Pretty pictures

By Kathleen

While Caroline heals her craft-inflicted wounds (what some people won't do for blog fodder!) I'd like to distract and soothe by presenting some more pleasing sites. (Unless you're more of a George Romero horror flick kinda person in which case you can go back and look at Caroline's photo again.)

Spring has sprung down in our holler in the Shenandoah Valley...

While downtown it's been Spring for a couple of weeks...

The valley is stunning at this time of year... the Bradford pears come first with their oval shapes of white, followed immediately by the pale pink cherry trees. Hot on their heels come the fuchsia colored redbuds and the dogwoods (both pink and white). And everywhere is the bright yellow of the forsythia, and the multi colored riot that are the tulips and daffodils. Soon we'll have wide white petaled magnolias and the yellow and orange lilies.



It's Spring on my office window too...

I found this mostly withered up plant in a pot to the side of the driveway at the last house we lived in. I nurtured it back to life, but it wasn't until last year that I saw a bloom group. One. This year... two simultaneously! And what's that around the back?... another bud!
I had to image search the Internet to identify it as I'd never seen anything like it before. This is a Hoya Carnosa. It's a tropical vining plant, also known as the Porcelain flower or wax plant. So cool!

And finally, it's Spring on my feets!...
Charlene Schurch's Baby Rib in Handmaiden Casbah, and
Cookie A's Monkey in Claudia Handpaint, Ocean Depths Because what says Spring better than hand knit wool socks?

OUCH!

by Caroline


I have fallen prey to blogging in my mind, lately. Kathleen is still waiting for vacation pix and I have become addicted to mini socks, thanks to a mini sock swap. But, since none of you have ESP, I suppose I had better get something typed up. There is a picture at the end of the post; you can decide for yourself if you want to look.



So, there I was, innocently knitting a mini sock. I was using a steel crochet hook to pick up the loops of the heel gusset (cue ominous music). For some reason, instead of putting the hook down when all the loops were on the needle, I held it in my fist. You know how you tap something against your thigh to slide it up higher in your grip? Well, it's not really a good idea with a fine point crochet hook. I felt it slide (surprisingly with no pain) into the pad at the base of my pinky and, without much thought, I tried to slide it out. But, it has a hook (D'OH)!



It would seem that the emergency room at the Elliot doesn't get too many crochet hook impalements. While waiting for it to be removed, I had a couple nurses coming in to look. "Cool," says one and I could hear a bit of their conversation back at the desk, "no,no, it has a hook on it!" Obviously, a crafter explaining why it can't just be pulled out. After Novocaine was administered, the hook was removed. I didn't watch but Debbie did and said it was done with a great deal of twisting.



A band-aid, a tetanus shot, and a series of one-liners later and it was time to go home. Yes, the medical people had fun with me: going down the check list, "no allergies, no medical problems besides being a danger to yourself....."; the clerk at the admin desk, even an hour later, referring to me as "crochet lady"; my own sister suggesting that maybe there should be some kind of dexterity test for knitters. So, here is the picture:

How odd is it to get tagged on your own blog?

The Rules: Post the rules on your blog. Link to the person who tagged you. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1... I play with my food. Always have and prolly always will. Have you ever had a Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookie? I eat the outside ridges first, then nibble all the cookie away from around the motif, then eat bits of the motif down to the final solid inner shape. Oreos? Screw off one side from two separate cookies. Eat the bare sides. Smush together the other two sides with cream for a make-it-yourself double stuff. Sure you could buy double stuff in the store... but where's the fun in that?

2... My feet are not ticklish. As a youngster my brother, next oldest sister and I would gang up on each other and tickle feet mercilessly. As a result mine are no longer susceptible to tickling. Let's not discuss my sides or armpits though... I said no! get away!!! AAAAAHHHHHHhahahahaha...

3... I love Nick for Kids morning shows. Cartoons for three year olds... just my speed. I'd watch some every day if I could. Except that...

4... I don't have TV. By choice. We don't get reception so we'd have to buy a satellite or cable package. But when you consider the bucket loads of crap that comes along with the minimal dollop of good stuff, and the mind suck that being drugged into watching all that crap is... cable isn't worth the money.

5... I'm a packrat. I could dress it up by calling it collecting... but it's still packratting. The bad news... I married a packrat. The bulk of our "collections" is mind numbing to contemplate. And yet... there's so much cool stuff too! I've set myself the task of sorting out the cool from the dregs bit by bit. It's hard, but I don't want to end up the old lady who gets smothered, not by her piles of decades old newspapers, but by the stacks of old cameras, and cat figurines, and antique books, and costume jewelry, and juice glasses, and textiles, and vintage hats and shoes, and on and on and on...
Clearly I must get rid of the cat figurines.

6... It took me until I was in my mid forties to get married for the first time, a year and a half ago. And we met... in a quilt museum. He had just moved to the area (his Mom quilted) and I just happened to be docenting that Saturday afternoon.
I'm so glad I was at the right place at the right time. And he was worth the wait. Totally.

Okay.
But I think I'm not going to tag another 6 people... One tag-out per blog seems to be sufficient. Thanks for doing the hard part Caroline!