And so it begins....

Today I put up a small, pathetic Christmas Tree at work. It is actually quite pretty, even though it is small and pathetic. However, it is better than no tree at all.

I work in an historical building that has been converted to offices and the first floor still looks like it did when this was a home. So....it needs some Christmas! I can envision it festooned (I love that word...festooned!) with greenery and deep red velvet bows. Candles in profusion and a lovely tall Christmas tree. This house was built in 1877 and is quite beautiful. I am so glad to have an office/home here.

Merry Christmas to all...and so it begins.

Pictures and Stuff

My blog is so boring without pictures! I need to figure this picture thing out. Also I need to get my own camera since my husband always has the camera with him.

Any advice about uploading pics?

I can see the end on my pullover! Two or so more rounds on the neck and sew up the underarms and we are done! I can't believe I actually finished a sweater, granted it took me a couple of months but I have done other things during that time as well. Finished, a couple pair of socks, scarf for my son, started a blanket for my daughter, working on another blanket for my grandson...you get the idea. I think I like doing sweaters though and plan to start another one as soon as I can get the yarn. Up next is this sweater from Interweave Knits. I plan to knit it in KnitPicks Palette in the Nutmeg colorway. I hope it turns out.

Our little knitting group that meets on Sundays is going well. We are planning a road trip to WEBS on Sunday, Dec. 16 for a book launch. It should be lots of fun. If you live in the South Shore area of Boston you should come join us. We meet at Borders in Braintree from 2-4 on Sundays.

Next weekend is tree weekend so this week I have to go through all the decorations and make sure we don't need anything. Wish me luck!

All is quiet....for now.

Whew! the holiday is over... all was quiet at my house. Just me and my husband for dinner this year. I had a lot of time to knit over the long weekend. I finished my basket weave socks and am almost done with my zimmerman pullover. When it's done I'll post a picture. I'm quite proud of it. It is my first attempt at a Fair Isle type sweater. Not real Fair Isle just the yoke area. You'll see.

So the shopping starts in full swing now since we have to get all the stuff mailed off in just two weeks time. Such fun. I love buying things for the grandkids.

I hope that all of you out in cyber/blogland had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Turkey Day Tomorrow :-(

Well, Thanksgiving will be here tomorrow and again this year it will be just my husband and me and an eleven pound turkey. I miss my family and the huge Thanksgivings we used to have. All the kids running around and the adults playing cards after dinner. I miss it so very much. I wish with all my heart that I could have all my children and grandchildren with me for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet, I am thankful. Thankful that my children, step-children, grandchildren are all well and happy. I will try to be just grateful and not unhappy.

It comes and goes...

Money, that is. It seems like the day I get paid it all goes back out again. I know I'm not alone in this. Other people feel the pinch just like me, but it doesn't lessen the pain of it. I really don't like being dependent on money. I wish I could live without it.

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

Knitting Meet Up In Braintree

Well, I went to my first knitting meet up yesterday. We met at the Border's by my house in Braintree. What a great time! I met three very nice women and we had a great time knitting and chatting. We are going to continue meeting every Sunday.

It was very nice meeting some other people who share my passion for knitting and all things fibery. So thank you to Sarah, Madelyn and Evie. See you Sunday.

Projects and Stuff

Well, my project for my daughter, Hannah was just frogged and is being rethought. I realize that I just don't enjoy crochet like I used to. I would rather be knitting....soooo....I frogged the thing and am working on a knitted blanket of my own design. I just hope it turns out ok. I'll let you know.

Still working on my Basekt Weave socks and my Yoked Sweater. But there are so many things I want to make!

It's a very quiet Friday and I am enjoying the rather cloudy day very much. It got very cold and windy today, more like it should be in November. Though I hear tell it will be 60 degrees on Turkey Day! Yuck, I want it to snow!

Weather and Mom

What to write about today. It's a gray and gloomy day outside. We are expecting rain here in Boston. I'm not complaining, I actually love a good rainstorm. When I was little we were very poor. Divorced mom and all. A big form of entertainment for us was to sit on the porch in the summer and watch thunderstorms. I grew up loving them.

The sound of the rain on the roof of my attic bedroom was one of the most soothing sounds I remember from my childhood. It still sounds good to me all these years later. And the smell after a storm! That clean raw smell, especially when it's cold outside. Mmmm.

I don't have a lot of really happy good memories from my childhood, but watching thunderstorms with my Mom is one of them.

You know, I am 51 years old and my mother passed away in 1976 when I was just 19 years old. It seems like yesterday and I still miss her so much. I can't wait to see her again just to be able to talk to her and tell her all about her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Though I'm sure she sees them just fine.

Boy, this has been a ramble, sorry. I was talking about the weather and ended up talking about my Mom. I guess I am missing her lately quite a lot.

No one reads this.

I know that no one reads this blog, which begs the question, why do I continue to write in it? Well, blog, I'll tell you. Sometimes you just need to get the words out there even if no one hears (reads) them. I blog for the same reason that I sometimes talk to myself in the car or have imaginary conversations with people, to see how it sounds. To see if that's what I really mean.

I blog to check in with myself and make sure that I stay on the right track. So if no one reads my blog I'm ok with it. Blog and I can still be friends.

Pandora is the Bomb!

My favorite site on the internet, aside from Ravelry of course, is Pandora. This is a great internet radio station where you get to chose what kinds of music you want to listen too. Isn't the internet great! I have it on while I work and I love it.

In other news, I am going to my first SNB on Sunday and I can't wait. It will be so wonderful to talk to other slightly obsessed knitters like myself. I'll let you know how it goes.

Later...

Keeping the focus...

I cast on for some socks this weekend. I love them, but I don't need them right now and I have three other projects that need to get finished for Christmas! I must stay focused on the jobs at hand. No casting on of other projects, see my huge list at Ravelry, I must be faithful to Hannah's Blanket, Dillon's Blanket and Kylee's Baby Surprise Jacket.

Christmas is just a few weeks away, I need to get knitting!

Crispy Fall Weather

You know that expression. The weather was crisp and cold, is how it's often said. It's actually my very favorite time of the year. But how exactly does the weather get "crisp". Crisp, to me, is like a potato chip when you bite into it. How does weather become crisp?

Well, I think that it's when the cold bites into whatever skin is exposed to it. When you are warm and toasty in your down jacket but your cheeks are on fire from the cold. Isn't it great!

We moved to Boston about three years ago from Phoenix AZ and I am so happy that we did. I grew up in Michigan and really was missing the fall...winter, spring, summer. You know the change of the seasons. You will never hear me complain when it snows or rains or anything. Try years and years of hot, hot, hot and then more hot. No thank you, not ever again. No offense to any of the southwesterners but AZ sucks!

Yes, my family still lives there and I have to go back to visit, but I hate it.

It is such a lovely crispy day today that I think I will go for a walk outside at lunchtime. See you on the Esplanade!

Pretty Pathetic

I am definitely pretty pathetic at this blogging thing. I am not consistent, no matter how much I want to be. I am however persistent and I will keep on blogging.

My life has been filled with ups and downs, knitting and crocheting, reading, baking etc. The children continue to have their dramas. Alex lost and found a job. Grandbabies are sick. The usual family stuff that goes on in everyone's family. Really, everyone's family, even if they won't admit it publicly.

My WIP's are fewer. I finished a scarf for my son. You can see it here on Ravelry. I started a blanket for my daughter Hannah in her favorite color, purple. She wants it for her birthday, January 6th. I'm not sure I can finish it by then but I will give it the old college try. I frogged a pair of socks that I was making out of some Green Mountain Spinnery yarn. They were so stiff and scratchy and weren't coming out at all right, so to the frog pile they went. I will find something else to do with this yarn. In between I have been working on my Zimmerman pullover. I am almost done with the body. Then the fun part will begin!

The other night I made a pair of fingerless mitts. The basic pattern came from Knitting at Knoon but I changed the thumbs twice! I just didn't like them so I made up my own. I guess that's when you become a Knitter versus a knitter. Just like cooking, when you start making it up you are really making progress!

Onward....