Defeat the Winter Doldrums Questionaire

1. Do you knit, crochet, or do both?

I initially learned to crochet years ago from my grandmother...now days, I do much more knitting than crocheting. I have really gotten into knitting in the last 2-3 years.

2. What types of needles do you enjoy using for making dishcloths?

I use a cheap set of metal straight, convenient because, I don't use that set for anything other than dishcloths. When I get sick of the current project, it's sometimes necessary to "finish" something, so , I make a dishcloth.

3. What types of cotton do you enjoy using for making dishcloths? Is there any that you've been wanting to try?

I usually use "Sugar n Cream" or "Peaches n Cream" I wouldn't want to put much money into the yarn to create a dishcloth.(sorry, I am cheap, maybe thrifty is a better word.

4. What color(s) are your kitchen and bath decorated in (if any)?

My kitchen has a lot of greens in it - kinda pale, sage green , not the lighter minty green. I am in the process, soon, I hope, of redoing the bathroom - looking at rose colors..

5. What are your favorite colors for yarns? Least favorite?

I tend to prefer the earthy tones more so than neon, artificial tones.


6. Do you like Winter, or do you count the days until it ends?

I really, really, positively dislike winter. I hate being cold. I hate having my travel restricted by the weather. The only good thing about winter is the down time to sit under a blanket and knit your evenings away......

7. What's your favorite way to brighten your day when you're down in the dumps?

When I am down, I need a good friend, lots of chocolate, maybe some Kleenex....I tend to get sucked down really easily and struggle to come out...

8. What is your favorite treat to indulge in and when your down in the dumps?

Did I mention chocolate?

9. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Cocoa?

I drink coffee in the morning, heavily sedated with Irish Cream creamer. I am not much of a tea drinker. I haven't found a tea that I really, really like....I do enjoy a hot cup of cocoa occasionally, topped with whip cream...probably not as often as I could...

10. If you could take a vacation starting tomorrow and go anywhere for one week and money were no object, where would you go and what would you do?

I would take my family to Hawaii to visit my biological father, whom my children have never met.

11. Do you have any allergies or aversions your pal should be aware of?

I can not stand the smell of cigarette smoke. Other than that...I have no allergies, at least not to yarn.

Defeat the Winter Doldrums

Registration opens this Friday, January 11th for the latest dishcloth swap. You can check it out and register here.

Big thanks to Holly and Anne for all their hard work in making these swaps wonderful fun.

Family bonding time....

I bought two "pre-fabricated" ginger bread houses. I thought it would be a fun family experience to decorate a house with my children....

I had a vision - the whole gang gathered around the table - sipping eggnog, cheerfully adding bits of frosting, gluing candies - making the magic of Christmas come alive....

First there was the discussion about - "If I have to do this with Mom, you also have to do this." I'm thinking..."HAVE to DO this?" - What the heck? I'm talking fun here!!!

Once I got the frosting mixed, Nathan couldn't spoon it into the bag - it's falling all over the place - gobs of sticky (Toothpaste consistency - according to the directions) gooey, frosting....By now, everyone else is starting to get a little bored ...what do teenagers do when bored? Well... mine start picking at each other - arguing about this and that - did I mention the frosting oozing all over the table as he has now ripped a hole in the bag?

I have attempted to smear frosting on the roof to add candies - there is no way in Hell that frosting is meant to be smeared - it won't stick to the gingerbread - it is falling all over the place - now I have a hole in my bag as well...

The older two have abandoned ship...escaped to their rooms...

My phone rings...I leave the kitchen for about 15 minutes...I come back to a spider web on one side of the roof and a WWF symbol on the other side along with...are you ready for this ...my children decorated, one might even use the word...adorned ...their house with a penis. (nicely decorated with gumdrops)...and of course, nobody is taking ownership for said penis...

I bet I have the only gingerbread house around that has male genitalia on it's roof...

So much for family bonding, warm fuzzy feelings and all of that....

Pictures to come....

Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all my friends in Blog-land....

Thanks for the advice...the laughter...sometimes the tears...as you have left comments and shared just a bit of your world with mine.

I hope your Season is filled with family, friends, good food, and lots of kniting...

May 2008 be your best year ever. God Bless each of you. Big Hugs.

Happy Birthday Jeremy

Twenty-two years ago today - I was given the gift of Motherhood...

I have truly been blessed. It's hard to believe that it's already been 22 years. So many memories...

This is the only point in his life that his mother will be exactly twice his age....kinda cool. (For the mathematically challenged...I am 44 years old) hee hee

Happy Birthday Honey - wishing you much happiness and joy in the years ahead...believe in yourself and be proud of the wonderful young adult you have become...I am. xoxoxo

Only 12 days until Christmas....

Is anyone else in "panic" mode - or is it just me?????

I have the tree up....and that's it...we still have all bins sitting around the house, waiting for the remaining decorations to be put up and the bins put back into the closet.....

I have shopped - but not wrapped one single gift - thus, I am not even sure if I am done shopping...I know for a fact I have nothing for my sweetie...just some ideas...

Cookies...Let's just say...maybe I can get away with buying store-bought and just dumping them into my own containers....

Christmas cards - I have them....no one else may "have" them before Christmas...Is it okay to send "Happy New Year" cards?

Did Christmas sneek up on you as well?

I do have a couple of my knitting projects ready for felting....am still knitting frantically during every available moment - which explains the lack of direction concerning decorating, baking and cards.....

Tis the season.....which will be over for another year in about 12 days.....but who's counting?

Happy December

ohh - lots to talk about....

I love the Christmas season - every year I promise myself that I will be more organized and less stressed...somehow it just doesn't work out that way...maybe, someday.

I took one of my two personal days today from work and went shopping. I hate shopping with crowds of people - so the thought of doing it all on a weekend...was a little unbearable. I got most of it done...was really hoping the boys would be at their dad's this weekend, so I could get some sorting and wrapping done...no such luck.

It is "flippin' cold here this weekend. I mean...COLD!!!!! like 25 degrees below zero...cold!!!

Guess, I will just have to spend the weekend inside...ummm...what could I do...oh...maybe I could just KNIT!!!

I got one of my hair-brain ideas...decided to make a bunch of Christmas presents - yeah - I know it's like less than three weeks before Christmas - let's just say - I work best under pressure - (see 1st paragraph) Part of my shoppping today involved a stop at the LYS in Duluth. *big smile* Pictures of finished objects to come.

Are you having problems with blogger? Every time I try to post a picture from home - It tells me I am "no longer connected" to blogger. It's very frustrating - so, I can only post pictures from school...(where I am still trying to keep my head above water with grading and lesson plans)

Did I mention we have snow? (Lots of it.) Did I mention the county plow took out our mailbox? (It was on a 4x4 post.) Did I mention our plow truck is not working? (Apparently a life time guarantee on a battery means actually 7 months.) Did I mention we have lots of snow? (About 14 inches.) Did I mention how much I dislike/hate snow? (I think it's because I am half "Hawaiian" and don't belong in this cold climate.)

I finished an awesome pair of felted slipppers. My feet are now warm. Pictures to follow...(see above paragraph about the finickyness of blogger) And, yes, that is a word and I know it's mis-spelled. What do you expect...I am a Math teacher. hee hee

Did I mention I forgot to order my Christmas pictures while I was out and about today? I said a bad word when I realized that as we were almost home.

My sweetie thought we would be done shopping by 1:00, including lunch....we left at 8:00...foolish man.....I think I wore him out.....

I think I have rambled on enough...oh, one more thing...I noticed my visitor counter registered the number 1441...Does anyone know what kind of number that is?

It's a palindrome. A number that can be read the same front to back and visa versa. Cool, huh?

I know...Math geek...

I did it...

Something I swore I would never, ever, ever do....

I bought an artifical tree over the weekend. I swore I wouldn't ever...but times are changing...

Our family tradition involves a yearly trek to the tree farm...where you have four different boys standing next to four different trees...proclaiming this tree is the best....throw in some snow and wind, along with frozen toes and noses.....

Once the final selection has been determined....it is ceremoniously cut down and tied precariously to the top of our vehicle.....

Ahhh...the memories...

Well, I got to thinking about my new cream colored carpet in my living room and the mess of the tree water that invaraible gets dumped...not to mention the pine needles...and once you get pass the first couple days...can you really smell the tree anymore? And...the fact that two of my children are scattered across the state of Minnesota...

After consulting the troops this past weekend...everyone (except maybe mom who likes to hold on to family traditions) was okay with going artifical.

It's a sad, sad day....but...no needles and no spilt water.

So, here we are trying to assemble our tree....





More pictures of the finished tree to come......

More Thanksgiving thoughts.....

Here is what I am thankful for....my boys...

They all made it safely home to spend Thanksgiving with their mother.

Have I mentioned how proud I am of the fine young men they have become?

Happy Birthday Gramma

My Gramma turned 87 years old on November 17th.

She will be amazed when I tell her I put her picture out here for all to see.

She still lives on her own and does very well....we love her lots.....and I am very lucky to still have her in my life.

Thanksgiving

Have you noticed how the media refers to Thanksgiving as "the day before " Black Friday? As if the actual Holiday has no value at all and the only purpose of the day is to prepare and hype up the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

Well, I boycotted the whole business. I refuse to shop today. I refuse to get out of bed and stand in the cold (the temperature is down in the single digits) amongst a bunch of strangers to save a couple bucks. I refuse to stand in lines that zig zag across and around the store, arms laden (and aching) for over an hour to check out.

I refuse.

I choose instead to spend my day after Thanksgiving appreciating my home and children. We will eat left overs and maybe watch a couple movies. And knit.

Question for you...

Do you keep a journal of your finished objects?

Do you track the date started, yarn used, pattern...etc?

If so, did you buy it or make it yourself?

I am thinking about doing this just for "shits and giggles" and am looking for some input from all the "experienced experts" out there...

...or is this just another side of my anal nature/personality and nobody else gives a rip?

I have been knitting...

A while back...the beginning of October...I sent for the book Knitting Circles around Socks.



My first attempt was a little frustrating. The book calls for using both 16 and 24 inch circulars. I had two pairs of 16 inch. I thought I could figure it out and tried using Panda Cotton.

Well, the combination of light yarn and not being able to distinguish between which needle was my "24 inch" one (cuz I wasn't using a 24 inch one)...I gave up and decided to actually follow the directions and see where they lead me...

I started over with the correct needles and yarn... 16 and a 24 inch size 5 circs and a worsted weight wool yarn.

Much better.

It took me a while to "wrap" my mind around the process of knitting tow individual socks simutaneously while keeping them seperate.

Once I got going...it went really quick...this is the fastest I have made a pair of socks...of course I am also using size 5 and my other pair was on size 2....




The process is actually pretty simple. The two needles lie parallel to each other in their starting position. The 16 inch needle lies in front. The instep of each sock is on the 24 inch needle and the sole of each sock is on the 16 inch needle.

As you knit one round...you knit sole of sock one, sole of sock two, instep of sock two, and instep of sock one. You need to tug up tight the first stitch to prevent the loose stitch between front and back.

Only part you do individually is when you turn each heel.



The camera flash washed out the color in this picture. They are the true blue in the above picture.

I finished them last night but will not be able to post the finished picture until I get to school to upload it.

I have already cast on a pair in Cascade Fixation and have most of the cuff done.

I want to play around with knitting mittens using the same concept...anybody ever tried it?????

I highly recommend this book and process...easy to follow and quick.

It was a "snowy" drive to work....

In between putting on my makeup, drinking my coffee and texting a few friends...I snapped a couple pictures on my drive in on Friday....

This was the view going 45 mph on I35 on Friday morning. Our first substantial snowstorm of the season.

Lots of people in the ditch...you would think up here in Norhtern Minnesota people would know when to slow down and drive sanely...apparently not so....



....and...just for the record...I wasn't doing any of the above (well, okay, I was drinking coffee)...just snapped a couple pictures to share with you all......

Football update...

Second place champs......

Eight sections in our state for our school size...eight teams in each section...

We made it down to the final game for the sectionals...and...we lost to an undefeated team....

So, football is over for another year. I will miss it. The team did very well for as young as they are.

As I told Nate...they are one of the top sixteen teams in the state for our school size...that's something...and there is always next year....