Time.....Marches On

That should be said in a deep, newsman-y voice. All together now....GOOD! Now then - I'm going to go back and get caught up; may I say, though, I learned some very fine things about my friend Stephen from a lot of positive comments about him in a memorial website; he touched a lot of lives.

Now then. First things first: I hadda birthday. I am now officially 66 years old. (!) All the birthday cards I got refer to being old -- "You're not old until the fat lady sings", says the one from my Lovely Daughter. And when you open it up - a great, LOUD, alto, piercing, operatic tone........it is to laugh (I did!). But I actually loved 'em all, because 1) I LOVE getting older, which means I can be crankier, more assertive, able to pull rank on punks and I get all kinda bargains and Old People prices; and 2) consider the alternative!

This is my lemon poppyseed birthday cake with lemony icing, which my boss at the Museum made for me. (She makes cakes for everyone's birthday!) Now, it wasn't a HUGE cake. But -- well, suffice it to say, I helped myself to a very GENEROUS piece to start with. I mean, there was enough for everyone to get a morsel, but I had a MORSEL! On the top picture, that's my cup of tea -- I have to tell you, a chunk o' lemon poppyseed cake and a cup o' tea - now THAT is a delicious snackaroonie. Yas'm.

Now, I'm not much one on presents; I'm always embarrassed by getting presents -- but in spite of that, I got two presents, and they both made me very VERY happy!

The first, from Mr Dearling, is a pair o' shearling-lined slippers. They replace my OLD pair of shearling slippers, which are perfectly fine.....well, except for the big hole in the bottom of one and the place where my toes hang all out. I'm lovin' the new ones (but I'm not throwing away the old ones - I believe I've described "shmate" here before).

The other present will NOT be shown here, because I do not wish to create violent, throbbing, bitter, envious JEALOUSY anywhere; nor do I want to become vulnerable to any wandering fiberthieves, cutpurses, brigands or hooligans who might be slithering around the neighborhood.

No, I'll just describe it - it's a skein of yarn. It's handspun, a blend of natural fibers (I was so excited when it was described that I don't remember them all, but think "luxurious" and there's tencel in it). It's varicolored, with raspberry, lavender, rose, pink all blend-y and plied together.......it feels like pure silk and merino or wossname and is the most delicious skein I've ever seen, and that's NOT hyperbole.

But.......along with being eye-wateringly beautiful and rich and soft and fine, it's a length of hand-spun , from the very hands, heart and wheel of my dear friend MollyBee! This is one of those skeins which will sit atop any other yarns in my basket and be admired, adored and petted. In time it may indicate something it would like to be knitted into, but in the meantime it'll just be trotted out for company's admiration.

Now -- remember I mentioned my finding "green" yarn for my little preemie caps? This is it, "Saving our planet one stitch at a time." Like I think I said, it's old water bottles - oh, and I'm not getting any kick-backs or freebies or kudos or cooties or anything from mentioning this, but I like it. The colors are subtle, it's surprisingly soft and I like knitting with it. It splits - sort of untwists , you know, but if you're watching that's not a problem. Remember I showed you I had nine - count 'em, 9 little caps? Well - I think I need an intervention. I haven't even taken the time to get back on Ravelry and find out where to they go....but -

I finished a few more in the meanwhiles. They're all the same pattern, but I'm experimenting with different colors, different combinations of colors, some different yarns (a self-patterning baby yarn) and some different needle sizes.





They're fun. They're easy. They're quick. They're........

seriously, SERIOUSLY, addicting. See how there are twenty-seven (count 'em, 27 ) there? Well...after taking that picture I found another in my knitting basket. In case you can't see those self-patterning ones too well, I did a close-up:

I'd love to tell you the information on the ball-band, but...well, this is a little embarrassing: the ball-bands are across the room. (So whassamattah, Dale-Harriet, you're so OLD AND LAME you can't cross the room?) Oy, I wrote that! No -- see, I'm sitting on the couch. And Evangeline is curled up behind o' me, tucked all snugly under my shawl, and if I get up -- it'll disturb her.

Awww, come ON! I know all y'all with cats have done something or NOT done something so you didn't disturb the cat. Even Mr Dearling's done that. It's just a little touch of kittyweird is all.

However -- it's an acrylic yarn, very soft, and I used #4 DPNs for these. They're miniscule, soft, and really, really pretty. (I tried them on my Bitty Baby doll and they fit.) I really do like making these little things - I think it's a backlash of Immediate Gratification following that Dr. Who scarf.

So as I said, time's marching on -- but for today, there's only one final thing:

THE END