New post for old friends

Hello to all my old friends online. I have not been blogging for lack of time. I have been knitting, working, taking care of family stuff and basically just living. I hope everyone in well and I am sending a woof from Oliver to all his doggy pals out in blog land. Miss you all and hope to return someday.

A little house cleaning.......

I have been fooling around with pictures and colors for my blog and I think I like what I have so far. It seems pleasant and not to busy. I hope you enjoy it too.



I have been listening (and watching) videos on you tube too. I am enchanted by the old movie clips and and songs. I wish I had stumbled onto it sooner.....all my old favorites. I though I was the only one around that loved the music and movies from the 30's & 40's. Not true. There are thousands of us out there! I know some folks like to watch old movies occasionally, but I watch almost every day. I never watch regular TV programs. I am always watching TCM or else watching my own DVD collection as I knit in the evenings. Now I can check you tube for more favorites too. What a great time we live in. You can watch whatever you like from the past right now on technology from the future. Isn't it amazing. I think I like that long ago time so much because I spent so many happy afternoons after school watching the Million Dollar Movie and doing my homework while my mom got dinner ready. Then in the summer I would watch the Late Show and even the Late, Late Show with my mom or sister. Those were happy days indeed....long ago and far away.......

I have been busy finishing projects. I just need to finish up the toes on these two pair of socks and they will be finished. I gave the pedicure socks to my daughter and she loved them. Not a great picture but I am using my cell phone and sending to my email. I find this much faster than fooling around with the digital camera and hooking it up to the computer and all that jazz. So if the pictures are not the best please excuse them.



























I am just about done with the stole. I love the pattern and the warm color. I have one more skein of yarn left and then I will be done. I have enjoyed this easy intro into lace knitting.

Everyone have a good weekend and enjoy this heavenly weather we have been having. 70's during the day, sunshine, blue skies, and in the 50's at night with stars in the sky. I could stand this all year long.

I have been having fun......

I really have been enjoying the new slide show feature that blog spot has now. I have added it to my blog and also to the blog I write for work. You need a account at one of the free online photo sites and it imports your pictures right from there like magic. It is great. I also have been looking for music for my blog again as the server I used before went off line. i have found one and will be adding it soon. The Internet is truly amazing. So many people out there doing so many different thing.

This is my newest knitting book purchase. There is a project for every month of the year. It has some great patterns and much inspiration. Oh, I just remembered that way back in January I was trying to knit a project a month to put away for Christmas gifts ( did I just mention that word??). Well, needless to say that never happened so maybe this new book will help me keep that dream alive for 2009! I will now make a pledge to myself- I WILL NOT plan on making knitted items for anyone for a Christmas gift. If by chance something works out that way-then so be it. But I will not be knitting like crazy on Christmas Eve to finish a gift for anyone.

I have taught another young girl to knit over the last two weeks and the enthusiasim of this 7 year old is contagious. She is so excited that she knits in the car and in bed with a flash light! How great is that to have so much love for knitting that you will do it under the covers by flashlight? Right now she has a most beautiful scarf in garter stitch with holes and dropped stitches and it is lovely. I love teaching young children to knit and knowing that they will have something that will give them pleasure for years. I am off to knit and then knit some more on my lace stole. Have a great weekend and see aroung the blog soon.

Been away for awhile..........

I think I finally feel ready to blog again. I just ran out of steam back at the beginning of Summer. I felt that my blogging was keeping me from actually knitting. I was so busy trying to take pictures and write about what I was doing that I wasn't actually knitting much....working kind of gets in the way of so many fun things too......so that is my story and I am sticking to it!

I have been knitting a Lace Stole from Lion Brand using their Cotton Ease in Taupe and it is soft and has a very nice drape. I will at some future time provide a picture as this lovely young lady is obviously not me! The stole really does look like the picture of it though. The instructions were written out so I made a chart to follow and that worked like a dream. I also added stitch markers and presto-I was knitting lace.

I am still slogging away on my cable afghan made from the Aran yarn I brought back from Ireland. It is large now and it really needs to be cool weather to have all those reversible cables sitting in my lap. I am also working on a sweet pair of pedicure socks for my daughter. She can wear them when she goes to have her little tootsies done in the cold weather. I am making them in Lion Brand Micro Spun and they are so soft. Pictures to follow. I am using yarns from my stash as I am trying not to buy any new yarn right now.

I want to shout out to all my friends that have emailed me and asked where I was....thanks. A big thanks to Hope and Cindy for being such great blog pals and encouraging me to come back.

I have missed everyone and hope to visit all of you so we can start blogging together again.

Posting on a day off from work...

I haven't been posting at all and what a slug I am. I think I ran out of things to blog about. I have been busy at work and when I am home I have been gardening and grilling, and all that summer stuff. Last week we had power outages with the extreme heat we had. For three days it was over 100 degrees. Uck! Thank heavens the power came back on. I hate the three H's. Hazy, hot and humid. That pretty much sums up life in New Jersey for the summer. I spend some time indoors with the central air on and don't venture out unless it is to the beach. We are minutes from the beach club so I spend time there to catch the cool sea breeze and do some reading.

I have been a busy bee finishing up all my stray socks and now I just need to do the Kitchener finish and I will be complete. I want to start a pair of very cute manicure socks for my daughter and I for when we have mannys and peddys.

My graduate is job hunting in Manhattan and has some good interviews last week and this. She should be working very soon. Graduation was fun and sad to think of that part of her life over. But she is excited about working and then getting her apartment in Manhattan. My oldest daughter is working there now and her baby sister wants to follow in her footsteps. She is interviewing at Wall Street companies and we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Mother's Day and assorted thoughts.............

I hope every one had a nice Mother's Day. I had a lovely breakfast out and then moved my knitting paraphernalia to another space as my daughter is reclaiming her room while she is job hunting. Graduation is this weekend and I will be happy to have her home for the interim. I will be sure to take lots of photos to post-we are having a very nice luncheon after the graduation in Georgetown. I hope the weather is good. So after I set up all my knitting goodies I pared down and now I am going through all my magazines and removing the patterns that I want and filing them. The mags take up too much room and there are so many things in them I will never make. I think this will work out well. All my yarn is stashed in boxes by categories and all my needles too. I have supplies and odd skein of yarn organized in a rolling draw bin that came home from college and found it's way into the basement. I am happy too as now I have space for my printer and much better lighting. Then I was treated to dinner out and the third installment of "Cranford" on Masterpiece Theatre.

I am joining a KAL at Lionbrand for the Tree of Life Afghan. The pattern is free for the next two weeks and it is a lovely afghan. It would make a great wedding present too. Check it out.

I have been reading blogs and some of us are feeling the pinch time wise for blogging. I have decided to blog twice a week and read blogs for 1 hour each time I blog. That way I can still have time to knit and enjoy my blog and reading all of yours. When I started blogging it was to talk about knitting and see what everyone else was up to. But now I spend more time lurking on blogs and trying to remember to take pictures and update mine and then feeling bad when I haven't done been able to. So I am giving myself permission to enjoy blogging again and keep my knitting paramount. I do so love every one's blog so I hope this works and I will still have time when I am home for cleaning, cooking, laundry, gardening, telephoning assorted relatives, and then get up and go to work and start all over again.....ah woman hear me roar!!

P.S. I have enabled comment verification so that I do not get any spam comments again. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I hate spam!

i am not sure waht i am diong

hlelo tihs is olievr i tlod mom taht i wuold tkae oevr if she ddint do a dogs on thrusday tihs is my fvavoirt pcitrue i tihnk it sohws how smrat i am dont you agree i wnat to do a bark out to all my dogs on thursady pals and encourage you assert yourself and take charge......oh-oh her comes mom i better trot off now and xiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Oliver has requested that I finish his post. He says that his paws are too big for the keyboard. I think he is too big for his breeches! But that is for another time-

Hope everyone has a happy Dogs on Thursday and rest of the week. Enjoy this beautiful spring we are having. I have been out in the garden fighting the weed enemy and just enjoying all the gorgeous blooms everywhere. Not too much knitting getting done but I will be driving down to DC this weekend to bring home my son from college-so as hubby actually does the driving I will be working on some socks I just started. Next week in my daughter's college graduation and we are so proud of her. The celebration will be exciting with all my family there and some of my husbands. We have a lovely luncheon planned after the ceremonies. I will post some photos of all the fun. Two down and one to finish- I am kinda proud of my husband and I for accomplishing this goal that we set out on over thirty years ago. I am so proud of all 3 of my children and feel especially blessed. Life can be sweet! TTFN-keep knitting

p.s. Oliver is really a sweet puppy-he just craves attention like all of us! I have to admit that I think he is the best!

Knitting Grafitti!!!!!

I have seen the coolest thing!! Knitting Graffiti!!! I would love to do this...do I have enough nerve? Check out this site Knitta and be amazed!

I have finished the hubby's sweater and I am some what happy with it. I made it with inexpensive yarn to see how it would go. So now that I have the size issues figured out and I can see that I want to do a pattern and not just stocking stitch- and definitely use a softer green color. I will order the good yarn now and start the vest so it will be ready for the fall. This process worked well for me (doing it first on the cheap) as I usually don't make adult garments. Now that I have the confidence and have seen the pitfalls I feel more confident about producing a wearable garment.

I have been longing to go to Camp Stitches in June, but the cost is so prohibitive (with two children in college) so I have promised myself next year will be my chance to go. My second daughter is graduating from college in two weeks (I am so proud of her!) and we will only have our son left to finish three more years. YEAH!! So, hopefully I can go next year. I really miss not having a knitting group to work with. I keep telling myself to start one for the evenings but never get around to it. My LYS has one but the group that meets at night is for the 30 somethings-really she advertised it that way-20 & 30 somethings only. I guess she figures us oldsters only knit with acrylics and make toilet tissue covers! So I will not even shop at her store. The next nearest is 40 minutes away and I need to check it out and see what groups that store has to join.

I have been reorganizing my knitting area and I am excited about it. I hope to finish today and will post pictures of that. I have nothing to show for new projects. I have two in the thinking stage. A lovely stole I saw a pattern for and I want to start more socks to add to my holiday gift giving stash.

I just bought a new book called Twelve Months of Knitting and it has many great patterns. Hope to get some inspiration there too.

Oliver wants to say hello to everyone! he is very annoyed with me for missing Dogs on Thursday again. You can see how serious he is about this. He has threatened to take over my blog and make it all about him-I told him that it is mostly about him anyway and that without an opposable thumb he might have a problem, He said just wait and see.....hm mm what could he mean by that!??