sherriknits

I think I knit about 5 rows on the heel flap of hubby’s sock today so no need to bore anyone with that huge progress.

I got a fun treat in the mail today from Ellen.  She was having a contest and was going to send a book to a commenter.  I didn’t win the book (which wasn’t the reason I commented anyway) but she kindly sent me this just for visiting her. 

Knitters are so nice.

I am lovin’ my new camera.  I haven’t shown anyone here the view out my front window.  My house isn’t anything like this, but this is what I get to see every day.  The big red tree is my favorite and I love it as much as the house.

After big sis got off work today, she brought the little imp to town and we got him measured for his suit for the wedding.  It was pretty funny, he thought it tickled. 

This last one isn’t the jacket he’s getting at all, but he wanted to see how the fit was.  We have to buy his tux as it’s much cheaper than renting.  His will be black and we’re going to probably have him dress as much like dad as we can (same color shirt and tie) since they don’t have vests and ties to match the groomsmen.  He is going to be a junior groomsman.

After we did that, they just hung out a little bit until it was time to go home.

It was pretty warm here today so I’m just going to watch the Mariner’s game and enjoy the breeze that finally came up.  I left my knitting at work so hmmmm……….

Tags: my life. Knitting

It is official, summer can begin.   It was a great day and I got a new camera!  We drove an hour and a half to pick it up and straight back home.  There was a little bit of a charge on it, so I held it over my head and got this shot, not bad, eh?

Then we have to have the road going by so we can check out the image stabilization

and then through the front dirty window

As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

But, you may be asking, why can we let summer officially begin?  Because I had the pleasure of having my first “porch knitting” with a good friend.  I had 30 minutes to vacuum the cushions before she came and it was great.  I actually think we missed all of last year, so this was an awesome way to start the season.  After my camera charged, I played with it a bit.  This is a favorite little table that used to be bright white.  I kind of think it shows a lot of character these days, but I may repaint if I get ambitious.  It used to be a phone stand I guess.

(and guess what!  I love my cups with my new Fiestaware!)  I love how clear the pictures are, too.

Here are the friend socks hanging out together.  The white one was pre-frogging.  The pattern made the cables look a little odd because of the direction they went.  The sock is now back to this size and she was right, it was the ‘right thing to do’.  She didn’t take my advice and I’m glad.

Before my friend showed up, I measured my sock against the first sock and had an inch to go.  I don’t know how long we sat and knit, at least an hour, and when I measured again, I had an inch to go.  What’s that all about?  I actually did get to the heel flap tonight.  (after twice measuring and having two rows to go, measure again, still two rows!  lol)

We came inside to eat barbecued hot dogs and watch “Benny and Joon”.  What an odd, humorous movie! 

i will leave you with two questions…..

do you think it’s amusing when some people show their childhood fear of jack-in-the-boxes?  lol  it seemed to be great cause for giggling in this house tonight by two certain people.

and would you refuse to be walked home by someone who looked like this?

Tags: my life. Friends. Knitting. Sky. Whatever

I’m not sure where this week went, but it was busy! 

Since I did not have my camera with me yesterday, I didn’t get a picture of Saturday’s sky, but here is today’s

Don’t let that blue mislead you, it’s raining. 

Hubby and I had a retreat Friday and Saturday at the most beautiful camp…and I forgot my camera!  I was more than a little upset over that.  This was a working retreat, but we had a great time.  If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know we’ve gone through a very difficult time.  This weekend brought much healing … lots of tears, lots of affirmation, it was good.  During part of it, we had someone leading us in an exercise in active listening.  It was pretty funny.  As couples, one of us was supposed to bring up a subject to talk about and the other was to practice the listening steps.  It was really cool because I was able to look around the room and see active participation and it was pretty interesting.  That’s not what the retreat was about really, just a little section of it and I think it was my favorite part.  I think we do pretty well in our relationship at listening and communicating but we learned a lot about dealing with others.  I love spending time with people I love and respect and who aren’t afraid to show that they care and to laugh and cry together.  That’s not really what it was all about either, but it was significant to me personally. 

When we arrived at camp, we had cards taped on the door to our rooms.  When we read ours, the tears just flowed.  They were thank you notes from the staff at our church.  We haven’t had difficulty with any of these people, but they all wrote what they have seen in our lives as a result of what we’ve been through and I was so touched.  It’s funny how you don’t see it yourself. 

I guess all I can really say is God is so good and so faithful and when I look back, I can see so much good coming out of adversity.  I’m so thankful we are moving on and relationships have been so strengthened.

And now, I DID get a chance to knit a little.  I needed something that was mindless so hubby was more than a little happy that the socks I started for him back when life felt so tough came back out of the bag they were stuffed in and I managed to add a few inches to the 2nd sock.  It was so relaxing riding and talking and knitting.  I love practicing knitting without looking (you never know when you might need to do that!).  I only got ‘off’ a few times.

When we got home, the dear boy had gotten a hair cut from big brother’s girlfriend.  I convinced him to hold the socks-in-progress for me on the wet deck because the light was a little better out there but he kept complaining that it was soooooo cold out there.  Not cold at all, a bit wet but I was only asking him to stand on a dry spot.  lol  The payback is that he loves seeing his picture on here. 

The dog of course wandered by right then but what are you going to do…can’t ask that boy to freeze out there when it’s soooo cold!  lol

We got a text message when we were on our way home that sis and her boyfriend were taking the boy to see Pirates of the Caribbean because he was pretty upset at missing the midnight showing Thursday night.  lol  as if we’d have let him go.  I cannot even believe we let him ever see that movie, but I guess with older brothers and sisters, it was just inevitable when they buy the dvds and watch them at home.  I absolutely hate those kinds of movies, but that’s me, I guess.  But…bad news.  They were sold out, so they took him to see Shrek.  I guess they had an interesting time…our daughter is tiny and it’s hard when someone big sits in front of her.  Right before the movie started, you guessed it…a whole family of very tall people came in and sat down.  That wasn’t all, but it would be unkind to tell the rest of it so I’ll stop there.  However, the little boy commented the entire movie that big brother and girlfriend would take him to see Pirates today….the whole time! That was what he went to see and he let everyone know.

He got to do that this afternoon.  I am so thankful my older kids love taking him along whenever there is a new movie coming out.  Since he’s been home, he is talking about 3 dvds coming out so he can watch it at home.  (is it really going to be 3?) Once he’s seen it, he knows the next step is the dvds and as far as he’s concerned, they can do that now.

We found out something amazing that he’s figured out how to do.  He is incredibly smart when it comes to anything electronic.  He can find any trailer on internet when a new movie is coming out and will tell you constantly what date it is premiering.  (case in point:  High School Musical 2….coming soon to a theater near you!  He’s been telling us this for months and now apparently he knows the date but I can’t remember!)  Well, here is his new thing.  He figured out how to set reminders on the tv for one of his favorite shows and every time it comes on (at least three times today), it starts showing a reminder 2 minutes before and then it automatically switches to it!!!!!!!  Now how did he ever figure that one out!  He is also famous for putting the closed captioning on, he just loves that, and sometimes he changes the language on it.  I can never figure out how to get it off, and if he feels like being nice, he will do it for me.

Ok, I guess I have rambled enough.  I think I’ll consider knitting a bit for awhile.  Hope everyone is having a safe holiday weekend.

Tags: my life. Friends. Kids. Knitting. Sky. Whatever

haha…where did that song come from?

I’m glad the week is over.  First of all, yesterday morning brought this cutie to the table:

That’s his favorite breakfast…french toast.  We heard him in the other room jabbering away.  He does his best talking to himself and we listen to get a clue what’s on his mind.  It used to really bother me, but his therapist told me this is fairly common and if we try to stop it, he will be very frustrated because it’s a way for him to express himself.  It will sometimes go like this, “Hi —–” “Oh, hi!” “How are you?”  “Fine.” “I want french toast for my birthday breakfast” “oh, cool!”  So, I decided if he’s thinking about french toast, then his tummy must be better and french toast it is.  He excitedly stood by me while I made it, picked his plate…and then sat there smiling and never ate a bite.  By the way, he gave me the yellow plate and he apparently assumes it is his.  (and it’s not his birthday yet, but that’s no reason to not have french toast if he wants it!)  I knew he was better though, because soon I saw him like this…

And the smile just did it all. 

I am on the heel of the sock, but I left it at work.  Here is something else on the needles though.

It might become a sweater.

I love seeing pictures posted on Saturdays for Saturday sky, so here are mine.

We woke up to cloudy, had rain here and there and I stood on the wet deck to take this at about 8:15 tonight.  We’re watching the Mariner’s and they had to close the roof tonight.

Have a great weekend!  We have the last bridal shower tomorrow afternoon.

OHHHHH…………….

I had one of the funniest emails I have had in ages the other day.  Since she didn’t leave it in my comments but emailed me insted, I have to share it here because I still haven’t stopped laughing:

“BTW, I hate to be the one to point it out but I think you have a serious
problem. If you’re knitting so much that your boy’s getting yarn-boogers, I
think you need professional help! Try this: http://www.knittersanonymous.com
” 

Tags: my life. Kids. Knitting. Sky. Whatever

Well, yesterday the little imp was sick.  Poor baby.  The hard thing about him is he doesn’t/won’t tell you what is wrong.  We always have to play the guessing game with him.  It’s pretty safe to say he had the same thing I did, but I didn’t think mine was a bug.  He’s a little perkier today, but very quiet.

So….what did I do with my day?  I’m still deciding on the new yarn and not really in a hurry to figure that out.  Instead, I decided to get a jump on a little sample for my shop.  There is new yarn coming and an exclusive pattern to go with it.  I decided to take an older color and start a sample. 

Have I mentioned today how much I love my new dishes?  Wow, it was so comforting to drink some 7up out of the cup when I felt so rotten.  It matches the yarn!

The yarn had been stashed in my fun new little bag that I think has become the ‘one step before being lost to the pile of ufo’s’ bag.  I am still interested in the things stashed in here, but they were making a mess of my GoBag, where I keep my current wip’s.

And now I had better get running because I’m going to be late for work!

Tags: my life. Knitting

I spent all day yesterday sitting on my couch recovering from this bug.  I couldn’t knit on the shawl because my brain just wasn’t there.  I started fooling around with the new sock yarn.  I went from this:

(sorry for the blur, I guess I wasn’t really looking at how clear it was)

to this:

to this:

and back to the picture above it (yet to happen).  I am going to wind it into a nicer ball and start over.  I don’t feel like I wasted my time because I didn’t feel good anyway and would have just been watching some silly thing on tv.  The problem with the 2 starts is they were just too big.  I have to find something with a smaller pattern stitch.  I know it’s hard to see that there is even a pattern there on the last picture but it was one I found in More Sensational Knitted Socks.  I was having a hard time sticking with the line I was supposed to be on because I don’t have any of that handy dandy highlighting tape at home and I was quite all the way there yesterday.

Remember that I started using lifelines in my shawl?  Well, this is how I found it right before we took off on our day trip on Mother’s Day.  (I have to say I am glad I saw it….but then if I’d used it and never saw it I’d never know anyway!  lol)

Tags: my life. Knitting

I did but I ended up getting sick.  We went to the coast and I froze most of the way there.  I felt so yucky that we were barely there for any time and just came back home.  The family had fun and told me they enjoyed spending the time anyway.  We rode down with the big boy with us, the others in the Jeep. Then the girls rode home with me while the boys were all in the Jeep.  Dad had to sit in the back seat because the boy has claimed the passenger seat, no matter who is driving.  I didn’t think to get a picture because I felt rotten, but it was cute. 

The big boy helped me do this:

Next time I will pay attention to the background…there were a lot of other places I could have had him stand!  lol  And, notice the dogs?  There are 5 yipping dogs who live next door who bark like this, often at 1 a.m.!  They are the reason I invested in an iPod, I fall asleep listening to a book and they don’t bother me as much.

I was so, so shocked!  My family surprised me with a new set of dishes.  I had commented that I would love to have some of these some day (this is what the bride in the family is getting) because they are so fun.  I thought maybe in a few years after we are done with weddings, I’d start picking up a few place settings at a time.  Well, they got me a good start…service for 6! Not all shown here and forgive the sloppy picture, some were being used and I just plain don’t feel good enough to do it any other way.

We drove to the coast and I visited the yarn shop

Where I got this:

(When I feel better, I am going to re-wind it because I thought it was kind of a sloppy job the lady did.) 

I had to get a picture of the boy at the end of the Oregon Trail.

All in all, a great day.  I am so grateful for my kids…and hubby.  And now I am going to snuggle back under my blankie.

Tags: Kids. No knitting

I’ve been plugging away on my shawl. 

It is almost becoming mindless knitting right now which is always nice, very enjoyable. 

I spent the morning on another little trinket for someone special.  I think it’s pretty funny how knitting the little ones is much more of a challenge than the real ones.  Not terrible, but trying to do decreases with 8 stitches on the 4 needles is a bit crazy. 

My friends Hoops and Yoyo had to hold it because by itself, every picture was blurry.  They needed a little time off my desk anyway, they are always happy to fill in when needed.

We get to go do something fun tomorrow after church and I’m excited.  It will be our last year with the family as it is since the wedding will change things.  We have to go in 2 cars to get anywhere, but the kids will probably follow us in our Jeep, unless we make them ride in the car. 

Have a great weekend!

I’ll leave you with a picture of what I came home from work to.

We’ve got Spiderman on in every possible way in our house.  A videogame was paused on the tv and he was nose-to-nose with his dvd player. 

Tags: my life. Kids. Knitting

This morning while I was trying to get ready to go, dear boy was working on a surprise for me.  He downloaded it from disney.com

While his handwriting isn’t the best, it is better than this but he was writing on the soft couch.  He was drawing and drawing on the picture of me…flattering?  Not sure of the hair!

This morning, my friend Bunni left me a comment on yesterday’s post stating there isn’t any room under the counter for any more abandoned projects.  This might be what she meant:

This probably isn’t all of it, but we won’t talk about this any more.

I had fun hanging out with my good friend at my shop today and she was teaching me to use this new little toy.

Pay no attention to the ugly carpet…someday we’ll get to get rid of it!

I had just gotten a chance to sit down with my laptop and my feet up, and the high school marching band came by.  They are often in our neighborhood but this time they came right down our street.  The dear boy was out the door like a bullet. 

He’s the blue spot on the sidewalk.  I was desperately trying to find my camera as they went by so I didn’t get a close up shot.  He was marching up the street behind them.

I was running along behind barefoot and my feet still hurt from it!

After this, I tried to shoot some video but my camera ran out of memory.  He almost headed up the street with them after they turned on the corner and my yelling to come back was not doing much good … you could just see it in his eyes, a chance to march with the band?  Thankfully sis came along with shoes on and hauled him home. 

Next time mom will wear shoes and we can go a little farther.  It happens enough that he’ll get his chance.

On the knitting front, I won’t bore you with a picture of  2 more pattern repeats on the shawl, but it is coming along just fine…and the lifelines are in place.  It’s funny how pushing through made such a difference.  The pattern makes sense and I don’t have to look all that often to see what to do next.  It’s such an enjoyable knit. 

Tags: my life. Friends. Kids. Knitting

Thank you, Sari, for reminding me of sisu, I was raised with the Finnish concept of sisu.  I was always taught that it is very difficult to define it, but it means stamina to continue (as Sari pointed out to me), inner fortitude, the willingness to go the extra mile.  It seems when I saw Sari’s comment, I was inspired to push on through and figure it out.  I really came close to still frogging the whole thing and starting over because I tinked back 4 rows and could just not find where it went wrong. 

Finally I realized I needed to go back and move the markers because I had gone into the previous pattern repeat.  Suddenly it just all started working.  There were still 2 stitches that were wacked out…one was a dropped yarnover and one was just not there, so I made one.  Voila! We’re on the road again!  It took me over an hour to tink back and less than 10 minutes to knit back to where I was. 

You will notice that there is now a lifeline.  Thanks, Shelly!  I guess since the pattern is so easy, I was just too confident in myself to think I needed one or something.  I’ve used them before and needed them. 

This was a great sense of accomplishment to me because every time I push on through, I am getting victory over this thing that gripped me and I’m getting part of  ‘me’ back.  Woohoo!  I’m sure I wouldn’t have persevered without the encouragement from this blog.  Cool, eh?

ps  Thanks, too, to Lauri for the encouragement in person.  She sat there watching the struggle.  And how wild is this?  I published this and had 2 comments within a few minutes!  Yea for bloglines!

Tags: my life. Friends. Knitting