miss the big hair styles. I am such a big hair gal!