The Plunge Into Winter

Hi Dear Folk,

My goodness will spring ever come, from yesterday to tomorrow we are plunging 40-50 f, unbelievable and snow showers. 

I've been working away on a little Felt Posy for Spring, so will work on this over the weekend and take my mind of this never ending winter.

I am very happy with the way it is coming along, it will have all spring flowers in it.  I am thinking of doing one for the other seasons, summer, autumn and winter.  Our summers are quite hot, so not sure that felt goes with summer here, but we do get some cooler weeks in August.

I looked up the derivation of the word Posy and it has such a lovely origin.

Posy also posey 1530's, "line of verse engraved on the inner surface of a ring." from Poesy "poetry a passage of poetry, which is recorded in this sense from early 1500's, meaning "flower, bouquet" first recorded 1570s from notion of the language of flowers.

It is such fun to work on and I love when an idea becomes tactile and it's as you envisioned or even better.  So will show pics when I'm done.

Hope your weekend coming is good.

Christy

P.S.  I was going to take my snowy scene banner down, which I took just last week, but I think it needs to stay up a while longer, spring has not sprung here in Pennsylvania.
 

Dad's Jacket Lives On

This is a jacket that Mr. B. bought back in the early eighties.  It was well worn, then sat for a long while in the basement closet.  One day The Boy needed a jacket in the snow, so we raked it out.  The Boy took a liking to this Green, Orange and Pink jacket, now quite faded.  He wore it to High School and everyone liked it, it became a fashion statement, because it was very eighties and different.

The zipper broke but The Boy was not giving it up, so he took it to the tailor at his own expense to have a new zip put in, hence the bright green zip, which he was a little dubious about, but I said it would gradually fade in.  Then all the elastic around the bottom needed redoing and again he took it to our local tailor a little old Italian guy and had new elastic put in. 

Now The Boy has more invested in this jacket than it cost his father to buy it in the first place, but as you can see he is still wearing it and it has been at least four years that he has had it.

This Boy believes in recycling.

Take care,
Christy

Crochet My Complete Circle

Hi Dear Folk,

As I probably said before I came to crochet rather late in life.  My sister has been crocheting and knitting since I think before she was a teen.  It's not that I didn't try, but I always had sweaty hands, don't know why and patterns seemed like a foreign language to me, so never progressed.  My sis BB and I had a conversation on this, she said because I always had my head in a book and she always needed something to do with her hands.  Although I did progress on to sew a lot, especially through my teenage years, when it was less expensive to sew than to buy.  Mum did both, sewed and knitted, although actually she did not crochet, now I think about it that is correct.

I get it, so my little Circle of Crochet is complete in the World of Crochet.

Here is my shawl made from the thrifted yarn.  I have finished it now and will show pics.  I gathered in the ends to make like a giant pom pom, it looks nice, that was just my idea, I wasn't happy with it so made this little change and love it.

Here is the angora and mohair I ordered from China, which I did the edging with.  I do and I don't like it, but am not changing it now.  I guess I like it enough to live with and when it's draped because of the way the shawl falls sometimes you see the edging and sometimes you don't, maybe I'm too matchy on some things.

I went and bought this crochet book, probably because the tea cozy alone moved me, it does have some nice patterns in it.

Isn't this little cap adorable?  And the tote below looks so useful, Oh! to go out with pens and pads as the weather warms up, although that's not yet, we all have our dreams.

Did you notice that I put a link on my top bar to The Vintage Pattern Files, this is a wonderful resource blog, so good that I had to put it right up there, do take a look I think you will love this Blog too, hosted by Wendy.

I am going to have to learn to knit just to knit the Willow Pattern Tea Cosy and Willow Pattern Hot Water Bottle Cover.  See my Pinterest.

Well take care dear folk.

Christy

Aaton XTR Prod Withour Lens 16MM

Hi Dear Folk,

The Boy was on a shoot this weekend and this is what he is filming with and this is what he says about this camera.

Shooting on the Aaton 16mm camera is a pleasure, its beautiful.

Aaton XTR Prod without lens, we are using Ziess prime lenses.

The camera and lenses were originally purchased for $126,000!!!

The theme of the shoot is about a starving artist who works at a restaurant, I said he should be able to relate to that.  Working with a crew and actors of fifteen people.

Shooting outside at night was pretty cold, but he also has some inside shoots.

He's a happy camper.

Here are some photos of The Boy working with sound equipment.

Christy

 

Crochet Car Coat

Patchwork Car Coat

This is from Vanna's Choice, Lion Brand, Pattern # L32204

This is the fun project I want to work on, I wanted colour and this has colour and enough challenge to make it fun but not too much.  My sister and I had a great time talking about this project and she may make her version, although I know it will look totally different to mine, that's what I love about creativity no two people come out with the same finished project, it always has a personal touch, their choice of colour, their vision.

I received all the yarn I ordered and added this to what I found in my local store and a nearby store.  If you remember I had found the Chartreuse, Robin's Egg Blue and Black, thinking I would swap out the Black for the Navy I had ordered, but that is out, now that I have seen the navy and all the other blues, they are so very pretty.

Unfortunately they did not have enough navy yarn needed for the pattern so I thought that I would swap the navy and the teal, depending on what the teal looked like and it is lovely.

The pattern calls for three blues and one green.

I have:

Navy
Teal
Turquoise
Robin's Egg Blue
Chartreuse

So one extra blue the turquoise which was my choice for the lighter blue, until I saw the robins egg blue, are you still with me.  All the blues are so lovely and look great together that I'm wondering should I keep the turquoise and incorporate an extra blue or not?

So I will show you.

Left to right above turquoise, navy blue, teal blue, chartreuse and above robins egg blue.

Above was my original choice.

 

 Above is my second guess swapping out the turquoise for the robins egg blue.  

As I said I my heart leans towards using all four blues and after a conversation with my sister, referring to what grandma used to say about colours.  You need an uneven amount, so stay with the odd numbers, five colours and not four.  Decided I wanted to keep all four blues and the green, then I have an odd number of colours five, and will be in keeping with what grandma said.

Have a great weekend.

Christy

The Last Hurrah of Snow

Dear Folk,

This may be the last hurrah of snow for the winter, or maybe that's wishful thinking.

By the time Mr. B. and I got out it was about six in the evening, so rather subdued lighting.

Leaving home.

A beautiful cedar tree in our neighbourhood.  Always reminds me of the cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Bible.

This old stone bridge always appeals to me when I drive over it, which is pretty often.

On the corner of our local park is this old graveyard, with gravestones going back to the early 1800s and some a little older I think.  All the park used to be farm land that was owned by the mental hospital, the old mental hospital dates back to early 1850s, so predates the Civil War, and still is a mental hospital, although many buildings are abandoned and there are far fewer inmates now.  Therapy for the inmates was to farm the land, and because it belonged to the State Hospital, it was never built on and by the time they gave it up, people appreciated the land being turned into a park instead of being built on, so nice for us.

These old metal plates used to be put on the graves of veterans.  This man must have fought in the civil war.  I like the green moss against the gravestone and snow.

 

With so many pictures of gravestones I thought that I would share a scripture that I really like Job 14:13-15 parts of this scripture read ... "If a man dies can he live again? ... You will call, and I will answer you."

 

Our American robin.

Good bye snow.

Christy

Marmite and the Flowers of Spring

Hi Dear Folk,

We are in need of seeing spring flowers because as I speak, more snow is falling, pretty thick and fast, but will not last because tomorrow is meant to be 55f.

Here is my pot of daffodils that I bought at Trader Joe's.  I had them at my desk for a while.

After the snow melted I found my snowdrops, trying their best to bloom, so I picked a few and put them in this Marmite jar.  What is it about a Marmite jar that I just like so much.  Maybe it's the childhood connection, I don't think they've change the iconic shape jar and the colour of the label for years.  Or maybe because all through High School I took a Marmite sandwich to school for elevenses, and on rainy days we all sat in the girls locker room with our goodies.

I just thought this made a nice little vase sitting on it's yellow top.

The weekend is here and what wonders will it bring?  I'm going to an Afternoon Tea on Sunday with a friend, so that will be fun.

Have a great weekend.

Christy

Paisley and Patisserie

Hi Dear Folk,

Trying to catch up and keep on track, plus thinking positive that spring will be here soon.  More snow on Friday so they say one to three inches, so not much, but enough to make it slippery.  Last Saturday it rained but was warmer.  Since Mr. B. does not work on rainy days we headed out to repeat a little trip we had made last year only then Rob was with us, miss that Boy.

We decided to head out to the little French Patisserie and pick up chocolate goodies, which did make me think of my trip to Paris with The Boy, which is now becoming a distant memory and I would very much like to renew that memory.

I also popped into the stationery store along the High Street there.  That too reminds me of days gone by, as it is privately owned and there are not too many of them left.  I couldn't resist this carved wood Paisley design stamp.  I resisted last time I was there but twice was too much.  Just as a piece of decorative art I think it is lovely, and what is it about the Paisley shape that I love so much?  I think because it is such an old design it makes me think of India and Persia, or cashmere shawls that my grandmother wore, and I did actually live in Paisley for a short period of time.

I chose the pyramid, Mr B. the circle and we shared the lollipop.  We packed these up to take home to eat with a cup of Sumatra coffee, what could be nicer?

Before we left town we popped into Anthropolgy, which I like and don't like.  It's always set out most appealingly, but almost all the china comes from China, some lovely ideas and maybe I shouldn't knock that because why is china called china? I did see a lovely fish tureen from Italy that I did like.

The clothes and bags are so way overpriced, at least in my mind, but I guess it's all relative to income, so I head straight to the clearance section.  I would have bought a china bowl but Mr B. forbad me, well not quite, but I knew what he meant.  Still you know it's just fun to look.

Before home we stopped off at our local thrift and I found this hand knitted cardigan, a little large, the buttons needed changing out.  It needed a little work to make it fit how I wanted it to, but I could not pass up on all that hard work, which I think nobody ever wore.

First of all I found new buttons in my stash a purple colour that had been on a cardi from my mum, I put those on, so that made me feel good.  The bottom was just all too big and the front didn't hang correctly, so I took elastic and threaded it all through the bottom, which now pulled it in and made the front where the buttons are not gape out but hang correctly. 

The collar needed steam pressing, because it rolled, and after all that I was pretty happy with it.  It's a loose fit, but very warm and will go nice with jeans or my blue skirt, as I seem to have more in browns than blues, so this is a good addition.  It's a happy little flower design with those yellow centres.

Well that was our rainy Saturday, made a nice break.

Christy

P.S.  I have just added the Followers button.  I lost it several years ago and could never find it again and I've tried, but after yet another Google search someone knew where to look for it and Voila! I found it.

Snow

Hi Dear Folk,

I know I'm late as this was the snow from last Thursday.  My work place did not call out, so I had to go in, it was bad the only redeeming factor, was that I was the only one on the roads beside the snow plows and the police, just about nobody else.  The trouble is wolf, wolf had been cried a few times, so we had to go in.  We did get let out a couple of hours early.  I cannot tell you how happy I was to hit the green light at the top of the hill where I work, and to make it up a mile long hill on the way home.  I knew if I made that I would be alright.

It has warmed up so much now, as I drove home today it was raining and as the warm rain, hit the large expanses of snow, it made for a beautiful low lying mist, like you see at the theatre, on stage, when people walk through it and you can't see their feet, just hovering above the ground.

Mr. B. is never happier than working in the wood pile.  Since we have put in the new furnace we have not used so much wood, as the furnace is so much more efficient.

A few night time shots.  Look at the sparkles in the snow.

This may be the last time we see this, this winter.

Still crocheting away on my shawl.  I some what chickened out on the contrasting blue.  I did the edging loops in the yarn I was using along with the Robins egg blue angora and mohair yarn.  It was so very fine that I was able to use the two yarns together.  Now I am adding an additional small loop using two strands of the Robins egg blue yarn.  It was advertised as light blue, but it is actually a prettier blue than I thought it would be.  If anyone knows Chinese they can read the label off for me, please.

Not much else going on, so ready for spring.  I went to Trader Joe's at lunch time to pick up the bread that I like to buy there, because there is one thing I hate is cheap nasty bread, along with a wasabi nut mix that I like, mango black tea and a pot of miniature daffodils that is sitting on my desk and making me happy every time I look at them, I even spring cleaned my area a bit.

I think I need a break.  Last Sunday I was meant to be somewhere quite important and totally forgot, I mean did not enter my mind, gone, not there, that's bad. 

Take care,
Christy