Drooling Over Yarn

Be of Good Cheer

2012-01-31T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am coping with my diabetes very well if I do say so. My friend, Michelle has mentioned to me how well I am doing, my doctors all tell me how well I am doing. My goal through this dreaded disease is not to let it win. I am a fighter and as such, I am fighting as much as I can to get through it, to take care of me and try to get rid of the pills.

Today I am in a slump. I woke up yesterday feeling completely awful. I checked out the side effects on one of my new meds...it says stomach cramping and stomach pain is a side effect. Say what? Yep, it is part of this particular medicine. Great. I have to be on it for 10 long days. Will I make it? I am seriously wanting to know. I will, I just have to bitch about it.

I am searching for a particular yarn and I can't seem to find it...see previous post. I am making something for a friend and I need more of the yarn. I am also selling off several of my KVZ purses. They are going into the garage sale line up. I am sick of having so many purses hanging around my home. They must go. I am trying to declutter my life and I am getting rid of dishes, I know...that one is hard to believe. I am selling a bunch of crap, I am sick of the clutter. I just have to find out when my sister is having her garage sale.

I was knitting mitts but, I grew bored and threw them to the side for now. I will pick it up later.

I need to get back to work painting yarns...I am not really interested in working right now. All part of the slump.

I do want to make a lap quilt for myself. I have the fabric, I just need to find the inclination and get to work on it. I want one to snuggle with on the couch. Something to keep me warm when I need it. Nothing too big, just something that will fit me. I know what is going to happen, I am going to make one and then the hubby will want one. I will see how the first one turns out and then go from there.

In Search Of

2012-01-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am searching for a certain yarn, if you happen to have my color, I am willing to trade yarn or do a custom skein of yarn for you. The yarn I am in search of is discontinued and the yarn is made by Paton's. It is called Brilliant and the color I am in search of is crystal cream. I have 4 skeins, I need two more to complete my project. If you happen to have this yarn, and you are willing to part with it, please contact me and we can figure out how to arrange a trade or a custom paint.

Thanks!

Jump for Joy

2012-01-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

Today it is raining, I am not complaining since we had none over the summer and winter. I am happy about this but, I won't be driving my car in this kind of weather, it slides. I do many many fish tails in that little car.

I am trying to figure out some paperwork that has to be turned in before February 1, 2012. I can't find a blue pen and I am trying to figure out how to get several signatures since I won't be seeing the ladies who need to sign it until February 16th. Well, that is just how it is and if they don't like it, not much I can do about it.

I am working on knitting a mitt for that contest I mentioned previously. I am hoping the mitts will turn out like they are supposed to or I will be starting another pair in another color combination. Just how it goes sometimes. I know I am harder on myself about my knitting then other people would be. I might even have to go up a needle size for the next pair. It is just one of those things we deal with.

I cleaned house two days ago and managed to get my upstairs hallway done, last night, Gary steam vac'd the carpet and it looks so much better. The dogs are loving the clean carpet, they are sleeping on it. Before they just looked at it.

I managed to get myself better organized where my dyes are concerned. They were out of control and I fixed that problem. I just have to fix more of my current problems, where to put fabric, etc.

I think I am going to sew myself a small lap quilt. I am a novice seamstress and well, my sewing does have it's issues but, I want to make a quilt for the family room. Something to throw over my legs and feet as I sit on the couch. I know Gary would love one for his legs. Right now, we are sharing one of the full size quilts from the guest bedroom. It works. It just isn't personal enough. I want something pretty that I created with my own two hands.

Once I get good enough at quilting, I can tackle my maternal grandmother's crazy quilt top. I have it and it needs to be finished. I just didn't know what I was doing. Now, I think I can do it. After one of the ladies in the chapter showed us all how to quilt, I figure, I can do it. It involves sewing and well, I am working on that right now. See the zippy bags in my shop, I made those.

Time for me to go deal with my chores of the day. Ya'll have a safe and happy day where ever you may be.

Life's Little Lessons

2012-01-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

Today was the trip to see the dietician, she and I had a long talk about my bad eating habits. Did you know I am a fat and sugar junkie? Yep, I love butter, I love milk, I love fried foods. Bring it on. I also love cake. This is my downfall, I am so aware of it. I have food charts for items I can eat and guess what, I get to eat mini bagels, I get the multigrain ones and I can have part of a blueberry bagel, my faves. She also gave me a sample of ideal, a xylitol product to replace sugar.

I am supposed to avoid stress. No more stress for me since it raises blood sugar. I can understand that one. No more 2% milk, either. Well dang, what am I supposed to drink? Skim milk. Okay. I have to learn to balance my fats, my carbs, and my proteins. She pretty much let me know that if I lose the weight, I can get off of the meds. Oh, wouldn't that be exciting? I am so ready for that.

I have noticed that my sugar has gone up recently and I think I know what the culprit is...it will be staying out of my diet for a while just to see if it is the problem. I think it is. My sugar as a whole is pretty good. So, that is one good thing I have going for me.

I am in need of a nap, I haven't been sleeping well lately and I can tell you, I can really feel it. I want to put on my tennis shoes, grab the ipod and hit the streets on my bicycle. If I don't get to ride my bike then the exercise bike will work for me.

I am knitting again. I have a mitt that I am working on, it is one of my patterns that I wrote and I am thinking of entering it into a contest. More on that later.

What a Crock

2012-01-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

My new socks that I had knit for myself were supposed to be machine washable. What a freaking lie that was. I washed them in the machine with some reservations, I should have known it wouldn't work. The socks felted just a bit. So, I pulled them out and put them on the sock blockers. I will be hand washing them from now on.

Today I rode my exercise bicycle since it has been raining here. I have an appointment with the dietician this Friday so, this should help me out. I get to find out what I can or can't eat. I had some soup today and gave the other half of the can to the doggies. They love getting free hand outs.

I have plans to work on some new outfits for my niece, Maribeth. I have the fabric for her new outfits. I just have to cut out the patterns and get to work on them. I think the pattern that I chose for the first outfits are going to be really cute. These will be for summer.

My Aunt Cecilia always made outfits for us when we were kids and I want to keep the tradition alive. They were great play clothes. I want Maribeth to known how much fun hand made clothes can be.

I have plans to knit some more socks for myself. I have some really nice yarn that I have been wanting to use for ages. There is some nice yarn sitting on my desk that screams the '80's. I can't wait to wind it into a ball and use it. I noticed the other day when I was shopping for two of my nieces that the electric colors are coming back into fashion. Awesome.

Silk Zippy Bag

2012-01-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

This was my project of the day, this little pencil zippy pouch was made with my niece, Maribeth's silk fabric. I even have some left over and it will be going back to her. She will be the only kid in her school with a silk zippy pencil pouch.

For those of you who don't know it by now, she is a purple fiend. It runs in the family. I am giving her the pencils as well as part of her Valentine's day present.

I had to fight with Hank, Jr. This is the name of my Singer sewing machine since he has a tendency to be like the original Hank, my Mom's old White sewing machine. This machine nearly took a nice throw across the room when the bobbin winder decided to pull it's usual brand of crap. It doesn't like to wind and I have to stop the foot pedal and wind by hand. It just pisses me off to no end.
Anyway, Hank was a piece of crap but, it was all we could afford so, we used it until we burned out the motor and had to replace it, the motor, not the machine. Daddy wasn't one to replace, he would fix it or if it wasn't fixable, buy the part that was dead. I think my sister, Cheryl managed to get Hank. Hank's original name was Hank the Hunk of Shit. We called him Hank for short. Since my Singer has it's issues, it became Hank, Jr when it decided to pull it's version of shit. So, I have a few choice words for it.

I have been searching my house in vain for a pattern to make a rain poncho for myself. I haven't been able to find it for 2 weeks. What do I find in my office tonight? The pattern that I have torn my house apart for. I should have known it was up here. So, I need to clean off my dining room table to cut out the pleather for my rain poncho. I am going to be styling in this thing.

Today I went to the doctor for my follow up on my bladder and kidney infection. I came home with another medicine. This time, it is for the foot. I get the antiviral for the foot, he thinks that I may have had some nerve damage from my last outbreak of shingles. I have ghost pain in that foot. Not only do I have the MRSA in the foot, I had shingles in it as well. Not fun. Drives me insane.

As for my diabetes, I am doing really well and my numbers are coming down. Oh, I can't take two of the tabs he prescribed since I have a really bad reaction to two pills. I can take one, it doesn't bother me. He said I have the weirdest body chemistry he has ever seen. Tell me about it. Coffee puts me out, I can sleep on one cup of coffee. I get jittery on two cups. I can't exercise right now since I am on the antibiotic and I can't be out in the sun with it. I will get all crispy and I don't need any more issues I have enough.

I had a problem today that really scared the crap out of me, my blood sugar dropped and I felt completely awful. What happened was I missed my 3:00 pm snack and I didn't realize that my body would do this to me, it dropped and I felt so awful. I can't even describe how nasty it was. I had to grab a Glucerna bar and down it. It literally wiped me out. I had to go on a sugar search. I should have popped a glucose tab. I found a small bag of peanut coated candy. Then I had a huge glass of ice water and fell asleep on the couch. Gary woke me up asking me what I wanted for dinner. I wanted to be left alone. He made me eat. I am still feeling really gross from it.

I lost 6 pounds on my diet. I am so proud of myself. Most people wouldn't think this is a great thing but, for a diabetic it is amazing. It feels great. Now if I would quit craving cake. I would kill for a piece of cake about now. That is my serious downfall. I love cake. Then I found out there is such an animal called sugar free cake. I mean, it just sounds so good about now, and sugar free icing. Oh, that sounds heavenly to me. Gary thinks Stevia sucks, hey, I am really liking it. It tastes fine to me since I pretty much can't use cane sugar. I had a lemonade with it the other day and it was really good.

We discussed putting me on Neurontin if I have issues with my feet. The only bad thing about that, it makes a person gain weight. Uh, no. I don't want anything that will put pounds back on me. I guess this means the cake is out. sigh! He said it is too soon for me to have any sort of neuropathy. I don't want any issues with my feet, they are sensitive enough as it is. I make sure they are doing well. I examine them constantly. It started when I caught the MRSA from the beach. I check to make sure they are doing well. I wash them with lavender soap. Lavender soap is antiseptic. It works great on my skin.

Tomorrow, I haven't decided if I am going to venture forth to the cloth store or stay home and work on Maribeth's socks. I had to rip out a whole sock because I dropped a stitch in the middle of the pattern. I wasn't happy but, I had to do it. I reworked some problem areas and I am thinking these are going to be really cute when they are done. I have decided that I love the Elann Dankai socks. They are the most comfy socks I own. I wore them to the doctor's office today. He was admiring them. The girls in the office all are curious as to what I am working on every time I go in. I always have something on my needles. One of them asked me how hard it was to learn to knit. Not hard, it just takes practice.

As most of you can see, hardly any yarn in the shop. I can't decide if I should continue on with my yarn painting or if I should back off and take a break for a while. I can't afford to buy yarn from my wholesaler. Last year was an incredibly bad year for my shop. So...after the lady buys the yarn she wanted me to hold for her, you might not be seeing yarn in my shop for sometime. I have to think about this and decide what I want to do.

I just know that I am no longer knitting for anyone other than myself and Maribeth. If someone else wants socks, they are going to have to find someone else to make them. I don't have the hand strength right now to do all of this knitting. I am having issues with my carpal tunnel on my right hand and the sprain sure didn't help it.

This is one of the reasons why I pulled out the sewing machine and started sewing. I can do it and it really doesn't take much hand strength to do it.

Miss Libby

2012-01-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is Libby, my sister's Pug. Isn't she just sweet? I took this picture of her smiling at our annual family Christmas. Yes, dogs do smile. My boys always smile and they have such beautiful smiles.
Who can resist that cute face?

A Time to Sit and Knit

2012-01-04T05:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an off day for me. I wasn't feeling all that well. I did find the time to sit and knit. I sat down, did the heel flap with my 2 inch heel and then did the turn on it. I am past the gusset and onto the foot. The yarn is okay at this point, I can't stand the way it splits. I am using the Elann Dankai. It is that self striping yarn in the big color changes. I have several more skeins of it but, I will work around the splitting issues to knit myself more pairs of socks.

Another thing I read about diabetes, foot care. Oh boy. I have to constantly wear socks or shoes around so, I don't damage my feet in any way. I guess it is a great thing that I live to knit socks. I will be wearing a lot of them. I find my wool socks are more comfy than cotton socks. :) Right now, I have on a blend of cotton and wool which are pretty comfy. I have to wash yesterday's socks in the sink and let them dry. Gary did mention his wool socks need washing, like I don't have enough on my plate right now. He can haul his butt into the laundry room and throw them in the washer just as easy as I can. I made him the superwash/nylon socks. I know, I am a smart lady.

I want to finish my current sock and start another one. I have some gorgeous yarns that I have been looking at for some time now. I just need to wind them into center pull balls from the hank. I have so much sock yarn around here it isn't funny. My resolution is to use my stash yarn as much as possible this year and see how many bins I can go through. I think it is a good way to use what I have and save money at the same time.

Another thing about sock yarn, it can be used for other things like shawls. Sock yarn makes beautiful shawls. I have one started in a lace weight but, I thinking of changing to a sock yarn for faster delivery of the item. I have the yarn sitting on my desk right now and I am thinking it will work out nicely. :)

I also want to complete several hats that people in the family need for winter. I know, I am late doing this but, I have to find time for these projects. Life is complicated and I knit when I can. I have one family group taken care of. I have to work on the next set in the family line up. When all is said and done, they will all have hats and I can sit back and relax. I know several of them have expressed more interest in socks but, I am to the point that if you can knit, you too can learn to knit socks. This means my sister, Melinda. I think now is the time for her to learn. She does knit beautifully on straight needles and tells me she hates circulars. I can't understand that one. Circular needles are great for holding big projects. I guess she doesn't realize it.

Oh well....time for glucose testing and my breakfast of eggs and bacon. Yummy.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have been remiss in posting but, I have been learning a few things about myself this whole time. I have learned that yes, I can live without bread and flour. It was tough at first but, I am getting pretty good at having a normal life without it. I also found out cheese is a good thing. I love cheese so this isn't a problem. I have found a yogurt that works well with my diabetes, it is skyr. Thick stuff and I can get used to the no sugar in it, it has agave nectar. I found that if I take a clementine and run it around the cup, it is just down right fabulous.

I am slowly working on the second sock and I have realized something, when they say to use a 2.75 inch heel flap, why? I have found that 2 inches works damn good on my foot. It fits much nicer and the heel doesn't bag which makes me insane.

I had a glucerna shake for breakfast this morning, hopped onto my bicycle and added some distance to my route. I was told it was warm this morning by the hubby, what a lie, it was freaking cold and I was trucking. I have my gear ratio set at 2 with a gear of 6 on the bike. I even ordered in a basket for my mountain bike. I have been using Gary's big ipod since mine needs to be uploaded and he has all of the songs on it that I like. Today I rode to Poison. Yesterday, I rode to OMD. I have a little bag that fits on my handle bars but, it won't hold water or coconut water. It does hold my garage door opener and the ipod quite nicely.

My sugar levels are coming down. Today I was actually at 129 which isn't good for resting but, when I started this whole mess 2 weeks ago, I was at 289. I was in sad shape. I felt completely awful. Now, I am really feeling wonderful. I haven't had my snack yet but, I will grab a clementine and that should help. I love celery and it is fabulous with peanut butter. Hummus is another great snack for me to have. I have Wassa crackers which does have whole grain but, very low carbs which works great for me. Today for lunch we went and had Mexican food which would normally be bad but, the local place has added healthy cooking to the menu, which I love. I had the grilled fajita steak with the green beans, salad, and whole kernel corn. I had a few chips with the green salsa and that was it. Water was my drink.

Today I am cleaning out my refrigerator and freezer. My niece, Meagan and her husband are getting all of the old good foods that I can't eat anymore. The gelato, the ice cream, the prepackaged meals, etc. She is going to be living high on the hog for a while. She appreciates it since they are newly weds and paying off college loans, and it is rough for them right now. When she told me they couldn't afford lettuce, I knew it was bad. So, I went ahead the last time she was here and gave her some fresh lettuce out of my garden. She also received some lemons. I need to go pick some more for her and send her home with some.

Gary is smoking ribs for dinner, and I am going to boil some cabbage, fix that can of black eyed peas, and maybe even cook some butternut squash for dinner. It should be good.

My resolution this year besides getting my blood sugar under control, losing weight, yadda yadda....is to get my life back on the right track. Knit more things, paint more yarns, teach people my craft and hopefully, get better at sewing. :)

I have yarn left in the shop and until it is gone, I won't be adding more. I have one skein waiting for a customer to purchase it and the other two are waiting for someone to buy them. I might even give someone an incredible deal on them. I don't want to pay taxes on those skeins of yarn.

I found an incredible grilled chicken salad down at El Rey on Hwy 6 near West Road, it has the usual greens, pico de gallo, grilled zuchini, grilled squash, grilled red pepper, tomatoes, avocado, and mango chunks on it. I get the cilantro lime dressing, it is beyond fabulous. I have had it for two days in a row. The hubby was sick of it so, we had the Mexican food for lunch.

Have a wonderful start to your new year and I hope it is a healthy, happy, and prosperous one for each and every one of you.

Sometimes the Truth Hurts

2011-12-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

I was at the doctor last week since I was feeling poorly. I had a kidney infection, this I knew since I have suffered from these things before. So, I ventured forth into the doctor's office to get the pee test done. Well, bad news...they suspected I had diabetes. Oh shit!

I found out yesterday, yep, it is true and I have type 2, which unfortunately, runs in my family. So, I now have the drugs, the blood glucose test meter, strips, and the lancets with the pain giving device to poke my finger or body parts. I asked for one that wouldn't hurt my finger tips since I do knit professionally. I need my finger tips for my needles.

I also have a round of prednisone for the asthma that is once again out of control. My right lower lung has been hurting badly. My doctor decided to do the prednisone to stop any pneumonia from taking hold. Great. This raises blood sugar but, it has to be done. I am finding out slowly what spikes my blood sugar and right now, it isn't great. I took my fasting sugar this morning and it isn't pretty. I guess after I get it all under control, life will be better.

Today I have to wash clothes, which sucks. I have no more clean clothes, they are all on the pile in the hamper. It is like the leaning tower of clothes.

I need Gary to fill my bicycle tires up since I have plans to go riding today as my form of exercise. I get to do that now as well. I wish I had a heated pool because I would be in that sucker swimming laps. Wouldn't that be great? I would rather swim than anything else. If I lose enough weight, I can get back into my wetsuit and go swimming in cooler temps. :)

Right now though, I am just tired. Maybe as I get the hang of this disease, life will be better. Hopefully. The only thing we have left when the chips are down is hope.

Happy New Year.

Knitting Into the Wee Hours

2011-12-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I sat down and cast on for a hat for my sister, Melinda. I had promised her this hat for a while. My first attempt at it resulted in a small hat which I gave to Maribeth, it is really cute. This time I decided to go ahead and knit the one for her again. I finished it at 2 am this morning but, it is really sweet looking. The yarn is a custom paint and it is called Drop Dead Gorgeous. It turned out really well. Pictures will follow later when I get my camera out and snap pics.

Today I have plans to cast on and knit myself a hat. I need one to match my cape. :) I was working on the sock but, put it down. I am in the middle of the heel flap and I was bored. I put it down with my count listed on a sticky note.

Yeah, it is that kind of week over here. I have to bake cookies at some point and head off to the grocery store for cheese, salad, and other things. We are going to be hopping from house to house this year. I have cupcakes for Maribeth since she loves chocolate, they were supposed to be for our play date, I am a good Auntie and I come bearing gifts. Not my problem if she is sugared up when I leave, that is her Mom's problem. :D

I have to dig out the marble board and get it ready with my tin of marbles for Saturday. This game has been in the family since we were kids and I have the original board. We do some serious marble playing in my family. We play cut throat marbles. We play UNO pretty much the same way. We are all pretty competitive when it comes to games and we still to this day can't play Risk, a right hook or two have been known to come across the table and the board goes flying. This is from the women in the family, the men aren't as bad.

I thought of taking my dominoes as well. I love playing 42 and it is time to teach my nieces and nephews how to play. We learned to play the game from my Aunt Cecilia. I have no idea how she had so much patience. She did and she taught all of her nieces how to play. I still play recklessly and I have had people threaten me with a spoon or two. Oh well...not much you can do if you are stuck with the last draw and no two tiles match.

It is fun though and we also need to teach them how to play Tarok. I have my deck and I know I gave my sister, Cheryl and deck a couple of years ago. The last time we played, we were in the game for 8 hours. It was incredible.

We do have fun together which is what my parents wanted. We also look out for one another. I guess most people don't realize how much if they don't come from a big family. Being the youngest of 8, I sit and watch it all go down. You never know what is going to happen between us.

I hope your memories are as wonderful as mine are in this great time of year. I hope you all have a very festive Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays for everyone else. Be safe. Happy New Year.

Knitting on Something I Love

2011-12-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

I am finished with the Joe socks. Yay! I never want to see those things on my needles again. I am sending what is left fo the skein with the socks so, my niece, can darn them when the time comes. He is her hubby, she can darn his socks or learn to do it. I am not doing it for him. I have my own husband's socks to contend with if he doesn't lose them.

I have yarn galore sitting on my desk right now. I need to knit socks with it all. I just have to find the time. I admit, I am taking my time around here lately.

What is left in the shop is it for this year and until I get my sales tax and rendition in for the new year, I am not painting until this is taken care of. I had to pay out the wazoo for last year and I have learned my lesson big time, I am not going to go through that one again.

I have plans for today to paint two skeins of yarn for hats. I am knitting two hats for two special people. I have one hat that needs to be started for my sister, Melinda. She wants a beanie flap hat. Can't say that I blame her since I need to make one for me. Great thing, the beanie flap, it is a nice hat pattern that will be keeping my ears warm this year.

Saturday was the chapter Christmas party and we had a great time. We went to Brookwood Center in Brookshire, Texas and had lunch at the cafe. It was fabulous. Then we went shopping afterwards, I spent some money but, it goes to a great cause, everything they sell goes to the people who need it. It is for people with disabilities. It is a neat place. I highly recommend it. Make your reservations and head out to the cafe if you are in Texas and near Brookshire. You won't regret it. I have seen the reviews and they are 5 stars across the boards and I know why...yummy.

I am working on another pair of socks right now in the circle sock pattern, yes, I have knit if before but, I do enjoy this pattern very much, it always shows off the yarn I am working with. The yarn I am using right now is Elann's Dankai. I chose to use the one with purples, blues, pinks and browns. It is gorgeous and I can't wait to take pictures of it to show it off. :)

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Avoidance Syndrome

2011-12-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

I am avoiding the Yeti sock right now. I turned on the tv and started watching QVC. This place can sell a starving man anything at all. I had to leave because I nearly added that Junior's dream cake to my cart. I had to stop myself. No cake, I must be good. Cake is my downfall.

Yesterday, I kettle dyed a skein of yarn for myself in a gorgeous red. It is a custom color that I don't think I can repeat. I am totally out of the base dye and the accent dye is plentiful around here. I have plans to knit myself a beanie flap hat. I need one for my cape. I have a red cape that screams the need for a hat. I thought a tam would have been great with it or a beret but, those two items leave my ears exposed and me being 41, I need my ears covered since the last time it was cold, my ears were exposed and I managed to get an ear ache. Yes, I feel like a child. You would think with my long hair, I would have been warm...nope, I had my hair up in a pony tail.

Hubby took me out for lunch today since I am feeling so much better although, I get tired, really easily. I need a nap. I haven't taken one yet since I was watching the tv. I did cut out a pattern for another zippy pouch but, I misplaced my interface pattern. I need to find it and cut out my interface and get moving on this thing. It is going to be a Christmas present for a friend.

I think it will be well received.

I was digging through my fat quarter stash and found some very nice fabrics. I need more zippers though to do what I want to do. Isn't that always the way? I never have what I need around here. I have plenty of thread but, not enough zippers. I have to make a trip out for zippers at the fabric store. I love the nylon zippers, I hate the invisible ones, they blow.

I had to put Bootsy back into the cone of shame since he kept licking his paws. He licks them bloody. It drives me insane when he starts chewing and licking them. He will have to have the ointment put on them again. The stuff is completely nasty but, it works. We are on our second tub of it.

I hope Gary is almost ready for dinner because I am hungry.

Knitting for a Baby Yeti and Other Things of Interest

2011-12-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

This is the Joe sock, or the baby Yeti socks, huge freaking feet.

This is my icy water shawl in progress. It is sitting by the wayside while I finish the Joe sock.

Gary has spent time making preserved lemons with all of the lemons around here. We have more on the tree. So many more.

As you can see, we have been busy over here. I was still feeling gross so, I sat down and started knitting and I managed to turn the heel of the Joe sock, and I am now on the leg portion of the sock. I can't wait to see the end of these things.

The Icy water yarn is being knit up into a shawl, I can't remember which one right now, I have put it down while I finish the big sock. I love this yarn, it is so amazing, it is a pure merino wool and it knits up like a dream. So incredibly soft. I am using Susan Bates Silvalume needles on this one because I could find them in my needle bucket and the points are sharp which is perfect for lace. They were cheap, too.

The preserved lemons are Gary's work. He is a pro at this already. This jar has cinnamon sticks, crystallized ginger, and bay leaf if I am not mistaken. I have quite the gourmet living with me. He is a great husband. I wouldn't trade him in.

Enjoy my pics this might be it for a while. I am completely worn out since I didn't have a nap at all today. That nap makes me feel so much better.

Knitting Slowly

2011-12-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

Right now I am working on the Joe sock, if you are thinking this sounds familiar, yep it is. This is the second sock for my nephew, Joe. He wears a size 14 shoe. I have learned a few things about myself with this particular pair of socks, I am never going to knit another pair of these in fingering weight yarn. It is just taking me forever. I am bored out of my mind right now and my eye keeps wandering to other gorgeous yarns that I could be using to knit myself socks.

I have to admit it...I am thinking if people want socks from me, they are in for a serious disappointment. I am not knitting socks for anyone other than myself for a while. I am going to be selfish and use this talent for me. I washed my merino/silk butterfly fields socks and oh my...they are so comfy. I reblocked them after I washed them and I am seriously in love with this yarn all over again. No wonder why I adore knitting with it. I come back to it time and again.

I had ordered in some sewing patterns, I belong to a pattern club where I get a nice discount on patterns. I have several patterns I want to do for myself. I will need a trip to the fabric store when I am feeling better.

I learned something new yesterday...did you know that lavender was at one point in time used to disinfect hospital surgeries? It has amazing properties that I never knew about until I read an article about it. It can cure many things. I never knew this. I have a bar of lavender soap that I adore and well, it is helping my poor old asthmatic skin. I have the dry skin that most asthmatics have unfortunately. My lavender soap is helping get it back on to a decent track. Cold weather has serious effects on my skin, making it far worse than normal. Lotions don't work on this skin. I hate feeling greasy and sticky from them.

I also learned that pleather has to be sewn with a teflon presser foot and a fine point needle. The article I read basically said do not use the leather needle since it will leave great big holes in the fabric. I had to order in the presser foot so, I can sew my rain poncho. The presser foot was cheap but the shipping was completely outrageous since it cost more than the foot. I have plans to zing the seller on that one. What they fail to realize is that I ship things and I know how much it costs. I don't like being screwed on postage, it just ticks me off. I don't over charge on postage for my packages, I charge what the post office charges.

I am also ticked off at family members who don't tell people they have moved until a Christmas card shows up with the new address on it. I point blank shared my displeasure with my brother in law on this. If he doesn't want us to know where he lives, then he damn well doesn't deserve a Christmas present and from now on he won't be receiving one from us. Neither will his kids. Think about that and put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Now, I am going to go sit and knit. Maybe it will cheer me up, I need something to do that. Maybe Ody will decide he needs me to snuggle with him.

Why?

2011-12-03T22:35:00.001-08:00

What a day...I went and dealt with a chapter function which was a huge success. I am so proud of the ladies in my chapter. Way to go!

I was driving home and I couldn't figure out why the person in front of me on the feeder road was going so damn slow. I creeped up on the bumper and realized it was Gary in front of me. I passed him as soon as he moved over to the other lane. He was driving like an old lady. I was going home and doing it in my usual fashion, fast.

I came home, I made myself a sandwich with some incredible soft cheese, I found at the grocery store last night...it was expensive but, so worth it. I made it with a peppered ham that we had bought. I picked two fresh lettuce leaves out of the garden for my sandwich and toasted my French country bread. It was incredible. We are going to have to go buy more of that cheese. :)

I also made myself a cup of hot cocoa, it is peppermint flavored with bits of candy cane in the mix. I found it at Wally world and it wasn't cheap but, it is so damn good that I plan to go buy more of it. I put in a soft mint stick, add whipped cream to the top and have at it. It is killer good. It is by Stephens. I looked on line and it isn't cheap, I will go back to Wally world to get more of it on Monday. I have to mail 12 boxes of packed items for our military. Yay!

I have a recipe for all of you turkey lovers out there...when you have so much leftover turkey that you can't eat another sandwich, try this out. It is Turkey Verde Enchiladas.

This recipe works best if you have fresh flour tortillas, I buy mine at my local HEB.

Take your turkey and make sure it is off of the bones, cut it into small pieces or shred it. Set aside.

You will need a can of cream of chicken, do not add water, a tub of sour cream, the 8 ounce size works well for a small batch, double your cream of chicken and sour cream if you have a big family. One bag of shredded Mexican cheese, and two cans of verde enchilada sauce.

Mix your cream of chicken soup, with your sour cream, the shredded cheese, save some of the cheese for sprinkling on top of the enchiladas, add 1 can of verde enchilada sauce, and your turkey, mix it together, well.
Take a baking pan, and grease it. Turn your oven on to 350F and preheat it.
Grab those flour tortillas and start spooning the mixture into the tortilla, wrap it around the mixture, and place the seam of the tortilla on the bottom of the pan, grab another tortilla and do the same, when you go to add it to the pan, gently push it against the first one, and continue adding filled tortillas to the pan and gently pushing the previous one until your pan is full. When you have the desired amount, take the second can of verde sauce and pour over the enchiladas, then top with cheese. You can also save some sour cream and put it on top of the enchiladas, then add the sauce, and the cheese is always last.

Bake in your 350F oven for 45 minutes covered with aluminum foil.

We made these and the recipe made enough for 4 people easily. It works well with cooked chicken breast instead of turkey. If you are using chicken breast, you will have to boil the breasts in salted and seasoned water before adding to the mixture.

We had to do something with all of our leftover turkey and this is a great recipe for just that.

Enjoy! Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Shopped Out

2011-12-03T10:35:00.001-08:00

Today I was sent a sale for a cricut cake machine mini for $29.95. Just so you know where to go, when the time comes. They area also offering free shipping. This machine normally sells for $179.95. This is a steal for this particular machine. It is the smaller machine than the big boy, I own. I haven't had time to play with my machine as of yet. It was on sale for the past couple of weeks for $49.95. It normally sells for $449.95. Yeah, that kind of sale.

Yesterday, I went with my sister to get the last Christmas presents for the nephews and my feet when we were done, were tired. I managed to get what I needed and then some. I was on a peppermint kick yesterday. I managed to get some peppermint hot cocoa, burned my mouth on a free cup of coffee, they were trying to sell the Keurig machine and well, it works nicely and quickly, I just had to realize that the smell of that coffee was so amazing and incredibly hot. I asked for one of those machines for Christmas. :) I can't wait to play with it.

Last night, I wasn't cooking dinner since I was worn out. We were going for Mexican but changed to Vietnamese at the last minute and hit the Pho place. They have the best pan fried dumplings as an appetizer, I had the bun. Gary had the fried rice. Lately, we have been having a lot of Cuban. I love this one place that sells it over here....amazing food.

Yarn is still on sale in the shop but, will be ending at the end of December or when I completely sell out of what is in the shop. No more yarn will be coming into the shop. I don't have time with the Christmas season and I can't afford to pay for new yarns in the shop, tax time is around the corner and the least amount of painted yarn I have, the better.

Time for a nice sandwich with fresh lettuce out of my garden. Yummy!

I Turn to Yarn For Solace

2011-11-30T06:20:00.001-08:00

I am bad, I admit it. I am also an enabler for people who need yarn and they don't know it. I am on an email list for yarn companies that have quality yarn for cheap. Yep, I am one of those knitters. I also crochet for those of you who don't know it. I spin, and weave as well. I am busy. Now to find the time to work with all of this luscious yarn. There is the problem. I never seem to have enough time in my day to do what needs to be done. My hubby tells me that I don't know how to manage my time. I guess he is right, I am not sure though.

My next project to take care of has to deal with my Sprigg's triangle loom. 7 feet of pure wonderment. I fell in love with the thing when I saw a friend had bought one. I had to have it. It is a nifty item, just be aware that it takes up some space when it is all together. It has a huge stand to go with it. Although, from what I remember, it is not included in the loom price, it is extra. Of course, you can always make your own if you are nifty with a saw and lumber, sadly, I am not. I am not allowed around saws, with my luck, I would cut off my arm. I like my arm, thank you. I pulled out the yarn that I am going to need to weave with, it just has to make it's way downstairs and then the fun will start, I have to wind each ball of yarn into a center pull ball. I get to spit splice it together for convenience. I know some of you are asking...what is spit splicing. It sounds gross and I guess it is but, it works. Wool has scales on the shaft of the hair and if you apply the right amount of spit and friction, it will stick together. The process is simple, take the end of the yarn, spread out the individual strands and do the same with the other end of the new ball. Place both spread ends together in the palm of your hand and spit on them. Now rub furiously together, making sure both ends are placed together, add more spit until they are together and won't pull apart. Ta da, you have yarn that is now joined. It only works with wool.

Every year about this time, I get interested in lace and shawls. I guess the cold makes me want to knit one. I get part of the way through and I get bored. Yep, I have that problem with sweaters, too. I need excitement in my knitting. Then of course, there is lace shawls via crochet. Crochet is quick. If you are ADD, this is the best thing, it goes fast and you can still use gorgeous yarns, it just takes more of it.

I was perusing that free knitting/crochet site, the one that starts with an R, and found some gorgeous free crochet lace shawl projects, ooh, I can do these, I thought to myself. Now, I just have to find my crochet hooks. There is the problem. I used to have gorgeous Brittany birch crochet hooks...notice, I said used to...you see the problem is Ody. He thought they were his chew toys and ate them, along with several pairs of new shoes. He even ate a pair of 20 year old leather shoes that were my favorites. I wasn't happy. I bought them in college and they were on sale and so comfy, they were my dancing shoes, I always wore them out dancing at the bars. My party girl shoes are now dead. Grrr!

So, I have to dig around and see if I can find a crochet hook or two to make something wonderful. If you want to know if I have finished the Joe sock...Nope. I am procrastinating on those and I do need to find his yarn and start the second sock. It is just so big and boring. I wanted him to try the sock on before I continued with the second one but, I don't think it will happen. He lives on the other side of town and I am not going that way anytime soon.

Anyway, today I found myself reading an email about crochet hooks, books, and yarns for cheap. I even contemplated purchasing Addi clicks lace needles and cords...after looking at the price, nope, it wasn't going to happen and besides which, I have some Susan Bates silvalume knitting needles that have some killer points on them, they are cheap and they will work great for lace. I have to use a nice bandage on my finger for those since I have holes in my skin from the points. I get lazy when I knit sometimes and push with my finger. We all do it. I just have to put something on my skin to protect the finger from that point in the second layer of skin...painful.

Back to my story, I found new steel crochet hooks, a book about crocheting lace, and some yarn. The yarn is for knitting since it is a mohair blend in the most gorgeous blue. I have plans for it for me. No one else will be benefitting from that yarn.

I admit, I keep the really good stuff for myself. I pet it, and let it sit. Now, I do work with nice yarns for hats, mittens, etc. My sock yarn is primo stuff and I use it as well. If you are going to knit socks, use the best yarn you can afford, it makes a complete difference. Seriously. If it is icky, it isn't worth knitting with and wearing it is a bad experience. Really bad experience.

Now off to the races, I have so much to do today, the worst being I have to finally finish laundry. I have been dealing with it for 3 days now. Sigh. I don't want to deal with it anymore than this.

Get Your Hands Off Of Me

2011-11-28T05:48:00.001-08:00

I experienced something on Black Friday that I really don't ever want to happen again. I was at the Wally world sale and let me tell you first of all those people are complete idiots and should have done it differently. I have never had to defend myself in a damn store against people trying to get at Wii games. I managed to get three games, one for Melinda and two for myself at the sale price. I had to help the small lady next to me, when a woman picked her up and tried to forcefully move her and then myself when some dude tried to move me out of the way. I am no light weight and when someone is trying to force me away from my spot, I am not a happy camper. I told him to back off and when he didn't, I gave him the backwards thrusting elbow and told him to unhand me or I would drop his ass. When I finally got out of the mess, I gave him a nice parting gift, a nice stomp and grind on his foot. He deserved it and so much more. The jerk.

After the hell of Wally world, we went back to Melinda's to unload her vehicle and then head to our third stop, we had hit the local craft store to get my 1/2 off Christmas tree, I purchased a pre-lit tree for a nice sum. It was about 60% off when all was said and done. I was completely happy about that one.

My last stop was the Kohl's sale. Melinda had to be at two others stores at 5 am and 6 am. I was going home. I wasn't going to buy anything at Kohl's. I came home with a birthday present, some jewelry for me and some presents for my sisters. I even came home with a straw basket since I had to use it to put my stuff in. It worked out quite nicely. That basket will be going on future jaunts when I need it. I got it for half off. I came home and went to bed. I will say this, it was so freaking hot in all of those stores. Melinda was almost throwing up in the parking lot after we got out of the store, I had some sweet tea in her van and I promptly emptied the cup, I was thankful that I brought it with me. I needed it. I was pouring sweat in the store, it was completely awful. I made it home and was so exhausted, I dropped into bed, I had to get up earlier than planned and take a much needed shower, I couldn't stand myself. I was rank. At one point, I told Gary not to move or I would throw up on him.

This past week was not a good one over here, I had the stomach virus that is going around. It starts off with a killer headache, then comes the vomiting, after you puke, the diarrhea starts. Poor little Maribeth has it. It took me three days to get over it. It was completely awful and extremely draining. I felt so bad. I even had fever with it. I spent my week sleeping under a quilt on the couch. I couldn't stand to sleep in our bed.

Last night was not a good night over here, come to find out our dogs are covered in ticks. The backyard is loaded with them. So, when the yard dries out, Gary will be spraying the whole thing. We had to run to the store and get tick solution for the dogs. Ody and Boots had it applied to them. We have to go get some for Napoleon today since he weighs more than either one of them. The stuff isn't cheap, either.

I will also be purchasing oranament hooks. We don't have enough of the things and I need some. I am doing my tree in reds this year and bought the cutest cardinals for my tree. I even found more ornaments in my office and the guest bedroom along with the angel. She is so pretty. I can't wait to top the tree with her. Gary will be the one taking care of that.

Poor Melinda has cat troubles, her Siamese kitten loves the tree and spends her time in the middle of it. Now, she knows why I believe in plastic ornaments, I know, glass ornaments and cats don't mix.

Right now, I am tired and I have a sore throat. Ugh. The weather is the culprit, one day it is hot and the next, we have ice. Who wouldn't get a sore throat from that?

I haven't had time to knit. I have been busy cleaning my home. I have to get something going already since I have to make my Christmas present for the family. I know what I want to do, I just have to find the time to take care of it. I will be the one making it before we have to leave for the party. Yep, that is pretty much going to happen if I don't deal with it.

Zippy Pouches

2011-11-21T20:13:00.001-08:00

I have been sewing zippy pouches lately. I love this pattern because it is so verstile and the best part, I can use fat quarters and scrap material to make them. The only thing I have to go buy is the zippers and thread in the right shades. I am getting quite the line up of thread.

I made these two for my niece, Maribeth. She had chosen a pretty pink daisy fabric but, I was in the fabric store and came across this fabric and some others so, I bought them just for her. The bottom pic has butterflies in a darker color than the fabric. I was hoping it would show up better than it did.

I Missed that Sale

2011-11-21T08:31:00.001-08:00

I just realized something, I missed a sale by a bath and body company that I used to love. I loved her products until I realized that she is so popular that I can't even buy her products. So, I stopped creeping her shop. Now, I received an email asking me why I have left purchasing items from her. Well, if there are no products to purchase, how can I purchase them? I moved on to other things anyway and since I bought that book on how to make my own body scrub, I decided to forgo buying her stuff...not that I could anyway, since it is sold out all of the time.

Oh well...moving on. I am currently sewing zipper bags. My sister, Melinda gave me a huge amount of scrap fabric to make the bags with. They are simple bags and very cute with just the right fabric. My only problem, I need more interfacing and zippers. So, I am off to the fabric store today to get those zippers and interfacing.

I have discovered something, I hate the invisible zippers. They are a pain for me. Maybe as I get better at sewing I will discover a like for them or still an intense hate. We shall see. Why the sewing bug you ask? I have a machine, I normally use my fat quarters to make sachets to keep the moths at bay, if you own wool and lots of it, invest in good quality lavender...it does make a difference. Do not use the stuff that has lavender oil in it, it will ruin your wools, use the good natural lavender flower heads, they are the best. I found a lavender farm outside of Austin, Texas that does mail order. She sells the flower heads in bulk. I used to order from the UK but, that wasn't cheap. Besides I like the idea of keeping American's employed.

The yarn sale will end on December 31, 2011. My shop has yarn in it, what you see is it. No more will be coming to the shop. I have no more to sell. After the new year, more will appear as I get back to work painting.

Sharing Time

2011-11-20T06:56:00.001-08:00

I am grumpy. I will admit it. I have no idea why...could be I am just sick of all the bullshit going on right now. Driving home the other night from a trip for chicken fingers from the spicy chicken joint, I was appalled at the driving going on. For once, I wasn't zipping around in my car like an idiot. I was actually doing the speed limit because I was tired. I noticed things I normally don't notice like the crazy damn fools driving like they were all hopped up on crack. I started to look around.

This looking around has continued for a while now courtesy of this night of driving. What the hell is wrong with people? Do the holidays cause this or is this permanent? People are driving like they have no sense whatsoever in their brains. Weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off, and just being really obnoxious.

SIGH!!!

We hit the grocery store last night to pick up our items for Thanksgiving. We are staying home this year and we aren't headed out to someone's house. I am rather looking forward to staying home with my hubby. We are going to do a normal sized meal, nothing huge and the main goal was to use what we have around here. Our Thanksgiving meal that we bought the last items for cost a whole whopping $56. Not bad, I say. The most expensive thing was the hamburger meat for the dressing. I have a unique recipe I use, it was given to me by my Daddy. He told me I could cook which was a shocker to me since I pretty much can throw anything together and to be told by the man who made the best food in the world, that I could cook was high honors indeed.

Melinda wants me to go shopping with her for the deals of the year, I said yes, I will be wearing my tennis shoes for this one. I already know. I have one more gift to buy and that is it. No more. I am making the family Christmas gift for the women in the family, Gary is on his own as to what he is taking. I want to make something unique and truly original. You see, I have plans. I am not sharing those plans because I think some of them read this blog.

I also broke out the sewing machine. I have a pattern for small zippered pouches and after trying to figure out how in the world they wanted me to work the gusset into the actual pattern...after three attempts, I threw the gusset out and made it my way, it worked out like I knew it would. So, I showed off my work to Melinda yesterday and the first time I had ever sewn in a zipper, it looks great. I had asked her if she wanted one, on the phone Saturday night, no, was the answer. When she saw the bags, she sent me home with loads of material. I am now making Maribeth several. I will have to go buy some more zippers for my bags but, they are pretty cheap.

I also have done so much charity lately. One of those charity items helped someone complete their bucket list. I wasn't going to do it but, I decided to go ahead and do it since for some weird reason God brought her to us. I have no idea why but, she is meant to be here. My other 5 acts of charity are done, and I have no more to give. I have had to turn away two people already because I can't do anymore. It has been a really bad year for the business. I was seriously considering getting out of the yarn business because it has been so bad. Then I received an email telling me how gorgeous my yarn is. That really made me feel great. I am still doing a good thing, it seems.

I guess with the economy being so bad and so many people out of work, it is hard to justify buying yarn. I know, I am the same way. I have a load of yarn in my stash courtesy of all those sales years ago when I first started knitting. I am using my yarn stash.

I am also dealing with a sprained right hand. I was trying to open a jar of spaghetti sauce and something popped in the hand. It hurt like the blazes. I have been wearing my splint and I can't pick up anything heavy with it. It makes me scream in agony. I had to give up my golf membership to the local range because I can't even pick up a club with it. I can't hold the grip. Trying to knit with it, is another story...for anyone who wants me to knit for them...no, it isn't happening at all. I can't physically do it.

I am learning to say, NO this year.

Enough of my babbling...I hope everyone has a very safe and blessed Thanksgiving. I am thankful, I have a roof over my head, a hubby who adores me most of the time, except when I am being difficult, which is a lot lately, and 6 wonderful 4 legged kids, even though this past week was a new experience in hell with them and for my huge family.

From Bad to Worse and it isn't Getting Any Better

2011-11-16T12:52:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning with the most horrible headache. I wasn't feeling myself at all. So, I had to run some errands and while I was out, decided to pick up a quick lunch. First off, the fast food place got my drink order wrong, I wanted a plain sweet tea, what did I get? A Peach sweet tea. Just to tell you how bad I feel, I didn't tell them a word. I have no fight left in me today.

I picked up milk and a dosing syringe for Ody, he doesn't think a teaspoon is a good idea and neither do I. I wanted to get the dosing syringe so, I can just squirt the antihistamine down his little maw. He was cooperative for about 4 seconds and it went downhill from there. He wasn't a happy corgi. Nope, not at all but, I did get most of it in him. He was spitting and trying to get his mouth away from the faux bubblegum flavor. He hates the stuff but, he is getting it since his eyes are running with goo.

I was getting ready to mail off my box tops to the DAR school and I had the things sitting on my desk, I went to the restroom, came back and they are completely gone. I would like to know where they are because I can't find the things. How do I manage to lose something within 5 minutes of setting it down? I need some help with this one.

When I was on my errand run, I felt like my eye balls were going to pop out of their sockets, so, I realized what was happening. I have fever along with the headache. Apparently, I just found out, something is going around and I managed to get it, like usual. This sucks.

I am working on another beanie flap hat. This one is a custom paint order and it is awesome looking. When it is finished, I will go ahead and take pics and send it off to it's owner. I am thinking of using that same colorway for a pair of socks, it is the most drop dead gorgeous color I have seen. I think I will name it Drop Dead Gorgeous because it is.

Here...Let Me Get That For You

2011-11-14T06:51:00.001-08:00

This weekend was something else. I think I slept most of it away. Saturday we went and bought our Christmas lights, LED's this year and they were on sale. I used my rewards card and managed to get 20% off of the lights. We saved a whole $14, which is nice.

Gary started the light hanging process. So far, looks good. I spoke with one of my nieces and she said that she wanted to get the light hanging process started as well, she plans to start it this weekend coming up. We both agreed that it just feels like it should be time. I told Gary I needed some cheer.

Sunday we went to lunch and boy was that disappointing. I won't be going back to that restaurant, it wasn't good at all. We came home and sat down on the couch, I fell asleep. I had a bad headache. I woke up 3 hours later with a worse headache. It was just headache day.

I did pick lemons off of the tree, and some of them fell off as soon as I disturbed them. I took a huge bag to Melinda. She was happy to get them. I told her if she needs more, to come on by and she can have some. The tree is completely loaded with fruit this year. I have no idea what we are going to do with it all. I have told family members to bring their bags to come picking. I think this coming weekend, I am going to call them all and tell them to head over, the lemons are ready. They can have a lemon picking party.

My sister, Cheryl said that she juiced her batch and it is sitting in her fridge. I let her know that the lemon juice is zingy. It is a meyer lemon. She loved how thin skinned they are. Yep, easy to work with and very juicy.

My okra is still producing and Gary informed me he is sick of okra. We have eaten a bunch of okra this year courtesy of those 5 plants. I think for my summer garden I am going to only plant two plants. I am working out my plans for my garden for the summer. I have my seed order ready to go. I think we decided to only plant two kinds of tomatoes this next year. We had tomato issues. One of them was a massive vine that took up space and didn't produce a damn thing. Total waste of my time. Come to find out, it likes really cool weather...GRRRR!!!! We are in a drought down here and cool was not the weather we had. It was very disappointing.

Hopefully, as we go along our little garden will keep producing what we like to eat. I do enjoy working out there, it is very relaxing. I just hope we no longer have a milk weed problem like this year. It was awful. The weeds were everywhere and I was weeding them out. I couldn't keep up.

Today I get to work on my pool...I am not very excited about that prospect but, it has to be taken care of already. sigh! I need to add water and figure out what is going on with it. I know I have to load my chlorinator...ugh. I hate dealing with chlorine, the stuff is completely awful. sigh! Just the story of my life.

Some of my Pretties

2011-11-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my roses in the backyard in bloom. The Kennedy, top photo, hasn't bloomed this well in a long time. Mr. Lincoln is the red one, which always produces the most beautiful blooms and they are generally massive, it is one of my favorite roses.

The Noisette, Madame du Alfred Carriere is dead. The drought killed it. Poor rose. I miss it terribly but, there was nothing I could do to save it. I watered it and the amount of heat did it in. I guess Texas weather was just too much for it.

These two roses are hybrid teas. I don't spray them, I just water them occasionally and give them some plant food every now and then. They are fine.

Introducing Bad Girl

2011-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

This is bad girl, a new yarn of mine. I hand painted the yarn, and now I am making a beanie flap out of it. I can't decide if I should sell it or if I should give it as a Christmas gift. It reminds me of a certain pastel licorice candy, I was going to name it that but, I really don't want to infringe on someone's licensing, I don't roll that way.

The yarn is a Peruvian Highland wool, which I love, it is not scratchy, it is soft. It knits up like a dream. I am using size US 8 circs for this and I will switch to US 8 dpns when the time comes for crown shaping.

Charity Knitting and Me

2011-11-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have had more and more people needing charity knitting and then there was yesterday. I felt really awful that I wasn't able to help the lady out. I have given to several groups this year and the really sad thing is that this lady has a noble cause, unfortunately with the economy sucking on so many levels, I had to refuse her. Yep, I can't do anymore this year.

I donated the hats that didn't sell at RHF to a chemo group. They were the last ones I had. I hope they will help out poor souls who need them.

The lady who begged me for assistance wanted cash. I don't have any cash to spare. I am on a tight budget and I was giving the one thing I had, yarn knit up into something. I have yarn galore in my stash and I can help out that way....you see it all started when I first learned to knit, I started buying yarn when we had money. If I saw a sale, I bought yarn, good quality wool. Now that we are in the lean years courtesy of the economy, I have something to fall back on. Like Mom and Daddy always said, you put aside for lean times. Well, they taught me well, I did just that. Now, I have yarn. I would make her something for her to sell but, right now, I am worn out. Completely worn out.

My right hand is sprained and I am working slowly on the Joe sock. I am still on the first one which should give you a clue. I am usually very fast knitting socks. Not with this one. I am going to have to find a way to make my hand work better. Right now, it isn't happy. I have been dropping stuff courtesy of that hand. I can't stand for Gary to hold my hand, it hurts too damn much. The fingers are swollen and it hurts. I may have to find a mitt for it and wear that to help it out. I have some single mitts running around here some place. Yes, I am a one mitt knitter syndromer. It used to be socks but, I have worked past that. My next goal is to become a two mitt knitter and get past that syndrome.

As a knitter, I refuse to stop but, when do I stop before I completely damage the hand or screw it all and blow the hand out completely. I know that the hubby is reading this and telling me to not be stupid and stop working and let the hand rest. I have to agree with him. I am going to slow down and give the hand a nice time out and let it rest. If I owe you custom knitting, sorry, I need a time out.

Once the hand heals satisfactorily, then I will continue on my yarn journey. Each project I knit up is a journey through life. What people do not realize is that knitting does take time and yes, each piece is a part of time. It is a relaxing journey and there is that section of "what the hell is this pattern talking about?", and having to rework it many times. It mimics life. The section of frogging evil when I am screaming in frustration and throwing it across the room, only to pick it up when I am looking for another skein of yarn in just the right shade...what do you know, I am going to work on this again and realizing how stupid I was to chuck it. Or looking at it and deciding the yarn can be put to better use with a different pattern. So, I wind it back up into a ball and move on to another pattern.

For the time being, no charity knitting will be done, talk to me after the New Year and I will think about it. There are plenty of other knitters who have yarn to spare and the time, please seek them out.

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone stays safe.

The Joe Sock, a Work in Progress

2011-11-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the freaking huge Joe sock. As you can see, I used a normal sized ball point pen as my scale object. Not only is the sock wide but, it is very long. I am working on the leg right now and then the cuff will be last. I am going to have to bind off really loosely for this one. This by far is the biggest sock I have ever knit. The biggest, I can't stress that enough. I would be lost without my sock wizard software, it has more than paid for itself over the years.

The yarn is from Elann. It is more conservative than Joe but, I thought it was a nice manly yarn. From what my gauge is, I thought I would use more yarn on this ball than I have. I guess the US 2 needles make all of the difference. This yarn is comparable to Opal. It will hold up to carpet quite nicely. Gary loves the pair of socks I made for him. I will get pics of his socks when I can get him to wear them and I have my camera handy.

This yarn is a superwash wool and nylon blend. My niece, Meagan said that is great since she can just throw them into the washer and not have to worry about shrinking them.

Knitting Along...ONE Project at a Time

2011-11-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

This hat is 50% wool and 50% llama. It was fabulous to knit. I added hot fix jewels to it for a little added sparkle. It went to my niece, Carol for her birthday.

The little pink hat made out of 50% wool and 50% llama that has pink hot fix jewels. This hat will be having two ear flaps added on plus some pom poms. Maribeth insisted. There is also a pair of matching mittens to go with this hat.

This hat was a lot of fun to knit. I used a bulky weight wool with some of my hand spun yarn. I love how nice it turned out.

A pair of much needed socks for me. The yarn is from Elann and it is a dream to knit with. It is cotton/wool/nylon/and elite. I ordered several more skeins of this yarn. One skein made a pair of size 8.5 women's socks. I used US 2 needles for this project.

Pictures of the huge sock will follow when I get a chance to snap a picture.

Sometimes Life Just Intervenes

2011-11-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

Lately, I haven't had time to post a thing...life has been hectic around here. The month of October was fully packed with obligations between DAR and family. Hopefully, the month of November will slow down for me. I am ready for some quiet knitting time. Time to just sit and work on the sock of the month.

The sock of the month for me this time around is a size 14 man sock for my nephew, Joe. I may have posted about it earlier. Frankly, I can't remember. Joe has been wanting hand knit socks for, well forever but, his mom a knitter, refused to knit them for him. Since I just finished two pairs of socks, one for me and one pair for the hubby, who insisted they be knit in size 12, what is two more inches of knitting? So far the sock is coming along nicely, when I have time to sit and knit on it.

We have been discussing razor blades or the price of the cartridges...did you know the brand the hubby uses wants $13.70 for 4 of the things, and the really exasperating thing is the older razor that the company has is more expensive! I refuse to drop $15+ on razor blades, just for 4 of the things. He even suggested he buy a straight razor. No, those things scare the hell out of me. I don't want one in this house. So, I was toodling through wally world today when I saw it....Wilkinson Sword Razor Tech 3 for $5 and the blades for 4 of them are the same price...$5. That was a sold deal. I even noticed a woman's version and threw that in the cart as well. Same price as the men's and same price on the refills. I brought them home and I tried out the women's version...works just the same as that expensive brand...it starts with a G. The only place to get them is Wally world. Oh well, I go to the one by Melinda since it is cleaner and less crowded than the one by me. It is a smaller store, too but, that is okay. I don't like being pushed, prodded or run over by a moron pushing a cart. That usually happens in the one over here and I manage to always catch something in that store.

I bought sock looms for the two older nieces, the ones who always want hand knit socks...I don't have time to knit for them anymore. I have no time to knit for me. So, I am hoping it will inspire a need to knit in both of them. I can try to get them to learn the art of knitting and to better themselves with it.

Now, I am going to find a huge glass of ice water and go knit on the sock. Happy Fall to everyone.

New for November

2011-10-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

In November, I will be listing everything that I have in stock for the shop. I am having a 50% off sale. All the yarn must go. What I have in the shop currently is small compared to what is in my plastic bin.

Right now I am having a 25% off sale. It ends at the end of October.

As for knitting...I am working on a pair of size 14 men's socks for my nephew, Joe. He has never had hand knit socks before and his mom is a knitter. So, for his birthday, I decided to go ahead and knit him a pair. He is so excited.

I am using Elann's Sock it to Me Soft Focus in color 63 which is a tan, charcoal grey and black medley of colors. I am knitting the socks on two Addi turbos size 24 inch cord US 2 needles. I am on the first sock and I have about 4 inches of foot done so far, these are being knit from the toe to the cuff. They move much quicker than cuff to toe.

I am cleaning my home as well. Just the amount of junk I have acquired the 9 years we have been living here is amazing. It must go, I don't want to take it with me when we finally do decide to move out of this home.

Now to prepare dinner and to continue working on the sock.

Friday is a State of Mind

2011-10-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love Friday...it is my favorite day of the week. I was born on a Friday. I guess that is why it is my happiest day. I love the weekends. It is sharing time with my family and my hubby. I love my hubby.

I am currently working on a pair of socks for myself. I have a line up going and the sock yarns for it. I went and bought commercial sock yarns because the yarn I chose is hard wearing yarns and if you have carpet, you will understand. It is for the most part machine washable which is another plus.

My line up is two deep right now and I have even purchased sock looms for my most demanding of relatives, I no longer have time to knit them socks. Face it, my time is very limited.

I just emailed a dear friend who was worried about me since my blog has changed. Yep, it has changed a lot. I am now pretty much in a new blog. Don't even ask...you don't want to know. Just leave it alone is what I am saying right now.

I hadn't realized that I haven't blogged in a while. Well...here goes...I have been shopping for fabrics and other goodies, this is the year that I actually make something with a pattern. Holy smoke! Yep, I am going to put the fabric out and cut it out with my pattern pieces since I have been doing this at my sister's house lately, I thought...why not, I can do this. I am going to sew myself something that I have made on my own, no help from my sister. I can do it.

I will do well at it. That is my mantra.

I would love to finish my maternal grandmother's crazy quilt top. I have it in my closet and it would be awesome to put batting to it and get it done. Can you imagine how neat it would be considering it has vintage fabrics on it. Oh it would be so amazing!

I have been dealing with health issues and well, I am so tired of them. I started a new vitamin regimen and it seems to be working on the issues at hand. The foot with it's issue is dormant right now, I think because of the new probiotics I am on. I am going to keep taking them if it keeps it at bay.

The one problem I have right now is that my asthma is out of control. I am on several meds for it. I honestly think the wild fires that were down the road were the cause and I am still dealing with the issues from it. I have two nebulizer solutions I have been using, a corticosteroid inhaler, and my usual albuterol rescue inhaler plus my singulair. I don't spend much time outside because of the asthma issues. I was outside the other night and I was gasping for air. It is awful.

I had to go to the dentist yesterday because one of my crowns was bothering me badly. I went ahead and went in so, he fixed my bite for me. I have been grinding my teeth at night and making it worse. He said it is a natural reaction. I would wake up with my teeth clenched in the morning. Last night was the first really good night of sleep in a long time. I actually feel good. I didn't clench my teeth or grind them.

I am slowly getting my health back on track. I need to start exercising when I get my asthma under control.

Today I am helping my nieces decorate a hall. It is my BIL's 75th birthday tomorrow and they are having a huge party for him. It should be nice. I will get to see my family members that I haven't seen in a while.

Now to let my doggies back in and go find lunch. :)

S-O-C-K-S

2011-10-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

I am in sock knitting mode over here. I finished the hubby's size 12 gigantic socks and I have moved on to socks for myself. Yes, I know I have several pairs of hand knit socks but, I am the knitter, it is my perogative to knit for myself. I am being selfish right now and doing something for me. I usually knit for everyone under the sun but, now it is me time.

I chose to use a Elann sock yarn, it is cotton, wool, nylon and elite. The color is the turquoise, light gray, blue and light turquoise. It is really pretty so far. This time around, I am knitting from the toe to the cuff. I just have to say how much quicker they seem to go doing this method. I am not one of those people who knit two socks at a time, that just takes the joy out of the whole project.

I am still researching my sweater pattern. I have been thinking about it and I need to install the software for it. I have so much going on in my life that working on my sweater is going to take some time.

I started working on the sock for myself last night, I was able to knit about 4 inches of toe and today I am going to work on it in between doing laundry and whatever else needs my attention today. If I can turn the heel, I will be so ecstatic about it. I have been trying the sock on and it feels so wonderful. I love this yarn. It is so soft and silky feeling. After this pair of socks, it will be time for Maribeth socks. I am going to rip out the cuff I have started and start them from the toe as well. I am back to knitting socks from the toe to the cuff. I had stopped because my bind off always was too tight. I have now learned to be patient and take my time with my bind off.

Patience makes it all work out. I just have to keep this on my mind and not be stressing when I am binding off.

In a Foul Mood

2011-10-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well Rice Harvest Fest was a total bust. I sold one item and then it poured on Sunday so, we were forced to pack it in. My sister sold 5 small items and one of her aprons. Needless to say, the economy sucks and it is hurting small businesses. Now I saw the news last night and they said small businesses are doing better...Fing liars! It isn't good at all.

I am having to rethink my business strategy and whether or not Drooling Over Yarn will continue. I love my job but, it is getting harder and harder to sit and watch it not make a dime.

I had several people ask me over the weekend where I get my yarns from...my answer...my wholesaler. How do they expect me to answer? I am telling them the truth, my yarns come from my wholesaler. No one else. I guess they wanted the name but, that is none of their business.

I am battling a nasty stomach virus that seems to be going around. Yep, it is just me, I get all the crap over here. I am trying to remedy that situation...I have a whole new vitamin regimen I am taking. Gary looks at me while I pull all of my pills out of my pill case. I am out of two of them right now and I am waiting for them to make it here. I ordered them and they aren't cheap but, it is helping out my niece, Meagan. She now sells Amway. My niece, Sabrina sells Avon so, I buy my makeup from her. I wish someone would buy yarn from me.

I had bought my niece, Kate a sock loom I found at JoAnn's last week. I gave her some hand painted yarn to go with it. I will be buying another sock loom for Meagan since she looked like she was interested in it. :) If it will help them get interested in knitting, I will do whatever I have to to make it work. Knitting saves.

After I finish my mitts for the charity, and send them off, I will be finishing up Gary's socks. I am on the second one and in my misery, I knitted on it yesterday and managed to get really far. I am so shocked about this. I looked at it last night and honestly I don't remember working on the thing at all. Call me crazy but, I guess I did do it since I am the only one who knits around here.

I am going to knit myself a sweater this year. There I said it...that is my plan. I have to go find a pattern that I like and I will be working on the thing. I want something nice. I have to find my software for sweaters. I have it and I will plug in my measurements to figure out how much I will need to cast on and how much yarn I will need. I want to pick a design I actually like for the body of the sweater that won't make me look bigger than I am. I plan to knit it in my favorite color of purple. :)

When I dig my camera out of my purse, I will take a picture of Gary's gigantic socks. They are freaking huge.

Knitting Socks

2011-10-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am currently in a project of sock knitting. This is for the hubby. I had him try the sock on last night just to see where I really am in the leg portion of the sock. These are toe up socks which I haven't done for a couple of years. It is a challenge to change up my sock making these days.

We had a conversation when I first started the socks and he tells me he wants the leg to be 9 inches long. Say what? Yes, 9 inches long. So, I am trying to convince the man that 6 inches will be enough for the leg...no, he wants those 9 inches. I get him to try the sock on last night and I have 6 inches of leg done, he tells me they are perfect. I wanted to smack the crap out of him over this....we have been arguing over it for the whole time I am knitting this king size sock. Now, he tells me he wants the 6 inch leg. Grrr!

I then asked the important question of if he wants k1, p1 ribbing or k2, p2 ribbing. Eye roll. He chose the k2, p2 ribbing. I haven't made a pair of socks with that particular ribbing in about 5 years. So, he will get a unique pair of socks with his own custom measurements.

As for anyone else wanting socks...NO! I have to make Maribeth a pair and then I am not knitting anyone else socks. I am closed where socks are concerned. I have plans to get my niece, Meagan a sock loom. She can make her own socks. I have pretty much put my foot down where this is concerned. I am tired. My hands are tired. I don't want to knit anyone anything.

I have to finish my charity mitts and then I am done with that. No one else is going to get anything out of me for the rest of the year.

Killer!

2011-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

My right hand is killing me. I have been cutting fabric for my sister to get her ready for this weekend. As far as I know, she is still working on her aprons. My feet even hurt from it as well. I have been standing on them for about 4 days straight and well....they aren't used to that kind of abuse anymore.

I just finished dealing with patterns and kits. I am ready to go on that front. Gary has to pull my mdse tubs down for me. Everything is stacked in front of the office and ready to go. Tonight is set up and then I can come home and get my cooler full of food ready to go in the am. Wish us luck.

I am raising money for a new set of tires for my car. I am looking down the barrel of a $1000 price tag for those tires. Ouch! It is a big hit for me.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Columbus day weekend.

Taking a Break

2011-09-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

I am taking a break today from knitting mitts. I have to get away from them or I am going to snap. I have two mitts that need partners. I have to admit, I threw them down once before and well...that little purple mitt needs a thumb and his partner. The blue mitt is finished but, he needs his partner. I was thinking of starting the last mitt color and leaving it there with the other two. So, when this happens, I need a day away from the things.

I picked up the hubby's sock and I am slowly working on it. Why slowly...you ask...well, I am using size US 2 needles and they aren't fast with this particular yarn I am working with. Skinny yarn, skinny needles. Seriously slow.

I dropped the bombshell the other day when I mentioned I was going to knit myself a sweater this year. Hubby's head swiveled around thinking I had lost my mind. Nope...I am going to do it. I will get past my hatred of sleeves to make myself something warm and lasting. Sweaters aren't cheap and they are cheaply made. Are you sick of paying astronomical prices for crap? I am.

I have the yarn stash to pull it off over here so, I can make myself a nice sweater and yes, it will be expensive but, the yarn is already paid for. :) That is the wonderful thing about having such an extensive yarn stash.

Fingerless Mitts...A Dirty Word

2011-09-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows, I will knit for charity. I have come to realize I hate knitting fingerless mitts. I hate them. I am tired of the same old pattern. I started to change up on the needle sizes to make it more interesting. It has done a little bit of newness but, I am sick of them.

I am also knitting my hubby a pair of socks for Christmas...he knows about them. I am using Elann's Sock it To Me Madrid color 67. It is the blues, greens, blacks and brown sock yarn. Why this particular yarn? It has amazing abilities to repel carpet. If you knit a softer sock yarn then you know what carpet can do to that yarn...it will eat holes into it. Yep, this is true.

I asked him if he would love another pair of socks and he said yes. The man has seriously cold feet in winter and sometimes in summer. He likes to stick those cold eagles claws on me in the middle of the night. Makes me crazy. I get even with him in winter and do the same thing. :)

Last night I was working on another pair of charity mitts...I am on my 4th pair. I finished the third pair and started the 4th pair. I am on the thumb portion of the 4th pair and when I finish it, I can cast on for the last one of the 4th pair and then finish up the thumb on the start of the 5th pair. I had thrown them down in frustration and started knitting hats. Now, I need to get them done and out the door next week.

I let the lady who is expecting them that I should be mailing them out to her next week. If you too would love to share your talent and would love to volunteer your time, please head on over to Ravelry and check out the Charity Knitting group and click on the link about the fingerless mitts. She needs 200 pairs to fit girls between the ages of 13 and 18.

Wool...Why I Love It!

2011-09-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

I was about to purchase a store bought cardigan. Then I saw it, it was 100% acrylic. Oh hell no! I am not going to buy that crap. I love wool because it has several properties which most people have no idea about. Acrylic traps the sweat next to your skin and you freeze in winter and it is nasty stuff. It makes my fingers peel and the only time I use it is to teach knitting. It is cheap and easy to work with for first time knitters. When they get a feel of the merino wools, most of them are hooked.

Wool breathes and will keep you nice and warm and cool depending on the circumstances. For those of you who live in the North and keep telling me that it is too hot to wear in Texas...yeah right...I don't listen because what they fail to realize is that it gets damn cold in Texas in Winter, we have a moist cold that goes right through a body. Wool is perfect since it does breathe and when it is wet, it still insulates our bodies.

It won't burn unless a match is placed right next to it. Why do you think that people in the past, took their wool blankets, soaked them in water and beat out fires with them?

I know all of the knitters are shaking their heads about now. Yep, that is the good stuff. I love wool, in it's many forms. Why do you think I paint it? It is a love affair that won't end. There are so many versions of it. There are completely harsh wools that need to be seriously combed and then there is the buttery soft merino wool. It is a dream to knit with and it is beautiful to work with. It depends on the fiber but, they all take the dye differently.

I love to spin Wensleydale, it has a natural shine to it. It makes beautiful yarn. There is an American fiber called Sweet Grass Targhee that is springy and squishy. It spins beautifully. I get looks when I take it with me to craft fairs...most people have never heard of it. I tell them to pull it out of the bag and play with it. If you can't touch it, what is the point?

I am getting ready to go to my usual yearly venue...Katy Rice Harvest Festival. I am trying to knit as fast as my fingers will let me. I am burned out on hats right now. I need to do knit several pairs of mitts for a charity. I promised several pairs of fingerless mitts. I will take care of them and send them out to the ladies but, after that, it is time for me. I am going to finally break down and knit myself a cardigan. It will be a proper wool one. I have the yarn in my stash.

See this post was getting somewhere. I decided not to spend my money on a cardi in acrylic when I have delectable Peruvian Highland wool here to knit with. :) For the niece who told me she wanted to learn to knit so she could make herself a sweater that wouldn't fall apart after the first wash. I tried to teach her but, she put it down and walked away from it. If anyone needs to knit, she is the one...she hates her job and is seriously raging and needs to knit to stop the raging. She has so much stress that it is seriously affecting her health. I am worried that she is going to have a freaking heart attack from it.

I knit when I need to resolve a crisis in my life. If I didn't knit, I would be insane. Each stitch helps me to work through my problems. I also knit for the fun of it. Who doesn't love knitting socks? I love socks. I have several pairs of my own hand knit socks. I am in demand with my family members where socks are concerned and now I have several orders for ear flap hats.

I have to finish a pair of mittens and a set will be ready for my niece, Maribeth. The hat and mitts are really girly. Later on this set. I will take pics and show them off later. After RHF, I will be adding things to the shop. Not only yarn but, actual items people can purchase from me. I want to test the market with RHF and then I will add them to the shop, should they sell really well.

Yeehaw...it is Friday!

2011-09-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that today is Friday. I love Fridays, I was even born on a Friday. That explains so much. :) Last night, I came home from my meeting and I was a little short of a voice. I had talked so much to the ladies of the chapter and with this crap cold...it really does suck, my voice was about gone when I made it home.

On my way home, I decided to pop Stewie up to 80 on the freeway, I wanted to just drive and do it as fast as possible within legal means when I saw him....Damn damn damn. I had to hit the breaks because there was a DPS officer sitting on the side of the damn road on the downhill side of the over pass. Thankfully, the guy in the next lane was a speeder as well and we both hit the brakes at different enough times to interrupt the radar. So, I was spared, again. I know my big ass ticket is coming one of these days. Hopefully, not around the corner any time soon.

I will have to be careful and do the speed limit. sigh!

I woke up early after going to bed at a reasonable time. No 4 am last night. So, I woke up at 5:38 am after Gary was fighting someone in his sleep. He woke me up bouncing around in his quest to kill whatever person he was fighting with. Scared the crap out of me. I had to turn on the light to look to make sure he was okay. He was snoring away over there. So, I got up and let the dogs out for their early morning constitutional. They needed it. I stayed up and made my breakfast, turned on the tv and watched some old movie that was on and Gary came down the stairs around 7 am. He watched it with me and then came upstairs to start his work day. He telecommutes.

I was working on my lust socks and then I started a toddler sock. It will be for the KRHF. If I can finish it. I am running out of steam on making stuff for this thing. Sad but, true.

Well...Ain't That a Kick in the Pants

2011-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one of my sisters today and found out that our lovely President has done another one...did you know that he approved FEMA for only the Bastrop, Texas fires but, the rest of the state can go hang? What about those poor souls down the road from me? They can't get FEMA even though, they too have lost their homes. What about them? If you are going to give relief to some, you need to give relief to the others, it is only right. I guess that pretty much sums up how this administration is run...half assed.

Pictures of the smoke as it billows across my view. Notice what looks like fog in the background...that is smoke from the fires in Waller County.

Several people were able to get back to see what is left of their homes and the pictures are pretty grim, not much left, just rubble. One subdivision is still off limits since the fire is still smoldering. Some of the areas managed to relight themselves from the charcoal because the wind changed directions.

We were very lucky and did not have to evacuate at all. One of my nieces had to evacuate her apartment complex in West Houston courtesy of another wild fire that broke out. She returned home and was lucky, their apartment complex was saved with no damage and no fire around them.

Please pray that Texas gets rain and soon. We are in desperate need of it.

Mr. Air Purifier

2011-09-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Gary went out yesterday and bought me an air purifier. Oh let me tell you, I love this little machine. I am happy he bought it for me. I honestly think it saved me. I was gagging and barfing yesterday from all of the mucus from the smoke off of the wild fires from down the road. I was begging him for help because I couldn't breathe. It was truly awful. I thought about heading to the ER for oxygen.

He went and bought me an air purifier and now, I am feeling better even though the crud has moved down to my lungs. Great...I woke up this morning and felt like I was drowning. Not a good feeling. I slept with my air purifier on last night, I actually was able to sleep for the first time in days. I haven't been sleeping as well as I should have.

Today I dragged it downstairs with me and slept on the couch with it on. I had three naps and was able to breathe all because of my air purifier. It came upstairs with me tonight and it is in the bedroom right now cleaning the air.

It is a great thing clean air and I have noticed that Bootsy loves sleeping in front of it. He likes clean air as much as I do. Pickles was sleeping in front of it last night, she has allergies and the smoke was getting to her, too. Poor kitty.

Smoke and Wild Fires!

2011-09-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

We have so much smoke rolling through our subdivision right now...I can't go outside since I am an asthmatic. As it is, I have a hideous sore throat, and I am run down. Tonight, I had to clean my nebulizer and use it. It helped some. I have pics of the smoke moving through the place but, my camera is downstairs and I am not going down there until tomorrow.

Gary tells me he is starting to get congested from the poor air quality around here. He had to run and get my prescriptions for me today. He is a very good hubby. I have been doing a lot of sleeping courtesy of this crap. My sister woke me up around 11 am and wanted to know what I was up to...uh, sleeping. I was snoozing on the couch and I haven't even had the energy to knit.

Melinda is sick as well. She was telling me her eyes are swollen shut from the crap air and she is also staying indoors, she and Maribeth are both asthmatics like me. Always fun.

The wild fires are down the road from me. I am hoping that we won't have to evacuate because I really do not want to lose my house to flames. No thank you. I hope they get the fires under control and I pray that those poor people who have lost their homes and everything they own are able to get help.

If you want to help us out, please donate to the American Red Cross and specify it for the Texas wild fires. People have literally lost everything they own. Some of them don't even have a change of clothes, they only have what they are wearing. Please pray for rain for us...it is so hot here that it is making it really difficult for the people out there fighting those fires.

Okra Makes a Mighty Fine Omelette

2011-09-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you who love to cook...let me share a very wonderful ingredient that works well with eggs...Okra. I love slicing it up and sauteeing it with my fresh spinach and tomatoes for my omelettes. It works great in fritattas as well. If you have a chance...grill it. Coat it lightly with some olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and grill. When it has char marks on it and it is soft, pull it off of the grill and enjoy...so heavenly. My hubby wasn't a fan of okra until I planted 5 plants and now, he loves it. He is a fan of the grilled okra and okra in the eggs mixture.

He says he doesn't like it coated in corn meal and fried, it doesn't do it for him. He isn't a Southern boy at all so, that explains it. I love fried okra. Yummy.

The Opinonated One

2011-09-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well..I have been crocheting right now. I am working on the fringe portion of my poncho. Oh thank God for that. I am bored out of my mind and I can't wait to start working on something else. It kills me to be constant with one project at a time. I like to start other things and work on them for a bit and go on to other things. If I don't stick with it, I won't finish the damn thing. I am to the fringe of this monster.

The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun, the color is Painted Desert. Do not ask me the lot number because I don't have the label up here with me. I am using a size N hook. This one is a medium/large. I will be making more of these things in small/medium. I will have to do a stash dig to see what I can come up with and I want to make some kids sizes as well. I might make a kids poncho after I knit more mitts.

I have to stagger it or I will go freaking insane and take my DH with me. I get really nasty tempered when I have to crochet a lot. It is like working on cars...do not talk to me when I am under the hood or under my car, I am a mean bitch. I don't want to be bothered and if someone distracts me, watch out, you are going to get an earful.

I am slowly painting yarns and listing them into the shop. Just realize that life is so busy for me between all of my responsibilites around here and dealing with being a Regent. This is my last year...yippee! There, I said it. Ha!

I am getting things taken care of as fast as I can. Tonight I counted the last of the flags from the parade and we handed out 850 this year. I didn't think there were that many people out there but apparently there were. Go figure.

"Hey, Phineas...What are We Going to Knit Today?"

2011-08-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was knit a potato chip scarf and I am still working on it. I also did a stash dig since I am looking for homespun yarn by Lion brand, it makes super comfy ponchos. It takes 3 balls and they are so worth it. I made myself one last year and I love it.

I have yarn sitting on the desk for mitts. Those lovely fingerless confections that keep hands nice and toasty and yet, you can still pick up things. They are great as gifts and so easy to knit. If you can follow a color chart with your sticky notes than you too can knit them. They involve stranding instead of two hand weaving via Fair Isle. I know that several people have told me that I am crazy to knit a chart with two colors of yarn. It is super simple people, it just takes the time to learn where to start the chart..hint...lower right corner for the left mitt and lower left corner for the right mitt. Simple and as you move up a row, move your sticky note up with you. See...simple.

I noticed several yarn previews and it seems that mohair is back as a favorite for knitters...if you knit with it, a word of advice, it doesn't frog too easily, it likes to tangle and stick. So, be wary of it. And for those people who insist on chenille in their patterns, the crap worms like crazy and if you haven't experienced this...imagine being near a cat at the vet when they shed like crazy. Well, that is how it is working with chenille. Chenille flying every where. Makes my nose itch just thinking of it.

I found two hats that I didn't even know I knitted last night in my stash dig. I was also searching for my tag gun since I finally got in my tag barbs. I have to price things over here and write down washing instructions for each piece. Always fun and exciting. It takes a lot to get ready for this thing but, it is my one time of the year to shine and show off my hard work in person.

Tile

2011-08-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

We are finally working on our master bathroom again. We went and looked at tiles at a place that does tile and flooring...they are super cheap and we picked out a new tile color with accents. I can't seem to get enough of glass tiles, they are so awesome. We are going to spend some bucks to get the house into order. We need to do this already since the house is starting to look a little worn. Gary is doing really well with replacing items that have been needing it since we moved in 9 years ago. He did a fabulous job on the weather stripping for the exterior doors. No more air leaks for us on that front.

Today is wash towels, and sheets before the 2 pm cut off. We have that rule that says if you don't need it on, cut if off, otherwise there will be rolling black outs. Not fun. So from 2 to 7 pm, we have to cut off what we don't absolutely need. I have to wash what I can as fast as I can before 2 pm.

Ask me what I really want to knit? Socks! I want to lose myself in a pair of fine wool socks. Instead, I have mitts to knit and they suck. Yep, not too inclined to knit them right now. I want to be free to knit what I want...not what I need.

This is What I Know

2011-08-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

This year for Christmas, I have already mentioned to my DH that I will not be spending a cent. We have a roof to pay off right now and that means...no cash going out. So, I am lining up my yarns to make presents this year. I am making him some socks which he knows about. I am waiting to see what he is giong to make for me. I have so many things I want him to make for me. One of them is the yarn holder for the office. I would love a chicken coop like shelf for my office to hold my yarns. I will get with him later to talk about it.

I have been digging in my stash looking for yarns. I was invited to a church bazaar but, I can't decide if I should do it since I am gearing up for my festival. I am trying to find out how much the church bazaar price tag is for vendors. If it is cheap, I might just do it.

Currently, I am knitting away and painting yarns for my festival. I have a nice selection this year. No, it isn't all listed in the shop right now. I have yarns to wind out for the shop, they are downstairs drying right now. I was busy yesterday. I painted 9 yarns. It was hot outside and I figured, might as well while the sun is shining. We have had a lot of that lately.

I am thinking of putting together the loom and doing some weaving as well. It should be fun. :)

The Beanie Flap

2011-08-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is my beanie flap hat that I have been working on for a while. The second and third photos show the yarn that my niece, Maribeth asked me to paint for her and then she asked for this hat to be knit. Since she is my youngest niece, I said yes.

I have a hat on the needles right now and I finished a pair of mitts. I just have to reinforce the thumb on the last one and they are ready to be sold. I am trying to get my warm items knit up for my festival.

In other news...I did manage to do some much needed yarn painting and I have to list two more skeins when I can get to it. I am trying to do too much with as little time as I have. Hey, it is the story of every knitter I know out there. We always take on too much.

We had glorious rain last night with orange lightning, if you can well imagine. We woke up to rain this morning, it was so amazing. I slept like a baby because of that rain. I know my veggies in the garden are so loving this. Yes!

Something Going On

2011-08-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

With our complete lack of rain around here my asthma has been so out of control. I had to go to the doctor for a check up for the foot, it is doing it's thing again and he has me on a new antibiotic and the antivirals along with prednisone for the mucus in my chest. I was hoping it wasn't another bout of pneumonia. I am tired of the mucus. I wake up to it, I go to sleep to it and the corticosteroid inhaler isn't helping so, I have 5 days of the prednisone. If that doesn't work then I will have to have a chest x-ray and a round of antibiotics. I am so tired of taking medicine.

I also had to get a tetanus shot with a pertussis shot. For those of you who don't know that is...whooping cough. For those dumb asses who refuse to get their kids vaccinated all of these diseases that were once wiped out are back. Think about how socially irresponsible these people are and the diseases that are making their way back into society. Do you want to catch these things? I sure as hell don't.

The scary one is polio, can you imagine that coming back?

I have been busy while I am dealing with my issues, knitting like a mad fiend. I have a hat on the needles and a pair of mitts on a second set of needles. I work on both daily. I am to the point where I need to move to dpns for the hat. I just don't have a set free. I am not going out to buy another set since I have two sets of the things around here, I just have to put another project on stitch holders to use that set of dpns.

I am also painting yarn when I can. I have to rewind some today and list them later. I want to paint more yarn as well. I am trying to get what I can done and ready for the shop while we are in the middle of this lousy drought. The heat dries the yarn fast.

I bought some of the good wool/nylon sock yarn today for presents. I have plans to knit socks that will hold up to carpet nicely for presents. I have a pair of socks on my needles for Gary, he knows he is getting a pair of nice socks for Christmas this year. I am trying to save money and yes, I know, buying sock yarn isn't conducive to saving money but, it is if the socks will last several years. This is a great thing.

I have pictures of my hats that I have been knitting on my camera, just no time to upload it all. I will have to deal with it soon. I am trying to get my business ready for my October festival. If our winter is as harsh this year as it was last year then I am hoping I will sell out of my stuff. People will need wool to keep warm.

Hat Mode

2011-08-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

I am in hat knitting mode right now and I need to move on to mitten and mitts mode. I think after I finish this hat that I am currently working on, I will try to get into mitts mode. Yesterday, I went shopping with my sister and niece, it is tax free weekend in Texas which means if you buy school clothes or clothes in general, you get it tax free. Lovely. I bought myself some bras and panties, they were very much needed.

Shoes are also included in the mix. I didn't buy any of those since I have shoes. Many pairs of shoes and so, I thought it would be wasteful to purchase something I didn't need.

I was knitting while shopping yesterday. I finished Maribeth's hat. She had asked me to custom paint her a skein of yarn and then knit her a hat out of it. I was working on it in the clothing store and in the shoe store. I started to work on the crown after fitting it on her. So, it is ready to go and I am including extra yarn with it, in case my sister has to darn it. You never know how much damage they can take before they start to ravel. I believe in reinforcing my stuff that I knit.

Today is starting out hot and we sure could use some serious rain. I wish it would rain and I am asking that everyone pray for rain for us. We need it desperately.

I have to get myself moving, I have many things that need my attention this morning. Ya'll have a safe and beautiful weekend.

Okay....

2011-08-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went with my sister to her wally world to pick up several much needed items. We are trying to spend as little as possible because we are finally going to try and work on our bathroom after what...5 years? I think that might be the amount.

I am slowly getting it all together. I have been working on knitting hats with ear flaps for the business. I sleep with my splint on, just to deal with the hand. I still can't hold a golf club. So, I can't go back to doing that activity.

Tomorrow is my jewelry class that I am teaching to the ladies in my chapter. Fun. Several have said they can't make it. Oh well.

Friday I believe is my girl's day out with my niece...she leaves for college this weekend. I will miss her. She is a sophmore this year. I think we are planning on taking her out for some retail therapy and then out to lunch. It should be fun for her...hopefully. She has been chauffering around her dad, my big brother, who tore his achilles tendon. He is in a cast on crutches and has been doing what he isn't supposed to...sounds familiar, doesn't it? Yep, it runs in the family. So, he will be in that cast longer than what he anticipated. I know, I am still in my knee cast since I have been bad and I realized yesterday in Wally world that I can't move in certain directions since I twisted the knee and felt it give a small bit, it is all swollen again. Arrgghh!

I want to swim today to help relieve it. It works. Plus with this lousy heat wave, the pool is a wonderful place to be.

Tonight is super cheesy mac skillet with fresh green beans with bacon. Yummy.
I had bought some of the new Twinkies with strawberry filling..not a good combo if you are used to the white filling. Maybe I am just getting old. Who knows.

Now I am going to go make myself a fresh tomato, baby spinach and cheese omelette. I had Gary buy me a bag of baby spinach yesterday when he went grocery shopping.

Carpal Tunnel

2011-08-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

I blew out my right hand courtesy of my carpal tunnel syndrome. One of these days I will have to get it fixed but, that would mean taking off more time from knitting than I have right now. I am wearing my splint and I am sleeping in it as well. I just wish they made a more comfy splint for this affliction.

I had to give up my membership to the golf club since I can't hold a golf club right now and that is $50 a month not being used so, I let them know to drop my membership. I guess when it heals, I will go back and re-sign up for it. They were pretty understanding about it. I am thinking I was one of the only women out there. I noticed it was full of men and no women.

Still no rain in the forecast...we are so desperate for it down here. My water bill is about $60 this month. We usually have a $34 water bill in good times. So, you see what is happening...we need rain.

I am collecting seed pods off of the okra for next year's planting. I also will be choosing which tomatoes I will have next year as well...no Mr. Stripey for example since it is not producing since it is too hot here for it. I am going for the Cherokee purple, that is the most amazing tomato I have ever eaten. The cherry tomato is going to come back as well since it is a fabulous producer and the flavor is so amazing. No corn next year, a big waste of my time. Green beans did well until the drought started. They were yummy. I wish I had more space for a bigger garden. Gary won't let me expand. I have begged. It didn't work. sigh!

Swimming tonight, I think to beat the heat. I won't go out there right now since the sun and heat would rip my hide right off of me. Ya'll have a safe and happy weekend.

South Texas Bontanical Gardens

2011-08-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

We hit the botanical gardens on our vacation and here are some of the flowers and plants we saw. I love the cactus they have, just so much texture and it looks amazing against the blue sky. The top photo was a gorgeous flowering tree. The second photo was a plant in the hummingbird garden and the third photo is a plant that was just growing by the path and I love the color of the flowers.

North Padre Island, Texas

2011-08-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

On the island, I took this one from the car...notice the blurred images.

Another view from the car. I love the colors in this one. This is the salt flat with the dunes way in the background.

The beach at North Padre Island National Seashore.

Our view of the sand dunes with part of Gary's cabana in the view.

Working on Christmas Presents

2011-08-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Right now I am working on the family Christmas gift. It is hand made since I am not spending money this year on gifts. I have plans to knit my hubby a gift or two. He has requested socks. This is a big deal since he has huge feet.

I have other things to knit as well. I have ear flap hats to knit, mitts, etc. It is a working Christmas for me. I figure it will be good for me to show off my skills.

If it is as cold as last year, people will appreciate this skill set I have when they are nice and toasty warm from all my woolen goods.

Learning to knit can possibly save you from spending big bucks on items that are normally made out of cheap ass acrylic and it only makes you sweat and retain that water next to your skin. Not warm at all. Wool breathes...it lets your skin breathe while keeping you warm, even while wet. :) Wool will not burn unless a match or flame is placed directly against it with pressure.

So for all of those people who tell me each year that wool isn't ideal for Texas...blow it out your butt because it is. I wear wool blend socks all of the time in winter and it feels amazing to have warm tooties. Try cold feet and then we will talk. It isn't pleasant especially when we have super humid winters here and the cold goes straight through you.

Okay, I am off of my soap box now. :) Anyway, I have plans to work on several items for several people. Today I am getting back to work on painting and dyeing yarns. I worked for a bit yesterday with a killer migraine. Not fun, let me tell you. Hopefully, I will be able to get more yarn taken care of.

Back From Vacation

2011-08-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

We made it home from vacation on Thursday. We picked up the doggies, and they were so happy to see us. The place we used to board them was so much cheaper than any other place around and they took incredibly good care of them. I am going to use that boarding facility from now on.

We went to Corpus Christi on vacation, we hit the beach on North Padre Island. We chose to do the national sea shore since you pay, $10 and can use your pass for 7 days. Nice. We both had our pop up cabanas and our blankets. It was nice. I took along spf 50+ and still managed to get sunburned. We had fun playing in the waves and on the last day of the beach...I couldn't even stand up since the rip tide was dragging my legs out from under me and Gary had to grab me to keep me from falling over. He would drag me back to him.

It was so hot and dry down there, they were praying for the tropical system to come and give them relief. We hit the South Texas botanical gardens and it was okay, we both agreed it would be much better in Spring when there is rain.

We went to the Texas State Aquarium and it was alright. Nothing to write home about. I had been there before and Gary hadn't so, we went. The otters were the best part of it and the rescued sea turtles.

We found good food and went out of our way to get fabulous pizza on Wednesday night. When we walked into the hotel from the restaurant with our box, we were getting looks from the staff...you could see they had been there and knew what was in our box. Yummies!

We were able to rest and recuperate. I am ready to go again but, it was very nice to get home.

We came home to hot weather, no rain, and laundry.

We went to the Texas Exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, it was interesting. Gary and I managed to slip away from our docent...we were bored out of our socks. Most of it, I knew from Texas History in 7th grade and also from my Mom who loved history very much.

I had wanted to stop at Goliad on the way home to see the Presidio at La Bahia but, Gary didn't want any part of it. I had been there before as a child, courtesy of Mom. She made sure we knew our Texas history. I told him it would be neat. He didn't agree.

Now...I am going to be getting back to work since I have a festival to get ready for in October. I have yarn to prepare and kits to organize along with lots of knitting. Who knows we may have a really cold winter and everyone will need my knits to keep them warm.

Rain

2011-07-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Notice the title of this post...rain...something we desperately need around here. I hope it rains today since it is so hot and dry here. The rain in the area goes around us. It isn't fair.

Yesterday, I spent my day on the couch..stomach flu going around and of course, I was the one to get it. Gary had a touch of it last night. Not fun...he also had a migraine and I had to put the cold, wet wash cloth on his forehead so, he could sleep. Poor guy.

I finished up one pair of mitts for the shop and I am working on a second set. I had to rip out and restart a pattern since I realized, it is full of mistakes and will have to be re-written. That is the way it goes around here.

I was sent an interesting article about sand and a Kindle. Basically, put your Kindle in a zip top storage bag should you decide to go to the beach. Yes, I am thinking of doing just that. I will have to pack two of them with me. I love the beach. :)

Today is okra picking day and possibly watering since we haven't had rain in days. Come on rain...we need ya now.

Golfing

2011-07-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today we stopped on the way home at the golf center here in our subdivision. They re-opened it and I joined the golf club. Yay! I get to hit unlimited balls whenever I feel like it. Always exciting.

Gary suggested I get out my knee brace and wear it while I hit the balls. Okay, now the fun part, I have no idea where I put the thing. I am so out of practice, I will probably be laughed off of the field.

I found my clubs and I hope to be able to head over there tomorrow and take a swing at a few of them. The best part...so close to home. No, I won't be walking over there with my bag and clubs...I will be driving my car over there.

We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow night and it should be fun. I have several people I have to give presents to. July is the big month of birthdays in this family.

I also worked on the Selbu rose charity knit mitt pattern. I am almost to the thumb. Very exciting.

Where is that Rain?

2011-07-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

It is hot here and no rain in sight...when the weatherman says 30% forget it, we aren't getting any. The huge thunderstorms of last night...passed by us. Dang! I think we are in the dead zone.

I have things cast on but, I am not finishing a thing right now. No idea what is going on with me but, knitting isn't what I want to do right now.

I put my merino/silk sock yarn on sale in the shop...must clear out Spring's colors for Fall colors. Like I want to paint yarn in this heat. Nothing is selling so...why work? Oh well, if nothing else, I will be knitting socks with my yarns to sell later.

Now...I am ready for lunch.

Pixie Necklace

2011-07-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here is my pixie necklace that would be lovely for a little girl or for a very young bride. It is smaller than other necklaces but, that doesn't matter since it is stunning all on it's own. :)

Beading the Day Away

2011-07-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

I have been busy working on beading since I am not doing much of anything right now courtesy of the back. I still have twinges with it and so, I have been sitting in my office chair at my desk creating little wonders out of my stock of beads and buttons.

Art Deco inspired.

A close up of the art deco inspired necklace.

Dragonfly necklace.

A close look at the dragonfly necklace.

I need to replenish some of my beads after these two necklaces but, I have to wait until I have some cash for this.

Thrown Back and Other Things

2011-07-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

I threw out my back and let me tell you...it hurts. It has also created other misfortunes for me. I hurt everywhere. I noticed it yesterday in the middle of the grocery store. I am so thankful I had the grocery cart to push, or I wouldn't have made it.

Today I am beading since I can sit and do it. I have a beautiful green pendant that called out to me and decided to go ahead and work with it. It can be a birthday present for some lucky woman.

I will be working on my mitts for charity later today. I am on the thumb of the third pair. I work on them when I can. I think I am going to take a break from knitting them and work on shop mitts.

Oh well...hope everyone has a beautiful day.

Scrubbing the Bath Tub

2011-07-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up and started to sort clothes to donate. I am getting rid of items that no longer fit. They are being donated to women vets who need them. The chapter is having a clothing and toilettries drive in September. That is our big event of the month.

I scrubbed the bath tub and even the toilet. I am trying to make it rain around here, since we are desperate for it. We need three days of rain. Seriously. It is hotter than...well, you know where.

I am washing the dogs beds. They need it. Bootsy's bed is in the wash with serious hot water, oxy clean tabs and Tide activ lift. I won't describe the smell other than really stinky. Ewww!

I wonder if I can drag down the quilts and hang them off of the coolaroo chains. That would be a nice way for them to dry today. It will save money by not using the dryer.

I wish I had a nice clothes line about now. I miss the fresh smell of clothes right off of the line. Next house, I am having a clothes line put in.

Spinning Down a Dream

2011-07-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

This is what is currently sitting on my spinning wheel. It is a merino/tussah silk fiber, I picked up from Blarney Yarns on ETSY many moons ago. I love the colors of this one. I am on the second batt of this fiber. I am still thinking about what to ply it with. I may go with either the turquoise or a lime green. Even a dark blue would look awesome with this colorway.

The wheel is my Kromski Minstrel, it is a castle type wheel and it is my pride and joy. I will do spindle spinning but, this wheel is by far the best thing I have for making fiber into yarn. It is quick and it exercises my knees. Always a good thing around here.

I spin barefoot just so you know. I have asked several spinners if they wear shoes and the consensus is barefoot. I don't even wear socks, my feet are bare. We are an earthy bunch, we spinners.

My Ass is Dragging

2011-07-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

After a long weekend of fun, festivities, etc...I am completely worn out. Today I have to wash clothes...bummer but, it has to be done or I won't have any clean undies. Sigh!

Saturday was the annual parade in my subdivision and we arrived late to the judging so, we didn't win the float contest this year. sigh! There really weren't that many people out watching the parade, I think because it has been so hot and there was no scheduled activities since the heat and no rain cancelled out the fireworks. Usually, there is a huge event after the parade.

Sunday we rested and yesterday we went to a bbq. It was nice to sit and not have to cook. We ate like piggies and then sat and chatted. We came home at dusk and spent the night on the couch watching tv. It was the perfect end to a very nice day.

I have plans to start on several pairs of little socks for my festival. I have leftover yarn from other pairs of socks and toddler socks are great for using up any left over yarns.

The forecast calls for 30% chance of rain but, I won't hold my breath...it won't happen. I watered last night when we got home and I hope that will help my tomatoes and my okra.

We have discovered the truly best thing in the world...grilled okra. It is fabulous! We did fajitas on Saturday and we grilled some veggies along with the meat and the okra was the hit of the whole event.

You Got That Right, Buddy!

2011-06-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

I have one of those electronic weather stations sitting on my kitchen table and today the thing announced that it was hot outside...wonder what gave it that idea? Could it have been the 101F temp? I walked outside to cut some okra, and walked back in. My shoes were melting on the pool decking. Great!

I let it cool down some and then I went back out there. I managed to pick one okra and left the others on the plants to give them one more night and then I will cut them tomorrow. I had to water the whole garden tonight and I went ahead and added some plant food to my bucket and watered everything. Maybe that is what that one dang tomato is waiting for, more plant food and a flood of water. I watered the whole garden very well. Let's just hope that tomato will take it upon itself to finally produce fruit instead of leaves. Grrr!

I finished off the Cherokee purple tomato and it was fabulous...great flavor but, slightly more acidic than I can handle. Good old acid reflux kicked in courtesy of that tomato.

I also took it upon myself to make my letters on the Cricut for the banner I have to make for the parade. We have sponsors this year and they all need thanking. I am glad I was able to hit the craft store and purchase my paper for the thing and new mats. Now, if someone could figure out how to recycle the glue on those things...they could make a lot of money. Seriously!

I am completely worn out and I need to head to bed. I have more flags to work on tomorrow and pick up the house for Saturday. I have a bathroom to clean and a hallway to clear out. I have boxes of stuff everywhere in this house and I need to get rid of a bunch of junk. I don't want to be one of those people who have to get a pack rat storage box...no thanks..I will pitch it or sell it before that happens.

I threw some boxes out today so, I am headed in the right direction. Or at least I hope I am headed in the right direction.

I hit the pool tonight and swam some laps, did some back work and worked out my arms and shoulders by dragging my feet and legs behind me. Yep, I can make it across the pool swimming with just my arms. The water felt great but, I had to come inside and use the chlorine removal shampoo and then condition my hair. Otherwise, I will look like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. My hair gets big from chlorine water. It will stick straight off of my scalp and it is usually stiff and icky.

Cleaning it Off and Flags

2011-06-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

I am in the middle of trying to work on flags, placing labels with our names on them, to hand out to the crowd on Saturday for the parade. Then I am also in the middle of de-junking the cat pee couch. It is headed to the curb this week. It is a must that it go. I have plans that it will be at the curb come Thursday night. Then the love seat from the formal living room will be headed into the family room to take it's place.

I fell asleep on the couch today and had a really horrible dream. So, I went ahead and woke up feeling lousy. My poor tummy is not feeling well.

I also had to check on my best friend, she had a very bad weekend with cluster headaches and vomiting. She was back at work today but, she wasn't her best. I am hoping she will be here on Saturday to help out with the parade and then a nice evening of swimming and eating. We are doing fajitas this year. Nothing big. Just a few people over to celebrate.

On the 4th we were invited out to my sister's house. I think we will take her up on it and since there will be no fireworks here..I don't have to worry about the house being burnt down by fireworks. It is still too dry for fireworks in Texas.

I haven't picked up knitting needles in about 2 days, dealing with flags is enough work for my poor little hands. I have over 2000 flags to label and get ready for Saturday. I also have to go dig for some fishing line so, I can rig up the stars I have for the trailer.

As soon as I can remember to bring my camera upstairs, I will download my pics.

It's Rumbling Outside

2011-06-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

We finally have rain after being so hot and dry here. I woke up to rain which was so amazing. I know if you have had loads of rain, you really aren't appreciative of it. Well, since we haven't had it in so long, we are very excited to see it.

It has been so hot and dry here that the county agents declared a fireworks ban in effect immediately. So, no fireworks for the 4th of July. I don't mind since I really didn't want my neighbors burning down my home.

I am in major procrastination mode right now. I am knitting socks, and I am spinning merino/tussah silk fiber that is simply gorgeous. I am thinking of plying it to make sock yarn. Exciting, isn't it? I think so. Pictures will follow later.

I Won the Nigerian National Lottery!

2011-06-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today I received notice via e-mail that I won the Nigerian National Lottery...the best part, I didn't even know I was playing. It just cracks me up thinking that I will give them personal information so, they can rob me blind...I don't think so.

After a very bad start to my week...I am raring to go to have a better week. We can only look ahead in our lives...no more looking back.

I should be knitting but, I haven't done a thing in about 4 days. I think I am coming down with swimmer's ear. Just great...I have been using swim ear so, I am hoping this will work. I have that awful feeling in the left ear.

I am spinning right now and I love the fiber I am using and plying with. I had one full bobbin and now I am working on filling another one up before I can ply it with another yarn. So exciting. I tell everyone I know that spinning will change your perspective on life and it is very soulful. There is something wonderful in creating your own yarn. I can look at it and say, I did it, it was all me. There is something very satisfying in that.

The leather cording had broken that was holding both of my treadles so, I had to go shopping to find more cording. This time around, I chose braided leather cording to hold it all together. I hope it lasts longer than the other stuff.

Has anyone else won the Nigerian National Lottery?

Smack! As My Head Hits the Desk

2011-06-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

I am completely worn out. I came home from shopping with my sister and niece and called one of my other sister's on the phone and chatted with her for a bit, Gary came in from work and sat down next to me, I fell asleep on the couch. He wanted dinner, I didn't. I was exhausted from the heat. The temps today were 104F! Yikes! Very hot and it just wears a body down.

My trip to wally world was expensive. I came home with 3 bags and a giant tub and my bill was $99+. This is sad when even wally world is pricey. I think I will be staying home more often and not going shopping.

I stepped on a piece of glass and really didn't notice it until I saw the blood on the carpet and then I freaked out! I can handle other people's blood, no problem but, my own and I am going ape shit. Gary patched me up like usual and I used the saline wound spray to clean the carpet. It got the blood out. Which is always nice.

Tomorrow I am staying home and hoping to clean my family room. Yes, I have been saying this for two days but, I am going to deal with it tomorrow. Tonight, I am going to read some on my kindle and then go to sleep.

I did find a place to board the doggies for when we go on vacation that is completely reasonable. Which is amazing! They have excellent reviews. I have to check these things out because these boys are my world.

A Good Swim will Cure it!

2011-06-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

This morning, I groggily crawled out of bed, went to find a swim suit and headed out to the back yard to take a nice morning dip in the pool. I swam laps, did some back work and then dwaddled in the cool water. Ahhh, it felt amazing! I am a little sore since I swam laps last night and then dwaddled in the water before coming in for an omelette with fresh cherry tomatoes, string cheese and bacon. It was tasty.

Now, I am pleasantly tired and could use a good nap before I start my project du jour...cleaning the other half of the family room. I also need to find the time to clean off the love seat and get it ready for trash pick up. It is covered in cat pee. Not a pleasant smell. We have a bet that if we drag it out there tonight, someone will pick it up.

We are also selling our elliptical machine. The goal is to get enough cash for it to pay for the tv repairs. The repairman took our tv with them last night. It is going to take 7 to 10 working days for it to be fixed. sigh! So, to keep myself busy, I am cleaning my house. Sad when it is the only thing to keep me occupied. I new I had to do it before July 2nd when DAR ladies will be invading and it has been ages since I have actually done anything about the place. One day, I just said, to hell with it. I should have just grabbed a trash bag and picked up the mess. Now, I am really having to suffer through it. sigh! It all just piles up without realizing how fast. I am also picking up yarn and moving it into big plastic bins.

The TV Died

2011-06-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Our tv is dead right now. Killer since this is my main form of entertainment these days. I am a couch potato. So, I looked at the hubby and told him I was going swimming. I crawled into my pool, skimmed it, and then had the time of my life. It was so nice to swim and just relax in the water. The temp was 88F but, it still felt good. I was supposed to water my garden but, I was really enjoying the water.

I will have to water tomorrow. Otherwise, dead plants and I really don't want that. I also have to pick okra tomorrow. :)

I am going to bed because that swim really made me tired. Makes me realize how damn out of shape I really am. sigh!

Another Scorcher!

2011-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

Right now in Texas it is freaking hot! There I said it. It was hot in the shade, it is hot everywhere with no rain in sight. WE are truly suffering down here. My plants in my garden are suffering as well. It used to be where I could water every other day and it was fine, not so anymore. I have to water my plants daily or they are dead, kaput, no more.

I finished the Keltic ear flap hat. Yay! It is very nice. I know what you are thinking...why are you knitting with wool in the middle of a heat wave? Well, I didn't say I was knitting outside, I knit inside in a very cool interior courtesy of my thermal backed supreme satin draperies. I am telling you, if you don't have any in your home, you are wasting energy trying to keep your home cool. Wait for JCP.com to have a sale on curtains and then wait for the free shipping option to your home, otherwise you are going to pay out the ass for your curtains. They usually have a nice coupon around about this time. The free shipping coupon is so worth it. Last year, I bought a round of thermal back supreme satin draperies for my entire house. They have more than paid for themselves already. This is a good thing.

We have Coolaroo brand shades on the back porch, that roll down and block a lot of the heat off of the back wall. We have had these for many years now...they paid for themselves as soon as they were installed. I would do it all over again if I had to. Wonderful items.

I am knitting on several hats right now. One of the patterns is upstairs here in the office and the other is downstairs on the couch, I have plans to work on it tomorrow. I am hoping I will start to feel better already. I am still taking it easy since I get tired yet, really quick.

I was outside looking over my tomato plants. The cherry tomato is blooming yet again and it looks like I might have a bumper crop of tomatoes, I so can't wait. I have been picking okra every other day, I like this. I am ready to make some chicken and sausage gumbo. :) I may even make another frittata with them. :) The green beans are blooming again, which is a good thing. The corn didn't make it, I guess this isn't it's happy soil. It could also be all the tomatoes surrounding it.

I checked the lemon tree today and it is loaded this year. I am so thankful for this. There is nothing in the world like fresh meyer lemonaid. It is fabulous. I also love making lemon meringue pies with that lemon. Tasty!

Ooh, I have pie crust in the freezer and lemon juice frozen in the freezer, I might make a pie this week, that would be wonderful. :)

Something to sort of cool us off.

Pictures

2011-06-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is End of Summer Suri Alpaca/Merino yarn. I am using it to knit Raha from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush.

This is Keltic Berroco yarn I am using to knit a hat with ear flaps. I love the marled look of this hat and I have to say that this yarn is very nice to knit with. It has an incredible hand and it does not split like a lot of yarns do. This hat is being knit with US 8 needles. Cheap bamboo needles from Amazon. If you need dpns and don't want to spend a lot of cash, hit Amazon and buy them. You get every single size you need in one lump sum. I think I only spent $19.99 for them last year. Pretty good deal.

One Skein at a Time

2011-06-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

I am currently knitting a hat out of Berroco Keltic yarn. I had bought it some time ago and found it in my yarn stash. It is quite interesting looking. I cast on 80 stitches and I am using my US 8 dpns.

The yarn has a marled look to it and I think it is cool looking, the hubby hates it. Oh well, you can't please everyone all of the time. It is going up for sale in October. I am trying to challenge myself....use as much stash yarn as I can for this. I am not buying any yarn right now. My stash is out of control and to save money, I am using it up.

I thought of actually getting out my triangle loom and making up some nice shawls. I may do it when I have more energy. I wonder if it would look odd to take a loom on vacation with me. I know I would get some looks packing it into the hotel room. A 7 foot loom and stand is mighty big. I could see their faces.

We decided to leave Stewie at home for this trip since he has no storage area in his trunk. I can't see out of the back with the luggage rack on him. Gary would have to drive. Beau has so much more room than Stewie. We can put the cooler in the trunk, chairs, etc. Now, here is the big question...hurricanes. I am hoping that they stay away so, we can go and relax for a week. Big goal.

It Finally Rained!

2011-06-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

It rained today and I was so happy to see it. When I checked the weather on the back porch it was 102F. It was so freaking hot out there. All of my plants were looking droopy. I did manage to pick some more tomatoes and then I saw that one of my smaller okra plants has a pod on it. Woohoo! I can't wait for it to get bigger so, I can pick it.

Today I woke up feeling worse than yesterday. I have no idea why I felt so lousy. I had a lot of yogurt yesterday and today I started to feel like I was about to barf so, I had more yogurt and that seems to have helped.

I am knitting on a new pair of socks, this one is a KAL with the Socks Squared Group and it is called, Ankle Arches by Susan Meredith Pacheco. It is a very interesting and pretty much straight forward pattern. I am on the heel and I am using US 3 needles, not the recommended US 0's. My yarn is one of my own merino/silk sock yarns and it is a beautiful coral. I have no idea what size to make since I don't know who they are going to be for. I might make them for me. I will figure it out when I get to the foot section and then go ahead and make them for that person. I have some time, yet.

I am just really tired right now. I think I did too much today and I am going to pay for it tonight or tomorrow.

Pneumonia and Sock Knitting

2011-06-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday because the bottom of my lungs were killing me when I coughed. Gary insisted I go and get checked out. I went in and my doctor wasn't in so, I saw his partner and I must say, she is very thorough. She checked me out and found out that my cold had developed into pneumonia. Here I thought I was safe since I had the pneumonia shot last year. Think again...you can still get pneumonia even though you have the shot since it only covers one version of the bacteria, not all of them. Oh great and dandy! So, I came home with samples of my antibiotic and I was given several prescriptions for inhalers and for nebulizer solution for my machine. I was almost out of that. I had been hitting it pretty hard.

I was glad she gave me samples of my antibiotic since the antibiotic tends to run on the expensive side. I couldn't even imagine. I have a full course of antibiotics for this crap. Let me tell you about this particular antibiotic, I have to eat a lot of yogurt since it kills off all of the beneficial bacteria in my intestines. Trust me when I say, you don't want to have to sneeze or cough on this stuff...it creates a nasty incident and you have to sprint to the toilet. It is better than super lax.

Gary went to the grocery store after lunch and picked up more chocolate for me...it helps a little bit and another tub of the Greek yogurt I love. I have the huge tubs of the stuff. He also loaded me back up on cottage cheese. I love small curd full fat cottage cheese. My dogs love it, too.

Tonight for dinner I made a frittata, I used the fresh green beans out of the garden, two fresh okra pods straight off of the plant, some broccoli we had in the fridge along with some squash he had picked up from the previous grocery trip. I also used up the kielbasa we had left over. The dogs had the last one, divided up into three. I used the last of the fresh cherry tomatoes as well. They were fabulous in that dish.

I told him we would make another one when I had more veggies ready. We enjoyed it. It is a nice dish to make if you have the fixings and you don't want to make a huge meal because it is so freaking hot. I will have to send it to my nephew, he has a garden as well and I know he and his family would love it. I have to ask him if his okra is producing the way mine is. :)

So, since I am pretty much not supposed to go outside because the sun will rip my hide right off of me, I have to stay inside. I get really tired since I can't breathe. If I don't get better this next week, then I have to have my chest x-rayed and she said that we would go from there. I am feeling better but, I don't want to have to get a chest x-ray. I have the order for one, should I need it.

I decided to go ahead and finish my socks...they are done. I am so happy about that and I will be washing and blocking them tomorrow. I have started on another pair tonight. I am trying to decide who will benefit and get the next pair. I have a huge birthday list coming up in July. It seems everyone has a birthday in July in this family. It is the one month that will break me. Seriously. Way too many people were born in that month.

This year for Father's Day, the kids bought Gary a robe. A nice waffle weave Turkish cotton bath robe. I hated the old one he had and I plan to trash it as soon as I get the new one in for him. Since Gary does so many wonderful things for me and the kids...all 6 of the 4 legged kids...then he gets a new bath robe in the style he loves. I have already let him know that the kids bought it for him. I guess he is excited about it, but, I am not sure.

Last night, I finally was able to get some much needed sleep. I have been walking around in a daze and just plain tired. It helped me so much. I was happy when I woke up this morning. I had been trying to sleep for two days and nothing. I would finally get to sleep and the wake right up hacking. So, I slept last night and woke up at 10:30 am. It was nice.

I Should Have Known

2011-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

I should have known when I washed the full bottle of sealed Tide, life was going to take an unexpected and not good down turn. I caught a cold, and it immediately moved into my chest. Freaking figures. So, I have been fighting this crap tooth and nail. I have been using my albuterol inhaler along with my albuterol nebulizer solution. The inhaler is used when I can't get downstairs to hit the nebulizer.

This stuff is kicking my butt. I would think it is pneumonia but, I had the shot so, it can't be that unless it is a different strain of the crap. Just pure misery, the hurting, the whole nine yards but, not much fever. Amen to that. I hate pneumonia. The high fever, the misery, the whole body hurting, etc.

I had to break out the promethazine just to help me sleep. It is also helping to dry the crap up for me. Loads of mucus...just horrible stuff.

Yesterday, I ventured outside to pick tomatoes...we had 14 cherry tomatoes that were ready. I haven't had any of the new crop...Gary has been at them. I might have some today for the vitamin c. Lord knows I could use some of that about now. I noticed as well that one of the okra plants has one okra that should need picking today. I am so ready for home made fried okra or better yet, okra and tomatoes. Fabulous. :) Let's hope that more of the flowers will produce fruit. I am ready.

I also picked some more green beans. I am gathering them up for a meal. I think we almost have enough for a meal. Yes! I love my garden, it is a truly wonderful thing for me. I just hope my yellow bell peppers produce along with my carrots.

Irwin will be Missed

2011-05-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

My Polaris 360, Irwin passed on to his greater reward yesterday. He will be missed. After 9 years of patching him up and hoping he would last another year, yesterday was the final straw. His bag carriage was cracked and broken but, still I could find parts for him. Well, yesterday he had sheared off a bearing and when I went to replace it, I realized that this particular part no longer exists. sigh! The new bearings are bigger than his axle. sigh! So, he has now become parts for the new one. He went in pieces to the deck box that holds the spare polaris parts along with pool floats, etc. I have always tried to keep pieces of Irwin around just in case something happened. He had new wheels from the last time I had to tear him down and take him apart.

I had to ordred in a new one and it was so hard to part with that kind of cash right now. Polaris 360's aren't cheap. They are rated as one of the best pool cleaners out there but, the quality does have a hefty price tag. I found a place that had him on sale. Anything that costs that much and eats as much trash and crap out of the pool deserves a name. So, when we finally do get the new one in, he will be carrying the moniker of Ernie. I figure Irwin and Ernie are cousins and possibly at a later date might even be sharing bits and pieces.

My poor pool cleaner. He struggled valiently to clean my pool and he lost his life yesterday evening. He will be greatly missed.

Fresh Tomatoes

2011-05-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first day of trying fresh tomatoes out of this year's garden. They were so fabulous. First of all, the plant isn't a black tomato, it is a cherry tomato and it is very tasty. That first bite where the fruit, bursts upon the palate...aahh! Simply wonderful. I had forgotten how much a fresh tomato tastes over a store bought one. There is a difference.

I am still working on my sock pattern. I am going to have to add some stitches to the mix since it needs them. sigh! I had a clothes pin holding my pattern together and Ody stole it and ran off with it. He chews on things. Who knew my Corgi was actually part goat? I didn't.

Today I have to add more water to the pool, add more acid to it since our water is heavily alkaline. It really makes for fun since we haven't had rain in ages and we are under a fire watch from the wind. This sucks.

I am constantly watering to keep all of my plants alive. Our water bill hasn't been too bad but, it is probably going to shoot up to the sky after filling the pool, etc. We have to keep the plants alive around here.

My okra is blooming which means...yummy goodness is about to be heaped upon me. Yay! Melinda has promised to come help me pick it when I have okra out the wazoo around here. She wants some of it for her own self. I love it fried, stewed and Gary has plans for chicken and sausage gumbo.

Gary battled a yellow jacket's nest yesterday. I had seen the creatures flying around but, I never thought they would pick the rosemary bush for their home...they did and he found them by accident. I have never seen him move so fast. I was going to get the water hose and squirt them out but, he said he wanted them gone permanently.

They are pretty much beneficial in keeping out the unwanted critters out of my garden. I hope more lady bugs show up now.

Finding Me...Again

2011-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have taken up knitting again. I know...constant knitters everywhere and well, I wasn't interested in knitting for a while there until I decided to knit socks. Socks seem to be my forte since they do work in getting me back on track.

I wrote a pattern and I have to knit another pair of socks in a solid color before I will release said pattern into the shop. I dyed three skeins of yarn between yesterday and today to find the perfect color for the next pair of socks.

I swear, things go wrong for me just because. I didn't realize it until I turned on the sprinkler that there was yarn drying on the chain above said sprinkler. It will have to wait another day to dry. sigh! I washed a full bottle of Tide laundry detergeant and I didn't realize what that thunking noise was until I opened the washer lid and there it was in all of it's beat up glory. I swear...it has been that kind of day.

I am still fighting the nasty stomach virus that is going around. I want to kick the person who gave it to me. Misery. At least it isn't the flu, just a virus that lingers and lingers.

I scrubbed the stove tonight...it has been needing it. I loaded the sink up for Gary once again. He is always after me to clean the island...well, tonight his wish came true. I cleaned the island and the stove. It should be flooding any day now just from those two actions...I wish.

I was outside watering my garden since everything is wilting from the heat here. I went to see how my tomatoes are doing. They have been needing serious water. I looked and yep, I have little tomatoes on some and one huge one on the Cherokee purple plant. I am so excited. Gary is excited since he said he will finally have fresh tomatoes to eat. Yep. I went ahead and gave the tomates some food for their fruiting efforts, pulled green beans again. I should have enough to eat in a couple of days. I only have two plants and that one is really producing. Fine by me...I love fresh green beans. yummy! My corn needs to be fertilized and I am hoping to deal with that tomorrow.

I have to fill the pool up and check the ph and alkalinity tomorrow. Both are sky high right now on that pool. Gary wants me to vacuum tomorrow and then we can break down the filter and put the other filters in. I also need to fix Irwin once again and get him back into the pool to clean so, I don't have to do any more vacuuming. I hate to vacuum.

My life is getting complicated once again. I don't like it when it is complicated, I like simple.

My Left Eye is Twitching

2011-05-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

My left eye is twitching which means my stress level is up. House cleaning sucks...let's get that out in the open right away. I was woken up at the ungodly hour of 6 am, the alarm on my weather station went off So, I headed downstairs and had breakfast. I worked on some more rows on the new sock and I am completely worn out. I was up late...I wasn't feeling all the thing last night.

Yesterday, I went out to lunch with my sister, we hit a local diner that makes the best fried mushrooms...I even had a mushroom burger and it was so good. yummy!

I need to dye yarn today. I have to find the space and my dye pot. I need a good solid color that will work with my new pattern. I am going to dig around in the dye stash to see what color would look beautiful with my pattern. :)

I also have to search out cheap knitting needles, I have a project going but, I am not ready to share it.

Something in the Air

2011-05-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning, hacking up the lungs...great something new and awful in the air. It is so dry here and the wind constantly blows but, it isn't a forgiving wind, it is a nasty drying wind. It needs to leave and we need rain, badly.

I have been going up and down the stairs since I am doing laundry today. I have the whites in the washer right now and I had to re-run them since they reek of bleach. I hate that smell.

I am writing a new sock pattern and I went to check to see what new patterns socks squared group has and well, this month's vote is a hard one. I chose to vote for the Ankle Arches Socks by Susan Meredith Pacheco. It looks really cool. I have the yarn as well. I just refuse to knit with US 0-2 needles. Socks are meant to be knit with US 3s in my book. Stubborn and to the point is how I am.

I also printed out En Pointe Socks by Barclay A. Dunn. They are quite unique looking even thought they are toe to cuff socks. I hardly knit this kind of sock anymore. I have no idea which one will win.

I have to cook dinner tonight...it is taco night. I have to get off of my butt and take care of it. I thought of doing chili pie but, nah, it just doesn't sound good at all.

Let's Head to Lowe's

2011-05-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

We have to go to Lowe's today for fertilizer for the yard. I am ready for a nice trip out of this house today. Yesterday, we did the meeting, then headed over to the movies to see Pirates, it was okay. I wish it would have been better.

I fertilized my garden and strawberries yesterday. My okra is doing so amazing. The two persimmon trees are doing fabulous as well. I think if they put on some added height this year, they will do well to be planted in the ground this next year. I asked Melinda if she wanted okra plants and she said she would come over to help me pick it. Well..okay, this means I will be sharing okra with her. If you pick, you get. That is the family motto. You get help from people and to reward them, they get some of the bounty. It is only right.

Gary grilled steak and corn last night and I made fresh green beans. The ones out of the garden were fantastic, so sweet. My tomatoes are out of control in the garden and growing like weeds. I don't mind since it means more fruit when they do start production. The corn is looking pretty good as well. I don't know if it is going to get taller for me or not.

I have to vacuum the pool today and get it ready for my body to be in it. I have plans to start swimming and getting my old beat up body back into shape. I need muscle tone like you wouldn't believe. Maybe you would.

I just am ready to swim like a fish in that pool. Yay!

I Need a Bigger Car

2011-05-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

I loaded most of the stuff up for tonight's award dinner and I realized...I need a bigger car. My Sky is full to the rim. I have to load the table cloths in and my huge rolling tote bag for the meeting and then the gorgeous arrangement. I went and picked up the arrangement at the Kroger on FM 529 and Barker-Cypress. The florist there...Penny, she does such beautiful work. I highly recommend her if you are in the area and you need a stunning arrangement. She doesn't disappoint.

I am wearing a new outfit tonight for this dinner. I will be styling. I just hope I can find my red shoes. I swear, I lose everything. If I can't find my red shoes, I will be wearing those black killers. I hate those shoes, they are so uncomfy. They say cloudwalkers on the inside...boy, that is a huge lie, they hurt my feet.

I managed to get the stain out of the one table cloth. It took me two washings to get it all out. I used Oxy clean bags the first round with the blue gel. The second round was more of the Oxy clean bags and Spray and wash with Resolve on the second round and that cocktail removed the blood from the table cloth. Pretty good, I thought.

I can't wait for this night to be over so, I can finally relax. I am ready to relax. I haven't even had time to knit I have been running like a wild woman.

Tomorrow I get to pick up my family room. It is a freaking mess. I have yarn everywhere and fiber. I need to get the plastic bins and just start putting it all in the bins and then packing it upstairs to my office. I can't buy any more yarn because I will never use it all.

Excuse Me, Yes, You!

2011-05-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today I was going to be good and get the laundry done and then I received the phone call...my sister, Melinda called to ask if I would go shopping with her. I don't turn down shopping trips...no way. So, she tells me to bring along the DAR stuff we have to deal with. Okay, no problem. Then it hits me...tomorrow night is the award's night at one of the schools that our chapter sponsors. I have to make the awards and then I will be presenting said awards at the school. Holy Smoke!

I am so glad that I had gone clothes shopping with her last week, I was able to update my wardrobe with one new outfit and then some blouses that I can wear with my nice black skirt.

We hit the store and we were cracking up laughing on the aisles reading birthday cards for our oldest brother, he sent me a redneck card so, I had to find something just as appropriate for his birthday. I found it. I hope he enjoys it. Then today I get a card in the mail from my niece and it made me cry with laughter so, I was okay that it was late. She had warned me it would be late.

I came home late and just didn't feel like cooking since it was so hot today. I was supposed to grill a bone in rib eye but, it didn't happen. I guess tomorrow before the awards ceremony, I will be grilling it.

I was wiped out when I finally made it home. I guess tomorrow, I will be working on those award certificates. sigh!

An Interesting Thought

2011-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been knitting much lately and I know what has taken the place of it right now. My garden. I spend every day outside looking to see what is new with it. I have itty bitty tomatoes on my plants and my corn is doing really well. I need to pick green beans today. It just brings a smile to my face to go outside and check on it, work the ground and plant what needs planting. I love my garden.

I need to transplant my lemon balm into the garden and I have okra that needs to be transplanted. If all of my okra fruit then we are going to have okra coming out of our ears. :) It might be a good thing. I will be sharing okra if this happens.

Maribeth asked me to knit her some socks in her color combo she chose. I will have to paint the yarn and knit her socks out of it. I just have to find the time. sigh!

I am procrastinating on a lot of things right now. Oh well, such is my life.

My Hubby Cracks Me Up!

2011-05-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight after dinner, I had to stop by the bank and deposit a check. So, I took the short cut through the KFC parking lot and I saw it....a girl in a dress, a nice dress and her date. He took her to KFC for dinner. I was about to mention how weird it looked to see a girl in a dress like that walking into KFC. Gary pipes up..."it looks like it's date night!" I just started laughing because the next comment was a bucket of chicken and a F____! Come on dude, don't be so damn cheap to take her out for chicken and a F! Spend some cash and then expect the other.

I had to come home today from my day out with my sister and niece to make corsages and boutonairres for the awards dinner. I also spiffed up the two big pots for the centerpieces. I decided it needed some flair. I added the stars in the center and in the middle of the bow. I like it. It added some shine to it.

I tried to teach my niece how to knit today...talk about pulling teeth, she doesn't listen. I had to just get up and go home. I had a headache and I had misplaced my medicine. I found my meds at home. I am telling you, that velcro shirt needs to be made soon the way I keep losing stuff.

Making Center Pieces for my Awards Dinner

2011-05-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

I have been painting pots and making my center pieces for the tables at our chapter awards dinner. I finished them all and the next thing, I have to make the buttonaires for the boys who are winning awards. I am still waiting to see if the girl will be coming or not since I will have to make her a corsage. I am saving money by making all this stuff.

I love the big red pot with the little blue, red, and white flowers. I am thinking of painting more pots this color and finding some fake geramiums for it. I recycled some of the flowers from last years centerpieces. The two big pots were from last year as well. I found the ribbon at the local craft store and I made the bows today. I have to see if I can find all of my white table cloths, I use them for craft fairs, too and some of them are really stained up. One of them has blood on it from my MIL cutting herself badly with a pair of scissors and I have to read up on how to get it out besides bleach. I have no idea if the tablecloths will melt with bleach use or not. sigh!

I am tired and my right foot has started to itch...dang! I hope it hasn't spread to that foot now, that would suck. Maybe it is an ant bite and that is bad enough but, the other is worse. :(

We are looking at going on vacation this year. We both said the beach in Texas. I think we might be headed to North Padre Island. Yay! Peace and quiet with the dogs headed to the boarders. They are going on vacation, too.

Feeling Better

2011-05-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

For two years now, I have been feeling lousy and the culprit is on my left foot...I have a nasty infection. It has been with me since my trip to the beach back in August of 2009. The sad part of this is that this infection goes dormant and will be with me until the day I kick off. I had been sleeping a lot lately and started feeling really awful and then the foot started to swell and itch..oh no, it was back. Then the big toe on the right foot started acting up...it scared me, I really didn't want this crap infection to spread over there. I headed down to the doctor to get the cocktail. After many antibiotics that didn't work, we had come up with a cocktail of an anti-viral and a antibiotic. The infection in question is airborne in Texas and since it was acting like a virus, why not treat it like one? So, I went in and let him know the usual antibiotic wasn't working...we needed to try something new for the thing. So, he went through my chart and decided to use Clindamycin. We have never tried it and he said he didn't like to prescribe it since it was one of those antibiotics that gave people diarrhea.

To combat the diarrhea, I have to eat chocolate. Oh, it is such a hardship, let me tell you! :) Those Godiva gems are going down great, let me tell you, they are keeping me from having to run and with a knee brace on as well since the Ody incident.

Ody is my corgi, he is now 2 years old but, he is something of a paper pack rat, he drages things around the house and he shreds stuff. (eye roll here) Well, unbeknownst to me, he had packed a bag upstairs and some of my clothes had fallen on top of this slick thing. I hit the clothes and went sliding...felt the knee tear and now I am back in the damn knee brace. I am not wearing the big one since it needs replacing, it is all beat up and the bands are torn. So, I am in the small one. It doesn't work as well for support but, the big one is expensive! It has to wait.

Then the pool pump motor died about two weeks ago. I ordered in a new one but, I seem to be going blind because I ordered in the wrong one. Damn! I had to write the company to get a RA and sure enough, I had to reorder my new pump motor. Let me tell you a tale and you can decide what you would have done.

I called Leslie's pool company for service. In the past, I called, they brought the piece of equipment I needed, they installed, I paid them. So, I called them up, told them what was going on and the girl on the phone tells me that I have to order the motor from them and when it arrives, they will come out and put it in. So, I hung up and looked at how much a pool motor would cost...$329. Who are they kidding? So, I went ahead and started looking on line to see who had cheaper motors...I found the Aqua Super Center and they had the motor for $165. The wrong one but, still...it was cheaper. After the realization that it was going to cost me serious bucks to return it...actually, it is still cheaper than Leslie's $329 motor. With the new motor and seals ordered, it is still cheaper for me to return the motor and get the new motor plus seals, it is no where near that $329. I am still coming in under $300!

When Gary heard how much they wanted to charge me for the motor and I know it is going to cost us $100 for them to put it in..he said forget them but, in stronger language. I asked the girl on the phone why they stopped doing it the original way and she said a lot of people get the pool guy out to their house, have the stuff installed and refused to pay. I am thinking with this economy in such a bad way, people have lost their morals. If I need service on my pool, I am going to pay it. If I don't have the cash for it, then I wouldn't call. So, for all of those people who didn't pay, the rest of us are having to go elsewhere to get their pool taken care of. If this hadn't happened, I would have never realized that pool pump motors can be had for under $300.

I have been writing a shawl pattern and I am putting it on the back burner right now. I have to get ready for my awards dinner. I am making the centerpieces for the table and I have to get the flowers done as well for this event. I am trying to save the chapter as much money as I can. I am using my talents for this endeavor.

I Make Yarn

2011-04-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here is my new skein of yarn that I spun and plied. I took my lovely batts and spun them seperately and then I plied them together. I love this skein. I call it Ebb and Flow. I can't wait to knit with this skein of yarn...something pretty for me.

Spinning Makes the Bobbin Go Around

2011-04-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Last night after getting home from dinner and the viewing at the funeral home...my cousin had passed on after 5 and 1/2 years of pure living hell. She was paralyzed after back surgery and then she had MRSA. Which if you don't know what it is...Medically Resistant Staph. Yep, that nasty stuff is rearing it's head everywhere.
She had seized and was hospitalized. She had a lot of brain damage and her wish was that if she had a choice of being resuscitated or not, she chose not.

So, Melinda and I headed over to the funeral home to see her for a final time and to speak with family members. We came back this way and we were both starving so, she called home to see if Mikey wanted to go to dinner with us. Maribeth pops up with..."Japanese!" She loves Japanese food. So, we headed down to the Hibachi grill and had Japanese. It was so good!

I came home and let the boys out for their evening constitutional and then I started to look for my knitting, it was upstairs and I didn't feel like crawling up the stairs just yet so, I sat and started to spin with one of my spindles. I had a lot of yarn spun and the spindle was filling up fast so, I transfered my new yarn to a bobbin and broke out the wheel. I oiled up Beatrice (my spinning wheel) and started to work on a glorious fiber I bought from Artemis Artemis on ETSY. She has beautiful batts. They spin like butter.

I relaxed and I spun one batt completely up and I have one more to go. I have yarn already from my last purchase with her. I just need to ply them together when I finish the second batt. I think it is going to be beautiful stuff when it is completed.

If you have never taken the time to learn to spin...it is very relaxing and it will change the way you see life. Spinning is very peaceful and amazing. :)

Ahem...I Do Knit

2011-04-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally picked the mitt back up and started working on it, again. I finished the first one and I did cast on for the second one. I am currently working on the second mitt, palm. I even found my camera and snapped some pics of my first mitt.

I just have a few things to say...this mitt brought me out of a deep funk. I didn't have any desire to knit which is very unusual for me. Then I decided to pick it back up and work on it. Do you know that stitch by stitch it helped me back to my usual happy place? Knitting will change your life for the better, I think everyone should learn.

I was watching tv and knitting along. I was in progress of writing the pattern. I created the pattern and I went back to write down my pattern and check on measurements. Always fun to write patterns and knit them. I am to the point where I really enjoy writing patterns and knitting them. It is a nice challenge to my knitting.

I am using my Shetland wool...Drowning in Brown. It is a special yarn and I pull it out for special projects. Not much left of it these days. I might have to see if I can get more of it. Most Shetland wool I have come across has been super scratchy...not this one. It is soft and it has a beautiful hand. I am using small needles for this particular set of mitts because I wanted the yarn to be thicker than normal for the person who is going to receive these. It is very hard for me to part with them because the yarn is so special.

It is one of my first yarns that I ever painted. I find myself smiling when I use it. I have had more people compliment me on it and several dyers have tried to copy it. I guess I should be smiling about this but, it just tells me that they have no originality in their lives. No one will ever get it right...it is truly one of a kind. If you don't see it in person, you will miss every color in it.

And How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-04-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today I walked outside to water my garden, again. I am keeping it alive by watering every other day or in this case, every day. I decided today I needed to do some fertilizing on the bell pepper plants..I used rose fertilizer after reading about how the plants love epsom salt due to the high magnesium content. So, I decided to try out the rose stuff and see how it is going to do for the little plants. I have yellow bell peppers planted. I also decided to go ahead and give the new mystery tomato a fertilizing.

Mystery tomato? Yep, we have a mystery tomato plant that we bought for 50 cents yesterday. I planted it along with my okra seedlings and my okra plant from inside. I had it in my aerogarden and it had a nice bunch of roots. :) It is planted next to my strawberries in the big pot. Not sure if they like one another or not but, I guess we will find out.

What really had my attention today was the fact that I realized I do have a female persimmon and a male. I knew that their leaves were different. The female is blooming right now and the male is not. I was much struck by this. The trees need to be planted in the ground next year. I have them in huge pots right now to help them grow before we plant them permanently. My next door neighbor can't wait until we have fruit, she is biding her time. She mentioned to me something about persimmon preserves. I know this year, the tree is too small to fruit and I would love to see it fruit but, it needs some much needed growing time. I am going to let it bloom out and see what happens. If it blasts...oh well, I am not worried.

I am hoping my lemon tree will produce again this year. It only had one lemon this past year...due to nearly dying from the frost. We have learned a much needed valuable lesson about covering it now. We put in a drop light while it is covered and it helps the tree stay warm.

The fig tree is coming back and I am hoping this year we will get fruit. I need to see what it needs for fertilizer so, we can get it strong and ready for fruiting. Exciting. I am so looking forward to fig preserves...ah, heavenly.

The black berries are fruiting right now and they are small but, it is still a sight to behold since we have fruit. Not much to start with but, it is something. I hope I will have enough for some blackberry kolaches. Oh yes, the good stuff. :)

Another Funeral

2011-04-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well...I received the news tonight, my cousin passed away. The funeral is on Thursday and I will be attending the rosary on Wednesday night with Melinda. I have to go tomorrow and order the funeral spray from the whole family. That florist down at the Kroger already knows me and this will make me one of her favorite people. I spend more money on funeral flowers these days than on regular flowers. sigh!

Today I slept. I had many naps and I am still worn out which means that either the staph is kicking back in or I am coming down with something. I do have an infected gum but, I am dealing with it. Peroxide is my friend right now. I have been cleaning the gum out with it. I also have beens swishing with good old Listerine. It works. It is nasty stuff but, it works..

I am currently knitting on a charity mitt out of my special skein of Shetland wool. It is called drowning in brown and I pull it out for special items. I had about 1000 yards of it at one point in time, now I am down to about 400 yards. I chose to use it for someone who needs a pair of mitts that are soft yet warm. I had it on my right hand and I can say...it is very soft and it isn't hot like some wools. I am hoping the new owner will adore them. This yarn was a labor of love and I hope the new owner will enjoy them for many years to come. :)

One great thing about hand knit items...they last and last if properly cared for. Unless...you have that cat that chews the crap out of everything. Then forget it, it won't last. sigh!

I am staring at my shop tote and I really want to dig into it and have at my spring palette of yarns. It is so hard sometimes to part with this beautiful stuff. sigh!

Hotter Than What I Imagine Hell Would Be Like

2011-04-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today, we headed out to the park...after getting there and realizing the place was packed with no parking, we left and went to another one. I should have realized it would have ended in disaster...needless to say, I no longer have a pop up shelter, it was eaten by the wind. It was in pieces by the time the wind finished with it. So, we loaded up and did the half mile walk, or so it seemed, to the car. I had a wooden chair this time around instead of two coolers. I had a bag of food and my baseball cap on. I was the one in the back of the line of people headed to the cars. It was 90F according to the temp gauge on the car. The weather people said that we should have a high of 87F, they lied, like usual. It was miserable out there. The ground was even cracking because we have had no rain at all.

Generally, when we have no rain, it is going to be a hurricane year. Great. I guess it is time for us to start buying hurricane supplies.

We came home and I sat down on the couch. Gary went and took a nap. I went outside to swing. It was nice. I came back inside.

Gary went outside after dinner and took apart the pool pump. It wasn't working...well, now we know why...the motor is gone. I am sick of replacing these things. I have to wonder why they keep going out. sigh! So, Monday, I will be calling the pool people and having them come out to put in a new one.

Happy Easter

2011-04-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a blessed and safe Easter. We received some very sad news about one of my cousins...she has been paralyzed for 5.5 years from head to toe. She recently was rushed to the hospital for being non-responsive. We found out today from her daughter that on Sunday at 1pm...her family will be unplugging all life support systems. The really sad thing about all of this is that Sunday is her 35th wedding anniversary.

The doctors have ran all manner of tests and her brain has suffered major damage.

Taking Some Much Needed Time Off

2011-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today I have to take Bootsy to the vet, he is overdue. Vet bills aren't cheap and well, we have been saving up for the right time to take him. I dread that bill. It is up there with car repair. The magic number always seems to be $400. Scary.

Yesterday was a truly horrible day for me and well...I am taking time away from certain areas of my life for a while. I need some peace in my life right now. No more drama. I am sick of fighting with a group of people. The two bimbos in question need to back off or they are going to get more than they can handle. I am sick of their stupidity. So, I will be taking time away from there antics for a while. I don't need them in my life. Honestly, if I never talk to either one again, it will be too soon. I am very good at ignoring people I don't like. They are completely TOXIC!

Now, for what happened last night. As everyone knows, my left knee was finally healing. I was doing so well, I was walking without my brace...hot thing that it is. Then last night was walking into my bedroom when it happened. Ody had drug another thing into the bedroom and I didn't see it until it was too late...I slid and there went the knee again. So, for my little doggie, he has to quit dragging his junk around. I have never seen such a dog, he drags crap all over this house. The other two boys have never done this...maybe it is a corgi thing. I don't know. I had to have Gary go and get my ice and I am in the short brace right now. It has always been too big...not anymore, it fits. Great!

I am in a funk where knitting is concerned. I will be working on a mitt for charity, my friend needs them badly for her cause. I have been in a funk since my friend's mom had passed...I was about to start her a new prayer shawl when I got the news...it really threw me off. Here I had the yarn picked out and everything. I was going to make her a lace shawl with one of my hand painted lace weight yarns. Now, I am working on a pink cotton shawl for my friend because I think she needs it. Something to help her out of her grief.

It is such a horrible feeling to lose your mom. It is worse to lose both parents. I know, my parents are both gone and a day doesn't go by that I don't miss either one of them. I have my niece, Maribeth who reminds me so much of my mom. That girl is a hoot but, she isn't my mom.

Then I found out one of my cousin's is in the hospital, she is unresponsive and her doctor has put her in a medical induced coma for 24 hours to see if that will bring her around. She has no brain activity and her eyes are rolled back into her eye sockets...it doesn't look good. I am asking for prayers to help her out. If you could spare a few, it would be greatly appreciated.

Now, I am going to get myself dressed and put my knee back into the big brace and go from there. I hope ya'll have a wonderful and safe Easter. I have chocolates galore for my niece, Maribeth. Her Easter basket is purple...what other color would it be?

It's On It's Way!

2011-04-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

My birthday present is on it's way here from Germany. What am I getting? Are you ready? I am getting a gorgeous painting for my birthday. Yep, I found the artist on ETSY and she does simply gorgeous work. Gary even said he will be building a frame for it. Yay! It is going to be hanging over our bed. I am so excited!

I have the tracking numbers and it is still in Germany right now but, it is coming.