I had a show in Belmont [...]]]> I’m a woman who doesn’t really care what the calendar says about holidays. After all, does it really matter if we celebrate Mother’s Day on May 6 or a few weeks later? I don’t think so. What matters is that we share a day and our love.

I had a show in Belmont with some friends on Mother’s Day weekend, so my kids and I agreed to wait until the 19th. I took a ride up to Rochester on a gorgeous spring day to enjoy my two terrific children and my sweet, little grandson. We played with R a bit when I got there, then it was nap time. While he slept and I supervised (didn’t want to dirty my new shoes – couldn’t have worked that better if I’d planned it), Michael & Amanda planted a trunk full of shade-loving perennials I’d dug up & brought from my yard: lily of the valley, Canadian ginger, lungwort, and Solomon’s seal. They also put in a nice new edging, making the garden look crisp and clean. I should have taken a picture, but didn’t think about it.

After the nap, Michael headed to work, while Amanda, R, & I went to the garden center for some veggie plants. R was flirting with people most of the time we were there, and they were all enchanted.

Back at home, I got to play with the little one while Amanda got her tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in their large pots for patio growing.

As soon as the basil was on the porch, R just had to check it out. The colorful pot was a big draw, and it was heavy enough that he could pull himself up on it, but it was still a bit too tippy, so it got moved away before he could end up with ceramics, soil, and basil all over himself.

“No problem,” he said, “just leave me with my key and I’ll find something else to do.”

In fact, R kept the key tightly in his grasp for well over 1/2 hour.

Unlike some babies who need to put everything in their mouths, R needs to shake everything. If it doesn’t make noise by itself, and sometimes even if it does, it will be tapped on everything to produce different sounds. I wonder if this will lead to a career as a drummer?

After crawling on the deck for a while, we headed to his swing. That was fun! Notice that he still has the key gripped tightly in his hand.

When swinging started to get old, we went back to the porch. Rusty found something great to tap that key on – the front metal plate of the gas grill – good sounds!

We went back inside for dinner, played a bit more, and I headed back home. A great Mother’s Day, if I do say so myself.

Your turn: Is it important to you that you celebrate holidays on the calendar-correct date?

R is generally a happy little boy. [...]]]> My kids and I celebrated Easter several weeks late this year, ‘cuz that’s when it worked for all of us. So I got to spend a day & half with my sweet little grandson again. And joy of joys, he was well so I came home well, too!

R is generally a happy little boy. He smiles and laughs easily, is easy-going in general and is interested in everything. He’s started crawling up a storm – watch out now, Mom & Dad!

He loves this little footstool, playing it as if it were his conga drum. Those little fingers have also helped pick the piping into a not-so-pretty sight, but he sure doesn’t care.

When you see his papa holding him, you see immediately how much R looks like his dad. Here you can barely see dad in the background.

This little guy is also interesting to me in that he often seems to be lost in thought, sometimes almost a bit worried about something too deep for me to grasp.

The fact that his dog here is giving him a kiss really doesn’t have a negative impact on that expression – R is just as likely to be laughing and grabbing onto the face fur of his dog.

It’s a pleasure watching this little one grow day by day and week by week. I’ve taken to singing the same little song to him (one that I made up to the tune of K-K-K-Katy) every time I see him and that mom calls me on speakerphone. It won’t be long that when he hears the song over the phone he’ll know it’s Grandma Peg.

Your turn: what’s bringing joy to you?

Granted, each day I only worked on this from 45 to 90 minutes, but trust me when I tell you that’s all this old body could take.

My asparagus bed is moved – YAY!!!

I moved 28 crowns, and was glad I’d left last year’s stalks on [...]]]> Here’s the result of 6 days of hard manual labor.

Granted, each day I only worked on this from 45 to 90 minutes, but trust me when I tell you that’s all this old body could take.

My asparagus bed is moved – YAY!!!

I moved 28 crowns, and was glad I’d left last year’s stalks on to show me exactly where those crowns were. I’ve dug asparagus crowns before, so knew from first-hand experience that there are lots of roots that, if planted, won’t yield any asparagus.

I’ll be the first to admit that this job could have been done much better. By a 20-year old. Male. With muscles. Ideally, compost, peat moss, vermiculite, and other yummy additives would have been added to the soil as each crown was planted.

It couldn’t have been done better by me. By the time I’d dug those buggers out, they were lucky I could dig the holes to get them in the ground the same day!

So I planted them all, then went back today & top dressed with the above-mentioned amendments, finishing it all with a good, thick layer of mulch. Not only will the mulch help keep down weeds and keep the plants moist if our hot, dry temps continue, it’ll add to the depth, which I’m sure should have been deeper. That’s why I chose to mound those soil amendments up.

Now I just need to wait a few weeks, and see how they do. My mouth is watering already – YUM!

Yesterday was so nice that I couldn’t content myself with just [...]]]> While it’s a little scary how mild this winter was here in western New York, it is SOOOOOOO nice to have wonderful, sunny, breezy March days in the 60s. It’s not totally unheard of, although yesterday did set a record for high temperature in Buffalo.

Yesterday was so nice that I couldn’t content myself with just my usual 2 mile walk. I was sitting at my loom, but outside was calling me. Repeatedly. At about 10:30 I answered, knowing that rain was predicted for the afternoon. I have gardens galore — way more than I’d like to take care of at this point in my life. Would I do some spring clean up in one of them? It would be relatively easy, a way to break my body into the manual labor of the gardens. I considered, but decided no.

I’d undertake step one of an important task. I thought I’d need help with it, but help wasn’t here and the weather was. I have an asparagus bed that needs to be moved as a result of poor planning on my part – I’d planted some spruce trees too close to it, and they’re growing rapidly. Can’t move the trees, gotta move the asparagus or lose it. In the fall I’d considered a variety of potential locations for the asparagus, which needs a deep, rich bed – something in major short supply here in my mostly clay yard.

I finally decided that I’d rip out my old raspberry bed. We put it in at least 20 years ago, and despite my attention spring and fall, I get very few berries for the amount of work. Little return on my time investment. But it has great soil after all those years, so would make a fine place for the asparagus.

I should have taken a before photo, but the thought never crossed my mind. I couldn’t help myself from taking an after, though.

This is the end result of about an hour and a half of work. I thought it would take longer, or that my muscles or energy would give out before I was done, and was pleased that I could complete the job in one sitting. I’m also pleased that my back is not complaining today. My hamstrings are sore, but that’s fine. It tells me I was appropriately pulling more with my legs than my back, which is what we’re supposed to do. Go figure.

I’m not looking forward to that next step – digging out the asparagus roots – but maybe that won’t be as hard as I anticipate, either. I know it has to be done as soon as possible, before those little green delicacies start growing.

Step three, which can wait till I have someone, possibly someone with a machine, will be to refill that old asparagus bed with soil so that the tree roots can grow and I can mow.

Speaking of growing things, on my afternoon walk with my dog, this shock of bright green was so pleasant I had to shoot it.

I think it’s watercress, but I could be wrong. I’m not eating it, in any case.

Your turn: what’s going on near your house?

At the meeting we learned that the daughter of a member had just had a personal tragedy, losing her [...]]]> This morning I thought I was simply going to go to my guild meeting & have lunch with a friend. Little did I know that these simple activities were both going to provide lessons in life’s fragility.

At the meeting we learned that the daughter of a member had just had a personal tragedy, losing her baby at just two weeks before her due date. Sad for the parents, the grandparents, the 3-year-old eager to be big sister.

After the meeting I had lunch with my friend, as planned. We caught up on the many happenings since we’d visited, enjoying each other and good food. Then she told me that the 26-year-old daughter of a mutual friend had died just before Christmas.

I have no idea how a parent ever copes with the loss of a child. I know people have to do it every day of the week, I just can’t imagine how. Regardless of the circumstances, I don’t think there can’t be anything more tragic.

In both these cases, there was no warning, no chronic illness, no idea that death was right around the corner. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but it certainly increases the shock of it all. How long does it take your mind to really grasp it? How much longer before you can put one foot in front of the other and move from bedroom to kitchen, kitchen to front door? What kind of colossal effort does it take to buy groceries, bring in the mail, put gas in the car?

I am thankful that I never had to face this personally. I’ve lost people, people I’ve loved deeply and still miss. I am far from coming to terms with the fact that I’ll likely lose more before my own demise. But one’s children? It truly is beyond my comprehension.

I need to go call my kids and tell them that I love them. I just have to stop the tears from running down my face first.

I didn’t really want a hat, I wanted a cowl/hood — something that would keep my chest warm both outdoors [...]]]> After I made hats and hats and more hats for people for Christmas, in my unceasing egocentricity I said to myself, “Hey, I didn’t get a new hat!” So I decided to knit myself one.

I didn’t really want a hat, I wanted a cowl/hood — something that would keep my chest warm both outdoors and in my cold office in the morning, and that I could pull up over my head when the wind was blowing or the thermometer was well below freezing. I went to the Alfred Knitting Studio to return the extra baby lama yarn from Amanda’s hat and bought some wool-angora blend yarn that was on sale. Yum – that would be cozy!

Then I went on an online quest for the perfect pattern. It hadn’t been hard to find free patterns for the seven hats I made for others, so I thought I would have similar success for mine.

Hah! Let’s start with the fact that I didn’t know what to call my desired accessory. Searching for a cowl/hood/warm head/neck thing doesn’t cut it in google. I spent time at my favorite sites, and many more, and saw lots of interesting patterns. The ones I liked visually were only cowls, sometimes called smoke rings, and weren’t large enough to pull up over the head. The ones that pulled up over the head weren’t my cup of tea aesthetically.

So I’d have to modify a pattern. I don’t knit enough to have a good handle on that. But hey, what the heck, it’s only yarn. And time. I deserved it, didn’t I?

I printed off some patterns with feather and fan type stitches and did something I almost never do…I actually knitted up a few swatches to see if that was what I wanted. I figured out how to read a knitting graph (vs. a pattern), and was pretty proud of that, but realized that although the pattern was attractive, it was designed for looks, not warmth. Scratch that one.

How about a cable? I liked doing cables I tried a few modified cables with some interesting stitches in between them, and ultimately nixed them, too.

Then I stumbled on a terrific video of a woman demonstrating the honeycomb brioche stitch. That seemed easy enough, and I loved the way it looked. I tried it out, and I was hooked.

I started out with several rows of ribbing near the face, then went into the honeycomb brioche. It wasn’t difficult translating the flat demo to knitting in the round. All was going well till I realized I need to do some increasing in order to make the cowl drape nicely around my neck. How to increase in this pattern? I went back online to see if I could find directions to do that.

Hmmm. I could find a pattern that told me how to decrease (for a hat), but not one that told me how to increase. And the hat pattern made it so complex to do the stitch that the video had made so easy that I couldn’t make any sense of it that might help me increase. So I simply gave it my best shot. After all, this was for me, not a gift or anything I’d sell, and I sure didn’t care if it wasn’t perfect. The increases went fine enough for me, and I finished the piece with a few rows of garter stitch.

I do like the way it pools around my neck.

I’m less thrilled with how it works when I pull it up. It’s simultaneously too loose around my face and too big on the sides of my head.

If I’d started knitting at the bottom, I’d unravel the last several inches and do some decreases. But I started at the top.

So I thought about it, and decided that I’d wear it this winter and see what I thought. I’d consider making or buying just the right stick/pin to tighten it around my neck if I needed to. Then, if it wasn’t meeting my needs, I could always unravel it and re-knit next winter.

Here’s how big the whole thing is laying flat, with a ruler for scale.

After the cowl-hood-head/neckwear, I decided it was time to finish the socks I’d started last winter. I had a sock and a half knitted – it wouldn’t take long to finish.

I did finish, and ended up giving them to Margaret. They were a tad short for me, and I knew that as a result I’d wear out either toes or heels too quickly. They weren’t so short I couldn’t put them on for a photo shoot.

I started knitting another pair for me. Maybe I’ll get them finished next winter.

Your turn: what should I call that thing that keeps my neck & head warm?

Amanda saw a pattern she loved for a 16-cable hat. While international issues made getting the [...]]]> I know that the old saying is really warm hands, warm hearts, but for my Christmas giving this year, I modified it to hats. Starting with Rusty’s three hats, I was in the hat-making zone. And enjoying it.

Amanda saw a pattern she loved for a 16-cable hat. While international issues made getting the pattern an interesting challenge, I was ultimately successful in doing so. I bought some really lovely baby lama yarn for the hat. Since my yarn was finer than the pattern called for, I had to use smaller needles. I thought I had the gauge all worked out, but when the hat was completely finished, I wasn’t happy with the shape. I completely took it apart and added another set of 26 stitches (1 cable pattern) to make it be right. Amanda & I were both quite pleased with the results.

Her sweet hubby rarely wears a hat, but I decided he needed one anyway. After much deliberation (and Amanda’s input), I selected a reversible hat in dark colors for him.



I used Patons Kroy sock yarn for the multi-colored side, and was pleased with how the variegation worked up. I also really liked the pattern‘s method for decreasing for the top – a very clean look. I didn’t get a picture of Ryan in the hat.

I sure didn’t want to leave Michael out of the hat gift, but had to think about fiber. He’s had plenty of opportunities to wear a hat made of a wool blend, and has always declined – too scratchy for his sensitive pate. I settled on a microfiber (what is that, really? Just a nice-sounding way of saying completely man-made stuff?) Deborah Norville variegation in colors that I thought he’d like.


This is also a sock yarn. It worked just great for this hat, giving me just the look I was going for, although I can’t imagine making socks out of it — way to slouchy & shapeless. I got another free pattern online for it. I had taken a picture of Michael in the hat, but the lighting was all wrong.

I was really thrilled when Amanda told me a few days later that she’d received compliments on her hat when she was running errands, and that both Ryan & Michael were wearing their hats without any encouragement. It made my little heart sing!

Your turn: did you give gifts this Christmas that pleased both you and the recipient?

Back in June, before Rusty was even born, Amanda told me that he needed hats for Christmas. She even sent me a link to an Etsy seller who would sell me patterns that she liked. I went ahead and purchased the [...]]]> Now that the gifts have been given, I can do the Christmas gift reveals.

Back in June, before Rusty was even born, Amanda told me that he needed hats for Christmas. She even sent me a link to an Etsy seller who would sell me patterns that she liked. I went ahead and purchased the patterns, even though they were all crochet and I prefer knitted garments. Being busy weaving, I sat on the patterns for months, finally getting the yarn I needed in October.

The first hat I made was a monkey. I don’t have a model of a baby’s head at home, finally settling on a roll of paper towels to approximate the size of Rusty’s head.

It’s nowhere near as cute on the paper towels as it is on Rusty!

I’m really happy with the way this hat fits, if not its crocheted stiffness. And the earflaps will keep him nice and warm.

I didn’t want to crochet 3 hats, so I did some online searches for knitted baby hats. There were so many to choose from I had a hard time making a decision. I settled on a white duck hat with a pattern from P2Designs.

This one is definitely something Rusty will have to grow in to. I’m guessing by the time it fits him it will be the totally wrong season to wear it.

Santa was also bringing Rusty a little sled for Christmas, so I wanted to make him a knitted cap with earflaps for when he went sledding. I liked the concept of the top-down hat,so when I was buying the yarn for the duck’s bill, I bought a coordinating variegated yarn. I added the earflaps, making them from the variegated yarn.

This one fits Rusty perfectly right now, so will barely last the winter, I’m sure.

As you can see, Rusty is a very willing model. This little boy has many hats, and surely didn’t need three more for Christmas, but I enjoyed making them, nonetheless. I also enjoyed learning new knitting techniques – German twisted cast on, Magic Loop knitting, and knitting an I cord.

That’s enough of my knitting for now – stay tuned for more Christmas creativity in a few days.

Your turn: did you give any gifts you made this Christmas?

I fear Margaret bears the brunt of my nagging. She puts up with it gracefully, knowing that sometimes she’s in need of [...]]]> Hello. My name is Peg and I’m a nag. At this age, much less so than previously, and of course only when I’m right (grin), but still, I’m a nag.

I fear Margaret bears the brunt of my nagging. She puts up with it gracefully, knowing that sometimes she’s in need of nagging.

When I awoke this morning, I was greeted by a beautiful scene Mama Nature had painted overnight, laying down a brand new layer of fresh, wet snow. It outlined every branch. It was still dark so I needed to turn on an outside light to see it.

I called Margaret and made her look out her window, too. Gorgeous, we agreed.

After an hour or so, the sky was a solid gray, the lighting just perfect to make a lovely holiday scene on this Christmas Eve eve. I called Margaret back and told her that she should hang up and get out her drawing paper and pencils. Then I left for my walk with little Red. It was STUNNING outside!

As I walked I realized I gave her the wrong message. Drawing was great, but what she really needed to do was use that brand new digital camera that’s been in a box in her living room since June. There was too much beauty to pass up, and if this wasn’t enough motivation to do it, I didn’t know what would be.

With the two of us at our respective homes so I couldn’t point to things and say, “push this” it took some time for her to figure out how to get the batteries and memory card in, more time to figure out how to snap a photo, and longer to figure out how to look at the pictures she’d taken, but ultimately, we got it done. YAY!! I’m sure she’ll do some experimenting now.

At least I hope she will. It may take more nagging on my part.

I’m heading for the shower now so that I can leave in an hour to celebrate my first family Christmas of the season. So looking forward to it!