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?

Doing a Sock Jig

Drum Roll and Trumpets please. I have finally finished something........ socks! These are my Gold Leaf socks. I designed them from the toe up and I incorporated a leaf stitch pattern from Barbara Walker. I used my brand new Lantern Moon needles and I enjoyed making these. They were fun, the yarn was nice, the needles were fantastic and they're mine............all mine.






These are the sock blockers that my dad made for me. They are made from cedar. He fussed about them not being perfect but they are perfect to me.........after all....my dad made them. They smell so nice and I used them for the first time with my Gold Leaf socks. They were perfect.
Dad.....if you're reading this........Thank you and I love you.

This pair is a Christmas gift. I must keep it a secret lest the receiver -to -be suspects this gift is for her. The yarn is from Astrid's just click on her link to the right. I like this yarn. It is soft and the colors are very intense. I am usually a fussy knitter when it comes to matching socks but I enjoyed this yarn so much that it didn't matter if they were perfect or not. Besides I finished them.





P.S. I will be posting an update on the new developments of Mr. Bettis and the web cam activities of Mr. Milo.

Morning Dance

I had a wonderful morning......for 3 hours. Vet girl called and said there was a cancellation and I could have the dogs groomed this morning. Even Bettis. Goody, goody she packed those dogs up and off they went.
Although getting 105 lb, almost 9 month old Bettis in the car is not an easy task. It took knitting DD and Vet girl eight minutes to get that oaf in the car. It took 3 people and 5 minutes to get him into the groomer. I called his owner aka DH and informed him that he must take his "pony" for a walk everyday to get him accustomed to a leash. He had a bath , was brushed and I bought him a harness. Now he is resting. I'm lovin' it.


I had a wonderful 3 hours all to myself. No dogs, no kids. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I like my dogs.............unless Mr. Bettis destroys something of mine but 3 hours all to myself? I was singing a happy song here.
I Knitted. And I made fresh salsa from our homegrown tomatoes, herbs and cantelope.
Delish!


Fresh Sweet Salsa
8 tomatoes cored and de-seeded
1 carrot
1/2 onion
1/4 cantelope
fresh cilantro
fresh mint
1/2 cup olive oil
4-5 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice
sea salt

Chop tomatoes in hunks. Peel and cut up carrot, onion and canteloupe in chunks. Snip cilantro and mint leaves. Put in food processor and coarsely chop. Put in bowl and stir in olive oil and lemon or lime juice and a pinch of sea salt. Let set 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips. Keep in refrigerator.

P.S. I wonder if I can get Mr. Bettis groomed every week?

Do you remember this?

Do you remember when I posted earlier about this happy couple with a new puppy?








Or perhaps you remember this adorable face?








Ha ha ha............dear, little Mr. Milo has been at it in his "parents" home while they are at work. Seems he found the computer keyboard and destroyed it. He also chewed on his food dish after dumping the food. Splashed in the water dish resulting in water all over their kitchen floor. I would laugh at all of this except I have Mr. Bettis residing here.

My son aka Mr Milo's "parent" purchased a security web cam to monitor Mr. Milo's activities while the "parents" are at work. Now I must ask, why? Why would anyone purchase a web camera for a dog? I mean, really! By the time you view it, the dog has already done the nasty deed.
Although after I think about it, I think I need one. Mr. Bettis chewed another cable company owned remote and required his owner aka the DH to purchase yet another remote. (I actually did chuckle on that one, for once it wasn't my stuff). I came home the other day from a visit to my daughter's home and found my KnitPicks needle case missing a corner. Yes, the entire corner was g-o-n-e. And who did it? Yep! Mr. Bettis! So I may be borrowing my son's web cam after all.


This is what dogs are supposed to do instead of destroying their owners "stuff."

Little Miss Gypsy Jo.







P.S. I guess you're wondering why I didn't post a pic of Mr. Bettis. I refuse to post a picture of a dog who has taken to destroying my stuff on a daily basis. His notoriety will not be enhanced with pictures for all to see...........at least for the moment.

Party & Bettis Trouble......AGAIN!

HAPPY 16 th BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated the knitting DD's birthday with the annual family birthday picnic. It rained but that didn't damper the fun that we always have at the picnics.

It was hot just like it was 16 years ago when she was born. Or perhaps I thought it was hot because I had a tendency to pack 50 pounds of baby fat on my somewhat smallish frame every time I was "with child."

She made her own cake as she always has which has been part of the birthday fun for my kids. This year she chose to bake an Oreo cheesecake. It was rich but very good.


This is her knitting FO. She made an afghan from my stash to take on her band functions. It gets very cold up here at football games, parades etc. So she'll keep warm in this one.

I wonder if I can borrow it? After all she did make it from my stash.






Mr. Bettis has been at it again. Seems he likes electronic devices. I recently came home after running an errand to find the tv remote in the hallway completely destroyed. I called Vet girl to see if it hurt a large dog to swallow batteries. (I couldn't find them at first) She said we would have to wait it out. I will spare details.

I then called the cable company for the procedure on dog chewed cable company owned remotes. I explained that my DH's 8 month old, 100 lb puppy ate it! He seemed to get quite a chuckle out of it. He then told me I had to drive to the cable office to pick up another one. At the tune of $9.00 or 1 skein of Noro yarn.

So the DH got in the hot car to drive 10 miles to buy another remote. The cable office staff got quite a kick out of the chewed remote and offered to throw it away for me. Not-on-your-life. I want it for evidence to the non-believers. We spend our days readying up items that seem to find their way into Mister Bettis' very large mouth.

Notice: he doesn't seem to be growing into those paws. They just seem to get bigger!

UPDATE: I saved this post as a draft due to electric storm outages. Mister Bettis chewed the second remote. More on that after the storm.

Kauni yarn

I've had several requests on where to buy the Kauni Yarn. Go to this website http://www.astridsdutchobsessions.com

The shipping is expensive but if you can find a knitting friend who wants yarn from there, the shipping can be split. Otherwise a knitter just swallows the shipping and calculates it in the yarn. The yarn itself is inexpensive.

Hope this helps everyone. Have fun shopping and knitting!

NEW ADDITION TO FAMILY!

Intoducing Milo, the newest addition to the family. No, not my family thank goodness but the son's family. My son and DIL came yesterday with their new arrival.

He is adorable and cute and he's not mine! They are very excited. I opted to not tell them of the "problems" that will arise from this cute and adorable puppy. They have already been to a pet store and bought him just about everything he does and does not need.

Keep in mind this is the couple who has a home in the city that they are renovating. We call it the "Money Pit." There are a lot of things in the "money pit" for Milo to investigate and initiate i.e. hardwood floors, wallpaper, wooden chairs, oak staircase.........well you get the picture. And none of it is mine! I'm doing a little dance here.

They called this morning to report his first night in his new home. He slept through the night and wanted to go outside first thing in the morning. So far they think he is the most adorable puppy in the world. There's a reason why puppies and kittens are cute and adorable so when they get into trouble, they get out of it by looking cute and adorable.


Milo and his new parents.



Bettis thought Milo was the best thing that has arrived in this house for a visit. Milo and Bettis had way too much fun while he was here. Milo is coming up next weekend for another visit and I'll keep you posted.




P.S. The cats on the other hand, were glad to see Milo go home. They have been doing a little kitty jig since he left. Now if they could only get Bettis to disappear.

Yarn, Sweat and Fear

Fear: When one winds yarn to be worked opposite as the pattern suggests and begins to sweat (see note above) that the yarn will end up matching instead of contrasting as the pattern notes.

My Kauni sweater in progress. I'm liking this knitting as I absolutely love color and a lot of it. Now the 15 yr old DD wants to knit one so I have pre-ordered more Kauni yarn. I failed to read the pattern more than once and did 3/4 inch more ribbing than necessary. But I wasn't about to frog that. There's too much work in it and I rather like it.


Okay, I signed up. I am in the mystery shawl #3. I like the pattern. I did decide on beads, believe me they are in there. I didn't use any of the suggested yarn colors but dug in my stash.


I found this cone aging nicely in the stash and decided on it. This is an alpaca lace weight that I purchased last year at Stitches East. Maybe I'll get it knitted before I attend Stitches this year. Anyone want to wager on that? ha



p.s. Fear is also when one finds the DH's huge 7 1/2 month old, 95 pound puppy (aka Bettis) lurking over one's fine knitting with a slobbering mouth.

Oh Happy Day!

June 23, 2007: This is a happy day.

This is the guy I married 23 yrs ago today. He's a great guy. Let me count the ways: He never says a word on the amount of yarn and fiber I have amassed over the years. He takes me to yarn, fabric and fiber shops anytime I want. He looks at packages that are delivered weekly and just shakes his head. He overlooks the massive amounts of UFOs in the living room and just chuckles everytime I clean and I think I have hidden them from view. He appreciates anything that I make him. And I have made him a few vests, socks and gloves over the years. (he even overlooked the complaining I did when I made him a vest out of fingering yarn. He is a rather large size so there were a LOT of stitches on that vest).

I, on the other hand have overlooked with a raised eyebrow the gifts of brooms, swiffer sweepers, dust pans, blenders etc that he graciously gave to me as gifts for anniversarys and birthdays. Today we're going to dinner for the first time in 23 yrs and to do a little shopping. Can I help it that shopping may include a yarn shop? Happy Anniversary, ice man! Why has it taken us 23 yrs to go to dinner on our anniversary? When we were married I already had two adorable sons. So a dinner out was at the local pizza parlor with the boys. On our second anniversary our DD was born so today is her birthday and she turned the big 21!

Big Trouble in Knitting Land!

Big Trouble in Knitting land! A mass of yarn. Wound around the coffee table, into the kitchen and around all four kitchen chairs. Not a straight shot but woven between them. Amazing enough there was not an animal in sight. mmmm......who did this?

It wasn't Miss Phoebe! She was happily napping in the bathroom ceramic sink. Seems she was hot and decided to cool off for a bit. With all that fur, I would too. I believe I know who the yarn thief is.......

AH HA! There he is. In all his 89 pound glory. Mister Bettis! At 8 months he has taken to destroying my stuff. This is the guy who caused havoc with my yarn! He is in BIG TROUBLE! His owner, aka the DH, tried unsuccessfully to put the blame on poor Miss Phoebe whose main goal in life right now is to stay cool. She certainly has no intention on exerting too much energy only to suffer in the heat. Yep! It's Mister, who did the damage..........again.

Knitting WIPS

Okay I haven't posted in quite a while. I have been starting more projects. The youngest DD claimed this yarn, so I'm making a scarf for her. I like how it is striping.








This is the cashmerino and it feels so soft. I think I'm one of the last knitters to knit a pair of jaywalkers. I like the pattern. Easy for my wandering mind to remember. Oh, and it has been started on my new Lantern Moon sox sticks. I like 'em.








Next on the needles is the Knit Picks peasant sock pattern. Nice pattern. I chose a skein of denim blue merino and a skein of random handpainted merino yarn that I did a while ago. This pattern is fun.










Of course what is a sock knitter without a new sock project bag? I knit this one from two skeins of my dk weight yarn. It is the trapeze and eggstravaganza colorways mixed. I had fun with this and it hangs from my wrist while I knit. My SIL wants this bag for her knitting so I just might knit another one. It was knitted in a day, my kind of project.

p.s. Remind me of the first paragraph in November when I'm frantically wondering how in the world I'll get those kids' projects knitted in time for Christmas.