HighFiber

Monday, March 2, 2026

Just a Typical Week at Home....

We will be leaving on Wednesday to drive up to the Portland area to visit the Portland grandchildren and for me to participate in the Rose City Yarn Crawl. I'm starting to gather the things I need for the trip, starting with my knitting project, my "passport" for the crawl, where I will collect stamps from each of the shops we visit. I picked up a Yarn Crawl bucket bag in 2024, which will hold the project and other stuff I might need to keep with me while we're driving around during the Crawl.

My project is the Traveling Woman shawl. The yarn was a gift from our daughter-in-law for Christmas.

We will be there a little longer than usual, not returning until Tuesday. That's because Charlie has a procedure at OHSU, an ultrasound treatment focused on his brain to try to reduce his essential tremors, this time for his right hand. He has several appointments in connection with the treatment.

It was a busy week, with medical appointments, including my annual physical and having my eyes checked and getting a new prescription for driving, since my left eye is intentionally nearsighted. My eyes were pronounced healthy and I left with the new prescription. I had an appointment for an echocardiogram and some blood tests, and after that, I drove out to Costco to pick up my two prescriptions that needed to be refilled. I stopped at a couple of grocery stores on the way back.

Earlier in the week, I took the photos for a new story I had written the week before. I won't reveal what it will be about, but here's a teaser photo. It took me most one day to finish it, even though the story was finished. I had to dress ALL of the dolls in clothes that were suitable and fix their hair, then pose them and take the photos. They aren't always cooperative, and even the violin acted up.

On Saturday, we woke up to the news that we had bombed Iran. There was a last-minute invitation to attend a protest at Peace Corner in Bend. I put on my Melt The Ice hat, and we took the dogs to the protest. I made a sign that said, "MAKE LOVE NOT WAR" to hold up. While we were there, a TV journalist asked to interview me, so I answered some questions while she videoed my answers. I haven't seen it, but I suppose it was OK.

On Sunday, we had our annual visit from the Bishop, and this will be his last time to come to us. He's retiring. We had some special music at the service. (Bishop Pat is the one with the red vestments.) After the service, I gave him a copy of "Billy" and told him a little about it. He showed a lot of interest in the book. I hope he enjoys it.

Sunday afternoon we decided we needed to get out with the dogs. We had a lot of rain during the week. The only nice weather had been when we had appointments of one kind or another. We took our usual route along the Larkspur trail and then came back through the woods, so the dogs could run off-leash for a bit. Dusty likes to roam, but he comes when I call him to come and get his leash back on.

We don't like them to be off-leash when we get close to streets. They love being off-leash, but they're good about getting leashed up again.

Today I need to do laundry and start putting together clothes and the other things needed for the trip.

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 Retold, Our 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: Just finished the Melt the ICE hat. Now working on my Traveling Woman Shawl.

What's on my iPhone: Still The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, on theAudiobooksNow app. Very little progress this week. Too much stuff going on, including taking photos for the new story.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In this week's story, Pippa learns why Mariah hasn't been eating lunch and only eats early in the morning when it's dark and then after sunset at night in Fasting and Feeding.

What's my tip of the week: We keep a packet of nonperishable food in the car, in case we come across someone who's asking for food. We include plastic utensils, a napkin or paper towel, a variety of canned or packaged ready-to-eat food and a can opener.

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, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

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

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

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

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, February 23, 2026

Wrapping Things Up

The project for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along is finished. It will be a nice wrap to wear during the Yarn Crawl in March.

I chose to do the picot bind-off. I finished the knitting as we watched Olympic hockey.

The bound-off edge was rather ruffled and curled when I finished.

Someone in the Ravelry thread for the project said blocking took care of that, as I hoped. Here's mine blocking.

The blocking did take care of the curling and ruffling, as you can see from the photo of the finished shawl at the top of this post.

Now I needed something to work on, so I decided to alter my Melt the Ice Hat. I had ended the ribbing after 5" instead of knitting to 6", because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn. Then I wasn't happy with it, because I thought the ribbing wasn't long enough to turn up around the edge. I took it apart at the top of the ribbing then picked up the stitches and set about knitting more ribbing.

I stopped when the yarn was used up and then grafted the top back onto the ribbing.

I had this much yarn left when I was done.

I may make another one with thinner yarn.

The next knitting project will probably be the Traveling Woman Shawl with the lovely blue yarn I got for Christmas. (Or was it birthday?) The pattern needs to be flattened out. I rolled it up to fit it into my suitcase.

I need to take some photos for a new story I've written. I really should do that before I start knitting. The dolls will need costume changes and hair fixing, which will take longer than taking the photos. I might need to tidy up my workroom first.

It was a pretty busy week, in addition to the Olympics. Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, and we went to Trinity's pancake supper, which had sort of a mardi gras theme.

We had nice conversations with the people at our table, but the most fun was the pancake race. Two children had to run from one end of the room to the other, each with a pancake in a pie plate. They were supposed to flip the pancake at the end of the room and then return to the starting place with the pancake intact.

After supper, we all went outside to burn the old palm crosses from last year.

We had a short pre-Ash-Wednesday service while the palms burned.

Then we went into the church to finish up the service and get our ash crosses on our foreheads. The choir sang on Ash Wednesday at the 6:00 service, so I received the ashes again.

We had been having difficulty feeding the dogs. Before Sandy, we used to just leave a dish of kibble out for the dogs, but we discovered that Sandy would eat until it was gone, and when we refilled the dish, he would eat that. Dusty likes to come and take a mouthful and then go away. Then when he felt like having some more, he would come back and find the dish empty. Sandy was putting on unnecessary weight, which wasn't good. Then we went to feeding them in separate dishes and watching while they ate. I told them, "This is Sandy's. This is Dusty's," indicating which dish. Then I stood there and watched them. If Dusty didn't eat all his, I would pick up his dish for a while. Then I started training them more aggressively. I would say, "Good eat," when Sandy started to eat. Dusty wanted the praise, so he would eat, too. When Sandy finished his food, I would make him come away from Dusty and sit, while I continued to compliment Dusty for eating. I would tell Sandy, "Wait," and "Good wait!" while Dusty continued to eat. If Dusty finished his meal, they would each get a treat.

Now Sandy has begun leaving the dishes as soon as he has eaten. He waits without being told. Dusty seems willing to keep eating as long as I keep telling him, "Good eat!" or he finishes eating.

We walked almost every day this past week. Sometimes, especially if it was cold and windy, we only went to the woods for a little off-leash time and then walked back along the trail. Here's a screenshot of our route using the Walk for a Dog app from WoofTrax.

I had to cook some, of course. I made some Dutch Oven Bread, and it came out with a very crispy crust.

We had some apples that were getting old, so I made some cobbler.

I wanted potatoes as a side dish, but something a little different from air-fryer potatoes or roasted potatoes, so I made scalloped potatoes.

Friday I see my ophthalmologist again to get a prescription for driving glasses. A week from next Wednesday we head north for the Yarn Crawl and Charlie's ultrasound procedure.

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

What's on my needles: Just finished The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along shawl and the Melt the ICE hat. Hope to cast on for the Traveling Woman Shawl.

What's on my iPhone: Still The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, on theAudiobooksNow app. Some progress this week.