Spam

Been getting a few spam comments on my blog lately. I end up deleting the ones that are just rants and raves about silly things that have absolutely no connection to anything on my blog. So far it's just been a couple, but I see some people get hit really bad. Poor Vibegirl got it bad about two months ago when she had to delete about 100 spam comments from her Vibeknits site.

Got the yellow beaded preemie jacket finished last night. I started the bonnet at work today. I didn't get too far. I'm sure I'll get it finished tonight. One hour of Coronation Street, and Most Haunted should be on for an hour at 9 o'clock. Weird how my faves are British. I have a bunch of Are You Being Served? on tape. Love Mr. Humphries and Mrs. Slocombe. Also like Keeping Up Appearances. CBC has been showing Mr. Bean as well nights, so we've been watching that. The kids like him. Got a few of the cartoon episodes on tape as well. I also liked Rowan Atkinson's show The Thin Blue Line (I think that was the title.), but CBC didn't carry that very long. There used to be some other ones that I watched when Logan was a baby, and I had to get up through the night to feed him, but I can't remember the titles of them.

Bought myself a DVD from Columbia House. I picked up Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. I've seen the first one a few times but have never seen this one. I would like to get the first one as well, but I didn't see it in the catalog. Must check their web site.

There was a yarn rep from Spinrite at the store yesterday, but I was off. He had some samples of the new yarns they have. We are getting a few of them in, I guess. One was quite nice, called Glittallic. I may make myself a scarf out of that. Shelly said he had one with him that was made out of that and had a beaded fringe that was absolutely gorgeous. The yarn sales are starting to pick up. We want a nice, full stock for Christmas. Our store is usually very busy at Christmas, and this will be the first year with the yarn.

Anyone watch the live show of Will & Grace last night? Too funny. They should do that more often.

Well, must go work on some supper.

www.patonsyarn.com

Happy knitting!

Wind and Rain

Tonight it started raining, not too hard, but it is blowing very hard. Thought I heard some thunder a little while ago, but that may just have been the wind. Tomorrow there is only supposed to be showers, but it's going to be quite cool - about 14 Celsius. The weekend is supposed to be sunny and get back up to 20-21 Celsius. I guess cooler weather is bound to hit and stay sooner or later.

I have a yellow beaded preemie set almost finished. All I need to do is about three more rows on the collar of the jacket. I will finish that when this post is finished, before I hit the hay. Then I need to do the bonnet and booties, which I'm sure I will be able to finish tomorrow. I was working on it at the store on Wednesday. It was getting a lot of attention. Mostly because people were curious as to how I added the beads. (They are knit into the garment.) I will be sure to post a picture before I sell it.

I brought all of the food in out of the camper today. We won't be getting anywhere else this season. Mostly there were just canned goods, Mr. Noodles, peanut butter, etc. I still have to go out this weekend and bring in some of the things that shouldn't stay in there all winter, like my glass coffee pot, shampoo, soap, etc. I will probably do that Sunday after Darren's T-ball banquet. It's for all of the local baseball club, T-ball up to Midgets. They supply canned pop and dessert (ice cream bars last year), and you pay for however many slices of pizza you want. While they do their speeches and such they order the pizza, then you get to have lunch before they hand out the trophies and special awards. Every kid gets a little plaque. It's very informal, and you have to be really quick if you want to take any pictures. They rifle them through so fast you just snap and get whatever you get.

It's getting late. I suppose I should go get that jacket finished. I hope to get the bonnet started at work tomorrow. I usually don't work on non-shop stuff at work, but I really want to get this set finished and another one or two by mid-week. Hopefully my customer in Idaho will buy the whole lot.

Inservice day tomorrow. No school. Happy knitting!

Camping

We went camping this weekend past - possibly for the last time this season. It was pretty empty at the campground. I think mine were the only kids there on Friday night, so needless to say they had the playground all to themselves. I kind of liked it quiet like that. There were some seasonal people there, and Saturday night a couple from England pulled up two lots over from us. They had a girl and a boy close to our kids ages. They played for awhile, and we got their e-mail address. We took Darren's PS2 with us, so we rented the movie Fever Pitch with Drew Barrymore. My husband is a Red Sox fan, but thankfully he's not like the guy in the movie! We had to turn the furnace on for a bit in the morning to take the chill off. Other than that it was really nice.

Got some knitting done. I have a preemie jacket done that just needs sleeves sewn in, collar knit, and buttons added. I started stringing beads on some yellow Beehive Baby yarn this afternoon. I want to make a beaded preemie set of some sort. Work was really quiet today - too quiet. The Ball n Skein section had picked up, though. One of the ladies who used to work there before we took over was in today and said October is when it starts to get the busiest.

Well, there's a sink full of dishes waiting to be done.

Happy knitting!

This time of year we get an incredible amount of those big, bad-ass spiders everywhere. I hate spiders in general, and you really have to be careful where you walk, especially in walkways, around trees, etc. (I would scream like a banshee if I ever got one of these on me!) This one built a web from our house to our truck. It was way over my head, so I took his picture. He was working on spinning his web. About five minutes later I left, so I guess he had to find somewhere else to build.  

Look where I found someone sleeping yesterday. That would've been some scrambling had I turned the water on! 

JD the Rock Star!

Congratulations to fellow Nova Scotian, JD Fortune, who won the Rock Star INXS contest! I didn't miss a show all summer, and last night was the finale. We had a severe thunder storm last night, which started about 9pm, along with strong winds and rain. I woke up about 1:30, and it was still doing it. Our lights dimmed three of four times. I was not impressed - we've been here for over four years, and I was sure the power was going to go out. We've only ever lost it maybe twice, once that I remember for sure. Usually the streets all around us go out, but we are on a different line, so ours stays on. Anyways, the lights dimmed right when they came back from commercial break to announce the winner -- either JD or Marty -- and I was thinking not now, not now! when they got brighter and didn't do it any more. One of the guys I work with is a Big Brother fan. His satellite dish rained out, so he and his roommate went over to the store to watch the last 20 minutes of it on our digital cable. (We are a dealer for the local digital cable company.)

I finished up a baby jacket and bonnet (my design) tonight. Today at work I picked out some nice buttons to match some of the baby yarn I have to use up. I find it hard to get nice buttons. We haven't seen a rep from any company yet since taking over the Ball n Skein that sells buttons. We did get a lot that they already had when we took over, but a lot of them are old and quite frankly ugly, nothing I'd use on baby sets or anything else for that matter. Some are nice, but the lady I have in mind to sell these to doesn't like flashy, colorful buttons. She likes ones that are fairly plain and match the color of the jackets well.

May have some pictures to post tomorrow. I have the whole day off. Darren will be gone to school from 8:45 til 2:45. Think I will take Logan grocery shopping in the morning and for a walk after lunch. It's supposed to be really nice out.

Happy knitting!

This is the cabled cardigan that I just knit in pink, but obviously this is the one I made for Logan. I took a couple of shots of the pink one and the hat, but it has mysteriously disappeared off my camera. I recharged the batteries, but this is the first time that I've lost anything off the card. Weird. 

Rear view. 

Saw this on elann.com and kinda like it. The yarn is expensive, though. I found some on eBay for $5.99US/ball, but they don't have much of a color selection. 

Not So Bad

It turned out to be not so bad yesterday. It did rain at times very hard, but the wind wasn't nearly as bad as it was supposed to be. The storm either died out a lot before it hit here or else it didn't hit as close to us as what they thought it would.

Got the cabled cardigan and hat finally finished. Yes! Will try to take a pic of it later tonight. It's blocking right now. I started a 0-3 month jacket (one of my designs), just to use up the leftover yarn. Got a few more leftover balls of baby yarn to use up as well. That's what I'm going to sort of concentrate on now. Got a dollmaker in Idaho who will probably buy the lot, and I could use the money. Been buying Christmas gifts off eBay (get most of Darren's PS2 games there), plus I have my eye on a couple of things I would like to get for myself. I also have some Emu Superwash wool picked out at the store to make some Christmas socks.

Must go finish my laundry so I can work on some knitting. The sun looks like it's trying to peek out. May be a nice day after all.

Happy knitting!

Glad I Took Today Off

I am glad I took today off. Not only do I not feel well (the boys lovingly passed their colds onto me, along with a touch of flu, I think), but this is our weather forecast:

Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings

Warnings: Queens County5:03 AM ADT Saturday 17 September 2005

Storm surge warning for Queens County issued. This is a warning that elevated coastal water levels are expected in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

Current indications are that Ophelia will move over Canadian waters this afternoon and is expected to be undergoing post-tropical transition as it moves across the spine of Nova Scotia this evening to lie over Cape Breton Sunday morning. Thereafter it will track across central Newfoundland. Rain at times heavy will develop over the above regions this morning. Amounts of 50 to 100 millimetres are forecast for Nova Scotia through Sunday with highest amounts expected to the north of the track of the storm. Winds gusting 70 to 100 km/h associated with the storm itself are forecast to begin over the warning areas by this afternoon. Wind warnings are in effect for the above areas. Given the full foliage on the trees these winds have the potential to break branches which could result in local power outages. Also suete winds up to 110 km/h over the Cape Breton Highlands are expected to develop overnight in advance of the storm ending by Sunday morning as the storm moves towards Newfoundland. There is potential for raised water levels and heavy wave action along the atlantic coast over southwestern sections of Nova Scotia Saturday night and gulf areas Sunday morning. A storm surge of 50 or60 centimetres is possible along the southwest coastline near the time of high tides Saturday evening. A more westerly track could bring a potential for localised flooding and coastal damage particularly near Cape Sable Island. The current track brings Ophelia near Halifax at the time of low tide so storm surges should not pose a problem there. However further east along the gulf coast of Cape Breton and especially in the St Georges Bay area and northern shores of Prince Edward Island the high tide may phase with the wake of Ophelia and bring a risk of storm surge with the high tide Sunday morning. Please refer to the latest public forecasts for further details.

Taken from Environment Canada's website.

Good day to knit.

Happy Knitting!

Finally Done and Back on Track

Finally we got the enumeration finished today. It was really hot and muggy. Glad it's over with. I don't know if I'd ever bother doing it again if asked. It's a lot of pain in the butt. We decided to do our call-backs this afternoon from the houses we finished up this morning (each place has to be visited twice). We were going to do it tomorrow night, as a lot of people are working during the day, but it's supposed to start showering tonight, tomorrow, rain and wind on Saturday, and showers Sunday. This had to be finished on Monday, and I have to work all day. All together I think we made maybe $350. I don't hold my breath for anyone much calling their information in to the number we left on the door hangers. At least I got lots of exercise the last two weeks but not much knitting.

Been looking at some nice baby sweater patterns that I would like to do for the store. I have a few things to finish first before I buy any more yarn, though. I'd also like to get a couple of sweaters done in like size 6-8 and 10-14. A lot of people have started Christmas shopping.

Nothing to take any pictures of yet. Hopefully on the weekend.

Happy Knitting!

Vodka Mudshake

Logan went to bed early tonight. He didn't nap today. Darren and Daddy are watching the Red Sox play the Yankees, got some microwave popcorn a-poppin' for Darren, and I've got a Vodka Mudshake. I don't like much when it comes to alcohol. I pretty much stick to Khalua and whatever mixes will with Khalua - whiskey, vodka, creme de banane... These premixed mudshake things are good. I have Iced Cappuccino.

Made it to shaping the raglans on the last sleeve of the baby cabled cardigan. Bet everyone will be glad when I get it done so I'll stop talking about it! I was looking through an awesome book I have called Knitting as a Creative Craft. I got it years ago from a discount book place via mail order for like $8 or something. It has really good instructions in the back for different rib, lace, cabled, etc., patterns. I was looking at some that could make really nice scarf patterns.

I think I may order The Little Box of Scarves. http://www.knitpicks.com/books/books_display.aspx?itemid=30497
KnitPicks has it, plus I found it on Amazon, but I think KP is cheaper. I like the looks of some of the scarves on the cover. I would like to knit some fancier lace ones out of the finer yarns that we have at the store. Anyone out there have this already? Leave me your opinion, if you'd like. If I do decide to order it, it probably won't happen for another couple of weeks.

Two mudshakes down, two to go. Think I will go get ready for Most Haunted. I see it's on for a whole hour tonight. I missed it the last couple of weeks, and the last few times its only been on for half-an-hour.

http://groups.msn.com/ukMostHauntedfansite

Happy knitting!

First Day of School

Darren started school this year. He likes it okay I guess. Doesn't say too much. When the bus arrived this afternoon two kids got off - no Darren. There was another woman there who asked the bus driver if there were any more to get off. We had to go on and find them. There was a kid sitting on the outside of Darren. I told him he'd better stand up and ask them to please let him out or he'll end up god knows where! Logan misses his really badly. He goes to preschool next year. I didn't take any pictures with my digital, so when I use the film up I will scan some and post them. I don't like how the busses run, though. One bus comes along first, but if he takes that he has to switch at the Wickwire school, so he waits to get on a different bus. In the afternoon yet another bus drops him off. Today he was wearing a tag that said "Please put me with So and So", as were a couple of the other kids -- but that wasn't the driver of the bus they were on! Makes me think I should have driven him, but he was so looking forward to going on the bus.

I started enumerating today. At least we have to go in pairs - I hate going door to door for anything, but this pays really well. Trouble with going through the week days is a lot of people aren't home. We are doing some different roads tomorrow and plan on going back to check on those places we got no response at on Friday night, weather permitting. We have 10 or 11 roads to do, some quite long, 170 houses all together, I believe. My computer comes due Oct 10, so I am hoping to get enough money to nearly pay for it, maybe have to add $150-200 to boot. That would be nice considering I don't have anything saved towards it since Travis got his first paycheque all summer on Friday finally. No sign of a settlement yet, which was supposedly going to be here the end of August (yeah, right). And still waiting for his HST, which normally takes about 9 days but has been over a month now. Must be where it's quite big with the tax on the new truck we had to get.

I think I will get some wool soon to make the boys mittens. I will do thumbless ones for Logan. The lady next door knit him a pair winter before last, and he really liked them. He hauls his thumbs out anyways, so why bother knitting them. I may do a smaller pair to fit inside a larger pair for both of them instead of the thrummed mitts for now. One of our customers does that for her kids, and she said they love them.

Got the last sleeve of the baby set about half done. We only have til Sept 19 to get our enumerating done, so knitting will be sparse til it's done. Hope to get this set finished over the weekend. I will use the proceeds from this sale to buy superwash wool for Christmas socks and some yarn for a Christmas scarf as well.

Happy knitting!

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for my oldest - he starts school. I have everything ready, I think. I have my mother's neighbor hemming two pairs of pants and a pair of overalls for me. They were way too long for him, and I'm not much at sewing. I will have to go pick them up tonight. He needed to take two boxes of Kleenex, a white dress shirt to turn into a lab/art coat, a pair of sneakers to keep in school, and a complete change of clothes in a bag "just in case". I paid $30 to the school for all of his school supplies. I had to buy him a lunchbox and a bookbag. I think it's $60some for milk for the year.

We didn't get to go to the drive in. We took the boys to Oaklawn Farm - home of the world's largest lion, Rutledge, so by the time we got back and got some supper it was too late. We ended up watching Return of the Jedi on CBC. The first campground that we stayed had really nice fireworks Saturday night. Then the campground that we stayed at Sunday night had fireworks, too. We were able to watch them right from our camper. The next two weekends Travis has ball tournaments in town, so we should get to go to Oakhill Pines (about 1/2 hour away) the last weekend of September. That may be the last one for the season, or possibly the weekend after that. The place where we bought our camper is like 5 minutes from the campground, so we are going to leave it there on the way home so they can winterize it for us. I think that's about $50. Better to get pros to do it so it gets done right.

I took the Casual Cables sweater with me to work on. I'm doing the back, so I have the ribbing done and about 40 rows or so. It's slow going. I will put it on the backburner temporarily. I am going to concentrate on finishing the cabled baby cardigan and hat before the baby outgrows it. I have a hoodie that I am making for the store out of Sirdar Snowflake that I knit when I am at work. I probably won't get much done tonight. I am taking enumerator training at seven for about an hour ($50!), then I have to try to get Darren ready for bed early and get his stuff ready for school. Don't want to miss the bus in the morning! Plus I have to go to the grocery store when I get off and make sure I buy some film to "capture the moment" tomorrow!

http://www.oaklawnfarmzoo.ca/
http://www.southmountainparkcampground.com/

PS - They didn't win the ball tournament - lost their second game on Sunday by two runs.

Happy knitting!

Long Weekend

We are going camping for the holiday weekend. Hubby's playing ball, so the whole team is going camping at South Mountain Park. Their RV sites are full, so we are all going to be together in a field. Sucks not being able to hook up to a site. We can run the fridge off the propane and lights off the battery. I may try to see if anyone else in the area has an opening for Sunday. We wanted to stay til Monday. If they don't make us pay for the third night then I will try to get another place. If not we will just have to stay where we are. Most campgrounds have a fairly strict 3-night policy on Labor Day weekend. They are being a little more free with us where we are in an unserviced field. Two of the players aren't even going to be there tonight, but they have to pay for two nights anyways.

I have to decide what to take with me to knit. I may take the adult Casual Cables sweater that I started ages ago. We had some ladies in the store yesterday looking for finished items. She was interested in wool sweaters, of which we are lacking. I may also take the Briggs & Little that I bought to make myself a multidirectional scarf. We may take the boys to a drive-in movie theatre Sunday night. I think they are showing the Dukes of Hazzard. Not many drive-ins around anymore. I haven't been to one since I was a little kid.

Have a good long weekend everyone!

Happy knitting!