holidays (:

Best gift of the holidays was having my both kids and spouses together .It will be harder to do this with in-laws and future babies on the way. S o this year was another wonderful year although the kids had to juggle and drive all over the place to accomadate both sets of families. My day included visiting my elderly parents. Life is one big scary cycle

I started the Klabauter mystery KAL shawl last night. It is a fairly easy ( so far) rectangular shawl kal. I love doing these but just wish my wireless printer would print.. to make copies of patterns to write on. Instead =I am doing it from the computer. When time is available have to redo the router setup to get this going again..
My ex-aunt Dottie will be 90 this January so want to give  her this shawl for her birthday.
Still spending too much time at Facebook. Amazing who can turn up in your life again! Many former students are in there and they have changed in many ways since 6th grade .

done!!!!!! snow

neck wrap with leftovers

Stinky checking out snow

Cabin Fever   pattern baby sweater done...not so thrilled with it  (buttons are not sewn  -crooked now)

might keep this instead of giving away. It is so warm and soft..

snow...facebook..exercise

view from my window..the snow is coming down strong but not showing in picture.

 boys messed  up  hat.....

bracing for another snow storm  here in NE Pa..It is coming down fast already

can't drive to gym ..so just did a show taped from Fit Channel..I have been good doing some form of exercise everyday but still no weight loss........ I do feel better and less like a fat slug.

First- it was ravelry and now  addicted to Facebook...finding lost friends and former students.. amazing how small the world  has become. 

Made a hat for the boy but ..came out a tad bit small. and messed up...Today I will start another one with longer ribbing.. oh yeah big mistake in the ribbing but  just pretend it was suppposed to be there. boy does not know..drinking wine and knitting don't mix..

Last night my knitting group had a potllluck holiday dinner..good on what I ate but drinking was unlimited..wine never counts with diets..

Happy Holidays

Can't believe only 10 more knitting days till Christmas.. I wanted to make more gifts but running out of time.

knitting ufos excuses

baby hats and bib ( need to be blocked )
neck wrap ( needs buttons)
I bought the brown crochet neck wrap at an Alapaca event last month. I made this pink one last night .
TThis %#&@ sweater has been very frustrating as I rip and redo each section. I love the soft yarn and have great buttons for it so wish this one was done!

I am in another one of those sluggish knitting periods where I knit everyday but nothing is getting done except a few in between small projects
Still working on these ufos:

Irish Hiking Scarf - this I only work in doctor's offices or road trips. I have decided what I hate about it is the black yarn making it so difficult to see my stitches. It is about 2/3 done.

Basket Baby blanket using my sister's sock yarn she hand dyed. - when this is done it will be lovely and washable so it will get plenty of use. The problem is sock yarns takes forever to knit compared to using some thicker worsted or bulky weight yarn. This is about 1/2 done. This goes to my knitting group on Wed so I can talk and knit at same time.

Lace Baby blanket- I plan to take this on vacation in Jan or Feb. No action lately.

Cabin Creek top down baby cardigan pattern in blue Italian cashmere from Halifax ( cruise) I made 2 other baby sweaters from this easy baby pattern but this time around it is a frustrating experience.
The sleeves have been ripped and now the whole back because mistakes are noticed way too late. The yarn was so costly and it is for my son's baby so hoping to make it special. Solid colors tend to show up mistakes and twisted stitches.


Maybe next knitting projects needs to be in worsted weight variegated yarn and maybe it will get done?

pugs shots, ear coning and putting up tree

Peek-A-Boo and her Mommy love to cuddle up these chilly days.

gross - is this some of the ear wax in my ear or is it just from the candle? My hearing has been especially worse lately so I went to the spa and paid 50 bucks to have my ears coned. I am not convinced that this procedure really gets the wax out . I did not notice a difference in hearing and was scared to death with that candle on fire in my ear.

I am pooped from putting up Christmas decorations. This seems like too much work so I am going to finish tomorrow.. Stinky was our tree supervisor today.

Thanksgiving 2008

Not much knitting done this holiday. Spending time with my kids and family is priceless. It seems the kids were your whole life for years and you never think about when they grow up they have spouses, jobs and their own houses which limits our precious times together. I miss them ...they are my greatest accomplishments turning out to be honest and loving adults .
My dd -Liz and I did get some quality time after cooking dinner together and then hanging out . Liz keeps me young! She got me reading Twilight and today the sequel New Moon. It is definitely for the younger set but fun and easy to read.

We knit Mason Dixon Baby Bibs together. The plan was to get early Black Friday like we did when she lived home- some how sleep won over.
Harder for my son to stay here now with pregnant wife and and in laws to visit. It was a wonderful weekend but nostalgic thinking how fast life can speed by without you even realizing it. They have all left . The house is very quiet and picked up- but sort of sad.

Let it snow!!

Lots of pretty snow here in NE Pa with schools closed and snow plows working overtime. Myabe we will have a white Thanksgiving- but hope not as we have to drive..

Stinky is fascinated with the white stuff~

Happy turkey day to all!

brrr cold here in NE Pa

It record breaking cold weather here so pulling out all my fingerless mitts , hats and scarves. The wood stove ( and The Boy)is working overtime to keep this house warm.

Last two days have been spent trying to make Christmas gifts and use up the stash. Sometime forcing yarn into patterns wastes time. I spent all day making a scarf using some stash but by the end of the night frogged the whole thing.
Two sets of fingerless mitts are completed using Wendy Johnson's pattern (free on Ravelry) Next I am going to try making a scarf to match one set. My camera is charging so will post photos later.

On my side bar there is a new list of patterns to make for future grandson. My Ravelry queque is bursting. Today I found this Boys Brimmed Hat that is adorable! Cute boys patterns are not as abundant as girl ones!

Hold that baby stuff....till 12/25

This idea hit me today to get going on Christmas presents for many reasons but mostly because:

use up stash

save money

have personal gifts

so slowing down on baby stuff and making mitts and hats for as many people.. started these today in Misty Alpaca from stash.

another rabitto! It is a boy!

I got a call from my son tonight and looks like the baby is a boy.. forget all that pink Sublime and cute girly patterns... I am knitting all boy from now on...

rabitto is so soft and fuzzy...

here is another one done today--addictive little Lion Brand blanket buddy rabbits! This time the head is done correctly- not flat..

I started the Lace Paneled Baby Blanket free on Ravelry in yellow sidar Click yarn. Only have 5 rows done but love the pattern but not so sure about the yarn.

bunny buddy

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-blanket-buddy---knit

maybe bunny needs a face? This bunny blanket was knit because it reminded me of my daughter. She used to carry around Fisher Price ones that had silky edge on it which was rubbed on her face while she sucked some fingers. Multiples of these were on hand in case they needed cleaning or got lost.

Speaking of my daughter...

I had a wonderful weekend with her in Albany .What fun we had going to a wine tasting event , shopping and just hanging out together. She has grown up so much since those bunny blanket days. No mother could be prouder or love her more! ( hi , Liz!)

This bunny is a very modified ( messed up) version of the free Lion Brand pattern that is supposed to be easy? My bunny head came out flat instead of being able to stuff it.

telephone tester/ hearing loss and phones.

A few years back I was at a Hearing Loss convention in Orlando . I was speaking with a representative from a phone company and signed up to be a phone tester. Every year I get a new set of phones so my collection of phones is getting larger!

These two came in the mail last week. My task is to try them out and then decide which one I want to keep. This time around the survey form took about 10 minutes so not much work involved besides setting them up and figuring them out. My phone expertise is becoming exceptional and even the bathrooms have phones..

They know I use hearing aids but when attempting to use both of these it was impossible. .grrrrrr- they are not hearing aid compatible so can't hear the dial tone over the annoying interference hummmmm buzzzz......caused by my hearing aids. s

I did choose to keep the VTech because I discovered that the speaker phone is loud and clear so I can use this phone in that mode.

It is is ironic that I am a tester..I depend on reading lips and visual cues so phones make me nervous.No phone is ever perfect for me because some voices just don't register in my brain . The noise is heard but brain can't decipher what is being said especially with deep male voices and accents.

Recently this helpful and free site was discovered:

http://www.hamiltoncaptel.com/.

Using any phone and computer I can read what is being said by the other person. I use it to call doctors, business or other calls that may not be clear . You still hear on the phone but can use the captions if you are missing sections. You can even print the conversation.

The annoying part of this like my cap tel phone ( I no long use because the screen is not as big and clear like this http://www.hamiltoncaptel.com/ is that there is a delay in waiting to read what the person is saying. I have become a speed reader after all the reading of closed captions on TV but the person/computer who types needs a few seconds so a delay.

Hot pink mitts

not blocked yet..label says hand wash but never blocked rabbit ?

When at St John's on the knitting cruise this hot pink angora from Fleece Aridest caught my eye. I thought they would make adorable lacy mitts for Christmas presents. This yarn has 20% nylon with the angora so my thinking was that it would have some give to it but not really.!I started several mitt patterns but was not happy with the results so went back to my old standby.Because my yarn was a different gauge the pattern was major modified using 40 to cast on and the ribbing was increased. Pray the second one ends up matching this one!I have not used dpn's in awhile and had trouble with all these ladders showing up in the mitt even though stitches were moved around and were tugged at between dpn's. Maybe I tugged too much? These are going to Liz.

Wendy Johnson's fingerless mitts ( free ravelry pattern if you don't have her book)http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fingerless-mitts-2

Fleece Artist Angora is ......
Oh so soft and warm but not fun to knit or frog . All that fuzzy bunny stuff sticks together

Scrunchable Black scarf done

Someone forgot to close the computer!
Misty Baby Alpaca - very soft and hairy!
Scrunchable Scarf
my feline assistant loves alpaca!

This Scrunchable Scarf was handed over to my son yesterday. This is a no- brainer- very easy pattern that looks impressive !.

happy halloween

Wed on the way to knitting this red tailed hawk was devouring some unfortunate critter. Good thing Stinky is an indoor cat!

I ( slightly)miss being on school on days like today. Halloween was one of my favorite days to dress up and have fun with the kids .Pumpkins and Halloween theme were tied in math and reading lessons so kids ( and teacher) were motivated . All the candy corn and goodies added to the festivities. Instead -DH and I went to Walmart to get stocked up for the month like a couple of old farts. DH mentioned that it was slightly depressing seeing all the old people there (of course- he didn't mean us ). All the employees were in costumes and at the local restaurant where we stopped to eat.

Knitting is finishing the black scarf my son has asked for the last year. I had started an Irish Hiking Scarf several times this year but each time I ripped it out because of width or yarn . Last week I got half the scarf done in some Knit Picks Peruvian wool but it became work and not fun so it was sent to UFO pile. Maybe it was the pattern with cables using black yarn making it hard to see work? This week some Misty black baby alpaca was found in stash so another scarf started. Ravelry had an easy pattern where all I do is *K2 P1* and it is looking perfect for a male. This one is half done and working up much faster. My son never asks for anything and is the sweetest kid a mom could ask for so don't know why this has taken me so long ? Pictures will be posted to celebrate completion!

Next on the needles will be some fingerless mitts using the angora yarn purchased in St John's at Cricket Cove Yarn Shop.

small baby stuff with my feline assistant

These were done last two nights while watching tv. They are practice ones because they turned out very tiny and with a messy button loop. I love to knit but hate to sew( especially buttons) but they are so damn cute - .

The pattern does not suggest how to make button holes so a crochet chain was used. The results look crappy so last night I found a group just for these on Ravelry with suggestions and visual links to make button loops.

The whole pattern is similar to an EZ pattern where the designer assumes the knitter knows more than I do.
Stinky helping me take photos...rearranging stuff..

This hat is the Umbilical Hat from Stitch N Bitch book to match the BSJ. It too came out rather small.But maybe newborn babies are that small? I have not been close to one in( 27) years.

sorry .....Photos are not in correct order but bet you can figure them out.. Every time I drag on my computer freezes up. There must be an easier way. oh is there a way to download several pictures at same time from my computer/disk. I hold the control button down and highlight them but that is not working so have to do each one individually...

Can you believe schools were delayed/closed here today . First it was an early ice that put power out in several places( not us ) but now several inches of snow expected so they stayed closed. brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

How I spent my Friday night!

Stayed up till 1 am to finish this Plymouth Top Down Jacket. I have not steam blocked it yet and still looks adorable. What a fun little project! It took less that one skein for Encore Worsted. I may have enough left to use on Saartjes booties http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/saartjes-bootees . This delightful pattern will be used many times in future.

early Christmas present

yes- The new Addi Click interchangeable set is pre -ordered...Thank you- Sue!!! I am on the second list so don't know when they will arrive but hopefully around the holidays. Each LYS only gets 10 at first and then don't know what happens after that so I may have a very long wait. I love my Knit Picks but curious to try these out. For some reason -I never have enough needles . Maybe it has something to do with UFO"S?

It is Friday already. Where did this week go?

DH spent the whole week getting rid of the tons of leaves in our yard. Me- I don't know what I have been doing except picking up and doing wash. brrrr it is too cold outside for me ( 30-40's)Yesterday was a bus trip to Westchester Dinner theater to see the Producers. Of course, I knit the whole way on trip. I am making another hat to match the BSJ. The Norwegian Baby one looks huge!

Finally- the Top Down Baby Jacket - Encore Worsted 1354 was started. I have one skein of yellow for newborn size and hope it is enough. My generous blog pal Sue from NJ sent me this pattern . It is easy and looks adorable so far. It knits quickly using the Encore Worsted. After doing much lace this is a joy to see such quick progress.

speaking of Sue from NJ ...She told me about this new set from Addi.( bad, bad influence hahahaha)