On the Run

Instead of sitting quietly in Willow's Cottage on Thursday evening, I was rocking my way to San Diego on the Amtrak Surfliner.  Visiting my daughter this weekend, I knew I'd be late posting on Friday Fave Five.  But as the saying goes, "Better Late Than Never".  It is never ever too late to express gratitude for the week's blessings.

1. A week ago, our weekend included a fun evening with friends that began with a yummy dinner of black beans and rice, fresh asparagus from the farmers market and gluten free chocolate brownies, all prepared by my green thumb friend who grows the most incredible square foot garden.  My contribution to the dinner was these strawberries which I had purchased that morning at the same farmers market. They had been picked from the local fields earlier in the morning.

2.  There was knitting.  While the others played bridge, I knitted.  Then, during the week's evenings, I knitted.  Finally, I photographed two of the finished projects.  The fingerless mitts are made from a pattern that MinimalistKnitter asked me to test knit.  The result was a very comfortable pair of mittens.  You can get the free pattern from Robyn's blog here.

The photo on the right is a hoodie/scarf I knitted for my soap-making friend Laurie.  She investigated all the yarn options at Joann's and chose this Angel Hair yarn.  Then she said, "I want a hat that has the scarf attached to it."  I remembered seeing the perfect thing in Homemade Handknit years ago and went searching.  Basically, all you do is knit a very long scarf about 9 inches wide, fold it in half and stitch down one side from the center fold for 8 or 9 inches. That's it.  Because the yarn was so very fluffy and beautifully variegated, I chose a moss stitch pattern to show it off to best advantage.

3.  Obviously, a phone call from my far away military son will always make my fave five list.

4.  After a week of hot high winds blowing in from the desert to the east of us, the gentle rains coming from the ocean to the west of us have been a welcome weather respite.  We don't have to water the plants, and I had a great excuse to not wash the car.

5.  Saving the best until the last, I am spending my long weekend in San Diego with my daughter, son-in-law, the two puppies and two kitties.  If the weather cooperates, we'll be taking a couple of hikes with those doggies, walking along one of San Diego's marvelous beaches, and maybe finding a great restaurant meal.  The only downside to this little weekend visit is that The Professor can't join me since for some obscure reason his university does not take Presidents Day off.

 Remember to stop for a few minutes every day to reflect on the good things (and ignore the difficult moments).  As usual, Susanne will have her link for Friday Fave Five posted on her blog for anyone who wants to join FFF.