Thanks, Marie!

I went to a memorial service this morning for Marie Baugh. She died January 16, at age 83.

I didn't know Marie well, but she was a good friend of Mom and Dad's and that was enough for me. I knew I needed to go and add to the number who would be there. The mass of people often speak comfort to those who are bereaved, something I learned long ago.

The last time I talked with Marie was shortly after Mom died (February 2003). Marie had taken over Mom's job of handling some of the money for their Sunday school class or something similar. She had received notification that a check had been deposited into their account, made out to Helen Hawkins, as some sort of teacher's retirement payment.

Well, Mom was never a teacher, so I was pretty sure it wasn't hers. I investigated it and eventually learned that it resulted from Wells Fargo's attempt to deposit the check to the account of, it seemed, any Helen Hawkins. They got it wrong, of course, depriving the real Helen Hawkins recipient the benefit of her monthly check. The people at the bank told me what to do, and I relayed the information to Marie. The check was for $1,800 +, so it wasn't a really small thing. I assume it eventually got straightened out and the intended Helen Hawkins was finally able to buy food for the month.

Marie was one of Dad's prayer partners for quite a number of years. I wonder of Marie's family is going to find lots and lots of prayer lists and journals as they clean out her household, and I wonder if they'll go through the same thought process I did - what to do with all this information. I decided to shred Dad's notes, and it took at least an afternoon even with my super-dooper shredding machine.

Marie's kids and grand kids will miss her terribly. She was a devoted mother as well as a spiritual leader and prayer warrior for so many. I will miss knowing she's there because her passing is another reminder that time is moving on.

The last memorial service I went to at The Well (The First Baptist Church of Poway - FBC for short, for me) was for Frank Self, a beloved and very close friend of Mom and Dad's. Frank died just a few months after Mom did in 2003. Frank had Parkinson's, and it was merciless. His mind was clear and active and his body became essentially non-functioning a few years before he died. Being so soon after Mom's funeral, and knowing Frank's condition and how close he and Dolores and my mom and dad had been, I grieved Frank (with some relief that his suffering was over) almost as though he were part of my family. He was certainly a major part of my family's history. When Dad died in 1997, Frank layed a rose inside his coffin. A few months later, he did the same for Den. Even then, Frank wasn't walking well and needed help. He stole a piece of my heart forever when he did that.

It was different with Marie's memorial service. During the service, I journeyed back in my mind to those years and all these wonderful people who ran around with my folks at the FBC. They were all amazing people, each one reaching out to love everyone around them, and I began to appreciate them in a new way.

Marie's family put on a wonderful celebration of her life, interrupted with breakdowns and many tears, but always bordering on another funny or inspirational story they could tell about their mother and grandmother. A thought came to me that Marie's life was doing one more ministry during the service - she was showing me - and others like me - how to do it, how to be the age I am now and how get to her age. I have been aware for some time that the rules are different now for me than they were when I was younger, but Marie's memorial service and the remembrances of her life gave me greater clarity.

So, in the end, as I watch the passing of my mom and dad's contemporaries, their gang, I have to say thank you to each of them for going before me and showing me the way. God bless you all ... and the thing is, I know He already has!

Illegal is unlawful in Oceanside

Unlawful in Oceanside
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Lauren and I spent last night in Oceanside, in an RCI-exchanged condo. It's a mini vacation for us, one that we'll repeat two more times this week. We have the condo until next Sunday morning.

We're having more rain and snow storms in California this week, so it really wasn't a good time to take this little out-of-the-routine speed bump, but we did get a little break in the weather this morning and took a little walk on the beach. One of the first things we noticed as we left the condo was the sign in the picture above. We're not sure what the message really is. Is the point to tell us DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THROWING YOUR TRASH IN MY CANS? Maybe it just means that if I have trash, I'd better throw it in those cans and not on the street. We weren't sure, but no matter what, we figured we'd better just keep our trash in our pockets until we found a place we knew would be OK for its disposal!

On the drive home, we got another chuckle when a newscaster on the radio told us she was going to give us some true facts! Hmmmmm! That's food for thought!

We're going back to Oceanside Wednesday night after Lauren gets off from work, and Thursday morning is supposed to be a much nicer morning. If it is, we'll be up before dawn, and we'll walk to the pier and back, at least. We're only 1-1/2 blocks from the beach. How convenient!

We'll come home on Friday morning and then go back on Saturday afternoon.

Mini vacations are fun. They are out of the ordinary, and they shake up the routine enough that we feel refreshed when we go back to it. And the ocean is so nice - even when the weather isn't quite the best. I took a couple pictures of the water this morning. Click the picture at the top of the page to go to Flickr, and then go to my San Diego County / Around San Diego set.

Babies and Lydia Circle

Lydia Circle 08
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Both the Lydia Circle and the Martha Circle at Mt Olive do needlework, and I like to participate in both even though I'm not always around to attend.

This year, Lydia is making baby items for those clients of the local Pregnancy Crises Center who keep their babies. Because I can use a very small part of what I normally knit, unless I stick to socks, this seemed to be a great way for me to expand (and recall) my knitting skills and make something useful at the same time.

For my first project, I decided to give Ann Budd's tam recipe a try again and see if I could make it come out right. I think I succeeded!!! Hooray!!!

The little tam pictured above is about the size that would fit a newborn, up to six months.

With that success, I decided to start a sweater, too. Click the picture above, and it will take you to Flickr. The little progress I've made on the sweater is under my Needlework / Knitting set.

I'm using Jacqueline Fee's The Sweater Workshop , which I bought a few years ago. She uses Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage method, described in Knitting Without Tears. Using this method, once you find the number of stitches for the body, the number for the ribbing, the sleeves, etc., are just percentages of the body stitches. I have both books and I had glanced through them, but I went back to work (out of retirement) before I did anything with them.

The sweater is going to be about a 12-month-old size, I think. I can only refer to measurements I've picked up here and there, mostly on the Internet, so I'm not sure. I'm thinking I could find some baby sweaters really cheap at the thrift store and use those for a better gauge of size. Once I get the basic pattern established for the sweater, I can do whatever I want with it - knit it in lace, cables, or other nice patterns. This sweater will be a basic pullover with raglan sleeves, with either a V-neck or a slit neck. Either of these types of openings will make it easier to put the sweater on the baby because it will give more room to pull it over his or her head. At least I remember that much about babies! I'm taking lots of notes as I go so I'll be able to repeat and then adjust the pattern and make a number of these. They seem to go really fast.

Making lemonade quilt tops!

Martha Circle quilt top
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

After having dealt myself a lemon by cutting 4-1/2-inch squares instead of 5-1/2 inch, I added a border to make up the difference between the overall size and ended up with three quilt tops for the Martha Circle project. I'm not too disappointed in the end result, but having to add the borders meant that the work didn't go as fast.

Making the tops quickly isn't necessarily a goal when I put these together, but I do have an overall goal that I don't want to complicate the process and create something too fancy just for the sake of having created it.

These tops are for my self-set February quota of four, and because of my mistake, I ended up with three. Had these blocks been standard size (9 inches), I would have alternated them with plain 9-inch blocks and gotten 6 tops from them instead of three. Thus, I needed one more for my February quota. Click the picture of the top above to go to Flickr, and you can see the fourth top. I pieced blocks together from scraps and alternated them with solid blocks. I pieced together 30 scrap blocks, and combined with 30 single fabric blocks, I'll get three quilts from that. Then I can get started on a fresh design of some sort.

I have learned a lot from making these tops. Looking back at the first ones I made (at least the ones whose pictures I took), I can see that I have become a little more adventuresome. Besides the very important fact that I can imagine someone using the quilt when it's complete and I can imagine (and hope) that the design and colors somehow make their days better and more interesting, I can see that I've learned a number of new techniques (hey, they were all new to me a few months ago!) and I'm getting better at some of them! I'm really glad to have something worthwhile like this to do with my days!

I should check and recheck what I'm doing ...

... but that seems to be too much trouble for me. I think I have a hidden need to get myself in trouble and then see if I'm creative enough to get me out of it. (I think I did this at work, too, both when I was an accountant - get out of balance so I would have a challenge, and a programmer - leave out a semi-colon and let the compiler find the problem! Would life be boring if I didn't do that? Who knows what my psyche needs!)

Sometimes, a little challenge is a good thing and I can overcome it; but at other times, I have to use my seam ripper (sewing) or start frogging like mad (knitting) to undo the mistake caused by my inattention and then just start again.

January has started out with challenges. At first blush, the quilt pieces above look just fine and dandy. Having finished my (self-set) quota of four quilt tops for the Martha Circle project for January, I decided to get a head start on February, March, and April by cutting out pieces to put together as time permitted (because I'll be traveling a good bit of the time).

For my February batch, I decided to make four-patch squares. As I was rotary cutting the strips and squares, the thought crossed my mind a few times (but very lightly) that 4-1/2" squares didn't seem big enough. My target is to get a 9-inch square from these four. But the light bulb didn't come on until I sewed four patches together and noticed how cute and petite these things looked. To my dismay, I instantly realized I had ended up with an 8-inch square instead of a 9-inch square. (Let's see: 2 x 4.5 = 9. Use up .5 for seam allowances, and you have 8. Yep! The math works.)

Well, there's no seam ripper in the world that will undo this mistake, and I figured I had two choices - either add a 1-inch sash between each block or just put the blocks together and add a border around them - 2-inch border on the sides and a 2-1/2" border at the top and bottom. I opted for the latter. That will give me the 36 inches wide and 45 inches long target I need to have. Ugh.

The idea for me is to make these tops interesting and appealing, while not making them complicated. Well, this set of three quilts will be interesting and appealing and only half more complicated than I meant.

The original idea was to alternate the (supposed-to-be) 9-inch pieced blocks with 9-inch blocks cut from a single piece of fabric. I would have ended up with six quilts.

I still have a stack of 4-1/2-inch squares remaining, and I'll use them for a three-piece block where these smaller blocks are in one corner. And I have all those lovely 9-inch single-fabric squares. They will come in handy for filler when I (correctly) cut my next set of pieced blocks.

Last month, as our travel schedule began to pick up, I came to the conclusion that I could still have some fun with creating blocks while cutting the time it took to piece the tops together if I would intermix some single-piece blocks with the pieced ones. So that's the path I plan to take for the first half of this year. We'll see how that works out.



Socks in progress
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
My second (recorded) mistake in January was when I copied the pattern for these socks.

I usually work with cables and seed or moss stitch - so simple for me - some knits, some purls, some cables, and I can just make it up as I go along.

Thinking I needed to push myself out of a potential rut for 2008, I decided I would use a different pattern for my first socks of the year. I picked the Lozenge pattern from my 1989 Vogue Knitting book and quickly copied it to my sock knitting notebook. (You don't want to carry around a 10 x 10 hard bound knitting book just so you can work on a portable project!)

The pattern creates a diamond, which I briefly noted, and it seems to be really simple. A couple yarn-overs, a slip, knit, and pass slipped stitch (skp), a knit two together (k2tog), and the balance is just knit, knit, knit. No purls in this pattern. I use a heel stitch (knit, slip, knit) a row and then knit the next row across the entire bottom just to give extra cushioning to the sock (my feet like that cushion), so the sock ends up being something pretty simple.

As I worked, I kept looking for the upper part of the diamond, and it didn't happen. When I had done a couple repeats, I went back to Vogue and realized that I had copied only the first eight rows of the pattern. The second eight rows are in the second column, and I had totally overlooked them.

Thank goodness the pattern was split in half in the two columns or I would have really ended up with something strange. I lucked out. My socks are now made with a chevron pattern, not a diamond pattern. That's perfectly permissible - just disappointing that I didn't pay enough attention!

So, the question is, have I changed anything for 2008? I always think I want to make each year better than the last. Or am I still on the same old pattern of winging it? I think it's probably the latter; but if I can wing it with new and different challenges, maybe that's ok, too. Who knows what fun I might have being just a little serendipitous (by trait, not by design).

Tam-like cap from Cotton Ease yarn

The genesis for this tam comes from two other patterns:

* http://magknits.com/Mar06/patterns/Amber.htm, which I made while we were in Tahoe, and
* A tam pattern in Ann Budd's the knitter's handy book of Patterns, published 2002 by Interweave Press.

Materials:
1 skein Cotton Ease yarn - main color
Small amount of Cotton Ease yarn for four rows of ribbing in contrast color
(Note about Cotton Ease: Although the weight of the yarn is marked as being the same as Wool Ease, Cotton Ease seems to knit up looser and, therefore, larger. It DOES have a great feel. As with Wool Ease, this yarn is part acrylic - in this case, Cotton Ease is half cotton and half acrylic.)

Needles:
U.S. 7 (I used two circulars for the main body of the cap and then four double-points for the top of the crown).

Gauge:
About 25 rows and 20 stitches for a 4-inch square on size 7 needles. To make brim tighter, use size 6 needles, switching to size 7 for the larger, looser cap.

Instructions for this cap:

CO 92 stitches using cable cast-on for a more decorative, thicker cast-on.

Rnd 1: Join and knit 1 round.
Rnd 2-5: Purl (4 rows).
Rnd 6: Knit.
Rnd 7-10: Join contrast yarn and K1, P1 (4 rows).
Rnd 11: Revert to main color and knit.
Rnd 12-15: Purl (4 rows).
The first 15 rows creates the brim.
Rnd 16: K2, M1 (increase every second stitch) for a total of 138 stitches
Continue knitting for about 4 inches (24 rows).

Interlude for discussion:
Here's where Ann Budd's instructions confused me. For a swirl crown, she says, on page 35:

Place 5 additional markers [there's already one marker for the beginning of the round] as for wheel-shaped crown.

Then she gives instructions or right-slanting swirl and for left-slanting swirl, each of which will decrease one stitch, six times, for a round. Her final paragraph says:

Dec 6 sts as specified above every other rnd until 6 sts remain.

After knitting four decrease rows (8 rows total), this was becoming increasingly questionable to me. This seems like it would create a tam with a huge crown - not that it would be bad, but would it still be a tam? I reviewed her instructions for other crown designs and saw that she was decreasing twice, every marker, every other round. Hmmmm. I studied her other instructions, and finally came across this on page 39:

Like the wheel pattern, the swirl shaping is achieved by working decreases at even intervals. To get the swirl shape, work single decreases every [notice that - EVERY - round.]

That made a lot more sense to me, so instead of ripping out, I just continued on by making my decreases EVERY round instead of EVERY OTHER round.

Continuing the pattern:
Place 6 markers, one after every 23 stitches.
Repeat these two rows four times (8 rows):
* Decrease round: Knit to 2 stitches before marker, k2tog, slip marker, and repeat across. (6 decreases)
* Knit round.

Then continue with decrease round until six stitches remain on needles. (Sometime before this happens, you'll need to change to dpns because the hole becomes so small.)

When six stitches remain, decrease to four stitches by slipping first stitch over the second and the fourth stitch over the fifth.

Knit I-cord for about an inch and bind off, leaving a tail to weave in and to sew I-cord down into a ring.

Twist I-cord so it becomes a little knot-like shape, and whip to top of cap. Weave tail in.

And that's the making of the tam.

Small items like this are fun to make. I learn a lot and I get a finished product from my learning. But I'm not sure when I will wear it.

Except for my hand-knitted socks, which I wear all the time in the winter, I am basically a t-shirt and jeans or t-shirt and shorts person, dressing up by putting on better slacks for church and other occasions when clothes might make a difference. I like hooded sweatshirts and plain pull-on caps when my ears are cold, and I rarely care which one I pick up when I need one.

But knitting is fun, and my aging eyes can handle it. I can't think of too much more satisfying to do with my hands when I'm catching up on my favorite movies and TV shows.

The Bag - The Prototype

Well, I made the first prototype of The Bag. It's a big one, and the picture shows it on my back stuffed with a pillow. Currently, it's sitting on the floor by my knitting chair, full of goodies I'm working on, cheat sheets (where I forget just how to do a do a certain type of cast-on or something), my knitting notebook, and what have you. As a knitting bag, it will do just dandy!

There's a lot of things I'll do differently when I make this again, and I'll make note of those things, where I don't cover them in the instructions, at the bottom of this post. The first thing I'll do, of course, is make the bag smaller!

But in the meantime, here's how this bag was constructed.

Fabrics used for this bag
Outer bag is corduroy
Inner bag (liner) is cotton
Bottom and the casing around the top is suede cloth
Loops are heavy denim
Straps are constructed of polyester (satin-like) fabric covering sturdy cotton webbing

Other supplies
Zippers for inside pockets
Key clips for inside
Quick Links
Strap adjusters
1-inch cotton webbing

Basic dimensions
22" wide by 18" deep

Instructions



Outer fabric: Cut a piece anywhere from 18 to 22 inches wide and 36 inches long. When folded in half, this creates bag of desired width and 18 inches deep. I used corduroy because it this piece was a remnant I knew I didn't want to use for anything else. I normally use twill or denim-weight when I make bags.

Bag bottom: Cut 12 inches of sturdy fabric, at least the width of the bag, for the bottom of the bag. This will be sewn, center line to center line, across the length of the bag giving the bottom of the bag more durability and strength. I used suede cloth - seemingly a fairly good quality - and I will never do that again! My sewing machine needle didn't want to go through it. It's as though it were made of a rubbery substance. I usually use a contrasting twill or denim-weight when I make bags.

Lining: Cut lining same size as bag but about 6 to 8 inches longer to accommodate 3-inch overlap at top.

Loops to hold straps: Cut two strips of sturdy fabric for loops to hold Quick Links and six to eight loops, wide enough to hold strap. Sew these together so that loops are a double thickness of fabric, with four layers of fabric where the seams are folded under. I think this makes the loops sturdier and stronger. This is denim or denim-weight fabric. The finished entire strip for the loops is maybe 40 inches long.



Inside pockets: Cut fabric for inside pockets and construct them.

Cut bias strips about 5" long to hold key clips. These will be attached at top edges of at least one pocket.

Outside patch pocket: Cut about 9" x 12" piece for outside patch pocket.

Fold and press lining, bag fabric, and double bottom so that the center is well marked. This will make the centering easier when pinning the layers together.

Pin the bag

* Pin lining fabric to bag fabric wrong side to wrong side.

* Center envelope bottom fabric on right side of bag fabric and pin.
* Cut two 4-inch strips from the loop-strap strip, insert Quick Links, fold the straps, and pin between envelope bottom and bag on the side that will be next to my back. The outside edge of each strip is about 3-1/2 inches from each edge of the backpack. This is to allow for the envelope bottom expansion. (I think next time I will make a rectangle bottom instead of an envelope-style bottom.)

* Fold down and sew top edge of patch pocket and then center patch pocket between loops holding Quick Links and pin.

* Fold lining at top to outside, fold under raw edge, and pin. (This creates a decorative top to the bag, as well as fortifying the construction, but it seems to be necessary to do something like this so I have a place to attach the top loops. It's possible that I could sew these loops to the inside of the bag between the lining and the bag itself. I'll rethink this next time around.)

Sew the basic bag
* Sew the top where the lining is folded to the outside of the bag.
* Lift pinned double bottom and sew patch pocket sides.
* Sew the double bottom to the bag.

Attach the inside pockets

* Pin bias strips behind zipper pockets and pin both to lower part of the inside upper edge. (I will be placing the casing on the outside over this, so I needed to be careful of where I sewed things together. I wanted the zippers low enough that they wouldn't interfere.)



Putting it all together

* Fold bag in half, right sides together, matching sides at the top.

* Pin the top edges together to secure them.


* Find the center fold at the bottom of the bag, and fold it inward so that the center fold lays along the seam lines for the double bottom. Pin securely. Because my choice of fabrics for this prototype was ill-advised (the suede almost did me in, although it is attractive), this was a very, very, very thick bunch of fabric to sew together.

* Using a triple lock seam, or by seaming more than once, sew the side seams. When making an envelope bottom, there is always a lot of stress on the intersection where the center bottom is folded up to meet the top edge of the envelope. Securing this area well is vital. I used a jeans needle, sew from the bottom of the bag to the top, and then turn the bag over and resew the intersection, beginning about an inch before the intersection and down to the bottom of the bag.

* Serge side seams (or finish side seams in some other way).

Add the loops for the shoulder straps

* Turn the bag right side out and find the side folds created by the envelope. Fold sides in along those folds.

* Fold and pin four 5-inch strips, in the form of loops, along one side of the top, evenly spaced. The outer loops should align with the side fold.

* Fold and pin an additional four strips, in the form of loops, at the same place along the other side.

* Sew the loops in place. The raw edges will be covered by a decorative casing in the next step. Remember that the inside pockets are also sewn to the top, so I was careful when I attached the loops. I used a triple-lock stitch because I believe these straps will receive some stress from holding the shoulder straps.

Casing to cover loops

Cut (and piece, if necessary) a strip for a casing which will cover the top border, including the raw edges of the loops. The casing will cover only the top part of the border because the inside pockets lay at the bottom of the border. It would be possible to lift the pockets and cover more of the top border, but I choose not to do that with this bag. The width of the strip should be sufficient to cover the border created by the lining plus an allowance to fold under. My strip was 2-1/2 inches for this bag.

The casing can hold a draw string, so I left an opening.

*Sewing the casing on the bag is a three-step process:
- Starting with the finished edge in the center of the bag, between the two loops over the patch pocket, lay the raw edge of the casing, with the balance of the fabric away from the bag, about 1/2 inch from the top. When the casing meets itself, leave sufficient to fold back and create a finished end, cut off the balance of the strip, and then stitch the end closed. The two finished ends will butt up against each other, leaving a tunnel through which I can insert a draw string.

*Sew about 1/4" seam around the bag. Be sure to fold fold the beginning of the casing back and lay the end of the casing over the fold so that the raw beginning and ending edges are tucked inside the casing.
- Turn the casing fabric toward the bag and top stitch around.
- Turn under the bottom edge of the casing and seam around.

Then came the iffy problem I was thinking about the whole time. The straps!!!

Lauren found some webbing for me to use - nice and sturdy - so that was good. I pondered how to connect them to the Quick Links, and I finally settled on some shoulder strap adjusting do-dads. I pinned them before I permanently attached them, thank goodness, and found that the webbing wouldn't slip through my top loops as easily as I wanted them to. So I ended up covering the webbing, where it goes through the loops, with some slick polyester. That works just fine.

All in all, I learned a lot while constructing the bag. Some things I will remember for next time, though:

* Use lighter-weight fabrics.
* Don't use that suede cloth (thank goodness I had only a small remnant, so there's not much that will go to waste!)
* Make the bag smaller.
* Use a standard backpack bottom - not the envelope type.
* Quick Links are perfectly acceptable for the permanent link for the loops where the straps are connected to the bottom.

In the Country of Men - a book ...

... written by Hisham Matar and published in February 2007 by The Dial Press. This is Matar's bio as written on the end flap:

Hisham Matar was born in 1970 in New York city to Libyan parents and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo. He lives in London and is currently at work on his second novel. In the Country of Men will be published in twenty-two languages.

This was a difficult book to read, not because of the density of the writing - dense it was not - but because the characters drew you into their lives in such a way that you wanted to, but couldn't, dialog with them. The story is told through the eyes and voice of a 9-year-old boy, Suleiman, as he describes how he sees what's happening to his family - his mother, his father, and his uncle - and their immediate friends and relatives in Libya in 1979.

The story is tragic in many ways, but life is life and tragedy is part of it. You have to take it as it is because it's the only way to get to know, appreciate, and respect those whose lives are different from our own.

Just the other evening, a group of us were talking about what we perceived as the tragic lives of an elderly couple we all know, a couple who never has enough money to buy healthy food or clothing and who lives in substandard housing. Yet, you can't go in and fix the situation, or even try, unless you're asked, because the damage to human dignity, when you try to make a "happily ever after," according to our own individual standards, is often more damaging than the "tragic" circumstances themselves.

Thus is was with this book. I kept wanting to "explain things" to this little boy, to tell him to grow up and learn what it means to keep a secret, to trust his family, even though it seemed that all the world was falling apart. So much I wanted to tell him. I wanted to hold him in my arms with my hands close to his mouth to keep him quiet, perhaps in the way you might do with a small child. I wanted Suleiman to be more mature than he was, and I wondered why he wasn't. I wanted to tell his mother that she needed to help him grow up by explaining more than she did. The book made me want to get involved and "fix things."

But this was Suleiman's life, his mother's life, his father's life, his uncle's life, and the lives of their friends and relatives, and I could only observe. It's better that way. We can't rule the universe; and even if we could, our disasters might be worse than the real ones we perceive.

The book was disturbing, but I'm glad I read it. The story will stay with me for a long time. I'm glad Hisham Matar told the story in a way I could read and feel it. I am better, even though sadder, for having experienced a bit of Suleiman's life. Like the rest of us who survive childhood - and Suleiman did, we go on and we make of our lives what we can, the best we can. I hope he is doing well!

Sense of humor - men vs women

I'm catching up on my newspaper reading, and this morning I was reading the comics from January 6, the day we left for Tahoe. Luann just about cracked me up, so I shared it with Lauren. He didn't get it and wanted to discuss problems he's noticed with remotes.

Oh well!

On a more somber note, the Parade for January 6 featured an interview with Benazir Bhutto by Gail Sheehy (I think it was). The interview seemed to represent a candid dialog between the two women. That Bhutto was assassinated before the article was published gave the conversation greater weight for my pondering and, yes, even increased my regret that she's gone. Who knows just what Bhutto was like, what kind of Prime Minister she would have made for this present time. The politics are so at odds with one another, it seems the truth is no where to be found. But the fact that her voice is now silent seems such a shame.

Knit, knitting away ... January projects

My first dish cloth
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Tahoe was a week of knitting for me, and I enjoyed it to the hilt! I joined my first-ever KAL (knit-along) group just before we left, and this was my first project - a dish cloth!!! This group makes two dishcloths a month. I'm anxiously waiting for the next one which begins this coming Tuesday. This particular dishcloth, and many I've seen in the group's past projects, are simply knit and purl stitches which, when combined in a certain way, create pictures. These are great small projects for travel or for wait time when in a doctor's office or something! I've really never been interested in making dish cloths - we use them a few times and then toss them! They become so gray and ugly, I even bury them below other garbage when I throw them out! I'm sure I'll never use these as intended, but I surely love making them!

But this was just part of what I did. I also knit two pairs of fingerless gloves - a pair for Lauren and a pair for me, and a cap. I posted all the pictures on Flickr, and to see the new things, just click the dishcloth. The link will take you to my Flickr account. Then scroll down the right side of the screen and find the Needlework collection. The Knitting set is inside the Needlework collection.

The best picture I have today, though, is a picture of Carol's display which she had set up at church this morning. I was delighted to get a full-size picture (just click it and it will enlarge) because this display always feels so warm and welcoming to me.

Making quilts for Martha Circle, for the military, is truly a group experience, full of wonderful womanly camaraderie that's thoughtful, quiet, and peaceful.

Notice that Carol has written New Mail on either side of the paper she has taped to the top of the board. That paper is a thank you from the recipients of some of our quilts. Notice, too, that there are sacks and bags there with people's names - Yo, Ruth, and Lucie - women who will pick up packages to take home to work on. The basket contains packets of 20 squares for anyone to pick up and piece together into a quilt. If the table is out when I bring in the few that I make, I just leave my few on the table and Carol will find them. The table itself is almost a perfect picture of the group - it's a wonderful table that communicates the efforts of this community of women.

There are a number of reasons I attend Mt Olive, and the most important one is that it's Lauren's church and I show my support for him by attending with him. But the women there have drawn me back over and over again, from the very first. They have always been, and I'm sure always will be, very special.

Tahoe 08

I was busy uploading our Tahoe pictures to Flickr and ran into some problems with the images I had taken in portrait orientation instead of landscape. Never had that happen before, and I take a good number of pictures using portrait orientation. Flickr is now down for some maintenance, so maybe when they come back up, all will be well. In the meantime, there's Blogger!!! So here I am.

Donna asked for a picture of her Dad in his ski clothes. Oh, I have several, and all will be on Flickr, but these two are probably my favorites - one with the big snowflakes and the other with the big smile!

We had such a good time this year! The young women who manned the ticket booths and scheduled lessons got to know Lauren, and they teased him from time to time about how they wish they could ski as much as he did. Not only do you get good prices on lift tickets when you're a senior, but sometimes you get some really fun attention from young and friendly faces.

We had all kinds of nice weather while we were there - a good blizzard before we arrived, leaving wonderful snow for skiing for the physically active and wonderment for the not so physically active. Lauren had three great days of skiing!

We were expecting light snow on Saturday, the day we had decided to head back to San Diego, and we were really surprised when we learned - almost the hard way - that we needed chains to get out of the Tahoe basin via route 267.

We were coming down Village Drive, the road that leads to the main road along the lake, and stopped at the stop light before we turned right. When Lauren put on the gas, he shot out across the road and headed straight for a car that was waiting for a green light at the intersection. We thanked God, out loud, as we began to veer left instead of right, where the car was sitting, avoiding the collision.

It's amazing how long a few seconds can be and the myriad of thoughts that go through your head. I kept thinking that the other driver's car looked so nice and I didn't want us to bash in the front end; and at the same time, I thought that we would be late getting home because we would have to have our car fixed, about the rise in our insurance costs, the inconvenience to everyone involved, and a hundred other things! Wow!

So we drove down the road past the 267 turnoff and stopped in the Safeway lot while Lauren put on the chains. We weren't the only ones there, and it turned out to be a good thing that we did. There was a checkpoint just a little way up 267, and you couldn't get through if you didn't have chains on.

We ran into a slight delay on 267 at Northstar, where cars were lined up to go up to the ski area.

Our delay was nothing, though, compared to the delay from those who were coming from Tuckee. It was Saturday morning and those who had worked all week all had the same idea - get me to the slopes. Northstar apparently doesn't have good traffic management. The line of cars extended for at least five miles. I think, had I lived in Truckee and wanted to go skiing that morning, I would have gotten up and on the road much earlier than these people. I think I would have rather sat in the parking lot at Northstar reading a book, chatting, or working Sudoku than sitting in my car waiting for the next movement of a few inches.

We took our chains off before we entered I-80 and had no problems with our drive home until we reached I-210, which would take us from I-5 to I-15. We thought it would be a much better route than continuing down I-5 because it misses most of LA. Were we wrong! This traffic jam was about 40 miles long! When we arrived at the end of it, just before we turned off for I-15, a fellow with a wrecker truck was finishing loading a van or SUV onto his truck. He was all alone, and it looked dangerous out there by himself. We have no idea what happened, but it showed us down enough that we got home a little over an hour later than we expected - but we got home safely!

Safely - that's the operative word. We had a wonderful time this past week and hope to be able to enjoy Tahoe many more times as the years pass.

Now, in my last blog, I proposed an imaginary picture. Here's one of my favorite dreaming times while we were in Tahoe this time. The picture just kept telling me stories, and I could have stayed there, looked down at that foot bridge illuminated by the glow of lamp posts, and imagined a hundred and one tales - each new one as satisfying as the last.

Ah... Tahoe, in any season, has to be one of the most beautiful places we've ever been, but Tahoe in winter is truly a magic place.

Incline Village in January

Imagine a picture here

We're in Incline Village, NV, this week, staying at the lovely Club Tahoe with only dial-up Internet service in our condo. So you'll just have to imagine what it looks like until we get home and I can upload pictures.

Imagine our living room, with big sliding glass doors leading to a balcony overlooking tall pines covered with heavy mounds of snow. Imagine looking over the balcony at night and seeing a foot bridge downhill from us, with two globe lights illuminating the bridge. Imagine seeing the shape of a horse ready to cross the bridge, an illusion created by snow-covered branches near the bridge. Imagine the occasional squirrel racing from shelter to shelter as you stand quietly on the balcony looking over many imaginary shapes. Imagine icicles longer than a yard hanging from the roof. It's a picture right out of Narnia, or any other picture you want to conjure up as memories of winter stories float through your mind. It's beautiful here. We love being here.

(01/13/08 - here's a link to a picture of the scene I was describing above
http://rsroesner.blogspot.com/2008/01/tahoe-08.html
Scroll to the bottom of the page.)

We were scheduled to begin our week in Tahoe on Sunday afternoon, but Tahoe suffered a blizzard over the weekend. Steve and I, during our Saturday morning telephone call, watched traffic at the Truckee scales over the Internet, wondering just how bad the blizzard was hitting. We saw cars and trucks pass, and then nothing for hours when I-80 was blocked, and then a few more cars and trucks as some traffic was able to get through.

Lauren and I left to start our journey here after church on Sunday, staying in Merced Sunday night and ready to hit the hill during a predicted good driving day on Monday. And it worked. We arrived here on Monday just before lunch. We took the little drive to Diamond Peak, our nearest and favorite ski area after we checked in and unpacked. It would have been a beautiful day for skiing, but unfortunately we didn't take advantage of it. Diamond Peak is small but very resort, and seniors can ski for $18 for an entire day. The price, the nearness of the area, and the good skiing when snow conditions are good, make it most attractive to us.

I use the terms "we" and "us" loosely, because I don't ski. Only Lauren does. But I enjoy watching, and I enjoy being in the snow. One of the benefits of living in California is that we can drive to the snow and then drive back to our home in Southern California where the weather is moderate nearly year around.

Lauren's niece, Marea, and her husband Ryan came up Monday night for supper. We hadn't seen them since their wedding in 2006, so it was really good to have some time just to catch up. We loved hearing about their lives. They really like living in this area - and who can blame them! We're hoping we'll get to see Lauren's cousin, Londa, and her husband Luther while we're here. They have a condo at South Lake Tahoe, and we usually get together for an evening of supper and games. We always have a good time. If the better weather holds, the chances are good.

Lauren put the chains on yesterday. It makes for better driving in these snowy conditions. Even though snow plows are out clearing the roads often, there's enough snow on the roads that half the time we don't even know we have the chains on.

We were hoping Scott and Steph were going to be able to join us this year, but they both had to work. We're hoping that they can join us - along with Donna & Todd and the kids, next year. What fun that would be!!!

I'm spending my time knitting. I'm currently working on a pair of fingerless mittens for Lauren from http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html. I made a pair, sticking to the pattern, for me, and they nearly fit Lauren. I'm making these a little larger and with an adapted ribbing (the cables look feminine to me), for Lauren. I'm also increasing the number of rows between the top of the thumb opening and the ribbing around the knuckles. The first ones I made, per the pattern, seem a little skimpy in that area.

I'm using Wool Ease yarn, and the gauge works out perfectly. It takes me about a day to make one mitten because I do other things, but the project is so small that it's a good travel project. I tried to do two mittens at a time on 2 circulars, working with both ends of a skein, but my needles are 29-inchers and between the long needles and the mess with the yarn, I spent as much time untangling and keeping the yarn straight as I did knitting. I figured it wasn't worth it. I think it might be a workable deal if I had 16-inch circulars and two skeins - less needle cable to mess with and the yarns wouldn't twist as I turned the knitting. So I settled for doing one mitten at a time, working about 4 rows on double-points and then transferring the mitten to the circulars. With a project that I pick up and put down so often, circulars keep the stitches on the needles better, no matter where I stop.

Just before we left, I stumbled onto another knitting group on Yahoo - http://monthlydishclothkal.blogspot.com/ It's a KAL - knit-along group. They do two dishcloths a month. I've already finished the first one for January - that is so much fun!!! It's the first KAL I've joined. These dishcloths, too, are easy knitting for traveling - or for watching TV - and these work up great using one circular needle. Again, the circular means that I can pick up and put down the work whenever I want without dropping stitches.

Today should be a ski day. The weather is overcast, but there is little if any snow predicted. My knitting and reading bag is already packed and ready to go! I'm looking forward to a day at the slopes, sitting in front of big picture windows watching the skiers, and running out occasionally to snap a picture of Lauren coming down hill!!!

It's 2008 already!!!

Ah, time for new hopes, dreams, and ... (gasp) ... projects!!!

Lauren and I both spent a good bit of time this New Year's weekend figuring out what I could use for fasteners for my copy-cat version of this beautiful back-bag.

It seems that you can purchase lovely supplies like this, and the webbing that makes up the bottom part of the strap of this bag, only if you're purchasing wholesale - and in huge quantities. Sure makes it hard on the home crafter - but if things don't readily sell in the retail market, I guess it's a good business decision not to go to the expense of marketing and distribution.

We searched and thought and searched for alternatives, and somehow we both thought of the bolted link that holds our chains together when we tow the Tracker behind the Bounder. A smaller version might do the trick. I found some on the Internet at Home Depot - and they were open yesterday so we spent a few hours there just browsing. There was hardly anyone in the store, and it was a fun way to spend a morning. We found the links, and they look small enough to do the job. The little bolt that secures the link will be covered with fabric, and I don't think it will be too bulky.

Another thing that seems to be impossible to buy retail is nice strong canvas weight cotton webbing. The webbing that's available from Joann and other fabric places is thin poly stuff. It doesn't hold up. Lauren found some old army-grade white cotton webbing that I'm going to use for part of the strap. I can dye it if the white bothers me. The remaining missing ingredient (so far) is good fasteners for the webbing. I have one good clamp-style fastener which I'll use on the first bag, but I may need to resort to some other idea for the remainder. This would be a good find in an old army-navy surplus store, but I haven't seen one of those for years and years!

I won't be able to do as nice a job on this $138 bag as the commercial version (it's a really well-made bag), but I think I can come up with a pretty good second best. It would be nice to have rivets and a heavy duty rivet crimping tool so I could use rivets instead of my sewing machine to secure things, but at least these bolts mean that if I should have to adjust or replace straps, I won't have to undo the whole bag to make that happen. If I end up liking how this turns out, I can get these metal links in stainless instead of zinc, and that would make them a little nicer.

On other fronts:

Martha Circle Quilts

When Carol was over at church a few days ago, she put together a mock display like the one she creates for the Martha Circle on Sundays before the monthly gathering. I always like her display, with the next meeting date and the number of quilts completed written on the board. These quilts are all mine, so they look alike. When she puts out the "real" display, it's even more colorful. This picture is a small one. When the next display is out on the church patio, I'll take a big picture and replace this one. (Replaced 1/13/08)


Ping Pong

I just learned this morning that we've been playing ping pong in temperatures that are 10 degrees cooler than I thought. I knew it was cold out in the garage, but that 50 degrees sure looked like 60 degrees to me.

I should look at the thermometer before I take off my glasses, I think! I thought 50 was really 60, and 60 was really 80, and I never looked to see that 70 comes next. Duh! Breakdown in powers of observations!!! Brrrrr!!!