A Bit Of Encouragement

"Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

Thank you, Lord! I needed to be reminded of this today.

Just Checking In...

Well, here it is the wee hours of the night, and once again, I find myself still awake well after Dave, and most normal people, have gone to sleep. I remember my mother was a night owl, and I guess I take after her. I don't really have much to report. In the Spring, when I started blogging, my garden was bursting with new life. I loved walking around my yard, camera in hand, looking to share each new discovery with my readers. I knew my posts would slow down with the Summer heat, but I still had planned post often and keep my blog current. When I realized I'd only posted twice this week, I thought I'd check in, and let my readers know that all is well here. Dave and I still do our mile and a half walks in the eveings for exercise, although we've had to slow our pace a bit (the heat and humidity are just brutal). The screen is holding and the cats are healthy, and spoiled as ever. My garden, although a little wilted from the heat, continues to grow, even though I do very little more than just water these days. Recently, most of my time has been spent on my crafts. I've knitted several dishcloths, started a light weight cardigan, and a chunky moss stitch afghan. I'm also pleased to report that I've gone though, and reorganized, all my yarn and knitting supplies. I have a terrible addiction to knitting and crochet supplies, and I've accumulated an astonishingly large stash of yarn, but now that I've rediscovered what I have, I can begin to use it. I've already printed out the pattern, and sellected yarn for a new project. I'll tell you more about it next week. I'm pretty excited!

Too Bright?

Yikes! I just finished this Ballband dishcloth, and wow, it's bright. I had some denim cotton yarn in the color, indigo, and I wanted to knit a dishcloth with it. Every color I tried to pair it with just didn't look right. I went to Free Crochet Pattern Centrals' dishcloth library, and discovered a really cute cloth. It was the shape of a blue jeans pocket, with the stitching sewn using an orange color. This gave me the idea to pair my indigo yarn with orange. Now, I must admit the color they used was much more subdued than this, but I used the only orange I had. Wow! I think it might be burning my eyes!

Happy Early Birthday To Me...

What an exciting day! I had been looking for a needle case or my Knit Picks interchangable needles. The organizer that comes with them is nice, but it's a little bulky from my taste, and having to fish cables and needle tips out of zipper pockets isn't the a very handy way to access them. A google search Introduced me to the Della Q cases. They are just gorgeous, but since I have three sets of needle tips, it still was too costly. Since the KP case isn't a bad product, I decided to just stick with what I had.
All that changed for me last week. I was browsing the knitting supplies on Webs, when I discovered the Que-i double interchangeable needle case from Della Q. This case is designed to hold two sets of interchangable needles, which is perfect for me. I use my nickel plated, and my acrylic needles tips the most often, so they'd go in the case. My harmony wood tips, which I only use every now and then could stay in the original KP case. After I told Dave about my great find, and my plans for it, he told me to go ahead and order the case for my birthday, which isn't until next month, but he wanted me to have it now. So I placed my order for the purple needle case, along with a cute little project bag with a hummingbird picture on it. My order came today, and it's beautiful. Even better news is that it looks like I may be able to fit all three needle tip sets in the same bag! I couldn't be more pleased.

Change Of Plans

Last week, I started what I thought was a stash busting project. The pattern was a knitted blanket with a pocket, which allows the blanket to be folded into a pillow when not in use. My goal was to use up some thick yarn I had bought back when I first started knitting, but had been sitting in my trunk unused. I was happily knitting, when I realized it wasn't going to work. I had used up almost an entire skein, and the stripe wasn't even half finished. I went back to the pattern, Where I learned that I didn't have enough yarn (apparantly I'd read the supply list wrong earlier). I was pretty bummed, because I really wanted to make this pattern, but it was going to cost forty dollars for the additional yarn needed to complete this project. Since I've been trying to use my stash yarn, and I don't have an extra forty dollars in my budget right now, I decided to unravel my work and start a new blanket. I cast on eighty three stitches, and I'm just going to knit in seed stitch until I run out of yarn. This should make a nice throw-sized blanket for someone....or me...

Bird Watching

I shot this today, using Dave's new video camera. I don't know how to get rid of the sound distortion, so you might have to mute it.

Mabel was happily watching the hummingbird until I made a noise and distracted her. Then I fussed at her for climbing the screen. Poor baby. She has it so hard...

Fixing The Screen

Today, Dave fixed the screen. I didn't realize it until after the fact, but I should have taken before pictures so you could see what an excellant job he did. I'm so proud of him, and feel so blessed to have a husband, who loves me enough to put up with my cats' antics. You're the best, Dave!
We had to lock the pet door, so Dave could remove the screen door from its hinges. He laid it on our fold out table and got to work. That meant having to remove all the trim, and take out the torn screen. Then he had to cut a piece of pet resistant screen to fit, spline it in place, then replace the trim. As he reinstalled the fixed screen, Max and Morty just had to inspect the old screening material.

So now our back screen door is as good as new, but as you can see in the last picture. Morty is already planning his next escape. You'd think getting the stuffing whipped out of him would have been enough to discouraged such plans. Well, he can try all he wants, but this pet resistant screening will definately hold. At least it has with the rest of the porch.

Update On Morty

Wow, my days and nights are so turned around. I'm sitting here at my computer, waiting for Dave's alarm to go off at 4am, and reflecting on my day. Well, I guess it's technically yesterday I'm reflecting on, but since I haven't been to sleep yet, it feels like it's still today. Does that make sense?
It was a calm, uneventful day, which was much welcomed after yesterday's storm. After Dave went to work (little before 5am), I read for a while and finally was able to sleep. I slept pretty peacefully until noon, when I got up to eat lunch with Dave. I'm pleased to report that Morty is much better. He still has some pain in his back legs, but he's eating, jumping upon the furniture (which he was unable to do yesterday), and he's come out of hiding. He didn't cower when we checked on him, nor did he startle at sudden noises today. He greeted us with his tail up when we got home from our afternoon walk. The little monster even tried (although half heartedly) to slip outside when Dave went to take up the leftover cat food (since our first raccoon sighting, we lock any uneaten food in the shed at night). In other words, he's acting like his old self. Thank you so much, family and friends who read my blog, for your support. I know he's just a cat, but he's my special boy, and he was really in serious shape. Thanks to God, and your prayers, he's much better today.
Now if I could just get rid of these tension headaches...

Protect Us, Lord

"Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?..." Job 1:10

Unable to sleep, and still feeling edgy about my stressful day, I decided to get up and check on Morty again. He was peacefully sleeping on the deck of the screened in porch. I breathed a sigh of relief, and stood watching him for a while, when from the direction of the neighbor's yard came a big raccoon. He walked almost right up to the porch, stopped, sniffed the air, then went on his way. Thank you, Jesus for your protection.
Dear Lord, please protect my home, my husband, and my pets. Keep out anything and everything that might cause us harm. Please, do not allow any wild animals near my cats, indoors or out. Please protect us as we sleep, and all thoughout the day. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Scary Day

Morty, my sweet, but sometimes mischievious yellow cat, has been the subject of many posts lately, and today is no exception. In "Morty's adventure," I told the story of how he ripped through the screen on my back porch and escaped. Well he did it again, but this time it was much more harmful to my poor boy. I have spent the day in a terrible nervous state, but now, in the wee hours of the morning, I finally feel he's going to be ok.
Yesterday (Tuesday), I was awakened by the telephone ringing. It was our cats' vet, returning a call we'd made about one of our outdoor cats. When the call ended, I rang Dave at work to relay what the Doctor had said. In the course of my conversation with Dave, I glanced out the bedroom window and that's when I noticed something amiss. Last week, after Morty escaped, Dave cut a sheet of pet resistant screen, which he stapled onto the screen door to cover the hole Morty had escaped through. This was meant to be a temporary fix until he had time to fix it properly. When I looked out this morning, I noticed the staples had been uprooted, and the hole in the original screen torn bigger. I jumped out of bed, telling Dave that Morty had escaped again, and I needed to find him. After I hung up the phone, I looked out the other bedroom window and was relieved to see Morty lying on his cat tree, in the safety of the screened porch. Apparantly his new adventure was over, and he'd returned. A search though the house revealed that my other five indoor cats were safely inside as well, so I began to relax. I fed the cats, Got Mr. Bojangle (the outdoor cat we'd called the vet about) ready for his noon appointment, and waited for Dave to get home for his lunch break. At this time, I had no idea we would be heading back to the vets office so soon...
When I had examined Morty earlier I noticed some dried blood on his leg. I wrongly assumed he'd simply cut his leg on one of the staples or the screen. I petted and comforted him a bit, then went about my business. Since he normally sleeps most of the morning hours away, I thought nothing of him lying around. Dave stapled the screen back down (using heavier staples), we took Bo to the vet, then ate lunch. As Dave was preparing to go back to work, I asked him if he'd take a look at Morty. I was getting conserned because he normally comes around to greet Dave during his break, but he still hadn't moved from his spot. Dave petted him a bit, then turned him on his other side, causing him to yowl in pain, and that's when we saw it. A huge bite wound on his other leg, where he'd apparantly gotten into a fight during his little misadventure. I got on the phone after Dave went back to work, and made Morty a three o' clock appointment. It was just an hour away, but for some reason, the time seemed to drag on, causing my imagination to run wild. Finally, my anxiety getting the better of me, I called Dave at work, crying because Morty had refused one of his treats. He loves these treats. I was so scared, that Dave called my cousin (and pastor's wife) to ask if they'd go with me to the vet's. Being perhaps the nicest people ever, not only did they agree to go with me, they even drove. Morty was examined and given a pain injection, and a slow releasing antibiotic injection, good for two weeks.
I'm pleased to report that after spending the evening in hiding (and in a great deal of pain, poor baby), he's finally showing signs of normal behavior. I'm so thankful. I don't know if it's because of my anxiety disorder, the stress, or just my imagination, but I was terrified I was going to lose him. I know mommys aren't supposed to have favorites, but Morty is extremely special to me. Please pray for my boy's complete healing, and that the screen will hold this time.

Stash Busting

When I first started knitting, I started watching a show called Knitty Gritty on DIY. This is how I became familiar with all different weights and fibers of yarn. I became fascinated with bulky yarns, because of the instant gratification you get from a quick knit, using big needles and thick yarn. For a short while, everytime Hobby Lobby put a few skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in the clearance bin, I'd grab them up. I was so happy with all the thick yarn I was accumulating, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough of any one color to make a nice project. Realizing my mistake, I stashed the yarn I'd already bought in one of my trunks, and quit my habit of buying every skein of Thick & Quick I saw. I'd forgotten about them until yesterday, when I was browsing the Lion Brand website for free patterns. I found the perfect project for using up some of my stashed skeins. It's a car blanket with a pocket, that folds up into a pillow. Pretty cool. I had so much fun opening that trunk, and scrounging for yarn...and I even had a little "help" from Morty. If you'd like to see the pattern I'll be knitting, you can click here.

I Did It!

Well, I happy to report that I made it through my lesson this morning, and it seemed to be well recieved. I was a little worried that much of it featured my cat, Morty, and a lesson God taught me through him. I was afraid I'd be boring to someone who may not care for cats, but that didn't seem to be the case.
When we got home, Dave fixed some awesome mac and cheese, then we dosed the cats with Advantage flea remedy. Now they're all pouting, and look like they have spikey haircuts. lol

Hope I'm Ready

Tomorrow, I'll be bringing the lesson for Sunday School. I had been having these random thoughts all last weekend, and I thought they'd someday make a good message, but I had no idea it would be so soon. It wasn't until I discussed a few of them with Dave that I began to seriously consider bringing it to the church. Tuesday night, I learned that our pastor will be out of town Sunday, and was looking for someone to fill in. I saw it as an opening, and agreed to teach the adult class's lesson. I hope I did the right thing. I just thought that my thoughts and ideas coming at the same time an opening became available was just too timely to be an accident. I have confidence in God, and in the message I feel he gave me, but public speaking isn't my strength. I have my notes all organized, and I know what I want to say, but I could really use all of your prayers. I really want this to go well, so it can be a help to someone who may need it. Even if it's just one person, it will be worth it.

In Great Pain!

Dave and I have been needing to clean up our yard for weeks, but it has rained almost every weekend. The grass had gotten to such a dreadful length that we no longer had a choice. Yesterday, after I got home from prayer meeting, we got busy. We did it the same way we did last time, with me mowing and Dave working the weedeater. Dave had gotten his mower fixed, and was excited about me using it. According to him, it was going to be much easier on me than last time, because his mower is self propelled and doesn't require a lot of strength to push it. About half way though the back yard, I was almost dead. I thought to myself that either he's lying to me, or I'm the biggest weakling alive. I wasn't about to let it beat me, so I guess stubbornness alone is how I got though it. By the time the yard was finished, I was actually dizzy. I blamed this on the heat and humidity.
Later that night, I finally confessed to Dave that I didn't like his mower. I told him I didn't know how he could possibly think it was easier to use than Kim's push mower we had borrowed before. Well, apparantly, there was a lever down the side of the handle bar that I was supposed to pull. Not knowing this, I did our back and front yards without the mower in proper gear, and today, I'm paying. I could have saved myself a lot of pain if I'd just confessed to Dave that I was having a hard time, but no.....I had to proove I could do it. Doesn't the Bible say something about pride?

Morty's Adventure

As most of you know, I feed and care for a managed colony of stray cats in the neighborhood. There are about ten who visit my feeding bowls, and about half of that ten have chosen to call my yard home. We have a great routine going, but every now and then, and new cat wonders into the territory to disturb the peace. Sometimes they accept the newcomer, but more often they....well, don't. Since about two weeks ago, a yellow tabby cat has been straying into our yard, causing a rift among the residents. So far, all that has happened is stand-offs, posturing, and a few hissy fits, but fortunately, no real fights.
Today, as I went to the fridge for my much needed fix of diet coke, I glanced out the back window to see the yellow cat had come back. Since I love cats, and am fascintated by thier behavior, I decided to watch him for a while. He was sitting on his belly on the bottom step of my shed, nibbling on a blade of grass. I stood there, amazed at how much he looks like my Morty, when it hit me that none of the other cats were paying attention to him. That's odd, I thought to myself. I know they do not like the newcomer at all, so why are they just letting him sit in "their" yard and eat "their" grass. I wondered if he had been accepted into the group, and was mentally scheduling a neuter surgery for him, when he looked up at me. Wow, he looks so much like Morty....wait...OMG, it IS Morty. We had a tiny rip in the screening material on our back porch, and he had torn it big enough to wiggle out and escape. Luckily, he's not a roamer, and was still in the yard.
Well he's back inside now, and the pet door leading to the back porch is locked until Dave gets home and we can fix the screen. Happily, he's not begging to get out, but I know we'll have to fix it as quickly as possible, because his adventure will wear off, and he'll be ready for another one soon. Ah, cats...

Sharing Photos

Not much to report today. I took these two photos yesterday when I went out to feed the cats, and I just wanted to share them with my readers...

This is the summer blooming rosebush I mentioned in an earlier post. It was covered with buds, which have now opened to reveal the lovely pink roses picured here.

As I was leaving the feeding area to go back into the house (and out of the heat), I glanced over to notice one of my hostas, the one I purchased at the beginning of spring, had bloomed. What an unexpected, and pleasant, surprise!

Crocheting With Max

Tuesday, I had the house to myself after Dave's long weekend. I tidied up the kitchen, but wasn't really in the mood to clean, so I got out my crochet and put in a movie. As my afghan began to grow, Max decided it was the perfect spot for a nap. It didn't bother me, because he left plenty of room for me to turn my work without bothering his royal highness. So Dave came home to see Max and I watching Shrek and crocheting together. Sadly, I found a mistake, and ended up having to unravel most of the work I'd done, but I still enjoyed my relaxing day.

A Great Deal

I love going to Tuesday Morning. Looking though the store is such an adventure because you honestly never know what you'll find. Once in a while, you come across a sale that is just too good to pass up. I found such a sale my last visit. I was actually looking for a cat tree to replace the old one on the back screened porch. It is so covered in hair and dust that no amount of vacuuming has cleaned it up. New cat furniture is so pricey at Petco and Dave thinks the do-it-yourself items from Walmart aren't durable enough to hold our big moose cats (and he's probably right lol). So we decided to check Tuesday Morning. Since their pet section is right across from their crafts, I just had check for yarn. Normally, they don't have much, but there was a nice surprise waiting for me this time. I discovered 5 hanks of Araucania Pamaire solid, which is a high quality 100% Pima Cotton yarn, in a burnt orange color (The color is much more subdued than the photo portrays, but I included it anyway, because this is such a great shot of Morty). According to the lable, each hank is normally $12.99, but I got them for $5.99. So now I am the proud owner of 915 yards if pima cotton yarn. I bought them planning to knit myself a Liesl cardigan, but I think I want to browse through my patterns again before I decide for sure. This is going to be so much fun...

Another Magazine

Well, I just got through subscribing to another magazine. When I first started knitting, I subscribed to several magazines. I love getting magazines so much, but I was tired of the huge stacks piling up. I finally picked out my favorite, which is Interweave Knits, and let the others subscriptions run out. Today, I checked my email and discovered an opportunity to get a free issue of Interweave Crochet. Since I've been doing more crochet, and Interweave Press puts out beautiful magazines, I decided to subscribe. When I get my free issue, I can opt to cancel the whole thing if I don't like it, but I have a feeling I'll keep it. At least for a while.

Merlin's New Haircut

Merlin got a new haircut tonight. When we got him from the shelter back in 2004, he had been shaved. I was appalled, because he has such beautiful hair, but later I figured out why they'd shaved him. His hair is thick and cottony, and tangles very easily. Ideally, he's supposed to be brushed daily, but he HATES it. As a result, his long hair stays knotted up and uncomfortable for him. The only option is to cut it short twice a year. We used to send him to the vet for this, but because of his temperament, he has to be sedated, causing his visits to be quite pricey. Also, even though the groomer at my vet's office is very professional, and good at her job, I just sometimes worry (probably unreasonably) about so much sedation. We decided last year to do his hair ourselves.
Knowing how he is, we went to Home Depot and bought a pair of long leather gloves, the kind welders wear. Hair clippers for pets can be bought, fairly inexpensively, just about anywhere. That first haircut we gave him was terrible, but we were so proud of it. His hair grows so fast that in no time it looked just fine. Since then, I've learned that getting his hair perfectly even isn't going to happen, but if I consentrate on making him look uniform it works better. It doesn't take as long, and is therefore less stressful for him....and us.

Knitting Garterlac Dishcloths

I recently tried a new dishcloth pattern called Garterlac. It's based on entralac knitting, but done in garter stitch. This is a technique that has always intrigued me, but I lacked the confidence to try it. Dishcloths are perfect for this situation, because they provide a way to try new patterns in a small project form. I personally find this less intimidating than starting a big project, using a method I'm unfamiliar with. If it doesn't turn out well, who cares? It's a dishcloth.
After knitting just one of these cloths, I knew this pattern was a winner. The designer does a great job writing this pattern so that its easy to follow and understand, and the multiple directions in entralac knitting showcase these variegated colors beautifully.
Yesterday, I decided to try a little experiment. I took a full skein of variegated Lily cotton, hoping to get a garterlac and a ballband out of the same skein. It looked like it was going to work, but I ran out with three brick sections on the ballband to go. Luckily I had a similar color to finish it off, but even if I hadn't I think it would have been ok. Ballbands look fine with multiple colors.
More information, and the pattern for the Garterlac dishcloth can be found on the designer's blog. Just click here.