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!

Job & socks update

This week has been going pretty good!  Our oldest daughter seems to have gone from working fill in & 1 permanent day per week to working at least 5 days a week.  And my job prospects seem promising this week!  I had 2 interviews on Tuesday.  The first would be at the court house, the second would be working for a business that sells hearing aids.  I got a call today that the 1st job had forgotten to have me take a test for my proficiency, so that is now scheduled for tomorrow at 12:45 pm.  Don't know whether to take that as a positive sign or not though.  Normally this test is done before the interview it seems, so unless I had a good interview, I would think they might be likely to ignore the fact that I hadn't done the test.  But maybe not.  The 2nd job, I did their test on my computer Monday night and I think that interview also went well.  Both said they hope to make a decision this week.

I also had a call from a different temp agency than I had been working with.  During the time that I have had to apply for at least 1 job per day Monday through Friday (that is so hard in this town!), I had put in a few online apps with this agency.  So I got a call from them saying that they might have a 3-4 week temp job that could start as early as next Monday doing data entry and that they might have an insurance agency that is looking for a part-time employee now & that it might work into full-time later.  And that one could involve a day or 2 working in Wichita each week.  I took their test this morning from my computer.  I had intended to do it last night, but I didn't get home from the 2nd interview until shortly before D came home from work, so I got dinner.  Then before I got started, he came in wanting me to look up Amtrak ticket prices for him to go to Chicago next week to visit our youngest & her dh.  So by the time he checked to make sure where Union Station was from their apartment, contacted them to make sure if Monday or Tuesday was best, I checked several dates on the schedule for pricing, then we purchased his tickets to leave on Tuesday and return on Saturday - it was too late to be starting a 90 minute test.  My eyes were getting tired and I just didn't think I would test my best.  So I waited until this morning.

When I had spoken with the woman at the temp agency yesterday, she asked me if I preferred to test on Office 2007 or Office 2010.  I told her 2007 since really, I am most comfortable with 2000 or XP (2003, I think, but might be 2004 version).  So she said she would set me up to test on 2007.  Well, Excel was 2007, but Word was 2010.  So I don't know if she messed it up when she set it up or if it didn't allow older than 2010.  But I'm thinking maybe I should force myself to work more with 2007 at least, since I certainly can't afford to buy 2010 right now to practice with!

I restarted a pair of socks for K.  I had originally planned to do the Waffle Stitch socks by Wilma that I had found on Ravelry.  But I did that stitch pattern for my mil back in the summer.  So I decided instead to drop down from 44 stitches total to 42 stitches & do a cable pattern over 4 stitches with 3 purls between each cable.  So far it is going pretty good, even though the cable patterning seems to be drawing it in more than I expected.  So I think I will work the same # of rounds that I did for the oldest granddaughter and hope that this doesn't make it way too long.  It sure doesn't look to me like it is going to be too long.  But I should be able to try it on her in about 10 days.  So I am thinking I will continue on through the heel, but then stop & work on another gift until I can try it on her - then I don't have quite as much to rip out if it is too big.

I found a give away for 365 skeins of yarn (considered to be 1 year's worth of yarn) to celebrate I Love Yarn day on October 12, 2012.  I have uploaded my Sugar Plum Fairy picture there and I would love to win, at least 1 of the top 10 prizes, but I am currently in about 21st place.  Could I please ask all of you to go there and vote for me?  You are allowed to vote once per day & the voting ends on 10/15/12.  The link for my picture is http://offerpop.com/FacebookContestEntry.psp?c=204579&u=18998&a=254553244581393&p=194582633932169&rest=0&id=616674&rest2=0 - thanks in advance!

And tonight I found a new group of links to maybe download the torrent for the Amish in the City series that I have been looking for.  It looks like they had just uploaded it shortly before I found it.  So I am keeping my fingers & toes crossed that I will be able to view the last 4 episodes in full without it stopping 2/3 the way through.


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!

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?

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.

Crafts I've complete since I last posted about them - originally posted 2/27/10

This is what I call a wedding ring afghan. I found the pattern years ago in Good Housekeeping magazine. I think it was about 1980-81. They called it Filet Crochet, if I remember correctly. The original pattern called for making it with an F or G crochet hook & knitting worsted yarn. I decided after making the 1st one that I would make it with a larger hook, so I use a K and still use knitting worsted. I think you can see the rings that are part of the pattern and each ring has 4 small flowers and 1 large flower. To me, it reminds me of a wedding ring quilt. So I have taken to making this for family & friends when there is a wedding planned. When A & J got married in January 2005, she requested that I make it double the length, so they had to wait a while on theirs. In 2004 I made it for 3 other weddings - first my cousin As wedding in April. Then Js sister T's wedding in August and then October was my cousin A's wedding. In the middle of that, I also was making A's wedding dress as well. And then started their afghan for their wedding, but didn't get it finished until about September 2005. Then I also made one for E's best friend B for his wedding in October 2005. This particular one was planned for E's friend J who got married while A & I were on our cruise, but after all the ones I have made, I had difficulty completing another one - so didn't get it done until December 2009. But by then, the happy couple weren't so happy anymore & are currently separated. So guess I am actually ahead at this point.

While A & I were on our cruise last August, I wanted something that was easily portable so that when we were sitting by the pool or whatever, I could have something to keep my hands busy. So I started my 1st ever pair of socks. The grey socks are the result. The green socks are my 2nd pair and I am currently working on 3 different pair at the same time - a blue pair, a tan pair & a cream pair.

Friday

Today is Friday and unless things change before about midnight, I will be spending the day mostly likely with just the dogs!  My dh said on Wednesday that he should be working 15 hours today, so I have put a small crockpot of vegetable beef soup on for myself for dinner.  I had picked up a roast on Tuesday when I was at the store & cooked it all day in the crockpot & now I have put some in my soup.

I may have to put on some socks or else close some windows!  My feet are cold today!  Right now, weatherbug is telling me that it is 59 degrees here, at 12:40 pm!  Quite a change from a month ago & definitely has a feeling of Fall in the air.  That part I don't really care for since I am more of a Spring person, but the cooler weather is nice!

No grandchildren this weekend, but the oldest granddaughter does have a tennis match on Monday afternoon.  Actually, I think she might have more than 1 next week, but I will have to check my calendar again to make sure.  I do have it set to pop up each morning with a reminder of what is going on that day.  I love my calendar on my computer!  It helps to keep me organized, although in some ways I don't need it quite as much these days - my dh's work schedule is usually M-F 8 - 4:30 unless he has over-time.  He used to work a combination of days & evenings & was on an 8 day rotation, so I always had to keep his schedule on my calendar to know if I was going to be alone in the evenings or not.

We had some rain over the last couple of days.  Still need a lot more to make up for the drought that we have been in for a couple of years, but it is definitely a start.  The yards around here are all looking pretty green again!  They had turned mostly brown way back in about May, so this is unusual for us!

I finished 1 pair of socks this week & have started another.  I decided to make up my own design & it seems to be working out all right.  I do wonder about when I get to the leg & start going around the leg.  Since I will be working in the round, it might throw the diamonds off a bit.  I decided on the following pattern rows:

O - Knit
X = Purl

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOX

XXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXX

OXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOX

This is over 22 stitches & then will continue the pattern over the remaining 22 stitches & the only thing that might not come out right is that since I am working in the round, it might not line up 100% on the last stitch & the 1st stitch of each round.  The new pair is in an olive color that my oldest granddaughter decided she liked when she saw it.

 
After I get all these socks done, I am thinking about taking the leftovers & making some crazy socks using all or at least some of the colors in stripes.  I've seen where another blogger has done this, but I believe with the smaller sock yarn & they have looked great.

I mentioned the other day that I was hoping to be able to find the reality TV series Amish in the City to be able to watch it since when it was on the air, I didn't have cable TV & so wasn't able to watch it.  I still don't have cable, but I had been able to find a way to download the new Dallas series, Breaking Amish & Meet the Hutterites series through Amazon's instant video option.  But I have searched & searched looking for a possible way to get the Amish in the City series or at least be able to watch it online.  Well, I think I have finally had success, but I won't know for sure until the 1st episode finishes downloading.  I kept finding snippets on youtube, but they weren't the complete episode.  Last night, I found the following site - http://www.general-files.com/files-a/amish-in-the-city/ & while I had issues with Firefox crashing repeatedly as I tried to download, Internet Explorer seems to be working fine right now.  It means it will probably mean I pay extra for my internet for this month, but guess that is the price I pay.  At least this site gives me the option of not having to register & not having to pay.  I found several sites that required me to register & even wanted me to put in a credit card # & then wouldn't even having the series on the list afterwards.  After 1, which I then cancelled, I never went through with the others since they all started to look alike.  This site that I am using says it has 9 episodes, which is the correct number of episodes for the series and while it will only let me download 1 at a time, at least it is downloading them & I am not registered, nor did I have to pay.  I would have, if I could have just found what I needed, but this is the 1st time I found what looks right.  I will let you know, maybe before I actually post this post today.

I am thinking I will hold this post for a bit & maybe I can get the current Sangria shawl to a new chart & so get a picture of it to add here & maybe a picture as well of the newest socks on the needles.

I went through my Ravelry projects today & changed a few more names so that all the items that are alike now group together - like shawls, scarves, bulky socks or just socks, baby blankets, etc.  I also a while back had figured out that if I added some spaces in front of the name on the ones that are wip's & then take those spaces out when I finish a project, that they will sort with the wip at the beginning & all the finished items will slow up below that.  I decided to use 10 spaces, but don't know, it might work with less spaces.

 I decided to go ahead & close the windows in the living room, dining room & the kitchen.  The dogs seemed to be trying to get warm.  They still don't have a lot of fur since I kept them short through at least mid-August.  Usually by now they have nearly 2 months of growth to their fur.  So then I got to watching the dogs - Ginger had gotten out of the bed (they do have 2, but never use both at the same time), so Fred took the bed.   Then Ginger decided she wanted the bed back again, so I watched her go over, nudge the side with her nose since Fred didn't immediately take the hint by her just being there.  Then she waited while he got out of the bed & moved, so now she is in the bed sound asleep!  He is such a whimp when it comes to dealing with Ginger!  Can't decide if she is mom or gf!

I ran across a note recently that my son had made in 2004 of some movies he was loaning to a friend - Alive, Halloween, Ramblin' Man & Speed.  I decided they are probably long gone, so I looked on eBay to see if I could find replacements - which I did & I am waiting on them to arrive now.  I was able to upgrade Ramblin' Man to a dvd version, but VHS was all I found for the others.  I don't personally like horror movies, so that is something Don has to watch alone.  The others are ones that I am eager for them to arrive so that I can watch them again.  I had forgotten about the note being put on the corkboard & wondered what happened to these movies.

The tablecloth that I have started for my niece has gotten me to wanting lace valances in the kitchen & dining room, so I have found a book with some patterns that I like & will try to restrain myself on starting any of them until after I get some other projects done.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Socks done!

 Yesterday morning I headed to Main St. in Hutchinson to find a parking space to watch my 12 year old granddaughter march in the band towards the fairgrounds.  I never did find her, but I got some pictures of local bands - I saw the Haven band which is about 10 miles from us, I saw El Dorado, Eureka, Reno Valley Middle School (part of Nickerson), Anthony & another that I can't remember the name of & don't think I had ever seen before, as well at Hutchinson's HMS Middle Schools bands.  So I got some pictures of Haven, Reno Valley & Hutchinson.  I also started taking pictures of Anthony & it wasn't until their bus got close that I realized it wasn't a local band!  I never knew their colors were also blue & gold!  I never did see my granddaughter though!

While I was there, I pulled out my mp3 player & started listening to a book.  After I finally figured out how to find them on the memory card, etc.  Then I grabbed my grandson's socks that I was nearly done with & started knitting while waiting for the bands to start.  after several rounds I realized that I had evidently started a round - several rounds back & my needle had slipped out of the stitches, so I needed to tink back several rounds to have enough yarn for those stitches.  Then I decided to try them on to see how many more rounds I needed to do so that they would have a long enough leg - I decided to go for 60 rounds after starting the leg patterning.  So bound off on the 61st round.  Those are on the blockers still, but I did manage to get a picture this morning of the finished socks (except I still need to weave in 2 ends of yarn).

After the bands played, I went around the corner to the yarn store & instead of just getting 2 or 4 skeins of yarn - I picked up 8 - they had new colors in stock & it was double punches for my $15 off my next purchase card - so now I have $15 worth of yarn coming & I have a nearly full card too.

I really need to get started on another pair for the grandkids for Christmas, but all I want to do so far is to take a nap!

About 10 years ago I didn't have cable TV (still don't) so missed watching the reality TV series Amish in the City.  I would still love to watch that if I could find a place to either find the videos or to download them, but so far, I have not.  I did find that I could get the entire 1st season (or is it only season) of the National Geographic Hutterite show that recently aired.  So I watched several episodes of that last night.  I also found that I could get the new Breaking Amish show, so got the 1st 2 episodes of that downloaded.  I love learning about people & even though I grew up knowing several Amish families & worked with Amish people, there is still so much I don't know about them!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Catching Up

It's been a couple weeks since I have posted.  In that time, I finished a couple of projects, made a couple of cakes, had my dh leave for a week, etc.  Now to try to catch up!

I believe I had already technically finished Mom's orange socks, but had not gotten the puff paints to put something on the soles to try to help her not fall & break a hip in them.  I really had hopped to find something that would blend in with the color, but wasn't able to, so just went with white & drew the outline of hearts on the soles of the socks before sending them off to her.

August 1st our oldest daughter, D. finished her last class for her accounting degree!  She first started in college in the fall of 1996, but through life's many twists & turns, it has taken her a while to get to this point.  I believe over the course of it all, she acquired an Associate's degree from 1 college & in total attending about 4 different colleges.  She went from originally intending to get a dual degree is Mathematics Education & Music Education to Accounting.  But in the process there were 5 kids & 2 husbands involved as well!  I know she is finally glad to be at this point!  And this means that all 3 of our children have finally gotten their 4 year degrees!

I finished that up about the 5th or 6th of August, then on August 8th I mailed them after my dh left for his niece E.'s wedding in the Seattle, WA area.  I was also sending the wedding afghan that I had crocheted for their wedding gift to them.  He had a good visit, I believe, with his parents, siblings & their families.  Unfortunately, for the 1st time in 35 years, I had to chose to not go due to being required to report exactly who I was applying to each day for jobs with my unemployment.  Our town just isn't big enough to be sure I would be able to find enough jobs to apply to online or through email to allow me to go & then not being sure how the internet would work (have been in places that was supposed to have free internet, but was never able to connect), so didn't want to take a chance!


On August 17th I finished my Ruby Sangria shawl from the Bat Cat Designs KAL that I had been working on.  I have another on the needles as well though since I realized shortly after starting that the person I had intended to give Ruby to had already been given a shawl in almost the exact same color.  Oops!  So am now working on an Ancient Ruins color.

I had been working on another of Bad Cat Designs KAL's when I had issues develop last year with my right hand.  I have now tinked back to correct a dropped stitch that I had evidently marked when I was last knitting on my Back to the Garden shawl, figured out where I was and am trying to make sure I do a couple rows per day so that I can get it finished in time for Christmas.  I had intended to give it to my oldest daughter last year for Christmas, but then couldn't when I had issues being able to work on it.

There have also been several twists & turns in getting a great-niece's 15th birthday party done.  Originally her parents had intended to give her a Quince bash like they did for her sister last year, but it seems she had some trouble making up her mind about what she wanted exactly.  In the end, we had cake & ice cream yesterday for her 15th birthday, but she doesn't actually turn 15 for another week or so.  The original party date had been 9/1, then it was changed to 8/11, finally to 8/18.
 

 The weather has gotten cooler over the last couple of weeks.  We have still had some 90+ degree days, but as I am writing this, it is only 67 degrees.  I looked over at my female dog & realized that she looked like she was trying to find some way to get warm.  So I got out her sweater & now she is cuddled up in her bed going to sleep!  Usually I only have their fur cut twice over the summer & the 2nd time I don't have it cut as short as the 1st time, but this summer with trying to not use the AC, I actually bought a set of clippers & cut them about every week to get them through the hottest parts of the summer.  And the female has actually lost some weight over the summer because she didn't feel as much like eating.

I'm going to get a break for a little bit on a 2 disk rental that my dh got.  It's corny, not my taste in a movie, which he is watching in the living room because the TV that he had in the bedroom went out and with his hearing loss, I have trouble thinking straight with it on.  He is planning to go visit with out grandson for a bit, so guess I will deal with it again this evening.  Maybe after a nap I will feel up to it more myself.  It was so bad that I couldn't even lose myself in my knitting since I couldn't concentrate.

My son E. has started taking flying lessons recently.  He is all excited, especially since he works in the airplane industry now that he has graduated with his Mechanical engineering degree.  So he calls me & tells me about his progress after each new event.  He would love it if I could bring myself to fly with him at some point in the future, but I really don't think that will happen.  I am terrified of heights, but I do manage at times to go on commercial airlines.  I just can't even consider the idea of going in a small plane!  When I am on a commercial airline I sit in the aisle seat, avert my eyes from the window, try to distract myself with reading, knitting or crocheting - except for take off & landing usually.  Those times are usually done with my eyes squeezed shut as tight as I can, holding my breath & clutching the seat in front of me so tightly that I am sure the person sitting in it thinks I am trying to snatch it out from under them!

I have to say, I do a little better than I did on my 1st flight when my maternal grandmother had made sure to tell me about, if I never see you again......  I had a 3 month old baby & it was my 1st time flying!  We had gotten a special on our tickets that if we drove to Kansas City & flew United, then we could get our tickets for 1/2 price.  The seats that were available were 1st class going & coach on the return trip.  So we had the best leg room going - 1st row, right side of the plane and when the baby started crying, the flight attendant offered to take her with her while she offered drinks!  Gave me a chance to get myself together & I think helped calm D. down since she had to be picking up on my nerves.

Well, I think I will see about getting a bit of knitting done on the 2 shawls I am working on at the moment.  I did get several rounds done of the legs of a pair of socks yesterday during the party, so I am doing good on those.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Pictures

Just a quick post to show off the pictures I took today of my 2 current knitting projects.  The first is the pair of socks that I am knitting for my mil.  I was just starting the gusset shaping.  I right now have about another 10 rounds to go before I start making the short-row heel shaping.

The second is the first picture of my Ruby Sangria shawl that I started last night.  In this picture, I have the start up chart finished.  I am now a few rows into Chart A.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!