First Year of Retirement = Lots of Distractions

My first full year of retirement is coming to a close. I retired on December 15 last year. It's been such a full year, I wonder how I managed to ever work full time!

Hiding in the sunflowers

In April, Pat and I became foster parents to my grandson. It is a temporary situation while we help him get his study habits under control, but I anticipate having him for about a year. However, that meant at the age of 60, I became an instant parent of a pre-teen.

My grandson has been a great help around here. If you flip over to my Bungalow Blues blog you will see photos of him helping with the garden, both the growing and the processing of our crops. (http://grannytilla.blogspot.com)

Dressed for Game Day

Besides becoming a "farmer", he has taken to sports. I got in a lot of knitting while going to baseball practice and watching games. It was a bit harder to knit at the football games, but I was there for all the home games. Most of his basketball games have seemed to be on the road. My knitting is in my purse. When there is a home game, I

'm ready!
In September, Pat and I agreed to get a divorce. It was a surprise to me, but the grandson and I will muddle along without him. Pat has returned to Oregon. It sure shortens my Christmas knitting list. One decision removes a husband, two kids and five grandkids from my shopping list.

Joe and Lisa's wedding day

On a happier note, my son and his fiance were married in October. Since they couldn't afford the big church wedding they wanted, they opted for a fun wedding instead. They were married on Halloween and all the guests came in costume. The groom came as Herman Munster. His bride was Lily Munster. They are posing with niece Lala, who came as Wednesday Addams. Her brother was Pugsley.

Now it is November. We have already had the first snow of the year, on November 16. (Does that mean 16 snows this winter?) I have several knitting projects lined up. The south bedroom will soon become my hobby room, complete with sewing machine, serger, and all those boxes of fabric. I can see a cozy winter ahead.

I do wonder where all that free time went that I was supposed to have upon retirement. As I look back over the year, I've been too busy to even KNIT. That's just not right!

Summer of Distractions

I am proud of Reyes. He has gone from a couch potato to a real kid this summer. He played summer baseball; has gone swimming nearly everyday; and started weight-training to prepare to football in the fall. He has firmed up, lost a bit of weight (about 10 lbs.) and is a happier kid. He helps me with the garden and has been a real help with the houseful of kids this week. Guess living with Grandpa and Grandma is good for him. :)

I haven't been knitting a lot, except when we are on the road. I have a pair of tabi socks about 1/2 finished. During Reyes' baseball season I worked on the llama-wool sweater (until it got too warm to work with wool.) I have put it away till cooler weather.

Then I started a string bag. It's in the bottom of one of my knitting baskets. I vaguely remember something about needing to frog a bit because I couldn't watch baseball and keep track of the pattern. (Oops!) Guess I'll get back to that one later as well. The socks are better when I am distracted. I'm in the section that is all stockinette for 8 inches.

It's been a busy summer. I am canning or freezing something from the garden every day. This picture shows just ONE DAY'S produce! I managed to "put by" all but the tomatoes that day, and turned them into sauce the next day. Since I have just planted peas and salad greens for a fall garden, the garden will be with us for quite a while yet. (For more on the garden, see my other blog: http://grannytilla.blogspot.com). I want to sew, but have no idea when I'll get time to do it. I really need to get started because school starts in 2 weeks and Reyes needs school clothes.

This week Pat, JJ, and Ashley have gone to Florida to check on Ashley's inheritance after her father was killed. I am watching Kayleigh and Emily while they are gone. Jen expected to be working, so I have Lala, also. Reyes, of course, lives here, so there are 4 grandkids to feed, watch, and entertain along with the other projects. I wish I were twins.... I would like to have a time to let Kayleigh sew a blouse. She is like Lala and loves to sew. Both of them have toy sewing machines that have been a big disappointment. Getting to use a real machine should be much better. Oh, well, you can see I found a way to keep the kids busy. When they weren't at the swimming pool, they helped me process garden produce. This was the day we made ketchup.

There are so many things I want to do and can't get started: refinish a few pieces of furniture; strip and repaint the stained glass window from the front room; transplant the irises, peonies and lilies from the front flower bed; the list goes on. Hm... I am going to be very ready for winter and a lot of quiet knitting time. Just writing this posting is making me tired.

Go, Lala! She Makes Her First Dress

Didn't Lala do a good job on her first big sewing project? She did 80% of the sewing on this dress. As she puts it, "Grandma did the hard parts."

Several years ago, when Lala was six, Uncle Robert gave her a toy sewing machine. Neither Jen nor I thought she was ready for it, so it stayed in the Christmas paper until recently. Lala has been watching her mother sew this Spring and she wanted to sew, too.

Out came the toy machine. Immediate frustration! It wouldn't work right. Stitches broke. It couldn't handle two thicknesses of fabric to sew a doll dress. The experience was horrible.

Her last bad experience was at my house around Easter time. We were making scrunchies for her hair. The toy machine couldn't even handle that simple a project. Remembering the advice "Don't start a beginner with inferior tools. It can kill the desire to learn," I gave Lala a REAL sewing machine -- my old Singer Merritt zigzag machine. She was overwhelmed! It was so big; so fast! It was really hers? She wasn't sure she wanted to sew with it, yet, so she decided it would continue to live at Grandma's house.

Fast forward to her visit this month. She has continued to try to sew with the toy machine at her Mom's but is totally disgusted with it. Now she's ready to use HER machine. I had some pink calico left over from a nightgown I made her. She picked the pattern and I cut out a summer dress for her. She was expecting me to make the dress, but I pulled out the Singer, and said, "Okay, Lala. You're going to make this dress." Her jaw dropped; her eyes got big. She had never made anything larger than a pillow before.

The dress was a Simplicity pattern. We read the instructions step by step and she did most of the work. I did the tricky things, like sewing the bodice lining and inserting the zipper. She and I both laid the hem using the built-in hem-stitch. Lala loved it. She's ready to make something else next week. Well, Hancock's Fabric has a 99 cent pattern sale going on. Perhaps we can go to Lawrence to the fabric store tomorrow...

Easter and Grandma Iris' Boutique

At Christmas, I gave the Kansas grandkids gift certificates from "Grandma Iris' Boutique." Each child got 2 certificates, one for a knitted hat or scarf, and the other for one outfit. Ashley traded her clothing certificate for a trip to Merle Norman.

Reyes and Lala got their fabric first. I took Kayleigh and Emily to the fabric store last Saturday and found their fabric. It's a good thing Pat traded a camera to Steve for his late Mom's serger. I'm going to be a busy woman now! Lala's outfit was the first one I made. I finished it in time for Easter. I'm not certain who will be next. Reyes could use more pants, but the outfits for the girls are so-o-o-o cute! Hm...

I was trying to get a shot of Lala's full Easter outfit but Joe started pestering her. The next thing I knew, everyone was in the shot.

We had a houseful for Easter. There were about 14 people here. (That's getting to be the standard number.) I'm glad we have a big living room and lots of folding chairs! Pat barbecued hot dogs, hamburgers and bratwurst outside on the grill. We had the usual fixings -- baked beans, mac n cheese, jello, chips, dip. The hit of the day, however were the fresh strawberries and chocolate that Jennie brought. Gonna have to remember that when our strawberry bed starts producing.

Heartbreaking

Pat just tried on the finished Oregon Vest.

It's way too small.

I made it to gauge; I thought I was using the right type of yarn, and I made the size for his chest size, but it is way too small. It's probably going to be a vest for one of the grandkids. It certainly won't fit an adult, and it may not fit Reyes.

It's not fair!!!

Oh, well. I've still got the pattern. I'll try again later. AFTER I do the sweater coat for me. I'm not ready to start this one again at this time.

Wamego Oz Museum

Many of my KansasKnitters friends who went to the Wamego Wool Fest also zipped over to Manhattan to pay homage at the Wildflowers yarn store. We didn't. After a leisurely lunch at the Friendship Restaurant with Carol and Carla, two of my long standing friends, Lisa, Lala and I toured the Wool Fest and the Settler's Farm yarn shop, then we took in the Oz Museum. The minute we arrived in town L
ala had declared she wanted to go there. We kept our promise that we would see it before we left.

It's a cool little museum. There was a lot more stuff to see than I anticipated. There are life-sized replicas of the characters from the Oz film and a lot of movie memorabilia as well as copies of the book in various editions, English and other languages, as well as Oz spin-offs such as dolls and games. I never knew there was an Oz version of Monopoly! Lala wanted to take home the Glenda the Good Witch doll. It was at least 20" high and fully costumed as Glenda. I'm glad there was a glass case around it or my doll lover would have been checking it out up close and personal.

We asked Lala which was her favorite character. She couldn't decide, so I took her picture with all of them. She likes Dorothy and the ruby slippers (the slippers on display had hundreds of rhinestones handset on them), Tinman, Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow, but she decided the Wicked Witch was scary. The Wizard was temporarily unavailable (or hiding behind the curtains) so we didn't get a picture with him.

Ever since seeing the Oz movie as a child, I have wondered how they got the flying monkeys to fly. I couldn't decide if the monkeys were real people in costume or models. Sometimes they looked one way, sometimes another, but the transition was seamless and it was hard to tell what I was seeing. This was especially true when I was watching on a small screen and was wearing glasses with old prescription lenses.

The mystery is solved! The Wamego museum has two of the last surviving four miniature monkeys used to film the flying scenes. The figures are about four inches high and appear to be made of clay. They are modeled and painted to look like the actors who dressed as monkeys. The flying was done as some version of claymation.

A video clip discussed other movie animation tricks. There were several techniques invented for this movie. It had some of the most intensive special effects of its time, the Star Wars of its day. The video clip was discussing how the tornado scene was done. The funnel cloud was created by making a gauze funnel and attaching the top to a runner across the top of a sound stage while the base was on wheels on the floor. This allowed special effects men to operate top and bottom independently while the film crew got shots of it long distance and coming straight at you. The flying debris was added via blue screen later.

The visit to the museum was enjoyable. Lala just had to have her own Toto from the gift shop. On the drive home she sat in the backseat happily playing with Toto and singing Oz songs.

Yarn crawl, grandkids, a good museum. It was a good day. I'm going to have to take Lala to Sedan next. They have a Yellow Brick Road.

Texas Grandkids Visit

When we returned from Texas yesterday, we brought back the Texas grandkids, Reyes and Lala. Reyes is 10; Lala is 8. They will be here Thurs. and Friday and Uncle Joe will take them to Oklahoma City to meet their Mom on Saturday. (OKC is about half way to Dallas from here.)  We're getting it ready to sell. (Anyone want to buy a house in a suburb of Dallas?)

We bought them yarn and spool knitters to work on in the van, but they mainly dozed and asked "are we there yet?" We ended the "Are we there yet?" question by stopping in Oklahoma and Kansas at the Tourist Information Centers. We got each kid his/her own map of the state we were driving through and showed them how to follow the line for I-35. Every time we'd pass a town, I'd ask "What town will we come to next?"

Lala caught on quickly, but Reyes has a bit of his parents' ADD. He swore he didn't know how to read a map. On the other hand, he quit asking "Are we there yet?" because he could tell we hadn't traveled all the way along the green line yet.

Mean ol' Grandma. Making a kid learn something on a summer vacation!

Actually, I think the kids are here to visit Uncle Joe. They really love their uncle and don't get to see much of him while he's going to school at Emporia State. Pat and I both worked today and will again tomorrow. Fortunately, Uncle Joe is between school sessions, so he is the designated babysitter. (Ah, that's hard on all of them! He missed the kids as much as they missed him.)

They talked him into taking them swimming today. I've already heard plans to go again tomorrow. They are watching videos and playing Runescape when they aren't pestering their Uncle. This part of vacation is good!

Bragging on Grandkids!

I'm so impressed with Kayleigh and Emily! They learned to knit this week and they are really good at it. By the way, I love the picture of them at work, but am so sorry I took it AFTER Emmy ran into a pole on the school yard. She has the most beautiful shiner to show for it. Will her Mom ever let her visit Grandma's again??

Kayleigh is 10, Emmy is 6. They are visiting us from Illinois this week. Kayleigh likes to do handwork and I had promised her we'd knit this week. I found her circular needles and some Lion Brand Cottontots yarn in pink and white. She wanted to make a purse. I cast on for her and taught her the ditty for making the knit stitch. (In through the door, run around the back, out the window, off jumps Jack!). She had it down pat in minutes. The only problem she had was with a few dropped stitches along the way. She finished the purse yesterday. I added eyelets for the drawstring and bound it off. It looks terrific!

Emmy wanted to make a purse, too. She learned to spool knit. (That's right -- now it's called loom knitting...) At first I had her using Lily Sugar n Cream cotton yarn. We set it up and she took to town with it, but kept getting confused which way the yarn should go. That's when I realized Emmy is left handed!. I took the yarn off, and laid the stitches going the other way, then showed her how to work the loom left-handed instead of right. Oh! That was easier. She was off like a rocket.

Unfortunately, that yarn was so thin, she wasn't making any progress at all. We found her some bulky yarn and tried again. That's all she needed! In the course of one evening's movie watching, she produced four inches of knitting!!. No dropped stitches. It's beautiful work.

I couldn't believe a six year old had that kind of attention span. She really enjoys her loom.

They go home tomorrow. I hope to get a picture of them knitting before they go.

Flat Lala

Granddaughter Lala's class read the book Flat Stanley, about a boy who has a bulletin board drop on him and it makes him "flat as a pancake." Other than that, Stanley is quite healthy. He finds his new condition fun -- he can fold himself into an envelope and mail himself on vacations.
The class made Flat Students and has mailed them to family and friends all over the country. They are going to learn math (how far did your Flat Student travel?), geography (where did s/he travel?), reading and language skills as well as social studies from the project.
Flat Lala arrived at our house yesterday. She went to work with me today and helped type library cards, make calls to schedule library visits and she rode in the Camaro with the convertible top down. (Of course she wore her safety belt so she wouldn't fly away.)
Tonight Flat Lala received a hand knit skirt (that can be worn as a poncho) and a crocheted lavender beret. She may be one of the best dressed Flat Students going.
The above picture shows Flat Lala reading her bedtime story.
I'm having fun with this project. I hope real Lala enjoys it as much as Grandma does!
By the way, Flat Lala has her own blog. It's http://FlatLala.blogspot.com