July 30, 2004

Happy Birthday, Miss Samantha!

Yesterday was my niece's 6th birthday. Since the Vancouver portion of her extended family happened to be attending a Portland Beavers game, we called her and wished her a very happy birthday. The party is tomorrow and we're heading out tonight to her house. Haven't missed a birthday party yet and don't intend to either!

I finished her sweater(s) last night at the game. I only had the buttons left to do and I'm now working on swatching for the two new sweaters to go on the needles. I've also got to get measurements for my nieces, sisters, parents and DH so I can begin planning this fall/winter's knitting. Things to order, yarn to buy.

Have a happy Friday everyone!

July 27, 2004

3rd time's the charm, right?

Well, I have settled on the final name for this blog.  Certainly took me long enough.  Started with "Just One More," changed to "Yarn and Books = Happiness" and then while looking at stitch markers on Ebay and reading the blogs today, it hit me.

Yarn Pig.

My yarn stash is on the smallish side IMHO, but constantly threatens to rage out of control.  Books, the other yarns in my home, are everywhere since Rob & I are excellent customers of our local bookstores.  We have six 5-shelf cases and two 3-shelf cases.  Filled.  And that's after we culled our collection and donated 3 boxes to Goodwill.  And I need still more shelves!

As for the pig reference, the accumulation of the yarn and books definitely points to piggy tendencies, but so does the pig-shaped piggy bank collection I endeavor to enlarge each year.

So, Yarn Pig it is.  Long may it live.

July 23, 2004

11 Days to go

11 days and then Kim will be on her merry way to Chi-town.  I'm taking two days off  then; one to see her off and two to clean up after her.  I'll miss her, but probably about as long as she'll be missing us.

In the meantime, our water heater leaked and our dishwasher is still on the fritz.  Rob drained the water heater and we've refilled it since we couldn't find any loose connections.  We're going to keep an eye on it for the next few days and hope that it was just a cry for attention due to our lack of regular maintenance.

My cousin's son, Zach, arrives either tonight or tomorrow for a few weeks.  He'll be good company for Sean since they have similar interests.  But I have no idea what to feed two teenage boys, only that it needs to be in massive quantities.

I've been working on the matching cardi for my niece's doll and I have to say that it goes much faster than I expected.  Of course, her sweater only took 2 1/2 weeks, so this should take only a week.  And I only have a week to finish it and hers, seams and buttons included.

I believe I've settled on the pattern for my mom's Christmas gift.  It's from Knitters Spring 04, the Evening Breeze pattern.  I have a beautiful dusty mauve silk/wool blend to use.  I'm getting pretty excited about it.  Of course, it won't keep her warm in the winter, but I think she'll appreciate it anyway.

July 19, 2004

My aching back

Kim's probably 75% ready to go now.  We spent the majority of the long weekend (I took Thursday & Friday off) getting her things into boxes.  Not too bad. I did, however, manage to strain my back muscles and have found the last couple of days to be frustrating.  I never realized just how much I bend in the course of the day.
 
I did manage to get all but the last couple of rows on the buttonband completed for Samantha's sherbet cardi this weekend.  The last rows were completed at lunch today.  I can now seam, find buttons and get started on the mini version for her doll.  The one bad thing from all of my knitting progress?  I broke one of my #5 needles for my Denise set.  Luckily, I had a bamboo set of circulars to use, but they just weren't the same.  I'm going to need to order the replacement set soon, along with the 40" and 52" cords I saw on the order form.
 
I've been catching up on my blog reading and I'm starting to wonder about making a Charlotte, trying Kersti or Calmer, going for the Master Knitter program, my HTML skills and new digital cameras.  The beauty of the 'net is how it inspires you to go further outside of your box.

July 14, 2004

Making progress

Progress on so many fronts.

I managed to get the shoulder seams complete and one of the sleeves started over the weekend. I was knitting today at lunch and realized I didn't have my tool bag with me, so I'm missing the smaller needles I need to finish the cuff. Now I have nothing to do on the train home! I'll have finish it tonight and start the 2nd sleeve tonight.

Kim & I got off to a good start getting her packed up. Her original departure date was set for Aug 3rd. I'm still counting down to that date, so we're looking at 20 days left. I've got Thurs & Fri off and we're going to be packing fiends. She's going to move first and send for her stuff later. Good thing we don't use the garage for anything but storage.

Didn't get much done over the weekend except the packing and a Maroon5/John Mayer concert. Loved the concert. Interesting clothing choices all around us. Now, we're not fashion plates (not at our size), but we are fans of What Not to Wear and we hope we're a little more aware of the impressions we leave. Ahhh, the arrogance of youth.

July 09, 2004

So tired

Tonight is the last (yes, LAST) night of doing our paper route. Two years and roughly 130k papers later, we've had enough. We'll be able to sleep the night through instead of rising at 1:30am for 2 hours of late night (early morning?) deliveries. I've only just realized how it has severely curtailed my knitting. When you're averaging 5-6 hrs of sleep a night, knitting can get interesting.

I've made progress on the sherbet cardi for my soon-to-be-six niece. The back and fronts are complete. Now it's on to the sleeves. Microspun is wonderfully soft, but rather a pain to work with since it splits so easily. But it'll be worth it to see her realize she and her doll now have matching sweaters.

Gave Pam the little sweater & hat for her newest boy, Christopher. Mexicali Baby Ole. She absolutely loved it and had been secretly been hoping I would make him a hat. Now I just need to get the little kimono sweater over to our other niece for her firstborn.

Kim & I have a 10-mile walk tomorrow morning. PortlandFit. I've decided to pass on the Portland Marathon this year since I haven't been doing all of my training and my right foot is not doing great. I'm thinking 10 is the longest I'll go this year. I don't feel up to doing the 15, 18 and 21 mile walks this summer. When you average 3.75 mph, the longer walks really add up to long-a** times to be out on the roads. Besides, when she leaves for Chicago, who am I going to walk with?

July 08, 2004

Trying new look

Well, I'm trying to make modifications to the design and add elements I want (like progress bars on the current knitting projects). But I'm having difficulty seeing it when I save. It previews just fine, but perhaps my beginner status with HTML is coming into play here.

Hmmm.

July 07, 2004

New Journey

Well, I've closed my eyes, drawn the requisite breath and taken the leap of faith into the unknown world of blogging.

So far, so good.

I'm hoping to keep family and friends up-to-date on the doings of my household, the projects I'm itching to complete to give as gifts (although I hope they can't figure out which gift to which person) and the general musings of my head and heart.

Let's hope they find it all worthwhile.