Thing is… We’re “baby proofing”. 🤞🤞🤞The new fuzzy kiddos are coming up tomorrow. So we’re busy around here.😀
I’ll try to ‘stream’ the babies in if I can, tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Sammie doesn’t seem very worried.
Category: Knitting
The poor basket weave hat hasn’t progressed at all so, no pics. When it can show off on its own, it’ll share the limelight.
While Sammie is happy, we got a phone call from my son with good news for us. And I hope for Sammie. I’d tell but I don’t want to jinx it
Today I went back to Phantom of the Opera. I used to play and sing these. Thirty years ago. Not for an audience, just for fun. My friends and I gathered at the grand piano on stage after voice class and sang our hearts out with these. I was surprised at how much my fingers remember, though there was a lot of sight reading. I can’t sing at the same time, yet. Soon. I am doing daily vocal warmups now.
Anyone out there go through this? I find a saturation level on pieces and put them aside for other songs. Those seem to draw my passions and energy.
Here are some of the projects I’ve been working on this week.
They are Beau Soir, God Bless The Child, Going Home, Over the Rainbow, Ave Maria, and Just the Way You Are.
Beau Soir is a leftover from my voice lessons with Alis Clausen in the 1990s. And because it showed up now while I’m playing with the Duolingo French language, I decided to start doing my vocal warmups and challenge myself to learn to play and sing the song. A few others I’m playing are fun to sing, too.
Check out how Beau Soir is supposed to sound. You can see why I love it.
YAY! My brother likes his socks!
Just for review: these were Turkish cast-on. Chiaogoo needles Two at a Time socks. Then arch ribbing. Fleegle Heel, my favorite.
I thought I was finished at a 2″ cuff, but my brother needed a longer one for his boots. Otherwise, I would have been finished on his birthday.
Towards the end I had to rely on Advil and Aspercreme. But now my hands can rest a bit.
I found a bunch of unfinished WIPs. Here are a couple calling me:
I’m nearly finished with Smiling Turtle!
I think next week I’ll record my favorite songs. I’m loving Going Home, God Bless The Child, Just the Way You Are, and a few more. With my new enthusiasm for improv or composition I now have a keyboard within reach of my every perch. (Recliner, bed, Dabbling Den)
I didn’t get ‘Dar’s Dabbling Den’ rearranged yet. I want to make more room for my Yamaha keyboard near my piano. Maybe this weekend?
I’d like to make it easier to switch gears, bring in violin, ukulele, recorders, art challenges, podcast or book narrations.
Since COVID months ago, I’ve not been able to get faster than 5 miles in 35. But I’m still trying. And now that spring may have arrived I need to find walking time. Still a work in progress!
Oh, and I am three book reviews behind.
Duolingo still plugs along. I seem more focused on Italian. It’s easier. I still visit the other languages when the spirit moves me.😉
Two inches short but five days late.
I took the socks off the two-at-a-time needle thinking I was ready to cast off. THEN I asked my brother how long he needed the cuff. Darn! He needs a long cuff so his boots don’t rub his legs. Hopefully, they will be finished by Friday.
Smiling Turtle is nearly finished. This last bit, at the top, but worked upside down, bottom may take a week. I better find a new project, soon! Oops! Found a sunset DP in my project box to open. Yay!
In my musical world…
Big changes coming this weekend, I hope.
My weekend project is to move that hobby shelving unit will go on the old dining table behind my DP table. It’ll work as a room divider, so folks in the kitchen don’t distract me as I play the piano or Diamond Paint. That empties the spot under the window to put up my keyboard. More help towards the improving/composition goal for the year.
Along those lines I pulled out my Miracle Keyboard to play chords and such while in the living room. Now, no matter where I land there are ivories to play (okay, no elephants were harmed for these–unless they are plastic pachyderms 😉). At least with the keyboards, I can don earphones.
By the way, did any of you have the Miracle Keyboard that attached to your computer. The lessons were games. My daughter learned to play using that system. I looked all over to show you the cute games it came with, but it took a deep dive for very little enjoyment.
Anyway, that’s what’s finishing me this Friday. How are you all doing?
My music is coming along. I just don’t know how to quantify or make pics. Some of the times it seemed my eyes and fingers were on different people! So maybe that I got through the week mostly playing with practice hidden in there, and I didn’t kill anyone, I am still in love with the pieces I’m working on, and I look forward to my next sit down should count as progress. Right? I’m working on another Warts and All recording soon.
Oh, and by the way…
I’m nearly finished with a couple books. I’ll share the reviews in a couple of days.
Meanwhile, I’ve started
I still haven’t touched the violin or ukulele while my hands heal. I miss them and the learning process. Piano will have to keep my passions. Today not so much. Ever have days when you are so tired you just want to stay in bed? Those are rare for me, but today. Ugh. But hey, I still did a little of my routine. A little progress is still progress.
So, I’m grateful, I guess, that a dog hasn’t found it’s way to my lap yet. I can’t imagine trying to walk a little dog in this without at least working up to this level. I’m exercising on my bike, with yoga, but since COVID I haven’t had that kind of energy. It’s there. I’ll get there. And somewhere a pup is waiting for me.
As much as I hate the ending, I needed some Game of Thrones in the background as I knitted, colored, researched, etc. I’d forgotten how much I love the music.
Hopefully, we remain warm and don’t have to dig our way out. My son reminded me of the stories of such digs in Little House on the Prairie books that I read to my kids when they were young. Cozy snows are best.
Well, that’s easy! It is Finishing Friday! A great way to keep track of hobbies and passions. A way to see progress when, at times, it seems the end is as far as infinity. Row at a time, an inch at a time, a chord played right, or a rhythm that stays where it belongs is fun to keep track of. Many keep track of grievances or pain. I have. I probably will again and again. But I feel more fulfilled if I can see good and beautiful things done from the same place as the bird’s song. It feels right. It gives me pleasure. Not because I am looking for praise. I thank you for that, but it is more for me to feel like I am moving forward.
This felt good as it hit. Some days I do a lot of lessons. For others, I just do the one to get the points. I love languages, so it is fun for me.
The last two hats were for smaller heads. So I decided to make one a little bigger. I just finished the ribbing and started on the basket weave part. It is easier on my hands than crocheting or knitting, so while I am feeling the arthritis, I’m being gentle on the fingers.
My brother’s socks are coming along. Less than an inch to the end of the arch ribbing. Then, an inch to the beginning of the heel. I feel I am at the beginning of the end of this pair.
The middle section of the ‘smiling turtle’ diamond painting is almost done. It is a fun project. I love all the colors.
I have, in all essence, finished this book. Most of it was a review of things I’ve learned all my life, especially as a music major. But toward the end, it started meeting my needs. It has a lot of ways to improvise. I still find myself trying to play every single note rather than play, but I’m seeing ways to do it. I’ll be doing the review for this book soon. Mostly, at this point, I am in love with the last song presented. It’s called Coming Home.
So my favorite songs to play right now are Baby Elephant Walk, Just the Way You Are, God Bless the Child, and Coming Home. They drive me to the piano. I actually spent an hour there today. Remember in the summer or fall when I stated I could barely get five minutes in before pain or boredom pulled me away. Now, I have the joy of actually hearing and feeling the earworms that crawl through my head the rest of the day. My own music!
My ukulele, violin, and recorders sit sadly, waiting for my hands to feel better. I miss the learning process with them.
Well, that’s my Friday report. Fini!
Darswords 
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