Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Updates

MaryAnn is doing well, she's home and apparently the problem came with taking her meds too close to a big meal. One of the side effects is feeling like you're having a heart attack - scary scary stuff. But, I am so thankful that it wasn't something worse. Thank you for your prayers.

I finished up one of the 2 hats and started on a slipper.

Yep, a slipper. One of 2 that will go to my MIL for Christmas - how many more knitting days until Christmas again? Ugh. They will look like these and I'm pretty excited about them. It's like making little footie socks but with HUGE 10.5 needles. They will be felted, and have to be made 1.3 times bigger than normal but hey - on that size needle it should go quick. I'm making with a skein (and probably some of a 2nd) of the blue wool I got with Mom & Cliff's birthday gift certificate. So. Excited. And really, I havent been this excited about starting something in a long time! My goal - will be: hat, slipper, hat, slipper. Cant do both at the same time since they're using the same needle. I wonder if these slippers are why I finished the hat so quick? Hmm.

Anyway, that's really it for now. I'll leave you with this lovely bit of Christmas. This is across from Sean's daycare, and this was taken 2 days before Thanksgiving. We will attempt to put up Christmas this coming week when Travis is home at 6 in the evenings (yay!!!).

Monday, November 26, 2007

Recap, Videos and more Christmas knitting.

Thanksgiving proper, as you know ended up with cousin MaryAnn in the hospital. As of yesterday she was still in there and the only progress we've made is to say it was not a stroke. They are waiting for a special doc to do an MRI to determine if it was a heart attack. Mom's ignoring my call so I cant give a better, more current update. Please keep her in your prayers. Speaking of prayers - Thanksgiving Saturday Jake said the blessing and remembered to ask for MaryAnn to feel better and thank you for our Church helping the poor people have food. Too cute.

Grandma and Sean on Thanksgiving:








Here I offer you 3 videos (loud volume is needed) & 2 pics of Thanksviging Saturday - Jake first - playing Uncle Jason's guitar through an amp (!):



Sean's include: playing the piano (pic & video) and dancing with the giggly toy (video), plus a pic of him in a turkey coma without the turkey:










And, since I am officially finished with my Christmas knitting, to add 2 more items to the list. Neil & Grant will soon be the proud owners of new knit hats. Just like Jake's from last year. One will be blue, one gray since thats how much yarn I have. I'll send them both together so they can pick unles Sue tells me which will like which color more? I'm about halfway done with the grey one.

Also, in an effort to find the corner of my room that will need to be vacated so the Fios dude can install our new cable, I've been going through some forgotten projects. There's the scarf made from 3 Dollar store skeins of Lion Boucle that I didnt take a picture of, the sweater for me made from the brownish mohair that I didnt take a picture of and stuff to make a kitchen set that I didnt take a picture of.

I have sold some yarn too - a bag of fun fur plus the leftover skeins from Mom's last year Christmas sweater.

I will keep going through my yarn stash to organize it (!) and get rid of what I dont need.

I guess that's it for now. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Turkey Day

Well, it's been an eventful day. This morning I burned the rice for my corn casserole, er souffle and had to break out the oven cleaner to get the pot clean. Whoopsy! (NTS- re-read the directions on the rice even if you are SURE you remember what it said!) Watched the parade, crocheted on the wool (almost done with that and will be felting soon!) and hung out with Travis for a little bit. Then it was off to the grandparents house. Grandpa had gone for some stuff he forgot so we hung out with Grandma for a bit, I shared some pics, and had some nice conversation - today was a good day for her.

Then my Mom & Cliff and Grandpa came at the same time. We worked on supper a little more, and snacked on some yummies - mainly, for me anyway, cool ranch doritos and muenster cheese. Cliff and Jake played, Sean was held by Grandma and did really good, the puppy tormented the 3-legged wonder and all was good. (NTS - dont forget to make Blessing a sweater). Then my Aunt Maryann and cousin MaryAnn came with her guy friend Kevin (very nice but quiet. I wonder if we scared him?) Good times and great conversation were had by all.

Dinner went well when cousin MaryAnn started feeling ill - room spinning, slurred speach, dont know whats wrong ill. They took her to the ER because she has issues anyway - our thought is a stroke but we dont know yet. So, now we wait and pray, all we can do.

I had brought my sock to work on but didnt get a chance. I'm just glad it's not for a Christmas gift, otherwise I would have been in trouble!

Well, I've got to get the bitty boy to bed so I'm out for now. I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving.

Recipe of the day... the corn casserole, er souffle that I got from Linda the temp at work, and the story behind the new name.

I was reading a recipe about corn casserole and the lady that wrote it said "I used to call it a corn casserole but since my kids wont go near anything that remotly says the word casserole - I now call it corn souffle!".

Corn Casserole, er souffle:
1 small package saffron rice
1 stick of butter
1 can cream of celery
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 can mexican corn

Cook rice to package directions (it says lower heat to LOW, not MEDIUM... no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise - trust me!)
When done, add remaining butter and stir until melted.
Add remaining ingredients and pour into a casserole dish.
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Trust me, it's good... even Cliffy who doesnt like ANYTHING likes it! Jake doesnt like it, but he's 6 and has no taste. Anyway, enjoy.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Finished!

Jasyline's Christmas Sweater... done! Yay!!!!! I also made her a quickie boa scarf and I will make her a scrunchie with the furry stuff to match.













I now return you to your regularly schedule stuff!

35 days until Christmas...

And counting!

I have finished all but the neck detail of Jasyline's sweater, cute cute cute.

I have also started on the design idea - which since its felted seems to be slogging along slowly, but so far, so good. After doing my swatches, I found that the Lion Brand wool felts better than the Cascades 220, well, it has less stitch definition, however the Cascades loses less area then the Lion Brand. I am going with the less stitch definition, since that lends itself to the project. And, after talking to the lady at the yarn shop I got some advice on joining the 2 fabrics, but I think that I am going to try something else. She suggested do the felted bit, then make the non-felted bit to match the size I would need and join them together with needle and thread, or machine. If I were to create it, even if I made the non-felted bit as small as it needs to be, that the felted bit would pucker - and we dont want that! My solution - which worked with the swatches - is to add a sc, ch1 in every other stitch along the edges that I need to join with a non-felting yarn, then way when the felting is done I can pull out the non-felted yarn and viola! I have holes in which to crochet my other part to. It works out in my head anyway, we'll see how it goes in real life!

And speaking of the yarn shop... I spent my gift certificate, plus $4 and got 3 skeins of cascades in a brilliant blue, 1 set of size 3 Crystal Palace sock needles and 1 skein of sockotta sock yarn. My Mom was with me and seemed a bit disappointed that the gift certificate didn't give me more yarn, but I told her that it was great because I got things that I wouldn't have gotten on my own, and isn't that what makes birthdays special? During my time with my Mom, we went to lunch, she, Sean and I (Jake and Travis were at a Corvette show). Great food, and it was nice so we sat outside (ish, since it was a covered patio). Wanna see some pics? Course you do! Here is Sean and Nana playing, and a pic that shows his top teeth:

























And finally, some video of Jake and Sean playing with a megaphone:


That's really for now, I'll show off Jasyline's sweater when it's finished - probably today.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Watching Television

Last night I was working on Jasyline's sweater - I have finished the front and back, attached both shoulders, attached one side seam and started a sleeve. It's going well, and hopefully I'll be done this week (or weekend). I'm thrilled at this prospect, and am trying to think of something else to make for someone else on my list. Perhaps I can pull out something for Damarys? I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, last night as I was working I realized that I dont Watch television anymore, but I Listen to it often. It used to be (at least I think I remember it this way) that when I was Crocheting with Smooth Yarn (*read Red Heart Super Saver) that I could crochet and Watch tv at the same time. These days all I seem to be doing is knitting or crocheting with funky yarn and I only listen to the tv because I have to look at knitting or concentrate(ish) on the funky yarn. Anyway, that was just my realization last night.

That's really it for now, nothing new to report. I didnt get a chance to work on the felt thing, whoops! Soon though, really!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Stuff and all

How about some pics?

Blessing cleaning Sean's ear:









Sean trying to give Blessing a toy but Nana trying to grab it because of doggy germs:










Blessing cleaning Jake's ear:










How about the front of Jasyline's sweater (I almost finshed the back at lunch - that makes it 50% done!):







What else is new? I have really been tossing this idea for a project around in my head and I need to figure out if I want to felt the feltable part before or after I attach it to the non-feltable part. I know it will involve math either way I do it, and I know that it would be easier crochet-wise to add the non-feltable part before the felting but easier size-wise after. I plan to use some of my Flying Needles gift certificate to get some Cascade 220 so I can play with the felting issues. I already bought some "felting wool" from Joanns, but I dont remember the brand - they had a nice color that I like that will go with what I am making. After Jasyline's sweater is done, or more done I will start working on that. Perhaps I can swatch tonight? We'll see how the kids cooperate. I'd like to get this done for the mid-December deadline of the mag.

That's really it for now, have a great day!

(PS: Kimberly - I keep trying to comment on your blog but apparently it doesnt like me. I heart your crazy cloth... I did a favorite in Ravelry since I could tell your blog.)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Just a couple things...

I finished all 6 dishcloths before my new dishcloth book arrived - whoops! I also got my yarn winder (finally!) with my birthday Joann's giftcard, and I still have about $7 left... and coupons from todays paper!

I have the front done of Jasyline's sweater, and I will take a picture to show you tomorrow.

I went to visit the grandparents and my mom and Cliff today - they gave me a gift certificate to Flying Needles (the yarn shop near their house) and I plan to use that next weekend. Yay! Because I NEED more sock yarn? lol.

Last week was rough - my grandfather was in the hospital for a few days and aside from his sugar being a little high they couldnt figure out what was causing the MAJOR fatigue, breathlessness, and general feeling of crappiness. My friend Jennifer's little boy Landon was in the hospital with a gland infection, poor little guy! My prayer list was active to say the least!

My birthday party was fun - it was cold out and we had a nice fire. Travis always finds something interesting to burn, and apparently he had some cables around and did you know that copper burns green? It was pretty cool - I wish I had taken a picture of it. In fact the only pictures I took were of a couple fo the gals doing a shot. Sad really!

I think that's it for now. I'll go back to watching Iron Chef - giving my fingers a break from yarn today. More tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

sleepy tired

I could really use a nap... I need to work on getting that futon into my office! Ok, let's start with yarn.

I have finished Mom's jacket (Mom... no peeking). Thank you to Damarys for being my model. I love it, and I think it turned out swell.

I have also finished Kerry's scarf but I dont have a picture of it.

And I have done this to the sock:









Also in yarn news - I have finally submitted the proposal for the thing to that magazine (see how I am being all covert). Now I wait. I haven't heard back from the other magazine yet about the one I sent last month, but from what I understand these things take some time.

And speaking of submissions, I have this other idea I want to do, and I even bought the yarn for it (!) but twill have to wait unitl after the holidays - I have too much Christmas Knitting & Crocheting at the moment... although the list is getting shorter.

Done: Mom's jacket, Kerry's scarf, Grandma's socks 5/6 of the dishcloths for Jake & Sean's teachers, 2 sweaters for Hans & Kerry's girls.

Not done: 1/6 of the dishcloths for Jake & Sean's teachers, a sweater for Jasyline (but I have the yarn) & the chocolate coffee spoons for my co-workers (not yarn related but still to do). Not too bad, eh? Ok, moving on to last weekend.

Friday was Jason & Jonathan's art thing "Gala Corina". Me, my FIL and Travis loaded up and headed to the event while the MIL watched the kids. Along the way I saw this:









Can you see it? It says "Sign Broken See Inside 4 Info". Brilliant I thought!

Anyway, while we were there we saw these. Jason's wall, Jonathan's wall & my favorite piece:




























A fun time was had, even though it was hot and stuffy. Saturday was the craft fair at Jakes school. It went well, and even though I only sold 4 things they added up well - I sold the
pillowghan, a babyghan just like this one, the Martha Poncho which I guess I didnt have a pic of (whoops) and a pair of booties. I think the babyghan lady will buy another one since she had a friend having a little boy - we'll see what happens with it. All in all, a good day.

Sunday, um, oh Bailey's birthday party. It was fun and Jake had fun and the Bucs won so yay!

This week is going slow - half the office is out at shows. Yesterday I went to Kohls and got Jake a Christmas gift and got myself 2 shirts. Then I went to the bookstore and returned the book I got on Halloween since I already read it and swapped it out for a different one. Let me tell you - the Janet Evanovitch "Plum" series is great. My Grandmother introduced me to this series and I have really fallen in love with it.

Um, that's it I suppose. Have a great day!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

On the occasion of my 32nd Birthday












My Mom called me this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday and ask me if I felt 32. No, I said, do you feel like the Mom of a 32 year old? Nope. Funny how that works!

Here are some pics from yesterday.
This is Sean in my office hanging out with me while we waited to go to lunch:










Then fast forward to last night and the dressing up. Here's Jake in his Zombie Doctor (sorry for the thumb, its the only one of him and Stacy was a little new at working my camera). I was worried that Sean would be afraid of the zombie doctor but he watched Jake put the mask on and started giggling:












Here's Sean. I think he enjoyed himself and really liked chewing on the candy-collecting bucket, maybe more than the candy itself!:








Cute cute. No big plans for tonight becides getting the craft fair bins out of the storage shed and going through them. Woo hoo, lotsa fun! Have a great day!