We are getting more snow today. Last night the "weatherman" said we would just get a dusting. Well if he considers 2 inches just a dusting then he needs to..... Well I just can't think of anything good enough for him right now, but I will.
I haven't had to shovel snow for about a week now and it has been so nice. Gonna have to do it tonight though. Ohhh! But just remembered that my Thrummed Mittens are now done so my fingers should stay nice and toasty warm while I'm shoveling. Still think I want to make Thrummed Toe covers or something, so my toes done freeze either. Will have to work on that after I get my Color Swap package done.
Edited to add the following:
When I got home after knit on Wednesday, I did indeed have to shovel snow. Especially the crap at the end of the drive deposited by the snow plow. The only part of me that wasn't cold was my hands, because they were protected by the Thrummed Mittens. Now if only I have a thrummed snow suit or something.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Knitting Retreat
On Saturday, one of my knitting groups (Frog Pond Fiber Arts) sponsored a Day Retreat. It was held in the South Dining Hall on the Notre Dame Campus. Although it was cold and snowy, it was definitely warmer than it had been all week. It was held from 10 am to 5pm and included lunch in the Dining Hall.
I had a blast. It was so much fun, that I didn't want it to be over. We had 2 vendors come to sell there wares. I bought 2 skeins of merino/silk fingering weight yarn. The first will be for socks, but the other I think will be for a shawl.
We held 3 classes throughout the day. The first was Knitting Backwards; done so you don't have to keep turning your work. I have really been interested in doing this and had actually been able to do the knit stitch on my own; once. Jessica also taught us how to do Purl backwards also. Here is the dishcloth I made.
I even bound off going backwards!
The other 2 classes were held after lunch, which I just have to describe. It was unbelievable! Our admission price included lunch in the Notre Dame Dining Hall, which I must say has got to have the largest buffet I have ever seen. They had everything imaginable: 15+ different dry cereals, bagels, muffins, pancakes, omelet station, belgum waffles, bacon, sausage, pizza, 5 different pastas with your choice of sauces, roasted chicken, ribs, fish, 2 or 3 salad bars with every topping imaginable, hummus, corn casserole, cooked vegies, fresh fruit, yogurts, danishes, donuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt and probably 30 fountain pop machines. That's probably only a drop in the bucket of what they had, but I was so overwhelmed, I know I missed some stuff.
After lunch Vicki taught lace class (which I took) and Janet taught a woven triangular shawl. Here is the shawl I began, but I as SOOO NOT liking the colors that I am going to rip it and redo it. I'll probably use the blue/purple yarn (pictured above) that I got from one of the vendors, but I may look for something a little heavier maybe DK weight.
Here are a Carol and Jessica learning how to weave on Janet's looms.
Aubrey and I worked on our Thrummed Mittens. We were hoping to get our mitten #2's done so we could wear them for the walk back across campus to our cars. Didn't happen though. We BOTH made mistakes, which resulted in frogging. Aubrey wanted to do kitchener grafting on hers like I did and to make hers longer. She had already ripped it back before she got there. So she knit it back up and was ready to cut her yarn to start the kitchener, when she discovered that she hadn't made it long enough; I think it was one thrum row shorter then her other one. So she had to rip back again. On mine, I didn't read the instructions thinking I knew what I was doing since I had already finished mitten #1. Well, I was just about to cut my yarn to do the kitchener grafting when I realized I had 2 righthand mittens. I put the thumb hole in the wrong spot! Luckily all I had to do was frog back the mitten top shaping (about 13 rows) and move the decreases to another location. I think Aubrey finished hers on Saturday night, but I finished mine on Sunday afternoon.
I have more photos on Flickr and I will be uploading them to our Frog Pond Group Page.
I had a blast. It was so much fun, that I didn't want it to be over. We had 2 vendors come to sell there wares. I bought 2 skeins of merino/silk fingering weight yarn. The first will be for socks, but the other I think will be for a shawl.
We held 3 classes throughout the day. The first was Knitting Backwards; done so you don't have to keep turning your work. I have really been interested in doing this and had actually been able to do the knit stitch on my own; once. Jessica also taught us how to do Purl backwards also. Here is the dishcloth I made.
I even bound off going backwards!The other 2 classes were held after lunch, which I just have to describe. It was unbelievable! Our admission price included lunch in the Notre Dame Dining Hall, which I must say has got to have the largest buffet I have ever seen. They had everything imaginable: 15+ different dry cereals, bagels, muffins, pancakes, omelet station, belgum waffles, bacon, sausage, pizza, 5 different pastas with your choice of sauces, roasted chicken, ribs, fish, 2 or 3 salad bars with every topping imaginable, hummus, corn casserole, cooked vegies, fresh fruit, yogurts, danishes, donuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt and probably 30 fountain pop machines. That's probably only a drop in the bucket of what they had, but I was so overwhelmed, I know I missed some stuff.
After lunch Vicki taught lace class (which I took) and Janet taught a woven triangular shawl. Here is the shawl I began, but I as SOOO NOT liking the colors that I am going to rip it and redo it. I'll probably use the blue/purple yarn (pictured above) that I got from one of the vendors, but I may look for something a little heavier maybe DK weight.
Here are a Carol and Jessica learning how to weave on Janet's looms.
Aubrey and I worked on our Thrummed Mittens. We were hoping to get our mitten #2's done so we could wear them for the walk back across campus to our cars. Didn't happen though. We BOTH made mistakes, which resulted in frogging. Aubrey wanted to do kitchener grafting on hers like I did and to make hers longer. She had already ripped it back before she got there. So she knit it back up and was ready to cut her yarn to start the kitchener, when she discovered that she hadn't made it long enough; I think it was one thrum row shorter then her other one. So she had to rip back again. On mine, I didn't read the instructions thinking I knew what I was doing since I had already finished mitten #1. Well, I was just about to cut my yarn to do the kitchener grafting when I realized I had 2 righthand mittens. I put the thumb hole in the wrong spot! Luckily all I had to do was frog back the mitten top shaping (about 13 rows) and move the decreases to another location. I think Aubrey finished hers on Saturday night, but I finished mine on Sunday afternoon.
I have more photos on Flickr and I will be uploading them to our Frog Pond Group Page.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
THERE DONE!!!
I just finished my Thrummed Mittens!! Yeah!! I can wear them home tonight from work. I'm so excited. I'll post picture tomorrow, as can't upload them from here.
Here they are:
And they are really warm too!
Here they are:
And they are really warm too!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Cold Weather Sucks!
I normally leave work at 4:30 in order to do the company bank deposits. I went out a little earlier today to warm the car up and clean off all the snow. You wouldn't believe my luck. The doors locked!!! With the automatic locks, if the car is running it always unlocks itself if the doors close with the locks engaged. It's just too cold for them I guess. And of course, my spare pare of keys is in my purse, which is sitting on the passenger seat. I had to call my parents, who have another spare key to my car and who also live 1 hours drive (on a good day) away.
Well all I can say is that my car is going to be really really warm by the time they get here!
Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
Well all I can say is that my car is going to be really really warm by the time they get here!
Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
Always playing Catch-up
Why does it always seem that I am playing catch-up these days. Things have been happening in my life, honestly. I just haven't felt wordy you know.
My last blog was just before Christmas, so I hope everyone had a great one. I stayed the night on Christmas Eve at my parents house. My Aunt Margaret and cousins Emily and Becky were there too. They had stayed all week. I got a food processor from my parents. The normal sized one. I have a itty-bitty one at home, but I wanted a 'real' one. And I got a beautiful pink shawl/wrap from my Aunt. It is rayon-ish and I wasn't expecting it to be as warm as it is, but I've been wearing it everyday since I got it.
The day after Christmas, we had a huge ice storm and I determined that I really didn't need to go shopping like I normally would. The news was reporting all kinds of slide off and accidents, that I thought it just wasn't work the risk; so you know it was bad. Around noon, I heard spinning wheels out side and figured someone had slid into a snow bank and got stuck. When I looked out the window, it looked as if a Jeep Cherokee and a Semi had a accident. The front bumper on the semi was right up against the back of the Jeep. Then the semi started backing up and I realized that the Jeep had gotten stuck on the ice in the middle of the intersection and couldn't go anywhere. So they hooked up a tow rope to the back of it and the Semi slowly towed it back until it could get on snow and have some traction. When it started going forward again, it was kind of funny, because it looked like the Jeep was towing the semi. They went down the road that way. Although someone should have told the guy in the Jeep that you don't spin your wheels on ice; you just creep.
Then I got sick just as it was time to go back to work. I had an ear infection, bronchitis, and a throat infection. Although it wasn't Strep, it was something similar. I went to work on Monday, but came home at lunch, stayed home on Tuesday, and worked most of the day Wednesday. I only went in on Wednesday, because it was the day before a Holiday and I had to at least work 6 hours or I wouldn't get my holiday pay. But let me tell you, I was miserable! I went to the urgent care office on my way into work and the Dr told me that I needed antibiotics. She said she could give them to me 2 different ways: (1) 10 days worth of pills or (2) a shot there at the office and then 10 days of pills. When I asked what the difference was, she said with the pills alone, I would feel better in about 3 days. If I took the shot and the pills, I would start feeling better in 1 day. Well Geez that was a no-brainer!! I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at her and said just give me the shot! I had already felt like crap warmed over for 3 days, I couldn't take much more.
Last weekend was my Winter Quilt Retreat. Due to illnesses, there was only 13 of us there. We couldn't cancel either, or we would have lost like 90% of our deposit, which would have been like $900+. People who had put down deposits and then couldn't come, had to forfit their money in order to cover the cost. But I am so glad that we didn't have to cancel it was so fun. I always have a good time when we are there. I finished my Mexican Tiles quilt from my October quilt retreat. Here is a photo:
Ain't it bright? I wasn't sure how the bright fabrics would look, but it turned out quite nice if I do say so myself.
Back in the beginning of December, my friend Nicki gave me a free Lazy Girl Design Pattern for a small bag called Noriko Handbag. It was very pretty and I thought it would make the perfect little sock bag. Anyway, I made it up out of cottons. It would have been better, if I had used lighter weight fabrics. It just didn't drape right. So I decided I would re-design it. Instead of 2 handles, I thought 1 that you could hang from your wrist would be better. And instead of a button, maybe just a loop. So here it what I came up with:
This is actually one I made for Ann at Quilt Retreat this last weekend from some left over border material she had with her. I never did get around to taking a photo of mine. When I first designed it, I made 3. One for myself (brights of course), a brown one for my Frog Pond Christmas party gift, and an extra blue one in case person who got the gift didn't like brown. Christine really liked hers and several other were interested too. So they suggested I make up some to sell at our Knitting Retreat that we will be having this coming weekend. So I took my template and fabric to the Quilt Retreat last weekend and made some up. I ended up selling 3 of them there and Cheryl wants me to make 5 more for her for gifts to her Scrapbook group friends. I need to write up a pattern for it too. I have been carrying mine around with my Pomatomus socks in it.
Also, I just realized that I never mentioned that at the beginning of December I joined a KAL to knit Thrummed Mittens. I have the first one completely done and about 1/3 of the second one done. I really could use them right now as it has been so cold here next to Lake Michigan. Brrr!
This picture was taken before I got the thumb done. I finished it last Thursday, but I just haven't taken a new photo.
My last blog was just before Christmas, so I hope everyone had a great one. I stayed the night on Christmas Eve at my parents house. My Aunt Margaret and cousins Emily and Becky were there too. They had stayed all week. I got a food processor from my parents. The normal sized one. I have a itty-bitty one at home, but I wanted a 'real' one. And I got a beautiful pink shawl/wrap from my Aunt. It is rayon-ish and I wasn't expecting it to be as warm as it is, but I've been wearing it everyday since I got it.
The day after Christmas, we had a huge ice storm and I determined that I really didn't need to go shopping like I normally would. The news was reporting all kinds of slide off and accidents, that I thought it just wasn't work the risk; so you know it was bad. Around noon, I heard spinning wheels out side and figured someone had slid into a snow bank and got stuck. When I looked out the window, it looked as if a Jeep Cherokee and a Semi had a accident. The front bumper on the semi was right up against the back of the Jeep. Then the semi started backing up and I realized that the Jeep had gotten stuck on the ice in the middle of the intersection and couldn't go anywhere. So they hooked up a tow rope to the back of it and the Semi slowly towed it back until it could get on snow and have some traction. When it started going forward again, it was kind of funny, because it looked like the Jeep was towing the semi. They went down the road that way. Although someone should have told the guy in the Jeep that you don't spin your wheels on ice; you just creep.
Then I got sick just as it was time to go back to work. I had an ear infection, bronchitis, and a throat infection. Although it wasn't Strep, it was something similar. I went to work on Monday, but came home at lunch, stayed home on Tuesday, and worked most of the day Wednesday. I only went in on Wednesday, because it was the day before a Holiday and I had to at least work 6 hours or I wouldn't get my holiday pay. But let me tell you, I was miserable! I went to the urgent care office on my way into work and the Dr told me that I needed antibiotics. She said she could give them to me 2 different ways: (1) 10 days worth of pills or (2) a shot there at the office and then 10 days of pills. When I asked what the difference was, she said with the pills alone, I would feel better in about 3 days. If I took the shot and the pills, I would start feeling better in 1 day. Well Geez that was a no-brainer!! I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at her and said just give me the shot! I had already felt like crap warmed over for 3 days, I couldn't take much more.
Last weekend was my Winter Quilt Retreat. Due to illnesses, there was only 13 of us there. We couldn't cancel either, or we would have lost like 90% of our deposit, which would have been like $900+. People who had put down deposits and then couldn't come, had to forfit their money in order to cover the cost. But I am so glad that we didn't have to cancel it was so fun. I always have a good time when we are there. I finished my Mexican Tiles quilt from my October quilt retreat. Here is a photo:
Ain't it bright? I wasn't sure how the bright fabrics would look, but it turned out quite nice if I do say so myself.
Back in the beginning of December, my friend Nicki gave me a free Lazy Girl Design Pattern for a small bag called Noriko Handbag. It was very pretty and I thought it would make the perfect little sock bag. Anyway, I made it up out of cottons. It would have been better, if I had used lighter weight fabrics. It just didn't drape right. So I decided I would re-design it. Instead of 2 handles, I thought 1 that you could hang from your wrist would be better. And instead of a button, maybe just a loop. So here it what I came up with:
This is actually one I made for Ann at Quilt Retreat this last weekend from some left over border material she had with her. I never did get around to taking a photo of mine. When I first designed it, I made 3. One for myself (brights of course), a brown one for my Frog Pond Christmas party gift, and an extra blue one in case person who got the gift didn't like brown. Christine really liked hers and several other were interested too. So they suggested I make up some to sell at our Knitting Retreat that we will be having this coming weekend. So I took my template and fabric to the Quilt Retreat last weekend and made some up. I ended up selling 3 of them there and Cheryl wants me to make 5 more for her for gifts to her Scrapbook group friends. I need to write up a pattern for it too. I have been carrying mine around with my Pomatomus socks in it.Also, I just realized that I never mentioned that at the beginning of December I joined a KAL to knit Thrummed Mittens. I have the first one completely done and about 1/3 of the second one done. I really could use them right now as it has been so cold here next to Lake Michigan. Brrr!
This picture was taken before I got the thumb done. I finished it last Thursday, but I just haven't taken a new photo.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Shoveling Snow
The sun may have been shining yesterday when I posted about going home last night and shoveling snow, but it sure as hell wasn't shining when I got home. And my God did it get a lot colder when the sun disappeared. Most of the snow that I had to move was the light fluffy stuff, however the crap deposited at the end of the driveway from the snow plows was all a frozen mess. Luckily they had fully plowed the streets, so I parked along the curb when I got home. I had the snow shovel in the car with me, so I got out and immediately started shoveling. Then I had to slog through the snow to the shed, dig it out and get my regular metal shovel. It was definitely hard work and I didn't get it 100% done, but I got it cleared enough to get the car in the drive. I had to stop, because my fingers had gone numb and they were really starting to hurt badly. I don't know how long it takes for frostbite to set in, but didn't want to risk it.
When I got inside, I made myself a hot cup of tea in one of my favorite "no spill" Starbucks Mugs. I don't think I drank all of it, but I mainly wanted to hold it to warm up my fingers. I sat on the sofa under 2 fleece blankets holding that mug until I felt warm again. Of course as soon as that happened, I promptly fell asleep! I'm trying not to take naps when I get home, because then I can't sleep when it's time for bed.
There was absolutely nothing to watch on TV last night. I take that back, I watched House, then there was nothing. So I popped in a DVD to watch. I borrowed "Pride and Prejudice" from a my friend Carly starring Colin Firth from A&E (1995). I had never seen any version of this movie nor read any of Jane Austins books. When I was in High School, I had to read "Tale of Two Cities", "Oliver Twist", multiple Shakespeare plays, and "Wuthering Heights". I'm sure there were others, but I can't think of the titles just now. Anyway, I wasn't sure I would like it. I watched the first 2.5 hour DVD last week and finished the second 2.5 hour DVD last night. The first 2 hours of the 5 was pretty boring, but I really liked the rest of it. The mother, Mrs. Bennet, was a major Twit though. I just wanted to tell her to shut the hell up when she went into her hysterics. And I wanted to just slap the youngest sister Lydia when she kept harping on how she was the youngest and had married first and therefore was better than all her older sisters who couldn't seem to catch a husband.
Well, if I don't get back to tell you, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. I'm going to be spending the day with my parents.
When I got inside, I made myself a hot cup of tea in one of my favorite "no spill" Starbucks Mugs. I don't think I drank all of it, but I mainly wanted to hold it to warm up my fingers. I sat on the sofa under 2 fleece blankets holding that mug until I felt warm again. Of course as soon as that happened, I promptly fell asleep! I'm trying not to take naps when I get home, because then I can't sleep when it's time for bed.
There was absolutely nothing to watch on TV last night. I take that back, I watched House, then there was nothing. So I popped in a DVD to watch. I borrowed "Pride and Prejudice" from a my friend Carly starring Colin Firth from A&E (1995). I had never seen any version of this movie nor read any of Jane Austins books. When I was in High School, I had to read "Tale of Two Cities", "Oliver Twist", multiple Shakespeare plays, and "Wuthering Heights". I'm sure there were others, but I can't think of the titles just now. Anyway, I wasn't sure I would like it. I watched the first 2.5 hour DVD last week and finished the second 2.5 hour DVD last night. The first 2 hours of the 5 was pretty boring, but I really liked the rest of it. The mother, Mrs. Bennet, was a major Twit though. I just wanted to tell her to shut the hell up when she went into her hysterics. And I wanted to just slap the youngest sister Lydia when she kept harping on how she was the youngest and had married first and therefore was better than all her older sisters who couldn't seem to catch a husband.
Well, if I don't get back to tell you, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. I'm going to be spending the day with my parents.
Monday, December 22, 2008
To Ski or Not to Ski?
That was the question yesterday and the answer was "Hell NO!"
On Saturday I went to my friend McKelle's house. She was having a Christmas Party and needed a little help finishing up the cooking. Since the party didn't start until 6pm and it was kind of nice out, I brought along my cross-country ski's thinking if I had time, I would take a trip around the fields behind her house. Well, we didn't have enough time, because she was expecting 45+ people and so needed to make some extra goodies. And boy were there lots of goodies. One of my favorites was the Brown Sugar Candy that she made from Eric's Grandmothers recipe. YUM! And the BBQ Meatballs.
Since we were so busy on Saturday, I told myself that I would wait and ski on Sunday. Then I woke up on Sunday and looked outside. Yeesh! The wind was blowing so hard and it was soo cold I decided it wouldn't be an enjoyable thing. So the skis are still in the car.
My Mom called while I was at McKelles and wanted to know if anyone wanted any bananas for making banana bread. She came home from visiting our friend Luci in Kalamazoo with 40 LBS of bananas. Yes, I said FOURTY! On Sunday she made 8 (yes EIGHT) batches of banana bread and then gave the rest of the bananas to a couple neighbors.
The weather was just as bad this morning too. I looked out the window to see if the roads had been plowed. It looked like they had been. Wrong! I got stuck trying to get out of the drive way; half in the street half in the drive way. If I could have gotten the car back into the drive way I would have called to say I was staying home, but I couldn't get back in either. Finally, after alternating digging, putting kitty litter behind the wheels and going forward a bit then back, I had to admit defeat and go ask help from Elijah, my neighbor. He brought over a dirt digging shovel, since my snow shovel wasn't getting through the icy stuff under the wheels. One little dig and a shove and I was free. The drive to work down 933 was a piece of cake after that. Of course I have to go home tonight and finish shoveling out the drive way. But the snow has stopped (for now) and I think the sun is shining too.
On Saturday I went to my friend McKelle's house. She was having a Christmas Party and needed a little help finishing up the cooking. Since the party didn't start until 6pm and it was kind of nice out, I brought along my cross-country ski's thinking if I had time, I would take a trip around the fields behind her house. Well, we didn't have enough time, because she was expecting 45+ people and so needed to make some extra goodies. And boy were there lots of goodies. One of my favorites was the Brown Sugar Candy that she made from Eric's Grandmothers recipe. YUM! And the BBQ Meatballs.
Since we were so busy on Saturday, I told myself that I would wait and ski on Sunday. Then I woke up on Sunday and looked outside. Yeesh! The wind was blowing so hard and it was soo cold I decided it wouldn't be an enjoyable thing. So the skis are still in the car.
My Mom called while I was at McKelles and wanted to know if anyone wanted any bananas for making banana bread. She came home from visiting our friend Luci in Kalamazoo with 40 LBS of bananas. Yes, I said FOURTY! On Sunday she made 8 (yes EIGHT) batches of banana bread and then gave the rest of the bananas to a couple neighbors.
The weather was just as bad this morning too. I looked out the window to see if the roads had been plowed. It looked like they had been. Wrong! I got stuck trying to get out of the drive way; half in the street half in the drive way. If I could have gotten the car back into the drive way I would have called to say I was staying home, but I couldn't get back in either. Finally, after alternating digging, putting kitty litter behind the wheels and going forward a bit then back, I had to admit defeat and go ask help from Elijah, my neighbor. He brought over a dirt digging shovel, since my snow shovel wasn't getting through the icy stuff under the wheels. One little dig and a shove and I was free. The drive to work down 933 was a piece of cake after that. Of course I have to go home tonight and finish shoveling out the drive way. But the snow has stopped (for now) and I think the sun is shining too.
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