Month: November 2006

Under the heading of “It seemed like a good idea at the time”, I present my kitchen:

It started innocently enough, as these things often do. We came into a little extra money and Home Depot had Corian countertops on sale. So we ordered a new countertop with an integrated sink – to be installed Tuesday. By tomorrow Bill has to have all the old countertops uninstalled (i.e. – torn out!). And, of course, the new countertop would make the 20-year old wallpaper look a little shabby, to say nothing of the fact that taking off the old backsplashes pretty much destroyed the wallpaper on those walls. So far, I think we can hold it at that. Anything else that looks shabby is just going to have to suck it up and deal with it! I’ve got the new wallpaper all picked out – just hold your collective breath that when I go in to order it that it’s not discontinued or backordered or whatnot. And that what I’ve got picked out actually goes well with the countertop. On the advice of the contractor, I’m waiting to order the wallpaper until I can compare it to the actual countertop. As it is, I will be frantically wallpapering mid December.

It’s a good thing we have indoor projects because this is our outdoors:

So far about an inch with 4-8 inches predicted. This is unusual for us! We will go years with no snow at all or just a dusting that melts in a few hours. But we have nowhere to go – I even have tomorrow off! As soon as Allen gets home (he went out on his bike before all this started), I’ll relax and enjoy it. Hopefully he’ll show up soon or give us a call to come pick him up in the truck. No sooner said – he just called and asked if we could come pick him up as soon as his boss says he can go. So, I won’t have to worry that he’s out in this.

Not much knitting to show at this point. I have one sock finished for my secret pal, but will wait until the pair is done to post a picture. I had planned to work on Izzy’s Christmas sweater today, but got sidetracked by the kitchen. I’ll probably work on that tomorrow while trying to stay out of Bill’s way while he deconstructs the kitchen!

However, I will leave you with a little teaser – one wee armhole:

Major Happy Dance! STATISTICS IS FINISHED!! Hmmm – or should that be Statistics are finished. Hey, I’m a college senior – I should know that. Anyhow, can we have a Woo! and a Hoo! I went in to work today and things were really slow and we were tripping all over each other, so I decided to take the day off. And, as much as I dreaded it, I decided I should just suck it up and take the final exam. So, after two hours of studying, I did it. It’s over. I felt a little panicky mid-test – my mind just kind of went blank. But when I got home and reviewed the material, I felt really good about the test. It will probably be a week or so before I get the final results, but it’s looking good!

On top of that, I’ve finished all of the knitting for Izzy’s Christmas outfit. Now, it’s just the neckbands and sewing up. Since I’m so far ahead on that project, I decided to wing my way down to our LYS and get some yarn for my secret pal at work. She’s expressed a longing for fingerless mitts, so I will make a pair for her along with some coordinating socks. Here’s Still Life With Yarn:

You might sense that I am a little relaxed about tomorrow (besides having Statistics off my back) and you would be correct. I don’t have to cook at all! About 5 or 6 years ago a local restaurant owner decided to start a Community Thanksgiving Feast for those who either couldn’t afford it or didn’t have family in town to share with. We’re a Navy community and a lot of people are away from their extended family. Well, it has really snowballed and now is a real tradition. All kinds of people come – even those who can well afford it. Those who are able throw some money or checks in a container at the front door, but no one really cares. It’s open to all. Bill, my sister and I will be runners – delivering meals to those who can’t get out. It will be a great time! Ironically, last year the man who started the feast died of a heart attack on Thanksgiving day – in the kitchen, cooking turkeys. What a wonderful legacy he has left. Hope you all have wonderful friends and family to share the day with!

We’re still here! I wasn’t so sure for a while that we weren’t going to blow away. No floods for us, but a severe windstorm whipped through on Wednesday, knocking out our power for about 12 hours. It happened about 12:00 noon and thank goodness we weren’t right inthe middle of any procedures at work. We were just getting ready for a staff meeting/pot luck over the lunch hour, so we accomplished that and went home. We have a generator and gas stove, so were warm and had lights (but no water). I contemplated the idea of settling in for an afternoon of study, but decided this “found” time should be used wisely – so I knitted. I got all of the edgings knitted on one portion of Izzy’s Christmas outfit and now have about a gazillion ends to weave in. Next year it’s a one-color sweater for her!

Just so I don’t have a picture-less post – I’ve pictured these sweaters before, but this is for anyone linking from the CIC group:

These two ganseys were mailed off yesterday to help with the challenge. And, speaking of charity knitting, after the first of the year I’m going to start a charity knitting group! There are so many wonderful groups out there and I have some knitting friends that are interested. Many of these friends aren’t Knitters, they’re knitters, but they would like to contribute and learn more. A few are even non-knitters and want to learn. In the past I’ve found that having knitting lessons in my home for free has been less than successful. So, these lessons won’t be “free”. The price will be to commit to making at least one item for the charity of your choice.

I can’t thank everyone enough for all their comments about Kongsberg. Once I posted the picture I realized that there is no way I could frog that beautiful sweater! Abby did confirm for me that it’s not really her style and I appreciate her honesty. Better that than a sweater that she hates stuffed into a drawer! I will finish it and then decide what to do with it. Maybe I’ll just save it for Izzy – who knows where she’ll end up for college or medical school. It might be cold there! : )

Well, Dorothy’s a dull girl today – studying will do that to you. But I did take my Abnormal Psych final and turned in my paper for my other Psych class. That means I’m done with everything except Statistics! Hubby is gone today, so I’ve set aside the day to work on that. I have two projects and one discussion left. One project is done so all I need to do today is the other project and the discussion. Then, all that will be left will be the final – and it’s not comprehensive, it’s only on this one section. Woo Hoo!! The biggest problem is that I’m STILL waiting on my grade for the test on the last section. Supposedly I can’t hand in anything on this last section until it’s official that I passed the last one. Believe me, this professor is NOT going to get a good evaluation. Maybe by next week I’ll have more exciting things to talk about.

Oh, I did acquire a new/old knitting book. Family Knits by Debbie Bliss. I had checked it out of the library and liked it so much I bought a used copy off Amazon. It’s got some cute patterns for both children and adults. More on that later.

Rain, rain go away! Like most Pacific Northwesterners, I love the rain. But this is too much even for me. We’ve had record rains here, as you may have heard on the news. Normal for Seattle for November is 1.58 inches – so far they’ve already had 8.8 inches! There has been terrible flooding with whole houses washing down the river. We’re fortunate in that we are not affected. We live on an island with no rivers or streams nearby and we’re at a relatively high spot on the island. The worst we’ve had to deal with is some standing water in the backyard:

Still dealing with school stuff, but it’s getting better. Although, if I get an A in statistics, it will be in spite of the professor rather than because of him! We get an opportunity for one retake on each of our exams. So far, I’ve not had to take advantage of that, thank goodness! In order to get the course finished on time he has dates by which you must take the test to allow a retake if necessary. However, he suggests that you wait to have your projects graded before taking the exams. This last exam deadline was November 10th. I turned my projects in TWO WEEKS ago and by the morning of the 10th, they still weren’t graded! It’s not as if there’s mail time involved – they’re submitted electronically and he has them in his mailbox within minutes after I submit them. Fortunately I am doing well in the class and haven’t needed the retakes. And, I didn’t listen to him, but took the exam a week ago. But I really feel for the students who are struggling in the class. By the way, I finally got my projects back about noon and got 34 out of 35 possible points. Ok, rant over.

I have managed to get some knitting done. One of the three pairs of socks I pictured last week is finished and I’m past the heel on one of the others. The rather garish ones are for my mom – not to wear, but to gift to a teenaged friend. She wanted something loud and I think those definitely fit the bill. And look, all of the major knitting on Izzy’s Christmas project is done:

Now all that’s left is the finishing – neck and armhole bands, cutting, steeking and sewing. I’ve been really contemplating my knitting and think I am going to make some rather drastic changes come the first of the year. One of the things I’m going to do is take a critical look at each of my projects and make a decision whether I’m really committed to finishing it and enjoying it. If not – frog pond, here we come. Generally frogging something doesn’t bother me too much, but I am dithering over this project:

I started Kongsberg as a gift for my daughter-in-law Abby. However, she now lives in Orlando and probably has no use at all for a Norwegian sweater (although it is in fingering weight). And now that I know her better, I think this is too fancy for her. A solid color gansey in a simple design would be more her speed. (Abby – correct me if I’m wrong! If you absolutely love this, I will finish it!). There is already so much work involved in this, I hate frogging, but if I finish – who will wear it? It’s a small size and I don’t know anyone that size that I would give it to – and I obviously can’t wear it. So, dear readers – what’s your advice?

Do you think I have a bit of a problem focusing?

I blame this on statistics. Can’t focus on a single project? My mind is fried from statistics. In a cranky mood? Trying to wrap my mind around an illogical statistics problem. House is in a mess? Working on a statistics project. Neglecting my poor husband? Gotta study for a statistics test. Lack of world peace? Well, you get the idea. The good news is that I took the test on Unit 3 yesterday. Still waiting to hear if I passed the unit, but I’m pretty confident. One more unit to go! I’m also ahead on my Abnormal Psych. I’ll finish up my last assignment today and take the final next weekend.

I did manage to focus long enough to finish something – a CIC gansey:

I will mail this and the blue one off this week and probably won’t start another until after the New Year. Marguerite pointed out that I have a lot of projects I want to start after the New Year, and she’s right! After Christmas I’m going to sit down and give a long, hard look at all my current projects to see if they are worth continuing. Stay tuned – there may be frogging. I have been sadly lacking in knitting peace lately, but I blame (you guessed it!) statistics!

My cousin Margaret (who is learning to knit – Hurray Margaret!) pointed out that the site has been sadly lacking in Izzy pictures, so I give you the following.

She is growing so quickly. She’s losing that little pudgy baby look and looking more like a little girl. I can’t wait to see her in December.