Yard

First sorry for the lousy pictures but I'm tired (remember that's one of my frequently used words).

I think our spring break visitors did not know what was in for them, yard work and lots of it. We managed to get the grass down and put in a few shrubs and trees. I got a new key lime tree to replace the one that I miss so much, and a new orange tree.

I have no before pictures but here is a during picture. There was a lot of clearing out that had to be done, including moving the RV, the fence, trash and a lot of dirt. Dad had came down to help with this part. It took them about a week to get it to this stage. Rudy and Dad also got most the sprinkler system installed.


When Rudy's parents arrived we had 17 pallets of grass and two days to get it down before it would "start to go bad." This is what the back looked like when we were done.


Here is the front.


I really really like the new yard and one of my favorite spots to hang out now is here.


Here is another family member who is enjoying the back yard.


We still have more work to do. The fence needs to be fixed and adding some other colors would be nice, like flowers etc but for the most part it is done. I really appreciate all the help we got in getting the yard in the state that it is in right now. There is no way Rudy and I could have done this as quickly with just the two of us.

Next post a finished object.

Conclusions and meme

I’ve came to the conclusion I’m not going to get as much done over spring break as I was hoping. But it’s not over yet so we will see.

Rudy’s Mom gave me a wonderful gift. It is a quilt that she made. I absolutely love it.


We also have gotten all the grass down. Rudy is still working on the sprinkler system. While we are waiting for the system to get done we have been watering the lawn with a sprinkler. I took this quick picture of Rohan playing with it. Not an awesome picture but I thought the picture made him look like a water breathing dog.


I did get tagged by Jennifer at Loopy Knitter. She is a very talented knitter and a good photographer, even though she may not think so. If you get a chance visit her website.

Here is my seven things meme. I decided not to tag anybody but if you would like to participate please do.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die
1. See my children grow up to be healthy and happy.
2. Travel.
3. Learn to play a musical instrument.
4. Learn a foreign language.
5. Become organize.
6. Have a waistline. These last two are beginning to sound like New Year's resolutions.
7. See a cure for cancer.

Seven Things I Cannot Do
1. Pronounce freckle correctly.
2. Be in high places without feeling queasy.
3. Sing, ok I can sing but not good.
4. Watch replay in sports when somebody gets hurt. I can not watch somebody’s leg get bent in a direction it’s not supposed to in slow motion.
5. Eat something greasy and sugary within a few hours of each other. I get sick.
6. Spell good, I’m a terrible speller.
7. Stop hoping.

Seven Things That Attract Me to… (Florida)
1. Weather
2. Ocean/beach
3. Being outdoor
4. Variety of people
5. Cost of living is lower then most places
6. It’s home
7. We are close to Disney World, LOL.

Seven Things I Say
1. Ok
2. Be careful
3. I’m tired
4. Cool
5. Did you do your homework yet?
6. You need to get off the computer.
7. Did you practice yet?

Seven Good Books
1. Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett and Hat Full of Sky
2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien(all of them)
3. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
4. Harry Potter (all of them)by J.K. Rowlings
5. May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson
6. Nancy Bush knitting books
7. Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Almost all these books are considered children's books

Seven Good Movies
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Pirates of the Carribean
3. Mary Poppins
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Star Wars
6. Finians Rainbow
7. The Quiet Man

The Blues

I’ve been good at starting projects lately but not finishing them. Let’s see we have:

Rudy’s socks,


The blue stuff,


Shirt I started,



Jumper I started,


I think I am in a blue phase right now because I noticed everything is blue. Spring break starts for us today. Well after school today. I’m hoping to get these projects finished during spring break and am looking so forward to relaxing and not having to rush around to get everybody where they need to be, no soccer, no violin, no school, yeah.

We've had some visitors lately. My Dad was in town this week. Rudy and him have been working on the landscaping. I'll post some pictures next time. Rudy's parents will be in town this week, for spring vacation.

I have fallen way behind on e-mail and blog reading, another thing to try and get caught up on during spring break ;).

House stuff

Rudy has been busy this week. He finished putting up the mantel for the fireplace. I don’t think the picture captures the height. It is a bit tall. But we will not mention to him that we are not giants.



He put in the railing to the steps. This also was a bit tall but he decided to draw the line here and took it down, shortened it and put it back. We still have to do some finishing on it, stain it and put in the plugs for the holes etc.



We also approved the granite for the kitchen counter tops. Not a very exciting picture but it does catch the blue specks that are in it.


Dax’s soccer also started. They won both the first game and the game they just had this weekend. This field is a bit inland. They have had a fire since we were last there, notice the trees in the back ground.

I think that is enough "alsos" for the day. Next post back to crafting, hopefully.

March

March is finally here. This usually means I have to add an extra 10-15 minutes to my drive time to get to places on time. It’s very noticeable that we have a lot of people here from out of state during this month. The snow birds are still here in full force and then the spring vacationers come in. I know that most are not in a hurry to get to where they are going but there are still some of us that have schedules to keep. The other thing about March is that a good number of the spring breakers that start showing up make me feel rather old. They wear as little clothes as possible and consume unbelievable amounts of beer. There was a time in my life when I could identify with these youthful people but I wouldn’t dare put this old body in a bikini or drink around the clock. I do get a kick out of seeing what they buy at the grocery store. It’s usually something like a buggy full of beer and some ramen noodles.

On to updates, I have new socks on the needles. These are rather boring socks but they do fall into a first for me. These are the first knitted items I have ever tried to make for Rudy (dh). Being the first items he will judge any future items from, I decided to use one of my favorite sock yarns, opal and to keep it simple.


I’ve also started spinning up the blue stuff. I was hoping to have enough of it to make a vest from interweave knits magazine. But the more I get spun up the more I think there will not be enough yarn for this project.


Thank you for all the nice comments on the socks and the good wishes for the new job.

I can’t forget the update on the house. The floor in the hallway is done.


I think Rudy did a good job. The mosaic turned out nice, even though we had to pull it up once after bonding it to the floor because we forgot to take the plastic seal off the back. These things really should come with directions. Not that that would help Rudy, he seldom reads directions but I usually devour them.
He is now working on the tile that goes around the fire place and we made an order for some granite counter tops for the kitchen. Boy did that drain the old pocket book. The company we got the granite from said the slabs are in and we have to go by and examine them to sign off for them. I’ll try and get a good picture of them when we go.

Pirates and PJ's

I meant to update the blog at least once a week and I kind of fell behind. I did finish the pirate socks, yah. They actually turned out nice. Dax has already worn them to school. Lucky for her we have about the same size feet or else she wouldn’t have as nice of a selection of socks ;). I knitted these for the We Call them Pirates Knitalong but can't seem to make a post to the knitalong, which is fine. I'll just be content with my new pair of socks.


Pattern: Modified basic sock pattern using Hello Yarn chart
Needles: size 1
Yarn: The black is Knit picks, the white is Regia.

I also finished Dax’s pjs. This one is also getting a lot of use. The pattern was pretty simple to follow. I thought the top was a bit long, but Dax didn’t agree with me so I left it alone.

Pattern: Simplicity 5468

It hasn’t taken long for things to get back into full swing. Dax’s soccer practices have started. She also has a performance this weekend. They did an audition at the school for the “Elementary Music Festival Intermediate String Orchestra,” and she made the cut. It’s just a one time performance that is suppose to get the younger kids more familiar with playing in an Orchestra. She is very excited about it and is starting to ask me if she can audition for the Brevard Youth Orchestra. I’m thinking, isn’t your schedule already kind of packed? She replies with the audition isn’t till May. So we will see.

As for Tyde he went south last weekend and participated in a surf contest. No trophy but he did come home with some extra t-shirts and stickers, oh and sunburned face.

I’ve managed to get a job. It’s only part time/temporary and I don’t start till Monday. I’ll be working as an assistant in the library at an elementary school. Even though it’s only for a few months I’m pretty excited about it.

Well hopefully I will post more frequently.

No crafting

Not any crafting in this post. I haven’t had as much time this week to craft. We did have some visitors last weekend, a birthday and a long awaited delivery.

The visitors were Sam and Sierra. Sam was here on business and Sierra came to do an audition in Orlando. They were only here for a few days but it was great to see them. On one of the days we walked to the beach to feed the birds. The birds seem to be starving in the winter. They will practically land on you to take bread out of your hand. If you do this in the summer, they will not even notice you.


The birthday was Tyde’s. He is now fourteen. Can you guess what we got him for his birthday?

No not the boat, the basketball goal.

Finally we got the call that more of the kitchen cabinets are done. We are still waiting on the breakfast bar and the wall cabinets. I hope it doesn’t take another nine months for those.

Rohan wouldn’t get out of the picture. The kids said he likes to sit in front of the cabinets because he is camouflaged.

Arrrr

Arrr, mateys there be socks fit for a pirate in the making. Here’s the progress on the Pirate knitalong project.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I wish I had saw the one from Katydid Knits about alternating the skulls. I think I would have tried that but I had already frogged it. I did change it a little bit. I added more stitches and kept to a size 1 needle.

Another project in the making, a quilt. This is a year long project, maybe more. A quilt store is doing this block of the month thing. I get a new block each month and supposedly by the end of the year I have a quilt. I’ve done this before but have yet completed the quilt. Here is the first block. I was showing it to Rudy and asked him if it looked kind of like a swastika and he said yeah. Then asked me what kind of quilt I was making.

It is suppose to look like this when it is done. I think I will do like my sister and omit the pineapple design in the middle and put some blocks there instead.

Dax is also really getting into crocheting. She made another project from the Klutz book. I don’t really crochet very much. So I’m not very wise to the crochet ways but I noticed that this little bag she made is very sturdy and well, for lack of a better word, tight. If it was anymore tighter it could probably hold water.

And now for the news everybody has been waiting for.

Phil Says Spring is Right Around the Corner!

Yes you heard it right, the groundhog did not see his shadow.

Swatch

Let's just call this a swatch for my pirate socks. I did get started on the socks but as you can notice I made a mistake.


Have you noticed it yet. Maybe you are quicker then I was. Yep, it’s upside down. I noticed this when I got around the mouth but decided to do more rows so I could see how the skeleton would come out. The white yarn I’m using is slightly smaller then the black. I also switch to one size up needles for the main sock. I was worried about it being to small with the fair isle pattern.

I put it on to ck the stretch and it fit fine but the skeletons got a little distorted to me. I think I will add more stitches and not go up a size on the needles. Maybe this will give me a sock that fits without to much distortion?


Thank you for all the nice comments :). So far, I have no projects in mind for the green yarn. I hope everybody has a great weekend.

Stuff

I finally finished spinning the green stuff. I think this has been sitting beside the wheel since, gasp June. Ok, so I’m not a fast spinner. There is 568 yards of Navajo plied that is around 13 wpi. It’s wool but I don’t have any other specifics on it. The tag that came with it said spectrum. Now I’m putting it in the stash pile. Just wanted to make note here what it is so I don’t forget.


My next spinning project is the blue stuff. I got this from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I don’t have much of a local source for this kind of habit so I get almost everything at the MSWF. I’m going to double check my receipts to see who I got this from because if you look real close you will notice there is little pieces of grass all through this roving. I’ve been spending a lot of time picking it out. I do love the color though.


I’m currently waiting on the yarn to do the pirate socks. I have to admit it feels really weird to not have some kind of sock project going on.

On the family front we made some Wookie Cookies. Dax was the helper on this adventure. I’m not really sure if we are suppose to post the recipe from the book because of copyright stuff but I did see that on this web page the recipe is published. I don’t think we got the exact same cookies as the recipe calls for. Dax mixes all the stuff up in bowl and asks me if I will stir it up because she is tired of stirring. So I start stirring and stirring and stirring. There is constantly a bit of flour in the bowl I can’t seem to get to mix in. I ask her if she is sure she put the right amount of flour in and she says yes, 2 ½ cups. I’m looking at the recipe and I let her know it says 2 1/4. Her comment to this is what’s a ¼ of a cup. I also noticed she had cinnamon all over the counter. I think it got a larger dose of cinnamon to but that’s fine because the cookies turned out pretty good.


Last but not least here is a snap shot of the shower Rudy was working on. He is done with this one. I noticed it is kind of hard to take a picture of a shower. There is not a lot of room in it.

Leaf Socks

Finished the leaf lace socks.



Pattern: Leaf Lace socks from Fiber Trends
Needles: US 1 or 2.25 mm
Yarn: Spun from roving I got at the sheep and wool festival.

Other projects: Dax wants some new pajamas and picked this fabric out for it.


I also went ahead and joined the We call them Pirates Knitalong. I want to make socks using the chart they have but I looked in my stash and didn’t have the color I wanted, black. I have some un-dyed sock yarn in the stash but didn’t want to use it to dye it just black. Money is tight right now so I ordered some black Essential yarn from Knit picks. I have no complaints with the other yarn I’ve gotten from them so I will give their sock yarn a try. Now I’m just waiting for the mail to come.

We seem to be getting back into a schedule, finally. I would really like to finish spinning the green stuff. There is some blue stuff in my closet that I would like to spin next. I’ve also been trying to de-lurk myself by leaving comments on the blogs I like to read.

On the house building project, Rudy has been working on the master bathroom’s shower. Being back on schedule does not leave much time at the end of the day to work on the landscaping.

constant vigilance

Trying to get back on schedule but it just isn’t working out, yet. One child came down with the flu this week. This makes me cringe. Almost everything that the kids come home with, I catch. But just maybe I can side step this one. I’ve been running around with a can of Lysol in one hand and spraying everything.

That’s not all that has come home. The other child brought some little unwanted guests with her, head lice. I think we have the little buggers under control but I have to go through this child’s hair every night to make sure. This has drastically dipped into my crafting time. This child’s hair is long, I actually measured it and it is 27” long. My motto right now is constant vigilance. If it’s not spraying Lysol on everything then its laundering bed sheets, pillow cases and boiling combs and brushes to kill the lice.

This is our second battle with head lice; we had a battle with them a couple of years ago. I wonder, is this a warmer climate issue? I don’t ever recall having to deal with this when I was younger and I don’t recall knowing anybody else having to these unwanted guests. Oh well, constant vigilance!

Do you know what this is?

It’s a knot and one of the smaller ones I had to deal with today. I did get some time to myself and decided to try and ply more of the green stuff. I’m almost done with the lace leaf socks but ran out of yarn and had to spin some more. As I was trying to ply it I kept knotting the stuff up. Arrrrr! I did get it done but what a pain. It was boggling my mind as to what I was doing to get it in knots. Maybe I was just to much in a hurry because I didn’t have much time to get it done.

Hey Marcy, you asked for more details on the vest. The pattern is from Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle. The pattern is called Clock Vest. The yarn used is galway yarn, which is worsted weight, 100% wool.

And now I leave you with a picture that you may or may not have seen. I thought it was rather cute and seems to fit my day today. I have to be like Leonard and show some optimism ;).

Lucky

I’m back, well I’ve been back but had to catch up on a lot of stuff before I could sit down and play with the computer. The Disney trip was great and we will refer to it as our lucky trip. I picked Cyndi up from the airport and look what she had on.

Front

Back

It’s a vest that she knitted. I believe she said she got the pattern from Folk Vests. When we got in our room I insisted on her showing me the Aran sweater she has been working on. The camera does not really catch the color very well but you can still see the details.


Very nice Cyndi, did I mention she taught me how to knit.

We did a lot of relaxing. Later we went to the expo and I got new shoes. I really needed a new pair. Not getting a new pair sooner may be one of the reasons why I hurt my foot (plantar fasciitis). Sometimes when you don’t get to the expo early enough they run out of stuff but it was my lucky weekend.

There were several vendors at the expo. One had t-shirts with really cute sayings on them. Things like “run like a girl.” Another one said, “running is my therapy,” or was it “running is cheaper then therapy.” Maybe somebody needs to come up with a shirt that says “knitting is my therapy.” I bet it would sale pretty good.

Since we had to get up early on Saturday, 3am, I placed everything out that I needed for the next day. Got up Saturday, got dressed dragged myself down the stairs and into the lobby to catch the bus going to Epcot. There was a line and as I was standing there Cyndi notices my new shoes and says, “where is your chip?” Uhhh, in the hotel room, duh. Got out of line went back and got the chip, then back in line which was now double the length. But it was my lucky day because Cyndi did notice I didn’t put my chip on. Anybody wondering the chip is what shows that you exist in a big organized run. If I hadn’t put it on then it would have been as if I wasn’t there, mise well stayed at home. That didn’t happen though because it was my lucky day.

It was hot, saw some people get sick because of the heat but not bad. Loved the t-shirt that the lady had on that said, dead last finish is better then did not finish, which trumps did not start, wish gave me the courage to start, been there done every one of these. Got my picture made with Peter Pan, Donald Duck, Woody and Jessie, and the seven dwarfs, and didn’t have to wait in a line. Saw a rainbow as we approached the Magic Kingdom, now if that’s not a lucky sign, I don’t know what is. At the end we had a bus waiting on us when we finished with no line to get on.



At the end of the day we sat on the balcony and watched the fireworks from both Epcot and Magic Kingdom. I didn’t bring a tripod so the picture is blurry but you get the idea. The next day we packed our bags and started to head out after vowing that next year we would be back to do the full marathon.

Off to Disney World

First here’s something I kind of finished awhile back. I have to go back and redo the zipper. The zipper was to long so I stretched it to put it on, resulting in a pucker look down the front. I need to shorten the zipper to get it to lay better. This is a pattern from Knit Picks called snowflakes and arrows. I looked on knit picks for the pattern but could not find it. Maybe they no longer offer the pattern. It did have mistakes in the pattern and I saw some people who did a KAL on it complain. Anyway it was my first project using steeks. I also used knit picks yarn called palette. I had heard all the good reviews of knit picks yarn, inexpensive, nice quality. The yarn was nice to work with and I would use it again.


Dax got a Klutz book on crochet for Christmas and has already made a bath bag from it. I thought it came out really nice.


Got my Minnie skirt out and ready to go. Tomorrow I leave to pick up my sister from the airport to stay at one of the budget Disney resorts. The main reason for the trip is to torture ourselves by doing the Disney half marathon. I’ve done marathons before but feel nervous about this half marathon. I’m going into it with a foot problem and I’m also the heaviest I’ve ever been. If nothing else we should get in a lot of knitting time. It will be the first trip we’ve been on with out the kids in about two years.