A Blip in the Yarn Diet

Sometimes you can be minding your own business, knitting, reading or whatever and your friends will toss temptations, suggestions, opportunities at you! A few weeks ago I was just minding my own sock at our weekly stitch and knit when the subject of a local yarn store changing ownership or closing BUT selling yarn at a discount came up. So my friend innocently suggested a little visit. So we visited and I went on a Noro spree!!!! I love good yarns but I also love paying my mortgage etc. so as much as I love them I'm always looking for a bargain. I must be pretty good at this because I have enough fiber to keep me busy through my life time and several more reincarnations BUT I could just look and get new ideas---- Well, we all know the end of this story. I took my buying pass and went to town, I got enough silk garden to make a sweater (13), a ten pack of kureyon, four loose kureyons and TWENTY Big Bebe, and a Noro book. I have so many sweaters in the line up to work on that I feel guilty that the silk garden jumped line. I have the back and up to the arm opening of one front done already done. Getting this new influx of Noro into the house got me to work on my entrelac vest that has been hanging around since some time in the winter. I'm especially excited about the Big Bebe because I got a bunch of that on sale in Pa this winter for a $ 1 hank now I have to dig that from it's hiding spot and see what I can do after I finish the silk garden and vest. I'm not really sure who or what I'm hiding this yarn from! My husband never really caught on to how much money I spend on yarns and quilting stuff. He just had a Chico shopping bag radar that was incredible and if he knew how much I spent there he would has passed YEARS ago!!!
I'm really really not buying anything else until Stitches or Maryland Sheep & Wool if I can get other people to go to that with me!

coffee swap

A Great Box from my secret Pal 10

Last week end several boxes were left at the door. The top box was addressed to my daughter so I put them at the bottom of the stairs for her to open when she got home from college this weekend. WELL< I should have checked the name on the bottom box because my latest wonderful swap box was hiding under my daughter's stuff!
My partner out did herself. She sent two skeins of alpaca hand dyed yarn in dreamy blues,greens and browns. A great purse or bag knitted from red raspberry colored ribbon, a yarn needle and stitch holders ( I never have enough of these), a magnifying pen (what a clever little devise) and a Laura Ashley journal. AND a raspberry colored bag with a jar of red raspberry preserves! AND the cutest cat knitting card. I've never used alpaca before so I 'm going to look for a pattern for suitable for 100 grams of about worsted weight with a suggested gauge of 18 stitches to 4 inches on size 7. ANY suggestions?

Caroline Job Promotion

This is my post to brag about my daughter. Caroline is just the best daughter ever. She has been such a help to me and is turning into a wonderful, generous, beautiful young women. For the last few years Caroline has had a part-time job while she attended college full time. Today is her first full day as a permanant employee. She has been hired full time before she even graduates from college. Caroline will graduate this summer and move back home with me. Caroline has turned into a hard working, full of life and very loving daughter. I am always posting pictures of socks and other stuff but what really makes me feel the best is that both of my kids are doing well and have turned into kind and loving young adults. There were times in their teens that I wondered if it would happen!

Easter Bread

Every year I try to bake Easter bread. Some years I bake more then other years --this year I stopped at eight. These breads are made from a sweet dough and braided around uncooked eggs. Each braid has a filling of almond, orange peel and chocolate. Some years I add anise seeds also. I'll bring some with me on Easter day and give some out to friends sooner. If I get my energy back I'll drizzle a simple confectionery sugar icing on them. I'll probaby eat one myself with sweet butter for breakfast over the next few days. It's a good thing that we are starting Weight Watchers at my school on April 17th!

Apologies to my Secret Pal

My secret pal has been great. She sent me a beautiful card then a needle organizer and samples of different yars and a very cool tape measure which clips to a key chain. I goofed and failed to post or probably even say thanks! All I can do is say I'm sorry and plead brain blip! I thought about doing it so much I think I convinced myself that it was done!
So Secret Pal thanks for everything and please accept my apology for being so late to acknowledge these gifts!

Knitting nice and cozy

I spent most of today doing errands and running around. I did manage to have lunch with my daughter at her office. She showed me her new little cubicle, she is proud of landing a full time job before even graduating. While I was doing that--- new central AC and new heating units were being installed in my house. It has gotten cold again here so I'm still using the heater. I stopped at Whole Foods and got myself some brown rice sushi, and a few other treats so now I am going to curl up to just knit the night away!

A Three Strike Day

Today was the first day of my week off for Spring break. I did some laundry and some how in the cleaning out of Bob's stuff one of his FISH HOOKS, one with three hooks, must have fallen on the laundry room floor, and got snagged on a sock and GOT WASHED WITH A DOZEN on my hand knit socks. So far it seems that only a poor koigu sock was partially destroyed. Although when I saw the fish hook I came close to passing out and there must be many more gray hairs then I had before!

Next, a few days ago I bit on something and heard and felt a crack in a back molar. I was hoping for a filling but today I experienced an tooth extraction from a dentist who looked about 12! He was very gentle and very sweet but that tooth must have had roots down to my knees.

Finally, the guy who is installing my heating and AC called to tell me that his helper had a death in his family and they are postponing my installation until Wed. My perfectly planned week is drifting away!

Oh well, on the lighter side I did get lots of knitting done waiting at the dentist's office and I am going to take another pain pill and hopefully get a great night's sleep!

Still Busy just NOT with Knitting!

We put this door in years ago and never painted it because I wanted red and Bob wanted white. His huge compromise was black but black was not closer to red for me then white! Yesterday, I painted and now I have the reddest door in my town. It looks splotched in the picture but that is the camera ( little cheapee camera that it is!) but it real life it is pure true fire engine red. My daughter hates the hat and hid it when her date came to pick her up last night. Very mature for a 22 year old.
The floor is my other big accomplishment. I had tired stale old never can really get clean anymore carpet in my bedroom. I don't like wall to wall carpet but Bob never wanted bare floors in the bedroom. Yesterday when I was trying to vacuum it clean for the millionth time but really hoping to change the color and age of the carpet with a Dyson I decided to just pull it out. What could be so bad under that old disgusting carpet? Well, this floor does not look so great now but it will soon.
So between work, having to attend a funeral this week and these two projects my socks are resting quietly in their spots not even daring to call out. Today is a paper work day, Monday I'm getting a new AC and heating unit installed so I may have time to knit then or not!

Finally finished black socks

Well, I finally finished my black socks. I can't take a picture of them since I wore them to work yesterday. One of my co workers looked at them and said that they looked like professional real socks. I wonder, does that mean that my other socks look like unprofessional, phoney socks! I did these socks from Lisa Souza yarn in a color way called Oil Slick. They are mostly black with just a bit of green and blue drifting through. I wear black lots and sometimes I just want a black sock. Boring to knit but I will get lots of use from it. I already cast on a new pair from Socks That Rock in Rare Gems. I got this as a bonus from the sock club last year and it is looking great. I'm out of my house from 5:40AM to around 8:30PM both last week and this week working and commuting, so when I finally return to having a life next week I;ll post a picture!

A Lazy Day Here

Yesterday, I thought that I would curl up early and knit but I was obcessed with doing whatever and wound up working and knitting till late. Today I am making up for it. I felt lazy and sleepy all day. I did about 10 rows on the sock pattern I am trying out for my friends' online store, read, ate and napped! Now I'm getting ready to got to a friend's house to knit for a while.
I got a beautiful card from my secret pal yesterday. It is a beautiful peaceful scene, lovely enough to frame.

Bathroom completed!!!!!!! (Just about)

Well, the bathroom is just about finished. I'll get some better shots in a day or so when the camera battery cooperates. I thought I had a completed bathtub shot but I downloaded an old in progress one. What a pleasure to finally be able to use this tub again. We stopped using this bathroom due to the leaking roof and the other repairs that were supposed to get done in AUGUST. Then things just happened and here we are seven months later. I love the colors in this room and the wooden vanity. Now I have the bug to get everything else done in the house! I was supposed to work scoring test today in Brooklyn but the weather was too risky so I was able to stay here and seal the grout, and finish the painting, hang the shower curtains and take the first bath.
I'm getting very little knitting done, just too busy at work and too much running to help take care of my mother. She is doing better now that she is taking medication for the bronchitis which triggered the asthma attach that landed her in the hospital. I'm sure her MD just forgot to send her home with a script. Finally when my mother was not getting better and she went back to allergist/pulmenologist (spelling?), he gave her a script and she started improving right away. The "family or primary MD " is a sweet women but either careless or overworked. First, she said my mother was going to have to take antibiotics at home but after she was sent home without a script DR Forgetful said she didn't need to take more medication. I am positive she just forgot! My mother refused to ever complain or bother this doctor so it is a never ending battle.
As soon as I finish this post I am going to plant my tired aching self on the couch and watch old stuff saved on the DVR and try to work on my sock. I just hope I stay awake past one show.

Secret Pal 10 & 100th POST

I have been very quiet on this blog because my house has been a whirlwind of change and work. The bathroom is almost done and ALMOST ready for pictures. I also have a new roof, new facias(didn't even really know I had old ones!), new gutters, lots of new plumbing, a shed and old swing set gone and some many repairs. The laundry/ unility room is being remodeled to accept a new heating and air conditioner unit. The top floor is being worked on so that when my daughter finishes college she can live there in a semi self contained unit. I am also cleaning out years of old stuff and junk, AND painting anything that does not run away!

SO lots of work but very little knitting. BUT here is the Secret Pal 10 questionaire a bit late but here it is. I did get some knitting done yesterday because my mother is hospitalized due to asthma and I'll visit later with my knitting . I just hope I can stay awake.



1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love to knit with wools.
I don't like stiff harsh yarns whatever their content is!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Crocks, baskets, cups, a flat drawer and in many UFO's.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I'm 55 and I learned when I was about 5 so I'm knitting a long time! I know lots and still have lots to learn.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No

5. What's your favorite scent?
I love Patchouli blends.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
YES, and I love chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I quilt, do redwork and I have spun but currently I don't have a working wheel. I also made cold process soaps, natural lotions and creams.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I love classical music and classical rock -- Beatles, Dylan etc. I don't really know what a MP3 is!

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love blues, red, greens, purples. I;m not partial to orange, and muddy shades.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
My husband passed away a last summer. I have two chldren. My son is 24 and my daughter is 22. I have two cats and a dog has me!

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
NO ponchos but everything else.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
SOCKS

13. What are you knitting right now?
I'm working on socks, and an entrelac vest.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, I do.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like circulars with sharp points. Right now I'm knitting with Knitpick Options.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have a winder not a swift.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
How old am I?

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas, Thanksgiving

19. Is there anything that you collect?
blue pottery from Poland, blue Wedgewood

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have most of what I want. I just need time to use it.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Norwegian Purl

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I LOVE TO KNIT SOCKS!!! I wear an eight in American Shoes and a 38 in Birks. My foot is about 9 1/2 inches wide and 9 1/2 inches long. It really does not look like a box!

23. When is your birthday?
August 5th

lots of work progress hard to find!

I used to inwardly roll my eyes when someone went on and on about having work done in their house. I used to think "How bad could it be?" Well, now I know! One the bright side everything that is being done is necessary and will add to the value and comfort of my house. On the side I see and am living with every day , there is more dust then I thought was possible. I'm not even doing the work and my hair is always dusty. everything has extra hidden STUFF .WRONG. Everything takes three times as long and is costing way more then I expected. BUT my brother is doing this for me at cost during a slowish time of the year for him. Or it was slowish until he started working for me and then he got quite a few emergency jobs.
The more I do around here the more I want to get done! Yesterday I changed out the curtains in the kitchen, painted the window sills and window frames, the bathroom door and in general decluttered the kitchen & this was after going to Home Depot, Lowes, Linen & Things, the Library and the A&P. This morning I hopped put of bed, drove over the my sister's house to get my grandmother and her twenty bags and boxes of stuff, get stuck on ice and had to chop out a ton to get out of their driveway. Since I've been home, I've been rubbing off the grout haze on the bathroom tiles, cooking for everyone, doing laundry, finishing work on the kitchen and taking care of my grandmother. My grandmother is 96 and really a pip. She said today that she will be no trouble to me at all and I should just go about my normal stuff. Yes, she is not trouble but she needs three cooked meals a day, help with showering and getting around, and always needs just a bit of help with her hearing aide, or walker or something. Monday, we start with the plumber, roofer and his helper and my brother and his helper, all over again! Tonight my son is coming for dinner and to drop off his laundry. I'm not complaining but another full week of this and I'll be too exhausted to go back to work! AND I HAVE GOTTEN NOT A STITCH OF KNITTING DONE OR EVEN GOTTEN TO OPEN MY LIBRARY BOOKS!!!!!

Correction to previous post!

The previous post has a mistake!!!!I don't know how that slightly naughty beach picture got into my bathroom and scone post but here are the photos that really go with it. I've tried to correct it and I think that blogger is off for the weekend!

not finished bit at least it's not pink

We've had a very mild, warm winter in NJ until recently. Now it's so cold that those warm day seem years away. As my brother continues to work on my bathroom I am finding out that the pinkness of it was the least of my troubles. Whoever installed it had a unique sense of plumbing. The overflow pipe just dumped onto the flooring under the tub, there was NO insulation in the bathroom and it was cold enough that the pipes were frozen. Well I could have told him that everything in that bathroom was frozen! AND assorted other odds and ends were discovered. I'm very lucky that my brother is doing this for me at a slow time for his business. I would be flipping if I was paying full price for all this work. Do now I own lots of new plumbing and none of it is pink and there are signs of progress ---a new white tub and insulation! See the pink shelves in the closet? It was covered with shelving paper while I've been in the house but at one time it was the color of the ENTIRE bathroom. What a treat that must have been.
I have not gotten much knitting done this week, just working on that never ending black sock. I've been baking for my brother and his workers every night so here is my favorite scone recipe.

Cream Scones

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
a good shake of salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
extra sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a food processor. Whirl a few times. Gradually pour in 1 cup of heavy cream while the machine is on. Add another 1/4 cup if needed to have a ball of dough form. Turn of processor as soon as a dough ball is formed.

Lightly flour a counter or board and gently flatten the ball into a disk . You can make one disk of full size scones or two for smaller ones. Cut each disk into eight pie shaped wedges. If you want soft edges bake keeping the pieces together. If you want the edges crispy separate them on the ungreased baking sheet.

I brush the scones with some of the reserved cream and sprinkle lightly with sugar and cinnamon. Bake around 15 minutes until barely brown. Check the bottoms and don't over bake.

Progress

When I moved into my house Steven was in 2nd grade and Caroline was in 1st grade. They are now 24 and 22. My bathroom on our main floor was every shade of pink known to man with a PINK and BLACK floor. It was seriously ugly. We were going to renovate it right away. One thing lead to another and we never did renovate the bathroom and all my weak decorating attempts were no match to the pinkness of that room. My kids grew up never encouraging guest visiting of the bathroom. We do have a normal bathroom done in restful shades of almond downstairs. I'm not even going to talk about the top floor bathroom's turquoise toilet! Well today that ugly pink tub is sticking out of a dumpster in my driveway and the pink toilet is finally out of sight forever! That ugly room was ripped out to the studs. It really looks better! In the next few day hopefully it will be transformed into the only room in the house where everything is new, matches and even works! When it is finished I am going to have a dinner party and serve only liquids and encourage bathroom visits!
On the knitting front, I am working on an endless black sock fron Lisa Souza yarn oil slick colorway. I really like it and I know I will wear ir often BUT it is really boring to knit. Just black with a tiny bit of green and some slipped stitches.

Got a swap box from Sweden!

What a generous box I got from Klara in Sweden. This is from the Townsend Knitalong Sock Bag Swap. In the top left corner is the bag with sewn on embellishments of patches and buttons. She send tea, chocolates, flower seeds, a scented soap, nail oil, note cards and a beautiful postcard. The knitting part was a really overkill! Sock yarn and an intersting pattern, mohair yarn for a scarf and an interesting pattern and a set of beautiful stitch markers. I've already enjoyed one of the chocolates and I'll be starting the yarns soon!
I'm in the process of doing some needed repair work around my house, fixing and repairing boring stuff like roofs, gutters and backyard gates and replacing a bathroom from top to bottom! The bathroom part is fun BUT the whole project is very stressful for me. I've never done anything like this on my own and of course it is costing way more then I planned. I also find that I am happy with what I have until I start going out and seeing what else is available! NOW I get greedy and want everything! SO to pay for all this stuff I'm probably going to stash knit for years. What is really sad is that I can do it!

Up date on Steven

Steven had his surgery on Thursday and he is at home already. The good news is that the doctor said that the repair was perfect and he is expected to make a complete recovery. The bad news is that he needs to be off his leg totally for 8 weeks and that he is in pain and as grouchy as can be. He will miss at least the first week of school but hopefully he can go back after that! I am exhausted and I'm going to bed early. I did get lots of knitting done but if I never knit in a waiting room again I'll be OK. I got so rattled speaking to the doctor after the operation that I forgot my current sock in the surgical waiting room. (I did find it later. TOTAL RELIEF)

What a day!!!!!!

I was sitting in my friend's car getting ready to go home after a purely annoying day at work when I foolishly said to her, "What could make this day worse?" THEN I found out. My son called me right at that moment to tell me he had an accident. He was skateboarding and fell and broke his leg in two places and ripped a ligament. I was in Brooklyn so by the time I got to the hospital in South Jersey he was already scheduled for surgery Thursday around noon. He's in pain and will be off his leg for at least 8 weeks!!!!! His girl friend's father is a doctor at the hospital he is in so he is having his ortho friend, who has a great reputation do the operation. The real kicker is my son has had good insurance from birth to 12/31/06 and his new insurance is scheduled to pick up 1/22/07 so this healthy kid who has had insurance ALL his life does this during the ONLY 22 UNINSURED days of his life. I know it could be much worse but I'd like to bang my head against a wall!!!! In the long run he will be OK but this seem over the top right now. So now, since May, my husband, daughter and now my son have all had operations! So I'll be knitting in a hospital waiting room again.