Finished Objects!

Thus ends the Christmas knitting for my side of the family! There's still some to do for the in-law side, but not a lot. Fix a cuff, make a lacy scarf, things like that.


Am I done knitting for my side? Heck no! I'd finished the little mitten last night then cast on this:


It's for my father. The colors are subtle, the yarn is more than soft, and I'm hoping he likes it. Since it's not officially for Christmas, if Mom wanted to drag him to the computer to confirm he likes it, that would be fine.

Whew! Just got off the phone with Mom. After she talks to Toppa and Goopa, she'll get Dad to look. She's calling all of us to say our cousin passed away. We weren't close as we grew older, but got along great as kids. Speaking of which, I feel horribly for hers. I can't imagine losing my Mom now, never mind while I was a teen. My uncles passing away makes me nervous for my Dad. I'm sure he gets tired of everyone asking how he feels, but still! He's important and loved by a lot of people and we want to make sure he's around for a very long time.

If you could sum up this cousin in a word, that would be 'vivacious'. There's so many thoughts in my mind about the number of people who remember Thanksgivings at the lease, the canyons there, and watching for 'panthers'. Very sad.

Sock and Mitten Heaven

I title this "View From An Ant". Using the Jedi mind trick...You DON'T notice the ladder...you DON'T notice... It wasn't there until I put on the sock. Ah well, not many ants are going to complain about it, at least, not for long.

Finished this little beauty on Monday, then started Miss K's mitten as such:

















I plan on starting AND finishing the second one today.
My sister, Toppa, is going home for Christmas. We're all meeting up at Jose Pepper's for dinner on Friday and doing a gift exchange then. It's not just to save postage, but to ensure all the breakables are safe. Any Christmas knitting and cookies have to be done by Friday evening. Eeek! I think today I'll concentrate on the mittens, then knock out the rest of the cookies tonight. To add to the joy, nothing is wrapped. We'll have to have a wrapping party tomorrow evening

Could have posted yesterday, but went to see Fry perform in the choir at the mall, then finished up Christmas shopping afterward. Everyone is shopped for except my father-in-law. He does a lot with the humane society, much to my mother-in-laws dismay. He likes to foster dogs, she does not. Their family dog bit Hubs when he was a small fry, leaving a scar, and she's had a bias against them ever since. I'm not too keen on dogs, preferring cats, but there are some decent pups out there. Toppa and her roommate have small, hyper dogs, but they're so well behaved that I like them.

Um, anyway, back from my tangent... I'll be glad when those damned reject cookies are gone. No one except me likes the orange sables and the little buggers are just sitting there. Other than getting one or two a day, I've been good about leaving them alone.





Just as I decide what to do with this, I change my mind. Gloves, scarf, socks? There's 300 meters, or rather, 328 yards. All of the above are possible, what to choose. Any commentary is welcome. There are three different colors because I want to knit in 1-2-3 stripes and see if the color pools.





Then, there's 360 yards (329 meters) of this lovely stuff. It's soft and great for a scarf. I'm wanting to make this Sharfik or this Clapotis out of it, but can't decide. Again, cast your vote in the comments. Pleeeeese. :D

Defensive, much?

I have a super-religious friend who sends me very conservative pro-Jesus pro-Bush emails. Is it bad to be this? No, of course not! (I'm very middle of the road on 95% of everything)

What IS bad is the fact that she assumes I'm as rabidly conservative and tends to bash anything or anyone not adhering to her beliefs. She'll send me all these activist type emails as true when they're really Snopes-verified hoaxes. I'll send her a "credit is due to..." email and direct her to the Snopes site every time. Do I reply all? No! That's just mean and would/could embarrass her.

So today I get an email from her, another group mailing that goes: "I just received this email. I don't know the person that was reported to have written it & don't really care if she's the one that did it or not. I agree with what it says & feel that the message is one we all need to hear!
Merry Christmas!"


Um hm. To someone who is a writer, them's fightin' words. The person who wrote the piece should get the credit, not some Joe Blow with an ichy forward email finger. Lawsuits are fought over who wrote what, it really IS important.

So anyway, concerning her retort about "I don't care who wrote it" I'm wondering if the Devil wrote it, would she still not care if she agreed with the message?

I really don't mind what a person believes about life, politics, or religion. They ought to believe whatever they want, since where I live IS America. I would like it if the person has actually thought through their beliefs instead of being a sheep, though. I would also like it if they didn't assume that I agree with everything they've been told to believe. I was very nice to my friend and replied "LOL! Well, actually since she DID write it AND get paid to do so, I'm sure Debbie is glad to receive the credit from the website that regularly prints her columns. There are probably a lot of other columns there that you'd enjoy.

Shtml link to original article.

I think the whole exclude 'Christmas' thing is crap, anyway. No one complains about Hanukkah, Ramadan, or Kwanzaa, so my personal opinion is that they need to lay off about Christmas. The majority wants it, so be it."

Bottom line is that I've had enough ideas dismissed by bosses as "stupid" then presented to their bosses as their own, AND I'm enough of a writer to be totally offended by her dismissal of a writer's byline.

Whew! Rant over! Now, on to better things...



The current Jaywalker sock is rounding the bend and comin' home! I.e., I'm on the toe. Just a few more rows, maybe six, and it's done. Alas, makes me crazy that I can't knit faster. As soon as this is off the needles, I'm starting the companion to the first Jaywalker in Crush. So much sock yarn, so little time.













Hubby's socks are clean! As much as he wears them, they're needing reenforcement. Grumperina has done this, and I'm going to do what I can to retro-fit these. He loves them. The yarn for more pairs is sitting in the living room, waiting to be worked. After the two singleton Jaywalkers get done, Hubby's getting a new pair.





As soon as the toe is done on my sock, I'm also working on Fry's mitten with Miss K's pair being my no-brainer project. There's also a Sharfik and Clapotis in the queue, I'm still mulling over which pattern for my favorite Aunt.

Cookie news. Last night was good for baking, bad for tasting. After following the recipes to a T, they all turned out as crap. The cranberry shortbreads and my fave tropical cookies all lacked taste and sweetness. A little bit bigger and they'd have all been scones. Not bad unless you'd intended for them to be cookies. There's some orange sable dough in the fridge, they're getting baked tonight and I might whip up some more. There's still the two kinds of gingerbreads I'm doing as well. Those and four other types, and I'm done with the baking. Very good because my jeans can't take any more quality control.

Stash Enhancement Time!

It's Fryday, Hubsday, and help me day! All in one!

Since everyone was home, I had to get out. Besides, it's my usual errand day, so I was twitchier than usual. Last night's scarf class was great. Everyone had fun and teens are so polite! They raise their hands and say thank you after I answer every question. Yeah, they are all a little glum and or surly, but I think that's par for the course.





The hat is done! Really done yesterday. Now, mittens to match.

















Making progress on Fry's mitten, slow, but sure. In the meantime, those quickly knitted up mits for Miss K are in the queue for when I need the mindless knitting.











Ok, enough of that, on to the good stuff! New yarn! First, I went to the library to pick up my held copy of Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. Recognized a few just from reading various weblogs, very cool.

I totally blame The Knit 'Nabler for the Trekking XXL in the picture, the skein in the lower left in this picture. When I went to the Knit Craft yarn store today, voila'! They also had a lot of Regia sock yarn. Did I really need more? Um, not really. If you go to the website, be prepared for disappointment. The store is as great as the website is not. Am I going to Jaywalker the Trekking? Oh, probably.

Cara at January One has such sweet things to say about everyone in the Jaywalker KAL (Knit a long). It's so fun to peruse the updates and see the variety in one sock pattern.

Do other knitters know that there is a difference in Koigu and Noro? Hee hee. Well, I sure as heck do NOW. See the lovely Noro in three different but coordinating colors? Very nice. What to do with it, though? Sheesh. That's what I get for binge-reading all my fave knitting weblogs and being seduced by the dark side of stash building. After a few Googles on Kureyon, I'm sure something will come to me.


In other news: I get to deliver the papers tomorrow while Fry and Hubs do the Sons of the American Revolution Flag program with others. Fry reads about the folds of the flag while Hubs and another gentleman fold the flag as she reads. There's a college student that doesn't read aloud as well as she, sad to say for him. I'm a very partial and biased mom. I also was able to see the program last summer, now it's Father's turn.

I Reek, But in a Good Way.

As I trudged my way through 10 inches of snow, rescuing the fallen mailbox with mail still inside, the UPS guy delivered my beloved order of perfume! Yay! A bottle of Dare for me, and one for my sister Toppa. The fragrance had been discontinued for at least 10 years, but still smells very good. Ask me how I know. Toppa is getting the non-leaking bottle, while I cleaned up and am now the proud owner of a leaky at the top bottle. I'm going to need an atomizer, if I don't already have one. Think there's one running around here somewhere. Nice surprise for Toppa's Christmas, no?

Yesterday, I had the usual menstral migraine, but not bad. Enough to make me break out the Relpax, but not enough to keep me from doing Fry's paper route. My face froze stiff, kid you not. Free botox with no needles. All it takes is an air temperature of 10 degrees. The bear hug and "Thank you, thank you, Mom!" made it all worthwhile. :D

She's sitting on my lap right now and boy, is her hiney cold! Yeow! Chilly child. Her pants are drying after she'd rolled around the the snow. Her Aunt Toppa suggested she shovel snow to which Fry retorted "Har, har."

Jaywalker is a sad thing. Not too bad, but no progress. I had to pull a few rows to a dropped stitch. Usually, I'd ladder the stitches above, then pick up, but this was at the beginning of needle two. The Jaywalkers in the crowd know the deal. I could have, but would rather reknit the rows than goof around with increases. Key word being 'goof'. :D The stitch was picked up and I'm back to where I was before the mass frogging.

Lots of progress on the little white hat for Miss K. I'm toying with the idea of mits to match, but in white? At least Homespun is very washable. Miss K, Toppa's roommate's daughter, looks lovely in that color, though.

No work on the Fry's mitten yesterday. She's home, wanting to make cookies, and I have a class tonight(!), so the outlook is not so good for today's work on it. Tomorrow, when there's real progress, I'll post a pic or two.

Exciting things:

The mailman ran over our mailbox, snapping it in two. He did manage put the mail in it, though. I carried the mail, still in the box, up to the porch. I'll let Hubs deal with it. Actually, I think it's funny, poor guy felt really bad, but not bad enough to bring the box up to the house.

Claude caught and killed another mouse last night! As long as he keeps catching them, we won't have to put out traps. The little guys aren't used to people, they'll run across the floor, totally in the open.

I get to go teach tonight. Eesh. It's a 45 minute drive in good weather, I'm dreading being on the road that long. The class is from 7pm-9pm. I'll have to leave by at least 5pm, if not earlier. I want to teach the class, but driving? Not if there's black ice. :(

Yes, that would be me.

Hey, You're the friendly neighborhood Spiderman!!!
You're cool cuz you're nice, you try to please
everyone, and above all, you are humble. Those
powers of yours are for good only. No messing
around.


Which Superhero Are You?
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Ccccold.

Right. I might as well face it. This is the no-going-back part of the year. The time where I know my body won't be warm until late May or early June. There will be balmy days between now and then, but not the bone-soaking warmth I like. Not until I go back to the gym for the hot tub. :D

What have I been doing? Baking:The image doesn't do the little guys any justice. They're snowy white with red streaks, and are such a perfect peppermint. Very easy to make, three large egg whites, one cup of granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Create merengue of the top three. Stripe a pastry bag with red pasty food coloring (liquid beads too much, mix with a tiny bit of the merengue to make it stick), load the bag up with merengue, and squeeze onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. After an hour in the oven at 175F, they're just right. The little guys just slide off, and I used a rather small frosting tip. Any size will do, but the medium starred ones are best. I was going to do a Gingerbread cookie bake off, but don't have the crystallized ginger called for in the competing recipe. Sigh, I guess I'll have to go to Dean & Deluca's this afternoon. Happily, I have a class to teach in the south.

There's also Amaretti Crisps here, another nice merengue cookie. Maybe this afternoon, in between hugging the space heater by the computer, knitting, and watching National Geographic, I'll whip up some drop cookies. As long as there's no Tropical cookies made... Whenever I mix a basic sugar cookie dough, a bag of tropical trail mix, and a 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract, the result is a cookie that's highly addictive. Not very seasonal, but very good.


Knitting:All right! The white is a hat, the Yarn Slingers out there could guess that, experts that they are. There HAS been progress on the mitten. I'm thrilled with how much everyone likes it. Washing will even out the stitches, hopefully. Then the beloved Jaywalker. I shouldn't be working on that and the mitt, considering the Christmas knitting yet to do, but once the sock is done, I can finish Fry's other Jaywalker, then I need to get her mittens done as well. There's tons of gloves running around here, but none are as warm as the fair isle fabric.

Yesterday was busy with the cooking, knitting, and watching my Fry sing in the choir. Sadly, no picture of that. The nice camera's flash bulb is out, and I bought an outside camera accidently. It'll be good for snow angels later. Hubs took late afternoon off, and after the concert, we busted Fry out of school. We ate spaghetti, made cookies, and watched Spongebob. Fry had already been to her newspaper to get paid, then to Catholic school while I fixed dinner and gathered cookie ingredients.

Cute Fry story: Sunday, we all went to church. I am not a church person, was raised in a Baptist atmosphere, converted to Catholic for the first husband, then Episcopalian so I could marry the second and am rather secular now. It's a can of worms. Anyway, Fry was up at front with two other girls, both teenagers wearing belly-baring jeans(!!!), answering three questions. First one was what do you want to be? Anyone with teens know the lovely way they respond in one word sentences, as in "UhwannabuhuhChrischun." Both teens did this. Then, when asked, Fry received the extremely enunciated reply, "I want to be a veternarian and a Christian."

This brought down the house. What a sweetheart! Hubs said the priest had a tough time keeping a straight face. The Father said something about her going places, having goals, something like that. I kept having visions of Fry replacing little Ernest Angsly on television, slapping animals on the forehead and yelling "HEE-ald." Earlier, she'd had a whole diatribe typed up on how she wanted to be a vet, work in the zoo or in Africa with the big cats, and keep all animals from becoming extinct. If a person wanted to get a reaction from the Fry, saying something like, "Animals becoming extinct don't bother me at all." Them's fightin' words.

When Hub reviewed her homework, he mentioned that maybe since it IS for church that she might want to mention, oh, I don't know, God, Jesus, or something. Which prompted the "Oh yeahhhhh," response.

This just in: In the Oh No!, then Oh Good Gravy catagory. There was breaking news of a shooting in one of the city's nicest malls. There's a Nordstom's so you know the Mercedes-BMW ratio in the parking lot is high. I was shocked, thinking if the rich aren't safe, then no one is. Turns out, a former police officer turned security guard accidently shot himself. Odd that he's not on the force anymore, huh??? ;)

"I should be baking, yeah!"

Rather than dancing. Thanks, Bee Gees!

Ok, on to the good stuff.

After reading 10-15 minutes worth of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle Knitting, I got good. And fast! Talk about the lightbulb clicking above my head. There's actually progress, just in time for the Warm Hands update. :) See the back and the front? Yeah, there are some serious mistakes, some of which I tried to fix. Happily, Fry will outgrow these then they'll be tucked away, goofed color changes and all.


All the mistakes are in the second picture. I'm so glad they're all on the underside of the hand. After collecting for the newspaper with Fry, I'm positive these will be incredibly warm gloves. I wore my knitted gloves (sadly, store-bought) then some leathers. If I'd worn the knitted both times, my hands wouldn't have been cold. We had to change to pencils, the ink pens wouldn't write in the cold. The near freezing was good for my finger. It didn't hurt while I worked on this mitten, nor while I taught. Yay! I had Hubby read yesterday's anonomyous comment, and asked him, "Three guesses as to who wrote it and first two guesses don't count!" My Mommy loves me.

She's really going to love me at Christmas. I've picked out the 10 cookies after a do-over. None of the first picks were very seasonal, so the list leans more that way. When this entry is done, the ingredients spreadsheet is final, and the collections crew (Fry and Hubs) are back, we're going to the grocery. I missed grocery day, planning on hitting the store during the Chief's game, anyway. People around here go rabid during the game and the place is a ghost town with everyone glued to their sets. My favorite time to shop, no one running into me with their carts.

An Observation and Jaywalker Picture

10 Marines Killed in Blast.

I thought when my BIL (brother-in-law) got home, this sort of news wouldn't turn my tummy. While I'm now not worried about the guy, the soldiers in the story were people. Then, the next day, several Iraqi soldiers were killed, too. I hate that we're in Iraq while Bin Lauden is hid out, laughing at us.



Moving on, before I launch into a full scale rant. No time today, we need to knock out Fry's paper route, then I need to clean up and teach a scarf class, yay!
I have to take a break from the Jaywalker, though. Although it looks fine, my index finger, here in the pic, hurts like no other. No pain if I leave the fingertip alone, but even the slightest pressure causes sharp owies. Pain like this is a sign to stop it already, so while I'm tempted to take some ibuprophen and trudge along, I won't. Scarves and triangle shawls it is, then.

A Two-fer One Special

Lookie! Two days of nice words about me to me and they don't even share my DNA. A girl could learn to love this. :) Good thing I read an article on how to accept compliments gracefully, or I'd been totally unprepaired. I've viewed everyone else's Jaywalkers, which is a really FUN thing to do. So many people with the same pattern but different yarns? What lovely variety! My favorite yarns used are of the Opal Sock yarn and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock variety.

Also, after reading some of the blogs, I was rather worried about the fit of the currently done sock. No fear. I tried it on and the thing fit perfectly. Well, not for me so much. It's a little long, perfect for Fry since her feet are already half an inch longer than mine. Finishing the current one in colorway Lucky will be a thrill, too. After trying on Fry's sock, I can see why Hubs wears his handmade socks all the time.

I forgot Friday's fun! The kitchen is so clean! I vacuumed the carpet to an inch of its life, cleaned off and up every counter. (there's COUNTERS! who knew????) Still haven't picked out the final cookies or knitted, but that's easily fixed.

Friday's Fun:
TEN random things you might not know about me.
1. In grade school, I was THE best tree-climber. Anything to get at those mulberries.
2. When a man tells me I'm unable to do something, I've completed the task before he completes his sentence. Dad taught me how, and Hubs always knew I could, so they're good. ;)
3. I can fix garage doors. Didn't know this either, until yesterday.
4. I love reading a really good romance novel. I've met a few authors, and could write one if I could park my butt and focus.
5. I'm always thinking, the wheels are always turning.
6. I 'write' fiction in my mind just before I go to sleep.
7. Speaking of sleep, I dream in color, sound, smell, and touch. Not so fun when I'm dreaming about going to the bathroom.
8. I can do a great impersonation of Stan's sister, Shelly.
9. Sometimes I think ridding myself of even good emotions would be worth it to be free of the bad.
10. I have an evil sense of humor. I'm so glad my Mom has a strong heart. Ha!

NINE places I’ve visited
1. London
2. New York City
3. Los Angeles
4. Amsterdam
5. Rome
6. Stuttgart
7. Venice
8. Chicago
9. Cancun

EIGHT ways to win my heart (and how the people in my life have done so)
1. Tell me I'm special (Mom)
2. Make me learn how to change a tire and give me my own toolbox (Dad)
3. Offer to beat up anyone who's mean to me (Toppa)
4. Get a squeeky voice because she loves me so when she talks to me (Goopa)
5. No complaints on how much yarn I buy, as long as bills are paid because he wants me to be happy (Hubby)
6. Take me or go with me to Red Lobster (All the above at one time or another)
7. Make me laugh. (All the above, below, and many other relatives and friends)
8. Be my child (Fry-she really is the best)

SEVEN things I want to do before I die
1. Live for a while, however long, in London.
2. Same thing for Ireland.
3. Scuba dive or ate least snorkel off Australia's coast.
4. Ride in a gondola in Venice NEXT TO my husband.
5. Celebrate my 120th birthday.
6. Publish a book that's really great. Certainly NOT self-published.
7. Go to the Hard Rock Cafe' in Reykjavik, Iceland. I am SUCH an American.

SIX things I’m afraid of
1. Dying. Seriously.
2. Losing a family member. Can't even think about it.
3. Identity theft.
4. Structural damage to the home.
5. Crime.
6. Stupidity, mine or others'.

FIVE things I don't like (This is PMS week. At this point, I don't like BREATHING.)
1. Neo-Cons.
2. Screams and other high pitched noises.
3. Repetition, please don't nag me.
4. Cold and wind chill. (My idea of cold varies. In summer, it's 75F, winter, 10F and below.)
5. People who tell me I'm wrong when I'm not and that I can't when I most certainly can.

FOUR ways to turn me off (If you do this, I will loathe you. Sad, but true.)
1. Act like I'm a pain in the ass when I've taken up less than a minute of your entire life. Devoted to jerky customer service people.
2. Treat me as an inferior because I lack, ahem, 'dangly bits'. Devoted to guys dropped through the trap-door of dating.
3. Tell me what to think or, how I think or feel. I could name an entire group here, but that would be telling. If you suspect it's you, no, it's totally not.
4. Tell me I'm 'weird'. I have a FORMER best friend because of that. My heart does the Grinch thing in reverse to that term.

THREE Things I do every day
1. Check my email.
2. Sing with the Fry.
3. Kiss everyone in the house, excluding cat and guinea pig. (Good thing, huh???)

TWO things that make me happy
1: Yarn in the mail. Like, I need more. ::insert eye-roll here::
2: Someone loving what I've knitted for them.

ONE thing on my mind right now
1: Christmas cookies. Yummmmm.

This Entry Sponsored by Cookies!

First, to catch up:

After I posted on Wednesday, the school called at 3:00 saying that Fry was ill and needed to go home. They said Fry had told me she felt sick earlier in the morning. Right. She'd done this before, saying "I'm queasy," then goes on to snack us to death and play. Not only that, but she bugs to get on the computer (the horror!), watch cartoons all day, and asks me to watch her play Playstation.

Does anyone catch that this is on WEDNESDAY? As in, PAPER DELIVERY DAY? Since the temperature was a balmy 35F, I wore a sweater (the green and white one you guys got me, Mom, when I was just starting the Fry), and a heavy coat. By the end of the first two bags, the sweater was soaked! Ick! I've not gone to the gym in a long enough time to enjoy sweat again. So much for my fear of freezing to death. A quick change of shirts and jackets, and I was back out there to finish the route. Walking around the neighborhood was fun. A lot of Christmas lights out there, and with the cold air, fireplaces going, all that put me in the mood for Santa.

It is the school's policy that whoever barfs one day must stay home the next, thus, Fry was able to loiter around on Thursday. We went to the doctor for her heel pain. He ruled growing pains, a possible irritation of her Achilles’ tendon because of the recent increase in activity, and prescribed ibuprophen. After that, we went to Sonic for lunch. They have a new raspberry limeade that is to die for, seriously, and a tasty gingerbread cookie blast wonderful for wrecking a diet. Since the hideous munchies of PMS have me in its grip, I splurged on the blast. Yesterday was a cheat day, what with the blast, a tortilla wrap, and then potatoes for dinner. There was even a tiny pack of M&Ms in there, left over from Halloween. I'm back on the wagon today. When I delivered the papers, I'd been on the South Beach for a couple of days and could feel it. There wasn't any glucose in me, so my legs tried to stall, hauling the bags of papers up hills.

But wait, there's more! After Sonic, we came home and took a nap (mostly for Fry's benefit, poor baby), then I left to get class supplies. Here's the fun part: I taught at the Boardwalk branch, Knit a Scarf. The librarian overseeing the class has been knitting for 55 years, since she was 5 years old. After the class, she'd told me that she only signed up for one knitting class, just to see if the teacher was any good. Not only do the students really want me back, but so does she! Isn't that nice? The library had wanted her to teach, but for Joyce, knitting is too instinctual. It was a nice group, only about eight and three of them knew a little already. One little girl, 9, is already an accomplished knitter. She was working on an eyelash scarf in stockinet and the stitches look so nice! If not for the scarf being still on the needles, I would have suspected it being machine made.

Came home, then did a run to Kmart for Christmas light bulbs, fixed dinner, pooped out.

Today, I'm doing as little as possible. Ha! Actually, I want to get the kitchen cleaned and ready for Sunday cookies. Why not Saturday? Paper delivery and another scarf class at 2pm. The library is about 5 miles from our house. Very nice since some of the libraries I go to are an hour away. Driving isn't bad, I like getting out and seeing different parts of the metro.

Cooooookies! Here is an image of the finalists in the great cookie gift bake. What to do, what to do... There's so many of them, and they're all so wonderful. Some of them I've made in prior years, some of them are new. By the time I get all the ingredients, I'll probably have spent as much as if I'd just gone and got bath sets for everyone. My sisters and Mom go crazy for bath and makeup sets, as I do. Even though I have tons of lotions, perfumes, and makeup I don't use or haven't used, I still love getting the stuff as a present. Go figure. So, I'm thinking, clutter-free, even if it is fattening. Hubs, brave and noble man that he is, has already signed up as Quality Control. Every cookie not making the 'cut' is fair game. Hubs and Fry are so funny, going "Ow ow ow!" as they try to pick up the still cooling cookies. For Christmas, they'll have to wait for the rejects.

You know how those who can't do, teach? Yep. I've been teaching and not knitting. The doctor's offices are excessively efficient, too. I was only able to knit FOUR stitches while waiting. No sooner than I'd pick up the needles, I'd have to tuck them back in. You'd think they were trying to make money or something. ;)

Action, Excitement, and Adventure

So here I am, reading blogs, surfing yarn sites, minding my own business. All of a sudden Claude De Van Damme Cat barrels up the basement stairs and starts meowing like Timmy's fallen in the well. I look over and he has a clump of black chewed up something in his mouth. Of course I think, "Oh God, what now?" because it IS always something around here. He lets go to meow yet again and the fuzzy thing shoots off toward the stove. Yay. The little bugger is going to die there, I think, just in time for Christmas cookie cooking. "Oh no, that's not small hairs, it's spices. Really."

Not to fear, Claude recaught his prey, meowed yet again, and the mouse took off, again. This time, he was headed straight for me, fangs bared. I screamed like a girl, which startled Claude, and he lost sight of the mouse as it scampered along the kitchen island base. As long as the little guy recovers to be caught again, I'm fine. For his brave efforts, heck for the only effort the bum has ever made, he was given a generous portion of lunch meat. He's such a laid-back cat, Claude makes a fuss over the fridge door or tin can opening. When it's just us girls and him, he's laying around in the traffic pathways of home with a 'whatever' look on his face. But when Hubs comes in the door, all hell breaks loose because Claude knows he has Hubs conned. The C-man meows and loves on Hubs so much that he's compelled to feed him. Fry and I are made of sterner stuff.

Thus was the excitement part. The action is scheduled for late afternoon when we deliver papers. Fry and Dad, um, prepared the papers for delivery. ::snicker:: I missed out on the fun due to a scarf class. One of my students, and you can see her in the background of November 20th's entry, brought me this:
Every time I see the picture, I 'hear' my Mom say "Oh aren't you PRETTY?" I actually don't suck in this picture, unlike most of the others taken in the past 10 years. Family portraits are awful. Fry is stunning, Hubs looks miserable because he won't smile, and I look like something the cat coughed up as demonstrated by this morning's mouse incident.

Yes, I did make the sweater I'm wearing. It was supposed to be a man's sweater to sell in a craft fair, but Hubs claimed it for his own. Said it was 'advertizing'. Um hmmm. At any rate, it's comfy, if really big on me. In the picture, I'd just shown my student an increase in the front and back of the loop, and was currently knitting to the other increase in the thumb gusset. That's why the work isn't angled toward her and why she looks bored.

Now that my first and last name is visible, as is the city I reside... People could stalk me, I suppose, but they'd be very bored very quick. Hm, on the other hand, I could put the stalkers to work. Mowing, whacking weeds, changing the litter box. This has possibilities... After mulling it over, I'm not overtly posting Fry's first name due to pedophiles, nor am I posting Hub's first name because of his Army status. I want to be able to be anti-Bush without worrying about his military career. Even if I don't type up anything inflamatory, I want to be able to.

While I have yet to turn Fry's mitten right side out and resume work, as you can see, socks are good. I'm working the heel, just started. Can't wait until I'm done, then it's on to Fry's second sock.

Do we want to read about my NaNoWriMo progress and word count of zero. Nope. My motto for that is "Ignore it and hope it goes away."

::pant pant pant::

Must resist, must resist... Would you look at those colors, though? I'm a weak woman with a crappy budget. :( Yes, I have the money, but no, I'd rather spend it on Christmas. Feel free to comment on your favorite color. There's colors in spiced wine, tranquil lagoon, and forest glade heather like here, in my stash already. The stuff is the Peruvian Highland Wool and certainly not chunky. Nothing has been done with it, yet, but as cold as it's getting, I'm certainly in the mood for something warm.

I've been Jaywalking, but not mittening. As soon as this is off the needle, I'm starting the mate to Fry's Jaywalker.

Tonight is a beginning knitter's class to teach. Happily, that storm that dumped snow in the midwest only grazed us and has melted.

Bragging on the Fry time. We went to see Fry in her karate class. It's the last one for this session and she wants to continue. Her instructor said and I quote, "If I had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like 'Fry'." He asked if she did well in school, and I said yes, then he continued that he thought so because she's always thinking. Good thing in a kid, huh? Of course I'm proud as punch of her, she's a joy.

In other news, my brother-in-law, Goopa's husband, is back from Iraq. Got in very early this morning. They're both very young, mid to late twenties, and pretty, um, healthy. So, should I call to see how he's doing and if he got back ok? Heh heh heh, I think not.

Sorry about that scream...

I opened the mail box to see....

Honestly did not expect Joanne's to be so fast. While I'm not happy about paying $5+ in shipping and handling for something that would have cost me $2 less to mail, I am THRILLED to be able to finish my socks.

Can't believe it's two o'clock already. I've not done anything but bills, due to me throwing my business checks into the shred pile. If I had a brain, I'd be dangerous.

Study - Longer needles needed for fatter buttocks

Raise your hand if you thought "Why don't they just use circulars?" or "How do they know that since I don't have a webcam?"

Food Hangover and Lots of Drivel

This is MY sock. I love this sock, especially the surprise of yellow in there. I want to have it done by the time the other skeins are in for this and the pinkish red ones' mates.




Oh Lard. Yes, I do mean lard. I will weigh after Fry leaves for school, just so I can get on the scale, undress in peace, then get back on the scale. Then, I can hop a little to make the needle jump in hopes it rests a little 'lighter'. I could do it right now, but then I'd have to explain myself to the child.

Speaking of which, she tried to claim this hat today while I scanned it. Umm hmm. Everything I make is supposed to be for her. The thing looks soft, but looks are deceiving. The yarn is much softer than it appears. I love this stuff. Tough to knit with, especially the knit two togethers, but so worth it in the end. I also have some of Trendsetter's Blossom, which is the same stuff, different colors. Very pretty and better than Charmin to squish.


Christmas. I love it. Hate the shopping, really dislike dealing with people during the holidays, but love the gift giving. My beloved sister Toppa has a way with gifts. She gets me things I didn't know I wanted but love. That, and the kid can throw a party. She's very cool that way.

But, back to Christmas. I've bought a few stocking stuffers, and Fry's two dearly wanted gifts are bought. She reads over my shoulder sometimes, so I'm not typing which two dearly wanteds are stashed somewhere around here. Other than that, she has toys and gifts she's never touched. Not because she doesn't like them, but there's so much stuff in her room already. My husband is tough. He, too, has so much stuff that to get him any more is horrible. Then, when I think about what to get my family, parents, parents-in-laws, and sisters (in law and my own), nothing seems good enough. For example, the sweater for my father-in-law in the basement. (the sweater, not my father-in-law, ha ha ha!) Cuff one is fixed and when I threatened to give this to Hubs, he replied that it is his Dad's and I should give it back to him. I could do that. I have to laugh at how long those sleeves were, poor guy. My mother-in-law totally understood. Not every 'recipe' is a good one, even for sweaters. Those who have had their coffee will see the mistake. Once something is bound off, ie, off the needles, that's it. It's not getting fixed. I only noticed the goof when I'd scanned it and the cuff was blown up 200%. Um, yeah, I meant to do that decrease, uh huh.

Every year when I make out my Christmas list, I think about each item. Would they like it, would they use it, is it something they wouldn't buy for themselves? Do they have a good one of it already? Hubby says write a check and be done with it. Right. The year I gave him a $50 gift certificate to Penny's, he turned it into two $25 certificates and gave them as Christmas gifts. There's been enough other things like this with him that I really hate buying for him. When he says he wants to buy a Civil war re-enactment uniform or a new computer desk, I always agree, since he's actually stating a preference.

All that to say that Hubs suggested and I agree, this year, I'm giving cookies. Rugelachs are great, and everyone loves the Checkerboards, especially Fry. No eggs are in the the dough, so she can eat it raw. Goof. Parents and their siblings get the yearly fruitcake, which we're thinking of skipping for ourselves, thanks to diets. I've checked and all the above would be very upset if we didn't send said fruitcakes because they're so yummy. These are from Collins Street Bakery and are really cakey and nutty. Otherwise, I'm making little gourmet cookies. Once I find the drop dead mail date, pick out the cookies I want to make, and hit the grocery store, it'll be Bake Central around here. With fresh ingredients and TLC, these cookies are wonderful. The hard part will be quality control. I eat my mistakes and those accidents really are accidents. I'll have to freeze or send the scruffy ones to work with Hubby.

By the end of the first week in December, I have the basic dough recipes memorized. Actually, cookies used to be the worst things I baked. With enough practice, I've gotten pretty good at them, judging by the amount of weight gained every December. It comes off once I stop the baking. Then, speaking of things I've practiced, here is the mitten inside-out, as sort of promised. Once I looked at it, the work didn't seem as bad as I thought. Maybe I just had time to get used to the thing being crap. Ha! It's mostly fair isle with the upper snowflakes being intarsia. Nothing was done to it over the weekend, but I'm itching to do something today. Color changes are very time-consuming for me, since I'm constantly double-checking myself. Every row is different, so there's no groove to get into.

I teach three classes this week! All are full, so I need to shop for more handouts. Bernat has a cute little pattern book for under a dollar that happens to have basic instructions. Buying those, even with sales tax, are cheaper than copying at Kinko's and certainly cheaper than using up my printer cartridge. Since I hand these out to all my students, I'm keen on cheap. Inexpensive AND they look nice. The checkers give me funny looks when I buy handfuls of them, though. Like, did I MEAN to buy 20 of the same thing? Yes. Yes, I did.


Fun things we did this weekend:
Friday, had our picture taken for the church directory. Hubby loves getting our family portrait, I hate the way I look. For someone that looks good on video, I look horrible in a photograph. Fry more than makes up for me. She's incredibly photogenic and Hubs would look a lot better if he didn't look so miserable in photos. Pictures are usually his idea, and yet, he looks as if he's been coerced. Goof.
Saturday, the 'kids' did the paper route while I did not. Ha ha! My turn is Wednesday. We put together most of the computer desk (I LOVE my Dad and my cordless drill), and put up the Christmas lights in the front yard. Last year, I couldn't find C7 bulbs, this year, it's C9s. Burnt out bulbs bug the crap out of me, so I like having plenty around. We made it a family event and trekked all over before buying a string of C9s for the spare bulbs. It was cheaper to buy 25 that way than spend for each set of five. That and the gas to drive all over.
Sunday, the 'kids' went to church while I worshipped the peace and quiet. Then, Hubs and I finished most of the desk, excluding the drawers and doors. I might work on them today. The laundry and carpet get priority. Although I skipped my workout this morning, I'm subbing housecleaning. Carting laundry up and down stairs, carying boxes and tubs to and fro, and scrubbing all burn calories. Or I could take a nap. Ha! It's chilly and rainy out there, thus, I'm making beef stew per Fry's request. I need to make a lot, since it's torture cooking it all day. I'm constantly hungry, even on a full tummy.

Pay bills, vacuum, start laundry, do dishes, knit for the rest of the afternoon...yeah, sounds like a great plan to me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I'm finally able to pry Fry from the computer. Thus an update. See the Jaywalker, beginnings of a green fluffy hat, and the continuation of a mitten. The hat is a good mindless project, while the mitten is great but very involved. The sock is for me, which is the first sock I've ever made for myself. I'm done with the cuff and am about to start the chevron pattern part. Personally, I think my fair isle on the mitten sucks eggs. If I get the nerve later, I might show the insides just so the other knitters' get a good laugh. Blah.

Ahhhh. Turkey dinner at Golden Corral. Yum, and not that busy. Tonight, we eat pumpkin and pecan pies for dinner, then back to the Beach for me tomorrow. Christmas is going to be better, we're cooking at home then. I'm hoping Toppa can make it over and bring her roommate, possibly. If her roommate's child comes along, even better.

Now, off to watch "My Family" with my family and try to stay awake. :) Do I need to mention how thankful I am for all my relatives? Probably not! I'm sure they get tired of me telling them how much I adore them, sisters, parents, husband and daughter. Cat. Well, not so much him. He's probably up there in bed, denned up with Fry and Hub.

What to do, what to do....

Sock, mitten, hat? Probably more like mitten, sock, and hat when I want to watch TV. There's a green hat on the circulars that I use for chemo cap knitting, great when I want to knit and not think.

I've done absolutely nothing today. Well, excluding starting a pot of soup for tonight. A warning about black beans, or rather frijole negro. They're not called 'negro' for a reason. (See, Mom and Dad? I can say 'black'.) Since the tomatoes and green chilies are now really dark, I'm fighting the urge to toss it all out. After that, THEN I would scrub the black off of each bean. Or, toss a frozen pizza in the oven.

When given the choice, my family would rather have a few tv dinners, frisbee pizzas, or the cheapest soup you can buy over anything I fix. So they say. When I fix them something, there's usually a scramble after the first plate for whatever's left. Very rarely do I have leftovers. Unless califlower is involved. Avocadoes, too. I'm a very lucky person. All the guacamole is mine.

Hm. Just checked in on the bean soup, i.e. black sludge. Honestly, it looks like the stuff I clean out of the ponds. Smells really good. Sad, huh? The garbage disposal is going to eat really good tonight. Maybe, if only because I'm mean and evil, I'll pass the stuff off as dinner tonight. Buh wa ha ha ha haaaa. Be glad my digital camera software doesn't work because no one wants to see what black tomato cubes look like.

Adult ADD

I started this entry at 3:51 and am just now sitting back down to finish. Vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen carpet, driving the child to Catholic school, washing the pickup were all done between then and now.

When cleaning up the living room, or trying to, I've re-found a few UFOs lurking around in there. One of the baby blankets 'grew' a border this afternoon, and I want to finish up another border this evening.




Guess what I'm going to do when my sock yarn comes in? Yep! Finish one pair of Jaywalkers and start another. Hm, scratch that idea. I have one Moda Dea's Sassy Stripes in Lucky, the other is on its way here for the second sock. My patience may not let me wait.



I'm not happy with what I've sketched out for Fry's Nordic mittens. A new design may be in order...

In the meantime, Mom calls me princess, and I wondered what kind I am.
The Traditional Princess

You are generous, graceful, and practical with both feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to be a little on the old-fashioned side. You value home, hearth, and family life and love to be of service to others.

Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian

You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent for spinning straw into gold.

What Kind of Princess are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Mittens Galore!

Don't look TOO close at the mitten cuff, ok? My fair isle sucks eggs in a big way. Practice makes perfect, right? Colors may not be my forte'. Heck, changing colors may not even be something I can consider in the future. :( As long as it's warm and won't fall apart, Fry will like it. On the other hand, I might just do a simple snowflake pattern on the back, then no fair isle for the rest. Not that I mind the color change challenge, I'd like to get a lot better at it. As long as it's taking me to knit up the cuff, they'll be ready in time for summer.



Look who made the paper! These are my students from Friday's mitten class! Sadly, it was part two, so they're on their own. They were all very good and we had a great time. The bad thing about Friday was that I had another hideously bad headache. Suffered with it until the evening, then took yet another Relpax. I've gone through a month and a half's supply already in a month. I'm not OD'ing or anything remotely like that, the frequency is just way up. Yesterday, I let myself be tired, since those things do wipe me, then today, I just goofed off while Fry and Hubs did their church and Children of the Revolution activities.

What do I call goofing off? Watching the History channel, doing dishes, and making mittens while doing sinkfulls of dishes. I scanned in this, yesterday. Then did the second today. They're for my sister-in-law to match her hat and scarf, if she still has them. I rather doubt it, but hey, she has matching mittens.

















Then...the Jaywalker! This was finished...gosh. I don't even remember. That's the lovely thing with migraines, I get all short circuited on the memory. Fry tried it on Saturday morning, must have finished it Friday night. The sock looks odd from my making the cuff shorter than the pattern states, but is beautiful on her foot.


Tonight, I was finishing up the thumb of the probably donated mitten for my sister-in-law when I thought, "I need to call Mom." After a check of the time, of course, it was too late. Not that I need need to call her. Everything that had happened is right here in the blog. The house is a wreck, I've only cleaned in bits as I could. I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's housecleaning. It's not the doing, but the done.

Snickers and I'm a bad kid

Ok, after reading Snow's comment, maybe I should have written NEWSpapers. I'm having a chuckle over the whole thing. Ok, I guess I can admit this. While growing up, I was very sheltered and living out in the middle of nowhere helped. My sister was more aware of the stoners in our school, I just thought everyone was somewhat dumb. My parents had put the fear of drugs in me, and with my addictive personality, I knew that one try would hook me. Fast forward 20 years (gah!) to where my friend and I were at a Moody Blues concert. Did I suspect? Of course not! We were sitting on a blanket, since it was at an ampitheatre, when I pipe up and say, "Huh. There's a grass fire nearby." My friend pointed out the kids in front of us "smoking" and had a good chuckle over my country upbringing.

I could get all holier-than-thou over both hubby and I never having tried anything illegal, but then I'd have to admit what 'fish' we were in college. Even two to three years out, I could still knock back 10 shots of tequila and still say no to guys' propositions. At thirty pounds lighter than I am now, I'd certainly trained a LOT in college to still be so tolerant. Hubs has better stories, like getting caught peeing in the park, having to dump beer and all that. He's half German, I'm 80% Irish, so you know that if we'd met even five years earlier, St. Pat's and Ocktoberfests would have been a lot more rum-soaked.

This segues into a wonderful Fry conversation from three years ago.

AT THE GROCERY CHECKOUT COUNTER. CLERK IS CHECKING MILQUTOAST ITEMS. NO ALCOHOL OF ANY KIND, NOT EVEN O'DOULS.

FRY
(in a voice that carries to the four corners of the Earth)
Mom, why do you like beer so much?

MOM
(stunned and not wanting to be a hypocrite)
Well...I don't like it SO much, but it's ok.

FRY
(with a sly grin because she knows what she's doing)
Yeah, but you said you really love it.

MOM
(hoping that cashier doesn't think she's a lush while driving the child around)
Yes...but that doesn't mean I drink it all the time.

All I remember after that was thinking "to the car" over and over.

Then, there's the time we were at Office Depot. I had to run in there before going to the gym. We were at the checkout counter when she told the checker, "My Mom's going to jail." Yes. She said this. It was one of those things that sounded good to her at the time, but as soon as she said it, thought, "What was I thinking?" I know this because I'd done the same as a kid. If I had in any way NOT looked like a walking mug shot, the whole thing would have been hilarious. I hadn't showered, was wearing ratty gym clothes, and didn't even have lip gloss on. I was so mortified that I don't think my knees even bent as I walked out the store. The checker guy was sweet and said "We all have kids," like he felt my pain when I exclaimed, "I'm NOT going to jail, ever. Where did you get this??"

Sigh. I'm dreading the teen years.

Wiped out Wednesday

Headache all day today. All freakin' day. Obviously, this is the bad month. At least next month will be good. Bleh. Up until Fry came home, I did nothing except eat lunch and sleep. We had rolled papers last night to deliver this evening. Dinner, then knitting and TV. I need to work on the mittens, Fry needs them, but, I want to finish her sock so I'll know to order one more skein or two for the other. I love this colorway. Parts of the brilliant red makes me hungry for raspberries.

Tomorrow evening, I'm teaching a beginner's knitting class in Lone Jack. A lot of really good spinners live there. Can't imagine that people who spin so well (and they do) don't know how to knit, but they don't. They either spin for others or crochet. The class is full, so it'll be hectic but fun.

An inch and a half before I start the toe of the sock, six rows to be done with the mitten's cuff.

Making Progress!

First of all, a big thank you to the Hubs for taking the trash to the curb. As a result, I can still lounge around in my jammies. This was a pretty busy weekend. We did the paper on Saturday, then ran to Lee's Summit for a class. Beginning Knitting for Teens, and boy are those little buggers surly. I want Fry to stay a girl instead of one of 'those'.

In the meantime, Fry is thrilled with these. So am I, actually. The mitten, and my fair isle is good enough that you can see the snowflakes, is turning out better than I'd thought. No gaping holes or anything! Of course the Jaywalker is lovely. Even though it's self-striping, I love the colors and the chevrons in the pattern. I'm pleased with both of them, amazingly enough.





Doesn't take much, does it? I'm easily amused.

Borning personal stuff:
First day of a new weight loss plan. I'm wanting to be down to 140lbs by New Year's, a sort of resolution in reverse. The start is 157lbs with my jammies on, so a drop in weight is expected by tomorrow. I could be wrong, hopefully not. My body is so weird. Low calorie and low fat diets don't work. I've also discovered that working out does nothing for me in the weight loss department. Doing it does help my physical abilities, so I'm wanting to resume something. Not to the kick myself in the butt level from before, that's too much and too boring. I want going to the gym to be fun, not a horrendous drudge. I used to be able to slog through working out, thinking I was losing weight, but no. Now that I know it doesn't work, I don't want to get on the treadmill for an hour. I'd rather mow the lawn, mop the basement, or do something else much more productive.

What does work for me? Cutting out the bad carbs. Sugar is my downfall. If I cut sugar and refined flour, the weight falls off. Really odd, too, because nothing else does the trick. I'm planning on cheating twice between now and New Year's, of course. We're going to a casino buffet for Thanksgiving, and I'll do the big dinner at Christmas. My sister and hopefully her roommate will be here. Plus, I'll save my 'cookie calories' for then, too. I'm wondering how much everyone will miss my gourmet cookies this year. I've made tons of batches for the past three years. There's been some positive feedback, but not a whole lot. Me, personally, I love all of them. I'm very lucky in that while it's murder for me to lose weight, it's also really hard for me to gain. I could easily double my size by eating all my reject cookies. Well, I have to do quality control, can't just give out any ole cookie.

Thanksgiving. I really want to go to my parent's house for the holiday. My husband does too, but also wants to spend a four day weekend at home. He bought a new computer desk for his office and wants to play with that. Also, he bought an armoir for our bedroom to hide the TV in. It was on sale, and while my father could modify our current armoir on a professional woodworker's level, I can not. I can change out knobs, though, and thanks to Van Dyke's, I'm going to. It's pretty rare that he gets a full four days off. Usually, it's one or two days at the most.

Time to start the Monday morning cleanup! Yay!

Nope, fake enthusiasm. Better than nothing, I suppose.

The Sock and Mitten needs me

Busy day. Just for fun:

Your Birthdate: May 15

You take life as it is, and you find happiness in a variety of things. You tend to be close to family and friends. But it's hard to get into your inner circle. Making the little things wonderful is important to you, and you probably have an inviting home. You seek harmony with others, but occasionally you have a very stubborn streak. Your strength: Your intense optimism Your weakness: You shy away from exploring your talents Your power color: Jade Your power symbol: Flower Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Really oddly accurate. Except for the power symbol. A flower? Hm, that is rather sweet, isn't it. Oh all right. I'll take flower.

Zzzzzzzzz

For having a killer headache, (yes again) this has been an action packed day.

Up at 7:00am, didn't know until 8:15 that Fry had an extra choir practice at 8:30. Me driving a billion pound death machine with a budding headache and full coffee cup while in my jammies? Oh hell no. Like the true SuperMom I am, I asked, "You know all the words already, don't you?" She replied, "Yeah..." "Well, then, you're set. Ride the bus."

As soon as the bus pulled out, I hopped in the shower. Then to the doctor's office. I don't know how anyone gets anywhere in a single day. People drive 5 to 10 miles UNDER the speed limit at all times here. There are a few fools who, when I'm going at or a little above said limit, pass me like I'm standing still. Curse my upbringing in a one-stoplight town! Curse it! These 'car' things on the road, clogging it all up...maddening.

By this time, the headache escelated to "Kill me, Billy" proportions. Ate lunch at 11:00 to let the Relpax and Midrins calm down. Without food, they make me ill. Laid down on an ice pack, with the alarm set for 12:30. Why? To wake up in time for my Knit Some Mittens class! Um. Yeah. I'm so hoping those gals don't think too poorly of me. I did explain the increased dyslexia when I have them, just so they'd know the goofiness isn't terminal, only intermittant.

Done with that and hit Joann's on the way home, looking for Moda Dea Sassy Stripes um, Crazy, Crispy, or Curly. Some color like that. I'd stopped at Michaels before lunch to no avail. Lisa, my neighbor who works there, roped me in and the store wants me to teach there, too. Hmmmm, employee discount at a craft store. Buh wa ha ha ha haaaaaaa!

No one has anything so far. There's still another Hobby Lobby, Micheals, and even a spankin' new Joann's to check out. I ought to suck it up and order from online, but I'm afraid I won't stop with just one little skein.

Dinner was TV dinners, or rather, "Siberian Take-out". Isn't that funny? It was said on My Family, a double header tonight. The first show was cute, all right, but not spectacular. The second, the same except for Nick wrapping everything ala Christo. He had a big roll of brown wrapping paper and wrapped everything in sight, even the watch he wore. Funny as heck.

Something I found while rummaging around for something 'wrapped' on the Christo and Jeanne-Claude site... In what I think is the prettiest park in Kansas City.

Tomorrow: newspaper delivery, another knitting class to teach, and pictures of current works in progress. There's been progress on socks and mittens, but no scanning, sadly. I'm tired and will do spell check on this and updates later in the weekend. Really.

The Singing Fry

I got to see Fry sing about bones today at school! She is so lovely. That kid is just wonderful. She had a little speaking part and did quite well.

Ran to Hobby Lobby after that for some double pointed knitting needles (DPNs) size 1. The 2s are great, but the fabric is really tight. See? I love these socks, more importantly, so does Fry.

Now Hub wants in on the sock action, preferably in brown or black so he can wear them to work. Sweet, huh? While I was waiting to check out, there were a trio of people speaking French. There were a few words here and there I caught, and tried not to snicker after hearing aujourd'hui (today). Which I took to mean, "sometime today?" I think the Hobby Lobby checkers are screened for their lack of speed. Yeah, they're very nice (the ones here are) but goodness! Feels like another reality in there. Their knitting notions are still on sale, 50% off. They didn't have the 1s I needed, but then, there's another store down the road.

Tomorrow, I get to go and get my sonogram results. Ninety dollars to hear "You're fine, no change." Duh. Sure, insurance pays for most, but it's still a waste to make me come in, sit around, and hear something he could have told his nurse to tell me over the phone. While I'm there, I'll go ahead and get the CA-125 out of the way. Gaw, I hate needlesticks.

I'm going to have to start the Nordics soon! How about if I teach my Knit Some Mittens class instead? It's tomorrow, and I'll be bringing the green and yellow pairs to show off.

I keep thinking that if I keep typing, I'll have something cool to say. Nope! Sock heel, here I come.

The day after...

a migraine day, I'm always pooped. Is it the struggling through pain? Or maybe the meds taken? Probably both. My father gets these, too, only not menstral, obviously, ha ha ha! (I'm easily amused.) When he eats the 'bad' foods, like chocolate, processed meats, and maybe aged cheeses, he'll get the horrid migraines. The ones that curl a person in the fetal position and make them pray for death. Thanks to Zoloft keeping them light, mine aren't that bad any more. It's all perspective, though. If a non-migraineur has a horrible headache, takes an asprin or something like it, and the headache goes away...well, it wasn't THAT bad a headache. I don't even bother taking meds for those. Actually, it's kinda fun taking stuff for those. I'm always amazed the stuff works.

So I did end up taking another Relpax and some Midrin, too. Midrin's great, since it has that sedative and is slightly narcotic. Just the thing for someone addicted to Diet Pepsi, yarn shopping, and the internet, huh? I usually try to take pure, non-addictive ibuprophen, since Midrin has that extra 'oomph' and a vasoconstrictor. After a whole day of a migraine, my neck and back muscles are tense from the constant pain, that sedative is sooo nice. A glass of wine would work as well, but if I'm already 'down', wine would just add to the 'fun'.

Last night on the news: Group Restrains Alleged Crook. Why do I care? This is MY gym. I think it's hysterical. Seriously. Kinda like robbing people outside a gun store or martial arts studio. The bugger got the crap beat out of him, looks like. I'm still chuckling over it. I do sorta feel bad for the guy for being that stupid. Funny as hell, though.

Yada yada yada, but when will she get to the knitting....

How about now? Yesterday, in a bit of haze, I started on the Jaywalkers, then this morning mapped out the Nordic mittens' pattern for the snowflakes. Due to the fog of yesterday, I'm K1P1 the ribbing instead of K2P2, plus, since the Fry wanted THIS yarn, a faux fair isle, I'm breaking the rules on that, too. In yet another addition, these are being knitted on US 2s because I'm far too lazy to go back to Hobby Lobby and get the size 1s I need. Also, I'm too pissed that I didn't get them half off when I had the chance. Test swatch showed me I needed to decrease the pattern by 8 stitches. The swatch has already been reabsorbed as the ribbing. The yarn is a mystery since the label is gone. The yarn for the Nordic mitten is right here next to me, being used as a pillow by Claude. I hate to wake the little (big!) guy, so I'll wait until he finds a sunbeam to roll around in before starting the mitts.

There's a few things I'd like to get done, dishes, laundry, pay some bills, do a bit of fun yardwork. After that, I'm taking the day off to recoup from yesterday. My motivation just isn't here at the moment.

Nordics, here I come!

Je suis finis! Voila! (I've actually seen someone spell this 'Walla'. Took me a moment to figure it out.) They've been tried on, are my size, are very even to each other, and I have more than enough left to make a cute hat. That'll be my 'distracted' knitting.

Today is a rather bad migraine day. Started out ok, but one Relpax isn't working. I can take another, but that's it. In the meantime, I'm scribbling out the charts for the Nordic mits and doing the top ribbing of the Jaywalker socks.

Monday Mitten update

Hopefully by the end of today, these will be done. Ignore, for the moment, that I said this yesterday, too. But then, when I entered in yesterday's, um, entry, this mitten hadn't even been cast on, yet. I've resisted the call of socks long enough. As soon as this is finished, I'm starting a pair of the Jaywalkers. Just to get them out of my system.


At the same time, I'm plotting the pattern for my Nordic mittens. I've seen them called Nordic, then Latvian, and am not sure what to call these, really. They're going to be colorful and patterned with a pointy top, whatever their name is.





If you can't handle a person not being a mental Twinky of yours, you might want to skip this part. I have an opinion and I'm actually using it! Outside of the blog, if you share my DNA, then you might know what I really think. Otherwise, chances are you don't.


Political rant part:
In the real world, I hate discussing politics or religion. Yet, they keep getting lumped together. Gah! When I think of how often some friends of ours (mine and Hubs) spout off some political rhetoric handed to them by their preacher, expecting me to agree with their snarky bad-mouthing... I suppose being political in a church is ok ONLY if you're pro the current administration. Otherwise, they sic the IRS on you. Intolerance is neither Christian nor American. They're whining about evolution being taught in the school, wanting to disregard the separation of church and state in that case, while being jerks to churches that don't agree with the conservatives. What a load of crap. No one has to agree with anyone, but everyone has a right to their own opinion without fear of punishment. Isn't that why the United States was founded in the first place? Why we're not a subset of Great Britan? Fortunately, I'm too much of a small potato for them to fool with. Or, I'd be audited for typing my opinion. Bleh.

It's so greeeeeen!

Number one of two! Ok, I know it's heresy to admit, but I do like knitting with such lively colors. I'll start number two sometime this evening after everyone else is in bed. Just asked Fry, "So, what DO you think," and handed her the mitten. She replied in a nano-second, "Mine."

'Fraid not. She's getting Nordic style mittens to match her snowflake hat. The folds in the hat don't show off the snowflakes. Considering my fair isle skills, that's probably a good thing. Yech.






Right now and later today:
Fighting off a migraine and losing that war
Took Relpax and will take a nap for it to work
Will take Fry on the last of newspaper collections
Will enlist her help in a bit of house cleaning, laundry, and bulb planting
Will fix dinner
Will explain to Hubby how he should not leave a tiny birthday cake with two females and expect the last piece to be bigger than a thimble (he's at drill, and the piece IS bigger than that, really)

A Mother's Love

Today is Hubby's birthday! Yay! We had take out from Olive Garden and a plain white cake. It's his favorite.

Sadly, we spent his day gettting newspaper collections with Fry. Good Lord is that work! I'm tipping every little paperboy I'll ever see again. Those people work hard! So we followed Fry as she knocked on doors, introduced herself as the carrier (lol! images of 'carrier monkeys'! lol), then either took the money or had me mark down them as a 'no go'. While one part of all of us wanted to be aggressive and get those sales, another, much larger part of us took great glee in crossing people off the list. That wasn't until the fourth hour. Until then, we were still gung-ho. Very courteous, but gung-ho.

Birthday boy is upstairs watching his favorite movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Fry. She gets him all to herself tonight, while I get her to myself tomorrow. I had Hubs to myself last night. We watched TV and laughed our butts off at "My Family". I've had serious thoughts about getting an European DVD player, just so I can order the DVDs of this show. For his birthday, he's had a new computer desk and amoir on layaway. They're in the cherry wood he's so fond of, and looks really nice.

I'm almost done with the current mitten. Fry wanted to talk to Gran last night, so after they chatted, I talked with her too. They'd had a huge fire in Oklahoma the other day, coming rather close to their house. Eeek! Of course, I only found out about this a few days after the fact, which is pretty typical. Mom didn't want to worry us, and I joked that on her casket will be a note, "I didn't want to worry you." We also talked about the lack of people in my family wearing things I make them. PMS-fueled insecurity. Her comment was if I'd make them more things, then they wouldn't have to treat each item as a treasure. Think that's a hint?

Fast Friday

Had an ultrasound today to check on Toomie. If you don't know who or what Toomie is, heaven help you, you don't WANT to know. Let's just say that little Toomie was a product of a radiologist's overactive imagination. So far. I need to go back in for a CA-125 test but just can't work up the enthusiasm. Happily, I think Mom no longer reads my drivel, so no choice words about me skipping the test. Buhwa ha ha ha haaaaa. It's still bad, since I do happen to hear her 'voice' in my head anyway. I'll get the nerve to go and be stuck in the hand by a cranky gal with a huge rubber band strapped on my arm. Joy.

Then, on to one of MY favorite shopping places: The Kansas City Market. It's even on a Hidden Valley commercial! The fruits and veg are so cheap there! Three bags of cut up salad for a dollar. I found some Spanish saffron, not cheap, but not bad. Ate all the baklava myself. Sorry, but phyllo, honey, rose water AND pistacios? Yeah, that's going to last a long time around me, ha! In the same middle Eastern grocery are big bags of various spices with little scoops in them. One scoop of curry is a dollar, and the scoop is about a quarter cup of spice. It's fresh and smells great! If Hubs hadn't gone to the Kama Sutra for lunch yesterday, we'd have curried chicken and saffron rice tonight. Maybe Sunday....

Ooooo, then to Urban Arts, a yarn, bead, and scrap store. They have a lot of the novelty yarns and not much else, sadly. I did find a decent pattern for some Norwegian style mittens in the Vogue mittens book there. Had a tough time putting back the little bag of rovings. I don't have a spindle or anything similiar, so buying them would have been a waste at the moment. Then, next door is a garden store, but with benefits. They have a spice section with tons of different spices in little and big bags, all for much less than you'd pay in the grocery. A quarter pound of Jamaican Jerk seasoning for $1.40. The same amount of orange pepper was $2.40, though. There's an Ethiopian cafe there, and a Chinese grocery in the area as well. It's so tough not buying something at every store. I didn't even go near the Italian grocery. There could have been some serious damage done to our pantry space.

After that, went grocery shopping, as usual, then home. Since Hubs our guest tomorrow for dinner out on his birthday, tonight is Refridgerator Night. If it's in there and you want it, you got it. Everything expired or trying to evolve has been removed, so it's all safe.

Did I write? No. Did I knit? Some, not a lot. The diagnostic imaging place was a lot faster than I'd anticipated, so I was halfway through a row when they called me. The mitten is looking pretty cute, even if it IS Lion Brand yarn. I'm afraid TKGA will revoke my membership for knitting with non-naturals, but honestly. I've gone by the tie-downs section of Home Depot, spotted the nylon twine and thought, "those would make GREAT exfoliating socks to wear around the house."

Yeah, I'm strange. Been called that more than once, in fact.

One of my favorite bloggers is having issues with her child being away from her. It's the company the child is keeping. I totally understand and am at a loss as to what to say. Her blog today reminds me of The Monkey's Paw in the be careful what you wish for category. I'm sure her fry will be all right, but it sure is stressful to be away from them. Every time someone drives off with Fry, I have to remind myself that I've totalled more cars than THAT driver has.

Three minutes until BBC American's My Family. Yes, I am in the mood to laugh my ass off.

It's all crap.

Or, at least I thought so earlier today. With those thoughts, the belly from Hell, and my wanting to wear a sports bra, it's feeling a lot like PMS. I called my Mom to have her 'talk me down' from the ledge of self-pity. She wasn't home, so I took a nap, then started on the below mentioned mitten. I got this far: then ripped and did a do-over, which is really what's pictured. The Polarspun ruffle wasn't ruffly, so I decided to rib it instead.







Then, as if that's not enough of a Work In Progress, I undid this sleeve:
This is a sweater rescued from my in-law's basement. I'd made it for my father-in-law and the sleeves were too long. My mother-in-law was totally sympathetic, since it was a 'recipe' I'd never knitted before then. So I had beloved Hubs try it on tonight to get an idea where the sleeves should go.

I've not written a single word on the NaNoWriMo. I have some issues with my writing, mostly because of former friends. Once I get this started and finished, those issues will be put to rest in my mind. In the meantime, I've been mulling over the story in my mind, so once I do start, it'll be tough to stop.

The beginning knitting went well. I had a couple of knitters that were a bit beyond beginning and they helped teach the others. I don't like that for a couple of reasons. Teaching students is MY job. I'm earning money for this and I don't like others doing my work. The other is, there's a method to my madness. I teach the single cast on, with the yarn going over the palm, around the thumb, then the needle tip drags from pinky to thumb to pick up the yarn laying over the palm. I DON'T teach this single cast on method because the first row is too tight for beginners and it tempts them to twist the stitch. Then, for the knit stitch, the crocheters want to knit Continental, while most others try to English it. To give them the basic movements, I teach the wrap-around method, holding the yarn against the needle getting the new stitches. As long as they get the concept, then they can decide which method they prefer. I make sure I show them the three methods and explain how they differ.

I need to review the twisting of stitches for the Continental. I knit English, so couldn't accurately answer the why and how of the twists when someone wanted to do Continental. I really don't like not having a good answer, so I like questions that stretch me. Everyone was negative about their abilities, which was silly, since these were the first stitches most of them had ever done. I reassured them they were doing great and that mistakes were to be expected.

Urges

A series of questions:
How do you know when you've overdosed on Halloween candy?
When I CRAVE salad, stewed chicken, and mashed potatoes.

How do you know when you've let the yardwork go too much?
When I flush rabbits out of the shrubbery while mowing the lawn.

How do you know when you've not been out of the house in too long?
A two-parter: when I talk the ears off of anyone I interact with, and/or when I've forgotten how the gearshift, seat adjustment, and radio works. Maybe I should say slightly forgotten. My Mom will understand, thankfully, and maybe Goopa.

How do you know when you've knitted in stockinette or garter too much?
When it takes me an hour to knit 300 stitches of lace. I'll knit a few stiches, lose track of what I was doing, then count. Continue, lose track, and count again.

How do you know when you've let your personal care standards drop?
Many many things. Gray roots, Abe Vigota eyebrows, and forgetting how to put on makeup.

Now, on to the urges. Sadly and boringly (should be a word!), no sex or violence urges, just mitten and sock urges. After seeing the Jaywalker socks that a lot of people have done or are doing, I'm so wanting in on that action. They're gorgeous. Heaven knows, I've got the sock yarn. With no sock classes in the next year, I can knit up the designated class yarn at will. Some of the students have been wanting those classes so I'm hoping to teach a few this time next year.

I have some Homespun and Polar that I'd love to make into mittens. I have a class coming up in November, so I'm really wanting to whip out a pair of small and cuffed mittens to show off. Can you tell one of my mottos is "No yarn is a bad yarn"? All yarns serve a purpose, even if it's only as stuffing in a pillow.




The two colors look really good together, and I might have some progress by the end of the day. Tonight is a beginning knitting class for me to teach, so the evening is taken up already. To keep my family from overloading on 99 cent tv dinners and frozen pizza, I may make my Quick and impressive beef stew. For the curious, this is how it's done:

Beef Stew in a hurry.
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 package (1.5lbs) flank steak or whatever is 1 inch thick and on sale,frozen
1 onion, chopped
random vegetables
4-6 cups beef stock or water
1/2 cup Red cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp basil
2 tbsp parsley flakes

Cut up steak into cubes, slicing off the fat.
Heat olive oil over medium and brown steak.
When steak is slightly browned, add chopped onions and cook until onions are transparent.
Add preferred vegetables, fresh, canned, or frozen.
If fresh, make sure the pieces are somewhat uniform.
If canned, don't drain before adding.
If frozen, just toss in there.
Add 1/2 red cooking wine or omit if necessary.
Fill cooking pan up to 3/4 with beef broth or water.
If using only water, more salt may be needed.
If using fresh potatoes, do not add salt until potatoes are cooked through.
Add basil, parsley, thyme.

The longer this cooks, the better, but at minimum, it needs to simmer for 15-30 minutes, depending on the vegetables added.

For a more exotic flavor, add a 15 oz can of tomatoes, chopped, whole, or sauced, before adding the broth. Then add 1 tsp of cumin.

I'll have to plug this into my Diet Power software to get the nutrional information, but overall, it's pretty good for you.


For some odd reason, I'm hungry....

Ta daaaaa!

Zee mittens, she is done! Aren't they lovely? Ok, sort of. The scarf looked fantastic, the hat, pretty darn good. But the mittens? I'm not wild about using mixed yarns for mittens. Something else: When I looked at the techniques section for M1, the author used the bar method. For the mittens, though, I should have used the increase into the back of the stitch. I'm taking a deep breath whenever stressing about the necklace of holes in the thumb and thinking "Added feature." Toppa already has the matching socks to all these, but in one of the yarns only. I strung happy face buttons for the top, then continued with the socks. Turned out lovely but I don't think she ever wears them. She puts them up on her hutch with her other happy face collectibles.

While driving back from Hobby Lobby today (all knitting and crochet tools HALF OFF!!), I was thinking about the warm hands knitalong. Maybe I should knit up something more complicated, not quite Norwegian, but closer to Aryan. In the back of my mind, a little voice sounded, saying "Seascapes...seascapes...finish the lace...finish the lace..." So in honor of the guilt knitalong, I'll work on the lace knitalong.

Knit, clean, write. Yep, that sums it up for today!