The Joy of Fabric

January 11, 2009

We FINALLY put the tree away!  Ive had everything else packed up for the past week.  At first, Doug wanted to leave it up for a while because Olive enjoys it so much.  I was able to convince him that it’s not good for her to be doing all that climbing, especially since she pulled out all her stitches.

p1010577  I hope this isn’t too gross for anybody.  Well, actually, I don’t really care.  This is my blog.  It’s not red, swollen or weeping so I’m just going to keep an eye on it.  She is much more active today so I think she will be all right. 

I set up my cutting table this afternoon and started to pull out appropriate nightie fabric.  I going to make two  or three or maybe four.  I like these the best.  I’ve got two cut out so far.  I might as well go for four.

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I finished one sock.  The yarn is great, but the pattern isn’t.  The sock is a little too wide, but not unwearable.  I’m beginning to wonder why I even try these patterns.  I have plenty of my own.  If the yarn they send wasn’t always so nice, I’d stop getting it.  I should be getting my Red Bird  kit some tine this month.  Then, I’ll be happy.

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She’s Alive

January 8, 2009

She’s not very happy, but she’s getting around well.  Her stitches are on her side rather than her belly which is something I have not seen before.

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Needy Zippo

January 8, 2009

Olive went to the vet this morning to get tutored and Zippo is starting to miss her.  He is trying to lay on my chest right now so typing is difficult.  He started calling for her this afternoon and now he’s a real basket case.  Actually, Doug is being a real pain, too.  I can pick her up after 10AM tomorrow and he will probably be pushing me out the door at 945.

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Perhaps, tomorrow, I’ll take a picture of the sock I’m working on.

Kevin

January 7, 2009

After reading about Chris’s new grandchild, I got to thinking about my own.  He is 14 1/2 years old, but I doubt that I will ever forget the day he was born.  My son-in-law called just as we were going to bed to say that he was taking Jenn down to Hopkins.  This was two days before Dr. T planned to induce labor.  Shehad gestational diabetes and Kevin was a good size.  Anyway, John promised to call after she was settled.  When the alarm went off at 5AM, I got up and called Hopkins.  They put me through to her.  She said to me, “When are you coming, Mommy?”  Right then, my heart did a little flip flop.  My daughter wanted me there at her side.  That little sentence told me so much.  I said I would be there as soon as the doors to Win’s summer day camp opened.  I got there in plenty of time.  Kevin’s cube shaped head didn’t help matters any.  When I held him for the first time, I couldn’t help but to count his fingers.  His hands were so much wider then Win’s.  And so was his chest!  He was built like his father.  But, when I looked into those eyes, it was like looking at my little girl all over again.  He still looks like his Mom and he’s got her mouth, too.  When he’s ready, the girls better watch out because my first husband was a great kisser.

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All Time High

January 5, 2009

I couldn’t believe the number of people that looked at this blog yesterday.  And it was a variety of places other than yesterday’s crap.  Interesting.

I was going to have this nice newsy blog this afternoon.  Then I realized it was knitting group day and I wanted to look at ipod accessories beforehand.  I wanted to wear my Latvian Dances, but I couldn’t find them.  One of the cats had jumped up onto the cutting table, sending the socks into the flower pots.  How do they do these things?   I couldn’t find my water bottle or my sunglasses.  I was kind of going crazy.  When I got down to the stores, I couldn’t get any deceit answers.  Everything I was interested in was on the bottom shelf.  I guess I’ll just buy on-line.

I had a nice time at knitting group.  We’re going to do an entrelac thing next time so I’ll dig out a few things and print out a few patterns.  Afterwards, Leslie and I went out to dinner and talked for a long time, so I guess I’m a bit talked out now.  When I finally got to the computer I started looking at the blog surfer.  Bad idea.  I am amazed at what I find, like this and this.  I lost tract of time.  Here’s my own kind of cute.

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Latvian Dances

January 3, 2009

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I finished the Latvian socks last night.  The pattern was almost perfect, considering all the charts that came with it.  I would recommend Red Bird to anyone.  The pattern did not have the two colors on the toes or bottom of the heel.  That was my doing.   These socks took less time to make than my red socks.  The increases and decreases in the red socks slowed me down.  Knowing how to hold yarn in either hand made these go fast and I am very happy with them. 

I’ve started another pair of socks.  The color is not to my liking, but the yarn feels wonderful.  The directions are a little strange.  The writer did not use standard abbreviations and some of the explanations are not well thought out. Perhaps, they were never proof read by an impartial subject.  I would probably drop this club and just get Red Bird more often, but they always send such great yarn.  What do I do? 

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We had a bit of snow this afternoon.  It was gone in a couple of hours.  But it certainly was pretty to look at while it lasted.

Not Going Anywhere

December 31, 2008

It has been extremely windy all day.  I didn’t have much of a walk today.  Trying to fight the wind and walk at the same time is too much for my poor knees.  Now, it’s getting colder.  We used to go out with new year’s eve with the neighbors, but the main organizer turned out to be more than most of us could stand.  He always wanted to go to someplace fancy.  Then, he would treat the wait people like dirt.  It was very embarrassing.  He always had to show that he was better than you.  I don’t know why people have to be that way.  Most people do it occasionally, but with him it was all the time.  I feel sorry for his wife.

I am glad the year is over.  I said that I would blog every day and I did.  But, I feel that other things were neglected and I did not learn as much as I thought I would. So, I will be blogging less this coming year.  I want to spend my computer time doing other things.  If I stare at the screen for too long, I feel like I am frying part of my brain.  I was originally thinking about blogging on odd days, but maybe ten times a month is more realistic.

My next goal is to finsh my Latvian socks by Sunday so I can wear them to group.  That also means that I will also have to wind yarn before that for my next pair of socks.  I only have about an inch to do before decreasing for the toe.  Is there anything good on TV tonight?  Well, I wouldn’t mind having a look at Dick Clark.  I used to watch him on American Bandstand fifty(?) years ago.  Scary.

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One More Day

December 31, 2008

Olive watching the Pixel Pixies.

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Maude trying to sleep.

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More Nano Stuff

December 30, 2008

Today, I subscribed to a couple of podcasts.  They were good to listen to while I was folding clothes.  I added one of my Buddy Holley CDs.  Even the picture of the album showed on the screen.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll read about DVDs.  It would be nice to have my Lucy Neatbys on it.  I am also wondering about deleting the music that came on it.  There’s nothing there that I am really interested in listening to again and they take up almost 1GB.  This thing has 8GB and I’ve got a lot of CDs.

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Here’s Fergie in her new dress.  Nancy says she loves to wear it.

Nano Stuff

December 28, 2008

So, I downloaded iTunes and I read a bunch of stuff.  It said it has to charge for three hours so I thought I would blog.  I looked at accessories.  I know I want to be able to play it in the car.  I like being able to put my CDs on it.  I looked at some package deals, but only a few had what I wanted.  I’ll probably make my own case for it.  It needs to have a pocket for the earpiece.  I’ll probably also make a separate case for the other stuff .  I’ll have to look through my stash.

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Here’s Olive in a rare pose.

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That’s more like it.