Things that make you go, "Hmmm."

It's a good question. I think mine is paying all the bills on what I make. And finally finishing my dad's vest. What's your biggest challenge for the year? An interesting topic for the comments.

PS: Garterlac Dishcloth in Lily's Sugar & Cream in Baby Stripes.

100 % Fuzzy!

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I've brought you something fun, though:

Your result for Yarn Store Worthiness Test...

Your LYS knows you

100 % Fuzzy!

Your stash of yarn must be pretty big. Your local yarn

store knows who you are.

Go take the Yarn Store Worthiness test at HelloQuizzy.com.

My friend, Bookwyrm, from the knitting group had a totally different test from this site on her blog (clicking her name will take you to that particular post), but once I was there and took the test she linked to (Initially I tested "Musical", I took it again and came up "Logical" which really sounds more like me), I couldn't resist looking for knitting and yarn related tests. Voila!

Anyway, what have I been up to? Lots of working. So not cool. It's been a crazy time at the TV station. I've done a little knitting. I've started on a potholder. It's called Toto the Extremely Useful and Cute Potholder. It's from the new Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines Book. I have this picture of one:

That's not actually mine. I borrowed that picture from a knitter in Rome, Georgia. Mine will be pink where hers is green and green where hers is pink. I decided to make this because I burned my hand getting my cast iron skillet out of the oven shortly after getting the book. It was a sign. I've got one pocket done. This is my mobile project so I only knit on it at lunch and when I'm out and about. Work has been such that I haven't necessarily gotten to take lunch everyday. Seriously cuts into my knitting time. I'm in a much better mood in the afternoon if I get to knit at lunch. I'm almost finished with my afghan and chugging along on Daddy's vest.

Friday I went to my eye doctor for my usual exam. I've worn glasses since I was 10, contacts since I was 16. For the first time ever in my contact lens experience, I'm going to be wearing different lenses in each eye. I've always worn the same lens. I've bought one box of disposable lenses at a time. NO MORE! Crazy. My vision was stable for a long time, then I got to that age where you need longer arms. My solution was multi-focal contacts. They work like magic. All of a sudden I could see again. Now I need stronger versions of those. If you've worn contacts for nearsightedness and suddenly found yourself needing longer arms and/or reading glasses, give the multi-focals a try. I love love love them. My eye doctor is my age and has never worn glasses. It's not fair, is it? I can't imagine what that must be like.

Oh, what about the whole Tommy Bowden getting fired thing? (We all know that's what went down, no matter what the Athletic Director says.) I think it was crazy. They should have let him finish the season. The team has lost their compass. I'll be surprised if they win any more games. We'll find out Saturday against Boston College. BC got killed by UNC yesterday, so they could be out for Clemson's blood. Yikes! I feel for my Tigers.

That's about it for me. I know. I've been out of touch, and that's it? Well, I've been working. Working. It's taken over. Not much else. I need a vacation.

More Knitting!

My friend Gail had her first baby, Luke, in early August. A first baby calls for booties. These are
Free Baby's Best Booties Knitting Pattern, a simple and quick to knit pattern. I used Lullaby by Berroco, a pretty nice yarn, but they've discontinued it.

I thought Luke also needed a Bunny Blanket Buddy. The head's supposed to be stuffed, but mine turned out flat. I think it's a good idea since it belongs to a baby. It will allow Gail to wash it easily after Luke's chewed and sucked on the ears or paws when he's teething.

Gail also is the guardian of her 12-year-old cousin, Bailey. I couldn't send Luke a gift without sending Bailey a gift, too. I made her this hat using the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom and a pattern in the Knitting with the Knifty Knitter III. This is Red Heart Light & Lofty in Antique Rose. Gail says Bailey loved the hat and that it was her favorite color. I'm so glad!

I'm working on Daddy's vest and I'll be through with my slippers in a few days. I can't wait to show you how cute they are. I walked around Panera last week, wearing one slipper and a sandal on my other foot so all the knitters could see. Everyone liked it. I'm working on another project that's my own design. It was a matter of knowing what I wanted and not liking any of the options I found on the Internet or in books, so I crafted my own. I really like it. I'll show you when it's done.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Yesterday I went to the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Georgia with my friend, Terrie - Catherine's mom. We got something called Chocolate Jelly that was amazing. The website is http://chocolatejelly.net/. We also bought earrings. Mine are Clemson Earrings like these except dangly. (They don't have a picture of the dangly ones, so the link goes to the stud ones.) Terrie's are UNC earrings. They are made of real Georgia marble and really cute.

On the work front, we produced our first High Definition Commercial this week. It was a simple spot for a client we work with all the time. It's going to be really exciting to see our new edit suite get finished and learn what we can do using High Definition. Welcome to the 21st Century!

What is this world coming to?

This afternoon our news department started telling us the news: Bill Heard was closing their Chevrolet and their Cadillac/Saab dealerships in town, along with their other 11 dealerships around the country. You can read about it here. My thoughts immediately went to Mr. Tom and Ms. Cheryl. Tom and Cheryl are our Sunday School directors in the Preschool Department. Tom's worked at the Cadillac dealership as long as I've known him. I saw Cheryl tonight at church and just gave her a hug and told her I was sorry. She seemed okay, but please keep them in your prayers.

So then, I get to church and find out that vandals have spray painted swear words around the church property. When I got there, the children's minister (who happens to be Tom and Cheryl's son-in-law) was putting poster board over the door to the preschool hall to cover it up.

And what's up with the gas? How can gas stations run out of gas? It's really crazy. All this makes me wonder what's going on? Where are we headed? I just pray that God will give us the strength and wisdom to face whatever challenges continue to come our way.

On a positive note: Remember Daddy's vest? He was supposed to get it last Christmas and I only had the back done? Well, I finished the right front Monday night at the knitting group. Yea! So now I get to make a big, but fast project for me (the instant gratification will be motivating, honest), then do the left front. Also, I'm knitting some slippers and finished the first one at lunch yesterday and seamed it up last night. It's so cute! My coworkers were sufficiently impressed. I'll get pictures soon. I cast on for the second one today at lunch.

Anniversary

Tonight we sat outside at Panera. (My allergies did not appreciate this, but I digress.) It's the first time since we've been there that we sat outside. When I went in to get some coffee, I noticed how quiet it was. . . because the noisy knitters were outside. I realized then that it was our anniversary at Panera. It was Labor Day 2007 when we moved from the Wynnton Road Burger King to Panera. In recognition of the anniversary, here are some pictures from our Knitting Night.


The very pregnant blond in the blue t-shirt is Pati. She's an army wife who is leaving on Wednesday for Ohio to birth her baby and then to Japan for three years. We're going to miss her. She's so sweet. We met Pati two years ago when one night she showed up at Starbucks (where we met before Burger King) to learn to knit. I have this picture of Debbie teaching her to knit from October 9, 2006.Why does the Army move people around so much?

How I Spent My Fourth of July Weekend

Friday morning I got up early like a normal workday, but instead of driving to the tv station, I drove to my dad's house in South Carolina. I arrived around 1:30. We went to Publix and bought groceries (always our first activity when I visit) and went home and had Hot Dogs and chili with baked beans and potato chips. Great Fourth of July meal. We George Foreman Grilled the hot dogs. Really good. I went through a long phase of not eating hot dogs. Gross things in there. I finally consented to eat Hebrew National Hot Dogs. They taste really good and I trust what's in them. They answer to a Higher Authority, you know.

As I have previously announced, there is no more wireless network around Daddy's house. It made me very sad. I sat there and played FreeCell and Mah Jong until the laptop battery died. Saturday we went to Schlotsky's for lunch and I was able to post. Finally. Then we went to yes yarn and I bought this:

After that we went to the mall where I found a fabulous deal on Patricia Wexler M.D. Dermatology Acnescription™ MMPi.20™ Anti-Aging Acne Serum. I bought two. It's on clearance. I hope they're not going to stop making it, because it's amazing. I started using it Saturday night and can really see the difference. The whole Wexler line is great if you're looking to improve your skin. It's kind of pricey, but worth every penny.

On Sunday after lunch at Cracker Barrel, we drove to

CLEMSON

The Rock

The Field
Old Green Tom
Clemson Ice Cream - Best Ice Cream EVER!

Sunday evening I went to Greenville to have dinner with Dawn. There's a Mexican place her family has been talking about forever, but haven't taken me to. Until now.

This is my half eaten dinner. From left to right, burrito, enchilada, and tamale.
Dawn's dinner: two chicken enchilada's and rice & beans.
Monday I drove back and went to my Knitting Group last night to work on Daddy's never ending vest. Fair Isle is some slow going stuff.

Photo Friday and More!

Do you remember this box?

Look what's inside!
If you remember this post, you'll remember these earrings that I ordered from qvc.com on Big Bonanza Silver Day, way back on March 1. They were on waitlist and finally arrived this week. Look how cute the guardian angels are. I wore them yesterday and they wore great, too.
This past Sunday my friend Cindy and I left after church to head up to Gay, Georgia, for the Cotton Pickin' Fair. It's a huge arts and crafts extravaganza that multiplies by a factor of ten the population of the small town with only one red light. There are all sorts of amazing things that people have created as well as antiques and food and entertainment and more. Cindy spotted a vintage 50's style dinette set with sunny yellow chairs. She fell in love and fell hard. We walked away for a minute and she said, "That sure is pretty." I asked her what she'd do with her old table and she said it was a secondhand piece without a lot of value and she'd willingly get rid of it. Her concern was that we'd driven to the fair in my Honda Civic. How would we get it home? I said, "If the legs come off the table, we can do it." We went back to the booth. The legs came off. Here it is in my car.

If you fold down the backseat of a Civic, it's like an SUV in there. I should have gotten a picture of it after she and I put the legs back on it at her house. Getting those legs on it was a challenge. Cindy broke her wrist Easter Sunday. It was also her birthday and she was at her brother's house in the yard playing with her niece and nephew and fell on it. Two days later she had surgery. So, I screwed the legs in and she held a flashlight. It's was easier than either of us thought it would be. It's really cute and she got a great deal. She loves it. She says she's eaten breakfast sitting there every day this week.

I need to get up in the morning and knit on Daddy's vest. I forgot to take my pattern with me to knitting group on Monday night! I ended up working on my car project. I want to finish the car project before I blog about it. I will tell you that it's a theme dishcloth. What's the theme? You'll have to wait and see. I will be publishing the pattern here in my blog. I've got a feeling it will have a niche market, though.

Sunday is Seth's birthday. I've been invited to a cookout at his folks' house. I've really got to come up with a gift!

Conclusion of "Blogless Holiday" Update

This pattern is called Calorimetry. It's designed for people with long hair to keep their ears warm. I knit it in a yarn called Paradox that's a Yarn Bee yarn from Hobby Lobby. This was my "After I Got Back to Georgia After Spending Christmas in South Carolina" project. I so need to clean that mirror.
For those who've asked about Daddy's Christmas vest, it's been renamed Daddy's Birthday Vest. He got the back for Christmas. He'll (hopefully) get the front for his birthday next month. It does look pretty, doesn't it?
I was at the dentist this afternoon and was chatting with the hygienist while we waited on the dentist to come in. I was telling her about this vest and pulled out my digital camera to show her the picture. We were looking at it and Dr. Leerssen came in. Julie showed it to him and he told me about his mother who joined a knitting group after his dad died and how much she likes it. He got hand knit socks for Christmas. Last year he got felted slippers! I told him the next time his mom visits to bring her to Panera on Monday night! He said, "I will. She'd love that!" Oh, and no cavities!

I also had my mammogram this morning. The technician didn't see anything, but it still has to go through a doctor's hands to be official.

Jenna went home from the hospital today. She's eating 2 ounces of formula every two hours. After two days she gets three every three. Then four every four. They go back to the doctor on Monday. They still aren't totally sure what caused it.


I think that's all that happened during my holidays. Oh, presents: I got some gift cards - Applebee's, Cracker Barrel, Subway, money, knitting books, ankle boots, clothes, body wash/lotion/scrub/spray. Now I'm all caught up.

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.

Swatch

I did the swatch last night for Daddy's Christmas vest. It's pretty, isn't it? I'm really happy with how it turned out. Even happier that the gauge matched the required gauge on my first try. This is what it's going to look like:I was telling Dawn about the swatch and she wanted to see the back, so this one is for Dawn:
Pattern is from Knitter's Magazine, Fall 2007, page 80. It's called Canyon Ridge and I've added it to Ravelry. I'm knitting it in Wool-Ease.

I have to go get ready to go run audio at a wedding. Yes, another one.

Have a good weekend.