Ripping back a few rows

Well on Friday I ripped back a few rows of a crochet ripple afghan. I started this project April 22, 2007 put it down for a very long time and then tried to start it over. When I did I think I started with the wrong row so on Friday I ripped back 4 rows and I think I have figured out how to start the afghan again. I think I should start with row 2 and continue with row 2 until I have finished the afghan. I started reading While My Pretty One Knits, by Anne Canadeo I picked it up at the Greensboro Library on Saturday, my local library did not have the book. It is a good read to me so far I love cozy mysteries. I need to get started on my October dishcloth swap. Maybe tomorrow I will start the dishcloth. Posting a picture of my UFO ripple.

October

The first day of October the 10th month of the year. Only 3 months left in 2009 time passes quickly when you are working and struggling to pay the bills. I have a crochet afhgan UFO to take to work tomorrow so that I can get some help with the finish. I have all the squares done and now all I need to do is stitch the afhgan together and do the edge. It's Friday eve and I am happy about the up coming weekend. I have nothing much to say tonight. Since it is the first day of the month and I wanted to start the month off with a post.

Swapping!

My swap partner received her cloth yesterday so I can post a picture. I am ready for the weekend we have 3 days to go. Tomorrow is payday and it is already gone. When will I catch a break. I started reading Mama Dearest, by E. Lynn Harris his last book he died this summer. He was a great author. Books are waiting for me to pick them up at the Greensboro Library so a nice little road trip on Saturday will be in order. So far no knitting or crochet this week. I feel the need to cast on maybe tomorrow the last day of September. I am posting a picture of the dishcloth I sent my September swap partner and the dishcloth I did not feel was good enough to send the my partner. I signed up for the October dishcloth swap and I have a dishcloth in mine for this swap. Happy crafting. The picture on the top is the swap partner dishcloth and on the bottom the one I did not think was good enough to send.

Where did my weekend go?

Where did my weekend go? wow they pass by so fast even when you spend most of them like I do with no money and nothing interesting to do. Well at least it was the weekend and that meant no work and barely talking to anyone on the phone. On Friday when I got home I had a nice surprise waiting 2 very pretty crocheted dishcloths and 2 postcards from my September swap partner from the Ravelry group dishcloths ar us, JanetMB is a great crocheter. That was the highlight of my Friday. Saturday was slightly cool and rainy the only place I managed to go was Walmart to take my Mother to the Pharmacy. Then we came home and the rest of the day I tried to clean my closet and sort through my yarn. I have a lot of yarn and I am trying not to buy anymore yarn until I have most of my stash either knit or crocheted into something. I placed most of my UFO's and I did not have as many as I thought in one place. The list goes like this 2 granny square afghans, 2 crocheted scarves, 1 crocheted ripple afghan that I really think I need to rip back at least 3 rows, because on the first attempt at picking up an unfinished project to complete I think I started with the wrong row it looks slightly off, 1 crocheted market bag just the band and the straps to go, and last but not least 1 knit scarf weaving the ends and making and attaching giant pom-poms to go. Absolutely nothing to watch on tv on Saturday, so we watched 48 hours back to back episodes. Today I watched Peyton Place love the movie it reminds me of why I hate small town's they are not as wholesome and people might think, to me they are places with gossips and self righteous people with sticks up there ass it reminds me of the town where I was raised and the town in which live and pay taxes so before you get started since I do pay taxes here I have the right to complain so do tell me if I don't like it move this is why I go to work and come home and limit the number of people in my circle, and cooked a leg of lamb, I think I left it in the oven just a little to long. It was not as rare as it should have been. This was my first attempt at cooking a leg of lamb sad but true this just let you know what a poor and sad existence I suffer though year after year and before anyone gets started I know there are people that have worse lives. I digress even though the lamb was a little to done it was not tough and had a good favor. I used olive oil, sea salt, oregano, cumin, and pinch of cayenne pepper also several sprigs of rosemary cut from my very own rosemary bush. So basically no knit or crochet and no longing at crochet stitches on youtube to brush up on my stitches. Well maybe next weekend. The picture is of the beautiful dishcloths I received from my swap partner. Oh by the way the closet is shaping up and not looking half bad.

Oh it's Friday Eve!

Damn, Damn, Damn one more day and it is the weekend! I am not sure why I am so happy about this because I am broke and can't go any where or do anything. This means the the weights that I feel on my chest will remain because I can't get out of town even for a few hours. Oh well what can I say my life sucks and then I will die. On the bright side the Grey's Anatomy season premiere was great and very sad George died. I loved George and I wish TR Knight would have stayed around. In a few scenes I wanted to cry. I did not wait until this weekend to finish knitting the Bias Scarf I posted about yesterday , I worked on it and did the bind off tonight while watching Grey's Anatomy. Today at lunch I knit a few more row's on my sock. The plan is to add a few more row's tomorrow during lunch. I have a skein of Duo jarbo Garn it reminds me of homespun and I am not sure what to do with this skein of yarn. Maybe a nice scarf but what pattern should I use for the scarf. After listening to the lionbrand podcast yesterday I took a look at a scarf done in Vanna's choice that I might try with this yarn. It was a very pretty crochet scarf. This weekend I will post a picture of the finished bias scarf and maybe the almost finished crochet lace shells afghan. Happy Friday ever.

Wednesday update

Well there was no knitting in the car at lunch today because I did not have my car. Gin had to use the car for work today. So after eating lunch in the break room lunch time knitting was done in meeting room A at department of social services. It was semi dark and quite, the break room is just to loud keep up with your stitches. I love this new show on fox Glee! it is so funny. Two day to go until the weekend happy, happy. Lionbrand's podcast was good very enjoyable to listen to the podcast while knitting a few rows on a long time UFO Bias Scarf. This UFO aka: UNFINISHED OBJECT has been hanging around for a very long time. One past podcast this weekend should do the trick and the scarf will get finished. Then a trip to YouTube and a few practice rows the double and triple crochet to start adding rows to the Crochet Lace Shells that I started in maybe 2006? Very red and very pretty. The picture is of the second sock only a few more rows and it will be time for the heel flap.

Fall Equinox

Today is the first day of fall. I love fall the weather cools off the leaves change colors. The only thing I don't like are the spiders. You have to be very careful when you walk out the door every morning. Well I had a long hard day at work, I am trying very hard to get all my case for the month processed by the end of the month. It is going to be hard. The day had a great end because tonight I had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants with some very dear friends. My daughter was there her best friend home visiting her family, two of my friends and my friends mother. It was a lot of fun to catch up and laugh after a long day at work. We went to Macaroni Grill. I did not get to listen to the lionbrand podcast tonight so I will have to listen tomorrow. So no knitting today I will catch up tomorrow and do a little knitting in my car at lunch time tomorrow. We can no long eat lunch in our offices and sometimes it is hard to concentrate no your stitches in a lot of noises. So I plan to work a few rows in the car. Yesterday I finished reading Casting Spells, by Barbara Bretton. A very good book about a witch that owns a yarn shop.

A finished project

I finally weaved the needs on a scarf I started month's ago. I cast on beginner's basic Ribbed -for -Her Pleasure Scarf Feb 08, 2009 an today I finally finished weaving the ends. The scarf is for my Daughter. I am on the hunt for 2 skeins on Lamb's Pride Bulky M250 Cranberry Swirl so that I can knit a hat to go along with the scarf. I cast on and finished knitting a new Filippi Scarf this weekend. It is not as long as I like and I am considering ripping it out and starting over again with a larger needle size. Maybe that would make the scarf longer. I used romni wools . I have one skein that I received in a yarn swap through crochetville. I am watching the season finally of True Blood and it is very interesting. Well the season end was great and I am not sure what happened to Bill. The wait will be so long. The picture is of the scarf I knit for my daughter.

A Good Faith Effort!

Well tonight while listening to the new lionbrand podcast, I cast on and knit a few rows on my sock that I have been trying to get done since my sock class in the spring. I love to listen to the podcast I find it relaxing and the knitting also helped in that effort. Only 3 days before the weekend I am so happy about the short week. This was just a update to let everyone know that I am working on my sock once again.

Weekend cooking

I decided to cook today. I have a Knit along with Debbie Macomber the Cedar Cove Collection knitting pattern book, at the end of the book it has recipe's. I tried clam spaghetti. Great recipe. Quick and easy is what I am all about when it comes to cooking. although I want to get one of Juila Child's cookbooks the art of french cooking. The movie that's out reminded me of how much I loved watching Julia Child Saturday's on PBS when I was young. This was the days before I knew anything about cable and if I did you would not be able to get it in Brutonville right outside of the city limits on the big Candor with it's one stop light. It was years after I was grown and living in Asheboro. It took awhile for cable and satellite to make it to the area. I think satellite made it first then cable. So if you had was channels 4-45 if you had a good antenna. All the good cooks did shows on PBS. My swap partner dishcloth is going well and I have just a few more rows to go. I checked on half.com and amazon you would not believe the price for this cookbook they go from reasonable to outrageous. I need to spend a little time knitting so that I can finish the dishcloth and make a good faith effort on the socks that I have been working on since this spring. Happy long weekend. The pictures and of the dish I made tonight. The first is the red pepper, garlic, and onion sauteed in olive oil, next is the finished product. I love the smell of garlic and onion.

Quick post

Well we did not get to do our midweek girls night out. My friend from work had an unexpected surgery and has to be out of work for the next 3 days. So it looks like we will have to make plans for another night. Oh well the bright spot is only 2 day's to go and I will have a nice long weekend. I have a good start on another dish cloth. I might send to my September swap partner. Happy crafting.

Not so marvelous Saturday

So I spent the entire week looking forward to my weekend only to be kicked in the knees by the fact that my Mother spent the day babysitting here at the house. My Mother moved in with me 3 years ago, and I knew but was not prepared for the fact that this would go along with the territory! and I find it hard to deal. Please don't get me wrong I wish no little child ill will because I once was a little child and I gave birth and had a child and my nieces and my nephew where and are still children and I love my child and I love my nieces and nephew, and my cousin . How ever between the ages on 0-12 if I had a choice I would not spend more time than I need to with them. I am not a young child kind of girl and really could put off grandchildren for a very long time. So my Mother had to and as I am writing this is still babysitting my cousin her great-great niece who is 6, my niece who is 10 her granddaughter has finally gone home. I wonder when I will be allowed to become the hermit that I am. Well when I got up this morning I made a quick trip to Walmart to pick up some olive oil to use while I tried to dry some of my romas tomatoes and for tomato sauce out of some roma tomatoes. I think they are the last of the tomatoes out of my garden. I forgot to take a before roasting picture of my tomatoes but I am posting and after roasting picture. It is nice to have friends on the Internet. The recipe I was looking for a blogging friend of mine sent it to me after reading one of my post. He blog at www.threemilesinmyshoes.blogspot.com . The recipe is from tom grey and his blog for some reason I could not find the post with the recipe. My possible swap partner dish cloth is going well I am on row 45 only 7 more row until bind off. I watched the funeral mass for Senator Ted Kennedy today it was great and then watched some of the last few minutes at his finally resting place. He was a great person. I wish I could have met him. I am posting a picture of the roasted tomatoes and the sauce I made today.

Swapping

My swap partner received her dish cloth today so I will post a picture. I have signed up for the September swap. I love swapping and the dish cloth swap is the best because I can afford to swap. If you are a member of Ravelry visit and join the dishcloths r us group. You can swap every month. I have a large stash of cotton yarn so full skeins and several partial balls left over from crocheting or knitting other cloths. I need to find a quick easy grocery bag and use all my scrap cotton yarn to make the bag. Today a friend of mine from working invited by to join her and her daughter and 2 ladies her daughter works with to a midweek girls night out next week. We are going to Flying Pig Food and Spirits. I am wishing my life away but I can't wait until next Wednesday. Another friend of mine told me that the pizza was great and a good price. I hope the sale margarita's I am not driving so I think am midweek week margarita will hit the spot. Recast a dishcloth tonight it might turn out to be the cloth I send to my September swap partner.

Last full week in August

This is the last full week in August and in our area both in the City of Asheboro and the County school started today. I still have one niece and a nephew in school and two nieces in college. Summer as almost come to an end summer coming to an end in North Carolina means nothing I am sure we will have hot day well into October. Only four months and 2009 will come to an end. I wonder if my year will end better than last year, I am not holding out much hope that it will end any better the last. I finished up last night and mail today my August dishcloth swap with the dishcloths ar us ravelry group. I will post a picture when my partner receives her cloth. I have lot of roma tomatoes and I need to find something to do with them. I had planned to dry them out in the oven but I can't find recipe I found online last week. So I have a cookbook I brought years ago when I was part of a cookbook book club. Smith & Hawken The Gardeners' Community Cookbook , compiled and written by Victoria Wise. I think I will look for a nice sauce for the romas that I have left in the garden. I might cast on a dishcloth for the September dishcloth swap. It so nice to go out in my backyard and clip off sprigs of rosemary when I need it to cook. We put a Boston butt in the oven on Sunday and I clipped a few sprigs of rosemary to add a little something while the roast cooked. This is Rosie the rosemary.

Summer Flower's

Summer is slowly and hotly winding down. I still have a lot of Roma tomatoes in the garden and both my green and Japanese eggplants and Cheyenne peppers are still producing. I can't make it out to my fig tree's before the bird's and bee's. I guess with the fig's I need to check everyday. Lionbrand podcast was out today and I listened while working on the dish cloth I need to send to my swap partner at dish cloths r us group at Ravelry. Just to relax my plan is to read a few more pages of The Beach Street Knitting Society And Yarn Club, by Gil McNeil. It must be a wonderful and awesome thing to be creative and able to write a book. It seems to me it would be very exciting and satisfying I wish I had this gift. I have no gifts and therefore I spend most of my time at this that are draining and and unsatisfying they add nothing to my life. Reading, knitting, and crochet add to my life time with my family and close friends. Maybe one day I can add to that list. Happy crafting. I need to win the lottery. I need to buy ticket's so that I have a chance to win the lottery.

Lovely weekend.

I love Roma tomatoes! They are great for sauces and wonderful in a salad. I have a lot of them this year in my garden. Next year I will put a few in large container's and see how well the produce. I think I am to lazy for another full out in the ground garden. It is to much work if you have to work 40 hrs per week. When I get home from work I am to tired and depressed to go out and work in the garden and by the time it cools off enough to work in the garden it is almost time to go to bed. A container garden will be easier to maintain. I had to recast they dishcloth for my swap partner over on Ravelry. It is a good thing that we have until the 24th to get our cloths in the mail. I had the day off on Friday spent most of the day trying to clean my bedroom and made great progress. Then went to Books-A-Million and picked up my copy of The Beach Street Knitting Society And Yarn Club, by Gil McNeil first published in Great Britain as Divas Don't Knit in 2007, so far a good read and a very pretty cover. I am watching Merlin and I am ready for True Blood later tonight. The picture I have posted is of the Roma tomatoes in my garden. I have more ready to take off the vine. I hope to slow roast a few in the oven this year to freeze. So that this winter I can use them to make sauce or soup.

August Dishcloth Swap

I had a long day at work today but it was all good because when I checked the mail box today after I arrived home from work I had a package from my August swap partner at Dishcloths ar us on Ravelry. I received a beautiful dishcloth and postcards and a bar of soap. It is so wonderful to receive something besides a bill in the mail. I am still working the dishcloth I plan to send my partner. I love my Slow Cooker! have everything laid out to put in the crock pot tomorrow. I have country-style spareribs the only ingredient I am missing is celery seed. So I think I can to with out it and move on since I have all the other ingredients. This is the second time this week I will use my Slow Cooker. Sometimes I forget how helpful a slow Cooker can be if you work.The recipe I used is from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook Feasting with your Slow Cooker, by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good. The picture I am posting is of the things I received in the mail from my swap partner.

How does my garden grow!

I am a bad blogger. It is August 11th and this is the first post of the month. It is hot here in North Carolina mid 90's so the heat is on. We did get some rain today. I have cast on for the August dishcloth swap for my swap partner over at Ravelry Dishcloths ar us group. I am reading Dropped Dead Stitch, by Maggie Sefton. My mother picked some great looking tomatoes out of the garden today and okra, cucumber's. The picture I am posting are tomatoes from my garden. I think they are German Johnson's.

Dish Cloth Swap part II

My partner in the July dish cloth swap from the dish cloths r us group over on Ravelry received her dishcloths so that mean I can post pictures of the dish cloths I mailed to my partner. I enjoyed the swap with this group and I have signed up for the August swap. I have not spent any time knitting this week. I have an idea of what I want to do for the August swap. I am very please with the fact that tomorrow is Friday and payday! I will have money for a few minutes. Posting a picture of what I sent to my July swap partner.

Dish cloth swap

I received 2 beautiful dish cloths from my swap partner over at ravelry. I participated in the July dishcloth swap in the dishcloth r us group. I have already signed up for the August swap. I love bright colors and Smilingdolphin sent 2 very pretty and bright dishlcoths 1 knit and 1 crochet. I have not heard weather or not the person I mailed to has received her package or not, I hope so it was mailed on Friday. I am posting a picture of the dishcloths I received. It is very nice to come and have something other than bills in the mail. This is just a quick post no time for reading or knitting this weekend I helped my daughter move into her first apartment. I will tell you about that later.

Checking in on Humday.

Well its hum day and the weekend is on the horizon! I had a not to bad Sunday my daughter and I and her friend my second daughter went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I enjoyed the movie but I feel somethings that really needed to be in the movie did not make it to the movie. I would have loved to have Dumbledore come to get Harry at the Dursley's it was one of my favorite parts of the book. There was no Dobby or Kreacher and they are very important to the book to me, nothing about Bill and Fleur's engagement no funeral for Dumbledore. How will they tie all this together in the last movies. Monday was not so good long day at work due to a very important system on the computer not working all day. Tuesday not so bad at work and after work one of my dear friends picked me up at work and we went to David's a new restaurant in Asheboro. It looked great on the outside and inside and has a large variety of food. We both had Steaks and my ribeye was great, so was the steamed vegetables and french fries. It was a nice relaxing evening. Tonight I listened to the President talk about heath care reform and then the Lionbrand podcast and weaved the end to the dishcloth I plan to send to my swap partner on Friday. When my swap partner receives her package I will post a picture. I cut 2 eggplant of my Japanese eggplant and 1 from the green. We had some rain today but I think the long dry spell we and in late June early July did my squash and zucchini in and they are dying. I need to pull the squash and zucchini up and maybe plant the butternut squash I brought last weekend. I am posting another picture of my Japanese eggplant. It is amazing what you get from a tiny purple bloom.

A Wonderful Sunny Day

I did almost nothing today. I did spend sometime staking my tomato's. A few of my tomato cages needed a few stakes added and so did the tomatillo's. So I staked the tomato's and tomatillo's. I did not knit or crochet today . Spent sometime reading the second book in The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society series, by Beth Pattillo. I am posting a picture of the tomato's in my garden. My daughter will be her tomorrow and we are going to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Summer Garden

Well we had very good rain yesterday, and like always just when I was about to step out of the door it started to pour. When I got home from work the garden looked much better the rain really helped. Today we put a off brand of Miracle Grow. We have a lot of tomato's on the vine and my Tomatillo's are coming along I need to stake them. I will post a picture. Something happened with the dishcloth I was working on somewhere along the way I lost 3 stitches I had 35 and now only 32. So I have a backup dishcloth to send to my swap partner. I plan to mail off this weekend.

Monday Eve

Quick post to say I am still working on the Dishcloths r us July swap. I spent the day watching t.v. and knitting. I spent time on Ravelry and Crochetville. Work tomorrow and I am ready for Friday already. Great new episode of Trueblood to night. It rained for half a minute around 11:30 and I hope it will start again and continue my garden looks pretty sad. I water yesterday but you just can't substitute for nature by watering your self. I hope the book I ordered will come in by Wednesday I need a good read. I am the proud grower of a great Rosemary bush posting a picture. I had to cut some branches off and tie it up hoping to get the bush to grow up instead of around.

Oh how sweet it is...

Oh how sweet it is because it is the weekend baby! So it is late on Friday night and I don't have to get up and go to work tomorrow. I am almost finished with one of the dish cloths that I plan to send to my swap partner on Ravelry, with the dishcloth r us group, all I have left to do is weave the ends and take a picture so that after my partner has received I can add it to my projects on Ravelry and post a picture on Ravelry and here. I plan to cast on another dishcloth this weekend so that I can send more than one cloth to my partner. You know it is very relaxing to listen to a past lionbrand podcast and blog. I am posting a picture of the eggplant from my garden and I must say what a difference a few days make. On a previous post I have a picture on this eggplant I wish I could get more than one at a time. I think by the end on next week this could happen a few more blooms are on the plant. You can't make a Moussaka with one Japanese eggplant. The are long and slender not like the large eggplant that most of us are use to seeing in the store.

Friday Eve

Well I have made it to Thursday only one more day to make it through and my weekend will start. I am working on a dishcloth for my swap partner over at Ravelry, so far so good. I can't give the details because I have to wait until after the swap. It is a great looking pattern. We have in this part of NC hit a dry spell and we are only getting what seems like a few drops of rain. We need a nice steady slow shower. If we don't get rain by tomorrow I will need to water the garden. Well not much to report tonight. I just wanted to check in for a few minutes. Flower from my yard.

Tuesday Ramble

Well my lovely long weekend ended today when I had to get up and go to work. I wish I had asked for the day off so that I could have watched the Memorial service for Michael Jackson. I should have went to lunch at 1:00 instead of 12:00 today so I could have watched more than just the family traveling to the public memorial service. I must admit to the fact that I cried this evening when I watched the replay of Michael's daughter talk about her daddy and how wonderful he was as a father. I hope someone will air the memorial service all the way through again this weekend. Even though I had a nice long weekend I did not spend that much time knitting. I did finish my sock and as I stated in a previous post I cast on for the second sock. I joined a swap on Ravelry. A dishcloth swap with dishcloth ar us group that I joined sometime ago. I already have several finished dishcloths I can select from to send my swap partner but just in case I don't want to send a dishcloth that I already have done I cast on tonight and I am on row 7. This weekend on the family channel they are airing all the Harry Potter movies. I knew someone would so everyone could prepare for the latest Harry Potter that premiere's on next Wednesday. Since the movie premiere come in the middle of the week I try to get tickets on Friday for Saturday the matinee. Yesterday of course we put chicken on the grill and I made a squash casserole, my first and with the squash from my garden. The picture I am posting is of a squash that made it into the casserole. I have lots of little green tomato's trying to grow on the vine so happy.

Another Great Weekend.

Well my 4th saw great. Spent the day with most of my family. My Mother, Aunt, Cousins and Daughter and her Boyfriend and her friend Gin. We had a cookout the food was great my Daughter made Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs. I got the recipe from WFMY News 2 website in 2006. The kabobs turned out really well. Besides the Kabobs had hamburgers,hot dogs, ribs, and chicken, salad, slaw, macaroni and cheese, an peach cobbler. We had some family members that did not get to come so food was left over. So that means no cooking today. I finished up one sock and cast on for the second. I tried the sock on and it is a little big but it fits okay and it feels good. I forgot to take my camera so no pictures. I think I will need to take a class on circular needles, yes I know I have used double pointed for the sock but for some reason I could not get it on Thursday when I cast on and tried to start a blanket. The blanket was just straight knitting not in the round maybe I cast my stitches on to tight. My plan is to work on the hat I cast on last week and maybe try to cast on the blanket again. Garden talk things are moving along in the garden so far we have had some cucumbers and squash no zucchini yet but the eggplant has started to grow and the tomato's are in bloom. The picture is of the eggplant in the garden.

Seventh Month

It is already the seventh month of the year. I find it hard to believe. Time and the month's pass by so quickly when you have all those things to worry about examples the mortgage, electric, and the natural gas. I am listening to an old YarnCraft podcast while I post because there is nothing on t.v at this time. I plan to add a few more rows to the shaping of my sock. I had planned to start my 4th of July holiday weekend by not working tomorrow our office is closed on Friday, but I did not get my case processed through Monday today. So I will go to work tomorrow and leave at 12:00. I will have to push I only have a few to get done but it get hard when computer systems you depend on to aid you in the process of these cases are down and not working. Oh well such is life! Well happy crafting! I am posting a picture of a fig that is currently growing on one of the fig tree's in my backyard. I love fig's and this year I plan to cook with my figs. In the past my Mother has made preserves and we eat a few if we can get to the figs before the bees. I have notice on Foodnetwork and other places recipes for savory dishes, and fig tart lets. So if I manage this I will tell you. The fig is a strange tree you get fruit but no blooms. The leaves fall off every year in the fall and then in the spring one day the leaves sprout out and then one day out of no where the fig's start to grow. I find it strange because tomato's, squash, okra they all have blooms. People consider tomato's a vegetable but they are really a fruit. Peach trees bloom have a flower but not the fig. Okay I am finished with my ramble.

Shaping the toe

Well while listening to the Yarncraft podcast from Lionbrand tonight I finally started shaping the toe of my almost finished sock. So far so good. I will work on it again tomorrow night. I broke down and cast on a new project last night nothing big, just a hat I got the pattern I think last year in an offer to subscribe to to Vogue Knitting Magazine. You use on skein of Noro/KFI Kureyon. I have a skein on Noro I am not sure what kind I think it is silk garden. I lost the wrapper. The pattern is a simple rip stitch pattern. Just managed the cast on. I plan to cast on a baby afghan tomorrow. It is a free pattern from Lionbrand. I was trying so hard not to start a new project before I finished my socks. Oh well!. Its the last day in June and I hope tomorrow will be my last day of work until next Tuesday. The office is closed on Friday for the 4th and I asked for Thursday and next Monday off. I am trying very hard to get several cases done through Monday so that I can have the two extra days off. I plan to finish and this time I mean finish my sock and cast on and work as many rows and I can of the second sock in the pair over this long holiday weekend. My mother found the first cucumber of the season and I think by the end on the week we will have enough squash for a casserole. The squash casserole maybe a strictly southern thing I am not sure.

Saturday

Well here I am on a Saturday with 18 to 20 somethings in my living room listening to music and playing cards. So I think I have a long night ahead. It is my daughter's friend's and her cousin's. To me this was a long and sad week The death's of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett was very sad. Michael was a very talented singer and Farrah a great actress. I feel both to young to die. I am still reading Death by Cashmere and working on my sock . I have not spent time knitting since Wednesday but I plan to pick up my knitting tomorrow and shape the toe on my sock. I am trying very hard not to start any new projects before I finish the socks but it is very hard. I have the yarn and the circular needles for the baby afghan in the Leisure Arts pattern book The Shop on Blossom Street from the Debbie Macomber book. I want to cast on the baby block afghan. Since I spent some time last Sunday crocheting I want to finish an afghan I started I think in 2006 also. I really need to be strong. No new projects until my socks are done. Happy crafting.

Almost a Sock!

Well my first sock is almost a sock. I added a few rows tonight and by my measurements it is almost 8 inches and according to the direction I need to stop 2 inches before the end. So hopefully by the end of the week I will get the toe shaped and bind off by the weekend. I plan to start the second sock immediately after I finish the first. After last night and finishing up the baby afghans. I really want to do a little crochet. I have a red afghan that I started I think in 2006 maybe 2007 I really need to check past post's to see if they will give me a clue. While I was looking around Lion Brand Yarn's I noticed a wonderful and what looks like a very easy baby blanket. It is the Diagonal Comfort blanket in the pattern they use Cotton-Ease. I think I want to use one of the many baby blanket yarns I have in my stash. I have had this yarn for a long time. I have TLC Baby and Lion Brand Yarn Pound of Love. I think I will try my very best to at least finish the first sock and start the second before I start the baby afghan.

A Return to Crochet

Well I paid a visit to YouTube to brush up on my triple and double crochet. I found to great video's to help one to help me with an unfinished baby afghan in crochet lace shells and one in crazy or brick stitch. My daughter needs a gift for a friend's baby shower. So I found two UFOs and finished them today. The baby afghan's only needed a few stitches and a little end weaving. So she choose between the two afghan's and now I have one ready if she needs one for another friend. It seems so strange that her friend's are moving into the marrying and family starting stage of their lives. Still reading Death by Cashmere. No work on the sock today. Tomorrow I promise. I will spend a few minutes before I go to bed reading.

It's Friday Night!

Well it's Friday night and I am at home sitting in front of the t.v. watching 20/20, and surfing the net. I have not worked on my sock today. I will read later tonight. Spent some time sitting out on the deck very nice and relaxing. I am fighting the urge to start any new projects before I finish my socks. I want to start a scarf . I am really trying to be strong. A display at Bella Filati. I love chickens.

Friday Eve!

It's Thursday night and I can't believe I still have on more day before the weekend. I came home today and relaxed for a few minutes and then ate dinner, then spent time working on my long suffering sock project. I plan to read a few minutes before I go to sleep. So I think I will give myself at least a B for working on my sock almost everyday this week. Happy crafting!

Keeping a promise

I made a promise to myself that I would spend sometime every night knitting a few row's on my sock. So far I so good spent some time this evening after work knitting a few rows on the sock. I have been reading and visiting Ravelry and crochetville tonight. I don't think I will knit anymore tonight getting ready to get in bed and relax do some reading. I need to get Death by Cashmere read by the 26th. I should go to the bookstore and by the book so I can have the pattern at the end of the book. In a previous post I talked about my visit to Bella Filati in Southern Pines in a previous post. The picture is of the window at Bella Filati. www.bellafilati.com

Time

I feel that there is not enough time in a day to do the things that I want to do. First out of necessity I have to spend 8 hours per day working. Gotta pay the mortgage,car payment, and keep up the utilities. Then by the time you come home unwind for an hour or two it does not leave you with much time for reading, knitting, and blogging. So little time so much to accomplish. I made myself spent time knitting a few rows on my sock while I listened to this week's lionbrand podcast. I am determined to get both socks done before the end of the summer and start a new pair. Went by the library on Monday and picked up my interlibrary loan, Death by Cashmere, by Sally Goldenbaum it is A Seaside Knitters Mystery. I did not realize so many author's wrote knitting mysteries. I love the books because they don't go all CSI and at the end of the book some add either a recipe and pattern or just a pattern. I started the book last night and I think it will make another great summer read. It is better if you can buy the books that way later on you can try the pattern checking the book out of the library does not give you enough time. The flower is Spider Flower, Cleome Sparkler Hybrid (hassleriana) a very nice woman that I work with gave me a few plants. It is a very pretty flower. I received a catalog in the mail last week from Park Seed Co. In the catalog they have the plant listed as an annual but the plant that my friend gave me reseed's it self I think this one is the Blush it comes in 4 colors.

Weekend over

Sunday and a new episode of True Blood on HBO! It was great and I can't wait to see next week's. I did something that I hardly ever do I cooked today. It was very simple just baked chicken, fried okra, and box macaroni and cheese. Tried to knit a dishcloth had to rip it out again and made a trip to Walmart. My black eyed susan's are starting to bloom. Tomorrow's Monday and I am ready for the weekend.

World Wide Knit In Public Day!

Well I went to Southern Pines, NC to participate in WWKIPD. I had a great time meet some very nice ladies and a very nice young lady all of them great knitter's. We sat under a very big Magnolia tree and a few other's right by the downtown farmers market. I think the music went along with the farmers market. The WWKIPD was sponsored by Bella Filati the local yarn shop in Southern Pines. If you live in NC and you want to do a nice weekend road trip you need to make your way to downtown Southern Pines and Bella Filati! Everyone at the WWKIPD and Bella Filati very friendly. The shop has a lot of great yarn they had my favorite Noro love the stuff. To visit the website www.bellafilati.com Sign up for the newsletter and check out all the great yarn and classes. I have wanted to visit the shop for such a long time since right after I learned how to knit. Then we went to visit my cousin Rose and we went to Ruby Tuesday and had a great salad. After that off to my Aunt's house after a couple of hours went had dinner with them and paid a visit to the nursing home to see my Grandmother. Pretty good day today. I worked on my sock while knitting in public. That's me in the peach shirt.

Middle of the week

Well another long day at work. Then I went to my nieces graduation she graduated from High School today. She was accepted at Fayetteville State University and in late August she will be on her way to school. I did not get a chance to get a picture of her in her cap and gown. At the last minute the school decided to hold the graduation in the gym and I had to sit in the over flow section and did not make it in the gym. I had to watch on screen in the auditorium. At least they had air conditioning. So not to much on the knitting front. I Will spend a little time knitting. I need to do a little reading tonight. Picture of fish my daughter took during the cruise.

I vote that we stop Monday's!

Well it's Monday night and I am watching Big Bang, blogging and worked a few rows on my dishcloth. Long day at work, very busy. Went out and looked at the garden after work an things are looking good. I will watch the news tonight and if there is no rain in the forecast for tomorrow I will need to water when I get home from work. I noticed that the plants grow quickly once you have them in the ground. I really don't think it would be to late for me to plant more tomato's or squash. I read a blog yesterday and the guy on the blog put out a few roma's and zucchini just last week. I paid a visit to Ravelry and Gate City Yarns has invited people to come to downtown Greensboro for World Wide Knit in Public Day. I think I will try and go for a few hours maybe bring my unfinished sock and to work and then maybe I can finish the first sock and start the second. Still reading By Hook or By Crook, by Betty Hechtman. On payday I will get Maggie Sefton's lasted in the knitting series Dropped Dead Stitches at least I think that's the name. This is a picture of the Pingtung Long Eggplant I planted in the garden.

Busy weekend.

Spent most of the day on Saturday trying to clean out my garage. It has Lot's of stuff in it mostly stuff on one uses anymore. A lot of the stuff is my Mother's when she moved in with me in 2006 she had stuff from her house. She moved out of her house because she had to put her Mother my Grandmother in a nursing home. I get along well with my Mother so it is not to much of a problem that we live together now. I was hoping however that I would get a year or tow of living by my self before she moved in the house. I did not only a few months. I am getting off track a cousin of ours needed a place to live so she let her move into her house since she had moved in with me so last year she had to clean out the house in order for the cousin to move in and although she Say's she gave and threw a lot of stuff away a lot of in landed in my garage. 2 sets of what I call Blue Willow dishes one set is for me and the other my daughter's not complete sets but lots of place setting. If I can one day I plan to try and complete set. I live not to far away from Replacements, LTD I think you can find just about any item you want or need to replace from thousands of china patterns. www.replacements.com Then we went to Lowe's Hardware and picked up 2 eggplants one Black Beauty and one Green never heard of a Green eggplant until this week. I already have a Pingtung Long eggplant in the ground last year this eggplant was a good producer. We cooked out and I spent time reading By Hook or By Crook, by Betty Hechtman. It is a good read, I am on page 104 and really enjoying the book. I knit a few rows on my dishcloth and my daughter told me today that she wants some knit dishcloths for her new apartment. She said She needed to look through my yarn to see what colors she wanted me to use for the dishcloths. So that's about it for me.

Udates!

Well not to much on the knitting front to busy getting the garden together and I have thrown a few pity parties. I finished reading Debbie Macomber's Summer on Blossom Street. A good read. I picked up By Hook or By Crook by Betty Hechtman. I am on chapter 2, page 16. I love this series. Great summer of reading ahead. I worked a row or to of a dishcloth. Still no work on the sock I am so ashamed of my self. I don't know what I am waiting on the finish the first sock and start the second. I really like sock knitting! I have been a little down and can't seem to knit my way out of this funk. Posting a picture of the lily that bloomed in my yard around my deck.

Thursday planting

Well finally today I made it out to the garden today because it was over cast and not to hot. I cut the holes in the plastic and had help from my nieces and nephew to get all most of the tomato's and all the squash and zucchini planted today. I found out I only brought 3 zucchini plants and I need more, I love zucchini and love to put them on the grill so the more I have the better. I need more plastic and 3 or 4 zucchini plants. I have to plant the okra, jalapenos and tomatillo's. I need a Cheyenne pepper too. The little tag on the tomatillo states reseeds so does this mean I should plant some where I would not till next year and it will come back? Will one plant do well in a large pot? I will take a picture of the garden and post this weekend. I am reading Summer on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber. So far so good picked it up at my local library yesterday. It took a few weeks. I was on hold for the book. A new crochet mystery comes out on next week by Betty Hechtman. I think on Tuesday! I plan to go by my local Books-A-Million right after work. I think this summer promises some great new in the series reading. I have started a new dish cloth and knit a few rows on Tuesday. I read last night and no knitting. I have not worked on my sock in over a week. I am so ashamed of myself. I keep taking it out of the project bag and looking at it almost everyday. I will work on it this weekend if it is the last thing I do! I have to finish this project. I love sock yarn and I want more sock yarn. I have to use it if I buy more yarn. Happy crafting and gardening.

Garden

Well I have had a not so bad weekend, Friday started pretty rocky but by Saturday things has turned around. Spent time with my daughter looking at apartments and furniture. The apartment we looked at with my daughter looked great, fell in love with two of the apartments. One with a huge and I mean huge master bathroom, and one with a very pretty little deck on the third floor. The Second and third floor had small decks and the first I guess it would have been considered a patio. The rent was a little out of my daughter's price range without a room mate. I could see a planter or two on the deck with a tomato and flower's. Then on Sunday just did nothing at all but talk to my daughter and watch TV. Today I got up around 10:00 or a little after got dressed an spent a few hours in the garden. We have a problem with getting the garden started on time. My brother in law tilled the garden last Thursday. So my Mother and I put most of the plastic down today. We ran out of plastic so I have to get another roll on Friday. I think tomorrow after work we will cut the holes in the plastic to plant the squash and zucchini. I have to wait until this Friday to buy another roll of plastic for the rest of the garden. I did get all of my cherry and grape tomato's planted in hanging baskets. I have 2 planter's that I plan to get 2 patio tomato's on Friday and plant. I know my garden will get started a little late but I think it will still turn out okay. We planted 3 pots of Petunia's and one pot with a petunia, geranium, and begonia. We had 3 grape tomato's to come back in a hanging basket we did last summer put that in a pot because I thought it would do better in a big pot. I was afraid of trying to separate the plants.