‘Tis almost the season

I love this time of year. Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for and to craft for. It’s time for me to break out the Halloween knitting and cross stitch that I have in my stash. I won’t necessarily finish these things by Halloween, but I love working on them during this time of year.

This little cutie came from One Crafty Mama a blog I have recently started to follow.  I adored the dishcloth patterns.  I’m not a fan of seed stitch to changed the borders to garter stitch. This one is next on my dishcloth needles. Speaking of dishcloths, my sister asked for some and they are ready to be stuffed into the box that will be sent for Christmas to my family in Houston.

There are a couple more than this, but these are the styles I’ve made so far.

More Halloween goodness to come, I hope!

Questions

Do people named I Don’t Know and Not Me leave clothes at your house, too?

– Putting away the laundry consists of asking everyone in the household, repeatedly, to go through the clean clothes and put away what is theirs. This is followed by going through what is left, piece by piece and asking everyone in the house if it belongs to them until the owner finally has a moment of recognition. Today, there was stuff leftover that no one would claim. It went into the DI pile so that we don’t have to play that game with that particular piece of clothing again.

Does anyone need this many purple mechanical pencils?

– This is what happens when I constantly lose things. I replace them or buy more in case I lose them again. Then, at some point, all of them get found and I have way more than I ever thought possible. I don’t know how many pairs of sunglasses I have in the house. Yes, most of those are purple too.

Does anyone need this many cute little notebooks?

– These things are very handy for recording what yarn, needles size, or whatever I’ve done with a pattern. It’s a great idea when you sort of use a pattern but then change a thing or two here and there. Trust me, you won’t remember what you’ve done. Write it down. I wish I listened to myself more.

Flexible rulers, same question

– I blame my knitting instructor, Bonnie, for this one. I took a knitting class from her, oh so many years ago, probably some time in 2003. She gave one out to each person in the knitting class and I promptly lost mine. Either that or I didn’t get a purple one because another student grabbed it. So, I bought another one. Then, for whatever reason, I kept buying them because I thought they were cool. Look, there is even a non-purple one 🙂 You know, I miss that group of ladies in that knitting class, I wish I had gone more often and kept in touch with them. It was my first real knit night.

Since I found probably all of my purple mechanical pencils, flexible rulers and cute little notebooks, does that also mean I will find the rest of my tape measures?

– Would you believe I actually found one of the missing tape measures (and another purple mechanical pencil) in between starting this post and dinner time?

Can one person really have too many sticky notes?

Can I blame my collection of needlework scissors on any of the above?

– No, unfortunately not. When I was an avid cross stitcher, I detested having to track down my one pair of scissors so I began acquiring scissors for every major project I started. I kept a pair in each floss box. Later I gathered them all up and began distributing them amongst my knitting bags.

Are the questions all going to be related to how much I have of a certain item?

– Yep. Except for the question about the strangers that come to my house and leave clothes in the laundry hamper.

All of the above items I find useful for taking notes, marking patterns and knitting in general. Except for the pile of unclaimed clothes that is shortly going to be dispatched to DI. Yay! More room for stash! Um, did I say that out loud?

Can I think of anything else knitting or office supply related that I seem to have a lot of?

–  Oh my giddy aunt, yes. While writing all of this I discovered (or rediscovered) that I have a large amount of a lot of things. I went about sorting and organizing the various drawers, cubbies, and boxes of stuff, which led to me finding more stuff and needing to take updated pictures since the piles kept getting larger and larger. I started to wonder just how much of this stuff I really had. I went through the house and gathered up all the pens and pencils and pretty much decided that if the world were to end tomorrow I would have many years worth of writing implements.  I also have a lot of notebooks and packages of paper to use the pens and pencils on. I have a lot of knitting supplies. I tend to work on several projects at once and each project lives in its own bag. I like each bag to have its own supply of tools. Now, I wish I was really as organized as this makes me sound but I tend to not put things back where they came from so I have to rummage somewhere else to find a pair of scissors, some stitch markers or a measuring tape. Every so often, I have to gather up all the stuff,  and put them in piles and then redistribute them among my knitting bags.

Is it time for another declutter session?

I’m afraid so and time for another commitment to myself not to purchase more stuff. Except yarn. Having stuff can be nice, but having too much stuff can be stressful. Where do you put it all? How do you keep a room looking tidy? How do you keep your space functional? For heavens sake, what do you do when you have to move? I seem to have accumulated more stash than I intended and while I was acquiring that stash I bought only small amounts. I have LOTS of sock yarn and a lot of stash for scarves and shawls. I want to make some blankets and sweaters but I don’t want to buy that much more yarn while I have so much of it here. I’m running out of room. I’m going to have to try to be patient and finish the few acrylic (sigh) afghans that I have going before I can justify bringing home that much more. I might need a Jane Austen movie marathon to get more things knitted.

Because you know, knitting (especially an afghan) uses up yarn = frees up space = decluttering!

 

Doctor Who Scarf #2

 

Happy Fall everyone. I was fondling organizing my stash when I came across the leftover yarn from my last Doctor Who scarf which led me to Ravelry to check out the Doctor Who support group forum which led me back to the stash to take a look at the wool yarn I bought to make the scarf for myself. I noticed that a few of the people on the forum were using a couple of different colors than I had picked which led me to TARDIS Tara’s website to check out the colors she has been using which led me back to the Ravelry groups and so on and so on.  Anyway, I’ve started my second Doctor Who scarf.  This one will be made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and is for me 🙂 I went to Home Depot like Tara suggested and picked up the paint chips and I’m going to compare them to the wool I already have. I’ve noticed that Knit Picks has a few new colors of their Wool of the Andes and I’m going to order a few more colors and then compare them to the paint chips.  What I have so far looks pretty good though 🙂

Arrrr, we had us a lovely lunch, matey

Today (well yesterday if this posts after midnight) my dear hubby and I went to a little place called Terra Mia.  Two years ago, almost to the day, we met there for a safe lunch, as friends, after running into each other on Face Book. I had known him for over 13 years but we were only gamer geek friends/acquaintances. He considered it a date, I didn’t know what to think. It was wonderful and we’ve been together purt’near constantly ever since. I anticipate this to continue for the rest of eternity and I am overjoyed to have found such a fabulously perfect for me person to journey through life with.

 

 

Today was also Talk Like A Pirate Day and to celebrate I fully intended to cast on for Aargh! gyle socks, but I puttered around too much, dithered around on Ravelry, had to wind the yarn into a ball and went over to my friend Wendy’s to watch the new X Men movie (really enjoyed it by the way). So, here is my progress:

I think they are coming along swimmingly, don’t you?

Yay me!

I fiddled and fiddled and installed and uninstalled and downloaded and setup and re setup and resetup and fussed and fumed.  Rinsed. Repeated. Until I finally got this cute little widget to show up that tells y’all what I am reading. I just love how, in the computer world, doing the same thing over and over again really can yield a different result.

Knitting soothes a tortured soul.

Thank you very much little cell phone talking 19 year old distracted driver Princess for taking away from me a vehicle that I trusted and leaving me with absof******lutelynothing. We finally got an offer from the Total Loss Department of Mercury Insurance of California. (BTW, thanks guys for almost never returning our calls and making us have to contact everyone’s supervisor to get an answer) We were offered what my car was “worth” which isn’t enough to replace what I lost. I had a car with a rebuilt engine that was meticulously maintained and ran great. I had a car I trusted. The money we got for it doesn’t allow me to buy another car that I trust. So, yeah, thanks Princess. I’m really glad that your daddy’s brand spanking new Suburban didn’t sustain any damage and that he bought your little tale of woe so that you didn’t get grounded or have your cell phone taken away.

Thank you very much Orem City for keeping me awake for several nights in a row. Please don’t trouble yourself on how our little neighborhood is functioning without any sleep. It’s no bother really. I’m glad that you decided the benefits (for you) outweighed the inconveniences (for us). We are really excited to see that the expensive little turn in/turn out that y’all created for an UNDEVELOPED piece of property is has now been expensively erased. We all feel a lot better.

Thank you very much gardners of The Colonies for making sure I didn’t get to catch up on that sleep in the morning.

Thankfully knitting takes the edge off. I may have to throw in some Jane Austen movies, or better yet, maybe watch the entire Lethal Weapon series, and find some more disgustingly cute things to knit. I will take the lids off of all my yarn bins and allow the wool fumes to soothe my tortured soul. I might even have to take and afternoon trip to a yarn store.

I love how this came out. The number of stitches I had on my needles didn’t match any of the patterns out there so I had to figure out on my own when to change colors and decrease at the same time to get the top to come out like I wanted. No one is more surprised than I am that it came out like I wanted. My knitting ladies are going to harass me that I didn’t write down what I did so that I can do it again.  This pattern is mostly this one.  I’m going to scrounge around in the stash to see if I can find some purple or blue and make the berry version.  Her pattern is in multiples of 8 and mine was multiples of 14 (I blame my swatch).  So, I decreased in orange until I got closer to 8 (remember me not taking notes on what I did?) and then started the color changes.  I used her instructions for the I-cord (my very first I-cord SQUEEEE – it was so easy) and voila. A pumpkin hat. I’m kind of a Halloween nut so this pumpkin hat has been on my radar for a long time 🙂

Next on the needles in the I Will Someday Have Grandbabies series:

Little tiny socks for little tiny humans 🙂

The things I remember

I remember being on my computer, blissfully reading email from a large list of cross stitchers, until I started coming across strange messages.

I remember turning on the TV and seeing the tragedy unfolding on the screen.

I remember wanting to run to the bus stop and bring my children home and keep them home for the day. Week. Month.

I remember people being really polite in traffic in spots where it was usually difficult to turn or get through.

I remember that most of these cars had American flags on them.

I remember crying and watching the news for days.

I remember grasping onto every bit of good news that I could find and holding it tight.

I remember that the feeling of not being able to help anyone, anything was so immense that when I found a starving, lost orange kitten, I jumped out of the car to save him.

I remember looking at touching pictures from around the world of memorial sites springing up at embassies and different places.

I remember seeing more than one video of more than one crowd of certain people celebrating and shouting for joy at our distress.

I remember that never before in my life time had I heard the phrase ‘possibly only 10,000 perished, and then maybe only 5,000, and finally it was really only 3000’. Only. I remember not being able to express how I felt about that.

I remember years later having the opportunity of visiting Ground Zero and not being able to go inside.

I remember exactly what the falling of the towers looks like without having to see a picture or video.

I will always remember.

God Bless America.

Happy Birthday Marji Spice!

Today is my dear friend Marji’s birthday. The world truly became a wonderful place on the day she arrived. 🙂 We used to work together. We both left the company within a few months of each other and went on to better things, but I really miss seeing her almost every day. I think she is a beautiful, talented, amazing, kind-hearted, strong woman.  To which she usually says:

Ain’t she great? Have a great day, chica, love you!!

If knitting in the round doesn’t make you dizzy, knitting in the round plus beading just might! I started another watermelon hat yesterday and stopped at the point where I needed to add beads. I didn’t have any black beads suitable to used as watermelon seeds.  Today I wandered off to a large store that carries a bit of crafty stuff along with groceries because I also needed to replenish the kitty litter supply. Three cats plus no cat litter equals BAD. I remembered this store as carrying more beads than what I found there today and instead of the fabulous beads that I imagined I would find, I came home with plain black pony beads. The run of the mill plastic beads that kids use in crafts. I was vaguely disappointed to find only those, it’s kind of like having to shop at WalMart instead Ye Olde Fabulous Craft store.  That’s kind of funny to me because that’s where I went.  WalMart.  Heh.

Anyway, I looked up a youtube vid of how to add beads to knitting and off I went.

I LOVED how it turned out. I was meh about the yarn colors that I had chosen, I was meh about the beads I had chosen and now that it’s all together I’m really pleased with out how it came out 🙂 So much better than I expected. I should knit with low expectations more often. Chynna loves it and it looks cute on her.

While I was at WalMart I also ran across a cute little notebook (because I can NEVER resist taking a stroll down the school/office supply aisle) that has one of my favorite phrases on it:

It will make a perfect little knitting journal.

A little fun and a little hat

I got to have a little fun today at my son’s expense. It is Picture Day at school and I had forgotten to send him with money for the pictures. I wrote out a check, filled out the envelope and ran it over to the junior high. It’s two blocks away (LOVE THAT) and since I was pretty sure he hadn’t brushed his hair, I also took a brush on the off chance that I would be able to catch him before pictures were taken.

I caught him just after but he and his class were still there. I asked if he could have it retaken and they were happy to do so.  They also looked at Josh’s hair and said, oh yeah, you’ll want that retaken 😉  I brushed his hair (he said he looked fine, I reminded him that the pictures were for me and not him) and went on my way. I’m going to be giggling about that all day. I wonder what I’m going to have to do to make that up to him 😉

The little watermel0n hat is finished and it’s so cute I’m off to make another one! And then maybe another! I might even go back and add seeds or make the next one with seeds.

I guess from a seedless watermelon 😉

I only had 4 metal dpns of the size I was using and it was NOT FUN using the wood dpns on this cotton yarn.  I may have to put in a Knit Picks order to get some more dpns.

 

 

Labor Day

Here I am at another Labor Day.  I don’t know that I personally know many laborers, but I do see them around me and am grateful to them. I would bet that pretty much anyone you ask will say they are grateful to the people that serve in the armed services, the police force, and the fire and EMS fields. But how about the other laborers that are all around us? I am grateful to the people that pick up the trash in my community. I am grateful to people that work in the grocery stores I shop in. I am grateful to the people that work in the gas stations,  convenience stores and fast food places I frequent.  Thank you. ALL of you. It has not escaped my notice that most of the people I mentioned do not have today off.

Not to even remotely be compared with their labors as mine pale in comparison, here are the fruits of some of my labors over the summer:

Awhile back I started an afghan from a pattern in Mason Dixon Knitting using Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn. I originally purchased the yarn to make another Season 12 Doctor Who scarf but after finishing the Season 12 in acrylic once already, I knew I wanted my next one to be out of a nice wool. So I’m using the HL yarn for an afghan.  An afghan in Doctor Who scarf colors, what could be more awesome?

That’s a lot of brown… which means it will probably go great in my room 🙂 It is interesting to me how having the flash on or off and different lighting in the room changes how the colors look.

Next I’ve started a shawl. I’ve been stashing yarn and patterns with shawls in mind for over a year now and just couldn’t decide which one was going to be my First. They are all so pretty. Then this one caught my eye.  For those of you not on Ravelry, it’s here.  The yarn is Louisa Harding Grace Wool.

These are the colors for the current Noro Scarf:

 

And here is the start of a simple granny square baby blanket for a sister in law (Julia in Chicago) that is expecting:

She is due in November and I will probably try to get some booties done to send along as well.

Oh, and the socks.  We mustn’t forget the socks.

The orange pair and the black pair of socks have been completed and the watermelon socks have been frogged and restarted.  To reward myself I started a new pair of socks, no pictures yet and then promptly got distracted by another tiny obsession.

A watermelon hat.  As usual, it’s a Ravelry link for those that don’t use Ravelry (try it, it’s great fun) here is the link on the Yarn Harlot’s website.  I’m doing this one in Sugar & Cream cotton and I have an acrylic one started that will be big enough for Chynna and using a dark red instead of the hot pink. This wee thing is going to be saved for future grandchildren. I assumed I’m going to have some someday and as I am a slow knitter I thought I should get started.