The Indecisiveness of Me

We knew I was Twisted and Different

2007-12-31T14:08:00.000-08:00

Now science has confirmed it.

My IRL peeps know that I have had pain in my elbows and arms for about 3 months, and numbness and tingling in my pinky/ring fingers for over a year. As soon as they get chilled - boom, sleepy fingers. Knitting friends urged me to see a doctor about it, and when I went to the doctor for my (fractured) thumb I mentioned my arms.

Off to the neurologist I was sent.

First visit was a consult, in which he tells me that it is my ulnar nerve, that we will find damage, and when he sees how much he will recommend treatment.

Googling ulnar nerve treatments was Not reasurring. Downright scary, actually, especially the surgery.

Second visit - Good news is I do not have ulnar nerve damage. (Bad news is that the doctor is a sadist, and seems to enjoy needles and shocks. ;^) I still have bruises. He is also one of those assh#$es who does not seem to approve of homeschooling and quizzed me in conjunction with poking me. Yeah, I'm paying you to disapprove of me, thanks.)
No, I have good ole carpal tunnel, which makes more sense as I could not figure out how I ddamaged my ulnar nerve.
Why are my pinky and ring fingers affected, you ask? That is not where the carpal nerve goes.
On me, apparently it does.
He seemed a bit non-plussed, and checked my right hand again. I am a rare individual whose nerves run to different places, and am quite affected by temps.

Whee.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I am only a 2. He does not know why my elbows hurt so much, I must have done something to set it off. (Gee, Pat told me that 3 months ago.) They have been settling down anyway.
I am to wear braces at night, and more during the day if I need to. (Gee, Pat told me that, too. ) Keep my hands warm.

Summer is when?

The thumb is healing up so I have been able to knit some. It still locks up when used too much, but not as much as before. Using the braces at night is helping things calm down. I use the right one while on the computer, as my hand is asleep within one minute without it. Keeping my hands warm helps, too (already knew that), so I will be knitting some fingerless mitts/gloves to wear all the time.

I can deal with carpal tunnel.
And next time I am just paying Pat for my medical advice. And Cindy for counseling. They don't question how I raise and educate my child...although their opinions would mean far more to me than Dr. Sadistic's.

Diets, Sewing, and the Ulnar

2007-11-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

I'm glad I posted about the cholesteral check because I was trying to remember when the heck that was.
I've been doing quite well on my diet. I have lost weight, but don't ask how much because I don't own a scale. I am going by how my clothes fit, and they are getting loose. I am wearing some slacks that were too tight to get on in the spring and they are baggy. Had to buy smaller bras, and when I bought some long-sleeved Ts they were larges, not XL or 1X.
I'm a happy camper on that score.

A big downer is the fact that I have done something to my arms and they both hurt like heck, even when I am not doing anything. The left one is worse, probably from using it to do the newspapers. People (yes, those vaguely defined persons who always pop up with advice) have given me dire warnings about ulnar nerve damage, and in Googling I have found that it certainly does seem to fit. The aforementioned people want me to go to the doctor. I am afraid the doctor will tell me I cannot knit, which I have just about figured out for myself as it hurts.so.dang.much.to.do. I am at a loss. Knitting is such a big part of who I am - my friends are knitters, my social outings all involve knitting, I am Program Chair for our Guild, for crying out loud. I tried to Not knit for 2 evenings and could not sit still. Yes, we all know where the Oldest got his ADD from, and sitting and staring at the TV is not something I can do.

So I am going to sew. And quilt.
No, I cannot sew a straight line. Yes, quilting does seem to involve precise seams.
Stop laughing.
I can learn. I learned to knit lace and socks, I can learn to sew.

So as I do with anything I want to learn, I have checked out numerous books from the library and scoured the internet for all pertinent info.
I have purchased some inexpensive fabric form Wally World and plan to make some quilted potholders to start. These might make some handy gifts, since I clearly will not be whipping up some knits. And I am going to make me some simple skirts.
It'll be fun. Really. I can cut the fabric in the kitchen, and go back to the bedroom to iron it, then to the craft room to sew it, then back to cut....Of course, I can't drag the sewing machine to the couch while everyone watches the telly, so when they wish to have my presence I will just.........sit there. And do nothing.

I started some Salt and Pepper mittens from Favorite Mittens last night. I have small hands, so not many stitches, and since I am new to colorwork it is slow going. I'll only knit a few rounds at a time.

Lo fat, Lo chol - or, I am officially Old

2007-10-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hubby had a scare last month -a physical showed some problems that eventually led to a heart cath that showed a small blockage in one artery. He is on a low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium diet and some meds, but all is well.
My check up has shown that my cholesterol is just as bad as his, so I am also on a low cal, low chol diet as of this week. I don't have to watch the salt as my bp has always been low, but then I never used much salt to begin with.
I also have to have a stress test and an echo next week. It better not end in a cath - that is taking the hubby/wife togetherness a bit far, IMO.
All this because I was asking about taking estrogen and wanting to exercise to lose weight.
Cholesterol, fats, salts, heart checks - 47 is NOT old, dammit. I still feel 25 inside, despite what shows it's face in my mirror.

In cheerier news, we move to the Fiber Front:

I designed and made a Cub Cloche last night, crocheted, with the Cub logo on top of my head and the blue continuing down for the rest.

The Lace Leaf Shawl is finished and blocked. I'm very pleased with it, and glad I made the smallest size as it would have been huge otherwise.

Started Clapotis and am through the increase section, adding one repeat. I am loving the Jojoland yarn, beautiful colors.

TISA (Truly International Sock) is back in the States - and what a quick trip! Postmarked the 29th of Sept and here by the 3rd of Oct (I didn't check the mail yesterday). Very impressive, and she didn't look at all queasy when I let her out of the box.
Holly sent some seriously lovely goodies along with TISA - some gorgeous sock yarn, an adorable Christmas ornament of a little old lady with her knitting, and a heart-shaped key chain with a raised relief of Heidelberg in the center - extra perfect because I love hearts and silver. Thank you so much for your generosity, Holly!
I am deciding which of 2 yarns to use for the gusset...leaning toward the funkier one, but all the posts seem to favor the bluer ones, hmmmmm....
TISA may get to go pumpkin shopping tomorrow, and will take in some sights early next week.

Pics to follow. It's even written on my to-do list. My Ravelry notebook is so sad looking that I am determined to get some photos up by early next week.

The Swinger

2007-09-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy one.
Plumfan, Pat and I went to the college in the morning to help with the Knitting class. 2 other members of our Guild teach it and the Guild receives the money. This time it is a class on Socks, Mittens and Hats. I usually enjoy helping (the goal is for one-on-one help for the students) but this time their is a woman who seems to have come just because of her friends. I don't think she is having a good time, and I hope we can change that.

After class we went over to a Mystery Potluck at Cindy's...and why are so many of my activities classified as mysteries lately? Hmmm...
Everyone was told to bring a dish and not tell anyone else what you were making. If everyone brought chocolate, or 7 kinds of potatoes, that is what we would eat. Amazingly not a single dish was repeated and we had all the food groups represented (including chocolate, thank goodness!) We all sat around knitting and chatting after we finished the food and had a wonderful time. Cindy is going to host another Mystery Meal, this one a Baked Potato Bar.

Last night Billy and I went to the local comedy club The Funny Bone to see The Midnight Swinger with 2 other firemen and their wives. One couple had never seen the Swinger before and it was almost as much fun watching them.

Knitting news - I am on the 10th repeat out of 13 on the Lace Leaf Shawl, will finish it up this week. I swatched for the Clapotis, but have put it away until the KAL starts on the 23rd. I'm in the mood to knit some socks (some Koigu I got in a swap is calling my name, yummy fall colors), and am thinking about starting a Knit the Seasons KAL. T.H.I.N.K.I.N.G about it...grin!

On a whiney note - the heat and especially the humidity can go away any time now. I'm menopausal and freaking hot, I want it to snow 6 feet so I can go sink into it and cool off.
Got any ice?

And it's over

2007-09-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Summer, that is.

Not that it isn't still blazing hot outside, but school started again at our house and that means the lazy days are gone for a time.
High school this year, and our best first day ever. A. is thinking seriously about finishing in 3 years and got right to work. It was almost like a day from one of those books featuring totally unbelievable homeschool families where all the kids are Stepford children. Rather nice for a change. ;^)

Hubby is going to FL tomorrow with some of the other firemen to spec out a new engine. This means I am in charge of the TV for 2 days (once I wrest the remote away from A.), and Cubbie games will be seen - or at least listened to while I knit.

And speaking of knitting, Hanami was cast on and the first repeat of the basketweave pattern done last night. Worked on the Leaf Lace today as it was easier to find my place on the chart again after helping with Algebra. I think it will be finished well before Secret of the Stole begins on Oct. 5.

The Echo Continues for Hours

2007-09-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

There may even be a skeleton or two in the corner, but as long as the spiders stay away we are good to go.

The newer blog has been deleted as I was in a dark and scary place when writing it and no one should have to read that drivel. Back to the old blog it is, and happily I realized that I could rename it and use something obscure that would require explanations (which I might actually give one day.)
I have joined so many KALs that link to here that I thought I should post. Been working on linkage and trying to upload photos to Flickr without any cooperation from my computer whatsoever. I may have to smack it around some.

Diving right in -

I finished MS3 and am very pleased. I did do the wing (with much trepidation). I'm glad I did as it taught me something about short rows and knitted on borders, but I prefer a stole that is symmetrical in shape if not in design. It looks smashing on my Mom and I am hoping to get her to pose for some photos.

I'm working on the Leaf Lace Shawl from Fiber Trends which has been an easy knit after I figured out the cast on. I'm using KP shadows in Lost Lake.

Casting on either this evening or tomorrow for Hanami, which I have dyed KP Bare laceweight for.

This is a pretty good pic, colorwise, and I am quite happy with how it turned out.

I got my invite to Ravelry! I was amused at how excited I was when I saw the e-mail. I've played a bit, started a projects and a queue page, even downloaded Firefox with the help of some Knittys. My pages are quite boring so far and I am working on getting some pictures - even took a self portrait for my profile which I have not yet gotten brave enough to put up.
If you want to look for me - darbyrose, just like everywhere else.

You can find me at...

2006-06-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

...www.drinkscokeandknits.blogspot.com

Miracles

2006-03-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

One: Hubby replaced the empty toilet paper roll with a new one. Even threw the old tube away. He missed the trashcan (apparently he took the phrase 'throw away' literally), but he tried. I was impressed, and it isn't easy to impress me at 4:30 in the morning, especially when I am unable to fall asleep until 2.

Two: It is raining, and for the second time this week. This is a wonderful and welcome sight in an area where the geese appear to be walking on water because parts of the lake are so low.

Three: Our one-footed redwing blackbird and our baldheaded cardinal made it through another winter and are back at the feeders. The cardinal is even regaining a few feathers on his head.

OK, so they probably aren't really miraculous happenings...except for the first one. That really is a miracle.

In my E-mail

2006-03-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

"No more hopeless efforts to enlarge your p#n*s".

Thanks goodness. Because if I did have one I would certainly not be wanting to make it larger.

In a complete change of subject, I am going out to lunch today. To Olive Garden. I looove Olive Garden. And I am going with someone who isn't my Mom or my hubby. How different is that?

After lunch I am stopping by Knitwits to choose yarn for a project and hubby can't say a word because I am not paying for it, so there. Neener, neener, neener.
Mom wants a couple of tea cosies for a friend's birthday. One will be out of Paton's Merino. The other is for a tiny 2 cup pot and will be felted. My brilliant idea is to make a small version of the Bzzz hat in SnB Nation and felt it down before adding the bees. I will definitely be doing a test swatch first. So my mission for today, and I do choose to accept it because, Hey! Yarn shopping!, is to find a beehive colored feltable yarn. I am thinking Lamb's Pride or Cascade 220. Lopi is too fuzzy and who wants to shave a beehive?

The sun is shining today so I hope to get some pics taken. How many times have I said that recently? Let's not count.

And Jackie? I find an immature Malfoy to be a far more reasonable match for you than Dumbledore. Bwahahahahahaha!

Yeah, I'm so mature myself.

HP Personality Profile

2006-02-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

No wonder I like him so much.

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Silver?

2006-02-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

The sweater is finished.

It was not finished by the time the flame was doused on Sunday.

I'm not terribly upset about it.

By flame's end I had 1 inch of stockinette and the crocheted border to go.

Want to hear all the iffen I did?

If I had not gotten the size wrong for the top of Tubey and had to start all over on the night of the 15th...

If I had done the ribbing called for on the Top Down V Neck instead of designing my own edgings...

If I had not been picky about the edgings and not frogged the sleeves 3 times and the neck 4...

If I had not made it a looong tunic length...

Then I would have been done days ahead of deadline.

But I am very pleased with the results and eager to begin a new sweater. I learned so much from making this and got over my Fear and Dread of knitting clothing. I don't know how much longer I would have procrastinated on it if not for the Olympics. I am very grateful for the experience.

Tomorrow - pics of the sweater and details of pattern, etc.

Replies to Replies

2006-02-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

Nalani:

No, you didn't send me any pattern books...but I will take any that you care to send. *grin!*

Jackie:

You had best learn to speak 'knibberish' since Sonja wants to learn knitting.
Crochet has it's own set of gibbersih that you will have to learn as well.

Get busy.

We ate lunch out today using some of the stack of gift cards we received over the Christmas holiday. It was quite yummy. Alex had a half-rack of ribs (yes, he finished them) and I grossed out both of My Guys by ordering a Vegetarian Sandwich and a salad. I took my knitting but did not have time to do any. I have not done ANY knitting today, as a matter of fact, and had best get busy.

Tomorrow is meant to be sunny so I will try to remember to take some pics and post them. All words and no pics makes blogging a dull view.

Progress

2006-02-20T15:18:00.000-08:00

Last night...

Me: "Well, I've put the sleeves on scrap yarn and CO to work in the round, just have to knit the body as long as I want and then pick up and knit the sleeves and the neck. It's supposed to be ribbed but I may do something else if I have time. And I rechecked my gauge and did the math and....."

Younger Son: "Mom, you're talking knitting gibberish. Speak English."

Me: "I should be able to finish on time and actually get it over my head."

Younger Son: " Oh, OK. Good for you."

This morning....

Hubby: 'Is this really going to get finished and BE something?"

Me: holding sweater up and explaining, "This will be sleeves, this is the neck, I'm working on the body."

Hubby: "Oh yeah, I see it now. Very good. It really is going to be a sweater."

A pause...

"Ummm, how much did that yarn cost me?"

Me: "Well, since I got it on clearance at $1.50 a skein last year, between $4.50 and $6 for the sweater.

Hubby: "Cool. So $6 for yarn and 500 hours of work...."

At least he gets the work involved.

15 minutes ago...

Me: with calculator in hand, "I've done 4,450 stitches so far today." (By way of explaining why I need to take a break.)

Younger Son: "Uh huh. Are you going to open that package of cookies?"

And they wonder why I need Knit Night and the Knittyboard.

Tubey is Toast

2006-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

I made the back, worked on both sleeves for awhile, tried it on and

too small.

As in barely managed to cram my fat arms into it small.

So Tubey was frogged and rewound and I reswatched with 2 yarns and 3 needle sizes.
Late Wednesday afternoon I cast on for a top down V Neck pullover in sportweight yarn, size 7 needles.

The heck with Addis, *I* need to become Turbo Knitter.

I am determined to get the Gold, though, so will persevere and just have noodle arms for a week in early March.

I mentally debated switching patterns all Tuesday night. Should I change from what I began with? Having Tubey come out that small disheartened me, and I would not have enjoyed trying again. And I did only sign up to make Ye Dreaded Sweater, not Tubey, so I didn't feel it would be 'cheating' to change. I do want to make Tubey - I can see what I did and how to change it so it remains on my 'List'.

My Valentine (to abruptly change the subject) is being made and should arrive in another month or so.
I am getting a new couch, with the fabric of my choosing on it, that feels comfortable to me! I have no idea how it is going to fit in our living room but I am very excited. And no, it is not blue, it is sage green. The sweater I am making is blue though, so that should calm anyone worried that I have gone insane by using a color other than blue for something.
I did buy an orange sweater this winter which I enjoy wearing to my parent's as it completely freaks my Mom out. She keeps staring and cannot complete a thought.It's very satisfying.

Maybe my Olympic sweater will garner the same response. Hopefully not because it has 3 sleeves.

A Weekend Alone

2006-02-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yep.

Alex will be leaving at 1630 hours on a weekend trip to an Air Force base for Color Guard practice and won't be back until Sunday afternoon. Billy works a 24 hour shift today and has class Saturday and Sunday. Do you know what his means?
It means that I get the remote control!
It will be a little weird. I am rarely, if ever, alone in my house for more than an hour or so while Alex is outside with friends (we home-educate, remember, so he's here 24/7). Billy being off for 2 days at a time means the TV is constantly going.

I love them dearly but am looking forward to having some space.

And what perfect timing! We can officially cast on for the Olympics at 2 pm today, which gives me lots of uninterrupted knitting time. (Don't call me. I will be either: giddy that my first sweater is going so well or, very frustrated and upset that sticks and string are getting the best of me.)

Before Alex leaves I have to do a horrible, horrible thing.
I have to sew.
Not fun sewing. Hemming. Hemming dress blues pants. Pants that have to be longer in the back than in the front, which makes them a complete and total PITA.
Mom helped me to get them pinned up yesterday. My mother is 4' 10" and has had to hem every pair of pants she has ever owned.
She hated the dress blues.
We finally got them pinned. 6 inches have been cut off and I have to cut a couple more. Stitching is not supposed to show, and I hate doing a blind hem. I have a sewing machine, for Pete's sake, I don't want to do it by hand.
So I am going to cheat. I bought that non-sew, iron on, fusible hem stuff. I tested it on some fabric we cut off and it worked....bwahahahaha!
I also have to sew a patch on the shoulder of his new shirt but that is a minute's work on my new machine - goes through it like buttah.

Oh well, another hour with the pants gives me almost 2 days of knitting.
It's worth it.

You've Got Gauge

2006-02-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes I do.

Which means I have done all I can to my Knitting Olympics sweater for now.

My choice? Tubey, from Knitty. Although I will not be putting horizontal stripes across my bodacious tatas and ever-enlarging belly...no, it will be done in a solid that has subtle hints of other colors. A cheap yarn that I have on hand, have enough of, and can get gauge with. And that's all I am telling you until the 10th.

I am going to see if I can finish Clapotis by then. If I quit messing about with little things and concentrate on it exclusively I can probably do it.

On the personal front, Billy has been working a great deal of overtime (12 hour hirebacks). As an example: He worked 24 hours Thursday, stayed to work another 12 on Friday, came home at 7 pm, left to do papers at 4 am and work another 24. He gets off at 7 this morning and will most likely sleep in his chair most of the day. Since I am staying up all night I just might be sleeping, too. Good thing the Younger Son is the responsible sort...;-)

It's nice to be blogging again. I need to reread how to make lovely links, and I have buttons and things I want to put on my sidebar. Maybe this week. The place could use some spiffing up (lazy faeries).

Anybody home?

2006-02-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, is it dusty! And what is that smell?

I thought perhaps the faeries would keep up in here but apparently the only mythical creatures patrolling the web are trolls. Guess I will have to do my own dirty work.

I had the flu (the actual flu, not a fluid-spewing virus that people insist on referring to as flu) and subsequently came down with sinus and lung infections. I am on some huuuuge pill that contains 2 antibiotics and am feeling some better. Still have little energy which I think is due to running out of breath whenever I try to do something. This means the 24¢ fish are staring sappily at me through even dirtier water than usual, and you do not want to examine my kitchen floor too closely. Sweeping does not remove all evils.

I joined some KALs (knitalongs) and am in the 3rd section of a clapotis as part of the Behind the Times KAL. I also joined the Monthly Dishcloth group at Yahoo and am on my third one.

Yes, I am knitting and not flaking. Such a new experience for me. *grin*

The big thing I am going to join in on is Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. I am nothing if not a lemming. Really, though, the thought of so many of us worldwide knitting to reach a goal at the same time is amazing to me and there is no way I can pass it up. Only problem is, it is meant to be a challenge. Something you are just a bit fearful of, that will stretch your abilities yet be within reach.

This means, for me, a sweater.

The thought of lace, entrelac, Fair Isle, intarsia...these all interest me, are things I want to try and am not afraid of. I know I will make mistakes with them, have to frog. I consider that part of learning them.

I cannot seem to apply that way of thinking to a sweater.

And it would be so great to have a sweater that fits! One that does not hang 3 inches shorter in the front, one in which the long sleeves do not extend past my fingertips and hang to my knees!

I will do a simple one. I have narrowed it down to 2 possibilities: Knitty's Tubey or White Lies Design's Shapely T.

The Tubey claims it will stretch to fit my chest. The Shapely T includes short-row shaping to compensate. I have to decide soon so I can swatch, which is considered training and is allowed before Opening Ceremonies.

It has to be finished in 16 days.

Oh well, that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? And I will be in good company, others are doing their first sweaters for this, including a woman in my Knit Nite group.

So I will go to YH's blog and join the over 2,000 knitters who have already signed on.
If you hear a thunking sound later, that is me banging my head against the wall.

The 24¢ Fish

2005-12-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Back in the summer of 2003, in the dog days of August, Hubby and the Younger Son built a little pond in our yard. It was a nice little pond with a small spray of water in the center.

It was not big enough for My Guys. Apparently ponds can be weenies and we certainly can't have THAT in our yard, now can we?

So back in the spring of 2004, Hubby and the Younger Son built a bigger, deeper, better pond. It was a very nice pond. A 300 gallon pond with a waterfall, surrounded by rocks, with a small spray of water in the center. And plants. It had to have plants.

Summer came, and the pond was still found to be weenie-ish. Apparently the ultimate way to unweenie a pond is to have it support Life Aquatic. And where does one find such things?

Petsmart, of course.

Petsmart was absolutely teeming with fin-bearing life forms and after much perusing Hubby decided that we should put...

wait for it...

feeder goldfish in the pond.
24¢ feeder goldfish.

Not pretty koi. No, just cheap, tiny carp.

No point in spending too much money on them, Hubby said, in case they croak. I wanted to tell him he is confusing fish and frogs, but decided to remain silent.

The fish do well in the pond. Hubby and/or Younger Son feed the fish several times a day, ignoring all advice from Experts on Fish and Ponds that they do not even need to be fed every day, let alone several times. Hubby talks to the fish. The fish begin to come to the surface whenever Hubby walks by the pond.

It's a bit eerie, actually.

Autumn approaches, as it invariably does, and the air begins to cool. So does the water in the pond. Hubby casually mentions one day that we need to get a tank set up in the bedroom.

Huh?? A tank? What in the world for?

Silly me. For the goldfish, of course. They would freeze to death if left outside in the pond and we certainly can't have that, now can we?

Apparently not.

A 29 gallon tank with filter, light, etc. is purchased and set up in our room. More food is bought. Chemicals are added. The fish are caught and placed in plastic bags, being released into their winter quarters after a suitable period of adjustment. Winter quarters that cost well over $125 to purchase and set up, so that the 24¢ fish can be safe and snug.
Hubby talks to the fish and feeds them several times a day. What the heck, the man works 24 hours on and 48 hours off, it gives him something to do.

Spring of 2005 comes. The pond water warms, aided by the heater that floated in it all winter. The fish are set free and seem to enjoy themselves. The whole neighborhood talks to the fish, cats try to catch them, and I can watch them from my craft room window. They push the plants around the pond, chew off their roots, and make sucking - chomping noises.

When Autumn came, I bowed to the inevitable and cleared off my dresser. The tank is prepared and the fish are caught, all 7 of them, and placed in their winter home.

They are HUGE.The 7 of them line up across the front of the tank and STARE.
They STINK. Oh boy, do they stink! I keep a bowl full of potpourri on my bedside table and spray my pillow with perfume. I fear my clothes reek and that people will look for whalers as I approach.

We should have fileted them and made brunch.

They will not be coming back in next year. I put my foot down (although not anywhere that water). I don't think they would fit anyway. I can picture one bloated fish, all that could be crammed into the tank, floating sideways and unable to move, just waiting for spring.

Carp sandwich, anyone?

The Project

2005-12-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Project is in the mail.
Bye, bye, Project!

I am not sure what I think about it.

I started it with far more enthusiasm than skill and knowledge (as I do most things) and so it took far longer to make than I thought it would.I had only been knitting a couple of months when I began this and didn't even have the basics down, but what the hey, I can do it. :-D

I had this wonderful vision for it, based on 2 patterns that I dearly love - the Color on Color Scarf from Scarf Style (the one that Yarner is doing a KAL for and that I would love to be able to justify the $75 worth of yarn...sigh!) and the Anthracite Shawl in Ponchos and Wraps-a Knitter's Dozen.I am very intrigued by the idea of a Log Cabin pattern done in yarns.I would have many different yarns sent to me by many people so both would seem to be a good choice to build from, right?

HA!

To begin with, the Log Cabin in the center required, of course, picking up of stitches, which I had never done. I didn't even recognize a knit stitch from a purl stitch yet, not that I was purling...Grin! That would not have been so hard except I was using...wait for it....Novelty yarns!
Yep, I had not progressed past Walmart yarns and thought that all those different textures would be cool. And many of them are. The parts where I began using the same color family and just changing the yarns every few rows in stripes are kinda neat.

It quickly became dubbed the Novelty Yarn Shawl From Hell, or, Joseph's Amazing Tecnicolor Nightmare.

Yes, novelty yarns are the work of the Devil and should be destroyed. Local burning times to be announced at a later date.

We all know that knitters have more than one project going at a time, often a big one with a smaller (or several smaller) ones for when you get aggravated with the big one. I did several projects along with this, most not taking more than a few days, and it helped a lot.
I learned how to recognize individual stitches, how to pick up dropped stitches, how to weave in ends and bind off....lots of basic stuff which helped Immensely with the NYSFH.

I thought what I had done looked horrid and started it over. A contributor saw what I had done with the first attempt and told me to keep on with that one, so I did.

It never looked finished to me. I added some blocks of color at the ends which helped to balance it some, and did the long stripes across the bottom, one of which I did dropped stitches in the center of to balance the pulling in of some yarns above. Not one of those darn yarns acted the same as another. Finally I tied on the charms and beads (did not sew them in case they want to become jewelry or be in a different place) and pronounced it done.

I have a song for it.
Are you familiar with The Song That Never Ends?
This is the Shawl That Never Ends.

This is the shawl that never ends
It just goes on and on, my friend
Somebody started knitting it not knowing what it was
And she'll continue knitting it forever just because
This is the shawl that never ends
It just goes........

Never teach your kids this before a road trip of any length.

If I did this again I would either:

1.Use the novelty yarns but just do stripes of texture in the same color family
or
2.Ask for good acrylic or superwash wools that would all behave pretty much the same way.

With either way I would assign colors. I finally noticed that there is not one green yarn in this. I find that very interesting.

Although I am sorely afraid that this Project will end up on You Knit What? (maybe I will submit it myself and beat out Domestic Overlord's Overalls of Shame - pics in a few days) I did like making it. I learned a great deal about how yarns behave, how colors work together, how textures change things. And of course the reason for making it was always in my mind. Yes, just close your eyes and feel the love emanating from it.

Keep those eyes closed.
Don't peek.
Seriously.

The Goodies

2005-12-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho!
Merry Christmas!

OK, so the Day is over - but the gifts remain. As does a mess, but that will be taken care of this afternoon.

Knitting related haul:

Ball winder
Swift
CP needles in size 7
Hanging circular needle storage
Sally Melville's Color
Knitting On the Edge
Sheep measuring tape
A $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble so I can buy books, mags, and frappacinos on SnB nights.

Yep, hubby is a sweetie at Christmas. And he has his odd moments throughout the year...Grin!

My room (crafts, fibers, computer) is a terrible mess - unorganized, and makes me woozy to walk into. Things placed willy nilly without being in their rightful places does that to me. So today I am embarking on a huge overhaul. I am sorting all yarns, beginning with all my old acrylic. Much of it will go to the church for the Heart2Hands prayer shawl ministry. If I get that much done today I will be pleased.

Started a hat for hubby last night, the one that needs to have CFD worked into it. He originally wanted a ribbing deep enough to fold up over the lettering. I didn't think that would look right since he choose the larger Army locker style letters from among those that I charted out and having a ribbing deep enough to cover those would put the letters way up on his head.
I worked the ribbing up and left the work on the table with a note about it (he leaves at 4:30 am). When I called him this morning he had decided that it should have shorter ribbing and not worry about turning it up. ;-D I knew he couldn't visualize what I was talking about until he saw it - I'll frog back and maybe have it done tonight.

The Big Project is done and packed up, heading for the PO this afternoon. I'll post about it tomorrow.

Hope your Christmas was a Merry one!

In Which The Woman Begins To Feel Human Again

2005-12-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

When we last left our intrepid heroine she wasfar more useless than intrepid. A virtual blob, a bug on the windshield of life, contributing very little and creating work for others.
But now she is once again a functioning member of family and society! Amazing!

How did this miracle come about, you ask?

Drugs!
More drugs!

That's right, using the Better Life Through Chemistry Plan, she is able to eat, sleep, remember things, do housework - even cook a meal and bake bread! Wow!

Yes, after being offered More Drugs by her regular doctor for over 2 years she finally caved and asked about Sleep Aids. She discussed this with the nurse practioner, her regular doctor being unavailable. The NP talked about menopause, depression, and other things with her...and the NP sympathized! She understood menopause! Our heroine may even be in love with her!! The NP added an antidepressant to the one our H. has been taking, one that the NP felt would help the winter gloom and let her sleep. And it worked!
Our heroine has not slept through the night in years! Literally! Years! But for 4 nights she has slept 8 hours - all in a row. No creepy crawly feelings, no waking and staring at the ceiling, no using the bathroom 3 to 4 times.
Sleeping at night means she is awake during the day. And she does things! And she smiles! And laughs! And feels happy! Even though it is winter, and almost Christmas!

Wheee!

Here's wishing you all a Chemistry-Filled Christmas.
I'm going to bed now. I'm sleepy. ;-)

Monday, monday......

2005-12-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling better this afternoon, still a bit tired.

Yesterday I had NO energy at all but finally was so bored that I could not lie around any longer. I curled up in my bedroom chair under the warming blanket and worked on something with part of the Project yarn that I had been wanting to make so the Small One would have something in the box as well.
I had lots of Bright and Lofty in an orangey-red color and plenty of red Fancy Fur so I made a scarf holding a strand of each and I am quite pleased with it. Did it on size 19 needles. It's colorful and soft, and long enough that an adult could wear it should the Small One tire of it. I'll try to take a pic this week.

Lots of packages came my way - Knitty Swaps that have increased my Stash and an amazing package from my Knitty SP, Woollymind! She has been a lovely SP and spoiled me rotten. This package included 3 kinds of yarn, tea, choccies, Marmite, notions....will take pictures this week and tell you what I plan to do with the yarn, already have a pattern for the Cherry Tree Hill which is the most gorgeous blend of blues and purples ever. I keep making Alex look at it...'isn't this pretty? Won't it look good as this?' His polite Uh huhs are getting a bit testy. ;-)

Since all I have accomplished today is vacuuming and sweeping I am off to make myself useful...riiiiight.

Ho HO Ho

2005-12-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

My Knitting Guild is having our Christmas party right now. I am not there....obviously.
I really wanted to have that Pecan Crusted chicken, too. I paid for it. And it's at a lovely girly place, an old Victorian B&B.

But noooooo, I am sick.

Bah Humbug!

OK, enough griping. I do feel better than I did last night and missing a dinner isn't the end of the world.

I made my first pair of mittens. I did them both at once, like I do socks. Finished off the top of the first and it was just a wee bit too short, so I frogged it back to the colored section I had put in the middle of the mitten and just bound off. Picked up the stitches for the thumb and bound them off after a few rounds rather than making a full thumb. I will wear them on the paper route, since they are not as nice as I would like. I need to work on the parts near the thumb. It seemed like I had a hole as soon as I rejoined to work in the round (after putting the thumb stitches on waste yarn) and I do not like how I picked up stitches for the thumb. Not neat looking. Oh well, I figured as much, which is why I did them out of Encore and not the Cascade. Try, try again, but probably not until after Xmas.

Y'all stay well.

Knitter's Christmas Eve

2005-12-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

Because I am too lazy to think up a post. This was in the Guild newsletter.

KNITTER'S CHRISTMAS EVE

'Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.
The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care
'Cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
But I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,
And the sweater for him was six inches too small,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I put down my needles to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tripped over my yarn and fell down with a crash.
The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how much I still had to go.
Out on my lawn I heard such a noise,
I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys.
And though I was tired, my brain a bit thick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
But what I heard then left me perplex-ed,
For not a name I heard was what I expected,
"Move, Ashford! Move, Lopi! Move, Addi and Clover!
Move, Reynolds! Move Starmore! Move Froelich --move over
Paton, don't circle 'round; stand in the line.
Come now, you sheep will work out just fine!
I know this is hard; it's just your first year,
I'd hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer."
I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing,
Eight wooly sheep on my lawn all a-grazing.
And then, in a twinkle, I heard at the door

Santa's feet coming across the porch floor.
I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,
And as I turned 'round St Nick I did meet.
He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe,
And his clothes were hand knit from above to below.
A bright Fair Isle sweater he wore on his back,
And his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.
His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.
The scarf 'round his neck could have stretched for a mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.
The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable.
And suddenly on one I espied a small label,
"S.C." was duplicate stitched on the cuff,
And I asked, "Hey, Nick, did you knit all this stuff?"
He proudly replied, "Ho, ho, ho, yes I did.
I learned how to knit when I was a kid."
He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself, for I'd thought up a plan.
I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair,
He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap
Where I'd laid my needles and yarn for a cap.
He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two,

He put heels in the stockings and toes in some socks.
While I sat back drinking scotch on the rocks.
So quickly like magic his needles they flew
That he was all finished by quarter to two.
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me,
And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon,
"Next year start your knitting sometime around June!"

BRRRRRRR!

2005-12-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

It is 5 frickin' degrees outside.

5

frickin'

degrees.

Windchill about 4 below 0.

Why do I not live somewhere farther south like, oh, the Carribean?

It is, of course, my morning to do the newspaper route. I am very grateful that I am no longer walking my porch delivery route and can now stay in my car with the heater blasting and stick papers in plastic tubes along the road. (Hey, Somebody has to do it.) Still, staying in my bed with the heating blanket on my toes would be even better.

Menopause is good for something - I am so hot most of the time that last winter was not too bad and I suspect the Big M will be just as helpful this year. My Mom can't believe I run around without a coat on...hmmm, maybe because my body temp is currently 135ºF? No, wait - it is a bit chilly. No.....hot again.

The Big Project is down to deciding borders and edgings. If I ever mention that I am going to use a novelty fiber again, please shoot me. I am going to have to post pics when it is done so the folks who contributed to it can see...but I am very afraid that it will end up on You Knit What? and I will not know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe both, at once.

My last Chair Project (those little things we knitters work on in our chairs in the evenings during TV, etc.) was my brother's birthday scarf...about 6 feet of 2x2 ribbing. I think my thumbs are staging a protest. Anyway, it is packed up and ready to go...good thing he lives in this state cuz his birthday is Saturday.

Current chair project is my first pair of mittens, done in Plymouth Encore so I can wash and dry them. I have nothing for my hands and as I mentioned earlier it is

5....frickin'.... degrees

and it is not even Officially winter yet.

I have some lovely Cascade Pastaza (sp??), wool and llama, that I will make a pair out of once I figure out the thumbs on the Encore.

2 1/2 hours until my alarm goes off. It is now 4 degrees outside.

I think I may wear a coat.

So I lied

2005-12-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

I didn't post twice in one week.

So shoot me.

I am going to have a lovely, lovely day tomorrow. Billy is working for 12 hours and Alex has gone to Ohio with the Civil Air Patrol. That last is a bit scary - how did he get old enough to be wearing a uniform and taking bus trips to another state for an entire weekend? But he will be having a great time - supervised - and I will have a Guy Free day. Hubby even gave me money and told me to go buy yarn or whatever! Whoo Hoo!
I am going to have a little spa hour at some point and use the lovely products my Knitty SP sent me.

Thanks to all of the kind comments and e-mails regarding my depression. It's something I have dealt with for many years and it is always worse in the winter. Those who know me well know that I tend to clam up and withdraw, which is why I need to make the effort to post. Thank you for caring!

IT......IS.......ALIVE!

2005-11-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes I am.

This is the time of year that, even with meds, I have to really fight to stay on top of my depression. It just seems like such an effort to do ANYTHING that some things go by the wayside. The blog should be one of those things that I keep up with, though, since it keeps me connected to people.

*hand raised* I promise to do better, and to faithfully update my blog at least twice a week. ~grin~

Updates:

The Guys are putting all the Xmas decorations outside. Enough lights go up to qualify us for an airport runway. They enjoy it, so that's ok.

Hubby has been working scads of overtime which means he has been gone for 36 hour stretches.

Alex has joined the Civil Air Patrol. He went on an overnight last weekend and earned the rank of Airman. He loves it. If he stays with it until he is 18 he will be able to go into the service as an E3.

He wants a rifle for Christmas.

NO. WAY.

Cass is talking about moving to Chicago with some friends this coming spring when his lease is up. J.'s uncle claims he can get them into the Fire Service. And that they can all live with him until they find jobs and apts. Uh huh.

I repotted my spath yesterday. It has grown from 3 tiny leaves stuck into a mixed planter over 10 years ago into a nice plant that has bloomed twice this year and needs a 10" pot. I'm so proud. ~grin~

Making a hat out of thin sock yarn on size 1 needles is a bad idea.

Well, off to..........do ..... something.

English?

2005-10-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

35% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I find it quite interesting that I live in the Heartland of America and yet I have 0% of those speaking traits.
I can't decide if that's a good thing.

Need advice?

2005-10-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ask the bunny.
'Cuz I am not gettin' into it with you.

SP goodies and Sophie

2005-10-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

Another lovely package from my Sp, as I mentioned yesterday. It is full of Girly Goodness and I am planning on an afternoon of using all these yummy packages. I just love the little cucumber slices! More delicious chocolates, some very soft mohair, a journal and pen (no males will be touching That one, which means I now can be sure of knowing where one pen is - and don't I wish I were as glam as the girl on the cover? Yes, I do. ), something lavender to keep the moths from my stash, and isn't the Shower Flower neat?

Thank you, my SP! I hope you are being spoiled, too!

In knitting news -

I am very pleased with my Sophie bag. It knit up in a day...

...prefelt it was 10 1/2 by 5 inches on the bottom, 13 inches across at the widest, 11 3/4 top to bottom, strap 22 inches.
I love the color and want a sweater in it!

I felted it to a pretty firm fabric. This is a terrible shot...the color is too light for one thing.

It doesn't show the shape, either. It ended up 8 by 3 on the bottom, 9 1/4 inches wide and 6 3/4 wide. The handles grew...I swear they did!...and are now 28 inches long (perfect length.)
I will definitely make this again, adding a small flap closure and a button next time. It took every bit of the skein of Cascade 220 - color #9441.
I love this color so much that I bought another skein and a pattern to make a felted hat to match my bag. A girl is nothing if not perfectly accessorized, right? ;-)

Look! In the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

2005-10-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

clouds! and stars! and the moon!

I really don't know what else you were expecting. Certainly not the sun. I don't think I could be coherent enough to write an entry before noon.

My life has been rolling along it's boring little track the past few days. I did clean my tiny craft room as it was disorganized and driving me insane...things not in their assigned spots! Oh no! So much yarn there are no spots left to assign it to! (hehehehe)
Anyway, I can actually get to my new and as yet unused sewing machine, which I hope to try out after this weekend. I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday for which I am not done knitting/crocheting...so what am I doing? Trying to make a Bubby Bear. This is the one I will work out all my knitting issues on, then I will try to make a couple before Sunday. One will be for the older brother of the soon to arrive baby girl. It's a quick knit, but if I don't get them done I can always do them later...and maybe even have a little outfit for Big Bros.

I received a package from my Knitty Sp today - all kinds of girly things that she says are meant to counteract the testosterone in my home....*grin!* She is so sweet...will take pics and post tomorrow, along with pics of the completed Sophie bag. I will even leave the chocolate untouched until after the photo.
Honest.

No, really, I haven't touched it.
Just a little drool on the Caramel bar.

Tuesday night and other answers

2005-10-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night is the best night for TV in Billy's opinion because there are shows on like Firehouse and the Amazing Race. It also used to be the night for the Shield and Rescue Me and 24.

I hate all of those shows. (Hate is such a strong word - but it applies.)
I also hate Survivor, Cops, reruns of Married, With Children..just about anything he watches. Movies where people are hurt and hurt others. Where everything blows up right after they all sleep together and curse for 45 minutes straight.

I like......Monk. And Lost. That's about it.
I just sit in my little chair and knit or crochet and try not to look or listen to the TV. Billy and Alex have their chairs directly facing it. Mine is in the corner with baskets of yarn.

Yarn Dying

First of all........Jackie, you mean there was MORE yarn? And you left it there?

KIDDING!! But for future knowledge, animal fibers can be dyed again, yes.

Microwave vs. stove: I had never done any dyeing on the stove before and I did not like it as well. It did not come out as evenly as in the microwave (I dyed it again the next day), created a bigger mess, and took longer. I much prefer the microwave...I have even felted a bag that was made with microwaved KoolAid-drenched yarn and did not lose any color.
Also, Diana had us do all these rinses with soap and vinegar that I did not do before and I cannot say I noticed any difference...aside from increased time and mess. (I'm not much on extra messes, not being the owner of a dishwasher.)

I finished the socks and the Sophie bag. Have not taken post-felting pics of the Sophie bag, will do that tomorrow. I can share more pics of my feet encased in wool, which I know y'all live for. What is a week without my feet, after all?

Socks were knit with Steinbach Wolle, Strapaze, Ringel Color..whatever that means. I just liked the colors.

Blues, pinks, teals....pretty....yummmmmmmm.

Yesterday Billy, Alex, and I went driving out in the country to find our pumpkins. We bought 3 at the same stand we went to last year and had lunch out in a little town by the river.
Tomorrow Alex and I are going to see the new Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library with my parents. Good thing we got Alex some new tennies, he won't have to clump around in his Army boots all day. The boy suddenly shot up about 6" and 3 shoe sizes. All I can say is it's about time.

Getting on close to 10 pm here, which means time for Alex and I to eat. Owls get hungry in the evening, being wide-awake and all. The Lark would have been in bed well over an hour ago if he wasn't working a Varsity game (sitting in the ambulance with another EMT drinking soda ;o)). Alex is making eggs and bacon. It smells tempting. Much more tempting than the yogurt I have in the fridge, even if the yogurt is cheesecake flavored.

Hmmm, maybe I had best go supervise in the kitchen.

Take THAT, Photobucket!

2005-10-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

A ha!

Photobucket kept trying to tell me that the Invisible picture was there.

I went into my files and renamed it, and Photobucket downloaded it in 2 seconds.

So pfffffftttttt! to them.

Here is my Knitpicks dyed yarn from Tuesday night.

The orange was done with Mandarin Orange KoolAid and the Blue was Neon Blue food coloring, both done in the microwave.
The pink is Watermelon Cherry Kool Aid done on the stove.
The variegated is very watered-down Forest Green from the Fall food colors pack, with a purple that is a blend of Grape KoolAid and Neon Purple KoolAid, done in the microwave.
The Orange is Worsted weight and the other colors are Fingering.

The 2 yarns at the back are a mohair my friend Jackie sent me, a very pale green to begin with that I dyed with purple, blue, and green food colors mixed together in varying amounts - leftovers from dying the yarn below.

Finished my striped socks last night, will try to get a pic of them for tomorrow.

Tonight is what Billy refers to as The Best Night on TV All Week.
This means I will be nowhere near the living room as what he considers to be great TV are shows I just can't stomach. Oh well, the Novelty Shawl from Hell is calling my name and all the yarns for it are by my bedroom chair. Maybe knitting 35 kinds of yarn on big needles will put me in a hearing-impaired trance. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Invisibilty powers - activate!

2005-10-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

I uploaded my photo of my lovely dyed yarns to Photobucket 3 times and I cannot see any of them.
Photobucket keeps telling me it is there.
Since Photobucket has no reason to lie to me about said photo I can only conclude that it is Invisible.
As is the code for it, so I cannot post the Invisible Picture here.

I could understand this if I had used a certain KoolAid.

Yes, when I was rushing through the store buying last minute dyeing supplies Tuesday night, I bought some Invisible KoolAid.
Yes, Diana and Nancy noticed. No, they did not let the opportunity slide by.

I was just grabbing packets by their color, not reading labels. I was in a hurry, OK?

When I get home and am putting away my leftovers, Alex comes and starts pawing through them.
"Mom, you bought Invisible KoolAid?"
"Um, yes, apparently."
"Isn't the point of dyeing to make the yarn a color?"
"Is there a reason you are not in bed, sleeping?"
"Ha ha. Hey! Maybe you should dye some yarn with this. Maybe you could make Invisible Yarn. Then you could knit or crochet an Invisibilty Cloak." This is said with much smirking and snickering.
Sarcasm aside, I pondered this idea for a moment. I could wrap up in it and hide. I could easily bring more yarn into the house. Hmmmm......

No, I did not try it.
Alex drank it, and he didn't disappear, so I figured the yarn wouldn't either.
Apparently the powers of Invisiblity only work on photos.

Random chatter

2005-10-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Billy is waiting for me to finish my Coke so we can go the store. Not my idea of fun, so I am stalling...hehehe.

Tuesday night was a great deal of fun. 3 people trying to dye yarn in a tiny kitchen was an interesting exercise. We must all be getting old, too, because Wed. at SnB the 3 of us were complaining of aching feet from standing so long.
My yarn is all dry and wound back into hanks, will take some pics this afternoon. I am very pleased with the way it came out.

To tide you over until then, here is some of the mohair I dyed over. It WAS a very, very pale shade of green.

The knitting has all 3 shades used in it. It will, of course, be frogged...rippit, rippit.

It's 2:30 am! Quiz Time!

2005-10-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

Your Hair Should Be Pink

Hyper, insane, and a boatload of fun.You're a traveling party that everyone loves to follow.

What's" Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Baaaaa!

2005-10-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is Bobbles.

Say Hello, Bobbles!

Bobbles doesn't talk much. Bobbles just drapes itself across my craft counter.
Bobbles is pretty much a pain in the arse. Especially to knit. I discovered that knitting a bobble is not nearly as much fun as crocheting one. And I didn't even get to take Bobbles to the Guild's dishcloth exchange on Sunday.
I see a date with some hot soapy water in Bobbles future. Baaaaa!

I do have some good news....I am invited out tonight! To do things with other females!
Yes, I have made Real Life Friends at my Knitting group. Imagine that! 3 of us are going to Nancy's tonight to dye our Knitpicks yarn and just generally mess about. My childishly high level of excitement just shows how long it has been since I have done any socializing that wasn't church or kid related.

Is it 6 pm yet????

It's 1 a.m. - do you know where your children are?

2005-10-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Both of them?

No.

And I do not have to know where the older one is, the one who is 21 and responsible for his very own self.

Bwahahahahaha!!!!

(Actually he was here earlier today and I am pretty sure he is home sleeping. But that is beside the point.)

I do know where the other one is - in his room, with a friend. They are stalking wild game with guns big enough to kill elephants, so the deer are in trouble. At least the pixelated ones in the PS2 game.

I also know where my hubby is - in bed asleep. This is different from asleep in the chair. Or on the floor. The man can sleep anywhere..close the eyes - zzzzz. He literally slept through a tornado once.

I am Not asleep.

Of course not. It is, after all, the middle of the night.
So I am blogstalking people, updating my links, (Look! To your right! Buttons!!), planning which gifts I will make for Christmas....in other words, nothing useful.
Just how useful one should be at 1 a.m. is open to debate.
I am thinking Mahjong on the computer is good enough.

Ribbit, ribbit

2005-10-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

I went to my LYS today (again? Yes, again) and bought some yarn for my Dad's scarf. They also had a copy of HATS - A Knitter's Dozen...darn them! It was all alone on the table so I had to bring it home to play with the books on my shelf.

New yarn, new book - so what am I knitting, you ask?

A cotton dishcloth.

In my defense, the Guild meeting is Sunday and I had forgotten that we are having a dishcloth exchange. I do not know why. But my cloth is going to be the coolest one there. Really.
I am trying to make it the coolest, anyway.
The first one was mostly done, a lovely lace flower that I picked up to finish this evening and promptly started going the wrong way around the dpns and could not get the YOs and K2togs back on the needles.
So I frogged it and started over.
Messed up the count again.

So now I am making a Sheep.
A Bobble Sheep.

I have never made a bobble in knitting before although I love doing bobbles and puffs and popcorns in crochet. Cotton is a smart choice for learning, right?

Uh huh.

I am up to the first bobble row now.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Biscuits, anyone?

2005-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today is:

Bake Biscuits Day
Come and Take it Day

I don't know what people should come and take. Perhaps the biscuits? They would be leaving my house empty-handed because I have no intentions of making any.
Maybe they could take the trunk-ful of stuff I have left over from a garage sale held in July (don't say it!) that I have been meaning to leave at Goodwill. It would certainly save me a trip.
They could take my Guys for a day.
They could take quite a lot of things that I wouldn't miss (OK, I would miss the Guys after a bit) as I have far too much crap in my house.

Not the yarn, tho'. Or my Coke. Stay out of the craft room and the soda case and you can have anything else.

Random Thoughts

2005-10-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

I can tell those people who are a little too fond of Crazy Aunt Purl. The ones who read her blog and admire her style. It's just a little something they add when they are doing their own posts.
I'm just saying.

Sept. 30 was Chewing Gum day, a fact I was going to terrorize Weaselrina with, but I forgot. Darn.

I have a new book, some dpns, and some yarn to make a scarf for my bro's birthday in the trunk of my car. It was being hidden until Billy was working (today!) as I am tired of snarky comments...you know the ones - "You don't have enough yarn already?"
The answer is, of course - "No. No, I don't. And I never will. Bwahahaha!"

The RT Project is toast. Scrapped in it's present form. It is so hideous that I would not even use it for an animal blanket. The design idea was solid and I will try it again at some point, but the mostly novelty fibers that are going to into it did not work. I can't even block it out. I have so much yarn that I don't need to frog it, although I will salvage the middle which is a mohair rectangle. I will be doing a quick thing with size 19 needles and holding a strand of acrylic with some of the thinner novelties.

My hubby burned my latest hat. Literally burned it. It was a rolled brim hat in TLC Amore and I had tossed it on his lamp while he was at work. Last night he turned his lamp on and....my hat is no more. Trashed. And he blamed me. How a person cannot see a blue hat that covers almost the entire lampshade is beyond me. Way to go, Mr. Fireman. (Yes, I am being snarky. I just sort of smiled last night and said, Well, at least it was a quick project, and let it go but I am rather miffed. Especially after the, Did you make that? Shouldn't leave it on a lamp, comment.)

I think I will go get my new book out of the trunk - all about Arans and Faire Isle.

I will leave you with the pics of my first stranded/Fair Isle work. It is meant to be for a newborn...hope she is a small newborn.

And the inside

I am quite pleased with myself and ready to move on to something harder.

I'm just saying, is all.

Actual Knitting Stuff!

2005-10-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Imagine that!

I made a version of the Airy Scarf from LMKG with the yummy mohair my SP sent me (this was a chair project, a small project I keep for TV working). I only CO 16 instead of 22 and used size 15 needles. It blocked to 64" long and 5" wide.

Before blocking:

Getting a Euclan bath:

Getting the heck stretched out of it:

Yes, I repinned the end and made it even.

You would think there would be a picture of me wearing it, but that photo would have to come perilously close to my face so, No.

Now that I can do YOs without even thinking about them, I plan on starting a Branching Out scarf.

On a totally unrelated front -
I had to get new glasses, which are not on my face at the moment as I have to drive this weekend. They are going to take some getting used to. My prescription went waaay up - the bifocal part more than doubled (yes, I am *that* old) - so I will be living in Warped World for a time. I really, really hate that. I think I will like the bifocal once I have adjusted. Seeing is almost always a good thing.

My hubby is on shift and Alex spent the night at a new friend's house which means I am ALONE. This is such an unusual occurrence that I am unsure what to do. I think I may go overdye some yarn.
Yep, 3 hours alone and I choose to play with yarn. Go figure.

The Ribbon Project

2005-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Spay or Neuter Your Feral Cats

Yes, there is a bright orange magnetic ribbon for this. Hubby just called to tell me.
My first thought was how can a feral cat be yours?

Second thought was that this is one ribbon that will not make it onto my car.
Orange??? *shudder*

I have a dream, a dream involving ribbons. Magnetic ribbons. Enough ribbons to cover my Bonneville.
I think I can do it, and not even have to use the same ribbon twice.

If you see any unusual ones, let me know. Because I'm on a mission (and it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses).

The Badger

2005-09-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Badger is gone.

I have released him into the Wilds, although he refuses to go. He is hanging out back with the Hamster of Doom. I believe the Badger has agreed to be the Planner of Routes and will help organize the Coconut Bombings.

Best stay on his good side.

I will let him know who has asked after him. Weaselrina and Jackie will be happy to know that they are safe for the time being as I doubt he will send the Hamster their way.

Your mission,

2005-09-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

should you choose to accept it:

Birth of the Sun Day
Punch Day

Find an evolutionist and hit him.

In Other News....
It rained last night.
It might even rain again.
Please, please, please........

Arrrrh, mateys!

2005-09-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Butterscotch Pudding Day

Play Doh Day

Do not get your pudding and your play doh confused. The play doh claims to be non-toxic but it just doesn't have that butterscotch flavor.

Now where did I put that parrot?

Arrrh!

Yada, yada, yada

2005-09-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

Chemo Caps
I have been surfing the web, looking for some stylish chemo hat patterns so I can knit or crochet one for a lady at church. Wilma is in her 80's (I think), tiny and very stylish, so I am not popping out some Fun Fur monstrosity that she will feel she has to wear so as to avoid hurting my feelings. Another lady has started chemo as well, so I am sure she will need some eventually.
Can't find any that call out to me, really, so have put in a plea for help at Knitty
I am going to cast on for Coronet, which will be my first cabling project. I have some Caron's Simply Soft in a pale blue which should not be too warm. I think Wilma might like that. I would like to make a brimmed-something, tho'.

Knitty Swap
I did a Baaaaad thing....I completely forgot to pop my last swap in the mail! Her package came yesterday, and her generosity makes me feel especially awful! So I am going to switch and reuse her box, adding some other things in and sending it Express, with my apologies.

Katrina KAL
A lady in our local knitting guild sent some rectangles to me for the Katrina KAL...only problem is that the word was passed that they should be the size of notebook paper (8 1/2 X 11), so instead of me making more new squares I will be adding to the sides of these a la' Log Cabin Quilt to make them 14 by 18 (or 2 WUA ones).

Personal Plans
Billy is working 48 hours, today and tomorrow. This is a good thing, because he has been Extremely Crabby and Negative lately. Maybe a couple of days at the firehouse with the men will lighten him up. They can all sit around swearing, drinking coffee and scratching their......umm, they can do Guy Stuff.
This won't change my days much since I still had church things today and I will be doing the School Thang with Alex tomorrow (yes, summer is about done, darn it), but I won't have to work around Mr. Scowls.
On the plus side, if the Dark Cloud that is Hubby doesn't lighten up I will have to go shopping for yarn to encourage it to dissipate.
Ok, so that won't change him, but it will make me feel better.'-)

Oh! Speaking of shopping - I bought some new pants this week.
This was a very depressing shopping trip as I had to buy a bigger size. And the bigger size is baggy, but the mostly right size is too tight in the waist to wear all day. (I hate tight clothes.) This is what comes of being shaped like the Apple, which means that I will die of a heart attack at some point, and if I go up one more size the heart attack can not come too soon for me. There is only so much fat I am willing to carry around. I do, on occasion, manage to see myself in the mirror despite my best efforts to avoid them and it is not a pleasant or pretty sight. Especially since I am now sporting the Haircut from Hell. I don't think I asked for the most unflattering 'do possible, it just turned out that way.

Perhaps I should try to do something about it.
The hair would be easier to fix, although since it would involve More Removal of Hair I would get grief from the aforementioned Major Grump. Maybe I should just make some hats for me, as well as Wilma.

Maybe I should exercise.

Maybe I should cover all the mirrors in black crepe and Pretend I had the heart attack.
Black has a slimming effect.
Or so I am told.

Rain!

2005-09-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

It's raining!

It's 58ºF!

I am sitting here in my chilly craft room with the window open and a small space heater blowing on my legs...and it is wonderful!

Not that I want it to stay this cool. My preference is for the 70s. But it is quite nice for a change, and we have not heard the sound of rain in soooo long that I am thoroughly enjoying it.

My wish for you - May you find something lovely in your life this evening.

Even More Hair Loss!!!!

2005-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I had my hair cut AGAIN.
I want it to be grown out long enough to pull up by next summer, so the logical thing to do to help that along was to cut more of it off.

No, really.

I am trying to get rid of the layers of hair color that have fried my hair over the past several years, so getting the back of my hair all bobbed up short and letting the rest of it grow longer will let it look stylish while healing my hair.
It'll be swell.

My hubby isn't really buying it either.

Funny how I don't care. Muwahahahaha!

Tonight was knitting night, which means going to Barnes and Noble and knitting with a fine group of women. Actually I don't believe a whole lot of knitting happens but we TALK about knitting and we laugh a lot. And that is good. I need to be near more estrogen that testosterone at times to keep my sanity. Chocolate isn't always enough. Although I did have a yummy hot chocolate while we were chatting. ;-)

I did not get my donuts today. Alex made pancakes for us, which were yummy, but not creme-filled.
Maybe Sunday morning.

Knitting News

2005-09-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

I went to Hobby Lobby's 1/2 price sale today, wandered around looking but never bought a thing.

Yeah, I don't believe it either. ;-)

I found 2 books:
The Sock Journal, which has some very nice patterns with 2 types of toes and heels that I want to learn

and

2oo Knit Blocks, which is like my 200 Crochet Blocks, a book I Love. I started knitting a block from the book tonight, a lattice pattern. The blocks are designed to be 6" square, but bigger needles and a few more repeats and I will have 7" X 9" rectangles for our Knitty WUA project for persons displaced by Katrina (and can knit something besides garter stitch).

I also bought some Balene dpns to try, a set of Lion Brand dpns also, 2 sizes of needle tips and cables of the Boye Needlemaster system (figured this was a good way to see if I liked them and if the rumors of them twisting apart were true) that will work when I do Cinxia from Knitty.......I bought a few more little things, too, but I am most thrilled with the Blocks book - $22 book for $11, Whoo Hoo!

I used Bryspun dpns on my last socks and really liked them, so I picked up a pair of the straight needles to try. I am using them for a WUA strip, yarn is a TLC Essentials and I am loving the needles for that! I tried them on the block I started tonight with a Bernat yarn and quickly switched to aluminums as the Bernat grabbed too much. I think they will be fine for many yarns, just not the Red Heart/Bernat scratchy types.

There are so many things I want to learn - cables, lace, using 2 circs, Fair Isle, etc. I hope I live long enough to get around to all of them. ;-D

Fair Warning -

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 14th, is Cream-Filled Donut Day.

All of the Bavarian Creme are mine. I call Dibs.

So back off.

Okay...........You may have all the ones with white frosting.
But the chocolate iced are mine.

Seriously.

Has it been that long???

2005-09-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it has been a whole week since I wrote anything here. Talk about neglect. Poor blog!

This was Start School Week, although not a full schedule for us. THAT starts in the morning, and oh what fun that will be.

Yes, as in all those homeschool families one reads about in books, my son will pop out of bed early and cheerfully. He will do many chores and even begin his work without prompting from either his father or myself. In fact, he will do extra math problems, just because he knows how important math skills are to any future career. He will write a thesis worthy of any doctoral dissertation, and then he will go sing songs with seniors at the local rest home before giving sponge baths to the homeless.

Yes, and monkeys will fly out of..........

I think the women who wrote those books LIED. Outright. Bold-faced.
Or else they have strangely abnormal children.

Our days have never been, and probably will never be, like the ones I have read about it. I have decided that this is OK. I am very glad to have Alex home, to be the one in charge of his education. I am glad to have this time with him, because no matter how endless it seems when a child is little and you have little or no contact with adults outside of Walmart checkers, it really is a very short time...and then they are gone.

We get one chance, folks.
Make it count.

Things to do

2005-09-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

Today is:

Be Late for Something Day
Housekeeper's Day
Cheese Pizza Day

Have your Housekeeper heat up a frozen cheese pizza for you, but don't come right away when she tells you it's ready.

I have to DO something

2005-09-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am knitting rectangles that will be sent to Ali from Knitty, who is collecting them and getting them put together into afghans for those now living in shelters.

I am organizing a collection of fleece panels at my church, to be made into blankets for the children in the shelters. These will be distributed by Project Linus.

Yes, give money. By all means, give money...it is needed.

But try to find a way to give something of yourself, too. These people need love as much as they need food and water.

Do something.

Please.

Arachnophobia Part II

2005-09-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

They really are out to get me.

Billy worked his 24 yesterday which meant that this morning was my turn to drag my tail out of bed at 3 am and go shove newspapers out my car window into little plastic tubes. Not the worst job in the world, especially on a beautiful morning.

I am driving along, folding and poking papers, chatting with myself (hey, no one else listens to me and a girl has to have some conversation at times), and trying to ignore the spiders on the tubes, when I notice a spider On The Hood Of My Car! On MY Side!! (You can never use too many capitals or exclamation points when dealing with spiders).
This, of course, took my complete attention away from the road and onto my hood.
I could have run over an entire family of rabbits and not noticed. Or raccons. An elk, even. Not a badger, though.

All of my attention was now focused on The Spider.
I had to watch it, because if I took my eyes off of it the spider would go somewhere I did not want to go....like, closer to me.
Which it began to do anyway.
At every tube, The Spider crawled a bit further toward the windshield, and a little closer to the edge of the car by my window.

My OPEN window.

So I poked papers out the window, watching The Spider so I could thwart any sudden attempts by it to leap at me (like I would do something besides die of fright should that happen) and rolling the window up between tubes. I just knew that a breeze was going to fling that sucker at me when I started the long drive down the main road to the next street. And I realized that I could not go on like this, that I was going to have to Do Something. So at the next stop, which gets it's paper tossed on a porch, I take my rolled up paper and ease myself out of the car.

The Spider, which has come uncomfortably close to my window during our little jaunt, watches me, perhaps with a bit of suspicion beginning to cloud his evil little mind. I reach my arm out, he turns to face me, and I sweep my arm towards him, paper in hand.

I miss.
He grins. (No, I didn't See it. But I know.)

I thrust the paper out again and manage to sweep him off the car and.........

Doing a shuddery little dance that involves brushing myself off and turning in a circle, I quickly get back in the car and drive away to finish the route.

If you think that was the end of it, you do not know me at all.
I spent the rest of the morning waiting and worrying. Worrying that The Spider, being the Evil, Cunning, and Vengeful thing that he is, had attached himself to my car, at the last minute, shooting webs a la Spiderman, and was even now hitching a ride on the undercarriage of my Bonneville, chuckling to himself as he waited for the perfect moment to launch himself at my arm, picturing how terrified I will look and how loudly I will scream - just before I die of fright and plow into an elk down the road.

Because they really are out to get me.

Socks! Are They Right? Can I Wear Them?

2005-09-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

I finished my socks today, which is to say that I grafted the toes on both which is all I had left to do after yesterday but I was not going to be playing with THAT at knitting group. I prefer to look a bit more Cool there. Peering at a paper and repeating out loud, "Knit, drop off, purl, leave on, purl, drop off......" does Not contribute to Cool.

So here are my new socks:

and another view (how exciting!):

The picture that I took of them laying on a chair, sans feet, refused to be read by my camera.

These are still a bit too big for my feet. I think that I am not measuring correctly. I was told at my LYS that the heel flap should not come all the way to the floor/end of heel, but a bit above. So I measured for the foot accordingly. When I put the socks on, the heel flap comes to the floor (even after I made it shorter) just like my first pair.
So I looked closely at the pictures in all my pattern books and darn if they don't all have the heel flaps touching the floor or even going a bit under the heel!

I am hoping someone with Great Sock Wisdom will help me out here. I love making socks and love even more having socks that are not yards long for my 5.5 size foot.

And Now For Something REALLY Annoying

I suspect that I am allergic to the wool in the above socks, although why it didn't bother me while I was making them is a mystery. It is lovely wool, and I bought more of it to make more socks, some fingerless gloves, and a hat and scarf combo. I may be doing some Knitty swaps.
Anyway, I put the socks on and wore them for a bit before washing them..you know, flaunting them in my Guy's faces - "Hey, look! I made MORE socks!" - and later, after they had been put in the washer I noticed that my right foot, which was wearing a sock while I grafted the second, was itching and had a couple of red places.

I am hoping something bit me when I walked in the empty lot to check on Alex.
My hand is now itching some, too, and I am strangely glad.

I will be seriously Unhappy if I cannot use this wool. Better to have been attacked by Strange Chemicals in Hand Lotion, or Fire Ants, than to be unable to use part of my stash.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions about the heels of my socks would be wonderful.

Charity Knitting

Among other things, I make tiny blankets for SHARE at one of our local hospitals. Babies that are lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or other reasons, are wrapped in these blankets while their parents say good-bye, and it is something for them to keep. We thought that we would lose Alex before he was born, so this is something that truly tugs at my heart.

Here are 2. The blue is Microspun on size 4 needles, the other is Sirdar Magic on size 6s. The 7" dpn is for comparison, and you can see some of my craft room as I purposely did not crop this photo.

I will be making some 7 X 9 inch rectangles to contribute to Knitty's efforts to help survivors of Katrina (such a lovely name for an ugly, ugly, thing). They will be made into Warm Up America blankets and distributed in the afflicted areas.

My heart tears a little every time I hear or read more news from that area. I wish I could do more than knit and pray and send a little money. It seems so small in the face of such devastation.

Well, the dryer is buzzing (like I care), my other hand and leg are itching (yes! maybe it's my new soap!), and Alex says he is hungry (which I have to do something about since Billy is working) so I suppose I will have to leave CyberSpace for Real Life....for a little while, anyway. ;-)

Katrina

2005-08-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful this morning that my folks moved back here last summer.
For the 7 years before that they had been living in Hattiesburg, MS.
My Grandmom lived in Gulfport and Biloxi...kept moving between the 2...so I am familiar with those towns as well. The only real beach that Alex has seen is the one at Biloxi. Seeing pictures of the devastation in those towns is tearing at my heart.

Praying for all of those touched by this disaster.......

On a more selfish note:
If we have to have a hurricane hit the US, and it has to move up through the center of the country, could it not at least continue on a course that would bring rain to that portion of a state that is in severe drought? We are watching the radar and almost physically willing it to come here, but it remains about 50 miles to the east and appears to be moving away, pouring precipitation on the small part of the state that Does Not Need It.
I believe it is taunting us.

Hair today, there tomorrow

2005-08-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Apparently my hubby's mustache needed trimming.
I deduced this fact because the remains of said mustache were still in the sink when I went to take my shower.
Tiny little clipping of black hair, a few flecks of gray, all stuck around the bottom and edges of the sink. Yes, he brushed his teeth After grooming the Crumbcatcher. This means that water was run into the sink after the hairs arrived.
How hard would it have been to swish the water around and rinse the hair out? We even have a swivel faucet, it would do most of the work.

Why does he put the clean towels in a stack on top of the counter, rather than opening the cupboard door and plopping them in?

And how can he sit there and put a new roll of tp on the ledge by the toilet but not place it on the roller?
(I went in the bathroom one day and noticed that my 12 year son had replaced the roll. Upon thanking him for it he looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Well, it wasn't hard to do, Mom."

Exactly.)

This is the man who thinks I don't need more yarn because "I already have some."
He does not even realize that ridiculous that sounds.

OK. I can reason out the towel thing. He is 6' 2" and I am 5'. Just 5'. No inches. So it is far easier for me to get the towels under the sink. And he does the laundry, just took it on when his schedule went to 24 / 48s.

I will never understand the hair and the tp.

But I am not going to stop buying yarn and things, and He will never understand That. I am sure that after 26 years I annoy him in many other ways as well.

So I change the tp. I wipe the sink with a small shake of my head. Then I say a Thank you for a hubby that will cook, do laundry, keep my car spotless, build a pond and a bird feeding station for our yard...and work his tail off to keep me in fiber, needles, and home to school our son.

Some things aren't such a big deal after all.

On the Knitting Front

I have the heel flaps done on both socks, will pick up stitches for the gussets and move on tomorrow. Started a pink preemie blanket in crochet for something mindless while watching Monk this afternoon and got half-way finished. I need to get cracking on the Project and finish it up but have gotten myself into a rut with it. I believe I will begin the sideways panels and then finish the one vertical edge later when it is time to connect them.

I have been having fun planning surprises for my Knitty SP. Sent a small Hello and am planning some themed packages for later. I am actually making notes. LOL!
Happy Fibering!

Nothing to see, folks, move along

2005-08-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit off today so no creative muse has stuck around to help me.

Scrubbed the kitchen floor.
Messed around on the internet.
Have put the cuffs and legs on a pair of socks.
Re-watched the Fellowship of the Ring.
Completed a swap on Knittyboard.

The excitement never ends, does it? ;-)

Flashing the Project Stash, and an Eep

2005-08-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

I decided not to post a pic of shawl progress yet because those of you who do not work with yarn will think it is a big misshapen mess. *grin* Later I will pin it out on the bed so it will assume some sort of shape and will take a pic of it that way.

I *will* show you a picture of most of the yarns that were sent to me. More novelty fibers that you will ever see outside of a craft store..LOL
Knitting with these is slower going, but is making a most interesting shawl.

The fibers:

For those of who are not aware of what the Project is: A member of an online community called the Roundtable has been through a very rough time both physically and emotionally, including a stay in an out-of-state ICU. Wanting to do something for her, many rounders sent me fibers which I am turning into a Prayer and Good Thoughts shawl for her.
Being the anal, OCD person that I am, I had to go and make it complicated. *grin*
The center back is a log cabin pattern which involved much picking up of stitches and waste yarn. I am working vertical stripes out from both edges now - will add sections of horizontal stripes after that, then horizontal stripes the full length of the top and bottom.

And a big **Eep** from me....

Billy came home this morning, gave me a hug, and asked if I would like to see a movie and eat out.

Huh?

Oh! Duh! *mental smacking of forehead*

I had forgotten it was our anniversary. Yes, 26 years of marriage with no end in sight.;-)

Whatever we do will better than our Silver last year. We spent IT painting a room in my parent's new home and going to the wake of a friend lost to cancer.

Dinner and a movie sounds lovely.

yes, it is

2005-08-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Scrub the Bathroom Day.

Whee.

I bought 2 different cleaners, Bam and Kaboom (who names these things??), and used each one on half the tub/shower to see which one worked better.

The Kaboom won.

When you begin creating Cleanser Contests to get you through the chore, you have scrubbed more than your lifetime allotment already.

And yes, the spider is still there.

I could ask hubby to take care of it when he gets home from the Fire Dept. this morning, but he will probably just tell me that it isn't bothering anybody but me. Spiders are not nearly as high on his list of Things Which Must Be Dealt With as they are on mine.
Besides which, I think the thought of me taking a shower while trying to keep tabs on said arachnids amuses him.
Maybe I will ask Alex. All that pre-teen testosterone should be good for something.

It ain't over 'til the Fat Lady sings

2005-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

And I ain't warbling yet!

I am holding on to summer with both fists. I have not even ordered any school books, just sat down this afternoon and made some long over-due decisions, ordering needs to be done tonight.

Bleh!

This summer went far too fast.

I am not ready to teach.
I am not ready to go to bed at a reasonable hour, and wake up before 9.
I am not ready for assignments, and lessons, and doing my housework on a schedule.

I want to knit, crochet, read, daydream, nap, snack....just generally be a useless lump.

Sunday school is also starting back up and I find myself commited to teaching on the 28th of this month, doing a program for CRAFT night on the 12th of Sept., and being a mentor for the Jr. High girl's SS this year.

Oh well.

I will enjoy it all once I get out of this lazy frame of mind. I will loosen my grip on summer's fading wings, slowly, so as not to tear them. And I will whirl with autumn's leaves for a season, then wrap myself in winter's cozy mantle, snuggling into the warmth and comfort of family and routine.

But summer will tug at my heart, and the parting will be hard.

Arachnophobia

2005-08-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

There is a spider in the shower.

I saw him, up near the ceiling, just waiting for me.
He is not very large, and I would not have seen him had I not been scanning the walls and ceiling of the shower, but I always look because There Might Be A Spider.

Sigh!

Now I have to make a Decision. My choices are:

Kill the spider
Call for help from hubby or son
Ignore the spider

Number 1 is not really an option because I am Vertically Challenged and the spider is Waaay Up there and might fall on my head, if I can even find something to whack him with. And it would have to be something disposable because once something has touched a spider it must be disposed of because it is now contaminated with Spider Cooties, or even worse, Spider Guts.

Number 2 isn't much better because being snickered at for the rest of the day is not a pleasant way to spend time. I might become irritated before they gave up their giggling and be forced to spit in their chili in silent and secret retaliation.

This leaves Number 3. Logic tells me that the spider will stay put because they are devious and clever creatures who, despite Having It In For Me, know that if the force of the water does not crush them or send them spiraling down the drain, then my Flailing Dance of Abject Terror will surely finish them off.

The spider is still there.

I knew they were smart.

21, a village, and a rag

2005-08-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

What do you know, it's evening. Should I ever post before noon it would be a miracle - or at least a rare event. I think mornings would be more easily handled if they started about 2 pm.

Today my oldest is 21 years old. Wow. He has been out on his own for over 2 years now, but I have seen the biggest changes in him just the past 7 months or so. I do believe he will be a grown - up, and I am very proud of him.

As promised...well, technically I did not promise this but I did say I would try...here are some pics from yesterday's trip to New Salem. The pics came out fine, just have to see if I can make them show up here.

This woman was very gracious about holding up her yarns for us to photograph. She dyed them in the pot over the fire behind her using natural dyes. The red colors come from a bug that Indians dried up and crushed.

Woman demoing a drop spindle

Inside one of the houses - all houses has swifts and winders, spinning wheels, looms, and bunches of yarns

This pic is especially for Jackie - a storm cellar.
Welcome to the Midwest, cyber-twin!

This is what I made on the way to New Salem...being the antsy, ADD sort who cannot keep still:

Isn't it lovely? You are jealous, aren't you? You wish that *you* had such a wonderful rag to wash *your* dishes with, don't you? You will go to bed tonight and be unable to sleep because all you can think about is how much you covet the little blue dishrag.
You want it. You want it.....badly.
You bet you do.

It takes 3 weeks

2005-08-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

They say it takes 3 weeks for a habit to be ingrained. Who 'they' are, I have no idea, but I am going to make a concerted effort to post every day in an attempt to creat said habit. I did warn y'all that I blither....uncontrollably, in fact, so it is no one's fault but your own if you choose to pay attention to me. *grin!*

Today my parents took my number 2 son, Alex, and myself out to lunch and to New Salem State Park. For those not in central Illinois, this is where Lincoln lived for 6 of his early years and is restored to how it was in his day.
Today they had interpreters acting out the lives of women who lived there...much weaving, spinning, dying, and knitting going on. I actually remembered to take my camera - I will try to download them tomorrow and post them if they are clear enough.

The Secret Pal 5 has started at Knitty...I am so excited to be a part of this one! I just love buying and making things for people and have already begun putting things aside for a package. What fun!

My hubby, Billy, is working his 24 hour shift until 7 Sunday morning, which means I am delivering the Sunday papers this week. I am less than fond of delivering the Sundays and am very grateful that it only happens every 3 weeks.

For any Rounders reading, I will post Project Progress, with pictures, within 2 days.
Honest.

Such an exciting post....yawn! Perhaps I can market it as a cure for insomnia?

How to Fry a Middle-Aged Brain

2005-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Take 1 middle-aged woman
Add one computer
Attempt to create a blog

Yep, that ought to do it. I can feel a few cells sizzling around the edges already.

Being the insanely determined person that I am, I will keep at it until I figure the darn thing out. Don't hold your breath waiting for some gloriously amazing feats of...whatever....because I do not want your death on my conscience. Go do something constructive and come back later.