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Thursday, May 7, 2009

The Non-Block Party and other adventures!

I've survived another round of bi-annual changes in my job/industry.
(It's similar to how tax time is for accounting-types.)

Anyway - I'm still alive and I'm getting a grip on the fun things in life that I've been neglecting and I'm beginning to sleep again.

So...what's been happening?
  1. I have been sneaking in some crafting. (What else is insomnia good for, I ask you?)
  2. I did some charity walking/knitting.
  3. I tripped over some delightful blog stuff that made me laugh, smile/cry.
  4. We didn't have a block party...
  5. Stuff is still blooming in Arizona
  6. CooPurr continues to adapt to his new home
1. CRAFTING:
I finished a Double Moebius Basket for a friend's B-day (yes, I was a little late).
This basket is also described in Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting book as
the "Moebius Fanny Basket (U.S.)" or
the "Moebius Bum Basket (Canada)" or...
the "Moebiass (Pardon My French)" (grin). I kid you not.
Honestly - Ms. Bordhi's project description/write up in the book is a HOOT. Too fun - giggles gifted easily.
And my friend seemed quite tickled with her new Moebiass basket.




The "half-assed" version!
(Ha - couldn't resist!)








Pre-felted stage of the Moebiass basket.







(And an odd-skein-of-yarn moebius experiment.)




Balloons are used to give the basket some shape as it dries.







(Yes, I do recognize this resembles a different anatomical feature just now.
Leave it be...;-) .)






Another (late) b-day gift is done being stitched, but I still need to "finish" it to cover the back and add the bookmark ribbon.











And I finished MY, to-keep, for-me, Knit Dr. Bag!








I put 3 pockets inside! I needle-felted my initial on one so we'd always know, at a glance, which was mine and which was my friend's (her's carries her initial too).















2.
CHARITY:
I got permission from the amazing Ms. Bordhi to create two Moebius baskets to be auctioned/gifted from the Memories and Music VII concert.
I'm hoping we can help inspire folks to give generously to the Underinsured Cancer Patient Fund via the Academy for Cancer Wellness.
We'll see how it goes this Saturday evening.

I beaded the red one - I believe it will be in the silent auction!











The purple basket with the silver Moonlight yarn knit into the rim should be one of the door prizes.














I put a note in each one that says:
"Knitted/Felted Moebius basket from "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting" by Cat Bordhi
Crafted by "me-self" for the Academy for Cancer Wellness (with Cat Bordhi's blessing)


I also walked in my first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
With the help of many lovely souls, I was able to raise $200.00 for the fund.
One of my co-workers/co-walkers is a 5-year breast cancer survivor. I walked to honor her and for my many friends and family affected by this disease.
I was impressed with the joint effort and organization displayed by the various groups that put together the walk. I've walked in numerous other charity walks, but this one was the largest and was very well organized!

One of the radio stations put together a "Bras on Broadway" display to raise breast cancer awareness/show support of the walk. (Technically, the bras were a little south of Broadway... [Tucson pun intended...]).














Yep, those "flags" on the golf course fence are hundreds bras in all shapes, sizes and colors strung together...

I walked with a group of people from work. One of our walkers had her ?niece's? school project pinned to her right shoulder...see it? Pictures were taken and stories will be told about the little paper-person's travels!

Check out the line of walkers that have already turned the corner - I heard there were over 14,000 people walking!














This is a belated reverse shot of the finish-line. I was distracted with my knitting and did a poor job of documenting the culmination of our lengthy walk.














As noted, I did a little knitting on the walk! I finished the fun-fur scarf that was a little better than half way done at the start of the walk (it was the only "pink" thing I could find to knit on at short-notice).

Folks commented on my ability to "walk and knit at the same time".
I responded with comments like "But you'll note I'm not chewing gum..." or "It's pink...".
When I finished the scarf, I worked a bit on my 2nd pair of socks...
















3. Fun On-Line stuff:
  • I have been enamored with Lea Salonga's voice for years ("Miss Saigon", "Les Miserables", various Disney Movies). This charming video is from her wedding. Again, what a voice! But I LOVE how her new husband's feelings are so sweetly evident (Kleenex Alert!!) as she sings "Two Words".
  • Ever Green Knits made me laugh out loud with delight at her talented crafting with an ironic twist (pun intended!!): "The Beast Cycle".

4. Block Party! Not!!

A semi-new neighbor up the street... ok, the friend of the semi-new neighbor, handed out Block Party invites in March to have us gather a few weeks later.
I discussed it a bit with my wise, most neighborly neighbor and we plotted to cook and go to the party together.

However...the Block Party was a bit light on attendees...and Hosts.
Yep - we went to the house that had issued the invite-flyers and no one was there. We called the cell phone number on the flyer - no one answered. Hmmmm.
We wandered down to the end of the street to check in with a gent-neighbor we knew. He was also puzzled by the lack of party. Well - we had all this baking-n-such so we dropped some off with him. (I'd made Hawaiian Short Bread and Mexican Corn Bread.)
He gifted us with Lemons and Oranges from his back-yard trees!

On the way back up the street, we met up with some other foiled-block-party-attendees.
More goodies were exchanged...


(Guess who found out there is a professional baker living right up the street!?!?)






I dropped off the last of my shortbread/cornbread with the next door neighbors who were just about to come find the party....and later that day, they sent over a big tub of yummy pasta salad!

As a block party, it was a bust. But we did get to meet/visit with some of our neighbors and we were treated to some yummy food and fruit.
We later heard the semi-new neighbors had had to cancel the party to attend another function.
Uh-huh.

5. BLOOMING:
And we're still having some Spring here in Tucson:


Mesquite Tree Blossoms.

(Yeah, I know - more pollen...)





This particular brand of cholla has kind of purple-ish branches, save for the new growth, which is green.






























Spring is inside too!










6. Kitty Pictures!
Lastly, CooPurr and BobCat seem to have adapted well to each other. BobCat likes to clean CooPurr's ears. If CooPurr doesn't feel like having his ears cleaned, he goes for higher ground (usually the dining room table) - where BobCat it a bit too old and stiff to follow.

















Typical cat response to the camera - has to come see what I'm doing.





And we're still exploring CooPurr's penchant for "Wool".




The DH gifted CooPurr an old wool sweater he hasn't worn in a while.






CooPurr thought it was fun...












And settled in for a nap.

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