Projects Pictures Post

Everybody seemed to like the projects I have been working on, so I thought I would show some more.

Here is the sock I have started, this is the first sock I have ever knit, so far it is coming along ok. I am to the gusset, and I am kind of scared to move on from there. I plan to take it to my quilting meeting, where I can get help from an experienced sock knitter.

This is a washcloth I made recently, isn't the owl beautiful? He is going to be sent to my dad.

Two pics of another washcloth, this time in 'Praying Hands'.

Last two pics of washcloth 'Baby feet'.

Both the praying hands and baby feet washcloths will be up in my Etsy Store here soon,
For now, go get one of my afghans I have up for sale.

Humpty Dumpty Fell

Remember how we kept getting snow, snow and more snow?

This one was from a while ago, say December.
This is more recent and is what our plowed pile pretty much looks like. Though this is in front of the neighbors.

This is in the neighbors yard. I know it is a crappy picture, but it is the best I could do at 3 am. That snow fort is awesome!
Here is another shot of it. Soooo fun.
These were taken about a week ago.
On to the story.
Well, throughout this entire winter, I have managed to not fall even once. That all changed last night. Over this last weekend the snow started to finally melt. I know many places it won't start to melt for some time, but this is about the time our precipitation turns into rain instead of snow. So, things warmed up this weekend and have been melting the last several days. We still have mounds from the plows, but I can see grass under my tree, where not as much snow accumulates.
Wednesday morning is our trash day. DH works swing shift, so he got home at about 12:30 am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. We usually stay up until 3-4 am, taking the trash out before we go to bed. Only we have forgotten to take the trash out the last two weeks, the trash can is full, and I have a large black forceflex bag full of trash. I also have a Netflix to send out. So when Humpty Dumpty(me) fell down and went boom I had the big trash bag in my right hand and the Netflix in my left. OUCH!! I had hit an area that had been draining the melted snow from our yard, right across the end of our steps, where it turns to concrete. With the recent temp drop it had frozen and I hadn't seen it. I landed on with my back and shoulder on the steps I had just come down. I lay there for a few minutes, long enough to get my pants wet, before I managed to get back up, and go down the last concrete step before our parking area, and out to the mailbox. WHAM!! I went down again. On that last concrete step. More frozen drainage from our yard. This time I yelled really loud. No response from inside. I yelled again, same thing. I gave it a minute for the pain to subside before I tried hollering for DH a few times, no response. I laid their longer than I had the previous step, soaking my pants further, until it was my freezing wet pants that got me up off the ground. I managed to hobble to the end of the parking space, deposit the trash bag and cross the street to the mail boxes. I hobbled back, and made it inside, sobbing all the way. Partly the pain, partly because DH hadn't come out to help me. He heard me come in, sobbing, and sprinted down the hallway to me. Don't know why I was still crying so much, but I managed to tell him I had fallen twice, and to please finish taking out the trash. He was getting ready for bed, so he got redressed, but didn't put his shoes or socks on. He told me later he has never had problems when in bare feet and walking on ice or snow or even mud. Slipping yes, but no falling.
He was taking the trash can out, I was hobbling around, taking off my soaked pants, and getting my shoes off when I heard him crash. I was hobbling to bad to go out and help him and I was indecent as well. I talked to him through the screen and he got up and said he was fine. I had warned him about both icy patches, but he hadn't seen the second one. Which was basically totally clear ice, on the roads they call it black ice because that is the color of the road.
I ended up a little bruised on my back and sore with a twisted right ankle. He had scraped his left bare foot on the concrete, and managed to make it bleed. I managed to bandaid him up, take some Calendula (anti-inflammatory that works wonders), some painkiller and wrap my ankle before we went to bed. I have been babying the ankle all day, and I'll probably have to wrap it again tonight.
Tomorrow, I plan to post pictures of what I have been working on lately. I've got socks, washcloths, and afghans to show you.
One more picture of snow, just for fun.
This is the friends car that is parked in out parking spot, it hasn't moved since it was parked, but it gets whatever sun is out so it melts more than other spots. This is a view at the drivers side window, all that snow is on the windshield. It is hard to find things to contrast the snow against to see how much we actually had, so this is a good view.

P.S. I now have two afghans for sale in my Etsy shop. Go check it out. I'll have washcloths up on it soon.

De-Lurk athon

I am currently attempting to comment on all the blogs I read.
So welcome to the nuthouse.

Some of my favorite posts are here, here , here, and here.

Because I have been doing so much gift knitting my hands have been hurting in new and interesting ways, so I have switched to crochet for now.
This is what I have been doing lately.

They are flipped, the turquise on the top on the left, and the bottom on the right is where I am currently working,about to change to a dark purple, which if you you look closely at the pic on the right you can see the start of the purple. This is my random remnants afghan. I have been making myself use whatever yarn my had touches first when I reach for a new color. This is the Granny Chevron pattern from the Jan Eaton 200 ripple pattern book. It is a really easy and repetitious pattern. Since I have been knitting for so long I had basically forgotten how much faster crochet is. This is 8 days of inconsistent work. * days of knitting for the same time would be about 1/8th as big.

Lately we have had snow, snow and more snow. It is now below freezing, and has been for days. It is currently 11 degrees outside, the road out front is basically ice. With no snow tires of the truck I reluctant to go anywhere. I had to go shopping yesterday, and when I went to turn right, to go up the road to the store I kept going straight. I almost hit the lady who was waiting to turn left onto the road I had just come off of. I managed to stop, and then get turned so I could head up the road.
This was taken about 4 weeks ago.
We have had several snow falls and melts since then, but I forgot to take pictures today so this is what I have to show. There is a big plowed mount on the right side of our driveway that is about 3 feet deep. I know others have lots more snow, but we haven't had this much snow in years. In fact we have been in a drought for about 9 years. Hopefully all the snow we have been getting will help with that this year, at least somewhat.
I am nervous about going in for my appointment tomorrow to get an IUD, so I have been chewing on my cuticles. So far not my fingernails, just the cuticles. I would like to keep my fingernails nice if I can manage it.
I am also planning on making prime rib roast for a Feed of Dreams at my church tomorrow. I need to cal my dad and get a good recipe.

Mouse in the house.

Lately we have had a mouse running around the house. I has been seen at random hours, running into and out of our small bedroom which is right next to our furnace. Mouse has been leaving signs and seen running around for about a month or more. Finally we went out and got traps on Sunday night. We got home and eventually got them set up and baited, then we went about our evening, pretty much forgetting that we had set out traps. My DH looks up from the book he was reading and goes, "Huh, I wonder..." Then he goes into the kitchen, comes out and starts getting dressed. He had been in his pj's so this was very unusual. I was confused and kept asking him where he was going, since it was fairly obvious he was getting dressed to go somewhere. He told me he was going tot he recycling center, which isn't far away, but still the recycling center? In the middle of the night? Then he said not to worry, he was going to the composting area of the recycling center and not all the way around to the front. He put on his coat and started looking for gloves. Once he had them on, he came out of the kitchen carrying one of the tripped traps. Ah, now that made more sense, he was taking the mouse to the compost recycling area. He explained when he got back that it seemed the best chance of survival for the mouse. The compost provides heat and food. Once he got back we again went about our evening, after we reset the trap int he same spot. He asked a little before we were going to go to bed it I heard that tapping sound. I said that I thought so. He went and checked.
Sure enough we had trapped another mouse.
This time we went to the recycling center together, to release the mouse. We got back home, rebaited the trap (we had neglected to rebait it after cleaning it out after the first one was caught) and reset it up where it was and went to bed. I checked on it when I got up to use the restroom, and sure enough we had trapped another one. DH took it to the recycling center after we got up for good and after his shower.
So far we haven't caught anymore, and I am hoping we have gotten rid of our infestation. I thought we only had the one mouse, so it was a bit of a surprise to catch three of them. No wonder they had been so bold, they were many.

Picture post

Ok, so I may have over done my holiday knitting. See this picture? This is a picture of my now bent knitting needles.

I didn't think that was possible, ok perhaps possible, but very unlikely. Some examples of the knitting I have been up to is order I do believe.
Pretty washcloths, lots of pretty washcloths.FrogTulipCheck markCirclesBig 'O'
Bowl of Cherries (upsidedown)DiamondsTulips (upsidedown)Check marks

Ovals

Diamonds

4 "O's"

This is just a sampling of what I have done in the past month. I have made about 5 times as many as you see here. Aren't they pretty? I think I am going to start making more that I can sell at etsy.

In which I vent some.....

I am so sick of our VOIP (phone service)! We have been going through Packet8 for over a year now, and in the last 6 months their service has become absolutely bottom rung. From the service just plain not working, to their cruddy, crappy customer service. Up until this we have had problems with noise on the line, but lately calls aren't getting through. Tonight I missed going to an event I go to every week because my ride calls me about 30 minutes before she picks me up, and the call didn't go through so I didn't wake up. (I know, I'm lame, I can take naps. But sometimes the body just overrides, and I'll conk out. Usually in the chair I surf from. Tonight I slept about 3 1/2 hours in the chair. I woke up, past the point when my ride would have picked me up. GRRrrrrrrr!!!! I suppose a bit more explanation about the ride might be helpful. She is an older lady, so when she gets here she honks the horn, so she doesn't have to get out of the car in the cold, and now the snow. We got about 3-4 inches of snow late last night after a couple of days of freezing weather, so when it snowed it stuck.

*********

It's been a while since I've posted so what else is going on?

I have sold 12 washcloths in the last couple of weeks. Yay me! We held what is called the PPQ Holiday Bazaar, they let me sell for my self, so I could keep the money I made. Most everything else that was sold there went into the PPQ fund. They have extended the sale another week, but I really don't know if I am going to sell at the sale again. I was going to use this week to knit for family Christmas presents. After Christmas, I am planning/hoping to make yet more washcloths and put them up on Etsy, and hopefully someone will want to buy them. At the moment I have plenty of yarn, we'll see if I have enough after all this knitting I have been doing, and planning to do.

Stress, stress and more stress. I need to find a job. I have no job. Money is really tight. My husbands co-workers are giving him a hard time. "Just make her get a job." "Cut her off, she'll find a job." "Install net-nanny." Blah, blah, blah. Actually this upset me more than a little. Enough it made me cry, and throw things, and oddly enough, do laundry. I clean when I get pissed off. Wow, I must be calm a lot of the time because my house is a disaster.

5 things meme

5 things found in my room:

1)A Really tall bed with lots of storage underneath. I need a stool to get into the bed.

2) Yarn, in one big tote, and three big 'banker's box' drawers, all under #1

3) My sewing machine in a little built in nook. Also has all the sewing accessories.

4) One tall light blue laundry basket for colors, and one tall lidded garbage can for whites.

5) My cedar chest that I talked my dad out of one trip. This is also under #1


5 things I've always wanted to do:

1) Finish College.

2) Become an astronaut. I would love to be weightless.

3) Be more at ease around people.

4) Have a wonderful, clean, and beautiful home.

5) Scuba dive in the ocean.


5 things in my bag: (Well, I don't carry a purse per-se, so I guess I'll go with my knitting/crochet bag)

1) Stress 'ball' in the shape of a hard hat It was free at a local career fair. I take it with me when I go to sell my plasma.

2) Current project, of course.

3) One of the books I am currently reading, I say one of because I usually in the middle of 3-4.

4) Stitch markers, even if what I am working on doesn't require them, I will still have a bunch with me.

5) A small secondary project, usually in the opposite stitch of the current project. Say current is knit, I usually have something in crochet also. Never know when I'll get bored or my hands will start hurting.

5 things found in my wallet:

1) Insurance card.

2) Z-fun Event, Moscow Bio-Medics, Bring this card and receive an extra $10 after your first donation, with an employee signature.

3) My old University card, it lets me ride the between town bus for free.

4) Student Rec Center Single Use Visitor Punch card with 7 punches left.

5) Punch card for a local restaurant named Pita Pit, with 7 of 10 punched. We will see if they validate them when the store re-opens. They had a fire and ended up moving, and aren't open yet.

5 things I’m currently into:


1) Ravelry! I just got a new camera, so I will be uploading tons of projects and yarns.

2) Blogs, my Google Reader currently has 156 subscriptions, but since I spent most of the weekend hanging out with my husband I have 258 new things to read.

3) Free Rice! Go, play!

4) Lolcats, oh so funny.

5)Ummm....Sleep.

Now according to the rules, I'm supposed to tag five other people for this, but I'm going to break the rules and advise anyone reading this to give us a glimpse into their five things.

Ever have one of those days?

I've had a surprising good/bad day.
Good: I managed to make it out of the house in time to make it to the food bank.
Bad: The food bank is closed because they are out of food and will have a shipment over the weekend.
Good: I managed to drop off a ton of grocery bags, we had saved up, at the food bank.
Bad: Traffic was really heavy on a street I needed to cross, it took me 10 minutes to get across, and I had to piggy back on a couple on bikes in order to do it. Then the bike riders decide to ride in the street right in front of me.
Good: TJ's Books and Treasures (my local used book store) is going to take most all of the books I brought in.
Also Good: I managed to sign into donating at 2:25 pm
Really Bad: Donating dicked around and around and around. Then they called me back to the physician office because they had put an ALERT in my file because my heart rate was to high the first time they called me back last time. WHAT THE HECK!!! It took you 35 minutes to figure this the HECK out!!! By now it is 3:03 pm. The sun goes down around 4:15 pm. I talk to the PA, she takes my pulse by hand and tells me I am in the high 90's. She tells me I can go sit and wait in the waiting area, she has to have Cody sign off on the file. I sit until 3:10 pm, I figure I have to be done with donating by 4:00 pm, at the rate things are going I am not going to make it. Rather than have to worry about it, I go up and tell Andrew that I am out of time, and have to leave.
Also Bad: I noticed that at some point today I lost my zipper pull and zipper stop off my favorite jacket. I stopped at what USED TO BE Threads and Things, where I got my wedding dress altered, like I said, USED TO BE. It is now a Falling Moon Tattoo and Piercing Studio. EEK!! I went in and asked about Threads and Things, and they said they think the guy is still doing alterations, he is just doing it out of his house now, and they think the number in the phone book is still the same. Happy Happy joy joy.
Good: I made it home intact, and before dark.
Also Good: I got rid of some books, and a whole lot of paper bags. And I apparently clamped the canopy onto the truck sufficiently well, because it never even moved the entire time I drove around.

Like I said, good and bad all day.

Why I Love Him Wednessday

I found a post earlier about how she was going to start a new Wednesday thing. It sounded like something I would be interested in. It is a Wednesday post about why you love your significant other.
Why I love him...
Tonight when he got home he started picking stuff up and putting it out of the way. Eventually I understood what he was doing, prepping the floor to be vacuumed! Big deal many of you may say, but at this house it is a big deal. The floors get vacuumed only every few weeks, sometimes months. Ewwww! I hear collectively. Yeah, I know, but it happens. We just wear socks a lot. Figuring out what he was prepping to do, I helped clear the floor, and I even got the hallway cleared, so he could vacuum it as well. There is now the semi-leaning tower of stuff that is stacked on the loveseat, but I can wait to deal with that tomorrow.
He even ended the vacuuming with a laugh. I heard the vacuum suck up something that was not good for it, as quick as he could he had switched it off and says 'Okay, the vacuum is all yours now." Right. And what was it he had sucked up? It had started to eat a ball of yarn by wrapping it around the brush. Easily unraveled, but still funny (at least to us).
Also, at some point after the vacuuming, I was hanging up shirts in the closet. Things were getting a little tight in there, and I was running out of hangers, so I decided to 'cull the herd' so to speak. Pulling out several of his shirts I took them to the living room to ask if they could be given away or otherwise disposed of. I had picked shirts that were either to small or that he never wears anymore. Not all of them made it into the 'go away' pile. I can understand some of them have sentimental value, like hunting shirts. Thus why I brought them out to ask for approval. Why I love him? He only kept a few of the shirts. Keeping 3 out of the 12 I brought out is fine, throwing only 3 out of the 12 would have been harder. The hard part for me, was going back to the closet and doing the same for my side. Shirts I don't wear anymore and shirts that don't fit. Isn't that hard for most women? I always think, but if I lost enough weight this would fit again..... DH didn't seem to have have that internal debate.
I do love him so.

New project

I am thinking I need to start working on knitting or possibly crocheting a sweater or cardigan. It is going to have to be something really simple. I need to look for patterns online and in whatever instructions I do have. I would like recommendations of fibers, basically what kind of yarns would make a good sweater/cardigan. Basically NOT wool, and not felt-able, and washable. I may have to go talk to the LYS that didn't hire me in order to find out what I need to know.
I'll post more as I go threw my decision process.