Just in Case

you have been wondering what I have been up to...but you probably haven't been since you have your own lives and all...I'll tell you.

I have been working on this scarf:

It is called the 100 Grammi cowl, but I added a second skein of yarn and it will be a scarf instead.  It is made from 100% MINK!!!  It's so soft; I can't wait to squish it up and wind it around my neck on a cold day.  It's been cold---for Georgia---and I hope it lasts just a few more days.  I had to take borrow back the skein of mink I bought for older daughter, but I have already replaced it with a skein of 100% mink, navy blue (her request).  I did catch Baxter playing with it but I rescued it in time.

On Friday I made a half portion of Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup, and it is delicious.  The full recipe is for 12 people---YIKES---but as she cooks for a minimum of six people and I usually cook for a maximum of two, I thought that six portions were enough.  

I used a submersible blender to chop up all the vegetables in it and the soup was Perfect!  Just as PW's recipe promises.

Well, this is exciting---I bought a re-usable coffee cup from Starbucks.  It costs $1.00 and each time I use it, I get $.10 off the price of my beverage.  If I remember to carry the cup in the car with me.

In the bad news department, the moths got to my winter coat---AGAIN.  I followed all instructions to avoid this---clean the coat, put a cedar block in the closet, keep a light on 24/7 in the closet, and put lavender in the closet.  But the coat is toast.

I am not happy.

I have learned that I should not follow Pioneer Woman's stocking up list.  Again, she cooks for at least six people, and I cook for two.  The result is that stuff goes bad before I use it.

I can't not mention Christmas!!!  We went to older daughter's home in Austin and spent a lot of time with all of her family as well as with my younger daughter and her boyfriend from LA.  A great time was had by all, and as my grandson said when he came downstairs on Christmas morning and saw the gifts under the tree:  It worked!

Ella (12), Elizabeth (4), Lily (almost 10) and Campbell (6)

Yes, Christmas worked again this year---a wonderful time with family.  :-)

Tacky Cool

As I have admitted in the past, I am accused by some of having tacky tastes. I just bought this gorgeous and fun jewelry holder and sent this photo of it to my daughters. Older daughter, a professional writer, said that she just couldn't find the words. Apparently she really loves it so you can guess what's on my Christmas list for her.

Younger daughter said she couldn't decide between whether it is a "Lorelei Gilmore" thing, or "OMG, you paid good money for that!" Guess what's not on my Christmas list for her.

But, don't you just LOVE it?

Back From Austin

This is a picture of me, doing what I do best, although you can't tell it from Elizabeth's expression. I spent LOTS of time holding Elizabeth, walking Elizabeth, talking to Elizabeth and...well, you get the idea. She is just starting to react to people so it was a special treat to be there with her.

I did play with the other grandchildren, of course. We went to the bookstore, Grandpa took them ice skating, and we just hung out. We worked on knitting and Ella is getting quite proficient at it. I even was able to teach her to cast on. Her first big project is knitting a hat for Elizabeth and it's going very well.

There is no better treat at Christmas, or anytime, than to spend time with family, and especially with little ones.

I hope your holidays were just as great as ours !

In the Nick of Time

Get it? Saint Nick? Nevermind.

Anyhow, I finished the stocking and finally sort of figured out the duplicate stitching. All of my Christmas knitting is finished and I'm free to knit whatever comes along next.

I also finished the second ruana, which was a large project, even though it's done on size 13 needles. I sort of felt as if I were knitting a blanket.

So on to Christmas in Austin!!!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Why I Will Never Knit Fair Isle

I am currently working on a Christmas stocking for new baby, and I have made so many of these that you would think I would know what I am doing by now---but NOPE. I don't know how to do fair isle, intarsia, or stranding or whatever the skills are that this project requires. I just sort of do whatever and hope for the best. So Santa looks OK from the front, right? Except for the missing eyes which I will duplicate stitch in when the whole thing is finished, along with the baby's name and the year 2008. Do I know how to duplicate stitch??? Well, not exactly. The knitting guru at the LYS showed me how many, many months ago when I started this project, but now I'm a little unclear. I'll work it out, or ask for help---again.

The reason I say that I will never do any beautiful fair isle knitting is in the picture below:
Knitting fair isle designs requires working with more than one color at a time. I hate working with more than one color at a time because doing so means that I will have this mess on the back while I am trying to knit. I end up with the strands all wound up around each other and have to keep unwinding them as I go along. The only thing that made this stocking easier than all the hundreds (I swear) that I have knit in the past is that our guru told me to just work with 24" or so of the yarns (except using the whole ball for the background color) so at least I didn't have to wrestle with three balls of yarn while I was knitting. Now that Santa is finished, I can go on to finish the foot, sew the whole thing up, stitch in the eyes, name and year, and it will be finished. Thank goodness!!!


What is shown in this picture is what has allowed me to get back to knitting without so much pain. It reeks---it's made of whatever wet suits are made of and it REEKS and always will, according to the therapist who gave it to me. But it allows me to knit. (My sincerest apologies to anyone who gets stuck sitting near me.)
While I have been catching up on my knitting, I have been catching up on shows I had not watched before. Law and Order, of course, and also House. What an odd show:

Each episode is as follows: A patient with weird symptoms shows up at the hospital. Dr. House, loveable but scruffy and crabby, and his team mis-diagnose the patient a whole bunch of times. Since the patient is mis-diagnosed, he is also treated incorrectly for his mysterious condition. Those treatments cause more symptoms. Sometimes members of the team go to the patient's house to snoop (look for clues to his illness); sometimes they don't. Then in the last ten minutes or so of the show, something suddenly occurs to Dr. House, he has his team treat the patient appropriately, and everyone lives happily after.

The End.

Well, the end except for this question: House is forever popping pain pills without benefit of a drink to swallow them down with. How does he do this? I can't do this. Just wondering.