Afghan Done! (click on picture for larger image)
.I finished my grand-daughter’s afghan!! It was taken from the Triple Chevron Lace shawl pattern at knitting on the net and adjusted to be an afghan. She is pretty happy as you can see from the picture. She was glad to finally have it after waiting for about a year :P. She said it was very soft and way cool :).
She spent the day with me today because she was out of school and I wasn’t working today. We walked about 1/2 mile to go to McDonalds for lunch (because my car is too scary to drive :P). We also baked chocolate chip cookies. Yummy :). She helped me move my sewing machine and sewing table into the spare bedroom since my son decided to stay close to where his daughter is (he lives on the other side of the state from me). So I now have my sewing/craft room, still have stuff to do to make it a functional room tho, but the important stuff is in there :).
I will now work on finishing spinning that hand dyed superwash merino roving, that had been calling to me and I’ve had to give the cold shoulder to until I finished the afghan. Now I won’t ignore it anymore :). There is a pattern for some slippers I’d like to knit up for my youngest grand-children, but I have to wait until I get the yarn for it. I need acrylic yarn for them. My daughter doesn’t appreciate specialized care for their things, because she works full time and says she doesn’t have the time to fuss over hand washing things they will abuse anyway :P.
Oh Yeah, I know it isn’t really spring yet, but it’s March and we have been in the 40’s here this week and I’m soooooo happy!!! So to me it is SPRING!! Makes me want to go out and start a garden :).
Tags: blanket, Fiber, Life, Spinning
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There I’ve said it. Yes I am a procrastinator. It’s really hard to avoid recognizing that, but I try :P. It’s so much easier to say, “I’m laid back”, “I like to go at my own pace”, but the ugly truth is I’m a procrastinator. Sigh.
I’ve known it for a long time, but I avoided thinking about it. However my youngest son is going to be going through a divorce and I told him I had two bedrooms and he was welcome to come stay with me to give him a chance to get back on his feet here. It meant finishing getting what was left of those boxes still in that second bedroom somewhere else. I have the room in closets and storage for the boxes, but I have put off doing something with those boxes saying I was going to go through them, until now I have to, I’ve only been in my apt for a year (did I mention I’m a procrastinator?), and I was eventually going to use that second bedroom for my sewing and craft room. But I never got around to doing it, so now my son will be able to stay in it, and eventually when he’s situated and on his own again, I will have an empty room to put my sewing and craft things in, but then I’m a procrastinator ;P.
Ok, the above is also appropriate for the blanket I’m working on for my grand daughter, yes, I do work on it and I only have about 3 1/2 skeins to go, but I really should be finished by now. I’ll stop letting things distract me this week and see just how far I can get, my grand daughter will be very happy, and probably very surprised if I actually get it finished, I mean I’ve only been working on it for about a year ;P.
Still looking for work, but at least that is one thing I am not procrastinating about, that’s one point for me anyway :). My car let me know a few weeks ago that it would not be taking me anywhere anymore. The steering rack has finally gotten so bad I’m afraid to drive it. I can’t complain, I only paid $500 for it about 4 1/2 years ago, so with some pampering, I did get my money out of it. :) You forget how dependent on a vehicle you are until you don’t have one. I miss the independence that the car gave me, now I have to wait until someone can take me to grocery shop, or anywhere else I need to go. I do take the bus sometimes, but it’s a half a day to take the bus to Walmart to do some shoping and then wait for the bus to come back by and get home, which would have taken me about an hr to do before. And I can’t carry too much because I have a 5 block walk from the bus stop coming home. Sigh. I also had a week job from the temp agency a couple of weeks ago and I took the bus to work every other day (my daughter took me the in between days) and my son picked me up, or I wouldn’t have been home until about 7 to 7:30 pm. I had to get up pretty early to catch the bus and get to work an hr early because the next bus would have gotten me to work late. Funny all the things we take for granted. I’ll never take a car for granted again.
Frost in the Trees
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Ok, I’ve lived in IA off and on for 11 years and I don’t remember having fog like we have had for the past several days, tho it did lift today, and I certainly don’t remember fog causing frost in the trees like this. But it is beautiful. I have another picture below. I wish I had had my camera with me this afternoon when I was out and about, because there was a large group of trees in a snowy field and the frost on the branches stood out making a very stark picture against the sky, but oh so beautiful!
Closer view of the Frost on the branches
You can click on the pictures for a larger view. We are having our mid winter thaw, and the temps have been in the 20’s and lower 30’s this last week and so far this week, however it is suppose to be maybe up to 42 this Saturday – woohoo!! The mid winter thaw is almost like an early spring, but it goes away followed by more cold snowy winter until the real spring breaks forth. Come on Spring!!!
Well as you probably already know, the Cowboys did not win their game on Sunday. Actually they didn’t do very well at all. But having said that, I was happy to have them make it to the playoffs this year, it shows that they are starting to get things together, now if they can just keep it together ;P. I’m sure they will have a great year next year. :)
Still More Snow
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Well mother nature has certainly been busy this winter. According to the weatherman, we got about 4.5 inches of snow over night and expect anywhere from 1 to 3 more inches today. But at least it was 12 above today!!! It’s been in the single digits and below zero ambient temps lately. Supose to be only around 3 to 6 above ambient temps for the next two days and I know that means minus temps with windchills. Sigh, I’ll ask again, is it spring yet?
Swift & Ball Winder Set Up
My sister, for Christmas, sent me an Amazon.com certificate. I went to amazon and looked and hemmed and hawed and finally made up my mind (hard to spend unexpected money when you’ve been on a budget for so long :P) and decided to get a swift! I had a ball winder but had wanted a swift for several years but could never talk myself into spending the money on one. So I decided to treat myself and it came today!! It really is a nice one, sturdy and seems to move well. I’ll give it a workout when I get that Llama skeined off so I can wind it into a ball for my son. :)
I intended to spend Roc day today spinning with my local spinning group to celebrate the new year. However the weather wasn’t co-operating and I did not want to take my wheel out in this. If you would like to know more about Roc Day you can check this wikapedia link or this Florida link.
Well the Cowboys beat the Eagles 24 to 0 last Sunday (tho I didn’t get to record the game to watch because it wasn’t on cable) and won their division. They get to play them yet again this Saturday evening for a wild card slot. It’s always an interesting game between Dallas and Philadelphia – cos’ they are not the best of friends ;P. I will get to watch it this time :). GO COWBOYS!!!!
Tags: Cowboys, Football, Snow, Spinning
Granddaughter's Afghan/Blanket
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I hope this will be a wonderful New Year for all my friends and family.
Just to show that I really am working on this blanket I decided to put a picture of it’s progress. It takes approximately 1 skein for each completed pattern (18 rows), yes I am on the 6th skein of yarn. I have 5 more after this one so I am a little more than half way done. To be honest I needed at least 3 more skiens, however I have not been successful in finding any. That is what happens when you make something with discontinued yarn. :P
I have about 1/2 of a spool to go on the spinning for the 2nd spool of Llama to be done and then I can ply. You can guess which one will get done first ;P. Sorry Jade.
Tags: blanket, Knitting, Spinning
Old Man Winter - 2009
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This was what we received from the blizzard that hit the midwest last week. We got rain and freezing rain (mostly just rain) until the end and then we got about 4 inches of snow. Much less than other area’s who received 2 or more feet. Snow on the ground and covering the branches in the trees is such a pretty and peaceful sight, until you have to go out side and deal with it, and besides that it’s cold, brrrrr. :P
The “Boys” are doing well. They beat the Saints week-end before last, and their old arch rivals the Redskins, this last week-end. They will face another newer arch rival this week-end, the Eagles. If the Cowboys win they will win their division. Woohoo! They’ve had a decent year this year :). I hope they win, but even if they don’t they’ve had an exciting year.
I’m spinning more Llama for my son, I have one spool filled and am working on the 2nd spool. When it’s full I can ply and hopefully will have enough for 2 more skeins. Incase my grand daughter is reading, I am also knitting on your blanket, it’s cosy to sit on the couch and knit in the evening.
Thor, my awesome ferret, is finally finished sheding his summer coat and has a wonderfully soft and warm winter coat. He’s fluffy and beautiful, and I have much less ferret fur to vacum up :P.
My Church is having a New Year’s Eve party Thursday evening. I will be glad to usher out the old and ring in the new, it’s just been one of those kinds of years, so I’m definately ready for the new and hoping for a better New Year.
Wishing all a peaceful and wonderful New Year!
Tags: Cowboys, ferrets, Knitting, New Years, Spinning, Winter
Merry Christmas
“Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets” 3 Nephi 1:13
May you all have a blessed and wonderful Christmas, and may the peace of this season be with you through out the New Year.
Tags: Christmas
More Snow
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.It wasn’t snowing yesterday when I went to Church, however this is what it looked like 3 hrs later when Church was over and I was headed home. And more snow storms are predicted for my area through Saturday. Is it Spring yet?
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click on picture for larger image
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I finally got enough of the Llama roving spun to make a skein of yarn. Because it’s a little bit heavier than worsted weight I could only get about 80 yards on my spool. I will probably have about 2 more skeins of yarn by the time I am finished. I hope my son will enjoy it, it is a soft yarn and should make a nice scarf. Having a larger spool would be very nice for plying the bulkier yarns so that you have skeins with more yardage. But you use what you have ;P.
Stay warm and enjoy whatever your local weather brings. I’m gonna go turn my heater up ;P.
Tags: Llama, Spinning, Winter weather
You've Been Bad
We had our Single Adult Christmas party tonight for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd wards of my Church. We were told to bring a White Elephant gift. Now my friends will know where my oldest son got his sense of humor from ;P. The glass decanter was something that I found and I bought winter stickers to go on it. I used a craft joke I had seen many years ago that would work with this decanter and bought the mini marshmellows and made the card that I hung on the decanter (you can click on the picture for a larger image). Hehe, it still makes me laugh :P.
The other gift, yes that is a roll of toilet paper that I discovered you can embroider on. I got the embroidery idea from this website , found a cute design and walaa, cuteness :). It’s a very inexpensive way to dress up a bathroom and it got a chuckle or two. :) Anyway these were what the one that ended up with my gift got.
Oh Holy Night
We had our ward Christmas Program last night. It was wonderful, great food and the program was fun and spiritual. We had two different families do the 12 days of christmas, one was a Hawaiian song and she played the ukulele while some children held up large signs with the words and we all sang with her, the other one was a skit, both were wonderful. A very talented family did a beautiful round with all their family members, and so much more wonderful music from members of our ward. I was the last one to sing, I was sure nervous, but I think it went well.
This is the music I used. I down loaded it from Sally DeFord’s website . She has wonderful sheet music that she has arranged and some mp3s with her beautiful voice singing them. Her music is copyrighted but you can down load and use it for non commercial use. This piece was a solo for the first two verses and then the third verse was congregation but I did the whole thing as a solo. Oh Holy Night is my favorite Christmas song. I’m not sure if it’s a hymn or a carol, but it is my favorite. There is such power and beauty in this song.
Tomorrow I begin my job hunting in earnest. I’ve been scanning the internet sites but I always have better luck going and physically putting in applications. I think it helps that they see who you are and that you are out there looking.
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