Connections

On New Year's Eve I went to AC Moore. I was sitting on the floor in the yarn aisle going through the clearance yarn and met two girls who were shopping. I invited them to the knitting group. One of the girls gave me her website to visit. She's got some great stuff on there. Go visit. This is what I bought at AC Moore that day. Twelve skeins of clearance yarn. Most of it, well, some of it, has a destiny.

The weekend before Christmas weekend, I babysat Catherine and Adam. Catherine got in my knitting bag found some yarn and said, "Oh, Miss Holly! I LOVE this yarn. Would you make me a scarf out of it?" It's Red Heart symphony in Dark Rose. I had some size 35 needles in my bag that I wasn't using, so I cast on and knit. With the big needles it's very lacy. When it was as long as she is tall, I bound it off. She was so pleased. Looks great with her "Dora" jammies, huh? It looked really cute when she wore it to church the next day.

I made these ornaments for Christmas. I call them Yarn-aments. It's Yarn Bee Airy. I had some left over after making a scarf. I gave these to some of my friends along with a hand cream or some bath salts. Cindy and Debbie liked it because they say the yarn kind of sparkled in the Christmas lights.

I didn't get to stay in South Carolina long for Christmas. I went up on Saturday, the 22nd, and came back on Tuesday, Christmas Day. Here's a picture of downtown Anderson, South Carolina, my hometown, all decked out for Christmas. Yes, I was seriously annoying the other drivers as I took these pictures. Not to mention annoying my dad in the passenger seat.

I made my PMF a hat for Christmas. This is Bernat Denim in the green color. I used the Knifty Knitter. That's the only way I can do a hat. They don't turn out for me otherwise.

We've almost finished the "Blogless Holiday" updates. I've got just a couple more photos to share.

Jenna, Etc.

This is ten-month-old Jenna. She's a friend of mine from church. (Yes, I made her hat.) She's been throwing up since last Monday. She was in the hospital from Wednesday to Friday and then went home. She started throwing up again yesterday morning and went back to the hospital. I went to see her and her mom, Wendi, and dad, Jason, after lunch today. I walked into her hospital room with a couple that's friends with them. Jenna looked up at us all and smiled her big bright smile. She ate a little Friday morning, but that's all she's eaten since Monday. Bless her heart. Her spirits are up, but she's so hungry and can't keep anything down. The doctors are doing tests to try and figure out what's wrong. Keep them in your prayers.

Okay, continuing with my "Blogless Holiday" Update: When we visited Teresa's goat farm, Daddy and I had our picture taken with a goat.

Dawn went with us on our visit to the goat farm. Here's a picture of Dawn with a goat.
Here's a photo of me and Teresa. We called her "Thumper" in high school. She played cymbals in band. Daddy never remembers who she is when I say "Teresa". I always have to tell him "Thumper".

At work, we videotaped the Bi-City Christmas Parade early in the morning of December 8th. There's the production truck we borrowed from our sister station in Montgomery. We had signs made up with our logo on them to cover up their logos. Do you like our logo? I designed it myself. There's a couple of week's of my life. Go look at our website. There's a couple more.

Saturday

Today I went downtown to have lunch with my PMF while he has to work Saturday's (which he hates!) Afterward I went to my favorite beauty store: Ulta. I just love Ulta. Many of my friends have heard this story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I've shopped at Ulta in Atlanta and in South Carolina for several years, a member of their frequent shopper club. The day I read in the Ledger-Enquirer that Ulta was coming to Columbus, tears welled up in my eyes. The day the Columbus store opened, I was there. I told them this story. When I returned to the store later in the week, one of the girls said, "I remember you. You're 'The Crier'." Anyway, there are great deals to be had there. I got two hair color kits, a hand cream, a lipstick, a facial scrub, two deliciously scented body washes, two deliciously scented body lotions, and a hairspray. I had manufacturers coupons, plus the coupons in the mailer they send me as part of the frequent shopper club. My total for the day was $22.16. I love Ulta.

Afterward I came home and made another pan of cornbread to continue eating my turnip greens from New Year's Day. And I'm watching We Are Marshall on HBO. Two words: Matthew McConaughey. Oh, my. Even with 70's hair. This is a beautiful story, too. It kind of reminds me of the Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie Radio which, for those who don't know, is about the high school I attended in Anderson, South Carolina. Ed Harris plays my gym teacher from tenth grade. When it was in production, I was telling my dad about it, who they had cast in it and everything. None of the names meant anything to him until the day I told him the Lieutenant from Law & Order was playing Radio's mother. Well, then his opinion of the whole thing changed and he realized that this was really going to be something! Also, I saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets last weekend and Ed Harris is something of a bad guy in this movie. I don't like him as a bad guy. He was Coach Jones. He can't be a bad guy now.

Also, I realize I didn't post much between Thanksgiving and New Year's, so I'm going to throw in some photos I took during this time to catch you up: Here's me and Daddy in the backseat of my cousin Steve's SUV riding to Augusta for Thanksgiving Dinner at our Cousin David's house. Yes, those are size 50 Lion Brand Speed Stix in my hands. I used five skeins of soft yellow Fun Fur and made a great fluffy scarf!
This is Steve and his wife Nancy on David's back deck. Yes, David's place is really beautiful.
Clockwise from bottom, my Aunt Eunice and her sons, my cousins Perry, David, and Randall.
The spread: That's David's daughter Katie, first in line.
While I was in SC, I went to see my high school friend, Teresa, who has a goat farm.
I'll stick more pics in my next post. You'll be caught up in no time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody! It's all about new beginnings. Resolutions. My resolution last year was to not leave dirty dishes in the sink when I went to bed at night. I won't say that I've been perfect this year, but it was a success. I have a dishwasher, but I don't clean it out. Then the dirty dishes in the sink just sit there day after day after day. After many years of this, I finally realized the solution was to take the dishwater out of the mix. So I stopped using it. I mean, seriously, there's just me here. I don't use that many dishes. I eat breakfast and lunch at work everyday and do those dishes there. I mostly eat simple meals at night, so that's no big deal. When I did a bunch of cooking before the holidays, I threw it all in the dishwasher, and you know what? That stuff is still in there - except the stuff I've had to use. So it worked.

This year instead of the usual "I need to lose weight," my resolution is to eat more vegetables. I figure "keep it simple" and make it do-able.

I also resolve to blog more. So...y'all come back now. Ya here?

A Little Something

Okay, so it's not really a post, but I did add that little thing to the right where you can see my flickr photos. Cute, huh?

Bad Blogger

Okay, it's been eons since I posted. I'm a Bad Blogger. I had a great Thanksgiving and a busy December. I post photos and stuff at some point. And no, Daddy's vest is not finished, but I am making progress.

Mom's Macaroni and Cheese

Here's the recipe:

8 ounce package of Elbow Macaroni
1 pound shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
One 15 ounce can Evaporated Milk
Can refilled with regular milk
One Egg, slightly beaten
Black Pepper to taste

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a two quart casserole. Reserve a handful of cheese for topping. Mix both milks, egg, and black pepper. Stir in the majority of cheese. Add drained macaroni. Stir gently. Pour into a two quart casserole. Top with reserved cheese. Bake until browning and bubbly -- or as Mama told me "'til it's right on top." YUM!

No Early Morning Fair Isle

I've been chastised by Dawn for not posting to my blog in more than a week. I have just the thing to talk about tonight: If you are not a morning person, you should not knit fair isle early in the morning. This morning I awoke at my customary 6am for Sunday. I use the time from 6 to 7 to eat breakfast and study my Sunday School lesson. Well, last night I had prepared my Sunday School lesson and got everything set up for my breakfast. So, at 6:30 I was done with both and engrossed in an X-Files rerun on TNT. I thought to myself, I think I'll knit a row on Daddy's vest. Well, half way through this purl row of 102 stitches, I realized I was carrying the yarn on the RIGHT SIDE of the knitting. AKKKKKK!!!!!! So I had to pass at least 50 stitches back to the left hand needle and lift the carries over. When I got back to around stitch 5 where all this started, then I had to pass all the stitches back to the right hand needle now that I had corrected my error. Then I finished the row. No more fair isle in the early hours. I'm not cut out for it.



Our news started this week. It's more work for me and my boss than anyone had thought it would be. Anyone. Including the General Manager who's having to pay me overtime to do it. Nobody is happy about that.



We had a nice dinner tonight at church. It was sort of a Thanksgiving potluck. I brought my macaroni and cheese. Well, Mom's Macaroni and Cheese. I love it and other people seem to, too. There was enough left in the bowl when I got home for me to scrape out one serving for me to have later. Good. The bad thing about this dinner is that I have to go have blood work done tomorrow (I had my annual physical on Friday and Dr. Lois orders routine blood work every year) and I'm scared of what the results might be after my pig out. Oink Oink.



My PMF finished his training at his new job and passed with flying colors. Yea!! I knew he would, but he was all,"I might not have a job after this test Friday." Oh, ye of little faith. I'm excited for him.



Oh, again with the knitting: Since we last spoke I made a hat for little Jenna, a church friend:


I'd seen her that Wednesday when it was chilly out and said to her mom, "That baby needs a hat." So last Saturday night, I made her one. It turned out cute, but anything is cute on her. Just look at her. It's unusual that she's not smiling. Usually she keeps a big smile on her face. I think the flash scared her.


And I made a scarf for me Monday night. I showed up at my knitting group with five skeins of pink yarn, my size 50 needles, and a plan. I held the five yarns -- Glittalic, Silverlash, Carmen (from Paton's), Bernat Bling Bling, and Red Heart Symphony -- all together, cast on just five stitches, and just knit. In two minutes it was four inches long.In an hour Beth made me hold it up because she thought it was long enough that I should stop. She was right. It's right around 99". Lacey got real excited and said, "I'm going home and diving into my yarn stash and finding some yarn I can make one of those scarves with!" It's really pretty, too.

I got a great reaction when I wore it out twice last week.

Next, I'm casting on for the Voodoo Wrist Warmers from knitty.com. I'm modifying it to add a thumb. I sought out the advice of three people on ravelry who had made them and added the thumb and they told me how they did it. I think I've got it.

Here's my Thanksgiving plan: Wednesday after work, drive four hours to Daddy's house. Assemble Pineapple Casserole. Get up Thursday morning, cook Pineapple Casserole while I get ready. Drive two hours to Augusta to my cousin David's house where we're having Thanksgiving this year. Enjoy the family time. Take pictures. Eat. (Good thing the blood work's not next week!) Knit. Maybe take the Dell along in case David has some wireless - hmmmm. Drive back two hours back to Anderson. Enjoy Friday with Daddy. He loves going to mall and watching the crowds the day after Thanksgiving. Saturday, Dawn comes to Anderson and we check out the new yarn store in town! Yea! Sunday Daddy and I will probably do some more family visiting. Monday I drive back in time for SnB. Tuesday, back to work. Whew!

I've got to do laundry tomorrow around knitting group so that I can pack on Tuesday and get out of town on time Wednesday. I hate hurrying. I'll try not to go another week without a post. I blame ravelry. I'm obsessed. I joined the Ravelholics group.

Another Week Gone

Okay. I'm feeling better. Still a little stuffy, coughy, and sore throaty, but way better than last week.

I've been lost in ravelry tonight. I found a new group for fans of the show "Good Eats". I just love Alton Brown. He's smart, funny, and so much fun to watch. He makes some good tv.

We had a busy week at work, not crazy busy like it has been, but busy none the less. Yesterday they started installing a new phone system. I'm going to have a direct line!! Woo-Hoo!! Actually we all are. Our new news starts Monday. We're launching our new website next week. (Here's our old site. It's pretty bad. Go look now and by next weekend, it'll be totally different. So if you're reading this after November 15, that link will take you to our new site.) Lots of things going on at the tv station.

I'm going to sleep late tomorrow and then work on Daddy's vest while I watch Game Day. Clemson plays on ESPN2 at noon. I'm supposed to do something fun with the PMF tomorrow. We'll see if he feels like coming to town.

The weather is cooling off and I like it!

Knitting Immortality, Part II

If you're on the Lion Brand newsletter list, you might know that they have a new podcast. It's cool; no fancy equipment required, you just go to the website and push play.

Anyway, it debuted a couple of weeks ago. In that one, they asked the listeners to let them know what inspires them. I posted a comment on their blog (same link as the podcast). Well, today I found they had episode two up. So I'm listening, I'm looking at stuff on ravelry, checking my email, when about 30 minutes in, I hear my name and then they quote me. I had to pause it and call Dawn, because I had to tell somebody.

I shelled out $40 at the doctor today. Fluid in the ear. Explains the dizziness. Haven't had that since I was 24 and got my tonsils out. I've got some strong antibiotics ($30) and I'm planning on going to work tomorrow. I also have a wedding to run sound for this weekend. I need something to eat now. My appetite's back. OK.

Go listen to the podcast. Wait for my quote.