knitting progress

Proud to say I've made some headway on the knitting front:

Second pair of socks nearly done- love them! This is the Strawberry Switchblade by Lotus Yarns, they are so incredibly soft! Hope to have the second sock done by the weekend.










Finished the back on the Jo Sharp "Moss"-- plans are to start on the front, and then I'll knit the sleeves out from the shoulder so they are the length I need, and hopefully that will prevent me from having to redo them over, and over.










The Blue Thing Grows! Slowly, but it's getting there.










The photos are what's really keeping me going on this project like Mary's most recent posting. I just wish I didn't have to keep a death grip on it, and could relax while I'm knitting. However, I love the look so much that I added this to my library (thank you Barnes and Noble for the 50% off!) Have also added this book thanks to another 50% off from Michael's.

Non-knitting news . . these are the first blooms of the Toad Lily, used my thumb to try to give you an idea of how tiny these blooms are, so love this plant, and it loves the shade. We brought these from our old house. They are one of the few plants I actually bought from a specialty nursery. I saw them at Pike's this year, and was real tempted to buy more, but with the draught . . . one great thing about these is that they spread really well. Looking forward to maybe double next year, guess that depends on the rainfall?! . .

Gratitudes-probably won't get another post out for a while-----

*A spouse who made the bed, went to the grocery store, helped with the youth dinner, folded and put away the towels-thank you

*an upcoming week with no evening obligations, except driving to activities and dropping off-that means more knitting time, and hopefully a chance to read the latest Bon Appetit and Gourmet (keep your fingers crossed!)


TTFN

Lessons Learned

Okay, now that I've emerged from "Knitting Purgatory", or escaped the clutches of the Evil Knitting Gremlin, whichever you prefer . . I've learned a few things

The SOTS
Learned . . I need to wear my reading glasses to do this thing, duh! I guess after doing the same row about 8 times it became "clear"! It is now affectionately referred to as "The Blue Thing". My family has been informed that when I am in it's clutches, DON'T TALK TO ME!

Also, if anything is worth doing, it's worth doing right, even if it takes a while. So true of this project.

SOCKS
Learned . . you gotta hold it a bit tighter for the tension to be right, and both socks to be the same size, just a small detail!
Also, these are so easy, if you don't try anything fancy! First socks are to be cherished, I'm so proud of mine.

Also, if I have my ball of sock yarn in my tote, I can stand at the bus stop, wait for the bus and knit-I'd love to know what the people in the cars thing, then again maybe not!

RAVELRY
Learned . . very compatible with my organizational (obsessive) side- loving it.

I'll have photos showing knitting updates this weekend. . . nearly done with sock #1 in Strawberry Switchblade, and I've got just a tad at the neck of the JS- Moss!

This week's Gratitude:
That first cup of coffee in the morning (between 5 & 5:30 am)
That first cup of coffee once I get in the office (by 7:15)
RAIN!
People who understand my knitting


TTFN

Why me?

okay, so the title goes along with the kind of week i had. i worked really hard to make sure everything was done so i could spend the weekend playing. well one disaster after another occur ed everything from dropping andrew off at the wrong practice field to spending two hours trying to fix the SOTS, 1 hour spent getting myself to a point where i could begin again, to almost another hour trying to finish one row!! and a variety of other "things" along the way.

i don't understand, it's enough to make you want to drink like a fish, and swear like a sailor, however, if you do that latter, there's no way anything you knit is going to work.

however, on the bright side i finally finished these. . .




okay, so it took me knitting 3 socks to get 1 pair, and because i'm a ditz, i had to redo the foot not once, but TWICE, because i kept forgetting to do the gussett shaping! anyway, my first pair of socks are finished, and i'm wearing them today to the movies. we're going to see Queen Elizabeth, and then i'm coming home and i'm not touching the SOTS, but will continue with the "moss" sweater, i'm hoping i won't be screwing up that before it's over!!!! i'll also do some more work on the 2nd pair of socks in the strawberry switchblade. . . i hope i have more to report on sunday with regards to the SOTS, i don't want to give it up, but i'm on the edge with it now!

ttfn

Happy 70th Birthday Grandpa. . .

wishing you a happy birthday, love

PJ

have a very very good birthday, lots of love, Andrew

Roy, wishing you a very happy day, greetings from Acworth

Road Hog . . .

This give new meaning to the term "road hog", spotted this monstrosity heading south on 75 this morning. It's taking up 2 1/2 lanes, requires 3 guides cards, and 2 Georgia State Patrol cars.

Nonetheless, I'd love to see the inside of this thing- tres magnifique?!

HAPPY 98 th BIRTHDAY GRANDMOTHER . .

I don't have any photos to share on this post, but wanted to wish my dad's mother a very happy 98th birthday- pretty amazing to have lived that long and still be in good health, and living on her own. Have not been able to see her as our schedules rarely align. I tease her that she's still has a while to go as her mother (MaCarrie as we called her) lived to be a 103!

So let's raise a coffee cup and toast Gilberta on her special day----

hope it's a great one Grandmother

compliments and rewards

i was paid the highest compliment an employer can give to an employee, enough of you know what i'm referring to. . . . anway a few feelings/emotions came into play when i got the news--
wow, humility it feels good to feel valued, then i NEED yarn, as a reward, of course.
it just so happened that i drove to work today, and one of my favorite LYS (Knitch) was close by. you can guess what i did. my DH would be happy to know i showed some restraint when i walked in. the goal was sock yarn, so my reward would not break the bank :-) . . .

i found three colorways that i immediately fell in love with, this, and Steelers, and Strawberry Latte. i used sound judgement and asked the salesperson which of the three would most likely NOT be at the store in a month- so I got the strawberry switchblade as it's been "flying out the door", and they don't know how frequently the vendor will be sending more, decision made, and a new hat pattern purchased.

i've become a bit leary of on-line patterns considering how PJ's had came out- way too big. the new pattern is more of what i think he had in mind.

even though the Claudia yarn is called "steelers", my first thought was Georgia Tech, how cool would that be to have GT colored socks?!

anyway, i missed my gratitude tuesday-
so this week i'm grateful for:

a nearly stress free job where i'm definitely appreciated
a blog where i can journal
time off

TTFN

Christmas Cards--- Help!

okay, need some help in deciding on a christmas card design, i love the dashing designer paper, and plan to use it in various combinations, so i know out of the multitude out there who reads this blog, you can help me out. do i need more embellishments, ribbon, etc. need to keep it relatively simple, but since i don't have to score and cut the basic card i'm a bit ahead of the game- let me know what you think!

all good things must come to an end. . .

i have about 45 minutes left of my vacation time. i think it was time well spent, of course, another day would have been nice, but i'm sure i would have found more stuff to do.


Goals met:

recipe journal:

recipes were sorted, and index made for recipes to try, and recipes to keep, but will be put in another journal of some sort. some of the "to try" recipes are not available on line so i'll have to figure out some sort of storage.
i also had some household and decorating hints i wanted to keep. so the journal continues to be a work in progress

landscaping:

as posted earlier got the planting done that I wanted. looks good. Mary asked about the sunflowery thing, it is called a rudbeckea-i would have liked to put more in the ground, but with the draught . . .


scrapbooks:


i got all the scrapbooks caught up, plan is to keep them simple as you can see from the photo. a little journaling, the focus is the pictures themselves. 2008 i will probably use some fun paper and embellishments on a few select photos.

it's been difficult keeping up with a family album (yearly) and one for each of the boys. the only one left to do is the Mars Hill Church, Women of the Church scrapbook which does not have a deadline, so i'll probably get on it this weekend.











Knitting:

finished the 84 rows for the SOTS KAL, not sure what I think about my results, but i am not going to rip it out-

don't think this yarn would survive any ripping. anyway i love the challenge, and the adding the beads adds a little je nais qua (sic).

i have special plans for this stole which i will share when it's complete. this clue was pretty time consuming, so i hope it doesn't interfer with my other knitting!!!










speaking of which, made more progress on sock #2 of pair #1, and it is substantially smaller than the first one, i'll be ripping it out as i'm running out of yarn! it has made for good practice nonetheless, so i'm not fretting at all.

i'l just continue plugging along since i have some sock yarn i can't wait to start on-- plan to work on the jo sharp tonight while mom is at her bible study group, it will just me, the moss, and a cup of starbuck's, maybe a dessert???!!!


Stash: got my invite to Ravelry, and managed to catalog and photograph my stash, I love Excel! i agree with Mary, i'll investigate the whole thing this weekend, a bit overwhelming!


Christmas Cards:

did 4 prototypes, which I'm doing as a separate post, need some feedback on these a couple seem to be lacking something.

looking forward to a 3 day weekend in november, then some time off for thanksgiving, hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner.

these last few days have been very refreshing---♥

pj has an orthodontist appt, andrew soccer and mom bible study- i should knit a chauffer hat!

ttfn

Day One: Landscaping

Vacation got started as planned. I was able to humiliate PJ at the bus stop that was a bonus! Okay, I didn't really humiliate him, but I had fun hanging out with him til the bus arrived, even though he didn't want me hanging about. . . oh well.

Made it to Pike's, Home Depot and Lowe's. Have to say that Home Depot had the best selection of all three, and I was rather disappointed with the selection or lack of at Pike's.









Here are some pics. The urn has some unusual plants that will be described in my gardening journal, maybe with some close up shots.








Really hope the plants will eventually grow up and out!








violas on the deck, found some ferns and cool containers at Lowe's.











The front porch has improved quite a bit. Glad I was able to get it all done in one day. Have put a breakfast casserole in the fridge for tomorrow since we've got to get an early start.

Gotta remember to get the first clue on the SOTS. Much more activities planned. Now just gotta figure out how to sit through the UGA vs Tennessee game that precedes the baby shower tomorrow!

Vacation Plans

My vacation officially started today at 4:09 pm- that's when I headed out to catch the bus. Here's what's on the agenda . . .

Plan to do 6 miles tomorrow morning , a little sleeping in. . . doing the walk on Friday since we have to be at a soccer game in another county at 9:00 am!!! on Saturday morning . . . soooooo had to make a slight adjustment, but that means a little bit of sleeping in on Sat. Whoo!
Anyway, I digress-

Plans for my time off include several projects, most are one timers that I’ve been saving for now.

First up- landscaping:

Due to the draught, and the total ban on outdoor watering the landscaping plans have been scaled waaaay back. This week’s planting will be limited to these containers, and the front porch. Perhaps some bulbs for spring blooming. Otherwise the space in front of the dining room is going to be very bare— bottom right around the urn.

Next up- recipe clean up

♥Goal: create a journal of recipes that have been tried and are family favorites- this will at some point be duplicated so that the boys each have a copy.
♥Next: make a list of the recipes I still want to try, put these in a journal including the publication, month and year. That way if I really want to try to recipe I can go to epicurious.com, and save lots of storage space.
♥Then: throw out all the ones that I know I’m not going to try.

On the Knitting Front-

Catalog the Stash- photos and excel spreadsheet of what I’ve got, so when I get my invite to Ravelry I'll be ready, and just MAYBE actually pick out some patterns.

Work on sock #2- wait til you see it compared with sock #1!!!. Will probably save all the knitting updates until Sunday, so I can include photos. Cast on some new projects. Just completed a couple- so only seems reasonable, right??

Would love to finish the back on the Jo Sharp- Moss, have about 10 more centimeters.

Some scrapbooking- need to do the "Road Race", Andrew and PJ 2007, and the Women of the Church. Should be doable, plan to keep things very simple.

Christmas cards- using this paper- Stampin' Up Dashing in case the link doesn't work right!

The Secret of the Stole starts tomorrow as well, so I hope to be able to tackle that, and make some serious progress.

Of course, I gotta have a chance to just relax!!

Have to fit in a meeting, taking Mom to have her labs done, PJ to the Orthodontist, and I'm sure another trip to the grocery store!

Things I'm grateful for this week:

Starbucks

a reliable car

a good bottle of wine

whirlpool jets- I'll be in the bubbles tomorrow night!!

TTFN