Sunday, April 19, 2015

Mid-April 2015

Well, I guess spring is well and truly upon us.  Spring showers are popping up all over the place.  The other day, after getting home from work, I heard what ended up being a monstrous rain storm.  The pounding on the roof was nothing compared to what I saw when I looked out the windows.  This is looking out the back door, onto the deck and toward our grove of trees.  The camera has a much better eye than I do, evidently, cause when I looked out, I could NOT see the trees....it appeared as though tule (pronounced 'tooley') fog had set in. 
Out the front door, I couldn't see the trees in front of my studio.  The storm only lasted about 10 minutes but it sure was magnificent while it happened.


I had the chance to talk with a dear friend on Skype the other day and she was sporting a thumb ring.  I commented that I had wanted one for a long time and couldn't find one.  She mentioned that she'd gotten hers at a craft fair on the coast a while back but had not been able to find the vendor since cause she might want another one.  I went up to etsy.com and looked around and found a wonderful lady who makes them out of rose gold.  And only for $12.00 each!  I ordered one and it came and I am thrilled with it.  It fits my thumb perfectly and takes a tiny bit of pressure to move across my knuckle so it won't easily slide off. I might need to order another for my other thumb!  Or maybe for another finger...What do you think?  Am I old enough to be the lady who wears a ring on every finger?  


Round 3 of Sock Madness started on Tuesday, April 7th...the pattern is called Longing for Spring and it's really a lovely pattern to knit.  I'm not overly fond of socks that are knit from the toe up and this one is one of those patterns.  But the designer wrote out very nice instructions for the parts that I personally find difficult and it went along really easily.  Only 25 people were going to go on to Round 4 and I felt mostly confident that I could make that cut.  HOWEVER, Mr. Wonderful arrived home, as expected, late Monday the 13th.  I didn't really lose interest in knitting, just found that I wanted to spend more time with him than I did knitting...I found bits of time all along Tuesday and finished the pair Tuesday nite around 9:00 p.m.  Took the photo, uploaded to my project page, sent the email to the moderators and waited to hear if I had gotten (by that time) the final spot on my team.  Alas, the final spot was filled 12 minutes before my email arrived.  And I'm fine with that.  It beats the year that I missed making the next round by 27 seconds!  

Regardless of not making it to the next round, I have a lovely pair of spring socks, I will get all the rest of the patterns for the rounds including the bonus patterns, and I have Mr. Wonderful home with me!  


Went to the commissary yesterday...it's been so long since we needed to go that far for groceries.  We spent over $350.00 but that's far less than we normally spend when we go to the commissary - remember, we only do our shopping once every 6-8 weeks.  The larder is full and the cook is busy.  The dishwasher is being used for the first time in a very long time - I usually washed the dishes by hand since it was only me. 

It's going to rain today and all the chores are done and I'm going to either knit while watching TV with Mr. Wonderful or work on a quilt project or two.  He is going to BBQ some burgers (I haven't had burgers off the BBQ in 18 months) and I think I'll make a pasta salad to go with it.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Welcome Spring!

 Well, UPS came thru...and in a very timely manner!  I came home from work last Friday and this is what I saw. They did a wonderful job of filling in the trenches and re-seeded the gouge.  We had some rain the other day and are expecting more in the next 24 hours so I suspect the grasses will begin to show really soon!  Thanks, UPS!
 It's really starting to look like spring in the Ozarks.  The fields are starting to green up, the raised gardens will need to be addressed once John gets home - NEXT WEEK!  
                         
                         
I finished my round 2 socks for Sock Madness in plenty of time to qualify for round 3...They were quite tight on me and when I posted the picture on my Facebook page, one of my former students sent me a message that she just loved them. I asked her what size shoe she wears and these will fit her perfectly.  I mailed them off to her and she got them in time to wear them up to Mammoth for the weekend.  
I had appointments most of today - doesn't that usually happen when one has a day off from work?  Once I got home, I found that the round 3 pattern had been released this morning!  I printed it off and grabbed the yarn and needles I had chosen for this round.  It's called Blossom and I think it will be perfect for this pattern - lacy flowers will appear on the foot and all around the leg as the pattern progresses.   While I'm certainly not very fond of knitting socks from the toe up, I can do this...I just need to be one of the first 25 knitters on my team to complete the pair.  We have 2 weeks to finish.    
                           
Will let you know how it goes...in the meantime, thanks for stopping by.