One of my goals for 2009 is to read more of the classic. My older sister has always been a reader and a lover of the classics. About Thanksgiving she lent me a bunch of her books.



I have the following on my night stand:

Little Women by Lousia May Alcott

Little Men by Lousia May Alcott

Jo's Boys by Lousia May Alcott

The works of Mark Twain including:

The adventures of Tom Sawyer

The adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Prince and the Pauper

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and other stories

A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Short Novels of John Steinbeck



And since life can't be all serious novels I also have:

Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs

Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs



And because I like to be scared by the evil in all of us:

Just After Sunset by Stephen King.



I'm currently reading Jack and Jill by Lousia May Alcott.



So far for 2009 I've only finished one book. I read Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott. I'm hoping that I can finish all of my books before the end of the year and maybe a few others.

Next Knitting Project

Tuesday morning I was trying to decide on a pattern to use for the February Sock Down Challange on Ravelry. I finally decided to use Brigit by Monkey Toes. You can find it here on Rav, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brigit. Once I'd decided to join the sock down and picked a pattern I was looking for yarn. I knew I wanted something pink. Lately everything I love is pink, my cell phone, my camera, my big knitting bag...and I'm sure a dozen other things too.

I looked on every knitting site and really couldn't find anything I loved. I happend to come across some really beatiful pink Zitron Trekking (XXL) yarn in pink in another Ravelrys stash that was for sale. I contacted PurlyGates and she was willing to sell it. I asked Hubs to paypal PurlyGates AKA Suzie the money Tuesday night when I got home and I had the yarn in had on Thursday night when I got home from work.

To say the least Suzie works fast. She dropped it in the mail on Wednesday morning and it got here over night from San Francisco. I was so excited when I pulled the package from the mail box that I would have ripped it open in the street but those bubble wrap packages require scissors. When I got the package open the yarn was just perfect, so pink and pretty. Suzie also included a really cute leaf stitch marker and a sweet postcard.

I just want to give Suzie a special thanks for the quick service, the great yarn and the really sweet stitch marker!

Two Finished Knitting Projects

I finished these socks a couple of weeks ago but I hadn't had any time to get pictures of them in the day time. They are
Nine-to-Five Socks by Nicole Hindes. I made them with Zitron Trekking (XXL) yarn. They turned out really great and are very comfortable to wear.

I just finished these yesterday. They are Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks by Ann Budd. They are from the book Favorite Socks by Interweave. I made them with some bamboo yarn that a friend of mine had given me. When I was working on my 9-to-5 Socks my mom asked me when I was going to make her a pair of socks. I whipped these up in about a week and was able to surprise her yesterday with them.

She looks pretty surprised right?!

I've been working a couple of quilting things this weekend too. A couple of weeks ago I started working on a place mat and table runner set for my In-laws car club. I got it all cut out but then lost momentum. I got all the tops finished yesterday but I still need to quilt them. Hopefully, I'll get them quilted tomorrow. So here's a sneak pick at them before quilting.

The place mats.

The table runner


Close up of the center block of the runner.

Close up of the outer blocks of the runner.Detail of the center block.

I've been working a new knitting bag for myself but it's not quite done yet. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.

Danged Ol' Dogs

I don't know what is up with my dog lately. He used to be a model citizen (well except for the barking at nothing, licking the floor and the constant chewing but other then that...) but last night he officially crossed the line from good, beloved dog to bad dog!

As I've previously posted I haven't been getting much sleep of late and I finally went back to taking my sleeping pills. Thankfully they don't knock me out so much that if the house was on fire I wouldn't notice but they generally allow me to sleep until my alarm goes off at 5am. Hubbs on the other hand needs no sleep aides and wouldn't wake up if someone drove their car into our bedroom through the front wall of the house. Normally this isn't a bad thing except when one of the animals needs desperately to go out at 3:45am they wake me up. This morning was one of those mornings. I was sweetly dreaming about goodness knows what (probably kittens and babies and other happy crappy stuff like that, no more zombie dreams thank goodness) when I was awakened by the sound of a dog pacing back and forth between my side of the bed and the sliding door in the family room. Sounded something like click, click, click...whine whine whine. I did my best to ignore him but after about 5 min's I knew if I didn't let him out there was no way I was going to back to sleep. So I got up, let both dogs out and then walked all the way down the hall, visited the little ladies room and walked all the way back to the sliding door. When I looked out there were no dogs to be seen, so I opened the door. Getting hit by a blast of less then 30 degree air while in my jammies is not my idea of fun to say the least. But after I opened the door I still couldn't see the dogs, so I was forced to turn on the light. Turning on the light was the last thing I wanted to do since that just wakes me up more, but I was finally able to spot them. Rex was still peeing and Dixie was just standing there waiting to come back in. I swear that dog must be 90% bladder, cause he continued to pee for another 2 min's after I opened the door. He finally finished up and I was able to go back to bed and catch about 45 min's of sleep before I had to get up.

I hate broken sleep. It makes me cranky. After I got up at 5am and grabbed a cup of coffee, Hubbs came into the bathroom to ask me if I'd gotten up at 4 to go to the bathroom and wanted to know why I turned on the light in the backyard. I grumpily explained to him what happened and I told him that when he sleeps through things like that I want to wake him up by beating his sleeping form with a wiffle ball bat. Ok, ok...I didn't actually say that but some times I think it. I wish I had is ability to sleep through every thing. Makes me wonder if having kids with him is a good idea, he's going to sleep through every cry of Mama or Daddy. I'll have to learn to function and not be grumpy on like 2 hours of sleep. Maybe I can hit the lottery and we can hire a nanny. Oh dare to dream!!!





Oh and on a knitting note: I'm about 1/2 way through the foot on the second of my Vegan Bamboo socks but my skein of yarn has become hopelessly tangled and in trying to strighten it out, I've cut the yarn and will have to reattach it after I sort out the mess.

My yarn started out looking like this at the begining of the pair and now looks like somethings been nesting it. I guess you can only drop the ball or have it attacked by a kitty so many times before it just gives up the ghost and falls apart. I'd hoped to have it finished before my mom comes over on Friday evening. She requested that I make her a pair of socks a few weeks ago and I want to suprise her with them. More pic's when they're done.

Sleep, where have you gone?

It's only Tuesday and I feel like it's the 100th day in a row without a day off. I don't think I've had a complete nights sleep in over three weeks. I keep waking up at all hours of the night and having weird dreams or horrible nightmares.

Last nights nightmare was a doozie about zombies. For some reason everyone was turning into zombies and I was having to kill them to stop them from killing me. The worst part of it was waking up at 3:30 trying to remember why the dream seemed so familiar and where that zombie noise was coming from. After I woke up a bit more, I realized what I thought was a zombie making zombie noises was Hubbs. Snoring. After a couple of try's I was able to get him to stop snoring and I did go back to sleep but having my sleep interrupted night after night and having weird dreams is about enough to push me over the edge. I'm tired every day, even on the weekends when I do manage to eek out a bit more sleep.

I started taking Ambien 4 or 5 months ago because I was unable to get any sleep. Apparently the weird dreams are a side effect of the pills and are very common. I normally only take the pills during the weeks so I'm able to function at work better but quit taking them about 3 weeks ago. I don't really know why I quit taking them other then I was tired at night again and it seemed like a good idea to not take them if I didn't need them. The first week after I quit was good. I had no problem falling asleep or staying asleep and I don't remember having any dreams. The second week weird dreams started and at about 2 and a half weeks my sleep started getting interrupted. Now I'm tired, cranky and full to the brim with yawns and sleepy watery eyes. Guess I should go back to taking the pills before I drive off the road on my way to work in the morning.

A few weeks ago my grandma told me that she told a friend of hers that she didn't know who I was anymore. I was shocked and not sure what she meant. She explained that she just didn't know who this woman was that sews, knits, bakes, makes pasta from scratch, eats vegetables and keeps a clean house! I laughed when she said it but the more I think about the more I realize that my early to mid-20's self wouldn't recognize me either. I'm a little over two weeks away from my 33rd birthday and I'm not sure I know who I am anymore either.

Growing up, I was the biggest tomboy ever. I was always playing in the dirt, asking for Tonka Trucks for birthdays and Christmases, climbing trees, riding horses and generally going crazy in the woods. I think 90% of the time my parents never knew where I was because I off in the woods playing with boys (nothing dirty). When I got into high school I discovered boys, turned from a total tomboy into an 80% tomboy/20% girl. Never was into fashion or make up like most of my girl friends but I did love boys. I dated a bunch in high school, more then most of the other girls it seems like now but still never gave up my tomboy ways. When I got into my 20's I was to busy going to clubs and parties to be out in the woods much. But i never would have thought about knitting or sewing anything and cooking? heck no. If it wasn't already frozen or something I could make from a box you could forget about it. My 20's were pretty wild and free. I had a good time for the most part and have only a few regrets.

My 30's, so far, have been better to me then my 20's ever could have been. While I was 25 when I met the Hubs, and 27 when we bought our house, we didn't get married until I was 30 and Hubs was 25. He was much more stable at 25 then I was at 25. I feel like I've really come into my own in my 30's. I'm much more confidant and assured of who I am. I don't worry about how I look to others nearly as much as I did when I was in my 20's. I'm in much better health now then I was then too. I quit smoking, I run and I eat healthy...something that I never would have done before.

So this morning I sat here wondering if my 20-something self would have been friends with me now. Honestly, I don't think she would have. 30 seemed so old 10 years ago, and staying home or looking forward to going home so I could sew or knit would seem like such an old lady thing to do. Younger me would never have enjoyed these things. Partying and staying out all night and meeting new boys would have been top priority. But I like 30's me. I'm stable, I have a loving marriage, supportive husband, nice home, I enjoy cooking, baking, & crafting and I don't really care all that much what 20's me thinks. I think 20's me was kind of selfish and a bit mean and very self centered. 30's me is more about the family as a whole and putting more into my relationship with Hubbs then worrying about what I'm getting out of it.

Unfortunately, my 30's are filled with more grown up worries then my 20's were. Now I worry about things like bills, the mortgage, price of gas, politics and the economy as a whole. I'd love to go back to the days where my biggest worry was if I was going to have enough money for beer and cigarettes. I do miss the feeling of being free that I used to get or the urge to do something crazy. That crazy feeling is not one I get much anymore. Now having cereal instead of eggs for breakfast on a weekday is really playing loose and fast for me! lol

Enough deep thoughts! I'm starting to freak myself out!!

Since last weekend was a three day weekend thank to MLK Day, I had a 4 day-er with my Friday off. Friday got off to a good start with some light house cleaning and then my mom showed up and we did a bit of shopping. We went to a couple different fabric stores including a local favorite called Country Sewing Center for some quilt fabrics and a ruler that my mom needed and we stopped at my new favorite shop, The Yarn Shoppe. My mom hadn't been into that shop yet and since she doesn't live close by I wanted her to check it out. Mom is also a knitter and a very accomplished quilter and a seamstress. I guess love of fiber arts just runs in the family.




We stopped at the local pet store for a couple things for my mom that she can't get local where she lives and I found the funniest dog toy ever. My sweet boy, Rex, is a very aggressive chewer and the only toys that hold up under is powerful jaws are Kong's. They are a great solid rubber toy made specifically for dogs that like to chew. I intended to buy him a Kong but the store was all out of the kind he needed so I found a solid rubber toy that is shaped like a squirrel. It's even holding an acorn in it's little rubber squirrel paws!






I just love this toy! It's so cute I couldn't resist!



Saturday, the Hubbs and I met up with a few friends from Hubbs car club and went up to the Sierra's to do a bit of snow wheeling. We couldn't have asked for any better weather and it even got to the point where I was wishing for a short sleeved shirt. The snow was so dry and powdery under the hard crust where it had melted and then refrozen that we could barely make a snow ball for tossing.


I don't know what is prettier, the blue-blue sky or the river. We're so lucky to live in such a wonderful place.

The Hubbs getting ready to jump into the truck.

Me & the truck. It's funny. I'm never in the pictures because I'm always behind the camera but the one time I hand the camera to someone else they take my picture while I'm eating.

Sunday I spent part of the day working on my knitting. Saturday after we got home from the snow, I kitchner stitched the toe on my first sock, and cast on the cuff for the second sock. Sunday, Hubbs and I finished cleaning the house and then I spent part of the day knitting, part of the day working on my table runner and mats for MIL and part of the day baking. I made two more loaves of white bread and then I also did some pizza dough for dinner. Hubbs and I agreed that the pizza that I made at home was much better then the pizza that we got on Friday night from the pizzeria. It was also much more filling then the other kind. We each ate two pieces and called it good. Hubbs was thrilled because he had enough for lunch the next day.

My second sock! Sunday I was able to almost finish the heel flap. Monday morning I was able to finish the heel flap, start and finish the gusset and get the foot 2/3 of the way finished. I can't wait to get these socks done. They are going to be the prefect weight to wear with my comfy work shoes to keep my feet a bit warmer at work


What started as me trying to get a picture of my sock in natural light turned in to a doggy photo session. Miss Dixie looked so beautiful sitting in the sun that I couldn't resist taking about a dozen pictures of her. Normally she's a hard one to get to sit still long enough to take her picture but this time she just sat there and looked adorable. I just love this picture of her.

Hubbs even took some time out on Monday to work on his projects. He got a new circular saw for Christmas and used it for the first time. I think all and all he was pretty happy with it. It cut a nice clean edge for him and his box will look really good when he's done with it.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! I'm already thinking about the next one!

I F'ing Love it

Hubbs and I saw this license plate on our way home today. I had to laugh out loud and grab a picture of it!

10 Things About Me

1. I hate cold weather. If had had my way, the winter would be spent in Hawaii or some other warm tropical place.


2. All the towels have to be folded the same way in the drawer. My mother-in-law swears this will change when the Hubbs and I have kids but for now, I'm not messing with it.


3. No one but me folds the laundry the right way. Even my mom has given up trying to help me out by folding the laundry. If it's not folded just so the OCD in me will make me refold everything so it's all the same.


4. I forget to put my wedding band on on my days off from work. 90% of the time I'll realize it after I'm already out on the main road where it's at least a mile before I can turn around and go back for it. Most of the time I don't go back for it. I never forget on days I have to work but the rest of the time Hubbs usually has to ask me if I have it.


5. I like routine. I hate to have it interrupted in anyway. Saturday is house cleaning day and heaven forbid if Hubbs wants to do something else that day. It throws my whole weekend off.


6. I work 4 - 10 hour days and have Fridays off. Friday is supposed to be my day to do whatever I want. Chores are saved for Saturday to be split 50/50 with Hubbs. Half the time Fridays are spent with my tush glued to the couch. Considering that I love to run, I can't seem to get myself motivated to do a dang thing on Fridays and will usually spend the entire day in my Jammies.


7. I was Wonder Woman for Halloween in 3rd grade. Best Halloween Costume ever.


8. My older sister used to make me mad when we were kids by sticking just her head in my room. I'd tell her to get out and she'd pull her head back and say that she was out, then stick her head right back into my room. No amount of fussing or complaining to my mom would get her to stop, so I fixed it myself. She started up with this game one day and I told her, "If you stick your head in here one more time, I'm going to hit you in the face with this hard back Nancy Drew book." She did, so I did. The best part was that she went crying to my mom and my mom actually backed me up. She told my sister, "Well, she warned ya." Best day ever in the history of my life only surpassed by my wedding day to Hubbs. I can honestly say that this was the only time I think my mom ever backed me in a squabble with my sister.

9. I have a younger sister that is almost 2o years to the day younger then I am. Her birthday is in January and mines in February. We're both Aquarius's but complete opposites. Since my Dad and Step-mom (Mom #2) moved to Oregon I miss her terriable.


10. I ride a Harley.

What do I expect from 2009?

I've been trying to figure out what I expect out of 2009. I'm looking forward to Hubb's and I's 3rd anniversary, my 33rd birthday and Hubb turning 28 but other then that, I have pretty low expectations of 2009. I'm hoping that the current state of the economy won't turn into a re-play of the 1930's (makes me wonder what my Grammy thinks about it, maybe I should call her and ask her).

I was thinking back to when Hubbs and I started dating. I was 25, he was...(gasp) 20. I was all about fun and doing crazy stuff, doing my best to not be too serious about life and generally keep my maturity level as low as possible. Funny thing is that when we first started dating Hubbs told me that he never wanted to get married and never wanted to have kids. You can imagine how shocked I was when he proposed. We bought our house after we'd been together 2 years and all of that was long (2 hour drive) distance. We'd spent weekends together, either at my place, his parents or camping with friends but other then that we hadn't taken any long vacations or anything.

About a year after we bought our house, he suggested that we go out to dinner at a fancy place. You have to understand that Hubbs is not a fancy place kinda guy. His idea of dressing up is putting on a clean shirt. At first I was resistant to going to a fancy place. After all we were just finishing up our first year as home owners and money was not exactly using our house as a hang out. But off we went anyway. I remember calling my mom to tell her that we were going out to some place fancy and she got all excited saying that maybe Hubbs was planning something, maybe a marriage proposal. I brushed her off saying that there was no way but boy was I wrong. After dinner he reached in his shirt pocket for his chewing tobacco and got down on one knee and pulled out a diamond ring. Poor guy, I was so confused I had no idea what was going on and kept asking him, "What is that? WHAT is THAT?!!!" referring to the ring. It took a couple of minuets for him to get answer out of me. Of course I said yes! His family knew about it, my dad knew about it, only my mom and I were left in the dark on that one.

I tease him now about being too good of a liar and that I shouldn't trust him because God only knows what he's up to. About a week before we got engaged, he casually mentioned to me that he was going to go up to Oregon with his dad to visit a friend. That wasn't entirely a lie. He did go with his dad but he didn't go specifically to visit a friend. He and his dad drove the 500 miles to my Fathers house in Oregon to ask my dad's permission to marry me. My dad is a very old fashioned guy (I love that about him), and I had mentioned to Hubbs that it had hurt my dad very much when my sister's ex husband hadn't asked for her hand. Hubbs was smart enough to remember that and to make the long drive instead of just calling him. My dad was deeply touched and of course gave him permission. I love my husband dearly for this. He's a wonderful man to do such a hard thing. I can't imagine how stressful that must have been.

We got married almost a year to the day after he proposed. We had a wonderful ceremony in the park by his parents house with all of our family and friends present. We've been together 7.5 years, married for 2.5 years and I still feel lucky. Hubbs is not your average redneck guy, he is their king but being the king has its perks. He's a tough guy on the outside and like to be tougher then shoe leather but at home, when it's just the two of us...he's really sweet and soft and mushy on the inside. He loves hugging me and kissing me and just messing around to make me laugh. Not to mention he's a pretty tolerant guy. I'm not always the easiest girl int he world to get along with. I'm stubborn, feisty and can get down right crotchety (stupid PMS).

So anyway, back to the original subject of what I expect...I don't know what to expect. I'm just hoping that 2009 is better then 2008. It was one hit after another at my house. We had to make unexpected home repairs and vehicle repairs and repairs to relationships, not to mention weight gain. Honestly, I'm glad that 2008 is over. I'm not sure I could have taken much more, especially when the garage door broke on Christmas day and we were unable to get it open. Thankfully, we were able to get it repaired the next day for an arm and a leg.

So to 2008 I say see ya, wouldn't want to be ya. And 2009? Please be kind. I'm still a bit battered and bruised.

Cabled Neck Warmer

I finally finished my cabled neck warmer. It's been blocking for a few days because I used the soak method to finish it. It turned out really cute. Sorry for the not so great picture but I was the only one home and haven't had time to ask Hubby to take another one. The pattern is here, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/celtic-cable-neckwarmer for you Ravelry members. It was a simple pattern but it has a chart. I'd never used charts before and had to figure out how to read it before I could get going on it but I finished it in just a couple of days. The buttons were purchased from my local Joann's Fabrics. The yarn is Paton's Classic Wool Merino in Natural.

Weekend Recap

Ok, let's see. On the tracking everything I eat and how well did I do front, things went pretty well. I did good 2 out of 3 days so I'm calling that a victory. Yesterday I just couldn't commit to anything for lunch so that made me go crazy later in the day when I was starving. Made pizza for dinner without measuring anything so I have no idea how many calories it was.

Ok, let's switch to the positive. Friday morning I went down to Joann's Fabrics to get size 2 sock needles. Thursday night I realized that the sock I was working on was not going to fit because the needles I was using were to small and I needed larger ones. Of course I didn't have any size two's so I had to go get them. With hubby's helps we ripped out the 7" of sock I had all ready knitted and rewound the ball. After I grabbed the needles on Friday morning, I spent the entire day deep cleaning the house. It was pretty bad. I don't think the nick-nacks that I had on top of the kitchen cabinets had been cleaned or dusted in the almost 5 years we've lived in the house. Saying they were gross and my kitchen was boarder line unsanitary was an understatement. It took me three hours just to clean the kitchen from top to bottom. My original plan was to get the knitting needles as soon as the store opened so I could have the whole day to knit, but in typical Weezie fashion I got distracted by the dirt and dust and I didn't get to sit down to knit until some time around 6 or 6:30pm, I started cleaning at 10am. But the house is soooo clean and it makes my life so much easier to live when everything is clean.

On Saturday, hubby was supposed to work but ended up having the day off. I spent part of the morning working on my sock and part of my afternoon sewing. My MIL at Thanksgiving requested that I make a 1930's inspired table runner and place mats for her car club to give as a door prize at their 50th Anniversary party in February. I got those cut out and start sewing. I didn't get very far because my back was hurting from all the cleaning on Friday but I did make a good start and I'm really happy about that.

Here are the fabric's that I chose for the table runner and place mats. I got the four patch for the center of each block done and the flying geese for the side of each block done. I'm hoping to get some time in the sewing room this week to work on it some more but...who knows.

Miss Sphinx Kitty had to get in on the sewing action by laying on the fabric I was trying to cut. So I felt that she need to a cape to be super sewing kitty. She showed her lack of appreciation by just laying down and refusing to move until I took it off.

Sunday was a very lazy day at the Dropped Stitch household. We stayed in our jammies until after 1:30 when I figured I better quickly get a shower and get dressed because my mom was going to be dropping by for a while on her way home from spending the weekend at the snow. I spent the morning working on my sock. Thank goodness that my mom did come buy because I was having some problems turning the heel on my sock and she was able to get me straitened out. After she left I was able to pick up my gusset stitches and start working on the foot. Sock #1 is about 70% finished now.

One of the main reasons my mom stopped by on her way home was to drop off a couple of things that she had for Hubby and I. At Christmas my mom got Hubby a new Dermal tool but when he opened the box the tool wasn't in there and my mom had to take it back and get it replaced. So she had that for Hubby and she had some magazines for me that she was finished with. But more important then that was that she had my completed quilt. I finished it before Christmas but she took it so that her friend could do the hand work on the binding since she broke her ankle and couldn't do any sewing of her own except for hand work. I'm so excited to have this quilt back because I picked out the fabric about 2 years ago, got it cut out and then decided to give it to SIL for Christmas 2007. I really didn't want to give it to her but I couldn't afford to buy her a gift at that time. Well, I ended up running out of time and couldn't finish it. So I figured I finish it and give it to her for Christmas 2008, but the more I worked on it, the more I loved it and really didn't want to give it away. My mom finally convinced me not to give it to her and keep it for myself. I made her place mats instead and I'm sooo glad that I kept it for myself. I just love this quilt. The colors are so striking.

"Raspberry Pie"

Started Mid 2007

Finished November 2008

Fabric Purchased at R. Lily Stem, Modesto

Hubby and Miss Dixie with "Raspberry Pie"

I also finally got a picture of Hubby with the Rag Quilt that I made from his Grandfathers shirts to put in my quilt journal. It's rare that I can get pictures of Hubby where he's willing to not smirk AND not give the finger so I'm sharing!

Over all, my weekend was a great one! How was yours?

Knitting Pictures

Using Zitron Trekking (XXL) sock yarn, I cast on some new socks. I'd been wanting to start a new pair of socks but since they require delicate finger work to get thems started in the first few rounds, I'd been putting it off. I'm using a patter called 9-to-5 Socks by Nicole Hindes and size 1 needles. I cast these on yesterday morning and by the time I went to bed I had finished the cuff and dound a couple rounds of the pattern. The pattern is very easy to memorize but I learned that I should stop knitting when I take my sleeping pill for the evening, I kept making mistakes and having to work them out. I can't wait to get home to work on these some more.






I've never used such small needles before and noticed yesterday that it was causing some fatigue in my left hand when I was knitting. I think I'm going to need to cast on a second project with some larger needles to work on when my hands start to hurt from using the 1's.



On Friday I cast on Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks. I used Patons Classic Merino Wool in Natural and size 8 needles. This was my first try at using a chart. I had to search on Ravelry to learn how to read the chart to begin with because my first try at the chart did not look anything like the picture at all and I had to rip it out and try again. Thankfully the search turned up a great website that explained exactly how to do it and I was off working again. The simple explination was great and made it so simple to read the chart. I finished it on Sunday morning including sewing on the buttons and blocked it. I can't wait for it to dry so I can wear it.

I love the buttons I chose for the neckwarmer. When I purchased them, I never looked at the price of them because Joann's was having a sale and all the buttons were 50% off. When I got home I realized that the buttons were $4! For 1!! I don't think I've ever paid that much for buttons before but since they were 50% off, I figured that it was worth it.

Sleep is for Suckers!

I can't believe that I'm up at 1am. At midnight I heard a very strange noise that woke me up from a nice sleep. Since I couldn't identify what the noise was, my first thought was that the cat had gotten into my brand new (expensive) yarn that I bought yesterday. So I jump out of bed and run into the dinning room. I flipped on the lights and it wasn't the cat. My dog had gotten the empty package of Parmesan cheese out of the trash can and was tearing it up to get to any cheese remnants that might have been inside. So I guess the good news is that the cat wasn't in my yarn, but the bad news is that I'm a wake.

I tried going back to sleep and laid in bed, in the dark listening to hubby snore for almost an hour before I gave up. So here I am, logged into Spark starting my day. Thank goodness that Hubby won't be home tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, normally that would be a bad thing but if I don't get any sleep I'm going to be very cranky and I don't want to take it out on him. He's been traumatized enough lately putting up with my horrible PMS. But instead of focusing on the bad, how about some pictures of my new yarn?!!!

I just love the color!

It's kinda chunky and funky! I have two skeins of it so I'm planning to make myself a scarf and maybe a hat out of it if I have enough. But who knows? With Ravelry the possibilities are pretty endless.

So besides yarn shopping, running errands and doing some house keeping, what else did I get into yesterday? I baked some more cookies out of my new Martha Stewart Cookies cook book. I made some huge chocolate cookies that turned out to be more like brownies then cookies but Hubby liked them so I'm happy. I also baked some bread. I did basic white bread because I had all the ingredients already. I wanted to make whole wheat but I was missing the powdered milk called for in the directions. This was my first try at using my Kitchen Aide mixer to do all the work of kneading the dough and it was soooo easy! I followed the directions, let it raise for an hour, punched it down, split into two loaves, put it in the pans, let it rise again and then tossed it in the oven. The loaves came out really great and the house smelled awesome! So doubly good!

Doesn't that look good?

On Friday, I pulled the last two of my rag quilts out of the drying and marked them. I think I posted here that they were made from my husbands grandfather's shirts. He passed away in November 2007. With some family members helping, we conspired to get a bunch of his shirts so that I could make quilts for 5 of the family members. Well, yesterday evening I needed to run up to the jewelers to have some links taken out of my new watch so I could wear it. Hubby suggested that we stop at his parents to give my mother-in-law the quilts. My MIL was so touched that she started crying. She looked at the four we'd brought for her and picked out all the shirts that she remembered her dad wearing on a regular basis. She's such a sweet lady and I'm so lucky to have her as my MIL. I have to give special thanks to my Hubby for coordinating the sneakiness, my FIL for picking out the shirt & my MIL's brother for bringing me the shirts. Without them, it never would have happened.

My MIL and 4 of the Quilts.

Baking

I spent last Sunday in the kitchen. Hubby and Father-in-Law were working in the garage to replace our hot water heater that had suddenly started leaking, so I figured I better be productive too. My favorite cousins on my mom's side of the family gave me Martha Stewarts Cookie Cookbook. There are so many great recepies that I want to try but I decided to make Snickerdoodles since they are hubby's favorite.

Thankfully her directions were extremly easy to follow and the cookies turned out great. FIL couldn't stay out of them and I had to send him home with a bag of them. Hubby loved them and has been enjoying them in his lunch this week. I've done my best to stay out of them but it's been an uphill battle this week. With all the food over the last couple of weeks with 3 different Christmas celebrations at 3 different houses, I've gone way off track with my eating habits. But that's ok, it's a new year and I can start over.

When my mom and grandmother went home on Saturday after Christmas, they left behind a bunch of bananas. They were to ripe for my liking so I decided to make banana bread. I found a great low fat receipe on Sparkpeople.com and went to work making the bread. I'm not really a fan of the stuff but I know that hubby loves it. And I figure it's got to be cheaper and better for you then buying it at Starbucks.

I made two loaves and sent one home with FIL. He was so excited that you would have thought that I had given him a brick of gold instead of some slightly warm, fresh from the oven banana bread. Hubby on the other hand must have asked ever 5 min's after it came out of the oven if it was cool enough to eat yet! What can I say? Replacing a water heater is hungry work!