I haven't forgotten about you!

I've been feeling icky since returning from San Jose, and I'm just now feeling like I have energy and time to do work and home AND blogging, so here goes. This is the little Carnegie library in 'da hood of San Jose - my friend Jim took us there. Cute!

Here is Jim - we met his wife, Viki, too, and we had a great evening together having awesome sushi and then coffee outside. Lovely! I know Jim from the Wordcraft site - see the link to the right.

This is my Lillehammer hat. DH is modeling it for me, and it's his now. He's even given it a test-wear while birding last Saturday. He says it looks silly, but it sure kept him warm! Maybe it's a little too femme for him. Who shall get it, then?

The moebius baskets and the Lamb's Pride Chunky yarn have, since I discovered them, inspired me to think about the new CML logo. It's the colors. One of our PR folks is a pink addict, and I just finally got around to making this basket for her. I thought I'd snapped a pic of it after felting, but alas, I didn't. It awaits her return from her vacation on her desk, filled with pink candy.

And the final pic posted today is my new sock. This is yarn that I got in NYC, infused with aloe vera and jojoba oil. It's lovely to work with, and I'm really enjoying the colors. Come back tomorrow for more pictures. :-)

Insomniac Surfing

I found this great site from the American Red Cross that has links to the patterns they used to use for knitting for the troops. One of the patterns even has a size circled, so you know they were owned by actual knitters. A cool part of our history, huh?

Busy Week!

To be honest, other than working I have no real memory of what I did weekend before last. I obviously didn't do anything picture-worthy. I'll start again with Monday - and this week will need to take 2 days to post, so I might not take pics this week much. I am sick - blah. You honestly don't want to see me now . . . and you most definitely do not want to hear me. As my Uncle Dick would say "I sound like Tallulah Bankhead on a bad day."

Monday, Feb. 26. Simon finally received his wonderful Star Wars model - ordered from lego.com with some of his Christmas money. Isn't it cool? I forget what ship this is. Simon will be embarrassed that I don't know, he's told me a dozen (or more) times.

Tuesday, Feb. 27. I was in the mood for a new scarf - took me about 2 hours to knit. I wish I'd shaped it differently, but it'll do. The colors are good.

Wednesday, Feb. 28 I flew to San Jose, CA. Golly, it's a long trip. This is the view from our room. My Roomie, Jenn, I am convinced, has Good Hotel Karma. She checked us in and they gave us this TOP FLOOR ROOM! It was really beautiful - the room was great, the bathroom was huge (marble, huge tub, seperate shower stall, etc) and the service was nice. There did seem to be a terrible water leak in another room on our floor, though, and I think it stirred up some nasty mold or something because it aggravated my lungs and I've now got some kind of wheezing thing. Not to worry - it didn't really come on til Saturday.

Thursday, Mar. 1
Jenn and I explored San Jose. We did a LOT of walking. I liked this quote outside the Tech Museum: Optimism is an essential ingredient for innovation. How else can the individual welcome change over security, adventure over staying in safe places?" Bob Noyce. Anyone know who that is? Me neither.

This is the Winchester Mystery House. It was really amazing - crazy, but amazing. Read the link for more details.

I'll post more pics tomorrow.

Boy Scouts and Pics

Monday, Feb 19 found us off work and out of school for Presidents' Day, but we all got to go to Boy Scouts! It was fun to see what the boys and folks do at a meeting, AND I got to do a lot of knitting there. It was fun!

Tuesday, Feb 20 shows Samwise feeling all better and overseeing the doings of the kitchen sink again from his favorite perch. Sweet boy kitty!

Wednesday I wore my newly-finished Mohair neck scarf. I had it tied for a while, but it was too warm around my neck, so I used this little pin to clasp it. :-)

Thursday, Feb.22 I finished up the legwarmers. I did them on magic loop, I think a size 9 needle. They were fun, easy, and they look good!

Today is Friday, Feb 23. I went to Knitwits at the Merc, and then to lunch with some of the ladies. Very nice time! Before that I met up with my pal Carol at Panera. Last time we met at Bear Rock, but they're not opening til 10 now, so they suck. The group went to Villa Nova for lunch - very good Italian food at normal-people prices. Was just like back home in Youngstown, it was so good! Don't they all look like nice ladies?

quiet day

Several pictures for today! (See, I TOLD you I'd catch up from that lag time.)

Today was a quiet day after we ran some errands. After stopping at a few other stores, I popped into the LYS while DH did the grocery shopping. I'd forgotten they were having a huge trunk show from Cider Moon and I indulged in a few skeins of their lovely yarns. Yum!

After we were home for a while, watching TV, reading (DH) and knitting (moi), we lit a fire in the fireplace - isn't that lovely?

And finally - I've been wanting to knit up some of these fingerless gloves since I saw the pattern on Knitty.com . I cast these on in Classic Elite's Lush yarn this morning, and lo and behold they're blocking now! This pictures doesn't do them justice, but the knitty site does. There is lovely cable detailing on the cuffs and by the knuckles. I love them!

Boy Scout Camp!

Feb. 16, 2007 - several pics

Simon left this evening for a few nights in a cabin (no running water!) with the Boy Scouts. Hope he doesn't freeze his patootie off!

This is some of the snow - you can see that there was so much the driveway couldn't even been completely cleared. Ugh! About half of that pile is ice, too. You can't see it well, but the side of the house is coated in about an inch of ice, as well.

After being traumatized first by her brother, Sam's illness and disappearance, and then even MORE traumatized by his return home, Rosie is finally back downstairs - here she is nearly falling off the window sill by the kitchen sink. She was so enthralled by the dripping faucet that her drooping backside didn't bug her.

Well, on the third try the neck of the sweater finally fits over DH's head and it's ready to finish. I have about a dozen ends to weave in, and a few holes where I added the new balls of yarn, and then some blocking, and it's donesky! And he even likes it!

Picture This

Feb. 15, 2007

Yea, yea, I know - I need to tink back and fix that neck hole. Sigh. The colors look good, though, right? Right???

Sweater Obsession!

2-14-07 My second snow day in a row (unprecedented!) found me inside ALL DAY! it was great! I did knit a bit on other things, and I made breakfast, lunch, dinner for myself and Simon (and b and d for DH), along with cookies - yum! But mostly I just worked like a woman obsessed on this sweater for DH. As you can see, I've started the decreases at the top and I've been adding in the color. Still a lot to go to finish the neck, but I am thinking it's looking pretty good. Also, it'll probably be done before Monday - that's my goal, anyway. :-) I imagine I'll be back at work tomorrow, but it should be a great office day since I was originally scheduled to be doing a puppetry workshop in Zanesville and was going to be gone all day. Given that they still had a Level 3 Snow Emergency all day today, and that things are generally a mess, the workshop is cancelled. (yahoo!)

Picture the Snow!

Sunday, Feb 11 I went out to Ugly Tuna for what we thought would be all-you-can-eat crab legs. No luck. Turns out they stopped that special, but we did get a pound of legs for only $7.50, and that seemed like plenty to me. Was yummy, especially with the sweet potato fries - yum!

I am with, L to R, Sanne, Misty, Deb, Teresa and Theresa (she's shy).

Deb, on the other hand, is not at all shy.

Sanne is from Denmark and is really delightful. She is Misty's Au Pere.

They all seemed mildly interested in the picaday thing, so they had fun doing the pics with me.


Monday, Feb 12 I worked on attaching the sleeves to the body of Mike's sweater. I had to take two tries because of a math error, but all is well now and I'm ready to start shaping the top.

Today, Tuesday, Feb. 13 is a Snow Day! Not just for the schools, but even the library is closed! Yay us! Si and I did venture out to do some shopping (new shoes and pants for snow stuff and his upcoming Boy Scout weekend in the woods, hobby stuff, Invention Convention stuff, etc) This is Simon, out to shovel the walkway. I should have made him shovel the driveway, too, especially since a nice man with a snowblower came by and did the sidwalk for him. If tomorrow is a snow day again (a definite possibility) I will make him do the driveway.

More Pictures!

I don't have enough pictures to cover all the days I've missed, but there is a goodly batch, and I'll try to get back to the one-a-day thing today. Promise!

Well, Samwise has been our worry the last few days. Monday he was perfectly fine - exhibit A shows him sleeping on Mike's lap, thoroughly happy. Tuesday he started acting weird and Wed morning we were sure he was sick. It took him in and he had to spend 3 days in the hospital! He had a urinary tract blockage, poor baby boy!
You can see his front leg, where the IV was in. He seems better now, but he's still recovering. We're all very glad he's home.

On to WIPs:
Mike's sweater is coming along well. This is the body. Now I'll knit up the sleeves and then I'll join them at the armpits and knit the rest! It's really cool, with lots of math to do along the way. There's a group of us all making sweaters with EPS (Elizabeth's Percentage System), explained pretty well here.

I cast on this hat at knit group Friday morning, and finished up by the TV in the evening. It's made of Lush Yarn, and it knit up in a jiffy. It's for a friend of mine who is going through Chemo - I just saw her at a meeting Thursday and didn't even know she was sick until then. This is very very soft, and I hope she likes it.

I also just cast this baby on. I would like a fancy neck scarf like the one I made my mom. This is all mohair, though, and it's already bugging me a bit, but it should make a pretty little scarf, and it's still outrageously colored, so it's my style.

WIPs and Bad Hair!

Saturday, Jan 27, was Bad Hair Day at our house. Of course, we have a lot of them, so if you've not yet sent a card, don't feel bad.
I was going to post a pic of my FIL on Christmas morning to show how this phenomenon spans 3 generations, but I promised him I wouldn't (and he threatened to take me out of the will if I did, actually). :-)

Sunday, Jan 28:
A lovely Sunday. I decided to spend as much of the whole day as possible with my son. Morning was lounging on the couch knitting new leg warmers - a more sedate pair for me to have at work when I have to go to big-wig meetings, etc. We took frequent breaks for snuggling.

Took hubby to the yarn shop for a quick trip - had to get him to pick out new yarn for his sweater. It's my first-ever grown-up-sized sweater and the whole thin-yarn-make-cables-everything-perfect thing was making me insanely afraid of even starting the darn thing. The yarn I got him for Christmas was so thin I would have had to use size 4 needles or smaller, and it was kind of freaking me out. We got new chunky yarn and I was even able to cast on and do some of the bottom ribbing last night. Thanks to Knittingbrow for being at the store, wearing his excellent yolked sweater, and giving us Manly Advice on our purchase and my cast on. Smoochies, KB!

But the most fun thing was taking Simon to family swim time at McConnell Heart Health Center where I work out. He resisted the photo of his wet-headed self, but I resorted to begging and it worked. Also, later last night he lost a tooth! He's growing quickly!

My other book group

1-26-07

Here are some of the women in my other book group! I forgot to take a picture until it was almost too late! Tonight we discussed Waiting for Snow in Havanna and had loads of good discussions. What a great bunch of women! I am doubly blessed to have 2 book groups! More than that, though, because I have the KnitWits and I have women from work and women from Home Church, too. Yay me!

Can you tell I'm an extrovert??

Here's to Great Women!

Sunday, Jan 21 - Book Group #1
We discussed After This by Alice McDermott. I was not as taken with the writing style as the reviewer. I found it somewhat interesting at first, but then I started thinking "when is the introduction going to end?" I'm glad I read it, though I am also glad I didn't bother to finish it. LOL


Monday, Jan 22, Baby Gift! I finally finished up the baby jumper and hat for Lucia Catherine. Isn't it darling? I can't wait to gift them! Mom went into labor Monday morning (the day I finished the gift - 2 weeks before due date!) She didn't have the baby til Jan 24 . . . 49 freakin' hours of labor, and no DRUGS! She's insane, but she's still a very nice woman.

Tuesday, Jan 23
To be honest, I didn't really see much of the day that was worth photographing. Very busy at work and so on, so this is my workout stuff. I did manage to get to water aerobics, and I'm glad I did.

Wednesday, Jan 24 (the day little Lucia Catherine was born and officially named and all that - BTW she's the daughter of one of my staff and his wife.)
I spent nearly all day working at my desk - writing evaluations and preparing/practicing for the training I did on Thursday, and, as you can see, eating while I did some number crunching.

Thursday, Jan 25
I trained CPI Foundation for the second time. My partner in crime was Debbie (on left). The next 2 ladies were in our class, and the fourth is a friend who works at the building where we had our class and joined us for lunch. We had a great class! All wonderful women at lunch, too. Very lovely time!

Today might be a picture-rich day as I'm going to breakfast with a friend, then going to knitting group, then tonight is Book Group #2.

I also need to get embroiled in another interesting knitting project. I need to re-buy yarn for hubby because I'm not liking the yarn I have, and I could pick up my tank top again and work on that (what, something for moi?). It's also been a while since I've made anything for Simon, so that's rattling around . . . and I want to make a retirement gift for my buddy Jean, but her retirement is not til April 1, so I have time.

Party Week!

1-17-07

Our administrators brought us lunch! Soup, salad, fruit, veggies, rolls and brownies. etc. Very nice! We earned it back in September when we all participated in the "Steptember" initiative to become more active and healthy. Yay us!






1-18-07

This being Thursday, I did storytime. Here is the stuff I used. Our theme today was eggs. I got to tell 2 of my favorite jokes. First, why do chickens like the library? Because of all the "book book books!" Then, when we talked about all the other kinds of animals that lay eggs, I asked the kids why frogs like the library. Because they like to "read-it read-it read-it"! :-)



1-19-07

Mike and I went out to our favorite place for dinner. Lovely little restaurant called Ba Sho, where we go for sushi. Best we've ever found! Here is Mike's plate of sashimi . . . and Mike, of course.

1-20-07
I cast on the baby sweater at the Merc on Friday, Jan 12. I had been going to make the Baby Surprise Jacket, but I wasn't confident that I understood the pattern's instructions, so I frogged it and started this kimono jacket sweater. Love it! I altered it a bit so I wouldn't have to sew any seams. I did Kitchener stitch across the tops of the shoulders, then picked up stitches for the arms and knit those in the round to the cuffs. It was fun! I'm really looking forward to making a grown-up sweater next.

BEFORE PICTURE: I didn't quite finish the sweater before the shower. I still had to sew on the ties, so I wrapped the sweater and the ribbon and gave that to her. I asked her to open it first, and then while she opened all the other packages, I sewed the ties on.

AFTER PICTURE: with the red ties. Isn't she the cutest pregnant lady? She's a dear, sweet person. I'm so excited that we'll have a baby in our small group! Jheng's mother is going to be arriving in Columbus on Tuesday, from China. She is a knitter, too, so I plan to bring her to the Merc (even though she knows no English, I'm sure we'll figure out a way to communicate). Jheng doesn't knit at all, and her mother knits, crochets and quilts, so I'm going to do my best to spend some time with her!

Jheng also got 2 baby blankets, both crocheted, from other women in our group, as well as lots of store-bought loot. It was a lovely shower!