Signs of spring are everywhere

Flowers, flowers everywhere you look. My daughter was complaining that she couldn't find any cute little girl shoes around so I picked up a pair of cheap canvas sneakers and painted them with flowers in girlie colors.

If you live in CT Laurel Ridge is one of the best kept secrets in the state. Back in 1941 a couple in Litchfield, CT decided to plant some spring flowers on their farm. They kept adding to them year after year and the flowers themselves kept multiplying year after year.
And this is only a small fraction of them on a lovely Sunday stroll with my hubby.
This entire hillside is covered in flowers. Flowers everywhere.
And me thinking ..... hummmmm I know how to plant flowers .......

All about socks

With summer rolling around I put aside my nice hand knit yummy socks of goodness and color and went off the the land of Walmart to pick up some cheap summer socks. The good people at Fruit of the loom obviously think we're a little on the stupid side by leading us to believe that these $1.30 a pair socks will support our arches.

Aka they put a little ribbing at the middle of the food. So I guess when I rib the top of a sock I should give it to the person claiming I've offered calf support?
3 pr of socks for the cheyenne river sioux project. I only had one skein of the pinks which was just enough to make a pair of child size 9's. I also did a size 9 in blue and a child size 12 in blue with red toes. The pink dye rubbed off on my fingers so they are a lovely shade of pink today.

Then I was wondering how many pair of baby socks I could get out of a 50 gram skein of knitpicks essentials. The answer is 4 pair. Each one a little different. These are for the Cure Hospital for A4A. Green is a lucky color. I have 3 more skeins of green so I'll get those knit this week. Babies and new moms can always use a little luck.
And finally finished off the ends of my son in law's size 12 socks. Opal yarn with opal uni black toes. I like them. I think he will too.

So since I was in the ladies' department at walmart I decided to pick up some panties too. Made in Honduras. And this just gave me the giggles. Each pair rolled and taped. I can just picture the on the job training for this. "No you are taping too high. The tape goes here toward the middle and only on the back. No sides just the back." I gotta say this is almost as obnoxious as taking 50 pins out of a new shirt. "Honey, I'm just untaping my underwear! I'll be there in a minute."

And I'll leave you with this ..... more socks. Now sadly these do not have arch supports. My arches are gonna be left on their own in these socks. However .... they are in a reseal bag. Seriously like I'm going to keep the bag? Wear the socks, wash them (with fingers crossed that both will make it out of the dryer), fold them and what put them back in the bag? Yup, only me.

Whatever

Work has been nuts. I've been helping out in another department. It's a very nice department and they have all fallen in love with me. The supervisor wants to keep me but since my current supervisor had to work so hard to get me I don't see a transfer any time in my future. I love learning new stuff so it's been interesting for the past 3 weeks. You know the best part of my job since I work at home is that I get to meet people from all over the country all the time while never leaving my house.

Yesterday my son the techno geek was inducted into Epsilon Pi Tau; one of only 2 from his college. I was shocked that he applied but knew he'd be accepted. It's nice to see him come out on his own. He's always been 'one of the twins' but now he's standing on his own without his twin sister around. And there has been some knitting going on. I've been sock knitting for the Cheyenne River Sioux kids. I love using up some of the stash in larger quantities than baby socks.

Blue socks in knit pick essential knit to a man's size 8. Hey some kids have big feet.
Remeber the never ending black socks I was making for my dad? I didn't finish off the toe yet (want him to try them on to make sure they fit first) but at least they are so close to being done. These are Opal uni black yarn. I just can't stress enough how much I hated every friggin stitch in this boring pair of black socks.
These socks are super red. Put on your son glasses red. Knit to a child's size 13 and being donated too. Along with these woman's size 7 in knitpicks essential maroon.
Missy A's sweater has been in this state of knitting for 2 weeks. I forgot to get some measurments and for some reason I have it stuck in my head that this sweater is absolutely the wrong size. The girl will be over this afternoon so I'll measure her and get back to knitting soon. I love how it's coming out!

Cats and birds

I live by a couple of ponds. One of them is right in my backyard and the second one is behind the little red building on the left at the end of the sand. Last year a couple of geese decided to nest over on my side of the pond and apparently they loved it so much that they came back this year. Once the little ones are born they move over to a bigger field and stay out of the yard.

Usually the cats don't pay much attention but last week Joey and Charlie were stalking the geese every time they would come into the yard. Either the geese would fly back to the pond or the cats would get tired of the game.

Two weeks ago these two showed up on the back pond. They are beautiful swans who seem to glide around the front pond to check things out a couple times a day.
Monday they decided to make a stop on my side of the pond. Since I didn't have my camera during the event I'll tell you what happened.

I looked out the back and saw the swans in the yard. All of a sudden the male stood straight up and glared to one side of my yard. I looked over and there's Charlie stalking the swans. Seriously like a white cat with tiger patches will actually blend stealth like into a green lawn?!?!? But Charlie (who we call our Forrest Gump cat) doesn't seem to realise that he isn't blending in and continues to creep up on the swans.

All of a sudden the male decides that enough is enough and starts back flapping his huge wings while walking toward Charlie. Charlie freezes for a moment before deciding in his walnut sized brain, "What the hell am I thinking!!!" and runs thru the yard and onto the deck.

So I ran downstairs and snapped this picture of the swans sitting on the berm before getting back in the water and floating off. And yes the male is still giving Charlie the stink eye in the picture.

A case of knitting in denial

is never a good thing. Why is it that you continue to knit something that you just know isn't going to be to your liking. Take this sweater for my granddaughter. Really nice yarn that will meet my daughter's qualifications .... into the washer/dryer and back on the kids without shrinking. Shades of blue with 'girlie' buttons .... flowers .... ice cream cones .... maybe lady bugs.

But by the time I got the gauge correct it turned from a little lacey sweater to something that would stop bullets and make the child unable to bend her arm at the elbows.

Yet still I knit on.

24 rows of craptastic knitting.

Until Friday night when I had to admit that I was making a terrible mistake and would be the worst gram ever if I gave the sweater to the child.

Back to the stash where I found 2 skeins of this yarn (same dye lot) that I had picked up at walmart 2 yrs ago for 50 cents a skein.

Soft. Drapes well. Child will be able to bend arms at elbow.

Light and lacey.

When I own a book or magazine I photocopy the pattern so I can have a working copy of it. That way I can jot notes on my specific item without ruining the magazine. Once my project is completed I put my working copy in the magazine so that if I pass the magazine onto someone else I am not breaking copy write by having an additional copy of a pattern. I'll have to do a little digging to find the magazine the patterns came from.

A crime against yarn ...

was committed last night as I slept safely in my bed. A ball of beige yarn was brutally attacked.

With no regard to the fact that it was really nice soft wool.
Taken all over the room and left for unrolled.
I rounded up the usual suspects but no one is talking other than an occasional meow. Charlie has been cleared on all charges due to the fact that he got himself trapped overnight in the garage. That leaves me with these two who have formed a pact of silence.

Maybe promises of tuna will get someone to spill the beans.

I really shouldn't be starting ....

another project but somehow I just found myself casting on a sweater for my granddaughter last night.

I should have been hiding the ends on these .....

or working on these
or these

But no. I casted on a sweater for my granddaughter. My bad.

Easter ... the crafty holiday

"Gram, I have these flowers for you. They aren't real so don't water them." Can you spot the not real flowers? Just adorable. Joey says: Yes I'm sitting on the table outside. And it's too cold for you to do anything about it.
And my niece was crafty too. She made these cards decorating them inside and out. My hubby's friend was over to share Easter dinner with us (after spending part of the day camped out on his couch watching sports) made a comment "Someone has too much time on their hands."
What a stupid thing to say! To take time to create something beautiful and share it with others is a wonderful gift. And really couch potato watching sport vs my beautiful niece and her hubby sharing the day with us ..... I'll that the beautiful niece and her hubby any day.
Wilson and Mr Potatohead went to school yesterday to be graded by the teacher. They both received A's. Mr Potatohead is now living in my room and Wilson has been gifted to my youngest daughter. She'll be going away to school in September and D2 thought she might need a friend. Hey it worked for Tom Hanks.

The sounds of Easter

Phone call at 8 am ....

W: Hi Gram! The easter bunny came to my house and left a basket for me, one for N, and one for A.

Me: How exciting! You are so lucky.

W: Yes I am. Did the easter bunny leave you a basket?

Me: No but he did leave a lot of eggs all over the back yard.

W: Oh that's great. Hey Gram?

Me: Yes?

W: Just stay out of the yard until I get there.

*******

The easter bunny left some kites at my house too so N and W were out flying kites with D3 and S1. Not windy at all so they had to run with the kite on a short line to get it to stay up. N had a great time and stayed out running around for almost a half hour. W gave up after around 10 minutes and came in "I wanted to make sure my brother has plenty of room to fly his kite. I don't want the lines to get tangled."

*******

Papa was sitting on the couch watching A play. All of a sudden she starts "singing" the alphabet song. Doesn't know the words but had the tune down. Words are overrated.

********

My sister in law is CFO at a company. Computers crashed Friday so she and my brother spent the weekend in the office working with a tech guy to make sure everything was good to go on Monday. My neice and her hubby both work at the same company as worker bees .... they were at my house for easter dinner .... sometimes it's good to be just a worker bee.

*********

I got A a pair of new balance sneakers off ebay (when they said worn a couple times in the house with no sign of wear they weren't kidding). I put them on her feet and noticed a tag on the side that said they were all terrain. Thank God! Now I don't have to worry about her walking on dirt, grass, or gravel.

*********

And as the car was getting ready to pull out W's last comment was: Gram? It you find some more eggs that we missed just put them aside and give me a call. Great Gram can bring them up on Tuesday for me.

**********

I love easter with little ones about.

**********

Gotta go make sure the cheese cake in my fridge isn't lonely without me.......

Forrest canopy and my exchange package

Finished casting off my forrect canopy shawl last night. It's about 44x20 unblocked. 400+ stitches. It took forever!!!! Now all it needs is blocking ..... kind of like the shawl I finished for my daughter over a month ago ..... no really I'm not lazy.
And I received my defeat the winder doldrums package from my wonderful exchange buddy Felicia. The dishcloths are beautiful! Included was a notepad, a few patterns, some wonderful soap, candy, some yarn, a needle gauge (which I really really need), and the cutest stitch markers (one is a little snowman).
Thanks Felicia! Oh well, gotta go hide my candy ..........

Happy Friday!!!

Finally feeling better. Going off to the post office to mail some long overdue packages. If you've been waiting for stuff from me you can start standing by the mailbox next week. lol.

Forrest Canopy Shawl is coming along. I started off on size 8 needles, frogged and now I'm reknitting on size 6 needles. I had a knit picks order come in with some longer cables and more options tips so I moved the shawl to 47" cables and I LOVE IT. The colors aren't correct in the picture.

They had some lovely baby alpaca lace weight yarn on clearance in this beautiful moss. 4 skeins found their way into my shopping cart.
Mr Potatohead has a mouth so he's done. D2 decided on a smile with a nice toothy grin.
And this is project #2.

College crafts class

In every college student's life a little artistic effort is involved. D3 took her artsy class last semester. She decided on an acting class and had fun. The semester before she took a painting class which was interesting . S1 hasn't decided on anything as of yet but he'll be doing something next semester.

D2 is around as artistic as a brick. Acting no way! Not gonna stand up in front of anyone and act. How about a crafts class? Really how hard could it be? First project was sunweaving. She did 2 and gave to her boyfriend. Hated sunweaving and will never do it again.

Next up paper mache. Gotta make 2 projects and had to be something roundish in shape. Everyone in the class starts making piggy banks. Now D2 doesn't march to a different drummer .... she's got her own friggin' band.
Gotta admit Mr Potato head is pretty cute. Project #2 is even more interesting but you'll have to wait until it's done for a picture or any details.

And yes .... I'm still friggin' sick!

Still sick

Still sick. I'm so over being sick. One week is ok. We're at the end of week #2 and now it's just irritating.

This is my sotsII. Secret of the Stole is a closed yahoo group of test knitters for this pattern. Every week a new part of the pattern comes out and by the time the last clue is finished you have a stole. There are pros and cons to this type of kal. The biggest con is that you don't know what the finished product is going to look like. However the process of lace knitting is so interesting to me that I'm having fun with it and will decide later if I actually like the pattern. The yarn is knitpicks gossemer in a discontinued colorways called bluejean.

Unblocked lace always looks like colored barf .....
Since I was finished with the last clue and had time before the new one came out (comes out on Fridays) I started something I've had on my to do list for a while: The Forest Canopy Shawl. Between Sue's wonderful pattern and Ray's lovely yarn I'm loving this shawl.
In progress is a sock for my size 12 foot son in law in some nice Opal crocodile colorways.
Gotta take some more cough medicine. Have a great weekend.

Too sick to knit

During my last posting I shared a little trip to Mass followed by stopping to see my sick grandkids. Smooching sick grandkids obviously is flirting with disaster ..... and I ended up with their flu.

Since I work at home I did manage to work all last week ..... with plenty of napping but didn't cook, clean, or stay up most night past 8pm. The sadest part was there was no knitting. Too sick to knit. How pathedic is that?!?

Friday I was feeling 80% better so the grandkids came for a visit. They are all pretty well recovered although they are still tired. This flu is just exhausting and you tend to sleep hours at a time.

Saturday I picked up my sotsii to work on. I'm almost thru clue 6 (the group is on clue 7).

I've been to mecca .....

My hubby had the week off so we decided to take a little trip up to Mass and check out some museums in Springfield, MA. This group of museums is referred to as the quadrangle consisting of 4 different museums all for one admission price.

You know you knit too much when you look at this piece in the museum of fine arts and think .... gee I wonder how much yarn that would hold .....
Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr Seuss is from Springfield so there are a couple sculptures of his amazing characters in the center courtyard. As always I was amazed by the parents who let their kids walk all over this artwork even though there were signs everywhere saying to stay off.
We stayed overnight in West Springfield and the next day took a little trip up Rt 5 to Web's. Like a kid in a candy store! Seriously it would be easy to spend $500 without blinking an eye. Only $95.00 so I think I did well. Online sock yarn was $7.49 a skein, Meilenweit was only $9.70. Bargins! Ella Rae was on clearance for $2.99 a skein. Think I'll make myself a hat, mitten, scarf set since I realized yesterday that I don't have a winter hat, scarf, or mittens. How sad is that? It's like the shoemaker's kids having to go barefoot. The tofutsies was on clearance for $11.20. I've never used it so why not give it a try. And the one thing I love the most is that skein of green sock yarn at the bottom. It's named Fried Green Tomatoes. Love the movie and had to have the yarn.

I managed to finish clue #4 of the sotsii. I printed off clue 5 last night. The group is on clue 6 so I'm not that far behind.

On our way back home we stopped with the intent of picking up W and N to spend the weekend at our house. I had called the night before and N was sick with a temp of 102. By the time we got there yesterday W was also ill with the same temp. We stayed and visited for a couple hours. I spent most of the time sitting on the couch rubbing backs and talking.

N hasn't been eating anything so in his small little 3 yr old voice he said, "Gram, could you get me some cereal?" I went in the kitchen to ask his mom and came out with a bowl of dry cereal. "Gram, could I have a shrek bowl?" Back in the kitchen to transfer the cereal into a green bowl with shrek ears. "Gram I could use some water." So back to the kitchen to get him some water and that's when my daughter came out with, "What are you? N's Lorax? You speak for the boy because the boy can't speak?" Ummm yes .... I'm Gram and my job is to cater to grand kids. And I'm very good at it too.

Snowing here. Suppose to get 7-8" so I'll be starting on clue 5 for sure.