PROGRESS?

This is the progress that I have made on my second mitten. One inch of I-cord cast on. Of course the progress depends on how you look at it. If you would have looked at it at midnight you would have seen a nearly completed mitten. A THUMBLESS mitten.. but almost done.
I don't know why it took me so long to realize that it looked so long because I knitted right past the thumb gussett.
Anyway, I tried pulling it back to the gusset point, and that didn't work out, so I just ripped it all and started over with a new bright yellow highlighted thumb gusset area on my chart. That's how I spent part one of my baseball film fest evening..

SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND

Last night I visited a friend that is in the last stages of what started as breast cancer. She has suffered from this vicious disease for almost two years. She had been pretty sick the last time I called to check on her and spoke to her on the phone, but went downhill fast. Once she 'had' to lay down on her bed, she never got back up.
Since my visit, I have been trying to remember as much as I can about her life. I don't remember exactly how I met her. It was around 20 years ago. My kids were little. I'm sure we met through our love of Shelties, a small dog resembling a Collie. For several years she and I and my kids would travel to dog shows where we would show our dogs in the breed ring, obedience and herding events. She didn't have children and had her own home based business grooming dogs. Once my kids got older and started school, I didn't have the freedom to travel around on weekends, and didn't have the extra money to spend for this hobby. Although we didn't share the same passion, we have still remained friends all of these years. When I got my "foo foo" dog Shitz Tsu, she groomed him every 6 weeks from the time he was a tiny baby until she got too sick to do it.
Her husband is lost. He said the familiar "I was supposed to go first". I am so glad that I have children. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose my only love after so many years without the comfort of my children.
I sit here in my studio which is adorned with photos of my family and friends and I realize that after all of these years together, I don't think that I even have one photo of my friend. I just have not had the opportunity in years to take one of her. Now it is too late, and I will have to rely on my memory of how she looked, how she laughed.
God Bless you old friend until we meet again

TA DAAAAA

I can't believe I actually found the memory card mentioned in the prior post. It was on the lid of a container on the bottom shelf of my ironing station. I just happened to see it while searching the floor of the area. Anyway, here is my first mitten, I am working on the second, and I still need to knit the linings..

BUTTERFINGERS

I had some photos to share with you. I had a picture of one of my finished and blocked mittens. But as I was taking the card out of my camera (xd-really tiny) it flipped up and flew somewhere. I've looked all over for it.. and I can't find it.. Maybe later.
I'm sitting here drinking my hot chocolate laced with Kaluha and Bailey's. It is St. Patricks day after all. Unfortunately, all of the boozing gives us real Irish a bad reputation. It takes me a year to go through my two bottles. And I'm Irish on both sides. Maybe it's the Scots that keeps me walking a straight line :)
Anyway, I am working extra because my co-worker is on a Cruise. As she was so kind to remind me before she left "I have six weeks vacation, and I plan on using it". It's going to be a long year. I tell you one thing getting older stinks. I didn't even bother to venture downstairs to turn my computer on all weekend. I just came home, put my feet up and knitted or went to bed early. I just don't have the stamina I used to have. I'm thinking of joining the fitness center that is a branch of where I work. They have a big pool and water exercise classes. Since fat floats, it is easier on my joints, and I get a great workout. Maybe if I get busy moving my body, I will feel better in the long run. I guess that's where the saying "Move it or lose it" comes from.
I just wanted to let you know that I am still here. Now back to the search for my memory card.. or should I whisper to you... my husband's memory card since I used his camera.. uh oh.

DIGGING OUT

Believe it or not, when I got up this morning the sun was shining and I could see the pavement of the road in front of my house. By the end of the week it is supposed to be in the fifties.. so all of this will melt and people will have to worry about flooding. Luckily, the only body of water near me is Lake Erie so I'm not too worried.

As you can see, I practiced some more yesterday. I added quite a bit of quilting to simple areas, and instead of quilting the square border around the design, I am marking the top for a shashiko filler design I learned from Diane Gaudynski. As you can see, there is a trick to getting the lines correct, and I obviously didn't know it. Hopefully it will be better when I start the other direction. In the picture you can see one of my quilting detail albums. One of the fun things about going to big quilt shows is getting ideas for quilting designs. I take photos of my favorites, and put them in albums. They are nice to have on hand.

Right now, I have to go out and dig out my car so I don't have to do it before work in the morning. We are going to the store to get what we needed on Friday. It started snowing before I could get that errand done. And of course since it's Sunday, there is the obligatory laundry.. yuck. I hope that you all have a good day!

11 DAYS UNTIL THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

At least somewhere other than where I live.

Believe it or not, the drive was completely plowed a couple of hours before this picture. The snow is falling, the wind is blowing, and every one of my family members actually went out in this. My husband is an accountant and this is tax season. One thing my kids learned from us is good work ethic. They all work two jobs and go to college. My son was gone before I even got out of bed, and my daughter's have an extra job at Applebee's, whose manager told them they would be fired if they didn't show up and being late was not an option. So if you are at an Applebee's in this kind of weather, know that the person serving your food risked their lives to get there to bring it to you. Personally, I would have told the manager to 'stick it', but that's just me.

Here is the progress that I have made on my mitten. I am two rows past the thumb gusset. It is fun to do. It has been a long time since I did any Fair Isle knitting. It is a challenge, but isn't any harder than reading a counted cross stitch chart. Maybe even easier, since it is only two colors.

So I am going to enjoy my weekend in the house. I hope that you are warm where you are!

I PLUGGED IT IN!

I finally plugged in my HQ Sixteen. I have several of these wholecloth pre-printed quilt panels. I figured that I would just start practicing using these things. It's definately going to take practice to get the control that I have with my Pfaff. I didn't bother to baste, and does anyone know if these panels can be ironed? I know that water takes out the blue, but will the heat from an iron set the blue?
I will have plenty of time to mess with this since it is snowing AGAIN.. they are talking 12 inches this time.. brrr...
When I was out chipping ice off of my car the other day, I wore my only pair of mittens, which are just polar fleece. My hands stayed really warm even though the mittens were wet. I have developed Raynaud's Syndrome over this winter, and at the slightest cold, even holding a cold glass, my fingers turn white, then start hurting, like they are frozen. I heard that mittens work better than gloves at keeping hands warm, and it worked. Since the mittens were wet, I put on dry gloves, and my fingers immediately started stinging.
I decided that it was time to make some warm mittens and I saw this great pattern called
FIDDLEHEAD MITTENS So I purchased the pattern and started working on them. I didn't have the yarn I needed as far as making them in multiple colors, and I didn't want to buy any right now, so I took a ball of my Cascade Tweed, and Cascade Heather, and started a pair

I bought this super soft alpaca/angora mix for the lining. Of course, by the time I finish them
It will probably be 80 degrees out. But I will be sitting pretty next fall! I hope that you all have a great weekend. TGIF!!!

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Yes, the weather in Northern Ohio is just wonderful. On Monday it was 60 degrees, the sun was shining. The ice storm started yesterday.. I managed to make it home from work and cast my vote in the primaries. By the time I got home, it was really working up to a good evening. Then the snow started.. I got up at 5am for work, went out and it took 45 minutes to scrape the ice off of my car. In case you are wondering, there is a wood shop in my garage. I sometimes balance if I want handmade hardwood furniture, and cabinets/floors in my house with those few days out of the year there are weather incidents. This was one of those days that I wish I had a garage.
Anyway, I called work and told them I would be late because I just finished chiseling the ice off of my car. That was until I started out of the driveway and got stuck at the end. Two hours later.. we got the driveway clear, my husband pulled my car out of the ice hole I was in. I was cold, wet, I had to go back inside and get dry clothes on.. I decided I was just going to stay home. It is the first time I've called off in two years I think. I just decided that it wasn't worth it this time. It's not like the work won't be there when I get back.
So I am going to spend the rest of the day in my sewing room.. warm and dry. Springs coming.. yeah right..