A "Noble" Knit

This is one of the knitting projects I'm currently working on. This is "A Noble Cowl" by Emily Kausalik. It is an easy knit and I love the pattern. The yarn I'm using is Shibui Baby Alpaca DK - it is so soft! I'm making this one for myself and one for my mother in blue. I love the subtle variations of color in this yarn. It is one of the softest yarns I have ever touched and is an absolute joy to knit with. I love me some alpaca!

I am also knitting Christmas gifts this year, but I can't share those with you right now because a few of the intended recipients read my blog. I'm really liking how those are turning out and I have almost two finished already. It will sure be nice having them done in plenty of time.

Are any of you making your Christmas gifts this year? If so, what are you making?

Happy Halloween!

Here's wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!

I Wish This Wasn't Necessary

Cancer sucks. I'm knitting another chemo cap for one of my aunts; I wish it wasn't necessary. The pattern is one that I've unfortunately knitted-up before for another one of my aunts. I love the yarn - it's a very soft, machine washable DK weight and will be easy to just throw into the washer. The pattern is very easy and has such a pretty pattern at the crown. I will post a photo of it when I've finished. I found the pattern on the "Head Huggers" website where they have lots of patterns for both knitting and crochet, along with great information.

On a happier note, we survived the first rain of the season and the mountains have stayed-put for now. We are only about 1/2-mile away from the foot of the mountains and the mudflow has been forecasted as possibly traveling as far down as a mile to our main boulevard. The city and county are taking precautions very seriously this time around. We had a wildfire way back in 1978, which was nothing in comparison to what we just went through in August/September, and had mudslides as a result. It was bad. Come to find out that the debris basins had not been cleaned-out. Well, it's completely different this time around, thank goodness. We still have a long rainy season to get through and with an El Nino forecasted, we are still not out of the woods, so to speak. The danger of mudslides can remain for up to three years, but today is a beautiful, sunny, crystal-clear day with temps supposedly reaching into the 80s! Only in California do we go from the 60s to the 80s in the span of a day! Go figure

I am so excited for baseball tonight - the Dodgers play Game One of the NLCS against the Phillies. We lost to them last year. Hopefully, this year will have a different outcome. I'm dreaming of a Dodgers-Angels World Series! That would be so awesome!

It's All Greek To Me

I regularly watch Food Network for four shows in particular: Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa & Back to Basics and Giada DeLaurentiis' Everyday Italian & Giada at Home. I find most of their recipes easy to make and absolutely delicious. I was watching this week when I saw Ina Garten make "Greek Panzanella" and decided to make it to have with barbequed chicken for our dinner tonight. It is absolutely delicious and the bread just adds to the texture and flavor of the dish. If you like Greek-style salads, you may want to give this one a try - it's a keeper!

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, just a few. Here are some photos I took yesterday. I hope you enjoy them.

THANK YOU

THANK YOU for putting your lives on the line for all of us and for keeping our city and homes safe. Thank you doesn't seem adequate, but it comes from the heart and we will be forever grateful. We mourn the loss of two heroes, Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, who died while trying to find an escape route for their charges.

Fire Update

This is how our mountains look from my neighborhood. A few of my neighbors and I walked two blocks up this evening to see how bad the flames looked from another perspective. Wow. This view is from a distance of ten blocks, which is still too close for comfort. They have evacuated the streets above this point; however, not everyone has left. We got an emergency mandatory evacuation order this morning at 2:15 a.m. We talked to the sheriff's officer and asked if we had to leave and he said no; we should do what we felt we had to do. We stayed (we are in no immediate danger). I'm not so sure about later tonight or early in the morning. Things can change so quickly, as we have all learned over these past 5 days and counting. My neighbors and I are going to go take another look in a bit to see how far it has progressed. This fire is massive and it shows no signs of ending any time soon. There is so much fuel that hasn't burned since 1976 and it is tinder dry from years of drought. Wouldn't you know that this would be the year that El Nino is supposed to show up. You know what comes next - mudslides.

I feel so emotional about all this and am close to tears this evening. One of my favorite places is on fire - the wilderness park that has brought so much beauty and joy to my life. My cousin and I loved to hike here. I also can't help thinking about all the wildlife; it absolutely breaks my heart. I know that people and houses are the first priority, of course, but this is their home too.

Mt. Wilson, along with countless other communities that cover something like 134 square miles, are in danger or have been burned. They say it will be September 15th before it will be under control - that's two weeks away. My heart goes out to everyone who is anxiously watching and waiting to see what this monster fire is going to do next.