He loves his new ’suit’

He worked hard at cooperating. 

Let’s see, what else is going on today.  I did lots of forward-backward-forward knitting on the sock.  I am ready to be doing something else, but I did start the heel flap tonight.

And the weather today?  I hope it changes by next weekend or we’re having an indoor wedding!

I came home from work and found this in the refrigerator.

It was just so colorful, I had to take a picture.

And now for the sad news.  Right now, I am on the new computer we got yesterday for my work.  That in itself is exciting but I had to find all my disks to get any photo editing software on here.  I also found the kids had not put any anti-virus on here so I did that, too.

But why am I on this one?  I left tonight for a short time to take the little imp to buy a Father’s Day card and when I came home, my laptop was DEAD!  Nothing I do will make it start.  It did this same thing when it was a few months old and they sent someone to fix it.  Now it is in the extended warrantee and I bet I get to send it to them now.  I did all kinds of bookkeeping today and I did not back up my work and to be honest, I can’t remember the last time I did.  Shame on me, I know.  I am so bummed out.  Do you realize how much stuff is locked inside your computer?  Not to mention I had to figure out how to get into my domain stuff since they give me a bizarre user name consisting of very random letters.  I can’t figure out how to get into my shop’s email so I’ll have to call them on that one.

And to add to it, I am really mad about my iPod.  They are in no rush to get my mailing label e-mailed to me so I can return the defective iPod they sent me.  I have been without it for over a week and whenever they decide to send me the label, I am looking at a week’s wait.  So much for the quick turnaround they told me about when I bought the extended warrantee on that one.  I use my iPod to fall asleep to, I have pretty big sleep problems and have found listening to books is the ticket for me.  I finally had to resort to the Ambien the doctor gave me months ago.  I do not like taking sleeping pills at all and was so happy with the solution I had found.

I am just a bit melancholy tonight, but I need to step back and count my blessings.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for and I need to choose to look at those things instead. 

At least I started knitting on the sock instead of playing with my laptop!  (although if the truth were to be known, I am pretty good at doing both at the same time!)   lol

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

In sock progress, I am halfway through the cuff and this time around, the pattern just ‘clicked’ and I don’t have to give it much thought any more.  I can’t really knit it without the chart in front of me, but it makes sense now.  I am not going to post a picture here because the progress isn’t enough to really waste the space.  I am enjoying it, though…but I’d really like to see this pattern in a solid color because I think it’s too pretty to be lost in the multi-colored yarn.  I am convinced, though, that I won’t knit Tofutsies in anything bigger than a 0.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the surprise opportunity to knit for awhile with a friend.  We didn’t have too much time, but I really enjoyed it.  That’s one nice thing about my ‘job’, I get to sit and knit with people.  Then today, 2 more friends came and spent the afternoon with me.  I am not sure I even knit one row even though I started to.  I think we were trying to solve the yarn problems of the world, not sure if we did or not.  All of us were so tired that I’m sure we made sense to each other.  lol  I like being able to just ‘be’ with people.

I don’t have much to share today but last night, I tried to snap a picture of the sunset through the car window.  It doesn’t really do the sunset justice.  I was knitting on the way home in the car (an hour ride) and I started noticing how beautiful the sunset was.  I told hubby that I see life so differently since I got my new camera.  Maybe some day I will learn to take better pictures.  This one doesn’t qualify but you can still tell how pretty it was.

And now, hours after I started this post, I am trying to wind down for the night but I just got off from a 3 hour phone conversation and then about an hour of talking to hubby.  Right now, I feel like my life is such a journey.  We are healing for a very difficult time in our lives and because of the wedding, I got a phone call from a dear friend needing to find a ride so she can attend.  In talking to her, I was able to see the tremendous healing that has happened in my life over the past 6 months.  God is good and He knows what we need.  The journey that I am seeing is so positive because I can actually measure growth in myself and see that a sense of value is returning and a peace is settling over my life once again.  I know I have a long way to go and so many people I know also are walking that road, but healing is coming and I love the idea of walking forward together.   Isn’t that what life is about, though?  Always walking along the road of life, ever seeking to be better than we were before?

So, in life, I also have to tink and sometimes frog…but I can still move forward, enjoying the journey and coming out with a finished product, persevering until I get it right.  Will the parallels between my knitting life and my life in general never cease?  I love that. 

Tonight was knit night and I finished my first Tofutsie Limited Edition sock!  They are short, but that’s what I like in a summer sock.  It was a fairly easy pattern, just enough to be interesting.  The chart was easy to follow, though.

I always enjoy visiting with friends and tonight was a smaller group.  I thought we got pretty philosophical.  My conclusion is that we are pretty complicated beings. 

When I got home, I was looking at some blogs and when I visited Mary’s blog, I got so intrigued with her strawberry trick.  I was wishing I’d have stopped at the strawberry stand when I drove by and thought about it.  Get this, about 10 minutes later, my daughter said, “Mom, did you know we have strawberries in the refrigerator?”  So, I found a straw and played with them myself!

How cute are these?

Mary ate hers with chocolate ice cream, but whoever was so kind to buy strawberries also bought chocolate dipping sauce!

I’m still loving my new dishes!

Other than that, I got my replacement iPod today and guess what?  I cannot get the computer to recognize it, it was on the charger all day and towards evening it went dead.  It had this sad little face on it and when I went to their website today, it said that is almost always an indication of a hardware problem.  I tried calling the help line and got all these options that did not apply.  Then the recording said, if none of these things apply, call this number.  I called that number and got almost the same options…and then it said, if none of these options apply, call this number…and it was the first number they gave me!  I emailed them today and have not heard back.  I am kind of not happy about this!

Her brother and his girlfriend made the board and it was sooo cool.  They really managed to capture some of the funny, unique things of her growing up years.

That’s him with the camera around his neck.  The groom-to-be is on the left side of the futon facing.

I totally forgot to take pictures when the biggest crowds were there, but I’m sure those pictures would be boring on here anyway.  The ones I do have, I’m sure I’d be in trouble with someone if I tried to put them on here because you know how it is on those candid shots…someone is always doing something funny.  I’m often that one.

One of my friends gave her this beautiful little tea set.

When everything was over, look what I found.

Her boyfriend…doing the dishes!  He’s a keeper, but I already knew that.

What was she doing?

I think she deserved it.  Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

And the other kids?

One of her gifts was a Dr. Seuss book, to remind her to keep life simple.  The friends who gave it to her are always so clever, she also got oreos and one of those tree fresheners for the car.  Why?  So when she smells it, she will remember that they are praying for her.    Anyway, the little guy read all 62 pages to big sis.

I can’t leave without showing what he was up to Saturday night.

And the poor dog had to get into it, too…

Sock progress:

I was almost ready to close the toe on the sock today until I noticed I had done extra decreases on one side and was off 4 stitches after I started the next decrease.  I decided to do it right and tink back to the mistake and so far I have gone back at least 3 rows and the mistake is still there.  I have to be close because I remember counting previously and being on.  No big deal, I’ll finish it tomorrow when I’m not so tired.

I think there were about 10 of us off and on today hanging out together and knitting in a little coffee and popcorn shop.  Celia, the shop owner, was so gracious and really enjoyed having us because we were ‘well-behaved’.   She even stood on a chair to take our picture.

What I love about knitters is that they are so willing to help each other.  Here is Linda helping Patty figure out her gauge.  We all know who to ask for help because Linda is never without her calculator and ruler.  Amber and Bunni are just enjoying visiting with each other.

I loved seeing all the fellowship, too.  I posed the question that I wondered if there is any other kind of community out there that will draw together the way knitters do.  I am so amazed that people like Claudia can raise so much for MS and Stephanie for Tricoteuses Sans Frontières (Knitters Without Borders) which supports Doctors Without Borders.  We decided there must be other kinds of groups out there but we don’t know about them and they probably don’t know about us.  I’m proud to be part of something so big and caring, though.

Shanda, Julie, me, Pam and Amber towards the end of the day.

It was just so cozy.

I had fun learning to do a short-row heel…needs practice!  I was steered to a website by a new friend in Wisconsin and showed it to Julie who mastered it and is now teaching me.  Thanks, Julie and Sandy!   I need to be careful and not yank the needle out of the stitches, though.

All in all, a fun day. I left my phone on the counter at my shop with a note to call my cell phone.  I only had to leave once for that purpose and what was cool about that was I had several things happen when I was there so I took care of all my business at once and then got to go back and knit.  I may try that again later in the summer if we decide to sit outside when the weather is nice.

I even made progress on my Tofutsie sock.

I hope you got a chance to KIP at least for a little bit today!

Oops, I almost forgot….here is Saturday sky, and you can see why we sat inside today.

Tonight the worship team did a little surprise dessert thing for our bride so the little imp and I went out to the church to be there.  Who would ever have expected how many tears the matron of honor and I started shedding, which then caused my dear girl to join us.  We laughed and cried all the way through it.  The girl is moving an hour and a half away and I think it is starting to dawn on us all.  Daddy and his kiddos have done worship together for a long time…especially her since she’s the oldest.  It’s good…but hard.  Not sure how I’m ever going to make it through this wedding in one piece!

Hubby picked me up from that and we went on our ‘mini-date’.  (yes, we actually have 2 date nights but this one isn’t quite as official as the Friday night for-real date).  I think we just needed a peaceful evening and we got it.  This is where we have gone for several years when life was so, so tough for us.  We have shed many tears here and shared many very special pleasant times, too.  You know what’s cool?  Those incredibly painful times did not ruin this place for us.  There are some things in life that the deep, painful feelings make it a place we don’t want to re-visit  when it’s over because all of the bad feelings are attached to that place.  (just ask anyone who knew me when the little imp was born…Skippers restaurant was the recipient of all of my frustration during those days….lol….I guess it was a safe place for me to aim it all and I couldn’t go there for years afterwards. {I did forgive them, though!} It all stemmed from one really bad dinner and everything that could go wrong did).

Anyway…here is where we have hurt and have spent healing time too:

One evening, here we sat in tears and the sweetest older lady was trimming the roses and since we had our windows down, she chatted with us and it was just so comforting. 

Can you just imagine how wonderful the smells are here?

Often there are kayaks galore out on the water, but tonight was cold and windy and probably early in the season anyway.  We can sit for hours and watch them, or sometimes we’ll walk on the little dock.

And, here is something I have always wanted to do:

Hey, that is not easy to do.  I guess I should have adjusted the setting on the camera because the sock is a little blurred.  I also felt a bit silly doing it, especially since the yarn was still in my purse in the car behind me and I had it stretched pretty tight to take the sock’s picture. 

What is the yarn, you might be asking?  It is the new limited edition Tofutsie yarn from the SWTC Sock Club!  I got it today and am starting on the exclusive sock pattern that comes with it.  I got the yarn in my little yarn shop today and of the 10, there are 4 left! 

I got a kick out of a friend of mine.  She knew the yarn was going to come in this morning and wanted to run to the shop on her lunch hour.  One of her co-workers just didn’t ‘get it’ even when she tried to explain…this is a limited edition and when it’s gone, it’s gone!  I get it, what’s wrong with that lady?  Well, tonight we were on our way out of town and I realized I didn’t bring my pattern with me, so I called her and asked her to read the ribbing to me…a 33 stitch repeat!  I laughed and said I bet her friend wouldn’t get that either!  lol

I have to close with an attempt to show my most favorite little sight every night.  It’s nearly impossible to get a normal look on that sweet face when the flash blinds him before the real flash goes off but it’s close.  He can be such a pill sometimes, but when he comes to tell me goodnight and smiles at me without his glasses on, I just love it!

Today was my “day off”.   The little imp got to go spend time with Dad at work.  Here he is packing all of his cars with him.

Dear daughter and I headed out of town to get things ready for her graduation party.  We had a very productive day, but I am running on very little sleep so when we got home, I was sooo tired.  She drove most of the way so I got a fair amount of knitting done.

I’m so glad Shanda told me about this pattern.  I don’t think I’ve ever knit something so easy.

I returned some shoes I got for the wedding.  Then I found another pair that ‘might’ work.  I am thinking the fellow who helped me might not keep his job for long.  The lady in front of me was very honest.  First he tried to give her some things that were being held for her…GIVE them to her!  Then, of course she insisted on paying for them, he bagged them up and gave her money back to her!  She said, “really, if you just want me to keep my money, I will!” 

Then when I was trying to purchase my shoes, I asked him if he could give the girl who took my return the credit for the purchase since they work on commission.  He went to find her and to look for the other shoe that I had handed him.  He was gone so long and when he came back, he asked me what size it was again that I wanted!   ummmm, I think he might have looked at the one he held!  Anyway, he did tell me he was going to give the lady credit for the sale but by the time we left, we were all confused.  Dear daughter told me to check the receipts to make sure he really did it…and yes, he did.  Gosh, I hope he was just having a bad day.

I got myself some fun shoes, too.  This was my allowance gone for the month since I better concentrate on the wedding which is this month!  I think I needed comfortable shoes, though.  I really wanted Privos but I didn’t give in, got Sketchers instead.

Cute, eh?

I wanted to take a picture of the cute shoes dear daughter got, but I think she and her boyfriend might think I have gone over the edge if they saw me outside snapping pictures of shoes.  They’re adorable, though.

Back to the Mariner’s game….they’re down by 1 at the top of the 6th.  

A friend sat with me at work today and we knit on our socks.  Both of us were amazed at the progress we were making!

Hers is the current 6 sox knit along.  The oddest thing is, I belong to that group and awhile back, I switched to no email and now I can’t figure out how to get in, it isn’t listed in my groups.    So, I can’t tell you the name of the sock.

Mine is the the Rainy Day sock from Magknits. 

Tonight we got hamburgers and drove to the bay to eat them.

(that’s hubby’s sleeve)

I am going to have to practice setting up a shot, but you get the idea.

It was so warm!  We live an hour away and it was cool here all day!

I got my new copy of Simply Knitting.  I’m not sure if I keep buying this because I enjoy the magazine (which I do) or the fun little gifts you get with it.  This month it is a needle pouch.  I’m a sucker for a free gift.

Now here’s what’s nutty.  I printed out the pattern to my sock before I left work since I wasn’t sure where I’d put the first one.  I folded it up and went to get my GoKnit bag to stuff it in on top of hubby’s sock and then gathered my stuff and came home.  Do you think I could find that pattern anywhere when we were headed out of town? 

Before I left work, I had knit one lace pattern plus one row (a 4 row pattern).  I did not want to waste that knitting time because I love knitting in the car when it’s so beautiful out.  I decided that I was smart enough to figure it out and lo and behold!  Look what I managed to do!

In case you are wondering, that is my dying clover plant.

Anyway, that is about 40 minutes worth of knitting and the pattern is so simple that I could actually knit it from memory after going through it one time!  woo hoo!  I am still having to force myself to push on through the fuzziness that has been part of my mind for such a long time…and this was one major step ahead for me!  I am smarter than this, really I am.  Maybe I am going to start *finishing* WIPs sometime soon!