Found this on jigzone.com

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I really hope this works. I'm not good at adding links and such to my blog. That's probably why I don't keep up with them the way I should. I get frustrated because everyone else can do it. Whine Whine Whine. I know. If everyone else jumped off a bridge would I? Well if all the cool kids were!! That was the answer I gave my mom which was usually followed quickly with a backhand. Anyway, I really would like to get this linking down. So let's see how this worked.

Today is hubby's birthday. We are such old farts that for excitement and celebration we will work on the jigsaw puzzle we started a month ago! Yes, I know, that's pretty sad!! It's really too cold up here to do anything else and the people are starting to return for the last weekend of Tip Up Town, so town is getting crazy. Maybe I'll go all out and cook dinner tonight....naw. He does all the cooking and would probably shoo me out of the kitchen anyway. It is also my father's birthday. Both of our mother's were born on the same day, too. What are the odds?

On the knitting front, I bought a ball winder the other day and have been having fun using it. (See, I told you, simple pleasures for simple people!) It's amazing how much more room I have in my stash with the yarn wound into cakes instead of left in skeins. It looks neater, too. I also have the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs OTN and am stuck. I need to get a 16" circ to continue. I've tried using the magic loop method, but it's not working real well. I also have a pair of socks OTN in Wildfoote Peasant Blue. These are my take along project. I really need to finish them off so I can start something else. I'm trying to have fewer projects going at one time this year.

I went to the local re-sale shop the other day and found a HUGE cone of lace weight yarn for $6.00. It's the size of a dinner plate and about 7" in diameter. I'm not sure what it was originally intended for being a cone of that size, but it's going to be many, many wraps and shawls. I will need to dye it once finished, but that's ok. It's a lavender color right now. I also found a small cone of sock weight yarn for $.50 but it, too, is lavender. Someone must have grown tired of that color! I picked up two 100% wool sweaters to be unraveled and re-purposed. All in all, I had a good day.

So until next time, be safe and happy knitting.

January Mid Month KAL

Here is the mid month KAL from MonthlyDishcloths on Yahoo. I really like the pattern and will do it again, but my stitches are out of whack. I am trying to knit continental (holding the yarn in my left hand) and my tension won't cooperate. They say it's all in the baby finger. That is what controls tension. Well, my baby finger is just that...a baby. It will not listen, will not pay attention and has the strength of, well, of nothing. A mouse's little finger has more strenght than mine!

I am not one to give up though! I watched a video on youtube that showed running the yarn behind your neck while you purled. I tried that, and got better results with purl stitches. It said you could only use that on the purl stitch. Now, I'm a "Why" kind of girl. Why only the purl stitch? I tried it on the knit stitches (just because they said I couldn't!) and it worked for me. I was able to keep the tension pretty much the same the last 1/8 of the cloth. I will be trying this out on a few other things I'm working on right now that it doesn't matter what the tension is. You know, like dishclothes and trebbles.

OTN: two at once toe up socks in Wildfoote Peasant Blue, Felted clogs in Blueberry and a shawl that really needs to be frogged in Lorna Laces Cool colorway.

Until next time....

Winter Socks

These are the winter socks I finished last fall for a group on yahoo. I've worn them many times, but never took a picture until now.
They are knit toe up, two at a time using Sokkatta yarn. I've misplaced the ball band, so I don't know the color. As you can see they are black, gray and brown. They remind me so much of winter where I live. The cold gray skies, the black tree trucks against the snow and the brown leaves still hanging from the oaks. Yup. Perfect winter socks. I have a beautiful Jawoll yarn for my fall socks that I want to start working with but it comes with nylon thread for the foot and I just cannot wrap my brain around how to use it. I can get as far as the heel flap, but for the rest of the foot, I'm lost. Oh well. I'll figure it out eventually and by then it will be a real "duh" moment!
This was the first week end for Tip Up Town and I believe attendance was way down. Probably due to the cold and mostly to the gas prices. I hope next week end is better. Businesses up here depend on this event to hold them until spring. The snow was good and the ice on the lake was perfect. I haven't heard who won the turkey bowling. I'll just have to wait for the paper!!
Until next time......

Baby Girl

This is my Baby Girl. She is 7 going on 25 and the most precious thing in my life. I miss her terribly since she's moved and try to keep up some semblance of our relationship. It's hard, though. I used to stay the night with her every other week and we would watch videos, talk and play games. Now we try to have a movie night where she watches the same one I do and we talk on the phone. It's just not the same. Whenever we do get a face to face visit, it flies by so quickly and we don't seem to get enough of each other. (insert heavy sigh!) I cannot wait for our next visit.

This is my Grandma and newest Granddaughter. We had DD and her family home for New Years and it was wonderful. We were having such a good time that it wasn't until after everybody left, I realized we had 5 generations of women in one room and no one got a picture. The last time that happened in my family was 32 years ago. Oh how I wish I had a time machine and could go back in time just a few days. Then again, it just wasn't meant to be. My Grandma will be 90 soon and we are so fortunate to have her with us. There have been many close calls but she is still hanging in there. She's a tough old bird!! This is who it is said I get my creative streak from. This woman can paint, sew, draw, you name it. I remember when I was still in high school, she and I went shopping for formals. I found one I really liked but it was so expensive. Grandma studyed it for about 30 minutes and we left. A few days later she called me and said I needed to stop by for a fitting. When I did, I was amazed to see the dress hanging next to her sewing machine. She made the exact dress for me just by studying the original. She amazed me and still does.
How have the resolutions been coming? I said in an earlier post that I resolve to do nothing. It's working!!! Actually, I am on track with mine, just taking it real slow so as not to get frustrated and quit.
I've rambled on enough so until next time......

A New Year

A new year has come around and it seems time to make resolutions that will mostly be forgotten in a month or so. I have decided not to resolve to do anything. Instead, I have made a list of things that I would like to accomplish this year. No pressure. Just a list. If it gets done--Great! If not--no biggie. I have only made and kept one resolution in my entire life. It was hard and I don't think I want to do that again!!

Some of the things on my list include knitting that sweater I have been drooling over in Interweave Knits mag. I would like to spend more time in Colorado; possibly looking for property. I would really like to read more this year. The internet sure has put a damper on that for me. I would like to pay more attention to my blog this year. I went great guns when I first started blogging on blogspot and then petered out. These are just four of the public things on my list. I have a few others that are more private and since I don't know you (!) that well, I will keep them to myself for now.

Anyway, not very exciting, but that's it. I hope everyone has a wonderful and prosperous 2008.