In Memory

Monday morning I found out that my aunt had passed away late Sunday night after her battle with Multiple Myeloma. It has been an emotional week. There are so many memories and, even though her death was not unexpected, it was still a shock. A break between knowing she is gone and wondering how she could not be at her house planning the next Christmas breakfast or gathering. She will be missed.

When Tomorrow Starts Without Me

by David Romano
When tomorrow starts without me
And I'm not there to see;
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me.
I wish so much you wouldn't cry
The way you did today;
While thinking of the many things
We didn't get to say.

I know how much you love me
As much as I love you;
And each time that you think of me,
I know you'll miss me too.
But when tomorrow starts without me
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name
And took me by the hand.

She said my place was ready
In heaven far above;
And that I'd have to leave behind,
All those I dearly love.
But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye;
For all my life, I'd always thought
I didn't want to die.

I had so much to live for,
So much yet to do;
It seemed almost impossible,
That I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays,
The good ones and the bad;
I thought of all the love we shared,
And all the fun we had.

If I could relive yesterday
Just even for awhile,
I'd say goodbye and kiss you
And maybe see you smile.
But then I fully realized
That this could never be;
For emptiness and memories
Would take the place of me.

And when I thought of worldly things
I might miss come tomorrow;
I thought of you, and when I did,
My heart was filled with sorrow.
But when I walked through heaven's gates
I felt so much at home;
When God looked down and smiled at me
From His great golden throne.

He said, "This is eternity
And all I've promised you;
Today your life on earth is past,
But here it all starts anew."
"I promise no tomorrow,
But today will always last;
And since each day's the same day,
There's no longing for the past."
"But you have been so faithful,
So trusting and so true;
Though at times you did do things,
You knew you shouldn't do."
"But you have been forgiven
And now at last you're free;
So won't you take my hand
And share my life with me?"

So when tomorrow starts without me,
Don't think we're far apart
For every time you think of me,
I'm right here in your heart.

Springtime Knitting

Today I took advantage of the beautiful weather and the great company and took my knitting outside. I decided to take out what I started yesterday and cast on fewer stitches to bring the neckline in for a cardigan I would be able to wear with more outfits. Although I made great progress, I am now looking at what I have so far and it is only about two inches. It could be because the needles are so small...or I suppose it could have something to do with the many breaks for ice cream, sandwiches, English Breakfast Tea (which some believe is only for winter mornings, but which is actually perfect year-round and throughout the day), frisbees, trampolines, puppies, etc. Whatever the reason, I had a great day and the start of a beautiful sweater!

If I ever get lost...

I want Piper to find me! This morning I got the opportunity to watch a CARDA training/testing day. The California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) does search and rescue when people are missing. Today Blu, a bloodhound from San Jose, did an amazing job tracking on a test run. Piper is also being trained for search and rescue and she loves it. I hope I am never in need of it, but it is comforting to know that there are people so dedicated to training their dogs and volunteering their time for search and rescue. I am always amazed at what these dogs are capable of doing. I enjoyed watching them work the trails and follow the twists and turns of the trail. I am also impress with the time commitment the trainers and owners are willing to make. A special thanks to all of you!
This afternoon, I finally found my spring pattern. I have been so busy that I have not had as much time for knitting. I have been having withdrawls and today I was able to go on Ravelry and search. I had found some that I liked...well enough. But today I found the pattern notes for a sweater by the amazing CanarySanctuary that was inspired by Luna Lovegood's sweater in the 5th Harry Potter movie. Exactly what I was looking for and it inspired me enough to cast on right away! Given how much free time I have been having, I don't know how long it will take me to finish, but I'm very excited.

Debbie Bliss and HTML...The Highs and Lows

My head is swimming with HTML and PHP since I have been busy making changes to the website. It is definitely a different language and it makes me realize how spoiled I have become by programs that do the "thinking" for me. It's ever so much simpler to just hit ENTER instead of code!
To balance that out, I got to enjoy a new shipment of Debbie Bliss yarns today. In preparation for spring and summer, Needles and Ewe now has Eco Cotton and Pure Cotton. They are delightfully soft and have fabulous colors. There is also Rialto Aran in a beautiful Rose. The superwash wool is very appealing and I must admit I am a sucker for soft yarn.

New Moon Rising

In honor of the DVD release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which I watched last night, I have decided to post the pictures of my Twilight-inspired Phenomenon glove/mittens (aka glittens). This was one of my projects in January (National Knit Mittens Month, as you all know), though I confess I did take about two weeks off and, as a result, ended on *gasp* February 2nd.


I love them! I wore them more than I expected to, mostly because I turned them into flip top mittens. For some reason, I hate the idea of having my fingers trapped in a mitten even though I know I can just take off the mitten if I really needed my fingers. Anyway, the flip top turned out really well. If I had it to do over again, I would cast on a few extra stitches for the flip top on the thumb to give a little extra room.

Now I just need to add my modifications and pictures to Ravelry!

Taxes and Family

Today I had the unhappy task of collecting all my information for taxes. It's something I have been dreading and, as usual, I put it off. All I have to find is one insurance paper and two property tax papers and I think I have it all. I say "I think" because every year, I always have the feeling that I am forgetting something important...something that, if I could only remember it, would make it so that I would get a HUGE tax refund. Alas, at this point that something eludes me...but it does feel good to have everything done. Now all that's left is to hand it off to the taxman for him to do his CPA magic! (Please be a refund, please be a refund!)

On a much happier way to end the day, we had an impromptu family gathering when it happened that everyone was in town from Washington/Idaho, Sacramento, Hanford, and Fresno. A delicious dinner and three kinds of pie...Yum!

Spring is in the Air

Today was a beautiful spring day--the kind of day where you'd really rather be outside. Winters are cold a nd summers are usually over 100 degrees, but today was the kind of day that gives you energy. My flowers are cheerfully blooming and the bees are out (as proven by the girls that pulled up in front of the house today and jumped out screaming while they tried to get a bee out of the car).

As far as knitting goes, however, I was making great progress on my Nob Hill sweater and the weather is making me too antsy to finish it right now. How can I work on a bulky sweater when the weather is calling out for something light and airy? I have some beautiful yarn that is waiting for the perfect pattern. I just need to match the right yarn with the right pattern. One yarn is a light fingering/fingering weight and the other is a sport weight. Any sweater/pullover suggestions are welcome!

The Wedding Ring...Get to Sewing!

What an amazing group of ladies I got to spend the weekend with! Jessica and Luke have so many people who love them and contributed a block (or more) to a HUGE quilt for their wedding. I think it must be bigger than a king size. This weekend was the weekend to get all the collected blocks together and assembled. The first step was to get everything laid out and put in order so that it moved around the quilt in a rainbow...making sure to get Jessie's approval, of course ;)


After getting everything laid out and trimmed to be the same size, we needed a few more blocks to finish out the row. Here is one that Tanya and I did and one from my mom:



I dream of one day making my house as organized and creative as Cindy's house. Each room is decorated and so cute. Thanks for letting us use your house!



And, in case you were wondering...it really does take three people to iron so many blocks--maybe we were being silly with the three people at the same time, but that's OK.



The finished project turned out beautifully...but so big Mark and Luke had to stand on step ladders for the picture. Much love to Jessica and Luke...I hope you love the quilt!

A Conversation with Stocks

AAPL I love you! Although my stocks as a whole are about -1%, it would be pretty dismal without Apple. NTDOY, however, you have failed me! I'd still like Mario Kart, but really Nintendo, see what you can do for me on raising the price of your stocks. All in all, though, a much better situation than a year ago when my stocks were REALLY negative.

Too Cute for Words...and Nameless

My parents have added a new little puppy to the family, despite Piper being the "last dog" they would ever have. She is a Belgian Malinois and about 6 weeks old. Since she is so young, pretty much all she does is sleep--so all of the cuteness and none of the destruction...yet. The good news for me is that I will be able to visit whenever I want and still go home to peace and quiet.
This is a face anyone could love!


Last night Jessica came over to work on the beautiful embroidered felt flowers for her wedding. They are turning out so well. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Yarn! Yarn! Yarn!

I realize I really don't need an "accountability partner" for getting things done...posting them on a blog is very effective! I had an enormously productive weekend. I updated my Ravelry projects AND finished my brown shrug (which I love!). Add in a trip to the craft store, a sample sale (yay for cute clothes!), and beautiful spring sunlight, and it's a wonderful weekend.

Today I added more yarn to my Etsy store, http://www.etsy.com/shop/NeedlesAndEwe, and I have confirmed that I DO love yarn! I think it is something only a quilter or knitter or other crafter can understand, but just looking at yarn makes me a little giddy. I don't even have to touch it (though that is great, too)--looking at it is enough for me. When I got my first shipment of yarn in, everyone could tell by how happy I was...though I confess they also knew because I couldn't help but share the information ;) And, although they enjoyed a smiling me, they all reminded me (a little cruelly, I thought), "Now you know you don't get to keep all this yarn for yourself, right?"

Yes...I did know that. But, unless someone wants to buy a huge shipment of yarn (if that's you, let me know!), I only have to part with it a little at a time!

Welcome to Needles and Ewe!

OK, so I am notoriously bad at consistently writing journals, e-mails, and letters. My Ravelry page spent a long time with no project pictures...crying the whole time, I'm sure. My great idea was to add the care instructions for each yarn to my project page so I would not forget, but yeah, that hasn't happened yet. (Note to self: I think that will be on my to-do list this weekend, along with my brown shrug.) ...and that is why it takes me so long: I can't seem to avoid tangents! But back to the point, I have decided to use Julie/Julia as my inspiration and commit to a blog for one year. Since I do know myself, I am going to go for one post a week, cheer for myself, and count any extra posts as, well, extra.

I love crafts of all sorts. They usually fall into the category of crafts I've done, crafts I'm going to try soon, and crafts I will keep in reserve to try in a few years or so. The current obsession is knitting, which I have been doing for about a year and a half, though crochet, sewing, quilting, rubber stamps, ceramics and so many others would make the crafts list. One thing on the list of future things to learn would be stained glass...ahh, so many crafts and not enough time!

Speaking of time...that's it for my first post. I have considered going back and changing it from three posts to one per week (though I didn't) and I considered staying up past midnight tonight to add a second one tonight (but I decided that would be cheating), so for now I bid you adieu!