Just Some Ramblings

I'm packing the trailer, today, for the camping trip. I've figured out what knitting and cross stitch I'm taking with me. The trailer is acting up. The AC power is not working properly. Hubs has determined the circuit breaker board has gone bad. Too late to get a new one installed before we go, so he's worked up something that works for now.

My daughter Ruth was laid off from her job Tuesday. She is both sad and glad. She's sad cuz, she lost her job, and the reason is because the company has decided they don't want to automate their order system after all. She's glad cuz she wants to find a better job and this forces her to do so. I get to take her with me to knitting meetings until she's employed again. I hope that doesn't take long. I prefer she works.

Coughing is gradually going away. I hope just one course of the medication is needed and it doesn't come back. I'm sooooooo tired of coughing.

This was my flowering cherry two weeks ago. It's never bloomed this way before where it's fully flowered. My baby has finally reached adulthood. I sat out on the deck drinking coffee and just looking at it the day I took this pic. It was loaded with busy bees and hummingbirds. I'm easy to entertain.

This is my new rose plant. Abracadabra is it's name.

The flower is about 2 inches across. It's a 6 inch tall plant in a tiny little pot. I actually ordered this rose about 2 years or so ago. It's a new variety of tea rose that was created for florists and only growers for florists have been able to get it.

About 2 years ago I came across an American Rose dealer to the general public who said they were going to start carrying this rose, so I ordered one. I completely forgot about it because, you know, life. Around Thanksgiving last year I got am email from them that they would be sending me my rose if I still wanted it. It arrived a couple weeks ago with a bud already on it, and 2 pages of growing instructions. It's a high maintenance rose. It will be hard for me to keep alive cuz I do not have my moms green thumb. In the meantime, it's pretty. 

Heading out for camping in the morning. I hope we get some good weather.

Live long and prosper. \\//

About Pink Houndstooth Check

For the last couple months I've kind of been obsessed with pink Houndstooth Check. It started when I ordered some baby themed fleece (from Fabric.com) for making layette sets for KnitWits. This fabric is so much cuter in real life than it is in the online picture.

I was all ready to do something fairly simple for the cardigan when I got the idea of doing it with Houndstooth check to match the background of the fabric. I googled and found this chart. It was perfect!

The rest is history. I have finished the cardigan and hat, more or less, plus the set I posted about in June,

and I'm working on the booties now.

I've got the blanket fabric all ready for it's edging. I should have this set done before the weekend is over.

As for the necklace in yesterday's post, I was browsing through the pattern files in the Peyote With A Twist group and ran across one named Houndstooth. I have a recently purchased pink t-shirt that needs a necklace. Well, I had to make that pattern.

I'm coming to the end of all things Houndstooth this weekend. I wonder what will grab my fancy next?

I have been working on the set for my nephews soon coming baby boy. I've finished one sleeve and started the second.

When I'm done with the layette, I'll focus on this one much more. Gotta get it done. September is coming quickly.

We're having nice weather right now. Unseasonably cool for July. Haven't had more than one or two days near 90F. It's usually much hotter, but I am truly enjoying the lower temperatures. We've been in the mid 70-80's.

I managed to sprain my back last Monday. It scared me. I bent over with a pair of scissors in my hand and felt a horrible 'pop' in my lower back, right where I had my back surgery. Agonizing pain shot through me, and I couldn't even straighten up. However, with the ice pack, resting with my feet up, and some Tylenol, I've been babying it and it's much better now. Hardly any pain at all. Just enough to remind me to not overdo things until it's fully healed. I'm so relieved. I was worried I'd really racked myself up and would need another surgery. False alarm!

Well, I should go out and work on my project. I have a concrete bird bath that developed some cracks in it during the winter. I'm filling in the cracks with some concrete repair goop. I'm planning to paint it grey afterwards because the repair stuff is a different shade of grey than the bird bath. I want it to look good cuz I'm giving it to a friend. I don't want it any more. So, off to the garage I go.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Ramblings

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Everything went very well. I sort of puttered through out the day working on one part of the meal for a bit, then resting, then working on some more, then resting. The house cleaning got done the day before so I didn't have to worry about it. I even had time to knit. It was one of the most relaxing Thanksgiving meal preparations I've ever had. My turkey turned out fantastic. Well, everything did. We had a wonderful meal. I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but not excessively so.

On Wednesday I dropped into Steins Family Foods in Rathdrum, the grocery store nearest to me, to pick up a few last minute things and get some flowers for the table. The florist at that store is extremely talented. I just love her work. Anyway, here's what I brought home. I think it's absolutely gorgeous!

Besides cooking and knitting, I also uploaded a new pattern to my pattern blog. It's for a hat made with the popular furry yarns. Go here for more info.

Fuzzy Hat

I've been working on a pair of fingerless mitts, to be a Christmas present. I've got the first one done, and I'm halfway through the second one. I'm using the Owlings pattern but, as usual, putting in a few of my own modifications.

The biggest complaint I have about this pattern is there's no thumb gusset. It's so easy to put one in, and they fit so much better with it.

Today we got out the Christmas decorations from storage. Ruth and I put up the tree, with it's lights. Tomorrow we'll add the ornaments. I am super happy to have it up now. It brightens things up so nicely.

All that snow we had? It's almost completely gone. The snow I was expecting in my last post never arrived. Instead, a pineapple express blew in. We've had blasting winds, rain, and warm temperatures. It actually got up to 55 on Wednesday. The snow melted like crazy. I kind of hope it stays like this for awhile. I don't want to get a lot of heavy snow while we're gone on our trip because if the load gets too much on the roof, we won't be here to shovel it off. We kind of worry about that when we travel in the winter time.

Here's something that's just plain funny. My cat, Chenille, has this little quirk. She likes to store her favorite balls in the water dish. This morning there were four of them in it, and she also added a twisty tie and a piece of plastic she's found somewhere.

She uses the water dish as her personal toy box. Such a silly girl!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Nephews Wedding

I don't get many questions in my blog comments, but when I do, I try to answer them.

On the entry for the finished Water Nymph socks Kate/Massachusetts asked...

Which bind off technique did you use? I am such a tight knitter that neither of them are loose enough for me unless I modify them. My calf measures about 11 inches - I ended up taking a 28 oz can of tomato sauce and sticking it into the cuff and THEN binding off around the can (sewn b/o that is). sheesh! Fiddly but I have no problems now with the bind off being too tight! I get lots of odd looks, too, when I do the bind off in public. lol

It's a variation on the Russian Bind Off from the WendyKnits blog. Click here for the instructions:

Stretchy Bind Off

I am off line for a few days. My nephew Jonny and his fiance Ann are getting married in Seattle this weekend, so we are headin' west for some partying.

I took the fur boys to the kennel today. A very plush place, as kennels go. I expect they'll get spoiled so rotten they won't wanna come home. At least, I sure hope that's the way it turns out.

I started a new sock last night so I'd have something small and portable to take on my trip. More details on the next WIP Wednesday.

Gotta finish the packing and the cleaning.

Have a great holiday weekend everybody! (And for those countries who don't celebrate Labor Day--Have a great weekend anyway!)

Red Flame

In order to bring some sanity to my morning, because I was nervous about my doctor appointment, I worked on the Red Flame bead crochet rope yesterday. It calmed me down considerably and I have finished it.

Red Flame

It's about 22 inches long. Here's a detail close up.


I really love the clasp and bead caps. I found them at Bead Creative in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

To repeat, I used size 8 DMC perle cotton in a dark red, size 10 steel crochet hook, and size 8 Japanese seed beads in 5 shades of red, matte black, and silver lined light topaz. The pattern can be found here.

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My doctor appointment went fine. Yes indeed, my hernia needs to be repaired. I'm seeing the surgeon Friday of next week.

I got to have my very first EKG. I needed to have one anyway in preparation for surgery (wanna make sure the ol' ticker can handle it), but it was more like my doctors way of trying to win an arguement.

I really like my doctor, but he has a real hang up about high blood pressure. When I first arrived for my appointment, the nurse took my blood pressure and it was 128 over 80. But when the Doc started talking about the surgery I felt a minor panic attack launch (I have panic attack anxiety disorder, which I keep under control with medication). My heart started pounding, the vision got dizzy, I felt my face flush. He says "Let me take your blood pressure", which was 150 over something I didn't hear. Suddenly he starts talking about high blood pressure medication and I say "But I'm nervous now. I was fine before you said surgery." Some more blah blah blah from him. I argue back. Finally, in a fit of frustration, he says we're doing an EKG (I need one before the surgery anyway). Hey cool! I've never had one of those. I'm all for it.

It says my heart's just fine and healthy. I do not have high blood pressure. Just nerves. He was kind of surprised. A good doctor, but I sure wish he'd get off that high blood pressure craze of his. He was gracious about losing the argument.

This morning I went in for some blood work. First time I've faced a needle and not felt like passing out.

Right now I'm feeling huge relief. I've done it. I've taken the steps toward getting healed. Now I can hardly wait to have it done.

I think I spoke a bit too soon about the moose yesterday. We had another visitor last night. It was a very large female. She ran away quite nicely, but a few minutes later she came back to chew on the flowering cherry. I should have grabbed the paint gun, but I got so mad I just started screaming at her at a decibel level I'm sure they heard over in Montana. She took off and didn't come back. My first thoughts were maybe it was Miss Molly? But she's not afraid of me. I could stand there screaming until the cows come home and it wouldn't phase her in the least.

The furboys are upset with me at the moment. I took their beds and blankets away so I can wash them. We're heading over to Seattle on Saturday morning to attend my nephew Jonny's wedding. The boys are going in the new (to us) kennel while we're away. Sorry boys. Mustn't take dirty beds to the kennel! Get over it!

Have a good day.

Vote for Me Please!

First of all, I just want to say Thank You for all the nice compliments on my fair entry results. I so appreciate it.

I just found out that voting for the Socks on Vacation photo is open to everyone. Not just SOS08 members. So, in the interest of self interest, I'm asking for votes for my photo.

Voting instructions:

1. To view the photos, go to this flickr set. (If, for some reason you cannot follow the link you can also find it by going to summerofsocks2006 and looking for the Socks on Vacation 2008 set.)

2. Choose the photo that you wish to vote for and note it’s number which can be found in the title of the photo toward the top of the picture.
   

   Note: My photo is number 4
   

3. Send a blank e-mail to summerofsocks at gmail dot com with the subject containing only the number of the photo you want to vote for. Please leave the rest of the e-mail blank.

Of course, if you get there and find a photo you like better than mine, you are free to vote for it instead. But I'm hoping you'll find mine to be the best.

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Yesterday, even though it was a Saturday, I found myself all alone for the day. Doug went on a river rapids rafting trip with the guys and gals in his department at work, so he was gone all day. Ruth went to work, her last day there. She heads back to school today.

The thought occurred, as I was knitting away on the Water Nymph socks, that next weekend is Labor Day weekend, which is the weekend of my nephew Jonny's wedding. I have nothing to wear to it, unless you want to count the out fits I've bought to wear to Christmas parties. All black and sparkley just doesn't strike me as a good wedding outfit. I am happy that Jonny has found Ann. I do not want to wear black to their wedding.

So I figured I'd dash into Coeur d'Alene, visit Fashion Bug, buy a new dress (cos I always love their dresses and whatnot), and be home in less than 2 hours to work on the sock. HA!!!!

Who was it that decided in the last couple months that Fashion Bug would no longer be carrying dresses? Who ever it is, they're an IDIOT! I ended up spending the entire day visiting both the CdA Mall and the Spokane Valley Mall trying to find something appropriate that I like. Thank the stars for CJ Banks and Sears. Without them I'd go stark raving mad.

I need a new slip too. The one I have is rather short. I've bought a long skirt. Did you know that stores don't sell slips anymore? No one in CdA or Spokane Valley has slips-of any size. Don't women wear slips any more under their skirts????? I asked one store clerk about it. She said "they're not in fashion anymore". Excuse me? Wearing a slip has nothing to do with what's in fashion. What happened to modesty, and the proper draping of a skirt? I wonder if I have time to pick up some fabric and a pattern and make one? Hmm...

Have I mentioned I hate shopping for clothes for me?

I made good progress on the sock last night. I've got about 2 hours of knitting left and it'll be done. However, I have found a problem with the first sock. The bind off is too tight. I can't even get the sock on. So, after I get sock 2 done, I am going to undo the ribbing of sock 1, add 8 stitches in the round, and reknit it. I had originally decreased 8 stitches after the heel flap so the leg would not be too loose. The stitch pattern in these socks is wider and stretchier than average per stitch. I should have put the 8 stitches back when I switched to ribbing. Ah well. Something new has been learned. Actually, I should have known that, so you could say something has been relearned.

Have a good day.