Not Design on a Dime...

How do they do completely remodel a room in one day on Design on a Dime (HGTV)? I just cut in around one window and part of the ceiling for an hour and a half and my neck is killing me. I don't mind painting but this is slow going. Scott did get the french doors hung last night and the hardware on tonight. He's done a really nice job on them. I'll see if I can get pictures taken of them tomorrow.

I haven't accomplished much knitting in the past couple of days. The only thing I've worked on is the purple varigated dishcloth and I haven't even finished that. I pulled out some purple sport weight yarn to make some baby booties. It's just about time to post charity totals for the online charity group I'm in and I don't have much done. Not that it matters but I'd like to send something out for March. I have one baby sweater with a matching hat done except for sewing on the buttons. I have another baby sweater done except for buttons but I don't have enough yarn left to make booties or a hat. I found out the yarn is discontinued so I guess I'll just send the lone sweater out. The charity will put it together with booties and a hat from other donations. If I can get a couple pairs of booties made before April 7th, I'll be happy.

Scott mentioned tonight that he thinks it's time to take a trip to Cape Cod again. I totally agree. We love it there and go as often as we can. Usually we camp there for a week in July but we aren't going to this year. It's so busy then that it's hard to do things. We always go at the end of September/beginning of October for our anniversary but we don't want to wait that long. This past October we rented a house for a week with Scott's oldest sister and husband and his middle brother and wife. We had a wonderful time. I think I'm going to check out some rental properties for this time of year and see if we can go for a long weekend. Although, if the weather continues to improve, we might get the travel trailer out of winter storage and camp for a few days. Our favorite campground there is open year round and with the furnace in the trailer, we're all set. Once we get the trailer out of storage, I'll post some pictures. I guess we really don't camp, we go RVing!

No random fact tonight. I think they're getting boring.

My finished dishcloth and the start of another one.

See what Jess sent me! I love the postcard she wrote her note on.

A closer picture of the yarn. I love the colors! 

UFO land

I have so many UFO's right now, it's not funny. I really need to buckle down and finish some of these projects. So, what do I work on yesterday? Dishcloths and a new pair of socks!

My mother gave me some dishcloth cotton and the simple garter stitch pattern because she isn't knitting any more. Her hands just can't take it. I have crocheted dishcloths before but I never tried the garter stitch pattern. So yesterday morning, I sit down and cast on. I can't believe how fast it goes. I was crocheting them thinking that would be faster. It might be a little faster but the dishcloths come out bulkier. I think I've found my new mindless, walking-on-the-treadmill knitting. I finished one yesterday using scraps. Half of it is light blue and the other half is peach. Looks cool. I started another on in purple/blue varigated cotton. Today I got out my folder of dishcloth patterns that I've downloaded and pulled out a few different ones to try. I'd like to have a bunch on hand for quick gifts.

The socks I started are using the Regia 6 Jaquard that I bought in Oswego on Friday. I didn't take a picture of them yet. I have the cuff and 1 1/4 inches of the leg done on the first one. I'm not pushing to finish these any time soon. I just wanted to see how the yarn pattern works up.

I got my Yarn Yoga yarn swap package from Jess yesterday. I love what she sent me. And I think she went a little over the $10 limit! She sent me 2 pairs of 16" circular bamboo needles - sizes 8 & 11. I use these sizes a lot so they will come in very handy. And she sent me a skein of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale cotton yarn. Don't you just love the colors! I'm not sure what I'm going to make out of it yet but I'll be looking for patterns. Thanks, Jess!

I am adding a button for the Yarn Yoga group. Melanie made the button and it's really nice. If you don't see it today, you will see it soon.

I haven't worked on my Knit Red KAL shawl in several days. I'll have to get back to it soon. Every spare minute has been spent working on the living room. I painted all the window frames. One window I have painted 4 times! It's takes 3 coats to cover the dark green paint that's on the woodwork and then we changed the trim color so I painted it again. The original paint color we picked out was too yellow for my taste. We changed it to a white with beige undertones. So it's not really white but not really beige either. Whatever it is, I like it much better.

Okay, I'm supposed to be on the treadmill right now and I'm sitting here typing instead. I hope everyone had a very nice Easter. We did.

RF - My favorite vacation spot is Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Holiday weekend

With the kids both home for the holiday weekend and the computer residing in Alek's room while the living room is under construction, I don't know how much updating I will be doing.

I did get to stop at North Winds Yarns in Oswego yesterday and bought two skeins of handpainted bulky wool in a blue/green colorway (402 yds total) and two skeins of Regia 6 in a jaquard pattern. I'll try to post pictures of both soon. I also have an updated picture of my red shawl but since I'm at work and the camera is at home, it's not going to be posted right now.

I started another of the beanie hats on the way to Oswego yesterday for Alek's friend, Steve. I finished it this morning. Steve's birthday is in a week or so but he's home this weekend so we'll give it to him now. I won't post a picture of the hat since it looks like the other three that I have posted pictures of only it's black with tan stripes.

Well, time to get back to work. Be well!

Random fact - I work for my husband in his plumbing and heating shop doing the books and answering phone.

My Knit Red KAL shawl.

The Butterfly lace pattern is the top right hand one. 

Everyone knows...

I can be such a bitch sometimes. Like my not so nice post of yesterday. Scott and our houseguest got here around 8:45 p.m., we showed her to the den which had the bed all made up, and that was the last we saw of her until 7 a.m. this morning. I think she appreciated having a room all to herself with an attached bathroom. This group of actors travels for 4 1/2 months putting on 1 - 3 shows a day. Every night they stay in a different town in a different house. I know I would appreciate an evening to myself if I had that schedule. We had a chance to chat at breakfast this morning. I would put her age between 20 - 23 and she's from New Mexico. She was very personable although not overly bubbly. I'm still am not super comfortable with strangers as overnight house guests but this turned out just fine.

I never mentioned yesterday why I'm doing the red shawl instead of the Sweetheart Hat. I didn't realize when I started the hat pattern that the hearts were formed by using Twist stitches. That's where you knit into the second stitch on the left hand needle, then knit into the first stitch and slip both stitches off together. I really don't like doing that stitch. So instead of doing a whole hat in a pattern I didn't want to do, I started the shawl. As I was working on it this morning, I realized that the only lace pattern was going to be the center panel and the rest would be stockingette stitch. Boring! So I pulled out "The Knitting Stitch Bible" by Maria Parry-Jones and found a pattern called "Butterfly" that I'm doing on the sides of the shawl. I hope I have it figured out correctly. I took a picture of what I have done so far. Looking at it right now, I may have mistakes already. I doubt I'll tink it since it's going to be for me and the mistakes (hopefully) won't show up too much.

We are driving to Oswego tomorrow to pick Alek up for Easter weekend. I wonder what the chances are that Scott will let me stop at http://northwindyarns.com to do a little yarn shopping. Probably not very good since I seem to have yarn everywhere these days. But I might convince him to drop me off, go to the college and pick up Alek, then stop back for me. We shall see.

Time to get dinner started. I found a veggie salmon steak that Scott is anxious to try. He doesn't really miss meat but he does miss seafood. So we'll see how this fake salmon measures up. Instead of skin around it, they used nori seaweed that is used in sushi. That should give it a kind of fishy taste. Me? I'm having the real thing. Along with wild rice and yellow squash. Yum!!

Random fact - I'd love to be a writer but I think I'm too lazy and I don't have the knack for it. But I still may give it a shot.

Ya know...

there are days when I could just hang my husband by his thumbs! He is such a pain sometimes. In church Sunday there was an announcement that the Tuesday night dinner & service was having a group called Covenant Players perform some skits. The girl making the announcement asked if anyone could put up one or two of the actors. Now I know that we have a nice den that doubles as a guest room in the basement. And it has it's own bathroom so it's very convenient. But I also know that we are remodeling our living room so we are using the den in place of the living room. And I also know that we have never attended the Tuesday night dinner & service. So, what does Scott do but offer our den. WITHOUT ASKING ME! I know I should be more Christian about this but I am not outgoing like he is. I'm not comfortable with strangers in my house that I have to make conversation with and feed breakfast to. I hate cooking for people I don't know. Scott went to the dinner and service. I did not. He and our guest are not back yet. I'm sure it will be fine but I'm still not happy. I mean I've already had two pastor candidates to dinner in the past 3 months. (Scott is the head of the pastor search committee.) I am a reluctant hostess at best.

I started a garter stitch shawl from the knit list gift list for the Knit Red Knit Along. Only I'm not doing it in garter stitch. I like stockingette stitch better so I'm purling the non lace rows. I don't have enough done to take a picture, though. I don't even know what it's going to look like since there wasn't a picture available. I'm using some cranberry Woolease that I had stashed in the attic. It's an easy pattern so I think I'll actually finish it.

Random fact and blather - I am going to be 50 the end of June (it kills me to write this) and my hair is totally white. Not that anyone has seen my hair totally white. Not even me! But when my roots start to grow in they are white, not dark. My sister, Michelle, is 2 1/2 years younger than I am and her hair is totally white, too. But no one has ever seen more than her roots either. And our paternal grandmother has pure white hair at the age of 19. So I guess we were doomed! I have 3 other sisters but two are blonde and the other is a bleached blonde so we don't know how much white hair they have. Ariane is 23 and she's already finding gray hairs. And so did I at her age. Welcome to the family, kid!

I can't stand this

I wrote a whole entry and when I tried to post it, Blogger couldn't find the @#%*&* page. So it's lost in cyberspace somewhere. And I'm too tired to rewrite it. Maybe I'll feel more like it in the morning. Or maybe it'll show up somewhere. That's happened before. Not likely, though.

I tried...

I really tried to get the blue baby sweater done in time for the shower today. But it didn't happen. At 10:45 p.m. last night, I realized that I wasn't quite done with the sleeves, still had to make the hood and button bands, AND had to sew it all together. Not possible. I had been knitting on it since I got home from work with a break for dinner and I knew I wasn't capable of completing this sweater. With this decision came such a sense of relief! I could stop knitting this sweater. Ahhh...

I knew I had the baby helmet that I knit a couple weeks ago and I had enough yarn to make a pair of booties to match. So at 11 p.m., I started the first bootie. The Pacific Life Tennis Tournament was showing Andy Roddick playing Carlos Moya so I was set. When the match finished at 1 a.m. (with Roddick winning!), I had all but the last 5 rows of garter stitch at the top of the bootie done. And major cramps in my hands. This morning I got up around 7 a.m., finished the first bootie and made the second one. They were totally done by 10:30 a.m. Then I ran out to K-Mart, bought a cute little outfit and a security blanket, and had my shower gift. Phew!!

Now I can finish the sweater at my leisure. And I have cast on for my Knit Red Knit Along project. I am making the Sweetheart Hat from the Knitting in the Round book. I was going to used some Germantown wool that was given to me but decided this afternoon to use a skein of Plymouth Encore Worsted Weight in a nice red color. No where near as bright at the other wool but better for this hat, I think. I cast on, knit the first round, and realized I had twisted the stitches! I never twist the stitches when I knit in the round. (Well, almost never). Must be because I was watching the women's tennis championship match at the same time. As I said previously, I love watching tennis! So I ripped it out, cast on again and am starting the ribbing again.

Alek is flying home from California today. I'll be watching his flight progress across the country via the internet. What a wonderful concept the internet is!!

And that's all the news that was the news for today. Signing off until tomorrow...

RF - Ariane and I saw David Hyde Pierce (Nils from Frasier) in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Mass. several years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't get an autograph. Rats!

Baby shower gift of helmet and booties from Sirdar Snuggly DK yarn. 

The baby shower gift in progress as of this morning.

New butter squash color for the living room.

The painted section in the previous picture is right alongside the left side of the front window.

This is the living room before we emptied it. The section I painted in the new color is to the left of the front window. 

I hate deadlines...

I really need to finish this baby sweater soon! I have the fronts done up to the armhole decreases. If I can finish the fronts tonight and cast on for the sleeves, I'll be doing good. Especially since I've been sitting up late to watch tennis and getting up early. I am really tired. You can see from the picture why this project is so boring.

I posted a picture of the new wall color. I don't really think you can tell much from it, though. I also posted a picture of the living room before we emptied it. That is the corner where I painted the new color.

You know what? I think this is the extent of my post tonight. I can't think of anything else to say right now and I need to work on the sweater. Mainly so I can go to sleep. Early night tonight.

Random fact - The extent of my college education is a two year Associates in Applied Science degree from the local community college in Secretarial Science. Scott has a two year AAS degree in Accounting from the same college. That's where we first met. We both wish we had gone on to a four year degree but we didn't.

Mid-week blather...

And that's how my mind is working tonight. Nothing earthshaking or profound, just here.

Last night we had our craft group. Not to be confused with the one meets at the library. That group is all knitters. This group is all friends and not everyone knits. Two of the six people were cross-stitching. It was a nice way to spend the evening. I got the back done on the baby sweater and have started the two front sections. I'm doing them at the same time so they end up the same size. I'll do that with the sleeves, too. Now the trick is to get the fronts to be the same size as the back.

I suppose you're wondering why I'm not working on the aforesaid baby sweater. Well, I decided I wanted to see the new paint color on the living room walls. So I washed the walls and woodwork and painted a section with the "butter squash" paint. And I like it. Which is a good thing. Of course, it's night so I hope I still like the color in the daylight. What am I saying? I will like the color in the daylight. Now I hope I still like it when we put the new furniture in that room.

Man, this is a slow news evening. Working on only the baby sweater makes for a boring entry. That's why I always have several projects going, I get bored with working on the same one all the time. Unfortunately, it takes me longer to finish things, too. Even work was relatively quiet today. I found a pottery jar in a card shop Saturday that reads "Ashes of Problem Customers". I bought it, put in some ashes from the fireplace and set it on the front counter at the shop. The service guys thought it was hilarious. I don't know how the customers will take it.

Well, I guess that's pretty much it for tonight. Tomorrow I'll take a picture of the new paint on the wall and maybe post it.

One more random fact - I'm afraid of heights and can't put my head underneath a bed. And I don't like clowns, circuses, or monkeys.

Knit hat for Kurt in Patons Classic Merino wool.

Red Germantown wool and Sweetheart hat for Knit Red Knit Along 2005. 

It's Monday...

For most people, Monday means having to be back to work. For me, Monday means "oh, I have one more day before I have to be back to work." That's one of the advantages of working for your husband. He works Saturday and takes Monday off. I get both Saturday and Monday off. Works for me! The only problem is that when he's home, I'm expected to do stuff around the house. Which really is as it should be. Stuff needs to get done around the house, and left on my own, it doesn't. So today we spent the morning running around picking up stuff to work on the living room. And this afternoon, he worked on getting the new french doors ready to install and I washed the ceiling, primed over the stencilling, and cleaned the old brass hinges for the french doors. Sounds like I did more, doesn't it? Wrong! Getting those french doors ready to install and be painted/stained is a huge pain in the patootie! Installing the head and foot bolts and sanding it to fit. And measuring it and sanding it to fit again. Yuck! Of course, my big project for this room will be making the curtains. I'm not going to think about this yet.

On to knittier subjects. I have the back of the baby sweater done up to the bind off for the armholes. When I'm done updating here, I'll probably finish the back while watching the Pacific Life tennis tournament. And, hopefully, cast on for the fronts. It is possible that I will get it done for Saturday. I'd like to get a pair of booties done, too. But one thing at a time. Sweater first.

I'm posting pictures tonight. The first is the knit hat I did for Alek's friend, Kurt. It's the same hat pattern that I've posted two other pictures of but this time it's gray and black. I wonder if he got it yet? The second picture is of the red Germantown wool yarn and the Sweetheart hat from Knitting in the Round (House of White Birches) that I'm going to do for the Knit Red Knit Along 2005. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn but I'm going to do the child's size in the worsted weight yarn. It's for charity so it'll fit someone. The wool was given to me with some other yarn to be used for charity. I don't know how old it is but it's in nice shape.

I don't think I mentioned my yarn shopping trip on Saturday. Sue and I went up to A.C. Moore to take advantage of their "25% off all yarn" sale. I bought 14 skeins of Woolease. 7 in forest green heather and 7 in rose heather. I have a knit-from-the-top-down cardigan pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple that I want to make for myself and 7 skeins should be enough yarn. I just don't know which color yet. And the other color will get used for something. The best part is that the 14 skeins only cost me $22.96. That's $11.48 per sweater! I can deal with that. The only problem is that I have to finish Scott's sweater before I start anything for me. And his sweater is a whole other story which I'll relate another time. Suffice it to say, the back is done, the front is done to the neckline and I think the armholes cut in too much. I have to figure it out soon. Otherwise, I'll feel guilty if I start anything for me.

Okay, random fact time. Let's see, what do you not want to know tonight? Okay - I love Johnny Quest. Yep, the cartoon. Alek even bought me the first season of JohnnyQuest on dvd for Christmas this year. I was so excited! The kids bought me a Johnny Quest pin at an antiques and collectible store a few years ago, too. I can't help it. I love that cartoon. At least I don't watch Scooby Doo any more.

I give up!

Here I am complaining about Blogger giving me a "page not found" error when I tried to add the Knit Red Knit Along button and I check my latest post and there is the button! And every single time I tried to save my template, it gave me the error message. What a pain. But at least the button got posted. Sheesh!

Too many books!

Did I ever mention that along with being a yarnaholic, I'm a book junkie? I love books and I don't like getting rid of them. I do read books over and over if I like them. So I tend to have books all over the house. And not just knitting books - there are books on cooking, gardening, embroidery, beading, basketweaving, writing, general crafts, antiques, fantasy and sci fi, mystery and suspense, romance, old children's mystery books, classics, etc. I read a lot. Well, the amount of books that I have was impressed on me today when we cleaned out the living room. And I mean "cleaned out". We are redoing the living room and had to move everything out. The old furniture is in the garage waiting to go to the kids. The computer is in Alek's room and everything else is down in the basement. Including the two bookcases full of books. One bookcase is a 5 section, glass fronted, legal bookcase. The kind with the glass door that swing up. The other one has 4 - 39" shelves on it. I carried every book on these two bookcases down cellar. And they were both full. I am tired! I wish I had counted how many trips I made up and down those stairs. I'm just glad I didn't have to empty the two bookcases that are in my bedroom. too! Now all the work of painting walls and woodwork, refinishing the floor, and installing the new french doors begins. Oh, and making curtains, too. What are we doing for furniture, you ask? Luckily, last year we turned Ariane's room in the basement into a den. So we do have a couch and chair to use until the new furniture is delivered. The den is small so I prefer having my living room.

Alek made it to California in one piece. Of course, he never let me know that he got there. I finally sent him a text message this morning and he called me. His luggage didn't arrive with him but I guess they delivered it around 10:30 a.m. today. He was going to spend the day on the beach. Sounds good to me and I don't even like the beach that much.

I joined the Knit Red Knitalong 2005 yesterday. I have been trying to add the button to my template but Blogger is not cooperating right now. I'm just hoping this entry will post. Hopefully, I'll get it to work tomorrow. I have some pictures to upload from the digital camera, too. But I'm too tired to fool with that tonight.

For the rest of the evening (until I crash) I'm going to sit in the den with my hubby and knit the baby sweater that needs to be done by Friday. And since I have about 8 rows total done, I'd best get a move on.

Random fact of the day - I am a pro tennis fan. I don't play tennis but I love watching it. I watch all the major tournaments that are televised. Both kids played in high school so I learned the rules watching their matches and now I'm hooked! I would probably play if my knees weren't so wonky. But they are, so I don't.

Ta for now!

Look at what Kitt made me!!

Kitt made a button for me! Actually she did several and I've posted three of them for you to take. But please don't copy it without using the "save picture as" feature. Thanks so much, Kitt!

This is about as long as this post is going to be. I am headed for bed. But first I'm going to check Flight Tracker and see how close to California Alek is right now. He's flying out to visit Donna's son, Kurt, in San Luis Obispo.

Oh, it looks like he's fairly close to Los Angeles right now. Once there he has an hour wait until he leaves for the last leg of the trip. This is the first time he's flown since he was about 5 so I'm a little nervous for him. He has a couple of friends with him so that eases my mind somewhat.

Okay. I'm out of here.

Oh, I'm almost forgot my random fact about me - I didn't eat meat for about 4 years. I did eat fish, though. And Scott has been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about 16 years now. The kids never went veg, though.

Izzy standing in the kitchen. Her favorite frog is behind her. Isn't she cute? Just ignore Alek's luggage that is also in the kitchen. He was getting ready to head back to Oswego. 

It's Friday...

And I'm tired. I finally got all the books done for the accountant last night. I'm glad that's done for another year.

I've been visiting other blogs and stealing buttons but I'm not going to add them here until tomorrow. Sorry to be so lazy.

I did add a quote to my footer the other day. I couldn't believe it when I searched the quote sites online and couldn't find one appropriate quote about knitting. The only quote that seemed remotely fitting was the one by Coco Chanel. I'm going to have to search around a little more. Any suggestions?

I'm getting a little more comfortable with HTML. I even added the quotation marks around the quote using HTML. I think I'm going to have to buy a more comprehensive book on it, though. I would like to have a button but haven't the faintest idea how to do it. I'll google and see what I find.

I'm abandoning the baby blanket for now. It would never be done in time for the shower. So (as I always seem to do) I started another project. This one is a baby hoodie from a free Bernat pattern. I started it around 4:30 p.m. today and have 5 inches done on the left and right fronts. I'm doing them together so they're the same length. I only worked on the sweater for a couple of hours since we went to friends' for dinner. Almost every Friday night we get together with two other couples and order take out. We switch houses each week. It makes for a nice end to the week.

The only picture I'm posting tonight is of my crazy little dog. She's a cutie but she's a real PITA, too.

I'm glad to see Blogger has their comment function fixed finally. Too bad I don't remember what blogs I was going to comment on. Eh, my comments probably weren't that profound anyway.

I think I'm going to start ending my entries with a random fact about myself. Kind of like "100 things about me" without having to think of everything all at once. Here's today's fact - I'm the oldest of 6 kids. I have 4 sisters and one brother.

Night t'all.

Ahhh, much better!

I really wasn't fond of the pink blog template I was using. I have no idea what possessed me to pick pink. I am not a pink person. Now the green, I like. Calm and soothing.

I have to go on a mini rant right now. Can someone please inform the news media that most people don't give a rat's a** about Martha Stewart and what she's doing every minute of every day!! And could that same person notify the Knit List that they are making spectacles of themselves by obsessing over Martha wearing a hand crocheted poncho when she walked out of the prison gates. And now Lion Brand is trying to come up with a pattern for this poncho. HELLO! People! Ponchos have been the fad for the last year and a half! And every single pattern imaginable has been written for them. Lion Brand has offered probably 20 different patterns all by themselves. What the HELL difference does it make what the pattern is for the one she wore??!!! Get a fricking grip!!!

Whew! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I am continuously annoyed by the way the news media slants the information they receive and incessantly reports the same thing from 16 different views when one accurate report would suffice. Enough said - I'm done now.

I have been a little bit of a knitting slacker that past day or so. Yesterday I didn't even pick up the needles. I'm trying to finish the gray and black knit hat for Alek's friend, Kurt. I'm not going to send it to Alek, though. It'll never get there in time for him to take to California. I'll mail it directly to Kurt. I just have to do the last few decrease rounds, weave in the ends and it'll be ready to go.

The baby blanket that I have to have done by March 19th is now at 12". The last time I reported on the length, it was at 10 1/2". That's not very good. I guess I need to do only the blanket for the next week. I don't like working on only one project at a time. Even if I'm enjoying it, I still get bored with it.

And I'm trying to decide what to do about the Alien Scarf. Alek liked the idea but said he wouldn't wear it. The colors weren't what he would wear. So, do I finish it and see if someone else wants it or do I just bind off now and have one cool alien to pull out when I want to show someone what illusion knitting looks like? Actually, I bet if I finished it, Alek's friend, Steve, would wear it. And he'd wear one of the knit hats made in the black yarn with spring green stripes to match. I think that's what I'll do. It would be a shame to just leave it only partly done.

I guess it's time for me to stop fooling around on the computer and take up my knitting. Neither the hat nor the blanket will ever be finished if I continue to blather on here. Adieu...

Quick note..

The white in the foreground of the lake picture is snow on the ground but as you look out toward the lake, all the white is ice chunks on the lake.

Knit hat done in dark gray Naturally Double Knit New Zealand wool and Plymouth Encore in a heathery rust. It's not really that pink.

Alek wearing his hat.

That is one cold looking lake! 

Some stuff

Wow, yesterday was a busy day. We took Alek back to Oswego and I did get a couple of pictures of Lake Ontario that I'm posting. I couldn't get very close to the water but I think if you click on the picture, it will show the water a little closer. Looks cold, doesn't it?

Saturday I had Alek pick out two colors he liked and made him another of the close fitting hats. He really likes them. I posted pictures of the hat by itself and the hat on Alek's head. He has his dorky smile on. The pattern is from Better Homes and Gardens' Knit It! 2004 issue. I love it because it goes so fast. I started another one in gray and black for him to take to California to Kurt. I'd better get it done and in the mail to him because he leaves Saturday.

After dropping Alek off, Scott and I stopped at the NYS fairgrounds in Syracuse and attended the CNY RV Show. We love looking at all the different travel trailers. We have a 28 foot Sunline with slide out that we bought two years ago but we'd like to get something with a little different layout. Not this year, though. At least I don't think so.

I never did go into work Saturday. I decided that Alek was only home for basically that one day so I spent the day with him. Nothing exciting, we did some shopping and watched t.v. but we did it together.

Well, I need to go get ready for the day. We have to go and get the new french doors and the curtain fabric for the living room. And we have to finish cleaning out the cellar so we can start working on the living room.

Happy dance!!

It's fixed! Thanks to Susan, who quickly scanned my code, saw the glaring typo I made (and skimmed right past), and advised me to change "herf" to "href", my buttons are now all in working order. If I'd had time to figure out how to do it, I would have linked her name to her blog (www.ma2ut.blogspot.com). I'll research this later.

Now I really have to get ready and go to work. Good thing I work for my husband and it's Saturday. But playing with my blog won't get the tax stuff done.

I don't get it.

Why do only some of my buttons work and the rest won't? I have looked at the code and looked at the code, tried some things, put things back and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to offer them. They all worked before I deleted them. Then I used the same saved pictures to repost them. And I went back and copied them all again but nothing seems to be working. I checked URL's, too and I think they're right. I guess I have to do a little more reading.

I'm going into work for a while today. Whether I post anything later or not, remains to be seen.

I'm learning...

I will eventually get better at this blog/html thing. This morning I thought I'd clear out some things in photobucket that I wasn't using. Well, in my infinite wisdom, I deleted the pictures of the buttons I'd added to my blog. Then I spent most of the ride to Oswego reading HTML 4 for Dummies to see why the buttons didn't show up in my blog anymore. I came home and fiddled around a little more with the html code and all of a sudden the answer popped into my head - put the pictures back in photobucket! And then Alek told me that I have to have something for the code to link to. Makes much more sense now. Every time I try something new, I learn lots!

After I stopped reading in the truck, I worked some on the baby blanket. And I worked on it on the way home. It's an hour and 40 minute ride one way so I made some progress. It's now 10 1/2" long. Obviously, I didn't work on it the entire time.

I was going to take some pictures of Lake Ontario while we were at the college (State University of New York at Oswego) but the wind was blowing quite hard and it was snowing quite a bit so I didn't walk to the lake. Maybe when we take Alek back on Sunday, I'll get some pictures. It's really cool looking in the winter because the lake freezes near the shore and the waves farther out come crashing over the ice chunks. Since this is one of the Great Lakes, these waves are as large as ocean waves. Really beautiful but really cold!

No pictures today. I don't have anything new to share right now. And not much to report on the knitting front since I'm only working on the baby blanket. Oh, one good thing - Alek likes the hat I made a couple weeks ago. It's the beanie one in tan and black. I'll make some more and he can keep them or hand them out to his friends.

I should head for bed. I have to go into work tomorrow and see if I can get the bookwork caught up for the accountant. I'm still learning my way around Quick Books so I'm not finished with 2004 yet. So it's off to work on a Saturday. Reminds me of when I worked in an accounting office and had to work every Saturday from January until April 15th. I certainly don't miss those days.

Here's the lone completed alien.

Here's what I have done on the baby blanket.

These icicles are outside the upstairs window. 

I tried...

I guess my pictures are too big to put within my posts. So until I figure out how to resize my images, I'm going to use Hello! It works quite well for now.

The pictures are really self explanatory. One of the baby blanket in progress, one of the alien scarf and one of some really cool icicles that formed outside the upstairs windows. I have no idea why they are that shape but it's pretty neat looking.

Ariane is stopping tonight for dinner on her way through to Boston. That's going to be one helluva trip! She's driving the 2 hours from Rochester to here, having dinner and leaving around 9 p.m., driving the 2 1/2 - 3 hours to Springfield, MA, meeting up with her friend, Maura, at Maura's parents' house, then together they are driving the rest of the way to Boston. I think it's another 1 - 1 1/2 hour drive. They won't even get their friend, Barton's, until the wee hours. Ahh, to be young again! Nope, don't think I want to be!!

Well, I'm not getting ready for work if I'm sitting here so I'd best leave! Until next time...

Button, Button...

I have a button! I joined photobucket and posted my first button! The world is mine and I'm going to add buttons to it!! At some point, anyways.

And now, I'm going to try and add pictures within my post. Let's see if this works.
[IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Suefaye/closeupofblanket.jpg[/IMG]
If I did this right, you should now see a picture of the baby blanket I'm working. Let's check 'preview'... Okay, preview shows the html code so I'm going to take a chance and continue with this post. I have a little over 8" done on the blanket. I'm exhibiting unheard of self-control and only working on this project until I get it done. We'll see how long that lasts!

Next we're going to post a picture of the alien scarf. I have one whole alien face done. Unfortunately, I have 5 more to go. But, I shall persevere! And, hopefully, here's the picture.
[IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Suefaye/aliencloseup.jpg[/IMG]

And for my last trick of the evening, here is a picture of the icicles that are on the eaves outside the upstairs windows. They are really cool looking.
[IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Suefaye/coolicicles2.jpg[/IMG]

Okay, the moment of truth is on us. If it doesn't work, I'll post them again but I really hope I'm being halfway competent with these posting. Wish me luck!!


Farts! It didn't work the way I hoped. Okay. I'm trying one more thing.

This is the outdoor fireplace last Saturday.

And here is the same fireplace today.

This is the birdfeeders at the side of the house on Saturday.

Same birdfeeders today.

And here's my car and Isabella this morning. 

Snow for sale!

Anyone want to buy some snow? We have plenty to spare. I'm going to post some pictures from Saturday and then the same locations from today. Bear in mind that today's pictures were taken about 10 a.m. and it hasn't stopped snowing all day. And it's not supposed to stop for a while. Someone tell me again why I live here?

Knitting wise I did some more on the baby blanket. I have 6 1/2" done. I worked on that this morning before work. Tonight I only got a row done. I've been reading instead. I'm rereading some of the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey. I like reading fantasy.

Not much else going on around here. TV sucks big time. How can I pay for cable and not get more than two or three shows that are worth watching? I think I need to go away somewhere. At this point, almost anywhere different will do. It doesn't help that I have a nice cold sore on my lip. GRRR! Actually, I'm not that miserable. More bored than anything. I should go to bed but I think I'm going to go knit on something.

Enjoy the pictures!