One down, one to go!

That's right, I've finished a sock for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. My only fear is it won't fit. I've measured and measured and I think it's right, but since I've never done this before I'm scared it won't fit. I was scared my pal wouldn't like it, but so many people who've seen it have liked it that I've begun to think she'll have to like it. For those who were wondering, yes, this is from the Six Sock Knitalong group. It was a pattern from a while back, but since I'm fairly new to the group, I'm a bit behind. Well that and I really thought it was perfect for this swap. The blue is a little darker then it shows in this picture. I bound off the toe tonight and started the second one while watching the final episode (season 1) of BallyKissAngel on DVD.

In other news...still no blooms. Tomorrow is a full moon, or at least pretty close, so the watch will continue then. Have to be up bright and early to take my dad to have yet another test run to make sure they found all the little places where he was loosing blood in his GI tract. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow when I have to drive into town.

No blooms yet

For those who were checking, the Night Blooming Cereus didn't bloom tonight. So, no pictures of that.

Today is "Ornament Tuesday" and I worked on the 4th of 4 ornaments, a.k.a "surprise". Since I think there are a couple of people who check out this blog who may be receiving the surprise ornament I won't be showing a picture. There's still a ways to go, but it's coming along a lot faster then I thought it would.

I leave you with a picture from what will be the front porch of my aunt & uncles place on their farm...when they finish the remodel that is. It really is beautiful up there.

Back home

Made it home all safe and sound. My trip was short, but I had a great time. I'll post more as I have time, but I thought I'd share a few things.

1. It really is summer time when flights are delayed for no apparent reason as was mine on Thursday. It was supposed to leave JIA at 10:44 AM, I think we finally left a bit after 12 noon. Luckily I had the phone number for the airline and was able to call from the airport to get a seat on the next available flight from Charlotte to Greensboro (which I know is in NC and I was going to WV, but if you were to price plane tickets to WV you'd understand why I asked family to drive 3 or so hours to come and get me there.) So, all was not completely insane, but I did arrive at the final airport about 3 hours after I thought I would. That put a bit of a crimp in the drive home, not to mention the fact that all I'd had to eat all day was a sausage biscuit from McD's and a Pria bar. There was some serious hunger going on by the time we made it to Wytheville, VA.

2. I absolutely LOVE family reunions where you feel the need to have a "taste-off" between 2 pots of chicken and dumplings! And let's not forget the other excellent food of which there was enough to feed at least a small army detachment. Yep, love family reunions!

3. The HP exchange sock had a great time! He was quite a hit at the family reunion, everyone wanted to see and touch. Unfortunately, the camera didn't seem to be around when all this admiring was going on to get pictures. I did, however, manage to get it's picture at a few other places on our Sunday outings.Me, the sock and my Uncle Jim, took a walk at their farm. This is one of the hay fields. We were standing under some beautiful trees, hence the shadows. Should have asked Uncle Jim to hold the sock and get his picture taken with it, but I didn't want to press my luck. I think he thought it was pretty silly I was taking pictures of a sock I hadn't even finished knitting!



The path we took on our nature walk, not much of a path, but it worked. What you can't see are the aromatic ceder's to the left and the different pines to the right that line this "path". There are some beautiful views from the farm. Maybe they'll make an appearance later in the week.

Here it is at the Dairy Queen in Hinton, WV. Everyone eats there. We tried to get the owner, who is also a former state senator (or is it representative, I can never remember) to have his picture taken with it, but apparently he thought my aunt had finally lost her mind. So, we just took the picture outside. (That's my mom, getting into the fun!)
This is me and the sock outside Tamarack in Beckley, WV. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it as a great place to browse and eat. (The mountain trout and fried green tomatoes from the Greenbrier restaurant inside Tamarack are wonderful!).
Finally, the sock spent some quality time with my cousin Steven back at my Aunt's house. Poor Steven was quite tired, having driven to PA to drop off a table and benches he'd made for someone he knew and then home. Not all in one day, but over the weekend. I think he also took some classes, but don't quote me on that part. I do know he was pretty tired, but since he's a good sport, he was willing to go along with the sock and the picture taking.

The best news is I'm ready to bind off the toe for this sock. I just have to make sure it's the right length. Then I'll have to work non-stop on it's pair so I can get my package in the mail to my secret pal. I really hope she likes them.

I think that's all I can manage tonight. I was staying up to see if my Night Blooming Cereus would actually bloom tonight. When we got home, I found 4 buds on it. I don't think they are ready to bloom tonight, maybe tomorrow. When they do, I'll have pictures to share. If you've never seen them, they are amazing, so stay tuned.

This is what happens...

...when you go to your favorite knitting store and have had a couple of "difficult" days.
That's right you purchase yarn to make socks. The yarn on the left is some lovely Rowan Calmer for a pair of socks I found in a British Knitting mag, Knit Today issue 9. They used a lovely lavender shade, but since I'm more a blue person, I went with this light blue. In the picture it looks a little more teal then it is in person.

The yarn on the right is some hand-dyed from HandKraft. All of them were lovely, but I'd seen the pictures on her blog and I was fairly sure I was going to like the "Say What!" color-way best. It turns out I was right. So home it came. I'm going to be a sock wearing fool at some point. Or all my friends are going to have lovely handmade socks for presents.

I think I'm about "packed" to leave in the morning. I have some things I have to do before I can leave, but I think I'll have time. I'm looking forward to the family reunion Saturday. I don't know as much about that part of my family, so it's great to go and meet and learn about everyone. Hopefully when I get home I'll have some good news to report about my HP Sock and my final ornament!

Time flys....

When you're doing other things instead of blogging!

I'm sure you've all be wondering how the remodel has gone. I'm happy to announce it's pretty much completed, as you can see in the pictures I've posted. The first shows the island with the new cooktop and new set of bookcases at the end to house at least some of my cookbooks. Also, that black blob beside the cream colored refrigerator, that's the new double, wall ovens! They are fantastic!



The view towards the new sink. Love the new sink! It's one of those that has a small side that's not as deep and then a big side that's really deep. See....

I like that it's all one piece with the countertop, so it makes it very easy to clean. Had a hard time finding what we wanted for the faucet, but like what we finally decided on. Now to figure out what to do about the backsplash. As you can see, it's not been done yet.

With the backsplash to be decided on, we also have to figure out what to do with the wood parts that are new. Do we try to match the current stain? or Do we decide to paint it something that will go with the rest of the kitchen? My aunt suggested we paint, she said a lot of what they are seeing in the magazines shows that look of paint mixed with stain. It's under discussion. I also want to change the hardware on the doors and drawers. Found something we all liked, so that may be coming soon. And, the more I look at it, the more I realize we'll have to change the wall color a little. I'm thinking it can be done with a glaze or some other paint treatment. I'll work on that later though.

In other news...I finished the 3rd of the 4 ornaments I'm stitching for the ornament exchange. I love the way this one looks, even if it does have TONS of the dreaded RG silver and gold braid. I don't like the way it was finished in the magazine, so I'm going to do something different, just not sure what. Have too much to do now to think about finishing. I'm taking it with me to Atlanta next month, and if I haven't finished it by then, it might get left with the master, a.k.a Vickie B., for her to work her magic.

Very little knitting going on. I'm working almost exclusively on the HP Socks for the HP Exchange. Almost finished with sock 1! Now, I'm sure some are wondering if I'll finish the 2nd in time. Oh yeah of little faith. Of course I will. I'm a deadline person. It will happen. My plan right now is to only take the HP socks and orny 4 (the "surprise" orny) with me when I fly up to WV for a family reunion later this week. Can't really stitch at the reunion, but knitting will work. So there's plane time, car time and reunion time to knit! I foresee great progress.

Let the Remodeling Begin!

This morning it started. Well, it really started last night when we had to remove most of the drawers and most everything off the counter tops and even more stuff out of a cabinet that would be going away. As I type it's already gone. So last night, this is what the kitchen basically looked like. The head you see is my mother. As you can see, we had already removed some of the drawer, but you get the idea. I've always loved these cabinets. Hard to tell from the photo, but they are made with knotty pine and then stained a very light color. The floor tile is a light grey, and yes, the wall is a very pretty teal green. Note the mess of cookbooks at the end of the island, some of which are in a milk crate I had in my dorm room as a freshman...many, many years ago.

This morning the work began. My uncle tackled the island area first. That's where the stove was, and it had to come out first. Wasn't as hard as it could have been. That left a fairly large hole. He came with a new front for that, and it has a drawer at the bottom and a nice tall shelf above (or below the new cook top, depending on your perspective.)(A picture of the work in progress, no stove no drawers, no top.) We'll cut down the doors from the shelf area below where the microwave is in the picture above. (hint: it's to the right of the 'fridge.) Then the new top went on and the hole for the cook top was cut. After all that, it was finally time to put the cook top in. The last step to the island was to add new shelves for some of my cookbook collection. Like he said, it won't hold them all, but it will help some. I'm just happy to get rid of the milk crate! Can you see the shiny new glass cook top? It's so pretty! What you can't tell from this picture is that the counter top has black and white speckles, so that black looks fantastic. It also looks like it's a lot greener then the wall, and yet in person it's not really, they are actually quite similar. Odd...

This was fairly late in the afternoon. The man is my wonderful Uncle Jim, cabinet builder extraordinaire! He's the mastermind behind the entire kitchen, since he's the one that originally made them and is not putting on the new tops. He has a custom cabinet business in WV where he, his sons, and a grandson or 2 work and create beautiful kitchens for people. It's all from hand, all made at their shop. An art form to be appreciated, which our family does.

Things finally got wound up for the day around 6 PM. We have a slight problem with the wall ovens, electrical. But since it's all run through the attic, we decided to go back to it fresh in the morning. Needless to say, the guy who was having to go up in the attic, my employee Ronnie, was mighty happy not to have to go back up there today. It's pretty hot what with the temperatures being in the 90's today. Notice that the 'fridge had to be pulled out, and it was just left that way. So, it actually looks worse now, then earlier today. Not to mention that all kinds of tools are on top of the island. Oh well, it will look better tomorrow night...I hope.

Speaking of tomorrow...have to go early and find a faucet for the sink. Went to the "Big Orange Home Improvement Store" this afternoon and found one we liked, (we being me, mom & my Aunt Nora, and yes, it takes all 3 of us to pick something out!). The problem is, they didn't have it in stock, nor did any of the other stores in the surrounding area. They could order it, but it would take 7 - 21 days to receive it. Not helpful when the new top goes on tomorrow and the holes have to be drilled for the new faucet then, and I know I don't want what we have now. So, tomorrow morning we will be trudging to the "Big Blue Home Improvement Store" to see what they have. We may also make a trip to one of the local plumbing supply places in Orange Park (hopefully they are open on Saturdays). Wish me luck!

A Hint of Summer

Today was one of those days in my part of FL where you begin to think about what summer means. The temperature made it's way to around the 92 degree range. (For those of you who are in Europe, that's closing in on 33.) But the best part is the humidity. Today it was fairly low, from what I can tell in the low 40% range, so what it felt like, was just a few degrees over what the actual temp. was. This weekend they've said...they being the people on the news who attempt to predict the weather...that our temperatures will hover around the same, maybe a few degrees hotter, but that the heat index will ease into triple digits. Yes folks, it will feel like at least 100, and with that, we will know that even though the calendar says it's Spring, Summer has arrived.

On the home front, my aunt & uncle are headed down here to bring the new kitchen cabinet tops. I'll be posting pictures of what it looks like now, hopefully some of the in action look, and then the finished product. Stay tuned.

On the knitting and stitching front, there isn't much to report. I did work on my HP sock exchange sock Monday when I went with Mom to the doctor. Stitching wise I managed to work on ornament #3 a little. Tonight, if I can manage, I'm going to pull out a project for "Jumpin' Jehosephat" month. I'll take a picture when I decide what to work on. It's probably going to be one of Martina's projects that are wallowing...I mean waiting patiently in my stash box/shelf.

All in all, an interesting, if not hot day.

Weekend report

There really isn't all that much to report, but I feel the need to catch up on some things.

Friday evening brought rain which lasted until late on Saturday. This is a good thing. I live in NE Florida not so very far from the fires in FL and GA. We've been craving rain and the all night all day kind is the best. Things that had begun to turn brown have started to turn green again. I'll take all the rain we can get, we're still dry and the fire danger is still high.

Friday evening also brought some fun at KnitWitz. I didn't get any stitching done, but I did have a good time helping a nice lady learn the stitches necessary to work on some light blankets for her grandson and other assorted babies in her family. Then it was off to a meeting of "The Girls Club" where there was food, sangria and a movie, not to mention good company. Got to show off the current state of Eliza and of my HP Sock for my secret pal. My friend Joan is a knitter from way back and was very pleased with my sock knitting. I'm trying to get her to come and knit with us on Friday nights, but she's currently working on a quilt. Maybe in the fall.

Since it rained all day Sat. Plan "A" - cleaning the gutters, was scrapped in favor of Plan "B" - cleaning out the closet and packing "winter" clothes away. Yes, I'm aware it's June, and I live in Florida, but I've been busy. The packing away hasn't quite been finished and now the race is on. My aunt and uncle will be here either Thursday or Friday, so all the clothes I piled in the spare room HAVE to get packed away in order for them to have a place to actually sleep. I think the hardest part is over, so just need to fold some things and put them in the correct "bins" and then hide them back under my bed for another 5 or 6 months.

Sunday was the normal hectic morning and afternoon trying to recover. Took a wonderful nap, worked some more on packing away clothes, ate and watched "The Holiday". Cute movie, nothing spectacular, but nice mindless fun. I actually liked Jack Black in this, which surprised me. Worked some more on the aforementioned HP exchange sock. I promise, a picture soon.

Today has been hectic, which reminds me, I have work that needs to be finished. Especially since company is coming this week. Want to be able to play some while they're here.