Christmas Eve is here

Time sure flies when your hands are busy. I am glad to say that I got all of my handwork Christmas gifts done. Finished the pair of mens socks that I was working on, using fingering yarn. (which is a smaller yarn than I usually use for socks)




I had a "handmade by Roni" label from days gone past that I had to use. I had ordered some new ones that said things like "from the knitting needles of ____" and "hand crocheted by ______" but those didn't come in until the day after we gave our gifts.

I sort of had a problem with the label I did use. It had been stuffed in my sewing cabinet so long (since the last time I made baby clothes for my kids and THAT has been a long time) that it had become wrinkled. So, I got out the trusty iron and starch and proceeded to press the label. AND, then, it happened. The unthinkable! The portion of the label that has my name on it had the audacity to run and bleed!

Naturally I was upset and may have mentioned the mishap to husband thinking that this accident had diminished my handiwork is a BIG way. Wasn't much I could do about it as I had no other labels.

The day after we delivered our booty of gifts to friends, the labels on order arrived via a legal sized envelope. I told husband of the late arrival of the labels and went on trying to finish up the slippers I was working on.

Later on in the evening, husband told me I should put out a RECALL on the socks. It took me a few minutes to realize what he was talking about. Now that I had the new labels I should recall the camo green socks and put the new label on. I guess he really does listen to me, amazing. But whoever heard of a recall on socks? Automobiles and such yes, but socks?

I also completed the Checkered Puffed Dorm slippers that I was frantically trying to figure out the pattern on AND get them done by Christmas. When I finished those I was so weary I forgot to take a picture. Guess I will have to wait until my dear _______, bet you thought I was going to tell you who gets the slippers, right? NOT. When the new owner of the slippers tries them on I will try and get a picture.

The college age kid is home and I love it. We stay in our pjs until noon, talking, or knitting (she is working on a pair of Checkered Puffed slippers in her school colors) I actually had purple and yellow yarn in my stash, OK, gold would have been better but yellow will just have to do. We have been grazing on all the wonderful Christmas cookies and breads that friends have brought over.

I can tell she is getting a little bored but that is to be expected after the kind of schedule she has been keeping at school. Volleyball season is over and the finals are all done, grades are in and now it is time to slow down a bit. Her friends are scattered and the ones that are still around well, THEY have all changed. My baby is growing up.

Moving on, I only have two projects on the needles right now. One is a hat that I was making for myself and the other is an Indian style afghan that I am crocheting. I feel sort of the same way the kid does, almost don't know what to do with myself now that the pressure to finish gifts is off. I need to get the knee length socks going that I promised the kid AND I have some beautiful natural wool yarn in shades of Coral, Oatmeal and Charcoal that is begging to be worked. No patterns or ideas are jumping up at me for that yarn, I keep thinking I need a fourth color for using that yarn. I will just have to be patient as I am confident that the perfect pattern or idea will come to me eventually.

I must start getting ready to face the day of Christmas Eve. Husband just got up so I better close here.

Merry Christmas to all. AND a Happy New Year.

RRR

Christmas music on line

There is a new radio station in town. Go to http://www.alienradio.us/ and dial in using what ever media player works best for you.

This station is owned and operated by Randy and Heidi Jo right here in good ole Mayberry RFD. (name has been changed to protect the local residents from any type of public hick bashing)

Have a busy schedule ahead of me, still have lots of Christmas gifts to finish up. I am trying to learn how to knit checkerboard puff slippers. There was a very nice lady named Rita at our local craft fair that tried patiently to teach me how to do this very complex and difficut stitch. It requires alot of twisting and throwing and then untangling your yarn. I was all thumbs that day but maybe with continued hard work and practice I will achieve it AND get several more gifts done. IF I get some done I will post the picture. Then again I may post a picture of the pair Rita let me borrow to use as an example. The significant part to this story is that I had been looking for this pattern for many years. Had I known the real name of the slippers I could have Googled it, however, many years ago we didn't have Google so I suppose I still would have had to wait. Patience is not my strongest point.

Happy Holidays to all
RRR

IT IS FINISHED. Wahoooo!!!

I finally got the Wonderful Wallaby sweater completed this weekend. We took a road trip up to spend some time with the college age kid and some friends. One way was a ten hour drive, so I knitted.........and knitted....... and knitted. The college age kid got to try on the sweater and liked it even though it is a tad big on her. She says it will make a great snuggly blanket type warm sweater to wear on the college VB bus trips.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had and I was very thankful the kid liked the sweater or I swear I would have just given the dern thing to charity. (at least I think I would have) LOL. Fat chance of that, remember, it fit me too!



My sister agreed to be my model for the pictures providing I didn't show her face. I told her I would try but since I wanted to show the hood part too, I may have to keep her head in the picture this time.



And the very best part of finishing the sweater was putting the label in at the neckline.


Now I have to run, there is a pair of socks that need to be finished by Christmas. I thought I started crafting early enough this year but I think I will start on January 1 of 2008 and then I KNOW I will have time to get all the handmades done.

Take care and talk with you soon
RRR

I Am Almost Finished

I am almost finished with the sweater I have been working on for the last 6 months. Wow, so close I can almost feel it. Truth to tell, I tried it on and it fit ME so I know it will be toooo big for the college age kid.

I had my sister try it on so I could take some pictures to post. She is shorter than college age kid and so the sweater is big on her too. She really didn't want her face in the picture so I cut her head off. LOL. Maybe I should have just draped over the kitchen table or something. Sigh!

Oh well, guess I will have to buy some more yarn (what the kid likes) and make another one. I really was just practicing.. :)

Hope you enjoy the picture.....will post more when it is all done.

RRR

Time Sure Flies When You Are Having Fun

I don't know where the time has gone since I have last posted something on my blog. My college bound child has made this abundantly clear and has for some time now been nagging me to update The Rose.

Just to let you know that I haven't been sitting around eating Bon Bons and watching TV, I have actually been fairly productive.

I spent about 5 hours on Saturday with like minded friends at a craft day and worked diligently on a sweater I am trying to complete by Christmas. It will be a gift for the college bound child and it is no secret. The fun part will be in 1) getting it completed 2) seeing how it turns out 3) trying it on the college bound child while trying to convince her that if she doesn't like it, more than likely a poor homeless needy person would love to have a nice warm sweater with a pouch, a hood and strings to tie shut and keep the wind out that was lovingly hand knit by "Moi". Hours I tell you, hours have been invested in this creation. I have been working on this since June 2007. I add the year because if you have read my previous posts you will remember that it once took me over 20 years to complete a Ripple Afghan.

The sweater is a lovely shade of green with a contrasting stripe of cream. I got the yarn at a yard sale and THEN decided to make something more than just the socks and afghans I have been working on. It really is a stretch on my knitting abilities. I have NO idea what size it will turn out to be, I think somewhere between college age kid size and my size. At least I hope so. If it adequately resembles a sweater when I get it done perhaps I will post of picture of it. So far it is shaping up but that can only be attributed to the loving attention and assistance I have gotten from my knitting buds.

I also have a pair of socks going on DP needles that are to be a gift, the final product will decide who utlimately gets the socks. Sigh! My lack of perfectionism and impatience will be my undoing someday.

Hubby and I have been doing some home remodeling. The kitchen needed a new coat of paint and just a general update. We purchased a breakfast nook for our quaint (small and dated) cooking-dining area. Sort of reminds one of a diner table that you would find in some old time cafe only without the years of wear and tear and names carved in by pen knives. I gave my kid sister a heck of a deal on the old claw foot dinette set and hutch with the etched rose glass and leaded doors. I loved that set! It looks very nice in my sister's home and she has it decorated very nicely. I guess then you could call it a win win situation. Only problem is now I need to buy new light fixtures and try to decide what motif I want to go with in the kitchen. I have been leaning toward grape patterns and that is only because the last few craft fairs I have attended I have found tea towels with this design on them. You know the kind I mean, someone either knitted or crocheted a top on them so that they may be hung on the stove handle as a decoration. They are STRICTLY for decoration and are much too pretty to really use.

Hubby moved the Crossbow equipment out of my office and I in turn had to take the bookcases out of his garage, kind of a swap. That took a wee bit of time because in case you were not aware of it, my life long ambition is to collect as many books as I can. I love my library.......hubby mumbles and grumbles anytime we have moved and swears the boxes get heavier AND multiply. Hmmmmmm. Interesting. :) My office is a lot more user friendly now. I even have room to stretch out on the floor as I pretend to do exercises. shhhhh. Don't tell anyone about the pretend part. K?

I got an email this morning from a friend of mine and thought I would share it with all.

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the winners: 1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole. 3. Intaxication : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with. 4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you
13. Glibido : All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web. 16. Beelzebug (n.) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor ( n.): The colour you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating. T

he Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:
1. coffee , n. the person upon whom one coughs.
2. flabbergasted , adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. abdicate , v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. esplanade , v. to attempt an explanation while drunk. 5. willy-nilly , adj. impotent.
6. negligent , adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. lymph , v. to walk with a lisp.
8. gargoyle , n. olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. flatulence , n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. balderdash , n. a rapidly receding hairline.
11. testicle , n. a humorous question on an exam.
12. rectitude , n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. pokemon , n. a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. oyster , n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism , n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. circumvent , n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

Now......this has been a nice informative and interesting post, don't you agree?

Hope all is well with you and that you ALL have a wonderful rest of your week.

RRR

All You Have to Do is Try

Hi Everybody,


I am going to take a few minutes to talk about......stepping outside your box. I want everyone to stretch their imagination just a bit and think: What if I (you fill in the box)? Is it achievable and how badly do I really want it?


Now you might be wondering where this is all going. Let me first say that I have been to numerous seminars and the one droning sentence that keeps running like a worn out tape recording through my head is: "If you keep doing the same old things, you will keep getting the same old responses!"


Example: If your toddler does not like mushed peas and spits them right back out just as soon as that zooming airplane arrives at the mouth/landing gate, you can be relativley sure that each time you try to feed junior mushed peas you will get the same response.


Let's get to the meat of my topic. I will start by saying that some of my friends have expressed how brave; smart and daring I am for creating my own blog. (OK, I may have embellished that brave, smart and daring thing a wee bit but it just just had a nice ring to it)


Alas, I am not overly brave nor daring. I used to think I was pretty smart but there is always someone smarter that delights in popping my bubble. What I AM, is willing to try new things. I had a need for a web page/blog and I set my hat and away I went. I did take a few days of pondering a name for my blathering blog. That was probably the hardest part, that and deciding what the format would be.

If you look up in the right hand corner of my blog, you will see a button that says something like "create blog". It's free and really very simple. Just follow the steps. Be sure and keep notes on your passwords and your progress into your new blog so that you can get back to it later. That is in case you get called away to clean up the mashed peas Junior spit out or maybe you've taken time to finish that crafting project you started for Christmas.

I have some wonderful friends that could really benefit from their own blog page. As I make suggestions as to "why" my friends need their own blog, I am sure they will recognize themselves in my writing. And I say to you lovely and talented woman........Get 'er Done!

One of my friends is a very accomplished watercolor artist. She is the one that I keep mentioning that is trying to teach me to watercolor. I think she could have a wonderful blog, filled with pictures of her work and maybe some of her tips and inspirational words of encouragement.

Then there is the lady that does exquisite knitting and other hand crafted products. She has been wanting to get some of her hand crafted sweaters posted on Ebay, maybe she would do well by having her own space. I enjoy getting new patterns for her to work on because this woman can do anything with a ball of yarn and some needles.

Another friend just had a bouncing baby boy. You know how new parents are with all those pictures! What a great opportunity for the new parents to post pictures of Junior to share with their family and friends. She also has a background in Biology and loves birds which she shares with her students as she also teaches school. Loves to do arts and crafts in her spare time. (LOL) that's short hand for laughing out loud: because we all know new mommies don't have any spare time.

The long and the short of it is: Just do it! Step out of your box, let go of the handrail and create your own blog. I know you can do it. It's easy and if you need help, just whistle.

RRR

Stone Cabin Digital Picture

This is one of the pictures that I took of the Stone Cabin. Wow, somebody sure went to a lot of hard work to build this cabin. It's really quite large even though you can't get a real good sense of the dimensions from the picture.

Stone Cabin Watercolor

This is my rendition of how the Stone Cabin looks when done in watercolor. Have you ever heard of "artistic license"? Ok, ok, I know I need more practice. Sure am having a GREAT time while I am learning to watercolor.

Look and see if you can find my signature.

Things That Are On My Mind

I have been doing some web surfing.....looking for ideas to make my blog better. What I have found is that there sure are a lot of talented people in this world.



I found web sites of men that crochet, one guy designed an afghan he called the "Monet". Fashioned after the impressionistic painter of the same name. Very unique and beautiful.



I found pages that were rather plain and pages that were very dressy. I found sites that were strictly for profit and I found pages that were just for fun. I found pages that were designed to assist those in need. Pages of patterns for outfits for preemie babies, and pages for afghans for the homeless.



There are pages of crochet and knitting patterns for every conceivable "widget" (widget- generalized name for something you have forgotten the name of. Similar to a thingamagig or a hoozywhatchit or a whatchamacallit....aka gadget or gizmo) or need you can think of from Afghans to seat belt covers.



Currently, the computer industry refers to widgets as "a widget (or control) is an interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box"



Meanwhile, did I tell you I have a big pot of Vegetable Soup on the stove? It's touted as being "Miracle Diet Soup", a concoction of many fresh veggies like baby spinach and zuchinni, carrots and onions....well you get the idea. All good for you low calorie oxidant rich veggie soup, only 45 calories per mug. Nice hot soup for a cold dreary and windy day.



I have been thinking about putting some of the pictures I have taken with my trusty digital camera of landscapes on my web page. Most of the pictures I take of the countryside is with the idea of eventually doing them in Watercolor paints. That is another one of the hobbies I have taken up lately. Problem is, I am so new to all of this web page editing stuff I haven't figured out how to post them. Now if my college age tax right off were here and not away at school studying to be an engineer, my problems would be over. Facepage taught the young folks how to HTML the easy way. Alas, I must venture forth on my own and try to figure it out. I am sure I could contact my friend Walt and ask him for assistance, however, I don't want him to know how far advanced his computer skills are to mine. I will figure it out on my own......someday......soon I hope.



Once I have accomplished the part about adding other elements to my page, I want to post a real easy pattern for knitted slippers a wonderful person named TC gave me years ago. Nice easy beginners pattern. Last time I made the pattern up it was for my second born child, who only got to wear the cute little slippers once and that was after I physically stuffed baby's foot into them just to say that they were worn once. They now hang from the rearview mirror of Daddy's old blue pickup. I always get a warm fuzzy when I look at those slippers.....sure wished I had made them just a smidge larger.



Guess I better sign off here.......am forcing myself to try and learn how to add new elements. Hmmmm, maybe I will just take a wee little nap and think on it for awhile. Right after I finish my Red Rasberry tea. Gee, I need to add a few more rows to that sweater I want to have done before next year.

Did I ever tell you it once took me almost twenty years to finish a Ripple Afghan for my second born? My excuse was I didn't buy enough yarn to begin with and could never find the same dye lot. Then life kinda got in the way, you know, things like work and raising kids and going back to school. What started out as a crib sized afghan ended up being almost seven foot long. I had some help.......taught the youngun to crochet. Great job too. You have to admit I have perserverance. Seems to me that I started that afghan the same time I knitted those cute little slippers.



Hope everyone has a great week.


Tah
RRR

my first knitted sock

This is the first sock I knitted. Notice I didn't say "pair"? I haven't done the mate to it yet, the

yarn kept splitting and I got frustrated.

However, it is on my todo list ;)

A Plethora of Personalities

Hi everyone,

I have spend a lot of time thinking about what I want this site to contain.

I have never been able to decide what I want to be when I grow up as there are just toooo many choices. What I have come to realize is that I am a person with varied interests and all the parts make up the whole.

I just recently took up knitting; again. I have made 2 1/2 pairs of socks (the very first pair the yarn was NOT sock knitting yarn and split real bad) and am currently working on making a sweater. All because of a couple of paperback novels written by Debbie Macomber about her yarn shop. There are even patterns for socks made on double point needles and circular needles in her books. There also some very cool characters in her books. I enjoyed her writings.

I have also taken up Watercolor painting. I used to think watercolors were wimpy but that is not the case any longer. I have done about 8 pictures and have most of them displayed in my laundry room. I have moved beyond hanging my work on the fridge. :)

It will be fun to talk with others that share some of my interests.

Take care all and see you soon.

RRR

What will this blog become?

I am just getting this blog started and needed to post a little something. I am not sure exactly where this will take me but I have grabbed the proverbial "bull by the horns" and headed off on my journey.

"Let the games begin"
R