Some Old and Some New

Greetings my friends on a chilly Sunday afternoon.  It was a lovely, warm day today until a couple of hours ago and the cold weather from up North has made it to SoCal.  We're suppose to have freezing temps these next few nights!  I know, I shouldn't complain but it is unusual for most folks who live down here :)

There's so many things I want to share with you and write about.  But, sometimes I am at a loss for words.  My heart is heavy these past few days with yet another school shooting.  I admire those high school students who are now speaking up and I am with them all the way.  One day I will tell you the story about the school shooting that took place in our little town in Eastern Washington.  That will be for another time.

Besides babysitting my little grandchildren these past few days (morning, noon and night), I had a dinner party last week.  It's always enjoyable for me to plan the menu, set the table and all the other things that are needed.

This time I decided to use my Mom's Community Silverplate.  This flatware and chest have been around for as long as I can remember.  I think my Mom would have purchased it back in the early 1950's.  After my Mom passed away back in 1993, I kept this as a keepsake and didn't use it.  Until last weekend. . .

It so happened that I rediscovered this flatware through a dear blog friend I recently met via her blog.  Margaret has the same flatware and had written about it on her blog.  Of course I commented to say I have the same pattern!

  

It was so interesting to learn about the history of this flatware pattern.  The name of the pattern in the US is Coronation.  In the UK, it is known as Hampton Court.  Originally, it was designed and introduced back in 1936, in honor of Edward VIII becoming King of England.  Of course, as you know, he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.  Hence, the name was changed for the UK market but stayed the same for the US.  When I set my table last weekend I found that I do have a complete service for 8 along with an extra  dinner fork along with 8 extra teaspoons.  So, I hurried over to Ebay where I found a matching knife and dessert fork so that my set can now serve 9.  Hopefully, one day I can pass this set onto my little granddaughter for the next generation. 

Now for the new, the bed is complete.  After the bed arrived, it was another two weeks for the mattress to arrive via Costco.  It worked out great as Costco's price and quality couldn't be matched at the places I checked out.

Lilly was quite pleased to check out the new blanket and gave her approval :)

Between watching the little ones, cooking and cleaning and the never ending paperwork, I started on my new sock pattern.  It's a fun easy pattern and I love the yarn.  However, I'm finding it's a bit hard to work in the evenings as the dark yarn against the dark needles can be trying.

Yesterday, my husband and I had a wonderful time with an impromptu dinner at the beach followed by grocery shopping at my favorite Persian market.  So, there's plenty of goodies to make some nice dishes for the upcoming week.  I'll sign off now since my homemade vegetable soup is ready to serve along with homemade corn muffins.  It's cold outside!

It's always a joy to hear from you.  Please feel free to say "hi" if you  wish.

Until next time,

Pat

A Fun Day Spent Shopping

Greetings everyone.  I hope your week is off to a great start wherever you may be.  I had a lovely day today. I accomplished my housework early this morning since I knew I would be out and about.

My daughter met me for some shopping and a quick lunch afterwards.  We had a fun time together finding those bargains we can't do without :)  I just had to buy some fresh flowers for the home before they raise the prices for Valentine's Day.

After lunch, I took myself over to Home Goods which is just down the road from where I live.  Look what I found!  I've read about these for years and have never tried them.  You might think it's funny, but I don't eat chocolate...long story about allergies.  I think dark chocolate may be OK - I'll soon find out.  The rose flavor was interesting in these as compared to the rose flavor I find in Middle Eastern food.  I'm going to serve them to my guests at the dinner party I'm having on Sunday.  While at Home Goods I perused the linen department looking for Italian linens.  I found a set of Italian made 100% linen sheets but I didn't buy them.  I'm sure they would be wonderful but I hesitated.  I did find a new bedspread that should work great.  (I know they're not called that anymore but I forgot the new name...)

Speaking of flowers, I planted some bulbs in pots this past winter and they are beginning to come up.  My favorite is the hyacinth.  And, my hellebore, lenten rose, has many buds.  I'm so happy that it survived the poor soil it lives in.  As a coincidence, the new Sock Society pattern I just received is called Winter Rose.

And, look at my geraniums blooming.  I love the white one.  In the middle is an Arabian Jasmine that has the most fragrant flowers.  It reminds me of Egypt when my husband took me there on my very first trip.  We were at Casino El Nil in Cairo (not a gambling casino), on the Nile River.  Flower sellers were selling necklaces of jasmine and they were heavenly.  It was my first time to eat ice cream with mastic (an aromatic resin from the mastic tree).  The addition of mastic changes the texture of the ice cream.  It is very popular in Turkish ice creams, too.  Sadly, I don't eat ice cream anymore due to allergies :(

For those of you who don't knit or crochet, I won't bore you with any patterns, etc.  But, please wish me luck as I'm baffled with my new sock pattern. . .

Lilly sends her greetings to each of you.  She had a restful afternoon sitting in my chair and taking her afternoon nap.  Until next time. . .

My best wishes,

Pat

My Universe is Complete

Hello my friends.  Do you like the title of my post?  Haha, a play on words.  My Sophie's Universe blanket is finally completed! It's new home will be in Turkey.

You may remember that I began this project back in July of 2017.  I diligently worked on it every day until I left for Turkey and when I returned home, it kind of sat in a bag in the closet.

But, like many of you, I hate to have unfinished projects.  So, since the middle of January I have been working to get this blanket completed.  I added my own design for the border (starts with the green leaves shown above), as I loved doing the red roses and wanted to incorporate it the edging. It's such an intricate designed blanket that I felt it needed a little more pizazz for a border.

Here's the little bag of yarn leftovers from this project.  I must say, this blanket is a yarn eater!  Originally, I purchased 15 shades of yarn but ended up using 13 skeins.  I had purchased this yarn to make another Attic24 coastal ripple blanket in a different color combination. But, after working on it awhile, I frogged it.  My inspiration for this blanket was Kate over at Kate's Adventures; look at her gorgeous blanket she made! Isn't it amazing with that additional border? I ran out of energy and yarn to make my blanket any larger. . .  

I completed my Vintage Fairy Lights socks.  This was a fun and easy knit from talented designer Helen Stewart.  I'm now awaiting to begin The Handmade Sock Society.  My new DPNs and sock yarn are ready! 

It's Saturday night here and my little grandchildren just left.  My dear children pictured above, took off for a short 3 day cruise.  So, I and my dear son-in-law along with my dear husband, took care of the little ones.  It was a fun time for all.  We will all be cruising together later in the summer.  

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and I know absolutely nothing about football.  But, we will celebrate on this day nonetheless.

Take care my dear friends and thank you again for all your great advice regarding my new bed.  The bed arrived a week ago, is all put together and now I'm waiting on the new mattress.  Patience. . .

With my best wishes,

Pat  

A Great Start to the New Year

 Happy New Year dear friends.  I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a great start to the New Year.  I've had a wonderful holiday season with my family.

 

 Yesterday afternoon all the family ventured to the Montage Resort where we sat outside on the veranda and enjoyed coffee.  It was a perfect afternoon to watch the ocean and do a little people watching, too!  It was my daughter's idea (photo above) and we all agreed that this was a great way to start the New Year's Eve celebrations.

 

 Christmas at my home has been all boxed up until next year (although I hope the true meaning of Christmas is in my heart throughout the coming year).  My home is slowly coming back to it's normal, eclectic decor.  My dear son bought me these lovely pink carnations.  They brighten up the family room.

My beloved knitting needles have made a reappearance, too this season.  I'm knitting a pair of socks from the very talented Helen Stewart.  They're called Vintage Fairy Lights socks and you can find the info here on my Ravelry page. (Lilly insists on sitting my my lap when I'm knitting!)

I love to knit socks.  I taught myself how to knit them; unbeknownst to me that they can be a bit of a challenge. Luckily, I and my four DPN's get along very well.  I love the yarn I found on Etsy.  It's from Southern Skeins; she is an indie dyer from Florida.  Her yarn creations are so lovely and best of all, her prices are very reasonable!  My yarn is called "frosted berries"  which I thought was so appropriate for this project.

Speaking of the very talented Helen, she will be hosting The Handmade Sock Society.  There will be six sock patterns included in this KAL.  I can hardly wait until it begins in February.  Fun times ahead!

I received some beautiful and useful things for Christmas.  I love the perfume tray that my dear daughter and her family gave to me.  It sits on top of my Grandma's antique bird's eye maple chest which is in my closet.  It was fun to clean and rearrange the top of this much loved chest.

Lilly wanted to say "hello" to everyone.  She had a great holiday and is enjoying her catnip toys.  I hope everyone out there who has furry family loved ones, to wish them all the best for the New Year, too.

Thank you dear friends for being my friend and visiting my blog.  I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

With my best wishes,

Pat

I'm so Excited . . . and I just Can't Hide it . . .

Hello my dear friends.  I'm back again to share with you something that has taken over my life!  It's Sophie's Universe.  A beautiful crocheted blanket that was designed by the very talented Dedri Uys.  Dedri started this pattern back in 2015 as a CAL that ran for a total of 20 weeks. The pattern is still available on her blog.  It seems as though I'm always behind in joining in with these fun activities.

 

I discovered this amazing pattern from my friend Kate, who recently finished her beautiful blanket.  Since I didn't want to download/print the pattern, I decided to order the book online from Wool Warehouse and it's the best money I've ever spent on a pattern.  

I had sixteen skeins of Stylecraft DK yarn that I had purchase and started to use to make a ripple blanket.  As you can see from the photo above, the colors were not "happening".  This project had sat in my craft closet for over a year unfinished.

I had wanted to mimic the coast ripple blanket I had made from Lucy and Attic 24.  Lucy is such an amazing, talented fiber arts artist.  Her sense of color combinations are unlike anything I've ever seen.  I had a great time making the coast blanket but unfortunately, when I tried to make my own interpretation of this blanket, I was bored stiff with the dull colors and repeats.

Voila!  That all changed when I received my Sophie's Universe pattern book.  My colors are now starting to come together (I think).  It might look very dark right now, but there's going to be a lot of creamy white borders around this blanket as it grows up.  I'm hoping it will measure 70" x 70" when I'm all done with it.

There are over 5,000 people on Ravelry doing this project!  Wow, that's a lot of yarn.  If you are new to crochet (I've been crocheting for 41 years), don't be worried about the complexity of this project.  The book is designed as follows:  each page of the book contains one row of the pattern along with detailed instructions and very detailed photos.  Dedri shows you exactly what your stitches should look like.  And, best of all, the color scheme can be whatever suits you.  And, you weave end the yarn ends as you go along so when you are all done, you are completely finished; no more yarn ends to deal with!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my latest obsession!  Please feel free to share what you've been up to this week.  And, thank you again for visiting Lilly My Cat.

Best wishes,

Pat

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Bear

Hello friends!  I've been wanting to share this project with you for a couple of weeks now, but I didn't dare show it until I had given these to my little grandchildren.

Presenting Mr. & Mrs. Valentine Bear...here they are enjoying the warm sun outside today in the garden.  

And, here they are warming their backs again the teapot.  Although, Mr. Valentine Bear prefers coffee!

They wanted to post as a couple for Valentine's Day and I think this photo suits them well.

My Valentine (my dear husband), gave me these lovely violets shown in the background as an early Valentine's gift.  Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Bear loved the bright colors.

Mrs. Valentine Bear has a picot edged skirt.  She preferred this design over the knit stitch pattern that kept curling up during the knitting process.

Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Bear are so soft and fuzzy since they are made out of Drops Lima which is 100% wool.  It was a joy to knit with on size 3 DPNs.

Here's all that left of the four skeins of yarn.  You can find my Ravelry notes here. 

I found this cute pattern and many more at Mary Jane's Tearoom.  Susan, who is the designer, was so, so kind and helpful to me while making this project.  She has some fun designs you can check out on her website.  And, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact her, as she promptly replied to my question and even sent me a free pattern.  Super nice!

I will sign off for now as my paperwork is calling to me to finish; a never ending job.  But, hopefully later tonight I will visit my knitting needles which holds a new project.

Thank you for visiting Lilly My Cat.

With my best wishes,

Pat

 PS - The colors I used reminded of a Scandinavian design.  The red is so difficult to photograph but the first photo is the truer of the color.  It was the perfect red.  

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Yarn Along 

A Glimpse of Barcelona and Yarn

Hello my friends.  I hope you had a lovely Labor Day holiday.  Can you believe that summer is almost over and that fall is on it's way?  Back in July, I was in Barcelona, Spain for a few days.  My sister-in-law, who is an avid knitter, wanted to visit a yarn shop.  We found via Google a shop named All you Knit is Love.  

If you ever happen to visit Barcelona, this shop is so easy to find. It is located at Carrer de la Barra de Ferro which is a street that branches off from the street where the Picasso Museum is located.  If you put your back against the entrance to the museum and look straight ahead, you will find this quaint, little, gothic street.  As you can see, it is a well stocked yarn shop with many delightful wooly things to choose from . . .

I loved this knitted shawl that was in the window.  The use of the different yarns and their textures really add to it's loveliness.  The yarn shop is owned by an American lady and her Catalan husband. . .

Here's a photo of my sister-in-law, Linda, chatting with designer who is Greta and the Fibers. If you look towards the back of this photo, you will see the natural, undyed yarn that she is preparing to dye.  I bought two different skeins of her hand dyed yarn. The shop had such a special feel with the exposed brick walls and antique lighting. . .

I knew exactly how I was going to use my new yarn.  Awhile back I joined the Shawl Society which is a subscription to six shawl patterns; one released each month for six months.  I was thrilled to receive pattern #2 while I was in Turkey and use my new Spanish yarn.  The pattern is called Amulet.

 

The Spanish yarn knit up beautifully.  I so enjoyed knitting the lace section and there was also an addition of Czech glass beads that I added throughout the shawl.  Helen Stewart is the very talented designer behind the Shawl Society.  I had gradually gotten into lace knitting but I don't do charts.  Lucky for me, Helen's patterns are both written and charted so no problems there!

It was my third time to visit Barcelona and that beautiful city never disappoints. I love the architecture and the little streets that weave in and out.  We found a cute little place, Brunells, on the same street corner to pop in for an Iberian ham sandwich, Catalan pastries and some coffee.  

I'm so excited as I am going to be attending a knitting retreat with my sister-in-law.  I'm a self taught knitter, way before there was any internet.  I bought myself a Coats and Clark's Learn to Knit booklet back in the early 1970's;  I still have this book!  Since I moved to California six years ago, I've really tried to step out of my comfort zone and learn some new knitting techniques.  I think you could say that I'm addicted to Ravelry!

The retreat is going to be held on Bois Blanc Island in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  I've been to the UP before, but never to Bois Blanc Island.  The weather there looks heavenly with cool temps and rain.  What better way than to spend my day in glorious rain clouds with my knitting needles in hand!  I remember years ago when I was young and working at the bank in our small town.  We had a piece of returned mail from the post office.  It was addressed to Sault Ste. Marie and had been returned and stamped with something like ". . .weather. . .ferry service cancelled . . ."  Looking back, I think it may have been sent to Sugar Island in the UP where they receive tons of snow being on the St. Marys River.  This place sounded so exotic compared to the flat, farmland area of where I was living at the time!

I hope you dear readers are all doing well.  I always enjoy reading your comments and I will do my best to visit your blogs, too. Thank you for visiting Lilly My Cat today!

With my best to you,

Pat 

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Five on Friday . . .    

A Special Birthday, Houses and Clouds

Hello my dear friends.  It's Sunday afternoon here in southern California and it's a pleasant day as our hot weather has subsided a bit.  There's so many things I want to share with you but first I must say thank you so much for your kind words and wise advice you gave me in regard to my last blog post.  Life is good!

This past week my little granddaughter, Sadie, turned one year old.  My daughter had a wonderful tea party celebration for her featuring delicious tea sandwiches (made by my daughter), scones, tea and vintage coronation china (which she and I both collect).

The table was set so pretty in it's pink tea party theme. . .

Here's the little birthday girl,  Sadie,  modeling the sweater I knitted for her . . .

Yesterday, we visited a new church nearer our home.  (Yes, it was on Saturday but it's a new Orthodox church that doesn't yet have their own building so they meet on Saturday at the Greek church).  It was a very pleasant experience that both my husband and I enjoyed.  From there, we went to look at a new housing development.  We ventured further south via a new road that has just opened up.  We were there in just a few minutes (so nice versus taking crowded Interstate 5).

Here's the backyard of one of the model homes we viewed.  You can see the ocean view beyond the backyard area.  This home was huge but on a little lot which is quite normal here in southern California . . .

There are four different areas in this development.  All the model homes had been "staged" which made them look very beautiful.  I loved seeing the kitchens and getting some ideas for my own kitchen.  But, the price tag was unbelievable . . . $3.5M for this home pictured above!  I couldn't nor would I buy this home at this price.  But, that's southern California. . .

We viewed the other area in the same development which had condos.  They were well planned and very spacious.  I'm the kind of person that doesn't have to have everything to please my taste, however, this graffiti tile would have to go if I lived here.  What do you think?  And, it's actual tile that had been adhered to the walls and grouted!

On the way home, via the "new road", we stopped at another open house that was in a traditional subdivision.  It was warm, inviting, nice and very much to my taste. However, we wouldn't be downsizing and there was still a pool.  We arrived home and came to the conclusion that we are very happy where we are.  We may not have an ocean view but we do have a lovely view of the mountains.

 We bought our home six years ago when the market was at it's lowest.  We'd love to have less to take care of but prices have skyrocketed again here.  I'm always content but it's my dear husband who has caught the real estate bug.  Hopefully, he will get "well" soon.

Oops, almost forgot to mention these beautiful clouds that appeared this week.  I love clouds but they soon disappeared and no rain is expected. . .

As for my WIPs, I'm still working on my Amulet Shawl. It's the kind of knitting where I have to pay attention and think about.  We're off to the beach this afternoon for a picnic.  I'm taking another little knitting project that I don't have to think about.

I hope each of you have enjoyed your weekend.  The start of the new week is almost here and I wish for each of you all the best.  And, I so appreciate your friendship!

With my best wishes,

Pat

Sadie's Knitted Dress With Pattern Link

Today my post is back to my normal mode of craftiness; that is if I do have a "normal mode" haha.  I have so enjoyed taking part in the Little Woollie Yarny Love Club. This past month I received in my yarn box five skeins of a lovely 100% organic cotton yarn.  I wanted to use the majority of the yarn in one project so I came up with the idea of making my little granddaughter a dress.

Here's Sadie's Swan Valley Dress made from 3 skeins of the cotton yarn.  The pattern and my project notes can be found here on my Ravelry page.  The pattern is written to knit flat from the hem up; knitting the front and then knitting the back and seaming the sides together.  I'm not fond of this idea so I knit the front bodice, followed by the left back and right back bodice.  I seamed these pieces together at the underarm and shoulder.

  Then I picked up stitches all around the waist and did a ribbed waistband, knitting in the round. I increased the stitches and continued to knit the skirt. I did a row of single crochet on the inside of the waistband so that the waist would keep it shape.  I did 5 single crochets for every 6 knitted stitches.

I added a little bit of embellishment for the neckline.

The original pattern called for a unique cast on starting from the hem up.  From the picture on Ravelry, it appears to curl up.  Since I didn't start from the hem up, I was able to do this picot hem edge which adds an extra bit of design to the dress.

Besides the wonderful yarn that was in my yarn club box, I also received some beautiful glass beads.  I incorporated these beads in the dress design by using them as buttons.

It was an enjoyable little project to knit and I enjoyed the details and design as I went along.  I'm not sure how the cotton yarn will stand up so I think it should be hand washed.  As for the Yarny Love Club, the Winter/Summer sign up is currently taking place.  Julie is the one who has Little Woollie and she is in Australia.  I loved being part of this yarn club and although I'm not signing up for the next segment, I do hope to participate again in the fall.  It has been delightful to see what goodies I receive each month.

If you have time, I'd love to hear about what you are currently working on.  Feel free to share a link in your comment.  I'm excited for the weekend as our very good friends are going to be in town for their son's graduation from UCLA law school.   I've known this couple for almost 41 years and my husband's connections goes back  to when he taught the gentleman at Cairo University in Egypt!  It was through this couple's family here in America where I met my husband.  It will be a fun time to reminisce and also celebrate this joyous occasion for their son's achievement.

 With my best wishes,

Pat 

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Five on Friday . . .
Yarn Along . . .