February 16

Franticly knitting away on SOC. I am just a few rows from finishing Clue 5 - YEAH! It is absolutely beautiful! I am so glad I did not try to add beads to this one. I am thinking I will make somekind of multi-strand necklace with the beads I purchased and didn't use.

Read my emails this morning and found Moni has listed another Mystery Knit. This one to begin sometime in the summer. Good thing! I have not even cast on yet for the Fisherman's Wife shawl and she has Secret of Bad Heim or something like that yet to start. Then there is the Spring Surprise Shawl, I forget whose Mystery Knit that one is, that is in progress that I have not cast on for yet and the other Mystery Knit that should be posting it's first clue today. Not to mention all the items I have in my Queue on Ravelry and all the other projects that are already started and not yet completed. I need more time in my day just to knit!!!!

I am thinking I want to get the yarn stash in the garage and in my closet and in the guest room out and go thru all of it to reorganize everything. Maybe even get rid of some of it. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to have all the projects in process in one location complete with their instructions! Then there's the ones in process that I've taken the needles to use on other projects. Maybe those should be frogged since I no longer know what size needles I was using.

Gayle from Women in the Word wants me to teach her how to knit. I'm so excited for her. She was talking to another gal at choir practice on Thursday night about it and she might want to learn as well. I'll need to put some thought to putting together a lesson plan...

RB and I celebrated a wonderful Valentines Day/half year anniversary at Pala. I had a facial and manicure done while I waited for him to arrive. Since the weather was so crummy because of the rain we decide to just eat there instead of driving to Fallbrook for sushi. We opted for the buffet. It was pretty much what you should expect from a buffet. I did like the shrimp and I wished I had grabbed a few more of the coconut macaroons - those were really yummy! We went for sushi for lunch and it was totally worth the wait!

January 2008

Oh my, where has time gone! Is it really already the 25th of January!

Got taxes done - well almost. Corporate is done, had all the info. The personal return we are still waiting to receive all the 1099's. People are slow getting them out this year. But it's a good thing as hubby hadn't told me about his casino winnings and those have to be reported. I found a few charitable donations to include as well.

I am moving very slowly on my SOC Mystery Knit. Many have already completed theirs and the group has been closed out with the pattern now being offered for sale. I love the knit, not finding the pattern to be difficult, just something that requires my total concentration. I have tried to knit when others around and find I end the row off and have to tink back to find my mistake. It's not worth the heartache, so I only knit when I have total peace and quiet. I have marked the chart every 7 or 8 rows as well as every 10 or so stitches. This has helped tremendously as to keeping everything on track. Easier to find and correct if a mistake is made, usually a missed yarn over.

Connie wanting her own Swan Lake Stole. I feel bad that I didn't offer to make it for her. So I called her and told her to send me yarn and pattern and I'll knit it for her. Where to put on my list of projects... Received the yarn, will re-hank it and wash and then knit the stole.

Currently working on a Rib Warmer in burgundy and black 2 ply yarn. Love the color and the ending fabris it makes. Think it will look great with a black tee and black pants!

Frogged the JellyFish Shrug for Haleigh. Think the yarn doesn't have enough body and will just hang like a wet noodle. Maybe I'll just get another yarn that I can carry with the eyelash I picked and hope it will give it more body...

Waiting for confirmation on grandbaby #6. Oh my heart is heavy as I think son has enough on his plate now with 3 kids. Can understand his 2nd wife wanting a kid, she's still young. Thought they would wait until she was done with schooling tho. This should pretty much seal son's fate to stay in Navy for another 10 years. Where will he go when this current duty is up? Wish there was some way he could have the 3kids and all of them come out to California. I could help them out more and more importantly I could see the kids more!

Hair cut!

I have an appointment today for a haircut. I'll be trying Linda's gal at Mane Attraction. I hope she works out. Location will be a bit closer than going down the coast to Del Mar and the price is right. I thought I wanted longer hair so I could pull it up and out of the way, but it never seems to look good and it's always in my face! I'm thinking I might take my "Betty Crocker" picture in to see if she could cut it similar to what I had in that picture - short but big.

Signed on this morning to download latest clues for Mystery KAL's. Signed up for still another one! This is why I don't read my emails everyday, I could spend all day on the computer and when I do, I either buy something or signup for something and then hafta buy! Now that I am recorded my yarn stash on ravelry, I am hoping I'll be better able to tell what yarns I actually have and start using some of them up. The only problem is I am signing up for lace KAL's and my stash tends to be thicker yarns...

I've been placing stitch markers like crazy when working on Icelandic. And I'm pleased to say it is paying off. I have made tremendous strides on the center white section and have not had to frog or tink back because of an error in the stitch count. I place a marker after every 5 [k1p1k1 in one stitch, k3tog]. I also place stitch markers around the center 3 stitches - making it easier to do the k3tog without removing a marker to do so. On the return row, I adjust the stitch markers to count every 10 stitches so I know I have finished with the correct number of stitches for the row.

SOTS is moving right along. I am about 1/2 a day behind schedule. I will finish up clue 6 today and clue 7 was available for download this morning. From the looks of clue 7, we are finally reaching the end. One more clue should do it - YEAH!!! My stole is LONG! I haven't measured it yet, but when I hold it up I have to raise my arm or it will puddle on the floor. I haven't made up my mind if I will overdye it when I'm all done. We'll see how it looks when it's off the needle but before I block it. If I overdye it, I'll do that then block.

SOC hasn't been knit on in weeks. What happened to my plan to knit 2 rows a day... I haven't been staying up as late at night since we started walking again. That's good for my health but bad for my knitting!

I've misplaced my little camera so I am not able to take pictures of the progress on any of my lacework. It is not in the camera bag, nor is it by the computer. So where would I have set it down... I hafta find it and post new pics of my progress with KAL's!

I got out the box of old photo albums that Janet found when we were moving the parents out of the big house. I have scanned almost all of the photos. What I have not scanned is the ones that are glued or really tacked down the the photo pages. I'll need to get the photo adhesive remover so I don't destroy the pictures removing them from the book. I am hoping to have all the photos scanned before the end of the month when Janet & Colby come down. I can then send the whole box home with Janet. This has been fun trying to decipher who is who in the phots. After I have given the box with the original photos to Janz, I'll try to sit with mom and have her tell me about the scanned pictures so I can better organize them and then get them put into some kind of album for me.

Wednesday Again!

Here it is Wednesday again. My how time is flying by.

We started walking again. Reset our pedometers and off we go! We'll try to walk on Mondays, Wednesdays, a light walk on Fridays and a long walk on Saturdays. Out goal is 10,000 steps a day and 20,000 on the days we walk! Is this an ambitious goal? Too ambitions...

Saturday we parked our car just past Palomar Airport Road where it hits the coast. We headed south, into the State Park. We walked til we reached the end of the park. We were amazed at how many vacant spots there were. Made us want to go home, pack up the trailer and head south! Called to see if M&M's wanted to camp for a weekend. They had called wanting us to go out to the desert but with Grandpa B we feel we need to stay closer to home. Not even sure there is phone coverage in the desert... M&M's didn't seem too crazy about our idea either, so I guess we'll all just do our own thing.

I've frogged the center section of the Icelandic shawl once again. I thought I had gotten a handle on the shawl by placing stitch markers every so often. It worked like a charm until I got to that darn center section with the k3tog, k1-p1-k1 into next stitch. My stitch count is off at the end of the row. I've tried to fudge the stitches but the patterning looks off to me as well. I'll set it aside again for a few days, let it rest and give me time to think about best way to stay on track. I've even contemplated changing the stitch pattern as long as I incorporate 8 decreases on the appropriate rows. It may be that I just have some kind of mental block when it comes to the called for pattern.

I am right on track with SOTS. I have divided the number of rows for the current clue by 7, marked the pattern and am knitting at least that many rows each day or two. If I miss one day, I make up the missed rows the next day. I will be ready for the next clue, #6 I believe, on Friday. I've decide I will overdye the shawl when it is all done, most likely with a black dye. If it just darkens the blue/purple yarn or completely changes the color to black I can live with either result.

I think the next new mystery shawl begins in December and SOTS should be done about that same time, so this will work out perfectly. The new mystery shawl will be a winter theme and fingering weight yarn. I'm thinking of a snow white yarn so I should get it order since there's none in my current yarn stash.

Secret of the Chrysopolis is sitting idle. The yarn is so fine that it requires more concentration than I am willing to give it now. If I knit 2 rows aday at least I would be making some progress on it. Will have to give that some more thought for now... 14 rows a week, at least 56 rows in a month. That should be doable...

Found some fireman fabric and bought it to make Carson and Zack pillow cases for Christmas. Also bought some train fabric too. The fireman pillow cases turned out wonderful! I'll use the pillowcases to wrap their gifts up. The train fabric is actually a panel with a matching print as the 2nd fabric. It is a very juvenile print, and a bit of a disappointed once it is sewn into pillowcases. I had fabric previously purchased for pillow cases for Gregg's kids. So while I have the sewing machine out, I'll get those sewn up and off to them for Christmas. Thinking I'll buy them games from Toys R Us again this year, hoping Toys R Us will have free shipping again this year.

I really need to give more thought to the sleeves for Miss Hannah's sweater. Just do it! Then I can mail the sweater off to her for Christmas as I had originally planned. At this point I don't think I could knit an Aran for Haleigh and get it done in time to mail for Christmas, so I'm thinking maybe a little shrug. I still need a chest measurement so I make certain I've made an appropriate size for her. It's so hard to guess their sizes since they live so far away. I should have paid more attention or even measured when I saw them in September! Also very glad I finished the Aran for Hadden already. I had hoped to make the kids mittens but I've not done a single stitch for any of them! Don't think mittens will be happening this year...

I'm spending the day with mom on Friday. We'll get our toes done and then do some shopping before mom's afternoon eye doctor's appointment. She's seeing double. Must be bad if she's readily talking about it. Is this a side effect from all the meds she is taking...

Thinking, thinking, what to get RIchard for his b-day...

Just an other Wednesday

I am up to row 24 on the Icelandic Shawl. I am using a size 5 circular this time. I have put stitch markers in for every pattern repeat and also to mark the center of the shawl. I think they have help tremendously, as the 24 rows I knit have gone very quickly this time. I think I only experienced one missed yarn over so far. Using the markers more often has help me keep track of exactly where I am, and hoping it will continue to be of benefit once I get to row 37. That's how far I got in several previous attempts and ended up froggin' the shawl because either the stitch count was off or the pattern was not lining up right or both. It is just too pretty to give up on it. Several ladies in the KAL are talking of making their 2nd one and here I haven't even finished my first.

This is a closeup of the stitches, with a dry blocking. There are a ton of little yarn ends that will need to be woven in because of the color change and also because my yarn requirements are more that my previous attepmts so I've had to add addtional yarns to each of the colors. Instead of 2 ends per color I have 4 or more! Not liking that!

I had hoped to be caught up on clue 4 of Secret of the Stole by Friday, but after completing Clue 3 I have only been knitting on the Icelandic Shawl. I think I'll put it down for now and see if I can't be ready for Clue 5 when it is published.

Are these just the cutest cupcakes? Richard and I decorated them Monday night for my Tuesday morning Women in the Word Bible Study group. I frosted the cupcakes, and Richard put the Werther's and almonds on around the eyes. He then gave them back to me to finish up with the chocolate chips and the cashew nose. We had a ton of fun decorating them!

Of Course I had to make one for each of Aimee's boys. Carson has been sick the last few days, I am hoping he will be feeling better today that I can let him have one of these. I only wish Gregg's kids were closer that I could share these with them as well!

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the least. I received a call from Rich just prior to the start of bible study. One of his employees had been injured on the job by a guy that works the whole job site doing cleanup. Apparently they were goofing off and Sergio ended up getting stabbed. Sounds like more than goofing around to me! He was taken to Scripps La Jolla and they kept him overnight for observation since the knife penetrated deep enough and close enough to his lung to be of concern. That's some serious goofing around...

Is this just the cutest little pumpkin?

And how 'bout the mouthful of reese's peanut butter cup on this fireman!

Is it really end of October already?

Oh my, I just logged in and realized it has been ages since I have blogged and looking at the calendar realized October has pretty much come and gone - buzzed right by!

I frogged my Icelandic shawl and have put it away. Just today I was thinking I would resurrect it and knit just 2 rows a day, I can commit to that. Hopefully by only knitting 2 rows I won't get into a groove and lose my concentration. I think that was my problem before. When I'd lose concentration, I'd miss or drop yarn overs and the stitch count would be off. With so many stitches on the needle it was too time consuming to tink back to find the missed stitch or stitches.

I have completed the Mystery Shawl Along #5. I made it with Fiddlesticks' Country Silk in Spice. When I put it in the sink to wash prior to blocking I found it bled some. So I drained the sink, put clean water in along with some vinegar and let it soak, hoping it would help stop the bleed. I drained and refilled and drained one more time and then blocked the shawl.

When Aimee came by this morning for church I showed it to her and put it on her. She almost immediately asked if I had soaked it in vinegar, so it was still smelling of that. I have it soaking and rinsing and soaking and rinsing as I write. And I noticed it is still bleeding!

Since I finished MSA-5 I have concentrated on Secret of The Stole and am pleased at how rapidly it moves. I am almost done with clue 3. Clue 4 or was it clue 5 was released Friday, so I'm not too far behind. I think I can get caught up before the next clue is realeased.

I cast on and knit the first six rows of Secret of the Chrysopolis while we drove into Orange County to see Richard's dad. I am using some gray Lacey Lamb that I got from a yarn exchange for this Mystery Knit. I am really liking how soft it feels!

Since it was just a matter of doing the cast on and the first 4 rows were garter stitch, I could knit these while we drove. Once we got there, knitting was put away.

I was so shocked when I saw grandpa B. He has let his beard grow, so he's very scraggly looking. But what is so shocking is how gaunt he looks. He's not eating! His weight is down to 123! There is nothing left of him. Jeanna has changed their plans to be at the condo for Christmas this year. She doesn't think he will last that long, and I think she's right. So we're back on the emotional roller coaster, watching a parent wither and die right before our eyes!

Bible Study has become quite the growing experience for me. This year we are doing the Patriarchs by Beth Moore. Since i have become a co-leader I feel I need to fully complete each day in the event Kathy and Pat are unable to lead. Last week Pat was not there, but Kathy was back in town. Kathy did one day and I lead the 2nd day. It was pretty scarrey. Somehow I need to get others to join in the discussion, that is my big challenge! God will and is growing me through this whole experience!

MS3 Completed

I have completed my MS3 project -- Swan Lake Stole. Melanie did an excellent job with this Mystery Knit. I am excited about MS4, however that won't be until 2008! In the meantime I have signed up for several other KAL's. I am waiting for yarn for both projects to arrive. One of the KAL starts on September 3rd. Both are Yahoo Groups, both groups' names escape me at this time.

I bought Richard and he bought me, yes we both both the same gifts for each other, Canon Rebel camera for our anniversary. #36 this year -- is that possible? It was too funny when we both looked into the gift bags we exchanged and saw the red camera boxes we had to laugh. The exact same cameras! One of them will go back.
When I have taken the time to get to know how to use the camera and photo sharing capabilities I'll post a picture of my MS3 Stole. I prefer to call it MS3!

We got disappointing news last night that one of the potential buyers will not be able to take one of the puppies afterall. I guess money is an issue and they are not willing to spend it for the pup. Now comes the hassel of finding a new owner just days before the pups should be going home. I'll call Carlsbad Animal Hospital and see about posting something there to find a new home for this little girl.