Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Girls Day

Teri and I spent a girls day out shopping. A good time was had by both of us. I even managed to finish a spin a long challenge before it was over, now to boil, thwack and dry the yarn. I can't do the next part of the challenge, which is to knit it into a finished object for at least a week. But that's a whole different  story. So I think I will get back to the family and get a little more precious Teri time while I can.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Recovering

We spent the day recovering after a long night of sick kids. I am kind of surprised that I got all the non fussy laundry in the middle of the night, but failed to get the fussy laundry done today. Well like the song says "there's always tomorrow, tomorrow is only a day away".

We all spent they day relaxing. This afternoon Eric and I stumbled upon the PBS Holiday Parade from the Bay Area.  I would highly recommend adding it to your TIVO list for next year. No commercials and all the PBS kids favorite charters. There were also a lot of bands. A real old fashion parade.

Well It is time to get Eric ready for bed. so good night everyone.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Too Busy To Blog

I have been having a great time with all the family at home right now. John is home from work, Teri and Eric are on winter break. We have been having such a great time that by the time I usually blog I have been fast asleep.

Today a little reality did creep into our day and Eric has a fever. Hopefully it will not go any further, but I will try to keep everyone in the loop.

Please forgive me if I do not blog much while Teri is home. This is her last break before she takes the California Bar this summer and after that she will enter the grown-up world of work. She grew up much too fast.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

She Is Home

My dear sweet darling daughter Teri is home for winter break. I plan on relishing every minute of it. The mood is cheery and Eric gave Teri one of those smiles that only he can give. It was nice to have a full kitchen table at dinner. Well it has been a long day. So it is time to say good night.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Transformations

Well it is finally done the room that was set up for crafts and exercise on Monday is now a full fledged guest room. As you can see from the picture the Murphy bed is even pulled down and the linens freshly washed. Yes the room was vacuumed also. Although I am not sure that the Swifter duster made a trip in there yet.

With time to spare the spinning area was also straightened out too.  There are no pictures there because in my humble opinion there is not as much progress to show.

This did leave me in a state of total exhaustion with an unscheduled nap taken. I did find some time to knit and listen to a few more chapters of 2030. Yes it is a must read book. Some more work was done on the scarf challenge for tomorrow. I am almost finished. Another just in time project.

A special thanks goes out to Kayla for all her help in this endeavour. If you need someone with extraordinary organizing skills she is your go to gal.

Well it is time to get dinner going an quite possibly think about what I am going to make for tomorrow's party since I have procured help for Eric and plan on being out of the house for a few hours.  Respite is wonderful.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Sunday and Monday

I enjoyed my time Sunday at the Fourth Avenue Street Fair. I got to spend some time with Kathy Withers and do some spinning. I found a few nice things that I will blog about when I have time to take the pictures. Monday was spent waiting for another service call in which the contractor did not show up leading me to miss coffee with some friends who are even busier than I am, so it is  very hard to meet up. So I would like to give the service man the lack of courtesy award. He did not even call to say he was not going to make the appointment.

While I was home I spent part of the day organizing my yarn stash I found the equivalent space of 3 empty drawers in the official yarn storage area so I took yarn from the sewing room and put it away. I also started my scarf for guild on Thursday, but unless Eric is better I will not be going. If I do manage to get out the door you will see a one of a kind scarf with hand spun yarn and samples of yarn from all over the world. Oh and did I mention some of my own hand spun yarn too.

They broke Eric yet again at school. He started eyrping right before bed and it lasted most of the night. So I guess I will cut it short here and go take care of the boy.

Friday, December 9, 2011

So Much for Planning

Well today was the 5th day in a row that Eric made it to school. I was planning on going to the 4th Avenue Street Fair, but spent the day waiting for a service man who did not show up.

So it was time to work on the house. I finally had enough energy to do some house work and paperwork. The good news is that the paper work is down by 2/3's. The house is better than it was but not where I want it to be. I even found time to do some repairs from the mending pile on the sewing machine.  A very small dent was made in the repair pile.

I took some yarn off the spinning wheel today. Over 300 yards and 4.8 ounces. It is from a wool mohair art batt by Kathy Withers. She does not have any art batts in her shop at this moment but if you let her know what you are looking for she may be able to get it for you. Unique Designs by Kathy . I still have to boil the yarn and let it dry. I think it is some of the best yarn that has come off the wheel yet. Almost on par with my spindle spinning.

I would like to say that I made progress on Teri's blanket today, but everything I knit tonight was tinked and re knit so I consider it a stand still for today.

Well it is time to go put Eric to bed. So it is time to say good night.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

A Taste of Freedom

Well Eric has been in school 4 whole days this month. Even better 4 days in a row. I did not realize how tired I was until I got Eric to school. To answer a few of the questions you might have.                        
No I did not do much house work.
No I did not do a lot a knitting or spinning. I am still in the process of take some yarn off the wheel. 300 yards and counting. I will have to figure out a better way to take those large skeins off the wheel.
Yes I got things to the Post Office in a timely manner.
Yes I took a lot of naps, at least 2 hours a day but I am no way caught up on sleep.
I meet with friends.
I took myself out to lunch.
I did not hit the malls.
I did make it to the grocery store and Trader Joe's.
I did make one of 2 doctors appointments that I needed to . The other one was out until Monday.
I talked to the roofer.
I am enjoying the Albert Brooks book 2030
But best of all, I got to talk to Teri. 3 finals down 1 to go.
Now it is time to go to sleep.

And the Winners Are...

First off I would like to say that there were only 3 entries so everyone is getting something.

WonderWhyGal you won -The First Prize winner will win a copy of the pattern and enough yarn to make the shawl. Please note that since this shawl is made with hand spun yarn and I bought and used the entire batch of the yarn for this shawl. This means that your yarn will be a different color. I don't have enough hand spun yarn but I do have enough in a variegate light color or  gray or light blue and possibly black.

Jennifer QKW you won - The second prize winner will win a copy of the pattern and a set of stitch markers.

Kerri Warmus you won - The third prize winner will win a set of stitch markers

Please get in touch with me. I need your address to mail the prizes.

Thanks for taking the time to enter.

Monday, December 5, 2011

A Day Off

Today was my first day all alone since the day before Thanksgiving. I took a nap, went to lunch and I also made it to the grocery store too. Well 2 grocery stores to be exact. In my dreams I spent my first day off knitting and spinning, sipping tea oblivious to all around me. So much for the first day of me time dream.

I have been home so much this winter that I missed the invasion of the snow birds. Yes, folks they are out there in full force. With a high of only 50f  today, I wonder why they choose to winter in such a cold spot. The only good thing about the cold weather is that I have a few days a year to wear my warm woollies that I like to knit.

Before I ramble on too much I think I will head over to my spinning wheel and see if she remembers me. I should really be hitting the tread mill. Later all.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Smooth Sailing

It has been a quiet weekend so far. Friday, John was home so I got to join the girls for knitting and lunch. These ladies are the best. They can take me from up tight mom with sick kid at home to relaxation in under 2 hours. All I can say is that I am grateful for such fantastic friends. After going out to lunch with them it was back home to give John a break from child care.

I also figured why I had not finished a doll blanket. I had taken it out of the UFO box where it has been for the last 3 years. After working on it for 2 hours at knitting and some additional time at home I found that I did not have enough yarn to finish it. I know that 3/4 of the way through and all I can say is darn and time to tink it. For those that read this blog who don't knit, tink is a different way to say I am ripping it out. Maybe I will make some bean bags or something that uses a light weight cotton yarn

We did manage to get out of the house today. John saw something with a lot of booms in it. Eric and I saw the Muppet Movie. It is very different from the past Muppet movies with a lack of forks in the road and other skits. It was more like the Muppet Show, which Eric and I still watch on occasion. Eric and I liked the movie very much.

We managed to get home just as the rain was starting. Timing is everything right. I frogged the project I started in the movie, I just did not get it right. I don't know if it was the 3 women in front of us texting through out the movie or that I just did not know what I had in mind. It is now recast on and going well. I did wind up some more yarn and made pumpkin bread for dinner. Cold rainy days are great for baking.

Well it is almost time to get dinner on the table. so have a great night.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

So Much Yarn So Much Time

The weather outside was dreadful. Eric's new cold is in full swing. I managed to list a few more items in my on line shop. Just click on the side bar to see everything I have. If you want to give hand knit items but you ran out of time please check my shop. There will be frequent updates as a lot of knitting is getting done at the moment.

I got one more cowl off the needles today, when the finishing work is done I will list it. Well its getting late time to catch some zzzzzz's