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.