Tuesday Musings

Prompted by my cousin I went to the Dr for a quick mole and skin tag check, she would nag me until I went. Traffic was not as bad as I had anticipated and I was about 20 minutes early instead of the requested 10, it all worked out well though because I was finished before my appointment time and all is well!
I am going knitting at Linden Hills with Kimberly and then out to Diner with my cousin and friend Jill, for her Birthday. Good thing I had the appointment so I can say Yes I went, and yes I am fine.

I think I am half way up the back of my lace blouse, in about four rows I work the increase shaping. Getting a bit excited, looking forward to finishing the back and getting on to a sleeve or the front.
I began the "Cowl for the Catwalk" a couple of false starts and needle sizes later, I will be picking up the correct needles today and re-starting. Gauges are great, but I need to make sure I'm using SIZE 19 and NOT 19mm, BIG difference in size and gauge.

Entertainment news today, the new list for dancing with the stars is out, still won't watch it. I just cannot get into shows in that venue, the do not even grow on me. Maybe you have to have some voyeuristic tendencies to like shows of that nature.I really tend to like the sitcoms and some of the law enforcement type shows, but still there is a limit to how much of that I can watch. Maybe its all based in some weird formula for background noise? who knows. Apparently Ralph Maccio will be on Dancing with the stars this season, who knew he is 50? I have trouble believing how old some of these people are and how some of them surpassed me in age.

enough of this, there is knitting afoot! I need to prepare to leave, Kimberly will be here soon.

Happy stitching trails and yarn overs too.

Stitchinghermit

Apparently Chivalry is alive and well!

I am back in the job market and went to meet with my vocational rehab counselor, as I was walking up to the building, purse in one hand and coffee in the other a guy near the door (who had started to light a cigarette) walked over and opened the door for me to go in. I was a bit startled, but before I could thank him he said "Don't worry, chivalry is not dead, it's still alive." All I could do was laugh. It was nice to be the recipient of a nice and thoughtful act.
I have greater hopes, the two women i met with today seem to have a cohesive process and are enthusiastic about what they do, I have to say I am excited, I have a few things to send them via email, another meeting next week and we should be quite set.

I had a great time at knitting last night, Lisa and I talked about patterns in the Knitters Guild knitting magazine and I saw some great patterns Sara printed off Ravelry. Kathy and Jenny came to my rescue with needles and now I have my neck band in my pink tee, just need to finish running in ends and seam it up.
I have not done the second row of my Vintage lace blouse yet, I am not sure what I will work on today just yet, but as soon at I am finished sending the information I owe to the Vocational people I will get on it all.
I picked up season one of The Big Bang Theory this past weekend, I began watching some episodes yesterday, it is so funny! I just love it.
Have to get on sending docs I owe and pick up the projects.

Happy stitching trails to all and may you receive a bit of that chivalry that is alive and kicking out there.

Life in the North of the lower 48

Good morning,

I have been up for hours, had a quick errand this morning, shoveled to get out of the driveway, but now need to shovel my way back in (yup, plow went through). NOT excited about this so I am practicing enjoyable and constructive procrastination by spending some time at a coffee shop, playing on the internet while waiting for the yarn shop to open.
I checked out Ravelry, Facebook and now I am blogging along. Third cup of coffee, should be buzzing and shaking along here soon.
Looking forward to our knitters retreat next month, Lisa is such a wonderful organizer, setting up the cabins and and scheduling people for meals and setting up roommates, getting the attendees list together. I have gone through my stash and have a big tote of yarns for the white elephant dice game.
well, time to start packing up and moseying along to the yarn shop.

Happy stitching trails, see ya soon.
Stitchinghermit

Remember me?

It has been a while and I have been busy, not even knitting at times. I competed and A+computer certification and I did a temp gig installing some printers and now I am break-fixing Dell computers. This is fun at times, tiring at times and the driving is always crazy! Good experience, I have a few Dell certifications now and have learned more. On the top of the list is, this is good experience and I am continuing to learn.
Today's fix was for the city of Red Wing.
I have been looking forward to the knitting retreat, there are a few people from last year who are unable to make it; a few names have been thrown in for replacements.
I have so many things on needles, I am trying to finish my classic elite cotton bamboo tee. and unfortunately I continue to add projects of varying degrees of skill and time consumption. A recent addition to my queue is a project that evolved from Kathy, Jenny and I drinking the same kool-aid as Sara Jane at Linden Hills. This project is the Hemlock Ring afghan from Jarrod Floods Brooklyn Tweed. You can find it on Ravelry.com and follow the link to the free pattern on the Rainey sisters web site.
The Hemlock Ring throw is Jarrod's adaptation of the doily. I am using a lovely Claret, Jenny is going to be using a lovely green and I believe Kathy's will be Purple if she does not talk herself out of it. Gotta love those spontaneous Monkey see monkey do projects. I have just begun the feather and fan pattern of this throw and could have it finished soon, and may begin more as Christmas gifts for the coming season. I know, we just got done with all that.
Linden Hills will be starting another challenge soon, this one is likely to be lace, which will be a blessing for me. I have a few lace tops in my queue to knit with yarns from there, a couple are going to be a delicious cashmere yarn productions.I still have a fair isle jacket and the Faery Ring cardigan to make as well.
I am playing with a shawl design using Claudia hand paints lace. The pattern has some form to it, but needs some work yet.
Today I will be knitting during lunch with friends, I have not seen them in a little while. This job tends to interfere with Wednesday night knitting, but the contract is up on February 5th and I am looking forward to its end, there is some talk they want to extend, but the environments are not conducive to good health for me and for a while I was running a bit ragged and having asthma and other lung and health issues.
Tazsmonn is doing all right, more H vac classes and he may become Chief steward and attend the training later this month. The dogs are well, Sadie is my good little buddy and Abella is a busy girl, playing with her toys and getting into trouble.


For now, keep your needles in the yarn and Happy stitches to all.

Turkey! and Yarn

I love turkey and stuffing! Of course there was a stuffing taste test, had to make sure it turned out. 
I became one of the many Holiday travelers, driving to Mankato for a perfect day of family and festivities. We went to the store last night to pick up the last of the items we needed to make our feast. stuffing was created while drinking a bit of wine; apparently if you keep topping off the glass before it gets empty, you are still on your first glass. I however cannot drink like that anymore, perhaps age catches up with me.
my sweet doggies are happy, Abella enjoys a good row of teasing the cat, Mr. Custard. With all the children there is much to scavenge under the table and they get lots of cuddles.
I am making homemade mashed potatoes with gravy and it is my first attempt at making candied yams myself; we are having an evening feast, me thinks twas the wine that put us behind. I am not much for candied yams, but last night when we were talking about what we needed to buy at the store, Julies oldest son piped up saying "Oh, you got to get the orange potatoes" so when a cute little five year old is so enthused about sweet potatoes, I can't resist.
Julie is Zack's fiancee, she brought her kids. Julie has recently learned to crochet and was making a blanket. I watched and decided she was driving me CRAZY! she said it was a single crochet and it seemed to be taking forever! As I watched I realized, this is not a single crochet, it's a slip stitch. Ok, things had to change at that point, I taught her the single and double crochet, we frogged the little bit of a blanket she had going and it will now be a double crochet blanket. I had a bit of a skein of (sorry guys, I know friends don't let friends knit with it) purple homespun in my trunk and she is working on a double crochet hat. I may need to find her a good yarn shop near Alexandria, she says there is just Walmart and JoAnns. HA! Bellissima Yarns opens in two days (November 27th) in Alexandria. Can we find yarn or what. She may have a limited income and will need to be frugal, but nothing beats good yarn and I showed her knitpicks as well. One more convert for the dark side.

Ok, low battery and not close enough to a plug, soo.
Happy stitching trails and Turkey day if you partake.
Stitchinghermit   

Quick notes

Last time I tried to blog it was from my smart phone, slight issue doing that and no post was made; that was a while ago. The post seems to be in my list of posts, but unpublished, nothing to post in it.

I have been job hunting, such a task in this economy! I cannot count the number of applications, the "Dear John" emails. I now have begun to glean and go on a few interviews. Interviewing is something I do well, I have been told as much, my set backs are that I am looking for part time and my need for accommodation, which is not always something I speak to, perhaps not saying anything is just as bad.
I was able to go out on a contract job putting in a number of printers throughout a company. This was a large roll out and I would have liked to do more, but the job ended, we were efficient and finished early.
There are calls I am still waiting on from interviews and other leads, but I am still plugging away at this, GO ME!

I am knitting on Christmas gifts and need to push those along a bit more. I have been working on a double knit hat for one of my nephews with his initials in binary code for the pattern, ripped the pattern back three times, my friend Jenny picked up my stitches, I was worried about picking up the dark ones. I now realize that I need to rip it back and restart on smaller needles, I seem to be having trouble keeping the gauge on this project. Oh, the way life goes! There will be frogging, but it cannot sit in the pond at all. This hat and other things need to be finished.

The little canine girls are doing well, Sadie and Abella are adjusting to the cooler weather like the rest of us. I have plans to knit a few things for them this winter, but first things first, Christmas knitting must be finished.

Thanksgiving is this coming week and there is a lot to do before then. Dinner at Heidi's, will be fun, visiting with everyone and messing with the kids, giving them a bit of guff, they give it back just as well.

Happy Stitching Trails to all!

Here's to progress

So with my class finished, tests taken and passed, I am waiting for my proof in the mail while interning for experience that will lend me a good reference. here's to looking for employment in a bad economy.


More political garbage on the tele, on the bright side the Dems are running better campaigns, saying what they have done and what they want to do. 
I found an interesting article on the debates regarding the Bush tax cuts and the tax raises that Obama wants. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/12/1819846/would-raising-taxes-on-the-rich.html 


This gives better insight into how we will be loosing rich people in the future,"poor babies"! and then there is the ridiculous garbage about bankrupting America. People really do forget where all this started and they need to give the changes that are being made a chance, "Rome was not built in a day." and  recovery will not come any faster. Notice how all the whining is coming from the rich and all the poor saps they have brainwashed?  I have. 
 Why are people condemning infrastructure bills? We did not have the money Bush spent, nor the money any one wants to spend in the future, the difference is that, the country is now swinging the pendulum back to take care of the mid to lower classes and and the those above those brackets are screaming like the spoiled children they are, not wanting to play play well and share with others because among other things they have an overwhelming case of toy and money envy. Life may not be fair, but my opinion is that politicians jobs are to make things right and fair for all! They need to STOP being part of the problem and get in gear being the solution and cure. 


Remember the 35 W bridge collapse, one of the consequences (YES, there were design flaws) of not committing to the maintenance of Americas infrastructure. Our state legislature, our Governor, would not appropriate monies to rebuild that bridge, the reports did suggest doing so. The trickle down economic fallout of the Aristocratic greed in this country and state has lead to more issues in the cities and counties who have had to cut back and not spend as much on infrastructure as well. 
Yesterday, the next block down from us was closed off after lunch, the trucks rolled in, the street was torn up and crews from two cities including the gas company worked through the night. The gas company has been rerunning lines, however this issue did not start with the gas company, it started with the water and sewage department, clay lines that have been in place since the forties are bio degrading, underground erosion and a sink hole evolved after some digging to find the source of the initial problem. 
What happened to the sense of pride in this country, doing things right and fixing pro-actively before you have problems and more expensive damage, our grandfathers are spinning in their graves!


Memorial weekend, specifically the sixth of September is when my father passed away, he was a good man with an old soul, he had a great sense of humor and always made sure we knew we were loved. Those who we are blessed with knowing in this life and pass on leave us with precious memories, they are part of who we are and a treasure in and of our hearts.

I am progressing with knitting projects, getting into the swing of things with my Christmas gifts, plus a birthday gift. Here are some FO's a hat for a birthday and headband and hand-warmers for Christmas. 

 Happy Stitching Trails to everyone.

Stitchinghermit