My Brother Is Going to SCREAM!

I finished the hanging, and it is SO FREAKING COOL!

Now, before you say, "But, you didn't put the U of K on it!"

You're right, so perhaps I'm a bit premature.Still, I think it's coming nicely.

Granny's Team Wins The Game

While Granny knits away.

I still have a little more to do on this one, like buy a dowel, wrap it with blue and add a hanging string. I thought about adding a few letters to identify the "Team", but that would give away the recipient (even though he knows who he is, he doesn't read this blog [yet] and he knows he's getting it, but doesn't know what it looks like.)

After I got it done, I though, oh, shoot, I should have knit the letters in--but that's okay--I can crochet them and sew them on. This isn't something you can add an "iron on" to.

It also surprised me that the view from this vantage point was more pronounced than from the opposite end--which is not quite as vibrant--

The letters?

U of K.

I can't wait to do one in Blue and Yellow for my brother-in-law (the outlaw of the family that loves U of M)...and let him fight his son for it. :)

I've Done Gone off the Deep End

It's difficult to be so sick that you can't get yourself together enough to make yourself something quick to eat, and keep yourself hydrated while it drips out of your nose--that one is darn near impossible.

Yes, I'm sick AGAIN. I've been sick off and on since November, and believe me, I'm pretty well done with it. Sadly, it continues to hang onto me, making me feel miserable, and just generally not so much fun to be around.

Then there's my husband...Doctor husband. (He's not really a doctor, he just thinks he knows more than my REAL doctor does) Now, he's been retired a couple of years now, and has been bored out of his mind sitting in front of the computer (or the tv) all day, playing card games or watching the same old stuff over and over throughout the day....as I said, bored. Now, his sister wants her house painted, so he is painting it for her, which is something he loves doing (painting), but he's doing it while I'm sick, and when I really need somebody to fuss over me a little--

Go to the store, dear, and buy me some Puff's Plus, will you? I've run out of the last 4 boxes we had.

It's not that I fault him for leaving me alone. I'm not that much fun to be around when I'm not feeling well. But I am sort of jealous that I'm not getting the sort of "fussed over" that I think I deserve.

Make me a grilled cheese, will you?  PULLLEEEASE?

Beyond that, when I'm sick like this, nothing TASTES good. Even thinking about it, makes me want to cough a little bit more. Ouch.

And beyond that, chicken noodle soup or Ramen, that's been my diet for the last three days, and let me tell you, it's getting old. I'd like a little variety, but what is variety when everything tastes like cardboard? Oh, stomach is rumbling. Guess it's time for that grilled cheese.

Then, to top it all off, I broke the humidifier this morning. I've got crust on my nostrils, and no humidifier. What? TMI? Okay, perhaps it is time for that grilled cheese.

But the absolutely worst part about when I'm sick, is that I can't knit, crochet or anything. All I can do is sit here and tell you how miserable I feel. Beyond that, because of the snowfall last night and this morning, I can't get half the stations on our television--so I'm not just sick, and sick AND BORED. My husband should have stayed home, and I'm sure he really didn't want to leave me alone (yeah, right).

Can you put Chapstick on your nose?

Starve a Cold?

I have to go to the doctor again today. This bout of bronchitis is killing me. My cough is coming from deep in my lungs, and my head is all stuffed up. It's mostly sinus, but it gets down into my chest and wreaks havoc there.

In the meanwhile, waiting for the doctor appointment, I'll be knitting on my brother's wall hanging. He best appreciate it, what with this cold and such, it's difficult to concentrate on counting stitches. I think I only did 4 rows last night before finally giving up to benedryl and tea. Hot tea, which I normally don't drink unless I am horribly, horribly sick.

Like now.

That said, I'm climbing back into my bed now.

You'd Have to Be the Most Hard-Hearted...

Flowered Baby Hat and New, Improved Granny Square

Now, I've been knitting all day, and feel like I'm getting nowhere fast. I have about 17 ridges done of an illusion cloth for my brother (there are only 150 or so rows, so it's not overly cumbersome), but it feels like it's taking forever. I think he'll like the outcome, and I figure it will go in his "man-cave", but I can't seem to get anywhere on it. I keep setting it down, looking at it, to see if it really looks the way it's supposed to look. Right now, it looks like so much knitting.

Notice that I didn't jazz up the square? That's because I just wanted to get it done, and because I didn't want to make another trip to JoAnn's to spend more money. The hat turned out cute as (well, been there done that) and the flower had to be redone differently than the pattern because it was just too many petals. Five petals turned out to be just right for the size of the flower, so that's what I did. I think it would look especially cute with a little red heart button in the center.

Alas, Granny's head was too big for the hat, but only slightly--the hat just popped right off and landed on the floor with all the cat hair. And so, we set the hat on top of her bun.

Thank you, Anna, for the use of your Granny Christmas Knitter. She sits by my chair every day.

I've Been Offline...

I've been offline for a couple of days.

Only a couple of days--offline on my home computer. And the WiFi somehow disconnected, and then tried and tried to reconnect, and

Well, I think it was having a bad hair day or something. I had to perform all sorts of tricks on it to get it to work right again, then suddenly--success! And I'm back in the saddle.

Too bad that I'm still coughing from the ick I had 2 weeks ago. The nose is still runny--and it's somewhat chilly in the house, and I haven't had breakfast--all adds up to extra coughing. I need a sinus vacuum. Trouble is, I'd probably suck my eyeballs into it, and THEN where would I be?

Well, I wouldn't know would I? Since my eyeballs were in the vacuum!

I didn't knit or crochet much of anything yesterday. I taught another knitter how to knit--so the world has one more fiber person in it. I'm SUCH an enabler! But I have a couple of projects to make for samples for JoAnn's. The first is a (get this) baby hat. I'm making it in Vanna's Baby Yarn. I think it's called Duckie--it's on the side of a dark golden yellow. It's crocheted. The picture on the pattern isn't all that hot, so I'll wait until it's completed, then take a picture. I'm pretty sure it will be cute as a button--

Allow me to digress here...where did that phrase come from? Cute as a button? What is so cute about a button? I mean the phrase has been around as long as I can remember, and back then, they didn't have cute buttons! Now, they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes--even in the shape of sheep--but back when, buttons were functional, not cute.

Oh well. Enough of that thought, I suppose. Random thoughts boggle me sometimes.

Anyway, back to the hat--yes, it will be cute as a bug's ear...

Oh, dear.

Then there's a "NEW" "IMPROVED" Granny square.

Granny Square?

I thought, at one point, that Granny Squares had been done to death. Don't get me wrong, I like granny squares. I especially like the newer styles that are done with diagonal stitches and bullions...but is there really a "NEW" "IMPROVED" Granny?

I seriously doubted it. And when I looked at the picture on the pattern, I thought. Sigh. It's not a "normal" granny square. You know the one I mean--it has 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in the cornice? This one is what I call a "filler square". DC's all around, ch2 in the corner space. I thought I might jazz it up--buy colors that graduate---such as white, light blue, medium blue, dark blue--and crochet one row of each, make it a little more difficult than it is. When I looked at the pattern, my first thought was "ho hum. borning." But bring some color into the mix, and suddenly there's a call for it...move the colors about and you could have a pop art eye popper...hmmm...thoughts return to the sinus vacuum.

So hubby is supposed to take me to a nice restaurant tonight for the valentine's day he missed (sniff). I think we're going to Red Lobster. That should be quite tasty. Right now, though, I need something for breakfast, and I'm thinking of asking him to take me to breakfast too. Then I can get started on the baby hat. It will take me an hour. Then I can move on to the square....so not looking forward to that square.

Some Baby Hats

Done on the small circular loom with a bulky baby yarn that was too cute to pass up. These are going to the local hospital. I wonder if I'll ever run into the babies that get these hats? Well, even if I never do, these little ones can be keepsakes for some new parent(s)!

Finally Finished!

What a beauty!

Back in the Saddle

Well, sort of. I'm back to knitting and crocheting, and also back to the office. It's surprising how far behind you can get in just 3 days! I have missed both of my breaks, so decided I'd add a little something in here to whet your appetite for finding out what I'm up to.

At the moment, I'm knitting another "This Way, That Way" scarf. It's done in short rows, with long color change worsted yarn. I made a grey one for JoAnn's (pictured here) and this one is in orchid colors. It's beautiful, but the dye lots, even though the lot numbers are the same, the colors don't run the same, which is odd, but it's still really pretty, so I'm not complaining. I'll take a pic of it to show you how it's coming--hopefully, the indoor pic won't wash out the color too much, because the brights really pop the eyes.

I bought the yarn at Hobby Lobby (Psst. Don't tell JoAnn's). It's a worsted weight single ply and very much like Noro, except for the lousy spin job. This stuff is pretty even throughout, which has been a complaint of Noro customers in some cases. I'll tell you more about the label when I get home, but I believe it's Hobby Lobby's label/brand yarn.

Embiggen the pic and you'll see the sequins. So pretty.

I'm in the mood for a little tatting later tonight, but have to see how much farther I need to knit on the scarf before I can work on the tatting. I also found a really pretty shuttle on Ebay, but when the bid went over $30, I dropped out. A wooden tatting shuttle might be pretty and all that, but the hook-part that is used for meshing picots can't possibly be thin enough to do any kind of good....and so, I've been thinking about this for a while, and wondered....what about a Polymer Clay Tatting Shuttle? I'm not sure, but it really sounds possible, and maybe fun! Must give it more thought. Pics when I get home!

Well, things didn't quite work out after leaving the office today. Let me start at the beginning...

Over the weekend, my hubby decided to put some bags of wood pellets in the trunk. The trunk wouldn't shut, but we drove the car most of the weekend, and had no problems with it. When I got into the car this morning, everything worked...

Except the radio/clock.

And I thought to myself "I'll be running into the dealership for this, I just know it." But the car started up just fine and everything else was working. There were no extra blips on the screen indicating trouble, so I drove to the office.

No problems on the way to the office. Parked my car in the lot and walked the last few blocks.

Oh, no...trouble started at the end of the day.

I walk to the car, and the key fob unlock won't work, which was strange in itself. I had to open the door manually. Key into the ignition, turn.

Nothing.

But not JUST nothing.

No click, click, no rrr, rrr, nothing. So I tried to shut the car off, and it wouldn't let me have my key back. I turned it back to the on position, but couldn't take it out of park. Everything locked up. I was goin' nowhere, fast.

The dealership told me to call a wrecker and get the car over there, but I wondered how it could be towed if I couldn't even get it into neutral.

Enter the tow truck driver, who, upon realizing that the car was going nowhere on the truck, decided to give me a jump start, which started my car, lit up my radio and clock again, and got me rolling down the road.

I debated going home, but thought, if it's a real problem, a battery might not FIX the problem, and so I opted at the very last minute to take it to the dealership. They wanted to keep it overnight, run some tests, etc. There is definitely something electrical going on in this car. I surely hope they find it.

In the meantime, hubby is driving me to the office tomorrow. He's very thrilled about the prospect...in fact, his very words:

"I suppose this means you expect me to get up in the morning and drive you to the office, huh?"

Well, let's just say you get to give me a special valentine's day gift, what?

So....that was my evening. The whole affair had me so thrown, that I came home, ate half a bag of potato chips and dip, and tried to figure out a way out of the whole thing. Sadly, there is just no other way. I get to call the dealership tomorrow to come get me after work, and hope that they found the problem. In the meanwhile, my rump is on pins and needles until I find out the cost, which is bound to be high, and as an electrical problem, they likely won't find it the first time. I just hope that they don't try to tell me I need a new starter, or I will simply pull out all my hair. (Explanations will be offered at another time.)

A BAM CAL

Month 2:

A beauty for February!

Sick. I Got the Ick.

I had a class on Saturday, and when I came home, I didn't feel so hot, so went to bed early. I woke up before midnight coughing. I had a headache, so I decided to make myself some noodles, take my pills and some cough medicine, since I could tell it was going to be a truly lousy weekend.

At 2am, I was paying homage to the porcelain god, and had a roaring headache, a fever of 101 and chills that wouldn't stop. I went back to bed and didn't move the rest of the weekend.

I can't eat, and I'm not sleeping well. Neck and chest hurt like mad, and I still have a fever, but some of it has dropped. I see the doctor at 1:45 today. I'm a little scared that I won't make it. I was hoping that my husband would take me to the doctor, since I'm really in no condition to drive myself (at least I don't think so), but I have an idea that he has plans to go to his mom's. Of course, when his mom finds out that I was sick, she'll give him heck. That sorta makes me smile...a little.

I'm filling myself up with water and trying to keep hydrated. The fever really did a number on me.

And I'm tired of writing about it.

I feel so bad that I can't even knit or crochet.

My husband KNOWS that when I can't do that much that I am really ill.

I'm going to go to my chair and watch a movie...maybe.

Another Sashay!

I do love this yarn! Just sadly, I purchased quite a bit of similar yarn at expensive yarn stores, because the cheaper yarn companies hadn't followed up on most of the new fashion design yarns....

Then suddenly, Red Heart comes out with Sashay...check out this colorway....

Actually, what appears to be blue is actually tan and brown--amazing how "off" the bathroom light makes the picture (well, at least to me). You'll see a better rendition on the Red Heart website.

Until better pics can be taken, I'm off to Ravelry.