Friday, December 30, 2005

Elizabeth I scarf is started for the fourth time.

I started my "Town and Country" scarf again today during my lunch break. I am ready to do the first row of lace and pray I can follow the chart correctly. I have never actually worked with charts. All my other projects were written directions. We are expecting 1 to 3 inches of snow for New Year's Eve. I will be hunkered down with this, a hot drink, and watching the white stuff from the window.

I just peaked in at KR and saw Ellieknits had left a thread about her gift from me. I am so glad she really liked everything. If she wants more of the yarn, I will offer to give her name to my friend, Robin, who has it.The fleece for this yarn came from the farm where her daughter works and Robin had it spun into yarn. I also bought some of the same yarn for myself. We exchanged gifts at work and she gave me some of a dark gray/black color to complement my natural tone. All the yarn is in it's natural shades . There also was a new tote bag and the book shaped like a sock. She knows I like to make socks and thought I would like it. It's one of the few books that was not in my library and now is proudly displayed on the shelf with it's sister sock books for future use.

I am itching to start my Mary Jane Cardigan too. I might start that this weekend as well as work on the scarf.

The three kittens went to the vet yesterday with my DH and got their rabies shots. "Daddy" is so good with them. They don't know I plan to wean them from the bedroom this weekend and hope to have them completely out of there by next week. My other cats don't go in there at all unless they sneak in when I open the door. All the "kids" have the run of the rest of the house so they are not deprived. Spoiled is more like it. Last night Katy stole my tuna I had just put in a bowl on the counter. I hated to do it, but I had to punish her for it. Everyone else, including the dog, got the tuna. She got nothing and a long lecture from me. You would think she knew what I was saying. She started meowing at me loudly in protest, but I would not give in to her. Little brat.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Fantanstic gift elf experience!!!!

What a wonderful surprise met me when I got home from work the other day! I could not wait to open that box. As I already told my elf partner, I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning tearing into my gifts. My heart was thumping with excitement and anticipation of what could be inside. This was sweetened by the hint from Laura that she had made me something. I don't recieve many handmade items from people, because they know I knit and do the stained glass so this especially appreciated by me.

Inside this big box I discovered a huge bag of delicious blue corn chips and two kinds of homemade salsa. The mild is very good. My DH even got some of that one. The hot was.....HOT!!
It burned the mouth, watered the eyes, and cleared the nose. Oh it's good!! I have yet to try the raspberry jalapeno jam. Laura knew I had to have sugar free stuff and this was one of them. The other was a big box of Whitman's chocolates.

Well, that takes care of the edible goodies. Now onto the rest. She gave me some stitch markers, a skein of Lamb's Pride in a very pretty shade of pink, and a set of circular needles I needed to start my Mary Jane Cardigan. She made me the Entrelac Tote from Knit Picks!! It's beautiful.

I will take pics this weekend and post them. The best part of the gift is the new friend I have made from the experience. I hope to continue to hear from Laura from time to time. I also plan to be included in the exchange next year if we have one.

I started the Elizabeth I which includes three different patterns based on Queen Elizabeth. I started the "Town and Country" scarf. I ordered this from Knit Picks a while ago. I had to frog it 3 times already. Once because I started to do the wrong pattern and was short on the cast on. This was not realized until row 8. Once because the stitches were too loose. And once because I made a mistake in row 9 and could not find it without messing up the previous couple of rows. I am working it in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris. This is a very soft pink/grey color.

I also sort of finished the hooded scarf for Kathy. I took a cowl neck scarf pattern and altered it to work as a scarf or hood. I did this up in fun fur in a purple/pink blend, since she loves purple.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Learning new computer skills

I finally learned how to download pictures for my blog. I signed up for Flickr and now I need to take some pictures of my FOs to post. I am going to have fun doing this. Now I need to figure out how to add some other stuff to my blog.

Gifts were exchanged at work today and everyone got some nice goodies. I need to wrap a couple of things and take them in to work for tomorrow. I took a day out of work yesterday due to the Migraine Monster and did not know we were exchanging today. This meant I only had a couple of things with me, so I need to bring my stuff in tomorrow.

I need to finish the stained glass rooster by tomorrow night. It just needs to have the patina and wax done. It came out really nice.

Now, the knitting is another story. I need to get that hooded scarf out of the way and start on some more goodies to clear the stash. My New Years resolutions include no yarn acquistions until the stash is under control. :( Gonna be a tough year with the forced yarn diet. I think the food diet will be easier to handle.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

5 Kittens
5 kittens
5 kittens,
originally uploaded by
calicokitty6.
This is a photo of the kittens when they were about 4 weeks old. What a mess they made in the crate.We had to keep them in there for a while until they were bigger. Now they are about 12 weeks old and run all over the place.
Very Busy Week

Oh what a week it was. I never made it to the post office last weekend because the oilman was very late getting here and it closed. Now I have to go today. I had planned to get there after work one day this week, but I had so much happening, I never made it. I will be going as soon as I finish this.

I did manage to finish another Christmas gift. Now I need to finish 2 more stained glass gifts this weekend and I will only have the hooded scarf to complete. That may have to become a birthday gift in February instead of a Santa gift. I can't wait to finish my "to do for the holidays" list so I can get back to my "me" list. I have some things on that list earmarked for gifts, but with no need to be finished by dates. Less stress.

A friend of ours rescued some kittens in the end of September and we did the foster care for them. All five of them survived and are now getting into everything. We ended up keeping three of them, since my husband became so attached to them. The person who saved them has the other two. We visit them several times a week and get to see the babies too.

I had done foster care before and knew what to expect. It was a first time experience with kittens for my DH, so he was a bit nervous at first. He had done this with puppies before and it was the same thing. Once I showed him how to feed, burp, and make the babies go to the bathroom, he was fine and got right into doing it. He was wonderful. I tried not to get too attached to them, because originally they were to be found new homes when we weaned them from the bottle. Now we have them for good, I love them as much as he does.

My other cat, Katy, is still hissing at them. The intro to her is going very slowly. We only let them together when we are in the room. Hanna, our younger Peke, is very protective of the kittens, shadowing them when they walk around the livingroom. Babs, the mother Peke, checks them out and could care less if they are here.



Just a little test for you.

This is a quiz I found on line and thought you might like to take. I did, and, as you can see the results say I am a Knitting Guru. ha - ha

Knitting Guru
You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Finishing Christmas Gifts

As the days count down to Christmas, I am furiously working on the last few gifts that must be finished. The socks for yours truly became a gift for another friend who saw and fell in love with them. I need to make a hooded scarf for someone else, but that may become a birthday gift instead if it is not finished in time. Also need to finish a couple of stained glass gifts. At the same time, my own stuff is on hold for now. The ceramic angel will have to wait til next year to get painted.

My elf gift is ready to go in the mail today. I am waiting for the oil man to come so I can go to the post office with it.