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Monday, February 28, 2011

This Sunday!

This Sunday I drove to the City (San Francisco) with my daughter and grand daughter. I had a Groupon for membership at the Jewish Museum at half off and needed to redeem it so this was the day! DH had too much school work to get away and our grandson had come down with the flu. So it turned out to be girls day out.
There is this huge long wall of photos from the local Jewish community!
My grand daughter found George right off as we went looking for the Curious George exhibit.
But first we visited the drop in art activity room where we were given a table of art supplies and were told to create animal figures to decorate a paper tote bag!
I was amazed how GD created her leopard collage entirely by herself! She has quite the artistic eye and imagination!
I created this cat tote to take back to my grandson.
Mom and daughter hard at work.
The children were given a box with questions and cards to find specific
things and places in the exhibit.
I loved how she identified things she knew from having read most of the books
before today.
We were not allowed to take photos in the exhibits.
This is us on our way into the fantastic exhibit of an authentic Torah scroll all
hand written out at the museum by a female scribe. It is quite usual for the Torah
to be written by a woman. We did not get to meet her as she has finished the work,
but we could see the completed Torah and we saw a video of her doing her work
and talking about it. Simply fascinating! There are also many beautiful rolled Torahs to see on display as well.
If you are in the area I cannot recommend this highly enough.
I love the buildings!
Can you tell that she did NOT want her picture taken with Grandma?
There's more to the day but I'll save it for later this week!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Last Sunday

This flea market is just outside of San Francisco in Daly City. We've been going here for years! There is a huge array of all sorts of stuff, lots of collectibles, vintage, and junk. Unfortunately the prices are higher than I like to spend or do at thrift stores and garage sales. This well dressed woman was over seeing her table of lovely fabrics and old table cloths from a far to get a little sun. It was a sunny day but still cold in the morning hours.
Some of the art is permanent on the walls where sellers have their wares.
And some is for sale like this Frieda collage!
The dates on these old letters went way back...
Do you remember playing Cootie?
I do!
Patty, this Cupie Doll is for you...(I left her there, sorry). I wonder what poems, books, letters were written on this?
And this is for Cris who loves chickens and roosters!
I did not buy any of these ties...I have enough for now.
And I did not buy the huge bag of zippers I saw for $10 either
although I sort of regret not doing so.
I did buy one card of PINK vintage buttons for $2
and I will put them on something for the new baby I knit,
perhaps a red sweater?
It was a fun day.
This Sunday will be fun too in an entirely different way.
Stay tuned!
What are you up to today?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Our Bogus Snow Day...NOT! And My Friday at Home!

I was like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus last night...I must have gotten up to look out the window four times at least all night long looking to see it the snow had fallen as the weather people predicted it would. It was raining. It may have been hailing for all I know, but there was no white stuff falling from the sky. And this morning after the rains stopped the sun came out and dried up the walkways. This was my view from our front door! Disappointment, sigh! Well, Friday is a non-work day for me and I was excited to be home and to be able to continue knitting on the baby blanket. I hope this is what "knitting in the round" is supposed to look like, as I have never done it before! I am following directions; however, my corners are not coming out well...I have to slip the marker, which I finally realize (after being told) that it goes from one needle to the other, and NOT to be tied onto a stitch...but my increases and knit stitches on the pearl side don't seem to be leaving my markers in the corners when I come round the next time. ????? I figure the baby won't know the difference so I am not too worried about it!
You can see the beginning of the off white first stripe that goes around the nine heart squares. And the cross stitching done between squares that I did a day or so ago.
Later I will put a back on the "wrong side" to cover those loose strands of yarn.
The center part really looks good
and I have plans for making some soft felted buttons for the corners of the squares!
I have 12 rows of stripes each of which is eight times around the 358 stitches.
This will take up many an evening to come. Henry is basking in the sun coming in the window.
When I needed a break from knitting I went to my stash to collect colors
for the next color palette at the 3creative studios color palette challenge
and fairly quickly threw together this little art journal quilt. The top layer is a sheer with sequins over satin (black)
followed by a cotton print
followed by more sheer and
some blue flannel.
(colors: black, varying shades of blue, yellow/gold.)
Art Journal Quilt #10
The top pieces are sparkly gold circles and scraps from a commissioned quilt
of silks from India. The sparkle does not show well in the photos. Just
take my word for it!
Now, back to knitting! Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
I wonder if we are really going to get snow?

Friday, February 25, 2011

9 Hearts Done

These are the nine blocks for the center of the Earth Tone baby afghan. I am three steps ahead of here now, but will show it as I progress a little at a time. I really enjoyed learning how to do this Fair Isle design where I had to follow a chart, count stitches, and knit in two colors. All of this a first for me. Afterwards I added more color by embroidering around the outer and inner rims of the heart giving it a double hearted look! Our baby will learn many colors looking at her blanket. I blocked each square when done but did not press the iron on the heart so it remained puffy. I don't know what will happen to them when they are washed. I hope the puffiness remains. They have great texture this way too. Stay tuned for the next steps. Believe it or not we are being told that it could SNOW here tomorrow. I will believe it when I see it. If it does it will be the first time since 1988, the year we moved into this house! I told DH he could wake me in the morning if there is snow when he leaves for work. He's hoping for a call from his school telling him not to come in due to SNOW. LOL It's really funny for us in SUNNY CALIFORNIA! Have a good Friday and weekend! I'll be knitting! What will you be doing?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Hard, Easy, Hard, Easy, HARDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

This is one of nine completed Fair Isle hearts for the
baby afghan I am making my little grand daughter to be.
Mommy said "No PINK" please
We like "earth tones"
I hope she is pleased with my color palette.
I'll show more in the days ahead.
But tonight I have started the knitting in the round
using my newly purchased 40" attached needles
picking up 94 stitches across the bottom of the finished center rectangle.
However, the directions are to "pick up and knit 94 stitches across the bottom..."
I know how to pick up, but I can't figure out how to pick up and knit at the same time.
So I have a query in to Knitting Help.com, an awesome website
with real people who answer questions and real videos that show how to do new things.
I couldn't find the right video for this so I am waiting an answer to my
question.
I know it will come soon, it always does.
;-)
Tomorrow night I will be on my way I have no doubt!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

More Bodega Bay.................

I want to KEEP more of these photos that will go into my published blog book eventually...I love remembering my days this way. Love was in the air... I have no idea who this sweet couple is, but I couldn't help capturing their love with my camera. (When we got back to our car there was another couple making out in the car parked next to ours...People just couldn't help themselves!) Carol asked yesterday which clam chowder place we tried this trip. This is the one. It's on the road across from the bay on the way up to the headlands. The chowder was much spicier than that of the Tides, but not as thick. We noted that we haven't eaten at Lucas' Wharf in a long time. The ice cream is next to Lucas' Wharf down the little road before you get to the Tides Inn motel. These are all very important to know landmarks and places to go when in the area! ;-)))
I got a few photos off DH's camera, some the same as mine
but I liked his view of this one with the pink flowers better than mine.
And we both agreed that this wall looked like a painting.
Okay, I've told you the sun was shining, and it was, and that it was a beautiful sunny day, and it was, but up on the headlands over looking the ocean it was windy
and that is why I look like I am in Minnesota instead of California!
And now it is back to work with me...
after a wonderful four day weekend!
in
SUNNY California!
However, the weather person said we may well have the coldest weather in years
coming in tomorrow, freezing cold, so I brought our ficus tree inside
and will dress in my MN garb in the morning!
PS:
I got a lot of knitting done on my heart squares too!
Stay tuned to see how they are coming along soon!
What are you up to today?

Monday, February 21, 2011

SUNSHINE IN SAN FRANCISCO and BODEGA BAY

It was such a clear sunny day in San Francisco yesterday! After a week of rain it was like a balm that refreshed us from head to toe. People were out walking on the Golden Gate Bridge. I never tire of our drive across this bridge! It seems to hold magic for me. Notice the young man wearing shorts and flip flops sitting on the wall. It really was that nice out.
We did a lot more than I am showing here; I'll save some for tomorrow and/or the next day; But we went to Bodega Bay and enjoyed our favorite haunts, tried out a new spot for clam chowder and tried to decide which was better this one or the one from the Tides Inn?
How do you decide what to post when each of your 167 photos are all keepers?
Spying this heart on the hill was fun!
And the ice plant was both red and green!
and flowering!
We enjoyed a walk on the headlands per usual; the colors were bright
and the air fresh and refreshing!
See what I mean?
Stay tuned for more to come!
We had vegetarian chili at the warming hut under the GG Bridge.
Clam chowder and ice cream in Bodega.
Went to the flea market in Daley City earlier in the morning!
Like I said, more to come.