I've made definite progress on the Berry Freeze. I'm now working on removing some of that progress since I finally measured my mom. She's petite and I'm tinking back about an inch. Tinking rather than frogging due to the pattern.

Erin and I have been to Michael's a couple of times to get her some kitchen cotton. She enjoys casting on and knitting away. She's done a couple of washcloths and is working on a second no-larger-than-a-handtowel blanket for her kitten. Of course, Smack is only 2.5 weeks old so the size works well. She's a beauty and has been doing well with the bottle feeding.

I showed Erin the kitty beds over at the inspirational Wendy's. I think it's going to inspire her to try a project beyond garter stitch. I've offered to help with the DPN portion until she's comfortable with it. But I foresee companionable trips to the LYS in the future.

I'm also starting my holiday list. It's so long! I'm going to need to figure out if we're gifting all the siblings or just the ones we draw in the exchange. Hats, scarves, socks, washclothes with handmade soap (not by me!). I'm going to need to put together a shopping list.

I just love the thought of all that lovely yarn.

Better living through pharmaceuticals

All I learned is that I've strained the sciata-blah-blah ligaments in my back. The turning and twisting movements I make in every day life (have you ever tried to get in or out of a 3-door Honda Civic without doing so?) isn't helping. But the very nice PA prescribed some lovely 800mg capsules of Motrin and I'm feeling better already. I can actually stand up without fear of falling down from the pain.

And I've brought my knitting to work.

Can it get any better? Probably. But we'll see how the day works out.

Pain all around me

So I managed a couple week's ago to strain my back and have been popping Advil like m&m's. But I've definitely done something more since today I'm unable to stand without immediate pain to the right side of my lower back. I have to cling to the nearest tall object in order to remain standing until it subsides. Sitting is uncomfortable, lying down a little better but overall I am just in a world of hurt.

I didn't even bother bringing my knitting with me to work.

It made sense at the time, but now that I have an appt to get this checked out, I don't have anything for the waiting room! I'm just hoping that I can drive myself to the appt and then home without incident. And did I mention we have only manual transmissions?

On an up note, I've started the Vanilla Freeze. Having nightmares about not having enough yarn, but since Mom is petite I don't think I'll need to knit the length in the pattern. And with the yarn I'm using, it's not a vanilla, more of a soft berry smoothie.

The kids had a bit of a rough patch this weekend. They found out their mom & stepdad are moving to Portland. Since they currently live with her, and neither one is keen to move to Portland, they were more than a bit emotional. When the dust finally settled Saturday night, each had made a decision on where they would be living. Sean will remain in Independence with his grandmother for his last two years of high school. He's done so well this last year going from Ds to As and Bs that no one wants to mess with that improvement. Gwen will keep him on the straight and narrow and will be a good influence on him. Not to mention he'll be going to church with her on a regular basis now.

Erin has decided to come live with us in Vancouver. It will be fun adding her to our daily lives. She'll be a freshman in high school in just a few weeks so it will be a doubly important transition for her. New school and new house. Well, maybe not the house since she's here every other weekend and most vacations. But with her presence we've added another bookworm to the house, she'll be watching sports with us AND she's a knitter. Who could ask for anything more?

Yarn love

We got back late last night from Ellensburg. My niece thoroughly enjoyed knowing she and her doll had matching sweaters. Granted, it was 90-something degrees so pictures of the two in their sweaters would have been cruel, but I did manage to remember to get the FO photo this time. I just need to figure out how to post it.

I was working out my gauges for my two current WIPs and the 3-year-old wanted to see my yarn. She fell in love with the green Brown Sheep wool I had and has demanded a short sleeve sweater with buttons. Since the yarn was already promised to another project, we went to the only LYS in Ellensburg, Yellow House Knitting & Spinning. My sister wasn't even aware of it, not that she should be since she is a scrapbooker, not a knitter. But Miss Katherine found a bright green Cascade 220 she loved. There were only 2 skeins and she hugged the green to her like it was her baby doll. So one green sweater coming up.

I also bought two skeins in a grey/cream colorway for socks for DH. He's been wanting some and prefers subtlety in his socks. That's OK; I have bright green socks planned as a gift for someone else and they'll make up for the plainness of his.

We also stopped at Half-Price books on the way home. DH found a couple of sci-fi while I got a Nevada Barr and two knitting books (Debbie Bliss All-season cotton and a kids knitwear book). Not a bad weekend at all.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.