Socks

Another pair of socks for the Littlest One, the yarn is Gedifra Sportivo, gifted from Smoking Hot Needles. I used 2.75mm needles, 52sts, heel over 26sts, toe to 16sts, 1x1 twisted rib cuff, 2x2 rib. I didn't even try to match these up. Ravelry details here.

Yesterday morning Pumba was laying on the sofa on a cushion. The dogs always lay on that side of the sofa. The Littlest One was on the end of the same side. Jewel jumped up in between him and the cat and pretty much sat on Pumba, lol. They both wanted the cushion (Jewel loves to lay on the sofa with her head on a cushion or on the arm of the sofa.) Pumba wouldn't move, either. Eventually Jewel moved before Pumba did, lol.

Happy knitting!

My New Ride

So I have my new-to-me car thanks to Daddy. It's another Ford Focus wagon, but this one is a 2005 and was basically a top-of-the-line in its day. The lady who owned it bought it in 2005 when it only had 20,000kms on it (I have the receipt), and now it has just over 86,300kms. It has heated leather seats (which I decided I love and can no longer live without - every vehicle I own from now on MUST have heated leather seats), power windows, heated power mirrors, power sunroof that can either slide back into the roof or pop up the old fashioned way, cruise, radio controls on the steering wheel... very nice. And for the price I paid it was a great bargain! It has one little ding on the back passenger side that I'm sure can be easily fixed this spring, and there's a scrape on the passenger side front bumper (you can see it in the picture) from the old gal bumping into things. I'm so slack, I didn't clue into who's car it was, we're dealing with the daughter, the mother had a stroke and is in a home now, but I've known the mother for probably over 20 years. Very nice lady, and I know she looked after this car very well.




I have gotten some knitting done, but it has been slow going lately. These are my first Christmas gift for 2011! Am I on the ball or what?! MIL was down on Saturday and commented that her slippers have holes, and so does step-FIL's. I made these the other night with no real intended recipient, so I decided to keep them for her. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool in rosewood and chestnut brown, Ravelry details here.

Yarn has still been pretty much flying out the door at work. I placed what I believe to be my last yarn order today, all sock yarn except for one bag of baby yarn for one of the Knit Nite girls and a bag of yarn for another lady. I worked yesterday and today, and both days were really busy all day long.

I'm going to leave on a humorous note. For the past several months I've been getting obscene phone calls. It started probably a year ago, but since September it has escalated to more frequency and several calls in a row. (Like I hang up on him, and he calls me right back, sometimes three times in a row.) Anyhoo, one of the Knit Nite girls happens to be married to an RCMP officer who has been looking into this for me, as I started tracing the calls in September. Yesterday he informed me who my Pervie friend was (of course, the name meant nothing til he started telling more about him, then I knew who he was talking about). There are a few other women in town with the same first and last name as me. Apparently this guys thought he was calling one of the other women! So my Pervie friend has been calling the wrong number. I don't know if I'm more relieved or disappointed, lol!! T and work and his roommate are getting the biggest kick out of this, and the Boss Man thought it was quite hilarious as well.

Happy knitting!

Valentine Socks

Cairi's Sweetheart by Kate Blackburn

White Willow Superwash Sock in snapdragon

started January 23, finished February 10

Ravelry details here.

for the boys' school Valentine Raffle draw

The first picture is pretty close to the true color except the pink isn't quite as pink.

So far the biggest seller in the closing out sale at work is the yarn. That is extremely picked over, especially the sock yarn. I do have some Kroy and Kroy FX coming, but not oodles, and there's a fair bit of Classic Wool coming in. I also ordered the Fortissima we always carried, we were totally out of that. The Boss Man told me to order it, we're going to be there til the end of March, order what sells, he said. The lady who wiped us out of Fortissima told me to let her know if we got more. We've had people come spend literally hundreds of dollars. (Hubs said it's no good to open a yarn shop in town for at least a year, lol. But I say knitters are hoarders, and there's always room for more.) We had four ladies come in yesterday from out of town who knew we sold yarn but didn't know we were closing. One lady spent almost $60 on sock yarn, one spent almost $70. I figure by the end of March there isn't going to be much left for me to store at my house!

I added quite a few skeins to the odd dye lot/single skein bin, they are 50% off, everything else is 25% off. I only have the Briggs & Little and Handicrafter left to count which I'll work on Monday and Tuesday. I think there will be quite a few B&L single skeins to add to the bin, so it's worth checking out if you're in the area. (I thought the Handi would be going out by the bagfuls, it's always sold really, really well, but so far we haven't really sold that much. We've got the stripes and twists, too.)

Happy knitting!

Sigh

Still no computer back yet, so this is a pictureless post cuz I'm not working today to be able to transfer my pictures. I did get an e-mail saying my computer was shipped, so hopefully maybe it'll arrive today. With the luck I've got, though, I won't hold my breath. (This junky old computer won't transfer pictures any more from my camera.)

So yesterday the kids go to school, and I go to the grocery stores. I usually like to do one and then the other one the next day, but since the kids had no school on Wednesday and messed up my schedule I did both stores yesterday morning. I drive from one across the road to the other, and I notice a strange smell in my car, like a burning smell. So I look all around, don't see anything, go in and get my stuff and hope the car doesn't burst into flames while I'm inside. (Got fire insurance, I just didn't want to lose $100 worth of groceries!) So I decide to stop at the garage on my way home, it's right in town. I'm almost there, and the smell is getting strong again. It's only like a 30 second drive from the grocery store. I ask him to take a whiff, he says it smells like wires burning. He thought maybe it was the heater resistor since there was no sign of smoke or anything, and I guess that sometimes happens. So he says he can look at it tomorrow, but as I was waiting for traffic to pass so I could pull out I look down, and there's smoke coming out all around my feet. I turn the car off and go get him again. So the car got left there, and I had to call Pa to come get me and my groceries.

Pa calls this morning and says I should call insurance cuz the whole wiring harness is going to have to be replaced. Whatever it was started in the back and arced to the front of the car. Good thing: I only have a $100 deductible. Bad thing 1: My insurance policy doesn't allow for a rental car. Bad thing 2: Since the car is an older car (2000 Ford Focus wagon) there's the possibility that when the insurance guy looks at it, the repair may be close to or as much or more than what the car is worth, and it may be written off. I did want a newer vehicle, but not until this summer.

So the adjustor won't even probably look at it til next week, I tried to get the insurance guy I talked to this morning to put a rush on it since I have no other transportation. Pa only has one vehicle now, so I can't borrow one from him. I don't mind walking (unless it's raining and windy), and if I need groceries or water jugs filled or anything Pa will take me. It's just really inconvenient to not be able to jump into your car and go if you want. The boys have a curling game Sunday in a town 1/2 drive away. Luckily two of the other mothers that are going have room for us.

So I guess I really can't complain about my little car. I didn't pay a lot for her, and I've had her for almost a year-and-a-half now. I definitely got my money's worth out of her, that's for sure. It's an older car, it's got a lot of kilometres on it, stuff happens. It just sucks when it hits crappy times to do these things!

I did get the Valentine Socks finished for the boys' school raffle draw. I only finished them up last night, so it was good timing since the draw was today! I started a pair of socks for the Littlest One, and I think I'm going to work on some mittens, too. Pictures to follow next post.

Happy knitting!

PS Just got a call from work -- my computer is there! Yay! One of they guys is so graciously going to drop it off for me on his way home. :)

The Winter That Never Was Finally Is (Was)

Well, all the bragging that we didn't have any more than 2" of snow at once this winter has caught up with us. Last week we got our first real storm of the season, and the kids got two days off of school. I ended up finally getting to use the snowblower (3 times, actually). The kids and dogs were loving it. Too much in my eyes to get at one time. It got heavy halfway through the storm because it was mixed with rain. Before that it was light and fluffy. Jewel outside in the snow, Maggie in one of her favorite spots, the front bay window.

This was the day before, I think, in the midst of the storm. They both love the snow. They usually spend at least half an hour just laying in the snow before they'll come in. If I try to get them to come inside they look at me like I'm crazy. The only thing that can lure them inside is a treat, lol. I keep a towel by the door to wipe them off. Jewel usually shakes off outside before she comes in, but you have to be fast with Maggie, she shakes as soon as she gets inside and makes a mess.

I had a video of Jewel in the snow, shoving her face in it, crazy thing. I forgot to upload it, and it's on the computer at work as I'm still awaiting the return of my touchscreen computer. And I call this The Winter That Never Was Finally Is (Was) because the snow has melted a lot, it's been beautiful out pretty much since the storm except for some fierce winds yesterday. Tomorrow could be messy, forecast is for up to 15cm of snow, but it could be rain in our area as well. I guess it's a wait-and-see kinda thing.

I do have one FO, a pair of felted slippers in mens large to fit 10/11. The lady's husband got her a pair for Christmas, and she likes them so much she got him a pair. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool in chestnut brown and pumpkin, Ravelry details here.

I'm going to close on a rather sad note. The store where I work has been around for a long time. The owners started it over 30 years ago, it was mostly computer and photography stuff based from their house back then. They moved it to town, the first location on Main St. T has his 21 year anniversary there next month and I my 12 year anniversary. Back in December 2000, I believe it was, we moved the store to the larger and current location. Over the years it has expanded from computers, photography, and custom framing to cell phones and yarn. Also along the way at one point there were candles and environmentally friendly stationery and some gift shop type stuff. The latter three haven't been there for several years. Anyhoo, originally the store was to be passed on to the owners' daughter, but she passed away at age 23, six months before I started working there. (Not to get too involved, but she has some health issues, but it was an out-of-the-blue kind of thing that was not expected at all.) They have a son, too, but he lives in a group home and requires 24-hour care. They've since adopted two kids, the now young man works at the store, but he's moving away in the summer, and the girl (who happens to be my BF's niece) has no interest in the store at all (she's still in high school). So the owners really want to retire, they put the store up for sale last summer. The lease on our spot is up in October of this year, and we knew that come October that's it unless someone should happen to buy it. T and I found out last Monday that they are closing the store on March 31. No more LYS. The town will also be losing a place for passport photos, black and color photocopies, digital retouching, custom framing, cell phones, fax service, etc. There is another computer shop in town, but I think our store is going to be missed by a wide variety of people.

So anyone in our area, there is 25% off of everything in the store except for computers. This does include in stock digital cameras, ink cartridges, and of course all of the yarn, patterns, needles, accessories, etc. The sock yarn is getting highly picked over. I do have one last order of Classic Wool and some Kroy coming in a week or so. Any yarn left when the final day comes is going home with me, and I will sell it for the owners. I have an unused rec room where I can keep it. The way the yarn has been flying out the door since last Tuesday, though, I don't think I'll have a whole lot to look after. Today was the highest selling yarn day we've ever had.

Happy knitting!

New Slippers

Got a new pair of slippers, the other ones were worn out and had holes already. These ones are a new pattern to me, Nola's Slippers. I had two skeins of Briggs & Little Tuffy and didn't know what to do with them. I had gotten them to make Hubs heavy work socks, but he has three or four pairs and is liking the fingering weight socks better now. So I decided to use one strand of each (cocoa and ecru) to make these. The pattern just has one size, mens medium, so they are a little bit big for my ladies 8, but they aren't bad. I used a 5mm needle, I think it called for 5.5mm. I wouldn't have wanted to use any smaller needle. I find B&L can be hard on my hands, and my hands got tired fast knitting these. Started these on January 28, finished on the 30th, Ravelry details here.

The other night we were only supposed to have an inch or two dusting of snow, and we ended up with the most we've had at once this season, 4-5"! I had to actually shovel, but it was light and fluffy. The dogs were in heaven, Jewel laid out in it for quite awhile, but she got up when I got my camera, look at all the snow on her back. I don't understand Jewel and Maggie. They love the snow, they'll go out and lay in it for ages. I go to the door and call them in, they look at me like I'm crazy. I won't let them stay out when it's really cold, they go out to do their business, that's it. But they love it when it's just around freezing, they'll stay out and not move for a good half hour to an hour. And they lay right in the snow instead of up on the doorstep like they usually do.

I towelled her off when she got inside. Silly girl.

My touchscreen computer that I love so much has been shipped back to Gateway for repairs. (Mine looks like the one on the left.) It has a thing for turning itself off, you're right in the middle of something and boom - just like the plug gets hauled out of the wall. It's overheating, it's still under warranty, so back she goes. The tech at work looked at it and said the fan isn't staying on long enough to cool the cpu. So I don't know when I'll have pictures again cuz my old computer won't transfer pictures from my camera any more. It should be back in two weeks or so, but that's a long time without my baby!! The tech at work is building me a cheap tower to replace this old one, and he said that should be finished this week, so maybe that one will work for pictures.

Happy knitting!