CIC Vest

[OK - I say it every time -- I need to figure out better lighting....]

I've nearly used up all of the Knit Picks Bulky [but not quite.]

Yarn: Knit Picks' Wool of the Andies Bulky in Emerald, Wine, Taupe, and a little Redwood Forest

Needles: US 10.5 [US] dpns ...need to get a 24" circ!

Size: 2 to 3-ish It fits Buster who wears 3T.

Pattern: Countrywool's PocketVest

Modifications: ribbed neck; I thought the neck opening was too large [and I hate cold air on my neck/upper chest]; No pocket

Knit for: CIC January-March 08 Challenge = Sweaters & Vests in sizes 2-4

Brrr...I'm Going to Need a Sweater Today!

Yippee! I'll need socks, too! We had a freeze overnight, though it's now up to 39 deg F.

I had lofty aspirations to get up early & go shopping. I hate shopping. [If I'd buy a lottery ticket - I keep forgetting to do that - and WIN, I'd hired a personal shopper who would shop for everything except my clothes and my yarn.] Until then, I have to do my own shopping. I hate shopping even worse on weekends. So...the plan was to go early. But, I couldn't get out of bed. After this week back at work [Sept. is our busiest time of the year], I was absolutely shattered by last evening.

Missed my departure for early shopping before the crowds arrive, so I made a pot of coffee [1/2 decaf, 1/2 caf] and started catching up on other bloggers. I could do this all day.

But, it's Mother Hubbard's Cupboard out in my kitchen AND I'm out of laundry detergent. So, I've gotta go shopping. Feel the dread? I'm not agoraphobic, I just don't like crowds...not even small city, Midwestern crowds! When I have to queue up with my shopping cart [trolley, buggy] to get to the oatmeal, I could scream.

OTN: The beginning of sock 2 of the Move Your F@nny pair. Ooh, that could be what I knit during The Game today. Uh-Oh - gotta get going so I can get back before kickoff.

ALSO: the 2nd slipper of a pair for CIC. Using double stranded worsted Wool of the Andes - left over from the BSJ.

Happy 4th!

Other than going to fireworks tonight with DD2 and the boys, I'm planning a stay-at-home day. The grass needs a mow, the carpets need a vacuum, a book needs to be finished [I'm only half through and it's due on Friday...I could finish it, IF I didn't do anything else.] Title? The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest by Alec R. Gilpin, published in 1958. I told you I was/am a history major, right?

Have I been knitting, you ask? Yes, some. I'm on the 7th cap for the Cheyenne River project [CIC] When I finish this one, I'll do photos of all the caps. I probably will do one or two more to use up the yarn I bought specifically for this project.

Buster stayed all last weekend while his important people went camping across The River with the daddy's extended/extensive family. Buster and I had a a good time. I was even able to knit a bit on the cap. I put it away, tho., after he grabbed it from me and pulled out the circ needle. ARGH~ Being worsted weight, the stitches were easily recovered, so no real damage done. But, I'll wait a few more months before knitting in his presence again!

What else have I been up to since last post? Besides working: a little napping [I'm still so tired after work...], and a little data entry on my genealogy project -- manually adding data to my new software from the old. [After a Big Mess when I tried an export/import, I decided to do it the Slow-but-accurate way.]

After sharing a computer with DD1 for the past term in which she had an online class with mandatory real-time online seminars in the evenings, I've 'bought' her a computer. Now don't go thinking what a wonderful mom I am. She's paying me back for it. AND it was at the IT department's garage sale at work. They were selling oldish Pentium 4 Dells for $100. Loaded with XPpro and an anti-virus product, but nothing else. Monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables came with. She's happy, and can transfer her music download subscription and files to her computer. :-) It came without speakers, but she's getting rid of an old, non-working, cd player and salvaged the speakers from it.

The Grandsons - 2 yr old Buster on the left and nearly 4 yr old Sport on the right:

Kitchener Addendum and Rearranging Furniture

I have two pair of socks OTN now - but won't be ready to close the toes on either for ...days... yet. When I'm there I'll watch that video again. I also made notes on the steps & wrote them on a 4x6" file card. Then I taped it inside the lid of the little plastic box I use to tote around misc. knitting accessories - optimistic that I won't need to watch the video too many more times :-)

No knitting this a.m. I'm catching up on reading emails, but will wait till later to reply. I'm feeling rather perky this morning - and my house needs major dusting & vacuuming - so that's the project for after breakfast. DD2 & J. are nearly moved out of their apt. but need to finish the kitchen this morning. So they'll bring Sport & Buster over here while they do that. Hmm...maybe I can talk DD2 into bringing her digital camera [and whatever's needed to download photos to my computer!] While DD2 & J are here, I'm going to ask them to move the couch to another wall. It's a hide-a-bed, so I cannot [or should not, I suppose] do that by myself.

I inherited [from Mother] the gene that causes people to move furniture around frequently. One month, maybe two, is about all I can stand it before I have to rearrange again. But, my living room has been the same away since we set up the Christmas tree - ARGH - that was five months ago!! The tree was taken down three months ago but I wasn't feeling like rearranging furniture then.

BTW - I finished sleeve #1 on the CIC kid's sweater last evening while watching hockey.

Friday Road Trip & OTN Update

Working part-time is going OK, but I've been taking afternoon naps. If the Dr. OKs my return to full-time on Monday, I'll miss those naps. Not really sure if I actually NEED the naps, or I just *think* I do....

Friday, however, I took a road trip! A co-worker & I went to a conference, but, it *was* a road trip! My C-W had never been to that city. What? How could that be? It's only 90 miles away. The conference got over at 3 p.m. and I was able to easily persuade C-W to do some sightseeing & shopping. [No yarn shops, tho. -- couldn't find any online info on any possibilities.]

Had a good time sightseeing - including a cable car ride :-) & a visit to a marvelous toy store, a bead shop [C-W says the prices were much better than here in town], an Irish shop [I bought a box of Barry's Gold Blend Tea], and an English import shop [where I bought my all-time favorite Yorkshire Tea.]

OTN Update:
1. a pair kids socks for CIC - just need to finish the toes
2. socks for Mother...nearly finished with first leg
3. oops - side tracked -- I have 9.5 inches completed on the body a "child size 4" pullover
4. Opal Feeling socks - on hold for now

Photos later...

Back to Work

Maybe I'm not as recovered from my surgery as I thought. I worked from 8:00 a.m. - Noon. And I slept from about 1:30 - 3:11 p.m. I would have slept longer, but DD2 arrived with the boys. They were only here about an hour before the mama came back for them.

The weather is still unseasonably cool, but the sun was warm. [Oh, and the humidity was a perfect 20% -- just like back home in The West.] The boys brought bottles of bubbles, so we sat on the front steps and blew bubbles. Well, Sport did. He's a pro at it. But, Buster had shaken his bottle so much that the wand was full of tiny bubbles - not blowable. I guess Buster got bored with chasing his brother's bubbles and high-tailed it around the corner of the house.

I'm not ready to run. But run I did...that short, chubby fellow can Move! Then they played on the slide out back...until Buster decided to bounce a big ball on the empty parking lot behind my house. OK. We can do this. Bounce the ball. Toss it back and forth. Coax Buster to come back closer. Play "soccer" with Sport.

Of course, they didn't want to go back in the house when I was ready. Do you want juice? No. How about hot chocolate? Yes! Sport likes to hold the glass with the "hot" water while I stir in the powdered mix. He loves "Grandma's hot chocolate." Poor kid...someday I'll have to make him Real Hot Cocoa.

OTN update 1: Ribbing for sock #2 for a CIC kid's sock. [I joined the CIC knitting list recently. Still waiting to hear what the new challenge will be.] Yarn: Wool of the Andes worsted weight in Cranberry, needles: size 4 [U.S], pattern: "Swirling Confetti" Kids' Socks from the CIC group file [I think.]

OTN update 2: The blue striped OPAL "Feelings #1703" is on hold for now. Leg for sock #1 is completed.

OTN update 3: Belated birthday socks for mother. She's always said that she doesn't like blue. But, she picked out KnitPicks' Essentials "Dusk" - it's definitely a denim color. But, that's OK. She wants them to wear with blue jeans. [Mother is 79, by the way.] Since the yarn is a solid, I offered to do a pattern from my [very own] Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs. I was thinking of the Uptown Boot Socks, but when I showed Mother the book, she said she'd rather have the Embossed Leaves. So...that's what I'm doing. When DD3 was here yesterday, she took a digital photo of the few inches of pattern that I had completed at that time. I'll add the photo when she emails it to me.