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Today I'm full of opinions.   The cat toy above is a winner. Santa brought it to the cats in our house this Christmas and they continue to play with it all the time.  Even old Rozzy gets up to play with this toy.  The middle is a scratcher and Beatles has already worn the first side of it out.  Flip it over and you have another surface for scratching.  Well worth the money, this is up there with Da Bird in the cat toy department.    No surprise here: I love wooden Clover needles.  I am using them now on the baby poncho.  I promise to show the poncho tomorrow. It is at the hood stage and it is darling.   I'd use another yarn next time as this acrylic has almost no give to it, and I like some give. Don't you? Expensive Lancome moisturizer and fade cream is a bust. It is going back for a full 120.00 dollar refund.  Are you laughing?  Was I nuts to try it for that price?  The counter girl said it is complete...

;   The gardens got a bit of tending to, yesterday.  I think the garden, in return,  tends to me..  When I plant seeds in the spring earth, it fills me with the simplest joy.  I planted chives and cilantro near the daffodils.  The rest of my herb plans will have to wait until the danger of frost is well past.  My baby poncho is coming along inch by inch: 6 inches down, 1 to go before we change it up and knit the collar.  I had to put my knitting down at one point last night.  We were watching  :Night of the Grizzlies.... a documentary.  What a story.  Two girls were mauled by Grizzlies in Glacier National Park by two different bears at two different places on the same night.   It was August 13th, 1967.  That would be the eve of my 7th birthday.   I won't be camping outside anymore......in bear country.  Does anyone remember this event?   Have you had to put your knitting down during...

For anyone who has been unable to comment, I've figured it out. Keep  commenting , please.  I love to read your comments. I don't think I would blog if there was no way to get your comments.   I have a comment moderation feature that I haven't been tending to.  Now, I will be able to post all your feedback.   I make it a point to comment on YOUR blogs if you comment on mine.  I have actually stopped commenting on some blogs that never return the favor here at Irisheyes.   I still read them, but they don't get my time for commenting if they  have not given me a comment.    I love even a one word interaction with you:  Fun,  Interesting Hi Kathy b. it all means so much to me.  My own family needs some prodding to comment. :) For mother's day, I'd like a week of comments from my family....... :)  they are such Lurkers..... I tease them about it.  Here is one of my daffodils showing ...

This is what I see when I come home after work at night. My porch.  My haven. My home. My country. I just read a book about going away and coming home. The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg.  I love the way Elizabeth writes.  I don't always love the stories she tells.  I havent' read a book in ages.  Here's the truth, I skimmed a bit and it is a less than 200 hundred page book.  I didn't have my knitting with me.... enough said.  TODAY: knitting and  Being  Home (what do you see when you come home at night?)

The Strawberry Shortcake tasted as good as it looked. This is no small feat for this baker.  The recipe: from RealSimpleMagazine 3 cups flour 1 T Baking Powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 t salt 1/4 sugar 3/4 cup butter cold  in pieces 1 cup milk Heat oven to 400.  Mix the above until crumbly, THEN add the milk and stir until gloppy.   Plop Glops by the 1/2 cup full onto a baking sheet Sprinkle tops with sugar.  Bake 18 to 20 minutes Let cool.  Cut tops off and layer a bottom, strawberries, whip cream, and a top .  Karen is knitting  a cowl out of ...shhhhh acrylic.  Big needles soft yarn, and seed stitch.... IrishyeyesLynn cannot comment for some reason (Please email me if you cannot comment too.....gasp can't have that! ) Lynn says thanks for all the compliments on the adorable baby sweater.   Great news: Lucy Lou is being adopted tomorrow !  She is going to her for...

Lilianna by IRISHGIRLIEKNITS M adilone tosh DK in posey Irisheyes Lynn has been knitting while she recovers from back surgery.  I love this baby sweater finish.  She actually knit up 2 of them for sweet gifts.  Now I'll follow another Lynn's post prompts for the day  (from the Simple Woman's Day book) Outside my window: a baby bunny is skittering around the garden... it is at that darling stage I'm THankful: for feeling well every day  I'm Reading: your blogs and I have to get this book : Where'd You Go Bernadette?   supposed to be a fun read.  I'm Hoping:  Al is done with night shifts for good  I'm Hearing:  The garbage trucks back up  beep beep and A peek INto My Day: already hit the elliptical for 20 minutes off to knit with good knit pals soon and take some good photographs on the oh so average camera!

  Tonight's dessert Today's knitting It works More twos: Daffodils blooming Forsythia too Napping today Elliptical too  Reading blogs Commenting too Reading comments THank YOU!

  This is Rain.   Somedays I have to go and walk around the stables in  the next town over.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I love the smells and sounds in the stable.  I love to be around horses. I don't have to ride them. I just like being around them.   So I treated myself to a walk in the big barn yesterday afternoon and there I met Rain.    I have to report that my hair continues to be red.  I may have to wear this new hat for a month. It was a fun knit up.   The color is true in the image above.  The color in this image is misleading. I'm having color issues.  It seems my hairdresser and I don't agree on what BLONDE hair looks like. She didn't charge me.  It took an additional 2 and a half hours out of my beloved Saturday off, however.  So when life gives you red hair you  a: go back at least once to recolor b: knit a really cute bamboo hat to wear ov...

  Our friend Larry is a Vietnam Vet.  His service colors his life even now, years and years later.  He was in the Tet Offensive.... enough said.  Larry Paints because he gets lost in the process. I happened to mention that I love horses and Larry presented me with this painting on Tuesday. He painted it for me.   His friend owns these horses. I teared up, I was overwhelmed and thrilled. How can I thank him?   I'm thinking I'll knit something for Larry and his wife, Sandy.     I am having fun knitting this Juliette Cap.  I will show it to you soon.  I'm going back to have the hair recolored today; friend and fashionista Joey encouraged me yesterday while I was at work. She said, You are not a redhead Kath,  I love your hair blonde.... But thank you all for your sweet comments about my HAIR SCARE as Channon called it. :)  Do you have a favorite painting in your home? 

I had a salon oops yesterday.  I asked to color my hair instead of highlight it, and it came out rather red. I was expecting blonde...  She told me it was two shades lighter than my hair... Well, it is  something new. I read on-line that lemon juice and conditioner may soften it up a bit....   I'm afraid I feel rather gnomish this morning..... I  Think I can soften it a bit before I have to go out in public.   Any tips??? Have you been there?? As for knitting this Thankful Thursday, as Channon says, I am restarting the Scalloped Juliet Cap today. I love the green  Quo Vadis bamboo yarn that I won from Emily Yarn Miracle about a year ago.  I think it is the perfect pattern for this skein of yarn.  I started it last night and did the unthinkable twist instead of straight join at the get go .....I was only a couple rows in so it does not hurt much. As Karen R says, "Good Knitters rip ... and the rip a lot"...

Beatles new sweater and only sweater fits him perfectly.  I had so much fun knitting the Linus Easy Dog Sweater by KnitandBake.  You know I'm casting on another for some doggie out there.  Beatles was introduced very slowly to a harness and leash last summer.  He loves walking in our yard and rolling in the grass and chewing the tall fountain grass tips.    We need a little silly right now don't you think?  (I used a Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn leftover from Zach's snowboard hat. )

  The Master's party at friend Mike's house was fun.  This is our cake and contribution to the day. I wish I had made devil's food as the DIRT would have looked better inside the hole.  Fireman corrected me, however, seems the cup is white inside the hole anyhow.. The cake was moist as we baked it that morning; and it was enjoyed by all.  Mike made a pork shoulder in the crock pot with a can of rootbeer and it was outstanding.  Have you ever?/   Not much knitting time this weekend as I worked a long shift Saturday until 0300.  Did n't I say I wasn't doing that anymore??  Hmmmmm.  OH well, it was much appreciated at work.  This is the Linus dog sweater front, from KnitandBake's pattern.  How perfect for this post.  I am excited to knit the CHEST piece and finish it for some lucky pooch.  Have you done anything with rootbeer lately?  Happy Monday  

Friend Sharon's Yorkie is adorable.  Someday??? a Yorkie??? Someday a sweater... Saturday link love for you: Etsy.com LotushandmadeHoops As for me, Tiger is a cheat and once a cheat  almost always a cheat.... We are going to a MASTER's Party tomorrow.  Tiger cheated on his wife over and over again. Wouldn't it be so refreshing to see Tiger  get in front of a camera and say his cheating days are long over . He needs to withdraw from this competition Now.

  Beatles Cub Fan .....   IrisheyesLynn's Sweater  Tank, Kathy B fan (Shhhh, don't tell but Tank loves me most)  The cats wanted some fan mail..... Lynn is recovering from back surgery and we met for late breakfast/lunch the other day.  Lynn was wearing her GorGEOUS handknit sweater and it fit her like a glove. I adored it and I adored the buttons. I wish I had taken a shot of those pretty buttons.  Here's the thing.  I have had limited sweater success. I have made some good raglan sweaters  a few years back. Then I spent too much time on one and it turned out lousy. That disappointment/failure set my sweater knitting back way back.  I haven't knit a sweater since.  I am trying to carefully choose my next knit project. I think I'll knit a vest..... We'll see. I'm in the thinking mode. and in the mean time I'm knitting that  lovely Vine cowl. The problem is.... I cannot bel...

  How cold is it?  It is so cold that the Cubs and Brewers looked like this in Chicago the last two nights...... Al says it was 80s in Virginia the past two days.... Here is a shot of her cabled hat still holding up great.  This was, of course, when we visited her the week before Easter and it was 50s and 60s outside. I went through a box of knitting hats and scarves the other day ..... why do my less than marvelous finishes last forever ? I never seem to lose an average hat.    I have been working often and there has been less knit time this week.... it makes me squirrelly.... I need a good sit and knit.... what's making you squirrelly? 

  Do you know these people??  We don't.  Yet when I downloaded my camera images the other day ,there they were.  Is this a new thing?  Do people sneak your phone and take their picture with it? My phone was not stolen...I dont know how this image got in it. Harmless prank, but it is odd eh?  It looks like the theatre where Zach and I went to church on Easter. His church uses the old Biograph theatre in the city.... lots of strange history there! Can  you guess what this is?   It is my new retro find for my kitchen.... and finally the third mystery of the day: Can you guess what I"m frogging when I get home from work tonight?  Hint hint, it rhymes with kitten.

Today I'm joining Carole's Ten on Tuesday Prompt:  1. Steady Shot Camera with Panoramic setting 2. Iphone  (I was the last to join that party) 3. Medications: you'd think I was a pharmacy. I bring all the what ifs along with me.... but I'm gettting better .....I tell myself "there's a Walgreens on every corner"  4. Snacks for the room.  Last trip it was a box of Cliff bars.  We always eat them up.  We have never come home with leftovers. 5.  Knitting.  Always.  No matter the trip theme  6. Chargers for 1. and 2.  7. A watch.  Fireman depends on me to wear a watch. He asks me many times during each trip, What time is it?  He's usually driving and not able to get at his phone easily for the time feature.  8. My grandmother's Mass card. It is always in my wallet. 9. Floss, because I'm lost without floss.  10. Make up....always.  I added an eleventh ...i...

Lynn who knit with Al and I years ago, and has been an Irisheyes  reader for years, has adopted Fixie and Bonk.  She takes those two adorable boys home tomorrow.  We are thrilled. 

  The weather in my town is completely dependent on the wind this time of year.  What started out as a sunny Sunday in the 50s , turned brutally cold for Fireman who was cycling. The wicked wind turned off the big Lake and we were back to turning on the heat.   I love living close to the Lake, but it makes spring very very chilly. I can drive 10 minutes east and change to a light jacket on a day like today.   The saying goes, "Cooler Near the Lake" and it is very  accurate.   The weathermen are careful to predict two temps for the Chicago area this time of year, and we are always on the low end.... This is a tale of two ingedients too. I have pinned this recipe months ago and today, upon finding Lemon pie filling in the grocery aisle, I knew I'd make the cake. An angel food cake mix and a can of pie filling, and  voila!!!! Our dessert for tonight  .   My new cowl is nothing but fun. It is two toned...... and to...

 Looking up from the USS Wisconsin  My new coffee love: Alterra Fort Story Lighthouse, Virginia Beach Today I give you link love: For the gardeners among us:  empressofdirt.net For the coffee lovers: alterracoffee.com For those aching for some flowers: chicagobotanic.org For those aching for hope: theresacaputo.com (I just LOVE her)  can anyone send me to a spring   jacket link?? happy Saturday!