Projects to Be

See the sweater on the left? It's made from one of my favorite variegated yarns. Chuggy saw it once and thought it would make a great "big people" sweater. Even though it's a baby yarn I thought so too. Right now I'm trying to find a sweater pattern to go with the yarn. It knits up to 5 and 1/2 stitches per inch. I'll probably make it a cardigan, though instead of a pullover.

What is is called when you have a cough that won't go away and gets worse every time you try to speak? It did not start as a cold as bronchitis often does. Maybe it's just a chest cold that hurts. (My lungs are sore.) On second thought, I think it is bronchitis. (The trouble with the internet is you often get conflicting information. If not, you can't read it right because you're so out of it).

I often thought that if I got sick it would relieve me of my household and work responsibilities and that my family would feel sorry for me and pull up their collective socks to pitch in where I left off--leaving me lots of time to knit. Ha! Try knitting when you're feeling "blah" and hacking away because of a persistent cough. All I can do now is sit and watch my yarn. And hope that my family will still feel sorry for me, enough to make dinner tonight--especially since I can't even knit.

Sapphires and Opals

Vancouver in October:

When I think I may have a minute to post I do. You would think that Saturday mornings are perfect for sleeping in, having a lazy breakfast and just puttering around the house. Not here. Teege wakes me up last night and asks when I will wake up in the AM. I think, "What do you mean in the morning? I'm already awake and it's morning!" I "sweetly" reply, after great mental exertion, "7:15, why?" He needed someone to wake him up in the morning to go to work. What's wrong with an alarm clock? Apparently, he doesn't know how to reset it since I heard it go off at 9:22 this morning. So, do I sleep really well last night? No, because if I don't set my alarm to go off I'm always afraid I'll oversleep. And I hate alarms. I really was looking forward to sleeping in since LJ had begged off her Saturday job. She was planning on going to Richland for the Harvest Party but Gypsie got sick. Next, I try to clean a very messy house that has been the bain of my existence ever since we moved into the warehouse. So far today I've cleaned my kitchen. That doesn't include the fridge but does include the stove and all counters. (Note: the flies are gone!!)

Enough complaining. I promised pics of my projects last night but last minute plans changed that. Soon enough I'm taking LJ driving. Then she has to be at the barn to meet the vet at 12:00.

Now for the September Sapphire Projects.

These socks have been done for a while. I think they're being worn. I couldn't find the ball wrap that tells how to wash them so I would just tell the owner to wash them in cool water and air dry. (Are you listening?)

My other Sapphire project in the works: the beginnings of another wallaby. Even though the baby it's intended for is a girl, the mom can put a pink ribbon in her pigtails when they go out. After a red and then a yellow wallaby, blue had to be next to round out the color scheme of primary colors. I keep teasing her that we're going to have to move on to the secondary colors and then after that the tertiary. Maybe they'll go for a volleyball team. And I don't mean two-man.

For October I couldn't make up my mind. Both are going to be socks and I started with the black.

So far, just one sock to show even though the other is on the needles. You may wonder why I always choose socks for my monthly projects. Well, wonder no more. Socks are easy. Socks are fast. And they are fun. They are the only thing I can think of that I can make that will take me less than a month to make. For all other projects, the bets are off. They may get started. They will be worked on. But there are no promises that they will get done. And I do like success. Socks are very portable, too. And at this stage of the game (and the hectic-ness of my life) they are the one thing I can do mindlessly...and at stoplights.

And finally, a treat:

Emma

Opals

Since October's birthstone is Opal I thought I would do an on-line search for some pictures of this beautiful stone. I found lots and these are just samples of the various kinds of opals there are. I was amazed at the value these stones have. I had no idea they were so expensive. This one is worth $3990.00.

Because these stones are so colorful finding a project for the month of October was fairly easy. Plus I just "love" variegated yarn. The crazier the better. Every time I go to any store that carries yarn I usually come away with at least one skein of yarn--enough to make a pair of socks or a few baby hats. More often than not it's variegated.

I'll have pics of last month's "sapphire" project as well as pics of this month's project later tonight when I upload my pictures.

aussie treasure chest

Of Sisters and Bugs

I got a call from Kedge this AM and since I'm a school teacher at heart and by practice I have a lot of patience. (Having kids helps too). She was having difficulty getting links on her page. This is the result of her lesson.

https://www.paypal.com/
http://www.onetitaniclady.com/
onetitaniclady
https://www.paypal.com/
one titanic lady


Hopefully, she took notes.
Go check out her blog.

In other news... The warehouse and its showroom are coming along nicely. We've got all the shelves (bookcases) in the warehouse and all the racks in the showroom. The racks are almost full and we're adding product daily. We've had some long days but hopefully that's all coming to and end. Whew! I'll know what it is to once again cook a meal for the family! And maybe we'll have some clean clothes. And just maybe I'll get those cobwebs out of the corners!

That reminds me of the gnat/fruit fly infestation we brought home from meeting. They seem to be under control at the moment, but for a while we had these little bugs all over the kitchen. Several friends of mine had the same problem and gave me advice on how to get rid of them. Both said to block your sink drains, keep your counters clean and set a trap. I set two traps. One trap had juice and yeast and the other trap had juice and honey. My yeast trap didn't work too well. The other trap attracted the flies but they only stayed for supper and flew off again! What worked the best was using the vacuum cleaner. We kept it out for hourly use and (just in case) kept a piece of plastic wrap over the end. (B thought that the flies flew back up the pipe and we kept getting the same bugs back again. I say they multiply rapidly.)

Does anyone else have any suggestions? These bugs seem harmless but I don't want my kitchen to be the latest breeding and feeding ground for fruit flies.

The BIG FIVE OH!

Happy Birthday, Kedge!

Have the shrimp dinner at Mimi's tonight and it's my treat.

I hope you have a great time in Hawaii!

The BIG FIVE OH!

Happy Birthday, Kedge!

Have the shrimp dinner at Mimi's tonight and it's my treat.

I hope you have a great time in Hawaii!

Red Spot Jade
Citrine
Bi-cone Crystal
and Lapis Lazuli

We're In!

We're in! And working. More pics of the warehouse and showroom to follow. (The pics I want are on the home computer, of course.) Instead of 12 hour days we are now doing seven. Not that we can take it easy now. We still have a lot of stock to bring over but a little of everything is now here. But it does mean we can stop to eat lunch and actually not feel guilty for taking coffee breaks. Gotta go!

Moving

Just a quick post while I'm taking a rest from moving boxes from the basement to the front door of our house.

The electrician arrived last night just as we were leaving to put up even better lighting than he had before. I'm anxious to see what it looks like today. Hopefully, we'll see some "color"!

Escapades

I need to write down what I have been doing. If I don't I won't remember where I've been or what I've done. There will be no pics because at this time the camera stays in the house and will be operated here or at the warehouse. That's until the kids get their own.

At the beginning of the month of August B and I drove to Regina for the yearly conference. If you don't know what Hebrews 1 and 2 are about I suggest you listen here. It is unbelievable what is in store for us.

A week or so after we got back I hopped a plane (or two) to California. You all know about that trip. I just sat and knit and it was so relaxing. I would do it again in a heart beat. We were able to go out to dinner several times, eat See's candy and even lose weight doing it!

Less than a week later B and I and the girls drove to Denver for their annual conference. If you don't know what "abiding in the vine" is I suggest you listen to the tapes of the reading meetings from that conference. It was one of the best conferences I have been to in a long time.

I can't say our trip home was uneventful because it wasn't. We didn't stop for the night because it didn't seem as if we had gone very far when it was bed time. When we got to Echo, OR though we stopped to refuel the van and ourselves. I got in to drive and the van wouldn't start. To make a long story short it ended up being a broken fuel pump. We had to replace it so had to spend 6 and 1/2 hours there to get it done. There was a cafe across the street from the service station that the town folks believe to be "yuppie" The only thing yuppie about it was their prices. I hate to think what the down home cafe was like. Probably grits and peas. Last time I ate that kind of thing was in North Carolina at the Crackle Barrel and I ended up gaining 5 pounds in one week-end.

Now we are home a will be for quite a while. The warehouse calls.

Peridot to Sapphire

My August project is done. A matching pair - identical twins, actually. More often than not socks made with variegated yarn end up being fraternal twins. That's because it's hard to figure out where in the skein to start the second sock. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why there are so many SSSs. (Second Sock Syndrome).

Even though they're not "peridot" through and through I think you can see a little of that color in the middle.



September's stone, sapphire brought a dilemma. I wanted to start the misty mountain shawl but have other projects to finish. If I couldn't find a "sapphire" unfinished project I would start the shawl.


Sure enough, I have an unfinished pair of socks - one sock to be exact, in that bright sapphire blue color suffering from SSS without the excuse of variegated yarn. And to tell the truth, I probably have unfinished projects in all the colors of the rainbow, if not the birthstone colors! So my aim is to finish unfinished "works in progress" (WIPs) that have been plaguing me for so long for these "birthstone" projects.



(Now to sneak off and work on the socks I started on the way to Denver last week-end!! Wait til you see. They are black with all kinds of color in them. My excuse for this? I need the needles to finish the sapphire socks.)

The LOOOOONG Wait

When you go to the doctor's there's usually a long wait. If you know me, you know I bring my knitting to pass the time. Even then it gets to me and I start to do things I normally would not. Like try out alllll the settings on my camera.

By the way. Just a routine office visit. Nothing serious.

.

Peridot Are Green?

If you read "CrackerCrumbs" in the last few days you'll notice that she and I came up with a plan on the way to the Ontario airport. At least part of a plan anyway. She actually added a very interesting twist. Every month is a month to start, finish or work on a project that is the color of that month's birthstone. Since peridot is August's birthstone and is green, our projects should be green or have some green in them. Good thing I had this yarn in my carry-on luggage! It's kind of a sickly, sand in your eye green, isn't it? I was able to start socks in Salt Lake while our plane was in for maintenance.

I think it's too easy to write about something that is green. It will be much more of a challenge to come up with a colored project each month. We don't care if it's knitting, quilting, crochet, scrapbooking or anything else. As long as it's something that you are working on making. So if you want to join us please sign in on her blog or mine to let us know what you're doing.

Bocci

We had a crowd over by default. The kids were playing volleyball at the park and ended up at our house. This game looks like a lot of fun. I don't know. I don't play but from the sounds emmanating from the back yard it sounded like a riot of some sort. Just a friendly competition between the guys and the gals. The gals gave up and came inside to read, knit and fix dinner.