It has been a long while since I last posted here!  I thought I would give it another go now that I remembered how to log in.

I have been off work the last 2 days.  I changed jobs just over 2 years ago and now work evenings 5 nights a week as technical support for POS installers.

I just found another pattern that I want to do for a sweater and am getting frustrated that the paypal purchase isn't going through and I can't figure out how to turn off the automatic log in to pay for it.  Not sure if it is a PayPal issue or if it is a Ravelry issue, but I can log into both, just can't get the purchase to go through.

Below are my 2 current projects that I have going.  On the left is Eyeblink shawl and on the right is Trapezoid Sweater. 

 

 

And here are my last 6 projects before that.  I made the hat for a male co-worker and the fingerless mitts for 2 of my female co-workers.

 

 

The poncho is for me - I had 1 almost identical in the late 1970's and had searched for the pattern for years since.  And I found it.  The first sweater is made from the same yarn and the 2nd is made in a different colorway, but the same yarn.  I may re-do the bollon of the poncho since I am not 100% happy with the way it came out.

 Well, I will try to post this again now that I re-sized the pictures.

It's been a while!

Well, it's been just over a month since I last posted.  I sure didn't intend to take a break from blogging, but that is what I have done.  Christmas has come and gone, New Year's as well.  Tomorrow is the US Presidential inauguration and a lot of people will be off work - not because of the inauguration, but rather because it is the day we commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.  I have to work and so does my dh.  Our son is off work, but he may be the only family member not working tomorrow.

I don't think I mention in my last post that I was casting on several projects for my son's gf, I, who had finished a pair of ankle socks for herself that she loves to wear to bed in particular.  She wanted to start a pair for her mother, my son, and a friend's son.  Then she also decided that she wanted to make a couple of scarves for herself.  She had an approximately 1500 mile drive each way coming up for Christmas where they were going to FL to visit my in-law's, so it gave her knitting time since she wasn't driving.  I haven't seen how far she has gotten in person since she got home, but I know she sent me some pictures along the way of at least 1 of the scarves in progress.  I am not sure if she might not have bitten off more than she could chew to start so many at once, but she wanted a variety to work on.  That way if she got to a heel on a pair of socks, she didn't have to stop until she was with me again or anything.  She doesn't yet want to learn to read patterns or to learn the heel process.  English is her 3rd or maybe 4th language, so she wants to take her time.  If I could find some patterns that were in both English & Portuguese we might be all right, but she says maybe 2 years, then she will be ready to learn to read a pattern.

I need to do some adjustments to 3 items I made for gifts - the sleeves are too long on my son's sweater & the neck is too tight for his head.  The 1 granddaughter's socks need to be bound off a little differently since I made them longer & she has trouble with getting them over her calves.  Another granddaughter, that I didn't get to measure, her socks are too tight around the foot, so I need to completely remake them.  I thought there was a chance since I didn't get to try them on her while I was making them.

We have had some snow, but not much.  We have had quite a few days with single digits in the mornings.  So I keep telling myself it's only about 2 more months & then we are looking at warmer weather.  I hate winter myself!

A week ago with mad the company Employee appreciation party at my new job.  Every employee can bring 1 guest & it wasn't until about 4:30 pm that day that I knew whether my guest would be my son or my dh.  Turned out my dh didn't work more than 8 hours after all that Saturday.  So we both got a nice dinner for it and each employee was given either a gift or cash.  The envelopes of cash were all gone before my name was called since I am 1 of the newest 4 employees, so I got a Nook Simple Touch.  I had tossed around the idea of Nook or Kindle for quite a while, but never did anything about it.  I still like the idea of a Kindle Fire since I could download shows and movies from Amazon to it to watch when I had a chance - car rides, etc.  But I do have my little laptop that I could use as well.  I have found several classics books that were free to download and got them put onto the Nook yesterday after receiving the 32gb memory disk that I had ordered for it.  The nook doesn't have much of a memory built into it, but you can add memory.  And with more than 1 memory card, you could add quite a bit actually.  I do like that I can view .pdf patterns on it, so that will be handy and was 1 of the reasons I had considered getting one anyway.  I haven't taken it yet anywhere with me, am waiting on my case to arrive for it - should be here on Tuesday & then the screen will be protected in my purse.  I have added the .pdf's of the 3-4 items I am currently working on or want to work on to it so that I have them.

My mil was hospitalized last weekend with the flu and pneumonia, but she was dismissed about mid-week.  I did get to talk to her for the 1st time in about 6 months while she was there - it made it easier that she was kept in 1 place!  But my bil was there with her, so gave her the phone.  Her dementia is really taking a toll on her, but I don't know how much of what I noticed is from the dementia and how much was from her being sick.  I sure miss her from before the illness that is robbing us of her came into play.  I have earned a sum total of 1 day of vacation time from work, so am thinking I may try to piggyback it to a holiday weekend and maybe even a day or 2 of no pay so that I can get up to see her later this year.  She did tell me that she was wearing the Amazing Siberian Slippers that I had made for her Christmas gift though and that she liked them.   I didn't actually hear my bil telling her that they were from me, so he might have done that just prior to my phone call.

I have found some new blogs recently to follow - 1 of them is A Joyful Chaos that started out with a former Amish woman telling about growing up Amish.  She has now co-written a book with another established author to tell her story.  I want to order the 2 that will be out when I get my next paycheck.  Growing up near an Amish community and interacting with the Amish as my mother bought goods from them has always made me be interested in them.  So I am always wanting to learn more.  Right now Mary Ann is having a give away on her blog of a book by 1 of her favorite authors.

Another blog I found recently is a woman in Australia who has discovered the joy of making socks, but she has already bypassed my 3-4 years of sock making in just 6 months or so - she is currently working on her 20th pair, unless she has already finished those!  I do not know how she does it!  Maybe I just have too many other interests!  That blog is MelsNattyKnits.

Tomorrow finishes up 3 months that I have been at my new job and I believe on Tuesday I should have a 90 day review, but my boss hasn't said anything about it.  I do think that things are finally all fitting together and I have a clue as to why certain things are done and since I do, I now have a clue as to when to do certain things, so it is all getting easier.  It's kind of hard to know what questions to ask when you do know exactly what it is that you need to be doing.  I hope some of my notes might make it easier for the next person, if I were to give up my job at any time in the future.  Not that I intend to, but I do remember 1 previous job that my notes probably helped the next person out.  I know I passed them on to a co-worker who was doing the same job during the time that I was also doing the job and I believe they helped her.

I talked with my oldest (younger) brother - 1 have 1 sister & 2 brothers, but all are younger than me by 4 1/2 to 8 years - on New Year's, I believe it was.  I found out that he had left Kansas in November to live in Oklahoma.  He is with the woman that I can't stand.  They say they are married, but I know they did file for a divorce at one point and I don't think they ever remarried.  They just believe that because they went back to living together before the divorce was final, that it voided it.  I think she is horrible for him, but I think he clings to her because he always wanted a mother to love him and she reminds him of our mother - but that isn't a good thing!  Our mother wasn't a good mother!  Anyway, it brought up what I always feel - I am the last in the family to know anything that is going on.  And they wonder why I disappeared for so long & kept to myself?

Our youngest daughter is traveling for work & is currently in India until March.  An experience of a lifetime for her!

At the last minute for Christmas, I was able to whip out a hat for our sil - it took me about 24 hours from start to finish & I believe he likes it!

Anyway, I think that brings me up to date for the most part!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Done!

I did it!  I finished my last 2 Christmas gifts on Sunday.  I had decided a week ago yesterday to get out the sweater that I was pretty sure was almost finished that I had started over 2 years ago for my son and finally finish it for him for Christmas.  I finished it in 6 days.  It seems sad that it languished for so long with so little to finish it off.  Once I got done with it, then I could get the last pair of Christmas socks finished, which I did Sunday evening.

My son's gf also finished off her socks.  She decided to go for an ankle length sock & she has loved wearing them to bed.  So she decided she wanted to do several projects - 2 scarves and 3 pairs of socks - scarves for her, I believe, socks for her mother, my son & a friend's son who is just 8 years old.  So we went to the yarn store last week, I showed her around explaining different things to her about the various yarns, etc.  She chose yarn for 2 of the pairs of socks and then the 3rd pair she plans to use the other 2 half skeins of yarn left from her own socks for her mother.  Then we went to Hobby Lobby and got some cheaper/less expensive yarn for the scarves.  I have lent her 5 pair of needs from my own collection and have cast on all the projects for her, put them all in ziplock bags with a note on the outside as to how many rounds should be done on the socks for instance before we put in the heels.  With that and row counters, she should be able to take her knitting with her while they drive to my in-law's next weekend in FL.

I took the gifts for my in-law's, my son & his gf to their house tonight so that they can take them with them when they leave on Friday.

I decided to take a group picture of all the gifts I finished this year for Christmas gifts.  This doesn't include the crochet items I made this year or a shawl that I had already given away, but I think it makes a pretty impressive group.  What do you think?

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Another pair done - almost feel like I might be able to finish in time!

I finished the 3rd granddaughter's socks Thursday & started on the gusset for the 4th granddaughter's socks.  I also put the 2nd heel into my son's gf's socks.  This is her 1st knitting project and maybe this weekend it will work out to be able to get her socks up above the ankle and then teach her to purl so that she can put some ribbing on the socks.  I think she is just planning for them to be about ankle height, so she is nearly finished if that is correct.

 

About 2 weeks ago my oven died, so yesterday part of my day was spent in shopping for another stove.  I got this stove.  Then I waited to get my son to pick it up for me in his truck, but he had a very low tire on his truck, so we waited about 3 hours for Wal-mart to get that fixed..  Delivery just doesn't work for me with both of us working days, etc.  There is no one that I can have wait here to let them in nd I can't usually take time off from work.  I might be able to after the 1st of the year by taking the 1 vacation day I will probably have, but I don't want to wait that long.  I need another oven for Christmas baking.  I still have my old stove hooked up to the gas in the kitchen, so just had my son & his friend leave the new one in the box at the top of the stairs, then after they had left, I took down the dog gate & scooted it across the floor to the kitchen, got a Stanley knife & opened the box, then found a good sized dent/scratch in the upper top right hand side.  It is where with a little bit of paint, with it butted up against the end of the counter, then I won't hardly be visible.  So I have contacted Sears about getting a partial refund.  They told me last night that they would give me 5% back, but then when I looked online, I saw that the same stove had an online discount of 5% for yesterday.  So I printed that out & think I just might see if I can get 10% because of that.  That would be about $60 instead of $30.  I know that it will only cost me about $2 to cover up the damage, but I still don't want to pay full price for a damaged stove.  Will see what he says when I get there.  There was absolutely no damage to the box, so this was done before it was boxed.  And I have pictures of the box as well as the damage.

I set up a hair appointment on Friday and will finally get my hair cut again after 3 months since my disastrous haircut back in September.  There are still sections that may not even be long enough yet, but it should for the most part be good.  So 2 weeks from tomorrow!  Just in time for Christmas!

I have gotten through my first semi-annual "big" inventory at work!  I don't know that I helped a lot since there were only certain things I was allowed to do being new.  But I helped count parts, checked serial numbers on parts, and helped the person over Advance Exchange as she read off serial numbers and I marked them on her lists.  I personally didn't think it was as bad as they all seemed to think, but maybe that comes from either me doing the inventories for my other jobs over the years or because I wasn't given as much responsibility.  I know today I was glad to be able to start putting tickets back in the system so that I wasn't just sitting there twiddling my thumbs.

I stopped at my LYS (Local Yarn Store) on my way to shop for the stove and thought I would check into some sock yarn to make me a shawl/capelet/poncho for wearing at work this winter.  I was envisioning something that might have points front & back, but only hit at about elbow length on the sides so that it would be warm for my shoulders, while still not getting in the way while I am working.  I didn't want to have to come up with my own pattern though, so I bought 2 skeins of Lang Jawoll Magic in color # 84.0079 - a black/green/turquoise colorway and then searched Ravelry for something that might work.  I found this pattern and think I can just stop it at the right point by trying it on periodically as I work.  Right now it probably shouldn't even be in the works, but it is!  I don't know many knitters that can resist the temptation.  Right now I have it on straight needles and I have some Chiaogoo needles on order for it to eventually be worked on.  I still have at least 2 projects to work on for Christmas gifts, so will be putting it aside now that I have it started to do that, but I think this will be my gift to myself as soon as I get those done for being semi-patient.  I do have a crochet project that I started for my niece that I will have to get back to as soon as I get done with Christmas stuff, but I just might finish this first so that I can have it.  I usually am a bit cool at work already and am afraid it will get worse.  I am thinking that with the wool, this will possibly be warmer than even my acrylic sweater that I have been wearing.  And I am thinking I will put some buttons or something on it to hold it closed in the front without having to fiddle with adjusting it all the time.  Will see.  But I didn't want anything that I had to pull over my head at all.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

New Job and Shawl progress

One week down on the new job & I do like it & so far, I like my co-workers!  Granted I have only spent 4 half days at my position, so every time I start to feel like I don't feel as comfortable in my new job as I think I should with 1 week in, I remind myself of that fact!  In fact, probably a bit less than that!  On Monday, we went in at 10 am instead of 8 am, but were told that we will be paid from 8 am since it was for their convenience.  We started our orientation then.  At noon we still had a Sexual Harassment video to watch before being sent to our respective spots - there were 3 of us being started - 1 installer, 1 help desk & me as the RMA assistant.  So we took a lunch break & then went back to do the video before going around & being introduced to everyone as we went to our desks.  So about 3 hours on Monday were spent with our immediate supervisors.  Then the rest of the week, we rotated around to different departments to see how things work.  Evidently the installer is now the only one of us that still needs more rotations before he is finished.  I am sure there will be times that we will still be called on to pitch in to help out a department with they have a deadline, but it won't be the same as this past week has been.  And N, my immediate supervisor says that she is very pleased with how fast I have been learning my job.  She is having me work only with 2 pieces of equipment to start - the receipt printers and the Verifone card reader machines.

I spent part of 2 days late week before last going through the sample lessons & tests for the Work Keys tests that I have to pass at the Silver Certificate level minimum to keep my job.  There are 3 sections I am to be tested on - Applied Math, Reading for Info & Locating Info.  I was exempted on levels 1-4 , passed levels 5-6 & failed level 7 on Applied Math. Exempted on levels 1-5 & passed Level 6 on Locating Info (no Level 7 on this one). Exempted on levels 1-6 & passed level 7 on Reading for Info. Level 3 is listed as a Bronze Certification, Level 4 as Silver (which is what I need minimum), Level 5 as Gold, Level 6 as Platinum. I think I have the Silver sewn up & possibly the Gold. Haven't had math since 9th grade Algebra that I barely squeaked through because of not being allowed to do homework. So am totally lost, I feel, with the ones dealing with area, radius, diameter, etc. But still feel that I am good, although I will still work some more on the math through 11/7.  The test is on 11/8.  My plan is to even go through the tests that it exempted me from, just in case & do at least 1-2 a day through the 7th.

It has turned chilly this weekend!  Had been as high as the 80's earlier in the week and yesterday it did get up to the low 40's, but it has been dropping into the 20's for 2-3 nights now!  I am not ready for winter!  I have been told that I will probably need to dress a bit warmer for the winter since our desks at work at on an uninsulated north wall that only has a narrow store room between us & the outside wall.  I am sure that I can handle it after my last long-term job where we had a similar issue, but I might have to take my electric throw to work & wear a couple sweaters or something.  Might even take in my fingerless gloves or make me some mitts to wear to work to be on the safe side.

I finished Chart 7 of the Back to the Garden shawl yesterday morning before starting my studying!  Then last night I completed another 3 1/2 rows on it, so just over 20 rows left to finish it!  I didn't get quite as much done on it this past week as I had planned, but it is still moving along!  Maybe it will be finished by the end of this coming week!

My dh worked 3 15 hour days this past week, so I had 3 evenings to myself, which was nice.  I had so many years with him working evenings that at times it is hard not having that quiet time to myself anymore.


With it being on the chilly side, yesterday I put a veggie beef soup into the crockpot.  Today I think I will try a new roasted veggies dish that I saw in the paper a few weeks ago, but also think I will add some meat to it as it cooks & cook it in the crockpot.  It has red peppers, carrots, acorn squash & onion in it.  A little dab of honey & then the spices.  I think it will convert to the crockpot with ease.

A bit irritated right now.  Two years ago last month I had purchased a flute for a granddaughter to use for school.  With all the instruments I have purchased in the past from this company I have always made payments by sending them a check each month, except for the one I did for our grandson 2 years before.  That one I had given them my card # and asked that they take the payment each month.  Which they did and after 12 months, I had gone in & paid it off in full.  My plan had been to do the same for the granddaughter's flute, but by a couple months after signing the agreement, I lost my long-term job due to the economy.  So then started the last 2 years of 1 temp job and another that ended up being a seasonal job.  Then unemployment checks.  I knew I had paid 2 payments the 1st month since I told them I wanted the payments to come out automatically on the 25th of each month and they didn't want to go over 30 days for the 2nd payment to be made.  I was also told that they no longer handled the payments like that themselves, but instead had another company handle that for them, so I could expect my payments to be made to this other company.  What I wasn't told was that this other company would take $5 per month for the convenience of doing this!  I only found this out because I figured the 24 payments ( which has always been my experience with buying instruments) with the double payment in September 2010, would make my payments finish in July 2012 even though I didn't pay it off early like had been my original intention, so that I could save the interest on the contract.  Now after having a payment come out again in August for the full amount, I emailed this company & questioned them about it.  They emailed back that I still owed $65.09.  So I figured I must have been off in my figuring and that I would have 1 payment of $34.57 and then 1 payment of $30.52 and the last payment would be October.  Instead another full payment was taken in October and when I emailed asking for a refund of the overage, I was told that instead of being paid in full, I still owe $11.75 and was sent a print out of the account.  Well, I found what the problem is!  I was never told about the $5 per month that has been being taken out of my payments and so it has added about $140 to the original contract and so I feel that when I was told I still owed $65.09 in August, I was lied to since this didn't include the $15 in added fees that would be coming out as well and even now, being told I still owe $11,75 isn't the truth either since there will be a $5 fee added to that as well!  I have now emailed this company back telling them that this is all deceptive practices, these fees were never disclosed to me, that I will never allow myself to be put into any kind of a contract with them in the future and that I will warn anyone that I know of who might be considering entering into a contract with them!  It would have been 1 thing to be told of these fees up front and agreeing to them, it's another thing finding it out at this late of a date.  And another thing also by finding out they aren't being truthful to me when telling me what my balance is!

I've decided after the 1st of the year and after I finish a crochet tablecloth that I have started for a family member, I want to make myself some crocheted cafe curtains for my kitchen & dining rooms.  So I have for the last couple of weeks, clipped a 40% off 1 item coupon in the Hobby Lobby ad & gone in to buy 1 of the large balls of #10 crochet cotton.  I have 2 balls on hand right now & will get a few more.  Not 100% sure how many I will need for 3 windows, but I figure I would also do a tablecloth or 2 if I get too many.  This coupon brings an $18 purchase down to just $11.  I think though I might use the 1 this week to get a couple skeins of sock yarn for myself in 1 of the new colors I saw last week.  I try to do 1 pair for myself in each new color in my favorite yarns.  Since the coupon is only good on 1 item, I won't be able to get 40% off of each skein, but essentially it will work out to 20% off of each skein & I can handle that.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Knitting while trying not to panic

On Friday I ended up with a quandary about a job & I sure hope I didn't make a mistake, but right now, while waiting for a phone call, I am not so sure.  I had gotten a message from my son last week with a picture of an Facebook post 1 of his friends had posted saying that the company she is in the HR department of was needing some full-time positions filled.  I looked it over and of the 4 positions listed, I felt I was qualified for 1 of them.  I had an interview on Friday morning and felt it went pretty good.  Came home and found a message that the temp agency had a company wanting me to start a 3-4 week data entry job on Wednesday of this week.  So I called the 1st company back & left a message for my son's friend saying that while I would understand if they didn't want to say anything at all (I had told them this temp position was a possibility of being offered to me) and that I wasn't trying to put her on the spot, I would like to find out if she might have heard anything positive and/or know if there was a definite start date that I might be able to use to see if I could fit in the temp position (which the message at that time said it might only be 2-3 weeks - so a start date of November 7th or later might allow it to work out) since they had told me it would be about 2 weeks before they made a decision.  When she called back, she said that my call had given her an excuse to go talk to the 2 I interviewed with a bit earlier than she had planned to already and that I was definitely in the running.  They had interviewed another person Friday afternoon.  And that she would give me a call this morning since they wanted to sit on it over the weekend.

In the meantime, I had contacted the temp agency to ask what the options would be if I were to accept the temp position and then get offered the FT position & want to take it.  Would I just give a couple days notice or what.  They came back with 2-3 days notice would be fine, but after they contacted the company they were working with, he said he wanted someone who would give a 4 week commitment, but she agreed to give me a bit of time this morning to see what came of the other position.  So far, it's almost 10:30 - I've been up since about 7 and I haven't heard anything!

In the meantime, I finished chart 6B on the Back to the Garden shawl this morning.  It's still a little damp around the edges, so while I am typing this, I have the fan blowing on it to try to dry it enough to work on again.  I still have charts 7 & 8 to finish before time to bind off.  I am really hoping to have this shawl finished for my oldest daughter for Christmas this year.  I did finally break down and told her it was for her.  I had started it a year ago this past summer, but when my hand issues developed, I had to put it aside, there was a lot of aching in the hand even trying to work on it and I was afraid that if I kept on, my hand might not recover.  I still have occasional twinges in my right hand, but nothing like it was last year at this time!  I have not tried to pop my thumb on that hand since the issues came up, but occasionally it will pop on it's own.  I think that is probably a good sign since for the longest time it didn't pop!  So I think the tendon is getting back to normal!  I am still taking my MSM 1000 mg, but am taking 5 a day rather than the 8 that I started out taking - 4 per day is the recommended amount, so figure I am not taking a huge amount over, but slightly over now that it is close to being back to normal.

My dh started a 1 week vacation today.  I think it is his last week for this calendar year.  Tomorrow morning at 3:20 am he will leave heading to Chicago by Amtrak train to visit our youngest daughter & her dh.  He decided to pay about $40 more and get the direct route, so the trip will only take about 13 hours going and 12 hours returning.  He will arrive at about 3 pm tomorrow and it seems their apartment is only about 14 blocks from the station, so his plan is to just walk to their apartment instead of them taking off to go pick him up.  Then he will leave coming home at about 3 pm Saturday and arrive back here around 3:20 am Sunday morning.  So I will get my son or daughter to help me Saturday & we will take his van down, park it in the lot there - pretty much where I used to park for my last long-term job and then I won't have to get the granddaughter that I will have for the night up in the middle of the night to go pick him up.  If it were any of the other grandkids I wouldn't worry about it, but the 2 that are our sil's daughters are early to bed, early to rise kids, so it might be a problem to get them up at that time!

I have now moved into about 6th or 7th place in the I Love Yarn contest - I could sure use a bunch more votes if anyone is feeling generous!  You can vote once every 24 hours and you can even vote for more than 1 picture - I have a couple of friends I have been voting for also.  My entry is the Sugar Plum Fairy that I did last winter & gave to my niece J.  I sure would appreciate your votes!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

A's Socks Finished and school menus

I have been battling a cold since last Tuesday and then night before last it turned chilly also.  We haven't yet turned on the heat, instead just dressing a bit warmer myself, but yesterday I was just so cold and so I laid down on the couch & proceeded to take a 3 hour nap!  Because of that, when it was bedtime last night, I wasn't ready to go to sleep - it seems I can never sleep if I have a nap.  So I was up until about 2-3 am and I finished the oldest granddaughter's socks just after midnight.  I then soaked them & put them on the blockers.  This morning they were dry enough after having a fan on them the rest of the night so that I could get a picture of them.

Then I was a bit tired of socks, so I got out the tablecloth that I am making for my niece to work on for a bit while I continued to wind down.  I gave up when the lamps in the living room turned off with the timers.  But this morning, I have pulled back the socks that I am making for K. to work a different pattern.  I started them with the same waffle pattern that I had used for my mil's socks back in July, but I am a true Gemini and I get bored with doing the same pattern more than once.  So I have worked out a pattern that I think will work for me in a cable design.  Will see - might have to do some adjustments so that it will go over the entire leg once I get to that area, but hope not.  I am knitting a few more plain rounds before I start the patterning, so I might work out how it will be if I add another purl stitch between the cables so that when I add in the back of the leg, it all comes out even.

I have recently come across a new blog that I am enjoying -  A Joyful Chaos - it is by a woman who grew up Amish, married her dh while still Amish and then as a couple they decided to leave the Amish faith.  I am reading it from the beginning and am currently up to early 2010.  She intersperses her posts with posts that are stories from her childhood.  She is a very good storyteller as she writes these stories of her life.  This is the kind of things that I love - I love reading about peoples lives and learning about them.  I love history when I can learn it in this kind of way, but give me dates & facts and you will lose me every time!  It's like when I can relate it to people, then I find it interesting.  I think I have decided that part of my interest in all things Amish stems from growing up in a United Pentecostal Church, which I would also classify as an anabaptist sort of religion.  Not that they practice just adult baptism, but they don't follow infant baptism.  The person being baptized needs to be the one requesting baptism and so are considered as being old enough to make the decision to do so.  I myself was baptized at 10 years old - February 12, 1969.  Anyway, I see so many similarities at times and since I had to work through a lot of different feelings when we left that church/denomination, I am interested in other peoples thought process as well when they have decided to do a similar thing in their lives.

I am in a group on Facebook that is about growing up in my hometown - Hutchinson, KS.  One of the recent threads has been about whether it was just a local thing or whether others also had grown up with the tradition of having cinnamon rolls for dessert when they were served chili.  I remember all through school that any time we were served chili for lunch, we also got a huge, delicious cinnamon roll!  I haven't done this with my family while they were growing up and I haven't asked my children if they had a similar event while going to school.  But I do remember having it at school while growing up.  I know that we didn't eat lunch at school every day all year, in fact, I think we only usually ate at school during the winter months until we got into the higher grades and so had a closed lunch period.  So as such, I don't know if in grade school they lunches included chili just during the winter months or if it was also served in the warmer weather as well.  I know now, I only want chili or other soups in the cold weather or when I am sick.  So like yesterday - it was only in the 40's out, so I stuck a turkey vegetable soup in the crockpot to simmer for dinner!  It was so good!  What about you?  Did you grow up having cinnamon rolls with chili?  Were there other menus that always seemed to go together?  Someone mentioned applesauce being served also with the chili and cinnamon rolls, but I don't remember that one.  Another dish that was mentioned was potato boats!  I still like those and served them when my kids were growing up.  A slice of bologna topped with a mound of yummy mashed potatoes and then topped with shredded cheddar cheese.  I think some even sprinkle on some paprika, but I never did - figured it was just for looks anyway.  How about you - have you ever eaten potato boats?


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Earthen Ruins finished!

This time I have several things to chat about!  First off this past Friday I went to watch my oldest granddaughter participate in her last tennis tournament for this school year.  She has improved a lot this year, but they still didn't win.  It was a misty day, so everyone was trying to stay out of the weather and the officials were trying to dry out the tennis courts.  I left there about 3 pm, came home, took another bath & prepared for the start of my 35th high school reunion.

My reunion started with the homecoming football game.  I found the group that we were to sit with & so did some others, but not all found it, it seems.  I took some socks that I am knitting for A. and worked on them while we watched the game.  At least 1 classmate said she knew it had to be me if I was knitting.  Our school lost miserably - 10 to 34.  After we left there, we went to a local deli/bar that seems to have been a hang out back in the day for most everyone except me.  I was good and only had a diet coke, but chatted with quite a few in both places.  I headed home about 12:30 am, to sleep about 1:30 am, then back up at about 6 am to get started on a new day.  Since my hair was cut so short, I have to make sure it is dry - which I don't use a blow dryer unless I absolutely have to, then the straightening iron to put some body into it so that it isn't just flat & male looking.  I headed out the door about 9:15 for the 10 am brunch & got things set up.  We had a Memorial List of classmates that have passed away.  I also used an arrangement of flowers in our school colors that I had made a couple years ago.  We had about 30 people show up for brunch and ended up being told that we would have to leave soon as they had a 1:30 reservation for the rooms we were using.  I came home from there and delivered an Avon order that still needed delivered.  Changed & headed to a local Mexican Restaurant that everyone seems to like (not my favorite though).  I set up the flowers, Memorial List, name labels & got ready to start taking money.  We had 58 pay through our arrangements and then some decided to eat on their own tab.  Of course, that didn't help us in recouping the costs that had been spent for arranging things -postage, postcards, etc.  So we came up a bit short.  I am not sure exactly how short, but I know 2 receipts worth had us already at about $8 short.  I feel bad that I don't have the money right now with not working to help at least spread the loss out.  Maybe I can send something after I get a job though.  After the Mexican restaurant we went to another bar & hung out there until about midnight.  I again had diet coke, but this time I got annoyed at the server!  She served me a small wine glass of diet coke (which really wasn't great since the CO level was too high) and when I paid & then asked for a refill, I was charged $3.30 and told I could have no more than 4 refills before she would charge me another $3.30.  I told her I felt that was poor customer service, that I knew for a fact they pay less than 25¢ per pop (probably for all the glasses I had, in fact!).  I almost told her that I knew for a fact that I could buy 5(5) 2 liter bottles at the grocery store this week for just $5.  Instead I just made it so that she really earned the 70¢ I gave her as a tip before I was told about the refills - I would wait until she had served everyone else at our table, refusing refills until she was completely done, then had her go get me a refill.  Petty yes, but I think they should rethink their policy!  At dinner I paid $16 total that included my meal from a buffet, all the drinks I wanted of the non-alcoholic nature, my tip, the tax & part of it went towards the expenses for setting up the reunion!  Anyway, I left at about midnight, came home, got a bit of sleep & headed to the high school for our tour on Sunday morning at 10 am.  We thought we had it arranged for the circle drive as we knew it in high school, but they now have a new circle drive & so over half of us were in the wrong place.  But we got it figured out and got our tour, which was great!  So many things are changed from when we were students there!

Sunday afternoon I headed to the mall for a job interview.  It seems that there is a calendar/games store that is opening this coming Thursday and they want a manager for it.  I'm not sure manager is an accurate description of what they want though since it seems that if I were to be hired for the job, I would be working alone until at least Thanksgiving, when it sounds like some additional help would be coming in.  I'm not even sure how many hours per day the store would be open, but the hours that were mentioned for the manager position is 9-5 Monday through Friday.  The pay is supposed to be up to $10 per hour, which would be a bit less than I have made in the past - my last job, I was getting $11 per hour and another job before that was $15 per hour, but it is better than nothing.  The downside of it, to me, is that it would just be until February and then I would need a new job, but wouldn't have worked enough time to earn unemployment again.  I think that is 7 months, but I would have only worked 5 months.  I haven't heard anything yet, but I left him a message asking about his decision.

Monday I blocked the Earthen Ruins shawl.  I need to figure out where I tucked my tape measure so that I can get the final measurements, but I believe it is slightly larger than the Ruby shawl was.

Today I had my once every 6 months dental cleaning and check up, so not my mouth feels all nice & clean again.  Unfortunately, I also have a clogged, scratchy feeling to my throat today, so not sure if allergies or a cold coming on.  I know the weather is continuing to cool off more each day.  It's supposed to be down into the 40's by Wednesday or Thursday of this week with rain I think for the weekend.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Sangria Shawl update

Well, I finished Chart D of my latest KAL just a little while ago.  Then I wet it down good and finger blocked it for a picture, set a fan on it and now I am working on the last knitting chart of the shawl.  I am trying to use up most of the skein of yarn without running out.  Made a few changes from the 1st one I made of it.  Like I forgot 1 repeat of Chart A, I believe it was.  So I made an extra repeat of Chart B.  Now on Chart D, the designer said she stopped on row 154, while I went on to row 164 for the complete chart.  But I put in a life line on row 154 in case I run out of yarn & need to go back so that I have enough for Chart E and the bind off.  I really hope I have enough yarn to do the crocheted bind off again.  I love the way the points zig zag along the edge!

So I have 14 rows to knit before I am ready to try the bind off.  I think I may put in another life line about 2 rows from the end so that if I have to go back to start the bind off again and I don't want to go all the way back to row 154 to start again, then I only chance losing 2 rows of knitting while backing up to do a normal stretchy bind off.

Right now, as I write this, it is thundering outside and my male pom - Fred, is sitting beside my feet!  In fact, his chin is on my foot.  He hates storms - if he is indoors, but doesn't really mind them if he is outside.  So I think it is because he can't see what is happening when he is inside.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Knitting update, hair cut & weekend with C

As I am typing this, we have the Muppets Take Manhattan DVD in the player.  C. is watching several movies this weekend as we are having our time together!  I think the kids like to come just because it makes them feel special to visit by themselves, but also because they can do pretty much as their please.  As she put it earlier - when she is here, she doesn't have to even act her age, she can watch cartoons or whatever!

I had dough on rising to make pizza for dinner.  It is now cool enough to actually use the oven again.  I have some pepperoni and some Italian Sausage to put on it.

I finished Chart C of my Earthen Ruins Sangria shawl this past Monday.  I am now about 1/3 the way into Chart D.  I also did some knitting on a pair of socks for the oldest granddaughter.  I will get some more knitting done on those on Monday and then again on Friday.  Monday is about a 2 hour tennis meet for the oldest granddaughter and then Friday is an all day tournament.  So probably will take 2 projects with me, just in case I finish 1 pair.

This past Wednesday I had a hair appointment at the local beauty school & I am sure regretting it right now!  For the 1st time ever, I had a man as a hairdresser and he messed up royally!

 I asked for this:

 I got this:











And it has way short spots as well as way longer spots.  This really upsets me since not only did the owner of the beauty school check it over himself, but next weekend is my 35th high school reunion!  I am making sure I take my vitamins each day so that if anything can help it grow just enough to maybe add a bit of curl to the ends or something, that I can.  In the meantime, I feel like just staying in my house & going no where!  Even hoping no one calls for a job interview until it has a chance to not look like it's a man's haircut.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

What's New......... - originally posted 11/10/10 - last post on old blog

Well, since I last posted I have completed my last days at my former job. The last day was kind of hard. The office manager had gone to visit her oldest daughter & granddaughter in SC and so I spent my last 4 days there in the main office by myself. The last day, every time I did something, it would cross my mind that this was the last time I would do this task. But I made it through and have been unemployed since leaving work at 5 pm on October 29th.

I have applied for unemployment and if I am doing it right, I expect to see something next week. Through this week it is saying that nothing has been processed, but I think that is because there is a 1 week waiting period & last week, which I applied for on Sunday of this week, was my 1st week of being unemployed. I don't know for sure, it's extremely hard to get through by phone and I have never applied for unemployment before!

I have also emailed my resume & letter of recommendation to several companies for consideration. I told the temp agency that they could submit my resume for 2-3 companies in addition to the ones that they submitted it to prior to my last day at my previous job.

I have been doing more cooking than I had been prior, mostly because now I am at home during the day, so even when D works evenings, I can cook before he heads to work. This is something I haven't done a lot in the last 5 years - mostly because I hate to cook for 1 or 2, but I am not miding having left-overs right now. D also has been kind of picky about what he would or wouldn't eat for a while, checking everything to make sure it didn't have hydrogenated stuff in it & so on. But he seems to right now at least, not be being so picky about things.

I also have done some more knitting, crocheting & just plain resting up a bit. I have even turned off the alarm. Am still waking up about 7-8 am, was 5-6 before, so not sleeping in too badly. I have had to fight with myself some to keep from staying up quite so late at night. My more natural inclination is to stay up until about 4-5 am, then sleep in until at least about 10 am.

I took my sister out for her 47th birthday on November 4, made her a cake (wanted to make it look like siamese cat, but after giving it to her & the looking at the pictures I took I realized that I forgot to trim the bottom of 1 ear with black icing) & gave her a crocheted scarf as a gift. I am going to be going out to brunch this coming Saturday with 2, maybe 3 women I went to school with from grade school. We have all reconnected on Facebook (at least 3 of us have, the other is not on FB, but I keep running into her around town, so trying to get her to join us, but she doesn't have a phone) and have decided to get together. It's been 33+ years since we all graduated high school. I remember the one being in class with me in 10th grade, but she left to have a baby. The other I don't remember seeing her at all in high school and she says she doesn't remember either me or J from high school. That is kind of what happens when you combine about 8 grade schools into 3 junior highs, then all into 1 high school of about 1500 people total for 3 grades.

I have had 2 of the granddaughters for their visits with me. The oldest wanted to go to Wichita to the Museum of World Treasures and wanted to invite my youngest to go with us there. We ended up getting in on an "opening" of a redone exhibit. The youngest decided she wanted to go to the movies to see MegaMind and to the Kansas Cosmosphere to go through the museum. I ended up losing a knitting needle somewhere between an Apollo 13 exhibit & going through Wal-mart, so guess it was a good thing I had also tucked in some more yarn & needles just in case. I was able to start a scarf for the youngest during the movie. I got home and was able to transfer the 1st scarf to another set of needles, so have finished it now, except for double checking sizing as soon as I see the kids again. I have decided that at the moment, at least until unemployment kicks in, my time is more plentiful than money, so I will try to use stash yarn & make things for the kids for Christmas this year. Maybe will make a meal or 2 for our adult kids as our gift to them.

I saw a picture of a scarf online that the designer was selling the pattern. But I could tell by looking at the scarf pretty much how she had done it. So I decided to try casting on & duplicating it for the most part. I added 1 more hole to the design on each side, then I decided to try adding a hood to it. The orange one is the 1st set that I have finished. The multi is made from yarn I had left from a project for the same granddaughter from about 5 years ago. She still likes the yarn. I decided to make hers a bit different since I now had a real feel for the design, so I turned every other one upside down & did it in reverse. I think she will like it! I have thought on & off for years about trying to add a hood to scarves so that they are all in one.

I also finished weaving in the ends on a baby blanket that I had done a few years ago. It is now being used by the latest new family member - my sister's newest grandson that was born October 18th.

Yesterday I started rearranging our bedroom. I need to move a few more things & then I think I may take the recliner in there as well as a corner desk. Set the desk up so that D can have his typewriter set up all the time (he refuses to learn to use a computer, but is always wanting to make copies of things to keep - just cannot convince him that things would be so much better if he had it on the computer) and the recliner will allow me to have a place to sit & crochet or read in the bedroom, if I want. Because of D's back, he prefers to lay down on the bed than to sit in the living room in the evenings anyway, so I could sit with him.

I have also done some knitting on another shawl for my mil, but I find it hard to work on in the evenings when the light is lower. So it isn't getting as much progress as the scarves are right now. I have 5 grandkids to get something done for, so that will take a bit of time.

I am also trying to figure out exactly how to add Ravelry Progress Bars to my blog of the projects that I have up on Ravelry. I seem to be missing something because I copy the api info & put it into the bigger box for the widget, but the only thing that shows up in my title for that section. Guess I am going to have to do more digging to get that set up.

Well, probably should get around & get something done for today! Hope you all are having a good week!

Crafts (mostly knitting - maybe all knitting) that I have been working on since I last mentioned any - originally posted 10/21/10

I have been doing a lot of knitting in recent months. Right now I also have several things on the needles & depending on my mood is what I do.

This is a sweater I have started for E. I am making it in a brown & a beige Hobby Lobby baby yarn. I started it in April & then it got too hot to really work on it - so will be back to it soon. I did most of the knitting on this while visiting my youngest brother in the hospital as he was being treated for a blood clot in his leg.






These are 2 pairs of socks that I made for my youngest brother who had a blood clot in his right calf just above the outer ankle in April. He is now handicapped, has a dropped foot on that side & since he has diabetes as well, he is a bit worried about keeping his foot dry between the toes. So these are a first attempt as socks to help him with that. I have discovered some things from them that I will change with his next pairs so that hopefully they will fit better next time. the socks on the left are made with Red Heart's Heart & Sole in Toasted Almond. The pair on the right are Deborah Norville's Serenity in Obsidian.


This is a pair of socks that I made for my oldest brother. The 2 brothers have birthdays 5 days apart in July, so since I had decided to give my youngest brother his 2 pairs, I decided I needed to make some for the other brother. I have a 2nd pair for him that are nearly finished, but I haven't gotten pictures of them yet. And since I haven't seen him, he also doesn't have them yet. I have to look to see what the color is, but I know it is Deborah Norville's Serenity again.



This is the crocheted afghan that I finished and gave to my oldest daughter & her new husband for their wedding July 31, 2010. The 4 circles kind of remind me of wedding rings, so I try to make it for weddings. It was actually finished in December 2009. This made with Red Heart's Super Saver in Ecru.









I had a chance to get in on a lace knit a long by Bad Cat Designs this summer, but had to wait until after the wedding to have time (I also made the cakes for the wedding). I used a sock yarn in merino wool. It is knit on a US #4 needle. I did most of the sample patterns in 1 week, but then the edging took a bit. My plan is to give it as a Christmas gift. This was my first experience at knitting a lace project. This is in Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints - a hand painted sock yarn.




These 3 pairs of socks are for me & had been on the needles for quite some time. I alternated between the 3 to give myself a break on the size of the knitting as well as the pattern that I was putting into the blue socks.

The blue pair is done in Paton's Stretch Sock in Mineral on 2.75mm needles.







This pair is done in Red Heart's Heart & Sole in Black Jack on 2.5mm needles. The pair for my brother that I haven't quite finished are in the same yarn.










This pair is done in Deborah Norville's Serenity in Saffron on 2.25mm needles.













Now for the wip's or works in progress (other than the
 pair of socks & the sweater). This is another shawl, but this time it is in lace weight yarn rather than sock yarn & it is to be for my mil who loves orange. But she also had dementia & so for 2 reasons I chose to do it in this yarn. First off, she doesn't really go much of anywhere, so doing this little triangle shawl rather than a long one should fit into her day better - can kind of be worn as a scarf. Also since I didn't pay near as much for the cone of yarn, besides the hours put into knitting it, it won't feel so bad if she were to lose it entirely. It is just some coned yarn that I got off eBay that is made from Mongolian Cashmere on US #4 needles.


This is the start of a baby blanket. I am not real happy with the pattern or the needles. So may change it. It's my pattern for a diamond background - trying to come back up with a similar pattern to one I used to have an afghan from. I had made a graph of the pattern before my computer crashed & I may have lost that pattern now. These needles feel a bit short on the needle portion, so are somewhat annoying to knit with. Don't know if I am going to be able to complete it without feeling too annoyed to do it. The needles are #7 Addi's, but for some reason the shafts are smaller than I am used to with my Addi's or maybe it is just that the needles are larger around so I notice it more. The yarn is Hobby Lobby's baby yarn.




And now the final one is a group of 4 pairs of socks that I am doing again for myself. On the left of the picture is a pair made in the same Red Heart's Heart & Sole in Toasted Almond that I used for my youngest brother. His kids are curious to see what a difference in size & in needle size can do to change the way the patten of the self-patterning yarn can make. Next to that is Deborah Norville's Serenity in Paprika. Next is Patons' Stretch Socks yarn in licorice - remaking the 1st pair I ever did since they turned out too fat around to be comfortable on my feet & too long. Last is SRK On Your Toes (Bamboo & Nylon) in Mardi Gras Multi.

The 1st 3 pair from left to right the toes are increased every 3rd row - will see how I like that. The last pair are increased every other row, which is the way I usually do it. But I might have to change this pair eventually since it seems to be coming out a bit larger than the others, but may not have as much stretch in it. So haven't decided yet.

Original comments:

comment:

1. 
   Caffeine GirlOctober 29, 2010 11:22 AM

   Wow you are amazingly productive. I am not!
   
   So sorry that your job is ending. How hard do you think it will be to find another?

Knitting Questionnaire - originally posted 4/7/10

This was borrowed RenateS's blog.

Mark with bold the things you have ever done, with italics, the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Here's mine:

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens
Cuff-upMittens:
Top-down Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes (both hand and machine on knitted garments)
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener
BOPurses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
EntrelacKnitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere (one of these days)
Darning (I come from an era when darning was mandatory) JewelryKnitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
RugKnitting on a loom (tried it once and didn’t like it)
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

What about you, if you are a knitter?

Wednesday's This, That & The Other - originally posted 4/7/10

It's been a quiet day here at work so far. Not a single phone call - hope they are putting in lots of orders online instead! You know - job security! Today is my 5 year anniversary here. This is the longest I have ever stayed with a job other than as wife & mother! So a big milestone for me.

Last night we finally got the last 2 signatures of the 4 that we needed on the 2 forms giving me permission to handle things for my mom's affairs. I had gone by the Genesis Health Club here in Hutchinson where E is now teaching boxing to get his measurements for a sweater that he wants me to knit for him by next month when he graduates at HCC and while I was there, my phone started ringing - it was my youngest brother's oldest daughter. I didn't take it right then because of 2 things - my phone was about dead & with being inside the boxing room, it was really hard to hear anyway. But when I got to the van & plugged it in, I also had a text message saying that my brother was here in town for us to get together for his & my sister's signatures. After giving him heck for not letting me know he was coming, I drove home & got the 2 papers we needed, called my sister & offered to pick her up - which I did & we drove to 1 of the Dillon's stores where we had been told they had a notary. Well - wouldn't you know it, all the notaries had gone home at about 7:30 pm and it was 8 pm! So then we tried looking in the phone book for someone else - didn't find even 1 listing for a notary. So then I tried calling a friend that I know is a notary (didn't think I had her # & had erased the messages from her on Facebook, so couldn't contact her through a message there), but didn't get her on the phone. Tried driving by her house, but since I had erased those messages, I didn't have the exact # anymore and nothing looked right in the dark. So we went back to the motel that my sister is living at currently and started looking again in the phone book. I thought I remembered a tax preparer on the west side of town that also was a notary. Found her, but by then, it was nearly 9 pm. I felt bad, but I called her anyway, explained that we had been trying to get this done for a month & would she please consider notarizing these 2 signatures. She agreed to - so we quickly got back in the cars & drove out there! Whew! Finally had it!

This morning, I left home an hour early for work to drop off the 1 copy at the post office, for the postmaster. Gave them a note also with my work # & my cell # on it in case he has any questions still. So hopefully in the next few days I will start seeing the mail for my mom showing back up at my house on a regular basis instead of just every now & then when something gets through. I also stopped by the bank to give the copy there to the clerk that we are dealing with on the stolen checks - the lobby didn't open until 9 am & it was just 8:15 am. So I spoke with a woman that I saw coming out of the lobby that worked there & explained what I was trying to do, so she said she would give the copy I had to T. I still need to call T in a bit & give her my fax # as well as the fax # for here at the office so that she can fax the information about the checks to me for me to look at. All of that meant I was at work about 1/2 hour early - so came in & chatted with E after he called me as I was pulling in.

E has chewed for about 15 years now. Had stopped at one point, but his ex-gf had convinced him evidently to restart chewing. But recently D had gone to see E & offered him some cash, if E would stop chewing. Well, E didn't want to do it because of his dad giving him money, so he said no. Later he called me, told me he had been thinking about it & thought he wanted to try, but didn't want me to tell D at the moment. So he started mixing fake chew in with his regular chew - 1/2 to 1/2 to start, then 1/3 to 2/3, then nothing but fake chew. It's been 4 days now of nothing but fake chew & he feels he is doing ok. We will see. But he did finally decide that he needed to maybe also take D up on his offer of the money for doing it, since as a poor full-time college student, he is always low on cash! But he says that if he fails at it, he will be paying D back the money. I am so proud of him for doing it!

Yesterday was a very busy day though. I had forgotten that I had an 8 am dental cleaning scheduled 6 months ago, when 2 months ago I scheduled a 5:15 pm blood donation. So the dogs had a very long day in the crate before I got home to let them out to potty. And boy were they telling me about it by the time I got there - I could hear them all the way to the van! But after Fred got away from D once when he let them out to potty while I was at work (Fred likes to run off & explore and our yard isn't fenced), D won't put them out anymore. I think if he made sure they were securely on their cable before he ever opened the front door and the made sure the front door was also securely shut after bringing them back in the house, but before their cables were unfastened, then it wouldn't be an issue. But he won't do it. So Fred cooked their gooses!

While I was down giving blood, they took my iron levels and asked me if I had ever considered giving double reds as they called it. It's where they just take the red blood cells & put the plasma back. My level was 15.2, which I guess is very good. And I am a type O+ - she said they only do this with O & B types. She said it takes about 20-25 minutes to donate instead of the 10-15 minutes otherwise and that most people feel less tired after donating than they do from a regular donation. So I didn't do it last night since I felt I just needed to get it over with, but the real thing that makes it interesting to me is that while only donating once every 2 visits is enticing, the fact that babies get first dibs at the blood since it is already ready to go & would be all from 1 person rather than a mix, makes it really sound like something I would like to do. I don't like to donate to begin with, but now that I finally have, I keep doing it - I just don't watch while they insert the needle! But the fact that my donation would be able to help babies that need blood feels even nicer to me than just helping anyone. So I think that is what I will do next time. And the fact that I will only go every 2 times is good also!

I have all 3 pairs of my socks past the heels, as I think I mentioned the last time I posted. I took pictures of them today to show them so far.


Paton's Stretch Socks in Mineral on 2.75mm needles

Someone on one of my machine knitting groups had talked a while back about doing a Spiral cap/hat. I thought that sounded interesting, so I decided to do a k3, p3 pattern across 32 stitches (64 stitches total, but wanted the foot in stockinette), moving it to the left 1 stitch at the start of each round. Then after shaping the heel, I picked up a stitch in the center back and started doing the spiral pattern around the entire leg. The picture really doesn't show this, but the color is predominately blue, with rust & black areas & some white with all these colors. I think so far this is my favorite looking sock & color, but the pattern did become a bit tedious to keep track on on the foot.



Red Heart's Heart & Sole in BlackJack on 2.5mm needles


This is a self-striping yarn. I am not 100% satisfied with how it is turning out. So haven't decided if I want to try it again on a different size of needles. It is done over 68 stitches since I am using a slightly smaller set of needles. It is mostly black with stripes of pink & white with some specks or even small areas in an almost yellow, greenish or orangish color. I don't feel like the patterning is coming out to it's best although it did improve when some changes I had made. I also have some black specks in areas that I don't think it should belong.


Deborah Norville's Serenity in Saffron on 2.25mm needles

This is a self-striping yarn. I think I do like the way the patterning has turned on out on it. It is a combination of wider turquoise stripes, thinner lime green stripes and then wider sections of various shades of pinks.