One Baby Blanket Completed

Yes, Sophie's blanket is now complete. Pattern comes from Knit Along with Debbie Macomber and is a simple basketweave pattern -easy to memorize the pattern and getting into the rhythm of the pattern. It's about 45 inches square and I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (color is Pink a Boo - cute huh) (80% cotton 20% wool) - it says it is handwash only, but in the test I attempted with my swatch, the washing machine and dryer did quite nicely. In fact, I think it looks better after the wash and dry than before. So Sophia Elizabeth, you have my permission to arrive.
Now 2 more blankets to go and I don't think me giving them permission is going to make a difference. Methinks they may make it before their blanket's completion.
I think if you click on these pictures you will get a close up of the pattern.

Blue Socks that Rock

Socks that Rock seem to be a very popular yarn right now with sock knitters and rightly so - it knits nicely and wears nicely and is wash and dry. 100% SuperWash Merino.

Someone was asking on one of the lists I am on if they had colors that were less variegated, meaning more "tame" I believe. Here is one of them - I can't remember the name--- maybe Faded Denim? Please correct me if I am wrong.

I think it would be a great yarn to try a pattern in the sock!

For more colors, go here to the Fold.

We're not talking about wedgies

Ok, here is a trivia question - and I do this one from my trivia calendar, but more importantly because my husband is in the golf business and is coming home from THE golf convention. I am not sure how much he frequents the blog, but we will see if he knows this answer. Answer on Sunday afternoon.

What golfing great invented the sand wedge?


Answer: Gene Sarazen, in 1931. He called it the sand iron.

from The 365 Amazing Trivia Facts Calendar, Workman Publishing

I asked husband this question and he knew it right away!

This is a serious addicition

Yes, folks, I think we have a case of cheetos addiction. I wouldn't ask her to share. Things could get ugly.

Knowing this health conscious mom, MG must have somehow gotten hold of this loot, got up in her rocker and had her a fine time. However, she got caught by evidence of this photo

Mom, keep the picture for blackmail in her teen years!

This is as close as we can get to making snowmen

This is as close as we can get to making snowmen in South Georgia. The base are plastic individual milk cartons we get for our meals at school, LOTS of cotton (what a mess with glue!), the hats are individual honey mustard containers from school, the rest are google eyes, buttons, pipe cleaners and the mittens made from felt.

I guess the best thing we can say is that we had fun, and they will never melt!

Spanish Christening Shawl Update

It seems by my blogging I had taken a hiatus from knitting - far from the truth my dear friends. I have been knitting up a storm - however, it's the same ol same ol pattern - so the progress only looks longer and the same. However, I can do the pattern now without looking at the chart which must mean I am in automatic pilot. Do not let it fool you into thinking I haven't had to go in reverse a couple of times and perform some surgery so I didn't have to tink. However, I can say I am approximately 2/3 of the way through the center of this center. There is a border which will soon become a part of the action. So if Elliott can hang out in the oven for a bit, we might see this get done before the due date (late February). However, this is not to say I don't have two more blankets "cooking" for Abigail and Sophie - all are due within weeks of each other. Strict instructions of gone out to my friends whose children have decided to have 3 grandchildren within weeks of each other not to do this again. I feel like the person on the Ed Sullivan Show that is spinning those dishes on top of the dowels.
Ok - details on the christening shawl from Cheryl Oberle's book Folk Shawls: 25 Knitting Patterns and Tales from Around the World - Dale of Norway Baby Ull which is superwash 100% merino wool - size 8 needles - I reduced the size of the cast on to 155 instead of195 ( I am using my memory on this - not absolutely positive) - right now the width of the center is about 34 - 36 inches - the original was to be 5 feet which was larger than I wanted. The yarn, since it is superwashed is stretchy and has a lot of give so difficult to determine its exact dimensions.
And, the Baby Ull is very nice to work with!

A little Green Eggs and Ham please

Kiddy Lit Trivia Question:

What was the $50 bet between editor Bennett Cerf and Theodor Geisel --- aka Dr. Seuss -- that resulted in the children's classic Green Eggs and Ham?

Answer Tuesday evening

And, as promised, the answer is: According to 365 Amazing Trivia Facts Calendar, Cerf bet Geisel that he couldn't write a book using 50 words or less. Geisel won.

(With many teachers serving green eggs to students as an activity with this book.)

Five Pleasures

RevGalPals posted their Friday Five (and somehow I thought the one below was it, but I must have been confused). Five pleasures in my life, not in any particular order, and not necessarily the top 5 because I think pleasures rotate according to season, experiences, and circumstances:

1. Singing good music - working through the process and getting it until it is a part of your soul.

2. Seeing the light bulb come on in a young child and they get excited about it.

3. Knitting

4. Going into a GOOD bookstore

5. going to a nice restaurant

I did not look at anyone else's pleasure lists until I did mine. I was very tempted to put massage in there, but I felt like the graphic may have prompted me. It's been so long since I have had a massage, I could not include it - don't know when I will get one either.... but they are wonderful.

Meme

Four jobs you've had in your life:

• Worked at McDonald's in high school - 1.65 an hour
• Worked at FSU during college for Information - answered the phone and gave out phone numbers and worked at a desk where students listened to music and checked out magazines.
• Worked as a childbirth instructor
• Present job as a preschool special ed teacher

Four movies you could watch over and over:

• Sound of Music
• It's a Wonderful Life
• The Snowman (a wonderful 30 minute wordless video for kids of ALL ages - I never tire of it)
• Wizard of Oz

Four places you've lived:

• Grew up in Tallahassee and lived in a couple of places growing up
• in a dorm at FSU
• In a Victorian home built in 1907 that needed tons of work on it
• present home - ranch style

Four TV shows you love to watch:

• Rachael Ray's 40 dollars a day
• Weather Channel
• Rick Steves Travel show
• In Concert on EWTN - great choral performances

Four places you've been on vacation:

• Gulf Coast Panhandle of Florida - a variety of locations - anywhere from Alligator Point, Camp Weed (which was at St. Teresa, and now is in Live Oak, FL), Cape San Blas, Mexico Beach, Panama City, Blue Mountain Beach (where there is no mountain but high dunes), Destin
• Smoky Mountains - I love the mountains
• Cruise to Cozumel - introduced us to cruising which we do love
• Washington D.C. - I really enjoyed the National Cathedral

My kids have done all the overseas travel - except for the youngest who is more of a homebody.

Four websites you visit daily:

• Google
• Trivia Channel Page
• LOTS of blogs
• at least one yarn shop

Four of your favorite foods:

• Moussaka
• Macaroni and Cheese
• My husband makes a wonderful white chocolate coconut cake I really like ALOT
• cheesecake

Four places you'd rather be right now:

• on a cruise with out entire family
• On the gulf coast
• in a cabin in the mountains
• actually I am very content being right here in our home
  
  

If you have read all of this, you have been officially tagged. Took some thinking on this one!

Sky Watcher

Morning sky - Jan 17 - notice the jet streaming in the picture. It was much more brilliant than my ability to capture it on my digital camera. So you get just a taste.

A much colder day today.... 39 degrees with a high of 53 - nippy for these here parts.

Quick Knit Request

"Mom, I am going to Atlanta to market - will you make me a red scarf?"
This is the 2nd request for a red scarf as her sister requested one at Christmas. I was excited - two daughters have requested I knit them something so away I went. Knowing I was up against a deadline and KNOWING I had baby blanket deadlines that I continue to be up against, I knew this had to be a quickie - so I got some Wool-Ease, doubled it and got out the size 13s and away I went with a simple garter stitch scarf. This is approximately five feet in length so should do nicely to wear several ways.

Quick and simple, machine washable, and glad to be able to make her one. Now, this picture was not so easy to take because as soon as I took it, Tillie wanted to be a part of the picture so here is another rendition of the scarf ala Tillie:

Here is a nice picture of our church's steeple on a winter day - along with a beautiful sky!

Who has Mittens?

Our preschool special education classroom is focusing on the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. For those of you unfamiliar with this author, she has the most beautiful illustrations in her book. Mittens are not something you find in the deep south, living 15 miles from the state line of Florida. However, the books is a book about animals and something knitted, so how could I resist?? So the mittens we have are photocopied, but we don't have the real thing. In fact, mittens are hard to find in these parts. I don't want to give the impression there are NONE, but gloves are around here, but not many mittens. I have yet to see a child come to school with mittens on.

My grandmother used to knit us mittens, even if we did live in Florida. The New Englander in her and the love she had for us was the reason why she did. So our hands were traced so she could custom fit them to our hands and we would wear them..... a few times..... since we do get cold weather, but then it warms up quickly (as in 3-4 days).

Well, the speech therapist and I were talking about getting real mittens so they could try them on, sort them, match them, to reinforce the skills we work on with their varying disabilities. Some of them receive occupational therapy, so clothing skills are a part of their curriculum. Color identification, big and little, matching, and even for those with sensory integration challenges, putting ON something different is part of their work.

So I have a request from knitters, or even non knitters that may have a pair of mittens not in use. We would love to receive mittens from folks - they can be for little hands or big hands. Maybe they were a pair of mittens that got two lefties or two righties, or never made it to where they were supposed to go. Or they can be store bought! We would love a letter about cold weather and snow and where they mittens come from. We will place a map outside of our room and mark where we receive the mittens from. And I will post on my blog where we are getting the mittens from. Photos of snow and people with mittens on would be great also!

If you can help spread the word, even a note and a picture of a person wearing mittens would be fun for the kids! And the students that attend the elementary school can also see where they mittens have come from.

If you are willing to participate, you can email at:

cstevens at dcboe dot com

and I will give you the address of the school.

Spanish Christening Shawl

I have been working on several baby blankets and am trying to finish before their arrival (all in February). The one shown here is from Cheryl Oberle's book Folk Shawls: 25 Knitting Patterns and Tales from Around the World - I am using Dale of Norway Baby Ull which is a machine washable merino wool in fingering weight. Here is my questions. It is about 30 inches wide, which is about where I would like it. I am wanting to make it square since it has an edging on it (if you have the book you can see it there). The original shawl was made to be much bigger, but I reduced the width, so also may modify the edging if it seems out of proportion.
Here is the question. Since this is washable wool, will it still need to be blocked? And I really don't want it wider, but want it square so would prefer to block it so that the length gets stretched a bit to make it square. Does that make sense? I would appreciate any comments from those that have worked with the Dale of Norway Baby Ull and how it blocks.

Red Hat

Today I can officially wear a red hat for a good reason - I have made it to the half century mark! It's official. I can join AARP, at some places I can get a senior citizen discount, and I can count myself as a true minority in blog land, since there doesn't appear to be as many over 50 bloggers as there are the younger folk.

Today Beth and I will have a 50th birthday party done in our honor - since we are three days apart this should be twice the fun!

If I had more time, I guess I could write down 50 things I can think about on my birthday in terms of thanksgiving, but right now I just don't have the time to do it!
Perhaps later on....

Brainteaser

What two words, formed from different arrangements of the same five letters, can be used to complete the sentence below?

The young writer _________ for years until he is recognized and his _________ are published.

Anonymous commenter/poster got it right on - mopes and poems! Congratulations!


BTW, I am "unknitting" or tinking - I have made a mess and trying to salvage my mess. More later.

Clarifying weirdness

Some of you have commented on my #5 weirdness - about calling people out of the phone book that have my maiden name -- so I need to qualify it - I have only done it once - because there just aren't that many of us - less than 100 in the US - don't know the statistics elsewhere. It's an Anglo Saxon name and there is a town in England with the name. James Herriot, author of the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" series, loosely associates the fictional town with this particular town, though I don't believe the actual town is ever mentioned in his books. I found an image of the church that is in the town too. I believe there may be a castle also, yet I doubt I have much blue blood that I have been told about.
Oh well, I need to get back into my knitting - the babies are cooking in the oven and my fingers aren't near the needles at the moment.

Cotton Candy

I am now with a digital camera so I can post some pictures. Some folks on the list were wondering about Cotton Candy with Socks that Rock - so I took a picture to post so you can see it. It is the most lovely of pink. I believe you can click on the picture and get a larger image of it.

It's Continental

Trivia Question for the day:

You have a 1 in 7 chance of getting it right.

Which is the highest of the seven continents?

ANSWER: Antarctica, Because of the thick ice cover, it has the highest average elevation of all the continents. (I actually think that is a little unfair since they didn't clarify the question by asking Which is the highest average in elevation of the seven continents, but I don't work for Page a Day company).

Five Weird habits of myself

Do I have weird habits? Surely NOT! Norma tagged me on this one (my husband said he couldn't think of any - he is such a smart man)

Rules: “The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yourself,” and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You are tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.”

• in the morning - I put my sweetener in my coffee before I pour my coffee and milk in the cup so I don't have to use a spoon. I have not convinced anyone else in my house that that is a good idea.
• I hate to iron - really hate to iron - if something is wrinkled, I will throw a damp towel in the dryer with the wrinkled item to see if I can get away with not ironing it.
• if I am practicing singing and start with a pitch from the piano, and then sing without accompaniment, I have to check afterwards to see if I stayed in the same key or went sharp or flat.
• I prefer drinking iced tea out of a plastic cup instead of a glass one. I also prefer that the tea be just brewed and melts the ice than having the tea refrigerated.
• If I go to a town and stay in a motel, I check to see if there is anyone in the town with my maiden name. There is a good chance I will call that number to talk to them. THERE JUST AREN'T THAT MANY OF US OUT THERE!

Hmmmmmm, tagging time - Emily, Naomi, Ellen, Sharon, and LutheranChik

and called it Macaroni?

Ok, I love trivia - and my dear friend Kit gave me a daily calendar with trivia questions. So here is today's trivia question:

To what family of animals do the Chinstrap, Macaroni, and Gentoo belong? (notice no ending of this question in a preposition)

Leave your answer in the comments - and 'fess up if you had to Google it!

Addendum
Oh you savvy folks --- penguins are the choice bird!
Here is a link to a poster of penguins for those that want to be in the know!
Penguin link

XM Radio

Well, I am sort of bummed - my digital camera isn't working - and I really wanted to post pictures on here, but it is not to be. Perhaps I can snag my daughter's camera when she get home today and get some pictures to show.

Today it has rained and been the most dreary of days. I found a Ginger Rodgers/Fred Astaire movie on the television and they sure don't make movies like they used to.

On another note - I have been "radioless" in my car for quite some time. This car has had radio problems from the get go, so I had resolved myself to the fact that I would ride/drive in silence. Last week, my DH rectified that and I am now have XM radio - which is quite nice - other than NPR I really listen to no other station, and this gives you more stations than one can shake a stick at - music of all types, news from every slant, and of course SPORTS. I had no idea there were so many choices in ROCK music, but did you know that XM only has 3 choices in classical? YUP, vocal (opera and choral), Classical on the light side and then the other classical. Interestingly "classical" music (not to be confused with music from the Classical era) spans over a millennium at least, yet it gets clumped into 3 stations - rock which is approximately 50 years old has MANY MANY stations, some by decades, others by - beats all I have ever seen.
Now XM radio has not asked me how I would divide up the wide diversity of classical music, but I could give them some guidance if they wanted my 2 cents worth - I guess the almighty dollar drives them to offer how they offer it.
Do any of you have XM radio? What is your favorite station?