Two

She's come a long way from this little Puff of Fluff to the big, spoiled-rotten Galoot that she is now, Happy Birthday, Jewel!

Really she's two-and-a-half, she would have been born in July 2007 most likely. But we use today for her birthday since we don't know when her real birthday is (she was homeless, luckily she was found by someone who took her in til the SPCA had an opening). All the way from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. (I've never flown, sad, I know. And both of my dogs have each been on two planes!)

Happy knitting!

Double Bump

I finished up my Double Bump scarf. Started January 6th, finished the 24th, I used a skein of James C Brett Marble Chunky in color MC7. Followed the pattern exactly as written and until all the yarn was used up. The outdoor pictures are more color accurate. It turned out to be probably close to 7' long. Ravelry details here.

The back side.

The right side. I think it looks okay either way.

Working on a hat for the Oldest One now, and he'll need matching mittens. I've also got yarn to make a hat and mittens set for the Littlest One. Also have to make Hubs another pair of socks, and I started a cardigan for myself. That will probably take awhile. I tend to lose interest in larger projects.

Happy knitting!

New Ride

Before we knew for sure that our truck loan was approved we went to the valley to the place where we bought the black Pete to look at one they had that was in our price range.

These are definitely NOT in our price range at the moment. These ones are brand new. I think the headlights are quite funny looking on the new ones. Hard to tell in the picture cuz it's small but the headlights are only attached to the grill and are free flowing in the back. Dunno, they just look weird to me.

So this is the one we are getting for sure. She's in the paint shop now being transformed to white. Too bad we couldn't have left her this way, it's a nice paint scheme. This one is a 2004 Peterbilt 387. (Our old one was a 2003 Peterbilt 379.)

Hubs driving a big truck for the first time in a month.

We took it for a highway drive, and she wasn't too bad. There are some things that have to be fixed on her that they knew about already and had on a list. Hubs pointed out a few other things, but I think most of it is small stuff. She should be ready to pick up next week.

I made a super quick pair of socks for Hubs. These are Thujas, made with Briggs & Little Tuffy in granite with red mix cuffs, heels, and toes. Started these on January 19 and finished them on the 21st. Socks on bigger needles with worsted weight yarn sure go fast. I upped the needle to 4.5mm to make these a bit looser, he usually wears a pair of store bought socks under the hand knit work socks. I don't know if it was the bigger needles or the fact that I used bamboo dpns or a combination of both, but my hands didn't bother me knitting these socks. Usually knitting socks with B&L bothers my hands, but I normally am using smaller, metal needles. Ravelry details here.

I've got more B&L to make him another pair or two. A few years back I made him a bunch of works socks out of Shetland Chunky, and I think they are all worn through now. He may have one pair left, I'm not sure.

Happy knitting!

Bright, Stripey Socks and Some Good News!

Finally finished up socks for the Littlest One for his belated birthday gift. These seemed like they took forever. I haven't been knitting a lot lately, though, so that could be another reason why they seemed to take so long. :)

I used Patons Kroy Stripes in royal jacquard, 2.25mm needles, 52sts, garter stitch short row heel over 26sts, toe to 20sts. Started January 12, finished the 19th. In the future if I make him another pair (which he asked for solid green socks when he tried these on -- he likes these, but he wants solid green, too) I will use 2.5mm or 2.75mm as these socks are snug. Ravelry details here.

I have tried short row heels in the past but always have the problem of one side looking great, the other side not so great, and there's usually little holes on one side I have to fudge closed. Some of my fellow Knit Niters have done these garter stitch short row heels, so I decided to give it a go, and I am very pleased with it. I think any SRHs in the future will be like this.

Tonight was the night for our truck loan place's board meeting. It was supposed to be last night, but it was cancelled because we had a snowstorm. Our account manager gave us a quick call to let us know that the replacement truck loan was approved. They were finishing up the meeting, so she couldn't talk or give us details, we'll get those in the morning. I am glad she let us know, though, maybe we can finally get some sleep tonight with that huge stress relieved off of us! We've been with this place for five years, and we've had our ups and downs with them. They are a good bunch to work with, though, and I'm glad that something that wasn't our fault wasn't held against us. They had specs on two different trucks, but we don't know which one they approved. Hopefully it's the Pete and not the International (which we haven't seen in person cuz it's an eight hour drive away). The Pete is the much better truck of the two.

Details on the replacement truck to follow! Hubs should be back to work by the end of the month.

Happy knitting!

It's Snowing Again!

No pictures, but it's snowing again. Started spitting flurries around 9am this morning, and the kids were sent home from school right after lunchtime. It's still snowing now, and apparently there is more to come on Wednesday. The bosses went home early today, so T and I closed up at 3:30. (We were told to play it by ear.) Several other stores were closed early or were closing earlier than they normally would. We only had a small handful of people in all day. I did manage to get all of the remaining yarn counted for inventory except for the Briggs & Little yarns. I will start those tomorrow.

We took another road trip on Friday to look at a possible replacement truck. I won't say too much about right now cuz it may not happen. The board meeting at our loan place was supposed to be tonight but has been postponed til tomorrow night because of the storm. I will post one picture of her, though. She's a 2004 Peterbilt 387, and if we DO get her she'll be painted white. (Company rule -- your first truck can be any color, but after that it has to be white or black and orange.)

I finished up the first sock til where I thought I should start the toe for the Littlest One. I took the scarf I had started for myself on the last road trip for backup. (James C Brett Marble Chunky in autumn, this pattern.) I've only been knitting on this a little bit here and there, mostly on the road trips. I haven't been knitting a lot lately at all to be honest.

Here's the first sock for the Littlest One. Hoping to finish it up tonight, I'm past the heel a wee bit, so it shouldn't take too long. I tried a garter stitch short row heel for the first time. They do turn out better (or at least mine did) than a stockinette short row heel, I didn't get any holes at all. I also find usually that one side looks perfect, and the other side not so perfect, but this one wasn't too bad at all. I think when I decided to make SRH I'll stick with this method. (The yarn is Patons Kroy Stripes in royal jacquard, btw.)

I'll leave you with shot of my cool girls who are loving all this snow.

Maggie definitely has her Elvis impersonation down pat! Look at that lip curl, lol!

Happy Knitting!

PS My latest yarn order is at the post office. There isn't a whole lot of stuff in it, but there are some new colors of Bernat Softee Baby, lots of those nice, country colors.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 7th Birthday to the Littlest One! Love you bunches, too! XOXO

Can you tell which slice he cut for himself? lol!

The Oldest One's birthday was last week. We got them each a new sled. (Last week on the Oldest One's birthday they each got some new video games.)

Too bad our yard didn't have a better place for sledding. We'll have to get them some place better sometime, these things go quite fast. They're only foam, though, so I doubt they'll last too long.

Had a busy day today. The Littlest One's school grade ones went ice skating this morning, and I always go up. Then I had a few errands in town to do, and it was time for my doctor's appointment. (He's sending a letter to a plastic surgeon -- got a lump in my left hand that hurts like heck at times and needs removing before it hinders my knitting! It is most likely hereditary from my Dad, he gets them, too.) Hubs went to the doctor as well with me cuz he had a mole removed from his face last Saturday and had to get the stitches out. After that I had to come home and make the birthday cake you see above and start the special supper. Last week the Oldest One picked Sloppy Joes for his (surprise, surprise). When I asked the Littlest One what he wanted he immediately said, "turkey!" So once the cake was done the small turkey went in the oven. Then the Oldest One had to go get his teeth cleaned. The dentist also found a chip in one of his fillings, so he fixed that while he was there. Now I'm finally getting to sit and relax and do some knitting.

Tomorrow we are off on another road trip. We are going to the place where we bought the Pete to look at another Pete. (And dealing with the same salesman.) This one is an aerodynamic Pete (much more to my liking, Hubs likes big and boxy). We'll know Tuesday morning if we are getting another loan through the place where our loan is now. If that's a no then we're in a real bind!

Happy knitting!

Green Birthday Socks

They were late, but I finished up the socks for the Oldest One for his birthday on the 7th. These were knit with On Your Toes Bamboo in dark sage, 2.75mm needles, 60sts, started January 4, finished the 11th. I just did a basic 4x2 rib, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. These are a mens 7/8 as he has big feet for a 10 year old! Ravelry details here. The picture of the single sock is probably the closest to the real color, maybe just a bit darker.

So the Littlest One has a birthday tomorrow, and I'm working on a pair of socks for him as well. After that I've got some hats and mittens to make and some socks for Hubs.

Off to Knit Nite tonight, first time since well before Christmas!

Happy knitting!

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow....

So last week we went on a road trip to clean the stuff out of the truck. Regular readers will remember this from last month. We got official word that the truck was a write off. (Basically the repair bill was almost $10,000 more than what we are getting from the insurance company for the value. But on a positive note we are getting almost $6,000 more than we thought we would. But on a negative note we still owe the loan place more than $12,000 than what we are getting. Sigh. (Same thing happened the first time in June 2005 -- we got $6,000 less for the first truck than what we owed the same loan place. The repair bill on the first truck was the same as the value, and she had a twisted frame as well, so that wrote her off.)

So I knit, of course. Hubs did the driving. I finished the first sock for the Oldest One. Once that was finished I started a scarf for me and knit til it got dark, and I couldn't see. I stopped knitting as I didn't want to get home and find I had to rip back a bunch.

We stopped here. Hubs delivers here on a regular basis. This is my new favorite store. Too bad it's 2.5 hours away. I guess there is a closer one in the city, but I was told it isn't as good. Before school starts in September I plan on making a weekend getaway up there so I can get the boys some school clothes and find some other fun things to do, too. The manager was there, talking to Hubs. He didn't know Hubs was the one in the accident that had happened just a few kilometres from the store.

Then it was almost lunchtime when we left there, so we went here.

It was Whopper Wednesday, and I loves me a Whopper now and again.

Then we took a drive to the accident scene, three weeks after the fact. So this was how our truck sat for a few days before they actually got around to taking it out of the ditch.

The ruts from the truck entering the ditch were still there, as was a piece of the drivers side steps, one of our back tires, one of the van tires, and some other part that looked exhaust-like from the van.

It's probably hard to see since the pictures is small, but that's our tire on the left, and to the far right is a van tire. In between the two someone put a cross.

The man who died was an avid hockey fan and coached a kids hockey team. I wondered if it was the team he coached, friends, or family who put this up...

So after getting directions a couple of times we found the place where the truck had been taken. I didn't wear my boots, and my sneakers are getting in rough shape, so you know this was located in a muddy, slushy hole. My feet were soaked and freezing by the time we were done. (They'd duct-taped the company's logo while the truck was still at the scene.)

Hard to believe in looking at her that she had almost $40,000 worth of damage, and that's not including what may have cropped up once she was being driven again. No good fixing something with a twisted frame. Both fuel tanks were dented up pretty good, but neither ruptured. There wasn't much fuel in them. The poor thing was nothing but a mess of mud, grass, twigs, and rocks. I had to get in the passenger side since there were no steps left on the drivers side. And in order to do that I had to kick the mud and rocks off the steps.

So now we are shopping for a replacement truck. The place we have our loan at has monthly board meetings, so we're waiting for that on the 18th. When the first accident happened someone else was in charge down there, but he retired. First time around he just signed off on the insurance cheque and let us go find another truck. The person in charge down there now says no, that's not the "proper" way to do it and wants us to wait til meeting night. That makes it hard cuz by the time they have the meeting any truck(s) we are looking at could be gone.

Anyhoo, must go try and get some knitting done. I'd been hoping to have those green socks finished by now, but my knitting time seems to have been severely reduced lately.

Happy knitting!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 10th Birthday to The Oldest One today! Love you bunches!! XOXO

Happy knitting!