Friday Fill In - January 29, 2010

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending!

~Anonymous

1. Wouldn't it be easy to just not bother to try to do your best . . . but then would you be happy . . . with yourself?

2. My marriage is better than ever!

3. I love the taste of warm cookies and a glass of milk.

4. Why is our Wii in the living room?

5. The first thing we're going to do is the taxes and then the beading and then . . . .

6. The faucet in the kithen drip, drip, drip; Dave refuses to fix it.  Makes me crazy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to picking Lindsey up from swimming, taking her to Andrew's house, going home and eating dinner with Dave and Zachariah, tomorrow my plans include Zachariah's swimming lessons, a trip to the Library, going to Wooster for a swim meet, folding the laundry and Sunday, I want to go to 8:00 a.m. mass (its Catholic School's week and Zachariah is helping at 8:00 a.m. mass), breakfast with the family, working on our taxes and starting to bead Sarah's dress.

Sun is Shining!

Woo hoo, the sun is shining!  Of course its also 20 degrees, but the sun is shining. It has been so grey and dark lately that I turn on every light in my office in order to not get depressed.

Lindsey had violin lessons last evening as opposed to tonight.  Tonight she has a swim meet.  Usually, I knit while she is having her lessons.  I didn't knit last evening.  I frogged.  I frogged Zachariah mitten (note, I said mitten not mittens . . . almost had it finished but can't find the pattern, duh and only had one done).  I frogged my sampler scarf.  It seemed the best thing to do since I didn't like it.  It is a beautiful color and yarn (Knitpicks Andean Silk in Cranberry) but not enough really to do a scarf.  I can do a pair of fetchings and considering the fact that my office is usually around 64 degrees when I arrive in the morning, it would be a good thing . . . I do have a space heater but as soon as I turn it off the temp starts plummeting.  Or maybe I'll make a cowl. 

A friend pointed out the cloths by Kris Patay at KrisKnits.  Seriously, you all should check out her stuff and her blog.  She is an incredible artist.  I think I am going to make her heart cloth for valentine's day for Sarah and Kyle. 

The swim season for Lindsey is winding down.  I can hardly wait.  They have a meet tonight and one on Saturday and two next week.  That is it until the Sectionals which start on February 14.  Now, she has spent months swimming.  Months.  Most times, it was two hours a day for six days a week.  Over Christmas break, they swam four hours a day, every day, except for Christmas and New Year and on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, they only swam two hours.  And so, what is her concern, part of her hopes that she doesn't make sectionals because Andrew invited her to his school's winter formal and it is on February 14.  She is one of the top swimmers on her team and she is an idiot. 

Sock KAL

I have never finished a sock.  But Rachels Knitting Room is doing a sock KAL.  Right now we are working on the leg. 

Want to see how far I've gotten.

Oh, and the little notes on the sock show the beginning of the row (the pink marker) and the row counter (the white marker).  When you get to the white marker, you move it over one more stitch.  By moving the white marker each row, you can count the stitches between the pink and the white and know exactly how many rows you have knit.  This is good for lots of things not just socks.  My Mom would do it for sweaters.  Just by adding a "different" stitch marker and moving it every row. 

The yarn is Lorna's Lace, Shepherd Sport (100% superwash wool), Color No. 16, called Pioneer.  It is being knit on size 4 (U.S.).  Very nice yarn.

German or long-tail cast on

If you have ever wanted to know how to do a long-tail (or German) cast on, you need to check out this YouTube blurb by David from Knit Like a Man.com.

Seriously, check this out.

A contest at Knit Purl Gurl

Knit Kit Jewelry is the brain child of Joyce Goodman, designer, artist, knitter, and art jeweler. Joyce wanted a way to mesh her love of knitting and art jewelry to create simple, gorgeous kits for others to enjoy these mediums. And so Knit Kit Jewelry was born.


These interesting and beautiful kits allow knitters to explore new avenues in knitting. So even if you've NEVER created jewelry before, all you need are the basic knitting skills to create a gorgeous piece of your own.

Each bracelet kit comes complete with pattern, basic instructions for knitting with wire, wire, and clasps. All you need are your own knitting needles to get started. The wire that comes with each kit is copper coated for a comfortable experience and is available in a wide array of stunning colors, allowing the knitter to make each piece his/her own. As pictured above (left to right), there are three bracelet kits available: Buckle Bracelet, Ruched Cuff, and Regal Cuff.

If you want to enter Knit Purl Gurl's contest go here. 

And while I wish you luck, I hope I win!  LOL.

What a way to start the new year

I started off this year with a bang.  Our first day back to work went well.  Budgets, budgets and other budgeting issues (all having to be done by the 15th and having several office administrators putting things off to the last minute like, oh, I don't know, their budgets).

After lunch on the 4th, I didn't feel too well.  We were getting lots of snow and I got home right after Dave, Lindsey and Zachariah.  Of course, the first question out of everyone's mouth was "what's for dinner."  Sigh.  So, we had left overs.  We had crackers and cheese, potstickers, kielbasi.  I went to bed by 9:30 (the last one to hit the sack) and woke up at 2:00 in pain.  Turns out I had to have my gall bladder removed but because I had sooooo many gall stones and a couple had blocked my pancreas, I was also suffering from pancreatitis and was severely dyhydrated.  I ended up not having surgery until that Thursday.  I go back to work this coming Tuesday. 

So, I knit and frogged and reknit and organized my knitting patterns and some yarn.  The one thing that I did finish was baby booties for Erich and Caity's baby. 

These were made with Bernat's Baby Jacquard.  I had already finished the sweater and cap but didn't get a picture of the cap.  The baby shower was the Saturday after my surgery and while I had plans on going, I decided that I just couldn't which meant that I had time to make the slippers. 

Since we were celebrating Zachariah's 9th birthday today, I had until today (or actually last night) to get the booties done.  The pattern I used came from Megan Mills. 

And here are some pictures from Zachariah's birthday . . .  except for the pictures of Zachariah, Zachariah took the pictures. 

He is into music so we had a musical cake.

Adn we also got the drums to go with the Wii and Lindsey and Andrew put them together:

And Zachariah had to blow the candles:

Caity and Erich have another little girl, Ava, who just turned two.   She is very cute and funny and got very, very tired.

And this is my youngest sister, who is Erich's Mom and Ava's grandmother.  She would love to knit except that she goes nuts with the patterns that are K, P, K2T, PSSO . . . so she either crochets or rewrites patterns so that everything is all spelled out.  We laugh.  This picture doesn't do Jeanne justice.  She is incredibly pretty. 

And this is my other younger sister . . . she also knits but does more crocheting because she does lots of afghans and such.

Over Jacquie's left shoulder is one of my older sisters.  She is a knitting, spinning, plying, dyeing fiend.  She sat and almost finished a sock during the party.  She is a show-off. 

And here is Mary (Jacquie's youngest daughter . . . her kids are 29, 27, 25 and 7 . . . and you thought I was nuts with kids that are 23, 15 and 9), and MacKenzie (who is 4-1/2 and Hayden, who just turned 3).  MacKenzie and Hayden are Jacquie's grandchildren. 

New Year, New Day, New Baby knitting.

Winter is the time for comfort,

for good food and warmth,

for the touch of a friendly hand

and for a talk beside a fire:

it is the time for home.

~ Edith Sitwell

Winter has arrived in Cleveland and it is when I discover that I can go for DAYS without ever leaving the house.  I spent much of Saturday and Sunday, sewing, cleaning, knitting, snuggling and playing board games with the kids.  I could have done the same today but, alas, bills have to be paid and so the layers of clothing were donned and the weather braved.  When I got out of the van this morning at the train, it was 15 degrees and there was about 4" of snow.  Brrrrr.

So, what did I work on this weekend.  I started and finished (except for blocking and snaps), the baby sweater for Erich and Caity's baby.

The colors pooled more than I would have liked but, it is still lovely, very soft and an easy knit.  I am making a cap and booties too.  The baby shower is Saturday.  The upside is that Lindsey has two swim meets this week which leaves me with mucho knitting time!