Feng shui

When my daughter called me yesterday to tell me her plans of forming a Relay For Life team, which will be sponsored by her store of course, I was very happy!! My neighbor and friend that lives behind me is the event chairperson for the local event in our town, so I was already a bit familiar with all of the wheres, whys, and hows. I told my daughter she could count on me to participate. Cancer has claimed several lives in my family, including my dad at the age of 40, and my mother and I are both survivors. The next event in her town won't be until a year from now (we missed it this year), so we have plenty of time for training.

                                      My Summer into Fall shawl

I have managed to overwhelm myself with shawl overload, but all I can do is keep the needles going to get them finished up. I'm pretty close to getting my Summer into Fall (Summer Flies) shawl completed and since I wanted to make it longer, it involved some math that had me baffled for a couple of days. I've got that part of it worked out now, so it's a matter of sitting down and knitting it. So far, I'm pretty pleased with how it's working up.
At the beginning of this month, a friend asked me if I would make her daughter a shawl similar to the one I made for her on her birthday. I couldn't say no, so I've decided that I will probably make the Ishbel again. And did I mention she wants it in black? Black lace is beautiful, but a pain to knit!

                                         Kudzu Shawlette

Last night at knitting group, we started our knit-along we had agreed upon two weeks ago. A group of us are knitting the Kudzu shawlette, and so far, it's a bit of a challenge. That's okay with me though, as I love learning new techniques, etc. I'm using Stroll Sport in the Pageant colorway from Knit Picks.com and so far, it's a very nice yarn to work with. More on that as I progress with it.

I seriously need to get back to the cardigan I've been knitting for my granddaughter, and in time I will. With the high temps we've been having here in northern California though, there's no hurry to finish it anytime soon. I'm pretty confident it will still fit her by the time Fall rolls around, but I did promise it to her several weeks ago, so I need to get it to her.

The fourth shawl I committed myself to is one my daughter gave me the yarn and pattern for as a Christmas gift this past year. I feel like six months is long enough to let it marinate, and it will be a lovely addition to my Fall wardrobe as well. Or even some of those cool-ish summer evenings we have been known to have. As I progress with it, I will take some pics to share with you.

                                       Old kitchen cabinet

                              Newly painted bathroom vanity cabinets

I'm running a bit behind today and as I wanted to get out and go visit my grandchildren that live just down the road from me a bit, I will quickly share one other thing before I end this post. I believe I mentioned that we were giving our main bathroom a makeover. While I was at knitting group last night, Scooter put all the doors back on the vanity. I absolutely LOVE it!!! It will be even prettier once we get the new hardware on it. I'm so excited...I will also shop for new rugs, towels, shower curtain, etc. today. The old finish that was on the vanity was beginning to wear on my nerves and I couldn't stand it anymore. They are oak, but the varnish was wearing and it just wasn't very attractive, so I wanted them painted a nice bright white. It was such a good choice that Scooter now wants to do our kitchen cabinets the same way, which are the same oak with the varnish wearing off look (pic above). It's amazing what a fresh coat of enamel will do for a home...just so clean and bright looking!! I'm so happy to be in a house again, even after five years. For five years prior to that, I was in an apartment in Kentucky and while it was a beautiful, brand new apartment nobody had ever lived in that my ex-husband and I picked out together, it still had so many restrictions of what I could do and couldn't do as far as cosmetic changes go. And when the grandchildren visited, I had to keep them calm and quiet. They now have a nice backyard to romp around in, we have a large space to have cookouts, and nobody will complain if they get too loud inside! Scooter complains at times that our home isn't large enough, but I remind him how grateful I am to have the home that we have, when so many others are losing theirs. At just a little over 1400 sq. feet, it's plenty for the two of us, and I think redoing the bathroom and having hardwood floors installed, has made Scooter realize it's a nice home, with good Feng Shui!