Knitting news

    For the past few days, I've been in funkytown again. I've not even wanted to knit or anything. My bestest knitting friend Kim suggested I look on Ravelry for something new to work on. As you know, I've been working on the same sweater pattern for a while now. Essentially, I've made the fracking thing almost four times. Well partially, anyway.


    I believe it is indeed time to put it down for a while and start something new. All afternoon yesterday I looked and looked. I couldn't find anything. So I thought I should take a look through my stash for inspiration. The first thing I found was that I had four hanks of Malabrigo sock yarn, in black. So I went back to Ravelry and looked at sweaters made with sock yarn. Then Kim suggested I might want to try Boxy, designed by Joji Locatelli. After looking at it, I decided she was right. So I purchased Boxy from Ravelry.


    Now I just need to explain to my beloved daughter that her sweater was depressing me, and needed to go into solitary for a while. Hopefully she will read this, and understand. Of course, this also means that my second one will also be put aside...


    To top it all off, I don't have the right size needle for this sweater, or I would have cast all those 390 stitches on last night. But once again, Kim is coming to my rescue and loaning me one of hers. Hopefully I can hold out until lunchtime....


    Reading that last paragraph reminded me; I don't think it is correct to use the term "casted on" when referring to knitting. I believe it is correctly called "cast on", even in the past tense. If I'm wrong, please inform me. That term was one of the reasons I stopped following another blogger. Oh, and her insistence on calling it "Raverly". Please re-read yesterdays post. (it seems to be getting worse as I get older...)

   

    

A pet peeve

    There are some people who know me that know I am a little nuts about spelling and the proper usage of words such as "to, too, and two", and the like. I thought it was time for an explanation.


    Both of my parents were teachers. My dad taught Mathematics, first Junior High level, then High School. My mom was a pre-school teacher, and had her own school for a long time. Due to their influence, I have been an avid reader for much of my life.


    Since I have read so much for so many years, I know a lot even though I never went to college. And after all, how many times are there misspelled words in books? The only exception is a book I wrote about in one of my early posts.


    I have a friend, whom I love dearly, that is a very lazy speller. It drives me crazy when she posts on facebook with misspelled or misused words. Sometimes I correct her, even thought that drives her crazy. The main reason it bothers me so much is because it makes her seem ignorant, uneducated and stupid. And I know darn well that she's not any of those things.


    I couldn't care less when she does it in text messages, because those aren't public, they're private. When I was on ebay, and looking through all these items that I wanted to buy, if I came across one that had any misspelled words, I would skip right over it, wouldn't even consider buying anything from that person.


    Not that I am perfect, or anything. I'm sure I make mistakes, especially with the apostrophe s's. And sometimes my good friend points out typos in my texts, which happens mostly after I break a thumb nail. But again, they aren't public.


    I guess I can lay all the blame at my parent's feet? Well, it works for me.

Innocent post turns into a rant

Monday:   

    Lately I've taken to eating granola. For breakfast, for snacks, for whenever I'm peckish. I started by buying the local supermarket brand because they were on sale. I'm not all that fond of raisins, so I get the other flavor. I believe it's honey and nuts.


    Well, today I ran out. I put it on my short list for the grocery store. All this time, I've been eyeing the fat free version. Today I decided to go for it, and picked up two boxes of the stuff. When I got home, I opened a box, and tasted it. To my surprise, it was really good! It is very cinnamon-y, and more tasty than the regular stuff!


Tuesday:

    This morning in my cupboard I found the box of granola that put the low fat stuff in my basket at the supermarket. Thus I was able to compare the labels. Let's just say that I won't be eating the second box of the low fat stuff anytime soon. I may not even finish the first box!


    Side by side, I saw that the regular granola was better for me. Stress the words FOR ME. My system is sensitive to sodium, and the low fat choice has about 3 times more sodium per serving. This is significant for me, as I used to buy a flavored water that went from 5 mg of sodium per serving to 35 mg per serving. After I drank it, I was thirsty! That's 7X the sodium! Just to "improve the flavor".


    I sent the water company an email of complaint, and received an unsatisfactory answer. Basically, "too bad". They said that their water was still considered "low sodium". So I stopped buying it. I found another flavored water that had zero mg of sodium per serving. I drank it until the stores here stopped carrying it.


    No local store carries it any more because of the bottle return policy that the State of New York decided to impose on water. Now I'll name names. I used to drink Fruit-2-0, strawberry flavored water. I switched to Adirondack, pomegranate flavor. Now I drink iced tea. I'm just glad that they sell it all year around... Does anyone else remember that they didn't used to sell iced tea mix in the winter?

Problem solving

    The one thing I was most proud of in the recently frogged sweater, was the tightness of the stitches where I cast on new ones for the underarm, after removing the sleeve stitches. I will now attempt to explain it in words.


    You know how, when casting on stitches say for under the arm, the only way to do it is with those half hitch (I think it's called) stitches on the right needle? And how when you come around to them again, no matter how tightly you pulled when putting them on, there is always a really long bit of yarn between the new stitches and the already knit stitches?


    Well, I was thinking about that when making Sara's sweater, and decided to try something to fix it. I needed to cast on 6 new stitches. So I only cast on 4. When I came around again to those 4 stitches, I knit them, and as per usual, there was the long bit of yarn left.  My thought was to take that long bit and make the other two required stitches, but on the left needle, one at a time, then knit them.  So I made a half hitch on the left needle using the long bit, then knit it, and then did it again to make the two stitches I needed.


    I was right! It worked! In theory, you could cast on slightly more than 2/3 of the stitches you really need, and use the long bit to do the rest. I will do it again on the new version of the sweater, where I require 10 stitches to be cast on. I'll try it with 7, and we'll see what happens. 


   When I made my sweater, I hated the long bit, it made big holes at the underarm that I had to sew closed. This new way, I was so excited because it looked seamless! No holes!


    My question to all you knitters out there is this: Have you ever tried this? And if you've solved this problem differently, how did you do it? I'd really like to know!


  

Once more with feeling

     My daughter came by today, and her sweater is too small. I'm bummed, but ready willing and able to try again. Maybe the third time's the charm? I've already frogged it,  and rewound the yarn. Now I just have to make up a new chart to keep track of all the raglan and V-neck increases.


    I thought while I wound the yarn, it's time to go up a size in both needle and pattern. That's what I did the last time, when it looked small enough to fit my granddaughter. I know I was proud of how far I'd gotten, but I will be at that point again before I know it!


    The frustration has passed already, and I'm sure the serenity will come back shortly after the new cast on. The Yarn Goddess got me again, that's all. I will do the casting on after I eat my dinner, and I will keep you all posted as to the progress. 

   

knitting fingers to the bone

    That's what I did yesterday, I knit until my hands hurt. But I got a lot done! The raglans are done and the sleeve stitches are on scrap yarn. I've only got one more round until I start the waist shaping. I want the recipient to come and try it on, I'm not convinced there's enough room for her ample boobage. She tells me tomorrow is the first day of their vacation, and they don't want to leave the house.


    I borrowed a longer circular needle from a friend, since I'm not sure I'll be able to get to the LYS in Fishkill this week. The forecast is for snow all freaking week. I was going to buy a few size 7's: 16", 40", and bamboo double points. It's not looking good for the trip to "mom's", with the side trip to Out of the Loop...


   I haven't taken an update photo of the sweater yet. Just lazy, I guess. Hopefully I will get to it soon. I got no volunteers for the cowl modeling either, when I was at the karate school this morning. I was bummed. Oh well.

Photo updates

     This morning, I was the only one for Stitch n Bitch. Jan had to work, Bonny had a sinus issue, Kim's Cherub is ill, and Cheryl had meetings. At first I was just going to go home, but I decided to go to Cranberry's for a cuppa coffee and a scone. I got a few rows of knitting done on Sara's sweater while I was there, which prompted me to take some photos once I got home.


     The progress on the sweater is not very visible, but it's joined now, and the raglans are almost done. After they're done, the sleeve stitches get put on scrap yarn, and the body gets completed. Here is how it looks right now:

    As I said, not much to look at. On the other hand, my cowl is all done, and very warm. I wore it today. I have to find an actual person to model it, so you can see how it looks when worn. Maybe later, I'll visit the karate school and see if one of my son's female students will volunteer to get her photo taken. Anyway, I took a photo of it on the floor, and here it is:

    I am quite pleased with how it came out, as there is no annoying interruption of color where the second skein was spit spliced with the first. It worked out perfectly!  This hasn't been bocked yet, and I may not block it. I'm not entirely sure that blocking would improve anything. If I get bored next week, perhaps I'll be inspired to block it.

P.S. I love spit splicing! No pesky ends to weave in!

The rules are changing

    You heard me, the rules are changing. Almost all of them, and it makes me sad. Let's start with the front door outside light rules. You remember those, I posted them not too long ago. Well, now, when Hubs and I are going out together at night, we leave the light off. Because it seems that there have been a recent rash of burglaries in our town and towns to the south, east and north of us. If we put the light on, it would tell people that are possibly desperate enough to commit these crimes, that we are not at home.


    If I am home, and expecting Hubs home from work, I still do put the light on. But I keep the door locked until it's almost his expected arrival time.Which leads me to change number two, and it's a doozy.


    Ever since we moved into this house in the summer of 1990, we never locked the door unless we were actually going away for more than a few hours. Even overnight, the door was unlocked. We lived in that kind of town. And it was awesome. I felt safe and secure. But that has been changing.


    Now the front door is locked at all times. The garage doors are locked. The basement back door is locked. These doors are always locked. And it makes me very sad. That people have become so desperate that I can't feel safe in my own home unless I'm locked in. About the only time I leave the house and not lock the door behind me is when I take the garbage out, or walk across the street to check the mail box. But truly, those are the only times.


    Hubs has always locked his truck everywhere it sits. With my Jeep, I don't see the point. If they want it that bad, all they have to do is unzip the windows and they're in.


    So here I sit, locked up in my house. I know it's a false sense of security, but it's all I have.  

Dinner out with Hubs

    That's right, we went out to dinner tonight! We had gotten a gift card to our favorite BBQ place, Billy Bob's BBQ, for Christmas. We finally decided to use it. I highly recommend Billy Bob's, if you are in or near the greater Poughkeepsie, NY area.


    It's run by a former co-worker of ours, and his family. They got it right. The BBQ is absolutely awesome. Now I am usually a pulled pork kind of gal, but tonight I tried the brisket sandwich. After a few bites, I was muttering something about my beloved Hubs having a terrible accident so I could marry the guy who cooked this meat. Apparently I was muttering out loud. Hubs heard me and was starting to look scared.


    But truly, this place is really good. It's very close to Vassar College, on Fairmont Ave. It used to be a place called the Dutch Cabin. I had never been there, but had heard of it.


    I was so enamored of my sandwich, I don't think I even ate half of it! Hubs had the Piggy Mac, which is pulled pork, with mac n cheese on top, then it's baked. He loves that dish. So of course, we brought it all home. This is the place where tried real fried pickles. They were really good but upset my stomach something fierce. So I won't order them again.

apparently I'm in a slump

    I've hit a low spot. There's nothing going on right now in my life. I'm still knitting, and I've made progress on Sara's sweater, yesterday I joined it together at the bottom of the V-neck.


    And my awesome cowl is almost done, just another couple of inches to go. I've tried it on, and it's so warm, I can't wait for it to be done. I guess I'm becoming boring. I can't even think of any stories to tell you. Let's all hope this doesn't last too long!!

yesterday and today

    I didn't post anything yesterday, and for that I apologise. I spent the whole day with Hubs, and we just hung out. So I really had nothing to talk about yesterday. I did knit some, on Sara's sweater, while we were watching TV. But that's really it.


    Today, I hung with the Cherub this morning, then with Hubs again. Today I knitted more than yesterday, and I'm nearly ready to join the front of Sara's sweater. One more row, and I'm at the bottom of the V neck. Yay! Real progress at long last. And I'm still on the first skein of yarn!


   Also today, I was awake at 4:30 this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep. So this afternoon, Hubs and I took a nap. He got up before I did, and when I did finally get up, we had received a dinner invitation! We went out to dinner with new friends, Jason and Becky. Very nice couple. Jason and Hubs work together.


    We had a really great time with them at Bugaboo Creek. I believe this was restaurant was chosen because it's about half way between where we live, and where they live. And I've never had a bad meal there.


    And now it's getting late, and I have to get up at 5:30 again tomorrow. Believe me, it's totally worth it. Cerub is my BKFF, Best Kid Friend Forever. Hopefully something exciting will happen soon, and give me more to write about.

Progress and V-day report

    Once again, I had to frog the pink sweater. Somehow made a big boo boo on it, and I wasn't that far into it that I couldn't just frog it. So I did, and started all over. Again. This time, I think I got it right...

    Pink and purple are my favorite colors, the pink, as hot as possible....


    As for V-day, Hubs was away, and got home late last night. It turns out that he brought me a present. My very favorite sparklie thing, in a pendant. It's very pretty. And since he wasn't home for the holiday, he took me out to breakfast this morning. We had a really nice time. I've spent the whole day with him, not even going on the Internet all day. Until now, anyway. I figured it would be OK,  since he's gone to bed. He has to get up early for work tomorrow.

WIP Photos, SnB report

    This morning, we had our Stitch n Bitch, the first one in three weeks. Last week, the weather was ominous, snow was coming down. The week before that, some of us had appointments that we couldn't change, so OFL (our fearless leader) decided to cancel.


    So this week we had some catching up to do. OFL is working a a gorgeous cardigan for a friend's birthday , Jan is still plugging away on her beaded lace shawl, and I brought two projects, but only worked on Sara's sweater. We had a good breakfast, and got down to knitting.


    Afterwards, OFL and I hit our local second hand store. I've been in there before, and was pleasantly surprised! They have so much stuff! Antiques, furniture, books, records, clothing and so much more! If you live anywhere near Hyde Park, I recommend stopping by.


    Now, for years, I've been searching for a leather coat for myself. I won't pay full price, so I've been looking in the Salvation Army, and Goodwill stores. I've had no luck so far. Until today, that is... I found an awesome leather coat today! It wasn't as inexpensive as Goodwill or SA, but still nowhere near full price. I left there a happy woman. Even Kim found a coat, and she looked awesome in it. She didn't want to pay the asking price, even though it was 25% off. So she asked, and they gave it to her for even less! She was happy too!


    And now for the promised photos! First up is a photo of the soft soft yarn that I'm using for the cowl:

    Here's a photo of my progress so far on the cowl:

    Next up is Sara's sweater, which you really can't see, because it's all curled up. But you can see the glorious color!

   And lastly, here is the yarn I chose for my own sweater. I hope the color comes out properly!

 
    Well, it's not too bad. I haven't started this one again yet, can't decide which size needle to use. I will probably go up to the size 9, and make a size small. But it starts out with the same number of stitches as the medium. So maybe I'll just stick with the medium. Who knows?

progress report, with frogging

    Recently, I decided to frog the beginnings of both sweaters that I had started. Mine was too big, so I will use a smaller needle and make a smaller size. Sara's was too small, it looked on track to fit my 5 year old granddaughter. Not a good thing. So I upped the needle size, and I'm trying a larger size. My fingers are firmly crossed.


    I went to Fishkill yesterday, to visit my mom, so of course I had to go to the LYS down there, Out of the Loop. Theresa was very friendly, as usual. It never ceases to amaze me that people remember me. I went in looking for needles, but she was out of the size I was looking for. She is expecting a delivery any time now.


    I ended up browsing through all the yarn. She has expanded her selection, and now has lots of Noro. But what caught my eye was Cascade Yarns Eco Duo. It's 70% undyed baby Alpaca, and 30% undyed Merino. It is so very soft, I couldn't believe it! I finally decided that two hanks would make a delicious cowl. There was a good selection of color ways, and I ended up choosing a black/gray/white. I love the fact that it's undyed.


    I made sure to do the itch test, by placing the yarn on my neck, and gently rubbing it there. No itchies, I'm pleased to report. I decided to use a big needle for the cowl. Ideally I wanted a size 11, but the only one I have is 16" long. So I settled on a 10.5. I think it's 32" long.


    Now, I have in mind to make a real cowl, not those things that are popular right now, that are just long scarves with the ends connected. By my definition, a cowl is a tube that goes over your head, on your neck. It's long enough to pull one end up over your head for extra warmth, and still have enough to pool around your neck. So you could wear it either way, just around your neck, or up covering your head too.


    For those of you keeping track, that was another mini rant. And now my second cup of coffee has gone cold. Dammit. Anyway, when I get further along with all three projects, I will post photos.

knitting, dishes and laundry, oh my!

    Today is Tuesday. I have to keep reminding myself, because I forget what day of the week it is. Today was the day that I had planned on catching up on washing the dishes, and laundry.


    I alternated again, watching an episode of Monarch of the Glen, then washing some dishes. I have to admit, that show is starting to lose my interest. I get annoyed at it because it starts out with just the two children, the older one died years ago. So the younger one becomes Laird.


    First, out of the blue, a sister shows up. There had been no mention of her before. Now, there's a here-to-fore unmentioned brother. Am I the only one who find this totally annoying? I may stop watching the show. I'm currently in season 4, I believe.


   Sorry, that was totally off topic, but I was overdue for a small rant. The only laundry I had to do was my son's karate uniform. It's in the dryer now, and he doesn't need it until Friday. I was pleased as punch to have that much notice. Usually he brings me a uniform and tells me he needs it in a couple of hours, or (at 10 o'clock at night),  tomorrow.


    I consider myself blessed that I don't have to do all his laundry anymore. He would save every bit of clothing he owns and then throw it all downstairs in one huge pile. It would be up tp me to sort, wash, and get it back upstairs to his room.


    I know you are all howling right now, "He's old enough to do his own laundry!!" and you would be right, he is. But he works long hours, six days a week. He really doesn't have the time. Being a Martial Artist leaves little room for stuff like laundry. Just ask Julie, his girlfriend, who is now in charge of it. I think she's better at it than I ever was, she doesn't let it get into huge piles. Kudos to her!


     There is some progress on the sweater front too. But I'm worried that Sara's sweater will be too small, and mine too big. There's nothing to do but push ahead, and when they're big enough, try them on. If my fears are warranted, I can always frog them, and start over.


   

a strange coincidence? I think not

    For years, my pulmonologist has been telling me that I have Asthma, as well as the Sacroidosis. I have, all along, been rejecting this notion. At least until my last visit, this past fall.


    As usual, he mentioned Asthma. This time I lost my temper. I asked him why does he keeps telling me I have Asthma? How can he tell? This time, he took my hands, looked me right in the eye, and told me that Sarcoid patients don't wheeze. Well, that took the wind right out of my sails, and shut me right up. All I could say was "Oh."


    Almost as long as I've had Sacroid, I've wheezed. I thought it was just part of that disease. I have never even met another Sacroid patient. When I was first diagnosed, I scoured the internet, and never found anything about wheezing. I thought it was just how it was.


   Last week, when I went to that other doctor, I mentioned that I also have Asthma. It was the first time I mentioned it, ever. I've called it "coming out of the Asthma closet". The strange coincidence part? It was at that moment, that very moment, my wheezing subsided. Not completely, but significantly.


    It was as if my Asthma was content that I finally admitted that I have it. All these years the wheezing was just my Asthma trying to get my attention.  Well, it's got my attention now.


    Today I saw my primary doctor for a physical. He was very surprised that I wasn't wheezing. He listened to my lungs, then I told him the closet story. He laughed, but admitted that he had never heard my lungs sound so clear.


    Coincidence? I think not! If there are any Sarcoid patients out there reading this, please comment, I'd like to hear from you.

new projects started

    Today was quite the day. I got to spend some time with my daughter, doing my favorite thing. Yarn shopping! We found yarn for her sweater, and some for a new one for me too!


    Hers is a really pretty dark purple with a little dark blue speckled into it. Mine is called hot pink, but it's a little bit darker than that. I love it, it's my favorite color, along with purple.


    I have actually done the gauge swatch for Sara's sweater, and cast on both already!
I want to do mine, but feel guilty about it, so I'm gonna try and do both, working on each one a little bit at a time. It's going to be confusing, but I'm willing to give it a go.


    I'll keep you updated on my progress!

the view from my front door

    Here's the view, before the storm hit. This is from about 11 am, 2.8.2013:

    I had first noticed flakes about 8:30 am. So ^ was after 2.5 hours. I wasn't impressed. But this morning, about 7:30 am, this is what I saw out my front door!

    Quite a difference, huh? Hubs is out there now, shoveling the walk and cleaning off the vehicles. That way, when out plow guy comes, we will be ready to move the cars. After we get plowed, I will go outside and get some pictures of the back yard, the snow looks so pretty in the trees!

today's doings.

     This morning, as I drink my coffee, I decided to open the living room drapes, so I could watch the weather. The snow is light, then heavy, then light again. Like it can't decide what to do. I'm fine with that, the less we get the better as far as I'm concerned.


    I am doing laundry today. First in went Hubs' things, as he has to pack for a work trip. Then I stripped the bed. Fleece sheets are so thick and heavy they require two loads, with our blankets.  But I wouldn't be without them in the winter! I've never had warmer sheets, ever. We sleep on the fleece in the winter, and flannel the rest of the year. Our bedroom is an addition off the back of the house, and it's very cold in there.


    Those of you who have been reading me since the beginning know that Hubs and I have separate blankets. For the reason why, you can go back to the early posts and find out.


   Just like yesterday, I am alternating my house chores with watching a new series on Netflix. I found The Monarch of the Glen, and have been watching it. I watched an episode, then did some dishes, another episode, put dishes away and wash some more. That made it almost painless. Today I'm doing that, but with the laundry. It's a bit harder, because of the stairs, but at least it's getting done.


    The snow is supposed to be worse to the south, and that's where Hubs works. If it gets too bad, he may come home early. I hope he does. But then he has to drive to Boston on Sunday, behind the storm.


    And now, if you'll excuse me,  I do believe my coffee cup requires refilling!


P.S.  In reality, it has taken three loads to wash all our sheets, pillowcases and blankets. Apparently I underestimated the loads. And I'm having to cycle the dryer again for Hubs' blanket and top sheet... I it won't need a third....

preparing for the worst

    I hear that there's a big winter snow storm coming, it's supposed to hit us tomorrow. The amount of snow we are supposed to get keep varying, hour by hour. I prefer to take a wait and see attitude.


    With a small amount of money left in my wallet, I headed to the supermarket to see what I could afford to purchase. I came home with 10 rice side dish packets, 10 noodle side dish packets, and a 3 pack of scotch-brite sponge thingies I use to wash the dishes. We really needed new ones. The side dishes were on sale, 10 for $10.


    When I got home, I parked my beloved Jeep as close to the tree box in front of our house as I could, allowing for minimum fuss with the street and our driveway being plowed. If you park too close to the road, the town plows will end up covering your vehicle with the road snow, making it twice as hard for you to get out.


    That is assuming I don't need to go anywhere else before the snow starts tomorrow morning. If I do, I will just park close to the tree box again. But I'm not planning on going anywhere.


    If, by some odd chance, we should lose power, we have a gas powered camping coffee maker we bought after the outage that knocked out the whole bleeding northeast. I don't remember what year that was. Coffee was the one thing I truly missed at that time. I remember, before that, seeing the coffee maker in a camping store, and laughing at it. I wasn't laughing when I made Hubs buy us one!


    So here I am, digging in and waiting for the worst. Hopefully the anticipation will be worse than the actual storm.

something to keep me busy

    I wanted a hat to go with my sweater, so I started one. I wanted a slouchy style, so I was going to begin with the Elizabeth Zimmermann model, and after making a wider ribbed band, increase a stitch every other stitch. Basically doubling my stitch count.


    I made the wide ribbed band, and was into the third or fourth round after the increases when I decided that this wasn't what I wanted. What I wanted was a hat with a rolled brim, like the neck, sleeves and bottom of my sweater.


    Remember, I'm making this up as I go along. So I frogged the first attempt. I got out my smaller 16", size 6 circular needle, and made a swatch. With that needle, my gauge was 5 stitches per inch, consistent across the whole four inches.  So I started again, after measuring my head. I cast on 110 stitches, and began knitting. Here is where I'm at right now:

    I am not really sure yet if it's going to fit me, but my hopes are high. It looks about right. I won't know for sure until it's long enough for me to try it on. Hopefully this project will keep me busy until this weekend, when I'm meeting my daughter to select a yarn for her sweater.


    I should mention that I'm not really sure yet how long the hat will be before I begin the decreases, or even how I will do those increases. Some of you know me, and know that I prefer not to make plans most of the time. I have always found that if you make plans, something usually happens to frack it all up. Hence my vigorous attempts to live spontaneously.


    However, there are some things that you just can't be spontaneous about, like doctor visits, and medical tests and the like. My greatest appreciation goes out to the lovely young lady who took my blood this morning, and made it darn near painless.

not a terribly fun day

    My day started out at about 3 a.m., when Hubs' work pager went off. If you don't push the button to look at the message, it keep going off. Every. Few. Minutes. I figure it kept going off for over an hour. I shook him, and woke him up. Told him his pager was going off. Another hour or so went by before he actually woke up and looked at it. In his half awake state, he thought it was the alarm clock, and kept trying to turn it off.


    Needless to say, I couldn't get back to sleep until some point after that. Then my alarm went off for me to get up at 5:30. So I was very tired today. After hanging with the Cherub, I went home to have a cuppa coffee with Hubs, but he was still asleep. Huh. So I turned the coffee maker on, and just as it was finishing up cooking, his majesty gets up.


    Like I said, I was really tired, and wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. Not gonna happen today. I had an appointment with a Gastroenterologist (sp?) at 9:45, so no time for nappy. He will be performing one of the tests that I need to have done. Enuff said.


    I did get to take a nap later in the day, and slept for a couple of hours, I think. I now have less than an hour before I have to start my blood work fast. And tomorrow morning, I get to go back to the medical group building to have blood drawn. I will be taking a snack with me for afterwards.


    I'm still tired, and perhaps a bit cranky. It really does suck getting old. I'm hoping to get to bed kind of early tonight, and get some good sleep with pharmacological aid. It's gotta be better than last night....

sweater photo at long last!

    This morning, I went to hang out with my friend Bonny. I wore my sweater, and took my camera with me, in the hopes that someone would take pity on me, and take a photo of me in my sweater.


    And my patience was rewarded! Bonny herself took the photo for me, and without further ado, here it is!

    I asked her not to get my face, just the sweater. You can see the thumb holes in the sleeves. Now I want to make a matching hat.


    Oooh, I just had a thought. The other day, I bought the makings of my special brownies. Maybe I'll make those today.....

so what's next?

     OK. I know what I want to do next, another fabulous sweater! To refresh the memory, it's the Simple Summer Tweed Top Down V-Neck by Heidi Kirrmaier. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.


    I adored making this sweater, as you all know! And the best part was no seams to sew! I adjusted mine, first by not making three decreases for the waist, and then increasing; but doing three increases instead. I know my body, and I don't like things clingy around my middle.


   Secondly, I added thumb holes to the sleeves. When I finished the sleeve decreases, it was the perfect length, so I bound off three stitches that lined up with my thumb, then went back and forth a few rows, then reconnected by casting the three stitches back on. Then I did a few more rounds so it would curl, and voila!


   I was so excited when I was finished, that I threw it right in the washer when I got home. I was going to trim out the thumb holes with crochet, so they would be a bit sturdier. I did it after laundering. The sweater made it out of the dryer intact! It shrank a teeny bit, but it's not a problem. I notice that there are some pills on it, but that just makes it look "not brand new". I will probably shave it when I get more batteries for my sweater shaver.


    I tried it on for Hubs last night, and he really likes it! He even said he would consider having me make one for him too! His would be the crew neck version. I spent over an hour this morning, looking at different yarns, and making a list for him to see, about the yarns, and how much it would cost for each choice.


    I started at Patternworks, and then decided I should do KnitPicks too, since that was where my yarn came from. I actually found an acrylic yarn that would cost less than $20 for enough to make his sweater!  How much do you want to bet that's the one he chooses? It's cheap enough that he might be generous and let me get yarn for another sweater for myself, in the yarn I want!

big news, although not unexpected, I think

    This morning, I got a phone call that I wasn't needed at work this weekend. That gave me free time today, to go hang out with my good friend Kim at karate. She would've just sat there, bored to tears, even though she was knitting.


    While I was there, I finished my sweater! We even made a trip to the ladies room so I could try it on, and figure out where the thumb hole went. I believe I finished just before 11:30 or noon, or whatever time it was the Demo Team practice started. I had my back to the wall with the clock on it.


    I even went back to the ladies room and put it on. I wore it for the rest of Demo Team practice. After I got home, I gathered up all my cotton hats and threw the whole lot, along with the sweater, into the washer. They are now in the dryer. I'm hoping against hope my sweater comes out alright. It's always a crap shoot, isn't it?


    So I guess this will be the last post about the sweater! Well, there actually be one more. I will post a photo as soon as I can get someone to take one of me in it.    

an active day

    This morning, after our coffee, Hubs and I went to see a lawyer. It was a satisfactory visit. I now have lots of forms to fill out, and get back to them.


    From there, we drove down to Fishkill, and I got to hang out at the house with Julie and the kittehs, Gizmo and the Lady. Am I the only one who thinks that the Lady and the Dude should get together?


    I got to hang out, and work on my sweater, while Hubs played the good landlord and fixed the leaky faucet/pipe in the downstairs bathroom. I got nearly four decrease repeats done on my second sleeve!


    After that, Hubs and I went shopping at Sam's Club. Very satisfactory day, all in all.