sherriknits

Remember I mentioned yesterday that we wear the suit every day, many times a day.  Well, this is what I just saw…

There he sits in the middle of his “nest”….so excuse the mess, but I love the touch of the red spiderman pajama pants.  LOL

Weather today?  We have cloudy drizzle….supposed to be 59 and partly sunny. 

I really am not going to complain about the weather when I think of the horrible tragedy in Iowa and the flooding going on in the midwest…but at the same time, this is the first time we’ve seen the sun in about 2 weeks and I really have to mark it on my calendar!  This has been the strangest year.  The whole town was excited when it started clearing up this afternoon!  Maybe it will warm up, too.  (we’ve had 40’s to 50’s)

I finished another simple little hat for SweetPea to match the bolero but I took it to mama without taking a picture of it.  I asked her to email me a picture but she didn’t get home until after dark tonight.  She is so thrilled at the simplest of things.  So is daddy….they take pictures of baby’s closet and send them to me.  The little bolero I made for mother’s day is hanging in the closet and it is soooo funny hanging on the hanger…the sleeves stick straight out.  I love that they are having so much fun getting ready for the big event.

Knit night the other night was really small, but we really had a great time.  Everyone came in pretty early and we just had a great time laughing and knitting.  I wasn’t going to put a picture but I thought maybe the daughter of one of the knitters might like to see her mom having fun.

See Ravelry open on the laptop there and the pink t-shirt? 

A daily occurence in our household is for the little imp to put on his tux.  I am serious.  Some days it is 4 or 5 times. 

Notice the executive pose.  (and the dressy shoes)

Now for a closeup of the collar and tie….

I love his creativity and enjoyment of life.

It just occurs to me that I had better get knitting a hat for Father’s Day for daddy-to-be.  I think I’ll make the pink version of the football helmet and give him both of them and he can return whichever one they don’t need.  I can’t think of anything he’d enjoy more than a football hat for baby.  They haven’t seen any of the other hats I’ve made…I want to give them when baby is born.

Too bad I have so much to do tomorrow, but glad it’s quick!  Oh yeah…and Saturday is WWKIP so I’ll be knitting all day.

Technorati Tags: blessings, imp, knitting

For some reason, every now and then one of the keys on my keyboard stops working.  It has done it since I got it and it isn’t that something is in there…but today it is the K so excuse if I miss it.  I have to punch and punch it.

First of all, I would like to remember those who have given their lives for our country.  It’s good to stop and reflect.  I watched several old movies today about wartime (the old romantic kind) and some of them were poignant to say the least.

It’s funny, I forgot about much of our weekend until I loaded my pictures from my camera.  Gosh, that’s kinda scary.

Remember my daily pictures of the theater quite awhile back?  Well, for months and months all I could see was the big board fence that covered the whole front of the building.  (Remember when we had our big storm and the whole fence left? )  Well, this weekend we had our first weekly street market (that was a lot of Ks!)  and the guy who has promoted it and worked at bringing it all about is the guy who is restoring the theater.  So……..

This is while they were cleaning the area but it’s nice to be able to see.  It won’t be ready until the end of the summer but at least now the view is nice.

Friday night was date night and we were very pleased to get a call from mama and papa-to-be asking if we’d like to meet them for dinner at Red Robin.  Once again we split a burger and had great company.

Can you see the back of the boy’s head in the background?  That silly kid was putting the special salt in his milkshake! blech!!!  The boys at the table next to him were even worse.  They seemed to need attention.  One of them asked the waitress something to which she replied “go for it” and he went to an empty table that hadn’t been cleaned yet, took what looked like a grilled cheese sandwich, all eaten but the crust, and sat back down and ATE IT! gag gag gag!

Saturday was really nice…weather-wise and fun-wise.  I had 3 people who spent much of the day hanging out and knitting.  We walked down to the street market and got Costco Kraut dogs and ate them at the sidewalk table.  There were lots of people there and about 40 vendors.  I didn’t get to look too closely but it seemed to be a hit.  Of course, I left my camera in my purse so I didn’t get pictures.  Made a new friend while knitting, though, and had fun.

I did knit this weekend but no pictures yet.

When I got home Saturday we decided we needed to get some things accomplished at the house so we headed off to Home Depot.  We kind of forgot we were in the Jeep (altho the car would have been worse) and overbought.  I wanted flowers for the porch and hubby wanted to finally spend his gift cards he got for Christmas and his birthday last July.  Before we went there, we saw that they had a patio set for cheap and we ended up with that, too.  Hmmmmmm, how to get it all home….

I held the big flower pot and rose tree in my lap but the back of the jeep was rather full.

And there was one little boy surrounded in the back!  I kept asking him if he was till there because the box was behind me and I couldn’t see him at all.  He loved it.

Yep, he is sure he was a big helper.

Yesterday was kind of a rest day.  We just have to on Sunday or we feel like we never slow down.  The little imp and I did not make it to church and I am not happy about it.  He has been a bit of a trial to me this week and already ruined one day.  We were totally dressed yesterday to go and without warning he just quit cooperating.  I am not sure why it was too much to put on shoes and socks, especially when they were right there, but I did not have the desire to force the issue.  He loves church, loves Sunday school…but turned a deaf ear to getting on those shoes and socks.  So, we stayed home.  I next to never do that but he was out cold and we missed first service which we are used to attending.  He was cheerful when he got up but maybe he just wasn’t really in gear. I don’t know…but I did not care to spend another day bummed out so we stayed home.  He did see me crying and I think he felt bad, I didn’t make a big issue over it, I don’t think I needed to.

The rest of our day looked up though so enough said.

Late last night I started cleaning out my corner of yarn.  No small chore.  Every basket seemed to be connected because somehow those balls of yarn seem to jump from one place to another.  I was kind of intrigued while I untangled them all.  How in the world to they do it?  As i worked, I thought well, this must have passed this way before as I followed the maze.  I broke off very few of them but took time to save most of it.  It was kind of fun taking the challenge.  Hubby and I went to Walmart-Home Depot-Walmart to get something to put it all in.  Now when we get some extra room upstairs it is ready to go.  Finished.  woohoo! 

In the midst of it, we had the girls and hubbies over for a barbecue.  The little imp and I caught a glimpse of a visitor across the street.

I know the deer are pests when you have a beautiful yard, but they are so beautiful themselves.  We watched it watch us, then slowly cross the yard and continue eating. 

A dear friend knit baby a sweater and told me to give it to mama-to-be some day when she needed it.  We were all sitting around the new patio table, it was peaceful, and I just felt like it would be a fun time to give it to her.  She’s never met Nancy but in the short time I’ve known Nancy, I feel like she has become a real friend.  I cannot tell you how blessed I am that she would do this for my grandbaby! 

I didn’t get a picture of the pleased Daddy.  I will take a better picture of the sweater.  Hmmm, how can I do that? It went home with them.  Take my word for it, it is adorable!  If you are on Ravelry, check it out at memegreen’s page.  It’s her own design and she is going to get it out of her head and onto paper.  It has 3 buttons in the front and is just so cute.

Tonight hubby brought home strawberries and get a load out of how huge they are!

That is a regular size Fiestaware cereal bowl!  Mary had to remind me how to do the straw trick to get the centers out of the strawberries and it worked like a charm.

And now I am going to get a little imp off to bed and head there myself soon.  Hope you had a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: blessings, imp, blessings

First of all,  I am progressing on the Francie sock.  I haven’t had a lot of time to knit, but when I do, it moves along pretty fast.  I’m loving this and have loaded A Tree Grows in Brooklyn back onto my iPod although I am trying to finish Howard’s End first.

It’s hard to show the shaping on the bottom of the foot at this point but next time I’m sure it will be worth a look.  I really like that this is a fairly easy knit but there is enough to keep interest.  I have to say even thought I have used this yarn before, it seems thicker this time.  Maybe it’s the ribbing.

Today I had the little imp with me at work for awhile.  He isn’t wild about being here but he does enjoy one little chore.

will he knit, too? from Sherri Knits on Vimeo. 

Future knitter?  If not, a great assistant anyway.  He loves it and does a good job!

Before this, he was actually writing messages to his brother that said, “Let’s go”…hoping he’d get rescued.

Good news here.  Remember many months ago when hubby’s guitar got stolen from our church?  He didn’t want them to replace it for awhile in hopes it would show up, he loved that guitar and they are not easy to come by.  Well, he finally decided it was time and “just happened” to find one listed at a store in Seattle.  The church immediately called them and purchased it.  He had the choice of dropping everything and heading to pick it up or to wait until Saturday.  Guess which option he took.  haha.  He was outta town in nothing flat.  I’m so happy for him.  They only make 50 of these a month to sell worldwide.  He had sold 2 good guitars to get the stolen one.  Anyone who knows about guitars (not me) knows that 2 guitars of the same model will not feel the same and he had really looked for a “good fit”.  He decided no matter what, he was getting this guitar and if it didn’t work, he’d sell it and keep looking.  Funny, they increase in value unlike a car.  However, not surprisingly….it is a fit! I am so happy for him and all I will say is that it is being kept locked in a secure location.  grrr. 

I’m hoping we get something accomplished this weekend.  We’re recovering from weddings and I need to get some kind of order restored to our house.  The bride isn’t anywhere close to getting moved out of her room but little imp will inherit the room.  We can start getting geared up for that and shovel out the corners of the rest of the house.  My stash will move upstairs to the room the imp vacates.  Yahoo!

Technorati Tags: imp, knitting, blessings

I didn’t knit all weekend or on my day off yesterday, but today I got a chance to work on the Francie sock again.

I would be farther along but I forgot my pattern at home today.  I’m a little farther than this now, the ribbing along the gusset is showing.  Usually I would have all the heel stitches on one needle and instep on the other, but this time it just wasn’t working.  I had quite the mess getting the needles shifted, it’s always nice to get a little entertainment value out of my knitting!  As the ribbing grows, though, it is looking interesting.  This is the part I have been waiting for.  The decreases are not done along the gusset but on the bottom of the foot (a la Cat Bordhi?)  Loving this sock!

This morning, #1 son and I were watching Leave it to Beaver (our new fun morning activity together) and we heard the microwave door slam shut.  We looked at each other and jumped up to see what was going on.  The imp was making himself nachos.  He grated the cheese “just like mom” and got the chips on the plate and did a great job of evenly spreading the cheese.  The smile was priceless.  I had made him some yesterday for a little surprise and I guess it was a hit with him. Ahhh, getting more and more independent every day.  This is good.

The mama-to-be had an interesting time with her best friend’s 4 year old daughter.  “How is that baby coming out?”  “Yes, but *how*”  Then as she drank water….”Is the baby getting rained on?”  We have laughed and laughed.  Then she started asking where will the birthday be?  At church?  At Chuckee Cheese?  This is one smart and persistent little girl.

Back to the knitting before bed.

Technorati Tags: imp, knitting, funny

Yesterday was almost miserably hot.  It was 92 outside and 90 in the store.  It is a mystery to me how it could be so cold (snowing 3 weeks ago) and nothing in between even though we warmed up a bit after the snow.  Today started out really warm but the temperature started dropping this afternoon as the marine air started coming in.  It’s still beautiful out tho.

Even though I had no sleep and baked all day, we still went on our date.  It’s kind of hard to miss that.  Hubby wanted to take the Jeep so picture this.  I actually wore a skirt to work yesterday and getting into the Jeep was not a pretty sight. haha  We had the top down and it was really quite a pleasant drive.  We ate dinner at Red Robin, split a hamburger and ate outside. Peaceful. 

Since I was so tired, I didn’t have the energy to do anything so we headed to B&N.  I found this beautiful magazine called Artful Blogging.  I decided to bring it home and so I bought the little imp a book on Prince Caspian, too,  since he was going on a date with big brother and girlfriend tonight to see it.  They have a tradition.  (we’ve heard all week how many days and knew that yesterday it came out but that he’d see it today.)

Anyway, he woke up at 6:45 and was on his bed talking to himself about Prince Caspian so I got up and told him to go get his book and sit on his bed and read that until everyone else had to get up.  We’d gotten woken up twice last night by the Jeep alarm blasting.  Sometimes if a car drives by too close it goes off.  That was at 2:45.  I realized that I was awake for good so I got up and took my Bible out onto the porch to read awhile, then I brought my laptop out.  I looked up the magazine I brought home and was shocked (!!!) to realize I had paid $14.99 for it.  Don’t ask me how I could go purchase it, sign the slip, and not ever know how much it cost?  I guess I really was tired. Oh well, I will probably not buy another but I have a lot of good reading to do.  Mostly it reinforces what I’ve been thinking about how blogging really does change your life and what I read was good.

I didn’t last long last night, we headed home early.  It was the perfect time to be driving towards the coast.  The little bits of wispy clouds were so pretty with the setting sun turning them kind of a cantaloupe color.  The air was so fresh and sweet. I love the smell of pine needles on a warm day.  I felt so at peace and full of gratitude.  I was able to pray about my frustrations I’ve been feeling and felt so positive about knowing all is well.  I really have been feeling such love from so many people and that helps, too.  Thanks for the emails and comments, it means more than I can really say.

I knew today would be really quiet at the shop, our first really nice Saturday in a long time and shopping don’t really mix.  I did have some fun people in today, though.  One was a friend of a friend and we had a great visit.  I had one friend come knit with me and I had another friend bring her granddaughter in so I could french braid her hair.  I used to do her mama’s hair when she was the same age.  Now that feels weird.  Regretfully, I couldn’t find my camera because I wanted to take a picture of her mostly because I didn’t have a mirror so she could see the back of her hair.  When I got home, hubby said he saw me put it in my purse last night and it was indeed in my purse.  oh well.

I made a little progress on my Francie sock.  I started the heel this afternoon.

I guess it isn’t visibly much farther than the last time I showed it, but it is longer and I had the heel out of view….too late to go take another picture tonight.

I left the shop for a bit this morning and bought myself a portable external hard drive for my laptop.  I have got to try to clean this off a little bit, it is so slow and I have way too much stuff on it.  I cleared off 2,700,000 kb just getting rid of some mp3s and pictures.  I plan to get the rest off here after I am sure the drive is working.  I do hope that helps some.  It was on clearance and I had a coupon so it was a really good deal!

The little imp went to spend some of the day with the mama-to-be.  They sat in her new pool for awhile….she bought a kiddy pool last night because heat and pregnancy wears a body out.  She said she went inside and when she came out, he was sitting in her willow tree.  A few minutes later she couldn’t see him but she could hear him.  She hollered for him and he said he was “right here”.  She looked up and he was quite a way up the tree!  She asked how he planned to get down and he got a little nervous.  I said, “I bet you didn’t feel much like climbing up there, did you?”  since her hubby was not home.  She said no, she didn’t feel much like trying to catch him either.  She talked him down but it’s funny how doing things in reverse was a lot harder.  When she started telling me about it, I did ask if his feet were on the ground before I heard the story.

I can only laugh.  If I had been there I’d have probably made him fall out of the tree when I started freaking out.

I’ll probably post my next installment of my 100 things tomorrow.  I just read my first to hubby.

Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: imp, knitting

After virtually no sleep, I am not sure how I am going to make it through the day.  It is supposed to be record-breaking heat.  We had no spring and now we go from cold to hot.  Today is supposed to be 88 degrees on the coast. Yowee.

Yesterday did end up being warm and everyone in town, at least those I talked to (yeah, I guess I don’t know *everyone*) was shocked because it didn’t start out that way. 

Our espresso machine at work broke so we got a new one.  When my sister went to get it, we all got Starbucks.  I was struggling to reconcile the checkbook and that was a welcome break.  We tried a new drink  that was a triple shot of espresso and silly me was still drinking it when I came home last night.  Since I have really cut back on the caffiene, it really affected me. 

If anyone was visiting my blog last night they would have gotten a show.  I was trying out new themes, some were not widget-ready and some didn’t have “pages”, which I miss.  Then I had to upgrade my wordpress which meant I had to switch to the default theme to do that (I learned that one the hard way!)  When I went to bed last night, I had yarn pictures but during the night I started thinking about my teapots and trays and linens so after I watched the sun come up (and hubby had left), you would have seen me on my porch taking pictures.  I hope to have #1 son take better pics but I like the colors and using my own things.  I often wonder if the neighbors see me in and out and in and out, their front door was open when I was busy taking pictures, probably to get some cool air in the house before the heat hits.

I also worked on my next 20 things about me but I think I will wait to post those.

Want to hear something wonderful?  One of our co-workers (our Saturday girl) popped in yesterday with a surprise.  Her daughter and son-in-law bought her a brand new Saturn for Mother’s Day!  It has leather seats that heat up, a sun roof, automatic start and all the bells and whistles that come with all of that.  She is one mom who has sacrificed for her girls and raised them alone.  She put one through college and babysits and does anything at the drop of a hat for her girls.  If anyone deserves that, it would be her.  We were all so happy for her.  Now they don’t have to worry about her on the road.  She said she hasn’t quit smiling since Sunday.

Last night hubby and I had a heart-to-heart talk.  Life really changed for us after the wedding…it has now become the 3 of us pretty much even though #1 son still lives at home and is definitely a help, he does work a lot and isn’t home in the evenings.  I am concerned for how we are going to work this out but hubby keeps telling me to just rest and wait it out a little before I do anything about it.  Our kids are all caregivers for the little imp but now he ends up with me at the shop a little more than he should be there…late afternoons at a yarn shop are not exactly his cup of tea.  When mama-to-be is out of school in a little more than a month, she will pick up a lot of the slack.  I was in tears with her on the phone and with hubby last night.  I think it might just be the adjustment.  There is no question that I love that boy, it is just a little overwhelming looking ahead…which is never a wise thing to do.

I had a very special time with #1 son, though.  The little imp and I had gone to Home Depot and bought a watering can and a strawberry pot…and an extension cord.  I sat on the porch with my laptop for a while and then when he came home he joined me.  It was so sweet.  He is so sensitive and caring and while I didn’t get emotional with him, we did talk about some of the things we have gone through in the past few years that have really affected our family, he asked me a lot of questions and we had such an adult conversation.  I told him how much I appreciate him….for the millionth time in the past few months.

It makes me want to post a picture of the card he gave me on Mother’s Day.  Please don’t think I’m bragging.  I know how hard the day can be for so many people…but on the other hand, I am needing the reminder of how great my kids are for me, I am feeling so emotional these days, in a good way at the same time being overwhelmed with change.  I want to be able to look back and see that I have a lot to be grateful for and that there was sweetness to these days, too.

How sweet is he! He’s always been such a joy to my heart.

Gosh, this is going to be an interesting day….heat, tired, emotional!

But you know what?  I am headed in to it with a smile and trusting that God has it all worked out even if I forget to realize that when I let myself get overwhelmed. 

I think I’ll watch some “I Love Lucy” until I have to get myself upright.

Have a great day.

or why blogging has changed my life 

First the knitting….

I am really enjoying the Francie socks.  This is halfway through the pattern.  The increase rows can be a little awkward but not impossible.  I’m using size 0s and slipping 2 then passing those 2 over a purl stitch gets a little tricky.  Also left and right purl lifts…but it looks right so no worries.

The suggested yarn is a more solid color to show off the pattern but when I found this yarn in my stash, I actually thought this out.  The green in the sock represents the tree, the brown the bark and the bleakness of the neighborhood.  The blue is the sky that Francie would see through the leaves when she laid on her balcony under the tree.  That was one of my favorite parts of the book, she was so able to find beauty in the midst of such need.  I need to re-read the book, as I said, so I can refresh my memory…but the book so affected me in her ability to see what so many people would miss.  Poor hubby had to listen to hours of my interpretation of her insight. 

And now to the mom part.

Since I have started blogging, it’s funny how I can look at things differently.  Instead of getting frustrated and angry over a situation, I begin to see the humor of relaying it to others.  I’ve commented to friends a few times, “my life is a blog!”  haha.    Funny how that will change an attitude, but it does.  I’ve always tried not to fall into the pit in my thinking, but sometimes it does happen.

I wanted to share the little snippet of therapy yesterday.

I can do this from Sherri Knits on Vimeo

Last night, I looked at my Mother’s Day cards again.  I think it’s so funny how when you read things when everyone is watching, you miss what things say.  This is my card from mama-to-be:

This is what I missed originally

Thanks, sweetie, I needed that.

Technorati Tags: blessings, family, littleimp

For that, I can rejoice because that is a high calling in this life.

But does it ever make me weary?  You bet.

Before I tell a little about my day, I’ll show some knitting since this is supposed to be a knitting blog.

These are the beginning of Francie socks named for Francie Nolan in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, one of my favorite books.  They are fascinating and like the designer said, it is full of unexpected beauty and character with stories hidden in the folds.  Just reading her description of the socks made me really excited because that book was so full of so much for me.  I may have to load it on to my iPod because I have the audio version of it. 

(see my new porch cushions?  the little imp and I bought them today)

Now to my day.  We started back to therapy today.  We got to Olympia early so we drove out to our favorite water front to hang out for awhile.  I started my socks and the boy stood outside and watched the water and told himself stories.

Today we did some sensory work.

His OT had hidden animals, people, and money in the beans and he had to find them.  There would have been a day he could not have done this.  Progress.

Mom, go away with the camera.

Ok, I will.

Then we went here there and everywhere looking for cushions for our porch furniture.  I ran into an old friend I haven’t seen for many years at K-Mart, a store I probably haven’t been in in at least 2 years.  We finally found some cushions and they were 20% off.  I always start looking for things too late.

We got headed home about 3:45 and I thought that seemed perfect to get us home before 5.  We stopped for a treat and the little guy got cheetos for himself. I got grape water. 

We were about 15 miles out of Oly when my cell phone rang.  The caller ID said it was the little imp, but when I looked in the rearview mirror he was not making a call to me.  It was Target and he had left his phone in the bathroom.  We turned around and headed back.  grrrrr  After I picked up the phone, we saw a Verizon store right next door so we went there directly and bought a case for it.

It will stay on his pants (or let’s say “should”) and he flips open the magnetic flap to pull out the phone, just like his brother-in-law.  When I went to pay for the case, I discovered my wallet was in the car….halfway across the parking lot.  I said I’d be right back and we ran, ran, ran to the car.  I decided to drive back over there and discovered the little imp had brought the case with us.  lol.  I am such a rule follower and I started getting nervous that they’d think I was driving away.  I have to say the sales guy looked rather relieved when we came back in the store, I’m glad he didn’t see me jump in my car. 

Sooooo, by the time we were back on the road, it was more than an hour later.  The drive was long after that.  I am listening to a book but it felt irritating to me and the boy was tired out so he just kept himself company.

We weren’t home long when the dog got all riled up.  The high school marching band was turning on to our street and the boy was headed out the door.  I dragged the dog to the bathroom because all I need is to have him lumbering out there and getting in the middle of that. Our street isn’t really narrow but we still have the RV parked in front of the house so there were kids marching on our sidewalk and in the street and up on the other sidewalk.  Then there are the usual crowd following.  I had to run in and put my shoes on and by the time I got outside, the boy was well on his way down the street.  I motioned for him to stop but when that band is there, he is oblivious to any rule there is.

When he turned the corner, I started running.  I ran 2 full blocks at my top speed (maybe not saying a lot) and by the time I was finally gaining on him, he was headed out across the street as they turned up a hill.  With all the confusion of those following and the little kids who live on that block, it was intense. I was yelling, “Stop!  Stop!  Stop!”  He chose to ignore.  When I got ahold of him, he was determined he was with the band and we almost had a scene, but at the last minute I was spared the embarrassment.

What is funny is, I thought I was taking video of him when he was not yet in trouble but I actually didn’t start recording until I thought I was turning it off.  YouTube is down for maintenance so I can’t show you that or his swinging lesson today.

I am beat.  Really beat.  Hubby was very late getting home and I had to throw the imp into the shower, much against his will,  before the band incident because not only was that face a mess but he was just plain dirty and too much to clean up.  I had just finished eating when hubby came home, I thought I had misunderstood him but he just got hung up.  I think this little family that is left in this house is headed to bed early tonight. 

I do love my boy.

Technorati Tags: knitting, littleimp

He can make his own fun…