Author Archives: Holly

About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!

World Cross Stitch Day

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Its a thing. Who knew? I certainly didn’t know until I heard it mentioned on a couple of YouTalube channels.

So – just like all the other days this week – I decided to do some cross stitching in honor of…. no really, I was stitching because it is so much more enjoyable than cleaning, organizing, or going to the post office.

So – here is the next entry in Witchy Stitcher’s Supernatural SAL – the Jinn. Of which I have started the frame

 

and the Barn Owl – with another 1000 or so stitches. Almost ½ way…

 

 

and the photos (which didn’t want to  load – finally got added on the 13th.

 

 

 

phones, zoom, stitching

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It looks like Thursday is going to turn into my socialization day. Or conference day. But with stitching.

I have had one standing Thursday night call for ? maybe a year? with a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere northern Idaho. One of those lovely, nature filled places with peace, quiet, and limited internet which arrives via Satellite. Now, if you travel in a lot of countries other than the US/Canada/UK/OZ, the idea of limited internet is par for the course. Out in the middle of nowhere means that you pay a much higher fee than those of us living in developed world major metro areas. Life continually on your phone isn’t an option when there is no cell phone coverage…

Anyway – I am adding in a call with a colleague from UC Hastings. She is working on legislation monitoring for health care and public health. I am not sure I want to volunteer for any heavy lifting for any alumni association/affiliation groups – but I am more than willing to be a sounding board.

Then there is the standing UCSF Thursday Grand Rounds for which I can get free CME. This is a good deal. Apparently there has been enough interest that it will stay in hybrid mode for the foreseeable future.

And now I will add a Zoom in with a fellow stitcher who lives in Florida giving me a couple of chances to chat, stitch, and generally socialize.

Not counting all the evenings I spend overlapping with Jill in Australia over FaceTime.

I am really not sure how I managed to get anything craft wise done in all those years I was working full type. Deployed time? Yes, but home? Maybe that is why I have so much “stuff.” All things I got to use “later.”

I finished From the Hearts January Mini Sampler.  – I have finally tracked down all 12 months and will be stitching them on the same piece of 18 ct. Aida from someone.

Then, I added 600+ stitches to the Spangler Dragonling

 

 

before shifting back to the BarnOwl.  This will be the last of this series I am stitching till the next three are out so I know in what order I want to stitch them.

Haunted Library – Prologue

Holly Doyne Posted on by

And all 5000+ stitches of the Prologue to Lola Crow’s Haunted Library SAL have been completed…

This is where I started

and it was 1046 stitches to finish this section.

you can’t seem them easily, but there are one stitch orange flames on the top of each and every candle… plus books, skulls & a skeleton cat…

Virgo

Holly Doyne Posted on by

There were a lot of things I could have done today. Most of them involved either being sociable or cleaning. Since I just returned from being out of town and potentially exposed to “who knows what,” that became my excuse to avoid people for almost all of the day.

And cleaning? Is there anyone who really loves to clean?

So I decided to spend the day on Virgo – the next of the Nora Corbet Zodiac Girls.

This is where I  was on the 2nd which was the last stitching before heading to Missouri-

and this is where I ended last night –

which was a total of more than 1600 stitches later including a lot of Kreinik. There are less than 300 stitches to go before this one joins her sisters in waiting for backstitch and beads. Then it is on to either the Barn Owl or the Haunted Library.

No good deed

Holly Doyne Posted on by

ever goes unpunished.

An early quiet morning of packing and stitching followed by a Lyft ride to Kansas City Airport. Again, I am flying Southwest on a direct flight which is the only positive thing I can think about when dealing with this particular airport. Terminal B. Ok, been here, been confused here before.  Dropping bags, getting through security was followed by waiting.

With a fairly early number in the Southwest line-up I easily found a seat partway back in the plane and parked my backpack in the overhead before dropping into a window seat. Turned on the audiobook and proceeded to ignore everyone and everything.  And just before the gate closed, a mom and her four year old got on the plane. Their connecting flight had been late. All that was open on the plane was the random middle seat. Having faced those type of challenges when my kids were young, and my row still had the middle seat open, I offered to move. No way I am thinking a small child needs to be seated separately from their parent on a 3+ hour flight.

Now, I don’t think this is anything kind – self-protection perhaps. But I guess that all the other people who were studiously avoiding eye contact with the mom or with the cabin attendant didn’t think the same.

So there I was, moving toward the back of the plane into terror child territory. I picked the remaining seat in a child free row and spent the flight internally cursing the oblivious dad in the row in front of me. Why? He is sitting in the outside seat watching a movie on his iPad while the two blond demons ages ~ 3 & 4 are trying to kill each other. Crying baby in the row behind, another one in across the aisle. And me with my headphones in my backpack.

I survived. Barely.

Baggage claim to the monorail to BART to NB where George picked me up.

It is good to sleep in my own bed.

BNS – Final Camp Day

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It was the shortest of times. Not the best, not the worst. About ½ the campers pulled pitch early this morning as they were facing long drives home. The rest of us, figuring three hours of stitching is better than no hours of stitching showed up on time and helped police up the room.

Effectively then, the high points of my day became walking over to BassPro Outdoors World where I found a nice shirt and pair of sandals on sale. Listening to an audiobook, and talking on FaceTime with Jill (who is in Australia). Oh, obviously stitching was part of the last. Packing is not a high point. 

After fussing and picking out stitches, I finally started on the lower portion of this particular piece…

tomorrow is a fairly leisurely day – breakfast, airport, hang out and then fly home…

 

BNS – Camp Day 3

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Why are there games and challenges you ask? Because this is Summer Camp!

Ok, I did an attitude readjustment on myself yesterday evening and decided that watching was fun and not participating in some of the insanity was completely my choice. The lovely woman from Quebec who sits next to me and I have decided that we are observers and otherwise stitchers. When the room gets too loud, we take a break.

There are some amazingly talented people in the group and I am making the table rounds a couple of times a day to see what projects are being stitched. There was also a beginning knitting impromptu class being run. Two had decided that they wanted to knit socks. It was quietly suggested that starting with a washcloth or two might let be a better introduction. There was the snail hunt (don’t ask), prize drawings, the charity raffle, and a fair amount of noise.

I headed for my room about 2100 for a bit of quiet. There are no children running in the halls here, nor are there drunks partying after midnight – so definitely an improvement over the last retreat hotel…

I managed to complete more of one stairway in the Haunted Library SAL

With the first of four skulls plus the cat skeleton. Sunday will see this side finished and the second staircase side I think I will manage during the week.  Then I will be caught up till 2 Sept.

I am making steady but careful progress up the tail on the Owl. I am missing one color, as it was backordered when the pattern was shipped. That is ok, there are 6500 other stitches to complete…..

BNS-2, Independence, MO

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Day 2 of the stitching “camp.”

I am thinking that I just might be a bit old for summer camp. Not too old for stitching, not too old to enjoy chatting with other stitchers, not too old to appreciate seeing other people’s projects. But I am too old for “games.” But then, I think I hated such games even when I was a kid.

I don’t remember going to camp more than once in the “below” ten age group. I can vaguely remember absolutely hating the experience so my current attitude might just be a reflection of that long ago and absolutely best forgotten experience. Given the age range here – which is lending itself much more to parent of small to medium age child – I can understand why there just might be an appeal. But I am an older grump and am not going to:

  1. participate in a scavenger hunt that mostly consisted of grabbing selfies all over the place
  2. dig through my stitching stuff to grab a particular item before standing up and waving it. Especially cash – Who carries cash anyway?
  3. go outside in 37*C heat to make S’mores?
  4. hang out for a group photo?

 

You get the idea.

I came to meet a few people, see what others are stitching, stitch. relax. (I would add avoid cooking, cleaning, laundry but honestly, I don’t do much of that at home anyway.)  I wandered through the vendor room and bought little. And stitching…

Made progress on the Haunted Library SAL

the fifth monster, the Zombie dropped in the Supernatural SAL. Now all I have to do is finish up the black on the body and find a small strand of the three new colors which, of course, I don’t have with me…

and I put my usual one strand into Leo. Not bothering with a picture since I don’t think anyone could see the minuscule change.

 

 

BNS – Day 1

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Sponsored by the BlackNeedleSociety (no clue from whence came the name) this stitching retreat was scheduled for late April 2020. And we all know what happened to everything planned that month and for months and months afterwards. I don’t think the owners of this particular company even made any attempt to reschedule for last year, choosing instead to wait for this year, better news, or at least a chance to not be cancelled at the last minute.

So here I am in the middle of nowhere – officially we are in Independence, MO but this is one of those hotel/conference center complexes just far enough away from anything to be able to sell the lovely grounds and view of the local lake. Pond really from my point of view, but then I get to see SF Bay and the Pacific Ocean every day from my living room window.

Silly me, when I went down early in the morning to see where we would be, I found the room open, set up and empty. I failed to take a picture. When I came back later – door safely closed, I never got the opportunity.

None of my table mates are locals – one is from Quebec, one from Ohio, and two from Iowa. More than that – I really can’t offer. The organizers are lovely, the group is quite a bit younger than either of the other two retreats. Having said all of that, it is probably not one that I would do again.  Reasons are both simple and complex. The venue is good, the people are good. I am not much for organized activities. My fault for not expecting games, but then I am not on Facebook so didn’t have too much warning. Today’s games were related to “how many things on this list do you have in your bag.” The winner? 32. Me – about 5. I don’t bring printed patterns and I leave everything nonessential in the room. Two pairs of scissors? Why? 10 needles? why? Thread conditioner? Why when I don’t need it for this piece.

See, neither of us care much about that sort of thing. Tomorrow is a scavenger hunt. It will be a balance between my irritation and not trashing the fun of the others at my table…..

not in Kansas

Holly Doyne Posted on by

There can be a huge confusion when it comes to flying into Kansas City Airport. One has to disassociate the name of the city (and airport) with the state names. After all, Kansas City lies partly in Kansas and the rest is in Missouri. The airport is also in Missouri, But then I shouldn’t be surprised – the Cincinnati (Ohio) Airport is actually across the Kentucky state line.

Getting to the airport was easy on BART. Navigating the airport was also easy. Security now has the new fancy scanners on most lanes so that you don’t have to take stuff out of your luggage, backpacks, and cases. The airport itself was the usual crowded place. PowerPoints at the desks and tables were all non-functional near my gate. But, unlike many airports, the frequent outlets along most corridors were functional resulting in my being charged up and ready to go.

MCI (airport) has an extremely weird setup. Once you exit the plane, it is hard to figure out the escape route from your section of the terminal. But, unlike other airports, the baggage claim for your flight is immediately outside those doors. I am thinking that this makes it easier for baggage handlers and results in much less lost/unclaimed luggage. The downside is that I saw neither airline personnel nor baggage handlers anywhere in the area. What happens to unclaimed luggage?

Lyft/Über is the only way to get to my hotel – discounting taxis and car rentals.

I checked in and crashed.

Total stitching for the day was on Leo. Not bothering you with a picture since a center column or outside border are boring….

but the room?

all-in-one-piece shower

and a good size room overlooking the lake

Oops

Holly Doyne Posted on by

My plans for this coming weekend are fairly simple; travel, hangout, come home.

So, about 2100 I decided to check the Southwest App on my phone to verify my Thursday departure/Monday return.  Staring at the screen didn’t make the facts change. My flight reservation was there. Clearly listed with a departure on 3 August. Now, according to my limited ability to read a calendar, 3 Aug, my friends, is tomorrow not Thursday. At least my flight is a reasonable 1100, not 0dark30.

Pulling up my email, I verified that my hotel reservation also started on 3 August. It did. Since I had the information, I called the hotel to verify that there were limited ways to get there; rental car, taxi, or ride share. 

Obviously hit by a sudden attack of packing, I have laundry to do…. and it explains why, in the back of my head, I was sure I was going to miss a standing webinar from the CDC at 1100 my time the first Wednesday of the month..

the headless bear

Holly Doyne Posted on by

The Bear – from Cottage Garden Samplings – A Year in the Woods. There are a lot of stitches in this bear, trust me on that. I think, in fact, that he is the densest so far of the seven I have stitched. (Well, almost stitched in this case).

But he needs his head, along with the rest of the cattails and the cottage.

Why not his head? I was filling in areas while sitting in my car at the SFVA waiting to log in, get connected and “participate” in a scan. As I mentioned before, I drive in early because I would rather sit in my car listening to an audio book and stitching than I would leave later and spend time in traffic. At some point, it might just be reasonable to go back to BART – but I am not there yet.

Speaking of heads – I participate in a once a month Zoom meeting dedicated to “Fancy Folk stitching.” It creates a bit of an incentive to make progress. Since I finished Leo yesterday, I decided to work ahead on Virgo.

As mentioned – without backstitching and embellishment – zombie might just be the correct word…

Leo Completed

Holly Doyne Posted on by

well = all but beads and backstitching.

seven/twelve…

and if I get ambitious, I might just tackled beads and backstitch

But I have an early run to the SFVA and won’t be doing that tonight…

more errands

Holly Doyne Posted on by

less stitching.

What was that old commercial? “more taste, less filling? Anyway, it was a day of running family errands, sitting in the car and otherwise listening to an audiobook.

The Eldest had an appointment for which she needed a ride. No problem, drop off the brother to watch her son while I take her over. Wait. Wait some more.

This is Half the Fun by InkCircles- started at StitchCon 2021. Worked on at this year’s and this past weekend. Give me another year and some more retreats and it might get finished.

Post appt, take the Eldest  back home. Make a lunch run for Phó. Make a grocery store run. Drop off lunch and extras for Daughter #2 while I in the same shopping center as her job . Pick up the youngest who is going to stay with the Eldest while she recovers. Grab the Brother. Make two stops in search of a particular kitty litter on the way home. All of the above made easier by the fact that the girls all live within a few miles of each other.

Crawl back upstairs. Take mask off.

Leo is just about finished. I just have the small portion at the top plus one more ribbon to stitch.

late to arrive, early to rise

Holly Doyne Posted on by

You would think that after landing close to 0130 in the morning at SFO. Having the “exciting” challenge of finding my suitcase and getting home after 0200 I would have crashed till midmorning. Oh, not so.

But first – EWR. We finally took off shortly before 2300 I believe. The flight was quiet and not as uncomfortable as it could have been. It doesn’t help that there was only one jetway. So all of us seated in cattlecar in the rear had the opportunity to see 1st class, business class, premium economy, and mid-range seating before finding our seats. The new 777 also has more headroom which is accomplished by smaller overhead bins.  (Queue unhappy people with wheeled cases greater than 19″).  I will say I prefer SW’s boarding process. It is much much faster and the isles are wider. I don’t know how anyone with either a mobility challenge or a significant number of excess weight manages to get to their seat.

On landing, I was greeted with a txt that said my suitcase arrived on an earlier flight. The baggage claim area was a mess. At least a dozen areas roped off packed with luggage. Three poor clerks attempting to help people locate luggage. No signs on any of the areas indicating origin of the luggage. The upset passengers performing for everyone wasn’t helping the line move. I left George in the line and went on a scavenger hunt. Finally locating my lonely little bag three areas past the service counter, I attempted to check out with one of the baggage attendants; no dice, the four of them were so busy complaining to each other they couldn’t be bothered.

I could have loaded up a luggage cart with all sorts of interesting bags and just left. Some security. I just wheeled back to George, we headed to the car and home. So why, I wonder, was I up at 0700 (PDT)?

Anyway, I spent the day upstairs in my craft room away from everyone. I am staying quarantined for at least a couple of days. Unlike my previous experience, no one here was ill, but I still don’t want to take any chance. A couple of nights sleeping upstairs aren’t going to hurt me any.

I managed a lot of stitches into Leo (the Seventh Zodiac girl). Other than backstitch, beads and a few random stitches, I have only the top of the “frame” to complete.

Tues-Thurs are going to be a lot of errand running. I am hoping to finish the Bear as well. .

 

Last flights out

Holly Doyne Posted on by

or to arrive  as the case might be. In either case, you leave the airport late and arrive even later when you count the time YOU have spent and the wear and tear on your body. Of course, when flying East to West this can be much more easily accomplished than the other way around as the clock time can be significantly less than the travel time.

Trust me – do not go down the road of “it is really….” because it isn’t. The time where you currently are sitting, standing, or sleeping IS the correct time. Even when your body, phone, or computer doesn’t agree.

Anyway – Lyft back to Newark was easy. Checking a bag was easy. Finding out where to print my boarding pass was a bit more challenging as was security. EWR doesn’t have the new machines so it is back to taking everything out of bags that is electronic. Queue in all those who can’t manage to empty pockets or can’t figure out that the leather thing around their waist with a large buckle is actually a belt…

What I also found interesting is that this particular airport, and maybe it is true for  other US airports, doesn’t care about your actual flight departure. The good and the bad? There is even more opportunity for the airline to send your luggage on a different flight than you. I am not completely sure that this particular practice meets common sense for security precautions. Are you more likely to check nasty shit if you know that it will be traveling on a plane other than yours?

I checked earlier flights – they were booked solid. The standby list was too long to bother. So imagine me bored, sitting in the airport under a huge A/C blower with a mask on. I am wearing my jeans jacket. It is too cold for almost anyone to sit in the area.

We will not talk about flight delays. At least we took our scheduled plane, even if there were arrival delays, delays due to thunderstorms on the outbound flight path, and, finally, cleaning delays. The new 777’s are not small planes. It takes a dozen people an hour to clean the thing.

At least it looks like our flight crew will still be able to get us to SFO and the flight will go out tonight. Not so for the Salt Lake City passengers. Mechanical issue, plane swap. Smaller plane. 40+ people bumped… and it was obviously the last flight of the night…

Raffles, Clappers, and

Holly Doyne Posted on by

not much shopping.

Today was the second full day of this particular stitching retreat. The stitching room opened at 0800 and probably closed around 2200 (I am guesstimating because I had long since run out of energy and noise tolerance).

It feels funny to say, but this particular crowd of slightly more than 100 seemed to be louder than the 300 at StitchCon. Especially as it got later in the evening. I know that those who went to late night stitching at StitchCon said the same thing. It might be due to a lot of things; I am thinking that “bottles under the table” just might have contributed.

Anywho – three of us (one local, one from DC & I) switched tables this morning. We headed over to one side of the room and out of the doorway. We had also come to interact with stitchers from a number of places rather than a family from one.

Midday, the one of our small group who was local + a lovely woman from Queens who did drive headed off to the local needlework shop. On the second floor of a strip mall and accessible by elevator it was not small. Besides cross stitch, and embroidery

Pizza Party!

Holly Doyne Posted on by

In case it wasn’t clear, this is a cross-stitch repeat. No trains, boats, or ships involved. I would say no planes, but that would be stupid since it is obvious that I flew out here and will be flying back on Monday. The idea is actually fairly simple; get a bunch of people together who have a love of a particular craft together. This particular retreat isn’t put on or sponsored by a needlework shop or professional organization. Instead, it is the work of a particularly dedicated needleworker & designer. Lot of work for the love of the craft. About ½ of the attendees live within reasonable local driving distance and are commuting daily. There are a number of others who drove from various locations on the east coast or south of here.  The maybe 1/4 remaining are from scattered location; two of us from California, one from Vancouver, one from Hamilton (Ontario), another Canadian, a woman from the Netherlands and one from Sydney (AU). I would have to look at the list to add in some of the other locations.

I am sitting at a table near the door. There might be more traffic in an out than I would choose, but the air circulation is great. Three of us are firmly and carefully masked. The other five at the table? Not so much – a three family generation group of stitchers who joined the first of us early this morning. This adds the oldest (82) and the youngest (14) stitchers to the mix.

Enough said on that.

This bear is still nowhere near complete:

I should be able to finish him today – which will just leave the cottage and all of the cattails.

The fourth “thing” dropped on the WitchyStitcher’s Supernatural SAL. I got as far as I could with the treads I had with me. This leaves about 150 stitches to complete once I get home.

My last project of the day is a present. I decided that this was as good a weekend as any to finally finish it (last picked up in March of 2020).Of course, the fiddly bits are left. I am planning on taking photos of some of the items on the brag table in the morning..

But I have saved the most important part to the end. Tonight’s Pizza party was an included activity. There were four choices of pizza, there was salads, cookies, and canned drinks. The three of us decided that “smart” meant we ate in the lobby. We also packed it in about 2000. Others I am sure stayed till 2200….

 

Woodbridge NJ

Holly Doyne Posted on by

is across the country from where I live. Duh.

It is about a five hour flight, give or take a few minutes. Plus boarding, taxing, take off, landing, hanging out till a gate clears, disembarking, locating the loo, finding baggage claim and hanging out till the baggage actually shows. up.

None of that counts getting to SFO for an 0700 flight. Nor attempting to find one’s Lyft driver in the total disaster area that is passenger pickup outside Terminal 3 at EWR (Newark for those not completely familiar with the most common US Airport codes) at 1600 in the afternoon.

Needles to say, it was an extremely long day.

And, as for the reason for the trip? Indulging in a stitching retreat. Yes, I know I did that last month. In all the years of intensive weaving, knitting, and spinning I was never able to get to anything remotely like this. Yes, such things existed, but I just never managed the time/distance/expense factors on top of family/work/living location. So this summer is my chance to go, meet, and do. Unlikely that I will repeat the experiences.

Ok – yes. Knit, Needle & Hook get togethers on ship fun. I have met wonderful people, many of whom I am in contact with 10+ years later. But it isn’t the same as a dedicated weekend.

We are at the Hampton Inn. Allegedly it is under construction, Unlike my last experience – this place is neat, clean, and extremely organized.

my room is spacious and significantly less expensive than what the same room was supposed to be in Cincinnati.

So I will see how it goes. At least once I get over being tired and what always proves to be 3 hours jet lag.

Leo

Holly Doyne Posted on by

as in the zodiac sign. If I am counting correctly, this is the seventh in the Nora Corbett Zodiac Girl series.

I started her yesterday, just a couple of days ahead of the sign shift.

I am a bit over half way. Unlike many of the other patterns in the series – this one is almost 1/3 Caron Waterlilies Silk thread – the two colors being named Papaya & Winter Wheat.  The fabric is 32 ct Vintage Country Mocha. Also, unlike several of the other patterns in this series, there will not be quite as many beads. (no, I am not crying about that). So far, the stitching has been relatively easy – blocks of color but it is about to switch to ribbons of alternating colors both below and above the girl’s head.

In case you might be interested – this is what she will look like when finished.

But I need to hang it up earlier to tonight – I have an 0700 flight out of SFO so it will be super early up and likely a Lyft to the airport.