Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. I've been baking for a few days to get ready. I made over a dozen loaves of Italian Easter Bread with the eggs tucked into the braids, a blueberry/raspberry pound cake, a tray of brownies and my usual cheesecake.

All the prep work for the floor is done and at 8:00 AM Monday the floor starts going down. YEAH for finally having a clean and cleanable floor!

I'm making an early quick trip to the nursing home to visit my hospice lady and bring her some Easter Bread and the cheese doodles she really wants then I'm off the spend Easter with my family at my sister's newhouse in CT. Yes, life is good. And all the knitting I've gotten done is a few quick dish/wash cloths!

Back Again!

Well, it's been over a month since I posted. The usual excuses, too busy, too tired, etc. Work has been a bear and as usual I'm involved on another improvement project in my house. I have one of my daughter's friends who is an electrician replacing the oldest ugliest fan in my living room with a pretty pendant light and actually installing a light over my dining room table, repairing and replacing outside lights and just moving and replacing old stuff. THEN I had a flood in my downstairs level, due to my own carelessness with my washing machine. It was a blessing in disguise as now I am finally replacing the LAST of the wall to wall carpeting my my house. The old rug was scarred with Bob cigarette burn marks and when wet smelled of the gazillion kitty and puppy accidents AND a huge burn mark when I dropped an iron years ago! Soon, like today or Monday I will have new flooring in the living room, kitchen and foyer!!!!!!! The down side was moving EVERYTHING from my fabric and yarn stash or should I say grave yard of projects.

In spite of all this and mega work at my school I am almost finished with knitting MR Foster,just have to finish off his head, I've been working on a sweater from Interweave and I'm going to get started on my Hanne F sweater again. In addition to several quilts I have in my mental line up. It almost makes furniture moving seem lass stressful!

Books and more Swap

I am so lucky. I've gotten just the best swap partners. I came home really tired and stressed and look at what I received! I love just everything here. Great yarns, more stitch markers for my collection,a handmade new project bag,a collection of teas, new cable needles, don't know where my old ones are! Two items are missing a beautiful pair of fetching fingerless mitts, can't pry them off my daughter yet and Ann Budd's book of sweater patterns. I love the yarns and new knitting magazine and the chocolates and WOW WW cookies that I have never seen. So today, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea and relax with a new knitting magazine!

quilts and snow

I hate snow and cold weather. I should have been born in a warm climate. If I could just stay in until ALL this snow is gone I'd be happy. I worked non stop on these two baby quilts Sat and Sunday. Today we have a totally unexpected snow day so I was able to finish them! Now that these are done my daughter tells me that another of her friends is expecting. I feel like I am in the middle of a baby boom!

the Secret to FOs

I am on vacation. This weekend, I did not teach Sat school, or visit the nursing home, or grocery shop, vacuum, wash the kitchen floor, cook anything or really go out much. What did I do? Knit, do laundry, knit, shower and get back into a clean nightgown then knit some more! I stayed up to 2:15 last night and really enjoyed finishing the rib warmer.

The rib warmer was made from noro. I always mess up on EZ paterns because I tend to skim them and you CANNOT skim her patters. EVERY word matters. This was a fun short row knit and I tried it on last night and it is so warm and warms without adding bulk.

NOW I have tons of new projects calling, Hanne Falkenburg's Trivoli kit, a beautiful Sunday River vest/sweater, the Elsbeth Lavold silky wool Or more ufo then I can to list PLUS at least three sweaters' worth of yarn from Stitches and some Malibregio calling my name.

FO Finally!

I joined a group on Ravelry to finish 12vests or sweaters in 2009. If I just finish up mostly done UFO, I'd be half way there. BUT with human nature or at least mine the way it is as soon as I decided to do this all I wanted to knit were scarves and hats. Now anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to knit scarves but I did two of them, then a hat then a baby quilt. So here I am in mid Feb and not even one project done. Well, I changed that today. I finished the Big Bebe Vest. It was a pretty easy knit, the only time consuming part was the endless I cord. I still have some of this yarn left and can you believe --another scarf is calling!

coffee chocolate swap

I received such a great swap box from Gail, Grannygail. Just bursting with goodies, sox yarn, two kinds ofchocolates, nuts,licorice, stitch markers in a cute tin, rich fragrant coffee, a new journal, a felted purse,and even a pattern in case I'm all socked out. Gail also sent a tiny pair of scissors with a thimble which opens for a little spot to hide a message. Thanks so much for this thoughtful box. Everything came wrapped in my favorite color tissue paper.

Thanks Secret Pal 13

Sunday afternoon the doorbell ran but there was no person just a priority box on my door step. So did my mailman deliver on a Sunday or did someone get box and redeliver?

I'm so glad that I did get it. It was a very thoughtful box for me. A great skein of RED malebregio, green sock yarn of a brand new to me, Sundara Yarn very nice also.Now I am a cold process soap maker so a bar of heavy,beautifully beveled bar of patchouli soap just loaded with great oils is a very special treat for me!!!The box was rounded out by a generous bag of seeds, jelly beans with sayings, note cards and neat Daily Dose of fiber cards. Thanks for being such a great Secret Pal.

KCS4 Questionary
QUESTIONS:
1. Whole bean or ground? beans please
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded
3. Regular or flavored? I like dark, very rich coffee
4. How do you drink your coffee? black no sugar
5. Favorite coffee ever? I can't name a specific coffee but I really like the most bold, darkest coffee possible.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? At home I grind the beans for each pot, and try to use really good coffees. On the go I'll drink anything if I have to but I like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts best.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? I like shortbread cookies, brownies and dark chocolates.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I'm not very flexible, but not fussy! I like most dark, whole bean coffees.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? I love non scratchy wool. I love most Noro and Malibregio.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? I don't care for slick feeling yarns and cheap acrylics and most frilly novelty yarns.

11. What's on your needles? I'm working on a noro vest and a rib warner also of noro.
12. Favorite colors? Red, blue, green

13. Allergies?
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?
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i love the surprise part of a swap. It realy is fun to have someone send something new and different!

Just Another Sick Day!

This is just my year for being sick. Since Thanksgiving I've had a sinus infection, been in the hospital with colitis and now out of work again today with a miserable migraine! I feel like visitor at work! I did see the DR and my medication for blood pressure is being changed. I've been waking up with my hands and feet swollen. ?Not too good for knitting or walking. Well enough whinging, I did get half of my rib warmer done over the weekend and now I'm feeling better so I'll work on it some more.

A Great Day

Today was a very special day for our country and for my family. I am very moved by our new president but on a personal level, my son closed on his house today! It is small, old and beat up BUT it is where he wants to live, it's a start and a great chance for him to get ahead ! I think I will always remember Steven's new start and Obama's moving speech as somehow connected.

sockacide

Sockacide--is there a word for something that was killing socks? I have a large collection of handmade socks that I have been working on for a many years. I love my socks, they are so comfortable and keep my square, fat feets so warm! Well, for the last few weeks HUGE holes have been showing up in my socks! I have discovered the culprit. I got a new pair of Birkenstock clogs. Also so comfy but I realized that the edge on the back was cutting holes in my socks. So now I have to wear my new comfortable shoes with the few commercial socks that I own. I guess not a major serious huge problem but quite annoying. So now I've been re knitting the holes in the socks or darning them depending on the size. I do have some left over yarn from the initial knitting but not for all of them so I have some very unusual patches on my soles.

I signed up on Ravlery for the National Knit A Sweater a Month Insanity! Since I joined, I've made two scarves, a hat and I'm working on another scarf. AND I don't make scarves usually. So where are my sweaters and vests? Well I started the Big Bebe Noro vest and the noro rib warmer also. Last night I also cast on the Hemlock blanket but pulled it out. Maybe I need to join a Startitis Support Group. Well I'm off to work on something until I fall asleep!

Thanks Secret Pal

I received a lovely box from my secret pal with three skeins of Malibregio Yarn and a pattern for a sweater. I received a skein in a red, green and blue my favorite colors. I need a few more skeins to finish the sweater off so I'll have some fun deciding on a few more colors. I have a deeper blue from my stash that looks promising and I'm thinking of a creamy color and amybe a black for the banding. Thanks secret pal it's lots of fun to plan a new sweater!

What a Little Snow Will Do

I am the worst cold weather person. When it is cold I just want to stay in. I'll do anything to avoid actually going out in the snow! Yesterday we had snow, not really much but freezing ice, blasty winds etc. SO I stayed in and kept busy. I finished my one row scarf, cooked up a storm (or actually cooked during the storm!) did most of a baby quilt for a friend's baby shower and started a noro hat.I also "gathered Christmas". The tree is gone since New Year's Day but now I've gathered most of the Christmas decorations to one spot ready to be boxed and taken back to the Christmas storage closet. I leave my snowman collection out until sometime in Feb.

So today I want to finish the machine work on the quilt, finish my Noro hat, shop for the testing lunch we do for our teachers before the ELA test. Next week is a very stressful week in NYC schools. We have the NYS ELA test. So much emphasis is put on this test due to NCLB which is more like KICK the Schools in the Behind!

Remembering "Tootie"

Since September, I have been visiting either on Sat or Sunday afternoon a great older lady on hospice care in a local nursing home. On my way over to visit her today , I found out that she passed on Friday. Tootie was a lot of fun to visit with. She knew she was going to die soon but she was not interested in complaining or whining -- and she sure did like to talk!! We spent hours just talking about our lives. Tootie liked to listen as well as talk. She told me funny and sad stories about growing up in Bayonne and Jersey City. I heard about living through the Great Depression and World War II. The only thing she was still angry about was that her son her only child died when he was only 40 and his wife a few years after.

Most of the time when I visited with her she was wrapped in the ugliest green variegated Red Heart Afghan that she had crocheted herself. Yarn snob that I am, I wanted to make her a soft beautiful shawl but she loved that ugly thing brought from her home! I never made her a shawl because every time I visited with her she proudly reminded me that she made this Afghan! I'll start visiting with someone new new week but I know I'll keep a picture of Tootie in her treasured green Afghan tucked away in my heart.

Adding to the Yarn Stash

If you ever saw my yarn closet and the various places where I have yarn stored (hidden) it would surprise you (it surprises me) that I spent yesterday going from one LYS to another buying yarns like my house was empty of yarn and I had six years or so of vacation to just sit around and knit!

I was in the company of fellow addicts which does not help and probably even makes my actions seem normal! First we went to Stix and Stitches. They were having a yarn sale and there were some great buys to be had. I picked up enough Silky Tweed by Elsebeth Lavold at half price to make a sweater and I got one of her pattern books for $5. We had a nice lunch then went off following my phone navigator to another yarn shop. the last time we were there, the place had a great sale basket and seemed like a yarn treasure chest. Yesterday, it just seemed like an over stuffed junk pile (nice junk) and the owner was kind of distant and cranky. I did manage to get enough Noro to add to some Noro I had at home to do a vest. Then we went to the last store, Modern Yarns which I had not really liked on our last trip. I got some beautiful kettle dyed wool from Araucania also in the half price bin and some coordinating full price cascade yarn to make another sweater AND and orphan LOrna Lace single skein of sock yarn. A quick stop at Starbucks and we were off to go home!


So now I need to start knitting and not stop for years BUT what did I do when I got home? I ran out to Kohls and spent my preChristmas Kohls bucks on a set of new pots for Steven, a new pair of black dress shoes for me and a new front door mud rug. Well I spent my $30 free dollars and a bit more THEN I jumped back into reading about Sookie Stackhouse and the vampires! I can not believe that I am reading all this nonsense BUT it really is entertaining.


Today , I need to get organized to return to work, meet my mother and grand mother for lunch and make two baby quilts BUT all I really want to do is get book 8 in the Sookie Stackhouse series!

Woolbearers Yarn Trip

Yesterday, I took a drive to one of the nicest yarns stores in New Jersey! I LOVE Woolbearer's. It is a nice size store not jam packed so no feelings of claustraphobia or dustitis and long forgotten shelves of garbagio! I think they have just about everything you need in yarn there. AND Myra who was there is so helpful and know the inventory AND actually listens to what you want instead of pushing the flavor of the month yarn on you or the most expensive stuff she can triple strand!

I didn't get much, just a few skeins of Boku as a replacement for the Silk Garden Noro a swap partner wanted, size 10 1/2 double pointed needles (yet another pair is missing) and a few great buttons for my Noro Vest AND the Wallaby Pattern which was a return to nostalgia for me. I just recently found Caroline's first passport. She is so cute in the picture and wearing a Wallaby I made for her!

My friend, Kaye bought yarn for three projects, I don't think Kaye needs to yarn shop for a year. She is so disiplined that she is actually waiting for finish her WIP BEFORE casting on one new thing! If I'm not driving I've been known to cast on in the car on the way home!!!

We also went to a tiny quilting shop in a quaint old barn or garage. I got the perfect material for a baby quit I need to make and picked up a Christmas throw quilt kit. Now here is my ethical quandry. When I went to use my debit card to pay I was missing it so I was concentrating on searching for my card was not paying any attention to the women who was ringing up my order. I had to pay by check. Now the last time I was there I wound up paying for patterns which were mixed up in a basket of free patterns. (My card was resting safely at Woolbearers) So when I got home I looked at my receipt and realized that the women checked me out incorrectly. The Christmas kit was marked $59.95 but the pattern for the kit was in the front and still marked $7.00 so I was charged 40% of $7 not 40% almost $60. If I had spotted it in the store I would have corrected it. Now I don't know what to do. Part of me just wants to say well these things happen, I was over chaged in a different Quilt shop recently and did not get it corrected. When I asked my Knitting Group the concensus was to leave it alone because if I called the store I might get the women checking out in trouble. Any ideas?

12/26/08

SO,Christmas has come and gone!!!! It's hard to believe. We had a very nice low key holiday around here. We celebrated Christmas Eve at my house. We had good food, good company and every one loved their gifts. Christmas was very relaxed. Steven got up early and went surfing, Caroline slept in and I just rested and enjoyed the quiet and peace of the house. We skipped the usual big Christmas brunch and then just went to my sister's house for dinner. I gave no handmade gifts this year, well not made by me--- I did purchase beautiful shawls made by Russian women for my grandmother and mother. Caroline got handmade open finger tip gloves from Whole Foods. They have a great little spot where they sell handmade gifts that benefit crafters usually in underdeveloped places.

Christmas Eve after dinner Steven and Caroline used the upstairs sitting room for the first time. They listened to music and played games and hung out. We just need to do the floor and a second coat of paint and the moldings and the sitting room will be done. I went to Lowes and got the rest of the flooring today. It will be really nice to have to finished up there!

The only handmade stuff I did this year was baking. I made scones, muffins, coffee cakes and tea breads and wrapped them nicely and set up reusable shopping bags stuffed with the baked goodies, Starbucks coffee, teas and a few nice cups. Breakfast to go for my Christmas Eve guests, my sisters and mother and Katie's mom.

Tonight I am going to put on my new Christmas robe and nightgown and finish knitting an alpaca scarf I started last year.

So who is ready?

I've been home since Wed. I sleep, knit and get up to do a little then sleep again! Caroline has been working or out so Katie has been a huge help.
The shopping is done, the food for Christmas Eve bought and the house clean and decorated. All I have to do is survive two days at work and cook.

The only way I'm as far as I am is because I'm not doing 1/10 th of what I used to do. Not one person but me even seems to notice. No holiday knitting, way fewer gifts or even gift cards then in the past. Less decorating and less obcessing over over every single thing!

I'm working on finishing up my projects on my Ravelry list so I've been working on the MIstaken Rib Scarf and then next I'll work on finishing my circular jacket and then I'll decide about the Lady Feb sweater and the trial knitting sweater from the "famous" designer who asked us to try it out then just left us all high and dry with HER mistakes, corrected them and now will sell us the pattern!

Back Home Again

It has been forever since I posted. I've been busy, then sick then busy then sick again! Right after Thanksgiving I had a sinus infection which made me want to turn my head in for a new one. Then back to work and lots of catch up but I've been knitting at night. I'm working on a sweater with a border design of roses and leaves then a lice pattern. So far I'm knitting a tube and I'll steek it for arm openings etc. I'm using some black merino cashmire I got at Sitches with the rainbow Kauni for the design. So far I LOVE it.

Last Sat. I was admitted to the hospital with a similiar ischemic colitis as last year. Since I was only sick not crazy I went to the emergency room with about six months of knitting in my tote bag, (forgot to bring clean panties) and I just got out yesterday. I did get lots of knitting done and I'll be out of work until Monday so although my Christmas prep is so far off I can't even begin to figure it out I have been knitting up a storm.