Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts

Monday, May 25, 2026

Alterations

Here's where the Women's Cardigan by Lea Petäjä is at this point. I finished the pockets and am starting the sleeves, using two circular needles. This project is going to need some serious blocking before adding the button/buttonhole bands down the front.


You may remember from last week that I had started the pocket. I made two pocket ribbing borders, and had put them to the side until I was ready. When I finished the body down to the point where I wanted the pockets to start, I worked the row at the top of the pockets by taking the affected stitches off as I came to them (10 stitches in from the beginning and end of the row) and putting them on waste yarn, then continuing on with the row. On the way back, I picked up the live stitches on the border sections when I came to the missing stitches. Then I continued knitting as if the pockets were irrelevant. Here's what it looked like.


This week I continued knitting until I was ready to add the ribbing to the border. I put all the stitches on the smaller circular needle for the ribbing and went back to the pockets. I picked up the stitches held on the waste yarn and knitted a pocket lining, for as many rows as I had knit to get to the bottom (31 rows, in this case). Now I had live stitches on my ribbing needle and live stitches at the bottom of the pocket lining. I put a stitch marker at the place where each side of the pocket should end up in the ribbing. As I was working the first row of ribbing, I knit the pocket lining stitches together with the body stitches at the appropriate places. After binding off the ribbing, it was time to finish the pockets. I sewed down the pocket ribbing on the outside. I wanted the stitches holding the two sides of the pocket lining to line up, so I used my waste yarn to make a line of basting stitches all the way down on each side, making sure I stayed inside one vertical row of stitches. Then I sewed the pocket edges to the body, picking up the inside of the body right where the basting stitches indicated.


Here's how it looked before I picked up the sleeve stitches. (I managed to get a little rainbow on the left pocket, caused by sun shining though the window. A good omen?) The center front edges are curling, as might be expected, with all that uninterrupted stockinette stitch, but I'm hoping that blocking and adding the button/buttonhole bands will take care of that.


My manuscript has gone to my science editor (Charlie, and man of many talents) and he's already found a couple of missing quotation marks. That was caused by breaking up a quote to fit the page breaks and photos that needed moving. That's why Charlie gets the big bucks, after all.

We're leaving Tuesday to go camping at LaPine with Jim. He's planning now to come on Wednesday, because a storm is expected Tuesday afternoon/evening, and he will have to get over the mountains to reach the campground from his place in Florence. I cleaned the trailer yesterday, because this will be our first trip of the year. I made the bed and have started carrying things there to put away. Charlie filled up the Silverado with gas. It cost $99. (We probably won't be going very far for camping this year.) We hooked up the RPod to the pickup, which is always a difficult job, because we don't have any backup camera in the pickup. Fortunately, LaPine, where we will go first, and Suttle Lake, for the last couple of nights, are nice places to camp and not very far away.

I made the Arizona Pumpkin Soup, with a couple of changes. First of all, the recipe makes a lot of soup, and I had told my in-house grocery shopping servant (also Charlie) to get canned pumpkin. He bought one 15-oz can, or roughly half what the recipe calls for. So I just cut all the ingredients in half. Then, I like cooking in the morning, not late afternoon and evening, so I used my slow-cooker. I just sautéed what had to be sautéed and put everything into the slow-cooker. It turned out great! 



It's from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen. I've had this cookbook and several others of hers for years. They're all full of Post-Its, dog-eared by time.



I served it with some of my whole-wheat sourdough bread. To make sure we had enough protein, I made a silken-tofu carob pudding for dessert.



I've been watching that planet in the sky in the evenings. Monday night at 9:20 I went out to look and found the moon smiling at the planet. (Jupiter? I'm still not sure.) It's hard to get a good photo, with the porch light and the neighbors' lights on. Added to this problem is the problem of taking a longer exposure while holding the phone still, but this will give you an idea. 


The planet is now higher in the sky, and the moon has moved on, having perhaps other places to visit.

Sunday Trinity celebrated Pentecost with a worship service on the lawn that surrounds the Deschutes Historical Museum, which is housed in a building that used to be an elementary school.


We were supposed wear red, if we could. I wore a red blouse, red socks, a red shawlette and my resistance hat. Julie, who gave me a ride, forgot to wear red, so I gave her my shawlette. Several women came up to me after the service and said they have the same had and should have worn them. One lady said at a recent small weekday protest of about 50 people she counted 15 of these hats.



For this week's cuteness, here's our grandcat Mango. He looks as if he might not fit through the pet door, but he does. Most of that bulk is hair.



We're still doing our weekly Zoom meetings with the family every Sunday, unless something else is going on or we're camping. Next week's Zoom call AND next week's blog post may be an issue, if we don't have internet and/or cell phone service. Don't worry about us if this blog doesn't appear on time.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Summer Sorrel top and the Women's Cardigan by Lea Petäjä.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to The Friend of the Family by Dean Koontz on the BookPlayer app, gettin close to the end.

What's on my sewing machine: Put away until the next project.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Three of the dolls (Billy, Mariah and Emil) have differing opinions on where they think our water for drinking and washing comes from. It turns out, they are all right...partly. This week's story from The Doll's Storybook is All About Water.


What's my tip of the week: Have trouble opening a jar or bottle? I use a piece of rubberized shelf paper as a jar/bottle opener, but if that doesn't work, here's a trick I learned when I was a child: Run hot water over the sides of the cap or lid, especially in that crevice at the bottom of the cap or lid and where the glass can be seen. This often does the trick, because of two things. It heats up the cap, causing it to expand slightly and if it's being held tight by some dried residue of whatever is contained in the jar or bottle, the hot water sometimes dissolves that residue. Try it!

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.

The stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, ChangesShhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.

Book #7 is in the works.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>   

Monday, October 27, 2025

Performances

I think I've been working on the whole-cloth quilt, off and on, for at least ten years. Well, it's finally finished. I put it on the bed to get a photo, but it couldn't stay there. We have free-range poodles, and the bed is one of their favorite places.


Someone asked me what a whole-cloth quilt was. It's easy to describe. The top isn't pieced, but is made from one whole piece of cloth. The decorative part comes with the quilting. This quilt top came pre-printed with wash-out "ink" showing the quilter where to quilt, sort of like paint by numbers or coloring inside the lines. This one was made by Benartex and came from Keepsake Quilting. The pattern name is "Welsh Beauty." It was a Christmas present from Charlie. I don't remember which year, but we were still in Utah. It came with the backing. Here's looking down on it from above.



I washed it first in cold water and then in hot water with a bit of bleach, as it was pretty dirty after being handled so much and for so long. The pattern marking came out with no probIem. I made the mistake of folding it up after it came out of the dryer. The fold down the middle is very obvious, and there are other wrinkles. I think before I hang it (if I can find a place to put it), I will have to wash and dry it again and then put it right up on the wall without folding, perhaps while still a it damp. It will have to go somewhere where sticky fingers can't reach it. Here's a look at the side.


I've had the pre-clue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along for a while, having bought the pattern the first day we could do so. On Monday I started fishing around in my stash for suitable yarn and found these two. The multi-pink was a gift in 2023 from our daughter-in-law (and the rest of the family, but she picked it out). The magenta (MC) yarn was purchased during the Yarn Crawl in 2022. I ordered he second one when I decided to use it for the MKAL and realized one skein of the MC wasn't enough.


I caked up the yarn, so it would be ready to use. Then the second skein of the magenta yarn arrived on Saturday. I'll have that that wound up soon, too. It looks like a good match, although I couldn't read the dye lot on the first one, so I didn't bother about it when I ordered the second one. I should be OK with the pink multi yarn mixed in.


We had another Madroña pop-up meeting on Tuesday. Our supper was a quiche, salad and Dutch-oven bread, but we started out with crackers and olives. (That's my stove cover on the table. I always take it off when I've using the oven.



Our wine was a Madroña Zinfandel from 2020. Someone else participating in the pop-up meeting had the exact same wine. It's a great one!


I've had a problem feeding the dogs, because Dusty likes to graze slowly, and we had always left the kibble out for the dogs. I can't do that anymore because Sandy seems to think it's his job to just finish off whatever kibble is in the dish, which meant he was gaining weight and Dusty was losing. Fortunately, we realized what was happening and started measuring their food and feeding them in separate bowls. Sandy gobbles his up dutifully, while I have to stay by Dusty until he finishes. Sandy is a good weight now, but Dusty still needs to gain a bit back. It's a struggle, because Dusty doesn't always finish. Sometimes he eats a few bites and then walks off, and when he does eat, he eats very slowly. If he isn't hungry, he just turns up his nose. Sandy hovers around, waiting for Dusty to leave his food. Then he eats it if I don't pick it up. Lately I've been showing them that I have treats, and telling Dusty to eat and Sandy to wait. Here's Dusty eating his breakfast. Sandy had finished his breakfast already; that's his empty bowl.


And here's Sandy waiting. He knows I have a treat.



Sunday morning I followed this procedure. I was amazed when Sandy ate and then walked away. He went into the family room to lie down in the bean-bag chair. Dusty kept eating until he was finished. Both dogs got their treats. I hope this keeps up.


The Gentle Spirit Tee is coming along. I was working on the bottom border during the first two games of the World Series. Both teams seem fairly evenly matched and mostly performed well. I think it's going to be a great Series.


I also worked on it during the Central Oregon Symphony's performance on Saturday afternoon.


The concert was great. We heard (and watched) Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major and then Dvorak's New World Symphony (Number 9), which I was familiar with.


So with all that knitting time, I finished the body of the sweater. Nothing left to do but knit the neck band and the two sleeve bands. I'll probably finish it this week.


Saturday and Sunday the Wisconsin grands performed in Ballet La Crosse's production of Cinderella. Here are Zachary and Daphne with their proud mother. I expect to be able to watch the production before long by video.


For some cuteness, here's our son Peter with our grandcat Mango, watching the second game of the World Series. I think Mango is going to be big. His sister, Olive, is much smaller.


Today my personal copies of the new book are due to arrive. Tracking says, "Out for delivery!" I'll have photos of the unboxing next week. 


I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still continuing with Gentle Spirit Tee. Making progress.

What's on my iPhone: Now listening to The Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang on the AudiobooksNow app. Almost finished

What's on my sewing machine: Put away.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Emil has a letter from his friend Holly, who has been camping with her family by the ocean. He doesn't understand something in the letter, but he thinks Mandy will know. Here's Dangerous Waves, an all-new story.



What's my tip of the week: If I'm adding canned tomatoes (or other canned or bottled vegetable or sauce) to a soup of stew that also calls for water, I pour the water into the can I've just emptied into the pot to rinse it out and then pour it from the can into a measuring cup. It cleans the can, so it's ready for recycling, and it gets any little bits that were left behind in the can, so you don't waste anything.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.

The stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, ChangesShhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.


If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>