Kitten looking for a home

This adorable little grey and white kitten came crying to our back door a few days ago. It was desperate, starving, abandoned of I gave it a little food and water. This morning it was on the window sill of my living room window looking in through the screen meow, meow, meow. I brought it in and confined it in the bathroom for now. It is so sweet, loves to be held, it purrs and purrs. I cannot keep this kitten. I have 4 adult cats. I think Bob brought this kitten home since all my cats seemed to know about it and seem to accept this little guy. They were talking with it when I got up this morning.

Please let me know if you know anyone willing to adopt this little kitten, it is very handsome beautiful markings, 4 white paws, might be long haired like my Maine coon cats. The fur seem to have two layers like my coon cats, tail looks like it will be full and fluffy. This little guy look very young. Tom is looking up how to tell the age on line. call 724-301-7079 if you want this kitten. We are in Mercer PA .

A spring walk

Tom and I walk to Brandy Springs Park. The geese and ducks are fun to watch. This is a warm St. Patrick's Day. Daffodils are blooming a month early.

This is Wingspan a free pattern from Ravelry. I am just getting started there will be a lot more points 8 at least. I have used 40 gms of my 100 gm ball of yarn. This is a handed Sea silk yarn from The Fleece Artist in Halifax. This is the only skein of yarn I purchased on the Knitting Cruise in Oct. I wanted to knit something special for myself. When I saw the pictures of Wingspan on Wendy's blog I thought it would be perfect. I am using #4 circular needles it is all garter stitch short rows. Easy and quick.

Blogger App

I just got the Blogger App for my I phone and it seems to work fine. It will make posting really easy. So I may post more often.
Here is a picture of the socks I am working on. They are toe up. I worked on them on the knitting Cruise in October. I bought Lucy's DVD on socks and did the garter stitch short row heel. I am finishing off the socks with feather and fan at the top. High socks to come above my new rubber boots. I will finish them this week.

Reading and Knitting the winter away

Knitting and reading. I knitted over 20 hats and at least a dozen pair of fingerless gloves and Mittens in the past couple months. I suppose I should be more focused on getting my house cleaned and stash in order but I just cannot get motivated. I am escaping my world and knitting my way into another.

WHY?? That is the question. Am I depressed? Am I Lazy? Am I avoiding reality? Time just seems to fly by and here I sit. KNITTING! and if I am not knitting I am reading. At least I stopped watching CSPAN; and watching the news and politics; it was way too depressing. Spring will come soon and I can get outside in my garden again.

I just finished reading The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak I enjoyed it so much I wanted to know more about Catherine so as soon as I was finished I looked up other books about Catherine the Great. It is so easy to do on the iPad. I just researched and read the reviews on Amazon and with in a few minutes I was reading my next book. I am reading Catherine the Great by Virginia Rounding, this book is not as good as the other one. Too much detail and moves way too slow. I may not finish it since it puts me to sleep.

Reading on the iPad is way better than reading real books. I like being able to research while reading and look up words and events while reading makes the story more interesting. It is way too easy to buy books. The reviews are helpful in making decisions about what book to buy. Just click and the book is there. No more waiting till your next trip to the library or trying to find a book in a book store. It is way too easy to spend money this way.

I have been saving PDF patterns on my iBooks document shelf. Using patterns in this way has caused my knitting to become more complex; trying new patterns in multi color designs.

I got a new app for creating and recording changes to published patterns but have not been willing to take the necessary time to learn to use the app. It is more fun to just knit rather than fiddle with the pattern on the computer. I no longer feel the need to share my patterns and pass them on. When I had my shop I always thought about keeping my patterns simple and recording my pattern as I knit just in case a customer asked me for the pattern. I do not need to think this way anymore, however, old habits are hard to break and people still ask for the patterns. Keeping track of my knitting as I knit is easier with the iPad but it does mean stopping and taking pictures and writing down the details and some days I just do not care to stop and make notes.

Winter will pass quickly at this rate and I still will not have my studio organized and cleaned out. OH! well there is always tomorrow. I suppose you now understand why it has been two months since my last post to this blog.

Tom and I are snug and warm in our little brick house watching the snow pile up outside.

Tom has Parkinson's Disease and has been on medication for it since Sept. 2010.

He is taking Isradipine and it is working. He is better now than he was two years ago. The results of the clinical trials at Northwestern University have been very good. Here is a link: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004310.html

Sale Nov. 19 & 20 Dragon Fly Studio Slippery Rock

I have been busy knitting and making handknit items for the sale this week end. Below are photos of some of my newest items and some scarves that were not sold last season that will be at Dragon Fly Studio this week end. I did not have much time to prepare for this. I was on a knitting cruise to Nova Scotia and just got back in time to get my garden ready for winter and make a few new items for this show. I made 6 pair of fingerless gloves and 4 new hats. I had a lot of items left from last years sale at the Pottery Dome so I was really happy to be invited to be part of this event. I hope you can come and enjoy some refreshments and see the beautiful handmade gifts that we will have on display. I always try to make a lot of my gifts or purchase gifts form local artists rather than buying from the big box stores. I hope you will consider coming to Slippery Rock and seeing what we have to offer. If you have any questions email me at ottercreek@mac.com. Nancy

Art Show and Sale at the Dragonfly Studio 135 Pink Road Slippery Rock, Pa. Sat., Nov. 19 - 10am to 4pm Sun., Nov. 20 - 1 to 4pm Work by 5 area artists Hosted by Nancy Hogg Kneupper Cash or check Bring a friend! If bad weather, call 724-794-6317 Directions from Slippery Rock - From the intersection of 108/173/258 (intersection with BP/Kwik fill stations/First National Bank). Go East on 108, 2.5 miles. Turn left onto Pink Road. 135 Pink road is the first house on the right. If you missed the turn on to Pink road and reach the intersection of 108 and Rt. 8, you have gone too far and need to turn around. Go about .7 miles back on 108 and turn right into Pink Road.

Highlights from summer 2011

Flowers in the pots on my deck did really well. The new boxes of veggies did well too.

I am still picking tomatoes.

My week at Chautauqua, Night before graduation
My graduation from Chautauqua Institute
My first year to have peaches. They were supposed to be white but turned out to be yellow free stone and delicious.

Summer Garden and Knitting

This has been a summer of fancy cupcakes and gatherings with friends. Evenings with live Jazz music in the park or outdoor cafe.

I am knitting summer lace socks and gardening.

It is very dry here so I am out in the morning at 6 AM watering my garden.

My blue berries are starting to get ripe. I just finished three weeks of picking cherries and making cherry pies and chrisp and making Cherry pancake topping.

Life in Mercer is pleasant. Our weather is mild with daytime highs in the low 80's and 60's at night. No severe storms, forest fires or floods.

The economy seems to be ok. I see have seen some help wanted signs. We have no homeless folks that I know of. There is a new super WalMart coming near our Outlet Mall. There are a lot of houses for sale and prices have dropped but no one wants to move here. Why? To move here you need to be retired or self employed. There are mostly service jobs, health care and education; a lot of our factory jobs left in the 1980's. Its a good life here if you can manage it.

I had a bumber crop of Montgomery Cherries
This Yeasrs lettuce crop was fantastic.

I pulled up most of it except for a the ones I will be leaving to go to seed.

I now have Romano pole beans and cherry tomatoes planted in this space.

ART-Knitting Performance Mark Newport at Edinboro

I got the following announcement from Anita Joslyn I went on line to the link she sent and checked it out. The knitting looks really cool. I probable will not make the evening lecture but the panel discussion and performance piece in the afternoon was tempting.

Each year the Visiting Artist Committee brings a guest artist to campus, and this year it is knitter Mark Newport. It’s a 2-day event with an evening lecture on March 31; then a panel discussion “Thinking Through Crafts” the next morning; and a 50-minute performance piece in the afternoon. Knitters invited to come and bring an in-progress project along to the latter. It’s all free admission. Feel free to share with your knitting friends and guild. Here is a link to the news release we sent out about it. http://www.edinboro.edu/news/detail.dot?inode=664471 If you decide to come to Edinboro for this, I can recommend the University Club for lunch. $6.50 per person, buffet style with a salad bar and beverage included. The food is always really good!

Feather Fan Tie Shawl

I just finished another tie shawl. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Light. I chose this fall colored yarn because I am knitting this shawl to wear on the Fall Knitting Cruise I just signed up for. The cruise will leave from NJ and go up the coast stopping in Portland and Bar Habor Maine, Nova Scotia to visit Lucy Neatby and return along the coast stopping in Boston. On board the ship I will take a knitting class from Joan Schrouder and another one from Donna Druchnas. I thought a shawl like this would be perfect for a fall cruise, Sept. 29 - Oct.8. You can link to more information about the cruise on the right. Please mention that you learned about the cruise from my web blog if you request information. I hope some of my knitting friends will be able to go along with Joyce and I on this knitting adventure.

This shawl pattern is my own; inspired by an article in Spin Off Magazine. This is the 6th one I have knitted and each one is a little different. I began this shawl by adding a cable section down the center. The same cable pattern as the hats in my last couple posts. I became obsessed with variations of this pattern back in November and knitted at least a dozen hats with variations of this cable pattern. As I continued knitting I wondered what would happen if I added a simple lace pattern. I placed markers every 18 stitches and began knitting Feather and Fan lace to the edge of this shawl.

I added the Feather and Fan Lace so I could use the shawl as a teaching example.

I will be teaching a class in Feather and Fan Lace at Knitters Fantasy on April 9 at Chaney High School in Youngstown. This will be the 16th annual Knitters Fantasy. I have been part of this event since it began and look forward to attending this year. If you want to find out more about the classes offered or details about the event check the link on the right side of this blog or google Knitters Fantasy.

Wow 2011, the time sure does fly when you are 64. Tom explained it this way. When you are 6 one year is one 6th of you life experience so it seem very long. The summers seem endless when you are a child. Now that I am 64 one year is only one 64th of my life experience.

The summers fly by as do the winters. It is easy to just say I will fix that next year because next year is just around the corner.

So I look out my kitchen window into my sad garden covered with snow. The clutter of last years garden that for some reason just did not get cleaned up and put away before the snow started to fall is hidden by a blanket of white. This will be an ugly site when the snow melts. Will it be bad enough to get me out of the house early in March to clean up the mess so that the spring lettuce can sprout as it did last year? I had lettuce up in my boxes on St Patricks Day last year. I even posted pictures.

So it is January all ready and I am sitting in my warn cozy house knitting looking out at the snow falling. Lattice Hats in angora and wool. Knitting has dominated my days once again. I knitted 8 pair of mittens for gifts.

I became enthralled by a cabled hat pattern with lattice cables and have made variations of the design at least a dozen times, as you can see in the pictures posted. I tried one with a rolled brim, I tried various ways of decreasing the top. I put earflaps on a couple. I knit one with bulky yarn and a traditional folded brim. I tried different sizes of yarn and needle sizes 4-9.

I liked the sport or DK weight yarn hats knit on #5 - 7 needles best. I made 5 with angora blend DK weight yarn. I I made one out of baby pink Angora that I increased into a modified tam shape.

On the last one I am still knitting is with Noro Silk Garden Yarn. Pictured above. I changed to a large cable at the top. The variegated color and uneven spin of the handspun yarn sort of hides the stitch pattern.

I will keep knitting this lattice pattern as long as the ideas keep flowing. I want to try a few more tam variations. I will post more pictures. I do not have a pattern to share since each hat is different. You can begin as I did by knitting KOOLHAAS HAT by Jared Flood. The red hat pictured above was inspired by this pattern. I did not finish the top of my hat as Jared did in his pattern. I started with his pattern and once I got the cabled down I set the pattern aside and went on my own. I liked the way the hat fit but it ended up a bit too short. The second hat was the blue hat and it was too long. With each hat I made changes to alter shaping and size. Each hat is a little different due to changes in yarn, needle sizes and number of stitches. One idea leads to the next. Will I ever tire of knitting variations of this pattern and move back to socks? Check in here and see.

Dec.11 Pottery Dome Holiday Open House

I am still knitting and weaving . I will have more hats and scarves at the opening of the Holiday Show on December 11. I just finished 3 more scarves and 10 more hats. It feels good to be creating again. I did not know how much I missed knitting hats till I knitted a few.

The open house is always fun with great food and beautiful music and beautiful things to delight your eyes and tempt your pocket book. Bring friends, meet old friends, shop for Christmas Gifts for the special people in your life. Open house is from 12 - 5

My previous post Nov. 23 included the invitation for open house so scroll down to see it if you missed it.

Here is a couple pictures of my stuff that is all ready on display at the Pottery Dome. i

Holiday Sale Pottery Dome Dec. 11, 2010

Warm wooly and wonderful just in time for the cold weather and holiday gift season.
Washed blocked and in the sun to dry new woven scarves and new knitted hats ready for the holidays. I have been busy knitting and weaving full time for the past month. It feels good to weave again. I have not been posting to my blog or doing much of anything else. I am getting the tags and labels made today and hope to deliver the items shown above to the Pottery Dome tomorrow afternoon. The open house is Dec.11 and it is usually a good time. Beautiful things to look at and great music and food too.

October Blues

What a Garden. Flowers and fruit I will be so sad to have that first killing frost and have to pull up and empty all my pots. I am picking red raspberries and cherry tomatoes and the flowers in the pots are beautiful. The leaves are turning orange and yellow so soon the flowers will be gone and the snow will begin again.



This is the same boxes that had the lettuce in the spring. Now harvesting tomatoes and beans.

Where did August go.

August just flew by. I spent a few days at Neshannock Woodworks log cabin textile museum. I will post pictures. I am still working on the loom this old barn frame loom warped.

I spent a few days at the Chautauqua Institution at the beautiful Athenaeum Hotel. What a treat. I am a life member the the Chautauqua Bird tree and Garden Club and I try to make it up every year for the Life members Luncheon. I won the centerpiece from our table pictured above. I also attended lecture by Ha Jin. and had him sign my copy of his latest book A Good Fall. I really enjoyed reading his book. It is a collection of stories about Chinese immigrants living in Flushing NY.

July garden and Blackberries

Today on the way back from putting my Netflix into my mail box, as I crossed the street I noticed my Apache Thornless Blackberry bush poking thru the picket fence surrounding my garden. I thought I saw something black and went to investigate and discovered some giant ripe berries. Wow! they were huge and delicious. I was surprised to see them. I usually look at this bush from the inside my garden and am looking at the north side of the bush growing on the inside corner of the fence. The berries are red as you see in the photo and look like it will be a few more weeks before they ripen. The south side of the bush faces the fence and is hidden by leaves and shaded by the fence. Some branches with berries are sticking out of the fence facing the street. These berries get more sun and must ripen sooner. I am glad I noticed these berries before a bird or someone walking by saw them. Last year I did not have ripe blackberries till the first week of August. Everything is a week early this year. Global warming? It sure has been hot and dry in July. We do not usually get this hot and dry weather till August.

My garden looks like a jungle. The remaining lettuce is blooming small yellow flowers on 3 foot high stocks. I am letting it self seed like it did last year. Right now it is not very pretty.

I have picked a few ripe tomatoes, green and yellow peppers, cucumbers, squash and green beans. I pulled up my garlic and harvested one container about 5 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes last week, I have 3 more boxes of potatoes to harvest. My garden is small scale. Just enough veggies to run out and pick a little of something for dinner. There is always something fresh to add to whatever I am cooking.

The straw bale garden experiment is starting to improve. I was not able to keep it watered enough. The tomatoes and parsley look healthy but are very small compared to the plants planted in my other containers. I have one squash and a couple cucumbers that are surviving too and might be okay if I can keep them watered.

My earth Box is looking great. Last year I tried eggplant in this box and was a total failure. This year I have one red grape tomato, two cucumbers, a small leaf bush basil, three parsley and two nasturtium. All are doing well. I picked 4 cucs and 6 tomatoes so far from this little Earth Box. I have also been clipping parsley and basil every other day or so.

My experiments with growing Veggies in containers have been interesting. I get better results every year. This garden has been my most productive one yet.

Visitors are welcome. If you are in Mercer and want to see my garden you may stop by. I am usually home in the afternoon. If you have pictures of your garden to share please email them. I love to see other gardens.

My Antique Roses

Bayes Purple a single repeating rose, very hardy and thorny planted 2003.

I love to collect antique roses. I have 28 different kinds. I should have more than that but some roses just do not make it thru the winter. Some are carefree and others need more attention.

I really need to get outside today and care for my roses. I bought 4 bags of mulch yesterday and hope to weed and clear out some competing Iris and day lilies to give the roses more space. . They are a joy to have but do take a little more time to keep them looking good. I like the old fashion cottage garden varieties. I also like thornless roses and ones that are nearly thornless. I have a couple thorny ones that I am trying to get rid of. It seems the thorny ones area very healthy and need constant pruning to keep them from getting too big.

I love yellow roses, Golden Showers is a modern climbing rose. I also have 5 other yellow roses. Morning Has Broken and Golden Wings are climbing roses. Jayne Austin, Charlot and Enchanted Autumn are grandifloral planted in 2003 and still struggling for life. I thought I lost Jane and Charlot last winter but they are sending up new shoots and seem to be doing better. The moles have tunneled under these roses. I am not sure what they do. Eat the roots? Or just deprive them of water? Anyways I have been trying to dig around the roots to fill in the tunnels. I also leave Black Beauty my little black mole killer cat out in the morning. She has given me 5 moles so far this summer.
The soft pink rose below is New Dawn from Two Sister Roses. A modern climber it was wonderful this year. I have blue clamatis growing with it and hope someday they will grow together and bloom at the same time. Maybe next year.

Bonica a modern shrub rose. I love this rose it blooms all summer. It has pointed buds with long stems and is wonderful to cut and bring in for the table. I only wish the Japanese beetles did not like it so much. They eat the buds.

Veilchenblau, Germany 1909 also known as the the Blue rambler. Color is a pink to light purple with white eyes. Lasts a long time as a cut flower too.
Classic Old fashion Rose Veilchenblau, a classic rambler, bloom is small semi double, wonderful apple blossom fragrance, almost thornless, blooms only once but its spectacular.

I planted this rose in the spring of 2008. This year was the first year that this rose really did what I hoped it would. Eventually I want it to cover my garden fence facing east. Stop by and see my roses mid June before the beetles get at them.