June already?

I can't believe it's June already. For those of us on the Gulf Coast that means the start of another hurricane season. That very real concern is complicated this year by the oil spill in the gulf. What happens if we have a storm? How much more environmental damage will there be? The oil spill by itself is horrendous to those of us who live here and get to be concerned about not only a way of life, but about how this will affect the environment for years to come. The threat of a storm on top of that is somewhat mind-boggling. How far would a storm wash the oil ashore? How far in to the bays and estuaries? How far up the rivers? How many species will be affected? How far reaching will this be at the end of the day? How many years will it take to recover (for the people and for the plants and animals)?
On to another subject that is less traumatic. My garden is producing. The lettuce is gone and that is not surprising since it is in the 90's with a lovely high humidity and heat indexes at the century mark. Much fun is to be had when mowing the grass in this weather. I'm getting tomatoes and cucumbers on an almost daily basis right now. The peppers aren't doing as well this year so far. I don't know how much longer the broccoli will continue to produce, but for now I am still getting some. On the other hand, the cauliflower was a bust this year. I have sweet potatoes in and cannot wait to have some from my very own garden this fall. I plan to put out some regular potatoes in the next few days. I should have done it already, but I have been a little busy. I bought what I thought was a squash plant. Imagine my surprise when instead of crookneck squash little cantaloupes started showing up. I love cantaloupe so this is not a tragedy, but I will miss the squash. There is only so much room in my raised bed gardens and I will have to deal with the produce that I do have.
As for my crafty life, I have finished The Everlasting Blanket. Eight hundred forty seven squares later it is laying across the end of my bed where I can admire it daily. It fits my double bed nicely and I cannot get a picture of it all, but did take a halfway decent shot of it just after ends were woven and trimmed and it got spread across the bed.

The Christmas table runner is still in progress and is about 70 inches long on the loom right now. I think I have about 36 inches or so to go. The picture was from a month ago and it was only at 37 inches at that point. There is much progress on it.

All of the ends will need trimming and weaving in at the end of the project after it gets a good wash to set things. I'm looking forward to it being complete, because I have several more ideas in my head for the loom and it's next project.
I also completed the Scraps No More Afghan. I'm sorry to say that I still have scraps of worsted weight yarn left in the stash. To combat that issue, I have started a crocheted afghan to (hopefully) use up the rest of the current batch.
Is it frightening that I am seriously considering starting another sock yarn blanket? DH has asked for one to go in our camper and I'm really thinking about it. I do know if I do it that it will be another long-term project and something that I work on between other projects. I enjoyed seeing the first one come together.
I am over halfway through my Mission Possible 2010 list. I still need to complete the Landscape Shawl (not started yet), the Dishcloth Baby Blanket (about 1/3 complete), another 2 or 3 hats for MT25 to make the listed goal (I have the yarn for another 7 I think), and a dishcloth that I have not begun. That's not bad for the beginning of June. I have over 6 months to complete those last few things. I have a list of another 6 things that is the beginning of the next crafty to do list.
As far as my personal health goals go, I am still exercising on a fairly regular schedule and still trying to watch what I eat. It's hard for me sometimes, but I know it will be worth it in the end. I want a treadmill, but won't buy one right now. the one that I want is more than I want to pay right now so will stick with the Leslie Sansone walking videos. I love those things. I can pretty much do them anywhere that I have a dvd player and I don't need extra equipment. I work up a good sweat and when I do a new one, I can feel the muscles talking to me the next day.
Off to have some lunch and maybe get a picture of the Scraps No More afghan while the sun is shining.

April Showers? Where are they?

I'm sitting at the computer in my "office" as DH calls it. I call it the craft room, but it works as both. Out the window I can see the garden growing. I'm wondering where my April showers are. I might have to go out and water the garden. I'm waiting ever so patiently for tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers to show up. I'm already picking lettuce and broccoli. Salads are my friend. They are especially my friend since I started working out and trying to drop a few pounds.
I finally took pictures and took stock of what I bought while in Dallas. I got 10 skeins of Rowan Denim, 10 skeins of Berroco comfort DK, 1 skein of Lana Grossa Meilenweit, 1 skein of Indulgence, 2 skeins of Regia 4 ply, and 8 skeins of Happy Feet. That's not counting the cotton 3 and 5 ply I got at the weaving store. I didn't realize just how much I got until I was counting skeins. 32 skeins of yarn added to my stash. I did send out 12# of yarn to go to another home the other day and about half of what I got at the weaving store will be used in the Christmas Runner that I'm making for the holidays at my daughter's house. We always do Christmas there so I thought I'd weave her a festive runner for the table.
It is red, green, white and gold. The gold is subtle and the red, green and white are dominant. I like it so far, but as you can see I just started so I may change my mind about it yet.
In other crafty news, I plan to make a belt to go with my Einstein Coat (which still needs ends sewn in and buttons found). I want to make a cloche to go with it for the winter too and have enough of the 220 to do both. I have yarn for 5 more hats for MT25, I've started a pair of socks for DH and am steadily working on the Everlasting Blanket. I have less than 130 squares to go and then need to do the border on it. I'm hoping to complete it within the next month. We'll see how that goes. The Scraps No More Blanket is waiting it's turn for some attention, but is on hold until the Everlasting is finished. I've been tempted to cast on the Landscape Shawl, but am holding out until I finish something else. So many plans, so little time. I am making slow progress on my Mission Possible list. I have 5 of twelve things complete and two are really close. If I can finish them before the end of May I will be ahead of the game.
Oh, by the way, I was actually able to give blood again on Tuesday. That's two times in a row. My iron and I fight over whether it's high enough for donation. It's fine as far as my health goes. I'm not anemic or anything; it's just sometimes too low to donate.
Time for some lunch. Exercise is done for the day. yippee. Always glad to have it finished. I may do another session, but that will be later.

What's happening?

Ahh, back from my trip to Dallas and then to the Strawberry Festival. Since I've been home we have redone our bathroom(s). We did the floor and paint in both of them and they both really needed it. I also got some new accessories for my bathroom. My shower curtain was dismal and my corner caddy had seen better days some time ago. I hate to buy new stuff until the old is beyond redemption so I had been waiting. Add that to the fact that I wasn't sure what color I was painting and it just made more sense to wait.
How do you know you like a color? Well, for me it was the fact that I had painted a bedroom three years ago in a color called Dapper Tan and liked it because it was very neutral and yet it wasn't white or eggshell which I've seen enough of and then when we went to choose a paint color for the bathrooms I chose the exact same color (in a semi gloss instead of flat, but really the same color) and didn't realize it until after we'd had it mixed and brought it home. Three years and you choose the same color = liking a color. That's how I know that I like this color. I wouldn't wear it, but it looks good on my walls.
On the knitting front I have finished the Einstein except for weaving in ends and finding some buttons for it. I really like it so far. I think I will make a belt to go with it. Deciding on a knit or woven belt right now. I still plan to make a cloche to go with it. I will work on the Everlasting Blanket next week. (House to myself = doing just what I want to do) My son will be here, but he's never actually here. DH will be back at work and my mom will be gone on vacation for another week. I won't have to cook, things will stay clean (mostly) and there is knitting, weaving, reading, gardening, and listening to podcasts to be done. My only commitment is a blood drive on Tuesday.
I'm still working on my craft room. I need to rearrange some so that my new Flip loom has a spot of it's own. I think I have figured out where it's going so it's a matter of moving things and trying out the configuration.
I made new dish towels on my Flip while I was in Dallas. Here's a picture...

I got four towels out of my warp. I got four and not the three I expected because I forgot to weave some hem length on each of the towels. Duh. If you don't want fringe you need to hem and to hem and have towels the size you want you need to weave extra. Should have been a no-brainer and yet...
Off to knit or weave or play in the garden or just stand in the doorway and look at my bathroom.

I'm in Dallas for another couple of days and then it's home to get ready for the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula, LA. We will be gathering at my dad's house for fun, strawberries, the parade, a shrimp boil, and much family togetherness. By the end of the weekend I may have decided that it's too much family togetherness, but you know how that goes. I hope my mom has watered the garden.
After that, we are going to do some work on our bathrooms. I need some help with part of it and DH will help with the stuff that I'm not sure how to do and we will have a nice newly covered floor and freshly painted walls in our bathroom. The plan is to change out the flooring in the other bathroom too. When we bought our "mobile home" or "manufactured home" or whatever the current name is there was carpet in both bathrooms. I personally don't know why you put carpet in a bathroom. I totally understand a small area rug, but not carpet. A small rug can be taken out to dry and air, but carpet is just there. It doesn't make sense to me.
On the knitting front, I have about 3/4 of a sleeve left to knit on the Einstein Coat. It's going well and I love the color. I'll have enough yarn left to knit myself a cloche to go with it and possibly a little extra. The Everlasting Blanket has not seen much action since I've been here, but will as soon as I finish with the Einstein. I've bought yarn while in Dallas. I made the trip to the Woolie Ewe and to the Shabby Sheep so of course I have new yarn. Some is for knitting and some of it will be for weaving with. I'll write up what I bought in a future post.
I still plan to work through some of my stash this year. Some I'll be working into afghans for the next winter. I can totally use the acrylic yarns I have to make some very nice afghans that can be tossed into the washer and not need special care. I hope to have a few for MT25 by the time fall rolls around. I'm still working on hats for them too. Now that it has warmed up I plan to just slip a hat in between other projects over the spring and summer and into fall. I don't know how people are as productive as they are. I feel like I'm the tortoise except that it's not a race and I don't notice the progress sometimes.
I've enjoyed my time away, but I know that I am a person who likes to have her routine. I can and do go with the flow if I need to, but I really like my own space with my own things and to know what I'm doing when. Other than DH, who will come back to work after we finish the bathroom work, I will miss the treadmill in the fitness room here. I've been spending about an hour a day on it and we are now friends. That's a good thing since we have eaten out so much while I've been here. DH has been laughing at me because I'm wearing my pedometer practically all the time and I've been running up and down the stairs here at the hotel.
I actually raced DH up the other day. I put him on the elevator, waved, dashed around the corner and up the stairs and was waiting when the elevator got to our floor. DH can go down the stairs, but up isn't in the cards yet after his surgery. Three flights of stairs isn't bad. It's good cardio and it's fun to do something silly like race an elevator once in a while.
I want to get back to my knitting machines too. I still haven't really learned to use my Artisan 45B. I find it intimidating. Between the fact that it's a standard gauge and has a ribber, it is a little more complicated than my other machines. I don't have a really good basic book for using it and I wish I did. I'll just have to do it and learn it on my own. Time to go home and relearn what button does what on the carriage. I like to learn so I know I can do this. It will just take practice.
Off to work on the Einstein and listen to The Knitmore Girls podcast. Why yes, I am a multi-tasker, why do you ask?

A New Friend

I came to Dallas and went to a weaving store White Rock Weaving and made friends with a 25" Flip loom from Schacht. It's a little bigger than I pictured it, but not too big to use.
I of course had to buy some yarn to play with on it and now have three dishtowels on the loom. I'm only about ten inches into the first one and it will be just a plain weave. I've decided that weaving is just as enticing for me as knitting is. Those are Heather's socks laying on the warp on the new Flip loom. There's a window right there so the lighting is awkward. Hotels are fun that way.
So far in Dallas I have finished Heather's socks
and I only have a sleeve and a half to go on the Einstein Coat. This picture was taken before I started the sleeve.

Well, there's the seaming and buttons to find, but really not much to go. I'm still working on the Everlasting Blanket and I don't think it will be everlasting. There are about 700 squares complete on it and about 200 to go.

I might have another two months of work on it. It would be faster if I didn't have at least three projects going at one time.
When I get home I still have to seam the Purple Cardi and that set will be done too. I just haven't taken the time to do the seaming on it yet. Purely laziness on my part. I just lost interest in the project. I might have taken too long on it. I kept putting off finishing the knitting to do other things and just couldn't get back into it when I finished the other projects that I had going.
Time to sign off and go get my exercise in. I'm trying hard to keep up with my exercise routine while I'm out of town.

Another year older

Well, I had a birthday and am now a year older. Shouldn't I feel older? I really haven't noticed a difference unless you count the fact that my children are grown and I have grandchildren. I don't feel any different than I did several years ago.
On to something you might care about or maybe not, but it's what's been going on lately.
The 2010 Mission Possible list:

1. Momof4’s Black and White on the loom now.completed 1/20/2010
2. Momof4’s Everlasting Blanket over 500 squares so about 2/3 done.
3. Bella’s socks. completed 1/21/2010
4. Momof4’s Scraps no More barely started. I have about 24" and am aiming for about 60
   
5. Momof4’s MT25 hats I want to get at least 12 done this year. #10 complete. I have one hat that needs seaming and one on the machine.
   
6. Einstein coat from the yarn I got for Christmas Bottom complete and bodice started.
   
7. Landscape Shawl also from yarn for Christmas
   
8. Aiden’s socks started 1/21/2010, completed 2/12/2010
9. Heather’s socks One sock done and one at the halfway point.
   
10. Dishcloth Baby Blanket
11. 2 Woven scarves 1 completed 3/13/2010. Pink cotton shawl/scarf on loom for granddaughter.
    
12. Dishcloth

That means that I am making some progress on my list. I will hopefully get something complete while I'm in Dallas next week. I'm over 600 squares on the Everlasting Blanket and will probably take that with me along with Heather's socks and the Einstein Coat. Three projects (especially since two are rather large) should be enough to keep me busy for the week and a half I'll be there. It would be awesome to complete all three, but I will be happy to just make some progress. Hopefully, I will come home with one of them finished. My days will be my own since DH will be at work. That means that I will knit and go to the workout room to try to keep myself on the right track.
I got my car out of the shop last week and was happy to have it back. There was a bit of work that needed doing. Most of that work was maintenance. Some things just need to be done when your car has 104,000 miles on it. If you don't do said maintenance work, you get stuck on the side of the road and if you're smart you saw it coming when that happens. Cars won't go forever without someone taking care of them. (neither will anything else really)
Okay, so I have three knitting machines, a vase full of knitting needles, more than a closet full of yarn (most of which no one would give me a nickel for),one loom with another in my sights now, and I really need to know why I'm looking at Spindles and fiber. I don't spin. I don't need to spin. I don't have room for more fibery stuff. That is a slippery slope that I don't need to be on. Nuff said.
I still don't have the Purple Cardigan seamed up. Why? Just can't bring myself to do it. The measurements are correct according to the schematic. I really need to pin it together and try it on to make sure it will fit before I seam it up. It should. I should just go ahead and make myself do it. I wonder if I haven't because I didn't put it on the "list" for this year so it won't count toward my 12 items finished. That's not a good reason not to finish something. I could just add it to the list and have 13 things finished. okay. This week. Seam sweater. I'll report back and let you know if I actually did it.
No new pictures. I should get out camera and take some. I should finish something to take pictures of.
Gardening news to come. Soon I hope. I want some fresh vegetables.

Is Spring here yet? My roses are starting to get buds so I think that spring is almost here in the deep south. I have tomatoes waiting for our last freeze of the year to go in and there is broccoli and cauliflower in the garden along with lettuce and spinach. It's lovely here today and makes me just want to sit on the back porch and watch the birds at the feeders while I knit.
I tried out my daughter's Kindle the other day. I really like it. I read quickly and it would be so convenient to have access to that many books at one time. I might even get to read and reread some of the classics. Ah well, that's another day.
I finally have my purple shell and cardigan off of the LK150. Seems like it took forever. I still have seaming to do on the cardigan and buttons to find for it, but I really feel like I've made some progress. I'm also plugging away on the Scraps No More Blanket which is based on a Stephanie Pearl-McPhee "Traveler's Life Afghan" from her Casts Off Book. I'm using scraps of acrylic yarns and getting them out of my stash. They aren't beautiful yarns, but they will make a lovely afghan for throwing on the ground for picnics or for the grandkids to wrap up in to watch tv without me having to worry about spills or stains. Warmth is more important in this case and these yarns will do the trick nicely. The Everlasting Blanket is still coming along. I had put it aside for a while and picked it up for WIP Dancing in the Ravelympics. I made some progress, but it's not finished. I got about 60 squares done during that time and I could only work on it at home as it's gotten too big to carry along. My carry along project is a pair of vanilla socks for my oldest daughter. I've now started them three times. They weren't originally going to be vanilla socks, but I cannot do a short row heel on toe up socks that I like so I ripped them back two times and finally caved and I'm working cuff down. I really need to figure out the toe up short row heel or another toe up heel that I like. My Einstein Coat is almost halfway done and granddaughter has asked for one. I told her she would have to wait til I got a couple of things finished and them we would go pick out yarn for one for her. (Something machine washable so her mom won't kill me.)
My Mission Possible 2010 goals are still clicking along even though the purple set wasn't on the list. I have four of the projects on needles and one of the woven projects is on the loom. I have 10 of the charity hats complete and one that only needs seaming leaving one more of those to do before I can mark that off my list too. (I will probably do more hats, but I only put 12 on the list for the year.) I do have a few more projects on an unofficial list in case I finish the first list. I'm hoping to knock at least two things off the list by the end of March. We will see how it goes.
I have decided to get another rigid heddle loom. I really like weaving and I think I can use up some of my stash and then I'll have room for some of the things I've been wanting and won't get because of how much yarn I already have. One of my granddaughter's already wants a shawl. She's not quite four so I think I will weave a small one for her. I can also weave some blankets for Project Linus if I get the bigger loom. I could weave panels on the Cricket and sew them together and still might do that, but it would be easier with bigger panels to start with.
I hope everyone is having a good week. I am. It didn't cost as much as I feared to get my car fixed and out of the shop. I feel blessed. Oh, and the IRS finally listed my return as accepted. I was beginning to worry that they lost it. Some glitch wouldn't let me e-file it so I had to send a paper return. Off to the knitting and to listen to some Craft Lit or WeaveCast.