The Simple Woman's Daybook

I'm taking part in Monday's post of The Simple Woman's Daybook. I don't know if I'll continue with it every Monday but I thought it would be a nice diversion. If I decide to go with it I'll be leaving a permalink to Peggy Hostetler's website and you can follow any contributions I make.

FOR TODAY November 25, 2008...

Outside my window...it's dark, rainy, cold and very windy. The lights were flickering on and off earlier and I wondered if we would actually lose power!

I am thinking...how tired I am! It's pretty late for me, around 11pm and I just got back to this!

I am thankful for...my family, having a roof over my head, food in the fridge, a car that works, and all my friends.

From the kitchen...it will be very busy tomorrow as I begin to baking and preparing for Thanksgiving.

I am wearing...jeans and a pink tee-shirt.

I am creating...a sweater for my husband, a scarf, socks for my SIL, felted mocs for my Dad, and a toy for my son.

I am going...no where.

I am reading...The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks

I am hoping...for peace and a good nights sleep.

I am hearing...the water running in my son's fish tank.

Around the house...it's dark and quiet and very wet outside.

One of my favorite things...knitting!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Family Thanksgiving, long overdue housework, maybe a movie, some me-time, fun with family.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is sort of how I feel right now! I'm off to bed, hope you all enjoyed my little slice of life.

Happy knitting!

Tribute to the Never Ending Hubby Sweater

I knew I spoke too soon on my last post. I made the comment that it was on its homestretch...not anymore. I discovered after having nearly finished the first sleeve, like only an inch of ribbing left, that I read the instructions wrong. EVERY TIME I READ THEM! How does that happen??? So after several hours bemoaning my humongous mistake, I took a deep breath and ripped...and ripped...and ripped. *sigh* I ripped all the way back to about 2 inches from the pick up stitch row. That's over 15" of sleeve ripped. *sigh* Shall we say I learned a major lesson from all this??? If it feels wrong than it probably is wrong. *sigh* So now I begin again but this time it's going to be done right if it kills me! I'm still going for Christmas but it's crunch time now. I still have to cast on for my dad's slippers and for my Secret Santa's wool socks. I also promised my SIL she'd have her socks in a couple of weeks. I have my work cut out for me. I think next year I'll plan out my gift giving a little better. Yeah, right.

Little man is giving me the worst attitude. I know it's the terrible two's but there have been many times this week when I seriously questioned my sanity. I honestly don't know what to do anymore. He is so strong willed and is constantly pushing my buttons. He's developed the habit lately of dissolving into screaming temper tantrums, complete with kicking, hitting and flailing, for whatever reasons, that last about 15 minutes. I've tried everything. So now I just make sure he can't hurt himself or anyone else and I leave the room. I simply can't stand it. He is driving me batty. And, since I'm equally strong willed, I tend to make it worse by not caving in to his demands. It's makes the tantrums longer and louder but I'll be danged if I let a 2 yr old dictate to me.

In other news, hubby has a 4 day weekend over Thanksgiving and I am soooo looking forward to getting a bit of a break. We also have a ton of household projects that need some tending to. All in all should be fun. Our oldest SIL is coming to stay with us to so we can expect to have some Upwords tournements! Yup, we're really exciting people to hang with!

Finished twilight and LOVED it! Can't wait to get to the other books in the series. Right now, I've moved on to a cyber-thriller called The Traveler - so far so good. Then it's on to Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs.

It's late, I'm pooped and in need of some serious shut-eye.

Later!

*Yawn* ...

Trouble is always brewing behind that smirk!

Last night was a weird night for sleeping. None of us save my Dad got any kind of decent sleep. As a result, I'm dragging ass and the wild man is throwing temper tantrums of the colossal kind. He screamed so loud he ended up coughing. Fortunately I've been taking some St. John's Wort and it seems to be working. At least I didn't end up having a temper tantrum too! The weather is crappy and nasty and we're stuck inside bored out of our furry little minds. Wild man can't decide if he wants to lay on the floor and scream, or throw all his crayons and papers to the floor, or empty the refrigerator shelves he's able to reach. Notice nothing productive is happening here. I've obviously escaped to the gated office where I can type randomness while keeping one eye on the destructive one. Right now, he has his dad's lunch boxes and has slung one over his shoulder and is carrying the other like luggage, has bade me adieu and is heading to the door. I told him to have a nice trip.

The hubby sweater's sleeves are taking FOREVER! I've knit 8" of decreasing stockinette stitches and thought I had stitched more. Bummer. I still have 7" more of decreasing stockinette and 2" of K1P1 ribbing. Maybe I can finish this weekend. At least it's my goal. But then I have a whole other sleeve to do. Remind me to NEVER knit another XXL sweater! Of course I probably will some years down the road when I am a MUCH better knitter. But for the foreseeable future...not so much. I'm bummed now because this sweater is cutting into knitting time for other projects. Of course I could be knitting rather than blogging but then where would the fun be! Sometime this weekend I need another pair of size 13 circular's. I bought 26" instead of 24" and now I think I should get the 16" to be on the safe side. *ARG* In looking over the pattern for the felted moccasins I think I've gotten in a little over my head - there are short rows, people! I have no experience in short rows - do I really want to do it on a Christmas gift for my Dad??? Of course I do - because these slippers are the perfect gift for him. I was really hoping to get my SIL's Trekking socks done by Thanksgiving but now I'm not so sure. My time table is getting rather unreliable. That's what I get for trying to plan things around a 2 yr old wild man...really now.

Button choices for the hubby sweater...
pewter celtic knots or green painted wood,
opinions anyone???

I was able to get several more cable repeats down on the Palindrome scarf during my MOPs meeting yesterday morning. The hubby sweater just isn't practical now to haul around so I need something smaller to take with me. I could have, and probably should have, taken the Trekking socks but I find trying to knit in the round on tiny needles is frustrating enough. I don't need to subject all my MOPs friends to a series of grumbles and sighs during our once monthly meet.

Wild man has moved on from counting and pulling out all the kitchen drawers to unloading his copiously filled toybox onto the living room floor. Now I hear him tearing through his drawing pad and when I go check on him I fully expect the floor to be littered with toys, torn paper and markers with their caps off. *sigh* I could really use a me break sometime soon.

I'm in the middle of reading Stephanie Meyer's twilight...can I just say WOW - I'm really loving it! Probably won't get to the movie while it's out so I'll have to wait for the dvd. I'm also looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Again, I'm loving this!

Weekend plans are still up for discussion. Most likely church in the am then off to see the FIL at the nursing home. Still no improvement there. He's declining rapidly - the dementia is definitely taking over. My Dad went to see him this past week and really noticed the physical changes. Anyway, no sad stuff today. Must go save what is left of the living room!

Ciao and Happy Knitting, y'all!

Doldrums...

I'm having the urge to start another project. The first sleeve on the hubby sweater is coming along rather nicely. I did get off to a rocky start by picking up and knitting stitches the wrong way. You know, I'm at the point where I just don't care. I'm not going back and ripping them out just to struggle doing them the right way. Hubby won't care either! And if someone does happen to notice a portion of a row under the arm is twisted stitch and asks why? Then I'll say it was my first (and likely last) sweater! Yet I'm getting bored again with all the stockinette stitches even though it is going much faster than the body of the sweater. I'm feeling the time crunch and I need to cast on for my dad's slippers soon. I still need to find slipper bottoms to attach to them so Dad doesn't slip and slide all over the place! Plus my SIL's Trekking socks need to be finished. I'm thinking tonight I'll cast on for the slippers and try to get a few rows done. I'll limit my knitting activity to the sweater and the slippers and switch back and forth to eliminate the boredom.

Dinner is pork roast, gravy, baked potatoes, etc - cooked by dear ol' Dad! Heavy meal but who cares when you're the one not cooking it!

Happy Knitting!

The Hubby Sweater is Nearing the Finish Line!

Yup, I've finished the ribbing on the body of the sweater and tonight I finished the neck ribbing. Tomorrow I'll be loading up the 16" circular for the first sleeve. I'm totally psyched to finish this sweater! (Notice the use of outdated slang - I'm a child of the 80's dudes and proud of it!) I tried it on late last night to see if I was even close on the fit. It's sized for a XXL man and I can fit into it comfortably. The length is right, too. I added several inches to accommodate hubby's long torso. My goal now is to finish the first sleeve by this weekend and at least have the second sleeve loaded up and ready to go. I need to get started on my dad's felted slippers and I still have the Palindrome scarf and Trekking socks to finish. I'm hoping to have the Trekking socks mostly done by Thanksgiving but all depends on the finishing of the hubby sweater. I have a lot of ends to weave in and some buttons to buy and sew on.

I've started teaching my 5 yr old niece how to knit. I was surprised she was even interested. She's made comments in the past about learning how but I chalked it up to her just being interested in what Auntie was up to. Since she spent the weekend here and continued to show interest I agreed to try and teach her. She seems to be determined to get it! I started with a simple knit stitch and send her home with some waste cotton and a borrowed pair of needles to practice with. As luck would have it, her mom called me later today and asked for a quick tutorial because B was still trying to knit! I talked her through slip stitch and casting on and told her about all the wonderful video tutorials online she and B can watch. I'm pretty darned happy about all this! Imagine, me, having the patience to teach a 5 yr old knitting! Yippee for the both of us!

Time to catch some serious ZZZZ's ... a weekend full of house guests and two kids is enough to tucker me right out!

Ciao and Happy Knitting!

BTW - I'm trying St. John's Wort and so far so good!

Baking and Knitting...Two of My Favorite Things

Saturday was the day for baking and such. First off I made 6 jars of apple jelly using slightly overripe Red Delicious and Mac's. The color of the jelly is gorgeous...a beautiful shade of shimmery pink. The jelly was so sweet on its own that I only used 1/2 the sweetener the recipe called for. Delish! And, since hubby was so sweet as to give me the time to bake by making some bonding time for him and the little guy, I knocked off a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of mini donut muffins and a batch of Harvest Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...super YUMMY! I'll be making those again very soon! All in all it was a wonderful day of baking and eating. Tonight my Dad has taken over the kitchen and is baking some homemade mac and cheese. This is the time of year when my taste buds clap and cheer!


Last night was my first night at the library kniting group. We knit and chatted for about 1 1/2 hrs and it was really nice to sit with other knitsters who speak the language! I met some really nice ladies and heard some funny stories. A welcome break in my routine. I'll be attending once a month for the forseeable future! The hubber sweater is finally progressing nicely. I only have an inch or so left on the K1P1 ribbing then it's on to the sleeves. Also, I've started a new knit project. It's called the Palindrome Reversible Cable Scarf. I'm using Patons SWS in geranium colorway on size 9 straights. It's my first attempt with cabling and I have to say the stitch pattern is super easy but I'm using the wrong kind of cable needle. I want the U shaped cable hook and instead I'm using the needle...very awkward. As soon as I can get to a notions store I'll remedy the situation! In any case the scarf is knitting up very quickly and is quite beautiful. See for yourselves!


I voted yesterday and it was quite an experience. Very exciting and for the first time I felt like this country was moving in the right direction. We needed new blood everywhere and we got it. Now let's hope that Obama and his newly elected democratic government can stand up to the high expectations and actually get something accomplished. I believe he's in for a bit of a shock when he reads that first Presidential brief. I believe he can do what he says and I hope he has the courage and conviction to stick with it. If he can, and if he can avoid being a target, I think he can move us all into a better future. That's just my two cents.

Anyway, I have to get my little man up from his nap so I'll call it quits for today! Happy knitting, all!