Knitting From the Animal House

I Got Nothin

2012-02-07T05:21:00.002-05:00

Between crazy work schedule that conflicts with everyone else's in the house and my need for sleep, seems like a lot of things are going by the wayside.

I work 5 pm until somewhere between 3 and 5 am. Days off are through the week sometime. The hub works 8 am until between 5 and 6 pm through the week. The boy works 2 pm until between 10 and 11 pm with random days off. Talk about passing in the halls.

The best thing about it are that the dogs never get lonely because there is always someone here or on the way here and with time together as a family so limited, we rarely have time for any disagreements.

Just a hint: Getting food for a vegetarian from Outback is a sad, sad thing. However, the local Mexican restaurant has a few awesome choices.

2012-01-02T12:23:00.001-05:00

Finally, finally, it snows. Just a wee skim, but snow.....

2011-12-27T13:59:00.001-05:00

Trying out a different phone

2011-05-27T17:00:00.001-05:00

Now to see if mobile blog posts work.

OMBOB!

2011-05-27T16:50:00.001-05:00

It's been foreeeveerrr.

EEEEEEEEPP

2009-10-15T14:14:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. It's true that life really does get in the way.

Since the last time, I've met some local knitters from Ravelry. They're awesome and fun and funny! It's odd how folks react to ladies with sharp sticks and yarn at a Chinese buffet.

There has been some knitting that is still around to be shown. Let's see, how about these:

I know, the Teal,Aqua,Lime ones are the same colors. I just wanted to play with the colors and this is what happened.

The black and white hat is from a pattern called Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon Osborn at Kelbourne Woolens. It was a lot quicker than you'd think to make up and I adore the finished product.

Hi ho hi ho off to work we go. I have to do something productive.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T12:51:00.006-05:00

Well, I had this big thing already written about my hopes and fears for the new President, but then erased it all.

Everyone is probably already sick to death of everyone else's opinions, so..

As far as knitting goes, I've been working on a cowl pattern out of some nice thin fuzzy Patons Lacette. It's a nylon/acrylic/mohair blend that's looking pretty and girly. We'll see what happens when I'm done fooling around with it. Keep your fingers crossed because this would be a bear to frog.

If it turns out pretty, I'll get pics up and if not, we shall not speak of it again...

Cold

2009-01-16T14:58:00.004-05:00

All I have to say is

BRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

0 degress Farenheit this morning (-17.8 degrees Centigrade)
When they put in the lovely wind chill that's about -12F or -24C.

I am having a hard time wraping my head around it being colder here than in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Happy New Year - finally.

2009-01-14T17:04:00.006-05:00

The Holidays are finally over. That sounds a little grumpy, but I don't mean it to at all. We had a very nice Christmas after all. Wow, that sounded sort of grumpy, too.

It was an odd Christmas overall. The first time we had two grandkids to see. The older one is a joy and such a girly girl all around. The youngest was crawling everywhere. What a hoot! She thinks she's so big.

We went to the hub's parents' houses. Everyone was nice and got along and it was so drama free and without stress. When you've had a lot of drama, drama-free is so extremely nice.

I guess the shawl is making it's way across the country at light speed. It's actually ahead of schedule a bit which is great news. The pictures on here and on the blog for the shawl are showing it as a work in progress. I wish people who aren't knitters could envision how it's going to look after it's finished, washed and blocked. The difference will be night and day. It's going to be amazingly beautiful.

I'm reminded of how fortunate we are here. We have a warm place to live, food in the fridge, our kids are healthy, ditto the grandkids, I just got called back to work (not full time, but every bit helps) and our pets are spoiled rotten. Those things are HUGE. Agreed, it's not fun to not go shopping for "stuff", or go to movies or restaurants with no thought, or any of the various other ways we used to entertain ourselves, but we are trying to concentrate on what we do have, and it's more than sufficient.

One thing I want to remember to do this year is a little more charity knitting. When I think about it, there are yarns in my stash that aren't colors or types that my family would like, but someone else may adore, knitting is pretty much an obsession of mine, and there are so many people who would love to be warmer or just to know that someone had a little thought to their comfort. Charity knitting is a win-win for everyone.

Sometimes it does get a little crowded on the couch to be flailing about with pointy sticks:

Maybe if I put a little list thing on here, it will motivate me to do more.

Such a Slacker

2008-12-22T12:12:00.003-05:00

Yep, that's me. I just realized how long it's been. Somebody should have smacked me way before now.

First off the important stuff. I'm a participant in the Traveling Shawl that's working it's way across the country being worked on by knitters in all fifty states. The purpose is to raise funds towards breast cancer research and hopefully a cure very soon.

For all the details and links and such, someone else put it much better than I can, so here you go:

During the coming twelve months selected knitters from across the United States will be going Passionately Pink for the Cure® by working on the Traveling Shawl to raise funds for the fight against breast cancer.
It’s passionate, because the need to end breast cancer is so urgent. It’s pink, because that’s the color we’ll wear to accomplish our goal.
Participating is simple. One knitter from each state is adding six to eight rows of intricate lace knitting to a beautiful pink shawl that when completed will be raffled. To enter chances to win the Traveling Shawl make a donation of $5 or more to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the leader of the global breast cancer movement.
If you’d like to contribute online, please use the link below. In return for your contribution, you’ll get a pink ribbon pin and the satisfaction of helping to move us closer to a world free of breast cancer. To enter the drawing, when you receive an email confirmation of your donation send a copy to travelingshawl@gmail.com . For each $5 donated you’ll be entered in the drawing for a chance to own the completed Traveling Shawl!
Thanks in advance for your help and for showing your true colors by going Passionately Pink for the Cure.
Donation page
Follow the progress of the shawl and share the journey!
http://traveling50statesshawl.blogspot.com/
Here is a picture of how far it's been knit as of Saturday (12/20/08)

Raffle.. $5 for a chance to win the shawl.. Did you read that? wooohoooo.

Sometimes it gets a tad bit crowded around here to knit, so you HAVE to take breaks...

Sometimes you have to power through and do the sweater and beaded backpack anyway

Lots of cool stuff

2008-10-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

If I were getting grades for originality of blog titles, it would have to be at least a D, but what the heck. It's mine and that's that.

I finished up the 'Hey Teach' from the Summer Knitty. It's funny. A really quick knit, easy to remember lace pattern and stash yarn, yet it's gotten more compliments than things that have taken much more time and effort to complete. Just goes to show that a good design shines through.

I've also joined a cooperative knitting effort. You can read about it here. When it's all done, it will have been to all 50 states with people from every state taking a part in knitting it. It will be raffled off to benefit the Susan G Komen foundation for breast cancer. It looks like the raffle tickets will be $10 each. For the winner, that's going to be a great deal. For everyone else, they should get a great feeling of doing something good for not a whole lot of money.

That's it for now. If I ever get around to putting batteries in the camera, you guys can see some pics.

Hi - Whatcha doin?

2008-09-24T16:32:00.000-05:00

Good grief. Seems like we've been busy, but it's spinning our wheels. Which is ok, cause we do like hanging out with each other. Here's about as energetic as it gets:

That's two stubborn animals not about to give up the bed for each other. The cat is Friday and the dog is Skippy. Friday just doesn't look like her old self anymore. She's lost about 13-1 4 pounds and is now a downright svelte 15 lbs. I know, I know, it's HUGE. She really IS a biggish girl, but she's tall and long and carries it well.

As far as knitting goes, I've joined the MS4 knitalong and have finished clues one and two. So far it looks like this:

It's a bit of an odd combination, but to me it seems really 'fallish'. I'm using a fingering weight yarn called Breeze that's 40% alpaca and 60% wool. It just feels squishy and soft and warm. Just the thing for the cooler mornings on the horizon very soon.

There's been some random knitting. I'm working on a little backpack thingy for the oldest granddaughter. How many kids do you think will have a beaded purple alpaca bag? That's what I thought. Not many. Thank goodness the girl likes beads - and purple - and soft stuff. She's most surely a girly girl in every sense of the word. Not like her grammy at all.

Also sent out a few 7x9 inch squares to a local knitter who's working on a blanket for a family member from TX. I guess Ike hit them really hard and comfort items will be a real blessing for them while they're getting re-settled. It makes me wish I was a quicker knitter and could provide more.

FOUND!

2008-08-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

The dog from the post the other day is home with his real family.

We found out where he lives. The people are great. He's loved and cared for as a part of their family. He'd just gotten out and gone visiting.

It's GREAT when things work out.

Look What Came to Visit

2008-08-24T11:35:00.001-05:00

When we got home from the grocery store, this is what we found on our porch.

The dog, that is. We're trying to find his people. He's wearing a blue collar, is a kissing fool and will sit on command.

Anyone, anyone, Bueller????

Cowgirl Butterfly Astronaut Vest

2008-08-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

Love the name of this pattern. I found it here. This lady has some really cute patterns, and I am so glad she chooses to share them out. My worst problem with making this was finding buttons I thought were cute enough. (I'm actually still debating).

The fine folks at Ravelry are holding Ravolympics (not sure I spelled that right), and I entered an event for making a sweater while the Olympics are going on. It's running a tad bit behind for two reasons. The first was company for two nights (which was great!) and the second was that I apparently can't count to 39. I did the same set of 39 increases a couple of times and didn't come up with the right number at all. After the second frogging, it's finally right and ready to move on.

Here she is so far:

Not much to look at yet, but hope springs eternal.

Finally, a few pictures

2008-08-11T14:07:00.001-05:00

I told you that there really was some knitting going on around here. This is the baby sweater I talked about in my last post:

It's the Kipling Baby Sweater from Yarn Abuse.
That creepy stuff hanging down in the top right corner of the picture is my hair. My bangs are out of control and will probably stay that way for a while until they grow out to a more manageable length.

Here are the Spring Forward socks out of the last Knitty. They were a nice quick knit and the yellow colors seemed to fit them.

Last is a little raglan/lace sweater I made up as I went along for another baby girl on the way. It isn't laying too straight in the picture, but it hasn't been washed or blocked yet.

You can see that there are threads to be woven in, but all that is the last thing before the final wash before it gets gifted away.

There are more, but company's on the way and I'm out of time for now.

I SWEAR

2008-07-22T07:34:00.000-05:00

well, I promise I'm still alive out here. You aren't supposed to swear and all that.

Anywho, life is rolling along as it always seems to do only with less and less time. It seems that most of the time is taken up with work (silly, because it's only part time), plotting the next little cute thing to knit for a baby that either has entered or will be entering our world soon, knitting a little bit of nothing (mostly socks) and dreaming of sleep.

Yeah, dreaming of sleep....

For some reason, sleep still eludes me on most nights. Not completely, there are still random two hour stretches where surely snores rock the walls and snorky noises wake the birds, but a stretch of 5, 6 or more hours strung together at any given time are just a dream.

It will get better, it always does. I get stressed, don't sleep, the stressful thing gets resolved then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. Hopefully, by the end of this month, life will be rolling along with just normal stuff.

I have made several pairs of socks, but still need to graft all the toes. Perhaps when I run out of small needles it will get done.

There's a cutie patootie sweater that I got the pattern for here.
This little thing gets more compliments - probably because of the nice little structure details. I'll probably make it again, which is high praise for someone like me with the attention span of a gnat.

Maybe, hopefully, with a little luck, I'll remember to take some pictures of things and put them up here....

I got nuthin in the way of a title.

2008-06-13T11:02:00.000-05:00

Bad knitter.. Bad knitter. Well, it's more a case of non-photographing knitter. I've finished up pair of simple socks, but haven't taken a picture yet. Also, there's a little cardigan-ey sweater I made early on in the spring and didn't take a picture of. (Some folks at a local knitting/eating Mexican food get together actually saw the beginnings of the sweater back a few months ago.) Ahh well. I'll try to dig out the camera and see if I can rustle up a couple that are semi-decent to put on here.

Speaking of the folks who were at the restaurant (yeah, I know, but it's a baby change of subject and it's my blog and I can be as tactless as I want) it was so nice to see people who don't give you the "look" when you're knitting. You know, "Hmmm that's odd. Wonder what that woman is crocheting? Maybe I'll pretend not to look in case she's embarrassed for doing something weird like that." THAT look. It was actually the first time in my life I've ever seen anyone else knit. How crazy is that?

The other good news is that my new needles should be here that will let me finish the border on the shawl that's been in the works forever and a day. PLUS, I got 10 skeins of a really pretty rusty red fingering weight (can't remember content and it's at the house and I'm not) that is asking very nicely to be turned into something for this fall.

So Laaaaazzyyyyyyy

2008-06-06T08:32:00.000-05:00

Yep. That's me.

I've done nothing "blogworthy", so I'll have to bore you with the mundane.

I've been working along so slowly on the 'Secret of Bad Nauheim' stole. I think pretty much everyone else in the free world who was working on this stole finished weeks ago. Now I find myself at the point of picking up stitches around the stole to put the border on. My circ is too short for all the stitches to fit. How short? Waaaaaaaay short. I've got another on order, so at some point in time I will finish this. It looks like it's going to be gorgeous after it's blocked. ummm.. after I get the new needle, the stitches picked up, the border knit on and get it dyed a good color for the recipient. Heh. It's practically finished!

Friday Diet

2008-05-22T09:07:00.000-05:00

Friday the cat has been on a diet and has lost a tad over 9 pounds. In the grand scheme of things 9 pounds isn't a lot, but when you're only about 8 or 9 inches tall at the shoulder....dayum.

She's lost one third of her total body weight. And she's still chubby! Her middle name has been Sumo for years and we're not yet ready to go through a name change yet. We really aren't starving her. (Ignore her yowling to be fed every morning at 4:00!) It's taken about 9 months and a couple of vet visits, but she's well on her way to finding out what the term 'catlike grace' means. Yeay Friday!

Another li'l thing that gave me a big loopy grin was a phone call from my sis. For a little background, you probably should know that every week, I make flyers for my boss. The flyers are pictures of animals that are ready for adoption at a local animal shelter. After they're printed up, off they go to local vets and groomers in the hopes some of their customers will see a pet they can't live without. Anyway, back to the sister call. She told me that one of her friends adopted a puppy from the shelter.. It's this little guy:

awwwwwwww.....

STILL ALIVE!

2008-05-16T07:57:00.000-05:00

Yes...

I'm still alive out here.

It's been so insane and so many things have happened over the last few months. We moved from one state to another - which in itself is a major pain when you 'do it yourself'. I don't think we'll ever find everything, but the kitchen is set up, we've got beds and clothes and the pets, so the important things are done. Everything else is just gravy and we'll get to it at some point in time.

I gave away the chicken, because you really can't keep poultry in a subdivision. With the price of eggs going sky high, I'm wondering if I can't get a couple of hens and pretend they're some sort of exotic parrot or something.

We had fostered out the cats, and now have one (the big one at the top of this thing) back. She's lost 8 pounds and is down to a practically svelte 19.5 pounds. We're so excited at how well she's doing getting around and grooming herself that we're spoiling her unmercifully. She's actually turning into a yowling brat. The little cat was adopted permanently by a young lady who can spend a lot of time and give her undivided attention. We miss her, but it is a win for her since she's a very needy girl when it comes to petting and loving. I just hope she gets the occassional Cheetoh. She loves those things.

Best of all, we have a beautiful, gorgeous, perfect new granddaughter who looks amazingly like her big sister and her mother. She arrived a little early and was a little small, but is doing terrific. Of course I went over her with a fine toothed comb to see if there was any teensy tiny resemblance to me or my son anywhere. (I can't help it, I'm just weird like that!) She got her dad's curly hair and her second toe is longer than her big toe like mine. We are NOT going to mention anything about any sort of Irish temper! I will deny, deny, deny that she got that from her paternal side of the family.

The knitting has been so slow lately. It's just been tough getting back in the groove while going back to work and being overwhelmed with ch-ch-changes.... I'll get there, it's just slow for us old grammies. Heh..

Whew!

2007-12-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

So much stuff going on lately. We've found out the grandchild to be is a granddaughter to be. It looks like I'm going to be covered in pink or purple for a while. Now it's time to get some girly buttons on the stuff that was already ready for her.

My other mother had to have some surgery and so far, so good. We'll know for sure when the word comes back from the lab.

Holidays are getting close and we are anything BUT ready! eeeeeek

Not a lot going on that I can share, but it's looking like we're doing what we're supposed to be doing for everything to work out the way it should in the long term.

Cat update

2007-11-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, the baby cat (she's 8, but still she's the youngest cat) is much better now. Actually fully recovered. She's been placed on the "Catkins" diet. That means wet food that is all meat with no gravy or veggies. The first couple of days were really rough for her because she is the one who would ONLY eat dry food. No interest in tuna, any other type of fish, or any meat. The picture at the top isn't her at her top weight of 28-1/2 lbs,, but still. She's down to about 21 lbs and still is a total lap full.

The other cat will do about anything for a piece of roast beef, and heaven help you if you got Cheetos. She'll just about jump down in the bag to defend her share. She, of course, tops out at a scrawny 7 pounds.

I've mostly been working on the Queen Anne's Lace circular shawl. This morning I wanted to see what it looked like other than a ginormous hat bunched up on the needles. I threaded waste yarn and spread it out. It still has a way to go, but Oh My Goodness. It's freakin' awesome. This is one of the few times ever that I've looked at my own knitting and been impressed.

It's actually an easy pattern and not an extremely intricate design, but is just perfect for it's intended use. The link takes you to Men Who Knit which will take you to the pattern.

The camera went to work with the husband, so no pics today, but soon.

A Kitty Post

2007-11-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

Chubbalicious (Friday the cat at the top of the page) has really slimmed down. She's practically a wraith at a mere 23 pounts.

Ummm... the picture at the top IS a current picture and not at her top weight. Poor kitty has been sick and had to make a trip to the emergency vet the other night. We'll know by tonight how she's going to be. Keep your fingers crossed 'cause we just adore this chubby cat.

Knitting - AAAaarggghhh. I started a Queen Anne's Lace shawl to go with all the other WIPs. Maybe soon there will be some actual finished things to put on here.

How can I be so busy?

2007-11-06T14:11:00.001-05:00

I don't get it. I really don't.

I thought when you quit working, you'd sort of lounge around, eat bonbons and do lunch. OK, OK when you pick yourself up off the floor from laughing at me, just let me know.

First thing every morning as soon as I get up, there's the obligatory pot of coffee and some knitting.

Then comes down the scrawny cat who must chew my toes - morning pedicure whether I like it or not.

I have to get a dish of HOT water (the hottest the tap will produce) for scrawny cat or get my leg shredded while listening to pitiful yowling. It seems to be her morning fix like the coffee is mine.

Then comes the black dog who needs loves and pets.

Then comes the husband (He's a loan officer for a mortgage company.) who deserves and gets some coffee, conversation and all around attention. His picture is on the right, yeah, the cute guy over there.

Then comes the beagle who must be greeted - yes, greeted. He sits and looks at you and whimpers until you say "Good Morning" in this weird cheerful tone of voice.

Then there's ironing whatever the husband wants to wear today. I know, it would be easier to do it all at once, but this works for me so there.

Maybe find something to send to work with him for his lunch, or at least a couple of pop tarts.

OK by now it's getting to be daylight, so I wrap a blanket around my big ole butt and stand on the back porch (in full view, mind you) make these strange chirpy noise until the chickens come running and throw cat chow all over the yard for them. (Yeah, they're cannibals - who knew?)

This all happens pretty much before "normal" people get out of bed. Not a lot of stuff, nothing hard, but it's time consuming.

This week, I've also set up and filled a database with some possible client information for someone, prepared three mailings for someone, done a good size order of stitch markers for a customer and got sucked down into the great black hole of Ravelry which I'm loving. There are so many ideas, patterns and lots of people to ask if there's a project you may want some help with. If you aren't on there yet, I'd sign up.

Anywho, gotta go do some housewifey stuff and Christmas stuff and walk the dogs and water the chickens and plan dinner and make a grocery list and work on that database stuff and...

Startitis in full bloom

2007-11-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

Every year I knit for Christmas. Every year I KNOW there will be Christmas knitting. Right now I'm in the throes of startitis and UFOs.

So far there are:
1 triangular shawl
1 rectangular shawl
2 (count em-2) afghans
1 pair of socks
1 toy turtle (Sheldon from Knitty)
on my needles.

Then there' s my best friend who's reminded me a couple of times how much she loves her socks...

AND I need to proof and re-knit the teddy bear pattern I half-way wrote up when I made the bear that was in an earlier post. At some point I'll have to get a couple/few test knitters before I share it, but that's probably at least a couple of months in the future.

Whattya think - work on the big stuff first so that the closer to the holiday, the less stress per UFO??

No more new projects. (I can't even type that with a straight face)

see ya soon

Finally a sweater

2007-10-30T10:52:00.000-05:00

Not that the sweater took that long, it's just that it is the ONLY thing I've finished in a while exept for the Clapotis. There will be no pictures of the Clapotis on here. It's a very easy knit and everyone has shown pictures of it to death. I made the mistake of using a thin fingering weight (if there is such a thing) and size 2 US needles. It made it necessary to do LOTS of increases and LOTS of repeats and to be honest, it really is pretty, but I'm sick of looking at it right now.

It started out as a pattern I'd found, but I modified it to death since I didn't like the sleeves and the bottom. I can say, however, it is a raglan sweater.

This was made out of CARON SIMPLY SOFT SHADOWS in the 'Autumn' colorway. Hopefully it will be big enough to fit mystery baby when the weather cools down next fall. PLUS next week, the kids will find out if it's a boy or girl (if he/she isn't too modest) and everything should be color/pattern suitable after that.

The reason I picked this color was 1) I liked the long changes in it and 2) SOMEBODY ought to be having a redhead at some point in time.

I'm a redhead (sort of old penny, but still)
My mom was a redhead (true auburn)
TWO my son's great grandmas were redheads

That li'l gene is gonna pop out somewhere, so just in case ....

I've also been moving a lot of my knitting stuff into one room. It has taken over the whole house and HAS to be gotten back under control.

Not much, but a start and this room as the added benefit of having access to a full attic if the stash starts to explode again.

Ta Da

2007-10-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Ok Here's the sweater for grandchild on the way. When we find out the gender, then it'll get buttons. Right now I'm leaning toward the square ones, but we'll see.

When I was looking for a teddy bear pattern, the ones I was finding had NO TUMMY to speak of. Well, what good is a paunchless bear? That's not cuddly. Plus there was a lot of sewing/seaming. So out came the needles and here's what happened. The only seam is about 2 inches across the top of the head between the ears. I was very very good and wrote down everything I did as I went along, but don't think I can read it now because my abbreviations at the time make absolutely no sense to me now. What can you expect when you're keeping track on a big sketch pad with a hot pink highlighter.

I'll probably run it through another cycle in the washer/dryer to get that last bit of felting in, maybe embroider some features and then make some clothes. Probably should ask if the kid will need a boy or girl bear.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2007-10-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

Blogger won't let me put in pics, so I'll try again later....

It's Official

2007-10-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

The kids got married today.....

Oh Crap, I'm a Mother In Law

(Doesn't this mean I've got to get my witch face on? - OK for Hallowe'en, but maybe not so much for the rest of the year. I make a pretty good boyfriend's mom, so maybe I won't be so awful to be related to by marriage. Maybe someone should send the poor girl some sympathy cards.)

Rollercoaster ride

2007-10-09T17:16:00.001-05:00

Whew! I'll be so glad when this summer is really done, not just calendar done. Everyone has periods in their lives that are just bursting at the seams with turmoil. This summer has surely been one of those for us.

Husband changed jobs to a commission position where you have to build a client base. The outlook on this is extremely good, but until you build up your base, it's a struggle.
You get a gift package in an exchange from a total stranger who gave you the most awesome perfect gifts.
DIL & Son get pregnant. This is the second time in the past 5 years that I have actually burst into big blubbery snotty tears because I was so happy.
We thought the baby was lost. Heartbroken and mourning someone we truly loved but had never met.
Washing machine dies.
Landromat has city water and the white clothes are MUCH whiter.
Refrigerator dies.
Find out the baby is fine. (We are crediting a miracle for this one) DIL is fine. There goes the ole chubby woman happy dancing around the house and doing lots of baby knitting.
Realize how big your stash is and you've got plent of yarn for all the knitting
Water pump dies. This is even MORE fun than the refrigerator dying. Neighbors are generous with letting us haul buckets of water. You realize that you CAN take a shower with a few pitchers of water if you're careful and you really don't need to keep the water running that much when you're doing dishes.
Your best friend's son makes it back from Iraq safely.
New water pump! Husband is downstairs with neighbor putting in a new one even as this is getting typed.

You realize you are so blessed to have a husband who works so hard doing unfamiliar chores and jobs because it's for you. There ARE miracles (See #7 for this one). A good neighbor is a true gift and should be appreciated. For every crummy thing that happens, the good things that happen outweigh them immeasurably.

Oh Crap!!! (Run fast, it's a rant)

2007-10-05T04:59:00.000-05:00

I'll try not to do this again for a looooooooong time, m'kay.

Ever open your mouth and just wished you could do a big rewind?

Bear in mind, I've been extremely sleep deprived lately (Can you say 3 hrs or so per night?) It's never a good idea to disagree when your tactful part of the brain has gone on vacation....

I'm in this Yahoo Group and one of the members was unhappy about being chosen for jury duty and the probability of not knitting for a while. There were suggestions on how to get out of it.

OK, nobody wants to pull jury duty. BUT (It's that big ole but again) in this country we have the awesome privilege of voting for our leadership, protesting when we feel our leadership is screwing up, we're innocent until proven guilty, and so on and so on... One of the obligations we have in exchange for these privileges is that when we register to vote, we do so with the understanding that we could be called for jury duty.

(Yes, we vote at our house. I took my kid to the polls with me from the time he was 4 years old and explained to him that it was important. We get to hire politicians - this goes from local council members up to the president of the country. We hire the one we think will do the best job for the most people. If we don't think they're doing a good job, we "hire" someone else to work for us the next round. )

Some days....

2007-10-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

...are just like that, aren't they.

I like knitted stuffed animals, I really, really do, BUT I don't like sewing a bunch of little pieces together. I decided that there was going to be a teddy bear that didn't require a lot of pieces. Sat myself down with my needles and started knitting.

Knit two little feet and legs, attached a rounded booty, chubby tummy, couple of arms, skinnied everything down for a neck, chubbed it up again for a head with turned up nose, on and on for days this went. Stuffed the sucker, picked up and knit on a couple of ears. Ta-da!!! The only seam was about 2 inches across the top of the head. I wrote out what I was doing row by row. To make sure it wouldn't get lost, it was written in hot pink highlighter on a sketch pad.

"So, what's the problem?" you may ask. Well, it's so darn cute even if it is nekkid and lacking features that I wanted to share this with you. The freakin' camera batteries are dead! Aaarghh!!!! Surely we'll get around to getting some new batteries soon and THEN you can see how cute he turned out with his big ole belly.

Got the grandchild to be a sweater finished except for weaving in some ends. It's blue and white. Even though the blue is a bright turqoise, it's lacy enough that it could be acceptable for a girl with the right buttons. This non-gender specific knitting is going to have me sewing on dozens of buttons when we find out if this kid is a boy or girl. Have I mentioned enough times that I'm not a seamstress??

Pictures of that to come, too.

Anyway, I've got the endless Clapotis still going on - just a hint - don't knit this on US2 needles with lots of extra repeats. It's good reading knitting or TV knitting, but if that's all you're doing, it gets a little mind-numbing.

Also got one of the lacy toe up socks for one of the husband's processors almost done. They're going to be short house socks and I'm on the last couple of rows of ribbing at the top. (Ditto on the pics)

The 'Secret of the Stole' starts Friday, so I should probably finish up a couple of things.

Awwww

2007-09-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Got the sweetest phone call last night.

A little voice calling to ask me how to spell GrammyT. Then I'm informed that she likes her headband and that it fits and it will keep her ears warm and she doesn't have to write 'Thank You' because the card already says that part and she's getting so big she can almost wear mommy's shirts. Then she took a breath. Then she was in a 'Heart Walk' at school which is fun and the walk was in the gym and her partner in the walk was a little girl she didn't really know but she seemed really nice and they might be friends now and at different stations you could stop and jump rope if you wanted to and it was lots of fun. Second breath.

Whew, after you spend time talking to adults, it's a little hard to keep up with all that delivered in about 1 minute - but I'll do my darnedest as long as she wants to tell me what's going on in her world.

Just wondering...

2007-09-27T08:58:00.002-05:00

I've been watching on the news about that picture some lady took on vacation and thought it might be the little missing girl in Europe. Within a couple of days with minimal information and a blurry picture, there were bunches of journalists converging on some family who happened to have a blonde daughter.

The part I wonder about is this. All these bloggers put up myriad pictures of their kids because they are proud that little 'Lucy'*and 'Skippy'* look so cute in their new outfit or whatever. Then, after they give out their kids' names, they proceed to tell you the name of the town they live in, where they shop on Tuesday afternoons, which park they take the children to for playtime, etc. Is it me, or is this just dangerous? There are strange people out there in the world, people. There are people that are harmful in their intent. It seems like it's being made too easy for these people to find these children if they stumble across the site where they are featured.....

Yeah, Yeah, I'm a worrywart. It's what I do. I do it often and well. I know I posted a picture of my grandchild to be a couple of weeks ago, but I'm relatively sure that nobody is going to recognize him/her from a picture taken when they were an 8 week fetus.

* Lucy and Skippy are our dogs names. Good luck dognapping them. One of them bites and the other is just a plain old pain in the ass.

An ending and beginning

2007-09-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished the little headband thingy. I put a button on it 'cause we don't want to mess up the li'l girl's hair just pulling it on her head, plus really old buttons are cool looking. It looks curvy because I did that on purpose with some short rows on the front. I believe it will make it fit better (if it's big enough at all). She's growing and we live so far apart current measurements are a dream. Anyway, here it is. If anyone wants, I'll write the pattern out and you can have it.

For the beginning, I finally started a Clapotis. The photo doesn't show true colors, which are more of a slightly faded daffodil. The needle on this is a US#2 which means lots of extra repeats/rows which is going to make this a much more long term project than I had in mind. Thank goodness it's good reading/watching tv knitting.

Here's how it goes when you're making stuff up...

2007-09-20T07:26:00.001-05:00

For whatever reason, it seems that 99% of the time I have a compulsion to figure out how to make things on my own rather than getting and/or using an existing pattern. Here's what it looks like when I'm figuring something out:

I like those little headband thingies that cover the ears. They're good for people who actually have hair. You know how dorky it looks with long hair hanging out of a hat, or even more special is long hair in a big bump inside the back of a hat. Our existing granddaughter has long hair. She's young enough that she's ok with the hat thing, but I wanted to try out a headband thingie for her. I'm doing it with Opal sock yarn in a cable pattern. The notebook's for writing down what I did (do) and when. Hopefully when I'm done, it will be small enough to fit her little head and be really cute with opposing cables. I'll probably put some short rows in to fit the curve of her head. If it works out as cute as it has the potential to, I'll post the pattern somewhere with a better picture. (I know my model needs a bath - she got into some mystery brown crap that doesn't seem to want to wipe off.)

And, yeah, I read while I knit. I decide what's going to happen on the row, write it down then read while my fingers do what I just wrote down. It doesn't work for lace or 'hairy' yarn or something that requires a lot of counting, but for your basics it's good.

Other people's cooking

2007-09-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

What is it about someone else's cooking? Is it really better or just different?

When I first started to cook it was most certainly MUCH better than mine. Now I think it's just a nice, yummy change. Yesterday, for instance, my neighbors knew my husband was out of town and I'd be batchin' it for dinner, so she came over to get me when it was time for dinner. It was a very simple dinner of chili with rice and iced green tea. Mmmm mmmmm. Her chili is so good. It's similar to mine, but there are definite differences. We use different amounts of cumin, chili powder, onions, garlic, well shucks, just everything. They're both good, but for some reason hers was super good. The food was good, as was the tea.

I think it just boils down to someone taking the time to care if you were eating alone and including you as part of their family for dinner that makes everything so much better.

I Got Nothin' (much)

2007-09-18T08:07:00.001-05:00

I knew playing on Ravelry was gonna be my downfall and I was right. It's way too much fun, but there was a little something accomplished:

It's not knitting, but still, they're pretty don't you think. It was a special order for one of my customers off the marker blog. Pretty setting, huh? The ole paper towels background..

There will be knitting content very soon. Unfortunately, the son is a Colts fan (we're Steelers fans here) so the baby to be will be getting a blue/white sweater, sigh. What's a grammy to do. That amuses me so much! The whole grammy thing is still new, but it will surely wear off eventually.

Ravelry!

2007-09-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

I knew it! I just knew it! I'd gotten my invitation a long time ago, but didn't go look around. Everyone talks about spending a lot (too much) time there updating their stash, their projects, their planned projects. It sounded like one more thing to lose time on. Boy, was everyone right. I haven't put anything on there yet. Just looking around at different projects, groups, stashes. Before I knew it, it was time for bed....

I'll be back there for way too much time I'm sure, it's like being a kid in a candy store. Who could resist? If anyone wants to say hey, I'm TerriLynn in there, too. (The person who's looking at everything to the exclusion of putting her own stuff up.)

OK, one other thing. Grammy needs to get some yarn and such for baby things. Go check out my stitch markers and see if anything appeals to you!

Almost me

2007-09-14T07:54:00.001-05:00

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of people.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Well, except for the pacifist part. I grew up in the 'holler' school of "You mess with me or mine, I'll deck your ass" and some of that still lingers in here somewhere...

Enough of that already...

2007-09-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

I know we're all excited about baby news, but 99.99% of everyone else in the world could care less, so I'll give it a break... ((dancin' again')) ((stop that!!))

The weather has taken a turn for the better. It was 53F here last night. Perfect sleeping weather to snug in. Apparently the dogs thought it was, too. Little monsters woke me up at 12:30 last night pinning me to the bed with the blanket so tight it actually hurt. Aaahhh, the joys of being loved. After I wiggled out of bed, it was easier to just go downstairs and curl up on the couch for a couple of hours.

Why was it easier??? Because Skippy, the chubby butt beagle, will pretend to be asleep when you try to get him off the bed. It's really funny in a twisted sort of way. He's laying there, you know he's awake (not snoring - he ALWAYS snores when he's really asleep), he knows you know he's awake. You act all stern, say "Skip Down!" and do the hand motion. He lays there with his eyes closed. You do it again, "Skip GET DOWN!" and do the hand motion along with finger snap. (Around here, the finger snap means business, y'all.) Little beagle eyes closed tight...

You try to pick him up off the bed. He's curled up in a tight, hard, ball that cannot be unwound. If you really get desperate, you can drag the whole dead weight (40+lbs) off the bed and try to catch it before it hits the floor....

Now you know why it's just easier to go to the couch... I'm too freakin lazy to lug a lump in the middle of the night while trying not to wake up the husband. I'll kill them all later. Right now I just need a nap

Can't Wait to Meet You

2007-09-11T10:20:00.000-05:00

This is our grandchild that we'll be meeting in about seven months.

We are so excited and relieved and thankful for this baby. We were terribly worried that he/she wasn't going to make it this far.

This little one has a beautiful older sister who is, no doubt, going to conspire to make the parents life 'interesting' with her younger sibling. We've kind of hinted around at what we want her to call us, but the hints didn't really kick in, so, without further ado if our kids are reading this :

NOW, CAN WE GET CALLED GRAMMY & GRAMPY AROUND HERE????

(ummm does anyone else think those drawings of aliens look like 8 week fetuses?)

A Little Football A Little Knitting...

2007-09-10T08:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was FOOTBALL!! Yeah, yeah, I know, but I gotta say I love Troy, Willie, Santonio, Alan, Casey and even like Big Ben. (I could name more, but surely you're bored or confused enough by now.)

I'll try to be back later with pictures of the 'Baby Pea Pod'. I've still got the final sleeve and some assembly to do. If you want to see some pictures, you can go look at my newest sets of markers on the other blog. See you later....

PEAPOD

The picture is fairly accurate for color, but the photographer is LOUSY! This was a really quick little knit.

My details on this one are:

Peapod Sweater from Knitting Daily.

I used US5 circular for the body & dpns for the sleeves. (I knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat to reduce seaming)

A little more than 1/2 skein of Opal sock yarn. (This is not what is called for in the pattern. I'd bought it to make a pair of socks and just held on to it and petted it for months because of the color. It's sort of a blue/lavender color. There are a million button possibilities to be determined by whether we get a grandson or granddaughter.)

Just a quick hit

2007-09-06T15:35:00.000-05:00

My yarn got here!

I'd ordered some yarn for the Clapotis knit along that starts later this month. It arrived and looks just like the picture (which is really a bonus when you think about it!) The oddest thing was, the package included a set of double pointed needles. Oddest things ever. They are about a US size 2 and they're at least 12 inches long. They'll be great for hats!

(Umm... don't tell me that 12" dpns are as common as dirt. They're new to me and I want to enjoy the oddness of them for a bit.)

Just Doin' Stuff and Nothin'

2007-09-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

Before I show off the knitting pictures, I gotta show you the husband's new work blog. He's moved operations and is now a loan officer at a different institution. They're providing him with a web space, but he was anxious to get a jump start. (Cute ain't he?)

My MS3 stole with lots of beads has been finished for a while. I sort of blocked it so I could take a picture. I'm sure if a decent photographer was around here, you could see all the little multi color sparkles throughout it. (Yeah, yeah, if frogs had wings on their rears, they wouldn't bump their butts when they jumped.) Anyway, here it is.

We were disappointed that the kids didn't get to come visit this weekend due to some health issues, BUT it probably worked out for the best since the refrigerator decided to punk out either late Friday night or early Saturday morning. (Where the heck can you find an appliance repair man on a holiday weekend?)

To keep busy, I started this;

It's the beginnings of a Peapod Baby Set from Knitting Daily. It actually won't be a set, because I won't make the hat, we all know this, so there's no point in lying.

I also made these:

I actually made something that matched! You've got to understand, I never knit matching items. I'll get tired of a pattern or a color or something and just move on to the next thing that catches my eye. When I was a kid they said, "She's got the attention span of a gnat!" It still applies.

I also did some stitch markers for the other place. You can go look at them here. Plus, there was some stuff being made sort of 'by request', that I needed to get a good start on. No pictures of that.

All in all, it was a nice holiday, where you quickly lose track of time.

Sock Swap Pictures FINALLY

2007-08-27T13:01:00.000-05:00

Finally, finally,the camera came home and after a couple of days, the cord came home, too! Here are the long promised pictures of the awesomeness my sockapalooza upstream angel sent.

WARNING: You may experience fits of extreme jealousy!

Mmmmm... Yummy stuff to bake: A coconut brownie mix, scone mix and a white chocolate raspberry pie mix. Do you have any idea how hard it was to not scarf all this down pre-photo?

Twisted Sisters Sock WorkbBoo. This covers every aspect of making socks from plying the yarn to finishing techniques. An emergency skein of STR and a skein of Socks That Rock in woodsy fall colors:

Two - count em - two bags. One is a nifty little project bag in a gorgeou bright puzzle print and the other is a larger quilted bag with angels on the fabric. It's big enough to carry "road trip" knitting. (You know, when you're going somewhere and it's a long drive and you have to take 3-4-5 or 6 projects along to work on in the car.)

The best for last: Look at these socks! Perfect color (with little beads incorporated in the pattern), perfect fit and the best feeling softest yarn.. mmm... She even sent all the remaining yarn in case I needed to lengthen the socks. (Not gonna - I love them as they are.)

The other thing I've been working on are these: Awww, grandbaby socks. There's not really a pattern, but I blatantly copied the toe style from Colin and incorporated nupps which I just tried out on a practice piece recently.

Meat Loaf Ain't for Sissies

2007-08-24T07:06:00.001-05:00

Cooking was something learned after I'd set up housekeeping when I was very young. Mostly the way things were figured out was simply by eating things somewhere and trying to remember what they tasted like they had in them. (That was almost in English, wasn't it?)

I had some burger I needed to use and thought I'd share the 'recipe'. It's not really a true recipe, because there is so much leeway in the ingredient list. Some things are 'must haves' and some things are 'good to haves'. Anyway, here ya go:

This makes 2 good size meat loaves. One for dinner and one for either freezing or sandwiches for lunches the rest of the week.

First off, set the oven to preheat to 350 F.

In a 'big ole ginormous' bowl, put all the following ingredients

2# or a little more of the leanest ground meat you can get (we use a lot of turkey).
1 medium onion diced
1 large or 2 regular ribs celery diced up
Either 3 slices of stale bread torn to bits or 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats or 1/2 cup of your favorite bread crumbs.
1 small bell pepper diced up (red is really pretty, but all colors taste good)
Either 1 clove garlic crushed up or a liberal sprinkle of garlic powder (We use lots more cause we like garlic)
2 eggs
A big ole generous squirt of ketchup (probably 1/2 cup) Squeeze the bottle til it makes that gross noise one time!

Spices - If you don't get a little happy with spices, you have a big bland chunk of baked meat ((shudder)). I use the following, but experiment away - use a little more than you think you'll need (trust me on this)

1 Tablespoon (or more) Old Bay seasoning and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper sprinkle of dry mustard

1 Tablespoon (or more) of salt free Everglades seasoning a little tiny bit of chili powder and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1-1/2 Tablespoons (at least - we think more is better) of Italian seasoning, a pinch of cumin, a pinch of extra rosemary and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

The idea here is to use a fairly strong combination of spices that you and yours like the taste of. Obviously at my house we likes da cayenne pepper....

Take off ALL your rings and put them in your pocket. Now start squishing this up with your hands. Keep squishing until everything is all mixed up and the texture of the meat has changed from little ground up squiggles to a uniform consistency. Pretend it's kids play clay! If you're PO'd or irritated with anything, now is the time to let it out a little.

NOW

Divide this into 2 fairly equal parts. Put it into 2 baking dishes. (8 or 9 inches across) Smoosh it down and use your fingertips to dimple the top until it looks like a really bad case of cellulite (you know, chubby thigh)

Mix up 1C ketchup and 1 C water and pour equally over the two meat loafs. Put in the oven for an hour. Mmmm good.

Other stuff that has made appearance in meatloaf depending on what's in my produce drawer that needs to be used.

Chopped up spinach leaves

Shredded carrot

Shredded zuchini

Green onions chopped up

Handful of chopped parsley

Cup of drained canned diced tomatoes (this is very good)

Things NOT to use EVER (trust me on this)

Cabbage in any form

Turnips in any form

More than a leaf of cilantro unless you really like meat that tastes 'green' (too vegetabley if that's a word)

Corn, peas, green beans

Anyway, enjoy. It's actually really good and easy and sort of fun with all the squishing.

Oh, put your rings back on

One li'l picture

2007-08-21T07:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't forgotten this blog. I've just been waiting around for the camera to come home. Maybe tonight it will come back.

I do have one li'l picture. It's this:

That's the yarn I ordered for the Clapotis knit along. If you want to join, or just see what's going on, you can go here.

For other stuff, it's a rainy dreary day and I am feeling wonderful! Seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? The thing is, I slept about 7 hours last night. For most people that's no big deal, but around here it practically qualifies as a miracle. Evil cat (Princess) usually decides around 2:00 am that she really, truly needs a bowl of hot water (yep, hot water). When she tries to wake me up, Lucy (the dog on my header) tries to protect me and usually ends up jumping on me trying to get to the cat. Gooooooood morning! Last night, everyone was good and let me sleep in 'til 4:30.

For some reason, I was thinking about life lessons this morning. One that is hard to learn (or was for me): The world does not revolve around you. No matter how much we want it to, it just doesn't work that way.

It was such a shock when this dawned on me when I was younger. After you get used to the idea, it's really sort of comforting. It frees you up in so many ways. You don't have to be cool. You don't have to worry about how to be the center of attention. No wasted energy wondering why everyone doesn't like you. You can go on through your life making sure that the ones you love know they're loved. Make your little area as good as you can. Hopefully try to make someone else's area a little nicer.

PLUS you can stop wasting time judging everything. Here's an example of the trying not to judge.... (trying)

At a small local store, we were waiting in the checkout line. The counters are set up in a confusing way and a young man went to the wrong side of the counter and was told to get in the back of the line. The clerk was an older (late 60's) lady and got really upset with him, telling us he was stupid and should pay attention, etc... We're usually the people that say hi to clerks, try to be pleasant and thank them for taking care of our transaction. She was busy being upset to the point of being rude. As we were leaving, the first thought you have is "What a B***h!" Then, it occurs to you, she's at least in her late 60s. You KNOW she doesn't want to be working on her feet as a cashier at this stage of her life. She must have a great need in her life if this is what she has to do. (If you've never done it, let me tell you, it's work! Hours and hours on your feet on concrete.)

Oh well, enough brain farts for one day... hopefully some nice pictures soon..

Can't wait to tell this one....

2007-08-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

OK OK gotta tell you this...

Remember how I was whining about how life in general sucks and we've had some problems and I needed to remember that things work out?? Of course you don't. But, that's fine. I'll reiterate a bit here. Through my life, it's always happened that things work out. Often not the way I wanted, but the way they needed and usually in a much better way than I wanted.

Well, hubby changed jobs in early June to a commission only line of work. Can we say broke??? Thank goodness for Aldi stores and thank goodness we aren't big shoppers and thank goodness I can juggle like a circus star to keep creditors at bay. BUT, you kind of start to worry about all the responsibilities you have to take care of. You know, you sleep about 3 hours a night, no extras, no yarn even...

We got the Pittsburgh house sold!! Yes, it was a deficit closing (meaning we had to come up with more than we sold it for to get out from under the payments), but we won't be paying utilities through the winter again on a house we don't live in. Lemme tell ya - heating a 100+ yr old house in the northern part of the country ain't cheap. Not only will we no longer have that house payment, utility bills and dare-I-say-it the ridiculously high Allegheny County taxes, there was a small mistake made by the closing company in estimating the amount of money we needed to send to complete the deal. I take full responsibility for the mistake. For some reason, a southern accent does not translate well when you tell people in the northern part of the country that you've already paid expenses involved in the transaction. Soooo, when we got our packet of paperwork back, there are two, count 'em, two checks in there. The total is not hugely impressive, but it will surely help out around here.

AND, the husband had a deal 'come back from the dead'. One that was not going to work no matter what is now going full force and looks like it's going to come to fruition over the next couple of weeks.

It may not seem like much to you, but to us these represent the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and the first steps towards black out of a sea of red.

THAT's why I b*tch at myself about having a little faith and being patient. I just turned 50 (eewwww) and you would think I had that figured out by now.

The camera isn't back from it's little hiatus yet, but when it is you will be treated by the wonderfulness that is my Sockapalooza package. I've taken everything out of the box, fondled it, petted it, made the husband pet it, and put it all back in the box so you can see a re-enactment of the unveiling.

Wow!

2007-08-09T10:53:00.000-05:00

I've got to have the most generous swap pal ever! The socks are perfect. PLUS, there were so many gorgeous yummy excellent extras in the box. When the camera comes home, you'll get to see pictures, but I warn you, you'll be soooooo jealous.

Seriously, Michelle sent a wonderful thoughtful package that was better than I could ever have hoped for. It's one of those weird emotional days I get every so often, so I'll go finish crying now (in a good way).

Happy Birthday...

2007-08-06T06:17:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's today.

It's so funny, my hubby wants to make a big deal out of birthdays. For him, there is the obligatory day off work, dinner out, singing the birthday song and reminders for days before and after "It's my birthday!"

My birthday has never been a big deal. I don't remember any birthday celebrations growing up. I only remember two as an adult. One was the day my dad married my stepmother. She's been a great gift to our family for 24 years today. The other was one where my first husband planned a party and then took off for hours leaving me to make excuses for why he wasn't there - bleah... The cake was good, though.

Today has potential for a very good day. I'll get a brand spanky new PA driver's license. HOORAY! I'll be legal. I haven't driven for a while because I'm such a chicken about getting caught with an out of state license when we've lived here for a while. PLUS, we get to send off the paperwork that will conclude the sale of the house in Pittsburgh.

That will be the end of two mortgages, two sets of local taxes and two sets of utility bills. Whew!! What a relief. I may have to jump up and demonstrate my disco diva dance moves! With husband's change of job, struggle does not even begin to describe the effort to pay for both houses.

One thing that will prolong my birthday is that my son will get the date wrong. He has NEVER gotten my birthday right. He will call on the 11th to wish me happy birthday. He always thinks it's the 11th. One thing, he IS consistent about wishing me happy birthday every year. Hmmmm... I wonder if I can extend the spoiling from my husband to include all five days??

AANNDDD They're Off!!

2007-08-04T19:41:00.000-05:00

The sockapalooza socks are gone. So far from home. All the way across the country. <> They've been such a part of the family, we miss them already. In addition to the orangey socks, I sent a pair of lacy socks in a bright pink/yellow Sockotta cotton. It just seemed too hot to not send some cooler socks in a summery colorway.

She's also getting the lotion, some cable patterns for socks charted onto fridgie magnets, stitchmarkers and a weirdass little bag to keep the markers in. The bag got worse and worse the more I tried to fix it.

I embroidered it, sewed it together (sewed is a relative term here) and then washed it. EEEeeek. I'd never used that type of embroidery thread and the colors bled. Mmmm... well then I thought I'd tea dye it since the color was relatively light. Poor baby. She's getting a dirty looking little bag with color bleeding onto the fabric, but by George she's getting something that I'm sure down to my toes that no other participant is getting!!

I forgot about taking the picture until my husband got back from the post office. Ahhh well. Maybe she'll post a picture of it on her blog as the fugliest present she ever got. I would agree.

Non-sock related. I'm still plugging away on the MS3. With the current clue, we seem to be going off at an angle. Almost a lazy L shape. The fabric is beginning to look like feathers down this section, which is appropriate since the theme is 'Swan Lake'. If the rest is as pretty as what there is so far, I can see making this one again, which is a major commitment for a project polygamist like me.

For some reason, I thought I'd gotten the number of projects down, but looking around, I see that they are still multiplying.

The Dad afghan (I hardly ever work on this one.) It was started while staying with my dad right before he passed away last year. It's one of those projects that makes you cry a little bit even as you are remembering the good things.
Mittens for donation - I still need to make 3 more pair
Cream color shawl
Grey shawl
Multi-color mitred rug from leftovers that will get felted when finished
Crochet curtains for downstairs bathroom
Lilly of the Valley Scarf
Socks for other-mother.

Plus I finally found a cute sweater pattern for the great-nephew that is eluding me at the moment. I haven't cast on for that yet, thank goodness. I probably should since he is due to arrive in this world next week sometime. (Oh Geeze - Great Nephew?!?!! - It seems like his mom, my niece was just in diapers herself a few months ago)

On the animal front, our chicken now has a round fuzzy butt. Yep she pretty much finished her little molting spree by plucking out her tail feathers the other night.

It looks like the not so fun issues we've been dealing with around here are starting to get resolved. It hasn't been fun. Kind of like that stupid joke about praying for patience - RIGHT NOW! I'm still learning to trust that if we do our best, it eventually will work out the way it's supposed to - even if it's not necessarily the way I want it to. Any kind thoughts you sent this way are greatly appreciated.

Wool in August

2007-08-02T14:04:00.000-05:00

OK, is it my imagination, or am I crazy. It's waaaayyy over 90 degrees outside and I'm knitting on a shetland wool shawl. Draped over my lap, no less. Have I whined yet we don't have air conditioning? I think you've all heard enough about that so....

The MS3 stole is so pretty. It's not my knitting skills it's Melanie's pattern. The woman has skills plus she's got a very sneaky little evil twist. The instructions were extremely specific about putting a lifeline in a particular row. The only explanation given was you may need it. OK, I understand about lifelines, but why in that row? Why not the row below or 10 rows later? Hmmm... she's keeping mum about the whole thing until tomorrow. It ain't fair I tell ya! Torturing all those innocent knitters out there... Geeze Louise. I wish I could hold that many people in suspense over days and months. Skill, pure skill.

Animals are passed out in little baby heat comas all over the house. The only thing moving is sometimes a mouse. Yes, another one. We got rid of the one mouse and now there's another one. Unless it's the first one wanting another cat spit bath with a beer shower chaser. Someone or something will catch it soon, and we'll be mouseless again.

If only you could see...

2007-07-30T10:58:00.000-05:00

I hope my recipient sockpal reads this at some point. I really, really do. Other than the fact that making her socks was a lot of fun, the stitch markers were fun and the charts were fun, she should know one little detail about me personally. I CAN'T SEW...

This morning this brilliant idea popped in my head. She needs a little monogrammed bag to put those stitch markers in. It shouldn't be too hard, it's just a little bag. Well, the monogram was no problem. There are yards and acres and miles of cross stitch fabric and thread here. I used to do counted cross stitch exclusively. Found a nice little chart for an old English style lettering. Stitched her initials on the fabric and went to the sewing machine. Ahhhh, the sewing machine. It was Christmas gift about 20 years ago. Don't know why a sewing machine, never did know, never will know unless it's that thing where people think if you do anything with any kind of thread or string, you must sew. Picked it up out of the corner, knocked all the accumulated dust off it. Figured out how to thread the bobbin and away we went.

Well, the best intentions and all, it's heinous. She's getting it anyway. It's got her initials on it. It can't go live with anyone else. It's like those little pug faced mixed breed dogs that need dental work. You know, so ugly someone has to love it.

I'm sure the kind hearted who read this will be saying "It's OK, she'll appreciate it anyway." If only you saw her blog. The girl can sew. For real. Clothes and stuff. Gotta laugh, it's funny in a warped little way. As soon as the swap is over, you get to see pictures of it in all it's 'glory'.

Let it go

2007-07-26T03:33:00.000-05:00

There are some things in life you have control of and some you don't. You can control whether or not to watch television, whether or not to knit, what to wear, your temper. The list of things you can control goes on and on. Then there are the things you can't control. The weather, what other people do or don't do, history and so on and so on. For someone like me, it's harder to come up with things you can't control.

My head knows that's silly. The list of things out of my control is nearly endless. BUT, there's that little thought that keeps jumping in there. You know, "What if I....?"

Right now, there's an issue going on here that I have absolutely no control over. There's not a damn thing I can do about it. All the 'what ifs' bring me to the same conclusion. Let it go. It's either going to work out the way I want it to or not. Nothing I do will change the outcome. We have to just do the best we can and have faith it's going to turn out for the best.

So many times in the course of my life, I've found that it works that way.

When I was very young, we lived in a one bedroom house. With a child that is not a good situation. We went house hunting, found a great three bedroom house in a terrific subdivision. We got an offer on our tiny house and were getting ready to move. The sale of our house fell through. There was no way we could get the larger house. Talk about disappointment! Later we found out that the community sewer treatment plant in the nice subdivision had to be re-built. Every home in the community was assessed $10,000 for their share of the cost. Thank God we didn't live there. We soon found a much nicer house in a closer neighborhood for the same price.

After I was divorced several years ago, I had to move out of the school district we had been in since my son was in kindergarten. He was a senior in high school and had known some of his friends since they were 2 years old. We scraped up the money to get him a junker to be able to finish out the year at his high school. Junkers being what they are, there was a repair bill for about $1000. For a single mom getting minute child support and having just an OK job, this was catastrophic. The day after we get the repair estimate, I get the mail and there's a check for $900+. The attorney who had taken care of the sale of my previous house had miscalculated some costs and it was the amount I'd been underpaid. Repair bill taken care of.

Later, high school being what it was, my son needed quite a bit of money for something school related. The next day in the mail was a check from the phone company. The phone company! I called them and asked why. I was told I'd been over-billed for several months and they owed me this amount. It was almost exactly what my son needed for school.

These are just three examples of things working out that come to mind quickly. You'd think by now I'd understand that if you do the best you can, it will eventually work out. Maybe not the way you think is best. Maybe in ways you don't understand at the time, but as far as long term, they do work out. Wouldn't you think that by now, I'd be able to continue doing the best I can, and as for the rest, just let it go....

EEEEeeeek!

2007-07-24T02:39:00.000-05:00

It's a mouse! Yep, it's a little after 3:30 in the morning. I'm usually up by now anyway, but not with so much drama. Princess (skinny, scrawny 7 lb cat) practically tore the bed apart trying to wake me up earlier. I stumble down the stairs, put on the coffee, dump warm water over the cat (that's another story) and sit to watch the rest of last night's episode of The Closer.

Then there's the yowls and the sound of carpet being shredded behind me. Princess is trying to rip the carpet off the floor to dig her way under one of the radiators. My first thought is a moth must have gotten under there - she's a great moth killer.

I find a flashlight, shine under the radiator and find nothing. Look some more and see a lot more nothing, well, except for some dust. Turn off the flashlight, reach for the cat and whoosh. (Probably should be a tiny whoosh - it was a very small mouse) There goes the mouse across the floor. Right now it's under the chair I usually sit in to knit with Friday (massive, beautiful 28+ lb cat ) standing - actually laying guard beside it.

Now it's waiting for daylight to go find a mousetrap out in the garage. Yes, I'm going to use a regular old mouse trap if I can find a place to put it where the cats can't reach it. I figure a quick death will be a lot easier the mouse than letting the cats do what comes natural and torture it to death.

Mouse Update
It's a little after 7:30 now and the mouse is gone. After FOUR HOURS of all the animals digging, sniffing, whining, yowling and generally being pains in the butt, Princess caught it. Blechhh... I hate the way cats play with prey. I carried Princess (who had the mouse's head in her mouth) to the back porch and shut out the other animals. Then the real fun began. I shook her, no good. I begged, nothing. I cursed, nothing. Picked up a can of beer the hubby left out there last night after he did the yard work and dumped it on her head - AHA!! She dropped the mouse and caught it before I caught her. We did this a couple of times. Finally, I caught her first and threw her skinny wet butt back in the house. Caught the little spit covered mouse in a rug and tossed it out on the back stoop. Now I've got a cat that reeks like a brewery. I only hope she grooms herself, gets a little beer buzz and sleeps for a couple of hours so we can all get a little rest around here.

Hmmmm... I guess that now all the furniture is pulled away from the walls and the dog has knocked all the books from the shelves during the hunt, I can get the last part of the sweeping and dusting done.

Takin a Break

2007-07-23T13:11:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break from the MS3 stole. I made a mistake, oh so many rows back. Right now I need to decide if this is a mistake I can live with or not. If it's not, the ripping will commence. To keep myself from tearing it apart, I started a little project to distract myself for a bit.

It's cute and all, but can you see it ever looking like this? Talk about some severe blocking. We'll see. While you're over where the original picture is, you should look around. The lady does some gorgeous work.

On the animal front, Hawk (the little black chicken) decided she was going to sit on some eggs and become a mommy. When chickens are broody, they stay pretty much on the nest, don't eat well, don't visit their friends, don't go outside, all very boring for them. It's my fault, really. Her eggs are so small, I'll let them accumulate for several days before getting rid of them. There was no way those poor li'l eggs were going to be anything but a stinky mess. Hawk's boyfriend, Speckles, passed away some time back. I'm thinking there is no such thing as immaculate conception for hens. After several days, we finally caught her off the nest. Poor hubby had to stand guard while I did the egg-napping. She's out today visiting the neighbors, so all is forgiven.

I've got some more markers over at the other place if you'd like to see.

Souper Sekrit - Not anymore..

2007-07-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

OK, OK, I can't stand it any more. As of Today (and hopefully tomorrow), here is what my Sockapalooza pal is going to get. She doesn't have any idea who I am. Yep, I'm sure, so being the NON-able to keep a secret woman, here are the things for her package:

There are the fridgie magnets. They've got cable charts suitable for socks on them. My buddy isn't a lace fan, so cables it's cables for her.

I wash my hands so much when I'm knitting because of all the breaks to pet the dogs, feed the chicken, pick up the cats off my yarn... Anyway, my hands get really dry & rough. I got this to try out, and loved it, so I thought the buddy might like one, too.

And stitchmarkers.

If anyone has any suggestions for changes or additions to this, please, please, please let me know. (Just a thought - Wouldn't it be funny if my receiving buddy left a suggestion?)

Finally a couple of pictures

2007-07-14T17:55:00.000-05:00

I've been working along on the MS3 clues. It's cool enough to actually knit bit without feeling like you've got woolly spider webs stuck all over you! YEAY! Here are the long delayed pictures of Clue 2 completed.

This one is done exactly as written. I'm liking this a lot.

BUT

I'm one of those people who can never leave well enough alone, so I got 'bead happy' on this one.

For my not-knitting project, I made these. They are the result of a special request from a knitter on one of the lists I belong to. They're on little lobster style clasps so they can be attached directly to the knitting as well as slipped over a needle. The letters spell out knitting abbreviations. Hopefully, she'll like them. I think you can tell I'm a tad knitting obsessed here. I have some others for sale on my other blog here

Can't think of anything cool for a title.

2007-07-13T03:50:00.000-05:00

After my hissy fit the other day about the heat, of course it cooled down and the humidity plummeted. It's magic! And y'all wondered why I crab so much.

I've finished the current clue on the first of my two MS3 stoles and am pretty darn close to finishing on the second, which is a good thing because the 3rd clue will be out this morning some time. I believe the camera will be back from it's vacation some time this evening, so pictures will happen.

While sweating, swelling and bitching through the last heat wave, I picked up the Dean Koontz book 'Odd Thomas' . There's a line in the book that goes "Recognizing the structure of your psychology doesn't mean that you can easily rebuild it". For some reason, it sticks with me. I think the key word in the sentence is 'easily'. Sometimes recognizing the issues in your life is simple. Getting past them is simple, but not necessarily easy. It's a work in progress, just like anything else that's worth doing. Anyway, I'm a sucker for the story and cry near the end every time I read this book. I know, I know, but it's true.

The kids are supposed to come visit us next month. I guess that means I'll have to get some painting done, redo another floor and actually break down and put beds in the other two bedrooms. (One of the rooms is currently nothing more that a pass through to get to the larger closet, and the other is being used as a workroom for my knitting and other projects.) This is actually a great motivator for me, because without some sort of deadline, big projects tend to languish in a corner while I do stuff I want to do instead of what needs done.

Heh Heh... Can't wait to see the little one's reaction to being followed around the yard by a chicken. I believe I'm looking forward to that more than her mom is looking forward to the outlet shopping in Lancaster.

Too @#$%^ Hot to Knit

2007-07-11T07:11:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to knit on the MS3 stole. I really, truly have. But (it's a big ole BUT), the temps have been in the mid to upper 90s with very high humidity. We live in an old farm house - read that to mean no AC, just some window fans. Anything that requires much movement or effort needs to be done early early in the morning or late at night when the sun isn't blazing/burning. Yes, I'm a wimp. It's the high humidity that makes it suck so bad. You sweat and it doesn't evaporate, you are just hot and wet. Yarn just sticks to your sweaty hands and arms. It's all I can do to keep my clothes on. Well, actually, a couple of times I've gotten down to a night shirt during the afternoons. Thank me profusely now for NOT sharing pictures

Whew, I feel much better now that I've got alll that whining out of my system. It feels like a bad case of knitting withdrawal b*tchiness. The weather is supposed to be cooling off over the next couple of days, so the knitting should recommence.

On one of the knitting groups everyone was asked what they had in progress. My first thought was "hardly anything", then I wrote it out:

Closing toes on a pair of socks - Least favorite part

The huge afghan I started when my father was ill last spring

Stole in white

Stole in grey shetland

Mitred square rug half knitted & then felted

2x2 ribbed socks

Blackwork (type of cross stitch) picture

Special order stitch markers

For thinking I just had a couple of things, it sort of snowballed when I looked at what I was actually doing. No doubt, it's the same way for you. You think you (or your life) doesn't have a lot going on, but realize how much there really is to it. Some good, some sad, but all needed in one way or another.

Another reason to appreciate my husband: I have a small health issue that crops up in hot weather. The ex would let me know I looked like sh*t and needed to do something about it. My husband asks do I need a footstool, do I have plenty of ice, am I drinking enough water, and then he runs the sweeper. It's no wonder I love this man.

Cue the William Tell Overture and Lucky #12

2007-07-07T23:30:00.000-05:00

Or, the theme to the old Lone Ranger television show. Tomorrow (Sunday) is our 7th anniversary. All day long the husband has been popping into various rooms and singing:

Happy Anniversary

Haaaaaaaapppyyyyy Aniversary

Ah well, it doesn't read as cute as it sounds. We are on a mission to find a good Chinese restaurant to eat in tomorrow. My theory is when we walk in the door, take a deep sniff. I've always found that good Chinese restaurants have a great spicy garlicky smell when you step inside. If the smell isn't there, I vote we leave. He's really not loving this idea. It would be embarrasing to just walk out. I'm thinking if you haven't been seated yet, they can think you just changed your mind and decided to eat later. If we don't agree on anywhere new, there's always the terrific Mexican restaurant on Route 30.

We actually met in a bar back 9 years ago. I was there with a date and he was there to meet a mutual friend. It was a get together for a sort of birthday party (don't ask) for another person. We kind of hit it off as friends and left it there. Some time later, neither of us was seeing anyone and we went to get something to eat. No big deal. After a while, the friendship bloomed into something much better. (Bloomed! I can't freakin believe I said bloomed!) We had a lot of mutual friends who had very strong ideas about who each of us should be dating, not each other, so we kept it secret from just about everyone for months just to see what we wanted to do without any outside influence. Only one person figured it out! Ten months after the first meal, we decided to get married. Nine months after that we tied the knot.

The lucky #12 thing is just a set of strange coincidences: I'm 12 years older than my husband who is 12 years older than my son who is 12 years older than his son. Maybe we should play the lottery.

Socks and Etiquette

2007-07-07T05:16:00.000-05:00

For years, I've been trying to find a pattern for socks for my other mother. She has very thin ankles, and most patterns that will fit her on the foot are 'droopy' on her legs. I found a pattern for a pair of anklets and thought they would be perfect. I was telling her about it and explaining the only thing I could think of that would stay up on her legs would be a 2x2 rib. Turns out she LOVES a ribbed sock. She likes to turn them down in a cuff. Sigh. All those years I avoided it because it didn't seem 'girly'. Big ole smack in the head - ya gotta ask what your recipient likes! I've got a pair started, but just barely. Not enough done for any kind of a picture.

Still working on the MS3. Working on it again would probably be more accurate. Portions of the pattern are posted on Friday mornings, so it's a weekly knit.

Now for the etiquette portion of our program. There are several blogs I like to read often. If I want to put the links down the side of my blog, am I supposed to ask permission first? Is it good etiquette to inform the blog owners that the links are there? Do they just understand that some of us are curious/interested/nosy about what they are up to in their world and expect the links to happen out there?

Finding other little oddments to put in the Sockapalooza package. Nothing really pricey or unique, but things I like and hope that someone else will like too. Maybe not even necessarily sock or knitting related.

Lace of a Different Color and Chicken Woes

2007-07-04T06:10:00.000-05:00

This is the same pattern from the MS3 knit along. This time, it's grey shetland wool. The grey was a little calmer than what I was looking for, so I added more beads than the pattern called for.

Several members in the knit along are guessing what the theme of the shawl is. The guesses are fun and several of them make me shake the cobwebs out to remember bits of Greek mythology. I believe they are going to give prizes for the correct guesses. I'll kick in a set of stitchmarkers for the winner(s).

Now for the chicken part:

I am one of those people who are easily manipulated by guilt. Look at me with soulful eyes and it's all over. Our chicken, Hawk, has been very leery of contact. If you went near her, she ran away as fast as her little drumsticks could go. Poor little thing..

I decided, like a dope, to 'make friends' with her. She spends the greater part of her days hanging out around the neighbor's chickens. They are in a pen in the corner where our yards join. Hmmm, how do you make friends with a bird. Food! Every day, out I'd go with a treat. Cornbread, bagel, cat chow (yep, they like cat chow). Pretty much anything they'll eat, which is just about anything. Now, when I step outside, the neighbor's chickens line up in a row along the side of their pen and little Hawk runs up doing her best imitation of a racing ostrich. Can't hang up laundry, go to the garage or step off the porch without having to pirouette through the poop! What was I thinking? She looks at me with those beady little chicken eyes and immediately there's this panic of "What can I feed her?" "She must be hungry". I'm spending way too much time scrounging through the kitchen for 'chicken treats'. Smack me now.

Lace just isn't the same

2007-07-02T06:05:00.000-05:00

I'm in the MS3 knit along. Everyone is making a lace stole from a pattern that's being released a little bit at a time. Every Friday, the next section of the pattern is posted and away we go! I've finished the first part of the pattern that was posted this past Friday morning, and thought I'd show a picture of it.

Doesn't look like much, does it? That's the thing about lacy projects. They're really quiet fun to knit, but even after the knitting is done, they haven't reached their full potential. That will come when it's off the needles and blocked out. Mine is a tad 'loose', but I'm going for a larger, more open lace and this ought to do it.

On the Sockapalooza swap, my buddy socks have been finished for a while and the additional goody inventory for his/her package keeps changing. First it's one thing, then another. By the time it's time to ship out, it will hopefully be a fun little gift for him/her to open!

Just a thought

2007-07-01T11:02:00.000-05:00

Recently, two different people have asked me what it is I like about knitting. I don't think my reasons are all that different from anyone else's.

You get a written out pattern. Lots of strange non-words like ssk, yo, k, p, etc... Just do everything it tells you and you get something tangible at the end. A hat, a sweater, socks, mittens, whatever. That is just so neat.
You get a chart with a bunch of symbols in it like ^, /, \, o, etc.. and you follow the little code. Again at the end you have something pretty (hopefully) to show for it. The little symbols normally mean it's going to be something lacy like a shawl or stole.
You can make up something in your head and after some thought and planning hold it in your hands.
You take one very long piece of string (yarn) and a few sticks (needles) and out of this one piece of string that looks like nothing you get something. I think this one amazes me. It's like a little kid with a new magic trick!
Last, but not least, you get yarn! It's often beautiful to look at, but the textures. Everything from rough almost twine to lovely fuzziness that is so soft you almost can't even feel it. You get to touch, pet, stroke and fondle it while you dream of the possibilites of what it could or should be.

Kind of silly and probably hard to understand or just weird to people who haven't made anything tangible or creative, but there it is.

Chow Time for the Girls

2007-06-28T06:32:00.000-05:00

Left to right: Princess, Friday and Lucy.

Should be 'Sweating on the Animals House'

2007-06-28T03:24:00.000-05:00

If you've never been by here before, you don't know we live in a 1920s era farm house. It's beautiful. 2 stories of original style everything. My husband bought this house because it looked like what he thought my grandma would have had. This means wide beautiful woodwork, glass doorknobs, no shower, a big single bowl kitchen sink and no air conditioning. We live in the northern part of the country, so it's not normally a huge issue, but it's been 90+ degrees with thunderstorms.

Our poor beagle, Skippy is terrified of thunder. He often has to be tranquilized to get through it. We're talking huddled mass of quivering, panting, drooling neediness. The poor thing shakes so hard, that if he's on the couch or bed it feels like a bad 'magic fingers' bed. He has reason to be afraid. He's a rescue from hurricane Ivan. To him, thunder, lightning and rain mean that his home is about to disappear, his pack will be gone, his humans will be gone, he'll be hungry, wet, lost and maybe (who knows) have to run from alligators. He is a hunting animal from Florida after all.

When there is a natural disaster of this type, rescued animals that aren't able to be reunited with their owners are put in shelters. As the shelters in nearby areas fill up, they are shipped farther and farther away to hopefully be adopted. We lived in Knoxville, TN and were going out to eat on my husband's birthday. There is an animal shelter on Kingston Pike with a 'play yard' that's visible from the street. As we were driving by, we saw a passel of puppies out there playing. Just on a whim, we stopped in to watch them play. To get to the play area, you have to go through a room where the animals are kenneled. Labs and lab mixes seemed to dominate the room, there was a beautiful blue tick ( I think ) hound, brindled dachsunds, pomeranians and just plain old mutts. Of course, we had to stop and pet some of these on the way to see the puppies. Over in the corner in the bottom tier, was Skippy. Awwwww, it was love at first sight (for my husband).

I tried to be the voice of reason. Beagles bay loudly. Beagles eat everything. Beagles run away. Beagles chase little animals and we have two cats. The dog we have won't like having another dog come to the house. My husband looks at me, Skippy looks at me. Two sets of pitiful brown eyes - awwwww... The adoption was on. After all the paperwork was complete, we took Lucy (the other dog) to the shelter to see if they would get along. He immediately rolled over for her and licked her face. She decided she could "whoop his ass" at any time and would still be the alpha dog, so home we went.

After all the drama involved in introducing him to the cats, he was official. Fast forward a couple of weeks. Husband has to leave town for 5-1/2 weeks for work. I work, so Skippy is kenneled a good portion of the day. Skippy feels abandoned by his man person. The pee commences. Pee on shoes. Pee on laundry hamper. Pee on husband's pillow. Pee on husband's side of the bed. Pee on any damn thing that smelled like husband. I swear the dog has a 10 gallon bladder and can find something to pee on with a 2 second window of opportunity. This is one time I very seriously considered lying through my teeth to the husband. I came so close to taking the dog back to the shelter to be put back up for adoption and telling my husband he ran away. You know how it goes, lies snowball and I have enough trouble remembering reality. I just didn't have the energy to try and remembe lies, so I kept the dog.

We finally got through housebreaking issues and stealing garbage issues. Now there's just the occasional running away and finding a skunk issue. And thunderstorms. Thank goodness the weather is due to cool down and clear up. We'll get him peeled off our sweaty, beagle smelling legs and laps, until next time. Poor baby.

Coolest Brothers in Law

2007-06-26T19:59:00.000-05:00

I've got two of the coolest brothers in law. They're both 18 and graduated high school this year. Both are talented musicians. Of one, think drum line. I think that is just the coolest. He'll be competing on college level starting this fall. The other can pretty much play anything with strings or reeds. One of the guys has been growing his hair since he was just a little kid. He decided to get it cut off and donated 24" of hair to 'Locks of Love'. That's TWO FEET of shiny healthy brunette hair. I gotta admit, I've got a soft spot for the hair donation. My mom lost her hair due to chemo a few years ago, and the nice wig made it a lot easier on her emotionally to go out and about.

Where oh where has my buddy gone?

2007-06-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

Before I whine, let me explain. I am still very excited and nervous about the Sockapalooza swap. Excited because someone is making something for me! That has never happened before, except for mom. Everyone knows that your mom is kinda sorta obligated. I'm nervous hoping my downstream buddy will like what I made her and what is going to be included with it. You know, the old performance anxiety thing.

Now for the whine thing to my downstream buddy: I mail, I check your blog and nothing. I realize that half the people in the free world are Harry Potter fans. I like the books myself, but I'm dyin' here. Don't you anticipate getting a present from a total stranger? Aren't you curious at all? Did you change your mind about participating? Are you still alive out there (or over there or down there)? Did I say something to offend you?

Whew! OK. I feel much better now. That kind of crap drives me crazy and my poor husband has heard me worrying about out way too much, so you guys got to hear it. Sorry.

Still swatching away for the MS3. I've done a 4th one, took a vote and it's the winner. You won't be inflicted with another picture, because the photos all look pretty much the same, but it's gonna be purty, indeed. Creamy white with pearlescent pastel beads.

I was making some more stitch markers the other day, (my other obsession) and realized that I've never seen a marker that wasn't made by me. There are pictures of them all over the place, but do any stores carry them? None that I've ever been to. Hmmm.. Oh well, I make what I like that seem to work for me. Just curious if anyone else was marker deprived.

The husband is outside mowing the grass - again. That makes 4 times in the last 10 days. Thank goodness he starts the new job Monday! We'll possibly have grass out there again.

Finishing up and another swatch

2007-06-21T14:59:00.000-05:00

Slowly, slowly, I've been finishing up those projects that I'm just not really feeling the love for.

I've got these three little projects done:

The short heavy socks are for me. I woke up cold one day and remembered my feet nearly froze last winter. Now, what better project to start than thick, heavy, drab, purely functional house socks just before the thermometer starts hitting in the 90s on a regular basis? The mittens are to be given away for next winter, so that's good.

The more I looked at the swatch for the MS3, the more it looked like it needed re-done with beads. That required a trip to the local craft store for more beads. They're like yarn - lots of pretties and you always want more! Here's the new swatch:

Apparently, I've no idea how to use a camera. The swatch is a pale cream color (almost white), the top two repeats of the pattern have a small pale pink bead in the pattern and the bottom two repeats have larger irridescent multi colored beads. Since it's so messed up, there's no point in asking which looks better, so it'll hang out for a few days until one of them grows on me.

OK, time to tell on myself for being goofy again. Along with the beads on the swatch, I bought some to make some new stitch markers. These were supposed to be glass beads, but they looked almost like little pieces of crayons. You know, opaque red, yellow, green, etc.. The more I looked at those beads, the more it seemed they just couldn't be glass. Hmmmm, what to do, what to do?? Eureka! Take them up to the craft room, light a candle, hold a bead with a pair of pliers and see if it burns or melts. Yeah! that's it! Try fire! Well, dumbass me, after the bead doesn't burn, immediately puts down the pliers and picks up the bead.

You gotta imagine the rest........

Yippee!

2007-06-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

Today is a GOOD day.

Several of the mittens I've been working on to donate are almost done. For some reason, the cuffs and body roll along quickly, the thumbs are slower, and the weaving in of ends is done at a snail's pace. When the last thumbs are on and ends in, you get to see the pictures. Right now they're a little creepy.

Just like most of the knitters out there in knit-land, I can't wait to start a new project (or two). The Mystery Stole project is starting soon, and it's at the top of my list of 'wanna' projects right now. There's also these really cute anklets in Knitty that look like an awfully fun, quick knit.

The husband got hired for his new job today. He's gone from auto finance to mortgage financing. His lending experience looks like it will give him a good basis to work from and he's in a much less stressful position. That's probably the #1 reason it feels like such a good day here.

Joined the Mystery Stole 3

2007-06-18T11:21:00.000-05:00

Since I had my sox all finished for the Sockapalooza swap and little gifties for my buddy stashed away, I joined the Mystery Stole 3. It's a Yahoo group making a lace stole. We'll get bits of the pattern on a weekly basis until it's all finished up later this summer. The swatch is pictured below. It was the old 'third time's a charm' as far as needles went and ended up looking best on US #4 needles.

If you like the stitch markers, I have loads of them here.

Lax on the Blogging

2007-06-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

There's been a lot of stuff going on around here, just very little in the way of knitting. Mostly fun stuff like cleaning, laundry, painting... I should be back in the swing of things worth sharing in a few days.

It Semi Fits

2007-06-10T04:26:00.001-05:00

I've been seeing this everywhere and had to try it.

Terri Lynn --
[adjective]:

Full of bees.

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

How funny. I've actually got a tattoo of a bee on my shoulder.

Tried it again and got this:

Terri Lynn --
[noun]:

A person who falls into an outhouse and dies

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Ummm.... did you see the outhouse in my earlier post? I knew there was a reason I didn't want to go in there.

Terri Lynn --
[adjective]:

Having the texture of congealed cheese

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Let's just leave my ass out of this, ok?

Picture heavy post

2007-06-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was talking about all the this and that I'd been doing and promised to try and have pictures up today. Well, here they are.

I'd heard that mittens were needed for this winter in South Dakota. I had some leftover yarn. (Can you imagine that? A knitter with yarn leftovers.)

Yeah, we're Steelers fans here

I really wasn't loving the coral/blue on cream color, so I thought if I dyed it a bright cheery pink it might be good for some little girl. Well, the pink turned out to be this sort of UT orange with blue slubby spots. Still not loving this.

Let's go for some moss green. That gave me a green that may turn out to look sort of camo, so it's a good possibility.

Then there was the plain vanilla colored wool. Great for adults, but I'm thinking kids would want something more colorful. I tried for blue/purple stripes. Instead I got this, which is bright enough to suit a kid, don't ya think? Yep, those are pick up sticks. My size 2s were too small and the 3s were too big. Pick up sticks turned out to be halfway between and just the right size. An added bonus for using these is when your bored beagle does this: You have this to fall back on.

Here are the tags I made: I'm thinking besides care instructions, I'll make some that say "Made by___" or "Especially for ___"

Last but not least, here are stitch markers:

Bad Distracted Blogger

2007-06-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

There's just been too much 'stuff' going on around here for much in the way of work on next Sockapalooza posibility.

The Blech!

Hours upon hours spent on the phone with satellite company just trying to get a picture on the tv. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. You watch 10 or 15 minutes and the $%^& box resets itself.
Two service calls and two FedEx visits for the same thing.
Massive amounts of time on the phone with Realtor.
Ditto with the closing company.
Phone calls getting documentation from outside sources for the closing company.

The Fun!

Knitting a couple of pairs of mittens for charity - I need to do more. (Pictures should be up tomorrow)
Dying some boring yarn into something I think kids would find more attractive for the mittens. (Ditto pics)
Making more stitch markers. (Ditto pics)
Trying and failing miserably to chart a pattern I'd like for a possible shawl. I will design one that I like!
Making some cute 'Care' tags for knit items. Mostly I gift machine washable/dryable to non-knitters, but for the others, some sort of tag needs to be attached. (Ditto pics)

I promise, on my honor, to do my best to do my duty..... ooops sorry about that. I really will try to be more consistent.

ps. Sis, I mailed the stitch markers out today! Hope they're enjoyed.

Just a Random Weekend

2007-06-03T11:04:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh. Random weekend with the hubby.

After he got off work on Saturday, we did absolutely nothing important! That's always a good thing. He usually works 6 days a week, so a day of piddling around is a real respite for him. Plus, I kind of like having him around. Activities included going to Ollie's and getting some books at a deep discount. Dinner. Playing with the dogs. Sleeping. Let's see, what else? Nothing. That's it. Not a damn thing, and it was good!

Today he's outside riding around as fast as he can mowing grass. Instead of Gene Kelly dancing to 'Singing in the Rain', he has the wife on the back porch yelling 'Mowing in the Rain', trying to dance with two left feet and laughing insanely. God has to love this man for putting up with this kind of silly crap all the time. For everyone I'd wish someone in their life who encourages them to be as silly as they need to be and loves them for it. I got really lucky with this guy.

As far as knitting goes, I've let the socks fall by the wayside for a few days and am making some mittens to give away. I'm sure they'll be a good thing for someone who would normally have cold hands, but they are a much better thing for me. When you give something, no matter how small, to someone who needs it you are giving a much larger gift to yourself.

Geeze, enough of the Pollyana stuff for one day. Have a good rest of the weekend.

Pictures of finished swap socks - maybe

2007-05-31T07:45:00.000-05:00

Well, the socks for the swap are finished. It's always a let down in a way to be done with something.

So, I cast on these:

They are a shorter sock with some little black beads inserted to outline the arch. I'm not sure of the name of the colorway, but they are made out of Anne. Hmmm... maybe she'd like these instead. It looks like they are going to be really cute. Good grief, we all know by now I won't have a final decision until around midnight on August 1! I need to quit kidding myself and just keep doing what I do.

Here are the little socks and a new bib for the nephew to be: I won't be able to make the baby shower, but it will give me more time to make things and shop a little bit for him and his mom.

On the home front, Lucy and Princess have decided they are now best friends.

Here is the back porch, all cleaned and with new floor paint.

This is one of the doors going into the house from the porch. (There are two.) It's a terrible picture, but you can see it's all freshly painted with trim to match the floor paint. The best part of these doors is the top. See the little window? If you want to have some privacy and close the doors, you can still get a little breeze by leaving these windows open.

Just for my other mother since you asked:

Yep, it's the outhouse. Of all things, it's painted an eye-searing state road yellow on the inside. I grew up in West Virginia and lived in Tennessee, but never had one of these until we moved to Pennsylvania. Go figure...

Thank You Dad

2007-05-28T06:46:00.001-05:00

Chart Magnet Instructions

2007-05-27T05:04:00.001-05:00

For those of you who wanted to know how to make the chart magnets, here are the instructions.

Materials:
Pack of shrink film like 'Shrinky Dinks' from your local craft store
Glue
Magnet sheet
Permanent Markers
Scissors

The first thing you need to do is chart out your pattern. When you get sorted out where your repeats are, copy it heavily in black or another dark color on paper using blocks about 1cmx1cm.

Trace this onto your shrink film using the permanent markers. A 4"x6" piece is about as large as you want to use due to distortion in the shrinking process. This will make approximately a business card size chart. Don't forget to put the name of the pattern and a key on here. I've made that mistake and charted things that I have to swatch to see what the heck they are!

Cut out the chart and shrink them in the oven at about 250 F for approximately 10 minutes. This is a lower temperature and longer time than called for on the package of shrink film, but it gives me opportunity to check the progress.

After the plastic has cooled, glue your magnet to the back and stick it on the refrigerator!

These are not going to be perfect rectangles due to some amount of distortion in the shrinking process, but they are close.

If anyone doesn't want to do their own, I'll be happy to make them for you for $3.00 each. This will keep me in shrink film and magnets. You would need to provide me with the pattern instructions to work up your chart. Since it's your pattern it wouldn't be shared out to anyone else.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Keeping Track of My Patterns

2007-05-26T04:49:00.000-05:00

I have visions of all these wonderful organized knitters out there with their patterns neatly printed, perhaps placed alphabetically in binders, with yarn samples and photos of finished projects beside each pattern. I wish I were as organized as you!!! It seems that I'm always losing a written pattern or getting pages of different patterns shuffled together in a big mess. The best way for me to keep track is to make myself a chart of the pattern and put it on a magnet. Magnets always make it to the refrigerator, so eventually they turn up again.

We got roof!

Detail Shot and Stretch What?

2007-05-24T02:57:00.000-05:00

You really can't tell much difference between the last picture of these socks and a newer one. I'm on the second sock and I promise it's just like the first one! Here's a little detail shot of the pattern stitch:

OK I've seen stretch Limos, stretch Hummers, and even stretch Suburbans, but a stretch Nascar Dodge was a new one for me

The Cool Thing About Old Houses

2007-05-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

The cool thing about old houses in this area are some of the details like these light fixtures in the ceiling:

Some old houses were originally built without closets, and have brass hooks on various walls like this:

The not so cool thing is pulling up the rugs in the bedrooms and finding lots of unfinished floor that needs stained and/or varnished, like this:

Lately I find my constant refrain to be, "One thing at a time, one thing at a time".

Awww....

2007-05-20T02:27:00.000-05:00

...

You never have to eat your greens all by yourself...

(Yep, the calico really is that big - over 28 lbs)

You never have to nap alone, either.. or should it be that you never get to nap alone?

Green Socks Done and Lots of Pictures

2007-05-19T09:25:00.000-05:00

Finally got a cable to hook the camera up to the computer - geeesh. Gave up looking for the one we had and called big office supply chain. The person who answered the phone told me you can't buy those cables in any store. They have to be ordered direct from manufacturer via the internet. This was before she even asked who the manufacturer was. Hmmm.. I called Radio Shack and surprise surprise - no problem - come on in and we'll hook you up.

Anyway, I got the 'Second Draft' green socks done.

I don't remember what the original pattern was, but I remember I modified it down to a six stitch repeat and went from there. I think they turned out pretty nice.

There's still that problem of my downstream buddy liking fall colors, so I've started these: I'm using Opal in an orangey color that reminds me of maple leaves in the fall. It's dreary outside today so they are showing up dark. The pattern is Yukon Leaves.

I mentioned the baby hat I was making for the nephew to be. Here it is. Yeah, I know. I was watching tv, knitting along and never checked the gauge. Not once. Anyway, my husband is glad his new hat will keep his ears warm next winter.

Since I was bound and determined to have something done for the nephew to be, I made this:
Not the most inspired thing ever, but it's a start on the baby items he'll be getting.

The yarn I ordered last week got here on Saturday (48 hours). They have to hang out in here for a while until I can decide what patterns would show them off the best.The sad thing is, this isn't all of the stash. It's just what's close to hand in the living room. There's more in the attic and more in the office. What you going to do when there are so many beautiful yarns out there just begging for a new home?

Shoulda checked the guage

2007-05-12T04:50:00.001-05:00

I mentioned the nephew on the way. Well, there was this really cute hat that looked like the one Elmer Fudd wore when he was hunting Bugs Bunny. I cast on the 84 stitches and started knitting away. Awww, the little earflaps and fake shearling brim were gonna be so darn cute. Watching tv, knitting along, then finally, I looked at what I was doing. This sucker is HUGE! It dawns on me I didn't even check the guage. Instead of 5 spi called for, I was getting 3.5 spi. After measuring what I was knitting, it hits me that this is going to be big enough for my husband. Didn't make the earflaps, but did do whatever the hell you call the extension that goes from ear to ear across the back, and voila, my husband will have a toasty noggin come next winter.

On the Sockapalooza front, it turns out my recipient isn't wild about lace but loves cables. That's good. I can do that. Hmmm... had to put in a call to the folks at The Fifth Stitch. A new pattern calls for new yarn, right? I intended to order one, just one, little skein of something pretty that would show off cables. I end up ordering more than one thing. I can't say I'm surprised; it happens every time. They totally understand what I'm saying when I describe a color (you know, like maple leaves in the fall when they're really red, but not gaudy). I've called with requests like this several times and they have never failed me! Gotta love that. Anyway, the new yarn should be here today, so I need to get finishing on the 'second draft' socks. You never know who might need some pretty green socks. (Yeay for the mail lady!! - 2 Opals in 2 different reddish colors - 2 Lornas Laces in a yellow/tan/rust/navy - 1 Anne in a rusty/grey/goldish) My buddy is a fall color kind of girl so I had to run the gamut to see what would look good with the pending pattern.

It's a BOY! - Random sockiness

2007-05-10T06:08:00.000-05:00

I knew my niece was having a baby. Knew it all along. For some ungodly reason I just assumed this one would be a girl. The other babies this year are girls. I've got pink girly stuff ready to go on the needles. Picked out a pattern for a beautiful little dress with a little leafy design around the neckline. Well, I get the phone call, he's a boy. I'm finding myself in a mad scramble to come up with boy ideas. There is an awfully cute little one piece outfit in an old 'Baby Bubbles' . I guess I could break down and buy some more yarn if I have to... ((snort - like I'm not dancing for joy that he's healthy and going to have a terrific mommy and I get an excuse to shop for yarn!!))

On the Sockapalooza front, my recipient emailed me. She seems very nice. Now that I 'know' the person getting the socks a little better, it's even more fun! My 'second draft' socks are coming along nicely, and hopefully in the next couple of days will be picture worthy.

Stitch Markers For You

2007-05-09T05:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I put on here about some stitch markers I'd made. Since I've got to do some chores around here today (4 animals = tons of hair everywhere), I'll make this short and sweet. Anyone want a pair of stitch markers? The camera batteries are dead, so I'll just say they're blue or (mostly) green. I figure the first five people that let me know they want them can have a pair. Just let me know a color preference and how to get them to you.

Got the five to go.. thanks for looking

Still Going

2007-05-08T09:31:00.000-05:00

Knitting along on my (maybe) buddy socks today. Not much to show since I've been a slacker the past couple of days. The way I've got it figured, even if I slip up and my buddy finds out who I am, by the time mailing day comes there will between two and three pairs to choose from and the ones they receive will still be a surprise.

There was really not much in the way of knitting here yesterday. It was stitch marker day. We'd gone to a local craft store and got some cute beads. You know how it goes. You get a new toy and you have to play with it for a while. When it was over, there were ten new pairs of stitch markers and hundreds of tiny beads spilled on the carpet. Oh well, it needed vacuumed anyway.

Since there's nothing good in the way of buddy socks to show, here are some other socks that don't have homes yet. None of them are blocked yet. That's always the last thing I do before sending them off into the world.
Oh, and if the person who's knitting for me is reading this. The only things I don't like in socks are "neon" colors. They are def not my friends. Since I've quit working, my wardrobe is very simple and socks are the most colorful fun part . Jewel tones, earth tones, greens and blues like me ok. Darn that covers about everything but UT orange, chartruese and neon yellow doesn't it?

Still under way with the green

2007-05-07T07:23:00.000-05:00

I'm loving the green socks I took a picture of yesterday. I'm around the heel and working on the decreases. For once, the more I look at a sock, the better I'm liking it. Wonder if the buddy likes green, too? If I get an email from her saying 'anything but green' , there's still a pretty lavender/blue color from this same purchase and thousands of pretty patterns out there to choose from.

Just a little side note. The dog in the header is our little Lucy. She's an eleven year old spoiled rotten 30+ pound labrador/mystery who thinks she's either our baby or a 300 pound guard wolf.

Finally Got Some Pictures to Share

2007-05-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

Here are the pink socks that were my 'first draft' for the Sockapalooza .

The yarn was great and so was the pattern. They haven't been blocked, so you really can't tell how beautiful they would have been if I'd not left out a row on one of them. There was enough left over for these baby socks.

Here are the second draft socks for my buddy. They're being done in a sort of spring greenish Opal.

Last, but not least, here is the probationary hen. Can't have everything be about knitting.

Waiting on my Buddy

2007-05-04T14:24:00.000-05:00

I'm still waiting to hear back from my buddy about her preferences. I'm so darned impatient, BUT it's giving me great opportunity to swatch some different patterns. The added benefit of this is that they are in small guage and on small samples, so the little baby socks for a friend's impending daughter are coming along nicely. Instead of one pair of sox it looks like girlie to be will have several. Decisions, decisions...

Looks like the Pligg system for keeping up with the Sockapalooza is going to work great. I love reading all the blogs and seeing the pictures of what everyone's choosing for the swap.

First Draft

2007-05-03T06:23:00.000-05:00

Finished the socks early this morning. The yarn, pattern, texture - all beautiful. Then I'm admiring how pretty they are and see that I've left out a row about 1-1/2" down from the ribbing. I don't mind frogging a couple or ten rows when I goof, but darned if I'm going to rip out 80% of a sock that still looks pretty darned good. My feet freeze here in the winter, so they'll be mine. These will just be considered a practice run for the Sockapalooza pair. I'm just going to blame this one on the dogs and start over.

Yeah, blame it on the dogs. Sleep is a major issue here. Actually, sleep deprivation is the issue. The night before last one of the dogs fell out of bed. Nothing like a huge thump at 1:00 am to start your heart and wake you up. This morning, the other dog had an upset stomach at 1:30. Let's see - - that's a total of 6-1/2 hours sleep in two nights. I'm thinking nap time.

It's supposed to be a gorgeous day here today, so maybe making use of the clothes line would be good. That dried in the sunshine smell can't be beat for sheets and blankets. I'm thinking pot of coffee, chores and start the next sock to work on during Survivor. It is Thursday, isn't it?

Telling on myself

2007-05-02T06:56:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days where you wonder if your brain is totally all used up?

The other day I wanted some peanut butter on crackers. The peanut butter was stiff because the house was chilly since I forgot to close the windows. So I got the bright idea of putting it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm/soften it up. Hit the start button, turned away and ZAPOW!!!! Lightening storm in the microwave. That little bit of foil that didn't get pulled off when we opened the jar, yeah, that little bit of foil...

Later that same day, fixing dinner, putting some vegetables in one of those little pouches in the microwave. Hit start, walk away and KABOOM!! Sounded like a shotgun outside the window. You know, you're supposed to put a little slit in the bag to vent steam.....

Twice, in one freakin day I tried to kill the microwave and it still works. Amazing!

On to knitting.. After trying to rearrange the office/bathroom/junk repository, I went back to work on the possible buddy sox so the second sock is halfway finished. I'm loving the Regia Silk. It's 55% merino, 20% silk and 25% polyamid. It feels like I'm knitting with soft fluffy air.

Anyway, it's back to bed for me for a while. Lucy fell out of bed at 1:00 this morning and we've been up since then. Nap time for us.

Sockapalooza!

2007-05-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

I finally joined a knit swap. The swaps were always something I thought was really cool, but maybe I wasn't 'up to par' and nobody would want my stuff. I tried really hard to be objective, got out some of my knitting and compared it to the pattern photos and, where possible, photos that various bloggers had taken of the same item. Guess what? I'm not the best knitter in the world, but overall mine ain't too shabby!

I got some beautiful Regia silk from the here and a gorgeous pattern from here. One sock is done and the other is well under way. If I ever find the cord to the camera, we might be able to get some photos on here.

Hawk, the chicken, had a sleepover last night. That's right. The little huz didn't even ask if it was OK, she just did it! When I went to change out the water and feed her this morning, I saw one of the neighbor's hens in there. Ah, well, she must get lonely down there by herself.

Hey Y'all

2007-04-30T07:16:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know it's a weirdass greeting, but I've said it all my life. Comes from growing up in the southern half of West Virginia. Just to answer before anyone asks, yes we have teeth. I know that's an odd start, but for some ungodly reason people actually ask.

My husband's job transfers him frequently, and in the seven years we've been married we've lived one place in West Virgina, two places in Ohio, two places in Tennessee, and we're on our second place in Pennsylvania. There are so many boxes that haven't EVER been unpacked that we are just going to write the kids names on them so when we die they won't have to bother trying to sort through who gets what stuff.

The animals who actually rule this place are Lucy the eleven year old labrador/mystery who was found in bad shape on the side of the road as a puppy. She's the 'mom' to all the others and still keeps them in line. Second is Princess the cat. She's the nine year old monster who feels free to wake me up at 2:00 am most mornings because the water in her dish isn't fresh enough. That's the last freakin' time an animal gets a name that implies any kind of rank or status around here. Third to come along is Friday cat. We ran out of any kind of imagination when it came to naming her. Since we got her on Good Friday, Friday she was. She's the baby of all the girls and at just over 28 pounds, she's a little hard to ignore. Nearly last is Skippy the beagle. He's a rescue from Hurricane Ivan in Florida. The least rumble of thunder and you've got a chubby beagle trying to wrap himself around your neck. Last (and least) is Hawk the chicken. She was found abandoned by a neighbor and came to live with us a couple of months ago. She's a little black chicken with a topknot of feathers and gives up a little brown egg about 5 times a week.

There - that's more than anyone in their right mind would ever want to know about our critters. At some point, there will actually be some knitting stuff on here and maybe some human family info..