Birthday cards and sinus issues .......

One of my favorite things about having young children around is the handmade cards. I loved them when my children were small and I love them more coming from my grandchildren. This is W's card.
Notice the mixed media. Nice use of random letters. Bold color choices used to tell a story.

The brown square in the lower right corner is "my brother and me in a box. We're just playing." The triangle toward the left middle is their house with the circles representing some of the rooms. The lines next to it are the stairs going down to the basement and the black lines over that are "the clothes line in the basement". The blue circle in the lower left is "grandpa on his boat when the sun is shining".
N's was a little more abstract but very colorful. A man of few words but many markers.
Weather is changing so wicked sinus headache today. Hummm, think I'll pop a couple sinutabs. Gotta love the childproof packaging on these. I realize they need to do something but this isn't childproof it's human proof.

Unwilling to put up with the humiliation of not being able to open this packaging I decided to try a different tactic.

Stupid pills.....

The latest finish socks

Looking for a picture of them? Keep looking because there isn't one. The crew was over for a birthday party yesterday and W was quite excited because I was just finishing his socks. Nice sky blue with maroon toes. I had just finished weaving the ends on the last sock when suddenly there was a squealing child in front of me who exclaimed that "these socks will make me run very very fast" as he yanked them out of my hands, sat down on the floor, pulled off the store bought ones, put the handknit ones on his feet, and promptly ran off. It's nice to be so appreciated.

Happy Birthday to me .....

When I was younger I thought of 49 as old. Now that I'm 49 I think of 100 as old. I call these birthday the "countdown to senior discount birthdays" since I can already drive, drink, smoke, and rent a car. Today is my typical birthday where the kids all remembered but my hubby hasn't. He never remembers my birthday or our anniversary.
I finished the alpaca scarf over the weekend. Just needs to be blocked. This was the 3rd try because the pattern and yarn just didn't seem to like the first 2 attempts. I can finally say I just love it.

And we had a little sock situation with the grandsons. I used knitpick essentials and for some reason they shrunk. I did a few pair for N and now I'm working on socks for W.
4 yrs old with size 12 feet! I figured I'd do the same technique with W as I did with N so I'm knitting the toe in a different color and can pick it out and reknit when his foot grows. Blue because of course blue is his favorite color.
And you are never too old to try something new so I knit this pair on 2 circulars. I gotta say I love the idea of it and will probably use it for hats but not for socks. I love knitting my socks on double points. There's something so comforting about sitting and knitting socks using the same method that people have used for hundreds of years. I'm glad I tried it.

What's wrong with this picture?

Still have a ton of leaves on some of the trees but notice the snow on the deck. Yup gonna be one of those miserable leaf raking seasons where the leaves weigh a ton because they are wet. In addition it'll be cold once they all fall making it worse.
I'm about 16" along on my 3rd attempt on the scarf for you ISE partner. This one is a keeper for sure. It's being working in a lovely alpaca yarn. I've decided that I just love knitting with alpaca. It's so soft that you just can't put it down.

Greedy charity knitting

12 pair of baby socks all finished and ready to be sent off to Afghans for Afghans. These were such fun to make that I just couldn't seem to stop myself. After the 6th pair I kept saying, "Ok this is the last pair" but somehow I kept casting on "just one more pair."

So now I've finished all my greedy charity knitting for now and must get back to the other things. Yes that's my new term: Greedy Charity Knitting. But how could doing something for charity be thought of as greedy?

In the past I've always selected a charity and supported in thru the year. This year I decided to do something a little different. I decide what it is I want to obsessively knit and then I do a little investigation to find a group who will take my finished items.

I wanted to knit a few 5 hr baby sweaters so I did and then donated them to a local pregnancy center. I wanted to knit some kids socks in worsted weight yarn so I did a sent them off to cic. I was clicking around and saw A4A needed baby socks and decided that I wanted to knit baby socks. So all my donations this year are based on what I want to make.

So I've coined the term greedy charity knitting because the first thing it fills is my need to make a specific thing. I like greedy charity knitting and will probably do more of that in the coming years. It makes knitting fun.

The new job

I've mentioned before that I've worked for the same company for the last 17 yrs. It's not actually the same company. It's been sold several time but with each sale and merger I've kept my job.

When I first started I drove a half hour each way, sat in an office for 8 hrs and processed medical claims. Simple straight forward job. Easy to explain. Over the years I learn how to adjust claims if they were paid wrong, how to answer customer service phones, and how to train other people to do what I did.

Six years ago they closed my office and I started working at home. Full time telecommuter doing the same job as always. A lot of the people that started off working home ended up quiting because of the isolation. Me? I don't mind it a bit. Love being able to spend more time balancing family responsibilities.

However back to just processing medical claims all day every day was a little boring so I transferred to another department and learned a new job. I handled correspondence from our customers and different provider. It was challenging. Every piece of paper was a new thing. No two days were the same. Plus I was helping people in their time of need. Great job.

Then I ran into my old manager at Costco and he offered me a job in his department. Was I up to a new challenge? Sure was so I transferred to the accounting department. Fixing claims to make the payments correct is definitely challenging. And again it felt good to be part of the solution solving a problem.

I spent a few months helping out another department last year and that supervisor called me to offer me a position working for her. I started the new job last Monday. The most interesting part? It's a job that you just can't explain in words that normal people would understand. It's the strangest thing to be doing something so specialized that your average person wouldn't even think that it was an actual job.

Pretty exhausting week. It'll take 6 months of training until I can do this job on my own. There's been a little knitting since I'm still on my baby sock knitting obsession. I've also been working on version 3 of my ISE scarf. My pal figured out it was me so no pics of that until she get it.

How are things in your little corner of the world?

The new sock addiction .........

Baby socks! I was on ravelry AGAIN and noticed that someone in one of the groups was making cute little baby socks. Upon further investigation I found that Afghans for Afghans has a current challenge collection baby socks. And here I sit with a gazillion left over sock yarn skeins too little to use for much of anything. I love these!!!
Joey says, "Why no, Diane, I've never slept here before. Don't let all this cat fur fool you. Now be a good woman and go refill my cat dish."

More socks for N

Here are 2 of the 3 pr of socks I finished for N. The 3rd pair was on his feet. These two were grabbed right after this picture was taken and cuddled until he went home. Always nice to know that my socks are sooooo loved.

$76.90

Ok so I'll admit that this could be an issue. Opal Herbstmelodie, Rainforest Tiger, Opal neon colors 1935 and 1934, and Oneline Walking color 852. But Simply Socks was having a sale and since there's a new baby in their household I felt competed to make a purchase.
Normally I wouldn't feel bad but since I just joined the Sock Stash Elimination Campaign it seems like an odd purchase. Not that I ever feel bad about sock yarn ..... since there's a bunch in my stash that I'll be using to knit for charity so hopefully I'll ultimately end up with less sock yarn than I started with.

I'm having trouble with my beloved bamboo double points. Seems like the points aren't quite what they use to be so I decided to order a couple circulars from knitpicks and learn how to do 2 socks at a time on 2 circulars. Always up for a challenge so I can't wait for my order. I also got some other supplies which don't ever count toward my yarn spending. But I did pick up a few skeins of lace weight yarn .... only because it was on sale. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Don't these look nice? Maybe my youngest would like a pair of these? I'll have to ask.

Still knitting along on socks for N. I really love the blue foot with the olive toes. I sent one pair up to his house the other day and they fit great. Hope to have another 2 pair done if they happen to come down tomorrow. W is sick once again. This time he has croup. Poor kid gets one lung issue after another.

The weekend

Saturday sunset was just breathtaking. The entire house was filled with a pink glow. This was the view from my deck.
And this was the view in my great room on Sunday morning. I kept the grandsons from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. We had a good time although the weather wasn't great.
N is getting over a cold so he wasn't his usual happy self.
Of course the minute you pull out a camera W wants you to take a picture of his butt. I hope he outgrows this before his wedding. I always laugh because that's one thing you'll never hear from an adult's mouth, "Hey can you take a picture of my butt?"
So I'm a little bummed over the grandson's socks. I finished 6 pr each for them and the knitpicks yarn I used seems to have shrunk. I've never had a problem with essentials before but these are not good at all. N's foot grew a little but the socks are about 2" too short right now and his foot didn't grow 2" since September.

I being a sock making grandma I had N pick out some yarn and started a new type of sock just for his foot type. Lots of k1,p1 ribbing in the leg and while doing the gusset decreases. I also decided to use a contrasting yarn for the toe so I can pick the toe out and reknit when his foot grows.
First crazy ass sock is finished. The nice thing about this type of sock is that you don't even have to worry about the second sock matching.

Crazier socks

No these. These are not crazy socks. Opal yarn never makes crazy socks. I was finished with the leg on the second sock when I noticed I started the first 2 rows after the ribbing with k4 p4 when it should have been knit all. Oh well, wasn't gonna frog back for something like that.
Plain janes for some mindless knitting.
The Alpaca Yarn reborn. This is but in the bottom on my knitting bag and has escaped the wrath of Oscar up to now.

I was playing with left over sock yarn the other day and figured it was time for another experiment in sock knitting. Smaller balls of yarn arranged crazy, calm, bright, mute until I thought it was an interesting balance. Then put them in knit order on a little knitting needle and start knitting away.

Not pretty or ugly but quite interesting. But I will say my new pumpkin stitch markers make them adorable.

7 random things for a Monday

Vivian tagged me for 7 random things (Vivian has the most handsome son). Since I just shared 8 things not too long ago we'll call this 7 random things for my Monday.

1) I never look forward to working on Mondays. I really never look forward to working at all but Mondays are just terrible.

2) People send me way too many emails marked URGENT. Honestly what really qualifies as urgent? If something is a fyi it's not urgent.

3) When there is a computer problem and the system goes down how come they send an email out to the team? Hello! Computer problem. Can't access email. By the time I'm reading your email the system has come back up. Dumbass!

4) The gal who assigns my work doesn't like me so I get all the hard stuff. I don't mind since I've been doing this job for about 17 yrs so I have the skillset to be able to do everything. I should have sucked up to get easy stuff but truth be told I just don't suck up to anyone.

5) Since all communication is via instant message or email I put myself off line on my instant message system when I don't want to be bothered. I probably spend about 5 hrs out of my 12 hr day off line.

6) I made the best coffee today and drank the entire pot before noon.

7) If I hit the lotto for $3 million tomorrow I'd quite my job in a heart beat. I'd go get a job working in a child care or a senior center just to give myself something to do to stay out of trouble. I'd still work but it would be for myself not for the money.

Tag amoungst yourselves.

Friends of the Library

Friends of the Library have book sales at the town library a couple times a year. You can usually pick up some good deals like this cookbook for $1.00.
If the family is wondering "Gee what ever happened to Aunt Mary's Creme De Meinthe recipe" along with several other ones they should remember to check all books before donating.


I was looking at some of the craft books which had been quite picked over by others. I grabbed a couple crochet books (I don't crochet but I have a couple internet buds who do) and lingered over the section paging thru a few remodeling books.

Two ladies were also looking at the craft books. The younger one picked up a needlework book that was a basic overview of a dozen different needle crafts. She commented as she was paging thru, "Oh look mom, there's a pattern for making socks."

The mother who looked to be in her 80's said, "Oh went I was younger my sisters and I had to do all the family knitting. We did the sweaters, vests, and lots of socks. Back then you didn't have store bought things like you do today."


The daughter commented that she couldn't believe they would put a sock pattern in a book from the 70's because certainly people didn't make socks in the 70's. "And why would anyone want this book now? Like anyone hand knits socks now adays?"


I giggled and they both looked in my direction. I lifted my leg a bit and pointed to my ankle. "Yes, there are people who still knit socks by hand. More than you could imagine. Once you wear hand knit socks store bought ones just don't make it anymore."

And the mother commented about how beautiful my plain jane socks were and I went on my way. Silly women!

When good knitting comes to a tragic end

I woke up yesterday to find the scarf for you ISE5 pal all over the floor. About 20+ rows unraveled and the needle missing. I don't know how I didn't start crying. Maybe it was the shock of the whole thing. Only one cat in the house ....
"I hate you more than you will ever hate me", says Oscar
I'm drowning my sorrow in my prize yarn from Jane.
But I really should be finishing the toe decreases and getting these off the needles.

Charity by Peer Pressure

What moves you to donate to a charity? For me it's got to be something that I believe in before I throw down my time and money. I do a lot of research to make sure the organization is doing what it actually claims to be doing. Hope worldwide already had contacts in place so donating there when the tsunami hit seemed logical. Making wool socks that are carried by parents adopting children in Russia makes sense. Dropping off bags of cat and dog food to a local shelter seems to fill a need.

Having said this I really resent being propositioned in the grocery store every time I'm there to purchase something to "buy a sneaker for the food bank" or "a balloon for the children's miracle network" or "buy a scratch off for St Jude's". And then the store turns around and trumpets "We've donated $50,000 to St Judes." No you didn't. You collected $50,000 from your patrons and donated it.

My town had the unfortunate experience of having 2 men break into a house which ended in a triple homicide. Complete random act that could have happened to anyone. People in town don't know how to cope with something like this. It's a small town, very quiet. Nothing ever happens here.

So somewhere in the scheme of things someone decided to sell luminaries to raise money to donate to MS. The mother killed has MS and the family raised money for MS. This turned from a couple streets doing this to the entire town being solicited.

When they turned up on my porch to ask for money I said no. And my no was met with a look of disbelief, stammering, and the reply, "Do you even know what we're trying to do here? Can I explain this to you?" I said I understood and the woman scampered off my porch like I had the plague.

It's not the money. Certainly I can afford $1.00 at the grocery store. I've got the $10.00 to pitch in for luminaries. The reason I don't participate is that I feel it's charity caused by peer pressure. I don't want to support a cause because all the cool kids are supporting it.

What are your thoughts on charity?

Knitting along

The view today; cloudy, a little overcast with rain coming in. We really need the rain. Funny how lately either you have too much rain or not nearly enough no matter where you live.
This is a yucky picture of my Adamas shawl before blocking. It looks much nicer in real life than it does in this picture. I added a repeat in the body so it's heavier, longer and wider. Think this one will get a ton of wear this winter.
Hat for a giant? Purse to be felted? Nope. I finally figured out what to do with the scratchy yarn I bought that I couldn't use to make socks for CIC. Felted kitty bed. My cats are indoor/outdoor country cats. So I'm making a couple of these to throw on the covered front porch and I'll put some fleece in so if they happen to be outside during the winter they'll have a nice warm spot to nap in after they catch a mouse or two.

The half.com deal

Just clicking around the other night and I found this. The Disney book of knitting.
Pulled from a library out in community college in Wisconsin. I guess people don't flock to community college libraries looking for knitting books. Sad but true.
I'm not all that taken by the patterns they have in the book. Some are really pretty like this sweater and some are really awful. However .........
There is charting on a ton of disney characters. What a find for $1.50. Shipping media mail ended up costing more than the purchase of the book.

Off the needles

6 different superwash sock yarns in one pair of socks. The positive: Using up some of that left over yarn. The negative: All those ends to weave.
Finished two hats for two little turtles.
Blob-o-lace is almost done. Working on the last chart for the edging.
And plugging along on these.

I've been tagged

by Connie


The Rules:Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.



1) I suffer from startitis. I love to start new projects instead of finishing the ones I'm currently working on. If you know a cure please pass it on.


2) I open all my mail while standing in front of my fireplace. All junk mail goes into the fireplace and is burned asap. About 90% of my mail is turned into BTU's to heat the house.


3) I love getting things on sale. I can't remember the last time I paid full price for anything. Consignment shops are my fav.


4) I need to get a hair cut. The last haircut I got was 3 yrs ago. Being very lazy I just put it all in a ponytail and every month or so say, "Geeze this is getting long. I should get a hair cut."


5) I never finished my college degree. In my line of work it doesn't matter. It's job specific training. I've toyed with the idea of going back but came to the conclusion that a college degree wouldn't make me a better person. I'm happy just the way I am.


6) I never go to the movies but I love watching DVDs. Netflix rocks.

7) I telecommute full time. I haven't met any of the bosses I've worked for in the last 6 yrs. Ditto for all my fellow team members. Since I'm not really a people person it works out fine for me.

8) I love spending time with my grandchildren. Having W, N, and A has given me a new perspective on life. I love being a mom but I adore being a Gram.

Consider yourselves tagged.

The best pal continues and $8.98

Aren't these just so cute? Excuse the awful picture but it was overcast and horrible this morning. Anita put them in the spider web kit in my dishcloth exchange package. I put them back on the pins since I started using them the minute I found them. What a super talented gal you are, Anita! Check out her esty shop for these (with a much better picture) and many more wonderful things.
Plugging along I finished 1 of my Opal green prisma socks (casted on the second one already) and one of my leftover socks. All I can say about the leftover sock is that it doesn't suck as bad as I thought it would. This picture was taken this morning and I'm already almost done with the second leftover sock. It doesn't match but I didn't expect it to.
I got this wonderful package from Jane for her show your socks contest. The yarn has been sitting on my couch trying to let me know it if wants to be socks or mitts.
I was assigned the task of knitting hats for W and N to go with their Halloween costumes. This year they are going to be turtles. W will be a blue turtle and N will be a green turtle. So I picked up some yarn over the weekend to make them hats for their turtle heads.

And since I saw picking thru the clearance stuff I decided to get these. The yarn is called jewlery box? and it was $1 per 2 oz skein. I think I'll make a couple scarves and donate them to the human services department. Every year for the holidays they have families come in and pick out gifts so I think some child might pick out a nice scarf for mom. So add another $8.98 to my yarn total for the year.

I signed up for the MS3 but never got around to knitting the shawl. It was a lovely pattern so I just bought it instead and will make it sometime in the future. 2 versions for the shawl so it's money well spent.