Afghan #200
It is with great thanks that I unveil #200 for without all of you helping me, this project would never have reached this number. Beginning work on #201 in the next few days…onward and upward I always say!
A Little Pronouncing Fun!
Just ran across this on another blog and thought you might enjoy giving it a try. I did it and it was ’spot on’…Yep, I have a”Up North” accent!
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North
You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” or “Are you from Chicago?” Chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.”
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Here’s the link-go give it a try!
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have
Hugs;
Pammie
And I’m off again…knitting!
(no, I didn’t knit these)
Lately, it seems, I’ve been doing a lot (for me) of ’spur-of-the-moment’ knitting ideas.Yep…another one just popped up. I went to JoAnn’s today and purchased the Adult Sized Hat Loom (and got the 50% off…YAY!). A little later I received a phone call from oldest son informing me that his new girlfriend WILL be able to join us for Christmas dinner (that’s a good thing!) so, of course, I wanted to give her a present, too. Well, friends, as soon as I’m off of making this post, I’m going to search through my very large stash of yarn for just the right colors for looming her a hat. I had thought of making another pair of fingerless gloves, but when I mentioned that to my son he didn’t seem too enthusiastic. I phoned him to ask what color her jacket/coat is and, in typical “guy” fashion, he replied: “I don’t know! I don’t pay attention to stuff like that!” Finally, with several other ‘easy’ questions posed to him, he was able to say that he thinks it’s dark blue. Oh well, it looks like I’m HOPING it’s in the blue ranges, because I’m planning on knitting a blue shades hat for her! If she doesn’t like it, she can blame HIM!
Have spent the past few days trying to get some Christmas shopping done and now at least every family member has ’something’ for a present. Managed to find a really classy light blue & white striped dress shirt with white collar for my husband, along with a tie in various stripes of blue. Now this will be interesting: he’s a very (did I say VERY) conservative dresser, so this time I attempted to go a little out of his normal range and get a little bolder striped tie…it goes great with the shirt! We’ll see how that flies. Oh, and the other great thing about that purchase? After picking up the mail on my way home I discovered a $20 off coupon for the store that just sold me the shirt and tie. I phoned them and they very nicely said: “Sure! Come back and we’ll give you and adjustment.” That was a very nice blessing-to the tune of $21 and some odd change! I saw that as a tank of gas! It’s been a good day; the weather is cold but not frigid (something like 34 degrees F.), a light (almost dust-like) snow falling and kind of grey, not sunny…but, nonetheless, a GREAT day!
Hope you’re enjoying your day; I DO love this season…it’s a great time to wish everyone a “Merry Christmas!”; even to those who only say: “Happy Holidays”. For me, it’s the BEST season because I can wish them a Merry CHRISTmas!
Enjoy your day;
Pammie
ps: another blessing-went for a mammogram today (after forgetting and letting TWO years slip by) and it was all clear! Thank you, Lord! It IS a great day!
“Teaching Old Dogs…”
It’s another “Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks” Day here. I finally finished the baby afghan and was thinking: “This needs a baby hat to go with it!” Only problem there is-I’ve never knit or crocheted a baby hat before! I woke up this morning with the epiphany that I own a small knitting loom that was given to me recently…I ‘could’ try using that! In less than 1 1/2 hours I had a baby hat…during the course of this day I now have THREE baby hats! It was fun, fast and relatively easy to learn. Does that mean I’m going to start using the looms for knitting? Probably not, but it sure takes the place of using double-point needles for doing small, round objects! (My dislike of using DoublePoints should be notorious by now…NOT my favorite way to knit, by far! Think “Slouch Hat” and Water Bottle carrier…just lots of work, no fun!) I AM, however, considering purchase of the large loom which allows one to make adult-sized hats…now THAT is a definite option I see coming to fruition in the very near future! I just learned tonight that we have an expert loom knitter in my knit group; she just joined our group a few weeks ago and is very proficient in making all sorts of objects on various sized and shaped looms, from hats, scarves, afghans, prayer shawls, etc., which gives me the ‘help/advice on hand” that I’ll need if I chose to embark on the loom knitting further than baby hats.
Another ‘epiphany’ occurred yesterday (sorry this post was written 2 days ago, just now getting the time to photo the afghan/hats)…I could purchase the ‘adult hat’ sized loom and make my husband a hat for Christmas! He’s not an easy person to buy presents for (has this idea that whatever he ‘needs’, he can get himself!…that sure makes trying to find the ‘perfect gift’ a trial!) Now I’m waiting until tomorrow (Friday) because the 50% off coupon for JoAnn fabrics doesn’t go into effect until then; gives me a little time to pick which yarn(s) to use. I’m sort of thinking something in Navy with maybe a dark grey stripe somewhere? We’ll see…I’m sure I’ll post the end result!
Stay warm-it’s 18 degrees here at 9 a.m.
Hugs;
Pammie
“Feelin’ Groovy”…Shades of the 70’s
Sometimes it takes a bit to jog a memory; this past weekend found me visiting “Momma” and trying to remember a crochet pattern from at least 25 years ago, more like the 70’s, actually. Due to time constraints, I was unable to actually grasp the little trick of ‘twist/turn’ the work and ended up frustrated. Last night I got out my knit/crochet books and went searching for that pattern. I found something similar and then began a search on the ‘net for the actual pattern. That took a bit of doing, but at last I was able to locate a site that not only had the pattern, but included PHOTOS! This was a real eye-opener…I could actually execute the pattern! YAY! (insert words: “Feelin’ Groovy” from the 70’s here!) The site owner was very gracious and gave me permission in include her site here:
(in left column, under “Crochet Cabana” is the crochet pattern section; it’s under “Diagonal Box Stitch”)
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The pattern is called: “Diagonal Box Stitch” and makes a pattern that looks like a child’s building blocks. Once you get the little ‘trick’ of the ‘turn/twist’, it’s pretty easy from there which proves:
You CAN teach an old Knit a new Crochet! (sorry, just couldn’t resist!)
Hugs;
Pammie
(my crochet ’swatch’, above, isn’t great to look at-in the actual pattern each individual ‘block’ is facing a different way, making it look more complicated than it actually is.)
My Travel Companion Today
Oblong-winged Katydid
I’ve had unusual travel companions before, but I think today’s visitor would be one of my most unusual. His name is: “Oblong-winged Katydid” and he decided to ride on my right-front windshield for a total of 5 1/2 miles! They look like a giant walking leaf. Not sure what he found interesting on my windshield; I’m guessing the wind pressure is what kept him from flying away although he never left when given the opportunity at stop lights. Maybe he was just enjoying the ride! When I got home I snapped his photo then gently guided him off my car, hoping he wasn’t too traumatized to resume his normal daily Katydid duties.
Hugs;
Pammie
ps: Can you tell I’m trying to remember to blog more often lately?
Ah, Technology!
Such fun-have spent a good hour or more attempting to figure out a problem that’s puzzled me (and another knitting friend) for quite some time. There is a wonderful site for knitters & crocheters called Ravelry; it’s a little hard to explain but it’s sort of a clearinghouse for all things in the above two categories. There are patterns, help, catalogs of peoples work, etc. I have been trying, for quite some time, to figure out why I wasn’t able to upload photos from Flickr.com to my Ravelry account…FINALLY I’ve figured it out through reading lots of other people’s complaints…it was my BROWSER that was at fault! I switched to Netscape, just on a lark, and VOILA! I now have photos on my Ravelry account! YAY! Sometimes it does my heart good to figure out something…adds credence to this old lady’s sense of worth to be able to do something ‘on my own’ that’s rather technical (at least to me!).
Oh, and right when I was in the middle of finally being able to USE this newfound knowledge, what happens but the Ravelry site suddenly flashes a big message on the screen; apparently THEIR site is having problems and had to shut down! DARN!!! Oh well, let’s hope this ‘old lady’ will be able to REMEMBER what she just learned and be able to re-create the magic! We’ll see…(insert “The LIttle Engine That Could” saying here: ‘I think I can, I think I can’…repeated ad infinitum…or ad nauseum, which ever suites ya)
Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day!
Hugs;
Pammie
Fluffy Stuff (which means: not much content)
Hi, all!
Sorry for the lack of writing but it’s been just that…not much to write about. Went to church today and volunteered to work in the kitchen during Sunday School in preparation for our after-church pot luck. Ended up having so much fun I worked through church, too (my feet paid the price for that one-they were throbbing little puppies as I hadn’t worn ‘practical’ shoes…oh well…).
I’m currently battling my son’s left-over cold/sinus thing; I sound about four octaves lower voice-wise; was really glad the choir didn’t sing today as I should have been placed in the basses! Kleenex, hot tea and Sudafed have become my close friends lately (Atchooo!).
Not much planned for tomorrow (the holiday); middle son’s ‘newest/used’ car died on Friday (won’t start…nothing) so I’m back to my old job of chauffeur (oh, joy). Is it me, or are we seeing a trend here in his cars? This one sort of ‘died’ the same way the other one did…a little smoke, then poof, it won’t even start! THIS time we’re pushing him to have it towed to a place for an estimate instead of letting it sit for almost 5 months while good old Mom does all the driving. The really ‘fun’ thing about all this? His college classes start Weds! Good thing he only has one 6-credit English class and it starts at noon! Youngest son starts high school Tues. and we’re now experiencing the ‘total picture’ of bus schedules and high school hours. He will be attending from (get to bus by 7:05) 7:25-2:10, daily. Man! I can remember when I rode the buses for public school and dashed out of the house to make it to the bus stop by 7:30…we went 9-3:10 (ours was the first people picked up in the morning and the last ones dropped off at night), so that meant I got on the bus at 7:30 and got home at 4 p.m.! Long days. My middle son said that they are not even being issued books for the first two weeks of school…I can’t imagine that! Ah, the ‘new experiences’ of being a Homeschool family morphed into a public school family.
Have been trying to cut back a little on my afghan-sewing-together thing; it seems that each time we send a shipment to Ghana there are more afghans than the time before. This time we’re already at 30+, so I’m trying to wean myself off a little. That might sound a little strange, but the last time I went to deliver them I noticed that they’d left an entire bag behind from the previous shipment! That could be because they needed the plane room for some important medical supplies (I didn’t want to mention that I noticed them in the corner). I don’t even know the procedure for them being distributed, so I’ll just remain in the background as the creator and not the final decision maker…works for me!
I’ve been reading more lately-again fluffy stuff. Sometimes a girl just needs something ‘light & fluffy’ to kind of do that “Calgon Thing”: “Fluffy books…Take Me Away!” These have been knitting novels (are you surprised?), two were really good, the last two were so-so. I finally learned that this old lady can actually USE her library card to reserve books from her home computer! I now have two more awaiting pick up soon, and I’ll take the others back in a few days. If you’re into knitting novels, Debbie Maccomber writes some good ones; more sequence novels, actually. I had read her #1,3,4 and finally #2 just came back to the library. (I found out that #2 had been checked out by one of my friends in MY knitting group…how funny!) My other knitting group (that only meets during the school year) will be starting up this coming Friday, so it will be a pretty busy week coming up. MY knitting group on Tues., and the other one on Friday, plus all the ‘regular’ stuff I do doing during the week: babysit grandson, Special Needs group, running my kids everywhere, etc. (Hey, I’m learning…all this activity actually keeps ya young!)
Time to close for now; enjoy your holiday!
Hugs;
Pammie
Justice is Served
This will be a difficult one to write without becoming too wordy, but I’ll try. Back in June my middle son took his bicycle out for a ride in the late afternoon, returning home for something to drink and a brief rest; he parked his bike in our porch where it usually resided. While in the house watching tv, he heard the porch door slam and got up to see what caused it, only to see an older man coming out of our porch with his bike. He woke his dad up from his afternoon nap and the chase began. To shorten this up greatly, husband called police on cell phone, and ‘tailed’ the man while keeping the police appraised of the situation and whereabouts of said ‘thief’. Further down the road the man pulled into a gas station, the cops got him. The court case just ended and he was found guilty. It’s been a long, drawn-out affair with much detail work by the local police and prosecutors office; it wasn’t his first robbery. We are all very grateful to our police department and the work of the justice system; I’m not going into all the details but they did a great job of putting all the pieces together (and there were many).
It’s been another hectic week here, as usual. Hope things are going well for all of you-our weather is still gorgeous: perfect 74 degree days with sun and light breezes. Knowing this will all be gone soon is a good motivator to ‘get out and enjoy these last summer days’!
Hugs;
Pammie
The Three “B’s”…
which would be: Belated Birthdays, Bowling and Boys! Yesterday found me spending the day with our youngest son, Eric, who just turned 14 last week. He chose to celebrate the day with his good friend who couldn’t make it on the actual birth ‘day’, so the celebration was belated by a few days. There was much video gaming, eating, more video gaming, mixed with three games of bowling at our local establishment, followed by pizza and then the requested Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake! It was a rowdy but fun-filled day and all were happily exhausted at day’s end (especially me!).
Hugs;
Pammie
