Happy Halloween!

My precious grandchildren. She's a goth geisha and he's a vampire. He's 4. When he came into the house I acted like I was real scared of him and hid behind the wall. He kept trying to tell me "It's me, Gramma". A gramma has to have fun with the kids. He's a crack up. Their parents were taking them trick or treating. Hope they had fun! I had quite a few kids come to the door, couldn't get any knitting done during trick or treat time. But I did manage to finish the peekaboo mittens afterwards. Yay me!

I can do circs!

I bit the bullet and tried circular needles, and I did it! I'm working on a prayer shawl for my Mom. Real easy pattern I found on About.com the knitting site. You keep increasing on the knit row for 12 inches, then knit and purl until it's as long as you want it then start decreasing on the knit row until you're down to 3 stitches. I can do this! The cables on the circs are stiff. Is that normal? I thought I heard or read somewhere that you can boil them and they'll soften up. Is that true? How long do you boil them, a minute, 5 minutes, until al dente? Or do you just live with them real stiff?

There is a contest in the building I work in. The building gave every suite a pumpkin and we have to carve it. The judging is tomorrow. Guess who got elected in my office to carve? Yep, me. I got it done and here is the finished result. I think it turned out pretty damn cool if I say so myself.




Poor Mom is hanging in there. I went and saw her tonight. She was at least more lucid. She had hemo-dialysis again today, and will have it again tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday. Still a lot of tubes going in, coming out. OMG, poor thing. They got those port things out of her neck and they are now in the shoulder/clavicle area. It's not so annoying to her. She had accidentally pulled the thing out of her neck, she's lucky she's not in hand restraints.

That's it for now. Time to go knit and watch Dancing With the Stars.

My Big Splurge

With all the running I've been doing lately, back and forth to the hospital, and all the overtime I've worked, I decided to splurge on mysef, on ME. I had a 50% off coupon from Joann's, and I bought myself a set of Boye interchangeable circular needles. They've gotten pretty good reviews on some websites I visit. I don't know how to do circular knitting, but now I will force myself to learn. I'm going to start with a prayer shawl for my mom. I found a real easy pattern to start out with. Hopefully I can get to this today.




As for Mom's condition, this is so sad. She's having so many complications from this surgery. They had to insert shunts or ports or whatever they are called into her neck yesterday so they could do dialysis as her kidneys are not working properly. It was so scary to see those things in her neck last night, sort of Frankenstein-ish. They are doing dialysis again today. She's so absolutely miserable. She got a morphine shot for pain last night while I was there, and hopefully that knocked her out and she rested somewhat more comfortably. One day at a time with this whole situation, and a day can feel like eons long during this hell.

On the brighter side, I went to the Halloween Knit for Charity and We'll Have Soup and Goodies Party yesterday. I'm SO glad I went. It was so fun, had a great time with my knitting buddies. I just love spending time with them, we have such interesting conversations, lots of laughs. A real great special group of ladies! You couldn't ask for a better bunch. Angela, our hostess made four, count them FOUR, pots of soup. I tried two and brought a bowl of a third kind home, I'll eat it for lunch today. Amy brought a wonderful Mexican dip and blue corn chips. It was soooooooo yummy! Sonya brought yummy pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, those were yummy too! Beth brought a salad and pita bread, and that was yummy. I took Rice Krispies Treats and some little brownie bites cookies I made, yummy too. Everything I guess was yummy, lol! I tried everything and had seconds and more and knit and munched and chatted and knit and munched and chatted some more. And I got this yarn from Amy who didn't want it anymore. Don't know what I'll make with it yet, but I'll eventually figure it out. All in all, a wonderful afternoon!

I Kitchenered!

I did it! I did the Kitchener stitch on the top of this mitten, woo hoo! I'm so proud of myself. that's the first time I ever did it. Now I have to make the second one.



This is the back of the hand.




And here is where the fingers can peek out if you want, or tuck them back inide.




I got the pattern here: http://magknits.com/Feb07/patterns/peekaboo.htm I hope I did this link correctly.

I've got my goodies all made for the Halloween Knit for Charity and We'll Have Soup and Goodies Party tomorrow. Now I can sit and knit and enjoy the rest of the evening. It's been a very calm, peaceful, enjoyable day off.

Yikes!

Two months from today is Christmas. Scary.




I got Mom's hat finished the other day. This one has my best seaming yet. I sure don't like seaming, ughhhhh. But I guess with practice it gets better. This is for Christmas along with mittens and a matching scarf. Pretty much everyone that I buy for has something knitted for Christmas. They better like it, because that's about all they're getting this year.

Been so busy with working and running back and forth to the hospital lately, I have not had time to go on the big R much. Maybe tomorrow. I'm taking a personal day at work . . . a day for me. I sure am looking forward to it.

Unexpected knitting time

I had some unexpected knitting time yesterday, lots of it. I left work early to go to the hospital for Mom's surgery, the power had gone out at work anyway, heheheh no I didn't do it! After surgery I came home, just pooped. So I sat on the couch most of the afternoon and evening and worked on my mitten. I was just too darn tired to even go to knit night. I did make some progress on mitten #1. I'm up to the peek-a-boo part. Hopefully tonight I can work on it some more after going to the hospital. Mom didn't have a hernia. She had an abscess in her colon that burst, causing all kinds of icky stuff. They had to remove about 6-8 inches of colon and now she has a colostomy bag. Poor thing. She knew going in that that could happen. It can be reversed in about 3 months, which means another surgery. She was so out of it last night I didn't go back and visit. I'll see how she is tonight, probably still groggy.

brrrrr, kind of chilly today. I put the furnace on this morning and let it go through a cycle, and same thing when I got home from work. I'll probably have to turn it on again later. Oh, I just dread the heating bills.

Surgery

Mom is going to have surgery. She has a blockage and a hernia somewhere in her abdomen, not sure if it's the stomach or intestines. Surgery is this morning. This really sucks. I feel so bad for her. Went and saw her again last night, she's so weak and hooked up to so many things. Just last month she had hip replacement surgery and now this. Let's hope this surgery goes well and she can stay out of the hospital for a long long time.

Transformation

I got this from one of the girls at Tuesday knit night . . .



And I made this with it . . .



I didn't like it. I screwed it up a lot and it was small and the ends I had woven in kept coming out, so I did this to it . . .





And now it's becoming some peek-a-boo mittens. There are some things I will learn by doing these mittens and some things I haven't done for a while. I was getting stagnant, time to stimulate the brain and try something different. I probably won't be able to take this to Tuesday knit night and work on it because I have to concentrate too much on it . . .





Let's see if I can transform this yarn into mittens.

Mom is still in the hospital and no diagnosis yet. Poor thing. She looks horrible. I'm going up there in a while and see what's what for today.

I also got a call from the library, I had requested Crazy Aunt Purl's book, "Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair". The book came in and I picked it up. I'll be digging into that soon.

Apples and Hospitals

Yesterday I took a drive with my cousin to St. Johns to a big cider mill there. It was a nice day, but kind of breezy. We had cider, donuts, bought some apple bread, tasted apples, walked around, smelled the delicious smells of the apples and pies, etc. We enjoyed the morning. We didn't go through the corn maze as it was kind of breezy and chilly out there in the open. That picture is of the apple orchard.

In the meantime, little did I know that the day before my mom had been admitted to the hospital. Did I get a phone call? No. Her blood count is real low, an internal bleed somewhere which they are doing tests to find. She is being transfused. I'll go visit today. I found out about this through other relatives. Sheesh.

So, really haven't had time to knit, just a few rows on Mom's hat. Haven't had time for the Big R either. We'll see how today goes.

The Big R

Oh my gosh, I got my Ravelry invite today. I'm in. I haven't had time to look around, will do that later.

I'm still working on the hat I'm making my mom for Christmas. It's now 6 1/2 inches, 3 1/2 inches more to go before I can decrease. I'm making pretty good progress on this thing. It's pretty mindless knitting, knit a row, purl a row. Good for taking to Tuesday knit night as I don't have to totally concentrate and can chat with the girls without messing up.

I finally have enough needles so I can start the mittens I've been wanting to make. I needed a set of size 7 dpns and I finally got them, at Joann's with my 40 percent off coupon. Hopefully I can get to them soon. Tomorrow I'm going for a nice long drive with my cousin to a cider mill two hours away. We're just as excited as little kids about this, lol! The rain (and tornadoes, yikes!) will be out of here by then. We can enjoy the colorful trees too.

Another Day, Another Frozen Dinner

Gee, I haven't written in a few days. I guess I've been busy. My daughter came home for the weekend. I took her shopping for a new winter coat. Got that accomplished. Bought her a couple of tops and 2 for myself. Used the stupid credit card, ughhhhh. Oh well. Life goes on.


Here are some hats I made for the grandkids for Christmas:








The blue one is for my grandson, he's 4. It's Bernat cotton handicrafter. The pink and yellow one is for my granddaughter. It's called squiggles or something like that. It's an acrylic with these weird little squiggly things in the yarn. I double stranded it. I actually got the yarn at a dollar store up north. I still have a lot left.

I have a frozen Stouffer's French bread pizza in the oven. Dinner will be served soon. Tomorrow is my granddaughter's birthday. She will be 11. I'm going out to dinner with my son and his family to celebrate. Chinese food! No frozen stuff here tomorrow.

Thrift Store Finds

I went to the Salvation Army thrift store yesterday. I got two sweaters. The one on the left is 100 percent cotton, the one on the right is a cotton ramie mix. That one has a little loose yarn on the side seam which I'm going to fix, then into the washing machine they will go. Since we don't have a coffee maker at work any more I've been on the hunt for a thermos. I found one yesterday at Target, it wasn't very large, and it was $19.99. I wasn't about to spend that much on a thermos. Lo and behold, I found a thermos at the thrift store too, only $1.99. And I found that Detroit Lions insulated cup. Now, I'm not crazy about the Lions, I don't even like football, but I love this kind of cup. They are real hard to find any more, so for $1.99 I couldn't pass it up. The sweaters were on sale, buy a sweater, get one free! I love free! I didn't realize until I got home that I bought so much pink stuff. I must have breast cancer awareness month on the mind.

Speaking of that, I finished the breast cancer ribbon dishcloth, it's drying and blocking at the moment. I started a jack-o-lantern dishcloth last night from a free pattern I found on line. It's turning out cute so far, can actually tell what the picture is. I think I may take the pattern to work and run off a few copies for anyone who wants one at Tuesday night knitting.

I'm off to the store in a while. I want to get some tulip and/or daffodil bulbs to plant so my yard looks pretty next spring. I also want a storage container for all my cotton yarn, that way I can see what I have at a glance, a very big glance I might add. I have a lot of cotton! I also want to dig up a picker bush in the back yard today too. If I don't melt in the humidity.

Upside down?

I read somewhere that this is a fireman's hat and axe. What do you think? I had it upside down. Usually they are knit from the bottom up and you see your pic that way. This one was knit upside down, to me anyways. I'm still having a hard time marking it out.

Mystery Dishcloth

What is it? I can't tell. I feel really stupid, but I can't make it out. I'm so sorry I wasted my time on this. I think this is the last one I'll make from this KAL group. If you have any ideas what it is, please let me know.

It sure is muggy this morning. I can't stand it. I refuse to put the AC on in October, so I guess I'll have the windows open and fans going all day.

I think I'll take a little field trip to the thrift store today, haven't done that in a while, it's time to go get my fix. You never know what you'll find. But first, going to clean up the house a bit and get some things done around here. I rented the movie Knocked Up last night. It was OK. I thought it would be a lot funnier than it was. And tonight, I hope to get the breast cancer ribbon dishcloth done. I just can't touch the wool scarf in this muggy weather, can't stand the feel of it when it's this humid. I did find a pattern for a pumpkin dishcloth, maybe I'll start that and work on it until it cools down.

Is anyone else as sick of Britney as I am? Why do we have to know every movement that she makes. I'm sure there has to be other news these media people can report.

Warm October

Two dishcloths I'm working on at the moment. One is the breast cancer ribbon, and the other one is still a mystery. I can't tell what it is. Maybe some kind of bird? We'll find out in a day or two.

It's really warm here for October. I won't complain since I won't have to pay heating bills yet. But my hands were sweating while working on the mystery dishcloth. The leaves are barely starting to turn, it gets dark early, yet the damn grass continues to grow. I'll be glad when lawn mowing season is done. More money in my pocket! I won't have to pay the service until next spring.

Did you ever forget to turn off your ice maker in the freezer? I totally forgot. I usually turn it off when I get a certain amount of ice in the bin. I haven't been away on vacation either, just didn't turn it off. I have lots of ice, lol!

Time to go make something to eat. I have some bacon in the fridge still, so I think it will be a breakfast night, bacon, eggs, toast. Yummy! I'm so hungry I could eat 5 Denny's Grand Slams, lol!

Tired

I wish I was a cat. Just lay around all day and stare out the window. And puke. That's Pixie on the left and Katie on the right. It's amazing that they are by each other like that, my cats usually don't lay by each other. But when you want a window, I guess you do whatever it takes.

This move at work is killing me. I'm so tired. I think I'm done with my share, now I have to learn some new stuff. Tomorrow I can go in and just work. At this point, that sounds so relaxing, lol!

I had a great time at knitting last night. We had so many laughs. It was a lot of fun! I didn't want to leave but I was so tired, mostly physically, I had to get home and veg out on the couch. I did manage to start yet another dishcloth. This is for one of the girls at knit night for the breast cancer research. It's a pink dishcloth with the breast cancer ribbon on it. She had a request for more, so I'll help out. Any excuse to knit!

Now it's time to go sit on the couch and pet my yarns and throw a few stitches before I make something to eat. Real hungry today. All this physical labor is giving me a workout and making me eat and eat and eat. Bring on the food!

Downsizing

Just a little potholder I made over the weekend. I used two strands of Bernat cotton handicrafter. I'm going to wash it before using it so it shrinks up and becomes tighter. It's nice and thick.

My employer is now a new employer. New job, kind of. The lawyers split up and our part of the office moved out over the weekend. What a nasty job. I was told I didn't have to go in over the weekend, so I didn't. I stayed home and knit and played, lol! Went in this morning to complete chaos. It's so small. I have no idea where I'm supposed to keep all the stuff I had at my desk, not junk, stuff I need to use. I'm just crammed into a corner, but right out in the open, if that makes sense. I ache from head to toe from moving boxes, unloading boxes, moving heavy files around, unloading more boxes, and on and on and on. We'll see how this works out. I've got the same benefits, pay, vacation time. And in January, I'll still be eligible for another week of vacation, woo hoo, that will be four weeks a year plus my 10 personal/sick days. I've still got a bunch of days to use yet this year. I better get busy soon taking days off!

So I came home and sat on the couch and started the monthly dishcloth KAL. Got my rows done, now it's back to the scarf I started yesterday. The first scarf I didn't like. It just didn't look good with the yarn I was using. Ripped it out. This was after I went through starting it and the pattern was wrong and finding the corrections. I started another scarf, and so far it's coming along. It's on size 15 needles though, boy those make my index finger sore. But it's knitting, and I'm happy. I've got my knitting mood back, yay.

Bruce Springsteen's new CD comes out tomorrow. Just might have to go buy it. It's going to be on sale at Target, for around $10. He was on the Today Show yesterday. Ummmm, talk about a bad hair day. It looked horrid. You'd think with all his money he could get a decent hair style. Oh well, he still sounded good when he performed.