It's officially Winter in Arizona - and we have the Frost to prove it!

Yes, Frost. Actual freezing of stuff.
Yeah, I know...it's not Snow or anything, but for Tucson, this is pretty chilly.
(See this blog for pictures/comments regarding Arizona "Snow").
I'll have to wait to see if the sheet-draping I did last night will save my plants from frost-bite.
The last two years my plants up on the porch - next to the house - froze almost solid.
Yep, I lost a few. The Arizona-type plants, not the foreigner/back-east plants. Some took 6 months to recover.
I think it was the wind-chill rather than the over-all temperature. (sigh)

Aside from the plant frost-bite concerns, the white stuff was beautiful.


Lace-edging the Cat's Claw:













Gilding the Bouganvilla:













Frosting the Barrel Cactus:










Sparkly and Spiny:




















The real stuff up on Mt. Lemmon:








Watch as I figure out how to use my Camera...
















A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!!
(Brrrrr....)

Ok, I wasn't going to follow this blog but....

I like to see what Blogger recommends in their blogs of note. If I'm intrigued, I'll usually I add the intrigue-ment to the "Blogs to Explore" folder/pile.
This one, "The Big Storm Picture", I sent off to a couple of folks because the pictures are STUNNING but I didn't add it to the Explore-pile because
A. It wasn't about knitting, food, cake, or the basis of wicked dry humor.
B. I read it all the way back to the first blog which was November 8, 2008. i.e. nothing to explore...
C. I don't watch Storm Chasers every week

However, I keep going back to look.
And I have always looked at the sky a lot. A lot - a lot.

And the gent posting the blog obviously has some profound knowledge of the skies and weather he photographs. Educational Opportunity!
And "stunning" doesn't do these pictures justice. They are amazing, humbling, and sometimes sad or scary. Well worth the look.
And a second look.
And...yeah, I'm going to follow the Big Storm Picture Blog. Done deal.
Woof - amazing, lovely, grand, pictures!

Arizona Snow

Arizona Snow - it drifts, it floats, makes snow snakes in the street, can be tracked inside, collects on your clothes and hair, it whitens the yard, fluffs through the doorway, hides behind the pedestal sink in the hall bath....
It's the seeds from the Desert Broom.














The Desert Broom is more formally known as "Baccharis sarothroides".
It's a weed to many of us in Arizona.

I rather like the fluff. As noted, it's generally the closest we get to snow in Arizona.

As a plant...it's squirrelly.
It is a serious pain to eradicate and it seems to have a respectable sense of self-preservation - it excels at growing out of patches of Prickly Pear Cactus...where you can NEVER get to the root to pull it out. (This gent has taken some lovely pictures of Prickly Pear Cactus.)
And the fluff can stop up a pool filter pretty quickly.

However, I saw this lovely drift of Desert Broom seeds and Bouganvilla petals/leaves and I had to show you:

I've been a little crafty of late...

Yes, I've been a little crafty of late...and due to the season, I can't post everything lest some surprises be ruined. However, here's a couple I can post 'cause these folks don't know about the blog and I'll be delivering the gifts this week.
I've been trying out Cat Bordhi's Moebius Baskets...and I think this light teal one proves what I heard about lighter colors not felting quite as well.














It still came out reasonably well and I stitched some beads around the edge to add some sparkle fun.














And I also finished the Lace Ornament from the Knitted Ornament Class I was pondering a couple of blogs ago. It came out alright, but I'm about convinced that I should steer clear of lace-work for a while. I seem to be in need of better knitting skills to do lace-work. Oy/SIGH.
(Or maybe I just need better "tinking" skills...)

The color of this fiber is about the color of a friend of mine's much beloved Mini Cooper. (grin)
She drove her first car into the ground whilst she valiantly paid off her student loans. So after the debt was cleared, she gifted herself with a spiffy, tricked out little Mini Cooper - which suits her personality. She is delighted with it - going to rallies and coming off very sporty in a silk scarf with the convertible top down. Yep, I should get a picture of the Mini Cooper Maven...
But here's a picture of the ornament I made for her.














Lastly, I saw a nifty picture from Ireland of a crescent moon with the planets Venus and Jupiter in attendance on Celtic Memory Yarn's blog. So when I saw the similar celestial arrangement in the South-Western early evening sky over Arizona - I knew what it was! (No, I haven't tried taking a picture - per Spouse of Jo at Celtic Memory Yarn, I'd need a tripod and a time-release...(insert more photo technical jargon here). It's beyond my abilities - I'm just delighted when I manage to photograph stuff in frame...)
Have a lovely evening - go look at the sky tomorrow night!

Blogs to Explore - Celtic Memory Yarns

Another Blog to Explore - so many blogs, so little time...
Today - Celtic Memory Yarns. I can't remember - did the Yarn Harlot reference this one and I marked it to explore later? From where-ever I found it - later is today.

Well, right off the bat, I'm tickled with clever phrases - I'm intrigued by "Yarnslayer" in the title of the 11/17 blog. And they know about Ravelry - a definite sign of intelligence and good taste!

Well - "Jo" seems to have quite a few blogs and participates in (moderates perhaps??) quite a few knit-a-longs. She's also in Ireland! Being that the majority of my ancestry is Scot/Irish, I've got that immediate Celtic kinship perception. (There's a little Comanche American Indian from my mother's side too...)
Hmmm- she commented that "Traditional" crafts seem to be less than favorably viewed in Ireland. I'm surprised - but then I'm pretty ignorant of what a lot of the world thinks. However, - I believe Ignorance can be cured!

Oy - if you read this, you MUST go see the 11/17 blog to see pictures of the Yarnslayer -too funny and excellent pictures!!!

She doesn't seem to post often - well, she does seem to have a few different blogs to manage. There only seems to be a couple of posts a month, but they are lovely, grand vignettes...glimpses of her Ireland. It's lovely and calming. I also enjoy her phrasing. Neatly done!

Ah - another person subject to Start-itus in recent months! She seems to have succumbed to that yen...and very nicely, I might add. She appears to be quite talented - with a wide range of abilities. A professional - she dyes some truly lovely hanks (No, Kinia, you do NOT need more yarn.)

Back to the blog...Wow that Samhain designer yarn she made is gorgeous!
And another comment about Irish folks "frowning" on knitting in public. Someone described it as a perception of disgracing Women's rights!?! Never occurred to me and I can't agree. From my perspective being a Woman with rights means I get to choose how I spend my time (before I go vote...;-).

Ohhhh - she's got to spend some time with Elsebeth Lavold, author of one of the Books I sigh over: Viking Patterns for Knitting! Yep, I get a touch of goofy-ness about people I admire.
I stutter, become even more socially inept, and become memorable in not a good way. I've noticed recently that I do this a bit with Upper Management people I admire where I work.
It would be funny if it weren't so humiliating and embarrassing. (sigh)

So...pardon the gushing...but I'm impressed with Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns and even more so at the company she so gracefully keeps. But it's how she shares her view of the world that catches at my heart.
Yep, this is another keeper-blog. I'm smitten and I'll keep reading.
(And I need to keep up with the adventures of Yarnslayer and Sophie!)

Making the list, checking it twice, and coming up with alternate plans...

As I fight off Startitius (terrible crafty urge to start something new you just saw someone knitting, saw the pattern for, or "there was this yarn...")...and make the list of the stuff I want to finish for the Holidays...
I can't help but think of the Yarn Harlot and the Schedule her friend Lene put together for Mz. Stephanie so she had a shot at finishing all sorts of knitted wonders before Christmas arrived.
(There's a hilarious blog or bit in one of her books about the kind of madness that over takes our favorite Yarn Harlot during the holidays - brought on by frantic knitting and inevitability of the projects we don't get done...)

Now, I am a known list maker. Love crossing things off the list.
However, I knit at about a 10th of the speed of the Yarn Harlot (on a good day) and she seems to have a lot more time to knit, although she's got a serious writing career, several children, and a variety of interesting social obligations. Or maybe she's just a profoundly more experienced knitter with warp-speed knitting capabilities...

SO - I'm trying to interject some reality into the to-do-for-the-Holidays Knit list.
Mostly I have succeeded in scaring myself.
This is about the time I have the reality check and start considering some non-knitted gifting.
No, I'm not too panicked - I try to shop for stuff year round so I have a fair gift stash to pull from.
But the pressure is there...and then...I thought I'd found the answer!!

I took a class last week at a LYS - Knitted Ornament Covers.
I'd gotten happy feet thinking "These would be great gifts..."
I'm a little disappointed. The teacher had quickly jotted down a "better" way to do two of the pattern rows on a slip of paper for each student. Seems it may have actually been a pattern correction. (sigh) Of course, I did the first ornament cover based on the Original Pattern. I'd glanced at the original pattern and the "better" way and thought "Both seem fine...?".




I'm hoping I can place the missing beads with duplicate stitch.







Having gotten a grip on "better" = corrected, I used the slip of paper to replace the 2 pattern rows in the 2nd part of our homework the Zig Zag Ornament Cover. (teacher said it works for both patterns).




Serves me right.









I'm planning to sit down and figure out why I seem to be missing stitches and some beads are scrunched together...
This definitely could be user-error...but I'm a little disillusioned.
Do I want to try and invest time to make these as gifts? I'm already "0" for 2.

I go to the 2nd half of the class tomorrow - let's hope for a revelation.
(And maybe a corrected set of patterns...)

Blogs to Explore - Once more, with knitting

Continuing my efforts to reduce my "Blogs to Explore" stash by actually exploring some blogs I bookmarked to review later...

I like the title. "Once more, with knitting."
First entry I'm looking at from 11/14 has some "Lord of the Rings" references. Nice.

Pause for Bumper-sticker Memory:
Saw this bumper sticker the other week. I don't think Bush is quite this bad, but the bumper sticker was Clever!
"Frodo failed. Bush has the Ring".
Wickedly spiffy, yes?

OK, back to the Blog-exploring...
Ha - you're not going to believe this...the Lord of the Rings reference to some spiffy pictures relating to some planets found outside our solar system...devolves into a reference about Pres. Bush having the One Ring. If I'm psychic, I wish I could do it on purpose...
She even has a clever picture of Bush w/Ring...

I think it's a "She". "Meegiemoo's "About Me" page is a tad light on info, but the Hot Pink Shawl (?) (a very nice pattern too) is making me think "female" somehow.
(Correction - it's a " Hemlock Ring Blanket")

Weeellll - there's an interesting reference to "2008 Year of the Sock" that intrigues me.
And this person knits with "Pushing up Daisies". (Which the rumor mill indicates is about to be tragically cut from our lives. ACK!)
So far so good...
She's a better knitter than I am. (not a ninja-hard accomplishment, I assure you...)
And it is definitely a "She". And she has a red "streak of orneriness" in her hair! Excellent!

Canadian - and a fellow Ravelry-member!! Heck, I'm 2 blogs in and I like this woman.
(Ok, I like most everybody, but she does appear to have some excellent taste AND a sense of humor right off the bat!)
Ha, Ha! Clever YouTube addition...
And another one! This is the "Take on Me: the Literal Version" Martha and Ray were telling us about! ('80s music video "Take on Me" with someones literal interpretation over laid...)

I'm about convinced this is a keeper. I'm having too much fun!
Um...she's a WAY, Way better knitter than I am. Prolific too.
Tsk - she doesn't like Musical Theater. And it appears she can go to New York - Broadway!!
However, she does have a cat AND appreciates Monty Python.
Correction - 3 cats. Found a spiffy blog about the "newest", Jetta!
She also seems to have a weakness for sock yarn, not unlike myself.
(The difference being, she's way past her 2nd pair of socks!)

Yep, a keeper. Another blog to add to my list.
Made me laugh out loud - several times!
Sigh - and she's already made the February Lady Sweater I want to try to knit.
Coooool.