a little bit of this and a lot of nothing

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

  • WIP Wednesday

    I haven't done a great deal of knitting this week. I did make a little more progress on this sock, the Beaded Rib. I really need to get this one done!

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    And, I cast on to yet another sock. This pattern is Basket Weave Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. I am working this one from the toe up rather than cuff down as the pattern is written. I will also do a gusset heel construction rather than a short row heel. The yarn is Luxury Sock yarn I won in a contest from Creatively Dyed Yarns. The yarn is so lovely and soft. It is 80% merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. Feels so nice to work with.

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  • Wordless Wednesday



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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

  • Oh wow! It's been a while!

    I did not realize that it has been almost a week since I have posted. What do I have to show for myself? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I cannot even remember what I have been doing since then. Cleaning house? Nope. Cooking? Nope. Having fun? A little here and there.

    Let's see. Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary. The boys went to a friend's house for dinner so we had a little date. Just out to eat and then to Staples for some school things I needed. Not much else going on.

    Oh, I did go to the movies last night. I saw Mamma Mia. It was so much fun!!! I loved it. Very uplifting, fun, mindless movie. That will be one that I will buy when it comes out on dvd.

    Tonight, my knitting friends are meeting to knit. And today, more lessons. Really need to do laundry too. I can't remember when I last ran a load.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

  • WIP Wednesday

    I finally picked these up again to work on. I need to get them finished. I have one sock completed and the 2nd in progress. Pattern is Beaded Rib from Schurch and the yarn is Plymouth Sockotta.

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    These are WIP to be. I won a contest that resulted in 2 hanks of gorgeous luxury hand-dyed yarns from an indie dyer. She was at my LYS yesterday for a day of classes and such. She brought a trailer of yarn and fiber with her. I wanted to meet and thank her in person for the yarns she sent. These are 2 more that I purchased yesterday as well. They are hand dyed superwash merino. Fabulous stuff! For those on Ravelry, she is Creative of Creatively Dyed. Lovely lady! I so enjoyed meeting her.

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  • Wordless Wednesday


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Monday, July 14, 2008

  • First Day of School!

    Today is the first day of our new school year. Jake is a 5th grader and Adam is in 2nd. It is so hard to believe my boys are that old! Where has the time gone? This marks the beginning of our 6th year of home educating.

    We are starting slowly this week. Today, they played outside most of the morning, since the temperature was not too bad. They have not been wanting to go out much lately. Since they wanted to today, I let them. We started lessons after lunch. Jake wanted to do some math first. He has a couple of chapters to finish in his level E book before moving on to F. Then I read a chapter to them in the book "The Saturdays". Jake started working in his new spelling level F book and did some copy work with sentences using 3 of the words.

    Adam wanted to do some reading in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then he worked on some math, spelling, and handwriting. So far, so good. He has not given me any attitude or issues.

    Jake has the goal of working more independently this year. I have some ideas for a collaborative teaching opportunity that I am trying to iron out in my head before talking to the other individual. I think it could be really great for him. I just need to figure out how and what and so forth.

    Happy first day of school!!!!

Friday, July 11, 2008

  • School area and more

    This is where I sit if I need a desk in the school area. It was totally covered in stuff. Better!

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    This is the school area. I rearranged and straightened this week. Still have some tweaking, but much better than it was.

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    This is the counter area when you first walk in the door to the kitchen from the garage. It is a huge catch all for junk. Here is the before picture.

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    This is another catch all for junk. It is in the eating area in the kitchen. Any ideas for what to do with it to make it look better?

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    This is the after of the counter. I have the stuff in a pile waiting to be sorted this afternoon. There are a couple of appliances to the left of the microwave. There is nowhere else to store them currently. To the right, is a recipe basket and a couple of pottery pieces. Does this look okay or do you have a better idea of how to utilize this space?

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Thursday, July 10, 2008

  • That's my boy

    The boys are playing some Star Wars computer game. They were given a console game thing so that two can now play at a time, one on the console and one on the keyboard. It may not be working out quite as well as we had hoped. I overheard this a minute ago:

    Adam: Hey, you stole my (I couldn't understand, since I have no clue about the game)!!!!

    Jake: You told me to!

    Adam: I didn't mean it! Didn't you hear the sarcasm in my voice?

    Adam is extremely bright and very sarcastic. He is so much like his dad. I am truly doomed, aren't I!


Wednesday, July 09, 2008

  • WIP Wednesday


    Most of my knitting this week has been on this pair of socks. It is a new technique for me. Two at a time and on two circular needles. It is a pretty cool way to do socks! The yarn is Berroco Comfort Sock. The pattern is Snake River, which I found on Ravelry. W. very kindly helped separate the yarn into 2 equal weight piles and wound them into nice balls for me. After I started knitting, I realized that the were going to be inverse twins! The mirror image doesn't go left to right, but top to bottom. Kind of cool!


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    This one is also on two circulars, but one at a time. The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Cotton made with bamboo, cotton, and nylon. I love this yarn. The feel of it on the foot is wonderful! I am doing Snake River on this sock as well. I like the pattern and thought it would lend well to both yarns.

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  • Wordless Wednesday


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