We don’t have a dining room. Well… we did. It was converted to an office years ago. You see, CB was really sweet to let me have the old office space for my shrine room. But, he really missed having a place to sit down and eat. So, recently he got this little table for the corner of the now office area. Kind of need something, right? He ordered table cloth. But looking at it, do you know what I am thinking? 
But it might turn into another favorite knitting technique.
What a weekend. We had more people at the Kathina celebration at the temple this year. I had to wear an uniform. Guess they didn’t want me disappearing into the crowd hiding? Sorry. No pictures. I didn’t even take my camera. Hopefully someone will send me some later.
Now back to the torture. I am talking about two-color Double Knitting. I wanted a more relaxed knitting project to do at the same time as the Spider Queen. Exchequered featured on Knitty.com seemed to be a good choice. It will also be a holiday gift to CB.
I decided to learn how to carry both yarn with my left hand doing continental for speed. Let me tell you, it really felt like a torture at first. A great way to practice purling continental style, I thought. But using the middle finger to carry yarn instead of holding the needle made all the hand movements so very awkward! Plus, once in a while I had to purl with the yarn carried on the middle finger. THAT was very difficult. Luckily it was just a rough start. Double Knitting and I are slowly becoming good friends. My hands are beginning to find comfortable ways to work the needles and yarn. I think I may even be loving Double Knitting!
I joined a Double Knitting group on Ravelry. Wow! It opened my eyes to more DK possibilities! I will post a few links on my Tricks&Treats page soon to show you some amazing Double Knitting pieces that I found online.
Don’t worry. I am not going to ignore Spider Queen. 
Someone in the guild just shared this with the group. Wow! Don’t throw out old newspaper. Think recycle.
I was going to name this post “Heaven”. But, as most of you know, there are serious wild fires going on in Southern California. The sun gave off an orange glow all day yesterday because of the smoke. I drove out to meet a client in South Pasadena and could smell the smoke there. According to KNBC.com, almost one million people evacuated from their homes. In San Diego County, one in three homes ordered to be evacuated. More than 1,600 homes destroyed. 
Hard to fathom that any of the fires was started intentionally by someone. But arson is suspected. If only these people can feel EACH AND EVERY heartbreak they caused.
It is a good thing that the wind has died down for the moment.
What was that “Heaven” business about? Well, just a quick mention now that I have sufficiently dampened the spirit. We went to Osteria La Buca in Hollywood for dinner last Thursday. The food was heavenly. I don’t remember having ever enjoyed food that much. Everything from appetizer to desert that we had was just fantastic. I ordered Tenette with Bolognese sauce. Hand made pasta cooked to perfection. The sauce looked simple. But with just one bite and I could taste all the love and care put into making it. Yum! Highly recommended. Do make dinner reservations if you want to go in the evening. The place was packed!
I FINALLY finished “My So Called Scarf” on Tuesday. It is a nice 7 feet long. I like my scarves long. I am also quite impressed with the dye job of Manos del Uruguay. I thought that with the deep, rich colors of the yarn, it would definitely bleed a little when I soak it in warm water. Not a bit. The water stayed clear! Oh, and I love my foam tiles for blocking.
My Harmony needles arrived yesterday. The tips are a little sharper than the Inox’s metal tips, which I was hoping for. (Photo shows US #3 Harmony and Inox.) The colors of the needles are quite fun! Definitely darker than what Knit Picks’ web site shows. Now I will have to see if they are durable. Time to cast on again for Spider Queen!
Have you seen Snowball dance? Check out the original post here. You can see a long version here.
Marianne, Moonflower sounds like a dream plant! Huge fragrant flowers (6 inches) that glow under the moonlight. It thrives in poor, dry soil. (Can you believe that?) Just plant and enjoy. You can’t ask for an easier plant! 
And I can just go on Burpee.com and order the seeds! Yippee for Burpee!!! This is making me want to garden again. Just need to figure out where. CB and I used to do more gardening, putting fresh flowers around our unit. But we have a couple of ladies here that think anything on the property is theirs to play with. They move them wherever they want. They throw their old plants in our pots. One of them waters plants with powerful jets that always damage the delicate flowers. The worst is the sprinkling of chemicals on the plants. We just stopped bringing in new plants because they get killed anyway.
Oh Jane, they have Bleeding Heart (which I love too) on Burpee.com. And they can be shipped to California! It’s out of season though.
Speaking of growing something…
I am letting my hair grow long. Possibly longer than shoulder length. I’ve never had my hair that long. So, what the heck. If I don’t like it, I’ll just have it cut, and maybe donate it to a charity. Will they take graying hair? Let me tell you something though. I went to the store to get hair product to keep my stubborn hair tidy. Talk about a large selection of stuff. I was totally lost. Oh! And I got this:
SCRUNCHIES! No, not for my hair! I’ll be using these to replace the rubber bands tensioning devices on the Lendrum. Hmmm… but maybe I’ll save a few for later.
