Beaches, Pies, and Flaws

We took the boys for a walk at one of the local beaches the other night. I forgot to take something for them to put shells in, of course. I ended up with my hands full on the walk back to the truck.

No sign of a sand dollar. Lots of clam and mussel shells, and of course periwinkle shells.

Smurf pies. I don't bake a lot, but when I do I usually make five or six things over a couple of days, then I'm good for awhile. I don't have any pie plates. Usually if I'm gonna make pie I get pre-made shells in foil pans. These two little pot-pan things are probably only 6-7" across, and I use them if I make crust from scratch. This is graham cracker crust with chocolate pudding mixed thicker than normal (2 boxes to 3 cups milk) and whip topping a la sprinkles. They were mighty tasty. Got butterscotch for next time. Today I made coconut muffins and chocolate chip cookies. (I don't brag about anything I make except CCC! I make a helluva bad-ass CCC!) I also just got a batch of home-made rolls out of the oven, all buttered up and cooling off. (Gotta brush a little over the tops when they first come out of the oven so they stay soft!) I let the boys each have a piece of dough to make their own things, so there's a few blobs of misshapen somethings happenin'. My home-made bread and rolls come out alright, but I'm nothing compared to MIL. Then again, she cooks for a living and makes all the bread at the inn where she works. (And has done so for nearly thirty years.)

Remember the start of the orange sock from two posts ago? That didn't go so well. It started off as BFF socks (cuz the ones she did were with kinda busy yarn and look great), but you couldn't see the pattern at all. Ripped out after four pattern repeats. Then I decided on trying Dublin Bays, mostly stocking stitch with some lacy panels. I got about six pattern repeats done and thought, "Man, this looks huge!" I followed directions, 2.25mm needles, 72sts (which sounded a lot at the time), Cherry Tree Hill in Fall Foliage. Way too big. Frogged again for the second time, restarted 60sts on 2.25mm needles, eye of partridge heel over 30sts. Now I'm just about finished with the gusset decreases on the first sock, and it looks like things are okay. Almost. Take a look.

Take a closer look.

I don't think any feline teeth came into contact with this. I think it's just a flaw in the skein, although I don't remember coming across it when I wound it. I might have. I'd probably never remember. (The other day I went to McDonald's with the assistant manager at work. We go get our lunch most days and take it back to the store to eat. Anyways, we had a coupon for a free sandwich, so I ordered mine and said I'd get a bottle of pop when we got back at the store next to our store. Then he says I already ordered pop. That's how fast I forget. So that flaw may have been there, and I just didn't remember.)

Gonna go try a roll before I take any to work tomorrow. Can't take in anything sub-standard! I'd be shot if they found out I baked and didn't bring them anything. (Especially since the assistant manager loves home-made rolls! I need to stay on his good side in case he wins big in the lotto. We have a deal that if either one of us ever wins big on our own ticket we give the other something, depending on how much was won, of course. Plus three of us go in on tickets all the time when it's a big jackpot. Not that we'll ever win, but just in case. A friend of mine from town did win $2million about four or five years ago. She never thought it would happen to her.)

Happy knitting!

Sockapalooza This Week!

According to Alison, Sockapalooza sign-ups should be open later this week! They're working on a new database and blog for this round of Sockapalooza-ing to make it easier for her with the wee one.

I've added two links to free sock pattern links on my sidebar to celebrate the occasion!

Happy knitting!

Oranges

I seem to really like orangey sock yarns. I don't wear a lot of orange. I do have a polar fleece sweater in a dark orangey color that I wear mostly when I have to change mini lab chemicals. Most of the chemicals leave orangey-colored stains, this way you can't tell. But in looking at my stash, I see I do seem to like orange socks at least. I have Socks That Rock in Sunstone. The indoor picture is closer to the true color, I think.

So on the left is Socks That Rock in Sunstone, then Fred Flintstone. The middle is a coraly-orangey hand-dyed merino off eBay. (That one is unfortunately hand-wash, I believe.) On the right is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Bittersweet that I bought ages ago for my first pair of Jaywalkers.

And I almost forgot about my Cherry Tree Hill Fall Foliage. (So hard to get a good picture of this one. Dreading the final socks photos. Cloudy outdoor day will most likely be best.)

I did finish a pair of red felted slippers. A non-knitter already got me to make one pair for her mother. This pair she wanted for herself. They are a ladies' large in Patons Classic Wool in Bright Red.

I figured out my accounting problems when I got home Friday night. I had some of the numbers posted on the wrong sides on my entry for the adjustment to the Meals/Lunchbox Expense. That was a simple fix. I was very thankful that the accountant called. When I looked up the payments on the Pete that were in question I noticed a major mistake on my part. Somehow, and I don't know how I did it, I forgot to enter the deposit made on the Pete when we bought it! I had the tax posted cuz that was a separate cheque. Anyways, without that it would mean paying tax on $12,000 more than he should have. I doubt I would ever have found it til 2009. I enter each year's payments in my accounting program in January. The last payment is in October/09, so when I entered 2009's payments I would have had $12,000 left showing as owing when it should have been zero.

This child falls asleep in the weirdest positions. The cat seemed to enjoy it. He didn't have much choice by the looks of it. (Sorry about the sun. My blinds were closed but still didn't keep it all out.)

Happy knitting!

Socks That Rock

Heddy called me tonight to let me know that our yarn order arrived. I only got one skein, hubby's not working yet, truck still getting fixed, so I have to watch what I spend. I plan on making a pair of Wyverns with this yarn. (Now that I think I can manage a short-row heel.) It's called Sunstone, and I got the lightweight.

As mentioned, the truck is still getting fixed. I really didn't think it would take this long. They ended up having to replace a couple of the bunk panels, and they had to be ordered from Ontario or somewhere, but still. I guess it's being painted on Monday, I suppose it will have to sit a couple of days to harden good (and the body shop is on a rough, dirt road, not good for tacky paint). Then it goes to the garage for a day for the mechanical stuff. Of course, he gets a call from the guy who is in charge of the super-oversized stuff, wanting him to take some humungous beams to Cape Breton on Monday. This stuff pays ridiculous (in a good way, lots of $$ per mile). It's the sort of stuff that you meet on the highways with escorts in the front and sometimes in the back, too. The only thing is if he decides he's going to cart this stuff for them on a fairly regular basis then we will need either a different truck or get different rear ends put in ours. It needs lower-geared rear ends because of all the weight, and the rear ends we have now would probably end up falling out eventually. That's not a good thing, to lose your rear end! Basically when that happens it costs quite a bit to fix, plus most of the time the truck sits where it is -- can't move. Sometimes it can be hobbled to a garage, but usually not.

Dropped our income tax stuff off at the accountant's on Wednesday. He had some questions for me. I keep good books, but there's always some questions. I do have to look into two things for him that I may not have recorded right. He's only figuring that we made four Pete payments last year, but we made nine. That's a bunch of money missing, like $7,500 at least in principal alone. Also it looks like I screwed up a date on his meals and lunchbox expense, that's not showing right. I'm at work right now, so I'll have to look into that when I get home.

Happy knitting!

March Socks

Technically these socks were finished on Sunday night, but I haven't gotten around to posting them til now. I started them the previous Sunday, and I lost two days knitting due to the Littlest One's flu, then mine.

Fortissima Socka in Color #9095, 2.75mm needles, 56sts, heel over 28sts, standard toe.

I also finished the ladies' large felted slippers that were requested by a non-knitting customer. These are for her mother, and she wants a red pair for herself now.

Tonight I started the back of the cabled sweater that I started for the store last fall. I really would like to get that out of the UFO pile.

I'm quite excited now because I have baby knitting in my future. (No, not me.) My BIL called tonight to tell hubby that he is going to be a daddy in November. This is their first. I'm already planning stuff, thinking of patterns I've seen on-line, plus all the baby pattern books I have. I don't know if they'll find out what they're having or not, so for now I'll plan neutral stuff. Got my fingers crossed for a girl. I have two boys and two nephews. We need a girl in the family now.

Pop on over to Heddy's and see what a great man she married.

Happy knitting!

Halifax Museum Weekend

We ended up getting into Halifax for the weekend after all. The Littlest One seemed to be coming around somewhat Friday morning. I still didn't feel really well, either. He slept the whole way in. I didn't knit on the drive in, which is highly unusual. We had to go over to Darmouth first, and I snapped this shot of Ceres container pier on the way over to our hotel. This is where hubby used to go when we had the other truck, and he just hauled local stuff.


By the time we got to the hotel, the Littlest One had quite a fever and immediately crawled into one of the beds and went to sleep. That's all he did for the rest of the day and evening. He woke up a couple of times, but not for very long. I kept pumping the fever medicine into him, but it was a long night. We figured in the morning we'd be carting him to the IWK if he didn't come around. Luckily the fever broke through the night, and he was pretty much his old self.


Train tracks ran right behind the hotel we were in. The kids loved it. This is a container-hauling train, taking cans to Ceres. We also saw two Via Rail passenger trains. It wasn't bad til the first night when one of these looonnnngggg container trains went through at 3:30am. It was loud and shook the whole place.


Through the night Friday we had a bad ice storm. It was hard to get anywhere without breaking your neck. I took this shot of hubby trying to clear the ice off of the windshield with a broken scraper while also trying not to fall on his butt.


We had to go back over to Dartmouth to hubby's office, and the entire yard was ice. If I'd have had skates with me I could have skated around quite awhile. He parked as close to the door as possible without running into anything cuz it was so treacherous.


The first museum was the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where their theme was Pirates! for March break. This is the light from the Sambro Lighthouse. It's near the entrance.


By that is a Theodore Tugboat display.


Beside that was Merlin the Macaw. The kids loved to hear him talk. There were a bunch of army cadets running around, trying to get him to say bad things.


The Oldest One dressed up like a pirate for five seconds, long enough for a picture, but the Littlest One wouldn't do it.


There was a spot where kids could dig for buried treasure. It was a big hit.


Listening to one of the displays about finding treasures in the ocean.


Behind this glass is a real deck chair from the Titanic. There are only a few known to exist. The only thing that was ever done to it was redo the seat (rattan woven stuff). The minister from the Minia was given this chair for his help, and his grandson gave this to the museum. Some of the rescue ships came from Halifax, so the museum has this chair, part of a newel post, and a few other things from the Titanic. There are 150 people buried in Halifax who died from the Titanic, some were identified, some unkown. Most of them are buried in Fairview Cemetery, some at a couple of other Halifax cemeteries. One of the graves in Halifax is of 23 year-old Joseph Dawson. It's marked "J Dawson", so when the movie first came out people started leaving all sorts of flowers and love notes on this grave, thinking it was the character portrayed by Leo. (He wasn't.)


The piece of newel post behind the glass on the left is from the actual Titanic. The part on the right is a replica made from fiberglass. There's a lady in town who has napkins from the Titanic. I can't remember the story of how/where she got them, but I know they are worth a small fortune. (It was too weird, too. When we got back to the hotel room the movie, Titanic, was on TBS! The kids wanted to watch it, of course.)


Second stop was the Museum of Natural History. The Littlest One holding a milk snake. He also got to pet an iguana later on, but there were too many kids for me to get a picture. It was hard enough getting this one. The Oldest One was next.


There were lots of live critters, plus these big robotic ones, too. There was a rattlesnake.


Nile crocodile, complete with babies in her mouth. There was a nest in front of her with babies, too, but I cropped it out.


Iguana.

And a snapping turtle. These all moved, and the kids seemed to really like it.

Before I left I got sucked into picking these up for the boys. Fossils and skeletons inside a block of plaster. Messy.
The Oldest One working on his. It's all out, but I haven't glued it together yet.

The Littlest One working on his. His was much better and easier to do.

Proudly showing off his archaeopteryx.

Happy knitting!

Sicklies

Nothing to show today. The Littlest One was sick yesterday and all night last night. He stopped being sick to his stomach this morning, but he's still not himself. He played a little bit today. He ever-so-nicely passed it along to Mommy. I slept most of the day today. Just on here for a quick post between waves of queasiness. This all started last Friday night with the Oldest One. Then Daddy came home Tuesday afternoon sick. No knitting for the past two days. (You know I'm sick when I can't knit!)

We are supposed to be going to Halifax tomorrow for two nights. We wanted to take the boys here and here. Now it's supposed to start snowing tomorrow afternoon and be really nasty in the evening. Saturday's forecast is +11C and rain. If everyone is feeling well enough we will have to leave early tomorrow, before the mess starts. I was supposed to work, but I doubt I'd feel like that anyways. I can lay back and sleep on the drive in, then we'll crash in the hotel room and do our stuff Saturday, home on Sunday. The boys will have to take some stuff to occupy themselves. We aren't staying any place fancy. All the places that have pools and stuff were booked already.

Hope to have a pair of finished socks when I get home.

Happy knitting!

One Sock

I tried to get a better picture of the baby jacket I finished (been lightly blocked in this pic, and yes, it did soften up quite a bit with the wool wash). Guess I should have tried it outside today instead of inside after dark using a flash. Pop on over to my Flickr album if you want, it looks better over there, same with the sock picture. (Had to zoom in too much to try to cut out my hamhock. The color comes out better if I don't zoom in too much in the original picture. But then I have to crop the heck out of it.)


This

Turned into this and is awaiting a partner.

Went down into the basement yesterday to do laundry and found Princess Nala squished into a clementine box.

So that's been it in the knitting world for me. This has been taking too much of my time lately, particularily the Jigsaw Detective game. (This links to the free site, I do the Club thing. JD is a Club thing. The best games are Club things.) Highly addictive. There are a few games on here that I can play and work on knitting at the same time, but not that one. The sock will have to wait til the weekend for a partner. I have to make a pair of felted slippers for a non-knitter who saw them the other day at the store and asked for a pair for her mother.

Happy knitting!

Almost a FO

This is just Almost a FO. Size 0-3 months feather and fan baby jacket, my own design. (Not washed and blocked yet, so it isn't laying quite right.) Knit with discontinued Emu Superwash wool and has pink glass beads knit into the hem. This was the first time I made one of these out of anything but Bernat Softee Baby or the like. It's also the first time I used glass beads and not plastic ones. Debating on whether or not to make a bonnet. I need more yarn if I do, but I have to see how it softens up in the wash first. It isn't bad, but it also isn't as soft of the acrylic I use, so I wouldn't want it to irritate a bald little baby head. (Not that this is serving a purpose other than being sold at the store.) I will post a better picture if it turns out alright after its been washed and blocked a bit. (Soaking in wool wash right now.)

I also started a pair of plain old, top-down socks for me out of Fortissima Socka Color 9095. Pat made a pair last month and reminded me that I had the same color. I noticed that mine are striping a little differently. Must have started from the opposite end of the skein than she did. I am using 2.75mm needles and 56sts for mine. I haven't decided on the heel. I may get adventurous and try short row. (That is til I get pissy at it, rip it out, and end up doing a normal heel flap, like the last time.)

I'm going to Lucy Neatby classes with Heddy on May 12. I signed up yesterday. The official e-mail from Have a Yarn is coming out on Tuesday, I think. We are doing the morning class of:

*Phoenix From the Ashes (beginners and upwards, 3 hours) -anticipating trouble spots in a pattern, "fix-it" techniques, duplicate stitch, grafting, ripping out, many correction methods, etc

It comes down to this class and equilateral triangles in the afternoon, I think, but neither one of us is really into that one. Tassels, Trims, and Titbits sounded interesting, but the voters picked these two classes. I would probably really like the Working with Variagated and Handpainted Yarns class since I have a fetish for hand-dyed sock yarns. (Which reminds me -- Heddy is ordering from Blue Moon for the first time and asked if I wanted anything, saves on shipping costs. I am just getting lightweight Sunstone for now for Wyverns. Once hubby gets back to making real coin I will order from The Sweet Sheep and see if she wants anything, too. That way I don't have to worry about hitting the free shipping limit of $80. Not that it's hard for me to manage to find enough stuff to make $80, I'm usually way over on my wishlist and have to whittle it down to more realistic levels. I think once Heddy's used a skein or two of hand-dyed the fever will hit. It did for me!)

Happy knitting!