Life is good.....

Almost two weeks have flown by.  Where do the days go? 

While in the midst of a nasty drought, we did manage to have a little rain the last couple of days - and some cooler temps.  While it's way too late to save any flowers or vegetation, it has cleared some of the allergens from the air.  Dogs suffer differently than people, in that they really don't get relief as quickly as we do.....after a few years even hard freezes don't have much affect on their discomfort.  Usually they will have symptoms nearly year-round.  We're not to that point with Sofee yet, but getting close.  But, with the recent rains, and the cooler temperatures, we plan/hope to open up our house soon.  We've had it battened down with AC on for months now.  Anything that can help her is worth a try.  I'm looking forward to some cool fresh air for good sleeping soon.

Along with being grandma, I've been knitting and spinning.  Last time I mentioned a pair of mittens that were finished, but I was not able to post a photo.  Well, here they are:

Last I checked, the pattern was still not up for sale, but it should be eventually.  Kulabra is her name.  I used Knitpicks Pallette - from deep stash.  Fun playing with all those colors (13 in all) and weaving in the ends wasn't even too much of a chore. 

I also recently finished a "Flip-top" pair of gloves.  Glittens, I call them. 

I've knit from this book before, and while I find the instructions somewhat "clumsy" for lack of a better word, the outcomes are always very much to my liking.  These are no exception.  They fit well,  and once they are finished I have a strange ability to forget how fiddly and frustrating the process was. 

Here's the book.  Tons of really pretty designs.  These were knit from offwhite Cascade Heritage and the blue is handspun.....hence the variation in the colors.

I've also done just a bit of spinning.  I spun an older braid of fiber from Crown Mountain Fiber Farm, who is no longer in business.  It had been in my stash bin for several years.  One of those Club shipments that really was a bit of a disappointment.  Also, it was Shetland, and I had always heard that Shetland was scratchy and not desirable.  So, when I decided to spin this fiber up, it was really just to spin something - not with the intention of producing a yarn that I would like.

So, I was shocked when I realized how nice this had spun up!  I failed to get a photo of the unspun fiber, but here are the bobbin:  It shows the color variations typical of CMF.  One end of the top was always lighter than the other end.  With this, I just broke the long (thin - almost pencil roving which was their normal put-ups) into three equal lengths and spun end to end.

It produced a nice color distribution, although there will be some lighter/darker areas in the finished project.

I plan to join in a mitten mystery KAL with the I Make Mittens Rav group starting Oct 1st.  I think I'll use this yarn paired with an off-white.  That is assuming the designer doesn't talk me out of it.  It's difficult choosing yarns/colors when you have no idea what the pattern is.  Hopefully these will work.

So, I will leave you with what is most exciting right now.  The Grands!  I am totally enjoying the new addition to our family.  She is doing quite well - up to 8lb 7oz now.   They are no longer having to wake her for night feedings, and my daughter tells me she slept 4.5hours straight last night.  She's a good baby, and we are ALL madly in love with her.  Not the least of her admirers is BG!  So, I will close with a photo of the two BG's.  Not an exceptionally good photo of the babe, but I couldn't resist that big brother grin!

Catch  ya later ..... enjoy life - whatever yours contains.