Knees and Toes

Tennessee morning

The top of the stocking starts just below the knee (obviously) and completes at the tip of the toe.  I finished  the foot portion of the stocking today with a row of hearts and made terrific progress on the toe decreases.  I said toe (singular) and I mean it, because there will not be another toe to do!  What a beautiful thing.  NO Second Sock Syndrome.  When it's done, it's done. ( Okay, except that I will need to pick up the stitches for the afterthought heel.  But then,.....THEN it will be done.  I mean it. )

I am gathering inspiration for the next stocking, and have lots of ideas, but nothing set in stone.
 The beauty of this stocking was that the patterns all lined up exactly and there was no fudging on making certain fair isle motifs fit into the number of stitches in the sock.

Four pages of inspiration!

I think there are around 72 stitches, which may not be a prime number, but does set some limits on the patterns. 

Tonight I have to change the subject and brag a bit.  We went out for pizza with my daughter and her husband and his family to celebrate the end of his educational career. Goal met!  He took the bar over the last two days and is finally done with school, after having been a student since age 5.  Most of us never know when we're finished, because we have no clearly defined goals.  I admire the hard work, effort and student loans that are behind this degree. (If he passes, that is - we won't know till October!  But I'm sure he will.)
There are a few other good things on the horizon for our family, and I will say, it's about time!  When the most hopeful and joyous thing in your life is a Christmas stocking, you're hard up.  So glad to have some things to celebrate!  Hallelujah and woo hoo!  So, just for fun, and to get you in the mood, checkout this video about Knees and Toes from some more ESL friends!  It sounds like they're from Tennessee, but it sure doesn't look like it.  ;-)

All I've got is a snowflake!

This week has been busy, preparing for and moving my father in law in to our house.  He is such a joy to be around and has a childlike quality at times; lighthearted and very kind.

Truly without a sense of guile or selfish ambition.  He's a writer, artist and all around good guy. We are honored to pay back this man in such a small way for all the years of sacrifice that he made for his family.

So with the preparations in mind, you'll understand why I only got a row a snowflakes done on the Christmas stocking!  This has been such a fun thing to do, with a lot of creativity to play around with.  Here is a piece of wrapping paper I've kept as I worked on the stocking.  Isn't it lovely?  Maybe I'll use red and white for the next one!

I have also spun the tiniest bit of gray wool - water for a thirsty soul, and I have GOT to make more time to spin.  It is such therapy for me!!!

My house tends to be a pretty creative place. My husband is a songwriter and musician.  I met him in 1983 when his band played at my college's chapel service.  The band was a religious group that toured year round and lived predominantly on a bus.  He had toured before that group with secular groups and was intrigued with this new kind of Christian music.  He soon after devoted his career ambitions to a much more religious purpose and later enrolled and graduated from the college I was attending.  I was there learning 'how to be a missionary' which I now think is a misnomer.  Anyway, several years later he was teaching a guitar class at a seminar for church musicians and one of his students was Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Fox News contributor!

Jamie and Mike 1993

We watched Huckabee interview Benjamin Netanyahu tonight and I remembered this photograph, which I stumbled upon while cleaning up house for my father in law's arrival.  A lot of water under the bridge since then!  I had the privilege of traveling with my husband over the years, and one of my biggest honors was to visit the Philippines with him.  Here is a snapshot I took at a stadium; it was very hot and humid that night and people had walked literally for hours to attend this concert, many of them barefoot!

10k Filipinos singing a song my husband wrote - what an exciting night!

P90X or PX90?

I mentioned to my daughter that cleaning house is as good as PX90; and she laughed and said, "You mean P90X!"  What would I do without people like her to set me straight on critical things like these?  The difference between agave and guava.  The difference between almond milk and Almond Joy.  Where have I been?

One thing I am unanimous about is my one, lonely knitting project "on the needles" as we knitters say.  This Christmas stocking is now sporting some great looking red berries and holly leaves and a whole row of Christmas trees!  Whaddya think?

Now I need to set aside half the stitches for the afterthought heel and then do the foot.  Probably a snowflake and some other holiday or religious symbol.  Most of the designs in my book call for more than two colors, so I'm pretty limited unless I get out another pattern book. Maybe I should.

I have spent the better part of the last week moving everything from my office/study downstairs to my daughter's old bedroom upstairs.  My father in law will be moving in with us this weekend and we have just set aside a space for him on the first floor.  A cozy room with a bed, computer desk, bookshelves and a reading chair.  I sure hope he likes it! 
And the good thing about my office being upstairs is that I have to take the stairs every time I want to get on my computer.  Who needs P90X?  Watch out Jersey Shore.

After moving everything upstairs, and moving a bed and a few extra things into Papa's new room, I also had to clear out a couple of closets for his clothes and empty the space under the sink in the bathroom that he will be using.   Actually it's been good for me to once again purge and 'cleanse' my cabinets and storage areas.  I have such a tendency to hang on to the past.  Sometimes we just need to let go of the old stuff and embrace the new.  Here's to the future!

Charkha-tack

Judy and Brenda M.

Yesterday I went to a special spinning group meeting hosted by a couple of dear ladies, Judy and Brenda M. We had Dye Day and came away with blue fingers, red shirts and bags of dyed wool and yarn!

Onion Skin Dye

I love going to these because you lose track of all the other stuff that's going on in your life.  Pots of dye boiling on burners, tubs of wool soaking in water, and wee-little ladies watching and stirring like a bunch of kids making mud pies.

Natural vegetable dyes

kool aid, food coloring and various other dyestuffs

Natural dyes

We have so much fun, and even have a little pot luck lunch to boot.  Our hostess made a Thai shrimp dish with rice that was to die (dye) for! There was potato salad, fruit salad, hummus and pita chips and iced tea.

Susan, Laura and Brenda M.

Judy!

I also bought a briefcase sized Charkha (shark-a) and got a free spinning lesson from Laura who sold me the wheel.  I've been wanting one, but they are around a hundred dollars and I just couldn't see paying that much for something I didn't even know how to use.  What an answer to prayer!  What a great Friday!

My $25 dollar Charkha

Today I spent some time weeding and picking green beans at the garden.  I had given up on them, but went yesterday and threw myself into whacking the weeds until I found the plants.  Hallelujah, there were green beans all over the place.  And still loads of tomatoes and cucumbers.  I hope to can tomatoes tonight; haven't done that in years!

Tennessee Green Beans

This next week my hubby goes back out of town on family business, and I'm not sure how long he'll be gone.  His dad is having surgery and  will come back to stay with us after his recovery.  The time has come for Papa to be here in TN with us on a permanent basis.  We are excited to have him here; if he doesn't mind putting up with his son's guitar playing all day!  Papa's room will be right under DH's guitar studio, where he works.  (Might not need those hearing aids after all.)

I am saying good bye to my little home office/ fiber room, but saying hello to a brand new space upstairs in my daughter's old bedroom.  Having an empty nest always means more closet space!!  Whoopee for me!

The Lone Ranger

This week I've been given the opportunity to flex my social muscles.  DH is out of town on family matters and I am left with the car keys, so to speak.  My work schedule opened up so I filled my social calendar with all kinds of girl-y things.  Ladies Bible study last night, lunch with a friend the and the icing on the cake; yes, you guessed it, spinning group on Friday!  We are having a dye day, where we all bring our natural wool, dyes, pots, etc and have at it for as long as we can take it.  The last dye day was absolutely memorable.  I am really hoping for nice weather and some super good results.  Being a lone ranger for a few days doesn't have to be all bad.  Here's hoping my husbands t-shirts are not all tie-dyed when he gets back!


The Christmas stocking is looking pretty good if I do say so myself.  The patterns seem to look good with just two colors and I'm resisting adding a third.  I think it's kind of classy and understated, don't you?

The next stocking will definitely be something with a little red and may have as many as four colors, but I don't really have a theme in mind yet.
My daughter has been helping me update my make up lately and we chose an eye shadow palette with four colors the other night.  While they are all 'understated' colors, the application of those colors left a lot to be desired when I tried to do it by myself the next morning.  Somewhere between raccoon and Ozzy Ozbourne I would say.  Why did I ever think I could manage this kind of challenge on my own?  What a disaster!

I remember the summer between 7th and 8th grade when I had a similar experience.  Up till that time, my make up consisted of clear lip gloss.  Then I met Rhonda from New York (whose mother was a belly dancer) who knew how to apply make up! She was my good friend and was willing to teach me the ways of the world. We put away the Bonne Bell lip smacker and got out the bright blue eye shadow, Maybelline mascara, frosty rouge and what looked like Sharpie eye liner.  Boy was I a sight!  I thought I looked pretty good until I went downstairs and my older brother laughed his head off.

Don't sit under the apple tree....

Before I get to the knitting progress, I have to show off a little.  Here is my little apple tree with lots of fruit all over it!

I'm so thankful that there is little maintenance with this thing.  I have neglected my whole back yard this year and it shows.  All except for the apple tree that has only required rain and sunshine.  I did some pruning but today, and it looks a lot better!

The rest of the yard is full of flowers and greenery but it's like Jumanji out there - crazy vines and leaves, weeds and odd looking flowers.  I asked my friend last night what this thing was that had taken over a neglected flower bed.

She said it sounded like a Passion Vine and I looked it up; she's right. Not sure what variety it is, but  it had  taken over the place and was very unruly.  I had to dig a little to get rid of it today.  The "fruit" was only seed-filled pods and the flowers only last a day or two and then they're gone.  What a mess.

Okay, here is the knitting up date.  Big whoop.

But it's progress, nonetheless.  I charted the letters on graph paper and am adding a small cross and snowflakes.

I may add a reindeer, but that will be later.  The absolutely best thing about a Christmas stocking is that there is no second-sock-syndrome.  It's like a work of art that you don't have to duplicate.  One is enough!  Now that, I like! Why paint two Mona Lisa(s)?   (Did I just compare my stocking to the Mona Lisa???)

Its beginning to look a lot like a Christmas stocking

Listening again to a great business book by the Arbinger Institute, and knitting the first exciting rows of my very first Christmas stocking!  I bought the yarn while out of town this past weekend - four great colors.

The pattern is inspired by the how-to video from Knit Picks, although I can't find this particular pattern anywhere.  So I have improvised by starting with the basics from my new Christmas stocking  book.

Knit Picks video tutorial

Then using some motifs from a favorite book of mine, The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting.  I've implemented a simple 2x2 rib to start with, after casting on 72 for worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles.

The yarn is acrylic Red Heart soft and the colors are Wine, Dark Leaf,  Honey and Mid Blue.  I would say the blue is more like a Williamsburg Blue if you ask me. The honey is very close to Bit'O'Honey candy, if you can remember back that far!

I was able to spend some quality time with my niece and nephew and in laws this past weekend and really enjoyed our Independence Day celebration. Here we all are at a local pancake house; we always seem to have breakfast there.  Great food and great service!

I was stung by a bee while floating in the pool, and I haven't been stung by a bee since I was really young.  We all fantasize about going back in time and being youthful again, but we forget that there were as many bad days back then as we have now, we just tend to downplay them.   I'd forgotten how much bee stings hurt and how irritating they are.  God forgive me (and pardon me neighbors) for the cuss word I let out!  OUCH.

Knitters Review

Years ago I signed up to be on the Knitter's Review mailing list, to receive their newsletter via email every Thursday morning. KR reviews new yarns, tools, techniques and books for knitters. It was always such a treat to see their name in my email box and have an excuse to grab a cup of coffee & read the latest poll and yarn review.

Today the market is flooded with commercial and boutique yarn stores, knitting websites, blogs and podcasts  out the wazoo, but back then, this was groundbreaking stuff for knitters like me.  KR also had a great forum section on their website; also the first of it's kind for knitters, as far as I know.  You can still go to the website after logging in, ask any question you like and get a pretty good response from somebody who's been there. (Mind you, this was before FB and Ravelry.)  When my husband and I took our trip last week, we wanted to get a better idea of what local yarn shops would be the best to visit, so I checked with the KR forum !  Thank you Clara Parkes, pioneer woman!

 This is 4th of July weekend and we will be taking our annual trip to my in-laws' house in Birmingham, AL for a pool party and family get together - the family is growing and this year we add one more. Woo hoo! We cook out, swim and listen to music by the pool, or hang out inside and watch movies.  A very American holiday!

And speaking of holidays, it would be so cool to make a trip to Joann's to get some yarn and start on my Christmas stocking. When I get home from work I just don't have the energy to drive back into town to shop. I guess I could order online, but I really like to feel the yarn and see the color in person before I buy it.   Bummer.

I've pretty much completed the purple pillow top, as of yesterday.  That makes two pillow tops that will need fabric backing, and that definitely means a trip to Joann's is in order.   I guess it's true what they say:

Fortune cookie: ESL at its best!

And before I go, I have to share a little something from my garden - peas in a pod, squash and cucumbers!

Vacation Day Five

Day 5 of our trip started with a relaxing coffee/read the paper kind of morning.  No agenda, just leisurely breakfast and then hit the road.

Then it became a little weird.  We could tell the drive may take a little longer, and we knew we'd be getting onto a turnpike or toll road.  Getting a little extra cash (okay, some cash) at the drug store after buying a trial size bottle of mouthwash, (we had to buy something), we felt prepared for the journey.  The Ohio countryside was beautiful, but it was misting rain the whole way.  Like tropical storm rain, if you've ever had that experience.  Even the locals commented on how weird it was.  And the temps were in the low 60s.  Eventually we got off the toll road and stopped at Burger King for a milkshake and rest stop.  Everybody in Ohio is a lot older than everybody in Tennessee. I'm not kidding. Mo, our waitress at breakfast, her name is short for Maureen, was over 70, easy. The lady who checked us out at the drug store was about the same age with a lot fewer teeth.
Anyway, after getting back in the car with our milkshakes, we realized the shakes were not right.  Syrup on the bottom, not stirred, like a fruit on the bottom yogurt, only these were milk shakes and we were using straws.  The ice cream was not mixed with the syrup at all, as in the term, "shake".
After finding our country highway via the GPS, we started feeling like we weren't going in the right direction.  Miles down a country road, we came to a complete stop where they had closed the road to through traffic, with absolutely no detour signs or suggestions on where else to go,  and this was our road to the hotel in Ft. Wayne.  So we turned around, reset the GPS for alternate route and were now officially entering a time warp.

Kids riding bikes without helmets or shoulder pads or face masks.  There were driveways with cars, not garages with SUVs. Houses had swings on the front porch and there was significant amounts of land between them.  So weird.

We arrived safely at our lovely hotel where I spent the afternoon reading, and my better half checked out a local music-gear event.  We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, and everything seemed back to normal.  Indiana is actually pretty cool.

Vacation Day Four

Spruce trees in Ohio are massive!

On Wednesday night I had one of my all-time favorite desserts - strawberry shortcake!  On Thursday I had dinner at an Italian restaurant.  Could the week be going any better?  Is this week going by way too fast?
Day four was spent in two tourist locations in the city of Cleveland, Ohio; the first being the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  A true American destination.

I won't even begin to list all the things we saw, but many are true, one of a kind bits of history.  And if you like music, you will certainly find something that blows you away.. I sure did!

Janis Joplin's Porsche

Coupe used in ZZ Top video

It is true, apparently that many musicians live their lives on the edge, and some did not have such a happy ending.

Jimi Hendrix first draft of Purple Haze

But they did leave behind the music that we love to listen to; the music that makes us sing along and laugh when we can remember the words!

And the second attraction was the house used in the movie, A Christmas Story.  The interior of the house was not used in the film, but rather a set constructed in Canada, where a few other scenes were filmed.

We checked out the museum across the street from the house and found lots of things used in the movie.

I loved the knit cap that Ralphie wore during the 'lick the frozen flag pole' scene!