Shawn's Babies

The bartender here at work is expecting twins. Her due date is January 27th, but today she went into labor - two months early. She is a little thing and each baby weighs maybe 3 pounds. Shawn is having a boy and a girl and I knit her these little hats and mitered bath cloths. The hats will probably be too big for their little heads, but I'm sure they will grow into them.

Please keep Shawn and the little ones in your thoughts and prayers to be healthly. They might end up being airlifted to Denver, depending on the health situation. I did give these to Shawn two weeks ago so I am glad that I did that so early.

Here is a photo of the socks I was talking about yesterday - the Smores Socks. These are the ones that ended up at the annual meeting. I'm still taking suggestions as to what to do - so far the consensus seems to be to donate them to the annual meeting again this year.

Dude!

I spent my holiday weekend watching football and knitting - for 4 days! My arse is a little sore, as is my wrist, but I managed to finish a couple of Christmas presents. Woo Hoo. I didn't sit around all weekend. Ron and I took the dogs out everyday to go run and play and chase squirrels. We went to an incredible buffet on Thursday at a local restaurant and ate way too much. On Friday I was up at 4 am - not to go shopping but because Lucie woke me up and I couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up watching the movie "Private Benjamin" - a classic with Goldie Hawn. Ron and I ended up at Sears at 7 am tho to get some jeans and then we went out to eat breakfast. The only shopping I really did on Friday was at the grocery store. I did go to Hobby Lobby to buy some stickers and paper for scrapbooking, and I went to the LYS to get a ball of yarn for one of the presents (I needed just a bit more to finish). Of course I walked out with more than the one ball of yarn needed, but that is always the case. Yarn is like potato chips, you can never buy just one.

So, I spent some time knitting a pair of socks on Sunday. I am having some trouble actually knitting these socks - I'm just not feeling in the mood to do them. I started them in June and they are taking me forever to knit. In the meantime I have knitted about a dozen other projects and started more socks. Here is a little back story and then I will need some input.

Knit Picks (one of the great yarn companies out there) has a sock yarn colorway called "Smores". Now, what girl scout leader could resist this? I knit up a pair of socks and donated them to my council for their silent auction at the annual meeting in April. They were a hit and several other people asked if I could knit them a pair. I said sure, and ordered more skeins of Smores yarn.

The second pair of Smores socks are the ones stuck on the needles. I am knitting two at once on two circular needles and have passed the heel and am working my way down the foot. There is light at the end of the tunnel for these suckers, but I just can't bring myself to work on them. I mean, instead of knitting them last night, I actually turned off the Patriots/Eagles game and went upstairs and sorted through the piles of mail and detritus on my table. That is pathetic. Those of you who know me know how I am currently feeling about our council and maybe this is a psychological thing in my brain. So, here is my question - do I:

1. Finish the socks and sell them to one of the women that asked for them last year?
2. Finish the socks and donate them for the annual GS meeting in February and make them bid on them? (thereby the council gets the money)
3. Finish the socks and give them as a Christmas present to a friend? (which just seems wrong)

If I choose #2, then I have an issue about what size to knit as one of the women has incredibly small feet.

I would love to insert a photo now, but I can't seem to get this feature working. Sigh. It's a Monday.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday and I also hope that the next month of Christmas music does not drive you too crazy!

Oh, and the title for this post came from the beer commercials I watched all weekend - one word spoken through the whole commercial, just with varying inflections depending on the situation. Dude.

Shirley's Socks

In October I posted a blog about a pair of slipper socks I knit for a local woman. Shirley Patton died on Sunday and I can only hope that the socks I knit her made her life a little easier during the last months of her life. I know that Mr. Patton has extended family in Casper, and a very cute boxer, to help him through this difficult time. I feel priviledged to have met them.

The slipper sock pattern will be renamed Shirley's Slipper Socks in honor of her.

No Turkey Is Safe

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Ron and I are looking forward to a four-day weekend. As I don't like to cook, and there is really no need to cook a turkey dinner for two people, we are going out to eat. Every year we go to a Thanksgiving Buffet at either one of the hotels or restaurants in town. In recent years we have eaten at Poor Boys - a local steak house that does a fabulous buffet. We will be eating out there again on Thursday. The only downside is that we don't have any leftovers and that is always bummer. I always enjoy the turkey sandwich the next day. Oh well.

I will be making pumpkin pies though. I was given a pumpkin last month and decided that I couldn't bear to watch it rot. After many many phone calls to my mother, I managed to cook and puree the pumpkin to make real pumpkin pies. There was the morning phone call to see how to cook the gord - put it in whole in the oven at 350 for about 1hr 15 minutes, or until cooked through. I let it cool for several hours. Then there was the phone call to see how much puree I needed to make a pie so I could freeze it in portion sizes. Mom asked me what pumpkin pie recipie I normally used and I think my answer of "the one on the can of pumpkin" was a tad disapointing. Needless to say I was emailed a pumpkin pie recipie the next day. I was able to get 10 cups of puree from my pumpkin and can make 6 pies and a loaf of bread. So, my pie will be mostly from scratch - thanks to the nice people at Pillsbury I will not have to make a pie crust.

I did see a recipie in a magazine recently for pumpkin pie smores to use up that leftover pumpkin pie. What!!! Who has leftover pumpkin pie? I love having a slice of pie for breakfast the next day (and then lunch, and then dinner, and then snack....). And why would you need to find a way to use up any leftover pie? So bizzare.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with friends and family and pets. I will be knitting Christmas presents, maybe playing with the spinning wheel, and having fun with the dogs.

Project Runway

Everyone has a vice, a skelton in the closet if you will. As a rule, I do not like reality programing. Give me an episode of Friends or CSI or South Park and I am happy. I change the channel if Survivor or Amazing Race or American Idol is on. But there is one reality show that I must watch, that just fascinates me, and that is "Project Runway" on Bravo. "Make it Work", "You are either in, or you're out", "Aufwiederschein". Ah, great quotes. I have always been interested in fashion - just not wearing it. If you know me at all you know that I love jeans, sweats, thermals, flannel, etc. I love owning shoes, just not wearing them. I am not a high fashion kind of gal, but I love to see the design process on this show, how the clothes are constructed, and yes, I love the petty bickering. I like how Tim Gunn can stay cool, how Michael Kors keeps a straight face during the runway shows, and the final show during Fashion Week is just awesome to watch. I can knit socks, I can sew a basic skirt, but I could not make a high fashion gown in 8 hours! The designers are weirder than weird, yet very talented. So, if you call me between 8 and 9 pm MST on Wednesday nights, be prepared for me to be less than attentive as I will be glued to the TV.

Last night was the premier of Season 4 and it looks to be a great season. Simone was "out" as her dress was not very well constructed (she had no zipper and had to sew it on the model) and the jacket did not really go with the dress. I though that Sweet P's dress looked like a potato sack, but what do I know. I loved the jacket that Christian made - very 1890's.

I hope you have a chance to catch an episode and enjoy it as much as I do. If not, then watch your own guilty pleasure and enjoy!

Scraps and Sneezes

I spend yet another weekend at at scrapbook retreat. It was actually quite the busy weekend for me. Friday after work, R and I went to a craft fair and then out to dinner. We didn't realize how late it was until she dropped me off at the house and it was 10 pm! We had to be up the next morning and at the scrapbook retreat by 9:30 am! And we would be up till midnight so we really needed our beauty sleep. The dogs had other plans. I was woken up at 4:30 am by Lucie barking at I have no idea what. I think there is a parade of some sort that goes past the house in the wee morning hours. I really need to call the city about the parade route. So, I tried, but failed in my attempt to fall asleep again. At 5:30 I gave up the ghost and went to watch early morning TV. Boy, was that stimulating. Actually, there was an interesting infommerical for a Circut machine. It cuts out die cuts to use for card making, scrapbooking, etc. They never really revealed the price tho. Good thing too. If I wasn't so lazy I might have gotten off the couch to find the credit card. Further research on the web today reavealed that the little beauty is not just the $49.95 for the 30-day trial, but an additional 3-4 payments of the same amount. Ouch.

The Circut is actually pretty cool. A fellow scrapper had one with her on Saturday so I was able to see it in action. Nifty, but not $300 nifty (plus $50 for addtional font cartridges, etc....). I figure I can always borrow hers if I need something. We scrappers are pretty friendly in that respect. In other scrapping news, I managed to catch up several albums on Saturday and finished the 2nd knitting album. I'm on to the third! Woo Hoo!!!

Sunday I slept. Actually, I was once again woken up at 6:30 am so the little fuzz balls could be fed breakfast. I think I have mentioned this before, but it seems I pour the kibble much better than Ron, as I checked and he was awake!!! Dippy dogs. I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. The dogs were outside.

Pershing has been sneezing all weekend. I have a call into his vet to see if it is just allergies or something more serious. After the doggie issues we have had this year I have gotten to be quite the nervous mommy. I'll keep ya'll posted.

I'm going to a Yarn Tasting party tonight after work at our LYS (local yarn shop) All That Yarn. Joan (the owner) has samples of the new yarns set out on dinner plates and you get to try knitting with them to see if you like how the yarn feels and knits up. There are even sample patterns to go with the yarns. There is good food served (prepared by the chef at the Casper Country Club - also a fellow knitter), and spiced cider as well. Yum! I am looking forward to this fun evening. I expect to see some of my knitting students there as well.

Terrible Horrible

Anyone remember the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"? Well, I'm on my way to Australia if this keeps up.

I think I pulled something in my neck when I did the leaf diving. Since I woke up Monday morning my neck muscles have been strained. This afternoon at work I tripped over a phone cord and wacked my knee and my wrist. Time to fill out a workers comp report! ha ha.

I think I hear a vodka tonic, or perhaps even a Guinness calling my name.

No Peeking!

It was a productive weekend for this blogger. I managed to get a couple of knit objects felted, completed one project, and still had time to play with the dogs. I even took pictures of everything so I could post something besides rambling to this site, and to have something to update the scrapbook with. So, here goes:

Here is Pershing modeling my novelty yarn scarf. I teach a knitting class at the local college and I always have them make a furry scarf, which means I make one every semester as well. This year, I went for the sports colors and have CU/Steelers scarf to wear this fall. As the dogs insist on helping me whenever I am taking photos, I decided that they should actually be useful, as well as ornamental. I had a hard time keeping Pershing sitting still long enough for me to take the photo. You can see the tip of Lucie's paw on the side. She also has a photo modeling the scarf. Good Dogs!

Detail of a knitted object...but what could it be? No telling until after Christmas.

How about this one? Different yarns and textures...but no shaking the box - you still won't be able to figure it out!

You'll never guess what this one is! A pretty mix of wool and mohair though.

Finally, this project - finished just this morning. Hummmmm....

The felting went really well. I have everything drying on a hanging sweater rack. Normally, it hangs in the shower, but as I needed to take an occasional shower this weekend, I had to move it. Where to hang it? Oh, I know! There is a plant hook in the ceiling in the middle of my living room, and as I have no plants (a black thumb does not go well with plants), this was available. I how have a very odd looking chandelier.

I also had a girl scout meeting this weekend. The girls wanted to have a sort of post-Halloween party so we had munchies and music. We decided to move the festivities outside and headed to the park and playgound behind the meeting place. Keep in mind I have 12-15 year olds. They played on the equipment meant for 6 year olds, and then ended up scooping all the fallen leaves into a large pile. Everyone had to take jump into the pile at least once, including yours truly. I think I am still picking leaves out of my hair. But, we had a lot of fun - and that is the important bit.