Good Bye 2013

2014 is going to be great year!!

I will find financial stability again
I will not have any more car trouble
I will stay healthy
I will walk twice a week
I will read more books
I will start Christmas Knitting in July
I will get out for more than Knitting night and book club
I will take a Road Trip

These are all very doable goals - nothing unreasonable. I will reclaim my fortunate life!!

Happy New Year to one and all - celebrate!

Rotten Apples

Sometimes life just tries and tries to get you....

Decided to sell car to generate savings for house payments - working part-time just doesn’t get it. 

I sold my Ruby Suby - $500 less than what I expected.

Bought a new used car - advertised as having 115,000 miles, told by seller it had 115,000 miles - told to me, my daughter and a friend who called him about car initially. Unfortunately he took the Craigs list off as soon as I paid cash for it! (Shift indicator and odometer light was out). Purchased car after much assurances by seller that all was good, he had all records from day one, his mechanic checked it out recently - all was well. Took car to dealer to get display for shift indicator and odometer fixed - cost a fortune as they had to replace the entire components for the dashboard display - found out car actually had 215,000 miles!! Car also had numerous other expensive problems. Am taking seller to small claims court for lying about mileage (his receipts for work he had done, actually say mileage was 214,500 miles - so he knew the actual mileage. Plus he had a Kelly Blue Book print out on the car - noting 200,000 miles - which he printed about the time he bought it.  Need things repaired that are related to excessive mileage. 

Computer died - really died. 

Tried to fix drain in bathroom sink - pipe disintegrated in my hand. 

Purchased a cord of wood - split. Only split in half - huge pieces still too big for me to split - hate getting older.

One of my jobs is not working out - no hours...love job, good pay - but doesn’t matter if there is nothing to do!

But sometimes things eventually work out....

Love car. My mechanic has fixed a few things at much savings over dealer quote! Says that car has been taken care of - but high miles means it will nickel and dime me, but we can handle it!

Bought new computer - MacBook Air - love it although takes a little getting used to as I’ve always had a PC. Nice to have everything synced - phone, computer.

Drain not fixed...will call plumber next week.

Wood - maybe ex-husband and the Geek will come split for me - wishful thinking? 

My other job has more hours available - anything I can get helps!

The Nomad is house sitting - home alone for me - what a change! Am working on Christmas knitting and enjoying the quiet and lack of mess! I’m sure the novelty will wear off in a few days. 

Weather is fantastic - beautiful, warm days. Snow is in forecast for Monday so will get out today and finish the fall clean up. 

Both Beavers and Ducks play tonight - so knitting and football. Never was a football fan before - but great to see Oregon teams rock! Good excuse to knit (as if I ever needed one)!

Life is good!

Edited to add:
Bad thing - Printer scanner/copy function no longer works - something else to either fix or buy new.

Very Best Good Thing - Now I am completely cancer free and as important to me - drug free. No more Tomoxifen (yea it worked!!!) and no more Effexor (The MOST Evil Drug ever invented!!)

Gracie is happy no matter what happens!

Gone

What was I thinking? Actually I am thinking well. I just deleted about 60 patterns from my Ravelry queue - It was getting much too big - and truly there were (and I suppose are) many things on the list I would never knit. But you never know! Just time to clean up. Feels good. Don't feel as pressured to knit all the things I want!!

Winter is here for sure - sorry no photo but there is lots of snow on the Mountains!! Time to get the firewood in!! Then it's knitting by the fire!

Enjoy!

Road Trip!!

Ravelry has the greatest new feature called Road Trip - it's under the Yarn tab. If you enter your starting point and destination - it will tell you all the Local Yarn Shops along the way!!! This is totally cool. Many times I have planned a trip and spent time figuing out which Yarn Stores are nearby...just want to browse of course.

Finished the Stripes, Checks and Curlicues Vest - finally. The shoulders were way to wide - so cut them down and re did the border. All is perfect. Hand sewed the zipper in - worked great. The Wanderer loves it.

Started the Shalom vest yesterday - had to redo the numbers as I'm making this out of Colinette Cadenza - worsted instead of bulky. There is tons of posts on Ravelry - which are very helpful. Christmas knitting is in full swing. Of course I think I can get so much done - we'll have to see.

Getting the yard ready for winter - why I don't know - it's going to be 90 today! Actually the puppies have done a great job of trimming plants. What are you going to do!!

Knit Peace

I Steek.....

Yes I steek - but a little differently. Instead of making a one color stripe up the center steek stitch (you can't do that when your using variegated yarn) I put a purl stitch on either side of the center stitch. This makes and easy visual to follow when you machine sew the lines on either side and then a very easy visual to cut by! Works Great!

Pick up the stitches for the ribbing

 And then it gets blocked!!

Still have to do the zipper - but I'm going to use a blocking wire to hold the knitted fabric straight while I sew it in. Then I'm finished. Yippee!! This is for the Nomad. She picked the pattern and the yarn. Turned out great.

Now on to Christmas knitting - long ways to knit!

Look whats in my garden!!

Not very impressed!

I just received the latest issue of Interweave Knits - and didn't find anything I had to knit! But that's not quite true - I did love the ad for KnitScene 2013 Accessories - the perfect gift for someone I know was featured in the ad - so I did order that.

I enjoyed the article about the "Knitter's Review." What a great job she invented for herself. I also liked the article on the last page - "The Greatest Knitting Generation." I can relate to the perfect stitches. I too have been knitting long enough that I should have perfect stitches, but it isn't going to happen. I have a friend (check out her blog) who entered her sweater in the local county fair and the judge called her and asked if it was "Machine Knit!!" She one first place of course. Now she has perfect stitches!!! My theory is handknits aren't perfect.

Puppies are wonderful - and very silly at times.

Knit Peace!

The Beach, The Beach!!

This was Plan "C" - 

Went to the Oregon Coast with The Nomad for four days this past weekend. What an adventure!! We got the use of a 5th Wheel RV parked on Netarts Bay. What a great place - quiet, right on the bay, beautiful views, wonderful. We drove up the Coast one day to Cannon Beach - way too crowded, but I did by some sock yarn at Coastal Yarns. We had a pretty drive visiting a lighthouse on the way. Had fresh seafood for lunch, and a great dinner at The Schooner - Oysters Rockefeller to die for

 Great walks on the beach. The dogs had the time of their lives running on the beach - the look on their faces was pure rapture! They were running so much I couldn't take a photo! They were great campers. 

My brother is the ultimate fisherman - we met him on Sunday and loaded up with fresh crab, fresh tuna and fresh halibut!!!! What a haul.

A good time was had by all - can't wait to go back again. Didn't knit a stitch - too nice outside.

Road trip!!

The Nomad and I are going on a road trip. We will head north east on Friday and travel through John Day, Sumpter, LaGrande, Joseph (where I'm told there is a LYS) and Enterprise, back on Monday. The puppies first camping trip!

I am so looking forward to this. We were originally planning to go south along the Umpqua River area - but I think that it is too smokey from numerous big fires. We are expecting "abundant" lightening here tomorrow, so we may not be going anywhere!! Local authorities are really preparing for possible big fires - it is so very dry. There are 6 retardant planes sitting in wait on the tarmac at Redmond Airport, and all the local firefighters are on alert. Could be a busy time around here.

Twisted Stitchers tonight was fun as usual. We have a group of wonderful ladies. The County Fair starts tomorrow and some of our group has things entered. One knitter got a call from the Judge today - she wanted to know if her entry was machine knit!!! Can't you tell - you're a Judge! The knitters work is incredible - check out her blog and her online store - amazing Nordic patterns and beautiful work. I was going to enter a few things - but it is such a bother to get stuff over there etc. The Fiber Arts department sounds like they are really promoting things this year. If I weren't going camping I'd go over and knit with them on their exhibit day. Would be fun. Check out their Facebook page.

Here's to good weather ahead and adventuresome roads to explore! I'll report on the yarn shop when I return!!

Just in case you forgot - I do knit.

This is what I have accomplished so far this year.

All is well!!

OK – it’s been waayyy to long. I have had a good year, lots of changes. Most radical is that The Man is now That Man!! Bittersweet but for the best. High hopes and expectations don’t always get you what you need.

Family is wonderful. The Geek is still that – starting his own company and so far so good. A lovely girlfriend to boot! He deserves it!

The Wanderer has settled for the time being at home with me and working a job that seems just right for her. Lots of hiking in her future.  We are looking forward to eating lots of veggies (That Man didn’t eat green), although we didn’t plant a garden this summer – we have puppies instead! 

The nurse is still in Oklahoma – living her dream! Lots of babies to be brought into the world and a nice group of co-workers. Not so much The Boyfriend – he departed rather quickly after getting settled in Oklahoma….too bad – his loss! Fort Sill is nearby and she seems to be taking advantage of the dating opportunities!

The puppies – The Wanderer’s Chocolate Lab – Wally (8 months) and my English Springer Spaniel – Gracie (6 months). They are so much fun and entertaining – but like all puppies they are trouble makers. I assumed two at a time would keep then each out of trouble – no such luck. They are obviously great friends and play very well together…at least they are tired at night! Their personalities are totally different. Wally is so laid back for a lab – just quiet, calm and snuggly (difficult for a big boy). Gracie on the other hand is completely opposite, very excited, happy and springy!!! Never ending energy!

Of course I have been knitting. Working on a hooded vest  for the Wanderer.

Looks spectacular- only uses two different colorways of yarn – makes it real easy!! Did some modification for the neckline instead of cutting to shape. Working out well and can’t wait to finish. Ready to move on to next project – either a shawl or sweater for me. I should start on Christmas! Luckily I have some things all planned out – just need to start! 

I am, as always, really enjoying my knitting group – The Twisted Stitchers. We have some very accomplished knitters that meet weekly at our new LYS Great store – am glad it’s in our town!

Life is good. I will try to catch up more often now that I have one less person to look after!!