Monday, October 30, 2006


Don't you just love the pillow?? My witch is wearing my sock as her scarf ! I made a couple changes to my sock in progress. First off, I took it off the DPN's as I was it was taking me much longer to get anywhere with it. The second thing I changed was the pattern. The one I started with had a cable and it proved difficult to execute with such small needles. It had a cable every other stitch, every other round, for 6 inches. Too much. So the pattern I am knitting now is called Diamond Lace Socks. It is knitted on size one and I am using Opal yarn. I have 1-1 1/2 inches left to go before I start preparing for the heel.

Fall's First Freeze


Last night we had our first freeze of the season. It is amazing what running water can do as it freezes. We have our own ice sculpture :)

Corey found this leaf on the driveway and we were both amazed with the perfectly round green circles spotted around it. Upon closer inspection, inside the green spots, were small black organisms. Not sure what they were, so back outside it went....Just in case they decided to let loose in the house!!!

Wet Kisses

My daughter Kristen, her son Donovan and my youngest daughter Katelin. We are having breakfast at a buffet in Las Vegas. We were there to celebrate my son Corey's 21st birthday. Kristen and Donovan share some Wet Kisses!!!

Janet's To Do List

I have managed to get a couple more things done on my list :)

I am copying an idea from an online friend, Christine, to keep a goal list. Although the concept certainly isn't new, it is new to me to actually write it down. I have always kept "the list" upstairs in my head. As I get older, have more stress and never seem to accomplish much, I decided I needed to get some of them out there so I could deal with them. I have so many ideas in my head, that seem to never make it to the top of the list, let alone be remembered!!! I am not going to do a monthly, weekly or even a daily list, right now. I have so many things roaming around in my head, that for now, I think I will just list all that I remember and go from there. I will then try to break it down to weekly goals :) At this time, I feel just getting them down will help immensely. So here we go (in no particular order!): List started October 19

1. Mail out birthday gifts~~Done
2. Finish Warm Thoughts afghan for my step brother and his wife
3. Have better relationship with my daughters
4. Get rid of clothes that no longer fit or I will never wear
5. Decide what to do with all my counted cross stitch inventory
6. Go through old magazines
7. Do scrapbook for each child for the holidays
8. Make DVD's of photos and family movies
9. Make ornaments (got a neat book for this)
10. Follow up on retrieving medical records ~~Done
11. Get surgery scheduled
12. Find a job (after recovery from surgery)
13. Finish Absolutely Fabulous Throw for us
14. Pick a pattern for a knitted sweater for me and cast on
15. Knit Ribbon scarf for Kristen and Katelin
16. Knit cap for son Corey (he even picked out the yarn)
17. Knit David some socks
18. Organize yarn and needles (again!!)
19. Repair frames and get pics hung back up
20. Finish sweater for Donovan (before he gets too big for it)
21. Finish Wing Shawl for myself
22. Organize printed patterns and put in notebooks ~~Done
23. Quit smoking ~~Working on it :)
24. Get more exercise
25. Make holiday napkins with my embroidery sewing machine
26. Donate items to Goodwill
27. Loose weight
28. Pull up carpet and tile main bathroom
29. Paint bathrooms
30. Paint living room
31. Paint dining room
32. Paint bedrooms
33. Weed through Kyle's toys to donate
34. Put movies and games back in cases in Kyle's room (many, many loose items)
35. Defrost freezer
36. Clean refrigerator (yuck)
37. Read more
38. Paint front door ~~Done

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Success with DPN's!!

I decided to try to knit socks on DPN's. After watching a video about it, I decided to give it a try. At first I tried with size 10 1/2 wooden needles, and after several attempts, I was ready to give it all up. The needles were to big and therefore awkward to get an even tension. Since socks aren't made with that large of a needle, I picked up size 1, that is used for my next sock pattern. They are aluminum, which I also heard was difficult in the beginning to use. After practicing for 5 rounds or so, I decided I was ready to CO for the real thing. This is my progress as of last night. I have an inch done so far. It really does get easier the more you do it :)

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Illusion Candy Corn Dishcloth


This one I completed in about 3 hours. I find this one amazing, as you can only see the design when you hold it a certain way. Otherwise it just looks like a bunch of colored stripes!!! I always have associated Candy Corn with Halloween, so this was a perfect design for me to knit....while snacking on some Candy Corn, of course :)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Saturday Sky 10-21-06

Another fabulous Pacific Northwest Sky. Don't ya just love it? This one was taken looking towards Canada.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Darrell Waltrip Dishcloth


I started and finished this one in about 3 hours. The designer calls it the DW Dishcloth for Darrell Waltrip, her favorite Nascar driver!!!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

My Prize Box of Yarn


The mail lady came to my door just now, and delivered my surprise package of yarn from Barbara. Barbara posted a challenge to the yahoo group Knitting-Chicks, to help her decide what to knit with some yarn she found in her stash. I had suggested the Diamond Lace Scarf I had made this past March, with her lace weight yarn. I was among 4 knitter's that won a surprise box of yarn :) Barbara was very generous and sent me 4 skeins of Moda-Dea Castwheel yarn in Bronzeberry, a skein of off white Alpaca and superfine merino by Rare Earth (absolutely beautiful yarn), some Knit Picks yarn in red and gold, and a skein of a wonderful turquoise colored yarn that has a thinner, variegated yarn running with it. Not sure who made this, but I love it. Barbara also sent me 3 skeins of remnant's in black, gray and purple that will be great as a contrast color to something. I am unsure what yarn this is as well. I really appreciate Barbara's generosity, considering I was only helping out another knitter!!! Thanks Barbara :)

Autumn Colors


Autumn colors are poking themselves through the evergreen trees around the property. Although we mainly have various evergreen trees around, you can spot pretty yellow, orange and red leaves scattered around. It is a drizzly day, with occasional showers, which I love. While looking around this morning, I saw these colorful trees surrounded by the pines. A very nice contrast to the prominent trees.

New Hand Dyed Yarn


I got this kit during the Crab Fest we had here a couple weeks ago. The yarn is from a local (Washington area) knitter/dyer. She uses natural dyes and this one is called Lavender Blue. It is a cotton/rayon and has 345 yards. She had a wonderful scarf knitted with this yarn, so this is why I bought the kit. I certainly have enough needles, but I wanted the pattern. It was a very open, airy pattern.

Textured Dishcloth


It is so nice to knit something that doesn't take days to finish, and this is a great example. I started this on Sunday evening and finished it Monday afternoon. Maybe 3 hours at the most. The colors are very vibrant :) Not sure who gets this. It was just a fun project and using new stitches.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Textured Dishcloth


I needed a mindless project, so I picked this dishcloth. After working on socks and the afghan, I decided to get into the dishcloth craze, and do some myself. The pattern is called Textured Dishcloth. I am using Sugar 'n Cream in Yellow and Playtime Recreation. I CO 45 stitches on size 7 needles. I should have this one done this evening. I may do several of these, and then get back to the afghan.

Maggie's Small Felted Tote


I finally put the straps on this tote. Can't believe it took me so long to do so. I am not completely satisfied about the end result of the felting, but I am still learning. I should have felted it longer, but I need to get more confidence in judging when something is "done". Like they say though, practice makes perfect :) Now I can send it on it's way!!

Diana's Trail Socks


Well, they are finally done!! I grafted the last stitch of the toe on Saturday evening. Can't believe they are finally done. The second sock went much better than the first one, since I figured out there was a problem with the directions. I also decided to see just how long it took to make a sock, so I dug up my handy stop watch and started clicking away the minutes as my needles clicked through the yarn!! It took 13 1/2 hours to finish the second sock. Hate to think how long the first one took, as I "frogged" it back sooooo many times. Have you ever taken the time to figure out how long a project takes you???

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Saturday Sky


Another Saturday that was fogged in :( The fog finally lifted enough to at least snap a photo. Maybe next week will be better.

Monday, October 09, 2006

I got a surprise ....


I came home this evening from taking Kyle to Scouts, and found these on the kitchen table :) Bright flowers in all the wonderful colors of Autumn. My David is such a wonderful husband and friend. Although most of my time is spent worrying about my daughter, Kristen, and her illness, my upcoming surgery and the estrangement from both my daughter's, he understands. He doesn't always have the words, but his actions always tell me he loves me. I am blessed.

Leisurely Afternoon


Caught this summer's fawn taking a little rest under the apple tree this afternoon. Momma was not too far away, as she is allowing her baby some independence!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Crab Fest Weekend


This weekend was Crab Fest in our little town. My two sons and I went, leaving my ailing hubby at home. He wrenched his back on Friday...Just hated missing this. Corey (the picture on the left), caught 7 crabs. He doesn't even like crab. My youngest son, Kyle, caught his only one about 2 minutes before their time was up. You pay $5/person, and you get to "crab" for 1 minutes in a large vat filled with crab. You fish for them with a stick with a small box with lines attached, and wait for the crab to crab hold. You can then pay $9/a piece for your caught crab. Not bad. We got lucky, as the rain held off while we were there!! Great day, great food and some great purchases. More about that later :)

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Diana's Trail Socks


Well, I finally finished the first sock. Man, this one was a difficult one. Not because of the knitting or the design.....because the directions were either written wrong, or I did it wrong, 5 different times. I think they had a row of instruction that didn't belong. After the 5th time of "frogging" back to the heel turn, I realized that the directions didn't correspond to the knitting. I eliminated that line and WHA LA, it came out right. I CO for the second sock, so hopefully with all that I now know, this one will go allot more smoothly :)

Saturday Sky


Loved the way the sun played with these clouds :) There was no picture of last week's sky, as we couldn't see it as we were totally fogged in, most of the day`:(

Friday, October 06, 2006

If Shibby Ever Knew!!


Shibby is our dog. He hates the cat, Amber. Amber is a kitten that always tries to play with Shibby. Shibby runs away and hids. While he was fast asleep, Amber snuggled up next to him and took a siesta!! If Shibby ever knew....