New Year Bang!

I will make this short minus pictures for the weak at stomach. We are bringing in the New Year with a medical BANG!

I have spent the last two days in and out of the hospital with the DH. Seems his hand and his table saw had a "showdown." Without giving details I will just say, the saw won. Scared the pjs off me, that's for sure.

He underwent almost 3 hours of surgery and is in an astronomical amount of pain. Add insurance crap in there and you have a nightmare.

Don't ask what he was making with the saw. Let's just say it had to do with yarn, knitting .......... Okay. I take the blame. It was an item for me to give to my BFF for Christmas. (No, Di, it's not your fault) It is an accident.

We have a sense of humor......who wouldn't? considering we were the couple who got married with his left leg in a cast. It has been a medical nightmare since. So in order to get through the medical crap bestowed upon us, we have developed a sense of humor. So bear with me and laugh along the way as we go through this medical mess............again. I need the laughter.

P.S. He had spine surgery 1 1/2 yrs ago and was off work while recuperating. So here we go again............Thank goodness for my knitting.

Merry Christmas

The youngest daughterbaked more cookies today. This time the cookies required a bit more time.

Decorated sugar cookie. are a lot of fun. It is traditional at our house to make these cookies on Christmas Eve. The daughter also decorated a very nice gingerbread house for decoration on my antique 1900 black cook stove in my kitchen.
.





I leave you now until after Christmas Day. We will be celebrating with family tomorrow.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Love and peace to all!

School's Out.......Again

The DH called on his way to work ( I find it interesting, that he was on his way to work when he called rather gleefully) to inform me that school is out.......again.

The temp outside is a balmy 12 degrees farenheit. It's cold. The snow turned to ice and the streets in town are a mess. So the kids are out once again. It's not that we have that much snow, after all we have been known to have snow measured by the foot, but this particular snowfall is slick. It glistens like diamonds, beautiful, but slick. So once again, I will be "entertaining" the 16 yr old. She is the last one at home out of 4 kids. As I told a friend, she's a good kid/student but how much high school drama/gossip can a parent take? Although said gossip/drama has been used by me (unbeknown to her) as life learning tools.

I'm off here to find "entertainment" for the 16 yr old i.e. dusting, cleaning........well you get the picture..... and if I get any flack I'm thinking Mr. Bettis could put those huge paws to work and become a sled dog. He could pull her to school.

p.s. Now where's that dog sled?

Snow ,Snowmes & School's Out

Okay, the weather man missed this one. He called for an inch of snow. We have more than that and it's still snowing. I don't mind. I like snow. It is very pretty and Christmasy. However school was out. What does that mean? It means my 16 yr old daugher wanted to go shopping. Not-happening! Then she wanted to bake cookies, sculpt clay, knit and talk my ear off. I'm not complaining, it's just she is high maintenance and I'm accustomed to quiet all day while she's in school.

This is our lighted deer in the front yard. I sent the daughter out to take the pictures. Hey, I know it's cold and wet but it gave her something to do............for at least 5 minutes.

Unfortunately "my schedule" was a mess with her home from school and so I knitted. No, not the gifts I should be knitting, but Snowmes! I was on the phone with my BFF when the pattern arrived in the mail. My poor BFF no longer has hearing as I was screeching into the phone when I opened it. Maybe a snowme will cheer her.
They're lovin' this snowy weather.

I cast on right away for the larger Snowme out of stash. He was finished by dinnertime. I sent the husband to the store to pick up JoAnn Sensations white boucle for the smaller one. It is perfect yarn for it. These two need more snow buddies so another one is cast on and almost finished.
I know, I know, I'm supposed to be making gifts. Won't everyone just love getting a Snowme this year instead of gloves, hats etc? I think this would warm their heart instead of useful, dull items to warm body parts....................LOL

Have a Good Snow Day!

p.s. I just heard, the high maintenance kid has a 2 hour delay in the morning. Let's hope it's not another school's out day.

The Mind (sanity) is slipping

Knit 'n Time

I finally got some knittin' time. This is the "new" scarf for the Piccolo Pirate's flute teacher.
After all the scarf knitting woes posted below, Woo-Hoo! It's finished. I'm not that fond of knitting scarves, I get bored easily. But I must say, they work up quickly and they are pretty when finished. I made this one yesterday afternoon.
The Piccolo Pirate would've made this herself except she has a lot of homework. So she's excused..........this time.

I started these on Saturday evening. I finished them last evening. Quick, pretty and warm. They are made from Worsted Slub from

Yarn Treehouse. I liked working with this yarn, it was soft. These mitts go to the dog groomer aka Vet Girl's co-worker.

My kids have a knack of coming to me one month before Christmas to see if I have any "nice, homemade gifts lying around" for them to give to people they know will appreciate them. Yeah right, like I have a box full of beautiful handmade knitted items set aside just for them. But, I'm a mom, so I try to "whip" up nice gifts for them. I must admit, I like the wonderful comments that come back, isn't that why we knit in the first place?
Next year, my BFF and I will be posting pics of all the beautiful items the gift containers that we have knitted all year.

p.s. Mark the above statement on a calendar and remind me of this next year when I'm in another knitting gift panic.

Stupidity

This is a list of stupid things I have done this week.


This is one stupid thing I have done. Allowed Mr. Bettis to continue to live here. (okay, I'm just kidding.........well, that's a maybe too) We were decorating over the weekend so disregard the mess in the living room. Mr. Bettis un (yep i said un) decorated my kitchen tree (check post below on how much I love this tree) and his owner was trying to show me how good he is by shaking his paw. Big Deal! It is Mr. Bettis's birthday and his owner wanted to throw a dog party. Is he nuts? No way! It's been a very lo-o-ong year with Mr. Bettis.
The week has improved .........hee-hee............Mr. Bettis chewed up his owner's brand -new- go- to -the -daughter's wedding on Dec 22, shoes. LOL.................After a week of mourning over deceased yarn, this gives me a good chuckle.

p.s. Hey, I know I'm warped, but at least it's not my yarn/shoes that Mr. Bettis chewed up.

Christmas Gift Knitting Woes

It all started with this scarf. I decided to knit a scarf for the Piccolo Pirate's flute teacher. I purchased the yarn out of town. Listening to the DH who told me one skein would be enough, I purchased one lonely skein. (apparently the "yarn logic" side of my brain was on vacation).This scarf is not near long enough and I am about of yarn. Unfortunately it would cost $35.00 to put "liquid gold" in the car to get to the shop to purchase another $5.99 skein to finish the scarf. Not counting the 1 1/2 hour drive to the shop.


Trying to find yarn in my stash, I found this unfinished scarf. So I thought, okay, I can finish this for the flute teacher. Wrong!
It is knitted with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud. The grey skein is attached but the colored yarn is no where to be seen. So after going through 10 of the 25 containers of yarn stash and me grumbling to the DH that this was all his fault for talking me out of the second skein of yarn for the above scarf, I cannot finish this scarf.
This does wrap around the neck enough to put a nice stick pin through it and make a neck wrap. But not for the flute teacher, she is young and would want a nice long scarf. So I'll put this on hold. (not good for me to do this as it will probably become another UFO....again).


Going through UFO knit bags (and there are quite a few of them, stashed behind the couch, hidden in closets, drawers etc) I found these unfinished socks. Now I know why they're unfinished. I started these awhile back with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud (do you see where I'm going with this?). I put the socks aside and picked them up at a later date to finish the second sock. When I put the two together to size them up, something was very wrong.
I designed my own pattern but failed to follow it. One of those things where I think I'm smarter than my own notes. I made the right sock with the MC Trapeze in the foot. I made the left sock alternating the MC and the CC every two rows in the foot. I am out of the Trapeze yarn. AH-HA! So that's where the Trapeze yarn went to finish the Trapeze scarf. I'm in trouble up here. These were a gift.

Lessons learned:
1. Never, ever, ever listen to the DH when it comes to buying the extra skein of yarn. He does not knit and knows nothing about it. He is only out to eliminate my stash.

2. Never, ever go off on a whim and cut the yarn from a project to start another project with the yarn. If I should decide to do this again I must frog the original project or finish it.

3. Never think I'm smarter than my own notes. Always read the pattern. Although I admit, I have mis-laid the pattern somewhere.......okay, I need to find my book of notes........... now where could that be?

p.s.The likely-hood of me learning from these lessons is probably pretty slim with the exception of lesson #1.

Black Friday & all that!

Thanksgiving dinner was a success! Everyone made it with the exception of the youngest son and girlfriend. They were unable to make it. The turkey was delicious with all the trimmings.

My kitchen is decorated in vintage 1940's and the tree is decorated in vintage 1940-1950.

I wanted a nice german feather tree but the wallet wouldn't allow such an expense so the DH bought snow flock and sprayed one of my own (charlie brown tree as the kids call it) artificial trees. I put an inexpensive sparkly garland and ornaments. This little house reminds me of the houses my dad used with our Christmas train when I was a kid.

This star is a replica of the star ornaments my grandparents had as decorations at the farm house. I have many fond memories of those Christmases past.

Not willing to spend $7.99 for a glittered postcard ornament, I found antique replica postcards in my box of old cards for the Piccolo Pirate to glitter and add silver ribbon to hang. I have an assortment of these and the cost for each of the 6 postcard ornaments that we made came to $1.00 a piece.

I like this tree.

Giving Thanks

In case you haven't noticed, I changed the blog template. I was bored with the last one and when I figured out how to add the yarn text, it didn't match. So I changed it. I do the same with my living quarters. I buy a tablecloth and the rooms in the house must be changed. All to match the tablecloth.
I am on a cooking marathon up here. Thirteen people are coming for dinner. My 4 kids and "company" (as my friend, katy knits, calls it), my parents and grandmother are coming for dinner. There's a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge. I think I'm gonna need it.

Tradition is: The youngest child breaks the bread for the dressing while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. This task now belongs to the Piccolo Pirate. I must see the Rockettes. I was a tap dancer all my life until the accident and I have been to New York with my eldest son to see them in person. I have called him for years to ask if he watched the Rockettes and if he missed it, I tell him about the costumes and the routine. I know it's a strange tradition, but it's mine.

What am I thankful for?
My faith
My family
My friends whether internet or person
Thank you all for being my friend. I have enjoyed the emails, the stories and the friendship that you have given to me. I appreciate it so much.

Now I'm off to do the cooking marathon and hopefully sneak a few rows on a knitted sock.
Have a joyous and Happy Thanksgiving!

Lace Pride Hat Pattern

1 skein Gypsyknits Peppermint Candy DK weight MC
1 skein Gypsyknits Storm Cloud DK weight CC
Size: US 4 circular 16” and 4 dpns size US 4
Gauge: 5 1/2 sts per inch
This hat has a snug fit. Sized for a woman's size sm/med.

With 16” circular needle and CC cast on 88 sts. Join, being careful to not twist stitches.
Row 1: Purl
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: Purl
Row 4 & 5: Knit

Change to MC and begin pattern stitch
Row 1: *K2 tog (twice), yo, K1 (3 times), yo, K2 tog (twice)* repeat around
Row 2: Knit
Change to CC
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Purl
Repeat pattern stitch once more alternating the colors as recommended. Twisting the working color around the non-working color at beg of row. End with Pattern st Row 4.

Change to MC and knit 2 rows.
Change to CC and knit 2 rows.

Repeat these 4 rows alternating the colors every 2 rows. Twist the nonworking yarn with the working yarn every 2 rows to eliminate holes in your work.

Continue in this manner until desired length to starting decrease. Approximately 5 inches from beg or 2 1/2 inches less than desired length.

Decrease as follow:
1st dec rnd: *Knit 6, K 2 tog* Repeat from * to * around
Knit for 5 rounds
2nd dec rnd: *Knit 5, K 2 tog* Repeat from * to * around
Knit 4 rounds
3rd dec rnd: *Knit 4, K2 tog* Repeat from * to * around
Knit 3 rounds
4th dec rnd: * Knit 3, K 2 tog* Repeat from * to * around
Knit 2 rounds
5th dec rnd: Knit 2, K2 tog Repeat from * to * around
Knit 1 round
6th dec rnd: Knit 1, K2 tog Repeat from * to * around

Next row: Knit 2 tog around until 8 sts remain changing to dpns when too few sts will fit on circular needle. Cut yarn and draw through the remaining 8 sts.
Finish: Weave in ends and wear with pride.

This is my first pattern I have posted so forgive me for any mistakes. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

TJ Turkey Yarn Contest

Are ya up for it? gobble, gobble. I'm having another contest. The prize will be a set of 4 knit markers from http://www.kniftyknotions.etsy.com/ . The shop is owned by my daughter who makes these wonderful stitch markers. I was the proud recipient of 21 of these great markers on my birthday and I love them.

So here are the contest rules:
Begins today, November, 17, 2007
Ends on Thanksgiving, November 22, 2007 at midnite EST
Tell me your funniest story (yarn) about Thanksgiving.
I will read these to my family on Black Friday, November 23, 2007. The whole clan will be here over the holiday so they will vote on the funniest story.
I will announce the winner on November 24, 2007.

Here's my "yarn" to get started:
My husband drives a big refrigerator delivery truck which is parked in our driveway everyday. Several years ago we stored our Thanksgiving -to -be turkey in the truck in order to save freezer space. Two days before Thanksgiving I sent the husband to the truck to get the turkey. He returned empty handed.
I asked where was the turkey?
DH: It's gone.
Me: What do you mean it's gone?
DH: I mean it's not there. Vamoose! Gone!
Thinking he was joking, I went to the truck to have a look myself. Sure enough our turkey was gone. So with my humor intact I posted an all out bulletin email to my friends and family. Here's what it said:

MISSING
Name: TJ Turkey
aliases Butterball, Tom Turkey
Last seen: In back of DH's ice cream truck.
Height: Approx. 18 inches (legs untied)
Weight: Approx. 22 lbs (undressed)
No dressing, so please shield "little eyes" if you happen to see him anywhere.

Some of the emails sent back to me were hilarious. He was "seen" running down the road, hiding behind an oak tree and attending a "Don't Eat Turkey, Eat Beef " rally sponsored by turkeys at the local market. A few family members pointed forks at other family members with suspicions of smelling cooked turkey in their homes. And some of the family sleuth went so far as to weigh in other family members' turkeys.
It was funny but we never did find out who took the turkey. It had to be someone who knew the turkey was in the truck. I mean really, who would think a turkey was stored in an ice cream truck?
We had to race to the local market and buy two small turkeys to fill the table that year. The market was out of large turkeys at that point. ( personally, I think TJ Turkey had a leg in on that one).

So dig into your fond memories and tell us your funniest Thanksgiving yarn. I'm waiting to hear from you.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for an undressed turkey running in your neighborhood, it could be TJ Turkey.

39 days until Christmas?!

Socks and more socks are on the needles to be knitted for Christmas gifts. My very BFF found it necessary to inform me, today, there are only 39 days until Christmas. Who needs a BFF like that? ME! That's who. If it wasn't for her telling me these things, Dec 25 would creep up and I wouldn't know it.

This a cuff for someone who has small feet. I can't say who as she could be reading this blog. It is my dyed yarn, Hot Stuff. I chose plain old K2, P2 ribbing. Good for car knitting.






This is another skein of my yarn, Whoville. The camera does not do justice for this skein. It is a pattern I'm designing and I think they'll go to the Piccolo Pirate. She can wear them with her clear sock clogs and they'll look good.
I like knitting these, they're fun.







Yeah! These are finished. Another gift to be stashed in the gift container. They're for another person with small feet. I love small feet, don't you?

January 2007 started out well with my little knitting needles working away on Christmas gifts. Somewhere between March and September, "Self "decided that she wanted socks, bags, teddy bears etc. "Self "became self-absorbed (or would that be greedy?)in her own knitting and put the Christmas gift knitting aside. Now it's 39 days until the Big Day and I am frantically knitting gifts. Where is "Self" when I need those second set of hands?

The Game

This is the Big Red Machine coming through their helmet on game day.







The Red School's Marching Band during performance. There is a sea of blue on the opposing side and the Red sea is on the home side. (we're the red in case you haven't figured that out).










The Piccolo Pirate is the one with the long pony tail. These are not happy faces as we were losing the game.
It was cold. It was wet. And we lost.
But all is not so bad as we head off to playoffs this Saturday. We're a 9-1 team so they have done well this year.
The kids have fun so that is what really counts anyway. We're the school who has fun even when we lose.

There was one small problem. The opposing team's band never shows for this game. They have a boombox they play during their teams' achievements. It sounds like a tin-can but to each his own. There was an announcement that the Red school would play the national anthem and then their alma mater as we are the home team this year. The Blue school stood respectively during the national anthem then turned on their boombox to drown out the alma mater. There's a big to-do going on right now with the alumni of the Red school and the local newspaper editorial is bombarded with letters. Good, I say. The Blue school owes the Red school alumni an apology for their disrespectful, rude and bad behaviour. But I doubt that happens. Thank goodness the Red school has respect and regard for the opposing teams.




Mr. Milo came to visit and he is getting big. Here he is on "time-out." His "parents" had to discipline him several times on Saturday and he was put on "time-out" for 11 minutes.

Do you think his "parents" know he's a d-o-g?


There will be a contest posted this week so get ready. I'll give you a hint........it has something to with Thanksgiving.

The Sock Yard Pirate

It's Spirit day for Homecoming 2007 around here. This is the youngest daughter heading out the door for school. It is dark and although you can't see, it is snowing this morning.
We made the signs and the husband has a huge flood light that is lit every evening to show off the sign.








This is the attire she wore and before you say anything, all of the girls dress like this for spirit day. Personally, I wouldn't have been caught dead in this get-up ( as my mother would have said) but it's the "thing" to wear today.

This is a picture of the finished pirate socks. She wore her clear clogs to show them off. See? I really do get something finished.

This is a pic of more decorations at the school. There is a pep rally tonite and believe me this kid is excited.

The eldest son had the nerve to call me last evening to see if I could make his wife a pair of red mittens for the game..............tomorrow........does this boy think I have knitting elves here?

I'll have to make them for Christmas........next year.

Homecoming Week

Homecoming week is B-I-G around here and NFL Hometown Network chose our school rival football game to be televised. The two local high schools have been rivals for over 50 years. It started as the Turkey Day Game back in the 1950's. It was moved to the first of November in the 1980's. The Blue school wanted it changed so their band could attend competitions. They lost school unity over that decision. But the Red school has persevered and the band is respected and loved by the Red school fans.

Homecoming week consists of locker decorations, yard decor, school decorations, pep rallies, powder puff football games and a lot of fun. The theme this year was the Pirates for the Red school where I, my mother and my 4 children attended. My youngest daughter is now in the school and we decorated her locker in the Pirate theme. She is in the band and the band halftime show coordinates with the Homecoming Theme of Pirates. It is awesome with ship flags and pretend sword (instrument) fights. I love it.









My daugher in law, my youngest son's girlfriend, my oldest daughter and my sister were on hand to help with the decorations. It is a surprise to the students when they attend school on Monday after locker decoration day which was last Saturday.




While we were decorating, little daughter was decorating the band room. This is one of the walls the band students decorated.



These are replica Pirate flags hanging from the band room ceiling.

Pirates have conquered the school! The Band Ship Rocks!



I did get the Pirate socks knitted for her locker and I'd take a picture except she wore them today. I made a treasure chest and filled it with sweets and candy along with the Pirate socks. I had a sweatshirt made just for her, dressed one of her teddy bears in Pirate clothing and filled a kettle with candy. She was surprised and loved it all.

The game is on Saturday so I'll let you know if we win.

Small Town Life

Okay, I am a bit late with this update. But Happy Belated Halloween anyway.
Living in a small town has its' perks. One can go trick or treating no matter what the age. Everyone knows everyone and the local fire department actually brings out their trucks and monitors the road so kids and parents can cross safely. There is a small parade with the local fire truck and ambulance. The trick or treaters (big and small) walk behind. It is a big deal.
That said, my 16 yr old daughter and her friends can trick or treat safely and have fun. She met up with some of her friends and had a lot of fun.
My husband trailed behind them. Seems that because he grew up here and everyone knows him, he gets candy too. He tuckered out on a few of the hills and left them on their own for the last half hour (there's a lot of hills around here, remember we live in appalachia).

Tradition with our trick or treaters is to spread the loot and divide up the candy. Trading off peanut butter cups for chocolate bars etc. When they were little, this particular exercise resulted in a few arguments resulting in parents (us) interceding and confiscating candy. And no, that was not so we had candy to ourselves...........ha..........although I must admit after tucking the little trick or treaters in bed we did indulge in the treat bags. We did have one trick or treater (namely the youngest son) who would make a list of his treats and he would tally them everyday. Did he not trust his loving and devoted parents?

In my personal opinion the perks of a small town out rank the big city life and I love it.



P.S. The chemistry teacher loved the MOLE scarf and confided that it was the best project. The chemistry teacher knits.

Happy MOLE Day! Scarf

Here it is, the MOLE scarf.
My 16 yr old knitting, mathmetician, chemist DD knitted this for MOLE Day. Her Chemistry teacher challenged the students to create a MOLE project. This is what we came up with. An illusion knitted MOLE 6.02 x 10 to the twenty third power scarf. She insisted it be knitted in mole brown colors.

The 23 power numbers were a bit of a challenge but it will do. I am anxious to hear what the Chem teacher has to say about this project. I think she will appreciate the project.



Kinda fascinating don't ya think?









I am knitting an illusion knitted scarf for her with her school band logo. It is slow going but I plan to have it finished by Nov. 3rd. Along with the pirate socks. The Homecoming theme this year is Pirates of the Carribean. I'll be posting pics of the locker decor etc on the weekend of Nov third.
In the meantime Have a Happy Mole Day!

Many Moons Ago

My driver's license expired today. Apparently I overlooked the expiration notice. So off to MVA. I strolled to the window to get my license mumbling about overlooking and losing the notice. The clerk directed me to the vision apparatus. I asked, "with or without glasses? I can't see a thing without them." With them is fine, ma'am. (Okay we can drop the ma'am stuff)
I put my head onto the vision apparatus.

Clerk: Read the last 3 rows of letters.
Me: Last 3 rows? There's only 2 rows.
Clerk: No. There are 3 rows with a total of 12 letters.
Me: Oh no ma'am. (a wee bit of sarcasm has now entered my voice) There's only 2 rows with a total of 8 letters.
At this point the clerk pushed a button. I then promptly announced with great satisfaction: Ma'am, I don't know what button you pushed but now there are no letters or rows. It's blank! (apparently it was not supposed to be blank but I didn't know that at the time)
I then, smugly announced loud enough for everyone to hear : "This machine is broken." Somehow I thought that would justify the long waiting lines. It didn't.
The MVA clerk checked the machine and quietly said: Ma'am the machine is not broken. If you can't read the letters then we cannot give you a new license and your license expires at midnite tonite.
What?
This called for desperate measures.
I pleaded.
I begged.
I squinted.

I tried to explain: "I have a lazy eye. It never developed." I thought that would be a shoe-in. After all if one has a lazy eye and can't see one should pass immediately. Okay, I know........ but desperation overtook my logic.
Me: "I can't see these letters. Could you possibly make the letters larger? I think I could see them then".
Apparently there is no sense of humor at the MVA. They called two supervisors to come out to explain the procedure. 3 forms and an eye doctor appointment are necessary for me to try to get my license renewed. I failed the vision test.
I left the MVA a bit disillusioned.

I called the DH who forgot it was my birthday..............again.

Many moons ago in a little appalachia town a red faced, dark haired baby entered the world. That little baby was ME! I looked like a little Indian baby. My dad is a mixed heritage of American Indian and Scottish and me mom is German and American Indian descent.

I reflect on my life and I am who I am.

1. I laugh at the most ridicuous things
2. I care about the small, meek and humble
3. I understand the true meaning of loving unconditionally
4. I care very little about money (unless of course it pertains to yarn)
5. I knit because it gives me joy and in this life I intend to enjoy

I am who I am.

p.s. I'm putting in a suggestion to the MVA. How about a hairdresser and fashion consultant on the premises solely for picture taking?

If I Only Had A Brain

We put this scarecrow decoration (that my mother made for me) on the ladder up to the loft. I arrived home before they did and found this poor scarecrow in pieces screaming, "If I Only Had a Brain!" Of course we know who did this, don't we?
Mr. Bettis was at it again! All I can say is, it wasn't yarn.


The DH claims that this beautiful white creature named Aurora was out to get Mr. Bettis.
He claims Aurora jumped on the ladder and knocked down the scarecrow. Now I can tell you that is probably true given Mr. Bettis finds it necessary to chase Aurora up the ladder several times a day when he has nothing better to do. Like, chew my stuff.
But I am still asking the question: Why did Mr. Bettis chew the scarecrow? Just because he was knocked off his post doesn't give that dog the right to chew it.


Although, I can only think the cats have had it with Mr. Bettis and are out to frame him but good! Now if I only had a brain to have put my foot down when it came to bringing Mr. Bettis here to reside in the first place. (Although I thought I'd made that clear in the beginning).

Keep on Knitting

Thanks to all and keep on knittin' and cookin'!

Yarn

Sassy Socks and Gloves

As you can see, I have been a little busy. This year is a homemade Christmas and I have actually accomplished finished knitted projects.

A pair of socks for one of the daughters. Not sure which one, but one of them. I'm trying to decide if the striping is funky but to tell you the truth I'm one of those people who likes to beat her own knitting drum. So it doesn't matter if they match or not. After all, if I wanted matching socks, I'd buy them at a store. At least that's my theory.




Vet girl asked for a pair of gloves because she must walk dogs at the hospital. Gets a bit nippy with snow and below freezing temps around here. She sheepishly (no pun intended) informed me that she lost one of the wool gloves that I knitted for her last Christmas.
So, when a kid of mine loses a good wool hand knitted glove and yet still asks for hand knitted gloves, said kid gets wool/acrylic gloves. Somehow I have reasoned if these gloves get "misplaced' (sounds so much better than the word lost) that it wouldn't be as devastating to the knitter aka me, who has knitted them.

This is a wool fair isle hat I knitted for the second son in line. He asked for this hat 2 yrs ago. I found it in a long forgotten knitting bag. I love to do fair isle. This pattern is from the Hats On book. I added the earflaps. It is a nice soft Cascade wool. This is not a kid who loses good wool hand knitted garments so he gets his hat made from good wool yarn.

I still need to knit a few more socks, gloves, headbands and 3 sweaters before Christmas for the eldest son and youngest daughter. Someone (and she knows who she is)informed me it's only 89 days until Christmas. HELP! Where are those knitting fairies when I need them?





P.S. Homemade Christmas gifts does not mean this knitter will be making a Pittsburg Steelers black and yellow sweater for Mr. Bettis. His owner had the nerve to make such a request. So what? So he can chew it to pieces? Not-on-this-knitter's-life! he'll get chew biscuits instead and that hinges on whether or not he chews up anything else of mine in the next 89 days.

Web cams and dogs

The eldest son and wife came to visit. They brought the "grand-pup", Mr. Milo. He is the little one in the picture with the red harness. Let me tell you about this pup.

As you can see he is just a mite of a thing compared to 107 pound, 91/2 month old Mr. Bettis. They got along quite well. Perhaps just a bit "too" well. They played, ran, bounced (as much as a 107 lb. oaf can bounce), splashed in water (we found that when Mr Milo went home) and chased cats.


Milo does not tire easily. He is very curious. He wanted the camera, not sure for what reason, but he wanted it. The web cam my son installed in their home has come in quite handy. Seems my son was watching the web cam from his cell phone (not sure how that works but it must). And my son caught Mr. Milo dumping the bag of dog food on the floor, jumping, pulling and ripping the curtains, destroying his blanket etc. The son called his wife and told her to take a break from her job and get to the house before they didn't have a house. Son works an hour away, wife works 10 minutes away. Right about then the web cam turned to "snow." Mr. Milo had pulled the web cam cord right out of the socket. hee-hee I'm lovin' it.


Mr. Bettis is still at it. He chewed this dvd. He completely destroyed my "Yours, Mine & Ours" dvd. You know, the one with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda? I'm having trouble finding one so I can replace it. I absolutely love anything with Lucy or Jimmy Stewart and I was not a happy dog- care -taker when I found it destroyed. I wonder what I have done to deserve this revenge from Mr. Bettis. After all I have provided plenty of entertainment for Mr. Bettis given all of the yarn, dvds, knitting needles and books his paws and mouth have "found." In the meantime, he is in BIG trouble!

"ha-ha, so you think you have found me. I am hiding from the dogs", says Miss Phoebe.

p.s. I'm looking for a web cam.

Yarn Budget Busted!

Back to school for the DD and I was bored one day (imagine that) so I surfed the net. Not-a-good-thing for a knitter (especially me) to be bored and surfing the net. I checked out ravelry (and if you're not signed up? GO!), The Loopy Ewe and Astrid's. And that is where I got into trouble.

I ordered yarn from The Loopy Ewe then (this is where the credit card sighed) I ordered from Astrid's. First, more Kauni yarn. Hey, I don't have these colors.


Then of course more sock yarn. Aren't the colors gorgeous? I love this yarn. I even ordered duplicates and I plan to take them to my knit-in where I know the girls are gonna love it. A few of them knew I was ordering from Astrid's and already put in their order.








Last but not least I joined the Astrid's KAL on a Drops Norwegian sweater. Sadly my yarn budget is busted in a big way. But it's okay, I have plenty of stash to keep me busy for a very long time.........years to be more precise. So this will be added to the yarn stash room which is overflowing with plastic containers. I had to move the chair and table out of the 13' x 20' room in order to hold all of the containers. But I'm one happy knitter.










Obviously after the DD went to school, Mr. Bettis was bored also. The knitting DD left her chemistry summer novel (school owned, by the way) on the coffee table. Seems Mr. Bettis decided he wanted an education so he ate the book! The DH now owes the school system a new Napoleon's Buttons book. This dog is spending my yarn money like mad. I'm beginning to think the DH is training him for such.










p.s. Did I mention Knitpicks is on it's way?