Whew!

Sorry about that!

Well, I've worked out on the Gazelle for 3 days now, decided that my birthday was the best day to start -- it is the start of a new year, and it was a gift I could give myself. So far each day I've managed to go about .3 of a mile further in the same amount of time than the previous day. Right now I'm staying at a half hour.

On the knitting front, I seem to be on hold. Waiting for a big project to get here. Yarn that was supposedly mailed the middle of January for helmet liners hasn't showed up either. So, I'm plotting and planning projects. Two vests are in the wings.

We are having a party next weekend to celebrate Howard's ordination anniversary! Serena is flying in, Kim and Nathan are picking her up at the airport and driving down. They are very much a part of this too, as his job affected them too! I think we should put on music and DANCE!

Oh for Pete's Sakes!

A different Gauge swatch today. Different Yarn. Different project. The yarn biases. Badly. Instead of a rectangle, I have a parallelogram. sigh I'm not sure what 1400 yards of biasing rayon/cotton yarn would be good for. Suggestions? I do NOT want it to become the vest it had originally been planned.

Rats!

I just did a gauge swatch. And was knitting along happily, when the yarn broke on a stitch the row below. Fixed that, (shoddy repair, hey it is a swatch!) and three rows later it happened again. Once is an accident... twice it seems we have problems. The yarn had stood up to being unwound from a skein and onto the ballwinder. I couldn't feel a difference as I knit it. And it is a pattern where I don't have to look, so was planning to use it as one of those glorious "I'm reading while I'm doing this!" knits. Now I don't know what I'm going to do.

Don't really want to frog 3 rows every so often. Luckily the yarn is hairy, so when a stitch gives way, it is going to stay there until repairs can be affected. But it also means that the yarn surrounding an affected stitch is going to be, um, tender and could go too. Which means I'm going to have to at least go back until the affected stitches are off the needles.

If it were my yarn, I'd probably toss it now. It isn't. I'm awaiting a decision. Blech. Yes, I know there is an error on my edging too. I was

my microwave clock won't work with me

My microwave's clock doesn't communicate with me. I don't know why it is. I can program the VCR. Every other clock in the house and I get along. But the one on the microwave and I speak two different languages. Unfortunately, we also have frequent power outages, which means that it needs to be reset frequently. When that happens, it clears, and it stays clear until Howard gets home.

The other night, in the middle of the football games, I was in the middle of a prednisone induced frenzy to bake cookies. I don't know if you have ever been on predinsone for any reason, but suddenly a hyper urge comes over you to do something that seems perfectly reasonable. As in, starting to bake cookies at 8 at night. Not just to mix them, but to bake the entire double batch! Anyway, Howard set the microwave timer for one tray of cookies, and I used the portable timer for the other. The problem came in when he became involved in the game. Suddenly, the microwave timer was no longer available, and there went the timing on that batch of cookies. So, as I was baking, I thought how ridiculous that I can stand there with him talking me through setting the timer on the stupid thing. We can clear it, AND I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN 20 MINUTES LATER! I manage to start the microwave instead. The book for the machine is long gone.

I see several options:
a - check online for the manual and figure it out that way,
b - buy a second timer and leave the programming to Howard, or
c - admit defeat and forget it. sigh

I remember when the microwave was going to be almost the last machine we needed in the kitchen. We bought one Oklahoma and it came with a hard bound cookbook. There were recipes for candy, breads, meats, vegetables, drinks, everything to eat.

We loved the peanut brittle recipe, stopped making it only because the glass bowls kept breaking when we made it. Yup, the glass shards were considered to be a health hazard for some reason. The sugar got too hot for the plastic containers. But, when it did work, it made great peanut brittle!

There was a recipe for berlins in the cookbook. I think you used the microwave on low to help raise the dough. But you also used the microwave for the custard filling. When Nathan was hospitalized with asthma, croup and pneumonia, Howard made the berlins from that recipe, and Serena helped him fill them. They brought them down to the hospital as a thank you for the staff. The berlins didn't last long! The staff were so great in such a tense situation.

A Profound Sense of Delight

Isn't that one of our rewards, when the recipient writes or calls and says, and I quote,  "The socks are wonderful. Oh, but, now, I am spoiled! How hard is it to learn to knit for my size...? I think I'm going to have to indulge and learn how."

And it is notes like that which encourages me to go back and knit more for her. A grateful recipient does the heart good!

Funny thing last night in knitting group, three people came in all sure they had forgotten what to do with their project. I think they needed the reassurance of a place to be where someone could fix the mistakes, if necessary more than that they had forgotten! Life can be stressful, knitting group is usually full of laughter (with each other, never AT each other) and quiet moments. We try to keep it that way. We are going to go one evening a month and one Saturday morning, both for shorter periods of time, to try to address the fact that we are stretching the attention spans of some of the younger members, as well as making it difficult for other members to attend.

Lighten Up Iowa, the Statewide Healthy Initiative starts soon, Howard and I have already made the commitment, joined our team, and begun again. Last year I shed a lot, I've managed to keep it off and drop off an additional bit on my own. So, here we go! Encourage me! LOL

2007 Calendar already?

I just finished the last pattern for the 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar. It seems surreal, after all, 2006 just started. But there it is, for Paulette to get her work done, she needs the patterns now. So, I submitted 4 patterns for next year. I think these patterns are much better than my last year's submissions. My digital picture taking skills have hopefully improved! This last one, trying to take a variegated blues and green has just about driven me around the bend! The blues have a tendency to disappear into melange of non-descript stitches, or turn into a shout-out of stitches with a resemblance of an old bruise... you know with that yellowy tendency?

I was so tickled, Nathan proudly presented me with the 2006 calendar! He gets it! That is such a delight. He was a little baffled when I told him that I had 2 patterns in the calendar, and that we'd been searching for the calendar for Serena. But, he was trying to get a present tailored specifically for my tastes! I'm thrilled! Note to self, be sure he knows!

2005 Knitting Review

Each year since I crushed my wrist I keep a running list of what I've knit. A way of seeing in black and white what I have been able to accomplish. In those 11 years, my lists have seen many things, and have reflected many times in my life. But they say the same thing, the months, what I knit, why I may not have knit at the time, and the total output of a category. A mini-history of my life at that time.

For 2005, my totals read:

• Helmet liners   17
  
• Sweater   3
  
• Hat   2
  
• Scarf   5
  
• Dollhouse afghan   2
  
• Dollhouse baby blanket   1
  
• Dollhouse bedspread   1
  
• Dollhouse rug   1
  
• Wrist warmers    10 pairs
  
• Dog carrier   1
  
• Socks  2
  
• mini scarf   1

Not in any specific order, not in order knit. I did put all the dollhouse stuff together. Seemed appropriate. grin

I don't put together a list of what I plan to knit for this year, because it doesn't work. My knit buddy and I have tried for years. I don't stick to it. I have a Dibs on Ribs in mind, but, per usual, I'm changing it severely. Right now, the two of us are planning a mini-knit-a-long, using DK weight yarn, rewriting the pattern to suit our yarn, and either using the magic ball technique, or something else that we haven't decided to suit our whim. Changing yarns every 2-3 rows? That is still simmering.

I also joined a swap on a mini list, (sorry Howard, I couldn't resist) and need to knit up 11 things by the middle of July. I want to start now, so I don't feel frantic later.