Memorial Day

Memorial Day for me is not just remembering and giving thanks for those citizens and friends of the USA who have given the ultimate sacrifice for me, but remembering and giving thanks for all my friends and family who have sacrificed and loved me during my journey here on this plain!

I am feeling sentimental today and missing people that I don't get to see anymore on a regular basis. Thank GOD for the internet, facebook, blogs, email, Ravelry, and the phone. I don't think I would have been able to move to Mexico without being able to stay in touch with my extended family.

I recently have reconnected with friends from Dallas through facebook. What a gift! I spent many, many hours, days, weeks, months, and years with these people. They had quite a positive impact on my life in forming how I think about myself, life, the world, spirit!

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING!
I love you this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!much!

Please know that you are often in my thoughts even though I'm over 1000 miles away. Hope everyone reading has a wonderful, grateful, reflective Memorial Day weekend!

Orenburg progress report

These balls of yarn are the three colors I'm using in the project. This is the first section of the right edge then you pick up stitches along the straight edge being created and use the copper color. The main triangle will be the sable color in the middle -- perrty huh?!

detail of the tooth edge

I've gotton some knitting done on the Orenburg lace and wanted to share some pictures of my progress. Once I wrote out the repeat lines from the chart I started enjoying the knitting more and making progress. However, it's getting a bit redundant.

Russian knitters primarily use k2tog or k3tog for decrease no matter which side you're on. I like that!

Anyway, I don't have a good book to read this weekend so most of my time will be knitting -- hopefully I can make good progress.

Orenburg Lace

I have started a shawl that I bought at a knitting conference in Sugarland, TX several years ago. It's a russian lace shawl that was featured in Piecework, Sept/Oct 2002, pg 51; "Triangular Warm Shawl" designed by Galina Khmeleva. It is all charted. I use to be able to do charts, even liked working from them--no sweat! My eyes are older now and my glasses aren't that great so words are better.

Roy scanned and enlarged the first chart for me, but it was taking me forever, knit one row, rip rip rip, knit it again, rip rip rip. So today I took the time to write out each row of the repeat section and away I went. Much more fun now and quicker. Actually making some progress.

By the way, I LOVE RAVELRY ! I found someone there who has made this same shawl and she (Karen from Bethesda, MD) has already helped me with my first "problem" in reading the chart. Knitters are the friendliest people.

Small world, Karen's husband used to live in San Miguel de Allende a while ago! I'll get a picture soon so you can see the progress I'm making.

Feather & Fan

too close and I can't get it in focus!

I have knitted many feather & fan shawls, baby blankets and samplers, but when I received this pattern (as a surprise) in the mail from my buddy Virginia Martinez I was looking for something to knit. This fit the bill.

I had previously gotten two different colorways of the new Noro Silk Garden sock yarn and so was ready to go. If I had gotten the pattern and then gone out to find yarn for the project I would not have used these two colorways -- one was for socks for Roy and the other was going to be a pair of bright socks for me. When I was working on the shawl, I wasn't sure I liked how it was turning out, but Roy kept telling me it was pretty.

One of the things I learned early on is that when you're the knitter you are sometimes too close to the project to see it the way others will. This is one of those projects. I think it turned out really well because of the light/dark effect of the two yarns -- two rows with one ball and two rows with the other.

I wish I cold take better pictures of my knitting, cause I think it's much prettier in person than in these pictures. Anyway...

SF Update

Roy and I went out to the grocery store today because I wanted to stock up on bottled water, fruits and veggies, soda, snacks, etc. As I mentioned in my previous post, we were told restaurants were going to be closed, but that seems not to be the case. Almost all of our favorites are open and have dine-in service available. We are guessing that the suggestion to close is more for big places in Guad where many millions of people live. Here, at this time of year, if a restaurant has more than 10 people at a time that's a good night. But now, I have lots of food in the house and I'll need to cook it up to make room in the refrigerator again. I did cook Steak Diane tonight from Paula Deen's cookbook and made a side salad. It was real good!!!! Roy was sweet and cleaned up the kitchen for me. That's the part you don't see on the Food Network cooking shows. The people cooking are not doing any of the cleaning up -- and when you cook there's lots to clean up! Some of those guys don't even do all their own cooking -- it's not as easy as it looks on the TV.

The village is very quiet except for a few boys in our neighborhood who are playing in the street. Not many delivery trucks or even traffic for that matter. Still no confirmed cases of the flu here in Jalisco. Thanks to everyone who's written to me on my blog with your kind thoughts.

BUT OMG is it ever getting warm! This month is going to be a long one. It's in the high 80's (that means it's almost 90) on our terraza by late afternoon and tonight there's no breeze except for the fans -- thank god for electricity! Some of you may not realize there is not A/C here -- way toooo expensive, but our house is an old adobe construction so the walls are about 16" thick and that helps keep the inside cooler between 6-10 degrees. Even still, when it's 90 outside it's about 79-80 inside and it makes it hard for me to cool off enough to fall asleep easily. But one month out of 12 isn't a bad trade off for almost perfect weather for the other 11 months.

I'll keep you posted and thanks for following my blog! It's really nice to know people are reading.

Swine Flu

Well, as of today at 5:30pm there are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Jalisco, which is the state I live in here in Mexico, however the Governor of Jalisco has ordered all restaurants here closed except for take out food until May 6th. That's pretty alarming to me. I'm gonna have to cook more and I worry for the restaurants here at Lake Chapala who depend on tourists and/or gringos for their main customer base.

Roy, who is the quintessential under reactor, is not worried at all. I, of the get more nervous and lean towards panic group, am a bit more concerned. I'm hoping that the W.H.O. is being diligent about their reporting so they get everyone's attention and possibly more funding for vaccines and this is not going to be a black plague event in the 21st century.

When you live in a foreign country maybe you feel more vulnerable. I wish I was in the US right now, but don't want to get on an airplane which is the 3rd rail in spreading germs.

A very few people here lakeside are wearing face covers, which the CDC and WHO say doesn't do anything except keep your germs off someone else. But if it makes you feel better -- go for it!

I want to go out and stock pile water, canned foods, soda, vodka...

Keep you posted...

I miss Texas and Bluebonnets

I just started adding my knitting and crocheting books to my Ravelry site -- that place is awesome. I also found a blog of another Houston knitter in Ravelry and she'd posted pictures of the bluebonnets blooming. If you've ever seen a field of bluebonnet in the Spring then you know how I'm feeling right now -- they are incredible. Thank you again so much Lady Bird Johnson!


This isn't a picture of bluebonnets -- but I guess you can figure that out on your own -- but it is a picture from the pier in Ajijic of a sunset in April on the lake -- pretty cool huh!

I miss Texas sometimes , but there is something special about Lake Chapala too. Happy Spring my friends and family back "home".