OJO DE DIOS SHAWL AND COWGIRL COWL PATTERN REVIEWS...

Because I always have to have something in my hands (whether waiting in doctor's offices, or while watching the JAWS Marathon on TV the other night - at least they got to cool off in the water for a FEW moments), I've finished up some things lately that my knitting buddies might like a report on...mainly because I don't want to be the only one with this weird "idle hands thing" of mine.  Idle hands knitting at 112 degrees is quite a silly sport!

(Photo credit:   Interweave Knits/Vanessa Ewing)

I NEVER (well, that seems to be a bit of a lie now, given the content of this post) want to make something the way it is produced in a pattern.  I color outside the lines, and am pretty passionately individualistic. THIS, however, SCREAMED, "make me in JUST this incredible yarn!"  OJO DE DIOS SHAWL by Vanessa Ewing - every yarn shop in the country seems to be out of the colorway, leading me to believe that there will be hundreds of these, but it had to be done just the way it was.  Especially for us Southwest gals.  I have seen some of the other colorways, and believe me, they are just as spectacular...I just couldn't settle for "my way" this time.

A FABULOUSLY well-written, FUN pattern (HANDS-DOWN, my newest favorite!).  You won't get bored with this one (and it's easy to memorize) - "God's Eyes" are joined as you go.  The only thing I did different with this pattern was to work the three-sided Eyes with three 16" circular needles instead of the double points called for.  Pick up, and garter stitch short rows for the body.  Want the pattern for yourself - information can be found at RAVELRY (click either of these highlighted links to be transported), or INTERWEAVE KNITS.

(Photo credit:  Pam Powers Knits)

Winter can't get here soon enough - especially now that we are hitting 110 degrees before noon.  Second great pattern, COWGIRL COWL, by Pam Powers - this one took a little more concentration but was fairly easy to follow...I did pull out a notebook to make hash marks as I would finish a row.  Again, as I am in love with anything in this color right now, I did it as it was...

Baah! La Jolla Yarn was used - I LOVE Baah!'s yarns!  I admit to a little tea dying when I was through, to tone down the color I had purchased.  Pattern is worked back and forth across the rectangle cowl part first, and then changes direction to up and down to form the triangle section at the bottom - all in one/no seaming (I LOVE when that happens) - FABULOUS!  Pattern can be found on RAVELRY, or PAM POWERS KNITS.

Hoping for a travel post in the next few days, before travelling again, needles on a plane this time...

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY - make it a safe one!

TREASURES FROM ABROAD...

Actually, treasures from abroad, from two "broads"...the BEST "broads" to go abroad (far from "broads", really - two of the nicest people I have met in my life) - sisters sailing the high seas together, and look what treasures they turned up, abroad...

Very out of order, according to my friend Jackie, who is posting her high-sea adventures on ONECREATIVECAT.COM - she's also in the midst of opening an online travel business, so make sure you check her out (she's also one of my favorite creative cronies).  She brought me this special hand painted and lacquered box from St. Petersburg (yes, Russia).  She also told me it is HER on the box.  I knew that.

Then, because both of us are enamoured with the History Channel's VIKINGS, she brought me THOR'S HAMMER, from Denmark.  It's dainty and beautiful bronze, and I will be wearing it and dreaming of Ragnar.  She's gonna' tell me Ragnar is HER'S - I know that, too.

Then, as if THAT wasn't enough, she brought me the softest Tweed yarn from Copenhagen (instead of chew, thankfully).  Now I will have to keep something I make, for myself.

It was starting to be something like opening a Matryoshka doll...gift after gift, from far-away lands.  And then, the "second broad from abroad" (Christy) got into the act, and brought me MORE great yarn - this even softer than the first two skeins.  All from Denmark, where the nights are cold and the Viking boys warm!  Much love and thanks to Jackie and Christy - you girls ROCK...you KNOW you DO!  I couldn't ask for two better friends.

And then...speaking of Matryoshka dolls...there was THIS stunning piece, for my daughter, as a gift from Jackie (they will trade for it - a tattoo for a highly cherished treasure).  This is absolutely jaw-dropping - hand painted ballerinas from the Swan Lake Ballet (my daughter LOVES the ballet), depicted on the fronts of 5 charmingly beautiful nesting dolls.  Straight from a little shop in front of the Palace of Catherine the Great, as she tells the story.  She's going to do well as a travel consultant!

She even snapped this photo of Carl Anderssons Street, in Sweden, remembering that I had evidently told her at some distant time, that was the name of my paternal grandfather.   Yeah, she's gonna' be awesome.

And how hot is it in Vegas these days, you might ask????????????  We haven't even hit the high mark for the day - it usually comes as the sun is going down.  And I don't know WHO the hell is inside of my phone, reporting that it's only PARTLY sunny????!!!!

And, contrary to popular belief, you really CAN'T fry an egg on the sidewalk.  Well, maybe you can, but I wasn't going to wait an hour - 20 minutes produced nothing, and I wish I had checked the Internet sooner - fried nothing but my bare feet, checking on it. Yeah, the heat might be affecting my brain.  And to the "Broads from Abroad", THANKS AGAIN, GIRLY GIRLS!!!!  Ragnar's MINE!  I'm knitting him a scarf!