What Can't I Knit? Good Fer You!

R-I-L-E-Y AND RILEY WAS HIS NAMO!

2008-11-09T09:53:00.015-06:00

Well I've spent the last few weeks painting. I've been painting letters. What started out looking like a fun relaxing way to make something for Riley turned into frustrating - "Want to get it perfect" - "Darn it!" - "Have to fix that!" couple of weeks. I know that it should not have taken me so long and it's not that I worked on it every night or anything - but I've found out recently that after work since I'm pregnant I'm tired. I just do not have the energy that I once did (Will I ever again??) to get things done when I get home from work. And...if I need to go somewhere like the grocery store, I better do it before I get home or it's like pulling teeth to make me leave the sanctity of my home and the couch.

So I started out by buying the letters at Hobby Lobby and then picking out the paint. I even bought spray paint for the base coat - but I don't know if I was my fault or the paints (lets assume it was the paint's) but I couldn't get it to work. So I put on two white base coats with the acrylic paint.
Then I don't think you tell from this angle, but I painted the back and edges navy blue.
Then I put painters tape on the edges and painted each letter face a different color. Then I removed the painters tape along with a lot of the blue paint from the edges!!
ARgggg... Then I had to touch up the blue that was removed. Then for the designs. I started off trying to make lines - which I couldn't get either straight or consistent in size. So...after fixing that by repainting the entire faces - I found the perfect shape to make was circles - by dipping an eraser of the pencil into paint and stamping it on. Then once I figured out that I needed more than one pencil - my hands were getting chapped from the numerous hand washings between color changes (I even joked to Todd that I was never going to wash my hands again. Which was totally a joke - a gross one when you think about it - so don't be afraid to shake my hands I am continuing the good hygene of washing my manos) -the letters really started to take shape (as it were). The large circles are the top of water bottles dipped int paint. All in all I think they turned out cute. I also painted a shelf that I am going to glue the letters to (I don't want to spend endless hours picking each letter up after it falls off the shelf. So Wah-lah, here is the finished product:

Todd has been busy painting too. The nursery is now painted. This picture looks a little dark - but it is much lighter than this picture looks.
Now all we have to do is put up the boarder, hang the curtains (also navy blue), take the crib and dresser out of the boxes in the garage, put the crib together, put up the pictures, buy a glider rocker and ottman, get a lamp (or night light), wash all the baby clothes and sheets and blankets, buy all the other baby paraphernalia, and then we will be ready for the baby. Wow. Good thing we have a couple of months left :-) Actually we're doing good - we just have more to go. I'll keep you posted as to where we are in the process.

In other knitting news - I also finished Riley's sweater outfit and I also made one for Alexandra my girlfriend Val's girl that she is having on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday - I would be freaking out if I was that close to the big day. (Riley's is green and Alex's is the cream).
Since George has been absent in the last few blogs - he insisted that he could wear the booties in the blog - I told him he could stand by them instead.

In other George news, George came upstairs this Sunday morning to wake me up and had me follow him down stairs. When we got there - he sprinted (yes, actual running occurred) across the floor to the back door so that I could put him in his coop!! What George didn't quite realize was that it was only 33F outside. But I put him out anyway. The look on his face and the crying when I went to go get him in a couple of minutes was priceless. Take a look for yourself:
Yah, I think George was ready to go. As am I ...talk to you later!

Rain Drops are Falling on My Head!

2008-10-26T09:03:00.020-05:00

We had a shower last week, although I don't feel any cleaner. Actually we drove back to Wisconsin to our friends who threw a little baby shower/get together for us. It was really fun seeing our friends again. It will be the last time that we see them before the baby is born. Wow - now that statement is a bit of an eye opening! There's only about 13 weeks left before the big day!! I am trying to enjoy sleeping in, etc. but mother nature won't seem let me. Take today for example, I woke up at 6am and could not go back to sleep.(after one of the few nights of sleeping through the night...wait maybe I got up but don't remember...hmmm...). I guess I'm slowly but surely getting broken in for the big day....and if it's not the baby waking me up - it's George. That darn alarm cat - has figured out that I wake up at 2am to pee. So now if I don't wake up on my own - my alarm cat is waking me up to remind me!! Oh..and to get petted. He sticks his paw on my face and pushes me like he is saying, "Hey....Hey...are you awake? Hey..." Then when I wake up, he starts to purr and says, "Well since you are up, you may as well pet me."

These are my girl friends who threw the shower. Aren't they sweet?!!

Any who, we had a great time and got some really nice gifts last weekend. Of course I'm going to share with you - take a look:
A bouncer chair - which I hear is a must have!! And Diapers and wipes - are so a must have that it's not even funny. When my girl friend gave me these - she said that she hoped that she wasn't giving me the "girl" diapers because if you look close there is a picture of a little black girl on the front of the package. Hmm...I don't think that's it's necessary for the baby to look like the actual baby that is using the diapers - but then again, I've never been a mother before...so..if I'm mistaken, please some body correct me (I don't want poor Riley to think that he is a little black girl!! Ha-ha!!). Sometimes my girl friend is so funny!!

A Jolly Jumper - no longer do you need a door frame. I'm told that Todd was hung from the door frame when he was a baby! We were so poor that we had the door frames - but not jumper.

Riley is going to look so good in his Viking's jersey!! I thought it was so cute that his jersey matches the one's that both Todd and I have!! The only problem is that this is for a 3-6 month old and by football season, he will be closer to 9 months old. We'll have to keep our eyes open for the next size too.

We received so many outfits that I am not going to show them all to you - but these were so cute and coordinated. He can be a frog, a horsey, or a puppy. So cute!!

And what wardrobe would be complete without his "Hugh Heffner" robe and froggy slippers. Sorry this one is on it's side - for the life of me I couldn't get this one to go the other way. Sometimes, that's how life goes and you just have to roll with it. So if you care to see it in portrait format - please turn head to the left until the picture seems to be properly orientated...or feel free to turn the computer screen.. whichever is easier for you :-)

Then the piece de resistance - my girlfriend Nancy (she is the one on the left in the photo at the top of this blog) - knitted Riley this sweater set. Is that cute or what? It was knit all in one piece and only needed to be sewed at the shoulders. It is gorgeous. And I love, love, love the Peter Rabbit buttons. (Again, please turn head as appropriate to allow proper orientation).

I have been knitting too. I made a green sweater for Riley and a white one for my girl friend Val who is due in two weeks. I need to finish the hat for her and the booties for both - but I just wanted to prove that I haven't totally been slacking off: (No I haven't worked on the blanket for a while - but I will start that as soon as the sweaters are done).
Then since it's fall and I got it in my head that I was making a scare crow this year and there was no stopping me (why I get these crazy ideas - I don't know. Todd wants to know as well - but a guy likes to have a little mystery in his life so it may as well come from his wife (wow that was a bit rhymy wasn't it?!!)

So I looked on line for how to make a scare crow because althouth I knew I wanted to do it, I really didn't have any idea how to go about it. I came across this website called, Monkey See (Monkey do) - which was great. It had actual clips on how to make a scarecrow from beginning to end. You use nylons for the face and arms (the leggs - so to speak use use for the arms, the waist of the hose you use for the head. Then you stuff the rest of the clothes and tie the top and bottom together using twine. I bought a mask for the face - because I didn't want to sew or use markers, etc. and found some really big hands that are meant to be put into the ground for Halloween like someone is coming out of a grave.

Here are a couple of pictures taht I took while I was assembling him. I think that it looks like we have an actual dead body on our counter. and a close up of his face. Notice that he doesn't have any eyes. Spooky!!

And here is is out in the front of our house:

We tied his arm up so when the wind blows that it appears like he is waving. I think he's kind of cute. The neighbors asked Todd if that is what he is going to look like when he retires (Of course not, he's going to look exactly like his uncle Terry I thought - but it was too complicated to explain).

I'm B-a-c-k!!!

2008-10-12T09:27:00.017-05:00

I haven't blogged since July! And so much has happened since July!! (A lot like why the heck can't get every word in my blog from being underlined?? They must have changed something but heck if I can figure it out??!!&^%$#). No wonder that my MIL and Nancy gave me such a hard time!! So...what have I been up to? I can sum that up to three little words, "Baby, Baby, Baby!" Ok that one word three times, but basically that's where my head has been. We now know that it is a boy. Yay!! (Ok, deep down I wanted a girl, but now I'm more than ok with it. Now I only have to worry about one penis instead of the many that you worry about when you have a girl and she starts dating). He has a name, "Riley Harold." I am now almost 25 weeks along and Riley is now about 1 1/2 pounds (Riley has changed a lot - look at the last ultrasound that we had taken on the right).
I am registered for baby things. Which I will tell you is no simple task!! Who knew that you needed so much stuff for a teeny tiny baby!! We have ordered the lifetime crib and dresser/changing table which should be here in 8-12 weeks (hmmm...let's do the math. I'm 25 weeks + 12 = 37 weeks. We will get it home just in time....hopefully). We bought the mattress and crib set (so cute has tools, etc.). I will show you a picutre when I get it all put together. My MIL bought us a wonderful stroller with a newborn car seat (now we can bring him home from the hospital!! Which is comforting) and a Baby Einstein mobile that plays classical music (oh yah Riley is going to be cultured!). Todd's aunt and cousins got me a breast pump and boppy pillow. Which I am so thrilled about (who knew that such a device would bring such joy? Well it does because this is going to mean that I am going to be able to have a little independance and when I go back to work Riley will still be able to eat). Also who knew that he is changing our lives and he hasn't even been born yet?!! I can't sleep through the night. I can't hardly tie my shoes! My belly has now expanded past Todd's. It seems like everything we do has to something to do with having a baby..grocery shopping to feed him. I'm falling asleep on the couch because of him. And I insist when he kisses me that our bellies touch so that Riley can feel the love too!

Ok, so (what? where's the underlining??? Oh well, let's go with it) we also did some apple picking the other day. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away (Yah right, I go again on October 29th). We had a great time, but let me tell you that I didn't realize how big I'd gotten since I looked at this picture!! Is that an apple woman holding apples?? (good thing I didn't wear red that day!).

We had a great time at the apple farm. Except do you see how small the bags are?? It's only 1/4 peck and I think it was about $15/person. these are the most expensive apples that I've ever eaten!! So the fact that I gorged myself on apples while in the field's don't hurt my feelings one bit!! (Oh I was appled out by the end of it all).

My MIL was down to Illinois for a week in September (of course she came when we got the torrential rains and we had two choices - be stuck in the house or break out the umbrellas!! Plus she caught a terrible cold that she is still recovering from!) and showed me how to make fleece tie blankets. So cute!! I made one for baby Riley and one for my girlfriend from North Carolina.

This one is Riley's - Thomas the Train Engine. I think he will really like it. Good primary colors to look at and trains...so cool.

And this one is for my girlfriend's newborn Kamdyn. I love the bears and the blue makes you look for the one blue bear in the picture. It's like - Where's Waldo in Bears. And of course George had to get into the picture. He's been going through blog with drawl and is wondering if his fans will still remember him properly. So George, whatever you do, this blog's for you!!!

And what else, oh yah I'm also knitting a bit (not a lot I have to admit that I need to get back at it. But....I did start a blanket for Riley. I think it's very cute. Take a look for yourself:
George (What?? the underlining is back!! ARgggg.....) - now let the people see the blanket. Ok I'll show you a close up:I better shower because we are going to the Scarecrow festival in St. Charles because I'm going to make my own scarecrow and I need ideas!! Stay tuned to see our scarecrow extraordinaire!

Baby Advice

2008-07-12T19:03:00.012-05:00

We went to the doctor this past Thursday and we are happy to say that everything is going fine. The baby turned over for Todd and the doctor just to show off. She was sucking her thumb. The baby is now 45mm long and the baby no longer looks like a teddy bear. Check her out for yourself (side note: No we still don't know the sex of the baby - but since I used "he" last time, am giving a fair share to "she" - it's only fair after all!! I don't want to get picked by any baby libbers out there). Here is a peak at the baby:
I think it's cute that the baby left us a message and such a sweet one at that!! (Can you see it? It says, "I love my mommy and daddy.") Just to give you an orientation the head is on the bottom, she was sucking her thumb so the one had is up by the head and the other was away from the body so you can't see it. The legs are curled up in the fetal position (which makes sense since she is s a fetus after all). I think that she is easier to see if I turn her upside down -check her out:
There - does that help? I know - it's so hard reading the shadows after all. I would think that she would get dizzy being upside down like that - but she must like it because I know she can turn around by herself already.

So Todd sent out a mass e-mail announcing the fact that we are going to have a baby. I think that the note was so nice - but equally fun has been the various e-mails that we have received in response. I only sent some of them to my home e-mail - but wanted to share some with you as well. check them out:

Todd’s e-mail:

Dear Friends and Family,

I know it’s hard to believe since I am now an old guy, but Angela and I are going to have a baby! Yes, another Seigel will be blasting into the world! The cat is out of the bag, and I’m spilling my guts. We have known for a while, and It has been hard to keep quiet. The Canadian invasion of the U.S. is happening at a slow and calculated pace :-)

The baby (currently known as the Seigel fetus) will be due in January 2009, so brace yourself (I know I am). No, we don’t know if it will be a boy or a girl yet, that comes at around 17 weeks, or so I’m told. We are just hoping for a healthy baby right now. We are going in for an ultrasound later today to check on the progress. We are both very excited, and I have started buying Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Blue Bombers x-small jersey’s already.

Anybody got any good tips on diapers and vomit? I think this will be my favourite part.

We hope this note finds everyone healthy and in good spirits. I know that I am :-)

Take Care, Todd

Responses and Advice:

1. Congratulations to you and Angela!! I am so happy for you!You will be wonderful parents. All I can say is sleep lots now while you can. Kerri and Neil

2. Hi Todd Congratulations!!!!! You finally did it!!! Another Great Grandchild for Granny Seigel. She could hardly wait to tell me you fantastic news. Hope everything is well with Angela. Get used to it, there is no more Angela and Todd it will be all about the BABY!! That is something Tisha always said. When people would see her it was "How is the baby" and when Evanee was born it is "How is little Evanee" Tisha and Todd do not exist. Keep us informed on the results of the ultrasound. No matter if it is a boy or a girl it will be a treasure. Love Aunt Pat

3. Congradulations Todd and Angela!!! The only advice I can give you is SLEEP NOW while you can and enjoy every minute of the pregnancy (it goes by really fast)!! Congradulations again!
All the best in the next 6 months! Tisha and Todd

4. whooo hooo!! congratulations, todd and angela!! As far as diaper advice goes, change 'em when they get wet or poopy and invest in some good receiving blankets for the spit up... breast fed babies spit up WAY LESS than bottle fed babies, and the vomit doesn't smell NEARLYas bad. mtfbwy... steph

5. Congratulations! Wow so super exciting!!!! What a great excuse to eat more stuff! Regards,Christine

6. I’m sure Kim can tell you all about the kids and what to expect.I did not actually take any responsibility until they were walking. Somehow that actually worked for me but I wouldn’t advise trying it Todd….After at least a decade with them they are actually quite pleasant to be around and fun.. Quick story… First Trip to Church with the New Baby

McKenzie was born on July 4^th in SC..total opposite from your homelands.. Angela I don’t even think as far north as you were born counts as the USA….to stinking COLD.

We were both very proud parents and thought we should show her off a little and church seemed like the perfect place. So we get dressed in the proper Southern church garb… Coat and Tie for me, Nice floral dress for Kim....McKenzie some pretty little white dress. We arrive at the church, less than one mile away, and promptly, thinking we were smart, head for the balcony. Relatively small church, maybe 1000 members, so the balcony was not real large but we thought we could exit stage right quickly from there. So right after the service starts and the pastor welcomes everyone he starts the service with a prayer. Right in the middle of a pause for effect in the prayer McKenzie lets loose with a thunderous explosion in her diaper. After the prayer, Kim picks her up with McKenzie facing her at eye level and starts talking baby talk to her. McKenzie’s smiling from ear to ear….Gives Kim this cute grin….Makes the first attempt at basketball and throws up and hits Kim just below her Adam’s apple and it runs down the inside of her dress..Yes, I was laughing uncontrollably and we left the service before the first song.. We spent more time in the car coming and going than we did at church.

Moral of the story.. even though they are smiling and grinning they are actually just looking for a place to release bodily functions until about age 3.

Good Luck, Jeff

7. I am SO glad the wee little babe will have his mother there, when Dad accidently smothers him/her with a jersey! Mary

8. Congratulations! My advice: Begin a mutual fund account in your child’s name for college. Time will fly and that day will be here much faster than you think. Stu

9. Congratulations!!! As a seasoned father and now grandfather I can provide free advise at anytime. Not sure it is what you want to hear but good stories from Jonestown nonetheless. Most importantly I have figured out that children are truly God’s gift. But on a separate note, remember this, “ The headaches that your children give you are directly proportional to their weight X age with a exponential factor for teenage years 13-19” Best wishes Dave

10. Congratulations to both of you! Enjoy the next few months, because the next 18 + ???? years of your life will never be the same! It has been a long time since I was heavy into the diaper and vomit thing, but I am getting a bet of a refresher course with little grand kids. What I am learning is never bounce them around immediately after they are fed, and to say, “Oh, you pooped in your diaper, I think you should go give your mommy / daddy a hug!” Seriously, they are great and will add a lot to your life. Hopefully, George will survive the new baby! I don’t know if my daughter’s vet clinic has psychological counseling for cats with new babies in the house, but I’ll ask! Maybe she can recommend a cat whisperer! Jim

11. Congratulations Todd! Being a parent in the early days is very much like being a Sanitation Design Manager…late nights, crying, and shit to clean.

So if you didn't get the e-mail and want to give some advice or share a story - we would love to hear them!

Hey Baby!! What's UP?

2008-07-07T19:46:00.007-05:00

Well here I am wondering where the time has gone since I've last blogged. We are all unpacked (well mainly - the boxes in the basement don't count right?!). A lot has happened to us since we talked last. What do you ask?

Well, George thought that it was important for us to have new carpet in the dining room and formal living room. He peed all over the carpet so we had to put new carpet in. Of course it happened the week before we were going to have a big party at our house (How does he know?)!! He was mad at us for visiting my mom and dad for a long weekend and then Todd left for a business trip. So George did his business all over the rug in protest. When George wants to make a statement - he makes himself heard. Who says that George can't talk?? Well Lowes came through again. Who would think that we could buy carpet and have it completely installed in less than a week? When we pulled up the carpet (and Todd treated the are) we found out that the old owners had just covered up pet stains without treating the area so that was probably what prompted the carpet peeing. Normally George is a shoe pee-er (never on the carpet) and darn it if he isn't good at it too. When very angry his aim can be very good and hit entirely inside the shoe so that when you put your foot in you get exactly what he left for you! This is a note to the wise when visiting our house - if you step on George's toe, be sure to hide your shoes. Here's a picture of the new carpet:

I like it better than the original. Of course, it is off limits to George. Oh well, he has a lot of house that he can visit (and he is still under servailance [wow I spelled the right without spell check. I rock].

The second new thing is that Todd is now the big 4-0. That's right I'm now married to a guy who has seen the other side of the hill. I'm wondering what is over there, but since I'm only having anniversaries of being 29 now - I'll probably never know. I'll just have to take his word for it. We had a "Canada Day-House Warming-Birthday Party." We had a pretty good turn out - about 30 people! Todd put a keg in the keggerator in the garage with Molson Canadian (What else did you expect? Kokanee? Well maybe but that wasn't available!). I made a double batch of Gail's potato salad (which is the best potato salad in the world by the way - not mustard based - but it has pickle relish - yumm I'm getting hungry just thinking about it), pasta salad, chips, watermelon and Todd grilled the bratts. I know that the food was a hit because it was all gone. Well except the cake - maybe it was the grim reaper that was on the top of cake. I had to rub it in after all - he is 40!! If he doesn't have a sense of humor now - he never will (You can't teach old dogs new tricks after all). Here's a picture of the reaper and his henchmen:

Of course, Todd had to just tell me about the beer and how good it was ...other than getting a few drops off his mustach during a quick kiss (which he caught onto way too fast) ... that takes me to our next set of news: I'm 11 weeks pregnant tomorrow!!! People say that I'm glowing. I think that is just because of all the weight that I've gained (ha-ha). We have gone through so much to get to this point!! We are so happy!! We had to go through a battery of tests and finally decided to go to Invitro Fertilization (IVF) - that is a test tube baby (using my eggs and Todd's sperm) to those not in the know. We had to do pills, then shots - at times 3 per day, then one intermuscular shots with a 3 inch needle into the bum - all given by Todd. Let me tell you - he would make one good shot giving nurse. I never could have done this without him (other than the obvious reason). With the whole process being only a 25% chance per cycle - we are very fortunate that I got pregnant. Don't worry I'm taking it easy. Todd won't let me do much of anything and I'm not lifting anything over 15lbs. Plus with being this tired is a great excuse to be a bum. The problem is that I really want to do stuff and have to hold myself back. Once I get past the 12 week mark, I'll feel a little better. We have seen the heartbeat and the baby now is looking more and more like a baby. Take a look at our last ultrasound:

Look the baby looks like a teddy bear!!

So I know that I haven't talked about knitting. I am still working on the baby blanket for my girl friend. I know that I need to get more serious - but I do have until September (Yah, it's going to be very close). I'll keep everyone informed with the progress of the blanket and the baby!!

Who loves you baby? We do of course!!

The Blues?

2008-06-01T08:29:00.018-05:00

Again I have to start by saying that's been a long time since I've blogged. I hope that this hasn't made you too blue. But we've been totally caught up in our new house and all the things that goes along with it. We kind of forgot that having a house equals a lot of chores. Todd has totally been into the lawn and all the other chores that go with the yard. He loves, loves, loves riding his new mower around the yard. In fact, when Todd gets the blues - he jumps on the mower and about 2 hours later (we have a big yard) he comes back covered in grass and is in a much better mood.
Here are a couple of photos of his maiden voyage around the yard:

The funny part of this photo that is not obvious to the casual observer is that Todd has the mower running - but it took a couple of minutes before he figured out how to make it go forward because for shipping they had disconnected the transmission. It was a couple of tense minutes before he was off and running!

But now he is a pro - taking corners like he is on rails.

Of course these pictures are before he put the grass catcher on the back of the tractor. Now it looks like the yard has been freshly vacuumed every time he mows. Now, if I can just get him to ride the vacuum in the house we'd be set!

One thing about the yard that is helping me not be blue are the lilac bushes. They are so gorgeous and the fragrance is so thick that the moment you go to the back yard, that's all you can smell. It's so summery!! I wish that I could bottle it or make one of those scratch and sniffs. I'll give it a try - go ahead and scratch the screen to see if it worked.....well? ....No...too bad because you don't know what you are missing. I couldn't resist so I had to cut some and bring the smell into the house too. I can't share the smell but I can at least show you what I'm talking about:

Gorgeous!!!!

Believe it or not, but I have been knitting a little bit since we talked last. At first, I got the bug to knit, but of course I need a project before I can get going. So I had a sock book that said that I could use any yarn and they could make a sock that I am truly happy with. One sock always is different than the other and neither ever fit like a glove (well maybe that's the problem since I'm making socks not gloves). So...anyway, I thought that I'd give it another try. So off I went down the road to sock town. As I am happily knitting feeling like I'm finally going to conquer my sock dilemma, Todd keeps giving me the look as if he knows not to say anything but also knows that something just isn't right with this sock. Finally, when I was down to the toe - he asks if I am making a sock for a club foot. I ask him what he is talking about and then he asks me to put it on. And he's right - it's huge!!! If I had a club foot, it would fit - but a normal size foot - not. I think that George could use it as a blanket it is so big. So while he was napping, I tried it out:
Yup, it's a club foot blankee for George. Needless to say it is going to remain a single. George has fur anyway is not really in need of covers. Although I would say that he does look pretty cute!!

So after the club foot sock, I decided to make a baby outfit for my girlfriend who is due in September. She had said that she wasn't going to find out the sex of the baby before - so I went and made one in cream, then on the last button hole - I messed up and put it on the wrong side of the sweater. Although I'm sure that the baby would never notice, it just would not do at all. Plus I decided that it didn't take me any time at all to make so would knock out another one. Except, I didn't have enough yarn - so I decided this time that I would make yellow. Is yellow a neutral baby color? Hmmmmm.....I'm unsure. So I decided to start making a blanket. I got one square done when I got the phone call from my girl friend - yup, you got it - she's having a boy! I'm so happy for her, but I was not feeling the yellow so back to the yarn store I went. This time - baby blue was my goal. At least no one would ask her if it was a boy or a girl - right? So...I finally finished it. Take a look:

The pattern came from my MIL - she always has the best patterns. It is so fun with all the yarn overs and knit togethers. Looking at the photo now, the little buttons I put on look like they are staring at me. Take a closer look:

I need to go back to the yarn store because I only bought 4 buttons and I really need 5. I know that no one ever buttons the top button - but just in case that's the new style, I'll fill in the gap.

George Update: George has a new house arrest device to keep him from escaping. Yes, he has a harness. He thinks that he is a dog anyway, so I thought what the heck. I just wanted him to be able to up on the deck with us without going to the edge jumping off and running (well jogging) into the neighbor's yard. So without further ado, here is George in his new prisoner garb:

Todd thinks that George looks humiliated. But I disagree. In this picture, he is actually wagging his tail (again he thinks he's a dog) as he looks over the edge of the deck. It took a while for George to get the hang of not being able to go where ever he wanted. Here he is testing the waters:

Now George isn't exactly like a dog. He doesn't exactly walk along with you. Instead when pushed, he just lays down where he is to show you that he is still in charge. But as any good prison guard would do, I just pick him up and take him where I want him to go. Also, I am going to go buy one of this retractable dog leases because this one is made out of ribbon yarn (well it was in my stash and I thought it was tougher than wool) which George has already made a tooth hole in so it is only a matter of time before he is free!

Don't Fence George In!

2008-04-13T11:02:00.020-05:00

Well - we did it! We survived the painting, packing, moving, and unpacking process!! It was a really tough two weeks though. Sorry it's been even longer than that since I've blogged (it seems like I'm always apologizing for this. Sorry. Hey...wait a minute..).

The removing wall paper process was really rough. We had used a whole quart spray bottle of this other remover, had worked for an hour scraping while the remover was eating through our fingers and we only had about a foot of the border removed! Until I remember my friend suggested that we buy a steamer. Boy did that save our lives!! I have learned two things when removing wallpaper: 1. Use a steamer - it's still work, but it is a life saver. 2. Never use wallpaper so that you won't want to remove it later because as hard as it is to put up it's harder to remove!! The painting was not bad - actually I may have kind of enjoyed it if we hadn't been in the middle of a painting marathon. WE started on the weekend by removing the wallpaper one day and the next painting the dining room. Then we finished off the other rooms by working every day for about a week at our regular job and then driving back the apartment to feed George and give him his shot (diabetic cats need to be on a tight schedule) and quick eat and then we would go to the house for about 4-5 hours until about 11pm to paint. Oh yah, and because we had to prime the red,white, and blue bedroom I figured out why they named it "kilz" - because if you don't open every window in the house while using it - it Kills you!!! The smell was horrible! We had to leave in the middle of painting because we both had a paint headache from breathing in the fumes!!!

I suppose that you are curious to see the painting job that we completed - so here:

Original Dining Room Color - the blue was almost electric meaning that you felt like you needed sun glasses because it was so bright!

New Improved Dining Room Suite! The green looks better when not right beside the blue of old. It really looks like it goes better with the other wall colors in the house when looking from one room into the other. I like it.

The old florescent green bedroom. Again you needed eye protection!

The new "sugar cookie" colored bedroom. It is much nicer on the eyes and is my knitting supply room (every girl needs one of those) and work out room. So far I've only tested the supply part of the equation. But that treadmill is doing it's best to stare me down!

The old glory - red, white, and blue Nascar bedroom.

The new improved "denim blue" bedroom. I got to use the quilt that my mom and I made when I was high school with squares cut out of jeans. I think it goes really well in the room. Also I think that the windows look huge without the curtains. But I am tempted to put the others back up because actually they would go.

George Update: George loves his new home - but he what he really loves is the yard. I know that they say that cats don't need to go outside - but George definitely does not fit that mold! He loves, loves, loves the outside and when he gets it in his head that he needs out - he doesn't care if we are eating, watching tv, working on unpacking - whatever. He needs to go out and crys and crys and crys, etc. The back door has windows to the floor so that he can look out and see where he wants to be. Here is where we find George whenever we are looking for him - the back door:

And here is what George is normally doing while he is at the back door:

That is George crying - he is not yawning or doing anything that could be misunderstood for anything that is quiet!

So when we finally let him outside - he never stops. He walks and jogs the whole yard!! It is not relaxing to anyone but George! Take a look for yourself:

George on the patio (notice he's walking)

George on the pool deck - he's joggin here!

George on the pool deck - taking a lap around the pool!

George saw me and thought that he'd come my way for a quick visit before he had to go again!

George in the yard - he wants to go under those trees because he's sure that he saw a robin go under there!
So as to not lose our sanity or George there was only one thing to do. George needed a coop and that's exactly what he got. We originally bought some garden fencing thinking that we could move it about the yard because all it takes to put up is the forks into the ground. That didn't last long. We put it up and George walked right through the bars (when was George working out to get so skinny? The last time I saw him he was eating his treats like he was starving. Hmmmmm - maybe I should see how he is doing it to see if it would work for me.) So back to Home Depot we went. So what the coop is now made of is chicken wire (of course if it works for all us chickens...) and zip strips and the garden fencing as a frame. I had it too close to the pool stairs - which George was more than happy to show me as he jumped over his coop to the third stair and very effectively left his coop behind.

Take a look at how high of a jump that is for a 18 year old cat! George could be in the geriatric cat Olympics!
One thing George is not is tricky, but he is an escape artist! (George would have given the guards at Alcatraz a run for their money). He would immediately search for weaknesses in the coop and escaped several times before we were victorious in keeping him in the coop. Well at least for now. I have seen him digging at one edge when he didn't think I'm looking. It's only a matter of time before we'll have to reposition the coop. At least he is keeping us on our toes. Here is George in his coop:

I'm pretty sure that he's standing back look for weaknesses in the defenses. Don't worry George will be free before long!

Closing Catastrophy!!

2008-03-22T07:20:00.004-05:00

Well we closed last Monday - but it was bar nun one of the most stressful days of our lives!

Here's how it went: We arrive a few minutes early before 9am when the closing was supposed to start. It seemed like all would go well - the room looked normal enough. A table, six chairs, a small desk in the corner with....wait....who's this angry woman at the desk? Oh yah, that's our closing agent. Nice. There is a woman shuffling papers moving very quickly around the room, who barked at us, "Do you have a lawyer coming for you?" We replied, "Yes - we think so." She huffed and went back to shuffling papers. I should have known then that she would be the antagonist in our little closing. First - in my haste to get into the closing, I had left the copy of our home owners insurance in the truck - which was about 20 steps outside the closing office. When the closing agent asked for it, I said that I could go get it. She kept saying that she would get our agent to fax her a copy. I said, "but it's just right outside - it would take about 2 minutes and she would have it." And she kept saying that she would have the agent fax a copy over. Arrgggggggggggggg......I went out and got it. Easier and I got to leave the room for a few seconds.

Then the other participants started arriving. Let me introduce you to the other characters in our little story (Note: names have been changed to protect the innocent just in case they like to knit):

Our Realtor (I later found out that she shows up because she gets paid at these things - it was not for moral support for us!) - who is a very bubbly woman with what we think has a wig...well maybe. She has the kind of hair that is either fake or has been colored so many times that it looks like a wig. In fact, Todd and I keep changing our decision every time we see her. "It's real." "It's got to be wig!" "No, I'm convinced it's just bad hair!" And so goes our discussion. Anyway, Bonnie sat in the corner and just took in the action. You could tell that she had been to way too many of these closings and was treating them as a show: get a good seat and say as little as possible.
Then there's our lawyer- a very dry older gentleman in a suit and a tie who talks as though he never loses his temper...in a very even toned voice. He seems very well trained at explaining complicated documents in as few words as it would take to get his audience to understand what he was saying. Not someone who would be the life of a party - but really is exactly the kind of person you want looking over your papers in your behalf.
The seller's Realtor Rina - who came in late and sat and chatted on the other side of the table with sellers laughing and joking as if we were at some kind of a party. Rina was also there for a check (oh that is cheque for my Canadian readers :-) so really it was a party that she gets paid for.
The seller's lawyer who looked all rumpled and had papers just spilling out all over the place. You could tell that the sellers wanted this sale to go through as cheaply as possible. He almost looked like he could have slept in his car the night before. Our lawyer had to ask him several times for things that he should have had prepared. We were not impressed.
The Sellers - Bob and "Scary Italian wife" - who sat directly across the table from us with their lawyer. We had met Bob the day before at the house when we were doing our final walk through. Bob had shown up with his kid to finish taking out the rest of his possessions out of the house. He was a contractor and really was the reason why the house is so well built - made with all the top quality materials and with pride that everything was done the right way. Bob is Italian and is kind of a know it all type - but seemed nice enough. I was actually happy that we had met - because it made things less awkward. Then there's the Scary Italian wife - she had overly died hair (I wonder if she went to the same salon as Bonnie?), tight jeans, and a leopard skin jacket - you could tell that she had not lived well - she looked tough as if she had been through a lot and it shown on her face. We later found out from Bonnie that the sellers were getting divorced and that's why they wanted to bail out of the house!! Maybe that's why the Scary Italian Woman was either swearing, crying, or both throughout the whole closing!!
And last but not least Liza - who was our mortgage broker came and boy are we glad that she did. She is in her early 30's and was casually dressed - but knows her stuff. She used to be a closing agent and knew the process way better than the angry version that we were using.

So all our characters plus ourselves were sitting in this room. We were signing on one side of the table. The Sellers signing on their side. The Scary Italian Woman was crying, swearing, crying, etc. The angry closing agent would come in and take papers and leave - over and over again. The first issue came with the home owners insurance again. We had sent a check (cheque) but it hadn't arrived at the office yet - so they said that we were covered. So we had them put it on the credit card. But then the mortgage numbers weren't correct because whoever had drawn up the papers had put it in with the closing costs. So in essence we had paid 3 times - but no one knew how to handle it - so the check (cheque) would be torn up when it arrives, we were supposed to get a credit on our card - because they had to get the charges reversed (I better check on that), and to save the angry closer from having to use a calculator - we would take the money out of the closing costs. Tragedy averted - or so we thought. Then the real problem came to alight....the angry closer couldn't find the money wire transfer from the mortgage company. This is where we were so glad that Liza was there! The mortgage company contact that we used through Liza - had walked out of her job on Friday. Just walked - left undone what was undone and that was that!! So when Liza called she knew that this person had quit - but no one inside the company knew! Every time she called the company they would transfer her phone to the office of the contact who had quit the company.

So everyone started walking away from the table....all the papers were signed, but because there was no money - they wouldn't hand over any checks (cheques) to the Realtors and the important part - they wouldn't give us our keys!!! Was it our house? Wasn't it our house? Could we get in trouble for breaking into our maybe house? So we were told that Rina had our keys and we could get them as soon as the money was found. We were told - it would be about an hour - go have lunch and they would call us. So we drove back to the apartment - even though we had planned on going straight to the house and steam clean the carpets because we had furniture arriving the next morning at 8am! So we went to a restaurant and ate. Todd ate uncharacteristically very little, while I tried to optimistically told him that after lunch we would get the keys and all would be well. After about an hour - we went back to the apartment because we hadn't heard anything. It was now about 1pm. We watched really bad daytime TV - while we sat in silence waiting......doing nothing productive on the day that we were supposed to be in our house cleaning....waiting.....it was killing us! So I couldn't take it any more and I called Liza. She said that she had gotten the confirmation from the mortgage company that the money was sent on Saturday. Eureeeka! But, wait....the angry closing woman was in another closing now - and she still couldn't find the money - in her own bank account - even though she had the confirmation number. It took another 2 hours for her to find it!!!!!!! It was now 3:30pm and we were told (after several phone calls and lots of storys and plans that never were put into place) that Rina had left her keys at her office and we were going to pick them up. I told Todd that I would wait in the truck and he could go in and do all the yelling that needed to be done to get the keys. It was a relief when he came out a few minutes later - victorious! Keys!!!! We had done it - we were home owners!!!

Now the work could begin. Because we had sat and done nothing...we had to go to Home Depot and buy the cleaning supplies and rent the steam cleaner. Then we were on the wrong side of town and rush hour was beginning. So...it was 6pm before we even started cleaning!!! Todd got all the carpet clean that night while I cleaned out the water softener container (which they had left empty and was moldy and slimy and gross (home ownership is not always glamorous) and cleaned the tile floors on the first floor, and started on the bathrooms. It was about 11pm when we finally fell into bed that night....then we were too tired to sleep. You know when you are tired all the way down to your bones - that your body almost hurts?! We finally slept until the alarm rang at 6am so I could go to work and Todd back to the house to get the furniture (which looks gorgeous by the way), finish cleaning carpets, and install the satellite dish (yes we have tv at the house and we aren't even living there yet).

We still aren't in the house yet - but we have been working every night after work on it. I have most of the apartment packed (George, the freakout is in full swing - is very needy. If you are sitting, there is sure to be a cat in your lap!), the water is back flushed in the house (it came out black and left a ring in everything - so was a big deal to get out of the pipes) and all the bathrooms are cleaned at the new house and new rugs in place. Oh yah, Todd also traveled for work Thursday and just arrived home last night (which I was worried about since we just got 8 inches of snow last night. It's supposed to be spring!!! Mother nature has a sick sense of humor).

Today we are painting the dining room and starting on the blue and red bedroom - first we have to remove the border. Then there's the lime green room with wallpaper to be removed on the bottom half of the wall. Wish us luck because the border and wallpaper has been cemented to the wall and Todd has never painted before and we are both still exhausted. The final move is scheduled for the 28th - I hope we make it because I feel like I need a nap!

One Day til Closing!

2008-03-16T08:26:00.002-05:00

There is exactly one day until we close on our house! In fact, it may be 24 hours exactly by the time I post - because the writers cramp (closing) will begin at exactly 9am Monday morning. I can't believe that the day - which seemed to inch across the calendar at way less than a snail's pace (while in my mind I longed for it to be here already!) is finally only one day away!! In fact, we get to actually go into the house for the final walk through today. This is very exciting for us - because before this point we could only do drive by's, staring at the house as if it would change some how. Oh I wonder if the neighbor's think that house stalkers were lurking around their neighborhood when we were doing the drive bys - sometimes even changing vehicles so as to not cause suspicion....or do you think that they were oblivious going on about their day as if it were any normal day (which by the way, for them it would be). But today we get to drive up into the driveway and go inside (well with our realtor). I wonder how long we can stretch this out....hmmmmm.... I realize that our realtor is taking time out of her weekend to "have to go to this walk through" but she is going to get paid after all - so it's probably not that big of a hardship for her.

George Update: It's official - George knows what's afoot - with the moving I mean. He was skeptical when I rearranged our closet. He was concerned when we brought strange boxes into the house. But now since the packing has begun - he knows! And he doesn't like it one bit!! he wants it stopped - he likes our apartment. There's a nice deck and grass is right out the front door - ready to be gobbled up (and later spit out on the carpet!). But George will like his new house. But until then - we have to watch him like a jail guard - because like a prisoner every time we try to make a move - George trys to make a run for it. We don't know where he is trying to go - but as long as his cage isn't involved - he's all for it! Watch for further George updates in upcoming blogs.

Monday after the closing - we are going to be working our fingers to the bone (Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get? bony fingers! Sorry an old country song from my childhood just ran through my head). The carpets are getting steam cleaned, the floors are all getting mopped, the bathroom as all going to be cleaned in preparation for the big move. I know...we had to take a vacation day to do all this cleaning - but at least we know that our house is going to be clean before we move in. In fact, Todd is having the septic tank cleaned out - because as he explained to the grumpy old honey wagon guy - we want to get rid of their sh** and start fresh! He laughed and became more friendly - Todd knows the secret language of the honey wagon man!

Well I gotta go because it's almost time!!!

Sit on It !

2008-03-02T08:18:00.009-06:00

Now that we have the house, we definitely needed some new furniture. Ok, Ok - so I realize that we don't close until March 17th, but I have had some money burning a hole in my bank account since last August when I had received a bonus at work, even though I wasn't supposed to. So in my mind it was free money to do anything I wanted. And what I wanted more than anything else in the world was to buy some new furniture. So I haven't spent a dime in anticipation of buying a new house and being able to go into any store (that I could afford) and pick out anything I wanted (within a budget). Well at least I wouldn't have to make payments and that is worth something right there! Our current couch and love seat Todd had bought second hand from a buddy of his. They weren't in the best shape then - not bad - but not new. But now, they look very well used. George likes them because they are soft - but they are made for giants! They are over sized and are easy to get into to - you just fall right in and they are so soft that you kind of mold right in. However, when you have completed your sitting experience - is when you have a little bit of trouble. You almost need help to get out of them because they are way to soft and way too close to the floor. I have on occasion (when no one is looking) rolled out of them onto the floor. Plus these things are massive. We couldn't even fit the matching chair into our current living area - which isn't a tiny room (not large but I would call it a medium sized living room). Then there are the pillows. The back has really soft cushions that become malformed after one sitting experience. Then there are 3 pillows per sitting station that are there for your enjoyment (and annoyment). I like them - but there are too many and they are too large and they end up on the floor or piled up at one end and we are forever picking them up. Ok - enough furniture bashing. For all those that I may have offended - I apologize. Please don't call the ETF which is the ethical treatment of furniture - because when we go we are just leaving this set by the dumpster here at the apartment. It's kind of funny - but I would have loved to have furniture when we lived in North Carolina! Just for a reminder for those that are not aware - we lived on 2 chairs from our deck furniture, an air mattress for a bed, and we had a cardboard box table that the tv we bought came in. Yes - now that I think about it - I deserve new furniture!

So we went furniture shopping. Poor Todd - I drug him out shopping for the past two weekends. There are a lot of choices. I don't cope well with lots of choices. Like the restaurant that has too much on their menu...I have trouble picking what I want...do I want steak..no wait chicken...how about ribs....a soup and salad would taste good.... For everything I pick - it means that I don't get everything else. I don't want to be disappointed and I always second guess my choice because there could be something better out there. Michelle says that I'm always looking for the "BBD" - that is the Bigger Better Deal. It's a sickness and I'm working on it. So it got down to 2 choices: a sectional that was on sale that came with a free rocker recliner (which was exactly what I had in mind when I decided to buy the furniture) from Harlem Furniture and a couch, love seat, and recliner from Ashley furniture. It was a tough decision - but it was lucky that the stores were right next door to each other and we were able to walk back and forth between the stores - which we did several times. Both sales people watched us like they would a tennis ball at a tennis match - going back and forth between stores. We even took a break and went to Jamba Juice and got Cold Buster drinks (Oooooooh - I'll have to tell you that we are hooked on those cold, delicious drinks that may also be good for you. Yummm....now I want one right now). So after our "break from the decision" we went over the details and decided to go with Ashley - because it was cheaper (a big plus - now I could get a dinette set too for the same money), they deliver for only $70, and they have an excellent protection program so if we spill or rip or break any of the furniture for 5 years - they will fix it! Plus the salesman was far and above superior at Ashely.

So I bet you are dying to see it - aren't you. So here it is:

It's microfiber even though it looks like Leather. WE decided that George may hurt the leather.

Here's the table - the top also pops up to be tall enough for the table to be used at the couch - for eating (which won't be happening any time soon) or using the computer (a much more likely scenario).

We got two of these end tables! Cute huh? I live the tile that if someone does set a glass on won't ruin the table.

And here's the new dinette set that will be going in our sun room. I can't wait to have breakfast on it! I decided to go with a wood top because glass top although would have been beautiful is a pain in the patudy! I had a glass top table and I ended up having a table cloth on it all the time because the glass was too hard to take care of. This I feel like I can just put some place mats on it will be good.

Now - I have a reason to knit again because I have decided to make place mats for the dinette set. Any one have a good pattern - or ideas about what color I should make them? Let me know what you think. I may also make some rugs. I found a pattern to felt a rug - but again - colors? Help! Let me know what you think.

Three Hats are better than One

2008-02-17T15:45:00.020-06:00

It must be hat month. I know that in Chicago if it hasn't been snowing that it's been raining all winter....just like it is today... It started out by raining all night long, has been gray all day, and is suppose to snow before the night is out. With all this moisture it has been inevitable that you either stay inside like I'm doing today (I did manage to shower and dress in very comfortable garb - but there is no way that I am stepping one of my little piggies outside) or you need something on your head. So I dub this official hat season (ta-da-da-dah!! I felt like it needed a cymbal crash or something so therefore the little theme music at the end.)

My MIL started it off with the cutest set of bug hats that I've ever seen. Check them out:

I don't know about you - but I CANNOT help but smile when I look at these hats!! With hats that cute - you know that people would "bee" "bugged" not to enjoy them (sorry I couldn't stop myself from the pun [it's a curse]).

I followed it up by making the Sportiest hat ever. I know that must be true because that's what the pattern said. Check it out:

I'm calling it my diet coke hat since I made the brim out of a diet coke case to give it some form inside. It was very easy to make and only took about 8 hours! I also made it out of the some left over yarn from a sweater I made so I know what I can wear it with! Matchy-matchy is all I can say!!

George needed more convincing about the whole coolness factor of the hat.

But as always he makes anything look good. It's Gangster Georgy.

Oh and we bought a house on Friday!!! Take a look - it's in Elgin and we move in about 30 days!!! I can't believe how fast things are moving!!

But remember the odd colors that I was talking about in my earlier blog...well I think that there will be some painting in my very near future:

Really Blue dining room !! Lime Green bedroom!!

Blue/red bedroom. Orange laundry room (actually I think I like the orange and I love the fact that it is on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms. No more carrying the close down one level to do the laundry!)

Now for the parts of the house that I really love:
Pool! Do I need to say anything else?!

Open floor plan - with kitchen and family room connected so you can see the fireplace from the whole room (not to mention the tv which is a great setup for superbowl parties!)

Sun room with skylights overlooking the pool and back yard!!

Look at the corner jet tub in the master bathroom. I think that I'm going to be very squeeky clean!!

So I will do my best to blog - but if I get a bit distracted you'll know why!! Talk to you soon. Enjoy the hat season! Its reason is because of the season after all!!

Leaves Left

2008-02-06T18:07:00.000-06:00

I missed blogging this weekend because we were busy house hunting. Yes, we are finally ready to take the plunge again into another house after our first house took two years to sell. But at least this time it is a buyers market and the interest rates are low (two things we missed out the first time!), plus the most important feature is that we are actually going to live it longer than 9 months! This time we are the ones who can make all of the offers. It's so much nicer to be on this side of the fence. But then again....it brings up so many questions...Are we going to find something nice? Is this house the right house for us? Will we have a fence? Do we need a fence? It's all so confusing and exciting. Plus there are ton of houses on the market - so we can be choosy. I don't think that we are too picky - although maybe we are.... because after seeing a couple of houses where the obviously color blind lived....it makes me realize why most apartments won't let people paint the walls. Yikes - some of the colors we saw on the walls were - lime green, bright orange, sky blue, navy/black blue, and one house had fruit wallpaper on every wall, light switch, and fan blade! I can understand a theme - but that is ridiculous!! I'm going to wear my sunglasses to the next house hunt just to protect my eyes from the colors. I hope it's sunny this weekend or people are going to just have to think that I am a star incognito. But one has to protect their eyes from the decoration-ally challenged. Also, I'm definitely wearing boots because my feet were freezing when we were going through the houses. IT has been snowing about every weekend and a couple of the houses were empty and no one had shoveled so we had to hike in snow up to our knees - me wearing only flats (I wanted to make it a quick change at the doorway of the houses). Oh well, we will continue the search. To be continued....

Speaking of snow....I had to include a picture of George outside this past weekend. He has gotten it into his kitty brain that he needs to go outside. It doesn't matter that its cold outside and snow is covering the ground. Here is a picture of George on our front step.
George is definitely Canadian! His is one tough cat. If he wanted a job, he would have made a good mailman cat.

I bet you are wondering why the blog is titled "Leaves Left" - well that's exactly what I have left on the touque that I knit. I did manage to knit a stocking cap (touque) that has maple leaves around the edge of the hat that are knit in two layers (inside and outside) at the same time (every other stitch is the outside then inside). The final result is a mirror image of the leaves in contrasting colors inside vs outside (was that as clear as mud?). But I never finished the tassells which have leaf tassels off the top. I would like to show you the finished product, but since I have the leaves left - you can only see how I have it so far. Well go ahead and take a look for yourself:
Now I don't know exactly why the hat is on the tree - but since the leaves are left....I figured why not! Plus if it looks good on a tree, can imagine how cute it will be on a head?!
I think that even George likes the leaves. Do you think that he is home sick for Canada?
Here is George showing off the inside and outside of the touque. Actually he was biting the leaves. Models are so temperamental!!

Wii, Wii, Wii All the Way Home!

2008-01-27T07:10:00.000-06:00

Is it February yet? Good, I can get this blog in before everyone thinks that I slipped off the side of my computer. Sorry about the long delay, but after coming home from California for Christmas I caught a nasty cold that has continued to linger with a nagging cough. I also came home to the news that my brother's wife (who also is my best friend) had left my brother. This has left me reeling a bit. And the saga continues, but I won't bore you with the details - let's just say that it would make a really good Montel Williams episode! Then it was my birthday (Yes, I'm ever so slowly inching up the scale closer and closer to that 40 mark. I have a couple of good years left before the big 4-0, but I'm not liking the view from here. I feel like I'm on the up side of the rollercoaster. You know - the part where you feel like you are looking up at a 45 degree angle and the coaster is pulling you up a few feet at a time and then you jerk to a stop for a few seconds as you hear the "click" of the car as it passes little obstacles so that you don't go rolling backwards from your big climb! I'm assuming 40 is the part at the very top of the hill where you are just sitting - nothing holding you from going down the hill - and then you slam down the hill as fast as possible hoping that you don't die when you hit the bottom. By the way, I went on the best roller coaster of my life while at the Disney land adjoining park California Land - it was called California Screaming and it was awesome - It even had one big loop where you went upside down!! Ok - maybe aging won't be that bad! I need to thank Todd's Aunt Merle publicly for taking us all to Disney Land - truly it will be a Christmas that we all remember. Thanks Merle!!

Todd got me 3 really great presents for my birthday - flowers sent to the office (always appreciated and I love to make my coworkers jealous), a tanzanite necklace which goes with the other set of earrings that I have (it's really lovely), and a Wii! If you haven't heard of a Wii before it is pronounced "We" and has a Wiimote (remote control) that uses radio waves so that the machine senses how you move it - forward, back, side to side, and up and down. So that if you are golfing - it is the club. OR if you are bowling it is the ball. It is actually a bit of a workout because you use large movements to do whatever you are doing. The only thing you have to remember is to not let go of the Wiimote - which has happened a lot in the past and Nintendo has replaced numerous TV's. So they have a strap to the Wiimote that goes around your wrist sot that you can't throw it. Oh - you also have to watch out for the automan, the cat, or anything else that you might have laying on the floor which is now a part of the game floor. I love my Wii!! I'm not a big gamer - but that Wii is so fun!! Now I can bowl, box, play tennis, race cars, fish, ride cows around a track, play ping pong, etc all in my living room!! A fun part of Wii is that before you start playing you need to make a Mii -You can make a character that you use to play your game that looks like yourself. So I know that people have been wondering what we look like and here is our Mii's:

Meet Angii

And Toddii

There are no pet Mii's so George feels a little slighted - but we told him that he just looks at us like we are on crack when we are playing anyway!! He agreed as he headed back to bed after eating his nosh.

I have managed to do a bit of knitting while I was on hiatus from blogging. I finished another Christmas Stocking. I will wait to see if we can expand our family before making more (cross your fingers for us please). Here they are together. And yes, I still have them hanging up - well they are so cute who could blame us?!

By the way, that is a picture of Flin Flon that the socks are hanging next too!

I also finally finished the sweater and here I am wearing it!

It fits like it was made for me (which is was, I just don't get the sizing right - which some how I managed this time). Practice makes perfect! Here's a closeup of the pattern at the top:

You may notice a sting on the right hand side - I took this before I finished sewing it together.

And it wouldn't be a blog without my knitting model:

For those you keeping track of George - he is doing great. He has gained weight and is playing like a kitten again (well maybe a 10 year old cat). He was attacking the sweater so I had to put my finger in his view so that he didn't ruin the sweater!

Oh I forgot to mention that I planned out the sweater materials down to the knitty gritty - look at how much wool I had left:

That is absolutely everything that I had left!! I was really worried - but I made it!s I'll keep it just in case I need to fix a hole in the sweater or something - but there isn't really enough to even make a finger puppet!!

Darn it now I'm out of projects again. Back to the drawing board!!

Christmas Stocking Memorabilia

2007-12-16T10:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I didn't finish my sweater. I keep getting side tracked. I hope I remember the pattern by the time I get back around to finishing it! But I did go to Joanne Fabrics and buy some wool with real Christmas colors - not like the muted colors that came with the kit - so I could make stockings to hang by our nonexistant fireplace in our non-Christmas-decorated apartment of which we aren't going to even be home on Christmas anyway!!! (Wow that was a long sentence. Feel free to take a breath somewhere in the middle of it, I hate to think that my readers are going to be passing out from such a long run on sentence. In fact, that's good advice for anyone reading my blog - breath any time you need to - don't let the punctuation or lack there of determine when you need to breath. gasp....) Even with all that, I had a burning desire to knit Christmas stockings for us. I think that the knitting of Christmas memorabilia is enough for me this year. And the good news is that I don't even have to water it or string lights on it or anything!

A quick side note about shopping with men. In order to get men in yarn stores, you must have a gimmick. Mine is the bathroom. I know it sounds odd, but it's true. But it makes sense when you think about it. When I use the bathroom at Joanne's it looks like a bomb went off with paper towels and toilet paper all over the floor - pee on some of the toilet seats - no toilet paper in the one stall that looked safe - etc. When Todd goes to the bathroom at Joanne's he has to switch the light on because no one has used it since the last time he visited the store! He said that it as fresh as a daisy!! You have to admit that the ratio of men in a yarn store is very slim to none. With most men standing there just holding their wife's purse or just trying to patiently wait while their significant other makes their choices. Looking sheepishly around hoping that no one - especially their buddy would see them. So.....if he doesn't mind actually going into a yarn store because the of the bathroom, I'm not going to critique the reason.

Any who, without further ado - the stocking that you have all been waiting for:
It will have Todd's name on it when I'm through - I just need to put duplicate stitch it into the top red section. Pretty professional - eh?

It is quite large as seen here with my cat ruler:

That's all I know for now (which is not a lot I have to admit). I need to get to my Christmas cards which I have to admit I am just getting to today. So if I don't get back to my blog until after Christmas (which I'm afraid is what is going to happen) - Have a great holiday and watch the Egg Nog consumption!! Merry Christmas!

So What's New?

2007-12-08T07:36:00.000-06:00

A lot has happened since I've last blogged so I better catch you up!

1. We survived "Thanks for Christmas" and I'm thinking of renaming the holiday "Revenge of the Turkey!" You see every year my mom and dad do not thaw the turkey out in the refrigerator in preparation for the holiday. Instead they just set the turkey out on the counter to thaw. And every year I look and it and ask what the heck they think they are doing?!! Then they usually get mad at me (yes, how dare I bring up food safety issues - who am I to tell them that I don't want to get sick this year!"). You see it all cumulated with the year that my mom to "speed things up" set the turkey on the heat register and we all came down with a week battle with salmonella poisoning.....so you'd think that they learned - but no. So this year was even worse. First they bought a fully cooked Hormel turkey that had been shrunk wrapped and frozen (I don't even get to have a real turkey for Thanksgiving!!!) and then they say that they thawed it in the refrigerator - - - NOT. Turkeys do not thaw out completely over night in a refrigerator (sorry laws of physics - it just can't happen). Sometimes they think that I'm five and won't notice them pouring the powdered milk into the milk carton (which they did when I was young to save money by the way - Yuck! I guess there are a lot of food issues in my childhood). So they took this magically thawed turkey and only heated in the oven for an hour!!! An hour!!!! So the middle of turkey was still cold. Now for the mashed potatoes. MY mom made mashed potatoes out of old potatoes that were soft and had eyes growing out of them!!! They looked like they should have been planted and would have yielded a banner crop in about a week!! Yuck. Needless to say, Todd and I smiled (while dreading the entire meal) and ate as little as possible. This could be the only Thanksgiving that we lost weight!! I know personally that I had the worst gas I've ever had for the entire time I was there!! But I didn't throw up and that makes the weekend a success in my book.
NEXT YEAR WE ARE STAYING HOME AND COOKING A REAL TURKEY WITH NEW POTATOES THAT WE BUY FROM THE GROCERY STORE. If people want to come and join us - good. If not, we are OK with that too. Well so much for the Thanks part of Thanks for Christmas!

2. The Christmas part of the Thanks for Christmas was nice. It's nice being done buying presents and not having to worry about about battling the lines at the stores. My eldest brother and my SIL couldn't make it for Thanks for Christmas because their cat was sick (diabetes - went into convulsions twice in a matter of a weekend and they don't know whether he'll make it or not). So we totally understood. However, IT probably wasn't necessary for my brother to call and taunt me while my mom and dad were sitting there watching asking, "How the turkey was" Yah, he knew...). So we opened presents on two separate occasions. One with my parents alone and the other with my brother Gregg and his family. I actually liked that. It was calmer and you really got to see what other people received and the look on their face. Then we got a game of Scene It so we all played that. That was nice. Here's some pictures from the Christmas portion of our weekend: My mom with the cowl that I knit. That's a good look for anyone!

My Dad with his new tools and my mom with the dishes that she bought for herself :-)

My brother smelling his jeans? My SIL with the loopy scarf I made!

Bro's kids with Deal or No Deal! Looks like a good deal to me!!

3. George is sick. When we got home the cat sitter told us that she thought that George has diabetes because of the all drinking of water and peeing. So we took him to the vet. Yah, he loved that! Especially when they took his temperature!!! He has lost 5 pounds since this past spring - which is a lot for a cat! *(I feel like I've gained 5 pounds since Spring so that makes it fair. We obviously want to keep a steady mass in our house!). So George has diabetes and has two shots a day, is now on a special diet, and is now on an eating schedule. George does not like schedules. He lets us know this by either being so hungry that he bugs you until you are REALLY ready to feed him by the time the time comes. Or he just won't eat. Like today, we get up early because George's times to eat are 7am and 7pm - so we get out of bed at 7am on a Saturday (Arggggg......) so that he can eat. Except that he refuses. He must sense that it is Saturday and we need to sleep in. So now both Todd and I are up - where is George you ask? In bed asleep!! Don't worry - he'll be really hungry at 7pm and I don't think that I'll be as sympathetic as normal. Karma even works with cats!! The other thing is that since George has been to the vet so much lately, that any time we do anything out of normal (like Todd and I leave at different times) he thinks that we are taking him back to the vet. So he has spent a lot of time hiding in the closet!!! I'm not saying that George is paranoid - but we are probably out to get him and bring him to the vet at all hours of the day at any moment!!! But don't worry about George he is doing better and is looking better. Here is a picture I just took of him (in bed by the way!):He's also feisty again. He is actually attacking the cord from the camera in this photo!!

4. Knitting has continued. I am done with the assembly of finger puppets:

I finished another Cowl. Maybe I'll give it to my boss for Christmas. Hmmm.......
Well you didn't think that just because George has a little thing like diabetes is going to keep him from working - did ya? Even though he didn't get out of bed to do it!!!

I'm also almost done with the sweater I'm making so I'll keep you posted as soon as I'm done.

Thanks For Giving!

2007-11-17T09:07:00.001-06:00

Giving #1: Thanksgiving is next week here in the states. We are planning to go to my mom and dad's for the holiday and the attached weekend (I mentioned this in my last blog - but I wanted to bring those people up to speed just in case they are new to the blog that I like to call my life) to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same weekend. We are calling it "Thanks for Christmas" - Ok, maybe I'm the only one calling it this, but if I figure if I keep saying it, that it will rub in and vernacular will catch on. So needless to say since we are leaving next Wednesday and I need to have all my Christmas shopping for my side of the family done. Sheesh.....now that is pressure. I know that I said that I was going shopping last weekend and I did do a lot of window shopping to price some ideas - but nothing was purchased, well at least not for other people.... We bought new shoes for both my husband and myself (it was buy one get one half off - so it would have been a crime not to get 2 pair. OK, we probably didn't both need to get 2 pair - but you only live once). Plus we bought a movie for my husband and a new pot for my out of control aloe vera plant that is now so large that I can't even water it. Note: the pot is still just sitting in my living room unpotted - but I put it next to the plant to give it hope. So, we did manage to purchase things - just not for other people. So this is the weekend. Shop til you drop weekend...

Giving #2: My husband just returned from a business trip to France and being the good husband that he is he brought me home gifts! I got French perfume (ooh-la-la), a make up bag with samples of a lot of different cosmetics, hoop earrings, a T shirt, and bottle of wine. (I think he loves me). Here's a picture so you can see all the loot:
Giving #3: I have gotten some great e-mails lately and I'd thought that I would give them to you so that you can laugh too!

Black November

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop

My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow

He told me there was something that I had to know

His look and his tone I will always remember

He told me of the horrors of Black November

Come about August, now listen to me

Each day you will get six meals instead of just three

Soon you'll be thick where you once were thin

You'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin

Then one morning while you are all warm in your bed

In will burst the farmers wife to chop off your head

She'll pluck out all your feathers till you are bald and pink

She'll scoop out all your insides and leave you lying in the sink

Then comes the worst part he said not bluffing

She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing

The rest of his words were too grim to repeat

I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat

And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked

I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked

I began a new diet of nuts and granola

High roughage salads juice and diet cola

As they ate pastries chocolates and crepes

I stayed in my room and did Jane Fonda tapes

I maintained my weight at two pounds and a half

I tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed

But it was I who was laughing under my breath

As they chomped and chewed ever closer to death

Sure enough when Black November rolled around

I was the last turkey left in the whole compound

So now I am the pet in the farmers wife's lap

I haven't a worry so I eat and I nap

She held me today while sewing and humming

She smiled at me and said "Christmas is coming"

Got a Neck - Need a Cowl I Say!

2007-11-10T09:44:00.000-06:00

I was going through other people's blogs and came across one that had a pattern for a cowl - AKA neck warmer (I apologize that I can't remember which one blog I found it on. It's funny how when you are looking for a site that you've already been to, how hard it is to find your way back. The net is definitely a super highway, and just like in real life, I seem to be lost.) . And I said to myself, "Self - that is a great idea!" The pattern actually used alpaca yarn that I had in stock from my last shopping trip with Nancy and called for exactly one skein - which again, I had just the perfect amount (which is why I still had it - because I needed 2 skeins at least to make a decent scarf - which when I bought it I hadn't realized). It was as if the knitting gods had looked into their pattern books and said, "On this day Angela will knit a Cowl with thy alpaca yarn-th that-th she-th already bought-th and then-th she-th won't be wasting money-th." (It's kind of funny that the knitting gods have a lisp - probably why they like to stay at home and knit :-). Plus I kind of needed a tiny break from the sweater that I'm also knitting, which is just on the knit- purl stocking stitch body part that gets a bit tedious. Plus I'm really trying to open my horizons to having several projects going on the same time so that I never get that feeling of panic when I go search for the next project to take on. So I know that you are getting anxious to see how the cowl turned out, so here it is:
I know you say that it looks good on arm - but does is it really functional around a neck? Since I'm having a bad hair day, George the wonder cat said that he'd step in and model even though he pointed out that he already has quite a full set of hair on his neck that keeps him quite warm. So without further ado, George the Wonder Cat in "Do I really have to put this on?":
Poor George - He is such a good cat - but more importantly such a great knitting model!

I also made a purchase last weekend to make some Christmas Stockings (I bought them on Patternworks.com if you are interested) to hang out for Santa. I have always wanted to make some hand knit stockings like the ones I had growing up. Ours didn't have this much pattern - but they reminded me of them and that's good enough for me. Plus they look big enough to put some really great stuff in- but small enough so that Santa doesn't have to break his back bringing it down the chimney. Plus, if my present is too large for the sock - he knows he can always just prop it up next to the fireplace or under the tree. Plus jewelry should have no problem fitting into the stocking (If anyone talks to Todd, that would be a good hint as to what I would like this year :-).
I'm going to try to put our names on the Stockings in place of one the Peace, Love, or Joy spots. I actually ordered the Peace Stocking - but in realty they are all the same pattern (minus the words) with just different color placements.

Well, since my side of the family has decided to celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving - we are holding our first annual "Thanks for Christmas" celebration. I have to go shopping this weekend to get ready. If you need me, call my cell because I'll be at the stores. I'm hoping they won't be as crowded as when I normally shop. Plus the stores started decorating before Halloween here (the city of St. Charles already has their street lights decorated with Christmas trees!) - so I shouldn't have any problem finding presents. Wish me luck.

This Week Just Flu By....

2007-10-28T11:39:00.001-05:00

I hope that you were feeling better this past week, than I did. I have viral gastroenteritis - which is a fancy way of saying that I have the stomach flu. Don't worry, I won't go into the gorry details, but needless to say that my coworkers should thank me for staying home the two days I did. Plus everyone knows that work is a fart free zone :-) at least it should be. You have to admit it's hard to take someone seriously if they are lighting them up every other minute. I went back on Wednesday - because three solid days of being completely alone (because my husband was of course traveling during my illness) was enough to drive me back to work.

I did manage to get two things accomplished -

1. I watched more than my fair share of daytime TV.
Here is a quick synopsis:

No Bob Barker - now that is disturbing. You would have thought that they would have at least repainted the set!
The View - a bunch of women talking at the same time. I think now that the blond chick is going on maternity leave that the show may have a chance.
Oprah - is on at 9am in the morning. What?! She was on at 3pm where I used to live so needless to say, I missed her every day.
Dr. Phil - is like watching divorce court. Two people arguing with the good doctor stopping them to give his quick quip and letting them go at it again!
Tyra Banks (Wait was that the chick in the Fresh Prince of Belaire?)- not bad - I think she's trying to edgy - but I'm not sure it's working. And what's with the bangs? Yuck.
Montel - no change.
Ellen - she is funny - well except for the whole crying jag about her pooch.
Soap Operas - I think that last time I tried to watch one of those I was in college and I think that it had the story line. I know it had some of the same actors - which made me feel old because they were teenagers back then and now they are old and some have gotten fat. Wow - that was an eye opener!
Reruns of reruns - there is a mind numbing amount of old shows on daytime TV.

I'm not sure of how many brain cells committed suicide by this onslaught of bad TV - but I think that I'm just starting to recover now.

2. I got the sleeves done for my sweater. Both of them! I have to admit that I thought that I would have been able to get more accomplished than just the sleeves - but I guess that proves that I was really sick.

Ok - here is a picture of one of the sleeves - but believe me I have another exactly the same.

Can you see the pattern at the top? I guess what I do is make the front and back of the sweater and do the pattern up to this same row number. Then I put them together and knit a yoke to the top of the sweater - the same way I had made that lady bug sweater. Isn't that funny that making that little sweater set me up for knowing how to make this one.

Before I go, I would like to thank George for keeping me company. There wasn't a time that he wasn't sleeping beside me or following me into the bathroom. If I did manage to leave him outside the door - - there he was scratching at the door. I always have this wild idea of what George does when we are not home and let me say that I'm glad that he was able to set aside all those plans and instead spent the days with me.

So here's to you George! Enjoy!!

Best In Show!

2007-10-20T08:44:00.000-05:00

I don't know about your neighborhoods - but fall is a time for festivals and shows in ours. There was the St. Charles Scarecrow festival, the Mecum Car Auction (really a car show for those of us with less than a couple of hundred extra grand rolling around in our pockets!), the Naperville Octoberfest, etc, etc, etc..... We used to have friends that showed cats - that's something that I think everyone should experience at least once in their lives. If I have to come back as anything after I die, I want it to be a cat that someone takes to those cat shows. I'd have a special diet, my own special toys - which more catnip in them to calm a German Shepard, a very strict grooming regiment, no one would fix me or cut off my claws -only a gentle manicure will do, and basically I would be the single most important thing in the lives of the "owner" (I question at this point who really owns who!). In fact, we had a couple of friends of ours come down to the Chicago area just last week for a show of people who paint miniatures That is, people that paint small figurines (of every size and shape) that have so much detail that you can not only see the expression on their faces but also read the fine print on the buttons on their lapel!! Amazing!!! (Note: Before this I didn't even know what a miniature was, let alone that people in this country painted them. I guess that I just figured that the Chinese had this part of the market all tied up with the lead paint sales going through the roof in that part of the world!).

For me, there's two things that all these festivals and shows have in common.

One: They remind me of the movie, "Best In Show." If you haven't seen it, you must. Check out the link to the trailor (Yes, it's the blue underlined part above - also then I can show off that I have mastered linking). It really shows how we can get so tied up in our hobbies and interests that we can manage to lose a grip on reality trying to get the recognition for our accomplishments away from work. A once innocent hobby has taken a turn and slipped into the "that's a little weird" zone.

Two: They all have the same feel of people anxiously sitting around with their creations, things for sale, animals that have been over pampered, etc out for all to see (and purchase if they are for sale) while Customers - we'll call them evaluators - all browse around these booths of items to pick the one that they feel is the best. These evaluators show this "bestness" through their purchases - if not, their Oooo's and Ahhhhh's. These affirmations (all be it the necessary ingredient) make all of the time and energy worth the effort that it took to put on the "Show." Ah competition - "The Thrill of Victory - and the Agony of Defeat!" (Note: If someone doing these shows tries to tell you that it is for the money - they are fooling themselves. I bet that more money went into making these items then could ever be gained from their sale. If not into what went into the items for sale - more money certainly went into the excess materials needed to make more items. The more they make, the more they buy more materials - it's a vicious circle really. Now I'm not knocking this - I actually think that it is part of the life cycle of the art. The only people making the money are the people selling the materials. This is what drives the big box stores of the world!! This is one of the main reasons why we crafters need to buy things from the small, independent stores - they are most certainly run by people who are trying to support their habit!)

Did you ever notice that there is always at least one thing that stands out that everyone wants to buy?! And that this affirmation of accomplishment gets transferred to the people that are successful in picking up this item! Well, I just want you to know that the metal pumpkin was the "it" item at the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival and that I was victorious in purchasing said item. This I "accomplished" after about a 30 minute wait in line (in about 90F heat) with my $25 burning a hole in my pocket, my husband waiting patiently in the shade (God bless his heart), with anticipation as I watched the other women one by one carry away their prizes like they had themselves conquered the sale . Then after victoriously purchasing and obtaining this craft of the day, I realized that the metal pumpkin weighed at least 2 lbs and that I was stuck awkwardly carrying it through the rest of the fair. However, it was all worth it for every time that a woman stopped me as I milled through the festival to inquire where I had purchased such a "gem." So I know you all want to see it, so here it is:
The funny part is that this pumpkin is most definitely not hand made -Todd the engineer in the family, had great pleasure in pointing out to me. Ah easy come, easy go. It made the whole day worth it in my mind - and every time I look at it, I'll be reminded of my victory.

I also picked up a very nice Douglas Fir Picky Root basket that was definitely hand made by the man who was able to tell me everything about the basket - even the fact that he had named it! (See my last blog about naming your creations - not such a stupid idea - now is it?!). Here it is:

This was the Mountain Peaks Basket - as named by the artist - for the peaks in the front of the basket as well as the long tall handle (sorry I should have taken a bit of a different angle to show off the name - but you get the idea). This artist's enthusiasm almost took away the sting of that fact that at the end of the festival I saw similar baskets for about half the price. Darn it anyway!! (This would be our agony of defeat that day).

Before I go, George wanted to share his prize pumpkin - he figured if someone in the festival could take credit for a pre-manufactured item - so could he, plus any holiday that uses the word "treat" is number one in his book!

Now go out and enjoy the fall shows before it snows!!

Lady Bug, Lady Bug, Fly Away Home!

2007-10-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

So it all started in Flin Flon....the lady bug sweater pattern and buttons, I mean.

I got the lady bug buttons from my MIL aren't they cute as a button? Well....you know what I mean. The bag with all the bugs milling about makes me think of going to the zoo - with the animals all caged up. The knitting of the sweater releases them and sets them free (kind of profound now - don't you think!)....well, except for the whole being tied to the sweater so they stay in one place that is. Maybe again....not so much like a zoo at all - now that I think about it. Good, I was starting to feel like a member of PITA there for a second (Side Note: When I worked at Carolina Turkey's the lab manager used to tell me that I was a member of pita, which of course stood for: Pain In The Ass :-).

The pattern came from one of Jane's collection. I changed it slightly with the Fair Isle part of the pattern was green in the original - which I changed to black to set off the black in the lady bugs. Also the lady bugs had antennas in the original - which I took off because I have never seen a lady bug with an antenna! Sheeesh!!

There are a total of 19 lady bugs across the yoke of the sweater. (I actually got that term "yoke" from the pattern, but I thought that it made me sound very knitting knowledgeable so I just threw it into the bog very nonchalantly...it would have worked too - had I not had this aside. Douuh.....).

Take a closer look at the yoke - egg-citing isn't it?! Ok I couldn't resist the yoke joke.

Now for the biggest critic of all - the George Smell test:
By George, I think he likes it!

Speaking of George, I think everyone needs a bit of George update. George goes through stages of when he is interested in different things. And George is very stubborn, when he goes through these stages he only thinks about that one thing and drives you crazy until he gets what he wants. So George has always been fascinated with water, but he has taken it to a new level. Since hearing on the news how bottled water is nothing more than water that has been sent through a filter and the bottles are filling up our landfills at a very rapid rate - we decided to purchase a Brita water filter/container for our refrigerator. It's very nifty and fits easily in our refrigerator and has a spigot so you don't even have to take it out of the fridge. But George loves it!!!! He loves watching the water come out of it. He loves trying to drink the water as we pour his water into his bowl from the container (yes, George likes cold water)! George thinks that if we are getting a glass of water for ourselves - that it is really for him and he trys to drink out of it! Now he thinks that every time we open the refrigerator that we are getting water so he darts his head into the refrigerator. So we are having races to the refrigerator on a fairly regular basis. Not only that - but now if he sees a glass anywhere in the house - that it must have water in it - so he trys to drink out of it. If the level is too low for him to get his nose to it - he has figured out that it just easier to stick his paw in the glass and knock it over. So....we are now having water spilled all over the house!! The other day, while sleeping - George spied the water glass next to the bed and spilled it right onto my pillow - while I was sleeping!! Good Morning!!

So that's what we have been up to. Water you been up to?

I've Gone Loopy!! But I'm Back.....

2007-09-22T09:32:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it is the middle of September and I haven't blogged since August! Where has the time gone? I know where I've gone. Well Loopy of course, which we'll get to in a minute. But the other places I've been since my last blog was a trip to Seattle and Vancouver for a week Beautiful!!! We saw ferry boats - in fact we rode on ferry boats. Darn McDreamy was right - Ferry Boats are Cool!! Cute and Right. Sigh.... We actually went to the building that Grey's Anatomy uses as this "hospital" - in fact, it's a news station right across the street from the space needle. I know, I was shocked too. I hate to break it to you, but it's just a TV show and there isn't an actual Seattle Grace's Hospital. Sigh....I know, I know...but don't worry the season premiere is just around the corner, we'll make it. I know we will... Oh, Just to prove that I am not just using Seattle and Vancouver trip as an excuse of why I couldn't write (as so many do. Right?). Here's a picture of one of the ferry boats that we rode:

Then a week trip to Flin Flon, Manitoba, otherwise known as knitting central. This is where it all started for me, the knitting I mean. So it's no wonder that this last time made me a little loopy. My MIL took me on a whirlwind tour of Flin Flon's needle crafts. And they are awesome! I can't get over all the talent!! I've already shown you the scarves and mitts that my MIL makes - which she is ramping up again to sell at the Toad. She took me into Factor's, which is a crafter's paradise. This is where I purchased a Loopa kit (along with a fabulous red jacket that I just love and have warn to work, where I've received several compliments on how cute it is. If you live in Flin Flon and want to see it, just ask my MIL because she bought one just like it!).

What is a Loopa - you ask? It's a whole loopa fun - that's what it is!
I know you've seen the loopy scarves sold at craft sales (at least I have - I don't know where you've been - but snap to it girl friend!). Basically you wrap the yarn around this U shaped plastic to form the loops, and then you crochet up the center of the loops so that they don't unravel (an unraveled, no loop scarf would just be a mess after all). It could be made with any yarn - but the stuff that it came with is super fluffy and soft. I think it'll make good Christmas gifts....But you be the judge - Take a look:
It even looks good on the door. Loopy Christmas garland - perhaps? Hmmmm....the loopy possibilities are endless, if you ask me.

Then we went to Jane's house. Now Jane is a knitting-maniac. She can knit anything. She had at least six projects going all at the same time! Cables, Fishermen Sweaters, Fair Isle, you name it she can make it!! When we got there and she had knitting activities lined up for us. In fact, in the first five minutes that we were there, we were dying wool. There are two methods to dying wool - one involves my MIL standing over a hot stove mixing wool in water with dye for an hour (This method only works when your MIL says she'll stand and stir stinky wet wool over a hot stove for an hour. I liked this method since I wasn't the one that had to do the mixing, but other than that - it seemed a little manual and hot!). The other, the kinder (but more deadly method) involves the microwave. We used the microwave method to dye variegated colors because there is less mixing involved. I mention that this method is more deadly, as I just read on the internet about how saran wrap (which was used) in the microwave gives off toxic fumes. Over all, I'd say that it's definately cheaper to dye your own wool - but is safer and more fun to to search out the right color of yarn at the yarn store of your choice. Looking is half the fun in my book anyway. It was really kewl to see how it is done - but at least for now I think I am a consumer and not a producer of colored yarn!

Jane taught me so much - the largest of which was 3 methods to cast on and when to use each method. Can you name them? Do-do-dodo-do-do-do (please sing the "do's" to the Jeopardy theme song. I'm waiting......OK) .

Now I knew two already -
1. Like regular knitting but you put twist and put the yarn on the needle.
2. The Long tail method
- and the third method she showed me - keeps the knitting at the exact tension as the rest of the knitting so isn't too tight or loose compared to the rest of the sweater - so is great for sleeves and bottoms. Are you ready?
3. You cast on like you are regular knitting and twisting and putting the knitting on the needle - except you put the needle between the stitches on your needle instead of through the loop. Shear genius! Now if you are saying to yourself - well I knew that - then WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!! WHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW. LOL. I am making a sweater for my girlfriend's daughter and I used this method and darn if it doesn't work wonderfully!

The other biggy that she showed me was how to knit Fair Isle holding two different colors - one in each hand. Now I said show - because although I know how it is supposed to be done - I am not smarter than a Fifth Grader - because darn it's tough. The sweater that I'm making has a bit of Fair Isle in it... and I did it - but I am also slower than a fifth grader! But it looks good and that's what matters!

Then we went to Dar's house and she can do needle point like no one I have ever seen. Her pictures look like they've been painted. On top of everything - she gave my Hubby and myself a wedding gift of a picture that she made. It is gorgeous! I put it up the same day we got home and it looks fabulous!! Take a look for yourself:

Now I think that this is a famous picture... please tell me that I'm right (and not just because it's famous because it's in my blog) and let me know who painted it and if it has a title. You know those famous guys always name their masterpieces. Wait, a minute - now that is a good idea! I think from now on I too will name my masterpieces! So because I received these pictures today of a sweater set that I knit for my old boss's daughter, I will name them. Here we go:
I'll call this one - "THANK GOD THERE IS AIR CONDITIONING IN NORTH CAROLINA OR I COULD NEVER STAND TO WEAR THIS FOR LONG SWEATER SET!"

and then there's this one:
I'll call this pose, "GIVE ME A HUG AND I PROMISE THAT I WON'T GO SO LONG BEFORE I BLOG AGAIN!!! Talk to you all real soon!!!

Maggy and Marty - Sitting in a Tree!!!

2007-08-28T20:14:00.000-05:00

I now pronounce them....Maggy and Marty McDonald. Tah Dah........
And just so that you will recognize them if you see them walking away from you:

Isn't it so cute that Marty is putting his arm around Maggy as he leads her across the plaid show floor!! Maggy is sporting a purple jumper with a light pink shirt that looks as if it was knit just for her. Marty is looking very smart his blue bib overalls and fire engine red shirt - that looks like he just stepped down off the John Deere. Both have had their hair done at the Lion Brand Salon - Marty with his charcoal black hair slicked back in just the right place - and Maggy in her chic bleach-blond ready for anything very hip doo! Both in such constracting colors (that would be colours for my Canadian readers!) that look so right together.

Now, who do they remind me of. Hmmmmm??? I can't put my finger on it, but they are looking fine - if I don't say so myself!

And 4 more make more than a hand-full as you can see for yourself:

Don't have a Cow - Man?

2007-08-25T21:43:00.000-05:00

Well I do!! Because I've now finished Old McDonald and his cow!!! Now that I think about it, the song about Old McDonald is kind of rude - isn't it? Do people go around calling someone "old" to the point that the word "old" has actually became a part of their name? In fact, do you actually know what his real first name is? No you don't. But you do know that he is "old". I know that I would have a few words of wisdom with someone who felt that I was now so "old" that they were going to replace my name with the word "old"! That reminds me of a conversation I had with Michelle the other day about the fact that she was feeling so old. Now I am only a very few measly years older than Michelle - but she has always insisted on telling me that everyone older than she was - was actually "my age"!! She was kidding - or at least she better have been. Ha-ha. So anyway Michelle was telling me how old she was becoming and I had the great pleasure in telling her that I felt bad about her impending old age - however, that while she was aging - that I hadn't aged a day!! In fact, if anyone asked my age that I was going to start subtracting from my actual age!! I heard that age is a state of mind anyhow so I should really be telling people my mental age (wait no one would ever believe that number. ha-ha). But if age is really a state of mind, I believe that making finger puppets has reduced my age a couple of years at least! If you don't believe me, give it a try. The mere fact that I have been sitting in my living room with finger puppets on every single finger making them have conversations amongst themselves has got to have helped me turn back the clock. Now that I read that in print, however, it just sounds a little crazy. Anyway - take a look closer look at Mr. Marty McDonald (had to give him a name after all):

The right eye looks a little larger than the left and he doesn't have much hair - but remember he's no spring chicken after all!! Using black yarn kind of makes him look like he died it for the ladies (well, Maggy anyway).

Pretty skinny cow, but I think he's pretty cute - especially the horns and those crazy ears! He cracks me up!!!

Now you know that George always needs to get in the picture and he had a great idea to show his best side - let me know what you think!!

It's kind of funny that I have cat that knows how to Vogue!

E-I-E-I-O!!!

2007-08-11T08:37:00.000-05:00

Old McDonald had a farm. His wife Maggie McDonald, being a good farmer's wife knew how to knit. Since McDonald was too old for real animals she knit him finger puppets!! After all, a farm isn't a real farm unless it has knitted animals. At least that's how I explained it to my husband. I don't think he was buying it...but the I found the cutest finger puppets in this book (that by the way, I got at Border's Books in the bargain section for only $5!! I had picked out a much more expensive knitting book and put it down immediately and picked up this gem instead):
Since my wool that I ordered hasn't arrived yet, I needed a quick fun project to get me through (Todd says that I'm a knitaholic - I may have to find a meeting. Like a knitting circle or something!! Anybody got a cute pattern?? How about some fabulous yarn??). So I found these puppets. Here is what the book says they should look like:
I've only made three of them so far (since I'm making them in duplicate for Brother-in-law's kids and my huband's cousin's kids(there must be an easier way to say that - but heck if I know how to do it!!) for Christmas. So if you know them or are them - turn off the blog site and forget what you've seen!! Also if you are them and are on the blog - why haven't you commented? Anyway, So really I've already made 6 puppets- but only get credit for 3. Plus, my girl friend saw them and wants me to make some for her niece. I'm not trying to running finger puppet cloningshop or something. Maybe I could open a finger puppet sweat shop. But then maybe only your fingers would sweat? Hmmmm....maybe I've over thought this. Anyway, But I'll probably make some for her too. They knit up really fast and are fun to make. Each one turns out just a bit different. Also, I had to embellish them here and there.

So on the farm they had a PIG! With an Oink, Oink here:

I added the snout and the tail. Frankly - the pig looked a little cow like with out them!!

And on the farm they had a Horse! With a horse noise, here and a horse noise there.....

I called it, horse noise, because the horse sounds are in my opinion the hardest of all animal noises to make. Sure you can stamp the ground like a horse or blow out and make the brrrrrrrr sound. But the actual "Nay" is harder to say than it is to spell. Go ahead. Give it a go. Tough one wasn't it?!! I made this one to pattern, except that had I had this great suede yarn left from Michelle's coat. Kind of horse colored I thought! Plus his mane makes me kind of smile. Kind of looks like my hair when I get up in the morning!

And on the farm they had a Duck! With a quack-quack here and a quack-quack there!!

Ok - so it looks like a wild duck (it's yellow after all). Or is it a chicken? Either way, it looks better with wings that I added to the pattern. He looks like he's always in flight!!

And on the farm they had a Cat named George!

Because George felt like Old McDonald would definitely have a cat in charge - he wanted to be on the farm too. Actually he looks a little annoyed to me. It's tough to be a cat in the same house as a knitter!
Anyway, as soon as I have the cow and farmer done (I think I'll make Maggie McDonald too) I'll be back! Old McDonald had a farm. E-I-E-O. Bye for now!!

Today's Blog is Brought to you by the Letter "G"!

2007-08-04T06:58:00.000-05:00

The letter for today boys and girls is "G". Sometimes don't you want to go back to a simpler time when Sesame Street was your favorite show? And there was a "letter of the day" where you went around and tried to come up with as many words you could that started with that letter? Well me too!! So anyway, there are several reasons why G is my letter of the day:

"G" I'm sorry that it took me so long to write something on this blog. I can't believe that it has been 2 weeks since I've had an entry. I really couldn't believe that now my hits are over one G! But I'm back and feel like I have the Gift for Gab once more. So what are we waiting for? Let's Go!!
"G" I'm Glad my husband is home from beinG Gone for the past 6 weeks on business!! Well, he's back for the weekend and has to Go away aGain on Monday, but at least he's home to see his Gal. And he's in the home stretch now and will only be Gone for a couple of days and then he'll be back for a Good long time. And G I forgot how loud that my Guy Snores! I think it sounds like he is sawing logs in the Shurwood Forest!! Which is I why I thought, "G - it's time for me to Get up and write on my blog!!
George is happy to have his own Grass. This picture cracks me up - I think he's trying to smile for the camera (maybe he's even "giggling"):

4. The F-ing Sweater was transformed into the G-Rated Tank!! I went to Michelle's and she said that the F-ing sweater pattern was so Garballed that she decided to turn it into a tank instead. I think that was Genius! It turned out so Gorgeous (and I'm not just saying that to use a good G word). I took the pictures with my cell phone - but that camera didn't do it justice. The ladder yarn has the coolest texture and sheen. I tried to take a close up of the textures of the yarn - but aGain - cell phones are meant to talk to people and someone just put the camera part in as a "Gimmick" (ooooh, that was a good "G" word!). Plus who can tell the pictures aren't that Good - since the screens on the phones are so tiny? But any who, I am so surprised that the tank isn't see through at all! I can see why it took so long and most of all it was just like a Gift from God that she took the yarn and the pattern back and didn't make me knit it!

5. I finished my Purple Tank with Glittery Ties! I found the pattern in the Interweave Knits magazine - Summer 2007. I think it's so cute. It was super simple (oops that was the aliteration with the letter S...hmmmm.... G.....nope - can't think of a g word). I Googled the magazine and found out that they Give the pattern away for free! Here's the link if you want to make one for yourself: Summertime Tunic.

Here's a close up to see thg Glittery ties. Plus the other pictures kind of looked blue to me - when the tank is really purple.

6. George's cousin "Ramses The Great" wanted to Give It Up to all! He's so Gangster!
7. Michelle and I Gallivanted (wow - I think that g word would be worth a 100pts in scrabble!) around several knitting shops in the Twin Cities last weekend and we both found some really nice yarn. Plus it's so nice to see what's out there. It kills me that I lived there for years and never knew these shops were within a few miles of me because I hadn't learn to knit yet! Anyway, I ordered this 100% extra fine merino wool - that is so soft! Who knew that 100% wool is soft?! Plus I had 25 colors to choose from!!! You don't get that in a big box store!! It was a hard decision but this is the color that I chose:

I am going to knit that yarn in the "Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke" sweater pattern from the same magazine as the tank. I was able to Grab the picture off of their website - but this one they make you buy the magazine to Get.

So now I know that you are probably G'ed out. Just think of poor Todd, who has another 15 hours left of G words. What that poor guy has to put up with - Gosh Golly G-Willickers!

Good bye!

I put my Best Foot Forward!

2007-07-15T08:55:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update on my foot malady....I went to the foot doctor and he told me what to do. "He said, "Oooo-eeee-oo-ah-ah-ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang." Sorry every time I say "Foot Doctor" I want to break out into song. Any way, this is what he said:

I do not have a broken foot. I have extra bones in my foot, which are not causing any problems because if they were, I would have found out about these extra bones earlier in the 37 years that I've been on this Earth. I still think that God or a doctor or someone would have told me about this before. To think that I've just been walking around thinking that I have the normal amount of bones in my feet - when really I must have gotten into the foot bone line twice (go figures I'm always getting into the wrong lines or lost!). But I do have plantar faccitis, where the tendon in the bottom of your feet gets strained and gets little tears in it - so basically your feet hurt. And my feet, trying to heal thy self, grew the bone spur to help protect the foot from further harm (I'm a self healer...or would it be "heeler"?...maybe I should open a shrine to my feet? hmmm....maybe going a bit far there). Here's something to help you see what I'm talking about:

So what do I have to do to fix it, you ask. (Well if you didn't, you should have..). They put me on the "3" diet. That is 3 Ibuprofen, 3 times a day, for 3 days. It doesn't sound complicated, but maybe it is because the doctor quizzed me on it before I left (maybe the blond hair threw him off). And then gave me heel supports to take the pressure off the area. He also prescribed no exercise until Monday. Ah, now that's the kind of prescription that I can really get behind (I have to because I feel like my behind is getting bigger every day!). Anyway, my feet feel SO MUCH BETTER that I cannot tell you how much sore feet effect your life. So do me a favor and look down at your tooties and tell them how grateful you can walk and that your feet don't hurt. And if they do hurt, take my advice, don't wait a year of pain before you go to the doctor - like I did.

I hope that I didn't burden you with my health issues. If you want, you can totally disregard this whole entry and go about your day and think socks or something :-P

Bottoms Up!

2007-07-08T09:15:00.000-05:00

Drum Roll please..........(you should be doing a drum roll with your tongue if you don't have a real drum set at your disposal. "drrrrrrrrrrrrr")............without further ado, here is the finished bikini bottom:

Tah Daaaaaaaah!!! (I can almost hear the cymbals crash)

I really like how they turned out. I chose purple as it is my favorite color (as Julia Roberts said in "Steel Magnolia," Purple "is my signature color." Ok, she liked pink, but that was the 80's and there was not accounting for taste back then.). I made the bottoms flare out sooner in the front to give more coverage in the front. I then added the teal stripe because I thought that I needed more height to the bottom to cover more of my stomach. Plus I was out boating and noticed a girl with a suit with a stripe like that at the top which I thought makes your eye go to that part that I thought was nice. I just hate the low cut styles that are out there. If you are not 15-18 years old and have rock hard abs (note this is the part of the advice that most young girls miss) it just is not attractive. You may as well just show your whole "good girl" if that is your goal (again another term I picked up in the South - I liked it and now I'm calling it my own. If I ever have a daughter, I'm going to use it with her - it has the right subliminal message between morality and guilt to keep her on the straight and narrow :-). I originally didn't connect the sides and was instead going too attach wide pink ties on each side (front and back) that would tie together and give side coverage that I felt my sides deserved. But that didn't work because there was nothing holding the top of the bottoms up. So the sides were covered - but the top and top just drooped. Not attractive. So I did my best frog impression (rip it- rip it) and then sewed the sides together and made a channel for the tie to go through so the tip could be cinched in to keep them in place and on. I made the tie pink because since that was a tie color of the top it sets off the shorts quite nicely.

Just to remind you, this is a picture of the original suit pattern:
( A skinny girl's suit for sure!!)

And here is the suit that I made:

I actually like the colors and modifications that I made better than the original. But of course, I may be a little biased.

So I have been wearing the suit around the house to see if I would actually wear it out in public and if I really thought that it would be "boat worthy." I'm pretty sure that Todd thinks I'm nuts. I put it on the morning before going to work before changing into my work clothes and when I get home before I put on whatever I'm going to wear for the day to give it a little showing and to see if anything has changed. One time he caught me off guard as Todd had returned early from a business trip and he sneaked into the house (ok, he said he walked in with his normal stealth like moves) and caught me talking to myself as I was trying the suit on in front of the mirror. He looked around to see who I was talking to (because surely I wouldn't be talking to the suit - which I was!). So just to make him think that I'm not nuts - I made supper with it on and wore it all evening until I got too cool and put on my pajamas (I showed him).

So the only part of the suit is that the bottoms are "cheek chillers." I'm used to a more modest cut and these bottoms show at least a half cheek each (so if added together is a full cheek!! Which would be illegal in most states - but luckily I'm in Illinois and not serving alcohol so am legal). Todd says that they are "definitely boat bottoms" - meaning that the most of the time you are sitting down anyway. (I'm sorry, I really want to come up with a Sponge Bob - Bikini Bottom reference here, but just can't come up with anything witty so, I apologize to all you Sponge Bob fans out there!)

So I had to try the suit out in the water without being in public (just in case) so I jumped the in the shower with the suit on and came out and had Todd check it out (I'm pretty sure that I've blown my cover and any thoughts that he had of thinking he was married to a normal person is right out the window). He laughed at me and couldn't believe that I went into the shower with the suit on. Plus I dripped all over the living room rug. But the final result is what I needed to hear. It was water tight and kept me properly covered even though wet. I decided that it was now boat ready. So we went boating on the Thursday after the 4th and it was a success. The only problem with the suit is that it takes at least 2 days to dry. So like a normal nylon suit will dry in the sun in a matter of minutes. This suit stays wet for days! So a change of clothes is absolutely necessary to bring boating or the seats of my car will be wet for week and I will probably catch a nasty cold from being wet. The other issue is that the suit's cheek chiller properties have been confirmed. The suit stretches more when wet - which can give me more coverage - but then it doesn't snap back completely into place (while still wet for those 2 days) so kind of is loose in the bum area. Maybe if I didn't pull at it, it would be fine. But I'm not used to that my derry-aire showing. I think it's fine for the boat due to the inherent sitting properties of the sport. I will wear it again and see what I think, but I may be purchasing some more purple and trying to knit up the sides a bit - or maybe I'll send my arse to a diet - which may be more fool proof because I wouldn't want to ruin a perfectly good suit.

Anyway, that's all I have for today - except, it looks like I have been walking around on a broken left foot for at least a month now (probably longer). I don't really know what I did, so I'll have to make up with a good story to tell - but just know that my feet have been killing me. So I went to Urgent Care yesterday and told them that my foot was bothering me and they took Xrays and found a bone spur in my heel (which is where most of the pain is coming from) and a bone chip on the outside edge of my arch. So they wrapped it - they wanted to put it in a splint that I couldn't take off, but I promised not to walk on it so they just wrapped it in an ace bandage and I was told not to walk on it until I saw an orthopedic doctor on Monday. So I'm at home alone with crutches and an ace bandage. Thank goodness that I cleaned my apartment before going to the doctor and that I know how to knit and have a materials and a pattern that I want to try. I'll keep you all informed on my affliction (or injury or whatever it is). Hopefully I'll know more on Monday. Gotta go put up my foot and start knitting and watching movies (this is going to be hard on me - I can see that already. ha-ha).

Happy Gradulations!!

2007-07-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've blogged (I hope that I haven't forgotten how!). Last weekend I went on a 6 hour drive to the Twin Cities to visit my BRO and SIL for their son Jake's High School Graduation Celebration (hence the title). So I took some pics to preserve the occasion. I know you are dying to see what my family looks like so here they are:

So - can you see the resemblance?

There was a little disagreement over the cake. Jake thought that the cake was for him....

....and Michelle thought that he should share - well at least the frosting.

Jake said he agreed and then made a break for it....with the cake in tow!

So gradimication parties are a great opportunity to visit some of the knitting that you've made and given away (it was nice to see family too :-). I had knitted Michelle a Safari Coat for Christmas this past year, but the pictures had accidentally been erased by my delapitated computer. So even though it was in the 80's and way too hot for a coat, I took out the coat and snapped some pictures of it. I'm really proud of this coat. I got the recipe (oops that was from the last blog)....I mean pattern from Creative Knitting Magazine - September 2006. It is made with Lion Suede and Fun Fur. It was a really fun project - except that suede is kind of tricky to work with. I think it looks quite nice - Let me know what you think:

I spread it out on Mark and Michelle's new couch -which is really comfy and matches the coat quite nicely (remember it's all about the knitting with me :-). But just to be sure that you get the full effect, I tried it on too:

Well at least I was smiling behind the plate. That's the funny part - I was! Sometimes I crack myself up!!

Another thing that gradulation parties are good for is checking out the knitting of others. Michelle has made some really cute tube tops that she made the pattern for out of her own. They are so cute. I took the picture of some of them - but they really don't do them justice unless they are on. As Michelle always says when I ask her "How do you know that they you would like them" and her reply is always, "They looked good on the dummy!" So Michelle has one of them on in the first pictures (funny how that story illustrated her point exactly - LOL! I know... I know....I'm just amusing myself again! Since I'm sharing...Michelle-isms - another one of my favorites is, "If you are the only one laughing - is it really funny? My answer is and always will be - "Of course, as long as I'm the one laughing!") . Anyway, She did a really nice job with the pattern making it change at the waist line (go ahead and scroll back up to the top and look - I'll wait here......).

Or here it is without the dummy:

The other one she made that I just loved is the yellow one with a black ribbon. Now, Michelle was not happy that I made her put it on early Sunday morning before I left - but for the best interest of the blogg - she complied. It's so pretty - really..... don't take my word on it - take a look yourself:

Where have I seen that look she has on her face again? Hmmmmmmmm........

Project update: I've been working on the bikini bottoms and had them almost done and had to rip them out because my pattern just wasn't working. They would have never stayed up in the water - well maybe into the water, but I never would have gotten out of the water. I think I have the dilemma solved and having been knitting all day to finish. I should have it done shortly so stay tuned!

Also - For all my Canadian friends and family - Happy Canada Day!

Hola Amigos!! Me gusta Salsa Mucho!! How-o About-o You-o?!!

2007-06-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

What does salsa have to do about knitting you ask (I know my husband did)? Well, nothing exactly. Except, that I got a chance to go to a party last weekend and two things happened there: 1. I got to show case some of the items that I had knit (which is always a great feeling) and 2. My friend (Yes, I have amigos - I know it's hard to believe for me too) served a fresh salsa that was out of this world!! So I thought since she was nice enough to send me the recipe, I would be nice enough to share it with you. Be aware that you may not be able to stop eating this salsa until you run out of chips. So plan the size of the batch is good for one large size of bag of chips or you make sure that you have another bag handy just in case. Mi Amiga made a double batch, which is a two chip bagger size batch, and was pretty much gone by the end of the party. Also at the end of the salsa eating escapade, you may be a bit gaseous. Mi Amiga didn't wait until the end of the party and was pretty much letting everyone know that, "It's her party and she'll fart if she wants to, Fart if she wants too, Fart if she wants too, You would fart too if it happened to you! poo-poo-poopoo-poo!"

Here's the recipe, exactly as it was sent to me:

Black Bean Salad

2 cans black beans - rinsed and drained
1 can of corn - drained
2 large tomatos…..diced
1 large avocado diced
1 purple onion diced
1/2 cup cilantro diced
3-4 tablespoons of line juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

You decide how big you want the pieces when you diced each item.

Now, after reading through this recipe for the first time, I giggled and thought to myself, "Should I do it? I just have to!" You know when you see that spelling error and you just can't resist giving the person a hard time. So of course, I mischievously answered the e-mail as follows:

"I just tried the recipe and am having trouble getting the juice out of the lines. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I've tried different inks and even different paper, but still nothing. Help!"

I still smile a little just basking in the glow of my humor (maybe again, it's just me). Who needs enemies when you have friends like me. Haw-Haw-Ha! (that's my evil laugh).

Since this is a knitting blog - back to the regular scheduled knitting topic.

I am only half done with the bikini bottoms now, because my bottom seems to need more knitting than the pattern originally called for. I am still knitting and hoping that it will cover all my assets. I think I'm on the right path to get to the bottom of it (ok, that will be the last really painful pun in this blog entry - the others will only be rated as moderately painful). So I better change the subject:

I watched an episode of Knitty Gritty that had a great pattern for a hat that I am going to definitely make. It's called "Man's Best Friend". Go ahead - Click the link - I know you want to. Eveybody is doing it. It'll be fun.... Anyway, enough peer pressure...Here's a picture of the hat:They call the tassels dread locks and you twirl the yarn and then knit them into place. Cool huh? They even have a pattern for a matching dog sweater. I know what you are thinking, George doesn't need a sweater...but maybe he would want one anyway. I'll ask him later (he can't read so he doesn't know about it yet).

That's all I know for now - so I'll leave you with this little piece of advice: "Remember, where ever you go, there you are!"

Twin Peaks?

2007-06-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

I finished the bikini top and it looks great. I really love the colors I chose. If you remember the original pattern had lime green ties, florescent pink master color, with turquoise highlights (if you don't, scroll down - it's in a previous blog date). I love purple so I chose that and I winged the other colors. I think they look very good together. It is very close knitted - I used only a size 3 - it called for a size 5, but I did the gauge swatch and this is what I had to use to get to the right size. I made a size larger than the pattern called for the twins - but thought it would be better to cover up more than less. I was right because it fits like a glove (and not the one worn by OJ!). I am planning on wearing the top in the tub to see how it performs. I don't want any surprises on its maiden voyage after all.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "Self, Yah it looks good on the towel - but how will it really look when it is on?" Well wonder no longer, here is George the wonder Cat wearing the Bikini Top:

Side view - It was very nice of George to show us the profile - he is a professional after all!

Looks good from the front too!

Oops, I didn't mean to show George changing. I hope that I don't get kicked off the blog site for Kitty Porn!

So now I have to finish the bottoms to complete the ensemble, so stay tuned. (I wonder how I am going to get George into those? Hmmmmmm......).

Fuzzy Slippers to the Rescue!!

2007-06-02T06:52:00.001-05:00

So I decided to knit the slippers before the bikini because I was going crazy not knitting. Plus I had to wait for the elastic/cotton yarn to arrive. The slippers knit up really fast because the pattern call for size 15 needles! It felt like I was knitting with broom sticks after knitting with size 3. Plus they are so large that they look like you are making slippers for Paul Bunyan. Side Note: Our Grandma lived in Brainard, MN where there was a Paul Bunyan Park that she used to take us to when we were young. There was an enormous statue / figure of Paul Bunyan that always amazed me. Paul would speak (mouth moved and eyes blinked, and I think he even turned his head, and one arm was raised by a pulley and rope system. He was amazing to a little kid!!) and call me by name and say, "And there's Angela here to see me! Ho-Ho-Ho!" Ok maybe that last part was Santa. I was little, who can remember such things? But I remember my Grandma telling me how all the ladies in town would be knitting a new hat for Paul Bunyan or sewing a new shirt. If Paul were here today, he could fit into my slippers....that's all I'm saying. They look huge. Take a look:

Here they are on my bed. OK, maybe not that huge - but too big for permanent footwear, that's for sure.

Here they are before Felting with George (my cat ruler).

I felted them last night after going to the movie "Mr Brooks." Side Note #2: Check it out, it is such a good movie. Fairly graphic (Michelle you would like it)!! But it was so good. You never knew what was going to happen next. You have got to see it. You definitely won't be bored. But it still had me on the edge of my seat last night and I couldn't sleep. So if you can't sleep, the next best thing is felting. It's like laundry with a kick - since you end up with cool felted stuff. So yes, I was felting at midnight - I may have a problem :-).

After Felting with George! Not a great picture, but it was late. I think George has the look on his face of, "What are thinking about felting at midnight? Go to bed already." At least that's what I think. He felt better after a midnight snack - but still he looks a little annoyed:

Maybe it is the fact that I am wearing wet felted slippers that smell like wet wool. His treat was in the far right bowl on his little kitty table. Here's some better pictures of my fuzzy slippers:

I think my feet feel like dancing in fuzzy slippers. So if you ever can't sleep - try knitting or better yet, felting to the rescue! Now I had to go hang up these slippers to dry - they kind of felt soggy.

What to Knit, What to Knit....

2007-05-26T07:54:00.000-05:00

It all started with the F-ING SWEATER
First there was the "F-ing Sweater." Which you can tell by the name is not a fun project. Michelle tried making the sweater, after swearing and ripping it out several times, shipped the materials home with me with a nice note that said, "Have fun Sweetie." It sounds like a nice note, but really she was saying "good luck because you are going to need it." I felt the love and took on the challenge. I thought how hard can it be? The pattern is relatively simple. The problem with the whole project is that it is cursed. I don't know who cursed it, someone at Bernat, who "gave" the pattern (and the curse) away free. Knitting pattern makers don't have to go postal to get out their frustration. Instead they make what appears to be easy patterns that are really meant to drive the knitters who attempt to make the patterns go crazy. The materials are Matrix and Boa. After you get over the whole, how the heck can a sweater be made with Matrix -which is basically a ladder open weave yarn (Hello - open weave does not a good sweater make unless you are into peep shows. Todd mentioned that it is definitely is a sweater that is mandatory to wear a bra with. Good advice for any sweater, I say :-), you have to actually work with the Matrix which is tricky because of all the openness you have to make sure you put your needles into the correct areas because it's easy to spear the middle of the yarn. The trim of the sweater is made with the boa - which also isn't the easiest to knit with due to all the fur which tends to hide the actual stitch. Now I've worked with both before and thought, no problem. I also tried to change it from working back and forth to work in a round. Who wouldn't? I love to knit, hate to sew. so there was a mere 186 stitches on the needle. Note these are painstakingly difficult to count 186 stitches. After you get the correct number with the boa, then you have to increase with the Matrix several places with smaller needles.

So here's what happened to me:
1st Attempt: My needles came apart. I have a set of interchangeable needles and they came unscrewed at I lost a bunch of stitches. Don't ask me how many because remember this stuff is hard to count!! I was upset - but hadn't gotten that far after all.

2nd Attempt: I didn't count right on the increases and when I went to go back and fix it, I lost a bunch of stitches. Damn Matrix - should be outlawed!!

3rd Attempt: I got it. I locked myself in my bedroom for 2 hours and I counted, and counted, and counted!! I thought that I had won. But no, I hadn't checked my gauge and instead of being a mere 53 inches at the bottom it was over 63"!!! What the F!!!!!!! So I wasn't going through all that again and was just going to decrease and the bottom would have just had a little flare in it - I thought it would be kind of pretty to have the bottom be loose around the bottom (Yah, I know it was a cop out, but after I'd been through with the sweater...)

Saving Grace: Michelle called and I told that she had lost weight and that wasn't the right size anymore and she wanted to give the sweater another try, if I didn't mind. If I didn't mind?!!! Hallelujah!! I'd been saved.

But on the other hand, it kind of left me without a project. Which if you've ever been in this position is kind of nerve racking. "What should I knit next" is a very difficult question when there are so many options out there. So I'm at a cross roads in my knitting, where I've finished the one project that I was doing and can't quite decide what I'm going to knit next. So I thought that I would share with you, what I'm thinking (which is the point of the blog, right? Right!). Here's the list that I have going on in my head and on my needles:

Canadian Toque

So I found this pattern at Three Kittens in the Twin Cities the last time I was there. I like the pattern - but thought that it would look cuter in Canadian Maple Leaf Red and cream. So I've started. It's going to be a difficult project because it's knit in a round, but is double layered so that you knit the outside and inside at the same time. Every other stitch on the needle is red, then cream, then red, (you get the idea). You make the pattern by twisting the yarn, so on the red side you put the cream or on the cream side you put the red. It's hard to explain - hopefully it would be as hard to knit. I had it up to the point where I was doing the pattern - but stopped when I figured out that I had twisted the yarn on needles and so I had to start over. I just restarted - but haven't gotten too far as you can see... Plus winter is so far away. I'm not excited about this project yet. I may have to stop due to nice weather.

Felted Slippers

I found the pattern in this book - that has been recommended by George, who just had to get into the picture. He's such a publicity cat (I would say hound, but George has a complex from telling him that he acts like a dog!) - as soon as he sees the camera, there he is. Who does he think he is, Vanna? Ha-ha. Anyway, I found some really nice wool to make them in (see a picture of the materials I'm going to use below) - but am going to try to put some fun furr too. Who doesn't like furry slippers? Plus I thought that it worked with the little purple purse - so should work for slippers too. I think this might be a fun, fast, and fabulous project.

Paulina Tank:

Now, I don't know who the heck Paulina is, or why she has a tank top named after her...but it is cute!! I found it on the internet and don't know if I'll make it or not, but it's cute. And I think the lines would be very good for slimming look. But it does say experienced. Hmmmm.... I just don't know. I'll think about this one for a while. The pattern is free at: http://www.berroco.com/182/182_paulina.html

More Socks?

I just don't know if I'm ready for socks again. I started them, but they've been like this for a while.

Bikini!!

By George, I think I've got it! I'll knit a bikini!!! That would be fun and new and different. Which are all things that I look for in something to knit. This pattern was on Knitty Gritty just last week - well sometime, I just watched it off my DVR the other day. The free pattern is on that site (use the link on the side of my blog and do a search for bikini and you should find it) - but if you want to check out others, go to www.knitwhits.com. The only problem is that the yarn is a cotton- elastic blend, which I haven't been able to find at the big box stores and I haven't had time to check the knitting shops near by so I will probably buy them on line and that means waiting for the yarn to get here.

What do you think about the bikini idea? They say you can use it in water, but I'm thinking that it may need to be lined (at least the top?). I have some cups from other suits that I've pretty much warn out - I thought maybe I'd steal parts and knit or sew them into place. I wonder how elastic the yarn is going to be. This could be a fun project.

Well, what do you think? Anybody have any good ideas of stuff to knit for summer?

No Pictures Please!

2007-05-21T20:43:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to put a quick note that two great things happened today with this blog. I now have over 400 hits! And I got into the Midwest Knitters Guild!! Ok, so I checked and my name isn't technically on the Ring yet - but should soon and I have a password to make it official and everything. So I can't wait to watch that Hit Count go through the roof! I have been having a great time writing this blog and rush home to see who has commented and what they have to say. I can't wait to hear from you and find out what you are knitting too. Now I almost feel like I can't knit fast enough to have something interesting to say!! Gotta go knit so I can tell you about it....

I'm Tanked!! Are you?

2007-05-19T12:06:00.000-05:00

I've made two tank tops in my history of a knitter and I just finished this little striped pink number last night at around midnight. You know when you get on a roll and don't want to stop knitting?!! When you are so close to finishing a project that you can't stand it?!! That's exactly as it happened. I found the pattern on MagKnits - here's the path because I can't seem to get the link function to work properly and it's driving me nuts (it's free so go for it! I think that I may actually make some more in other colors.): "http://magknits.com/July06/ballet.htm"

Side Note: Don't you hate it when computer directions are supposed to be so "easy" and you follow them exactly and they don't work? This seems to happen to me all the time. It simply can't be me, or is it? Hmmmmmmmmm........

So here is a picture of my new tank. It was a self striping yarn, which I have to say striped beautifully in the correct areas without me even trying (so maybe I have no luck with computers but better luck with knitting. I would rather have it that way anyway).

It also has a nice shape in just the right places.

George says that it smells good too!

I actually got the size right. This is the first project where I took my measurements, did the gauge swatch as you are supposed to do and adjusted the actual stitches per inch to the pattern and it actually fits. I was very nervous and almost took it apart a couple of times because I sure that it was too small. But I think it actually fits quite well. By the way, it was interesting to take the picture of my back without looking, but wanted to show you that the back turned out good too!

Good thing I cleaned my bathroom this morning. That's my toothbrush in the bottom of the picture!

Here's a couple of pictures of the other tank that I made. It was a really fun pattern with a series of changing knits and purls to make the pattern across the front. I wasn't made in the round so I had to sew it together (which I hate by the way). It went much slower due to having to check the pattern every other stitch to know where the knits and purls were. But it was actually kind of fun to do. It has a much straighter shape and is actually a bit short on me. I don't like the new styles where all the clothes are cut off in order to show off my beer gut. I say if you are over 21 years old and/or don't have abs of steel - cover up your stomach. No one needs or wants to see that! Even "I dream of Jeanie" covered her belly button!" But then she went on to a divorcee in Harper Valley PTA!! Oh well, back to realty away from TV Land!

Cute Pattern across the front.

Here's that mustard colored couch again...which means it was made in North Carolina. Now there is a place where tank tops need to be worn pretty much 24 - 7!!

Gail's Northern Knitting at the Toad!

2007-05-15T20:05:00.000-05:00

Gail sent me some photos of her knitting and wrote a blog entry of her own. Gail is a wonderful knitter, even though if you ask her she is "just a beginner." You will love her knitting! She uses beautiful high quality yarns made of gorgeous colors and textures to make scarves that are to die for and hats and mitts to match! You can have one of your very own if you can find your way to Flin Flon, Manitoba and find a little coffee shop known as the "Orange Toad" where Gail sells her wares.
So if you are ready, here we go in Gail's own words:

I started knitting in 2003 when I found out I was going to be a first time "Gramma." I probably picked the most confusing pattern ever as a first project! It was a 36 by 48 " Baby Chevron Afghan knit out of Bernat Softee Baby on tiny needles with 217 stitches!!! Lots of YO's and PSSO's and I had to concentrate the whole time or I'd lose where I was. That afghan was ripped out 100 times I'm sure but I was determined to finish it. I would go running to town, yarn flying, to my friend, Darlene's house, with it begging for help! And you arn't the only one that was knitting backwards! I did too with this afghan. I had been working on it for a couple of months when I learned that there wasn't going to be just one baby----but TWO!!! I started knitting overtime and well into the night to finish the first one. My friend, Sue, kindly offered to knit the second one for me and even she, as a seasoned knitter, had trouble. Anyway, they were both finished in time for the arrival of the twins and I must say they were well used. I told the parents that I wanted them framed and hung on the wall. I don't have a picture either as I didn't have a digital at that time.

Knitting is really addictive----like totally addictive. I couldn't stop after finishing that afghan. I knit sweaters, hats, mitts, you name it, all with Dar's help of course to get started on anything new. Then last April I was at my sisters in L.A. and her friend, Eileen, had knit tons of fashion scarves of every type and was selling them. Away we went to check out yarn shops there and I came back with enough of every different type to fill my little suitcase. I've been hooked on scarves since and love putting different colors, fibres, metallics etc. together. My friends here own a coffee shop called the "Orange Toad" and I started selling them there. I have become a "yarn junkie" as I have yarn in every part of my "loft!" I had to laugh one day as I came upstairs and here was Brian trying to watch T.V. and all he was was a speck amidst all of the wool. However, I did buy bins and have "kind of" sorted it. I used to love shopping for clothes but now I just can hardly wait to get looking at what's new in the wool shops.

These are some of the first scarves tha t Gail Made!

"Newfie" mitts---they're fun to do.
(Angela says that they are cute too! I bet if anyone wants the pattern that Gail would be happy to share...hint, hint).

I learned not to make such huge pom-poms or the baby's head is tilted sideways!! :)
(Angela says that explains a lot about Todd - just kidding!)

I love it when you see your finished project being used and enjoyed! I can tell she likes the hat - can't you?!!

And more scarves! I wish I had taken pictures of all of them but I somoehow forgot. I think I made about 45 in all--- I have a closet full of scarves.
Gail is the reason why I found my love of knitting and without her this blog would not be possible or even necessary. Who could ask for a better gift than that? So I would like to thank Gail for teaching me to knit and to wish her a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hopefully, Gail will keep sharing her knitting and keep us all up to date on what she is knitting next.

Hey Baby!

2007-05-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

I found that making baby clothes is fun and quick! You get to practice making sweaters and other items without a lot of time invested. I can make baby clothes as fast as Michelle can knit a regular sweater. I know, I know...Michelle says that she's not a fast knitter - she's just diligent. But when a person can make a 5 day sweater or a 3 day tank - that's still crazy fast!! Plus with baby stuff you get to work with super soft yarn, fuzzy - fluffy yarn, pastel colors, cute little buttons, and ribbon - now who wouldn't like that?!

So I've made two baby outfits in my history as a knitter. The first was in North Carolina where I got my first real knitting bug. My boss was having a baby (ok, his wife had the baby - but he still had something to do with at. Proof being seen in the photos of the baby!). I knit the outfit in a round. It was the first project that I had done in the round and I love it. No purling necessary!! I'm a much faster knitter than I am purler. It turned out really cute. Now the only problem is that the baby lives in North Carolina = that sweater was never used. Or it would give a new name to the term " Sweat her." But it got me some brownie points and gave me something to do. Side note - everytime I look at this picture I think that the outfit is laying across the donated mustard colored couch that we were given by Ting (an engineer that Todd worked with at Carolina Turkeys). Take a gander at the finished product:

The whole ensemble. Now that baby is styling!

Look at the cute baby booties (You must be talking baby talk to get the full effect).

Notice the fuzzy pastel lines which will take your eye away from any baby fat that may be hanging around the midsection of any tot!

The bonnet - the perfect topper to the perfect ensemble. Also something that most kids rip off their head the moment that their mom's aren't looking!

Again, baby was in North Carolina - so it probably never got used. What a shame. So I made another set exactly like the first for Todd's cousin James and Karen for their baby Nora - who live in Canada where sweaters were first developed (if they weren't, they should be because it gets darn cold there). Note: these first pictures were taken before I discovered George's modeling ability. Don't worry you will see him in the very near future - like in the next pictures down the page.

The next baby sweater outfit I made was for Todd's cousin Frankie and Sally's baby Emily who live in California. Again another warm state to be receiving a sweater outfit! But truth be told, it does get cool at night in California (Side Note: Todd told me that before we went to visit Todd's aunt in California one summer. He told me to bring a sweater or a bunny hug - that's a hooded sweat shirt for you non-Canadians. I love that term it's so cute and it's so much nicer than "hooded sweat shirt" which sounds like "I'm down with my homies on the North side waiting for a rumble" or something like that. So anyway I didn't bring anything to keep me warm in California so I was "forced" to buy a bunny-hug from Walt Disney Land - it was a hardship but I did it!) . Anyway, this was the first project that I made using a chart to make the bunnies. They are so cute and made of this really fuzzy, cottony yarn that is almost unwoven. Also the buttons are in the shape of bunnies which is also so cute you want to hug them (you can't see them because the pictures are too small so I wanted you to at least hear about them). I was told that Emily loved this outfit and wore it daily. I love to hear that something I made was used. That's so cool. So with no further a-do, here is the finished product.

See I told you that George would be back. Here he is with the sweater and matching hat. Notice the bunnies on both panels as well as one on the hat!

Sweater stretched it out all to see. Look at the cute striping on the sleeves - again changing colors is a pain - but turns out really cute!

George is snuggling up to the hat. After all, who wouldn't?

New Links

2007-05-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

I put some knitting links to the side. My mother-in-law gave me the idea when she talked about Ram Wools in her comments. If you have some favorite sites, let me know and I'll add them to the link that way the best sites will be at our finger tips. Comments please...

It was an Itsy Bitsy, Tiny Weenie, Purple Felted Furry Purse that Even George Could Love!!

2007-05-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

I received a "Pursenalities 20 Great Knitted and Felted Bags" book for Christmas from my brother and sister-in-law. I love this book. It has the cutest purses ever inside and not hard at all (well at least this one wasn't - I may be jumping the gun). After knitting the felted bag with all the color changes, I needed something quick and cute. And I found it! I used purple wool and fun fur of about the same color. It knits up in about a day and felts really fast. Even George appreciated the bag. Take a look:

George standing behind the bag trying to look cool.

Oops - he can't stand it anymore and takes a quick sniff. Remember - felted items are George's favorite knitted items!!

It's even fun to lay by and it doesn't hurt that it is in a sun beam too!

AAAhhhhhhhhhhhhh................

It seems like a good thing to nap by.

Yup....it's nice.

OK - time to get up!

Who knew Grasshoppers Knitted too?

2007-04-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last October, I bought my sister-in-law (who happens to be my best friend) a teach yourself how to knit book and taught her the basics. Note: She now calls me the Knitting Master and I call her "Grasshopper". In fact, I started her out with a yarn oven over scarf which she picked up like a champ. She picked it up so fast!! Now she is off and running and knitting everything - plus changing and creating her own patterns. Here are some of the items that she has made since then.

Can you believe that this is a five day sweater? That means she knitted it in a record 5 days!!! There are two things that I love about this sweater. One is that she changed the pattern to give it shape in the waist. Two she made it for me!! Who doesn't love a hand made sweater?

This is the beanie that she made for a bunch of her guy buddies. It fits me too - but she says that I don't look good in hats just balaclavas so I don't get this one. Again she changed the pattern.

She calls this on the never ending sweater. It is knit two, purl two the entire way through. So you know how much that slows you down. It took her about a month (most would find that fast but when you have a five day sweater that's tough to beat!). Again pattern was changed around the straps and the length.

This is the cutest purse made out of fun fur. She made the pattern all on her own. It's so cute and functional (in a fashionable way).

Angela K and Her Technic-Color Felted Bag

2007-04-21T08:41:00.000-05:00

So I got the felting bug. After all it's so cool. You have the power to shape a bag out of yarn! Something that you can use! I guess I'm excited about using stuff today - 2 explanation marks and it's only 9am! (Oops that makes 3).

I found a pattern that used 5 colors. This was really my first project where I had changed colors and the second that I made an I-cord with. It was a fun pattern - but again, I didn't know about how you can weave your ends in - or better yet carry them up the side so you don't have to tie them all in. So I did a lot more sewing of ends than necessary. But live and learn. This bag uses the purl side on the outside of the bag - to make it appear more blended color wise. But I thought that the knit side was really pretty and would also make a nice felted bag. Maybe if I run out of projects, I'll make one only inside out (I won't hold my breath just in case). The other thing, is that I found out that felted items also become kind of water proof. I've spilled a water and diet coke inside the bag and it just kind of beads up inside. I couldn't tell by the pattern but thought the lady in the yarn store told me to use two strands of yarn - so I did. It made a really sturdy bag. I can carry really heavy stuff and the bag really holds its shape. I was worried that I would run out of the dark purple so I knit in the other colors on the handle. I wouldn't do this again because the colors look odd alone like that and almost feel like the handle is a bit long.

Here is my new bag to carry lunch and items to and fro to work. We can call it my Technic-color Brief Case. I posted it in my cube at work and one lady did stop by to admire it. I was so proud!!

Close up please.

Nope nothing in here except a cool pattern!

George is checking out the bag! I think he's impressed to!! Plus it's wool so what's not to like??

Felt Like a Canadian

2007-04-19T19:26:00.000-05:00

So I heard about people taking old sweaters and felting them - so of course, I had to get in on that! Then again, I didn't really know how to felt - but how hard could it be? So I had a grey sweater from my mother-in-law that had a red maple leaf on it that I thought was wool. It said that it was 100% wool - which I thought was feltable (Is that a word? It is now!). So I pulled out some of the top of the sweater and some from the bottom (I unraveled it little at a time) and picked up the stitches on either end. I then had bought some red wool that matched the red in the maple leaf. The top I knit a red border and made a handle by knitting an I-cord. The bottom I knit a border about the same size as the top and then made a square bottom and sewed it into place. Look how big it looked - based on George's body (poor George the knitting model).

George the Knitting model - hard at work.

So it's not always work for the model as George showed us how much he likes natural fibers. He went nuts for the wool! We couldn't keep him out of it. He would go into my knitting bag and take the balls of wool and hug and sniff it!! Look what I mean:

He looks a little guilty in the last picture.

So after knitting the bag, I set off to felt it. I had gotten some hints on the internet and found that it was quite easy to felt. All you need is a zippered pillow case, some Wool Mix (a soap that you don't have to rinse out - I got it at Three Kittens in the Twin Cities - but I'm told you can find it at most knitting shops. But don't look at the chain stores because I couldn't find any there. You want this because wool kind of smells like wet dog. Which is why Geoge likes it I suppose.), a washer machine, an old towel to throw in with the bag to cause some friction, and hot water. I put it on medium size, hot water, and let it go for 5 minutes. Then I checked it and put it back in. I think in total, it took about 15 minutes to felt. The only problem is that the old sweater part (lets call the meat of the bag) did not felt. The maple leaf slightly felted but the gray part didn't. The top and bottom felted like a charm and seemed to hold the whole thing together. After I removed the bag, I took made a square bottom out of cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the bottom of the bag and forced the bag into that shape. Then I took newspaper and filled the bag to give that form. Then I hung it from a door knob to dry. I checked it about every hour or so to see how it was drying (this part was not really necessary and only added to my impatience).

I think it turned out quite nice. See for yourself:

Of course, George had to get into the picture since he was there from the beginning!

I sent the bag to my mother-in-law for a present. She took it to Portugal - which I was quite proud of. She said she carried it everywhere and that it held up quite nicely. Not too bad for a sweater and some tweaking! Now after thinking about it, I'm not sure that is how people are using old wool sweaters to felt with. If anyone knows how people are doing this, I'd love to hear about it!

Scary Balaclava

2007-04-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

Many of you have asked what my Canadian husband looks like - so as not to disappoint you, here he is:

What you were expecting a different colored balaclava?? Balaclava is a Canadian term for face mask (at least that's what we called them where I grew up). I heard the term while in Canada and got the crazy idea that I had to knit one for Todd when I learned how to knit. Don't ask me why? And, by the way, I was living in North Carolina at the time. There was totally not a need for a balaclava. My mother-in-law came to the rescue with a pattern from Darlene - who took the time out to e-mail to me. It's a really easy pattern (if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll pass it along). Basically you just bind off the stitches on one row (where you want the mouth and eye holes) and cast them on the next. I also knit it in around because as a whole, I'm a much better knitter than I am a sewer.

Then while wearing the balaclava we decided that we looked scary. Notice that George is not in any of the pictures because he was hiding under the bed while we were making our best scary faces. So don't be afraid because here they are:

Scary Balaclava Todd

and Scary Balaclava Angela!!

What a Pair!!

2007-04-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

This is the first pair of socks - all-be-it booties that I have ever made that are the same size!!

Here's the top view. Looks good.

And here's the profile. Still good. (Good thing I shaved my legs!!)

If you don't believe me - look at them minus the feet!!

What's Blue and White and Cabled all over?

2007-04-10T20:06:00.000-05:00

It's a sweater that turned out as big as a coat.

My mother-in-law gave me a wonderful Christmas Gift. It kept me busy for about 3 months. It was a Sirdar sweater kit complete with pattern book and yarn. I had never cabeled before. But I thought, that can't be too hard. After I figured out that each color change means a different ball of yarn, I learned why bobbins were invented. I still had a mess and spent a lot of time taking out all the knots of yarn from them being wrapped around each other. I think that theoretically it should have unwrapped itself if I turned the knitting the exact opposite from how I had done on the row before. But I never got it right. I read later - somewhere on the net - that I could have put the balls into a box and cut slits for the yarn to come out and they wouldn't get wrapped around each other as much. But bobbins helped a bunch too. Only problem is that you don't know how much to wrap and you end up tying in even more ends! And this project has a lot of ends! I just bought a book that is supposed to tell you how to knit in your ends instead of having to sew them in with a needle. If anyone has any advice or information on that, I would love to hear about that. I had fun knitting this sweater, but I have to admit that I was glad that it did end. Also, it ended up being quite large. I would definately knit the smallest size no problem. Maybe my gauge was off, but I am usually right on. I seem to have the biggest trouble sizing the garments. So better too big than too small - but if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it. But I do think that it is quite nice. I'm really proud. Now check out the pictures. I should have taken some photos of the messes I had - but this way, no one will ever know.. Ooops.

George with a sleeve - he looks un-impressed.

George thinks that it makes a nice blanket too.

The finished sweater. I'm so proud.

Socks - Try, try Again

2007-04-09T18:47:00.000-05:00

After finishing a big project this past week, I decided to try socks again. I needed something that I could finish quickly and after all, I had bought the alpaca sock yarn on a whim when I visited the Twin Cities and made my hubby stop at my favorite knitting store - 3 Kittens. So I followed the same pattern as my first pair of socks thinking that the reason why they didn't work is that I was unexperienced. But I found out that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Take a look at the sock that I ended up with:
Yup, still makes a sock that is too Big!!

So I searched the internet and found a sock calculator. Who knew?!! I found one at www.needletrax.com/mysocks.htm
And it worked! Here the picture of the new sock. Note that I had to make it smaller because since I used up enough yarn to make one large sock, I only have enough left to make a pair of bootie socks. Also note, that I tried to unravel the socks from the cuff down because I was going to fix the first sock - but that didn't work either! It only unravels backwards (that would be from the toe end). I would have had to unknit the entire sock! I like that alpaca yarn - but not that much! So much for my fast project I was looking for.
Much better. Note: my husband makes a good sock model. Now one more to go. When I finish. I'll take a picture of both socks at the same time.
Another thing I found out is that my cat George loves any natural yarn, wool, etc. Look at what he thinks about the sock:

I now want to call him - Alpaca George!!

Socks...Who Knew?

2007-04-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

The next project that I tried to tackle were socks. After all, you see them every day and you can buy them at the evil Walmart for a couple of bucks at the most. How hard could they be to make? The first problem that I encountered was double pointed needles. That would be using 5 needles at once. I found a sock pattern for Magic Strips Basic Socks by Lion Brand Yarn - bought some self striping yarn from a yarn shop in Raleigh and went to work. The problem was that I knit on the inside of the needles and not the outside. Look at the socks. You can tell by the cuff that there the sock parts are inside the cuff. That's because I thought if I wanted the knitted part on the outside of the socks that I had to purl them from the inside. And I'd have to say that it worked. Except that it was really hard. Plus I had reverted to knitting so tightly that my hands and wrists hurt from forcing the needles between the yarn and the needle. Also, I felt that I was micro knitting because I had never used size 3 needles before. After my first sock, I called Gail (my knitting expert) to find out what I was doing wrong. She talked with her friend Darlene, who had the answer. I was knitting on the wrong side of the needles! Duh!! So the second sock I knit the right way. Only problem is, that it didn't fit as well as the first. It was too loose because the yarn probably wasn't the same number of stitches per inch as the Lion Brand yarn and I hadn't knit them half as tight. But they are my first socks and I will wear them with pride. One close fitting and one loose. My husband says that no one looks at socks, just wear them anyway. I am sure that everyone notices my creations so do will not believe that everyone can't tell that I made those socks that I have on and they are perfect in their uniqueness!

First Sweater

2007-04-08T12:44:00.000-05:00

We moved to North Carolina for a short period of time (so the Northerners had arrived in the South- one Minnesotan and one Canuck), where I picked up my knitting out of desperation to keep my sanity. Note that I had not knit anything since my the fun fur scarf. My mother-in-law, Gail, came to the rescue again (she must have a sixth sense of what will keep me occupied) with my first sweater pattern book and yarn that she got for me for Christmas. We were alone that first Christmas (which was quite difficult) and I knit for the entire time. I started with my "Teach Yourself to Knit" book knitting a pair of slippers (I didn't want to mess the sweater up too badly). They must have turned out funny because I didn't even bother to take a picture of them. They were far too large for either myself of my husband, so I gave them to my brother Mark for Christmas. Mark - if you are reading this, you are welcome and I am just glad that you have big feet. You know what they say about big feet....big shoes (what were you thinking?). I hear that the slippers did not last more than one season. Oh well, you have to start somewhere. Remember, I didn't even know how to purl when I made those! When Gail taught me to knit, she didn't teach me to purl. I was a garter stitch gal and that was it. So everything else from the cast on and knit stitch is self taught. So if I get it wrong, there is only myself to blame!

So the sweater knit up easy with Sirdar (pattern 8411), Denim Ultra 2.25 stitches per inch yarn which knits up really fast. I knit the entire sweater in a matter of days and it turned out really nice - especially since I had just learned to purl, however, it doesn't quite fit. I made it just a smidge too small. I can't quite make myself give away my first ever sweater and am quite sure if I lose a few pounds that I will wear it some day. So just to make myself happy with something I could wear, I made a scarf and stocking hat with the left over yarn. My husband thought that I was crazy being that we were in North Carolina with a toque (or "Tobaggon" as they call it in North Carolina - they don't even know the correct winter terms. It's not like I want to put a sled on my head!!) and scarf. But a girl has to do, what a girl has to do!

In the Beginning

2007-04-08T11:38:00.000-05:00

This is my first ever Blog. So therefore I will start in the beginning before I knew how to knit (it was the best of times, it was the worst of times). I had gone to Flin Flon, Manitoba (I mentioned that my hubby is Canadian) for Christmas in 2004. By the way, they take winter very seriously there. It was -40 degrees Celsius - which is the only metric temperature that I truly understand as it is the same as -40 degrees Fahrenheit (that is 40 degrees below zero) - every day for a week. So we had planted ourselves inside except for the few walks we took outside to get some exercise or a trip to the evil Walmart which had newly come to Flin Flon. We were all going quite stir crazy so my mother-in-law had decided that I needed something to do other than look out the window and watch TV. So she decided to teach me how to knit. Now if you are a new knitter, do not learn on fun fur. As the name suggests - it's supposed to be "fun." Knitting is not fun if you can't see what you are knitting and you don't know what you are doing. Also as a new knitter I had a death grip on the needles and was knitting tight enough so that I had to force the needles through the "fun fur" that I was sure going to escape (why else would I be knitting so tightly). I spent the whole time counting stitches and swearing under my breath. But in the end, I had a fun fur scarf which I just adore. Note that it took me the entire trip plus one week to finish the project which should have taken a normal knitter a couple of hours. My mother-in-law made a pair of mittens to match in a matter of days (she finished before I did) - which I also included in the picture.