How to live to be 100

Here's a picture of my Oma on her 100th birthday party a few weeks ago. She's the one with the corsage. She's with Colby and Tante Olga, her 95 year old sister who still lives on her own in an apartment.

Going to her birthday party got me thinking about why she's lasted so long and is still in fairly good shape and here's what I came up with.

1. Be curious (i.e. nosy) - people who are wrapped up in their own lives at some point lose interest, because there's only so much you can do yourself at 98 or 99. But there's always something interesting going on around you, so if you're aware and interested that'll keep you going.

2. Eat well -Oma was a great cook and in later years as she ate less she still paid attention to what she ate and had a very balanced diet - a little protein, a little fruit, a little vegetables and of course, a little desert.

3. Don't complain - Oma's never been one of those people who talks about her aches and pains, she always just seems to go with the flow, never makes a big deal of anything and even when she's been sick and in the hospital she's been more bewildered than bitter.

4. Move out of your house before you need to - Oma and Opa moved to the "old folks home" back when she was about 70. At the time they were able to get a small 1 bedroom apartment and she was able to stay there until a few years ago when she moved into the personal care home side. Making the adjustment at that age was so much easier than for some of her other relatives who had to move out of their homes in their 80's due to poor health.

Recent FO's and current WIP

OK, I don't know what's going on with my little slideshow there, but what I'm trying to do is have it link to a set in my flickr account, but there's more than just two pictures in there. I don't know how it decided that those are the only two photos it wants to show.

Anyway, here's some pictures of my recent FO's:

This is a little baby outfit I made for Brittany's mom's baby shower. I really like how it turned out. I made it with Elann ESPRIT which is a nice stretchy cotton - perfect for Houston weather. I'm working on a pattern to post for sale - just need to perfect the little booties to go along with it.These are my "bonus socks" that I made in two different color combinations. I posted the pattern for free on ravelry - Bonus Socks.


And here's the fishtail scarf I made from Zauberball sockyarn . I love the color, but I should have made the center section longer. I can't wrap it around my neck more than once.

And finally, here's what I'm working on now - Ruth Sorensen's Kauni cardigan. I'm using the same colorway of Kauni as she did and I just love the way the colors work together. It makes you want to keep knitting to find out what the next color combination is going to be.

The highway in the backyard

The other day this little guy was scurrying along the top of the fences that connect all the backyards around here.

Actually, he wasn't so much scurrying as looking for a way down.

But it was a looooong way. Once the dogs noticed there was something out there they got into their usual frenzied barking, setting off the noise-activated New Orleans jazz statue music, and the possum sensibly decided to be on his way.

If only this yarn could talk!

I used to be able to look at some leftover yarn and remember exactly what I'd made with it, where I was, what stage in my life I was... It all brought back such good memories. Now I can look at something like this:

and wonder - where the heck did that come from? I don't remember knitting with it at all! but it does have my signature "wrap the end around the ball in the opposite direction for a while" move. If I'd never used it before the end would be just a little bit peeking out of the middle.

It took several minutes of intense investigation to discover that this was not Lorna's Laces as I initially suspected, but I think it's Shelridge Farms and I'm pretty sure I made these socks with it. The solid colour was a light green and this variegated yarn was used in the diamonds.

But I'll be darned if I can find these socks, and there's no index card for them in my usually reliable knitting project filing system.

Although I do make so many socks I stopped keeping track of them at some point, so just because there isn't a card doesn't mean I didn't make them.
I've given away a lot of socks, so maybe they are on someone's feet even as we speak!

I prefer to think of this as an indication of just how many socks I've knit over the past few years, not an indication of the increasing feebleness of my memory.

tada!

It's done! Sewed on the buttons and sewed down the facings while watching the Canada-US hockey game, then washed it, and it's laying flat to dry as we speak. I'll post more pictures of the inside once it dries, but for now I want to move on to something new!

much progress being made

Got lots done over the weekend - finished the body of the vest.

I'm using I tip I learned from Anne at Philosopher's Wool and picking up the stitches from the steeks before cutting them open. She's right, once you cut it open the whole thing becomes kind of floppy and it's much easier to pick up the stitches while it's still a solid piece of fabric. Here's the first side vent.

And then last night I picked up all the stitches for the neck edge. That's one heck of a lot of stitches so that might take a night or two.

This is the winter that will not die here in Houston - we're in another cold spell and might actually get snow again today!

relaxing on a Friday afternoon

This is what my couch normally looks like. The bearded one (Alex) works 30 hours a week at Home Depot and usually starts at 5 am. Then he goes to school. So when he's at home he usually looks like this. The little one (Harley) also works pretty hard. There's napping, playing frisbee, walking and, oh yeah more napping.

Clyde is in his preferred position on my chair under my shirt. That little piece of black is what I get to sit on.

The vest is rolling along, but I'd really like to get the body knit this weekend so I've got some time to do all the steeks and trim. There's a long neckband, both armholes and vents at the sides and I'll need to be careful in picking up stitches along the edges to get it to lay nice and flat.