April update

We still have snow

Daytime temps are in the upper 30's

Nighttime temps are in the teens

A hen is wanting to sit on eggs

Frieda is laying and 1 goose is still laying

Knitting

3 strand cowl (ravelry pattern)

Used 4 different yarns

1 homespun sea foam green

1 homespun black

1 boucle black

1 fun fur black

Needles US 35

Cast on March 30

Seamed up March 31

February

February 2014

many things happening,

mostly knitting.

trying to do

ravellinics

with a pair of socks for Pippi.

still knitting through Elizabeth Zimmermann Knitters Almanac

this month

so far baby hat is done.

and working on 

FBS

after the sweater/tunic/dress

is baby booties and a diaper cover.

the last 3 should go fast!

the days are getting longer

but still cold and windy.

we finally have DSL
after 9 long years.

Little Mama Mallard got munched by an owl.

Saturday sky

(between snowfalls)

tot playing in today's snow...
about 4 inches of the stuff.
Holly wants to play too....
Hugo wants to play w/Holly.
(he plays so hard in the snow!)

no eggs... wondering if Holly isn't eating them.
The goose is limping again.

Now for the finished knitted items from January

Drop Stitch Moebius cowl
yarn used: lion brand trellis
this is an ick!

a Coffee corset
(free Ravelry download)
knitted with Malabrigo
(wonderful stuff)
Fire in the Head fingerless gloves
(erratas in the pattern)
yarn used: was some previously dyed w/Kool Aid
used US 6 dpns and got a child's large size
My grandmothers slippers
yarn: 2 strands of Dusty Rose Red Heart
size made: child shoe size 9

To Russia With Love....
Pattern: Scrappy Hat (archived)
yarn: 1 strand of fun fur and 2 of grey/black boucle
has been donated and already snatched up as a
chemo cap.

Saturday....

not really Saturday sky...

but this is a Pizza Delivery car
we spotted last Saturday while in Homer.

(notice the minimal ground clearance?)


baby beanie
Made for :
Janet along over in Ravelry
Harry Potter House Cup
and possibly Charity Knitting for Destiny Podcast.
Needles: US 2 and US 4
Yarn: Bernat Softee
Size: possibly 3 mos.
Cast on Sunday March 15 and wove in ends March 21.

Baby Bootie:
finished back in January.

an example of optical knitting.
do you see a paw print?
this is for the
Harry Potter House Cup
Care of Magical Creatures- March.
knitted using US 8
yarn: Sugar and Cream cotton
very fast.
only took 2 nights.

My socks that I knitted 2 at a time.
(notice the size difference?)
will be making another pair.
Needles: US 5
Yarn: Woo Ease
finished finally back in Feb?

Knitting: have been knitting lots lately. finished a sock for DM, now to cast on another and finish before March 26th.
And now my total of finished items for this year is: 10. not to bad as we are in week 11 of the 2009. (for one of my finished items please check out Ravelry- it is an Easter Present).

Spring Break is finally over and it was crazy out at the pool. Wednesday i fell in while attempting a rescue (the person who i landed by thought i jumped though).

update on why i haven't been blogging, what with the hard drive crashing, then about the time i thought about blogging more the 1 G memory card for the camera went missing. we found it today, Bumpkins had stuffed it into the card slot sideways.

Mt. Redoubt has been steaming alot- will try to take camera tomorrow with us in the car for pictures. Last Sunday there was a minor eruption. but nothing since.

Dinner: made an inexpensive dinner with stir fry veggies and 1 round steak. fed us and was under $7.00 (that includes rice, veggies, soy sauce and steak).

we still are having negative temps in the am and the batteries in my remote start key fob are dead.

Sunday Quotes

"Look! an airplane cloud"
Bumpkins

"I want to lay big and make pictures"
Bumpkins


Translations:
in colder temps the airplanes leave
a vapor trail behind-
Today's was really long!

Bumpkins wants me to hold her
until she falls asleep.
Dreams are making pictures.

No new pictures. Kind of depressed- lost all of my pictures when the hard drive crashed. So what ever isn't uploaded to flikr or Picassa are gone.

The tree is up and an angel put on. (learned the hard way to not stand on the arm of the chair to put something on the top of the tree). yep= the chair started to flip over into the tree. Still need to put up stockings, and other decorations. Minimal as Bumpkins and Hugo wont' leave anything alone.

Knitting: these blasted socks are really doing me in. If ever you feel challenged to do two at a time socks. First master short row heels and use stitch markers to mark what is done. Still have 2 more ends to tie in for Bumpkins scarf and still need to block it.

quilting: have ripped out the quilting so many times on DH's guitar quilt.

Thank you for all the well wishes, i am feeling better. Still get tired very easily, but no longer am coughing super hard.

Temps have dropped back down to the single digits.

Strange Stuff Tuesday

Transfiguration homework:
Make something that would be found in
a wizarding household.
Must be steeked and freeform.

this is a mohair vest that I picked up at
Bishops Attic
(thrift store)

Decided to steek it.......
once down the middle
and then across the shoulders.

Felted it...
bother regular and
Shiboli
(Japenese felting by placing waterproof items
in fabric, securing with rubber bands and
tossing in washing machine)
In this case it was glass hearts held in place w/bitty hair rubber bands.
that is what makes the bubbles.

and finally restitching together to form...
a kitty sweater!

In this view you see my machine embroidery
and crochet edging.
there are also 4 buttons sewed on to
hold the straps in place.

here is a close up of the Shiboli.

And that is what the best dressed cats

wear while attending Hogwart's.

Knitting: and now to start the final project for this month's House Cup. A pair of socks- think that I will get them done before this week is over? What with working, cooking, eating and shopping?

someone that frequents the pool might have some toys to pass on to Bumpkins. That'll be nice!

The weather outside is atrocious! Very windy and snowy. In places the snow has drifted over the road to where you can't tell that you are driving over the yellow line until you are on top of it and mostly in the oncoming traffic's lane.


and because what I made wasn't strange enough how about this one? Wonder if it comes in minivan size.

Last night made an awesome sweet potato pie- but a bit to much nutmeg. One of my coworker's loved it! He locked himself in the kitchenette and wouldn't let anyone else near him. Made me feel extremely good!

Saturday Sky and Sunday Quote

"Autumn is a season followed immediately by looking forward to Spring."
- Anonymous

Saturday Sky....

(if you click on it you may see snow on the Mountains).

Yarn......

Currant dye bath
using this link
Used salt as a fixative

Final product....
to light so I overdyed w/strawberry Kool Aid.
and it felted.

Knitting: have been doing Lots! As I am in a Ravelry Harry Potter House Cup. And am enrolled in 3 classes each month. This month is Herbology (hence the dyeing). Charms - knitting a scarf for someone. History of Magic- a brief quiz that is online. And am not sure if I am going to do Astronomy again or if I will try Potions. So folks Christmas gifts may be odd.......
Also frogged DM's sock it wasn't working out.

Quilting: am working on the Round Robin Quilt. It is very challenging. Need to get sewing on other projects though.

Have been pretty busy w/work. Hugo seems to be settling down- though today he ate DH's earbud piece while DH was working on a Resume'. It snowed here on Friday (just enough to make everyone groan). Have been picking berries, have a bucket that needs to be tended to tonight. Still need to get the last bit of rhubarb and lingonberries in. Decided to make a rhubarb and lingonberry sauce for Christmas dinner. Also the best way to pick currants is to take scissors and clip the chains into a bucket. Super easy! Just make sure the bucket is centered under the chain.

Thing 2 is finished w/Football. Last game was played on a field that was covered in ice (recently plowed) they lost 40- 14. So now it is wrestling season, great here comes the anorexia/starvation. He hopes to only have to lose 10 lbs to make weight.



Weather: sunny, cloudy and temps are running in the low 20's F (am) and daytime rising to 50 F.

Dinner: last night Cornish Pasties! Delish, dessert was heavy cake.

Saturday Sky and Sunday Quote

Saturday Evening sky....
around 8:30pm

Don't you just love the stuff some folks toss out?
Bumpkins now has a little bike.
(perfectly good)

Bad photo job........

"The dog was created specially for children.
He is the god of frolic."
~Henry Ward Beecher

Knitting: lots - that is pretty much all that I have been doing lately. Started a Norwegian Earflap hat for Bumpkins. Also cast on for a pair of wristlets Super easy. In bulky yarn Cast on 30 knit for 8 inches. Sew up ends about 2/3 then leave space for thumb then sew up the rest. It is a lion brand pattern. I am using Twister and US 13 needles. This last week also finished up a washcloth. hope to post pics this next week.


Have been kind of busy around here, what w/Hugo training, work, home schooling preschool, and Thing 2 having Homecoming this week. The pool finally opened on Thursday am. On Wednesday I was sick so I stayed home and vegged. Friday night was spent out at the Church Camp for a Ladies Evening Out. That was a lot of fun.

Bumpkins has been having a rough time....Monday she was eating a gummie fruit in the car, when she pulled a portion of her tooth out of her mouth. Needless to say emergency trip to the dentist. And the Kenai area has no Ped. dentist full time. The tooth that was broken is a portion of a composite front tooth. Saturday afternoon she decided to climb up some shelves. Well she fell on a Fisher Price little people house and barn, she was hurt. (but didn't stop her from climbing though). Tonight while getting ready to go for our evening walk, she got her fingers shut in the screen door. So no walk and we had to ice her fingers.

Well I better wrap this up before she falls asleep.

If I don't get back this week hope everyone has an awesome week.

Random Website Monday

Today was a hard day on the snow people population.......
A very busy day at the bird feeder.
We had Boreal Chickadees, Black capped Chickadees
Nuthatches.....
and this guy.

While I was airing out the house....
Athena discovered the bird feeder too.

The baby booties that will fit a 12 mos. not
3-6 mos like the pattern said.
(Athena was interested in what I was doing..
probably looking for catnip).

Knitting: Many more rows on DM's sock.
Sewing: Altered a shirt for DH's coworker. DH said he couldn't even tell where the repair was made. So I am charging $15.00. That'll pay for some new bobbins. And the rest goes into a piggy bank for Crafts. Need more knitting needles.... need more yarn.... need more material.... need time to do these things!

Anyone notice the clean tabletop the booties are sitting on? Well the sewing machine table got cleared off tonight as well. Put away patterns, threw mittens away that didn't quite make a mitten. Also found the pattern for Bumpkins cardigan so now the sleeves can be started.

Random Website: The snowman website.. Yes the "man" has a site of his own!

Saturday Sky

Today's sky- anther gray day.
(had to put a tree in it so it didn't look
like a piece of paper)

What is hanging out in your backyard?
Thankfully these guys were in someone else's yard!
(if you guessed Bald Eagles- you were correct).

Do you remember the big snowbank?
This is how much it has melted.
A boring shot of the swing set today...
Bumpkins did try to play on it...
but she doesn't like how the snow feels.

This the snow on Easter:
(first visit to the swingset all winter)
And very difficult to swing
really had to raise your legs
to even swing.


Yes hard enough to walk on.

Knitting: Worked on many things this last week. Have only 18 inches more to go on DH's scarf (my goal is to knit an inch a day!) frogged back DM's sock so now it is ready for the turning of the heel. And lastly knit another 4 rows on Bumpkin's cardigan.

Work: been very busy, Wednesday through Friday was 7- 5 shift. DH has been working too, midnight to 8 am. That meant Bumpkins had to get up at 6 am to go to daycare- long days for her. But she did really good, even took some naps there (she usually doesn't nap). Thursday night was a long night for me (for some unknown reason I am having nightmares again. This time 4 of them in a 5 hr period. All the dreams/nightmares were similar, little kids drowning).

So no new movies have been watched, nor books read. Did check out the "History of the Snowman" and another "Saxons, Vikings and Celts" should be some interesting reading.

Made Frito pie in the crockpot. Turned out different- things to do differently: after skinning chicken only add 1 c water to mixture. (Oh yeah.. I used a whole chicken instead of beef). Also made little pocket sandwiches out of the leftover shredded pork- delish.

Weekly yard picture

Our Saturday Evening sky: picture taken at 7:20 pm.

We all are excited that it is daylight so late in the day!
(I did miss the snow falling this morning though).

And this is what the Swing set looked like Friday March 14 2008,
Saturday morning there was a light dusting of snow on it.

Knitting: missed the Ravelry knit group meet up today. But have cast on and am now 2 inches into a pair of socks for DM. These have to get done before March 26th- they are for her Birthday. Last night Thing 2 requested that I mend some store bought gloves for him. I replied that I could knit him a pair, but I didn't know how to mend. So last night I went on Ravelry and found him a vintage glove pattern that is knit on 2 needles. Now I need to find the DK/sport weight yarn to make them.

Went shopping today.. yikes food is expensive! Other than eggs , milk, sour cream and bread I shouldn't need to go shopping this week at all! Yes I am all ready for Easter, even have the fixings for Easter Dinner.
Easter Dinner Menu:
Corned beef (7 + lbs of point cut in fridge)
potatoes (10 lbs on the shelf)
carrots (2 lbs in fridge)
small green cabbage (in fridge)
Rolls
Dessert... shortbread cookies (unless Princess requests something else).
I know that traditionally that this should be made on Monday March 17th, St. Patrick's day. But it is my families most favorite meal and Princess will thoroughly enjoy it.