Cables,Hobo's and Hooking

                                                     

Still Hooking away

Maulie's paw she was trying to get my attention

Well this last week really flew by for me .We had a little rain but Southern California is not in Fall weather yet.Were going to have another heat wave this week I am so sick of hot weather and water bills. I sure wish Fall would arrive then it would feel much more like hooking weather.I envy every ones Fall pictures and sometimes wish I lived where we had more cold weather.
 I went up and spent three days with my daughter her hubby and little Jack. That little toddler doesn't stop all day. Little Jack wore me out! What made me laugh the most is how he liked to turn everything upside down. Any vehicle he rides it promptly gets turned over.Little Jack is jabbering all day learning words. Do you know how many things you can point at and say what's that to?  I couldn't help but laugh when he is showing his dogs his cookie thru the child proof gate in the kitchen and the dog grabs the cookie and the look and howl he let out was priceless.

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Cables

Cables

I started another sock so I won't forget what

I just learned.

I had lots of homework in knit class and it doesn't look like much but were doing cables. Ahhh! I have to concentrate to do my swatches. I have one done and another half way done. I also worked on my hooked rug and last but not least I signed up for the Hobo Quilt class on Wednesday. I am gathering the blocks I finished and seeing which ones were going to tackle.I need to be in a class sometimes to keep me motivated and finish something. Friday I am going to the Ramona quilt show that should be fun. I'll take lots of pictures this week at Hobo quilt class and the Ramona Quilt show.

                                            I bought a dowel and made a backing to hang my
                                            Fall hooked rug.

                                                     Hobo's had their own secret language

                                                               Back to Hobo quilt class I go

                                             I am going to finish that other whisker tonight
                                                              Kind hearted lady

Good chance to get money

                                                                          Bread

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My First Sock and turning a heel finally

Well I think there should have been a moment of silence last Saturday when I turned my heel with the help of some fellow knitters finally!! I have ripped out three times the heel flap on my first sock and I had made  a partial heel but ripped that out several time.I can tell you turning a heel was a major moment.This is on my list of What I want to do before I die! Learn to knit socks.

I found out the hard way that there is some assumed knowledge in reading patterns  I guess you learn that after you knit for a while and I just couldn't understand what I was reading wrong in the sock pattern.It was me and not the knit pattern of course.I was really stuck!I guess if I had read knitting for dummies I would have understood more so here I was stuck for six months until Saturday.


Knitting a Dishcloth 



knitted cup holder

Saturday I went to a gathering of knitters at Lori's knit shop in Alpine.It was so much fun it was from five til midnight .It was a nice evening as we all sat outside in a circle knitting away. For the first time I really felt  like a knitter. As I finished the heel flap I started turning the heel which I had been stuck on since sock camp.  Athena my knit teacher who also attended said to go on to picking up the stitches on the side of the sock.I had never picked up stitches so I was the deer on the freeway and not knowing where to run and thinking maybe I should just stand there and do nothing. I felt like my one brain cell had been used up turning the heel. With some prodding I plunged ahead with the realization I was going to an uncharted land I had never gotten this far in my sock pattern.

Picking up stitches was just plain hard so the only way I could do it was using a small crotchet hook and putting it on the knitting needle. At one point I muttered under my breath I'm scared when Athena laughed and urged me on.Knitting can be intimidating. Lol. I did pick up the stitches and was able to go home with a feeling of accomplishment.I left about eleven at night and Hubby was up waiting up for me.Maulie was a cute bundle of cute Shitzu smile jumping all over me. Wednesday of this week I had  my two samples of Moss and seed stitches ready for class and Athena to check them out. I Love my knit class so much I learn something each time and I enjoy all the fellow knitters I have met. This last week we still were having hot weather. You know your a Sock knitter when your still so obsessed that you keep running to your sock book and reading the next steps over and over again. It seems making socks is like little exams on each part of a simple sock. I finish one test and then there is another test and then another.That's the challenge when your sock is completed I will have accomplished something that women have been doing for hundreds of years and guess what I will have to make another one.Oh My!

                   Last years hooked rug It needs more support for hanging up on the wall.

                                                     What I am hooking lately

                                                   update I hooked a bunch more last night

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Country Loft is a picture of Fall

                                                                I love this time of year!

                                                               I see something over there to buy!


Tuesday was rug hooking at the County Loft and it was a nice time as usual. I signed up for Hobo Quilt class in October I really need to get my hobo quilt done before Christmas. It seems the only way I can get a project done is to keep going to classes to keep up my  interest. I am so tired of unfinished projects!

Wednesday was a busy day I had knit class which was a relaxing learning experience with such a great teacher. All the ladies are interesting and what a nice way to spend an afternoon learning to knit in air conditioning. I am so glad California has a vibrant Adult education system to be part of . There are all sorts of classes to take and I believe that being a lifetime learner keeps you happy and healthy.It seems there are a abundance of teachers in retirement that enjoy these classes.I noticed quite a few retired teachers in quilt classes too.

 Later in the afternoon I got a call from my lifelong surfer neighbor who doesn't have a computer and needed to contact a Tortoise Society to have them  pick up a Tortoise he had rescued from a busy street in El Cajon. Jeff had stopped traffic when he saw people driving around this poor tortoise who was booking across the street as fast as he could. What a good Samaritan!Well the tortoise has been returned to a organization that knows what they're doing and Jeff is minus a tortoise. The volunteer explained to Jeff it was a Russian tortoise. I wonder if someone lost him and hopefully will get returned to its home.

 Enjoy the pictures of the Country Loft

                                                             This looks like a Cheri Payne pattern
                                                             So perfect for Fall

                                                             

A quilt class

                                                                        

                                                      I love the color Orange this time of year

                                                             JoAnn patterns are the best
                                                                  Happy Fall

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A humble little knitted Dishcloth

                                      Well I finished my first project in knit class a humble little cotton dishcloth!
I am so happy I feel like I made a sweater or something.Lol. I worked on my hooked rug last night it's coming along real well. Hubby was proud of me he commented he didn't know that I ever worked on  anything besides wool. The week ahead will be busy I have my rug hooking group and knit class.The next lesson ribbing and who knows what else.I am not sure if I was suppose to block  my little dishcloth but I'll find out next week. The cotton seems to stretch really easily.All I can say is this little dishcloth will remain unused.It shall be put in a place of honor where no one will dare to think of using it.Next one will be a different story but this one is special. To create this dishcloth I had to Cast on, Knit, purl,Yarn over knit two together increases and decreases and follow the directions.Have a good happy week , Hugs Cheri

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Friday at a Meditation garden in Encinitas

My favorite Picture of a Koi

 No I haven't fallen off the side of a mountain! I haven't blogged because I was just really busy being a student again and doing my homework. Since I throw when I Knit I am slow but I am happy to say I do learn something new every time I go to my knit class.

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 Today Linda and I were off to a day at the Beach cities of Southern California. I wanted to go to a knit shop in Encinitas called Common threads to get more cotton yarn for my dish or face cloths I am making in Knit class. I love my knit class and have been knitting like a crazy woman with a new hobby.  I also have been enjoying trips to the library and reading crazy mystery writers.My Rug Hooking is going well and I am so relieved next week the weather is suppose to cool down. This summer it's been a humid mess in Southern California.

Encinitas,Leucadia Cardiff and Solana Beach are all towns that are filled with artistic types of people . One of the prominent buildings in Encinitas is this huge building called the Self Realization Hermitage and Retreat . It's dome like buildings has a great view of the Pacific Ocean.Were talking prime property which was donated to the Yogi by one of his followers.  This huge center was  started by Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda.. I have always been curious what the place was like which has been there since I was a kid .The local hospital uses the stairs leading to the meditation garden as a great place to have some physical therapy and then relax walking around the gardens.When my daughter was in the hospital they would also have trips to the beach for physical therapy.  I heard about the garden from Megan and she felt Linda and I  would like it since we had never seen it before. The gardens were restful with benches tucked away in little corners all over the garden. Some of the  buildings are closed to the public but the meditation garden is open to all. My favorite experience was seeing the colorful Koi eating.One of the men who was sweeping the paths told us that some of the Koi are over thirty years old and boy were they huge!   We walked up the stairs along with seniors and all sorts of people who were enjoying the meditation garden.
The beach below is called Swami's where the Yogi when he was alive would sit cross legged meditating from his home overlooking the Pacific.I would have liked to have seen that the Yogi and the surfers both in their own worlds.I would definitely go back again to take pictures and maybe sit on the many benches and smell the salt air and meditate.After a morning of taking pictures Linda and I went to the knit shop and then had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant across from the ocean.Finally we stopped at the library and I picked up some books on knitting.So now your caught up and I almost forgot Hubby and I baby sat Little Jack and he was a hoot. For some reason he likes to stand on his head with his behind in the air.I think he gets that from the other side of the family.  Just teasing

                                                     paddle boarders and surfers

                                                        There are a bunch of Koi ponds

                                              
                                                               Check out the big spider
     

                                                  See the surfer on the left

                                                                   Dome in the distance

                                                              Surfers at Swami's

                                                                      nice and quiet

                                                                      munching on his food

                                           

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Putting Life in perspective

Life is a series of examples of people who show quiet courage in small acts to us but major steps forward. If you have dealt with anyone with a disability you realize how things you take for granted are mountains for them. Yesterday at my knit class I met a woman who showed a quiet courage that gave me a kick in the behind of what's real. This young woman had a book full of beautiful knitting stitches. As I turned the pages of the book I was so impressed. They were perfect exact examples of great knitting so I wonder why she was sitting next to me a beginner knitter. As she talked in a carefully crisp enunciation of her words she explained she had a brain injury and now had to relearn how to knit. All had been lost her memory her ability to knit and so as she struggled to learn to cast on to make a slip knit and finally her knit stitches.These were not the stitches I saw in her notebook perfect and examples of a wonderful knitter.Instead they were  crooked tight bunched up stitches and you know what I saw the best knitting I have ever seen. A knitter whose life is an example of trying to keep going ahead using what God has still given you and instead of giving up walking thru those school doors sitting down and beginning again.As I saw her explain to our teacher about her injury I saw a kind teacher who was going to encourage her on her knitting journey.There was no frustration or annoyance as she repeated to us over and over how to begin to knit.We all sat helping each other yes none of us were perfect but one thing I have learned none of us knows whats going on behind our front doors. What courage were showing in our personal life what hidden sorrows we mask but know this don't take away anyones joy of creating maybe it's not perfect but you know what you might be sitting next to someone that shows a courage you may never have to use and know lucky you.Have a nice weekend and yes one of my pumpkins is going to be blue.Hugs Cheri

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Fall pumpkins

Well Wednesday was my first day of knit class. I was happy to say it's going to be fun and I met some friendly gals and the teacher is excellent.I went today and got some supplies. It's going to be series of learning stitches and then making a hat in the round. Maybe little Jack will get a hat from his Nana.

Here are some more pictures of the loft and I how I am doing on my next rug. That's a bear on the side of the cabin.It's a story rug in my imagination it's about a bear looking for pumpkins to eat.Or maybe it's a bear searching for Nancy in Montana's cabin. I love her wildlife photo's of Montana.All the animals are so close to her home.

 There are lots of patterns at the loft

doll

                                                         This is from the Hobo quilt book

                                                                          This plate is sweet

                                                                    bags

                                                                 Here I go again Thanks Deb


                                                 Oh I just had to include last years pumpkins

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