Got a great package from my coffee swap partner

I got a wonderful box from Liz full of Texas treats. She sent French Roast Sunset Blend from Mozart's in Austin, a taste of Austin from Central Market, and two samplers of South Texas Pecan and Texas Velvet Hammer. I can't wait to try them. And to drink all that coffee in she sent a cup from Luckenbach. I also got a Kona Buzz Brownie which was delicious and it is certainly gone!


The yarn she sent was just as yummy. A skein of yarn from Brooks Farm a luscious blend of blues this yarn is a blend of wool,silk and vicose. AND a Knitclinic Yarn Buttercups on the Breeze which I believe she did the dye work. I also have a new pattern for a lace scarf.

Thanks Liz everything in the box was just wonderful.

My favorite place for a cup of coffee

What is the ideal setting for enjoying the perfect cup of coffee? Who would be there - or would you be alone? Inside or out? Morning or night? With food or just the steaming cup of joe?

My family has a house at the beach. We are ten houses from the ocean. I get up early year round (sad consequence of a long commute). I love to slip out of the house and bring a cup of coffee, a book or some mindless knitting and just sit and relax in the gazebo. It's so quiet and peaceful. I watch surfers, people fishing, grandmas walking with wide awake babies to keep them from waking up a whole house!

In the summer I love to go out in my backyard and read the paper and have my coffee before the rest of the neighborhood is up.

A Change of Plans

I had this Thanksgiving week all planned out. I was going to catch up with all the work that has piled up at school while I was out sick for just about 2 weeks. I was going to do some baking and my two children and I were going to join my family at my sister's house for Thanksgiving AND Friday and Sat. I was going to clean and decorate for Christmas AND I was going to finish the vest I've been working on.

Man plans and God laughs. Here's what is really happening. I made a tiny dent in what I have to do to catch up at work and went home Monday night with a nagging back ache and very tired feeling. I woke up 3:30 Tuesday morning in terrible pain took a warm shower, tylenol,walked around and though I was a bit better but really I wasn't SO I wound up in the ER and was scanned,IV'd etc. Sent home with a handful of scripts and told I can't return to work until next Nov.26 and not to travel for Thanksgiving.

I think it is going to turn out fine. My daughter,who has trouble making a grilled cheese sandwich is going to cook, my son is coming and I am feeling a bit better. Still to groggy to knit but I'm sure I will by Thursday. Maybe this is the Thanksgiving that my kids and I need.

Fiber Ornaments

I spent this afternoon doing a fun little project. I needed a holiday craft to sent away in a swap and I need some handmade things to use as parts of little gifts, so I made these scrap ball ornaments. I really like the way they came out and I was able to use stuff that was mostly in the house. All I did was cut scrap fabrics into strips and wrap them around the styrofoam balls then wrap some red silk yarn aroundthe ball and made a place to hang with a bead and a pin. I'm thinking of these as Christmas ornaments but I think they would also look great in a bowl on a table.

What I'm Thankful For

The Thursday upcoming is Thanksgiving in the U.S., so let's all - American and not alike! - just share a post with what it is we're thankful for. A wonderful thing to do any time of year, I thought it'd be a nice thing to share for this week with the group!


This is the topic of the week for th Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap and it really has me thinking. The first thought that comes to mind is that I am thankful for my children. I have two wonderful young adults as my son and daughter and I am always grateful to be a part of their lives. I'm thankful for the rest of my large extended family, especially at still having a mother and grandmother alive at my age!
I am thankful that I had the support of family, friends and hospice services to make my husband's passing peaceful.

I am very thankful to have a job which I love and which pays me well enough to support myself comfortably. I'm thankful to have work that I love and to have been able to be an important part of a school community for over twenty years in the same place.

I am thankful to have friends who make my life so much richer and enjoy my company and after my scare with being hospitalized I'm VERY thankful that I am really still healthy and getting better each day and STILL ABLE TO DRINK COFFEE!!!!!!

Thanks to my Secret Pal 11

On Sat. I received a Knitpicks box from my Secret Pal 11. What a treat ~~~~two skeins of lace weight alpaca yarn in tidepool colorway. I'm just itching to work with them, a great book,

The Well Knit Home

and a bottle of Kookaburra Delicate liquid soap which I've never tried.

I've been leafing though the book and there are some really great patterns in it. I've done lots of knitting but very little of this type of knitting. One baby blanket has the cutest little cable owls knit into it. I did those owls on mittens years ago and a baby sweater. I know there are a few things I will make from this book. Thanks!

Baby Surprise Sweater

This first picture is the Baby Surprise Sweater when you are finished knitting it in ONE piece. It is a pretty fun knit and just what I love --- garter stitch!
I've made a few of these and I still almost can't believe that it will fold into the sweater! All I have to do now is sew two small seams across the sholders and sleeve tops. Elizabeth Zimmerman "unvented" this years ago. While I'm supposed to be home off my feet for a few days I think I'll make another one. Someday I'm going to make an adult one for me!

Got some unexpected KNITTING in

This weekend I was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work I needed to do at my school and I was thinking that my knitting would be only in short spurts for a while. Well, you just never know!


I went to a party Sat night and indulged in non WW treats so when I woke up with the worst pains of my life and spent the rest of the weekend running to the bathroom I thought it was the revenge of real fat in my diet. By Monday morning I decided to get a Doctor's note because I just could not get into work. One thing lead to another and by the evening I was admitted to a local hospital. After much poking and prodding and some testing which was quite gross I received a diagnosis of Acute Ischemic Colitis which of all the things they were suspecting was by far the best! I'm out of the hospital and feeling much better.


I DID GET LOTS of knitting done. I knit a really cute hoodie for my niece's expected baby and a EZ Baby Surprise Sweater in three shades of Knitpicks Palette. This was great hospital knitting basically easy but kind of a puzzle to work out.

So what have I learned from this?
1. No matter how important you think you are at work a whole school will not dissolve into thin air if someone else does your Election Day Staff Development
2. A well developed supply of yarn is very important. It would not have been good for me to postpone hospitalization while I purchase a few days worth of projects
3. Never go see a doctor without your emergency knitting sock right next to the insurance ID!

A FO finally!

I finished my Seamingly Simple Vest yesterday and wore it to school today. I still don't have a working camera but my vest is exactly like the one on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Site. I even did it in the sample color, Lagoon. How unoriginal-- but I'm very pleased with it and it felt so cozy. A few people told me it should have pockets and one 5th grade boy explained exactly how I could have done it and he was very accurate!
I was doing a demo lesson today and several kids in that room told me that they like my vest but were disappointed with my socks. We got into a brief discussion about my too plain for them socks (Lisa Souza oil slick colorway, black with small drifts of green). It's funny how many kids in my school associate knitting and Math!
I want to make a few more vests for the winter. I think I get more use from a wool vest then a wool sweater. Today it was fun to wear my own hand knit socks, vest and sweater.