Washcloths ..... the new addiction .....

These things are like potato chips .... can't make just one. Lucky for me I've got an internet filled with free patterns and 30 balls of cotton just waiting to become washcloths. First a cat.
Then a dog.
And a turtle too.
"Diane, I hate to tell you this but the cotton thing you put out on the bed is a little small. My furry butt barely fits on it. If you would kindly make the next one larger I would appreciate it. After all, I'm a bit on the large boned side," says Joey.
What's wrong with this picture? Two things. The town has a leash law and there are no dogs allowed in the beach area of this park. Guess these people don't think they have to follow either rule. At least most of the ice is off the pond so spring is definately in the air.

Thanks Yolanda

A scarf from my new cyber friend Yolanda. Yolanda and I both belong to a great MSN group which has different exchanges during the year. This last one was a scarf exchange.

This is a really hard pic to take because no matter how hard I try I just can't show the scarf in all it's glory. Beautiful navy blue with specks of turquoise and white with a silver thread running thru the whole thing. D3 saw this and her eyes grew wide ..... meaning she wanted to grab and run.

Also included was a crochet bag which was beautiful done and a chocolate treat inside.

Thanks Yolanda!

Weekend round up

Very busy this weekend indeed. Still plugging away on a zebra sock for my son in law.
And started a shawl for the ISE4 .
I'm not sure if this one will go out to my pal or not. I've got some yarn on order that might be more to her liking. We'll have to wait and see. I love how this is coming out. The lace knitting seems to be easier this time around. I finished a secret project. It's blocking as we speak. Loved knitting this one! It's cool looking and an easy pattern to remember.
D1 and hubby spent the weekend working on their new house which means someone had to watch the little ones. This is little missy A discussing how she really would like to live at my house with me forever.
Meanwhile, W and N were outside playing in the last of the 8" of snow from last weekend. Supervising the snowplay was my dad and their dad (before he hopped in that red truck and left for the weekend).

W decided that it takes too long to drive to gram's house (10-15 minutes right now) so he told his mom that they should buy a house nextdoor to grams so they could just run there quickly. Wonder how he'll feel about being over an hour away?

Laser gum surgery today

Thanks to my dad I have awful teeth. It's not really his fault since he didn't have a choice but because of this I've spent far too many hours at the dentist than your normal 2 times a year cleaning routine. My dentist's son was accepted to his first choice of college and I'm proud to say I've probably at least paid his books for 4 yrs.

Today was a fun packed day of laser gum surgery. I procrastinated this as long as humanly possible. Now, 6 hrs later I can honestly say it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It only took 1 1/2 hrs (although he had scheduled 2) and I was home and back to work in no time at all. The worst part was actually the novicane injections before he started.

I'm on motrin for 2 days to reduce swelling and an antibiotic for a week so there should be no infection. It's just a little uncomfortable; not really painful. Just amazing.

My hubby had the traditional surgery about 10 yrs ago with all the cutting and stitching. This is nothing like that at all. The only down side is that I'm on a soft diet for a while. Just when this heals I'll have to go back in 2 weeks to get the left side done which means another 2 weeks of soft diet.

So if you know anyone who is looking at gum surgery I'd recommend a little research and laser if possible.

Smiley yarn makes me smile $87.40

You just can't beat their prices although the selection is limited. I bought 6 balls each of Cervinia Calzetteria sock yarn in Venice and Capri. I think they'll probably end up as CIC socks. 5 skeins of Hokey Pokey in lime. It's a happy color. I'm thinking some more 5 hr baby sweaters for charity. And 4 balls of Trellis in the stained glass color. These will definately be scarves donated to the town's human services department for the holidays.
Moving on ... 30 balls of bernat cotton; 10 each of Newport print, apple green and sea print. This is actually the reason for my trip over to the Smiley website. I'm knitting a ton of washcloths for my oldest daughter. She's been using the store bought ones and boy they wear out quick. The hand knit ones hold up so much better. Thinking of knitting designs into them like sail boats, bunnies, etc. The grandkids will get a kick out of them.
And 6 skeins of cotton ease to make some bibs for a pregancy center in town. Again, the hand knit ones are sooooo much better than the store bought bibs. 3 skeins each of popsical and candy blue.

For anyone keeping track we're up to $241.47 so far this year in yarn purchases. And there's another order of sock yarn coming in a while ..... but that's another posting for another day.

My weekend in review

What a weekend! I finished these socks for greedy sock person ME! Because the stripes were so wide I decided to match them. W saw them and fell in love with them so maybe I'll use this yarn for his socks in September. I'm kind of fence sitting because the stripes are so wide I don't know if they'd look good for kid's socks. I've got plenty of time to think about it.
These are my dreaded back stairs leading from the deck to the backyard. They may not look dreaded but they are. Friday morning at around 9 I decided to bring in a couple loads of firewood before it started snowing. I took one step and before I even had time to grab the railing I was on my ass at the bottom.

First thought in my head "Crap! I sure hope I'm not hurt." because no one was around and my son ... the only person home .... was probably going to be sleeping for another 3 hrs.

Luck would have it that the only damage was a HUGE bruise on my ass and a few splinters and cuts. Thank God I'm not a supermodel because I'm sure without that ass I would have suffered more extensive injury.

Saturday the grandkids were coming over for the day. Plow guy didn't show up so I ended up digging out one driveway with a shovel and unburrying 2 cars in case I needed to go somewhere. D1 and son in law showed up with the boys and little missy. My dad .... with his super baby tracking working perfectly .... showed up 5 minutes later. My dad LOVES babies so he spent the entire time holding missy A. My mom showed up a couple hours later so we had 4 grown ups watching 3 children. Pretty good odds.

We had a great day of watching the Fox and the Hound, playing games, reading, and nap taking. N wore up but told me him frog and dinosaur were still tired so this is what I found when I went up to bed that night.

I ordered chinese food for my parents, D1 and hubby, the little men, S1 and myself. What I ordered vs what I ended up with are 2 different things. I think they almost do that on purpose. It's like a mystery!

Sunday everyone came home from vacation filled with stories and chatter. I've been doing laundry ever since. They would have done their own laundry but everyone has school in the morning so lots of scurrying around to make sure all assignments are done and books are ready.

Current secret project in progress. Believe it or not it's not a sock! I love how it's coming out and can't wait to share pics in a couple weeks. I'm also working on a sock in Opal Zebra but that's been put aside until this secret project is completed.

The Perfect Guy

When my daughters were growing up there were always guys around. Quite a variety of guys. Some we really like, some we really didn't. Some stayed around for years, others only showed up once or twice never to be seen or spoken of again.

Teenage girls tend to look for cute guys. They don't necessarily have to be nice, just cute. Of course cute only carries you so far in life before the fact that your personality sucks outweights your cuteness and you are gone.

So today I picked up D2 and D3 along with hubby after their vacation. Their plane was about a half hour late which was good since I had a terrible time at the airport trying to get to the parking garage. I FRIGGIN' HATE NY AIRPORTS!!!!!

We had quite a snowstorm Thursday into Friday and the plow guy didn't show up until Saturday around noon. I had shoveled one driveway so I decided not to have him plow the rest. The second driveway had D2's car, hubby truck, and my old stationwagon parked in it. So hubby and D2 would have to work getting the 2nd driveway cleared to get their vehicles out.

We had been home about 30 minutes when D2's new guy, Ed, pulled up with shovel in hand. He was there to see her and help dig out her car. What a nice guy. Cute is always nice but thoughtful and caring wins hands down.

Closing on the house

My daughter and her hubby closed on their first house. It's a little over an hour away from me so I'm sad because now I can't just pop over and visit my grandchildren if I happen to be around. They signed the papers on Friday and were planning on spending the weekend up there doing demo work. They won't be moving until probably May 1st because the house was going to require a lot of time and effort ..... hey they are young they've got the energy.

So they drove up to the new house and were met by a sign on the door posted the day before by the building inspector "Unsafe structure. Entry is barred." News to everyone involved in this sale. It was too late to contact anyone Friday so we all spent the weekend worrying.

Monday they got ahold of their lawyer and he said, "Sorry once you sign the paperwork it's a done deal. The only thing you can do is hire a litigation lawyer and sue. It'll take time and money." Called the real estate guy who wouldn't return their call. Wonder why?

Being a small town the building inspector only works Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 12. They called him on Tuesday and he told them the list of stuff that needed to be fixed before they would be able to move in. Most of the stuff we already knew (my hubby is a builder) and were planning to repair before the move in date even without the inspector's observations.

The building guy keeps office hours from 7 to 9:30 pm every 3rd Wednesday so he told my daughter to come in and they could go over the list again to make sure nothing was missed and he would issue the permits on the spot.

So they've spent time up there gutting the bathroom, taking up dog urine soaked carpeting and stick down tile, and scrubbing every surface of the house. Next will come weeks of repairing, replacement and renovations which will hopefully go better than the first weekend's suprize.

Once they get settled in they'll file a complaint against the real estate guy who should have stayed on top of everything to avoid this problem. You would think Century 21 would have a better support for their agents to make sure they were following correct procedures but apparently they don't.

Of course there is an upside to all this hard work in the coming weeks ....... someone has to watch W, N, and little missy A while their mom and dad work on the house. Maybe if they twist my arm I'll volunteer.

socks and sweaters

Fo #25 is yet another pair of socks for me, me, me. So nice to finally open my sock drawer and be able to pick out a new pair of hand knit socks to wear every day. My hubby said I was a little greedy in my knitting so far this year and I responded, "SO WHAT!?!?!" My time, my yarn, my needles. I'll use them how I see fit. lol.
A craptastic shot of 2 5 hr baby sweaters I'm working on. Just need to seam them and decide between a hat or booties to go with them since I don't have enough yarn for both. These will go to my daughter's friend who is having twin girls next month.
And I'm plugging along on these wonderful red white and blue socks for someone very special who deserves all the hand made socks I can knit ..... me again ......... greedy knitter.

I knit every night usually 2-4 hrs depending on work and family. I also knit all friggin weekend every weekend for hours on end. If I'm sitting I'm knitting. If I'm waiting for water to boil in the kitchen I'm knitting. Watching tv or a dvd, knitting. Somewhere along the line I crossed hobby to obsession but everyone around me seems fine with it ..... as long as they get hand knit socks, scarves, etc.

This weekend was a flurry of things but I haven't put them all in perspective enough to talk about. The only thing I'll say now is that I had W, N, and little missy A for a sleepover Friday night and it was wonderful. Little ones in a house can't help but put a smile on your face. Messy house with toys everywhere = happy gram.

Yet another cute kid story

N just turned 4 in February and his mom has been teaching him to read. He has known letters, colors, and numbers for quite a while so this is the next step. N is very interested in reading so he's catching on very fast.

D1: What kind of juice would you like from the store?
N: Yellow grape juice.
D1: You mean white grape juice?
N: No. I want the yellow grape juice. I want the juice that's yellow not white.
D1: Ok, I'll put it on the list.
**She write white grape juice on the list that's on the fridge**
N: W Wh Wh ..... hey that doesn't say yellow!
**D1 is now wondering "WHY THE HELL DID I THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO TEACH HIM TO READ?"***

Finished item 24

Socks for my daughter. I'll probably hold on to them until her birthday or christmas.
W and N slept over Friday night. We watched one of the Land Before Time movies, ate popcorn, had chocolate milk, and told bedtime stories.

Saturday morning there was Thomas the Tank Engine movie watching while having bagels and cream cheese. N gave himself a little cream cheese beard. Very cute.

Cat fishing

Cast out a string .... no bait needed ... and see what "swims" by.
You don't have to wait long before you get a bite.
There's only one thing I've always wondered about.

Who is more silly? Charlie for attacking the string over and over again? Or me for dangling the string for 5 or 10 minutes laughing?

Little feet

These are my favorite little feet. They belong to my granddaughter A who is 6 months old. I hope these little feet take her far through a life filled with happiness.

Ode to Trekking 100

Trekking 100 is fun to knit

I made them myself so I'm sure they'll fit

The yarn was just a little splitty

But that's ok because my socks are so pretty

Trekking is soft and the colors nice

I'll use it again and won't think twice

As you can see, a poet I'm not

But you'll have to agree that my new socks are hot

2007 finished objects 21 and 22

I finished this pair on Sunday. It's been busy around here. Everyone is ill. D2 and D3 both have really bad colds. I spent Saturday over at D1's to try to give her a break. She's got so funky URI which won't go away. Her hubby has a URI with an ear infection that actually burst the ear drum while he was sleeping. My 4 yr old grandson W has pneumonia. He had a fever all day Thursday which spiked to 105 after his nap. Quite frightening. He seems to be on the mend.
Finished this on Monday. More cic socks with knitpicks yarn
Almost done with these which I think will be my favorite pair of socks ever. LOVE THIS COLORWAYS!!!!

Woke up to this yesterday. I love to sit out there in the summer and sip coffee. No coffee sipping today unless it's ice coffee. This is perfect snowman snow. W called yesterday to ask if I was going outside to play. He was sad because he couldn't go outside. I think he just wanted to make sure that I wasn't having fun without him. lol

Lots of knitting .... little finishing

This yarn is taking soooooo much time away from my knitting. Why? It's scratchy and smells like farm animal. Really bad farm animal.

I've washed it several times. It bloomed well. The scratch was still there along with the smell.

I soaked it overnight in conditioner and air dried it outside for 2 days. Still scratchy and smelly.

I actually woke up this morning and the first friggin thing that popped into my head was "What the hell am I going to do with that yarn?" How sick is that? I can't possibly make socks out of it. If you are an orphan the least someone could do is give you nice soft socks to wear. You've got enough on your plate without having itchy stinky socks.

Suggestions on something new I can try? Anyone want to give it a new home?


Somewhere along the line I did manage to finish this pair of socks. I've got 2 adult socks and one more cic pair on the needles. I seamed most of the second sweater with the longer arms and I think it'll work out well. Will be frogging the first one back to the body and redoing the top.

There's one in every crowd

There are so many nice knitting groups on the web. Lovely people who are always willing to offer helpful hints. People with incredible talent who post pictures of their completed work. Comforting words spoken to friends unseen. However ........

In every group there's always one person who feels the need to make a friggin' comment on everything. An authority on every subject known to mankind. The person who seems to feel it's his job to point out how ignorant others in the group are for voicing an opinion of a yarn, store, pattern, tool, etc. that is not the one the authority feels is the best ever.

Case in point ... a woman posted today that she went to Walmart and went nuts looking at all the new yarns. Did she ask what anyone's opinion of Walmart was? No. Ask if everyone loves Red Heart yarn? Not at all. Just made an observation that her Walmart had some great new yarn and she purchased some.

This comment was met with a round of ooos and aaahhhs from members who obviously shop at Walmart. Others chimed in with their shopping experiences at Michael's . All nice comments about a favorite activity ..... looking for yarn.

But then the authority has to piss on the party and make it seem like you'd have to be an ass for shopping at Walmart and Michaels. Pathedic selection. Ebay and Herrschners have much better selections.

True. Of course the last time I shopped from Herrschners I paid far too much for extremely slow shipping. And EBay purchases are dependent on the seller's prompt action after you've made your purchase. Not to mention that the colors aren't always as pictured and the yarn falls short at times between what you thought you were getting vs what arrived in the mail.

I guess I'm just questioning why someone would need to be rude and demeaning to others in the group. What's it like to be that friggin' miserable that you have to be an ass to people you don't know for no apparent reason? Do you wake up in the morning knowing you are a superior person put on earth to correct the errors of others? I just don't get it.

An educational weekend

Friday W and N slept over. I had gotten a couple of videos from the library and boy have times changed. One of the videos was the Grimm Brothers stories: Puss in Boots and The Master Thief. There was a shooting in the Masterthief which caught us off guard. Guess I'll have to watch all the videos first.

Saturday was spent on errands, fixing my Dad's computer, and knitting. I started knitting from one of the cones of yarn from Webs. There will definately be a contest down the road on guessing how many pair of socks I'll be getting out of those cones of yarn.

Sunday started with a call from D1 saying W was having trouble breathing and she was taking him to the er. 4 1/2 hrs later they were home after a terrible experience there. Lots of waiting with little attention. She'll be taking him to the regular doc today. ER filled with olderly people who had fallen on the ice this morning trying to get to church.

Sunday afternoon was time for a little education so off to New Haven to the Knights of Columbus Museum. It's an interesting place to poke around. The featured exhibits were The Swiss Guard (charged with guarding the Pope) and Crosses and Crucifixes (from all over the world made at different times, different materials).

Sunday evening was spent frogging the sock I was knitting from the cone of yarn, winding the yarn into skeins, washing the yarn several times, rinsing, and hanging to dry in the bathroom. Too scratchy to knit with. After repeated washings it did soften up well and bloom into some nice yarn. I'll try again today and it should go better.

Toys for all $65.15

W received these cars for this birthday. I liked them because they reminded me of the vehicles in the movie "Cars". W was giving them names and decided the little red on in front was named Lightening the Queen. In the movie cars the red race car was Lightening McQueen so he was close. Love the things that come out of their mouths.
$65.15 for the above yarn from Webs. This will be used for CIC socks. The yarn is a little stiff so I'll be washing them before sending.
Sock in progress
Sweater in progress

Another sock in progress.

My new friend.

This is my new friend, Turner. Yes I actually named the exercise bike. D3 is embaerassed but really she's 18 yrs old and should be well past the point of being embarrassed by stuff like this.

I started off Tuesday with two 1.5 mile rides .... after which my legs felt like jello. Yesterday one 4.5 mile ride while knitting. I'm trying to work up to 1 hr of peddling time every day so that should take a while. Just think of all the extra knitting time I'll get in!

Haven't posted knitting pics in a while

But that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. Above are 2 more pair of socks for CIC.
And one pair of socks for me. I love these because the colors are cheerful and girlie.
Then we come to this sweater. I finished it to this point over a week ago but I just can't bring myself to stitch it up and call it done. Why? I arms are too short. I can't find the link to the pattern but I used a size 4 long sleeved shirt to determine that the arms will hit about mid forarm. That will just not do!

I followed the size 4 pattern but knit the body in the round instead of flat. I also knit the body 9" long because it just seemed a little short to me (wanted to make sure the sweater went past the waist to keep the child warmer). I added an additional 4 stitches to the length of each arm too.

So now I've got 3 options: 1) rip back and add enough stitches to lengthen the arm by about 3 inches 2) pick up stitches at the arms and knit to lengthen the arms 3 inches or 3) sew it up and let it go as is.

Opinions anyone?

It's a party!

W is turning 4 on Saturday so it's a party. He presented me with this lovely invitation that he made himself. The front has a wonderfully abstract yellow picture "Gram, that's a picture of nothing. I just wanted to use the yellow marker." The back has letters "And this doesn't spell anything. I just wanted to make letters."

The inside has a picture, "That's me holding my birthday cake with 4 candles in it because I'm going to be 4" and a dinosaur, "It's a green dinosaur party." Plus a wonderful pink smile face sticker. "I put this sticker right here just for you Gram. Girls like pink and you are a girl."

Cute Kid story

W and N slept over last Friday. N had a bucket filled with little things. He and I were taking things out of the bucket and I'd ask him what each thing was.

Me: What's this? N: Clifford the dog. Me: And this? N: That's Bob the Builder. Me as I reached in and pulled out a dinosaur: what's this? N: that's a green dinosaur. Me reaching in and pulling out another dinosaur with a very long neck: And this one? N: That's a longasaurous.

OMG!!! cracked me up!

The bedroom set take 2

Well, the correct bed was delivered so hubby and I will get everything moved into the room this weekend. I told the delivery guys to call me Mrs. Picky Bitch and boy did they turn red and sputter out apologies. They were cold and cranky but that's no excuse for being rude.

Knitting on a few socks currently but nothing to show for it yet. I've got one by my desk for conference calls and two downstairs for tv watching. S1 set up my new exercise bike so I'll have to try knitting and riding tomorrow. Hope that works out. If not it could turn into a funny story.


My oldest daughter and her hubby found a house. They signed paperwork tonight to move forward with the mortgage. I've got mixed emotions about the whole thing. I'm happy that they found something but I'm sad because it's an hour away. I've been soooooo spoiled having my grandchildren 15 minutes away. It'll be sad not to be shopping and just drop in to say hi and play a little. I'm sure I'll feel better soon but for now I'm having a pity party and I'm the guest of honor.

Dear Delivery Guys .....

I know it is ungodly cold today. I am so sorry that you have to be out delivering my bedroom set today. If you had delivered on Friday like your boss promised me then you wouldn't be as cold. I am also sorry that I am asking you to set up everything in an unheated garage. I did not move the old set out of the room yet; probably a smart idea since you were supose to deliver on Friday and I would have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor if I had.

That being said I have to say that I'm a little miffed by your attitude. You are trying to deliver a king-size bed. My order clearly states a queen size bed. You can tell me that I can have it at the same price, you can try to talk me into anything you'd like but you will now take apart the wrong size bed, pack it back on the truck, drive back to the warehouse, get the right one, drive back here, and set it up again. I understand that you do not want to do this however I'm the customer and I want what I ordered.

Can I add a little something here? When you are talking on walkie-talkies in a garage that is attached to the house chances are that anyone inside the house will be hearing your conversation. Having said this you will understand why I was a little upset when you referred to me as a "picky bitch." Trust me buddy, you haven't seen anything close to what I'm capable of which it comes to bitchiness yet. Keep it up and you could get a glimps shortly.

Diane

My new socks

I just love these socks. Not a yellow person or an orange person but I really love the way these look. They almost match (which had nothing to do with my matching skills) but still look totally different.
Nice pic out my front door but of course you can't see what I was seeing.
The red circle is my cat Charlie. He is sitting at the edge of some brush stalking .... waiting ... listening for a little field mouse to make a move. I've seen all my cats do this at one time or another.

I finished the knitting on my cic sweater but didn't get a chance to sew it up yet. I think the sleeves are a little short so I may have to add some rows. Gotta keep those little ones as warm as possible.

A little something for your valentine?

Hummmmm when I think about Valentines Day these don't come to mind.

When life immitates Seinfeld

I had an appointment at the dentist today ......... I have louse teeth so I always have an appointment at the dentist ....... so I brought along my sock in progress ............. I always have a sock in progress ............... to work on while waiting .................. I always have to wait.

After checking in with Gail ......... kinda odd when you know everyone at a rather large dental office by first name and visa versa ............. I took off my coat, sat down, and pulled out my knitting. Craptastic day today so I was looking forward to 5 or 10 minutes of relaxing knitting when all of a sudden the door opens and they call me in. Sandi says, "No time for knitting today. We're too fast. No knitting for you."

All I could think of was the Seinfeld episode with the Soup Nazi and the soup cook's line of "No soup for you." The things that crack you up with you watch way too much tv.


On a lighter note, I won an exercise bike in a drawing. How cool is that? I can't wait. Think I'll have to try knitting and cycling at the same time.

And I finished some stuff too

These are two pair of socks done for CIC from some knitpicks wool of the andes.
And these are a pair of socks that will be put away until next christmas. The yarn is Opal Rodeo and yes I actually set out to make these match. The colors were so strong that I wanted to match the purples.
And last but not least I started a sweater for CIC. I don't have access to the pattern info right now but I'll make sure I add it as this progresses along.