Road Trip - WooHoo!!

I'm on vacation for two weeks. We are heading West in the morning to attend a wedding on Saturday. My siblings from California, Illinois & South Carolina will be there, too, along with some of the nieces and nephews.

My DD1, DD2, and Sport are going with me. Plans include a drive up Trail Ridge Rd and possibly camping at 8200 feet. I just checked the weather -- temps on the Front Range tomorrow will be in the low 90s ("but, it's a dry heat.") Lows on the weekend at the camp site will be in the low 40s - brrrrr! Packing wool socks for sure!

Strawberry Creme Socks - Photo!

I dyed the yarn earlier this year and began knitting in April. I finished the second pair for my dear friend's granddaughter in May.

Unfortunately the parcel arrived a few days after DF's birthday.

Fortunately, the socks fit!! [Thanks DG for your assistance so I could make the correct size!!]

Buster's a 3 Year Old

Photos from Buster's birthday. He's such a little man now!

New pjs for the grandsons:

Finished Socks!

Started in May and finished about two weeks ago.
Pattern: CO 64 sts. Knit top down. K1, P1 cuff for 1.5". Then st st till leg was 6"

Yarn: On-Line Supersocke 100/Sierra Color #896
Needles: 1.5 [US]
Knit for: Me! :-)

OTN - YO Cable socks

What? No photo? For now - here's a photo of the yarn and the specs:

Pattern:
"Yarn Over Cable" [a Five Stitch Pattern on pg 43 of Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks]
Yarn: Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle, #014 from Fall 2004 color card
Needles: Two size 1 [US] 24" circs
Modification: top down, instead of toe up
Knit for: Me!

I've finished the heel turn on both socks and I'm ready to pick up the gusset stitches. I'm considering knitting the sole on size 0 [US] -- read somewhere about doing that to help the soles wear better.

This was the very first sock yarn I bought over a year & a half ago. I didn't know how much to buy, so I got the three 50 g balls. I have plans for the left overs - to perhaps stripe with a 50 g ball of Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle #180 which is a green, brown, and gray twist.

Flood 2008

The river is back within its banks now. The number of houses and businesses up here that were damaged or destroyed by the flood is much smaller than farther south, but for the individuals who are affected, it is just as devastating.

If I'd known that DD2 was going to take her sons to see the flood, I'm sure I would have freaked out. But, all's well. No harm. Buster still talks about flooded roads - all the detours around town really impressed him. But, he's not so impressed with the smell that lingers.

We [my family and I] all live on "high ground" and didn't have any problems with flooding, but I know several people who had significant water levels - and damage such as basement wall cave in, total loss of contents of houses, etc. It took well over a week for the water to go down enough to get people in from the insurance companies - and from FEMA.

BTW - DD2's camera data stamp is off - these were taken on June 10th.

Lots of photos - no time to post

Well, actually, I have time right now. The problem is that the photos are on my computer at home, and I'm grandson sitting at their house.

Photos I will post in a few days*:

1) the Strawberry Creme socks

2) Buster's 3rd birthday

3) a finished pair of black/gray/red OnLine socks for me

4) a pair in progress for me - camel colored something or other [dang, I should have brought them along, I could be knitting...]

5) flood photos

Hey - I just realized that I, TOO, could have cat photos on my blog. The Princess-in-Residence here just jumped up on the printer and startled the heck out of me. I'll try to remember to bring my camera next time I visit / grandson sit.

*No photo posting tomorrow. I'm off to the races. :-) We have tickets to the Iowa Corn 250. Last year [hmm...I don't think I blogged about this] we left at 8 a.m. for the 2 hour drive and spent at least another hour...and I'm NOT exaggerating...driving the final 2 miles. Multi-lane, bumper-to-bumper. Egad! No wonder die-hard race fans buy RVs and get their on site camping spot days ahead. And then it took us several hours to get OUT of the place.

We are leaving at 6 a.m. tomorrow -- and hopefully will miss a lot of that last two mile hassle. I'm taking my knitting!!

I'm on vacation - yippee - and will be heading back to Colorado mid-week. A niece is getting married on the 28th. I'm taking the car to the garage on Monday. I'm sure it's road-worthy, but it has a rattle in the back - the tailpipe is a bit loose, so I expect that's what's making the noise.

Egads! It's almost Christmas!!

I remember my great grandmother saying [when I was about 8] that the older you get the faster time goes. I thought, "Crazy old lady." But, man, she was right! How did it get to be June? Similar question raised by Sport recently, "Grandma, how did you get to be 60?" He can count past one hundred now, so he knows that sixty is a BIG number. I told him that I kept having birthdays every year and finally got this many. ...seems the bigger the number, the faster they pile up!

Of all my plans for knitting [or crocheting] Christmas gifts, I've only got four dishcloths done [my "gag" gift for everyone this year.] Or maybe 6...if I don't have to frog the two that are in the same color/dye lot as the environmentally friendly shopping bag I'm working on. I'm thinking I'm going to need to use them. Time will tell!

I've got photos from my dear friend in the UK - DF and her granddaughter in matching Strawberry Creme socks. That will be a separate post.

Current OTN 1: Socks for me!! I'm nearly finished with the leg of the second sock.

OTN 2: I've started several practice pieces for felted slippers for CIC. But, haven't been happy with any and keep frogging. But, I think I've found a pattern that will work for me (a no brainer pattern.) I *thought* that I'd take the Kool-Aid dyed yarns along to work on while mom has surgery tomorrow. But, decided I'd better complete one pair -- including the felting process [which I've never done] before I knit additional slippers.

So, not OTN yet, but will be later today. More socks for me. Yarn from my stash [not shown on Ravelry yet] -- think I'd better go with the "camel" color since I don't know about the lighting in the waiting room, etc. Pattern? Hmmm. Maybe a cabled leg. On size 1 [US] needles. The smallest I've used so far are 1.5 [US], but I want a denser fabric.

OTHook: a shopping bag. Details later.

On the genealogy front: I've been adding info from various paper & computer files into my database. There's a national "family" reunion in Kansas City this month for people with my maiden name - and numerous spelling variations. Some share common ancesters with me, some don't. I think it would be loads of fun to go to the reunion & meet some of these distant cousins, but it's the same weekend as the state convention and just two weeks before my niece's wedding in Colorado.

So, I've been busy making print outs, copies, etc. to send to one of the reunion organizers for their display table.

Oops, the grandsons woke up and one is not a happy little fella. Took them to a baseball game last night so they were up late - probably haven't had enough sleep!

Still need to add a blog & photo of the Strawberry Creme socks on feet. Later.

Socks, washcloths, and socks

I finished the Strawberry Creme socks two weeks ago - along with a matching toddler pair. But in my rush to get them posted to the UK, I forgot to take a photo! The parcel arrived a few days late, but more importantly the pair for my dear friend fit! And the toddler pair aren't too small for her little grand daughter. Whew!!

A while back the grandsons helped make soap. [NOT the lye-type] They made a large bar for their mama and each made two small bars for themselves. I had Buster out shopping one day and when we passed the Peaches & Cream cotton, he wanted the green ball. Hmmm... I decided to crochet them each a wash cloth. Buster's in the green and the blue for Sport.

After I'd finished the wash cloths and showed them to the boys, Sport said he wanted two of them. His 2nd will be a variegated blue because [guess what?] his favorite color is blue. Buster's 2nd cloth will be in red. He has several "fave colors" as he calls them...green and red among them.

And, I've started a pair of socks for me! The yarn is OnLine Supersocke 100 Farbe [color] 0896. [The color looked brighter on my camera...??]

Yeah, I know. I'm too old to knit with black yarn. I need really good light to do this. Details later. But, now I'm off to the surgeon for my One Year check up. Yes, I'm a couple months beyond one year. I'd been waiting to make an appt. that would not conflict with mom's upcoming surgery [June 2nd]. Won't be taking the socks with me this morning. I think I'll work on the variegated blue wash cloth.

It's Spring [or so "they" say] and other musings

Love the sunshine, but the cold north winds have made it undercomfortably chilly. However, one morning recently when the wind had subsided, I was reminded of early mornings when I lived below the Rock. I'd take my first cups of coffee on my little back patio. I really miss being able to do that. No area in the back to use and I'm not a "front stoop" sitter.

Mom's surgery that was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed while a couple cardiologists try to figure out what's wrong with her heart. Or, IS there something wrong. Perhaps the problem is just one more symptom of her parathyroid tumor.

I was planning on having the most of three days to knit. But, now I'll be going to work this week. I just have to kirshener the toes on the two Strawberry Creme socks. Hope to do that today. I'll do a photo later.

I started a crochet project last weekend at the district Dems convention. lordy, we'd been there 14 hours by the time DD1 was ready to leave. Don't know what time it ended, but 14 hrs on a metal folding chair was just TOO much. Just between you and me [who until this year was always a No Party Affiliated person] it's a wonder Dems ever get anyone elected -- at least in this area. Totally chaotic disorganization. DD1 and I have lots of ideas about how to organize and communicate, but we aren't and never will be party big wigs.

The crochet project is the first of several shopping bags that I plan to do for myself. I've made others and gave them all away. Lately, I've been SO annoyed at the plastic bags that I bring groceries, etc. home in - I've decided to make cotton shopping bags and found several patterns on the internet. This is the one I'm working on. Photo later.

Meet another woman who was crocheting, too. She's from my town and told me about a knitter/crocheter group at their church. It's on Monday evenings, which don't work well for me, but maybe I can visit them occasionally.

My next knitting project will be one that I've tried to work on for Months. The dyed yarn projects for charity knitting that should turn into felted slippers.

PS to yesterday's OTN Update

Forgot to explain the yarn's color. The KP's Bare was...bare...until it met up with my crock pot and some Kool-aide. After the first dye go-round I was not happy with the large bits of undyed yarn. [Need a bigger crock pot!]

But, I was all out of Kool-aide, so I mixed some Tone's red food coloring with a little water and poured it over top and gently moved the yarn around. Now there's a smidgen of white left and nice shade variations of the "pink." Or whatever color that is.

OTN update

I've set aside the Urban Necessity mitt/gloves [see previous post] - it's finally spring here [or is it summer now?] so I told DD2 that I'd finish them before she needs them next fall.

In my spare moments - which there aren't a lot of lately - I've been working on the "Strawberry Creme" socks. I have to admit they aren't a reddish pink color -- more of a "coral" pink. Oh, well. I like the color anyway. See here:
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare, fingering weight
Needles: 1.5 [U.S.] / 2.5 mm bamboo
Pattern: "Purl Lace Socks" by Sheri Franz in Socks, Socks, Socks (ed. by Elaine Rowley)

Oops - I see that I haven't fixed the date stamp on my camera. I took the photo today April 20, 2008.

Yes, I'm still knitting

However, life's been busy. Haven't had time to blog, although I *THINK* about blogging quite a lot!

If the grandsons go to their dad's this weekend, I'll be able to upload photos, add text, etc.

OTN 1: Urban Necessity mitt/gloves for DD2.

OTN 2: socks - using Knit Picks Essentials in Bare that I dyed. I'm calling the color "Strawberry Creme." No photo yet.

On Tuesday, I took mom to the UIHC for a consultation with a surgeon and several other appointments. Foolish me - took BOTH knitting projects with me and although we were there seven hours, I only got two "half-fingers" done on the first mitt/glove. They kept us very busy. And then there were the hikes from one appt to the next. Mom in the wheelchair, holding her purse, water bottle, and a vinyl folder with the paperwork we needed to take to - and collected from - the appts., while I pushed the wheelchair & clumsily dealt with my (short handled) purse and (short handled) knitting bag.

She has surgery scheduled for May 5th, so I'll do things a lot differently then - NO purses or short handled knitting bags. I've got a nice, rarely used, shoulder bag that I can fit everything we'll need (wallets and lots of knitting stuff.) One bag, hands free. Why didn't I think of that on Monday? I guess I thought we'd be doing a lot of sitting in waiting rooms. Ha! They were all very punctual. And, I knew it was a big place, but I didn't realize we'd be traveling a half mile from one appt. to the next. Got my exercise!!

In Praise of Crochet

I went to my county convention [Dems] yesterday and decided to NOT take knitting with me. I knew we'd be in a junior high auditorium and I didn't want to be elbowing the people next to me - or dropping a needle on the slanted floor.

But, I DID take a couple balls of Peaches & Cream cotton and a crochet hook along - and came home with 3 completed dishcloths!

I have a new, ongoing, project that I've committed to -- dishcloths. And [except for the 3 crocheted odd ones] I'll be knitting them at work. I know! At work! I usually work through my 30 min. lunch break, but have decided to make those 30 minutes all about me. :-)

I'm now spending about 15 mins. eating my sack lunch and browsing online news sources [msnbc, cnn, & bbc.] Then I turn off my monitor & get out my knitting bag. I figure I can whip out one dishcloth a month at work.

The goal is to have about 10-12 of them completed by Christmas - all the adults in the [local] family will get a dishcloth - even the guys. [Photos posted later]

Dyed Yarn and Other Updates

I finally got around to balling up the three batches of yarn that I had Kool-Aid dyed after Christmas.

I wasn't too impressed with the post-dye results - while it was drying. I actually thought they were all rather ugly- especially the Berry Blue-Lemon Lime-Yellow yarn

BUT...now that I can see the colors "together," I'm actually pleased!

I have finished the Oh-So-Simple Cardigan. I'll get a photo posted eventually. Yippee!! It's finished in time for my road trip!

Now that I have NOTHING OTNs, I'll work on DD2's scarf while I'm away. Hoping there will be enough yarn for a pair of mitt-gloves.

My next project will be to use these three balls of yarn to make felted slippers. :-)