These last few weeks have been incredibly intense . I am constantly thinking of what to do in my craft room . The other day , I asked Hubs if we could paint the room , and after a positive answer , my thoughts really exploded . Hubs did tell me that my bookcases from the den have to go in there , but that 's ok with me . There is one wall with no windows where they would line up nicely . If they don 't all fit , I will find room for the rest . There are only five , after all . Although I really need a couple more . I would like to take the doors off the closet , and put shelves or something in there for yarn and WIP storage . Then I thought about lots of little hooks all over the wall to hang individual hanks or skeins . But color ? My mind is going wild . I 've started asking friends for color advice . So far , I 've gotten purple . I love purple , but not too dark . I thought about maybe a nice dark purple on the bottom of the walls , with a lighter purple above . Then I thought about painting sheep on one wall . Or a painted tree in one corner , with the green leafy branches going out on the ceiling . There are just too many darn options ! The room is currently a medium dark blue , which really isn 't too bad . I could work with it . Here is what it looks like : It 's really a nice blue . It would make a nice sky color . I do want to paint the ceiling , though . I guess I 'll just have to see what I can talk Hubs into . I went to the store today and got some paint chips . Purples , and a couple orangey yellow ones . Just in case I want to paint a sun . You never know . It might be fun to paint the whole room a nice bright yellowy orange ! My whole life , I have marveled at the way the Universe works . You need , really need , something ? You get it . You seriously need money to pay a bill ? The mailman leaves an unexpected check for you in your mail , or , going through your old clothes , you find money in a pocket that you totally forgot about . I have come to totally trust in the power of the Universe . If Hubs is freaking that he can 't find a certain thing , I tell him he must not need it yet , because when he really needs it , he will find it . Of course , he gets angry at me , tells me that " Yes I really do need it now ! " , because he 's preparing for something way in advance . Which totally supports my point , don 't you agree ? When my youngest child was small , in Kindergarten I believe , he had a very awesome bus driver , who we became friendly with . His name was Brian . For years , he drove Jess to school and home every day . Even years when he wasn 't assigned that route , he would always beep and wave to me when he saw me outside . I recently thought about Brian , and wondered of he was still driving school buses . Well , the Universe heard me . Yesterday as I was walking to my Jeep , a man on a bicycle was riding towards me . He hollared out , " Hi , Jesse 's mom ! " . I stopped and stared , and then he said " It 's Brian , Jesse 's bus driver ! " To which I replied , " Hi , Brian ! " , as he pedaled past me . I wish he could have stopped for a chat , but was obviously on his way somewhere . Now I know that he is still alive , at least , and appears to be doing well ! Perhaps someday , he will be able to stop for a chat . I would like to update him on our lives , and ask if he 's still driving busses . Do you hear that , Universe ? After much soul and stash searching , I have finally found a new project . A certain very cute Puerto Rican man has a young son . Once upon a time he asked me to make a blanket for this youngster . At the time , I refused . I was working on lots of different things , and didn 't have the inclination to start an afghan . Well , ladies and gentlemen , that worm has turned . I was searching for something to make , and this request came to mind . So I went and visited with the daddy in question today . It turns out that his son would love a blanket in the very color that I have in abundance ! As soon as I got home , I began to crochet . On the way home , I was momentarily distracted by a sign on a local nail salon here in town . It stated - " Come in for a Spa Pdeicure " . Now , this sign so distracted me , that as I was sitting at a red light , I very nearly forgot to go when the light turned green again ! I got involved considering the possibilities . Store keeper can 't read ? Store employee doesn 't care ? Store personnel can 't read English ? And no one has informed anyone in this establishment of the error on their signage ? It boggles the mind . I am , without a doubt , absolutely bonkers when it comes to spelling and things . It could come from both my parents being teachers . Or it could come from a lifetime of reading . But either way , I go totally nuts when I see spelling mistakes , especially when the people who wrote it are supposedly college educated . Like engineers ! I worked for many years in the semiconductor industry , with all these supposedly smart engineers who couldn 't spell to save their lives . They would make up these forms we were supposed to fill out , and misspell words ! On official company documents ! Makes me mad , I tell you , mad ! ! >> breathe in , breathe out << OK , I 'm calmer now . Posted by At the present time , I am not working on anything . That 's right , not one thing . The secret project I started , I ended up frogging because something wasn 't right . I was in the decreasing , but had waaay too many stitches left for the K3 , K2tog round . I would like to start over , but I think I should use a smaller size needle , and then it would need to be shorter than 16 " . I don 't have any circular needles less than 16 " . Perhaps you can see my dilema . When I go babysitting , I am taking my nook , so I can read while Malia naps . I am currently taking a break from Game of Thrones III ( I don 't remember the exact name of the book ) , and have started reading the Ann Rice werewolf novel . So far , it 's good . I do miss crocheting and knitting . I have even looked through the newer patterns I have gotten from Ravelry , which I put on one of those stick drive things . There is another colorwork blanket which I might be interested in trying . At least , when I get some money ahead to buy the yarn . All I can do is hope that soon I can get together with my knitting expert friend so she can interpret what the great EZ means in the directions of the baby surprise jacket . I can 't even call it a pattern , it 's really directions . On a totally different note , I finally baked my famous walnut peanut butter chip brownies last night . I finally felt like baking ! I used the metal pan , when I should have used the glass one . They are a little overdone on the edges . Next time , I will remember to use the glass pan . That 's how long it 's been , that I forgot which pan makes them come out the best ! My littlest charge , Malia , sometimes does the cutest things . And I swear , every day she 's cuter than the day before . This past Friday , I heated her lunch up for her in the microwave . I put a few noodles from the bowl in front of her on the tray of her high chair , so she could feed herself . She looked at me , then at the noodles . She picked them up with one hand , and with the other she reached out , took my hand and turned it over , palm up . She then took her handful of noodles and put them in my hand . I took that to mean " Thank you , but no , I would rather not have noodles again today ! " She totally blows me away sometimes . She doesn 't talk too much , but makes her demands known . I know she understands when I talk to her , because if she 's having trouble with something I tell her to bring it to me , and I will help her . She usually stops and brings it to me . There are things on the shelf behind the one couch where I usually sit , that she shouldn 't have . She loves to try and get these things . She will climb up on the couch , and on me , to reach these items . I usually hold her back with one hand on her tummy , and tell her " No , there 's nothing up there for you ! " The first few times I did this , she gave me the dirtiest look , and told me off , but good , in baby language . As time has gone by , she is more accepting of my no 's . Also last Friday , we lost power for a few seconds , and it messed up the cable box , which had to reboot . She got impatient , and I explained to her that the box had to fix itself . She walked over to the box , looked down at it , and proceeded to tell it off ! I told her that it wouldn 't do any good , the box takes its own time . But it sure made me giggle in amazement ! Unfortunately at the current time , I am not actively working on any knit or crochet project . I am waiting for a day when I can get together with my knitting expert friend to help me interpret Elizabeth Zimmermann 's directions . Hopefully that will happen soon ! We recently gave our fish tank away , it 's been empty since our last fish , Hitler , died . This is the story of Hitler , how he got his name , and an interesting incident in our fish tank . I think I 've written about this before , so I 'll try and make that part of the story brief . Once upon a time , we had a fish tank . It was a 55 gallon long . Which I believe means it was long , but not very tall . We had two fish in it , I don 't remember what kind they were . One day , Hubs and Jesse came home with a new fish for the tank . They were warned at the fish store that the fish we already had in the tank might attack the new kid on the block . In the tank he went . He was only about the size of a quarter . The next day , one of the original two fish was badly damaged . One of his fins was all chewed up , and he was swimming funny . It seems the new guy was tougher than the old ones . the next day , the other fish was all beat up . Hubs put a divider in the tank , to keep the two kinds of fish apart . It didn 't work . The new fish somehow got over or around the divider , and continued to attack the old fish , until they both died . And that is how Hitler got his name . He performed an ethnic cleansing in the tank . Also in the tank were two algae eating fish called pleckos . Jesse named them Johnny Tight Lips and Frankie the Squealer . He was pretty young , maybe 8 . For some reason , Hitler let them live . He never bothered them . One day , when I got up , I noticed that the fish tank was totally green . I mean like pea soup . Nothing we tried worked . Hubs changed the filter cartridges , and other things that I can 't remember now . We couldn 't see into the tank . I knew Hitler was still there because he would come to the surface when I fed him . It was literally weeks that the tank was green like that . One day , I noticed it was a little less green . Gradually , over the next few days , the tank water returned to normal . And once we could see in , we noticed that one of the pleckos was gone . He never turned up , either . We never found a body , or pieces , or bones . Jesse , in his infinite wisdom , decided that Frankie the Squealer was the missing fish , and Hitler had had him killed because Frankie was gonna squeal to the cops . By the time he died , Hitler was about 7 inches long . We still miss that fish . I used to like to mess with him , I used a laser pointer and pointed it at him . He didn 't like that , he would visibly change color , and come to the nearest corner of the tank and stare at me . If a fish could look agitated and angry , he sure could . It seems that getting rid of the fish tank brought back some memories . I gotta tell you , I never thought that Hitler would live so long ! He must 've been at least 10 years old when he finally passed . It is a little small , we stretched it as much as we could . I 'm thinking it will stretch out over time , and I can take it off and re - tie it at a later date . In the meantime , I 'm happy it 's finally on ! On July 9th , 2012 , I will have been unemployed three years . I remember well how strange it felt that last night . How somber my Control Center co - workers were , since we had lost one of our own 2 weeks before . The promises to keep in touch . We didn 't . How it felt so final when the door closed behind me for the last time , and knowing that I couldn 't get back in because my manager had taken my badge . Very very weird . I stood there in the dark , waiting for Hubs to come around to the back of the building to pick me up . He wanted it that way , I believe he left through a back door of his building too . He didn 't want to see anyone , or witness any tearful goodbyes . We were much luckier than most , I believe . We all knew it was coming , but Hubs was smart enough to pay off all our credit cards , and reduce in every possible way , our debt and bills . Just before the closing of our plant , we refinanced our mortgage , and with the money we got from that , paid off the loan on his truck . So we had no car payments , as my Jeep had been paid off since the December before . And we had no credit card debt . Every one of us that worked there hoped against hope that someone , anyone , would buy us , but thank the Goddess Hubs decided not to take any chances . Thus his financial decisions , and he started our debt reduction well over a year before we were actually unemployed . The money we both got for severance pay we could make last as long as we needed . That summer , since we weren 't working , Hubs replaced all the old windows in our house , for energy efficiency . He also painted the house , and we replaced the front door too . We used to get quite a draft from that old front door , and the big picture window too . Hubs wanted to keep busy , so it was good for him , and long term good for us . We got very lucky ; Hubs found a good job in November , on the same site where we both had worked , but in a different building . I stayed on UI as long as they would have me . No one would hire me , and in that whole two years I didn 't have any job interviews . I 've been off UI for just over a year now . I am still looking for work . I 've had a few interviews , even one call back . But not one job offer . It 's very discouraging . This helps to explain why I knit or crochet so much . It makes me feel like I am doing something , I can sell the things I make . I have had a little success , I have made and sold three shawls . I sold one afghan , and threw in three free ones , they are still in my basement waiting to be sent to Texas . ( I haven 't forgotten , Gordie ! ) OK , enough of the sob story . Let 's not mention it again , please . I usually like to talk about fun and happy things . I am almost universally known for my upbeat attitude and positive outlook . See , Shit does happen , and Misery is optional ! ( See post from Sept . 21 , 2011 ) And sometimes it happens to me ! ! My Hubs came home from work the other morning , and as we talked , he mentioned that he read something on the news . Apparently , there is a substance called Bath Salts that is sold in Head Shops . People have been buying it , and smoking it . When they do , it turns them into real zombies . They completely lose their minds , and even become canibalistic . One " person " was even caught eating , yes , eating , someone 's face ! It 's not just here in the U . S . either , He told me the news reported it was world wide . So there are people in other countries smoking this stuff and being turned into zombies . I have been thinking about this very hard since we first discussed it . It well and truly scares me . Could this be how it all starts ? With these idiots who will smoke anything to get high ? Since that really only affects the individual , some mutation or something must happen , to turn it into a virus and make it able to spread to others . How long will it be before this actually happens ? Mark my words people . Keep an eye on the news . I know I will . . . . I still haven 't installed my new crocheted tire cover . My friend and I decided it was too freaking hot to be that active . It would have only taken a few seconds to get completely drenched in sweat . Hopefully we will be able to try tomorrow . I did accomplish my task of buying a new battery for the camera , though . So the day wasn 't completely wasted . I 'm really looking forward to having the new cover on the spare ! It is so well known around town , I can 't help but wonder what comments I 'll get . I 've had people next to me at stoplights roll down their windows and tell me how much they like it ! Strangers in parking lots , too ! It 's fun and different , and there aren 't any other tire covers like it around here . Also today I did something my Hubs has been bugging me to do , I went to the pharmacy and had a talk with my pharmicist . Last week , my pulmonologist gave me a new inhaler to try , to see if it works better for me than Advair . As I read through the accompanying papers , I discovered that the new one contains a LABA and I shouldn 't take it until I check with my pharmacist to make sure none of my other meds contain a LABA . I know , YAWN . . . . But I finally went today , and the answer is " No " , none of my other meds contain the nasty LABA , so I am cleared for take - off . Starting tomorrow morning . Whoopie . P . S . LABA stands for Long Acting Broncho - Something or other . Just so you know , and won 't have to Google it . I added the knitting M & M just for a laugh . It 's been too long since I posted a photo . Posted by Well , the new tire cover is done , I just need to hook up with my helper to get it on . Photo will be posted once it 's applied ! I did start the EZ baby surprise jacket , and I 've gotten as far as I can without assistance , which means interpretation . She was a knitting genius , but sucked at pattern writing . Hey , no one 's perfect ! Love her anyway . While I am waiting , I decided to start another project , which I am keeping quiet about , as the person I 'm giving it to reads my blog , sometimes . It 's going pretty well , actually . Started this morning by casting on , and doing the first row , the K2 P2 ribbing didn 't come out right . So I counted again , and found out I only cast on 62 stitches , when I was supposed to cast on 72 . So I frogged it and put it in my bag , as it was almost time to leave for babysitting . While Miss Malia napped today , I got out the mystery project ( mp ) , cast on the correct number of stitches this time , and did the whole ribbed section . When knitting in the round , I don 't join right away , I knit the first row first , then join and continue knitting in the round . I find it much easier , and when finished , I just take the long tail and stitch the tiny gap closed . No harm no foul . I know my limitations , and can usually find a way to get done what needs to be done , as far as knitting goes . Like when I did the Pi Shawl . I started out knitting it back and forth , until it was big enough , then I joined it and continued in the round . After it was well established , I took the tail and gently seamed up the opening . Looks nice , and you can 't tell that I am an absolute idiot when it comes to double points . Now for a brief word about the weather . It was , and still is , very fracking hot today . Even with the air on , I am melting . I need an ice bath , and more Edy 's Fruit Pops . Pineapple and pomegranate are my two favorites . And it 's gonna be more of the same tomorrow ! This is not helping my breathing , either . So I 'm trying to stay cool , and stay still , or there could be trouble in the breathing department . Well , this just sucks ! I closed this post , so I could take a photo of the sweater 's progress . And the batteries are dead in the camera . Last time , I bought two , and guess what ? The compartment where I put the spare is open . So it could have fallen out at anytime , anywhere . I am so completely bummed ! I guess I have to go to Rite Aid tomorrow and get another one . So , I guess you 'll have to wait until then to see the photos . Sorry . OK , go back to your lives now . There we were , Hubs and I , in Kingston exploring Sam 's Club . I quickly discovered that they do not sell yarn . They lost me . I doubt I will ever go there unless accompanying Hubs . That being said , we are now the proud owners of a new 42 " LCD TV for our bedroom . Yes , it 's bigger than the one it 's replacing . But it 's smaller than the one Hubs wanted to buy ! All I can say is thank the Goddess he came to his senses and realized that a 47 " TV is waaaay to big for our bedroom . Then yesterday , Hubs took our old cable boxes back and exchanged them for new ones . Smart move ! It seems our old boxes , while not really that old , were like dinosaurs ! So everything is all hooked up in both the living room and bedroom . It turns out that the picture on the new TV is the best picture we have ever seen on any TV ! Now I am having trouble getting Hubs to come out of the bedroom . I may never see him again , except for when I go to bed . The new TV has internet on it ! And is it 's own WiFi hot spot . So now we can get Netflix in there , where we couldn 't before . The really strange thing ? There are movies being offered in the bedroom that are not being offered in the living room ! ! How does that happen ? It 's all the same account ! ! And I am thinking that at some point I can hook my laptop up to the TV , and see facebook , twitter and the like on a HUGE screen ! ! That would be fun ! Imagine , a giant size farmville ! This week , Hubs is working four nights . So I have four nights to explore the new TV and its possibilities ! As a side note , whoever designed that particular plaza in Kingston was a genius ! There is a Michaels Craft Store right next to a Gander Mountain ! ! And behind those stores in Walmart ! The Sam 's Club is across the parking lot from Michaels and Gander Mt . And yes indeed , we visited all four establishments . It is no small wonder that my legs and feet hurt ! All that walking ! And I am still a bit sore today . Since our son moved out on his own two weeks ago , Hubs and I have avoided talking about what we will do with his room . I know that we had talked about moving into it temporarily , while we re - do our room . We 've been here 22 years , and it 's waaaay over due . But after that , it 's up in the air . Well , just a little while ago , I told him that someone had asked me what we are going to do with the empty room . Then I asked him point blank what his plans were for the room . I must say , what he said completely shocked me . I believe his exact words were : " Well , you need a place for all your craft stuff . . . " I nearly fainted . It seems he might be getting tired of having all my yarn in bags , and boxes , and storage bins all over the place . So I 've been fantasizing about decorating the room , would I have wall to wall shelves , or open bins , or what ? I did tell him that it would be cool to put a futon in there , " you know , in case we get overnight guests . . . " Of course , I 'm really thinking of my Stitch n Bitch buddies . He did tell me that he would like to move my bookcases from the den into my craft room . I don 't have a problem with that . They would probably all fit on the one wall . I get to pick out a rug , since Jess took the one that was in there . In the original footprint of the house my new craft room was the master bedroom . The new master bedroom is an addition on the back of the house , off the dining room ; if you look , you can see where the sliding glass door was . The previous owner took out the wall between the living and dining rooms , so it 's more like a great room now , but I call it my " not so great room " . I am just so excited , I had to share ! Right now that room is a medium blue , we painted it for Jesse the weekend that Princess Diana was killed . I will never forget that weekend , it was my birthday weekend too . I might even want to repaint ! OMG ! I am gonna have so much fun with this ! ! Yup , I put on my big girl panties , and started the EZ baby surprise jacket . I am currently on row 11 , I think . I had to stop in the middle of a row , as I was knitting while waiting in the truck for Hubs , who was in Gander Mt , and I finished at Michael 's before he was done . Anyway , I was knitting , halfway done with row , and he came back . That was my point . Sorry for the rambling . So far I 'm not having any problems , except for placing the stitch markers . They need to be moved every row , and I am having trouble putting them in the right place . I figure sooner or later I will get it right . I went to Michael 's to get another skein on the yarn I 'm using , which isn 't the denim blue one . I have plenty of that yarn . I decided to use a color from the colorwork blanket , so they can go together . Anyway , Michael 's had the yarn , but not the color I need . I will hopefully try the store in Poughkeepsie tomorrow . Last week , we joined Sam 's Club , and this week we went there to buy a new TV for our bedroom . We got a few other things too . I like that , because Hubs pays . He 's in the bedroom right now , setting it up . I will go and check on him when I am done writing . All that walking through Walmart , Michael 's , and then Sam 's Club , and my legs and feet are shot . Even my knees started to hurt . So I 've been taking it easy since we got home . We ordered a pizza , some wings and a meatball calzone for dinner , so I didn 't have to cook . Yum . Watch this space in the future for photos of the baby surprise jacket ! Hopefully I can figure it out . . . And I am proud to say that the new tire cover for my Jeep is almost done , I am currently working on the last section , the width of the tire . After that , there 's just a round of loops , to put the string through , to tie it on with . I must say that the denim yarn was so nice to work with , and laundered out so soft , I am now reconsidering the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket . It would look great in this yarn ! If only I can translate into workable English . Since my plea for help got no responses , I guess I 'm on my own . I will try to be patient and just do what it says . That 's what I always tell my friend Bonny , when she has a question about a pattern . Today I made a decision . If I ever win oodles and oodles of money in the lottery , I know what one thing for sure I will do . I will buy a freestanding building , and open a yarn shop . If it 's big enough , it will also contain a book store and a coffee shop . This is my newest fantasy . For many years , my fantasy was to move to a college town , and open a quaint little New Age book store . To illustrate how long ago I arrived at this fantasy , it was when my daughter was little , and before I married my beloved Hubs . Ideally , Sara would have attended the college in the town where we lived , and brought all her friends to the bookstore to meet her cool new age mom . That idea was so ingrained in me that I actually started writing a book about a character who does exactly that . Unfortunately I never got past the outline . I had character names , and relationships all worked out , but could never settle on a plot . What would there people do in their lives ? I never did figure it out . My character had a live - in housekeeper , after all she had a business to run . She drove a Mercedes SUV , which I was in love with when they first came out . The SUV was added later , I remember we lived in our current house when I saw the first one . She owned a large property outside of town , a Victorian house with a large barn that had been converted to a house , and two of her friends lived there . I had even figured out where she got all this money from . But I don 't remember now . I believe I still have the notes I made all those years ago , they are here in this house somewhere , but I don 't know where . Maybe someday I will come across them . Anyway , back to my current fantasy . I even have a property in mind to buy . There is an empty building , near where my friend lives , that used to be a restaurant , I believe . All the years I have lived in Hyde Park , it has been empty . I would love to make that into my yarn / book / coffee shop . I believe it would be perfect ! If only I could get a look inside ! But that will have to wait until I come into a very large amount of money . I need to remember to go by there and take a photo one of these days . I hope you would all agree with me about its potential . I have to tell you , I found this hilarious . For all the seasons that it 's been on , my family has watched House , M . D . . I like it because it 's the only show on television , ever , to mention my disease , Sarcoidosis . And I find Hugh Laurie and the House character adorable . Now , my beloved youngest child has only seen Mr . Laurie as House , and so is unaware of his earlier body of work . One day , I was watching a British TV show on Netflix , MI 5 . Hugh Laurie was in that episode , as the head of MI 6 , I believe . Now , as I am watching the show one evening , son comes home and wants to know what I 'm watching . I tell him , and tell him to watch with me , as House is in this episode . He sits down , and within minutes , Mr . Laurie makes his appearance in the scene . A few minutes later , my son turns to me and says : After I stopped laughing , I pointed out that the " fake sounding " British accent is , in fact , his real voice and that his American accent is so good , that a lot of people don 't know he 's British ! He didn 't believe me . I can only hope that at some point he will Google " Hugh Laurie " and find out for himself . There is another actor , the good looking guy from The Glades , who is Australian ! When I heard him talk in his natural voice , I was shocked . He also has a very good American accent . Just goes to show ya , you can never tell anymore where a person is from . American accents must be easy to do . I have made significant progress on the latest blanket ! There are seven V - stitch sections in the whole thing , and I am currently on the sixth one . YAY ! I laid it on my chair and took some photos ! There was a third photo , but it was blurry . I have trouble taking more than a couple of photos , the shaking starts . But at least I got two , and they aren 't too bad . I also have a photo of those chocolate mushroom candies I talked about the other day , here is the photo of the box : Look for them in your local grocery or specialty food store ! They 're pretty good ! And for those who read yesterday 's post , I would like to thank you . I don 't know which of you clued Hubs in , but last night I got the best sleep in a very long time ! He didn 't watch TV in the bedroom at all . And when he finally came in to go to sleep , he didn 't turn the TV on . We usually fall asleep with it on , and whoever wakes up first during the night turns it off . Thank you , thank you , thank you ! This morning , I woke up at 4 : 15 . In the A . M . That in itself isn 't unusual , but on the nights when Hubs is home , it can be a problem . See , he has trouble switching gears from working nights / sleeping days to sleeping nights / being awake days . Last night , he took a nap , and woke up around 1 a . m . and couldn 't get back to sleep . Unfortunately for me , he isn 't comfortable sitting in the living room to watch TV in the middle of the night . This means that while I am sleeping , he 's watching TV in the bedroom . Which is fine . Until I wake up . Then , especially after 3 a . m . , I require quiet and dark to get back to sleep . I would use the ear plugs he got for me , but then I wouldn 't hear my alarm go off at 5 : 45 . I feel in all fairness , I should tell you about his sleeping . During his work week , he sleeps during the day , and our bedroom is nearly completely darkened . Once he goes to bed , I make every effort NOT to go in there , so he won 't be disturbed . I even keep most of my clothes in another room , so I don 't even have to go in there to get dressed . Even our living room is darkened , because you have to go through it to get to the bathroom . So it 's really frustrating for me not to get the same consideration . There are times when he does go into the living room for a while , usually to smoke one of his cigars . He won 't smoke in the bedroom . I have asked him to turn off the TV while he 's gone . He did it once . The first time . After that time , he hasn 't done it . I think he feels it makes more noise if he turns the TV off , then on again when he comes back in . So the nights that I have to get up so early the next morning , I usually don 't get very good sleep . Like last night . And I still have to go through my whole day on less than the optimum amount of sleep . With any kind of luck , I will be able to get to bed a little early tonight . Especially since I need to get up at 5 : 45 . again . tomorrow . Don 't get me wrong , I love Hubs dearly , and can not imagine my life without him . He makes unimaginable sacrifices for our family . So , wish me luck , BicraftualMe 1 . It turned out I did have time to crochet at the tournament yesterday , pretty much after everyone showed up , and I still had to sit at the table guarding the money . After a while I had Julie help me carry them inside , and we put them in a locked box behind the head table . I think I got three rows done ! Woot ! Then I could go and watch my son compete ! 2 . After some digging this morning , through my pattern files , I found the name of the designer of the N hook afghan series of pamphlets . They were called Quick Crochet Afghans , and , as I thought , there were four of them . It turns out that each book was designed by a different designer . My favorite was in book 2 , and the designers name was Joyce Winfield Vanderslice . Gotta give credit where credit is due ! 3 . The tournament itself was absolutely awesome ! I took money for spectator fees , Julie handled those competitors who had pre - registered , and Mrs . Jackson took care of the walk in competitors . The Black Belt events were supposed to start at noon , but actually started a bit early . This is unusual for a karate tournament , but Master Leclerc always runs a very tight ship . I didn 't bring my camera , so no photos . It 's so good for the kids to stay and see their instructors compete . There were many of them who stayed , or came back . They were treated to quite a show . Posted by Yesterday , we had our weekly Stitch n Bitch at Cranberry 's . As usual , we had a great breakfast , and got down to business . This week , OFL ( our fearless leader ) was absent , due to her Cherub staying home from school due to illness . Jan and I carried on as best we could . Cheryl came too ! Jan is working on a new shawl with beads . Her progress is slow , due to having lots of work to do . She has made great strides , however , since switching over to Addi Lace needles . She was having trouble dropping stitches and things , then OFL told her about the stickiness of the Addi Lace needles . She switched , and is now very happy ! I was working on the new denim blue blanket . I have made great strides myself , but am now a day behind since I spent the whole day today at the local high school for the karate tournament . I was gone before Hubs got home , and didn 't get home until after he left again for work ! So I didn 't get to see him today ! I don 't like that at all . That 's it for now , I 'm exhausted . I need to get some rest . Look for a karate tournament report here tomorrow ! I will try not to brag too much , but it 'll be really hard . After all , my son is awesome ! After starting the knitted project , I decided I didn 't really want to do it , so I frogged it . It was only three rows , so I don 't feel too bad . Then I began the crocheted blanket . That is what the yarn was telling me it wanted to be . As I mentioned , I have made many of these afghans over the years . No matter what the size , the stitch count is always the same . The way to change the size is with hook size and yarn weight . The pattern is written for a huge adult size afghan , using two strands of worsted weight yarn and an N size hook . I have made it that big , as well as child size , and sizes in between . The child size uses worsted weight yarn and a J or K hook . A baby size blanket takes sock or lace weight yarn , and an F or G size hook . It 's my very favorite afghan pattern to crochet . Sometimes big projects can drive you insane from boredom , you just want it to end . Doing the same stitch over and over just makes you want to pull your hair out . That 's why I love this pattern . There are only four rows of any given stitch in the pattern , then you do a different stitch for four more rows . If anyone is interested , the pattern is called Lace Panel . The copy I have doesn 't even have the designers name on it . It was put out in a pamphlet by Leisure Arts years and years ago . There was a series of four pamphlets , all for N size hook afghans . They are out of print now . I know because I lost my copy of the one with the Lace Panel in it , and went to Michaels and asked for another one . They didn 't have any , and told me they were out of print . I sent an email to Leisure Arts , begging for a copy , as it was my very favorite afghan pattern . They sent me a black and white photocopy of the pamphlet , since I was such a " loyal customer " . I have been very careful to laminate this copy , and put it in a safe place . Even though I have the pattern memorized , I sometimes need to refresh my memory . Here are the promised photos of the progress I 've made . The blanket is done long side to long side , so I laid it out that way . And here 's the close uPosted by I finally decided it 's time to replace my crocheted tire cover on my Jeep , so I 've started a new one ! I bought the yarn a few weeks ago , but I was waiting to be done with a few other things first , and waiting for my crochet hooks to reappear when we moved the couch out of here . I went with another color scheme entirely for the new one ! I started with burgundy , and found a variegated yarn to go with it , called Cherry Chip . It 's got the dark red , as well as tan , dark tan , and chocolate brown . I like it . Here is a photo of the two yarns , together : So far , so good . I 'm sure Hubs will hate it , thinking it 's too girly . See , he hasn 't driven my Jeep very often since I put the last tire cover on , he feels the other boys will make fun of him . I even started making one out of camouflage colored yarn . But I don 't like it much , so I never finished it . I probably should , since my Jeep is green , and the camo would kind of cool on the back . Here is a photo of the progress I 've made so far : At this rate , it won 't take long to finish this one off ! However , I will probably need help putting it on , since it took two of us to get the last one on . I made it a bit small , so it went on nice and snug . It 's been on nearly two years now , and it 's starting to get a bit ratty looking . As a reminder , here is what the current one looks like ! Well , it 's now after ﻿ p . m . and I 've had to stop crocheting . My hand hurts ! I will rest it overnight and start again tomorrow . Here is how far I 've gotten : That was written last night . Today , I 've made more progress on the tire cover . But the going is slow , it 's been a while since I crocheted this much . My hand is aching . Today , I found two skeins of Lion Brand Pound of Love in my stash , in the denim blue colorway . I like this color ! It 's calling me , it wants to be a blanket for a small person . But I can 't decide whether to crochet a blanket or knit one . I will have to think about this some more . The two choices ? For crochet , I would make my favorite pattern , it 's only 4 rows of any one stitch , so it doesn 't get too boring . It 's sort of my trademark blanket , we all have one , even son - in - law Mike , and Jesse 's grilfriend Julie . Even both grandkids each have one ! Only fair that the next grandbaby gets one too . The other , knitted option , would be to make that EZ blanket I started with the yarn I can 't find any more of to finish it . I would make it a bit smaller , and with the two pounds of yarn , that should be plenty to make a finished blanket . Here 's a photo of the yarn : It looks pretty against the pink of my chair , doesn 't it ! As you probably guessed , I made the pillow cover that the yarn is sitting on too . It 's on a pillow from our former couch . The corner where I sat kind of sank , so I would sit on the pillow to raise myself up to normal seat height . If anyone has any opinions on which blanket I should make , please feel free to leave me a comment ! Posted by I am very excited , since I got my crochet hook back from the couch , where it had fallen last week , I am nearly finished with my new shawl ! ! This morning , as I was hanging with the Cherub , I crocheted until I had to stop due to lack of yarn . I didn 't bring another skein with me ! Shortly after I got home , I connected the next skein , and was once again happily crocheting ! My shawl is a pentagram triangle shawl , designed by Maria Merlino . I have seen the pattern for sale on etsy , she has a shop there now . When I bought it , she had her own web site . It 's been quite a while since I purchased the pattern ! There I was , sitting in my chair , counting the minutes until it was time to go and sit for Miss Malia . I suddenly realised I hadn 't checked my phone lately , and there it was , a text message from her mom , saying I wasn 't needed today ! Yippee Skippee , I am free ! Since it is currently raining , I can 't take my shawl outside to photograph it . I don 't understand it . It was really sunny earlier ! Oh , well , I made do , taking advantage of the absence of part of the sectional . Here is the photo : I have to say , I 'm very happy with how it came out . You can 't see it in this photo , but the yarn has very subtle black sparklies in it . I am sorry to say that while I had it laid out on the floor , I didn 't take any measurements . It 's not as big as the last one , the point of which dragged on the ground at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival . It hasn 't even been washed and dried yet ! I can 't wait to wear it ! I should mention , the yarn I used was from Red Heart , called Shimmer , color Black . Each of the colors of this yarn has the same color sparklies in it . It 's a nice yarn to work with , and is machine washable and dryable . My mom is a cool woman . This year she will be 80 years young . Apparently I am not the only one who has been worried about her memory . This morning I talked to her on the phone . Her friend John regularly brings DVD movies to her house and they watch them together . I should mention that John was her next door neighbor , before she sold her house . They are good friends , he looks out for her . He is a little younger than I am . he considers himself her third child . A few days ago , he brought a movie and they were watching it . He asked her if it looked familiar . She told him no , it doesn 't . I guess he asked her several times during the movie . She kept saying no . After it was over , she told him that she had never seen that movie before , she totally didn 't remember that ending . He told her that they had seen it last fall . He started teasing her about her memory . After a while , during their conversation , she mentioned that there was a new show coming on TV about a Sheriff . John turned to her , and asked her , " Does it happen to take place in a town called Mayberry ? " She laughed , but was a little annoyed about the whole thing . I was appalled when she told me about it , but when I retold the story to Hubs , we both laughed a little hysterically . I guess I found it a lot funnier the second time I heard it . That 's my mom , on the left in the photo . I guess it 's the only one I have on file in my laptop . She is with my daughter 's husband 's grandmother . They are great friends . Posted by Today , I was up at the ass crack of dawn to watch my friends Cherub . I go home for about two hours , then watch Miss Malia . So I am a little on the tired side . Hubs and I did lie down and try to nap after I got home , but neither of us could fall asleep . So when my friend Kit called , I said " Sure , c ' mon over ! " See , she is my son 's roommates mom . And they have been friends since kindergarten . And we are both facing the empty nest thing . At least we have each other . She brought a bottle of champagne , which we cracked open , and poured healthy cupfuls . We sat and talked , and drank champagne . We visited for about two hours . After she left , I picked up my crocheting . Now , I was good and buzzed . Champagne and I have a history , and I usually end up asleep . So I started working again on my shawl , happily , since I finally got my crochet hook back from the couch . I must say that as far as I can tell , I have not made any mistakes on the shawl while under the influence . I have done several rows . I took a break to cook dinner , and crocheted while the chicken was in the oven . I am no longer buzzed , but I do have a pretty good headache . Since we have eaten , I am no longer buzzed . Now we are watching one of my favorite movies , The Last Legion . I love unusual stories about King Arthur and where he came from . This is a good one . I assume that at some point in the near future , I will be answering the question posed in the title , as right now , I don 't really care . I 'm just too tired to check my work . And I am very glad I have someone nearby to visit with , who will also be missing her son . After all , misery loves company . Well , today was the final day . The son is all moved into his new house , furniture and all . This time , I got to go along , so I got to see how the kids have set everything up . They did a good job . And now that the couch is all in place , there 's room for tons of people to sit ! That being said , it was traumatic for me . As we were leaving , my boy shook his dad 's hand , and remarked that it was weird . Then I got a big hug , and he asked me if I was OK , and if I was going to be OK . Of course I said yes , but I was tearing up . I turned away quickly after he finally let me go . I did remember to take a couple of photos while they were loading the truck , for the second time . I forgot the first time . Then , after they left the first time , the sky got dark , and it got all windy , then it started to rain . Then we lost power for a little while . But by the time the boys got back , the rain had stopped and everything was drying up . They had gotten the first load of couch to Fishkill with no problem . Second load also made it with no problem . Whew . Tomorrow , Hubs and I are having a little empty nest get together with Graeme 's mom , Kit . I feel bad for her , as she is all alone in their house for the month of June . Her Hubs is away working . So I think I will be keeping her company on those evenings that my Hubs is working . As a side note , I have to report that the number of crochet hooks that were found in between couch sections turned out to be 7 ! There was also a large knitting needle , a row counter , a cable needle , a small pair of scissors , and a stitch marker . I hear that after the first load of couch made it to Fishkill , a crochet hook fell out of one of those sections ! I forgot to get it back when we were down there . Maybe next time ! Yesterday was the day when my son , and youngest child , officially moved out . He and his dad packed up his boxes , his dressers and his queen size bed , as well as some of his other miscellaneous stuff , into dad 's truck , and onto a borrowed trailer . I should mention that two of the three flat screen household TV 's went with him too . He even rolled up the rug from the floor of his room and took that too . Just now , it 's beginning to hit me . He 's really gone . He will be sleeping in his own house tonight . Well , dad owns it , but he lives there . Now we get to look forward to Phase II . That is when Jess comes back , and takes our living room furniture home with him . We have a six piece sectional , with a sleeper sofa in it , and a recliner at each end . And now it will be his . I 'm happy about this , because that means we get new furniture ! We also get a new TV for our bedroom ! I guess that is the trade off , we lose our son , and get new stuff . The funny thing is that all four of the young people who are sharing this house are each the youngest in their family . So all four sets of parents having the same feelings tonight . Hubs and I will open our bottle of champagne after that phase is complete . It should be tonight . Yesterday , I totally forgot to take photos , I guess it was the shock of it all . Hopefully today I can get some . To begin with , I live very close to the Hudson River . I grew up on the east bank of the river , and still live there . I have a very acute sense of direction , or at least I used to . In high school , once some of my friends got their licenses , they used to drive randomly around , and try to get me lost . But I always knew which way to go to get home . So it is a concrete fact that if the river is on my left , I am facing north . Period . However , once I go across the bridge to the other side of the river , I get totally lost . I have no idea where I am , or in which direction I 'm going . I think I 'm going north , because the river is on my left . I 'm actually heading south . You can see how this might be a problem . If I am heading to Kingston , I could end up in Newburg . That is why I usually try to get someone else to drive if we have to cross the bridge to the other side of the river . Since I have been to Kingston twice in the last 10 days , I am feeling pretty confident I can find my way back to that particular stretch of Rte 9W . I might be brave enough to try and find it on my own . After all , there 's a Michael 's craft store there . . . In the last 24 hours , I have finished two projects ! First up was the Beast of a shawl , aka the great garter stitch monster . I finished that last night . I have yet to block it , and weave the ends in . After that was done , I started working on finishing the beautiful grey baby blanket . I only had the last side to do . I finished that today during Miss Malia 's nap time . I also had time to weave in the ends . Now I just have to wash and dry it , then I can deliver it to my daughter . Now I just have to decide what I want to knit next . I had sort of decided to do the shawl that the Yarn Harlot recently did . Now I 'm not so sure . I may make the Beast again , in a lighter weight yarn . Maybe I will try my hand at a baby sweater . Then again , maybe not . I am just not sure . I guess I will worry about it after my son moves out this weekend . . . . Posted by