Cats, Knitting and Garage Sales. Is there anything else?

Yes, that's the beautiful Alex on my lap. He didn't stay long, but that he was there at all is amazing. I love his one white "antenna" whisker. Ziggy has the same whisker, but his is on the other side.
"Mad Fish" is probably a very good restaurant, but it sounds too much like "Mad Cow" to me. Just saying.
A woman on Freecycle advertised that she was giving away yarn, mostly wool since it was for a felting project she never did. I responded, but a school responded first, which is great. She then told me the school didn't take it all, so I could have the rest. Unfortunately, when I felted a small swatch of this (yes, Diann, I really did knit a swatch!!!!), and then washed it and dried it in hot water, it didn't felt, so I don't think it's wool. I was thinking of making a cat bed but now I'll have to rethink this. There was lots more. I wonder if any of it is wool? Unfortunately, a pair of socks I knitted and washed in cold water and then dried did felt. Go figure.
I paid $3 for this metal plant holder thingy at a garage sale. I just had to have it. This is why I love going to garage sales.

It's all about knitting this post....

I bought this blue rayon yarn at Stitches West 2011 earlier this year. It's a lovely color (even Mowry thinks so) but I'm sorry to say that I'm just not feeling the love for it.
It's got a lovely texture, and I like the colors, but I started knitting a moebius scarf with it (this is the pattern, although the yarn is VERY different s0 it would have been thicker and wouldn't have looked like this).Here it is on the needles.
Up close you can see the loops from where it pulls. There were so many pulls that you can see the loops (look at the bottom of the picture). I am not happy. Some of it may be from the plastic that goes between the bamboo needles; I prefer something other than plastic as I find the yarn gets caught at the connection between the plastic and the needles, but I think the yarn itself pulls before I even knit it.
I ripped it out, and now I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this yarn. I really like the colors and the feel of the yarn, just not the loops made when it pulls and separates. Hmmmmm.

There's no place like home...

Dorothy was right. There's no place like home.

We took a road trip to LA and visited the parents, some old friends, and Aunt Mare, for whom this blog is named. She's amazing at 94 1/2 years old. I told her I want to be like her when I grow up! Visiting with a friend I hadn't seen in over 30 years with whom I hung out in junior high and the first two years of high school was fun. Next time we pick a quieter restaurant where we can actually hear each other! Seeing two friends I worked with at different jobs in the 1980s was fun, but I've kept in touch with them.

Traffic in LA was, well, traffic in LA. That's why I left LA 20 years ago. Too much traffic, too many people, too much crime, too much too much. This was around 3:00 pm on Saturday.

We were amazed on Sunday morning when we drove down to Long Beach to the best antique flea market ever - no traffic! This is south of LAX on the way to Redondo Beach where we met a friend who drove the rest of the way.

On the way down to LA off of I-5 we used to stop at Red Robin for a burger, but one trip down it was gone. One time someone (not me) drove right by the offramp to Red Robin. Since it's right near the smelly cows (if you've driven down I-5 you know what I mean) I don't know how anyone could miss it, but I was not watching the road (nor was I driving) and I realized we had passed it when it was too late. An offramp or two later was the ubiquitous Denny's, and so we stopped at Denny's. This time, however, we stopped at Mike's Roadhouse Cafe in Kettleman City. We don't like Harris Ranch - the one time we went there it took way too long, and they didn't understand "NO MAYO". I make it pretty clear. "NO MAYO". Mike's had this cool display of old pedal cars, and the hamburger we shared was very good.
It's always hard for us to leave home. We're homebodies, and we just like being home. It's not easy leaving this.....

Or this.... (my 94 1/2 year old neighbor has the most beautiful roses)!
When I was younger, I hated coming home after a vacation, but these days, I like the visits, but I'm happy to be home.

Side story: After finding the long-lost buttons I've mentioned earlier, I went to an estate sale a few weeks ago and bought these (with the jar) for $1. I think I now collect old buttons!

Cats and things

One of my two followers (LOL!) asked how many cats I have - THREE! Ziggy (black cat on the left) was given to us by friends who adopted a baby and Ziggy did not like him. Most cats adapt to new kids, but once the little boy turned two and wanted to hug Zig, Zig wanted no part of it. Mowry (orange tabby on the right) came from a local rescue group. We adopted him when he was around 3 months old. He's named after a street in our city that sounds like a cat saying his name - Mowry! If we lived in Hawaii, he'd be Maui!
Mowry seems to be everyone's favorite. He has a nice personality, but he can be destructive when he decides to scratch the furniture.
Alex and Ziggy look very much alike. They are about 6 mos apart (Zig is 10 1/2 and Al is 11). We had to look closely to tell them apart like parents do with their twins. Alex has white on his paws and ears, and Zig does not. Alex has ONE white whisker on his left as we face him, and Ziggy's ONE white whisker is on his right as we face him. Ziggy is now very matted, so if we touch him, we can tell. Come summer he will have to be shaved. He's a little more round than Alex, but both are identical to the "naked eye". >^..^<

That's Alex in the front, and Ziggy peeking out by the pillows. They prefer when we don't make our bed.



Earlier this week you'd have thought spring was here and garage sale season would be in full force this weekend. There were a lot of garage sales, but they weren't all that good, and it was a bit chilly, especially compared to a day or so ago. We managed to find a few good things: Timberline shoes that look new for Will for $5, a book about felting knitting projects for $1, and a few books at the library book sale.

I love watching these baby hummingbirds. I never liked hummers, thinking they were kind of creepy, but after watching this live website (only on in sunlight hours) at www.phoebeallens.com, I LOVE hummingbirds.