Thumb Up!

Not thumbs up as there is only one. This went a bit better although I still ended up with a couple of gaps. The whole mitt seemed to take forever. I looked through a plethora of patterns and instructions. The majority of it came from EZ. Only problem was that she reminded me of my mom. You know how moms do. You ask a question about how to prepare some dish and they'll say soemthing like "Add ____ until it looks right" As if you knew what this uncooked something was supposed to look like. So I'm knitting along and she said something to the effect of "When it's time for the thumb, do blah blah blah." I don't know when it's time for this thumb. I'd stuff my hand in the mitt and think ok..it will go here. and then when I actually did the knitting with the contrast yarn, I'd realize it was too high or too low. So...ripppit! This yarn held up nicely through all my do-overs and I had a lot of fun with it.

One thing I really liked was that after the ribbing was done, EZ said to make it smaller by doing some K2Togs, I can't remember exactly how it was written and besides I guess I'm not supposed to say. But you did that for several rows and it really snuggled down the wrist and then you went back up to the regular count. It really seems to make it feel more comfy and secure.

I think it's mate will be a gusset thumb again and hopefully eventually I'll be able to do either and well. It's the year of the thumb?

But tonight, I think I shall crochet a bit. It's been a long time, hope I remember how.

What are you doing these days???

They've got me pegged

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Duh!

I forgot to even show off my award.

Apology,Warning and 10

First the apology. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life because of blogs. And this holiday season, and even after, I received the nicest packages from Ann, Laura, and Cookie. Because I blog, I took pictures of them so I could show off a bit. I truly thought I had done it..showed off, that is. I was horrified to realize I hadn't so was going to do a make-up post. That's when I discovered that not only had I not posted, but I'd not uploaded the pics and yesterday I most diligently emptied the camera card. I am soooo sorry. Thank goodness I also thanked them personally. I received yarn and Hello Kitty goodies, and rubber ducky goodies and Christmas goodies. You'll have to wait for next year to see the Christmas things but I will try to get pics up of the yarns and fabric soon. Damn brain!

A warning. Unless you are incredibly rich, or your husband/partner is or you're well connected with influential people, DO NOT BECOME SERIOUSLY ILL. A coworker who is younger than me is facing this now and it's incredible. I knew that the medical system is flawed, but I didn't realize how badly. The one drug that they've successfully used to treat her illness costs $5000 a month! Her insurance would pay 80% of it, that leaves only $500 to come up with when you are too sick to work. The solution is that she can obtain it for free from the drug company. Hooray, right? But only if she totally quits her job and is ruled indigent. Thank God or someone that she and her mom fairly recently went in together and bought a little house. I just hope (besides hoping against hope that the drug works) is that her mom can afford to keep up payments, utilities and food. If it were me, I'd be s**t out of luck. Quit my job and I'd be in the street. Well, not really. I have a couple of friends that I think would take me in. But I wouldn't be able to take my cats and dog and as far as I'm concerned I just don't think I could cope with being sooo dependent on a friend. So...either get rich in a hurry or stay really healthy. Just because you have insurance, you are still not safe.

Now on a brighter note, Devorah and Cat both honored me with this award.

Oh heck, I forgot to copy the rules. Not to matter cause I'd probably break them anyway. I do know that I am to share 10 blogs with you that Make MY Day. I'm also supposed to tell them I did this but, nah..probably won't as some probably don't even know I exist.

Every day I stop by Dave's and Devorah's and Sara's and Cat's and Ann's (hoping that she'll post) and Paul..hoping that he posts too. What ARE the two of you up to anyway? And Katya's and Cookie's and the Harlot's These are my friends. I truly believe that. Even the Harlot..I've learned a lot from her and in reading her books I sometimes think she's read my mind a couple of times.

But I thought I'd share some other blogs I read and really enjoy.

Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy...Alicia is the greatest! I love her pictures, her home, her pets, her husband. Don't worry Andy! If you've read the Hallmark magazine that's on the stands now, you will have read an article about her/by her. She, to me, is an incredible inspiration on how to turn something perfectly horrid into something much better. I can't wait until her book comes out! And besides, her puppy Clover is too cute for words!

Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits..I'm lucky enough to have won one of Julie's rabbits. Took me a really long time to click fast enough, and quite awhile to save up the change. What an incredible knitter, and even better, what an incredible mother who faces the challenges of raising a lovely family while dealing with autism. I'm so thankful that she has allowed me to be a part of her community. Go now to see Edgar the Elephant! Adorable!!

Kirsten at Through the Loops. One of the first that responded to a comment I made, a very good designer and the lucky mom of some beautifully photographic children. One of these days I'm going to get really brave and make that blue sweater.

And then there's Vicki at Sereknitty. She takes some of the most gorgeous photos and knits beautifully. And I'll always be forever grateful that she put my blog in her sidebar. OMG was I ever excited the day I discovered it.

And from the sidebar at Sereknitty I found Ree at The Pioneer Woman. OMG what a woman!! Sometimes I read and laugh until tears run down my face. This is a real woman married to a rancher and the mother of a bunch of punks. But wait...there's a whole cast of characters! And a lot of horses and cattle and kids and AMAZING photography and she's from my part of the country. And that's not all...she cooks! Big time. Not that winky-dink-drizzle-a-stream-of-sauce-and a tiny piece of something on the plate kind of meals...real food. And, you don't have to have a gourmet market to get the ingredients. I love Ree and I bet you will too!

From my area to far north, meet the Lynne, at Socklady Spins She knits the happiest socks I've ever seen..and monkeys too! And if you want to know about the weather in Newfoundland or see some great snow pics, this is the place to go. Oh good, the weather forecast has been upgraded..it's only supposed to be mid-20s below zero this week instead of in the -30s.

Then, there's the Farm Witch who spins the most incredible yarn; raises kids and animal with equal success and tells stories like no other. And has a heart as big as forever.

And Loribird at From the Wool Room I first 'met' her when she was still in Alaska. She's one busy lady and now is back in college. I can't see how she does it all!

And don't forget What Housework? Besides writing, and dyeing and knitting and tending to her family, there are chickens and Milo..just don't let Milo near your hand.

Is that 10?? If not, make up the rest on your own. The dryer beeped and I need to go work on a mitten thumb...yes the quest continues!

Ahhhh Wednesday!

The last two evenings have been quite busy (and for the most part, unexpected)and knitting time was almost non-existant. I did manage to get the cuff on mitten #2 done while listening to The Girl chatter about boys. But tonight, ahhh tonight..there is absolutely nothing on the schedule. So, I'm hoping once supper is over it can be me and the cats on the couch with yarn. :::crossing fingers::::

What's up in your world?
xo

At Least It's Colorful

And if you don't notice the weird thumb, it doesn't look like the knitting is too bad. That's because you can't see the area between the top of the thumb and the mitt. OMG I ripped that out a bazillion times and still it looked like swiss cheese. It's a bit weird because I've made fingerless mitts that have a partial thumb and I don't remember having that much trouble. I need more practice, I guess. Oh, and yeah, if you're going to make the thumb a different color, you need to start it on the gusset. But I did get really good at M1s.

Yarn: Plymouth Encore from stash
Needles: Crystal Palace Size 6 dpns
Time: ??? off and on yesterday but the cuff was done.



Another source of color in my space is much better behaved. Well, unless you remember that Christmas cactuses are supposed to bloom in December. When it was little, I used to put it in the dark for awhile and bring it out so that it would bloom then. Now, I figure who cares. I would hate being shut up in a dark closet. So it just blooms whenever it wants, and actually blooms more than when I did it 'right.



So there ya go. Happy Monday xo

Much Better!

Yay, I can get my hand in there! That's all that got done because knitting was preceded by a plant showering/watering and the clean up involved when the sprayer handler decides to, for some reason, point it at the kitchen as opposed to pointing it at the plant.



And that's all from me for now because I went back to sleep after the alarm, and after shutting old Mary out so she couldn't drool on my ear until I woke up. And then got entangled in Jonathan Bosworth's site while eating my oatmeal. So...laters xo

Oops

I'd planned on showing you one FO and one in progress shot this morning. But best laid plans of mice (and yes this is a pun)and Susan.

First up the mitten. I really want to make some stranded mittens. Like Bird in Hand that just amaze me with their beauty.

There's a couple small glitches:
a. I've never done stranded and this doesn't seem like the place to start.
b. More importantly, I've only made one baby mitten and it was definitely a beginner effort and not one to keep to wear or give away.

So, I downloaded a basic mitten pattern. Got some yarn out of the stash and cast on the amount of stitches called for using #4 dpns as called for. I knitted the cuff. I thought I'd try it on. Uhhh I can't even get my fingers through it. I counted..count is right. I took it off the needles and onto stich holders so the stitches could thread out. OK fingers will go through but not my thumb. I think I need to use larger needles. Maybe I knit too tight. Frogged and into the basket.

Then the mouse. I've been making some little catnip mouseies. I started out with a pattern. A cute one. But then switched to just some ribbing and stockinette. They don't last long around here because Zoey the wonder dog LOVES catnip. And she has big teeth. So, if you turn your back...it's ripped to shreds and she's eating the spilled catnip. Someone I love just got a new cat and I thought this would be a good little gift. I've been experimenting with different sized needles and have finally settled on 4s as they give a good close knit fabric. So...to last night. Zipped through the mouse, ready for the bobbles that become ears. Yeah, these are fun now. Bobbled ready to make them pointy and shazamm it was if I'd had a small explosion in my hands, knitting and needles went 6 different directions and bobble went kaplooey.

I went to bed. There's always tonight.
xo

Oh Christmas Tree

No, you aren't confused. It really is January 8, and yes the tree is still up. Almost all of the other decorations have been put away and replaced by whatever is supposed to live in those places. But I just can't take down the tree. I don't know if it's because I enjoyed it so much more this year since I was home more, or what. I really started to take it down, and was hit by such great sadness as if a dear friend was going away, never to be seen again.

Sheesh! However, I also decided what the hell. I'm old enough now to not care too much about what I'm supposed to do. So it's still up and still twinkling. And, if passers by laugh when they see the lights through the windows, they'll just attribute it to my general weirdness. After all, I also sit on the sidewalk and take pictures of my feet (to show off new socks) :-)

Weird Weather!

Saturday was in the 70s..yesterday it was 75. In January! Still going to be warmish today but the cooler weather returns on Tuesday, or so say the weathermen.

Saturday seemed to be a very sleepy day. I slept well Friday night but still woke up sleepy. I was doing dishes and realized that I was thinking about how good it would feel to be lying down :-). So the day was interspersed with little naps. Or long naps. And not a whole lot was accomplished.

So Sunday, which according to Cat was Jammie Day became the day to get things done. Laundry and ironing is done. The car is washed. Gave the dog a haircut; not as short as it usually is but at least her feet don't look as big as a saucer. House vacuumed. New windshield wipers were purchased and installed. The patio was swept.

I did manage to mark one thing off the "not weekly" list. The junk drawer in the kitchen is all nice and tidy! Yay me. It was driving me crazy and I'm so glad I don't have to think about it any more.

BEFORE



AFTER



Oh, and a trip to Walmart to purchase plastic drawer things. They had a special and I got two. Well, actually purchased one...stuffed it full and went back for another one "just in case I get more yarn". Most all of the yarn in these drawers is worsted. There is 1 skein of Cascade 220; a couple partial skeins of the same; 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon (where did that come from??) and a lot of Lion Brand wool and Woolease; and a number of skeins of Paton's wool. Ha...I'd buy it on sale because in the old storage system I had no idea of what I had. And some Plymouth Encore. Lots of playtime ahead for sure!

But best of all, some serious porch swing sitting. The winds were too strong for knitting so I read a library book and daydreamed and watched kids out on their new Christmas skate boards and bikes. Nice!

Now it's Monday once again. And I have a job and I love my coworkers so I'm going to be happy about it.

Laters. xo

Friday Night in the Big Town

Yes, at long last it's once again Friday night. Such a time of anticipation and ... uhh laundry but never mind that.

And so how would such a unique individual as me spend such a night? Creatively? Obsessively? Perhaps a bit of both. Much time has been spent this evening doing this



Pattern sorting. There are sooooo many downloaded patterns around here. I hesitate to even think about going through them all. But there were a big stack here on my desk. Three stacks were made:
1. I think I really like this and maybe someday I'll try to make it.
2. I've already made this..loved it and want to make again.
3. I really really really love this and want to make it. Now what do I have to gather in order to do it.

I'm thinking that there are going to have to be a number of 16 inch circs purchased fairly soon. Too bad I can't seem to gather a bunch of patterns that use the same size. Maybe those new bamboo Knitpick ones. I have discovered that my hands truly like bamboo better and they don't get cranky so quickly. I guess it's that they're warm.

And some research needs to be done too. Some of the patterns call for yarn I've never heard of so I'll have to try and figure out what might work since often the pictured yarns are too expensive for my pocket.

Lists have been made, now it's time to put it all up so I can go to bed and dream about knitting hats and bears and mittens. Or maybe I'll just dream of Jon Bon Jovi again.

A slight distraction

Ya gotta wonder about dreams. I woke up the other morning and knew that I'd had a dream that would make folks laugh if I told them about it. But I couldn't remember a bit of it. Hours later, sitting there at work in front of my keyboard I remembered. And burst out laughing. It seems I dreamed that friends of mine were telling me that this guy really ummm..well, really wanted to get to know me very, very well. Wanna know who it was?



I don't have any idea why I would dream about Jon Bon Jovi. Certainly nice scenery though.

I am Somebody

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Susan the Strange of Lesser Wobbleton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

so there!

An Omen??

I wrote a rather long post yesterday with pics and everything but alas it has disappeared.

Is this an omen of how 2008 will treat me? Or is this a good thing since somewhere in there were a list of goals...and I seem to have forgotten what they were. At least now I know why nobody commented :-)

I do remember part of it though. I want to wish you and yours the very best in 2008. And may all the bad things forget where you live.