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

10/31/14

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween me mateys!

Good grief! It's been 11 days since my last post. Not for lack of wanting to though. I'm just so darn busy this month. I've had 3 knitting classes going all at once, plus I'm still working on the inside of my house and all my 'regular' stuff too (knitting groups, NISS and INFS). How did I manage to do this to myself? I admit, though, I'm enjoying it. It's way better than being bored, that's for sure!

The above pic is Amber wearing her little pirate outfit I bought from Ebay about a week and a half ago. Been trying to find time to take pics ever since. I saw it and had to have it. I didn't even bid. I went with the buy-it-now price. No dickering allowed if I want something bad enough! Heh heh. The price was reasonable.

I am knitting! I still need to knit, so I've been doing brainless projects for Knitwits. I've got until Nov. 12, our next meeting, to finish the items I want to donate for this year. I knit a green furry shrug. I need to block it and sew the sleeve seams. I've also knit a pair of mens slippers and started a second pair. I intend to knit as many pair of slippers as I can between now and the meeting. I'm also about half done with the cashmere cowl.

I've knit 3 rounds on the moose sweater since my last mention of it. I've got the hoofs of 3 feet done. Heheh. I really want to be working on it more, but life has been too crazy right now. Another week and things should start to calm down a bit. Then I can get serious about it.

Speaking of Knitwits, I've taken over the monthly newsletter for the group. The former person in charge of it decided to retire. I'm looking forward to it. I plan to make a couple changes to make it more interesting. Things like adding patterns and tips for both knitting and crochet. I'm even thinking about interviewing each member and doing a little story on them. Just for fun.

When I'm home, (and if I've got the energy) I am working on the house project. I got the kitchen painted, and this weekend we're doing the sun room. Then the painting will be finished and my life can return to normal. I can't believe how much I love the new paint. What a difference a little color can make. I've fallen in love with my house all over again.

Sweet Hubby made it across Texas. He's in New Orleans, LA today.

Crossing the Mississippi river.

I am so proud of him. He's sticking with it. I'm sure he'll make it to the Atlantic ocean. He has 3 weeks of riding left, then he comes home. I miss him so very much. I'm getting excited about him coming home.

Live long and prosper. \\//

10/20/14

Not Knitting

I have not been knitting the past 5 days. I've been living in a house with ugly white walls for 22 years. I hate white walls. I decided I'd had enough! I've been too busy painting the living/dining room of my house to knit. It was a BIG job!

My daughter Ruth got 4 days off over the weekend. I drove up to Newport and picked up my  friend Judy who consented to spent a couple days with us to help.

The hardest, most labor intensive part of painting a room is all the prep work before you can lay that first bit of paint on the wall. First boxes were obtained, then we emptied the book shelf, which was 8 feet high and totally loaded, and took down all the pictures hanging on the wall.

On Friday I picked up Judy and brought her home. Then we pulled furniture away from 2 of the walls to the other side of the room. I got out the vacuum cleaner and we cleaned the walls. Goodness there were a lot of cobwebs!

Discussing the next step. Notice the ugly white walls.

After that it was masking around the windows, along the ceiling and floor edges, and around everything else we didn't want painted.

Judy and Ruth take a break after masking.

We laid down lots of plastic so as not to get paint on the bamboo floor. Finally, we could paint!

Judy gets busy with the roller

It took almost a whole hour to paint the first coat. Why is it that the fun part takes the least amount of time? Anyway, we took a 4 hour break to let it dry. We went to Paul Bunyans in Rathdrum for lunch (they have great burgers and fries!). Then just rested until it was time to get back to work. We painted the 2nd coat and called it quits for the day.

After the first coat.

On Saturday we had to move everything to the other side of the room so we could paint the remaining walls. We boxed up the DVD's on the other 8 foot high shelf first. This half of the room had the heaviest furniture. The entertainment stand, the piano, and a 4-drawer file cabinet. Whew! We managed to slide them out away from the wall enough to be able to paint behind them! It's amazing what 3 women can do when they want it bad enough. We didn't dare take our tv off the wall though. So we taped it in plastic and masked it extra extra good, and we were very very careful working around it. After all the masking and other prep work, we were finally able to paint the first coat. This one had some ladder climbing involved. I was glad there were 2 others around to see me if I accidentally fell off. Thankfully, I didn't and we got it done. We took a break to let the first coat dry and went into Rathdrum for lunch. This time we went to Taco Bell. After that we got the second coat painted. Around 5:30 Judy's hubby showed up to take her home. We were done painting by then. Yay!

Sunday morning Ruth and I slept in. We were soooo tired and sore. Everything hurt. Even my hair! But, the rooms needed to be put back right, so eventually we got busy. We had to peel all that masking tape off, put up the pictures, move the furniture back, put all the knick knacks back in their proper places, and unpack all the boxes of books and dvds and put them back on the shelves. We got about half of it done. We finished up most of the rest today. I took these tonight. The color is a pale green.

Front window

 Still have a few things to put away, and 3 pictures to hang behind the recliners, but otherwise done.

Entertainment wall.

 I am LOVIN' IT! No more ugly white walls. HURRAY!!! This green is so cheerful and actually brightens up the room. I am so unbelievably happy with it.

The dining room.

I am so thankful to my BFF Judy for spending 2 days helping us. It was a LOT of work. Having her here made it go faster and made it so much fun. Thank you Judy. You're the best!

I'm looking forward to Sweet Hubby coming home to see the paint job. I didn't say anything about it to him, so he's going to be surprised.

Tomorrow, I get back to knitting. I'm teaching a sock class first thing in the morning, and I have Rathdrum Knitalong in the afternoon. I'm a busy busy little bee.

Live long and prosper. \\//


10/14/14

Why?

My super power is Procrastination. I'm very good at it, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. Take, for example, my shower door. Shortly after we moved into this house almost 22 years ago the handle on my shower door broke. I reached out to open the shower and it came off in my hand. It turned out to be defective. A day or two later I remember going to the hardware store for a new one, but they didn't have any in stock. They were willing to order it, but I needed the measurements. So I went home, with the plan to measure and return in a couple days. Ha ha. Never got around to it. It's been almost 22 years!



Last week I thought "this is enough!", I grabbed my phone, went to the Home Depot web site and in 3 minutes I'd ordered a new door handle set for all of 7 bucks and change. It arrived this morning and I installed it in less than 5 minutes.



Why on earth did it take so long for me to do that?

I think I'll go glue the formica coming off the corner of the  counter in the sun room.

Live long and prosper. \\//

10/12/14

Fall Foliage

My flowering plum tree is absolutely beautiful in her fall color this year. This is how she looks in the morning.



I took this photo yesterday afternoon. The leaves just glow with the sunlight coming through them.



Amber climbed up into it and asked me to take her pic.



Around the side of the house, the wild Service Berry is a brilliant yellow.



The pines in the back yard have been dropping their needles for a couple weeks now. I hired someone to rake them all up for me last weekend so I could mow the lawn (Raking leaves is a no-no for my back). Here's Amber sitting in the needles at the base of the biggest pine.



She is holding a flower we found blooming in the flower bed by the back door. I thought the frost would have killed it by now. We've had some very cold nights this past week. I've got the yard ready for winter pretty much. I  mowed the grass one last time yesterday. The leaves of the trees are just now starting to fall to the ground, so we haven't had to rake them up yet. Probably this next week they will litter up my freshly mown lawn.

I still need to put the furniture cushions away on the deck but we've been having such beautiful sunny weather I haven't wanted to. I'm still using them. It was supposed to rain today, but it didn't. Another beautiful day of sunshine. I am so enjoying it, and the air outside smells so good.

I have done quite a bit of knitting on the moose sweater. I am now at the point where I start knitting the actual moose. I plan to get him started tomorrow. I've also almost finished a tan and white shrug, and started a pink mohair sweater for the dolls. I've got a pink and white skirt with no top. Not sure how it got missed. I want to cast on some mittens this coming week.

I did not make it to Knitwits last week. I was sick with some kind of virus. I tried to go, I really did. I loaded up everything in the car and actually started driving to Coeur d'Alene, but didn't get more than a couple miles when I realized I was just way too sick to be going anywhere, so I turned around and went home.

Today I attended the October meeting of the Inland Northwest Freethought Society. I had a wonderful time. We have quite a few new members that have joined since we did our booths at the fair. It's nice to see so many new faces.

Sweet Hubby is in Texas on his ride. He's across about a third of it. Texas is a BIG state!

That is the news for now. Live long and prosper. \\//


10/3/14

Sparkly Furry Warm

I've been finishing things right and left. Mostly dolls sweaters, but this managed to sneak into the finished pile too.



Sparkling Green Shrug

Pattern: Fancy Flossy Shrug by me.
Size: 60 inches from cuff to cuff.

Yarn: Aldemir Yumos
Content: 100% Polyester, bulky weight
Color: Green with gold/aqua sparklies

Yarn: Red Heart Supersaver
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Green/Blue variegated (discontinued)

Needles: Chiagoo size 10 and 15

Cast on:  September 1, 2014
Bound off:  September 20, 2014

Made for Knit Wits



It went quick. The pictures do not do it justice. It's so luxurious in real life.



An elderly person in a nursing home will get it for Christmas this year.



I love doing charity knitting. I get to make such a variety of things.

Live long and prosper. \\//

10/2/14

Garter Checks in Black

I finished these a couple weeks ago. It's about time I posted them.



Little Garter Checks in Black

Pattern: Little Garter Checks by me.
Size: Mens Large

Yarn: Vintage by Berroco
Content: 50% Acrylic, 40% Wool, 10% Nylon, worsted weight
Color: Black

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 5

Cast on: August 24, 2014
Completed: September 13, 2014

I made these for Knit Wits.



Close up of stitch pattern.



Someone will have warm hands this winter.



Live long and prosper. \\//

10/1/14

WIP Wednesday 10/1/2014

Is it Wednesday again? So soon? I've been knitting, and blocking doll sweaters.



This is what I've been doing with them, and the skirts I sewed a few weeks ago.



I'm making jewelry to match too. These outfits will eventually be on Ebay.

We have sunshine today. Yay! It's cooled off quite a bit, though, making it harder to sit out on the deck. Winter is getting closer.

Sweet Hubby is in New Mexico now. Temps have cooled off a bit for him too, making it much easier for his ride. 2 states down. That's pretty darn good.



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


Live long and prosper. \\//