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My knitty history

Posted on January 20, 2008 10:50 pm by TheAngelForever

When I went to the yarn store the other day the woman was shocked to hear that I had been knitting for over 20 years. It is true, just not on a regular basis (thus the reason I had to relearn some things). I originally learned how to knit when I was in elementary school. Most summers when I was in school, my friend across the street and I would knit together to pass time at night when it was too warm or buggy to sit outside.

She would always do small projects or more complicated items since her mother knew how to knit and could assist her. Her mother used to make gorgeous sweaters and other amazing things. Anyway, one year I decided I wanted to knit an afghan. I believe I started this either at the end of high school or when I was in college. I figured I would do it like the blankets that my grandmother and aunt make. This would mean knitting three super long strips and connecting them at the end.

Last night while at my parent’s house I went to my old room and opened up my craft bin. Inside I found that old project.

Those are the two finished strips. In addition to this, I found more. Still on the needles was another strip that is probably half done.

Eventually I want to finish this since I put a lot of hard work into it. I am going to talk to my Aunt T to see if she can help me to piece it together once I finish the last strip (between other projects – while relearning how to purl).

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Earlier Saturday, Laura told me to get some cotton yarn at the store. She thought it would be a good idea to make some wash cloths to practice casting on, purling, and binding-off. Ya know, make smaller projects that one can finish once the scarf for JSL is done (which it practically is). The reason is I do not want to use the nice new yarn for my scarf to practice on.

Since the yarn was really inexpensive (and I can use the practice), I thought it would be fun for all of us to pick a color for me to make. JL and NHL were both game too.

I selected a yarn that was colorful, not too bold and made me know that I am the Estrogen queen in this house! It is called Potpourri.

JL selected a masculine mix of blues. It is called Faded Denim.

Then it was NHL’s turn to pick. Well, it speaks for itself. *sigh* *shudders* This is called Lemon-Lime, but I believe I will have more colorful names for this soon.

Right after his own selection, NHL picked one for his little brother (thank goodness there were none with orange). This one is called Sea Mist.

So to recap these are the yarns that were purchased for me to relearn how to do all things knitty.

A special thanks to Laura for agreeing to help me with this and suggesting the cool new mini-projects. Now can someone please buy me some shades for when I tackle the one for NHL. . . ugh!

Categories:
friends knitting looking back weekend

The Knitting Bug Got me!

Posted on January 17, 2008 6:42 pm by TheAngelForever

Today JSL and I had a busy day. It started off at NHL’s school for a meeting with his teachers (going over goals and things for next year). Then we went to meet up with the Squishy Yarn Guru that is Laura. She wanted to take me to a "real" yarn store to see what they had (ya know – not Walmart, Michaels . . . or anything like that).

Anyway, she is EVIL I tell you. I want to start knitting with the really pretty new yarn that I bought. See here it is with the new needles that I bought.

Problem is I can not start just yet. I must be patient (WAHHHHH). I must wait until Madame Squishy Yarn Guru shows me how to purl again (plus she needs to help me finish off JSL’s scarf.). She said she will show me something neat to do for this scarf to make it a little more interesting. Until we are able to meet up for the lesson I will have to sit and pet my new yarn. Here are two more close ups of the pretty fun stuff.

and another to show another section:

On that note I am off. JL and I are taking NHL out for a Big Boys night. My parents are watching JSL – thanks Mom and Dad!

Categories:
friends knitting me moments

Knitting fool – c’est moi!

Posted on January 12, 2008 1:36 am by TheAngelForever

For the last few months I have been itching to learn to crochet. Why? I guess it was always something that seemed interesting to me. In addition to this, I have fallen in love with the beautiful work that Bethany has made and shown in her Flickr albums. I found out that my grandmother and two aunts actually crochet, but with their busy schedules and my kids we have not been able to figure out time for lessons.

My desire to do something with yarn finally made me take a plunge. With some help from Laura I decided to head out get some new knitting needles (not sure where my old ones are – probably still at my parents house). So last weekend while NHL and JL were at a birthday party, I walked with JSL to Michael’s to get something for a project. I decided to make something simple that I should be able to finish. So, I am knitting a scarf for the little guy. They do not sell scarves in stores for babies and since baby necks get cold I am making him one!

Laura came over Monday to help me to asses the items that I bought (and pick up her Trader Joe order). I could not get the bamboo needles in the size that she suggested, so I stuck with the metal ones (I learned on those when I was in elementary school – so they work for me). The show off got me started with two rows. She wanted to see how many stitches to use. Later I counted and she supposedly thought that 49 was the perfect number.

I do not have a lot of time to knit, but it is therapeutic to do before bed to help me to relax some before going to read and ~~passing out~~ sleeping. How sad that the first night I sat there with my laptop and knitting so I could get pointers from Laura on what I was doing wrong since my poor hands were killing me. She had to remind me to relax my hands from death gripping the needles. . . ooops! Since then I have really gotten the hang of it and my hands only start to bother me after more than 2 hours of ~~torture~~ knitting. This is a nice break from typing/blogging and gives me a different type of ~~obsession~~ project/goal. Man can you tell I am getting punchy and my eyes are bloodshot as I type this after knitting for the last two hours?!?!

Here is a sneak peek of my knitting. The scarf is very wide for a baby, but I hope to tuck it under his coat some to ~~protect from puke~~ keep his neck warm. Plus an added bonus is that he can use it next year, assuming we do not misplace it. These photos were taken Thursday after knitting for a few hours. Since then it has increased a little more thanks to another 2-3 hours of therapy.

Extreme Macro close-up!

Another close view with the shiny purple needles.

I will keep you posted on my progress. I hope to finish this before winter so JSL’s neck can have some protection from the cold weather that is coming back.

Next up, learning how to purl again. This time I am doing a straight knit since it has been over two years since I have done anything. Laura has said she will teach me again and thinks she can show me how to make some mittens. I will believe that when I see it.

Who knows, maybe someday I will be a yarn snob just like her. Thanks Laura for your help and who knows you may get laughs from me one day about turning a heel on socks – LOL!

Categories:
decisions friends knitting looking back sarcasm

Icy nightmare & thank you J & H

Posted on December 20, 2007 9:53 pm by TheAngelForever

The following picture was going to be my Wordless Wednesday. Unfortunately, a stomach bug that has been passed through everyone in our house finally hit me yesterday afternoon/evening. Here is the photo:

This is the side of our house. As you can see it is a HUGE mess thanks to recent storms. Since we bought our house we have had trouble with ice damns forming and at least two times backing up into the house. I now hear water dripping and am paranoid. The mess pictured above was a new spot that we had never had problems with in the past. The cause – leaving the AC unit in the window.Why did we leave said AC unit in? Well, because we have had a really hard time year in and year out getting that sucker back in to cool the room. We never figured it would be an issue.

The issues that caused the horror shown stem from something that occurred when we bought the house. One of JL’s coworkers removed a tile in our ceiling because it was bulging. Much to our dismay we had a leak in that section of the rubber roofing. That part of the roof had to be replaced. $1000 later it was done just in time for the new carpet to be installed. So for over three years we have left the hole in the ceiling with NO insulation. Can you see where this is going?

Yes, the lack of insulation, along with the heat escaping from the AC unit in the window gave the ice the perfect opportunity to have this occur. The AC unit itself allowed a wonderful spot for the obscene amount of ice to collect.

Tuesday evening JL went up to try to chip away at the ice and put some stuff up there to melt it. That did little or nothing. Here is all he was able to remove next to his hand as a size reference:

Fast forward to me pitching a FIT to dear hubby about this and fearing that the AC unit was going to fall and put a hole in our roof and land in a room below. I blew a gasket (I admit it). Luckily JL talked with our friend J. J had some ideas on what to do and said he would come over. So J and his wife (who I have grown up with) H came over last night. By the time they got here I was not feeling so well. I was in denial and thought I was feeling better. Thank goodness H came – she watched the boys while I tried to keep stomach contents in.

JL and J went upstairs so they could see what was going on. They brought up something to hack at the ice from the tiny crack in the window. Here are two views from the window upstairs:

The guys came downstairs and told us they were going up the ladder to see what else they could do. JL called soon after (via cell phone) to tell me there was good news and bad news. The good news – the ice was gone! The bad news – the AC cover came with it. JL and J came back in and were going to head to Home Depot for insulation and a tarp to put the AC on in the attic. I asked if they could use our old shower curtain instead. I really did not want them going since I was feeling worse again. They said they would. So they went upstairs and removed the AC, took away more ice and then came down.

At this point I was GREEN — I will spare you the details.

The end result is the following was removed from the house (here with some fresh snow on it) and the house as it is now:

So now you can see why I "love" this house so much (long story goes with that) and why I want to move to Florida.

A big thank you to J & H for being so wonderful and helping us with this. I seriously was going insane from worry about this ice formation on the outside of the house. Also sorry that you were exposed to whatever I had – the good news is 24 hours later I feel human again!

Oh and even our rose bush wants the spring to come . . . *sigh*

Categories:
friends house jl losing my mind photos sickness vent weather winter

Weekend Review (10/21 – 10/22)

Posted on October 23, 2007 4:09 pm by TheAngelForever

The weekend was a whirlwind of errands and things all packed into one. Justing thinking about it makes my head hurt. . . oh wait I already had this stupid headache!

Saturday morning NHL received a phone call from Nana and Papa. They wanted to know if he would like to go with them to breakfast and out. So we quickly got him ready to head out with them. Then a little while later they all called to see if we wanted to head to the new Lowes with them. We said sure. When we got there NHL was so excited to go in. He had watched the building get knocked down and the new one slowly go up and was thrilled to see the final product. When we walked in my father knew to ask for a coupon. If you asked they had buy $25 get $10 off coupons. So we took one. I needed a new extended snow brush for my van and we also bought the new energy saving fan bulbs for our dining room. Now we’re investigating new insulation for the attic to try to help prevent the monster ice damns that form. So we used the coupon and the snow brush was free!

After that we were going to head to Sams. Then my father pulled his car over and asked if we wanted to stop at Toys R Us. He explained that he had heard on the radio the day before that they were having a special sale on all Fisher Price Sesame Street items (50% on them except the TMX line). We arrived before they opened and within 5 minutes they opened the door. We bought a bunch of things for Chanukah gifts for cousins and a few items to put away for future baby gifts. Then we went to Sams and NHL loves snacking there on all of the samples. Then it was time to head to Target to turn in NHL’s antibiotic medicine chart for a prize (LOVE Target pharmacy).

Once we were done with this we went our separate way from my parents. We went home to do lunch. JL decided to make applesauce in the crock pot. Once it was set and on we went to Michaels to buy some items for NHL to have for The Wiggles concert. He bought a rose for Dorothy the Dinosaur and bought things to make a bone for Wags the dog (photo of this to come later). Then it was back home to eat and then we went to the grocery store.

Sunday we got up and went to our Shul for a Story time and craft hour that is for 3-5 year olds. This was the first time we went. Noah really seemed to enjoy it. There were only 5-6 kids there (we’re told there are usually 12-14). They read the kids Five Little Gefiltes. The book was hilarious! Then it was time to do the craft. They had big plates, glue, and all different types of beans for the kids to make mosaics. Some kids made Star of Davids and others made their own things.

After this we had to do to Verizon Wireless to get our phone fixed. My parents met us there and we all got new phones ($150 ones for FREE x 4) and added my mother onto the plan. We were there FOREVER. We left there called my friend L to confirm plans to meet at the park for the boys to get energy out. We went back home had lunch and I tossed laundry in (I found all of NHL’s old 6-9 month clothing to wash and get ready). At 3:15 we went to the park to meet L and IA to play. The boys had a blast. Here are some of the 100+ photos that JL took while we were there (he was in his glory getting some autumn shots).

NHL going down the slide:

I LOVE this shot of NHL having fun crunching the leaves. It’s a great photo representing the fun in fall.

Fall time in the park - NHL crunches leaves

NHL and IA on the train. This was one of the few times they stood still long enough for a photo with both of them in it.

NHL & IA on the train 2

Both boys on the slide together:

NHL & IA sliding 2

Most of the time NHL was running after IA. Here’s a shot of what it was like!

NHL chasing after IA

NHL on the swings being a goofballs:

The face says it all

JL decided to help both boys on the swing, so I took over on camera detail. Note that both boys were chatting with each other at one point.

NHL & IA talk as they swing

Soon after this IA was chanting "Higher! Faster!" to JL. You will see he was in heaven since we saw his feet most of the time.

WHEEE - IA goes higher per request

During this time JSL was in his stroller enjoying the almost 80 degree day. He was taking in the sites.

JSL hanging out in the stroller

Next it was time to break out the soccer net and ball. Here are a few shots of how the boys played soccer.

Novel concept - kicking the ball!

NHL saves the ball, but IA was scored

Note what the boys were more interested in

Timber!

You can just hear the leaves crunching:

Can you just hear the crunching leaves?

Here’s an amazing macro shot by JL:

The boys on top of the climbing wall:

NHL & IA on top together

My cool dude!

Hey cool dude!

JSL so fascinated with his big brother:

JSL is SO fascinated with NHL

Before leaving the boys were fooling around and they fell onto the ground. IA was on the bottom and clocked his head on the ground pretty bad. Luckily he seemed to be fine, aside from biting his lips.

From here we picked up my grandmother and went to dinner at my parents house. I now LOVE tilapia since it is SO low in points (Weight Watchers that is). I programed my father’s new phone, JL uploaded their photos to WinkFlash and we had a nice meal. JSL started crying hysterically at 7:00. Nothing stopped him. The poor kiddo was teething. As I posted before this those suckers on the bottom broke through Monday.

Well, that’s basically the weekend. I best be off to get ready. We are going to see The Wiggles tonight and have front row seats. I need to gather supplies for JSL to have at Nana and Papa’s house

C’est Moi