I'm a mean Grandma!

Well, today is a hot one!  It may have been hotter before, but right now, weatherbug is saying 96 degrees.  I hear tomorrow may be worse, so I may break down & turn on the AC tomorrow for a while at least.  We do get quite a bit of breeze with the windows open, but it's still a hot breeze right now!

My grandson T. is trying to earn some money.  He is 14, so can't drive himself & can't really get a job yet.  So after a few weeks of trying to find people who wanted their yards mowed in his neighborhood, his mother, our daughter, brought him to our neighborhood last night & this morning.  He did find 1 family that hired him to mow & he thought he was going to be able to do theirs on a weekly basis after talking to the wife last night, but today the husband was home & he says no.  We told T. to give it a week or 2 & try back, maybe they will change their mind.  In the meantime, he didn't find any others that wanted their yards mowed today.  It has been so dry that there really hasn't been much need to mow.  So I had left home for a while to try to get some Avon deliveries done & then to do a little bit of shopping done.  My dh was home & I knew that not only did my grandson have his cellphone to call me or his mom, if he needed us, but I knew he knew how to get into my home.  I got through with my shopping, decided to drive around the neighborhood to see if he was alright, but I couldn't find him.  Decided to come home & saw that he had to be here since the lawnmower was here.  Sure enough - he was taking a nap!  So being a mean grandma, I woke him up & asked if he had talked to his mom about not being able to find any work?  He hadn't, so I had him call her.  I didn't mind him taking a nap, but she needed to know what he was doing since I didn't consider myself as being responsible for him at that time!  So she came to get him & took him to their neighborhood to give him a chance to try there again.

Yesterday, a group of people who grew up in my hometown were chatting on Facebook about things we remembered, including cream horns made by the bakery of a local grocery store.  We were remembering how good they tasted, how tender they were, etc.  The ones that are sold now just are not the same!  So it got me curious, I searched online & found a recipe that looks really good for them.  I picked up the supplies for them today while shopping, except that I don't have any cream horn molds or forms to bake them on.  So I decided to go to a local kitchen gadgets shop - w have some, but no - they didn't.  But I did find some on eBay that are 4.7" long - which were over 1/2" longer than others I found, so I ordered some.  They are coming from Hong Kong, so won't be here for a couple weeks,  but I will just put the puff pastry, etc. in the freezer to wait for them.  Maybe then I can catch a cool morning & make some to try out!

I have been making a crocheted afghan for an August wedding.  Because of the heat, I have only been able to work on it when it is cooler otherwise the yarn sticks to my fingers.  But I am now over 1/2 the way done!  It's 100 squares wide or about 200 stitches & 100 rows across, so I am on row 51 now.  It is a filet crochet, so I am following a chart.  I have made this pattern many times in the past for weddings - including 1 that was 200 rows long.  That was the year I got really tired of doing the same pattern since not only was that one double length, but there were about 3-4 others I did that year.  I haven't done 1 now in about 2 years though.  This picture is when it was about 40% finished.

I can sometimes do some knitting if I can't crochet, so I have also been working some on my grandson's socks for Christmas.  I am using a pattern called Taylor's Orange Socks from Ravelry.  But maybe I am not!  I didn't use their toe portion - I just figured out how many stitches I felt the toe needed to have based on their pattern & then I just did my normal cast on & increase for a toe up sock.  Then I decided I wanted a different heel with a gusset, so I borrowed that from another sock - Waffle Stitch Toe Up Socks by Wilma, also on Ravelry.  Now I am on the leg portion & knitting the pattern portion all the way around the sock.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Ravelry receives warning letter....

First off, I have never participated in the event on Ravelry that is labeled Ravelympics.  I have never really had any interest in watching the Olympic games either!  I am just not a sports fan & only watch a sporting event if my kids or grandkids are involved or if I have no other choice - as in visiting somewhere & the sporting even is on TV & the person I am visiting leaves it on.

But I just found a link a short time ago on my Facebook feed that drew my attention.  Ravelry has received a letter advising them that their event named Ravelympics is a copyright infringement & that they need to cease & desist.  Evidently this event was started to coincide with the Olympic games & involves a crafter - generally a knitter or crocheter, I suppose, who creates 1 or more craft items while watching the Olympic Games.  Evidently there have been different categories like Afghan Marathon & Scarf Hockey, which seem to me to connect it to the Olympics for interest alone.

I'm not sure what I think about the letter they got.  I can kind of see it, but it still seems to be stretching things to claim that by doing this Ravelry is demeaning athletes that have been training for many, many years in their sports.  I mean, to me, I think from what little I know of the Olympics, that things like table tennis & curling are already doing that to skiers, bobsledders, swimmers, etc.  And instead of ticking off all these crafters which might only be looking for something to do to occupy themselves while a spouse is watching so that they don't feel like a widow or widower of yet another sport, why can't they see that they could be costing themselves a lot of sponsorships by these crafters maybe boycotting their sponsors entirely?  And have they also warned groups like the Special Olympics or do they have special permission to use the word Olympics?  Since I believe the word Olympics comes from Mt. Olympia, can it truly be copyrighted like that?  I don't know since I am not a lawyer, but it sure seems to me to be big brother flexing his muscles over a little bitty thing that is no real threat.  Read the article & tell me what you think of it.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Monday or the day after Father's Day

It's Monday!  Not sure if this is my least favorite or my most favorite day of the week!  I have always hated having to get up & go to work on a Monday morning since I started back to working in 2002.  But on the other hand, if I don't have anywhere I have to go, then it is my first day of quiet after a weekend of activites!  Which kind of makes it my favorite day.  I can kind of ease into the week that way!

Today it is a nice breezy morning!  Weatherbug is telling me it is about 76 degrees F right now, I am sitting in front of a south facing window with a cool breeze coming in!  It sure beats the 90+ degrees that it got to yesterday & every now & then I get the impression of a droplet of water hitting my skin, so maybe we will get some more rain!  I would love a nice slow rain.  Not the fierce rain we got Saturday morning about 5 am, but one that just drizzles so that it really has time to soak into the oh so very, very dry soil around here!

Yesterday was Father's Day here in the US.  Both of my fathers are deceased, but my dh's father is still living.  He just turned 84 last month.  So we both talked to him on the phone.  I did send a card from us, but it is late since I didn't get to the store & get it in the mail until Saturday & he lives in southern FL.  Dad has hearing loss, so it is a bit difficult to talk on the phone at times, especially for things like giving him an email address for photos to be emailed to.  So I got off the phone & sent him an email explaining it that way better.  We have 2 email addresses that are interconnected through our ISP - 1 is a yahoo.com address that we have had for years & the other is a sbcglobal.net address that came about when we got DSL.  They are connected & at least when we first set up with DSL they said that the 2nd address would disappear about 30 days or so after we discontinued the service.  Which I may do eventually.  But in the meantime, I usually give out the yahoo.com address since it will definitely stay around.  And it is a combination of our names & our zip code, so easy enough usually to explain to someone & I feel easier for them to remember because of that.  But with someone with a hearing problem, the numbers don't always come across easily over a phone.  And I don't think I had ever explained how sending something to 1 of the email addresses meant that it automatically was being sent to the other as well, unless we do give up the DSL.  But recently, I noticed that it seems AT & T are saying that we can keep the other email anyway for free, even if we do give up the DSL.  But we did get the pictures from their recent trip to Chicago.  We do still need to get pictures from their trip to KS last month.  And I need to send them the few I had on my camera, which I haven't done yet.

Anyway, yesterday morning, I think before 8 am, my dh was out mowing our yard - on Father's Day even!  So even though I usually am not a morning person & not a breakfast person - as long as I never eat anything, I usually don't even think of food until late afternoon, which is a good thing, I think, since once I think of it, I want to nibble the rest of the day!  That wasn't an issue when I was younger, but since I had my kids, it has been an issue!  Anyway, my dh is a morning person & is a breakfast person, so I decided that since I had some bacon in the freezer, eggs in the fridge, etc., I would be nice to him for Father's Day & make him a good breakfast.  I made up bacon, eggs & biscuits from scratch.  I even cooked the eggs over-easy like he likes them!  Then he went back outside & mowed some more!  Later in the day, our oldest granddaughter A. called to see if we would want to come over for a BBQ supper that they were organizing.  Which we did!  D. & I stopped to pick up some chips to take for our contribution, while our daughter & the grandkids pulled together hamburgers, hot dogs, mac & cheese, beans & salad as well as taking my idea last month of homemade ice cream sandwiches a bit farther & making individual ones instead of bars to be cut later.

D. was tired after all the mowing, so didn't want to stay long, so we came back home a couple hours or so later & while watching TV, I decided to finally finish a macrame plant hanger that I had made a few months ago & was using, but which hadn't turned out quite right.  When I had changed from 1 place of knots to another making the portion for the pot to sit in, I had worked the knots too close together, so it wouldn't fit down into it.  So I had been using it since I needed it, but I had never cut off the strands at the bottom to totally finish it.  I finished it about midnight last night.

Last Friday was the day that I took the 2 newest granddaughters (their dad married our daughter nearly 2 years ago) for an overnight visit.  I don't keep them for the entire weekend like I do with the other 3 grandchildren, because I don't want to take up their dad's time with them, but so that they can feel included, I do take them for an overnight.  I am considering splitting them up though so that they can each spend 1 night with me.  I know it will mean that since I only do this every other weekend that it would be 10 weeks between each of the kids visiting & the other 3 kids are already feeling that they are losing time with me, it seems more fair to change it.  Yes, the 3 natural grandkids used to get to spend 1 night every 3 weeks with me - I took 1 at a time for 1 night every weekend, then when they moved farther away, I changed it to 2 nights every other weekend, so once every 6 weeks for 2 nights instead of 1 night every 3 weeks.  Then when we added in the other 2, it became every 8 weeks.  But I think the 2 other girls would love to have their own special time alone even if it's only 1 night & the other kids probably won't notice as much now that we have done it this way for a while.  Anyway, it was hot last Friday & I didn't feel like making pizza like we usually do on Friday night when I get the grandkids, so we went with homemade sub sandwiches & chips!  We also rented 2 movies from Redbox - Zookeeper & We Bought a Zoo.  The girls both loved them!  It may have been about the 3rd or 4th time I had seen these 2 movies though!  Then Saturday morning, our plan was to be up really early & have them back to dad for their ball practice, but I woke up to it raining really hard at about 5 am, so considering that & the fact that we had already had rain on Thursday as well, I knew there would be no practice.  So we took our time getting around & dropped them off about 10 am, I think.

So now, I am ready for a quiet Monday with the house to myself & the 2 dogs.  I will even be happy if all stays nice & quiet so that my male pom doesn't decide he needs to bark at everything!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Cindy's 2 Day 2012 Birthday Celebration

This past Saturday I turned 53.  I am the oldest living cousin on 1 side of my family, the oldest cousin by birth on another side of my family & I get to be one of the younger ones on yet another side of my family!  Yes I count 3 sides!  On my mother's side, I was always the 2nd oldest, but the oldest cousin passed away in a car accident in 1990, which left me as the oldest living cousin.  There originally were 8 of us cousins on that side, but 2 are now deceased.  On my natural dad's side - he was the oldest of 6 siblings & I am the oldest of the cousins there by about 3 months.  I might have my numbers wrong since I didn't grow up with this side of the family, but I believe there are 13 or maybe 14 of us cousins there.  And we range from my age down to my kids ages.  On my step-dad's side, he was the 3rd or 4th of 8 siblings.  One brother never had children.  I think I was right about in the middle age-wise here since some of the cousins were nearly grown if not already grown when I came into the family & some are younger than my 3 younger siblings.

Cessna Aircraft - where my son recently started working, was having a celebration of 85 years in business & as part of the celebration, you could tour the facility.  We didn't get through all of it, but we did look over a lot of things!  I know my dh & my son both loved looking at the actual framework of the aircraft that were being built & they are talking about maybe seeing if a tour could be arranged during work hours.  I loved seeing the completed interiors & seeing where my son is working!  My son's gf I. I believe liked the same things.  It was a pretty hot day out & with a fair amount of walking outdoors between the buildings, I am glad I decided to wear a shirt with sleeves to my elbows, even though that made me feel hotter, it protected the skin of my arms that had been sunburned recently.

After we finished there, we tried to decide on a place to eat that suited everyone.  We finally decided on Genghis Grill.  It was a nice lunch there with us all having our own personalized stir-fry lunch.  My son did have an issue with his Tazzleberry Bluetazzle Tea that resulted in us changing to a different table!  And since someone mentioned the fact that it was my birthday within earshot of the server, I ended up with my meal being free!  Which was a help to my son & I. with him just getting his 1st paycheck from his new job.

After we got home Saturday evening, D. was working on a Chevy Impala doing some repairs/maintenance work before turning it over to our son who is buying it.  I knew he was wanting to get this work done that night since Sunday would be spent preparing for a trip that he is leaving on today for his local union.  So when I got a message from our oldest daughter asking if we had eaten yet or would like to come to dinner, I told her what he was doing.  So then was asked what about Sunday - so we decided on Sunday.  But they forgot to tell me the time!  So I found out what time about 30 minutes before we were supposed to be there.  In the meantime, our daughter, 2 of her daughters & a friend of the oldest of her daughters were making me a cake.  No one hardly ever makes me a cake & haven't since I was about 12 years old.  I think this might be about the 5th cake or so that I have had - at least that I remember.  I could be wrong though since I know my kids made some while they were growing up.  Anyway, they didn't want to call me to give away the surprise, so they were trying to figure out what the problem was of the 1st cake falling apart on them as they tried to decorate a cake where they were cutting the layers & rearranging them into the shape of a butterfly.  They finally gave up & made a 2nd cake.  Somewhere in there, 1 of the granddaughters pops up with - put it in the freezer, that's what Grandma does!  So they froze it for just a bit, which seemed to help with their issues.  I don't remember where I first learned about it, but I always make my cakes, then freeze the layers before putting them together.  It helps to stop issues with crumbs, etc.  I did hear some comments about being sorry it wasn't like the cakes I make, but I tried to reassure the kids that I never expect anyone to make me a cake like the ones I make.  I do it as a hobby & because I want to make something special for someone.  I have even told some that it is my gift to them & I don't buy another gift for them.  I try to make sure my kids & now my grandkids know that not everyone gets a special cake like they do.  That some people just get a cake that is iced, no special decorating, so they are getting something special.  I don't want them to think anything else is less than what they should have!  I hope that makes sense!

After we had cake, then we played monopoly!  I remember playing monopoly as a kid at holidays with family, in particular.  Then I played monopoly with my kids.  Now I play it with my grandkids.  I think I might have started teaching them at about 4-5 years old.  Our games can become very competitive!  And it has become something we do at almost every gathering!  I even collect monopoly games, so we can play a variety!  I was the 1st one out of the game last night!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Friday

It's Friday, the end of the work week - not for me, but for my dh & my son at least.  It's a moderately warm day here today in the mid-80's.  Tomorrow & Sunday are forecast to be in the 90's, but there seems to be a chance to rain on Sunday afternoon & evening.  That will feel good, at least while it is happening & maybe the lawns around here can green up some!  Ours lookes like it is about August already!

Yesterday I finally settled down & did the last few rounds on a sock for 1 of the granddaughters.  They are Christmas gifts, but since this is the first time I have ever made socks for them, I am letting them know about them as I work on them & try them on.  Maybe once I get 1 pair each done for all, then I can try to make a surprise pair for them all as well.  There are 5 total & I have another 2 pair on the needles.  I am trying to remember what colors the oldest granddaughter thought each of the girls would like.  I believe she chose the orange, that K. would like the purple & B. would like the pink.  I hope so, since that is how I am proceeding!  A pale blue for my grandson is 1 of the ones on the needles, but since he wears a size 14 shoe - his will take a while, even though I am working with worsted weight (10 ply). C. tried to convince me to give her her socks for her May birthday, but I reminded her that I have issues with tendonitis in my right hand & so it is taking me a bit longer to do things than it has in the past. And since this was her 10th birthday, so was getting her ears pierced, so I bought her earrings for the gift.

Tomorrow is my 53rd birthday!  I don't usually do much for my birthday .  Partially because we never did much when I was growing up.  Partially because we always concentrated more on the kids while they were growing up.  And partially because there are some family deaths that occurred close to it & so it just doesn't put me in the mood to celebrate.  But tomorrow the company that my son just started working for is hosting an Open House & so weed to get a chance to have a more involved tour of the facility than we would if we just booked a tour.  So we are going to go do the tour & then probably have lunch out with our son & his gf.  She will work tomorrow evening, so we won't make a day of it.  One year I decided for my birthday that I was going to do something for the grandkids & that is the year that we got a family membership to the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita.  That was one of the best investments I have ever made for them - I think we went at least once a month all year & sometimes twice.  For my 36th birthday, we were traveling home from a visit in FL and as we passed through Dallas, my dh & 3 kids decided to take me to Showbiz Pizza (or was it Chuck-E-Cheese?).  Either way, everyone had fun & it definitely broke up the long drive from southern FL!

I visited a blog today that I haven't visited in a long time & was surprised that I can no longer find a way to translate it from the original language.  This women knits a lot of socks, that I love looking at & cannot figure out how she manages to make them so quickly, but it also looks like now she may be making hats to sell, but since I can't read it, I can't be sure.  I sure hope the translation link that I put on here works for others!

I see that there are several people reading this blog and most seem to be coming from Facebook, but since no one has commented yet, I don't know if everyone is enjoying this or not.  I sure hope so!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Knitting Machine Sponge Bars

Yesterday I decided I just had to have new sponge bars for both my standard gauge knitting machines - at the the 2 that use them & there was no way that I could afford to buy new factory made ones right now.  So since I had found a site the day before yesterday that talked about refurbishing sponge bars, I decided to see if I could find the supplies without too much trouble.  I had seen this before, but wasn't sure I could or should try it.

So since I was leaving the house anyway, I went on to our local Hobby Lobby while I was out & looked for high density foam that would be sold where I could buy  at least 4' long by 1' wide.  I never did find any.  I could have bought a strip that way that was 2" thick, but I needed it to be about a 1/2" thick or less.  While there looking, I got a call from I. asking that I stop back by where she was on my way home since she had forgotten to give me something that she had been asked by my son to give me to handle for him.   So I decided to stop by the hardware store on the way home from where she was instead of driving back to Wal-Mart.  So I probably paid a little more than I needed to, but I wasn't using even more gas to drive back to where I had been.  At the hardware store, I picked up a roll of weatherstripping that is 3/8" x 1/2" x 10' - not sure if maybe it should have been 3/8' x 3/8" x 10', since it seemed slightly wide for the metal frame, but it worked to refurbish the 2 sponge bars.  I had also never heard of Goof Off that had been recommended for removing the old glue & residue of the old sponge/foam, so I asked about that.  I got their smallest size & it was actually 2¢ cheaper at the hardware store than at the discount store in my little town that I stopped at next.  I still needed glue & woven ribbon to place over the top of the weatherstripping - I assume to keep the needles from sticking to the foam.  So again, rather than making another trip across town, I was pretty sure that while the local discount store is very limited anymore in craft items, I surely should be able to get some ribbon & some glue there & I did.  I then came home, got out some single edge razor blades, to cut the old sponge one each end, then I used a flat blade screwdriver to scrap out the old foam, cleaned it up pretty good, then used the goof off.  Since I was using weatherstripping, it had adhesive on the 1 side, so I started putting it into the metal strip & cut it at the end, trying not to stretch it.  After I made sure that was into the opening on both sides & pushed it down to try to make sure it attached itself to the bottom of the channel, then I put a light coating of the Tacky Glue on top of the weatherstripping, then every so often, I would place the ribbon over the glue so that I could be sure it wouldn't dry before I got it all on - I did make sure the ribbon was a little longer than the weatherstripping on each end.  Then I sealed each end with a piece of packing tape that was about 2" x 1".  I let it sit for a while to try to make sure the glue had dried.  Then I installed it back into the machine.  I only pulled out 1 at a time to make sure I didn't forget how to install it correctly.

They both seem to work well!  I do see that I have some bad needles on my new to me Brother KH836E machine, so will need to take the sponge bar back out, switch some needles around to get the bad ones out of the center are where I am most likely to be knitting.  I also think I want to get another set of table clamps to use with my Brother KH930, so that I can easily switch the Brother KR850 ribber between the machines without having to remove brackets from 1 to the other.  I will also need another pair of the KR Setting Plates, so that there is a pair on each machine.  And I need another table for 1 of the machines to sit on, so that I can have both up at the same time & a dust cover to help protect the machines from dust,

I haven't yet gotten brave enough to take the machines apart to deep clean them, but I did point my blow dryer into them on cool & blew out some crud.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

It's been a busy week!

It's been a long & busy week around here!  Some of it was getting a few projects finished in time for a baby shower today.  Some of it was cancelling a trip to OK for a family reunion & instead taking the 5 grandkids to Abilene, KS to the Greyhound Hall of Fame & the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, KS on Friday.  I had a short night before we started & then just under a 2 hour drive each way with 5 kids between the ages of 7 & 14.  Then we picked up a cousin of mine & brought her back near here to her grandparents home - which is my aunt & uncle's home.  It was raining off & on all day as well.  I did spend some of the driving time on the way there talking with my oldest brother - he is a trucker & was delivering a load near Denver that day.  The grandkids were involved in watching a DVD.  One of the best inventions when traveling alone with kids!

I knitted 4 pair of baby socks in the last couple of weeks as well as making a crocheted Granny Square afghan.  I literally finished the afghan about 30 minutes before the shower was due to start today & was 1/2 hour "late", although it was a come & go shower.  Can't say I have ever heard of having a come & go baby shower before though!  No games, just cake, etc. & opening gifts as well as getting a chance to hold the baby since this was an after the birth shower today.

While I was in Abilene, my youngest brother drove into town with his 2 girls, the bf of the 1 & the cousin that I brought back with me later.  He also brought me the gift he had bought for me for my birthday - a Brother KH836E standard gauge knitting machine!  I will have to get a sponge bar, I believe for it, which is normal (also need them for my Brother KH930 & the ribber that fits on both of these, I believe).  In going through the manual for the "new" machine, I believe I need a pair of claw weights & some 24 stitch punch cards to make it complete.  I am hoping to figure out what would have been original as far as punch cards go & try to find those to begin with, but as long as they are pre-punched, I will be happy.  Later on when I am more familiar with the machine, I might consider punching my own, but for now, I know nothing about it!  But everything does seem to work fine.  I know that I paid about $400+ each for my KH930 & the ribber & my brother only paid $50 for this one according to what he told me.  Said they had it marked at $150, but they accepted his offer of $50 for it.  I know on e-bay someone has a KH836E & a ribber & they want about $675 for the pair of them, so feel like he got a good deal!



Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!