hand eye crafts

Kathy  gives us some things to ponder. *Where do you keep your favorite old patterns?  My paper patterns are in file folder organizers.  All my mother's patterns are in the big cardboard box she used to store them.    *When was the last time you got to bottle feed a baby? A couple of years ago at an LYS event.  The mother wasn't getting any time to knit, so I offered to help. *What knitting will you pick up and enjoy today? My next Blankapalooza square. *Can you do a flip turn?  Don't even know how to swim. . . *You just won a raffle.  What's your pick?  *Craftsy on line class? *Independent yarn dyers sock yarn? *mystery yarny gifts in a wrapped box? Oh, the mystery box!  I'm a sucker for mystery boxes, grab bags --- all that sort of thing. *You can photograph anything perfectly and show us on your blog tomorrow.  What will it be? Ocean waves at a beach.   * Name a New knit...

Are you feeling strong? Or maybe you're "whatever" because it's Monday? Maybe you hit the ground running this morning. I just hope you're feeling creative,  because today's Palooza prompt is Let your needles, and your imagination, run free.

Hannah's medical bills have come in.  All at once.  Seven of them. I've been drinking Gatorade to negate as many of the heat-spawned headaches as possible, and today I tried a new flavor, Green Apple. It reminds me of Jolly Rancher Green Apple candies, which is a very good thing. As much as I like polishing my nails, taking polish off has always been a chore.  I recently found out about this: It's peelable base coat.  So ingenious.  And it works beautifully --- sometimes a little too well.  I can look down and see that one nail is naked;  the polish has peeled right off.  I can't see myself ever being without this again.

I am beginning to think seriously about moving.  As in, spending hours on Trulia looking for houses, and clearing out cabinets and drawers.  Whenever, wherever I go, I'll be downsizing for sure, so I'm clearing for that and for a yard sale.  Besides, it has been blazingly hot all week, and staying/"working" inside in the air conditioning is infinitely preferable to even stepping outside and triggering a massive, crippling headache. My first choice for a move is Chattanooga.  Nashville is a close, close second, though houses are more expensive there.  I'm also looking into Augusta and Savannah.  I want to be in, or very near, a city so that there's an airport handy.  (In case Briton and/or Hannah move far enough away that it will take a plane ride to visit them.)  My Ultimate of Ultimates, of course, is a beach house.  That just can't happen given my finances.  Both Augusta and Savannah get me nearer beaches, which is a "Pro" for eac...

Via  Kathy , as usual on a June Monday. *My neighbor's trumpet vine is in bloom.  What's your preferencee?  Butterflies or Hummingbirds? We have gorgeous blue and black butterflies here, so I'll go with them. *What's your preference? Boxed water or bottled water? (I just found this boxed water and I am crazy about it) I'd never heard of boxed water before.  Progressive Chicago, huh?  Bottled, then, for me. *For next to your skin softness,  do you prefer  angora, cashmere, alpaca, or acyrlic? Alpaca.  Even though this one seems unhappy with my choice: *Do you have an interchangeable needle set or do you  prefer the individual circs? I did break down and buy a set of square interchangeables.  Not for the circleness, but for the shape of the needles. *Do you prefer an alcoholic drink before, during or after your dinner?   I don't drink often enough to have an answer! *What cuts into y...

It has come to my attention that another photo taken on Friday is preferred to the one I posted.  Since she was  the Birthday Girl, I acquiesce. The make-up and yogurt stories remain unchanged.

Yesterday was Hannah's birthday.  I offered her either lunch or make-up shopping.  Her choice was made quickly and resolutely.   Hello,  Ulta .  (I must say that we have a very new  Sephora  in town, but she said she could get "a lot more little stuff" at Ulta.) I didn't wear a speck of make-up until deep into college, so I'm far behind the curve.  Hannah, with her artistic gifts and steady hands, is a natural --- and knowledgeable --- make-up pro. We had fun, just walking around and around the store, seeing more with every pass.  At the end, we both had things we were happy with.  A short walk across the parking lot afterwards to get some frozen yogurt, and it was time to take her back to her place. But first, a reminder of the day: (Her lipstick was a Purchase of the Day.)

"Lookin' at your front door. . ." 'Cause that's to be the color of your next Palooza square. This is mine: Happy Looking! Aw, heck --- Happy Listening , too!

Kathy  has renamed her Monday Question Session "Quora Time."   Quora  is a very, very interesting website.  As in, the kind you can spend LOTS of time on. Anyway, the renaming was spurred by a game of Bananagrams (love it!) with her son, Zach.  And these week's questions are: HAVE YOU KNIT BY FLASHLIGHT? Yes, and by candlelight, too. Do you play board or card games in summer? Yes, both virtual and real. Are you hooked on Amy Beth? No.  I don't do podcasts. Are you angry at a bird?   No.  Birds are pretty, and they fascinate the cats. Have you discovered you were wrong about something? Want to share? Oh, SO many things!  I've misjudged people.  I've (unknowingly) given false answers.  I've over-estimated myself. You are given a gift.  To a spa.  Would you get a massage, a facial, mani pedi or scalp treatment? Massage.  I use a facial mask every morning, I do my own nails, I don'...

This month, the cats got to try out  Whole Earth Farms chicken recipe.  The smaller cans work very well for me --- Erin and Lily can each get a serving without my wondering, "Is this really half?" on the larger cans.  Too, as they are both double-digit-ages, I was excited to see that the food is cut into very small, very manageable bites. The verdict?  One paw up, one paw sort of sideways.  Lily eats this with relish.  Chicken is her meat of choice, and this did not disappoint.  Erin, on the other hand, was not particularly taken with it.  When one can I opened had a significant amount of gravy inside, she downed that heartily.  But the meat didn't seem to appeal to her. Chewy.com allows me, under its Blogger Referral program, to receive and test pet products each month.  I receive no monetary compensation for my involvement in the program.  The reviews that result from the real-life tests are presented accurately, and ...

Ten on Tuesday this week is "Ten Things You're Curious About."  Here we go! 1.  What it's like to have a sibling. * 2.  What has happened to the boy I had the mega-crush on in high school. * 3.  What Abraham Lincoln's voice sounded like. * 4.  What Harpo Marx's voice sounded like. * 5.  Whether snakes move by pushing their bodies or pulling them. * 6.  How they get the sticky stuff to stick to one side of the tape. * 7.  Why I can't think of more than seven things I'm curious about. (Posting today because I somehow let yesterday get away.  Sorry!)

1. Do you prefer: frozen custard hardpack ice cream soft serve ice cream Shaved ice  I've been on a serious frozen custard run for the last couple of months, but, ultimately, I like soft serve.  With hardpack ice cream, and with custard, I moosh it around in the bowl until it's soft. 2. Of all the colors of the rainbow, which is your favorite?  Purple.  Always purple. 3. How do you keep your sock needles together?  Because of my ineptitude with double-points, my sock needles are my regular needles.  No special  organization needed. 4.  If you could run through a knit shop and pull as much of ONE yarn as you could carry, what would it be? Noro.  Always Noro. 5.   Are you over shawls? Not at all.  Some of most gorgeous knitting I've ever seen has been in shawls.  Plus, the range of shapes and patterns is astounding. 6. Do your peonies open with or without ants? I don't have peonies, but m...

Last year, I got, maybe, 4 blooms on my enormous, much-loved gardenia bush.  I assumed the previous winter had bitten it, and was going to tell the men who do my yardwork to just take it down, which was a crushing thought.  But, it really is  huge, and I couldn't decide what to put there in its place. Therefore, I take great pleasure in letting you all know that there are beautiful blooms everywhere! No scent makes me happier than gardenias.  That the flowers are beautiful is a wonderful bonus.  I also like the smell of honeysuckle (it takes me back to summers growing up), and there is a substantial honeysuckle vine growing at one corner of the house.  You can stand in a sweet spot on the driveway and inhale both  sweet honeysuckle and dreamy gardenia.  That they both bloom in summer is the only thing that keeps me from loathing the season entirely.

YOUR TOOTHBRUSH? That's your Palooza Squares Color Prompt of the Day! (How many of you know without going into your bathroom to look?)

This house has a peculiar closet arrangement.  The main bedroom, downstairs, has one small closet and one even smaller closet.  The even smaller one is tucked in under the staircase.  If you could walk into it, you wouldn't be able to stand full up.  It's held my shoes and what crafting supplies would fit since Dale and I moved in.  Dale's clothes, ties and shoes went into the other closet, and I kept mine in the closet in what was to become Hannah's room. The biggest closet in the house is in Briton's room.  You can walk in, spin around. do calisthentics. . .  When he and Hannah were little, they each had those play tents with characters on them;  you could set up one of them in Briton's closet and still have some room.  I've been cleaning out the main closet in the main bedroom today.  All my clothes are in there now, along with several things I brought from my parents' house, plus clothes and shoes of Dale's and Daddy's that ...