mimiwontonknits

Blog?....What Blog?

2011-01-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

The title says it all!

You would think I forgot I even have a blog it has been so long since I posted. Heaven knows, there probably isn't anyone out there who checks for posts anymore!

Since my last post life just spun out of control and the blogging world was the last thing on my mind! Since May of last year we have moved, myself and family members have had major health issues and we were inundated with a multitude of out of town guests.....hence no posts. As in anyone's life a lot has happened in the past year. Way too much to address in one post....or two!

The best and most exciting news is that grand baby # 9 is on the way and due the first week in April! Needless to say Mimi has been knitting a lot for little Miss Alexa in the past few months!
The first sonogram indicated she was going to be a boy so the first thing I did is not as girly....but I think adding a cute little skirt & leggings.....and maybe some embellishment for the hat will "frilly" it up just enough.It is the Bubble set from Knit Picks.

I also did a pram/carseat blanket for her. The standard blankets always are too big and bulky.
I just used up a bunch of left-over sock yarns from the stash on it.

Next I did the cutest little pleated skirt out of Bernat Baby Jacquard.
There are other things on the needles that I will post about later, but this is good for now I think!

We are heading to Dallas this weekend for her first baby shower! I'm so excited! Her bedding is the cutest thing ever! A sweet safari theme with lavender, soft browns, cream and soft green.

I made a diaper cake around the color theme using the stuffed monkey that coordinates with the bedding. It was such fun to do.
I could ramble on endlessly on here but for now this post about Alexa will have to do.

Book 3 Project Done

2010-05-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Finished the Book 3 project and wore it to work yesterday! This is turning into a fun idea....actually doing projects I would not have done if not for this adventure! I would never buy ribbon yarn these days, but lo and behold, I really like this little tee-shirt! I do have to admit I did not enjoy knitting it though. This ribbon twisted while knitting so badly. I think I spent as much time un-twisting as I did knitting...lol!
The pic is awful.....but it looks cute on...promise!

I started another pair of the French Press Felted slippers in the mean-time. I gave the blue ones to Amanda and I want a pair for me! This pair is out of black Lamb's Pride I had in the stash.

Ok....on to Book 4! Next book in line on the shelf was "simple knits for little cherubs" by Erika Knight. Again....bought the book and the yarn about 4 years ago at the Knitting Nook on a trip to Texas. Stuff I would never buy now! The yarn is Fur Real by SWTC. The pattern only goes up to size 5......lol....needless to say Miss Savy is much bigger than that now so I will have to do some size tweaking!

Still hanging in there at the new job. Can't say I really like it....main thought is "what was I thinking!"..lol. Oh, well, I plan to keep hanging in so we can beef up retirement and get a few big projects done around the house with the fruits of my labor!

Had a wonderful Mother's Day. Lots of cards, texts and an afternoon with family. We sort of have a tradition of picking the Mulberries off the tree in the back and making a pie/cobbler but they weren't ripe yet this year. We have a bumper crop this year so I'm sure we will be busy picking the next couple of weekends! I think we are going to try making some jam/preserves out of them this year....that ought to be interesting! Haven't done that since my girls were little!

We are heading out for a short trip in the motorhome this weekend. Going up to Jenks to cheer on Brandon and Patrick. They are running in a marathon up there. First time for both of them so it should be fun!

Not a really exciting life....but I love it and wouldn't change a thing! Other people can enjoy the drama.....I had enough of that in my previous life...lol!

No stash enhancement pics yet again. Part of the reason for the "knitting adventure" I'm doing....trying to be good and not spend money! DH and I sort of made a pact when we got the new RV to cut back on our hobby expenditures to help defray the cost of having the RV. He switched his aquarium from a salt water tank to a fresh water one and I'm trying to do my part by not shopping for yarn. Doing much better than I thought I could...lol! Yarn is an addiction, you know! Might be hard this weekend though.....Loops in Tulsa is right around the corner from Jenks.....hmmmm.

On to Book 3

2010-04-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Still doing the Mystery Book Knitting adventure here. Finally finished the Book 2 project....the Tuscany Shawl.

I'm really enjoying this process. I find myself knitting projects and using up stash that I probably would have never used.....or at least it would have been ages and ages down the road!

I did push another project in front of the Book 3 Project.....I had done the Book One project....blue baby sweater and hat....for a dear friend of mine who is expecting her first grand baby and I decided I needed to do one more little something for him! Found this pattern on Ravelry and thought it was just too cute!

It is the Pebble (Henry's Cobblestone inspired Manly Baby Vest). I had some I Love This Cotton that I got a long time ago and I think it worked great! Super fast and easy.....will be my "go to" pattern for a fast baby gift from now on!

Started the 3rd Book project too. Doing a ribbon tee-shirt pattern from a book called "Simply Beautiful Sweaters" by Beryl Hiatt and Linden Phelps. I bought this book probably 6-7 years ago....seriously....and have never done a single project from it! I had a whole bag of ribbon yarn that I bought several years ago (what was I thinking?) lol.....I don't like ribbon yarn much! Anyway it is Filati FF Beach and I needed to do something with it! That's the beauty of this little adventure I'm on....would have probably never used it otherwise!

The pic is awful but it's actually working up nicely and I can tell I will wear it....go figure!

Also did these cuties and will be doing more of them! Talk about fast....knitted a pair in one day! Getting around to felting them....and getting them to felt in my front-load machine :-( took longer than it did to knit them! They are the French Press Felted slippers! Found those on Ravelry too. Sorry I'm too lazy to link all the patterns but have lots I want to do today and don't want to take the extra time!

Aside from knitting we took a couple of motor home trips with grand kids this winter. We took Clayton and Carter one weekend and Dax the next. Even though it was cold we (and they) had a fun time. We went to an RV park with an indoor heated pool and a pen with buffalo to check out. Those activities along with walking the dogs and a few kid movies kept everyone occupied and happy!
Check out the view behind Dax and Poppy! Yep....camping during the last snow-storm of the season!
We are dying to get out and on the road in it again soon!

Only other news is that I had a part-time job literally fall into my lap. It has been an adjustment after being retired for 5 years! I work about 3 days a week. Getting used to it but sort of a disappointment really. It is not turning out to be what I thought (and was told) it would be. I was led to believe I would be doing accounting....not working out that way....I think I have typed (yes, typed....on an ancient old IBM) one or two checks since I've been there. The rest of the stuff I have been doing is stuff a high school kid could do....literally....and I'm bored out of my gord! We will see. Am going to hang in there as long as I can stand it and hopefully it will get more interesting in time!

Well, got lots to get done around here....now that I'm working I have to be more efficient with my time.....lol! Heaven only knows when I'll get around to posting again....or if anyone even still reads it if I do, but that's it for now!

Thank Goodness!

2010-03-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness there aren't any knitting police!...lol! Oh, I'm still doing the "Book Adventure" thing....really I am.

I just happen to be stuck on book # 2 right now. I talked a little about diversions on the last post and I have had a few!

I am still going to do the Book Adventure.......I'll keep a project from a book on the needles at all times, but there is no rule that says that is the only thing I can knit on :-)

Here is one of the diversions..... Ok.....having all kinds of problems uploading pics. Won't let me put them where I want them and won't let me delete them once they are here....grrr.... anyway....this pic is the cowl Amanda did....can't get the ones I did to upload at all and her's uploaded twice and I can't delete one of them....anyway, the scoop on the cowls in later in the post.

The Wrap Me Up Shawl. Wish I'd gotten a pic of it off the blocking boards and on a body but that hasn't happened yet. It was really fun to knit. About the time you get really bored with a section it is time to start another one.

Another couple of quick projects jumped in front of the Tuscany shawl too. (Pic above and below, courtesy of blogger uploading problems) I have an "in" with the new buyer for needlework at Michaels. She is trying hard to up the ante and make that department better. It has, in my opinion, been one of the worst departments in that store! It's an uphill road and she has had to work hard for the improvements she would like to see in that department. She told me that they had a new yarn debuting mid Feb and asked me if I would mind knitting with it to see what I think. 7 colors in the new yarn came out in Feb and in May there will be 21 colors in this new yarn and several other new yarns that will hit the stores.....so if you have noticed a huge reset in your local stores lately.....that is why....a lot of different new yarns and new accessories coming out in May. Anyway....I bought some of the Country Loom and did a cowl pattern that came on the ball band. Loved it!!! So much, in fact, went back for another color and did another one!

Amanda did one too and here is hers.

I also kind of got the bug to do some crochet. I've known how for years and years but never really done much with it. I have edged knitted things, made granny squares and coasters and that's about it. I was watching an episode of Knit and Crochet Today a few days ago and saw them working on this cute little child's tube dress in crochet. Well, decided to give it a go. Doing it out of Naturallycaron Country. 75% acrylic and 25% merino....pretty soft and washable. Has a nice drape too. Sigh......gonna try to put a pic up....hold your breath!

Enjoying the crocheting but pretty sure knitting still holds the top spot in my heart....lol

Also did a pair of French Press felted slippers.....but they aren't felted yet so will save that pic until later.

We've also been doing some fun stuff with the grandkids......will leave those details and pics for next post because we are going out again this weekend with Dax .....will post them all next time.

Book 2-No Sheep For You-Amy Singer

2010-02-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

The Book saga continues.....finally! I say finally because I have been trying to start the book 2 project all week!

I finished the little ribbed sweater and it is pinned to blocking boards as we speak. I had decided that I was going to do the Tuscany Shawl out of some Asland Trends Class I have in stash.

Looks like it would be beautiful, right? Well....I started.....and re-started it numerous times. This yarn just did NOT want to be this shawl....at all! If you knit, you know what I mean! Sometimes the yarn decides for YOU what it wants to be!!! It did not want to be this either.

It is the River Rock Scarf from the same book. Honestly, I might have been able to convince it to be the scarf.....but I did not want to string the 1500+ beads and tried to add them as I went....just didn't work. Beads sat in the middle of the stitch and really needed to sit between the stitches.....the reason they needed to be pre-strung. Anyway....was not in the mood!

Anyway....gave up on the Asland Trends and dug around in the stash a little more. I finally decided to try the Tuscany again using some 100% silk by Pinguion that I snagged in an estate sale a while back.

Couple of false starts with this one too, but i think it's going to work this time. I almost threw in the towel on this little knitting adventure of mine, but I managed to persevere...lol. Not to say I won't have a diversion project now and then! There are a couple of them nagging me now as a matter of fact!

One of them is called "Wrap Me Up". Sorry I'm too lazy to create a link but if you are on Ravelry you can find it on a pattern search...It's way cool and looks like it would be really fun to do....so it just might "jump on the needles" here one of these days :-)

Maybe out of this?

What do you think? I really kind of wanted to do earth-tone, fallish type colors but had nothing in stash that is self-striping....well, other than sock yarn which would not work obviously!. Because we are really trying to watch our spending this year and get back to being debt free AND go on lots of motorhome trips this year......I didn't feel like I should just go buy whatever I wanted.....I mean it would have been a lot.....if I had paid for it brand new....and the colors I really wanted....so....I scored this off of a Ravelry Buddy...for almost half off retail....what the hey....I like pink and purple! We'll see how long I can stand it before I start this puppy! Being disciplined is, in some ways....over-rated!

Sidetrack & Inbetween

2010-02-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well.....would have finished this sidetrack project last night but ended up having to rip out the sleeves and start them over! I knew I'd be cutting it close but decided to hold my breath and shoot for the long sleeve version anyway....shoulda, coulda, woulda.....oh, well. Short sleeve version it shall be...lol.

Think it will still be cute and fun to wear! What do you think?

I also finished another wip that has been hanging around a long, long time. It has actually been done except for the seaming for ages. I finally bit the bullet and seamed the thing up so it can be worn....can you tell I HATE seaming....lol!

It is the Tilted Duster from Interweave Magazine. So many people did this pattern. It was a fun knit and would have gone quickly, I think, if I had stuck with it. Anyway, it's done now! Guess I should have gotten a pic of the front....that's the neatest part of the sweater....oh well, guess you will just have to see that when I wear it..lol!

Should finish the sleeves on the sidetrack project tonight or tomorrow....depending on how much Savy & Dax let me knit...lol! We've been getting them on Saturdays for overnights so we can take them to Sunday School/Church on Sunday mornings. Usually take them home after church but coming back and meeting up with David, Amanda and bringing Dad up to watch Super Bowl tomorrow.....so not sure how much knitting will be done!

Once sidetrack sweater is done and blocking Book # 2 in my "knitting book adventure" will commence. Pretty sure I am going to do the Tuscany Shawl from "No Sheep For You" out of the Asland Trends Class that Amanda brought me from the Woolie Ewe in Plano, Tx a while back.

Pics posted when I actually get it going!

Book One-baby knits for beginners-Debbie Bliss

2010-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

This book has been around forever.....so long that I don't even remember when/where/why I bought it! ........ But it was the first in line on the shelf, so it got the honors of being the first in my Year of Books knitting adventure!

I did the Simple Hat and the Boat Neck Sweater patterns out of Berrocco Comfort. I picked up 2 skeins of it in a Swap Meet at Guild a year or so ago and it had been languishing in the stash since. It's going to a good friend's first grandbaby due the end of summer.

This whole mystery project thing is kind of fun and I know I'm going to end up using yarn I loved enough to buy but have had no clue what to do with!

From here, on to the sidetrack project. Front done and cast on back last night.......hurry......

Then on to Book Two....sneaked a peek.....next in line is "No Sheep For You" by Amy Singer. Pattern selection and Stash diving to commence soon!

Sidetrack Project

2010-01-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the baby sweater and hat from 'baby knits for beginners' by Debbie Bliss, (the first project in the "Year of Books") is blocking. Pics of it along with the book will go up once it gets seamed. I'm going to try to chronical this little knitting adventure I've created for myself.....on a consistent basis for a change...lol!

First sidetrack project cropped up after we visited a new little shop in Claremore, OK this past weekend called "Unwind, A Yarn Shop". It's only been open since around the first of December. I had been following her progress up to it's opening on her blog and through Ravelry. When we decided to go that direction on our little weekend rv trip I just had to pop in and see it in person.

She was working on a sweater from a new yarn from Nashua Handknits called Daylily. I liked the feel and texture of the fabric and one of the patterns in the leaflet for the yarn called my name!

Here is a shot of the yarn.

I wanted to do the long sleeve version of the sweater, but she didn't have enough of the yarn so am doing the short sleeve one. It is predominantly cotton so the short sleeves might be better anyway! One thing I had forgotten.....knitting stuff out of some cottons is hard on the pinkies! Using a lot of hand lotion since I started this one.

Have about 10 1/2 inches on the front done...moving right along....have to get finished so I can pull the next book!

Year of Books

2010-01-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

Not that anyone actually reads this silly thing any more since I have neglected it so badly this past year...but oh, well...it's a place to ramble and share my thoughts.....even if it's only with myself...lol!

Got past the shoulder surgery, sort of. The pain is negligible, nothing an Aleve or two won't handle and I can do more with the arm than I could before the surgery. Is it totally fixed...no. It froze up on me again. Not to the degree it was before the surgery, but I don't have full range of motion back by a long shot. Doc wants to go in and cut it lose again. Thought about it and decided no thank you. I mean, I can do everything that I want to do, like to do and need to do and I am not in pain. The trade-off, for me right now is not worth going through that again!

I have been getting some knitting done. Finished the Cobblestone for Ron out of some Pinguion I got at an estate sale a while back. Turned out great! The pic of it didn't so I'll try to get one of it on him and post at some point.

I finished my tilted duster....just need to block and seam....again, pics later! Also finished a baby sweater and hat out of Berroco Comfort for a friend's upcoming grand-son.

I also finished this Fake Isle Hat. Fun knit and only took 2 days!

After I finished the hat I was just "at odds" about what to knit next. I thought of a dozen different things, stood in front of the stash squeezing the skeins and scratching my head and nothing got me interested enough to cast on....all that yarn and nothing to knit...lol!

Anyway, hence the name of this post. Like most knitters I have a pretty extensive library of knitting books. My "rule" is that I have to really like (and would actually make) at least 2 items before I shell out the $$$ for a book. Well, that being said, I'm embarrassed at how many books I have that I have never made a single pattern from...not one!

Soooo..,,..,I'm starting a new "adventure in knitting". I'm literally pulling the first book in line off the shelf, choosing a pattern or two and going stash diving for the yarn to do one of them! Then the next book, then the next.....you get the idea. Plan for next year or so is to knit something out of every book! It's kind of fun...sort of a "mystery project" type deal...I don't know what I'm going to knit next! I'm sure I'll get sidetracked a few times ( I already have!) with new purchases/projects, etc., but am really going to try and stay on track. The baby sweater/hat was the first book I pulled. Will post pic when done seaming it. Next book off shelf is No Sheep For You. Thinking maybe the Tuscany shawl.....Got sidetracked by new purchase from Unwind, A Yarn Shop in Claremore this past week, but am going right back to the plan after I finish that project. Cute, cute a-line sweater out of Nashua Daylily.

Ok...enough for now. Will try to keep this updated with progress of my Year of Books Knitting Adventure.

Back....sort of

2009-10-31T05:58:00.001-07:00

I'm back again...sort of. Back as far as actually posting on here and sort of back as far as recovering from shoulder surgery. I had the surgery on Sept. 21. They repaired the rotator cuff tear and had to cut 360 degrees around the shoulder to release the frozen shoulder.

I know in time I'll be glad I had it done but right now it just hasn't been much fun. I can finally knit again....for a little while before the pain forces me to put it down....but boy, does it feel good to be able to do it again! I made jokes about knitting withdrawals before I had the surgery and it turned out to be so true!!! It really did drive me crazy for the 3 weeks that I couldn't do it at all! Still doing physical therapy 3 times a week to regain use of the arm and from what I've been told will be doing that for another 6-8 months....or as long as insurance covers it.

Consequently not much knitting to show off these days...lol! I made a concentrated effort to finish the Gail (Nightsongs) shawl out of the handmaiden sea silk before the surgery.

Pics really washed out the color but I was happy with how it turned out. The pattern was really confusing in the beginning but several people on Ravelry who made it worked up some tips and tricks to share that helped tremendously! Once I got the hang of it it worked up like a dream!

Since the return to knitting following surgery I have managed to finish my "car socks" so will have to start another pair of basic socks to keep in the car for unexpected down times.

I started a clapotis out of some Pingouin I had in the stash for my friend Amy. She was such a sweet heart to come up here and stay with me the second week following the surgery! I still couldn't do much of anything for myself and we appreciated her so, so much for coming up and taking care of me!

Not much in the way of other news except for getting a computer. I had been wanting a laptop so we wouldn't be incommunicado when we head out in the motor home and we decided it was time to go ahead and get one. Mainly because hubby's computer was a total dinosaur...really awful....so he took my old one and we set up the laptop at home with a docking station for me. Not being much of a techie, getting everything set up and transfered was a challenge...lol!

We are both dying to get out in the motorhome but that will have to wait a bit. Our favorite time to go is this time of year. Cold at night, cool/crisp mornings and mild afternoons to sit out under the awning and knit/read or take the dogs for walks. Right now I still can't sleep in a bed without the arm hurting and there isn't a fully reclining chair in the motor home so we will have to wait until I get to the point I don't have to sleep in a recliner. We went ahead and had it winterized but are hoping we can take off in it sometime in the next couple of months.

Tonight we will be heading out to trick or treat with Savy and Dax. This is the first year I wasn't able to make costumes :-(. I know it probably bothered me much more than it did them...lol! I always look forward to going with them and seeing them do their thing. We are hoping Clayton, Carter and Kiley join us this year. It will be fun having 5 of our 7 grandbabies to trick or treat with! What fun would it be to have all 7!!!!

Labor Day Weeknd

2009-09-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Already? Man, where has this year gone? I can't believe it's September already! It's crazy how fast time goes the older I get. Shoot...when I was a kid the few hours between morning service and evening service on Sundays lasted FOORRREEVVER!

We have had a quiet holiday so far. Just me, Hubby and the fur-kids, but David, Amanda, the kids and Dad coming over later for cook-out. They are bringing their new fur-kid...Boomer, to play with our four-legged kiddos.

Last Sunday Ron and Savy went to Petsmart to get a couple of new fish for his tank and came home with a new addition to the household!

Her name is Chenille. She was rescued from a puppy mill along with 38 other little ones. Amanda fell so in love with her that she went back this week and found her little Boomer from the same bunch! She has adapted so well and so fast...it's like she's been here forever and that little face just makes you laugh every time you look at her....I've been calling her Funny Face more than Chenille...lol! She got the doggie door down pat and just barrels through it now! Of course, she uses it mainly to bring various things in to play with more than an access to the yard for going potty! She went in and out last night dozens of times and each time had a new "treasure" that we had to relieve her of....like rocks, kid's toys, bugs, etc.

The boys are adjusting to her and Stoneleigh actually breaks down and plays with her some....not a lot yet...but some. It's funny how they pout for a while when you bring in someone new. I remember Cricket and little Gidget gave Stoneleigh the cold shoulder for quite a while when he was first introduced...now he and Cricket are best buds!

Not much to show on the knitting front. Still have the finishing touches to do on the Master's kit and working on the Nightsongs shawl. One of the issues I mentioned in the last post has to do with pain in my left arm. I hurt it back in March and have traipsed back and forth to doctor after doctor trying to get it taken care of. I can only knit for a few minutes before it really gets painful. Not being able to knit is NOT a good thing for this girl. It's WHO I AM, for heaven's sake! I finally found a doctor who was actually interested in finding out what is wrong...thank the Lord! The last one I went to told me it was bursitis and gave me a cortisone shot in the bursa. When I told him it didn't help he just got defensive and condesending. I tried to get back in to see him when, after 2 weeks, the pain had gotten much worse and was told he didn't want to see me again for another 2 weeks, but they would be happy to give me pain meds!!!??? Excuse me...narcotics is NOT the solution I am looking for.....I want to know why it hurts, why I can't raise my arm even chest level and how it can be fixed! Anyway...turns out he is the idiot...not me! I knew something else was going on the the new doc found it! I have a torn rotator cuff. All these months of hurting could have been avoided if the first doc would have just taken a darn MRI. A little mad? Yep! Sure am! As a result of it going on so long I also now have frozen shoulder from not using the arm! Anyway, going to a shoulder specialist tomorrow. I know I'm looking physical therapy at the very least and possibly surgery to repair the tear....just fix it already so the girl can KNIT!

Yes, I know!

2009-08-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

Once again, it has been a loooong time since the last post! I really am going to try to do better...if for no other reason it's kind of fun to look back myself and reflect on past goings on!

In some ways a lot, lot has happened, but in other ways, not much. I have been dealing with 2 really frustrating health issues, both of which include pain. I hate whining....so rather than make blog posts big ole whine-fests I would rather not say much :-)....the main reason I have been so quiet lately. One of the issues has gotten much better so I'm hoping and praying that holds...and have an appointment with a new doc next Monday for the other so am hopeful that I'll be back to normal (or as normal as I ever get anyway..lol) soon!

I have done some knitting but not nearly as much as normal..one of the pain side effects. Have the Master's Level one almost ready to go. Just have to weave in some ends and type up the research. I'll try to post shots of each swatch and the hat at a later date. I found it really helpful when other people did that so I could look at specific swatches in comparison to mine.

I've also finished one sock each of two pair lately. One is just the basic 2x2 rib sock that I haul around in my car to work on. It is out of some indie dyer merino that I won at a Guild meeting ages ago.

I have also got a Horcrux sock done using some Artyarns Merino that Amanda gifted me from a trip to Texas. Was kind of disappointed that the patterning at the cuff didn't show up all that well with this yarn but they do feel good on the feet and the colorway is just plain old fun!

Oh, and I did finish a pair of Jacaranda socks. A Sock of the Month kit from Chameleon Colorworks that I got ages ago.

The other project I started recently is the Gail aka Nightsongs shawl. I saw it on Ravely and thought it was just gorgeous! I'm doing it from a skein of Handmaiden's Seasilk that I got last summer in Austin. I had some issues understanding the pattern at first but several people had put up pointers on Ravelry and once I got it figured out it has been a joy to work on. First thing I have knitted on a quite a while that I can't wait to finish! Here it is so far:

One bit of big news that I'm really excited and PROUD about! My older daughter, Melissa just got a HUGE promotion with Michael's! Those of you who have read my ramblings in the past may remember my post about her designing all the Christmas products in the framing line last year. Well, all of them coming out this year will be her designs too, but as of last week she is no longer in the framing department! Get this....is this too funny or what....she is now the Senior Buyer for.....drumroll, please......Needlework and YARN!!!! She has already started picking my brain about what knitters would like to see in the Michael's stores! I know they will never be able to match the selection that we have at our LYS....and I wouldn't want them to!!! The LYS will always be my preferred shopping spot.....I want them to be around....forever! But it is exciting to think that with her at the helm of purchasing there may be a better selection there too! Anyway....am really proud of my girl and had to brag just a little!

The other thing we are excited about is the new motor home! We sold the old one several months back and didn't intend to get another one quite so soon.....but man, we missed going out in one and just kicking back and relaxing! We made the mistake of "just going to look"...ha ha!

We have been out in it several times....good thing about that kind of trip is you are still kind of "at home" when you feel bad so the health issues didn't get in the way too much...some but not enough to keep us from going!

We took Savy the last trip and had such a wonderful time. We (us, David & Amanda, Savy and Dax) are going out in it again this weekend to meet up with Melissa and Brian. I can't wait! Here are a couple of pics from that last trip.

I can't wait until we take our "fall trip" in it....my favorite time of the year to go, sit outside under the awning with a sweater on and knit, nap, knit, nap....well, you get the idea!

We had a fun visit this summer with our other 5 grandkids too! Valerie and her crew were on their way to Chris's new assignment in San Diego and they came through Oklahoma and stayed for a few days! I don't know how they handle the military thing and moving every couple of years! Brandon and Jen came over with their 3 and Patrick & Misty came up from Lawton while they were here and it was nice having them all here at once.

The uncles about gave me a heart attack when I walked out in the backyard and saw this:

That's uncles for you :-)

That's about it other than I'm still doing the coupon thing and loving it! I went to Homeland yesterday and brought home close to $170 worth of groceries and paid $59! Getting ready to do Walgreen's and CVS today and according to my calculations I should come home with almost $150 worth of stuff, spend around $30 something....and get back $38 in store bucks to use the next time I go! Not bad...not bad at all! Ron and I were doing some figuring last night and think I've probably cut our grocery/toiletry bill way more than half.....probably close to 70 something percent of what I used to spend!

What HAVE I been doing?

2009-06-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Once again it has been ages and ages since a post. I got so far behind it was overwhelming to try and decide what to post about....so I just didn't :-).

I suppose it would be impossible to "catch up" so to speak on the happenings of the past several months so I'll just ramble about what ever comes to mind and not worry about being chronological or anything so mundane!

Needless to say, we have had a multitude of grand kids' birthdays, etc. that I've missed telling about along with several other things.....so on that front we'll just start with today! Dax turned 3 on Monday and his party is this afternoon.

Poppy made his cake again this year and here is a shot of it before we head out to the party.

On my side of things, I'm still knitting. A few other things have wormed their way into my knitting time, but I am still getting a little knitting in almost every day.

I am working on the TKGA Master's Level One with Jo Ellyn and Michelle. We try to meet every week to work on it together. I've missed several sessions from either having health issues or being out of town but I'm plugging along on it! I have done and blocked swatches 1 - 7 and have 8-14 ready to block! The worst part is going to be the research, questions and reports. I only have 2 swatches and the project hat left as far as the knitting part goes.

I have also been doing some cute little dresses that Amanda are working on and are going to try to sell. We have permission to put them in a little shop at Turner Falls.....we just have to get several more made. We'll put them out there and see what happens!

I've also been doing a lot of sewing lately. Savy let me know recently that she and "Hanna" didn't have any matching summer outfits!! I have done 3 matching outfits for them and messed around and did not get a single pic of them! Hopefully I can catch them dressed up in their matching duds soon and post them. It was a challenge to be sure! I have discovered that the only patterns out there for sale are for 18" dolls like American Girl, etc. Well, the My Twinn dolls are 23" dolls!! So.....I have been finding patterns for Savy then "creating" a matching pattern for Hanna. Guess it's good for keeping the old brain cells working....lol!

Since I had made several outfits for Savannah and Hanna I felt like I should do some for Dax too! I missed a pic of the pj's I did but got a shot of his "cool dude" outfit that I did.

The other "thing" that has been cutting into knitting time is my couponing. I have gotten serious about doing the coupon thing. It does take time and effort, but it is really starting to pay off! Most of the time I'm happy if I save from 40-60% off my bill, but occasionally I hit that week where I really do awesome!! I've only managed to pull of walking out of a store with several bags of stuff without giving them one penny twice......but I HAVE done it, know it can be done and man, is it a high!!! Did it yesterday at CVS. I got 2 big cans of Folgers Coffee, 5 snack bars, a Loreal Revitilizing cream and a vitamin water.....after coupons and the Extra Care Bucks I'd gotten in weeks past I owed nothing....not one penny....and got $4 in Extra Care Bucks to spend on the next trip!

The other time I had the $0 balance happen was at Walgreens. Got 5 12 packs of pepsi, a 42 count Prilosec, 3 boxes of Special K Cereal, a chapstick and an eyeshadow....all for zero money!! Like I said...it doesn't happen often.....and I'm happy enough when I can go to Homeland and save 57% off my bill like I did this week.....but the "free" weeks are really a natural high! It sort of becomes a game to see how well I can do!

Well, time to head out for that Birthday party! Will try to post on a more regular basis...not that anyone out there will think to check in since it's been so long!

Uhhhh.....Wow....

2009-02-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Uhhh, wow is right.....I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything so all I can say is just...wow.

I doubt that there is even anyone out there who still checks in and reads it after this length of activity. Oh, well..guess I can still ramble on whether anyone reads it or not...lol!

Obviously, I haven't shared any pics of kids at Christmas....or anything else for that matter!

Here is Savy with her "twinn" that she got for Christmas. It is actually designed to look like her! When it is ordered you can chose hair, eye and skin color...hair length and style.....and even....get this.....you can send pictures and draw in where they have freckles, moles, etc!

Pretty cool, huh! She loves her and takes her everywhere!

Dax's main Christmas was a train table. That little boy is obsessed with trains! He got the biggest old smile on his little face when he saw it!

Lots of fun and family over the holidays, but feels kind of weird telling about all the holiday festivities at this late date!

I have a confession to make too...I've fallen and I can't get out....lol.....of the video game black hole! I have never.....ever....honestly....been remotely interested in video games, computer games...nothing of that sort. In fact, I used to tell all my sons-in-law that play them constantly that they were just big ole kids and needed to grow up....(in a loving way, of course :-)....but I did feel that way....that it is just a collosal waste of time!

Well....we were convinced by said kids and spouses that we needed to get a Wii system....specifically to obtain the Wii Fit game.....for our health, you know...!!! I am not an exercise type of girl....at all....I know, I know....we need to exercise for our health....but I hate it! We all figured that making the effort into a game, so to speak, that I might enjoy it more....so we did it. Well, they were right.....I do enjoy the Wii Fit and actually use it....and we really like the Dancing with the Stars game....actually gets our heart rate up and everything! So far, so good, right? Well.....That was all well and good....until I got this for Christmas

It's insane, it's ridiculous, it's addicting.....and I can't quit playing the stupid thing! Then I got another one called Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility....OMG....between the two I never get anything done....it's EVIL....lol! I only knit a couple of hours during prime time watching tv with DH.....and I have managed (barely) to keep him fed and the laundry done....but these horrible games have taken over my life...lol!!! I have managed to finish a couple of knitting projects, believe it or not....but haven't gotten around to taking pics yet. Anyway...hoping when the new wears off of these silly things......

Lots more to tell - talk about but kids are on the way over so I need to scoot!

Fun

2008-12-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's just been fun the past couple of weeks! Getting all the holiday decorations up and all the other stuff that goes along with! I think having most all the gift shopping part done well before Thanksgiving had a little to do with it...much less stress with that part of the equation all done!

Went to two holiday parties with dirty Santa gift exchanges this month. Those are always so much fun! Sometimes you come home with gifts that aren't really your cup of tea but it's still fun. This year I loved both my dirty Santa gifts!!

The first one I snagged at Gourmet Yarn Co. Knit-In. Sock yarn!! Yoo hoo! A girl can't have enough sock yarn!

Pretty shades of purple in Jojoland Melody! Photo turned out really dark and doesn't do it justice....it's yummy!

The second haul was from the Holiday party at the OKC Metro Knitting Guild this afternoon. I snagged a copy of Sally Melville's Book 1: The Knit Stitch.

I have been wanting to get that one. Even though I consider myself to be a fairly experienced knitter....and this is a beginner kind of book.... there are a few patterns in it that I really would like to do. I've also learned that sometimes going back to the beginning and looking at something from another person's point of view, I often learn better ways to do things! So I am supremely happy with my new acquisitions!

We also had fun with Savy & Dax this weekend. Due to being out of town and being sick we haven't had them for an overnight in a while and I was really missing those little stinkers! I started a little tradition with Savy when she was around 2 making tree ornaments for family members as gifts from her. We worked on those this weekend, and of course, now everyone will start getting one from Dax too!

We also did a gingerbread house! Savy worked hard getting it all decorated....and Dax worked hard at picking the candies off and eating them...lol!

At 2, Dax quickly lost interest in the ornaments and gingerbread house and spent a big part of the afternoon playing with an old pair of reading glasses he found in a drawer!

Kids are so funny that way! I love telling the story about my older daughter's first Christmas. First baby, first grandbaby in many, many years and that baby girl had one huge pile of toys, let me tell you! Well.....you probably know what is coming next....the thing she dragged around and played with the entire day was a bag of uncooked macaroni! Go figure!

I have managed to get the wip pile a lot smaller! I've got it to the point that I'm almost ready to cast on something new!!! I have recently finished the Lady Eleanor shawl out of the Paton's Soy Wool.

Dh's hat and scarf out of Elsebeth Lavold Baby Alpaca.

The Forest Canopy Shawl out of Lana Grossa Chiara. I love how this yarn worked up on this project. I cast it on out of 3 other yarns and didn't like it before I tried this one!

Also got the Central Park Hoodie out of Jo Sharp....love, love this sweater!!

And last but not least finally got another pair of socks almost done. I didn't realize I had been neglecting sock duty until it started getting cold and I don't have enough socks! These are the Slippery Sock out of Naked Sheep. Have about 3 inches done on the second one.

After feeling like I knit like a fool with nothing to show for it I finally got some stuff finished!!! Yay!!

One and a half cats and Bragging Rights

2008-12-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

For years we had 3 dogs and one cat. As most of you know, we lost our little Gidget this summer and still miss her so very much! Doing the math you would think we were down to 2 dogs and one cat....right?

Ummmm...apparently not! Over the past few months both DH and I, either suffering from insomnia or, in his case, getting up in the middle of the night for work....have "surprised" a sneaky nocturnal visitor making himself at home at Akira's food bowl!

I have to say....he/she is a pretty thing...big beautiful grey tabby.....quite well-fed it appears!!! I don't know if the bulk of his/her meals are from us or not, but it hasn't missed many meals if any.

We got a big laugh out of it once the shock of knowing that "visitors" were accessing the doggie door in the middle of the night.......and that Akira was throwing parties when we weren't looking!

Up until a couple of nights ago.....as far as we knew anyway.....the food bowl was the only interesting spot our visitor frequented....however, Ron got up early for work day before yesterday and went into one of the guest bedrooms to get something....flipped on the light....and guess who was curled up sleeping away on the guest bed!!!???

So...at this point it looks like we are the "proud owners" of half a cat! It still scoots away and out the doggie door as soon as we see it...... Haven't been able to pet it yet, but obviously it feels at home here so who knows! Haven't been able to get any pics of it so far but if I can catch any, I'll post them.

Now on to the Bragging Rights! I, as a parent, have always been, and still am....proud of my children. From the silly, sweet things they did as little girls up to now and the wonderful, smart, caring women they have grown up to be. In the kid department I have been abundantly blessed, no doubt about it!

A little about the older of the two: She works in the corporate offices of Micheal's in Irving, Tx. She is a senior buyer/designer for the table top framing department. She has only been with Michael's for a little over a year and has already been promoted and received a company award that some employees have never received....and the ones who have gotten it normally have been there for 5 years or more! I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments! Now for the really cool part......she has designed the entire Christmas framing lines of products! (Other lines as well!) It blows me away to know that literally thousands of people across the nation have something in their home that my girl designed/created!!!

Of course, Mom had to have some of them...lol! I couldn't afford to get one of everything she did, but I did get a few!

She did all the snow-globe frames and all of the frames in the store that are a Christmas design.
The snow globes are all music boxes as well....how cool is that?

I haven't gone through and found the pics to put in them yet, but here are the mini-frames and tree. She designed the tree they are displayed on too!
Pretty much anything that sits on a surface and holds pics....like these cute little placecard/picture holders and traditional frames, she designed!
So, if you get a chance to check out the framing department at Michael's you'll be looking at the work of my kid!!! One proud Mama....you betcha!

Outside

2008-12-01T06:58:00.001-08:00

Ok, as promised....a few pics of outside. Of course, DH thinks it is too bare! After all, there are EMPTY spots in the yard...lol!

He usually gets at least one new "toy" to add to the collection every year.

The new one this year is the teeter-totter.

It's funny...all our kids tease us and make fun of us (in a nice way, of course), but I know beyond the shadow of a doubt.....if we missed a year they would all be sooo disappointed...lol! My daughter in Texas says the highlight of their trip every year is driving up in front of the house after dark!

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. The decorating, of course, then Friday we headed down to Mel & B's for the rest of the weekend. We had the best meal.....oh, my goodness! They always do a non-traditional type of meal and this time it was Mediterranean! Mousaka, dolmas, marinated pear salad.....yummmmm! The kiddies had a blast playing outside and the grown ups all ate too much...lol.

We went down in the motor home so we could take the dogs so we hung out with everyone during the day then spent the nights in our little home away from home.

Worked out pretty good!

We headed home Sunday morning and battled those 40 mph winds all the way back. It was a little like a roller coaster ride with those winds buffeting that rv around!

Now back home and getting ready for the rest of the holiday season.

Being a blended family there have been years that we have had someone here for Christmas every weekend in December! This year not so. Only one of the families that live out of Oklahoma are going to be able to make it this year. All the shopping is done, just need to get some of it in the mail and starting the baking/cooking!

Can You Guess?

2008-11-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

There is something about us

You may not know

No matter the weather

Come rain, sleet or snow

Ideas for placement

Pop into our heads

The easiest part

Is changing the linens

On all the beds!

The Grandkids say it is something to see

In every single room

You will find a tree!

Have you guessed it yet?

That this post has a reason....

To let everyone know

WE LOVE THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!!!

Believe or not.......I didn't get pictures of all of it...lol! I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. I guess you can tell what we did :-).

The outside is even more decked out than the inside....will post pics of that next time around!

Best Laid Plans

2008-11-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

What is that they say about "best laid plans"? Mine being to stick to wips until I have at least half of them cleared out before starting something new....lol. I should have known better!

I had my resolve firmly in hand in that regard.....then I get an invitation to a baby shower....oh well! The shower is next Saturday so I opted to do one of those fast diagonal baby blankets from some Homespun I had in the stash.

It worked up really fast. Think I'll get some soft green ribbon to thread through the eyelets and call it done! Since it worked up so quickly I decided I have time to try doing some of those cute baby longies that are all over Ravelry.

The pattern was a little muddy on picking up the gusset and I realized that I knitted up the crotch into the first leg so I need to rip back and correct that...but all-in-all, these went really fast too.....even faster than the blanket. I know what I'll be doing for baby showers from now on!

Before I got the shower invitation I did manage to finish the Central Park Hoodie!!! Yea!!! I love this sweater! I got to wear it this weekend (sans buttons)....haven't found the perfect ones for it yet......and it is so warm and cozy!

If I didn't have a bazillion other things I want to do I'd do another one :-) That's about all the knitting news I have other than one stash enhancement. I got some Berrocco Geode.

Am planning on doing this out of it. Hopefully that link works....if not....it is the Nori pattern on the Berroco site!

Other stuff going on was Halloween with the kiddos! Savy loved her fairy costume and looked so cute in it! Dax was a Ninja and boy, did he get the candy thing figured out in a hurry! It was so funny once he "got it". He would say Trick or Treat on the way up to the houses, but once he got to the door all he would say is "candy, candy"!

Savy also turned 7 this past week! I can't believe it! She also lost 2 teeth...something she is SO excited about! We thought she would chose Hanna Montana as her birthday party theme....we really did! I about fainted when Amanda told me she was insisting on a skull and crossbones theme!!! We tried to convince her to pick something else but she had her mind made up! I know it is really "in" right now, but you know how these grandmas can be.....lol! We sort of lean towards the "sweet and cute" type of stuff! Anyway, I do have to say, it ended up being really cute and all her little friends LOVED it! Oh, well....so much for "old school"...lol!

As usual, DH did her cake....and he outdid himself once again!

Good but Tough

2008-10-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

I know it's not the end of the year yet, but am feeling retrospective for some reason this morning. Thinking about, in a lot of ways, what a good year it has been....although it has flown by and I'm still trying to figure out where it went! Blessings abound with the love of a wonderful family, the ability to live a comfortable life with a nice home, food on the table and the financial ability to do some extras now and then.....such wonderful blessings!

One area of life this year that has been a little stressful is health issues. It has been a little tough in that area. We had two losses this year. My beautiful older daughter lost her first baby in the first trimester. They waited so long to try and start a family and we were all so excited at the prospect but it was not to be. I'm so hoping they will try again! We also lost my son-in-law's (Amanda's husband) father to a heart attack this year. He was a larger-than-life type of guy and so full of life! He was a true artist by trade. Painted and sold pictures at his cabin in Turner Falls. He was only 70 and from all appearances, in better health than any of us! He could do 18 holes of golf without even breaking stride....and he refused to use a golf cart! It was such a shock, such a huge loss, and so unexpected.

For the most part our family has always enjoyed good health over the years.....a wonderful thing....but in some ways it makes it difficult to deal with constant health problems when they do arise! My precious younger daughter has had a plate full of health issues this year. Being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia is kicker enough, but it seems like one thing after another is dumped on top of that. Two surgeries and a multitude of other minor illnesses just keep coming one after the other....then those always set the Fibro into a tailspin. My heart just aches for her and I so wish I could "fix it" the way Moms are want to do! I'm just so thankful that the medical profession is starting to recognize this insidious disease and is working on treatments for it. For so long it was just a catch-all diagnosis when they couldn't figure out what is wrong. Well....I can tell you....it is real....and it is awful! She is so very brave and so determined that this thing isn't going to get the best of her....I'm so proud and so in awe of her determination to beat this thing. I don't know if I could have the strength of will she has shown!

It seems like I have been plagued with one thing after another this year too! Very annoying to say the least! From arthritis in my hands....not a fun thing for an avid knitter to say the least....to unexplained dizzy spells and not being able to drive for a while, a raging case of diverticulitous which resulted in an emergency hospitalization while out of state and a minor surgery to remove a adenomous polyp....it has seemed to be one thing after another with me too! Very minor surgery to get the polyp but I don't seem to bounce back like I used to. Still dealing with some exhaustion and residual pain almost a week later. Needless to say I'm looking forward to a NEW year free of health issues for my family!!!

Now on to more pleasant things! :-) I have still been busy creatively. It does seem a little like the FO's have been somewhat stalled...lol! I don't think I ever go too many days without working on something, but I have so many things started that it doesn't seem like much gets finished! So.....I have now decided to clean up some of the wip's before starting anything new....I think I have upwards of a dozen or so to chose from! I have been focusing the past week or so on the Central Park Hoodie. I'm on the last sleeve so will hopefully have an FO to post soon! I'm doing it out of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran. I love the feel of the yarn and the fabric it is making but I've read some people say it pills pretty badly....I'm hoping that's not the case! I hate wearing sweaters with pills!

So....here's hoping I can stay focused on finishing what I have started the next few weeks!!! Next up.....finishing the MS4. Am up to the last clue then will have to repeat the pattern and graft the two sides together. Really awful picture...hope the finished one comes out better!

Then the second Handsome Devil sock for DH out of Colinette Jitterbug will be done! (yes...his feet are huge!)

And the list goes on....I'll just wait and post pics of fo's as they are done.

Two things I have managed to get finished are the Mosaic Bag for the Gourmet Yarn Co. fall retreat! Just need to felt it! I loved doing this bag and can see myself doing others in different colors somewhere down the road! Pattern by LP...unbelievably talented knitter, VP of OKC Metro Knitter's Guild and special all around person and friend!

And last, but not least! Something else that is almost finished....and MUST be done before Friday:

Savy wanted to be a fairy for Halloween this year! Last year I made her a white fuzzy kitty cat costume. This year it's a silver and white fairy! She has her "fairy make-up" and the dress is done. The wings are formed and today I'm going to get the white tights, ribbon, glue and glitter to dress out the wing forms!

There are so many other things....wip's, stash enhancement and life happenings, but when posts are so few and far between it's too hard to get caught up in one post...so....later!

S. Carolina

2008-09-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

I noticed it seems to get longer between posts these days. Not sure why, exactly....I'll think about it and then decide I'm not in the mood for whatever reason. Oh, well...not going to put pressure on myself about it....it's supposed to be fun, not an obligation, right?

We took off the day after Labor Day heading for S. Carolina. Man....that was one long trip! We left Tuesday and came home on Sunday. Almost 1100 miles...one way! With the exception of 2 of those days we spent the majority of the time in the car going to or coming back! I think the shortest driving stint we made was around 6 hours...most days were longer! Thank goodness I love to knit while on road trips or I would have gone stir crazy.

We were headed to Ft. Jackson, S.C. to see Patrick, the eldest of our blended family kids, graduate from Army boot camp. You know, most people who join the military do so in their late teens/early twenties, not in their 30's, and most of the soldiers I saw there that day looked like kids to me!! I know...I'm showing my age...lol....for that matter, most doctors I see these days look like kids to me....but I digress....back to the topic! I have to say, I have the utmost respect for Patrick! It had to be tough and he hung in there and got it done! There were soldiers there much younger than him that are having to go through boot camp again because they didn't pass! He looked great and so fit! I'm glad we went! It was a long and in many ways hard trip but we were the only family on Patrick's side that were there so it was worth it. We wanted him to know that we support him in his new career choice and that we are behind him.

It was a little nerve wracking keeping an eye on Hurricane Hanna.....which was supposed to hit the Carolinas the day of graduation.....we just kept watching the weather channel and heading that way hoping we wouldn't get caught in it. As it turned out, the Army moved the graduation ceremony up a day because of the storm and we were able to leave a day earlier... and had no problems at all. We only got rained on once for about ten minutes leaving Memphis and had clear sailing the rest of the trip.

Between the driving and spending time with Patrick and his wife's family we did do some other fun things. We spent one day going through Graceland in Memphis. It was pretty interesting and a little mind boggling that one man generated that much adoration and an establishment the magnatude of the Graceland compound!

The other fun things we did.....if you know us at all :-)....should be no surprise......Yarn stores and aquarium stores....lol! Oh, and we stopped in at a winery in Arkansas on the way home too. I wanted to pick up some regional wines for David and Amanda as a thank you for watching the fur-kids and saving us a boarding fee!

We hit two yarn stores in Memphis. One shop was really cute but I didn't really find anything that I can't get here at either one ....kind of a disappointment all in all and I left with only some Zephyr in a color I haven't seen around here and some beads.

Next shop I hit was really surprising! It was in S. Carolina. It was a relatively small shop but stuffed to the rafters with beautiful yarns! From what I was told I was lucky that I stopped by on the day I did! The owner has health issues and only comes in a opens the shop on days that she feels good! Evidently sort of a hit or miss situation unless you know to call first! I got some Queensland Rustic Wool to do the Susie Hoodie out of there:

and found a bunch of Fiddlesticks and Fibertrends lace patterns....for....get this...$2-$5 each!!! I loaded up! I don't know if she has had them for a while and just hasn't updated the prices or if she just didn't take a mark-up but I couldn't pass on those!

We decided on the way back...since we left S.C. a day earlier than planned, to spend the night in Atlanta instead of driving all the way back to Memphis. We ate dinner at the Buckhead Diner.....OMGosh! Food to die for! If you ever go to Atlanta....eat there....seriously! The next day before heading on to Memphis we tried to hit some aquarium stores and yarn stores.....lesson learned on that trip.....CALL to see if the darn store is still in business before you go!!! We spent all morning driving to places only to find they aren't there any more! As a result we only hit one yarn store before we had to head out. BUT the one we hit.......can you say BAG SALE? She was having a huge bag sale with all bags anywhere from 30-50% off! Safe to assume I fell off the wagon again...to heck with yarn diets...they never work anyway...lol! I picked up 2 sock yarns and one lace weight that I'd never seen before but everything else I got was bag sale stuff! Needless to say it was time to get OUT of Atlanta after I left that store.....and NOT go to any other yarn stores between Georgia and Oklahoma!

Here is the haul:

Mountain Colors Winter Lace

Purled Llama Dulce

Seacoast Handpaint

Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk - Bag!

Laines Du Nord Ciclamino - Bag! I don't usually like bulky yarn but this one spoke to me for some reason.

Arucania Atacama - Bag!

I did start some new projects on the trip. A pair of the handsome devil socks for DH out of Jitterbug. Got one down to gusset decreases. Also worked on the Tilted Duster that has been sitting in the stash for a year. Got it going up to armhole decreases on the back. Also started the felted bag for the GYC Retreat next month. Have the front done on it. And then, last but not least, the MS4. Ended up going with the dark green zephyr and copper beads that I got in Memphis on it. I'll post pics on all those later.....for someone who hasn't been enjoying blogging lately I got a little carried away this morning...lol...but now I'm tired so more pics will have to wait!

So Much for the Yarn Diet!

2008-08-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

I should have known better.....I tried....I really did...lol! Of course, one of my additions to the stash was totally justified....I mean, really, it was!

I have been having a dickens of a time trying to decide on what I'm using for the MS4. I have swatched and swatched the options I had in the stash.....and bought at least 6 different bead options to go with said stash items. Haven't liked any of them except one. It was the grey JKnits with the black beads. Only problem is I'm terrified of running out of yarn as I mentioned in my earlier post. Just don't want to go there and risk a repeat of last year! Even with all that....I was trying to resist buying something new and use something that I already have! That's the reason I kept buying beads in every color of the rainbow! I mean beads are cheap, you know!

Anyway....long story short.....I ran into Gourmet Yarn Company yesterday to inquire about supplies for the fall retreat. I'm working the retreat and wanted to get a leg up on the project...make sure I know how to do the tecnique in case I need to help someone, etc. I'm so excited and pumped about the retreat....but more about that later!

I checked out the yummy Zephyr they got in but was able to resist. I know I wouldn't do several stoles/shawls out of the same color and the cones have over 5,000 yds....tempting but I managed to pass on it.

Well.....resistance died....right there....lol! I ended up convincing myself that everyone NEEDS a black stole and came home with this for the MS4! Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.

Black with shiny crystal beads....which I already have, by the way! Decision made!!! All I have to do now is swatch to see what size needle I want to use. I used 4's on the zephyr I used on the MS3. Even though this is sock yarn it does appear to be lighter in weight than the JKnits. I was swatching that with 6's on it so we will see.

Well.....I didn't manage to end it there. I also came home with this:

The new solids in the Fiesta Boomerang are just awesome! The bigger dilemma was deciding which color I HAD to have! Everyone around here has been doing the February Lady and I have perused the stash several times to see what might work.....well......I'm thinking this will work just fine! So much for the yarn diet!

Rain

2008-08-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

Rain!! We are finally getting some much needed rain. I have loved the past few days....with the overcast skies it almost feels like fall!

Of course, now I'm wishing I had gotten out yesterday to run my list of errands. It's raining much harder today....guess I'll be getting a little wet. We are out of coffee so there is no putting it off until tomorrow...lol!

We had a busy week with out of town company from Wednesday through Saturday. My great-niece from Texas is going to OU this year so she, her Mom, Sister and Grandmother came in to get her settled and all stayed with me. I loved it. I haven't gotten to spend much time with that part of the family in a very long time and it was wonderful! We got her all settled into her dorm on Thursday and she started rush on Friday. Man, are those dorm rooms small!!! I never got to have that experience and it made me kind of sad. I went to a community college my first year and lived at home then got married and went from parent's house to having a husband. In retrospect I think every girl should have the opportunity to live on her own and not be responsible for anyone but herself.....at least for a little while!

I have managed to get a little knitting done. Other than swatching for the MS4 I've been disciplined enough to work on wips!

I'm having a devil of a time with the MS4 thing.....can't seem to come up with a combo of yarn and beads that I like. I took all my yarn options with me to get beads....bought several choices that looked (I thought) great with the yarns......but when I swatched them I didn't like any of them!!! Still not sure what I'm going to end up using. The only option that I even remotely like is some JKnits sock that I picked up thinking I would use for the MS3 then didn't. It is a soft grey and looks ok with black beads. Only thing about that one is I'm paranoid about running out of yarn again this year......and I think I would just DIE if that happened again! Supply list calls for 1100 yds of lace weight, but 1200 of fingering. I have 1100 of the JKnits! They did say that the listed amounts allow for a LOT of insurance and wiggle room.....but after last year.....running out 19 rows from finishing......it just makes me one nervous Nelly to even think about starting if there is a remote possibility of running short.....what to do, what to do?

I did finish one of the projects I had going. It is the Little Miss Strawberry sweater for Savy from Creative Knitting magazine. It was a fast, fun little project and I can't wait to see it on her!

I used the Jeannee I bought to do the Cable Lace Tee that I decided I didn't like after all! I have now picked up the Split Shoulder summer top I'm doing out of Rowan Bamboo Tape and focusing on it. I have the back up to about 14" and almost ready to start arm hole decreases. One down...how many to go? LOL. A variable to be sure if something else starts calling my name and harrassing me to cast it on.....like the Tilted duster from last year.....the handsome devil socks for dh.....the slippery socks from Knitty.....the Blackberry Ridge shawl....and the list goes on!

On the OH NO side of things.....another reason for "weathering the storm" and getting out today.....I was sitting in my chair....minding my own business.....knitting away on Savy's sweater night before last......and killed.......6 MOTHS flitting about the den!!!!! The den.....the room open to and adjacent to my WALL OF YARN! Needless to say part of the agenda today is to bag anything up there that has wool in it.....get it into the freezer.....and go buy deterents to the little buggers to tuck up in the shelves!!! Talk about freaking out....dh said he hasn't seen me that hyper in a long, long time! I'm even considering tubbing my stash again just to be on the safe side. It makes me mad, though....I love having it all out where I can see it, touch it and play with it! I really hate having it all tucked away where I have to dig through it to find things!!! But I guess that's better than having it destroyed by flying little a#@holes!

Some Progress

2008-08-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally feel like I'm making a little progress......on a few things at least! I finished one of the wip's that was lying around.....the Child's French Sock from "Knitting Vintage Socks". It was one of those projects that I literally had to force myself to do. I don't really like the way they turned out. They remind me of reptile skin!.....but they do, at least, feel good on the foot......and I enjoyed working with the Cherry Tree Hill. I'm sure they will see their share of wear this winter.

Of course, I turned right around and started two other projects...and have signed up for the Mystery Stole 4...lol....so much for paring down the wip's! I don't know yet what I'm going to use for the MS4. Have done a little stash diving but only have 3 lace weights with enough yardage for this one....hmmmm...I sure did like working with the Jaggerspun Zephyr on the last one.....and I don't happen to have any of that....

One of the projects I started is the Ladder Stitch Scarf from Schaefer Miss Priss. I like working with this yarn too. I have always heard other people say they loved using it and I can see why!

The other thing I cast on was the Little Miss Strawberry Sweater from Creative Knitting for Miss Savy. It is out of the Plymouth Jeannee that I was doing the Cable Lace Tee out of. I decided the tee was going to be too short and that I probably wouldn't ever wear it. It's working up pretty fast so hopefully it won't be a wip for long!

On the house projects, the new windows are in and the siding is done! It's amazing the difference it made! And I'm sooo glad it's over! What a mess for a few days! I have to say that the crew did an excellent job of cleaning up after themselves though. I have had work done in the past where that definately was NOT the case. These guys were great! No more shabby looking siding....and no more painting....ever!

I have also made a good bit of progress on the window painting project. I think it is turning out ok....considering I haven't oil painted for 20 plus years! I wish I had taken a picture of the blank hole before I started...I'm bad about the before and after picture taking thing. Anyway.....keep in mind it is definately a "work in progress" and I have a lot more to do....but here it is so far.

Those dark blobs in the foreground are just based in.....they will look better when it's done....honest! DH found an old vintage window in a salvage yard for me and the plan is to mount it so it looks like you are looking outside at the scene. Hopefully I will like the way that looks....if not, I'll just frame it in with some nice trim.

Black Hole

2008-07-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like you are in the "black hole" of knitting? That's the way I've felt lately.....I mean, I've been knitting...honestly I have....but it just seemed like nothing was getting done! I can't even remember the last FO off the top of my head....just wip's everywhere...until this week.

Finally!!! I got two things finished this past week! First one is the Handsome Devil socks from the Six-Sock-KAL. These were really fun to do! DH really liked them and requested a pair for himself. Already have some Jitterbug picked out....he actually picked it out on our trip to Austin for his. I did mine out of some Opal Uni and Vinca from the stash.

And HALLELUJAH....... I finally finished the Mystery Stole 3.....Swan Lake from last summer. You know.....the one I got 19 rows from finishing and ran out of yarn!!! It was my first big lace project and I was so proud! It was heart-breaking to have to frog it.....and I was determined I was going to finish one! Now I can start the next Mystery Stole when it starts next month without this one hanging over my head!! I can't wait to go somewhere that I can wear it!

On stash enhancement I have really slowed things down a bit. My goal is to not buy anything else until I make a "hole" in the yarn wall by finishing a project. Of course, I'm not committed to that notion to the extent that I would fill the hole with something that is stuffed in a bag in the corner......empty spots need NEW stuff to fill them up!!! Anyway...the last two things that I got....and yes.....they did fit in the wall of yarn......after a little re-organization anyway..... were some Crystal Palace Creme. I found out that it has been discontinued and found it online for something like 50% off! I'm planning to do the Cable Love sweater from More Big Girl Knits with it.

I also could not resist a kit I saw online for the Legends of the Shetland Sea Stole. It is from Blackberry-Ridge and I can't wait to cast it on!

I think I'm going to force myself to tackle a couple of wips first though. They are bugging me. I usually only have about 3 or 4 and I think I have around 8 or so going right now. I don't know why it bothers me but it does for some reason....so guess I'll try to finish at least one or two of those before starting a new one.

Outside the realm of knitting, this has been keeping me busy for the past 4 weeks!

I had Dax for 4 weeks while Amanda was recuperating from her surgery and Savy joined us for the last week after she returned from Texas and her other grandparent's house.

We have also some some renovations going on around here. We are getting new windows and siding on the house. The windows went in on Friday and I can't believe the difference! I didn't realize just how ugly those nasty old aluminum windows were until the new ones were in! They are supposed to start the siding this week. Hopefully aside from just looking nicer it will help with the utility bills some.

I've also started another kind of new project. Something I used to do and haven't done for years! Oil painting. The people who had this house before us added the den onto the back of the house. It goes all the way across the back. There used to be a window over the kitchen sink overlooking the backyard and they just walled it up when they did the addition. It looks exactly like what it is.....a walled up window and is most unattractive. I've always just propped a big platter up there and the window ledge has turned into a catch-all for medicine bottles, toothpick holders, etc. Well, I decided that I would paint a landscape scene in it and mount an old window frame so it seems like you are looking outside. I haven't touched a brush in 20 something years and I'm pretty rusty at it, but it's looking ok so far. Will post a pic of it when I get a little further along. Worst case scenario....if I hate it I can always paint over it and put the platter back...lol!

Neglected Yarn

2008-07-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ok...I'll admit it....there are a lot of skeins of yarn up in my yarn wall, stuffed in various bags and sacks, etc. that probably feel neglected. Just sitting there waiting to be knitted up into some wonderful sweater, scarf, hat, shawl, sock.....something......anything! At least I do "pet" all of it upon occasion so it's not totally neglected...lol! All I can say is I'm glad they don't get all wrinkled up as they age like I'm starting to do! They might never get used!

Well, I was messing around with my stash today...petting everyone and thinking about doing a little reorganization....you know....starting a "lace section" for all the goodies I've gotten lately, expanding the sock section....fun stuff like that and I stumbled onto some yarn that I had totally forgotten about! Never added it to the stash in Ravelry, never blogged about it....never even took a picture of it....poor things. Now that is neglected!

I got most of it this past Spring at a local Spinning/Weaving Festival here in Edmond. I so enjoyed it and even did a tiny smidge of spinning with a drop spindle! It was small but very well set up and organized.

Sadly, I don't even remember who I got most of these from and only one has a tag with the vendors name and contact info. I'm pretty sure I saved the sales tickets.....I think I did anyway. They are probably put away somewhere safe so I would know where they are.....and I'll never see them again!

Anyway, so they get their "day in the sun"......here they are!

This one is shades of black, greys and white sock yarn. No identifying info on it except that it is superwash. I would say it's light fingering weight. Not a clue about yardage either but I'm guessing around 400 yds.

I've named this one Autumn Leaves. It does have a tag identifying it as Bluefaced Leicester, sock weight and is 465 yds.

The next in line I'm calling Easter Basket. It is the only one with a vendor tag. It came from Rugs On The Hoof and is merino/nylon sock yarn....about 440 yds.
The other that came from the Festival is worsted weight. I'm assuming it is 100% wool. Haven't done the burn test or anything on it, but am pretty sure. It is called Corriedale. I snagged 3 skeins at 210 yds. per skein of it.

This last one I ran across was some I bought well over a year and a half ago at Loops in Tulsa when DH and I made a trip up there for his Aquarium club meeting at the Jenks Aquarium. It is Crystal Palace Bunny Hop in a bright lime green. I think I got this thinking socks, but the yardage is not enough for long cuffs and I'm not a footie person at all so will probably end up a baby something.

Now that I have "found" these I guess I had better give them an extra squeeze now and then until I use them so they won't feel neglected anymore!

More Yarn

2008-07-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

Warning. This is a yarn heavy post.....so if you aren't "in to" yarn, you may be bored...lol. Of course, it is beyond me why anyone wouldn't want to look at pictures of yarn! The only thing better is getting to feel of it....or knit with it in my humble opinion.

These are the goodies I was lucky enough to pick up before my extended hospital stay in Austin! We only went to 2 of the LYS in Austin on Saturday before the wedding. We had intended to hit a couple more along with more than the 2 aquarium stores DH wanted to check out....but I wasn't feeling good and we got a late start.....in retrospect.....considering what happened I was lucky I got as much running around done as I did! The Dr. who admitted me to the hospital Sunday morning was shocked that I shopped most of the day and went to a wedding Saturday night. She said I shouldn't have even been able to walk around....what can I say...I've always had a high pain threshold and I just ignored it as long as I could to do things that were important to me.

I went prepared...I had specific yarns and yardages all written down for projects I wanted to do....and promptly ignored the list and bought all lace weight and sock yarn...lol....oh, well....what is that they say about best laid plans!! I'm happy with what I did get so that is the main thing. I haven't seen any of the things I bought locally except for some Colinette Jitterbug that DH picked out for me to do him a pair of the Handsome Devil Socks on the 6-Sock-Knit-Along yahoo group. Here it is:

Yummy colors aren't they?

The other sock yarn I picked up was a gift for Amanda and I didn't get a pic of it.

The rest was lace weight....glorious wonderful lace!! That is the one area that my stash is (or was) sorely lacking in since the MS3 was my first ever lace project.....the "re-do" is coming along nicely, by the way...will post pics of it again soon.

This is some yummy Prism Lace Wool in the colorway Dune.

Next comes Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace. I was shocked at how reasonable it was cost wise!

Then there is the softest thing you have ever fondled....HandMaiden Camelspin in Blackberry!

Some more HandMaiden caught my eye as well. Sea Silk in Nova Scotia. I so waned 2 skeins of this one but she only had one!

Then there is the Misti Alpaca Lace. Again....pleasantly surprised at how little it cost! It is as soft as butter and a soft gold.

The next two I had never even heard of before! Enchant`e from Kaalund Yarns in the colorway Rainforest. It is 100% cultivated silk.

And Habu XS-45 20/3 Bamboo. It has a gorgeous shimmer to it and I have to find the perfect lace project for this one....it just really intrigues me!

I did pick up another skein of lace for Amanda...which I didn't get a pic of either. It was Alpaca With A Twist Fino in a dark, dusty blue.

I guess it's a good thing we didn't get a chance to hit the other shops, lol! We popped into Guage...one of the newest shops there but I didn't find anything there. All of these came from Hill Country Weavers. Really charming shop in the downtown area in a vintage house and crammed full in every nook and cranny of fabulous yarns!

I can't seem to get the new Malabrigo that came in at Gourmet Yarn off my mind so I may have to add some of that to the stash...then I need to go on a yarn diet....a serious yarn diet...until I get some of this used up!

Yarn Teasers

2008-06-29T05:50:00.000-07:00

Ok...the promised pics of new yarn. First I'll show you the best kind of yarn....of all......Gifted Yarn!

My DD, Amanda took a trip to a Dr. in Texas and stopped in the Woolie Ewe in Plano. I had the kiddos while she was gone and as a thanks she brought me this beautiful stuff!!

First is the Aslantrends Class. Four yummy skeins of cotton/viscose at 240 yds per skein!! I'm not usually too big on cotton but this stuff is soft as a cloud and drapes like a dream!! It has a beautiful sheen to it that the pics don't pick up. I'm thinking maybe the Forest Canopy Shawl??? What do you think?

The next thing she brought me is sock yarn....girl can't have enough sock yarn, you know! Most of my sock yarn is in dark or muted colors so this will be fun!

Two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino4!! Bright yellow with shades of peach and green. Don't these just scream spring? Not sure yet which sock pattern these should become...any ideas?

And lastly for today here is my Woolgirl Sock Club shipment.

I tell you this girl knows how to put together an exciting package. I couldn't believe all the stuff she put in it. Everything was in a clear bag full of punched out paper frogs and tied with a yellow ribbon. The theme was tree frogs and the pattern is called Froggin. Too cute! The yarn is Dashing Dachs...one I have heard great things about but not tried yet. There was also a calculator, frog postcards and pencil, frog notepad, frog sucker and the most adorable frog stitch marker and gauge gizmo...and more! Her packages are just so much fun!

That is the teaser for today....stay tuned for the booty that came from our trip to Austin. With the way that trip went, thank goodness there was at least some yarn goodness involoved!

Just too much!

2008-06-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those weeks that just has soooo much happen that you feel like you are on full-throttle sensory overload? That was last week! It was so full of happenings that it's still hard to keep them all straight in my head! Fortunately, there was some good tossed in there but there was a whole lot of "bad" in the mix as well.

Maybe by "blogging" it I can get it all into perspective! Might as well get the bad stuff over first so I can mentally leave the blog on a good and happy note.

I've already written about the loss of my precious, itty-bitty Gidget. That is still hard. So many little things remind me of her and I guess, will for a long, long time. The delay I talked about in the last post that kept me from being with her when she started failing was our trip to Austin.

It was supposed to be a quick weekend to attend a wedding. Well, I ended up being admitted to an Austin hospital through the emergency room and was there 4 days! Official diagnosis was Acute Diverticulitous. Had heard of it but knew virtually nothing about it. I certainly know more than I would like to about it now! IT HURTS! I don't remember much about the first 2 days because they kept me pumped full of morphine. Praise God, the mega-doses of antibiotics and a clear liquid diet seems to have taken care of it. From what I have been told I was seconds from rupturing internally and having to have surgery to remove part of my colon! Not a fun experience....then coming home and losing my little fur-girl......well.....

We also got the news that my darling daughter is having to have major surgery this week. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Any surgery is hard and when you have Fibromyalgia like she does it doesn't make it any easier. I'll have Little Mr. Dax while she recuperates. My Savy girl is in Texas with her other Grandparents and we won't even go into that. I just wish she was here with me instead.

On top of all that fun stuff.......nope....bad stuff not over yet.....see what I mean about just too much? I don't know what we did to offend the Universe, but I'm sure hoping we get a respite from it all for a while. On the day we lost Gidget DH was beside himself to keep busy to keep his mind off of it. He decided to run down to the Aquarium store where he gets all his supplies for his Reef Tank and get some purified water to do a water change. He has just done wonders with that tank I got him for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was absolutely gorgeous....like something out of a magazine! It is his "knitting" if you know what I mean.....and is just as passionate and obsessed with it as I am my hobby! He equates what happened to having a fire in my yarn room!!! Not sure I agree with that analysis but it was really awful! Anyway, somehow, someway....the water got polluted with ammonia. We have no idea how....he keeps the jugs sealed between changes and I don't see how anything could get in them....at all! Of course, the Aquarium store gave him all kinds of objections and explanations that it couldn't have possibly happened there either....sorry....not buying it. All she did was give him 20 gallons of water.....precious little compensation considering what happened! We are talking thousands that he has invested....literally! Within 30 minutes of doing the water change the entire house was permeated with a horrendous "fishy" smell......and he lost approximatel HALF of his tank babies.....and the rest all looked sick! He had to do a mega water change to try and save what he had left. Thank goodness we haven't lost anything else since he did that.....but he's got to do several more major water changes in the next few days to get the rest of the polluted water out. Doing it that often stresses the inhabitants so we are just crossing our fingers that nobody else dies. And that....Praise the Lord.....is the last of the bad luck...hopefully for a long time!

At least we did have some good times to help counteract all that stuff!

We had Daxton's 2nd birthday party! I can't believe that little stinker is 2! Time does fly. DH did his cake, of course! My darling Hubby is so talented! All you ever have to do is give him a theme and he comes up with the most amazing creations! This year Dax is obsessed with Elmo from Sesame Street. Everything is all about "M0-Mo"....better known by the world at large as Elmo so that was the theme of the party!

Here are a couple of pics of the cake!

Amazing isn't it! And trust me....the pics don't do it justice! Every adult at the party just raved!

And here is the Birthday Boy!

He's gonna be a heart-breaker with those big blue eyes, is he not?

The other goodness that, thank goodness, came my way comes from yarn....lots of yarn :-)

I got a sock club shipment, my sweet Amanda gifted me two beautiful yarns from a trip she took to Texas and I at least got to do some yarn shopping before I landed in the hospital in Austin! I'll do the yarn Pron in the next post....just a teaser to keep you comin back...lol! No, really I'm just getting a little tired....haven't come close to getting the energy level back since the hospital stay so I need to stop for a bit. Will post pics of the fun stuff later!

Goodbye little Gidget

2008-06-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Gidget Faircloth
February 20, 1991 - June 20, 2008

We lost our tiny, precious little Gidget today. I can only hope we gave her as much love, joy and happiness that she gave us while we had her.

She has a remarkable story, our little girl! I can't bear to repeat it now but if you are interested in knowing her story it is posted in the archives here on the blog in the February 6, 2007 post.

She was so old we knew her time with us couldn't be much longer but it is never easy..... and it all happened so fast. We were delayed in Austin for six days and had all the fur-babies boarded with the vet. She evidently started failing while we were gone. We only had two days left with her when we got back. I'm so very thankful that we made it home to be with her when it was her time to go. I had her in my arms when she went just loving her as hard as I could.

We will miss you, Tiny Little Girl!

Stash Enhancement :-)

2008-06-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Short post this morning. Went over the The Gourmet Yarn Co. on Wednesday to see the debut of The Naked Sheep yarns and roving they have started carrying. Yummy stuff! No way I could walk out of there without bringing some home with me...lol! The stuff was literally flying off the shelves.......the "yarn vultures" were definitely circling!

I ended up getting two hanks of the fingering weight.

This one is called National Champion. I just love the color hues in this one!

The other one I couldn't resist is called Bed of Roses. It just made me smile and looks like fun!

I also picked up two skeins of Jojoland Harmony. Working on the MS3 again has me all in a lace mode! That is one area that my stash is sorely lacking. For some odd reason lace knitting never really held much interest for me until I started that Mystery Stole. All it took was that one project to get me hooked...lol....isn't that the way things go in the knitting world! So far I'm still resisting the idea of spinning and dyeing.....there isn't enough money lying around to start splitting up the yarn budget with other interests...lol!

I am almost done with chart 3 of the MS3 and I'm still enjoying it. Will post pics later on when more progress has been made.

I did have one one pattern literally screaming at me this week. It doesn't happen that way often. Oh, there are multitudes of projects that are in the que that I really want to do.....but you know how it is when one particular pattern just won't "go away"? I just kept thinking and thinking about this one for some reason. I could not stop thinking about it so decided to give in and just cast the silly things on!

It is the Handsome Devil Socks from the Six Sock Knit a Long. I have no earthly idea why these kept nagging at me....but they did. Here is the first one.

I grabbed some Opal Uni in dusty rose and some of the Vinca fingering I had in stash and started them. The first color combo I chose looked kind of neat, but the colors were so similar you couldn't really tell that I was using two different yarns...it just looked sort of like one heathered yarn so I ripped them out and picked a totally contrasting skein of the Vinca. Fun pattern to knit and they are going pretty quickly. Of course, since I have a mountain of wip's going....weird for me.....it may take eons for me to finish anything!

Checking In

2008-05-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Just checking in..haven't posted in a while. We spent Memorial Day at Lake Texoma in the rv with David, Amanda, Savy & Dax. Mel and Bri met us there and stayed in one of the cabins close by. We had a wonderful time and the kids really enjoyed it there! They spent most of the time in the pool. Dax wasn't sure about the pool thing at first but once he got used to it it was hard to get him out of the water! Savy has always been a little water baby and wasn't interested in the other activities going on...she just wanted to swim and swim! It was such fun!

One thing I did before we left was get my head shaved...lol...not really, but I did get it cut....REALLY short! I had it short for several years but never this short! It is taking some getting used to when I walk past a mirror, but as far as maintenance goes....I love it! I don't even have to use a comb or brush, just my fingers! Easy, easy! Will probably keep it this way for a while!

I did finally get going on the knitting again. I was just bored with everything I was doing! Not so much the Lady Eleanor but it is so hot piled up in my lap. Especially since I usually have a minimum of 3 fur kids in my lap too! I'm either going to have to wait until it's cooler or work on it when no fur babies are around!

Anyway, I started three more wip's this past week. I wanted an "idiot knit" project to work on during the drive to Texoma so I cast on the Shoulder Split Sweater from the Vogueknitting site. I'm doing it out of some Rowan Bamboo Tape I had in the stash. I think it will be a great every day summer top.

One other thing I started.....or maybe should say re-started....is the MS 3. That's the one that got the juices flowing again! It's hard for me to put it down even though I have to work on it when there isn't much going on....needless to say I didn't touch it this weekend with all the fun and festivities going on! This time she is being done out of Jagger Spun Zephyr from the stash with gold seed beads.

I also finished...except for felting.....the African Tote kit from Bully Woolies that I picked up at The Gourmet Yarn Co. It was really fun to do and went really fast!

Other than that, not much going on. Praise God, the dizzy spells have gone away!! I haven't had a dizzy spell for 8 days now. I'm canceling the nerve impulse and hearing/imbalance tests they wanted to do. Even with insurance it costs a blooming fortune to have any kind of medical treatment done and I can't see paying for them when the symptoms have gone away.

The next couple of weekends are going to be busy ones around here. I'm going to miss two knitting functions, which I'm not happy about! Next weekend all of DH's kids are coming into town and will be here during The Gourmet Yarn's Knit-In. :-( so I'm going to miss that and I'm going to miss Guild the weekend of the 14th because I'll be attending a wedding in Austin. The only upside is there are 5 yarn stores in Austin..lol! The wedding is for my best friend's son. I'm going for her...she is such a wonderful person, but I can't stand either one of her kids. They have always treated her like crap and I just have not respect for them at all, but I love her dearly so feel I need to go for her.

Stuff

2008-05-18T09:22:00.001-07:00

Stuff....just stuff today. I am sort of all over the place mentally and with my knitting lately. Health issues are improving somewhat even though we still aren't sure what is going on yet. Yesterday was the first day in around 3 weeks that I haven't been dizzy. Started the process of elimination a couple of weeks ago with an MRI of my head. Thankfully it was relatively clear so it's a relief to know that nothing really scary is causing the problem.....and they released me to drive again....HUGE relief!! It was such a pain to have to rely on someone else to haul me around...I hated it! Next steps are a nerve impulse test on feet and legs then a hearing/imbalance test. It's sort of looking like it might be an inner ear thing because the neurologist gave me an rx for a really small dosage of Valium saying that it had been discovered that it helps with inner ear stuff....weird....I thought it was just for anxiety, etc....anyway...it helps!!! Half of a .5 ml tab and the dizziness goes away for a little while.

Last weekend we had a wonderful time celebrating Mother's Day!! Kept Savy & Dax Saturday night then spent all day Sunday with them, David and Amanda. It was wonderful. I got phone calls and goodies from all the rest of the family too! It ended up being an "extended" Mother's Day because on Monday Amanda took me out for a whole day. I had such a wonderful time! She treated me to lunch at Nona's Red Door in Bricktown, we went from there to have our fingers and toes done then to New York and Company where she bought me the cutest outfit with shoes and jewelry to match!! DH ordered me the KnitPicks Harmonies!!!! Both the interchangeable circulars and the dpns.....woohooo!!! I had already gotten a Michaels card which I got Soy Wool to do the Lady Eleanor with, then I also raked in a pair of Victoria's Secret pjs, a Chili's gift card and the book Romantic Handknits!! Talk about a "Mother Lode" for Mother's Day!

On the knitting side of things I've been frustrated lately. Nothing is really holding my interest for very long these days. I start something, work on it for a little while then get bored with it, and nothing is really calling out to be started either! Oh, there are things in the que that I want to do, but nothing is jumping out and screaming "do me next, do me next"!!

I have gotten a good bit done on the Lady E out of the Paton's Soy Wool I got for Mother's Day. Savy modeled it for me this morning! I have one more skein to add then do the fringe. It's to the point where it's a pain to work on though because it's hot piled up in my lap!

I've worked a little bit on the Child's French sock from of Knitting Vintage socks out of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, but it's not really keeping me interested either.
I also have stopped working on the Cable Lace Tee out of the Jeannee. I was enjoying doing it and love working the pattern....... but after finishing the back and holding it up to myself I realized just how short it was going to be and that I would probably never wear it! With the body morphing I have been doing over the last year I much prefer things a little longer that cover up a wee bit more of the mid-section and back-section, if you know what I mean...lol!

I'm sort of thinking I might re-start the MS3 again. I'm still just sick that I ran out of yarn on the first attempt. It was my first big lace project and I was so proud of it. I want to participate in the MS4 when it starts this fall so maybe I should get going on this one again....maybe it will keep me interested and get the knitting juices flowing again!! This time around I think I'm going to use Zepher in a rich brown with gold beads. Will probably wait until my Harmonies come in...hopefully this next week!

Have Guild this afternoon. Today will be a really bitter-sweet meeting for me. I attended and spoke at the memorial service for my dear friend Susan Barrington yesterday. I still can't believe that she is gone. She is the founder of our Guild and I never go to a meeting without thinking of all her hard work in getting it established. Her service was so nice. She was adamant that it be a celebration of life and a going home party for her instead of just a time to be sad. Jim did a beautiful job of fulfilling her wishes. There was a short service then everyone gathered to eat, visit and reminisce. I think she would have loved it. I miss you, Susan.

Time Flies

2008-04-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

Boy, does it ever!! It surely doesn't seem like it's been 3 weeks since I made a post.....but evidently it has! It has been a relatively eventful 3 weeks. My older daughter turned 33, the Guild met, my dear, dear friend Susan Barrington lost her valiant battle with breast cancer, a new grand-daughter was born, we went on our first rv trip of the season, I went to my first-ever knitting retreat.....so lot's going on.

In case you missed the post on the yahoo group, Susan's service/celebration of life is going to be held May 17th, 1:00 pm at Lakeside Assembly of God, 6810 NW 122nd. We will miss you, Susan.

Another thing....I finally got a confirmation of something I suspected....I have osteo-arthritis in my hands.....really sucky when you love to knit as much as I do :-( . I figured as much since they have been hurting so much lately, but it still sucks to have it confirmed. He put me on naproxene twice a day and told me to take it whether I'm hurting or not....that by doing that I will ultimately hurt less in the long run by managing the pain before it escalates. It does seem to be helping somewhat, but I'm having minor little dizzy spells off and on. Not sure if it's the meds or some inner-ear thing going on.

The knitting has just been weird lately. Oh, I am knitting.....and knitting, but it seems like nothing ever gets done..lol! I put the mogul scarf down for a while.....tooooo boring! Have finished the back of the cable lace tee and started the front.....started the Bob Blankie.....it is a Mission Falls pattern written for Mission Falls Cotton but I'm doing it out of the Plymouth Jeannee.

I guess I have sort of become obsessed with this yarn. It wasn't an intentional thought...just sort of happened, but I have ended up with a lot of it. The cable tee, this blankie and I have enough to do another cardi from it out of Creative Knitting spring issue.

I also started another pair of socks out of some Cherry Tree Hill I had in the stash. They are a pattern out of Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

And last but not least I finished my Baby Alpaca Grande house socks!! It's starting to get too warm to get much wear out of them this year, but I'll be ready for next fall. They are so warm!

We took our first trip of the season in the motor home a couple of weekends ago. It was our "test trip" with everyone going and staying overnight in it! We weren't sure how Dax would do at bed-time or if it would seem too crowded and cramped with all of us in there, but it worked out great!!! Dax went right down when it was nap or bed time without much problem. It was a little bit cramped but not bad at all!!! One of those situations that could have been awful with different people, but worked out great this trip. We get along so well with David & Amanda it was just no problem....not sure we could stand it with just anyone though :-) Dax & David took the twin beds in back, Amanda & Savy slept in the fold down dinette bed and DH & I took the fold down sofa bed. We all had a great time! The kids really enjoyed the lake.

We were surprised that Savy took to fishing like she did and couldn't believe how long Dax sat still in one spot throwing rocks into the lake!

Then came The Gourmet Yarn Company Retreat.......OH MY!!!! I can't remember the last time I had such a good time, laughed so hard, ate so much and had days and days of "guilt-free" knitting time!!! You know what I mean! I do sit and knit a lot here at the house, but I'm always thinking that I need to be picking weeds, planting flowers, doing laundry, cleaning house....all sorts of other things...so I feel guilty for just sitting there knitting. Not so on Retreat. It was just fantastic....from beginning to end and all in between! A great group, great projects, great location...I could go on and on.....in short MG and crew know how to put together a great, great time for everyone. It was my first time to attend something like that and it will NOT be the last...lol!

Here are the goodie bags we all got! Great little tapestry project bags stuffed with 2 skeins of Jo Sharp wool that we learned the double knitting technique with, 2 skeins of Mission Falls wool that we did the cutest fair isle headbands with (Savy got the one I did, so no pic of mine), some dpns and point protectors plus a notebook of patterns and tips on technique....too awesome! There were so many funny things that happened I couldn't begin to tell them all so let it just suffice to say......... I can't wait for the Fall Retreat!

On the first night there I got a call and our 7th grandbaby had arrived! Welcome to the world Kiley Dawn!! She was 5 lb, 12 oz, 18 inches long.

Not much else going on....just a tiny bit of "stash enhancement"! Part of it was "free", so to speak....an early Mother's Day in the form of a gift card to Michael's which converted itself into.....what else?....Yarn...lol!

Paton's Soy Wool Stripes. I saw several people in Ravelry doing the Lady Eleanor out of this. I had intended to do it out of Silk Garden....but hey....free is good anytime and the ones I saw out of this worked up really pretty.

The other thing I got was the first shipment of the Wool Girl Sock Club. I had been getting the Chameleon Colorworks sock club up until it died when the owner sold out to someone else and I really missed getting suprises in the mail so decided to do another one. I heard/read so much about this one that I decided to give it a try. It wasn't a disappointment! Great package!!! Mama Llama sock yarn in a colorway inspired by a Georgia O'Keefe painting, a great pattern, cute little color coordinated stitch marker, a packet of knitting notecards with a pen and a niftly project bag to hold it all!

Only thing is, the sock stash is getting "out of control"....lol.....I REALLY need to start doing more socks......LOTS more socks ;-)

On the less than fun end of things......don't ask me where, when or how I got it, but I woke up this morning with Pink Eye! Great.....just great!

Something Different

2008-04-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

It has been one of those "frustrated knitter" couple of days around here. I got insanely bored with the Mogul Scarf I was working on so a few days ago I cast on the Jeannee Cable Lace Tee. The side panels are a twisted rib with the lace design in between. I was really enjoying it and just breezing right along.....then I noticed that I had failed to twist the stitches in, not one, but two different areas waaaayyyyyy down at the bottom!! About 40 rows down :-(. Knowing me if I tried to rip back to those sections I'd probably not get the right twist on the stitches when I picked them back up....not to mention trying to figure out where I was on the lace section....so I frogged it and started over. Just hate it when that happens!!!

Still not in the mood to work on that scarf and the only other thing I have otn is a basic sock. I worked on it this morning sitting in the Dr. office so wasn't in the mood for it when I got home either. Kind of had a harrummph attitude about knitting at all so I decided to do other things this afternoon. It did help and I'm sure I'll be back in the knitting groove after dinner.

First thing I did was clean up the garage....fun, fun....oh, well....it was bugging the daylights out of me and it needed it. Now it looks all neat and tidy. We'll see how long it stays that way..ha!

Then I decided to play with something else!! I got Cat's New Pathways book a while back. I have only done the first two little sample socks (one of each, not a pair). I want to do a "real pair" of them sometime in the near future....that will probably be the next sock I cast on....one of the patterns from the book....either the Coriolis or the Upstream most likely.

Anyway....I decided that I need to be totally prepared forthat endeavor so I played around with some beads and jump rings this afternoon.

I've never done stitch markers before and hopefully, as in other crafts, I'll get better at it the more I do. Making those little loops is harder than you would think it would be. Mine are a bit wonky, but as long as they don't snag the yarn they'll work...just not as "pretty" as some I've seen!

After doing the one's for Cat's sock patterns I did a few plain ones too. It was fun, but it did make my hands hurt a little.....guess some Aleve is in order before I settle in with the needles tonight.

Pretty sure I'll pick up the Jeannee again and probably put the new stitch markers to the test when I'm here by myself and can concentrate on Cat's instructions.

In short.....today was confirmation that 3 wips is NOT enough....lol! A girl must have options so as much as I have been holding myself back from startitis....no more! I'm thinking at least 2 or 3 more things need to be goin on...don't you think?

Procrastinating

2008-04-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I guess I'm procrastinating this morning! I don't really have a lot to talk about here or tell but I'd rather be doing this than what I need to be doing :-).

The house is terrible....cluttered and (for me anyway) dirty, laundry is piled what seems to be a mile high and menus need to be figured out for the next couple of weeks....just not in the mood.

My energy level hasn't been the greatest lately either. Seems like I'll have a few really decent days then a couple where I feel like a mac-truck has run me over. Takes pretty much all I can muster to get up and dressed and it wipes me out just to do that. Started taking mega-vitamins thinking that might help but if it has it's not much.

The fam finally convinced me to go get checked out so hopefully we can figure out what is going on. I really hate it when my mind is full of things I want to do and the bod won't cooperate!

On the knitting end of things I finished the Eagle's Flight socks. They are so bright and cheery...fun to wear! Still working on the Vinca basic socks...those will probably take a while....they are pretty much my "car project". The bag stays in the car for times when I get caught waiting somewhere. I'm also still plugging along on the Mogul Scarf for DH. That has to be the most boring thing I've ever done! I just couldn't stand it for another minute yesterday so I cast these on for a break. I couldn't believe how fast they worked up! They will definately be put on the list for any last minute baby gift needs that pop up....and they were fun to do!

I did them out of some Lion Brand Microspun that I had lying around (found 10 skeins of it at a garage sale for a whole $1 a while back). We have a new grand daughter due in May so these will go to her.

I also cast on the Lace Cable Tee out of Jeannee. I have to say that I am so pleasantly surprised at this yarn! I'll be the first to admit that I am a major yarn snob.....MAJOR yarn snob. I had pretty much ignored this yarn since I first saw it....I mean it is so economical how could it be "nice" yarn? Then I saw the sample of the top at the store out of it and decided to get some. Well.....I confess I was wrong....I really like working with it and I really like the fabric it is making!!! Anyway....I've already picked out another project to do from it and plan to get some more next time I'm at the store!

I'm usually pretty content to have only 2 or 3 wip's at any given time and normally am pretty good about finishing at least one of those before casting on something new, but for some reason I have about 4 or 5 things bouncing around in my head that I want to start....NOW! LOL....the problem is deciding which ones to start first....then mentally arguing with myself about working on something already going. Such a problem, huh?....but I love those kinds of problems....it just confirms that Life is Good!

Uh, oh.....I just got a call and I am watching Clayton and Carter for a while this afternoon.....no more procrastinating on getting the house more presentable...guess I had better get to it.

Texoma

2008-03-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

We came back in Sunday from a weekend at Texoma in the motor home. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the preserve we stayed in! They had so much stuff going on there that Savy would have loved! We are planning on taking her back there as soon as we can!

The campsites were nice and the amenities were wonderful! They had two lodges...one for families and one for adults only. Both had pools. There was a miniature golf course, playground, paddleboats, basket ball court, horseshoe pits.....all for free! They also had a trading post to purchase things from, a little cafe if you wanted a break from cooking and canoes/kayaks that you can rent. They had tons of activities going on too. Easter crafts for kids, egg hunts for all age groups (including a night one for adults), a dance Saturday night and more. No question that we will be going back there.

Since we didn't have little people with us we just layed low and rested most of the weekend. Sat outside under the awning pretty much all day Friday and a lot of Saturday (yes, I was knitting !) and spent a lot of time walking the dogs around letting them explore. They loved it too!

We are already planning our next outing! We are both so happy that we got that rv!! It is just so much fun and so relaxing to get away in it. We came home and put it in the shop because the transmission was doing funny things on the way home and we don't want to get out on the road again until it's checked out. One of the hazards of buying an old rig, I guess, but we've been pretty lucky with it considering that it is 20 years old!! We didn't want to invest a huge sum of money in a newer one until we found out whether we were going to like rving or not. Now we want to upgrade...lol! We will probably hang in with this one for another year or so so we can save up for a bigger down payment on a newer one...the darn things are expensive, but for us, worth it. We didn't realize what a rut we had gotten into just sitting at home watching the blasted tv all the time.....now we are making fun memories instead!

I did get one of the Eagle's Flight socks out of Opal Feelings done and started the second one. I like the way it was knitting up in the Jaywalker pattern but couldn't get the darn thing over my heel so frogged it and went with these.

Also started a basic 2x2 rib sock out of the Vinca I bought so much of. I'm SO glad I got this stuff! Admittedly, I was worried about the quality of the yarn since it was so cheap....less than $6.00 per pair.....but I'm ecstatic about buying it now. This stuff is so soft and knits up great!

I did get a little done on the Mogul scarf out of the Elsebeth Lavold baby alpaca. Love the yarn but the pattern is boring, boring to do. Going to be one of those projects I have to make myself finish....but I will. Just have to keep reminding myself it's for my Honey and he is so, so worth it!

Still trying to talk myself out of doing the Lady E at this point. I did break down and get the book yesterday. There are several scarves in there that I will probably end up doing so that was easy to justify.......it's just the Silk Garden that holds me back! It is so yummy but pretty expensive for me right now. With gas prices so insane, wanting to be on the road in the rv, spring yard projects waiting to be done, etc. and so much yarn already in the stash.....well....since we haven't won the lottery, choices have to be made! I have seen several people in Ravelry doing it out of Paton's Soy Wool Stripes and they are pretty.....and about half the cost of the Silk Garden. Maybe I'll do that....who knows?

Knitting Weekend

2008-03-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Pretty much the whole weekend was centered around knitting...don't you just love it when that happens...lol! About the only thing I enjoy more, or at least as much is having a weekend full of grandkids being around.

I worked all day Saturday at Gourmet . Yes, it is like the veritable "kid in a candy store" type of job for me! It was a packed house all day long with knitters coming in the see the SWTC trunk show and participate in the Sock Boot Camp and taking Linda's all day sock class. If you haven't taken one of her many classes at the store, you need to....she is an awesome knitting teacher! I'm still having visions of her mystery lace scarf she taught a couple of weeks ago and wishing I had taken the class....it is gorgeous!

Sunday we had Guild . It was a great meeting! The new board has lots of exciting new ideas. I did the program this month teaching the English Diamond Quilt Stitch. Pretty much everyone who tried it got it and it was a fun stitch to learn with lots of design possibilities. After the program we had our swap meet. All in all, a fun afternoon.

I did get in all that sock yarn I bought online the other day. So far I am pleased with what I got! I haven't cast any of it on yet, so the true test remains to be seen as far as knitability and wearability goes, but for less than 6 bucks per pair, I'm very happy with what I got! It is JL yarns Vinca. Very soft and squishy! I got 10 different colorways(and I like them all)....20 skeins total. It is a 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon blend which is usually my favorite for socks since I like being able to toss them in the washer and dryer! Getting that much at once made me have the fleeting thought about how many pairs of potential socks I have in the stash......well.....let's just not go there...lol. Let it suffice to say that if I knit a pair a month for the next several years....and no, I'm not going to say how many years :-).......I will still have some sock yarn! And that does not take into consideration the upcoming Sock Club I joined.....Woolgirl......which starts shipping next month!

Decided to post just one of the colorways here. I should have taken a pic of it all piled in a heap but I took individual pics instead so I could add them to my stash in Ravelry.

In digging through the sock yarn stash the other day I realized that I did not have anything with black and white in it!!! A lot of my wardrobe is black and white so I decided I must have some socks for those outfits! I picked up some Fiesta Ballet in the Coyote colorway at Gourmet.

I think I have enough sock yarn for a while...lol.

We are heading out in a couple of days for our first motorhome excursion of the season. I'm really looking forward to it. I just love going out in that thing. It's so relaxing to just be away from everything that "should" be done around here when I'd rather just knit...lol! We hadn't really thought about going anywhere this early in the season, but Savy & Dax are going to be gone over the Easter weekend.....Savy is already down in Texas with her other Grandparents for spring break and the rest of the family are going down Friday. This will be the first year since she was born that we haven't colored and hidden easter eggs with/for her, so we made a last minute decision to just take off and have a change of scenery. We aren't going far....just to Lake Texhoma and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.....at least until Sunday so I envision a lot of sitting outside under the awning with knitting bag in tow, walking the "boys" around on leash exploring and basically relaxing.

Quiet Week

2008-03-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

This should be a relatively quiet week. The key word is should...seems like these days that is never a given around here! Oh, I do have plenty of things I need to get done....like finish doing our taxes, pay some bills, do menu planning, grocery shopping, do some house cleaning...always plenty to do! I have to get my presentation done for Guild and do some charity knitting too. I've said it before, but I don't know how I ever found the time to work...lol....I seem to be busier since I've retired than I ever was before!

I have managed to get a little knitting done this past week. Not as much as I would have liked, but then I never get as much knitting done as I want to.....even when I knit almost non-stop!

I cast on a quickie knit while in the waiting room during Amanda's surgery and finished it up the next night. It's just a simple garter stitch scarf out of Feza Alp. CO 200 stitches and mindlessly knit until I had just enough left to do some fringe.

I have also made headway on the Log Cabin Wrap. Not technically finished....I still have 4 more squares to do, but almost done! Once I got adjusted to knitting with cobwebs I have loved, loved doing this! Maybe we will have another chilly day or two so I can actually wear it once this year!
Sorry, I can't decide which pic I like the best so I couldn't resist posting both since I love this thing so much!

The only other thing I have going right now is the Eagle's Flight sock out of the Opal Feelings. I had started the Jaywalkers out of it but got a full 8 inch cuff done and, thankfully, decided to try them on in progress! There is NO give or stretch to the pattern and I could not get even close to getting them over my heel! So, to the frog-pond they went and I cast on these instead.

Speaking on this topic. I am going to have to start a low-fiber diet!!!(Notice I said low....not NO-fiber)...lol. I simply must! I have been a wild woman this year buying yarn, yarn and more yarn! I should be getting a huge shipment today of sock yarn that I read about on the sockknitter's yahoo group. Hard for me to pass up a deal and this sounded like a deal to me. I forget the specifics, but will post about it again when it comes, but basically 20 skeins of sock yarn (10 pair) for only $55. The posts I read about the yarn were all positive, but I haven't used it before.....so I guess it's a bit of a leap of faith.... we will see. Then I caved and joined another SOM club.....and then I decided to go to the Retreat sponsored by The Gourmet Yarn Co.!!!! I refuse to tally up the total spent on yarn and knitting since the first of the year....I don't even want to know...lol....I just know that I need to stop for a while! With the price of gas right now and the projected price of gas in the upcoming months we won't be able to take the motorhome out and go anywhere if I don't control myself...at least a little! DH has decided to take a hiatus on spending for the salt water tank as well. We have both been bad this year so that makes me feel somewhat better about my addiction since he has one too. We will see how we do...lol!

All OK

2008-03-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Am back home from staying at Amanda's. The surgery went well and she is doing ok. Dr. said the procedure was "textbook" with no complications and the abnormal cells looked like they are nothing to worry about. They are sending them out for biopsy just to make sure, but he sounded confident that the report will come back fine.

She's still having some pain but is up and moving around on her own without any problems. Thanks so much to everyone for your concern!!! I figured it would be easier to let you all know how things went here instead of trying to email everyone individually!!

Tuesday, March 4

2008-03-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

Off to pack up some knitting projects.....oh, and I guess I should throw some jammies and clothes in too! Amanda is having surgery today and I'm staying over there to help out while she recovers. They are calling it "minor surgery", but any surgery is more than minor in my opinion. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Short thought.....I just love having a tracker on the blog and being able to see who reads it on a regular basis......it can sure be interesting :-)>

Great Week

2008-03-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Another whirl-wind week just flew by! It's funny how much faster time goes by the older you get! I honestly can remember, when I was a child, that Sunday afternoons seemed to last FOREVER! We always went to church, came home and had lunch, then went back to church for the evening service. Those few hours between church services just seemed to never end! Now it seems like the whole week goes by faster than those few hours used to! We won't even talk about how fast a year goes by now...lol!

The week started last Sunday with the Clapotis-Tea at The Gourmet Yarn Company. That was such a blast! True to form, I forgot to take a camera but there are some great pics here
and here . I had not even thought about doing a "clappy" until the plans for the tea came about, but I could not miss something with that much potential for knitterly fun, could I? No...so I promptly cast one on and wore it (with needles dangling) around my neck to the tea! I did finish it that night when I got home.

I did it from the Cherry Tree Hill I had left when I had to frog the MS3. Pretty non-descript in this colorway, but at least I do have a Clapotis now!

Monday I kept Mr. Dax. He was running a little temp and had gunky nose and eyes. This nasty cold/flu/crud bug just keeps coming back. So many people have gotten it!! I just keep knocking wood that it doesn't find its way to my house!

I worked at Gourmet Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I loved working, as usual, but I hate it that Nancy has that "crud"....the reason I was there! Squished in some grocery shopping and picking up meds to take to Daddy, got a little done around the house in the evenings.....and Friday....I sat on my booty and knitted!

Got Savy's Polkadot done....YEA! She loves it....that always feels good!

We had her and Clayton for a sleep-over Friday night. It was so much fun watching the two of them together! They haven't been around one another all that much and it was cute to see how much of a little "mommie" Savy was to him! She really watched over him and worked so hard to entertain him....so cute!

Saturday morning David and Amanda brought Dax over to join in the fun! It was such a glorious day outside and they all had a blast making good use of the playhouse and sandbox. Just sitting back and watching them play is the best entertainment ever!

The day ended with the Knit-In at Gourmet. I swear, MG knows how to throw a party! Every month the crowd just gets bigger and bigger! If you get there late it is getting hard to find a spot! I actually took the camera with me this time.....then forgot to take pics...what is up with me and the camera thing lately? Anyway, it was a blast, as usual! I worked on the Modern Log Cabin Wrap while there.

I'm really enjoying this project! It is one of those projects that I had no desire, what-so-ever, to do.....until I saw it in progress, in person, so to speak. I'm a little over half done at this point. The photo of it in the pattern did not speak to me....but seeing the actual project......well....it did.....sort of like the Lady Eleanor that everyone is doing now.....that I am trying to convince myself I do not need to do...lol!

Strangely enough the wrap and one pair of socks is all I have going right now but I'm quite sure that will change soon enough. I only have about 2 dozen things in mind I want to do!

Oops!

2008-02-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

I was "tagged" the other day by Kay with a book meme.......I noticed it right before we were heading out of town, thought I'd do it when we got back...then promptly forgot all about it! That is until I saw tonight that I got tagged with it again by Sue

Sorry about that. Ok....Here goes.

The rules are:

Pick up the closest book with 123 pages or more.
Well...that proved to be a challenge! I'm in my hobby/computer room and all books in here are related to one of those things! The book that was truly closest was "Knitting Workshop" by Elizabeth Zimmerman.....and page 123 is blank....totally blank except for the page number...weird, but true! On to the next closest...."Knitting Rules" by Yarn Harlot.

Turn to page 123 and find the first 5 sentences.

Post the next 3 sentences:

"At this time in my life I coveted, more than any other thing, a chic pink suede hat with rabbits on it that had a white satin ribbon that tied fetchingly under the chin. My mum is a practical woman, and instead of the pink rabbit hat gracing my head (and changing my life, for the right hat can mean much for the social standing of a nine-year old girl), I had, for that entire winter: a gray and red hand-knit hat topped with a red pom-pom on top. The pom-pom was not only red and not a rabbit (That was really its biggest crime), but it was also almost as big as my head."

Tag 5 more people.

Soooo, I'm tagging: Shelley
Amanda
Rosemary
Anna
Guinifer

Ok.....all done!

Good to be home

2008-02-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have just been a whirlwind. It was nice to be home today. Week before last I spent most of the week in Dallas with my sweet daughter. Thank you all so much for the caring words and thoughts about her and Brian's loss. It always feels good to have the kind of friends that let you know they care during times like these....I so appreciate all of you! I count myself as blessed to have friends like all of you!

I came back home for a few days, had "sleep-overs" with Clayton and Carter then with Savy and Dax, worked the first part of last week at GYC, then we left for Dallas again on Thursday to attend DH's employee appreciation banquet. Those things are usually soooo boring, but the trip ended up being a nice one. He had sales meeting Friday until about 2 pm so I got to just hang out in the hotel and knit all morning that day. We went to dinner with Mel and B Friday night. It was good to see her again for myself and see that she is doing ok. She still has her "moments" about losing the baby, but all-in-all, she is doing pretty good and they are planning to start trying again as soon as the Doc says it's ok.

Saturday we just "played" all day. DH took me to visit The Shabby Sheep...I think the only yarn store in the Dallas Metro I had never been to. It was a fun visit! I was having withdrawals from all the fur-kids and when we pulled up in front of the shop there was a "Stoneleigh" looking out the window at us! She was a cutey and Ron had a blast playing with Abbey while I got my fiber-fix! She looked so much like our little guy! I did manage to do some damage while there :-) BUT all of it wasn't my fault...lol! I picked up the pattern for the Opening Night Vest and the Manos del Uruguay to do it out of and was in the process of checking out when DH came to me actually fondling a skein of eslebeth lavold baby llama saying what a nice scarf and hat it would make!!! What a guy!!! He didn't have to do much convincing for me to decide HE needed it!!

From there we spent the rest of the afternoon hitting aquarium shops so he could do some shopping around too. He was so sweet and offered to take me to a couple more yarn stores, but I seriously need to STOP with the stash acquisition.....seriously! My wall of yarn is full and things are starting to pile up in bags and corners again. I must get some FO's done before I do any more yarn shopping! I think I have aquired quite a few things I haven't even posted in the past few months.....with Ravelry in my life sometimes I can't remember if I have actually posted things both places or not! We went to the banquet Saturday night and Ron won a nice digital camera!! So it was a nice little trip!

Here are a few things I've picked up fairly recently...

I'm usually not much of a novelty yarn type of gal, but I thought these Feza Alps were so pretty when they came in at Gourmet Yarn the other day. Amanda did a quick scarf out of the Feza Dazzle a couple of weeks ago and she just loves it, so I thought I would do a couple too! A quick mindless knit is always good to have around!

I also picked up a couple of sock goodies:

Madelaine Tosh

Some Yarnsmith Silk Soc

And some Prism

I also snagged some Zephyr to re-do my MS 3 out of. I'm still just sick that I had to frog the first one. It was my first real lace project and I was so proud of it....I'm just determined that I'm going to do another one!

I'm pretty sure that's all I've gotten lately....I think...see what I mean....time to stop!

I have been knitting some....not just hoarding yarn....I promise I have!! I'm still working on Savy's Polkadot out of the Berrocco Boho, am a little over half finished with the Modern Log Cabin Wrap, getting ready to turn the heel on some Jaywalkers out of Opal Neon and most recently started a Clapotis. I'm doing it out of the frogged MS3 yarn...Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I needed to get that going so I can attend the Clapotis Tea at The Gourmet Yarn Company next weekend!!

I'll try to get some pics of those wips on here soon....for now, I'm tired and just hoping I can sleep tonight. Been having problems with that lately and it sure makes a body tired!

Sad

2008-02-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

So very sad today. My sweet girl lost her baby this week.

Just Saturday

2008-02-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting going on around here....just another Saturday morning. We didn't get any grand kids this weekend because there is stuff around here that needs to be done that is hard to do when little ones are running around wanting your attention.

First order of business is to fix fence posts so the fur-kids don't get out of the yard! The big winds we had this week broke several posts off at the ground and the fence is leaning and close to falling over! We are going to replace them...and gradually all the rest.... with steel posts this time around! We live on a really busy corner and I'm petrified that one of the boys will get out of the yard and get mashed!

I've got some running around to do as well. Pass Your Plate is having a freezer sale today and I'm going to go stock up on pre-prepared entrees. With the sale prices they are having today, I can have a freezer full of meals ready to pop in the oven for the same amount, or less, than I can go to the grocery store and buy ingredients for......and still have to do the preparation on....so why not?

Today is the Gourmet Yarn Knit-In too! I missed last month so I'm really looking forward to going. It is always so much fun and I get to see people that I don't see any other time.

I have made some progress this week on knitting. I am almost through the first color chart on the Modern Log Cabin Wrap. I knew I shouldn't have started it.....I got all into it and haven't touched Savy's Polkadot Jacket since I cast the wrap on! I am definitely going to focus on that jacket and knock it out after I get the wrap done...... honestly........discipline will prevail....lol!!!

I also got side-tracked on a quick little project last night. I'm going to wrap these up and send them to Mel when I get them done...probably will finish the second one tonight at the Knit-In...they go really fast!

I'm also excited about another project I have planned for her and the new wee-one! It's funny....I noticed the pattern several weeks ago (before we got the news) while looking through the Folk Style book. I commented on now neat I thought it was but.....at the time....had no reason to make one so decided not to buy the book! I had already gotten the Log Cabin wrap pattern off of the Knitting Daily site so thought I didn't need it. Anyway, it is the Tribal Baby Sling. It is so awesome! And now that my DD is expecting....I have a good reason to buy that book after all...lol!

I also joined the Six-Sox KAL group last month. The very first pattern I'm getting turns out to be based off of the Upstream Sock in Cat Bordhi's new book.....so I guess I'm going to have to get that book too....I mean I'll need it for reference to do the pattern, right?

Isn't it funny how things just happen that necessitate the acquisition of knitterly things that we want but decide we don't really "need"? I think it's called "justification"...lol!

It's Official!

2008-01-26T11:52:00.001-08:00

My first baby........

Is having a baby!!!!!

Congratulations, Mel & B!!!!
I love you!

Babies Abundant

2008-01-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

Have been getting lots of grandbaby time the past couple of weeks...and I love it. Of course, I don't like that it has been mostly because they are sick...don't like that at all...but have enjoyed having them. I had Dax most of the week last week then had Miss Savy Monday and Tuesday this week. Tomorrow I will have Clayton and Carter for the morning. It's going to be interesting if the ones that live out of town (Kinley & Kayden) move here someday!!

And, of course, there is the fact that Carter & Clayton will have a new sister by this summer and the other two married kids are trying! Potential for 9 grand kids by Christmas! I guess I need to start taking vitamins...lol!

The biggest surprise on that front is my precious older daughter that lives in Texas. She and Bri had always said they weren't going to have any kids...for years they said that. They started talking about it around a year ago but none of us really thought they were serious. Turns out they were!!! I'm so excited! I talked to her a couple of days ago and she is late :-). Not sure quite how late because things have been a little unpredictable since she went off the pill....but late enough to keep my fingers crossed and hope! I'm thinking we should know by the end of the month!

Still haven't gotten around to getting a pic of the Greenjeans sweater...I wanted to get a pic of it on instead of lying on a table, but with all the busyness of the last few days I haven't gotten DH to take one yet. I did get a pic this morning of the matching socks. These feel soooo good on the feet! First ones I've done in dk and they go much faster too!

I'm making headway on the Polkadot jacket for Savy...already have the armholes done and just working on the bull's eye.

I also cast on the Log Cabin Wrap out of the Kidsilk Haze today and got squares 1, 2, and 3 done! I have never used lace weight before and it took me a bit to get used to it...but I've decided it's fun!

DH and I had a wonderful evening celebrating our 10th anniversary tonight!! I had gotten him a new leather jacket and he took me shopping and to dinner tonight. I got the cutest lime green pea-coat jacket with a matching screenprint tshirt to wear underneath and a pair of lime green suede moccasin type shoes to match...too cute! I came home and immediately hit the sock stash to find something that had a little lime green in it...I can't believe it but I actually have 3 or 4 options......may just have to get those going too!

Too Quiet

2008-01-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

Things are strangely quiet around here this morning! We went to Texas Friday night to attend a memorial service for a dear friend's father yesterday. We came back in last night but got here about 30 minutes too late to pick up all the fur-kids from the vet. After keeping Daxton all week last week...poor little guy had pink eye and a nasty cold along with an ear infection....and the normal hoopla that the dogs always create it feels so strange for the house to be soooo quiet...and I have to admit....I don't like it much! It's funny....sometimes the poo-heads just drive me crazy with all the barking, running around, etc, but it's just not the same without it....and I always miss those grandbabies being around...especially after I've had them here for several days in a row! You would think peace and quiet would be nice once in a while....but, for me....it's actually not that enjoyable...lol!

I did manage to get a couple of shots of Dax in his new sweater....well, sort of...lol! He was trying to take the camera away from me on most of the pics! I just stuck it on him over his jammies so the "outfit" isn't exactly coordinated. It looked much cuter when I put his jeans on with it later in the day but, naturally, didn't get any pics of him then...he was way too busy!

It's so awful when those little ones are sick! There were several times during the past couple of days that the little guy would just lie in my lap for over 30 minutes at a time! I knew he had to feel really bad to be still that long. I loved just holding and cuddling him but would much rather see him being his silly, funny little self and know that he felt good! And on top of that little Miss Savy came down with strep throat on Friday and was running 103 temp!!! I hated going to Texas and being so far away with them sick.....not that I can do anything to make it better....just wanted to be close!

Well, I'll be "turning over the reins", so to speak today. We are having elections at the Knitting Guild for new officers! I have so enjoyed being the President this year! I've especially enjoyed getting to know some the the Executive Committee members better! It was fun and exciting at the same time. There were so many more things I wanted to accomplish but it went by so fast! I think we did get quite a bit done considering it was a short year...the current officers actually only served 10 months this round because of a delay in the voting last year. Anyway, I think it was a great, productive year and I can't wait to see what the upcoming year will bring!

On the knitting front, I did manage to finish the Mr. Greenjeans sweater out of the Fiesta Boomerang....and have actually worn it! Will try to get a good pic of it posted soon. Have one sock of the matching Baby Boom finished and almost to the toe decrease on the second one...then on to the Polkadot Swing Jacket for Savy. I want to get that finished next.......that's one thing about knitting for little ones....if you don't get it done....they outgrow it....lol...pretty good motivator! Still haven't cast on the Log Cabin Wrap yet either....probably sometime this week!

Things change!

2008-01-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have never been a knitter that was plagued by "startitis" in the past. I usually have two projects going at any given time....a pair of socks and whatever else. For some weird reason I have the overwhelming urge to cast on pretty much everything in the que and then some...lol! Wonder what that is all about? I guess things do change!

It appears that I have been afflicted...with not only startitis....but finishitis! I have had Daxton's pullover done except for blocking the pieces and doing the seams....and the Boomerang Greenjeans sweater for me done except for blocking for some time now. I really have to get that blocking and seaming done.....maybe today is the day....even though casting on the Modern Quilt Wrap is calling my name!

Dax's sweater was a fast, easy knit. I did it out of Adriafil Knicol.

This week I cast on the Baby Boom to do matching socks for the Greenjeans. I took the cuff instructions for the sweater and converted them to a sock cuff. I really like the way they are working up. I'll probably do a basic stockinette foot on them.

I also cast on the Polkadot Swing Jacket for Savy. This should be an interesting knit....the whole thing, other than the sleeves, is done in the round! I have to say I'm not particularly enjoying working with the ribbon yarn. Thank goodness I don't have tons of it in the stash because I don't think I'm going to want to do another project from it right away!

Then there is this.....I'm really trying to talk my self out of casting it on....at least until I get one pair of the socks (either the Baby Booms or the Sideways Sock) done...but I think I'm losing the battle...lol.

And there are also these!!! I did these for Amanda and now I want to do myself a pair! I love how her's turned out and I really enjoyed doing them. I already got some Gourmet Yarn Company Alpaca to do them out of!!

All of these....and that doesn't even scratch the surface....lol. If I'm not careful I'm going to have a dozen wip's before the month is out...and that doesn't even take into consideration the new things I might discover...or the other things already in the que list......lol!

About Time!

2008-01-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Haven't been blogging much again lately so I guess it's about time! Just not been in the mood for some reason. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

We sort of celebrated all month long...not uncommon for us! We had the big to-do the weekend of the 14-15 with my daughters and their families. Did the Christmas Dinner with all the goodies and main gift exchange then. It was just an awesome weekend. Everyone loved their arm warmers...that always makes me happy :-)! They all like their other gifts too. And me......I hit the knitting mother-lode...yippee!!!

Amanda and David got me the Fall Seasonal Sock pack from Knit Picks!! Enough yummy sock yarn for 6 whole pair! I haven't used any of the Knit Picks sock yarn yet so I'll be picking out a pattern for one of them soon! I can't wait to use some of it....it feels awesome! They also got me this:
It is fantastic!!! The only bad thing is deciding what to do from it first :-)

Mel & Brian got me a set of some delicious smelling foo-foo juice and lotion. Better known as perfume...lol. I was totally out so I was happy about that!

Dh was the really sneaky one this year....and he blew me away! We had a huge patio done in the backyard (finally got rid of that nasty old deck!) and that was supposed to be our gift to each other.......well....that stinker really pulled a fast one on me! He has been hearing me talk about something for ages and I just always find a reason not to do it for myself. How he figured out what to do....where to go, etc....well....let's just say he got pretty resourceful!

He got me the first course of the TKGA Master Knitter's Program!!! Looking through it overwhelmed me a bit...not sure I'm "that good", but I'm sure going to jump in there and give it a go! Am going to Office Depot and get the notebook and a few other little things I'll need and decide what yarn I'm going to use for the swatches sometime this week.

Christmas Day we brought Dad over and hung out until late afternoon and Ron's son, Brandon and family came over for a while. Then David, Amanda and Dax got back from Texas and came over. It was fun to see the 3 little boys interact with one another. We had a nice dinner together and we got to keep Dax for the rest of the week! He is turning into quite the little clown and I enjoyed him so very much! Little Miss Savy is still in Texas with her other grandparents and I miss that little girl something terrible. She flew by herself for the first time and after she was out of sight at the airport I broke down and cried like a baby!! I can't wait until she is home!!

I have managed to get a little knitting done now that the holidays are over. I finished the Mr. Greenjeans sweater out of the Fiesta Boomerang. This pic is before I got the ribbing done but here it is. I love, love, love this yarn!
Now I just have to do the Baby Boom socks to match!

I decided to finish a couple of other wips before I start those though. I finished one pair of socks. Just basic 2x2 rib and stockinette foot from some San Diego I got in a swap.

And I finally started a pair of the socks I got in a sock of the month club I was in briefly. These are done flat, grafted then the heel and toe picked up after the fact. They were fun to do and I like the funkiness of them....but the heel and toe part of the pattern was a little wonky....way too short the way it is written. Plus I can feel the ridge where you pick up for the heel and toe, so they probably aren't going to be as comfortable as some....but they will be fun to wear for short periods of time, so I do plan to finish the second one.

I have so many things rattling around in my head that I want to do.....and want to get started on my Master's swatches......there is never enough time, is there? One thing I do need to do is start whittling down the stash.....I have already outgrown my knitting wall!!! I have at least 3 bags in the corner that won't fit....lol!

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday....so many blessings and precious people in my life! There are always those out there that, no matter how hard you try, just don't, can't, won't really care the way you had hoped. I have figured out that it's not worth worrying about and am just going to enjoy the true blessings as they come! Here are some pics of those blessings!

Bad Blogger

2007-12-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

I know...I've been a bit of a bad blogger lately...not blogging much at all. I have just been in a funny little funk lately and haven't had a lot to say. I'm happy to say I am done with all my Christmas shopping!!! Well...except for stocking stuffers and one trip to the drug-store and/or Dollar Tree with take care of that!

We are doing Christmas early this year.....the 14th and 15th. Not sure what we will be doing on the technically "real" Christmas since we will be by ourselves again. Last year we went to my sister-in-law's home in Bedford and we considered doing that again, but I'm working Christmas Eve and if we go it would be just for the day on Christmas Day...sort of a quick trip.....so we will probably just go get Daddy and spend the day with him. Might be a good day for just knitting all day :>) How's that for a run-on sentence...lol!

I haven't been doing much knitting at all since we got back from our trip and I'm having serious withdrawals...lol! I've been working on other things though.

I have been doing this:

This is the 18th one I have done and just ordered 3 more kits since there is the potential for 3 more grand kids by next season! I have 13 of the 17 on the fireplace with the other 4 on a ledge behind my chair! I think we are going to have to figure out a way to do a double layer somehow...lol.

Here is the other thing I have been working on:

Savy got a bunk bed with a built in desk recently and they have been dragging a dining chair back and forth from the kitchen for her to use. I figured she needed her own chair for her desk!! I found the chair at a thrift store for $5 and did it to match her bedding. Amanda and I did the same thing with her nursery furniture all those years ago and it turned out so cute! Now all I have to do is figure out how to wrap the silly thing...lol! A couple of years ago I found some huge plastic bags in Christmas things...just hoping I can find something like that again for this.

I am working today so I had better go get presentable and out the door!

I'm Back

2007-11-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

In more ways than one.....I'm back!

We got back from our awesome "getaway" the 18th. Ten wonderful days out in the motorhome! Picture taking was spotty at best. I have gotten so bad about dragging the camera along then forgetting to take pictures...something I am determined to improve on. I was really mad at myself for leaving it in the rv the day we took Savy for her first horse-back ride!!! We took her with us the first couple days of the trip then had to take her back home for school. She loved horse-back riding!! The place we went was great for little kids. They tethered Savy's horse to Ron's and made sure she got a really docile one. It was great! I had forgotten how much I like riding too.

After we dropped her home we took off for Grande Lake. The park we stayed at was really beautiful! The rv sites were amazing. It did have drawbacks.....no public restrooms and no bill changer in the laundry facility. The restroom thing is a big deal to us....the shower in the rv is really tiny and the water pressure is terrible....so we prefer staying at parks that have those facilities....but the view and park itself sort of made up for that shortcoming.
Each parking site had it's own private deck overlooking the lake, a barbecue pit and cable hook-ups.

From there we headed south and spent one night at a really charming little state park! We found it sort of by accident. We were heading for Beaver's Bend and it dawned on us we weren't going to make it there before dark so we decided to stop a night on the way. We found a little state park icon on the road map we were using and just decided to go there. It is Brushy Creek State Park........really nice!! It's on a little peninsula totally surrounded by a lake, had a playground, public facilities and a fishing dock. DH even got a little fishing in and caught something! The dogs just loved it! We did have one mis-hap with Cricket....we were walking them out on the fishing dock and some ducks starting quacking and splashing around.....he was so busy looking at them he walked right off the dock and into the lake!! Poor little guy! It really scared him, but fortunately it hadn't turned cold yet on the trip and he didn't get too chilled. Needless to say we couldn't get him to agree to any more walks on the dock...lol!

The rest of the trip we stayed at Beaver's Bend. It was beautiful there too. Our fair State has some really gorgeous places! We started out in a really pretty section of the park right by the river, but ended up moving because there was zero....and I do mean zero cell phone reception! We walked for over 3/4 of a mile and still couldn't get a signal! I don't like being totally un-reachable these days so we moved to another spot....equally as pretty but not near the water. There was no tv reception either but we had rented a few movies and also had a Scrabble tournament...lol! I proudly proclaim myself as the champion!!!
This shot is off the the balcony of the Lodge at Beaver's Bend. We took about a mile and a half walk up there one of the days we were there.

It was a wonderful, relaxing trip! I did get quite a bit of knitting done despite the Scrabble Tournament...lol! I didn't take pics of it yet but will soon. I am about 3/4 done on the bodice of the Mr. Greenjeans sweater and finished one sock and got down to the heel on a second. I haven't been working on them since we returned because I have to get another stocking done for the latest grandbaby.........AND we just found out we are having another one next May/June!!! AND two other kids are "trying"! If those take we will have 3 more by next Christmas!!!! Nine grandkids...whew!! Kind of reminds me of that old saying....be careful what you ask for....cuz you just might get it...lol! I love it though...the more the merrier! I sure didn't anticipate it when I started this beaded felt Christmas stocking thing though! The one I am working on now will be number 18!!!.....and I may have to do 3 more by next year!

The "other" way I am back is here...online....with a working computer! Right after we got home my computer crashed! Fortunately I borrowed an old antiquated laptop and was, at least, able to pick up email....but that is about it! Turned out my hard-drive fried! Thank goodness I have a great computer place....they were able to restore most of my data on the new hard drive....then I had to re-install all my software to open it. So far I have been able to retrieve most things. I did lose all my addresses in my email address book....and the worst part....I can't seem to get to the database I had in Act with everyone's home addresses!!! I re-installed the software but I can't figure out how to access the data that is in the back-up file! And the story doesn't end there, of course.....I had the computer back for a whole day.......THEN.....my monitor died!!! If I had known that was going to happen I would have just bought a whole new computer....and gotten a laptop to take with us when we travel.....oh well! At least I am back now! Amazing how addicted, dependent - or whatever you want to call it on these darn computers, isn't it? I almost felt "lost" without it!

On The Road Again!

2007-11-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

Yea!!! We are heading out in the motorhome again on Friday!! This time for 10 days...the longest we have ever stayed out in it. I can't wait! We are going to actually move around this time and stay in more than one place. We are taking Miss Savy with us and staying Friday and Saturday somewhere relatively close to the Metro, taking her home on Sunday since she has school on Monday, then heading out a little further for the remainder of the time. I've already started pondering which knitting projects I'm going to need to take. A girl has to have plenty of options, you know :-).

It's going to be interesting seeing how much email we have when we get back...I think we need to break down and get a lap top so we can keep up when we are gone. Pretty much all the rv parks have wi-fi available these days and it would be nice to be able to get online to check out local attractions in the places we stay.....like yarn shops...lol!

Have tons to get done before we head out so it's going to be really hectic the next couple of days, but it will be worth it to have all that time to get some R & R! This will also be the first trip out in it when the weather is cooler......hope the heater works.....we haven't had to use it yet. I'm thinking I'll take a space heater and a couple extra quilts just in case!

I did manage to get the Hola Blankie done...and used it last night while knitting and watching tv! I'm so glad I did the smaller size....it's perfect! Just covers my feet and comes up to my waist. The other one I used to use is a full-sized blanket and so big and bulky.

Have also made a little progress on the Fiesta sweater. I love knitting with this stuff!! Hopefully I will get a good bit done on it while we are gone.

Ok...off to the races....I'm working all day today, need to get everything ready to load into the rv, go to the store, make sure Dad has everything he needs while we are gone, pay bills...the list goes on!

2007-11-06T08:07:00.000-08:00

Birthday parties are such fun! Especially when they are a grand-kid's birthday. Savy turned 6 years old and her party was at The Jump Zone on Saturday afternoon. She had a house full and her Uncle B and Aunt Mel drove up from Dallas to come too. She was sooo excited about that.

I usually had my girl's parties "off-site" after they got a little older too. It is so much easier....no spending all day decorating and preparing for the party and no spending all evening cleaning up from it! All the kids (and quite a few of the adults...lol) had a good time jumping in all the huge blow-up toys.Of course Poppy (DH for those of you who don't know) made her cake again this year and it turned out awesome as usual! The theme she picked out this year was Barbie Princess and every princess needs a castle, right?
And of course a throne!

We did miss the Knit-In and even though I missed being there her party had to take precedence, you know :-).

I'm starting to have withdrawals from The Gourmet Yarn and crew, though!! I didn't get to work last Thursday....that crud I came home with last week-end just did me in for about a week! I didn't start feeling decent again until yesterday. Guess I'll have to run over there later this week to just say hi and see what they are up to!

I did give Savy her arm-warmers, headband and leg warmers for her birthday. She looked so cute in them!

As far as knitting goes I'm pretty much done with the Hola Blankie. I do have to get one more skein of the border color. It's weird. I got the called for number of skeins in the pattern and was right on gauge but I ran out of the magenta and had whole skeins of the Cosmo and Goldenrod left over! Oh, well...it's cotton and will make great wash cloths! I've been cranking away on the Mr. Greenjeans out of the Fiesta Boomerang and am almost ready to do the toe and heel on the sideways sock.

This sock pattern is really different! It's done flat in a sort of shadow knitting technique then it's grafted into a tube...and the toe and heel are picked up and done on double points. The row on bottom is waste yarn and that is where the tube will be grafted. Not sure if I'm going to like them or not....the pattern called for 2's and that is what I get gauge on....but the fabric is a little looser than I like for socks normally. The sole feels fairly soft though so they may be ok after they are washed and bloom a little. Time will tell, I guess.

Trick or Treat

2007-11-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Last night was so much fun! I just love doing the Trick or Treat thing with the grandbabies! Of course, Savy probably won't like me calling her that much longer.....she is going to be 6 tomorrow!!! I can't believe it! Seemed like my two grew up over-night, but the grand-kids are growing up even faster. In some ways I think it's the times we are in...they mature faster in some ways than we, or even our kids did, but in other ways they don't.

As you can see, we had a white, fuzzy kitty cat and a little pirate last night! I was so happy that Savy liked her costume. Couldn't help but worry about it a little...especially since I waited until the last minute to make it!! It would have been awful to make her wear it if she hadn't liked it and I'm sure there wouldn't have been much of a selection left out there that late! Fortunately she loved it and was excited to wear it.....especially when all her friends thought it was neat :-)

Amanda found Daxton's pirate costume at Old Navy and it is just the cutest thing ever!! Maybe I will make both of their costumes next year. I used to make all my girl's costumes years ago. If I do I'm sure not waiting until the last minute like I did this year! David has already put in his order for a dragon one for Dax next year.

I have so much that I need to get done today and I still feel like poo. The house is a tee-total disaster and driving me crazy, the laundry is a mountain and bills need to be paid....and I'm working tonight! I haven't done much sweepstake entering the past few months but I sure wish I could win maid service for a year....how nice would that be? I used to have a maid when I was working but it is hard for me to justify it when I'm semi-retired. Oh well....guess whatever mess there is will still be there when I get around to doing it!

On the knitting side of things.....I'm kind of bummed! I have been a member of a sock-of-the-month club since April. I have really loved the kits and up until September they always came right on time. From what the owner has posted on the web-site and on Ravelry she had an extensive travel schedule and a very sick relative which delayed the shipment. I finally got the September kit the first of October. She explained that the Oct kits would be delayed for the same reasons then the November kits would be back on schedule. Well, she posted last week that the October kits went out last Friday......then today I get an email saying they just now went out. And furthermore she is selling the business and the new owner would probably not do a sock club until sometime in 2008! It's not that I need any more sock yarn...lol...but I did so enjoy the surprise every month.....and I do love her kits....and they were reasonably priced compared to many other clubs out there, had wonderful yarn and neat patterns. It was upsetting to not get a kit and no communication about why though....and no....I haven't gotten the October one yet which was billed out on pay pal October 4. Hopefully it will be here in the next couple of days. I'm wondering if I should stop the pay pal just in case. Her email says all members will be automatically unsubscribed today and the November kit will be the last one from her.....but it makes me nervous. It bills the 4th of every month...guess I can cancel the pay-pal after that is done.....I would like to get the November kit.....but sort of worried about it billing then not getting it!

We're Back!

2007-10-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I got back in Sunday afternoon from our "girl's getaway". We just had the most awesome time! It was funny....we both faithfully took our cameras along...then promptly forgot to take a single picture! Guess we were too excited about getting to the Yarn Barn and petting all the yarn...lol!

The town of Lawrence was a pleasant little surprise all in itself. The cutest downtown that was chock full of quaint little shops and restaurants. We spent the entire day there on Saturday. It is so nice to go out of town with someone that you have such a good time with! It's almost weird....we are so in-sync. We always want to go in the same shops, eat at the same places, are hungry at the same times etc. I just have a blast with her. The fact that she is my daughter is the bonus! I so love that girl :-)

We started out at about 9:30 Saturday morning and it's a good thing....that little downtown was so busy later on that there was NO parking! We spent about 4-4 1/2 hours in the Yarn Barn and both left with some goodies! I think I picked up a dozen different things and put them in my basket then would put those back and get others...lol. Decisions, decisions....they are soooo hard in a yarn store aren't they...lol! Ultimately I ended up putting everything back and getting a kit. Strange for me....I usually don't do that, but I haven't seen the Hanne Falkenburg kits before so I decided to do that. I saw another kit that I liked the design on a little better but didn't like any of the colorways they had so got the Pagode. Her designs are really neat and although this won't be a fast knit.....I'm sure it will be something I will wear a lot when I do get it done!

While we were there I wasn't in the mood to work on the Hola Blankie so I cast on the Mr. Greenjeans sweater I'm doing out of the Fiesta Boomerang that I got at Gourmet Yarn. I LOVE knitting with this yarn...so smooth and it works up so nicely! I can already tell that this sweater is going to be the fave grab and go sweater. I'm so glad I picked up a couple of the Baby Boom to do matching socks in!

The only down-side to the trip is that I came home sick :-(. I just felt like death warmed over on Monday and didn't do much of anything. Yesterday I had to get it in gear and get that halloween costume done for Miss Savy. We are heading down there in a couple of hours to go trick-or-treating with her and Mr. Daxton. I so love doing that. We have gone trick-or-treating with them every year since Savy's first year and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll have pics of them to post tomorrow, so you will have to wait until then to see her costume.

Ok...now the Yarn Barn review..... It was a really nice shop, but honestly....in my humble opinion......OURS ARE BETTER!!!! They did have a pretty good selection but over half of the store was dedicated to weaving and or spinning....neither of which I do....so for someone who does it all it was pretty cool....but for me....well, it was certainly worth going....and I'm glad we did, but I'm more impressed with our LYS's right here in the OKC metro! Overall, I think we have a wider selection. The employees left something to be desired there as well. We were basically ignored until we were ready to make our purchases. No one greeted us at all or offered to help in any way. I would go back there...they carry Koigu and Frog Tree which I passed up in lieu of the Hanne kit, but they had a limited choice of colors in those...especially the Koigu. Anyway...that's my 2 cents for whatever it is worth.

All-in-all it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to go somewhere with my girl again!

Knitterly Aids and Road Trip!

2007-10-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ok...I'm still procrastinating about which sweater to cast on :-). I have been enjoying the mindless stockinette on the Hola Blankie and with the cooler weather the past few days, visions of more socks have been dancing in my head.....so....I'm thinking socks THEN a sweater! For some reason I'm not in the mood to cast on several things at once....strange don't you think? I almost always have multiple cast-ons and wip's. Guess I'm going through a new and different knitting phase! Anyway, here is the progress on the Hola.

I've also been procrastinating on other things I want to do. I do want to do them...honestly I do...just not in the mood to start them....which is odd for me! One thing is painting a scene in my old kitchen window hole. Yes, I used to paint. I haven't for years but I used to do oils on canvas and almost every painting in my house was done by either me, my Mom or my uncle. When the people who owned this house before us added the den onto the back of the house they closed up the window that is over the kitchen sink......but left the indentation there. So it looks just like what it is.....a closed up window hole. Always bugs me to be staring at a blank wall in a window hole so my plan is to paint a landscape in it. I even found an antique window to put up in the hole over the scene so it will seem like you are looking out the window!

The other project I want to do....and I can't procrastinate much longer on this one....is making Savy's halloween costume! I took her to the fabric store and she picked out a pattern and all the fixins for a fuzzy white kitty costume. Between working this next week and the road trip I have planned (more about that later), I have 5 days left to get it made! Watch me wait until the last minute then launch into a sewing frenzy...lol....it won't be the first time!

On the the promised knitterly aids! My family knows me so well....I got some of the most awesome gifts last week! DH got me this!

I LOVE this lamp!!! I was always having to lean over and hold my knitting toward the lamp on the end table and didn't even realize how poor the lighting was until I plugged this thing in! It is an amazing difference...for reading and for knitting...how on earth did I manage without it? By the way...in reference to my earlier comment.....that is one of my paintings in the background!

The other awesome gift was from Amanda....LOOKIE HERE!!!!

I have wanted one of these forever! Am I going to be a classy knitter or what? It is going with me on the road trip, that's for sure!

About that road trip......I am so excited! Amanda and I are taking off for a girl's weekend on Friday! She needs a break from the kidlings and I'm always ready to go somewhere.....especially somewhere like this ! And to be going with someone who will enjoy it as much as I do.....perfect! I have been wanting to go check this place out ever since I heard about it. Probably not the wisest time to go with Christmas around the corner, but hey.....pass up a chance to get out of dodge and spend hours and hours in a place like that....no way! We are leaving Friday about noon and coming back on Sunday.....Will post the yarn Pron when we get back!

Four Way Tie!

2007-10-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm....seems we have a four way tie on the sweaters...lol! Soooo, that being the case I have decided to cast on three things. I have already started the Hola Blankie. It is a great "idiot knit" or mindless project for times when I don't want to think about what I'm doing :-).
Next thing to hit the needles is going to be a sock....I'm having withdrawals! I have been getting the Chameleon Colorworks
sock club for 6 months now and haven't done a single kit so I'll pick one of those. The patterns are usually a little challenging so that will give me a "think-a-little" something to work on. Not sure which one I'll do but here is the September kit they sent.

And last but not least one of the afore mentioned sweaters......just procrastinating about deciding on which one :-). Thanks so much to all of you that "played" by doing the poll. It was fun! I'll let you know when I decide which one to do.......or I could go buy some new yarn and do a different one....lol.....think I could pass that off as a tie-breaker to the DH?

It is so nice to have the Christmas projects done! Not sure I'll do quite so many next year...they took up almost half of my "knitting year!" I love this craft too much to start doing something with it that makes it a chore..... which is kind of the way I felt about it this year. All I have to do now is the handles on the felted bags and wrap everything up.

One other project I'll probably start when I get done with the 3 I have lined up is another MS3. Even though it was soooo dis-heartening to have to frog the first one because I ran out of yarn :-(.....I still want to have a finished product from that KAL. It was my first big lace project and I want to have something to show for it! I picked up some J. Knits to do it in when I decide to tackle it again. I chose a similar colorway so I could used the beads I used before. Not sure what I'll do with the Cherry Tree....maybe another stole...only smaller!

On the non-knitting side of things, this has been a hectic exhausting month! A lot of stuff going on, out of town company and working a lot more. Right now I'm wishing I could hop into the RV and take off for a couple of weeks! I do still LOVE working though!!! You know, sometimes you get all excited about something and it turns out to be a huge disappointment, but not this time! Working for MG & David is awesome and I just love getting to know all the "regulars" who come in to hang out and knit! And being there on the days a shipment comes in.....oh, my goodness....it's like Christmas every day :-).

Well......it has been so crazy lately I can't remember the last time I did laundry....and I know the last time I cleaned house was right before all the company came in....there are no menus planned for a much needed trip to the grocery store....I have birthday presents to buy for 3 people before this weekend....and the list goes on......see why I want to run away in the motor home? Lol....life in the fast lane!

Just For Fun!!!

2007-10-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I made a comment at the end of my post about deciding what to cast on next and Kay made a resounding vote for the Hola Blankie. She was sitting in front of the yarn display when I bought it at the Knit In at Gourmet Yarn Company Saturday night. (Sorry....I can't get used to the new name.....it will likely always be the Knit In to me :-))!

Anyway, with that being said, I thought it might be fun to do a poll and let you guys decide what I should start next!! If you want to play just leave me a comment about which of these projects I should do! Hopefully I can get all of the links to work and this will be fun!

Option 1

Hola Blankie
I purchased the same colors and the pattern Saturday night.

Option 2

Tilted Duster
To be done out of this:

Option 3

Codi

Made out of this one:

Option 4

Polkadot

This one will be for Miss Savy out of this:Option 5

Nantucket Jacket

Thinking of doing this one in:

Option 6

Ribby Cardi

Have this picked here. Brown for the body and tan for the sleeves:

And last but not least

Option 7

Champagne Leaf and Acorn Shawl

For this one I have chosen:

Soooo this should be fun to see what you all think! Just leave me a comment! Off to check the links....hope they all work!

Saying Goodbye

2007-10-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it is official.......I ran out of yarn! I am 21 rows from finishing the MS3 and my worst fear about it came to pass....sigh.... Finally finished Christmas gifts and pulled it out this weekend determined to finish before starting anything new. Knitted on it a lot Saturday and Sunday then stopped when it became apparent that I had more stole than yarn. Debated a good bit about what to do since there is no way to get more of this yarn. It is Cherry Tree Hill Potluck in the Water colorway. I have done several internet searches and found some of the Water....but none of it looks even close to what I have. I thought about using something that blends to finish it thinking that the "wing tips" might look neat in another color and passing it off as a "Design Element"...lol. Then it dawned on it that the last few rows are not the wing tip! Then I thought about ripping back and doing the symmetrical version but from what I have read it takes as much if not more yarn to do that.

So.......one last look before she goes into the frog pond. At least I can say I enjoyed the KAL tremendously and discovered that I can do lace and will definitely do more of it in the future!So..........
On to other knitterly things!

I can post a few of the last gifts I have been working on since I'm relatively sure the recipients don't come here! Did mostly arm warmers and scarves for gifts this year. All of the adult wrist warmers were done from Gourmet Yarn Company's Alpaca. Right now I'm tired of doing wrist warmers but these are so warm and squooshy and feel so good on that I'm most certainly going to do myself and DH a pair before it starts getting really cold out! I did realize I had a little gusset hole in these after I took the pic that has now been repaired!

I did two seaman's type scarves for friend-of-family guys. This one is from some Homespun I had in the stash. Homespun is not really fun to work with, but I know from experience that it is really warm! I have an afghan on the back of my sofa out of it that my sweet Amanda did (her very first project!), and I have wrapped myself in it a lot over the years to sit out on the patio....toasty warm!
I'm almost done with a miniature pair of arm warmers for Miss Savy too. I was showing Amanda a pair I had finished for one of the guys and Savy grabbed it, put it on and almost refused to give it back...lol! Said she loved it and it was hers! The only way I could coerce her to give it back was to promise to do her a pair.....and she specified she wanted "rainbow ones"! I am using Knitcol trends by Adriafil. I did have her try on the first one just to make sure I was getting the sizing right and I should have done the pic when she had them on....they looked soooo cute on her little arm/hand!

Now I just have to decide what I want to start next!

All Six

2007-10-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot of knitting going on the past few days. Had oodles of company and other stuff going on. I have managed to do a decent amount on Ravelry though.....at the expense of sleeping...lol. I don't think I have been to bed before midnight since I got on!

Down to only two more Christmas gifts to do.....I did pare the list down some for reasons I won't go into here, but I'll be so excited to finish and move on to other things.

One of the happenings the past few days was decorating for Halloween. We ended up having ALL SIX of the grandkids here for the event. First time ever they were all together at our house. I think they all had a good time and probably slept good that night...lol. That playhouse and sandbox got a really good workout!

Will just put up a few pics of that then the next post should have some knitting content that I can actually show!

ONE WORD!

2007-09-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

RAVELRY..............

I'm in.........I'm addicted.......my name is (what else?)....Mimiwonton........nuff said

Knitting Wall

2007-09-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Lots of knitting going on around here.....but all are Christmas gifts so I can't post any pics! But I only have 5 left to do....yippee!!!! Then there is the sequined/beaded felt stocking I have to do for the latest grand child, Carter....then on to things that are calling my name!!

Also on the knitting front, I am only 460 out on Ravelry!! At the rate they are inviting I should get mine this week....probably in the next couple of days! I am so excited about it. I am always making a "que" list, a stash list, a needle inventory list, etc. but they are all over the place and usually get mis-placed and I forget what the "plan" was! This way everythig can be all in one place.....and I'm really excited about a ability to pick a yarn and see what others have done with it.

We had Guild last Sunday too....so even though I'm not posting pics of WIP's and FO's....still a lot of knitterly stuff going on! I can post pics of the Guild meeting though :-).

I'm really pleased about how the Guild is going. Thanks to our being on the NewsOK calendar and the Belle Isle Library making and distributing flyers for us we are getting quite a few new people every month! One of our new guests this month just happens to be an Assistant Editor for Metro Family Magazine!!! Mari is going to get us on the magazine calendar AND is going to do an article on us for the magazine!!! How cool is that! Go Guild!!!

The other thing on knitting.......the "Knitting Wall" is up!!!! I ordered and received 4 more of the sorting bins for my shelves!!!! I got them all up and "stuffed" last night! I ended up filling them totally up and my sweet DH asked me if I wanted to order another one....but I decided not to. Pretty much everything found a place in the shelves except for dishrag cotton, partial skeins left over from projects and charity yarn. Those are still in bags stuffed in the corner. After sorting everything and putting it in the shelves, I figured some of it will go to the swap meet at Guild next month and a good portion of it is screaming at me to be used....so I'll be motivated to get busy.....if for no other reason than to make room for new "inhabitants"! I love this storage system so much I just catch myself standing in front of it and staring! All my needles, all my books/patterns and most all of my stash in ONE place!!!!

Of course, the bottom left shelf is Savy's "stash".....lol! That little girl just loves her arts and crafts supplies and needed an organized space for her stuff too!

Well, I do have to get off here and get busy! Got to take Dad to the Dr., out to lunch and to get a haircut....then home to finish spiffing up the house for company. My step-daughter and her family are coming in today. They are staying in a hotel instead of with us but want things to be ready and a meal planned in case they come by here. They are having a joint birthday party for our precious little grand-daughters on Saturday. Kinley is turning 3 next month and Kayden just turned 1. We haven't seen them since we went to Chicago right after Kayden was born so we are excited to see them!

Small Home Project

2007-09-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

It will be two years in November that we moved back into this house......I can't believe it. Time goes by so fast. I have talked about the huge decision to down-size and move back into our rental house before.....and how horrendous it was when the last renters moved out. We worked...literally....sun up to sun down for almost two months getting it liveable again. Like most home projects several things we had planned to do before moving in just didn't get done....and here we are almost two years later and some of them STILL haven't been done yet...lol.

We finally got around to taking care of one of those projects!!! Since we moved in we have had a "naked" pantry in the kitchen. The kitchen has very few cabinets and no place to store food....well, not if you have as many cooking gadgets as I do :-) anyway!! We bought some unfinished pantries and installed them before we moved back and they have been sitting there unfinished ever since. The existing cabinets are really dark and the kitchen is really tiny so I didn't want to do a dark stain and make it feel even more cramped so here is what I did:

I love the way they turned out....in fact, I'm seriously considering doing the rest of the cabinets the same way!!! Here is a close-up of the paint.

They are a soft green then antiqued. The spattering part was fun except it took the specks forever to dry before we could varnish it!

As far as knitting related stuff....I did order more of the cubbies to finish organizing my stash!! I'm so excited and can't wait until they get here!! I have been knitting....a lot....trying to get the Christmas list done! Since everything is going to be a gift, I can't post pictures of much, but I have finished 6 of the 17 I have to do. Here are what the rest of them look like right now.

I am so ready to be done with all of them. I have sooo many things in mind that I want to work on! First I'm going to finish the MS3....then I have 3 sweater projects lined up and I'm having sock withdrawals big time...lol! Also want to do another lace project out of that yummy chocolate Blue Heron I snagged. Sigh......I need: more hands, more time, more yarn (not really, but we always "need" more yarn, don't we!) I'm also waiting on Ravelry....am still some 6,000 out and wishing I had signed up sooner!

Been enjoying the kiddos lately and helping Amanda out some. We did get a diagnosis.....Fibromyalgia. She started on a new Rx and it seems to be helping.....or was until an idiot massuse (one of the things the Dr. said helps some is Swedish Massage and wrote her an Rx for it)......did a deep muscle massage on her instead of the recommended Swedish Massage! It just about did her in and she is still suffering from it. I'm praying that the effects of it will wear off soon....it just made me so furious because she was doing SO much better and it just set her back again! She is so amazing through all this though...she is hanging in there and toughing it out as much as she can. I am so proud of her and I know in my heart that this combo of meds and prayers for the restoration of her health is going to make her better.

Here are a few shots of the kids I took while helping out.

Stash Storage Solution!

2007-09-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, yes!!!!

I'm so excited! I have been trying to figure out a solution for my yarn storage forever! I have built in bookcases in my hobby/office space. The DAY I retired from Real Estate, I dismantled the "office" and started working on turning into a hobby room. I decided the bookcases were the best place for my stash since we are much shorter on actual floor space here and there is just no where to put bins, stackable plastic drawers, etc.

The shelves were ok.....just ok. Here is what they look like.

There are two main problems with this storage method.... One, skeins and balls tend to just fall out.....constantly! I'm always finding the odd skein or ball on the floor in front of the shelves.....I have even had the equivalent of an "avalanche" of yarn...lol!

The second problem is finding anything! I can't see what is on the bottom and in the back so if I'm looking for something in particular pretty much the whole shelf has to come down and be put back......plus, I just plain forget I have something when it's buried back there!

First thought was to have DH build cubbies into the shelves.......but it just never happened. We talked about it a lot.....but that's as far as that idea got.

I finally got online and just started looking for a solution. Took the measurements of the shelves and went from there.......and I found it.......and I LOVE IT!!!!

I only ordered one to make sure it was going to work.....and now I'm definately going to be ordering 3 more!!!! Possibly 4, depending on how everything fits. Take a look at the same shelf....with all the same yarn that was in the shelf before!!

AMAZING!!!!! It all fit and I can actually SEE what I have!!!!

No Knitting Pics and New Discovery

2007-08-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

It has been a while!! Things have been busy, busy, as usual around here. I also haven't posted much because my knitting focus has changed to doing Christmas presents and too many recipients read the blog.....so....not many knitting pics will be going up over the next few months....and this is a knitting blog after all! Anyway, posts may be a bit fewer and farther between during this gift knitting period!! I have 15 people on my "Knit List" for knitted gifts! Then I have to do another sequined felt stocking for the newest grandchild before Christmas as well!

I have made some progress though....I have finished 3 gifts and am working on the 4th. I'm not that far from finishing the MS3 so it's really hard to ignore it and focus on Christmas knitting....I'm dying to finish it for two reasons.....one, just to say I finished it and see what it looks like.....and two....to see if I'm going to have enough yarn....yes....it's looking like I may not!!!!! When I bought the yarn I was looking for 1200 yards like she told us we would need in the beginning. Someone that was in the store with me told me she had posted a comment amending that yardage and saying that 760 yards would do it.....well....unfortunately, I listened and bought 2 420 yard hanks!!!! I have the entire last clue to do and I'm down to one itty bitty ball.....if I finish with enough yarn it's going to be by the skin of my teeth! If I run out I will probably frog the wing portion back to the section where we can shorten it and do the symetrical version....but I AM going to finish....one design or the other...how ever it works out.

On other things.....DH and I took off last week for a mini-vacation in the motor home. We decided to go to Eureka Springs and see the Passion Play. We went there on our honeymoon but only got to spend one night and half a day there before getting a phone call that his Mom had a stroke! We have always intended to go back and just never gotten around to it. We had a wonderful time, but it is a hard trip to explain.....so many things happened!!! Things that could have been so upsetting, but ended up being a blessing and life lessons in humility and patience!

We were just the other side of Siloam Springs when DH made the comment that the needle on the battery gage went down to nothing. Everything seemed ok so we kept going....well....about 60 to 70 miles out of Eureka, the motor home started sputtering, back-firing and losing power off and on. By that time we were on rain soaked, slick, two lane, mountainous roads with no place to pull off! He was afraid to slow down too much and lose the momentum and I tell you, it was one of the scariest rides I have ever experienced. This big ole, top heavy box of a vehicle literally careening up and down those roads with hills, valleys and hair-pin turns.....and in several places, sheer drop-offs on the passenger side!!! We just knew we weren't going to make it to the rv park!

By God's grace......we did! Blessing number one! Safe, sound and electricity to plug into! (It did take me a while to unlock my arms and legs, though...lol) Blessing number two......we found a man who worked on it for us both Saturday and Sunday....which, according to the locals, is unheard of!!! It was a long drawn-out process with this wonderful man driving to two other towns over the weekend to find the right alternator to fit our rig. He put the first one in on Saturday....didn't work....so he drove to the second town to get another one and put it in on Sunday! He took one look at the mechanical issues we had and said he had no idea how we made it there......it should have been mechanically impossible! Turns out the alternator that was on it to begin with was wired wrong!!!! God is good! This process, normally, would have driven me insane.....we had our trip all mapped out and planned about what we were going to do and when.....and were stuck at the rv waiting on the repair guy....for two whole days of our 3 day trip! Blessing number three......we ended up enjoying our down-time and relaxing instead of running ourselves ragged....plus we met some of the most wonderful people that we would not have met if we had been out running around!

We did get to go see the Passion Play and enjoyed it tremendously, but the best part of the trip was discovering an artist I had never heard of before!!! He had paintings in the Passion Play Museum and the symbolism in them just takes my breath away! His name is Jack E. Dawson .

We saw two paintings that really spoke to our hearts. We really wanted to get one, but we had gotten to the compound late because of the rv repairs and didn't have time to decide which one we wanted before the play started. That in itself ended up being a blessing!

As we headed out of town Monday morning, we stopped off at a cluster of shops to pick up a couple of souveniers to bring family members and went into a gift shop. Turned out that the shop owner is a personal friend of Jack Dawson's and had his work there!!! He was able to tell us things about the paintings that the tour-guide at the museum didn't know! These paintings are his ministry and based on scripture. He always places hidden images in the paintings. What we learned at the shop was that in all of his paintings (some more than others), years after the paint is dry....new images are found that he didn't purposely paint in!!! Ron and I both found "new" images in one of the paintings while we were in the shop hearing him tell about this phenomenon!!! We still had a hard time deciding which one we wanted but ended up getting one based on Matthew 10:31. "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." The name of the painting is " His eye is on the Sparrow". He definately had his eye on us this trip so we felt it was fitting!

I wish you could see the painting better on here, but if you look closely you can see the little sparrow in the center of the painting sitting on a branch. Above it, to the right, in the trees, you can see Christ's face in the leaves, his shoulders, arms and hands in the rock......keeping an eye on the sparrow!!! There are many more images in it as well that you can't really see here. If you ever have a chance to go see his work in person....DO IT!!!! It is truly amazing!

There are many more "stories" to tell about this trip.....funny now, not so funny at the time, but this post is getting too long, so this will have to suffice! Let's just say we are glad we went, had a wonderful time and made some special memories......much better than sitting in front of the tv night after night!

In closing this post, I would like to ask you to continue to pray for my beautiful daughter. We have a tentative diagnosis about her health issues. Next week we will hopefully have a definative one, but the rhuematologist has said he is 90% sure she has Fibromyalgia. The tests are to rule out Lupus and Rhuematoid Arthritis. If they do, the Fibro diagnosis will be confirmed. It is an incurable, pain centered disease and pain management is about all that can be done. Please, please pray that a course of treatment can be found to alleviate the horrible pain and fatigue that goes along with this insidious disease!

"The Wing", The kids and One Step Closer

2007-08-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

Time has really gotten away from me the past couple of weeks! I didn't realize that it had been so long since I made a post!

Still doing a little on the MS3, but not as much as usual. I did get started on clue 5 and it is sooo strange! I decided to go ahead and do the wing just for the challenge. I can't imagine how it is going to look completed! I usually go for the symetrical look so this should be interesting. Am hoping to get through clue 5 this week and start on today's new clue by next week.

Not the best picture, but I was too lazy to find the perfect place to pin it all out this morning..lol!

I have had Savy & Dax all week this week so I didn't work on it at all. Instead I started the Christmas list. Am doing a bunch of arm warmers this year and got one done this week. I am using the Mock Cable pattern by Jo Ellyn, a member of our Guild and doing them with Gourmet Yarn's Alpaca. I got two cones of worsted, one in beige and one in gray. Figure those will work for most anyone on my list, male or female.

Found a good pattern for guy arm warmers too. Will be doing a few pairs of those and a couple of scarves from it.

Amanda had a rough patch this week. That's why I had the kiddos. I just enjoyed them so much! It was interesting getting back into the swing of things with two little ones 24-7...lol! But they were such good kids for me and it was a delight waking up to that "little voice" in the other room jabbering away :-). We played outside a lot while they were here. That insured that they were plenty worn out come nap time!

I think they had a good time with Mimi....and I know I had a good time with them! David and Amanda are so sweet......I got the most beautiful flower arrangement yesterday thanking me for helping them out with the kids. They are just gorgeous and literally perfume the entire room! They certainly didn't need to reward me for doing something I love, but I do have to admit that I'm enjoying their thoughtful gift!

Hopefully we are starting to make a little progress on getting a diagnosis for these health issues Amanda has been dealing with for so long......FINALLY! Both arthritis and lupus have been tossed out there. Not words we were wanting hear. The diagnosis isn't "official"....she is being referred to a rhuematologist, but at least we are getting closer to getting to the bottom of all this! THEN....whatever it is, with treatment, she can start feeling better!!! It has been a long road getting this far and I have to say, the medical profession, in my humble opinion....just stinks! The doctors don't come right out and say things to your face, but over and over again they run a handful of basic tests and if they come out "normal", they basically act like there isn't anything wrong with you and they just want you to go away....totally ignoring the fact that there most definately IS something wrong and more tests need to be done to figure out what is going on! It's almost like they don't want to bother unless it's an easy to diagnose, simple to fix problem.

Anyway, enough of my rant! Just please pray that we will get a diagnosis and be able to start a course of treatment soon!

MS3 row 225 & Turner Falls

2007-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

I got up through row 225 on the MS 3 last night! Still seem to be tinking as much as knitting, but for some reason am still really enjoying this project!! Only "bad" thing about it is that I am now wanting to do more lace...lol!

That has been one area of knitting that, before now, I have had little interest in.....therefore.....there is NO yarn in my stash that is conducive to lace knitting!!! A sad state of affairs...lol. Well....except sock yarn and those are all earmarked for socks...not lace scarves! Still not sure about using true lace weight at this point. I like the fingering I'm using on the MS 3 so will stick to that for a while.

Well....bad news for my self imposed yarn diet this year! I have actually been pretty good. Only fallen off the wagon, so to speak, twice the whole year...well...maybe 3 times.....until yesterday! I was working yesterday and we got in some new Blue Heron. I have drooled over this fiber since the first time I ever saw it but have managed to resist temptation until I saw what came in yesterday :-). Now I just have to figure out what "lace thing" I'm going to do with it! The colorway is called chocolate. The pic doesn't do the richness of the colors justice at all and it has tiny flecks of gold through it!!!

Not much else to report on the knitting front. MS 3 has taken up most of my time. I have cast on and frogged about 4 projects to do on the side when I can't concentrate on the stole. I finally ended up with a pair of Hedera socks out of some Yarn Pirate I got for Mother's Day otn to carry around with me.

Last weekend we took off with David, Amanda, Savy & Dax in the motorhome!! We went down to Turner Falls for the weekend to meet up with my other daughter Melissa and her DH and David's Dad, Wayne. Wayne has a cabin and shop there. He is an artist and paints and sells paintings on mirrors there. Some of us slept in the motor home and some slept in the cabin, but we all hung out during the day and gathered at the motor home for dinner every night. It was such a wonderful weekend! That was my first time at Turner Falls and I was astounded at how beautiful it is there....and how big the park is! Lots of pics of the weekend next:

We just had such a wonderful time! I only wish we could do it more often and I could spend more time with my other beautiful girl!!!

This week has been busy, busy! I watched the munchkins on Monday so Amanda could go to the Dr. I am praying we are on the road to getting some answers so a course of treatment can be determined! I so want my precious girl to start feeling good! She is such a beautiful person....inside and out....sorry sweetheart....I know you don't like it when I say that...but it is sooo true and I want nothing more than for you to feel fantastic and full of energy every single day!

I also took Dad to the Dr. two mornings this week trying to get his meds for thyroid and cholesterol to the right dosage...then have been working afternoons all week! Whew! It has all gone pretty well except I took a hard fall on Wednesday! Fortunately, I don't look too banged up....at least not in places where it shows! I do have a pretty sizeable knot on my chin, but it covers well with war-paint (ie..make-up). Have scrapes and bruises on my knees and two toes, but they aren't that noticeable unless you are looking for them. The odd thing is that the places that have no visible signs of trauma are what are bothering me the most!! My hands and left arm are really sore...thank goodness for Aleve...lol!

Anyway...am heading off for the store again here in a bit so I had better get going!

Funtastic Weekend!

2007-07-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Didn't get a whole lot of knitting done this week-end...was too busy having fun with Miss Savy and crew!! This was her first "trip" in the motorhome and she LOVED every minute of it. Kept telling us over and over how much she liked it and how much fun she was having.

We went to a relatively local rv park out close to Yukon. It was such a nice place! I'm sure we will go there several more times when we just want to get away but not spend the national budge on gas for the motor home...lol! We got there on Friday night, got set up and just kind of hung out walking the dogs, eating dinner and watching movies.

Saturday we took her to White Water Bay. I have never been to that water park and we really enjoyed spending the afternoon there with her and she had a blast! I about fell over when we found out how much it was to get in the park though! It has been so many years since we went some place like that.....I think the last time we went it cost around $15 per person to get in.....boy, do things change..lol! Thank goodness we had saved a couple of coke cans that got us discounts!

After the water park we headed back to the rv park, walked around with the dogs a while then did hot dogs and made s'mores on the grill.

With the park being here in the Metro, David, Amanda & Dax were able to come out on Sunday to eat lunch with us and let the kids swim in the pool for a while. The park has a really nice indoor pool and hot tub!

I did manage to get the Tidal Wave socks done down to the kitchner then finished them Sunday night when we got home.
Spent yesterday doing the laundry/linens from the trip and working on MS3. This should be a pretty quiet week. Next week is another story...lol! Watching kids on Monday so Amanda can go to the dr., taking Dad to dr. two mornings and working Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5....yea!! I'm so happy to be working at the Gourmet Yarn....and NOT for that ditzy realtor! A pretty good indication that it is a good thing I quit working for her.......I STILL have not gotten my last paycheck from her!! It has been over a month since I left! I have tried to email her about it 5 times and the email keeps bouncing back because her inbox is full! Heck of a way to do business, huh? With "attention to detail" like that she probably won't be in business much longer anyway!

Clue # 2

2007-07-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

I remembered to check the camera for the card this time :-). Finished clue # 2 yesterday and spent last night working on the second Tidal Wave sock out of Tofutsies.

I'm loving this mystery stole thing...such fun! Here it is.

Here is a closer shot that shows the beading better....just what I need...another thing to spend money on...lol...now I'm wanting to do something else with beads!

Next clue comes out tomorrow, but I'm thinking it will be much slower progress on that one. We are leaving tomorrow taking Savy on her first trip in the motor home. She is so excited! I talked to her on the phone yesterday and she was gathering up all her "stuff" to take and put in the motorhome for her trip.....no clothes, shoes, toothbrush or anything like that.....just the "important" stuff for a 5 year old...lol. She is so cute! We are only going for the weekend and are going to an rv park that has an indoor pool....just in case the weather gets yucky again.... so we will have a grand time regardless of the weather!

Short post tonight...DH is out of town and I never cook for just me....got to go scrounge around and see what's for dinner!

MS3 & Kinda Blue

2007-07-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Been working mostly on the MS3 stole and making some progress. I'm almost done with clue 2!! Amazingly I had a couple of days that I got in a lot of knitting time this week....mostly because I ignored other things that needed to be done....but I justified it because I have been so darn tired lately. Not sure what's up with that...maybe I need to go get some vitamins...lol. Still liking the feel of the fabric that the Cherry Tree Hill is creating with the stole, but wish I had gone with a solid color....and the thing is going to have to be HARD blocked for the pattern to show very well.

I am really enjoying the beading thing. I almost didn't do it and am so glad I did! I think I already know the next beaded thing I'm going to do....have the yarn, just need to get the beads. There are some really cute beaded wrist warmers in the One Skein book that are calling my name!

Well...duh!!! I guess this is going to be a pictureless post! I painstakingly pinned out the stole a bit ago and took some great pics of it to put up here....just went to post them and discovered I had left the memory card in the printer....lol....so the pics don't exist! Oh, well....guess they'll go up on the next post.

I have worked a little on the Tidal Wave socks when things were less than quiet and I couldn't talk and knit at the same time...lol....I have discovered that is one thing I cannot do when working on the stole! Like at the still-un named knit-in at Gourmet Yarn on Saturday. It was sooo nice to be back! I had missed the last two due to illness and other commitments and was having withdrawals...lol. I even turned down a chance to head out in the motorhome this last weekend so I wouldn't miss it again!

It still amazes me how this Mystery Stole thing has exploded! I know those of you who are doing it too probably already know the stats, but for those of you who aren't......it blows my mind that over 6,700 people around the entire world are working on the same project!!! AND that it has drawn national media attention! Got an email from the creator of the whole project/concept yesterday and she was contacted by USA today and interviewed about it....amazing! The clues/instructions have been translated into 7 other languages! The only annoying thing about the project has been the number of emails it generates....oh my goodness!!! I tried setting the email notification to digest instead of individual emails and my in box was still totally flooded! I finally just went to special notices only because I was spending literally hours a day deleting emails!

On the kinda blue comment.....nothing earth shattering....I just am....kinda blue today for some reason. I have no "real" reason to be....I have so much to be thankful for....and I am...thankful for all my blessings!!! The only thing I can really attribute it to is that I think someone that means something in my life right now is mad at me. Maybe not, but I keep getting this nagging feeling about it. Sometimes I wish I had a bit "thicker skin" and didn't worry about things like that..especially when I know I haven't done anything that would justify someone being upset or mad at me......but I do worry about that kind of stuff...hurting or upsetting anyone...I just hate it and try hard not to do it. I guess time will tell whether that is the case. I just hope, if it is, that person will care enough to tell me.....not just leave me clueless!

Mystery Solved & Mystery Stole!

2007-07-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

After all the fun hints and all the wonderful goodies I received, SP 10 is over! I got my "reveal" box from my spoiler yesterday....and man, did she spoil me! You've seen the other great packages she has sent and this one was no exception....it was fantastic!

It started out with Nicky Epstein's book "Knitted Flowers" and 4.....count em.....4 skeins of sock yarn!! Does this girl know the way to my heart? I'd say so ;-). Two skeins of Opal, one of Trekking XXL and one of Boston....saw the San Diego colorway at the store this week, but haven't seen the Boston before...so pretty!
Next in the box I found a couple of HUGE skeins! One is 9.8 oz of New Zealand wool in a dark smokey grey from Pollywogs The next one is a soft, soft hank of 100% pigtail cotton chenille from Henry's Attic in N.Y. I'm thinking the wool will turn into a felted something and will have to find something special to do with the cotton. There were also 2 packages of yummy chocolate...if you look closely you can see that one box is already open...lol...there happens to be a piece gone from that box but I can't figure out what happened to it ;-)

The next treasure I found in the box was the "green thing" she alluded to in her last hint!! She made me the most delicious soap! It had that whole box just smelling heavenly! Not sure exactly what "flavor" it is, but I think I detect a wintergreen/peppermint scent. I can't wait to use it!

The other things in the box were a skein of Knit Picks Bare and a nice handwritten card revealing her identity. I have taken the pic of the yarn with some of the "hints" she has sent me periodically through out the swap. All patterns she emailed me were from Knit Picks.

She was so clever and sneaky sending me all those patterns.....I really thought I had things figured out.....I thought I was soooo smart and just knew that I would be getting the yarns called for in these patterns in my reveal box....otherwise she wouldn't have sent them to me...right?

WRONG!!! So....I was a tad confused when I opened the box and found all those other fantastic yarns, delighted to be sure...but couldn't figure out the "connection"! That is....until I read her note and went out online to explore and read her blog!

Turns out my SP spoiler is a celebrity of sorts!!! How cool is that?!!! I discovered that all those patterns from Knit Picks she sent were actually KNITTED BY HER!!!!! Yep, pull out your Knit Picks catalog and you will see the handiwork of my pal up close and personal!

I just don't know what to say......thank you seems pale in comparison to how fun she made the whole SP 10 experience for me.....but.....THANK YOU, Kim
Go on over and check out her blog!!! She flat out rocks!

On the knitting scene, pretty much everything has taken a back seat to the Mystery Stole 3 pattern. I don't think I have ever, in my entire knitting life, tinked one project so much...lol! It seems like I have to tink every row at least once...maybe not, but it seems like it! Strangely enough, I am really enjoying it! Of course, after all the agonizing about my yarn choice, I sort of wish I had picked something different. I am using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and I do like the feel of the fabric it is making, but it has a slight varigation of color and I'm thinking the lacework would show up better on a solid.....guess I'll just have to make another one...lol! Maybe I'll even try true lace weight next time around....not the Cashwool, though...just too tiny for me and I couldn't seem to get a good stitch definition with it at all. Anyway, clue # 2 came out today and I'm still pluggin away on clue # 1!! Still have 30-something rows to do on it. I wish I could just stay home all day in bum around clothes and knit on it. This week has seemed to be so hectic and busy...just go, go, go and I'm really tired today. Unfortunately I have to go to the grocery store....just too many things we are out of. I need a quiet day! Oh, well....maybe Sunday? Time will tell.

Tags, Jobs & a Mystery!

2007-07-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have been formally "tagged"! I've done a few Meme's in the past when I saw them on someone else's blog, but this is the first time I've actually been tagged on one! This one is the Birthday Meme and I was tagged by my SP 10 spoilee Laura. The object is to go to Wikipedia, plug in your birthday and list 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that happened on your special day.

Here's mine: October 17th

Events:

1860 - Origination of "The Open Championship"...better known today as "The British Open"

1888 - Thomas Edison filed for the first patent for the Optical Phonograph....the first movie

1967 - The musical "Hair" opened at the Anspacher Theatre on Broadway

Births:

1938 - Evel Knievel

1941 - Earl Thomas Conley - Country Singer

Holiday:

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Well, I have once again taken another part-time job!!! I'm quite confident that this one will be much better than the last one! It is only a "fill-in" position....vacation relief, etc. I worked the first time last Thursday.....and I LOVED it! Left disappointed that I didn't go back in until today!! When I tell you where it is you will understand :-)! Are you ready? Drumroll, please.....I am working at The Gour met Yarn Company . Now does that sound like a died and gone to Heaven job for me...lol....I think so!

On the knitting front, I am going to attempt....and I used the term loosely at this point, the Mystery Stole 3. I have swatched four different yarns so far. Up until last night I didn't like any of them! The first yarn I tried was Cashwool. I tried two needle sizes and still didn't like either one....sigh.....then I tried some Bamboo I have in the stash on bigger needles....better, but still didn't get me really excited. Last night I used some left-over JKnits and I think that's what I'm going to do it in. Will have to see what colorways there are enough of at work before I know the color I'm doing. There are people posting pictures on the group who have totally finished clue 1 and here I am still agonizing over yarn choice....lol....good thing this one isn't a race, huh?

I had decided, at first, that tackling lace was enough and I wasn't going to do the optional beading.....but now I'm thinking I will....sooooo....after I get my yarn I'll have to go get beads. I's looking like the 2nd clue will be out before I even start...lol!

In the meantime I have been catching up on doing mitered squares from left-over sock yarn! I've only been doing socks for about a year so I didn't have that many to do....I think I still have about 3 to do to be "caught up". I want to do a square...or squares....from every pair of socks I knit then eventually put them all together in a throw....a different sort of "memory blanket", I guess you could say.

Still have the Tofutsie Tidal Wave second sock on the needles too. This is the longest I have ever gone with a second sock otn!! I was always determined to not develop SSS....second sock syndrome....lol.....but I will finish it before I start another pair of socks to be sure....just need to get this mystery project underway first!

Had a great week-end keeping Savy & Dax so Mommie and Daddy could get away for some R & R. They were both so good and such fun! Fortunately, the weather cooperated to a degree and we were able to let Savy ride her bike down to the park a couple of times and we took Dax out in the stroller. They also got to play in the sandbox and kiddie pool a little bit between rainy spells.

Oh....I heard from my spoiler in SP 10 too!! She mailed my package on Saturday. She was a fun partner.....she sent me tons of "clues" about what is coming so I can't wait to see who she is!! One "hint" she gave me was.....the "green thing" that is in the box is something she made. She leads a group that makes these "green things" where she lives....I can't imagine what it might me, can you? I'll be sure and post a pic of the "green thing" and the rest of the goodies when it comes.

Daxton's 1st Birthday & Maiden Voyage

2007-06-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I just can't believe Dax is one year old already!! Seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were holding him at the hospital! His party was Saturday afternoon with mostly family there. He had such a good time...and so did everyone else :-)

DH made his cakes....he has made all of Savy's birthday cakes, the wedding and groom's cakes for both Amanda and Melissa and the groom's cakes for all his kid's weddings. He is sooo talented when it comes to that....even if he is my hubby.....I have to brag on him a little! He is amazing.....just give him the "theme" of the party or tell him the basics of what you want and he takes it from there! I'll have to post pics of all the other ones he has made sometime. They are just fantastic! That was one of the reasons we tried so hard to buy that bakery...but it obviously wasn't meant to be!

He made Dax his own little cake....and it's a good thing he did...lol. No one else would have gotten any cake if he hadn't!!! Here's why:

We also took our "maiden voyage" in the motor home this weekend. We left after the party and headed out. We went to a little rv park in Stillwater so we would get there before dark to get everything hooked up. I think we are really going to like this rving thing!! We really did enjoy it! The park we went to looked really nice online......however.......you guessed it.....it was really a crummy little park!! It was ok for our purposes....to figure out how everything works and to just rest a little, but I sure am glad we didn't take Savy with us this time! There was nothing....and I DO mean nothing to do there! And the spaces were so small we didn't have room to even put out our awnings! They did have onsite restrooms and a small laundry room but that was it! No picnic tables, no park, no playground, no pond or anything for fishing, no pool....not a good destination for a family fun type outing!

Overall we are still really pleased with our new toy. With it being 20 years old we have been so pleasantly surprised at how little is wrong with it! We had a minor leak on the kitchen faucet, the automatic step has a couple of issues and the little tv that came in it doesn't work....that's it! All the main stuff...generator, a/c, stove and icebox, hot water heater, water systems....it all works great! The dogs did really well in it too! We were very pleasantly surprised at how good they did....just no problems at all.....well....maybe only one.....Stoneleigh likes to help drive...lol

Didn't get a whole lot of knitting done this week....just too much going on. Still have second Tidal Wave sock going and have started doing mitered squares from left over sock yarns. Going to try to do one from every pair of socks I make then put them all together in a blankie. Only ones that will be AWOL will be those I do for DH....his foot takes up pretty much all the yarn...lol! So far I have two done but am going to have to move on for the time being. I joined the Mystery Stole 3! I have never done anything like this....and have never worked with lace weight so it should be interesting. The first clue comes out Friday so I need to get my yarn wound and swatched the next day or two. Will post more about the yarn and some pics as it goes along.

On other things, I got my last SP 10 box out and she got it yesterday. She seemed to really like all her goodies. This was really fun! I loved getting stuff for my pal and I have gotten the nicest things from my upstream pal! She has told me there is one more coming so I'm haunting the mailbox these days...lol. As much as I loved doing this and the swap-bot swaps, I'm going to take a little break from them for a while. I have so many things lined up I want to do already and there are other things I'm wanting to spend on right now, so I'll probably wait until at least fall before I do any more swap type things.

Curious new friend, New toy & Knitting Guild

2007-06-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been less than a week since I made a post! So much has been going on it seems like a month ago!

DH and I picked up a new "friend" on Friday. When I was a teenager my Dad was a traveling salesman. He used to pick up turtles when he saw them on the road and bring them home. I don't know for sure just how many turtles we had in our backyard, but it was a lot! We even had several babies show up after a while! I used to feed them canned dog food from a spoon. It was really a fun thing to watch....I would go out on the patio, tap the spoon on the concrete and they would come running....yes turtles can run.....and eat the dog food right from the spoon in my hand! I told Savy that story one time and she has been begging Poppy to pick up turtles for her ever since. Well, when we went to pick up our new-to-us motorhome on Friday and walked out the door to drive it home, there was a turtle sunning right behind the motorhome! We got a box and brought him home. Haven't been able to get him to eat anything yet, but the other "kids" were sure curious about him!

We finally had to make Stoneleigh come in the house because he wouldn't leave the poor little guy alone!! Am going to go pick up a can of the really cheap-0 canned dog food today to see if I can start training him to eat from a spoon too!

After picking up the new RV, Amanda and I went shopping for the stuff to "make it a home!" I had a lot of surplus stuff already but we did need a few things to get it set up for our first trip. We are all really excited about it and I know we are going to have so much fun! We had it at the house off and on all week-end loading stuff in it and sanitizing the water system, etc. We grabbed some burgers Friday night and ate our first meal in it. Savy was here and she thinks it is just about the coolest thing she has ever seen......we couldn't get her out of it...lol! She has her own set of crayons, markers and color books that will stay in it and she has her own little shelf where they all go! She can't wait until we go on a trip and spend the night in it!

We are going out in it this next week-end by ourselves to figure out how to work everything before we take anyone else along....there is a lot to learn! We are really pleased with it at this point! It is almost 20 years old and so far we have only found two really minor problems with it....the main stuff or big stuff all works just great....and it is in great condition!! I wish we could just hop on it it and take off today...lol!

The plan is to take off Saturday evening after Daxton's 1st birthday party. We are just going to a nice little park close to Stillwater so we can get there quickly and get set up before dark...since we don't know what we are doing yet...lol! Here are a few pics of the inside:

On Saturday Amanda and I went to our sweepstaking group meeting. We hosted the meeting and had a gift basket auction. It ended up being fun and we raised $217 for our group! The group picks a "charitable cause" every year that most of the money goes to. Last year we did Christmas for a single mom with 3 boys. Along with money raised during the year all the members bought extra stuff for them and they had one fantastic Christmas! The meeting went a little better, but we were still missing a lot of the people who were really active last year. It is such a shame that a couple of crappy attitudes can mess up something so good. We are down from an average attendance of 15 to 20 people to an average of 5 to 10!

Of course, after the meeting we had to go check out the new LYS in Norman! Really nice shop! And the people were very friendly. We had Savy with us and she really took to the owner of the shop.....she decided next time she goes there she is going to spend the night with her...lol!

On Sunday we had a great day, too!! It was Father's Day and Guild. Family and knitting....my two very favorite things!!!

Guild was fantastic and we had a much bigger group than I expected since it was Father's Day!! Linda P did a great lesson on entrelac and the donations to our charity knitting......OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Look at this!!!

After the meeting we all headed to Amanda's and had a fantastic dinner and spent time together!! I love watching my Dad watch Savy and Dax! His face just lights up and every once in a while you can hear him chuckle! He will be 84 this year. He had a massive stroke about 15 years ago which left him with very little verbal skills. It is really amazing to watch him with his great-grandchildren! When he tries to talk to an adult he just cannot get the words out and gets so very frustrated.....but if Savy is talking to him (especially if there are no adults close by).....he can and will sometimes respond to her in complete sentences!!! I really think he could get much better if he would just do speech therapy again and work on it, but he refused to continue with it years ago and just gets really mad and upset if I try to push him to do it. He can be pretty stubborn when he wants to :-).

Far away, there in the sunshine, are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

Louisa May Alcott

Birthday Boys!

2007-06-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

Weekends this month have turned out to be jam packed!! There has been....or will be something going on every single week end in June. Should have a few quiet ones in July though.

The first Saturday of the month we had Savy's dance recital. She has been taking dance since she was 2. She says she doesn't want to take it next year, but I'm hoping she changes her mind....they are just so cute up there and the older girls who have been doing it a long time are just amazing. Time will tell when registration starts in the fall.

The second weekend was busy starting with the WWKIP day at the downtown library....such fun and a terrific turn-out! It was so exciting to see some new faces from our knitting community. After the knit in we had a birthday party to attend!! Our grandson, Clayton turned two years old on Saturday!! It was such fun to watch him do his packages and cake! I did have to miss knit-in at GY, though....that part wasn't cool. I was sick, sick last month so I have missed two in a row :-(

The next day I went with Amanda to a Tastefully Simple home party. I had never been to one of those and it was fun....got to taste all kinds of yummy food! Of course, I blew the budget because it all tasted so good I had to have some of it......but food should be like sock yarn don't you think.....it doesn't count...LOL!

The busyness continues this coming week end!! I belong to a sweepstaking group and I and Amanda are the hostesses this month so we have to go! I have been sweepstaking since June of 2004. It started out great and I did win quite a few really nice prizes......a Weber grill, toys, food, gift cards, make up, A CRUISE FOR FOUR!, candles, tooth care package....and more! My luck has not been so good this year....haven't won anything since July of last year!!! I'm sort of starting to loose interest a little. We have a couple of members who stirred up some "stuff" at the Christmas party by being tacky and several of the most fun members haven't been back to the meetings since....of course the "problem children" with the attitude problems are still coming....and complaining.....soooo the meetings aren't as much fun as they used to be either .....and I'm not winning anything lately, so I'm thinking I might take a break from it. One good thing is the meeting is in Norman....so we will definately be going by and checking out the new LYS while down there :-)! But..... Then Sunday we have Guild.....always fun and I can't wait to go! Great program this month by our esteemed VP on entrelac too!

The next weekend is little Mr. Daxton's first birthday!!! I can't believe that little stinker is a year old already....well...will be on Friday! We are having his party Saturday afternoon. Time sure does go by fast these days. He is really starting to be "Mr. Personality", too! VERY opinionated already...lol! His Mommie already has her hands full! He's not talking yet and already "argues" with her!

After his party DH and I are taking our "maiden voyage" in our new (or new to us) RV!!! We want to have a couple of days/nights under our belts in it to figure out how everything works, how the fur-kids do in it, etc. before we take the family out in it!! THEN the next weekend we are taking David, Amanda and the kids in it and heading to Turner Falls to meet my daughter Melissa and her husband Brian. David's Dad has a cabin up there so it will be a weekend full of family and fun!

Not a whole lot of knitting to show....since I was working the last month...and yes...I did quit....I couldn't handle my boss's flakiness.....and the weekends have been so hectic....all I have done is get down to turning the heel on the Tidal Wave sock. Now it is my "charity knitting" week so I have a teddy bear sweater otn and am hoping to get a couple of baby hats done too.

Another thought for the day:

We cannot tell the precise moment when a friendship starts...It is like filling a vessel drop-by-drop which makes it at last run over, so a series of kindnesses....make the heart run over!

James Boswell

Just Stuff.

2007-06-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

No particular reason for the post this morning...just stuff on my mind. I did finish the ML socks in worsted weight. In Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest book she talks about the fact that there are two basic types of knitters.....process knitters and project knitters. I guess this experience has landed me in the project knitter category. I just couldn't bear the thought of that one lonely sock lying around....even though I didn't particularly enjoy doing them.

I had intended to do toe-up socks next but yesterday morning I was running late and needed to grab a project to take with me because I had a dr. appt after work. I couldn't imagine sitting in a waiting room without something to knit on!! Turned out that most of my sock stash is in hanks and I didn't have time to wind anything before I left. Soo...I grabbed a skein of Tofutsie's I got at GY and cast on the Tidal Wave socks SWTC has on their web page for it. They are working up pretty fast.....and remind me a bit of the Monkey socks. And it feels good to be back on my dpns!!

On other things....DH and I are looking at RVs!! I know that sounds crazy with the cost of gasoline these days, but for us I think it would end up being a wash compared to other forms of travel. If you factor in the cost of gas (or airfare), lodging, meals and the biggie for us.....the cost of kenneling all the fur-babies.....it costs us just as much if not more to go anywhere! With an RV we can just take the poo-heads with us instead of boarding them. Anyway, we have put the pencil to it and have found one we are considering. Not a new one, mind you...most of those cost as much as our house!!! Insane! This one is an older model....1989....but is in pristine condition!!! It actually looks like it was pulled off the show-room floor it is so nice. Not a scratch, dent or rust spot on the outside and the upholstry/carpet looks brand new....except for the fact it has an 80's color scheme...lol! It only has 63,000 miles on the engine and 350 hours on the generator. We still want to have all the mechanical systems checked out of course, but once we get all our ducks in a row....if someone hasn't bought it out from under us....we will probably do it! I think it will be such fun to take grand kids and our families on trips with us!!

As far as the part-time job goes......it is gone! Yesterday was just the deal-breaker for me. I feel so sorry for the lady I was working for, but being around her just drives me insane and wears me out. I can't even begin to tell how miserable yesterday was so I'm not going to even try.....I would end up writing a novel on here! All I can say is I really believe she needs to be hospitalized until they can find a combo of meds that will work to calm her down and get her mental state stabilized.

The other thing that is on my mind is the situation my ex is causing. It just breaks my heart. I don't have any direct contact with him anymore....thank the Lord....but when he hurts people I love, it hurts me too!! It is weird that you can spend 23 years of your life with someone....know them inside-out, and then they change to someone you can't imagine ever even knowing....much less living with and raising children with!! I and other family members think there is something wrong with him....maybe bi-polar or something like it.......he is really like another person that no one has ever met......a really mean person who says and does the most hurtful things possible to people he claims to care about and he just expects them to keep taking what he dishes out. He can be nice, funny and engaging (like he used to be) one minute then turn into something so hateful the next it is hard to believe! I am praying that God gives my girls the wisdom, strength and words to do what needs to be done to protect themselves and their families from the venom he continually spews. It's bad enough he treats his own children the way he has lately, but now he has started doing the same thing to his parents!!! They are some of the sweetest, most caring people I have ever met and have doted on him their entire lives.....it is just soo soo sad! The very thought of him having the chance to treat those precious grandbabies that way just strikes terror in my heart! Anyway....please say a little prayer for him and those around him that he is hurting!!!

Another thought for the day :-)

A friend is someone who laughs at your jokes when they aren't very funny and sympathizes with your problems when they aren't very serious.

*&^%$##%$^&**^%^%

2007-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

It STILL didn't work!!!!! This is driving me INSANE! It looks fine in the draft...honest....as soon as I pubish the spacing goes all funky.....SORRY!!!

Flash Your Stash Challenge & Day Trip

2007-06-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

First a quick disclaimer...lol! I am trying to blog using a different process today. I have had so much trouble with writing then trying to upload pictures that apply, re-arranging everything to look nice, then publishing only to find HUGE empty spots, long strings of words going down the side of the page with no pic, etc.... Anyway...trying something different today...hope it works!

Our latest SP 10 challenge is to flash our stash...this sort of activity could prove to be quite embarrasing...lol....I'm sure that I am in good company, though....right?....come on...admit it....I know some of you out there have a bigger stash than mine....I KNOW you do....at least that is what I keep telling DH! The top two pics are of 4 shelves I have in my ex-real estate office.... now hobby room. The two partial shelves visible to the right on the left pic are my knitting books/patterns. Keep in mind, I have been knitting a loooonnnngggg time :-)!

These next two shots are baskets I have in the den full of misc yarn and left over project/sock yarns. These, of course, do not include the other "categorized" yarns that are in bags stashed in the corner of the hobby room....stuff like baby yarn for chairity knitting and cotton yarn for dish cloths.....oh...and one little drawer of novelty stuff for trimming projects if the mood strikes. Didn't tak pics of those. I THINK that's all of it, but I'm not swearing to anything...lol! Anyway...there it is...and if my DH ends up reading my blog, I'm holding my SP 10 hostess responsible...lol!! Not really...he knows about it all....well....most of it :-)... and this is kind of a fun challenge...thanks Robyn!!

These and the following pics are of yesterday at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, Oklahoma. If you haven't been there it is definately worth the trip! It is a much bigger facility than I imagined and they have some wonderful displays!! Savy loved it and we all had a great time!

The ride only took about an hour and a half and going through took about the same amount of time so we were back home by mid-afternoon. A great day-trip!!

We sang a lot of songs on the way there and back, Savy did quite a bit of coloring and drawing and guess what I did? LOL....would you have guessed knitting! I did decide to go ahead and do the second worsted sock on ML. It is actually getting a little better. I worked on it all the way down and all the way back and my hands/wrists didn't hurt after!! So maybe I'll end up enjoying Magic Loop after all.......but I do have to admit, I still like my dpns better at this point. Will post a pic of them when I'm done. Still planning to do toe-up next and see what I think about those.

Another thought for the day:

"Laughing at ourselves as well as with each other give a surprising sense of togetherness."

Hazel Lee