"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

11/27/12

Feeling Better Today

My lungs are feeling much better today. Not coughing nearly as much. It's a relief. Here is a picture of the first not-argyle sock.



Originally I had planned to knit the whole toe in navy, but I really like the striped look. The navy also brings out the blue in the pastel variegated yarn. I've already cast on the second sock and am halfway done with the cuff ribbing. I'm motivated to get it done!

I can't believe how early it gets dark now. The sun is setting before 4pm! We have Christmas lights on the house that are coming on after it gets dark. It helps some. Only 4 more weeks and the days will start getting longer again. Then winter really gets serious!

Today we had a bit of sun, though it didn't get above 36F. It came and went so quick. They are saying rain tonight. I expect it will be frozen into fluffy white crystals.

Started my Christmas shopping today. I'm not one to shop really early, or to do the Black Friday thing cuz I don't like being in big huge crowds like that when shopping. I admit, Sweet Hubby and I do most of our shopping online. It's just so easy to sit in my big leather hug in my jammies and surf web sites. I'll do some shopping locally, though. Some things can't, or shouldn't, be bought online. I like to do it during the week when everyone else is at work. It's easy to find parking and the lines are short. ;-)

I'm at a loss as to what to get for some gifts, but at least I've figured out a couple and ordered them. Once I figured out what my daughter, Ruth, wants from Santa I was pretty excited (that I knew-she is very hard to shop for). Then I discovered what she wants is almost impossible to find. I've spent literally days Googling and emailing shops trying to find it. I think I did today though, thanks to a friend who suggested where to look. At least, I hope so. I've ordered it. I'm hoping I don't get an email tomorrow saying their web site was wrong and they don't really have it in stock. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Keep warm.

Live long and prosper. \\//


11/26/12

Christmas Tree

Warning. Not for the feint of heart.

As you can see, I've Christmasfied the blog. Now I'm doing the same to the house. Ruth and I finished decorating the tree today.



It was an interesting time putting it up. Sweet Hubby and I got the stuff out of storage and brought it in the house Saturday. It was a beautiful day though, so I decided to take advantage of it to do that one last thing I hadn't done yet that needed doing before the snow flies. I pruned the Japanese Flamingo Willow. This is the first time I've done it right. I decided to Google how to prune the darn thing properly. It looks quite nice now and won't be looking all raggedy and out of control come spring. Working on it took the wind out of my sails though. Cold, damp, and smokey air is apparently bad for the asthma. So I settled down and knit for the evening.

Sunday I was looking forward to Ruth and I setting up the tree, putting on the lights and decorations, etc. I forgot she wasn't going to be home. So I ended up doing it by myself.

First, I grabbed the tree box, cut the tape, and lifted the flap. Then I screamed and dropped it. There were about 40 stink bugs crawling around under that flap. I grabbed the box and tossed it out the back door. I don't want those bugs in the house! I got a broom and went outside to brush away the bugs and get them out of the box. While I was doing that, of course, they all started letting off stink bombs (which is why we call them stink bugs) which led to me having an asthma attack. I started coughing and gasping and nearly passed out from lack of air. I sat down and grabbed my inhaler off a nearby table, popped the cap off and inhaled.

Urg! Something solid got sucked down into my lungs. I then started choking and coughing. After a bit of this, an earwig flew out of my mouth and landed on the floor-where it then meekly crawled away. I was shocked!  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWW!!!!!! That was just too much for this woman to handle. I was totally grossed out. Now I'm really coughing and gagging (and screaming-or trying to anyway). I dashed to the bathroom and threw up. Yuck!

I can't stand earwigs. They freak me out, the ugly little b&*%#$s. It must have crawled into my inhaler through an opening in the top. Ick ick ick! Having one take a trip into the lungs and back out again....shudder! I've been coughing pretty much ever since then. There's an itchy irritation where that earwig went in. Got hardly any sleep last night. I'm hoping I'll be over this by tomorrow.

Note to self: Check inhaler for bugs before putting it in my mouth.

Despite the horrifying experience, I went back to setting up the tree and installing the lights. Man, it's a lot of work putting the lights on a 7 foot tree. It's especially hard when 2 little kittens won't leave it alone. They were trying to climb it before I'd even had it halfway assembled. I finally grabbed them both and tossed them outside in the sunshine for a bit to get them out of my way.

Today Ruth and I hung the ornaments and finished the tree. I also have finished the knitting of the first not-argyle sock.

YAY!!!

Pics later this week. I'll be casting on the second one tonight for sure.

Live long and prosper. \\//   (cough, cough)

11/23/12

Katey's Mittens





Katey's Mittens

Pattern: Classic Mittens by Bernhard Ulmann

Size: Childs 2-4

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in heather purple
Content: 100% Wool, worsted weight

Needles: Addi Turbo Circulars in size 4.

Cast on: November 29, 2012
Bound off: November 21, 2012

Comments: This is an old pattern published so long ago it's now in the public domain. Some of the instructions aren't the standardized we have for today so I did get a little bit confused when working on the decreases for the top. There is a typo error in the pattern, for this size, after slipping the thumb stitches on a piece of yarn to be held. Where it says "There will be on needles... sts 3", it should read 30.





I don't really know why I chose this pattern, except maybe I knew where it was and could lay my hands on it quickly.



The yarn, as always, was a dream to work with.



Hopefully, I will be seeing Katey tonight at our annual Park family Second Thanksgiving dinner celebration. I'm taking the camera so I can get pics of her modeling them. We have this dinner every year. We all bring our leftovers and eat and laugh together.

I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving. There were just 10 of us, plus 3 dogs. Cable loves to play with her fur cousins. The food was amazing! I made Brandied Cranberries, Green Bean Casserole, Berry Jello Salad, and Pumpkin Pie for the occasion. Sue did the turkey-which was especially moist and tasty this year, mashed potatoes and gravy (her gravy is in a food group all by itself. Yum!), dressing, smoked roast beef, and Apple Pie. So much tasty tasty food! Afterwards we all watched Punpkin Chunkin on tv, then a movie.

I got some knitting done during this portion of the evening. The not argyle sock has a nicely turned heel.

Today I plan to bead a bit before we head over for more fun and food.

~~~~~~~~~~

ETA-- Here's Katey with her new mittens.



She likes them very much.



Live long and prosper. \\//

11/22/12

It's Thanksgiving Day

A random list of just a few of the things I'm thankful for:

-My wonderful husband who lets me be me.
-My two lovely daughters and my awesome son-in-law.
-My fur kids who bring so much into my life.
-My inlaws.
-That I live in my little house in the woods, in north Idaho, in the United States of America.
-Yarn, knitting needles, all the people who have contributed to making the craft of knitting so fun and satisfying.
-My friends
-The guys who invented the little tiny seed beads that bring me so much joy.
-My new car.
-To Toyota for creating the hybrid technology that is in my car.




- Tape
-The farmers who grow our food for us.
-The truckers who ship our food to the stores.
-The stores that we can buy our food from.
-The turkey who gave up his/her life for today's meal.
-Glasses. Without them I couldn't see to do much of anything.
-Toilets that flush.
-Bath and Bodyworks Sensual Amber lotion.
-The color purple. Well, actually, ALL colors, but especially purple.
-This blog and the people who read it.

Everything else I haven't mentioned that I'm thankful for, but mostly,

I'm thankful to be not dead.

Live long and prosper. \\//

11/21/12

WIP Wednesday 11/21/2012

I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to post on here today. I've been cooking since this morning. Around 1:30pm the power went out. I had just taken the Brandied Cranberries out of the oven and was getting the pumpkin pies ready to put in the oven. Arrgh. The power company said it wouldn't be back on until some time around 6pm.

There was a horrible accident at the end of the road we live on. Someone slammed into a power pole and knocked it down. It was gonna take time to get a new pole to install.

Fortunately, they way overestimated how long it was going to take. Power came back on at 2:30pm. So I stuck the pies in the oven, and that's when I found out we had no water. Sigh.

There are days when living in a rural area is NOT fun!

Brother-in-law Dan came home early and got it working again just a few minutes ago. So all is right with the world again.

You know what I wanna know? Who slams into a power pole so hard they knock it down in the middle of the day on a rural road? I hope they lived to tell about it.

It's WIP Wednesday. Here's today's entries.



Umm, yeah. This is the argyle sock.

This is what happened. I dug around in the sock yarn stash for  better colors. I wanted to keep the navy blue. I found a sort of medium blue to go with, but it was a bit darker than I remembered which made the white look way too bright. So I was digging around looking for something else to use for the white and came upon this variegated grey/tan/pale blue hank, named Patina, that I'd bought from Knitivity. It would go perfect with the other two yarns. There would be plenty of contrast between all three but not too much.

I sat down to wind the Patina hank into a ball. I decided to do it by hand rather than getting out the swift and ball warmer. Sometimes I enjoy winding it myself this way. I'm being one with the yarn, or something. I was winding, and winding, and winding, watching the colors pass through my fingers and I had this thought, "This yarn is really pretty. This yarn is way too pretty to use in argyle. It needs to be by itself."

That was the end of the argyle socks. I decided to make things easier on myself stress-wise. (Can I get argyles done in the time I've got left before I have to ship them to their intended recipient?) I looked in my stitch pattern books and found a simple one that would look good in the yarn, came up with a design and cast on. I've been happily working on them for 3 days now. I'm still using the navy blue for stripes, and contrasting heel and toe. I will be writing this pattern up for the pattern blog too. Sometimes the yarn just doesn't want to be what I have in mind. I will make argyles some other day.

Yesterday, while on the way to Rathdrum Knitalong, I suddenly remembered I am supposed to have a pair of purple mittens done for my little niece Katey by Thanksgiving.



When I got home I cast on asap. Fortunately, my daughter, Ruth, had a spare skein of Cascade 220 superwash wool in purple that she was willing to donate to the cause. I got the first one done last night and I'll have the second one done tonight.

Whew! That was a close one. I would never hear the end of it if I don't have those mittens for Katey this weekend. ;-) She asked me for them last August and I promised I'd have them for her when they came for Thanksgiving.

I worked on the second mitt while waiting for the power to come back on. I sat in a chair by the window for light. The air has been thick with rain clouds making it a bit dark in the house.

I think we got about 3 inches of rain yesterday. It rained so hard the roof started leaking in the laundry room. The water was coming in where the ceiling light is installed and dripping off the light bulb. Not good. NOT good! The last thing we need now is a leaky roof.




If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.

Live long and prosper. \\//

11/17/12

Caturday 11/17/2012


It's Caturday! Todays presentation is about:

Noses


Cashmere has a sweet little pale pink nose.



Unfortunately, it is quite noisy with it's sneezes, snores, rattles and wheezes. He has a virus that was caught when he was still in his mothers womb. The vet says there isn't anything that can be done with it. We just have to keep an eye on him. It doesn't seem to bother him.




I love pink noses. Even if they are a bit noisy.



Merino has a black nose. It's shaped a little differently than his brothers too. Rounder on the top.



Merino almost always has dried cat food stuck to his nose.



He also sticks it everywhere he can squeeze it in! I've never seen such a curious cat. I mean, they are all curious, but not like this little guy. He is very intelligent. I attribute this to the extra curiosity.



I hope you've enjoyed the boys noses.




Love cats? Care to join in the fun? Go here: Tanya's Caturday

Live long and prosper. \\//

11/14/12

WIP Wednesday 11/14/2012

Here is my WIP for this Wednesday.



I have one inch left on this cowl and it's done. I expect I'll finish it tomorrow at the Yarnies meeting.

The argyle sock is not going so well. I got the first leg almost done and I hated it. It was the color combo, of course. Not enough contrast between the variegated yarn and the navy blue. I set it aside for a few days to mull things over as to what to do. I really didn't like it and could not see myself finishing it as it was. So on Monday night I frogged the whole thing. I'm going to start over with different colors. I've only got a month left, so it's gonna be my main project until it's done.

The snow has been melting all day. Temps are supposed to be in the 40's the rest of the week. I would like to see all the snow melt away and then have no more until after Thanksgiving. Wishful thinking, I'm sure.

I have been beading too. I've spent several days with an idea in my head and trying to figure out how to do it in netting stitch. I finally figured it out this morning when I saw a blurb on the net about Chenille stitch. It was exactly the stitch I need to make what I'm picturing in my head. I'm kind of excited about that project now. I will work on it over the weekend.




If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.

Live long and prosper. \\//

11/13/12

Coffee Beans Hat

Yesterday didn't go as planned. I adapted. It snowed all day long too. But last night, it finally started warming up enough to turn it to rain. Today the snow is melting and it's raining out.

So, a partial knitting report. I finished a hat.



Coffee Bean Hat

Pattern: The Boyfriend Hat by Stephanie Nicole.

Size: To fit a +/- 23 inch head.

Yarn: Coffee Beenz by Plymouth in 9003-Brown
Content: 75% Acrylic/25% Wool, worsted weight

Needles: Addi Turbo Circulars in size 9.

Cast on: November 2, 2012
Bound off: November 9, 2012

Comments: I chose The Boyfriend Hat pattern because I like the way the stitch pattern (3x2 rib) is decreased for the crown. It's also a nice masculine style. I enjoyed knitting it. The pattern is written clearly and is easy to knit. The yarn is nice to work with too.



I have made this hat for the owner of the Calypso's coffee shop, where the Yarnies meet every Thursday, to thank him for being so kind and accommodating to us. I intend to give it to him this week. I chose the yarn because it's brown and called Coffee Beenz. What better yarn to use for a gift to a coffee shop owner?



Tomorrow I intend to do a WIP Wednesday post. We'll see how that goes.

Live long and prosper. \\//


11/11/12

Flat Spiral Challenge

It has been a busy week. I even missed Caturday! I'll get it next week. I did sit down for a couple hours, though, and worked on this months Seadbeadersters Challenge project-a Flat Spiral bracelet.



I used 6mm and 4mm Picasso firepolish glass beads in a mottled pale grey and brown, and some amber gold-lustered size 11 beads.



Here is a link to a tutorial on how to do this: Flat Spiral



It is a super super easy pattern!



I wore it last night.



We went to see the new Bond movie, Skyfall, than dinner at Red Robin. Skyfall was fun. I really enjoyed it. Dinner was great too. I had the Banzai burger. I always have the Banzai burger. It is awesome. That and the Berry Limeade. Mmmm...tasty!

I have been knitting some. I'll post about that hopefully tomorrow.

So what was I doing all week? Running around. It was the first week of the month. So I had lots of places to go. Tuesday was voting, and Rathdrum Knitalong, Wednesday was Knit Wits, Thursday was Yarnies, Friday was the second session of the glove class. Between all that I have to do the usual house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, etc etc etc.

On top of all of this, sigh, winter arrived---with a WHOMP! On Thursday it turned very cold and by that evening it was snowing. It snowed all night. It didn't stop snowing until Saturday morning. We got a total of 7 inches by the time it was done. The temps have not been above freezing since Thursday evening.

Thursday, after I got home from Yarnies, I filled up the bird feeders and set out some suet blocks because it felt like it was gonna snow (the Doom was thick in the air). I'm waiting for the birds to find it now. So far, I've had finches and a Flicker. The kittens are fascinated by them. They spent a couple hours on the windowsill this morning watching them.

Cable was beside herself with excitement over the snow. I think she must have really missed it a LOT! She ran in and out the doggy door. When she was out, she rolled, danced, ran, nose-plowed, and played in the snow. She laid in it, rubbed herself all over in it, and ate it. My goodness! It was quite a show. I think she spent pretty much the whole day on Friday out in the snow. Daughter was worried she was getting cold when she was laying in it snoozing. I figured if she got cold, she'd come in to warm up.

Cable running in the snow

So, I've kicked into 'waiting for spring' mode now.

Live long and prosper. \\//


11/6/12

It's Important!

Have you voted yet?





It's the most important thing you'll do today.

Live long and prosper. \\//


11/4/12

Black and White and Red All Over

Christmas is coming! I decided to make another ornament cover for my tree.




The top


The bottom


The inspiration for the colorway comes from the tile wall in a ladies room at a restaurant I had lunch at 2 months ago. I've been wanting to do an ornament cover in those colors ever since. I took this pic with my phone.




No pattern to share or anything. I just kind of winged it this time.



Live long and prosper. \\//

11/3/12

It's Caturday

I tried to get them to pose for a portrait. Not easy. If they're not moving, then they are sleeping.

Cashmere

Merino







Love cats? Care to join in the fun? Go here: Tanya's Caturday

Live long and prosper. \\//