Happy Monday!  Yesterday I made the mistake of walking in front of the t.v. and Herbie the Love Bug movie was on then I sat down and couldn’t get up till it was over, LOL, I Love that movie.  Ha, brings back soooo many fun memories.  So that took up part of me day.  One reason I avoid turning on the t.v. and try not to get onto the computer too much.  But a guys gotta be in the now, the millenium is here can’t just stick my head in the ground, Ha.  Although, with the way the weather has been and getting over a cold just makes me retreat to the man cave with tea and knitting under me covers.  Did manage to go do some volunteer work and they had this knitted owl hot pad hanging up on the bulletin board.  Ha, had to take a pic of it.  It’s soooo coool in the yellow or should I say warm, HA.  Sooooo gotta make one of those.  Someone got it for an xmas gift swap and they stuck it on the bulletin board.  I like how the handle is just knit in with it so you could just hand it as a pic like they did.  Here’s a pic of one of the coffee cups I bought at this artist consignment shop over the holidays for my mom and I.  So now its my favorite coffee cup.  Kinda reminds me of, OH NO, Mr. Bill!  It stays hot and keeps your coffee/tea warm.  Ya gotta put a coaster under it because its cro magnon rough on the bottom of it, LOL.  But its a fun cup to use.  In the store they had them made in several sizes and stacked them up one on top of the other so it looked like a totem pole of these faces going from larger at the bottom to smaller at the top, too fun. 

Wow, the ending of Downton Abbey was sad last nite and they leave ya hanging like that so you gotta tune in next season to catch what happens.  So sad the Matthew Crowley dies in the car accident just after having witnessed his son being born.  Tissue please .  The other show I like even more than Downton is Call the Midwife.  So looking forward to that returning in March.  I really like the clothing and music of the time period that it takes place in. 

Well, off I go to get me some bits and pieces.  Have a great week everyone.

Actually as it goes in the song, Maybe tuesday will be my good news day, nothing like hopefully thinking and giving it a shot at having a good day anyway despite what people throw at you or even the dark recesses of your mind throws at you.  Those attack thoughts that creep up and tell you your not good enough, fast enough, rich enough yadda yadda yadda.  Things like if internet explorer tells me one more time that it can’t display that page, I think I’m gonna, gonna, gonna, take a deep breath and just say to myself – MORE COFFEE NOW – ha be right back .  Oh Lordy thank you so much for this coffee .  Heck no, nay merrily I say unto myself, I’m a gonna go out there and make it a good day .  Kinda like what I tell my customers, ya look gorgeous now go out and be gorgeous.  I wish I could rant about work and career here but this just ain’t the place so I may have to make another blog or something or just journal about it all, ack.

Anywho, as the quilting ideas turn round and round in me noggin I have to admit that what I don’t know about it and coming into it as a newbe so to speak kinda has me throwing around all kinds of things that don’t really seem to be quiltish if ya know what I mean.  Went to the craft store and was looking over some of the quilting parafanalia/gadgets/accessories.  Heck all mighty ya can spend a fortune on all that stuff.  Then there is the whole thing about quilting it on a machine and finer stitches and matching it all up so its all even and the more I look at it the more it makes me feel like I’m boxed in and really not that inspired all sorta like kind of a downer on my free running imagination.  Don’t get me wrong all these gadgets and handy time savers and such are what have made quilting what it is today and its a big business for those that have invented or are using these clever devices.  Enough of my quilt ramblings…….

Which brings me to the whole journaling thing.  I got this journal and haven’t been able to bring myself to write in it yet so I’ve been going around and finding all the ideas scrawled on bits of paper and just stuffing them into it so that at least they will be in one place.  I guess I’m treating the journal like some of my best duds to wear.  I don’t want to wear them to work since I don’t want to get them messed up.  I might mess up the purdy pages, Ha. 

Note to self, don’t get on here and start blabbing till youv’e fully waken up, LOL.  Now its off to get rid of this week long beard and to work, Happy tuesday

Its kinda funny how things can fall into place.  I had some scraps to begin with then I took this quilting class.  Then the paint store at the corner was throwing out their samples into the dumpster and when taking out the trash one day there were all these sample books that I’ve been saving to do something with for later.  Doh, why not quilt with them.  Now that I know how to do it I can work these into some blocks and piece them together.  Since the grandmothers flower garden is my favorite I think these would work up nicely into flowers for a pillow, bag or small quilt of some kind.  Then as we all do I started talking about my interest and endeavours.  I blabbed to some of my clients sharing my interest and talking about how I was taking a hand quilting/piecing class.  One lady who works in a furniture store said come on by and get some of the samples they are getting rid of so I did and now have a collection of various upholstery type fabrics – HOW COOL IS THAT!  Then another customer who I knew sewed for a living and did interior decorating started telling me how she was entering her quilts into a competition and that she has one on display in one of the fabric store around here.  She then told me that she was getting rid of some of her quilting stuff and would bring it by some day when shes in town.  What a nice gal she is.  So today I’ll get to the sewing store to check out her quilt.  She mentioned this big quilt show extravaganza type event that is in february in Hampton Va that she is entering the quilt in.  So that sounds like something to check out in February.  Oh, and lets not forget about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May.  I’m soooooo hoping to get to it this year.  Haven’t been in awhile and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything falls into place for it to be possible this year

Does anyone have one of these staring them in the face?  Ha, I’ve got 3 of them and corners where stuff is stashed and tucked away.  I’m soooo gonna try and improve on my project filing.  It’s just so easy to start something and then toss it in a basket then start something else and throw it in until I’ve got quite a mix of stuff going on and none of it done.  Althought there are 3 hats that are done except for the seaming up part and working in ends part.  Work has kicked in so much that it like – get up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed, repeat.  Over and over and over.  Not that I’m complaining but its easy to have small projects going that you can pick up and work a round or two on it without any due date on it and then put it aside to work on it later.  Eventually it will get done.  I just keep wanting to try out new techniques which has me with all these projects around.  Got a basket by my desk one on the dresser and two at each end of the bed that I can just dig something out and get with it.  Index cards and notes in ziploc bags help keep me on track of what I was doing and where I was at.  Hopefully I’ll have something finished that I can take a picture of soon.  Or just unfinished object pictures.  Also, started doing journaling to keep track of ideas that are swiming around in my head.  I treated myself to a handmade velum journal that I got at this new store here that has local artists that sell their stuff on consignment.  The journal has got this velum paper that is like tracing paper and so cool for jotting ideas, sketches etc.  It is bound with linen cloth for the outter fabric and handmarbled paper on the inside and a bright orange silk cord for the page marker.  It is sooooo coool.  Its small enought to carry around.  The girl that made it did such a nice job and its on the top of my list of favorite things

Another thing I did last year in nov. and dec. was to take a hand quilting class thru the citys park and recreation center.  Wasn’t sure how I’d like it but have always wanted to try it and learn about it and I’m so glad I took it.  The teacher is such a dear woman and she it 90 years old .  It’s a bunch of women and I’m the only guy at the moment and what a hoot these chicks are.  I started out taking the class on mondays then missed one of the classes and had to take a make up one on thurs and boy where those gals fun so I decided to switch to thursday nites, LOL.  At first I had trouble staying in my seat and doing what she instructed me to do because I wanted to see what eveyone else was working on and what inspiration there was to see.  Some of the ladys just show up and don’t even quilt at all.  Some will just show up to knit, embroider or crochet and they are all just working away.  Ha, one day the teacher Edith was on me big time to get stitchin and finish what I was working on before class ended and she just sat there staring at me like I could read her mind-like boy you’d better get hot on that quilting and get it done.  Ha, so I shut up and got stitching and did what she told me to do and look what happened.  I ended up with a block done in grandmothers flower garden and now I’m working on what I think is called, rail fence.  That is the four blocks that are 4 sections each and then you sew those together so they are going in different directions.  So when I’m done joining the one block together I’ll join it with the others in that pic to make the whole block.  In the class what you end up with is a sampler quilt that is made up of 6 blocks.  The cool thing about it is that you don’t need a sewing machine.  Its all done by hand – HOW COOL IS THAT!  They told me where I can go and buy fabric etc.  But honestly I got what I needed at the thrift store.  I’m just not going to buy new fabric to make a quilt and not going to pay much for it either since I’m just cutting it up anyway.  So I’ve been going by the thrift store and snaggin up fabrics as I see them for like 99 cent to 2 dollars.  I decided that is going to be my limit for that sort of thing and I’ll see where it takes me.  It’ll be my quilt experiment.  So now I got to sign up for the next class and continue on.  One of the ladys I’ve met who is the aunt of one of my customers has been taking the class for 10 years, WOW!

So that has been added to the mixed bag of stuff I’ve been working on lately.  Where is the much needed craft space continueum……………….. 

Toadays Flintstone vitamin was Wilma and I’m not talkin the gummy kind.  I’m not diggin the gummy ones I’ve seen em but not buyin them and its not as easy to find the regular chewables.  The big ole bottle I got was from Costco and I’m gettin low so gotta see if they still have them.  I love the taste, finding out who I’m gonna get and the chrunch, ha, satisfys the kid in me.

Poor Larry the Las Vegas Show Fish has passed on.  Poor critter.  He had a good fishy life and made a lot of people smile while in the shop.  Thanks Larry shake those fins.  You will be missed.

Have a great day

Thats two thousand thirteen as I like to say it.  Much to the shagrin of one of my clients.  Ha, he asked me how I would say 2013 and I said two thousand thirteen.  In his true crumudginly fashion he began to rant and spew all the reasons for why he didn’t like it when people said it that way and yada yada yada.  He also doesn’t like the way I spell colour.  I think it has something to do with him being an editor at the newspaper.  He has to stare at the word on my price list everytime he comes in and points it out to me, LOL.  But my teacher told me it was okay when I spelled it that way back in elementary school.  She did point out that there were two ways of spelling it and that they were both correct.  So there!  Besides I personally think it is (to me) more descriptive.  Like the word especial to me is more descriptive than special.  It’s just more fancy smancy to me.

Yesterday I went by a friends and helped her with some spinning.  For xmas she had woven this scarf for me on her loom that I helped her bring down from her upstairs into her new studio room.  It’s wonderful and the yarn she made it with is some of the yarn I showed her how to spin. It’s inspired me to try weaving with some of my spun yarns.  I got this large adjustable emboidery frame for .99 (ah this keyboard doesn’t have a cent symbol on it – hmmm).  Anyway, this embroidery frame (two round rods that have wood braces with holes in them for each of the rods to go thru and you can tighten them with these wing nuts) anyway, its really large.  When I first saw it at the thrift it was prices at 2 bucks and I didn’t want to spend that much on it.  Every time I went to the thrift there it would be pushed into the corner and still there waiting for someone to take it home.  So one day while doing my usual rounds I saw it again and this time it was .99 cents.  So I picked it up and walked around with it in my hands while looking at everything else still not convinced that I needed it.  Then it beguiled me into thinking I could use it as a loom since its so large and shazam that is what I thought I’d do with it and it would be adjustable and for .99 cent, HEE HAW!!! Seeing the scarf my friend made really inspired me.  So this will be a new adventure for two thousand thriteen .

Ha, I wanted to start the new year off right so got a bath and did some organizing.  Today will be a planning day and get her done day to get the new year started off right.  I so got major paper work to get done which will probably take me two months to do but I don’t want to be unprepared for tax time. 

Xmas day I did a bunch of yard work since it was such a nice day and sunny and I had the day off.  So I gave all the roses and bushes a haircut and planted some pansies and wrapped up some plants to protect them from winter.  What a good feeling to get that done.  The best xmas gift I got was my mom got all inspired and she went and got rid of a lot of stuff and reduced her hoarding load to where I had to break down all these boxes like 30 some boxes then she cleaned out the refridgerator and the bathrooms.  What a gal.  That was sooooooo awsome!  I loaded up the car and it was packed with all the recyclables that I just wanted it out and off to the recyclable containers I went.  Ha, looked like a lot of other people had the same idea since it was PACKED.  Just wish people would break down their boxes like your supposed to.  Its good to see that a lot of it is all getting recycled.  Before you had to seperate everything and you had bins for this and that.  But now a new company has taken it over and the bins are so much nicer and you just have to dump it all in there.  They even have a seperate container for shoes and clothes.  The first time I went to the containers there was this guy there putting up signs and I was seperating the stuff to put in the bins and he said, you don’t have to do that anymore.  I was like, ARE YOU SURE!  He introduced himself showed me the signs and told me all about the company.  HOW COOL IS THAT!  So its a lot easier/less of a hassle to recycle now, YEAH!!!

Went thru and tended to the african violets that we started from some leaf cuttings and come of them needed seperating since sometimes you get two growing out of one.  Sooooo excited about them since they are all doing well and I’m psyched that this type grows well under the kitchen light at the kitchen sink.  We had several different kinds but some of them didn’t do that well so got rid of the ones that didn’t like it there and made leaf cuttings of the one that did like it there and now we got 6 of them growing.  I think this one is called chippery trail or something like that.  Will have to double check that one.  It’s like a miniature trailing variety.  Who knew?

And like a knit nut, I started casting on another hat when I’ve already got several things on the needles that arn’t done yet, jeepers.  Cheers to ya all in TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN  and don’t forget your black eyed peas

Ode to 2012.  It was a sunflower kinda year and my mom coined our yard in the midst of all the other town houses in the horseshore village that we live in – Sunflower Alley.  I just couldn’t help it all the pictures on the seed packages looked so AWSOME!  I just kept poking the seeds in the ground.  Some here, some there or no maybe we should put some over there.  Low and behold they grew, and grew and grew, Ha, and so we had like all these sunflowers everywhere.  Who knew there we so many different kinds of them.  My favorites are the large flowered tall Mammoth ones.  They make you feel like a munchkin when they are towering over your head .

So I quess I’m gonna git back to me blogging.  I’ve been in a fog or should I say cloud as they say now.  Like more in a sort of holding pattern for 3 YEARS now.  I feel like I can emerge now.  Basically I haven’t blogged much because I starred in my own Life Time movie.  I wasn’t sure what knitters or the blogging community would think if I started blogging about it all pouring my heart out and filling the screen with none other than my own reality ramblings.  So I did a lot of journaling, writing stuff out that could probably make an interesting movie all in two giant ring binders.  It took me 3 years and two big ole ring binders full of info, written out documentation, tear stained pages full of what I had to get out before I could ever move on and just get on with my life.  Its very effective, journaling.  I thought about making a special blog about it but then wasn’t sure the timing was right.  Maybe in the future.  If you’ve ever seen one of those lifetime movies where the person is dating someone, is swept off their feet in a romance and then comes to find out that person isn’t who they say they are and that their whole life that they have presented to you is just all made up – NONE OF IT IS TRUE!  Well, that’s what I was dealing with and it has really made me thing about what it is I believe when people tell me something about themselves.  Especially someone that you let into that special space where you begin to share your lifes with each other and you think you can really trust them and the whole time they are lieing to you simply to take everything and anything they can get out of you and leave you hanging, alone.  Without any closure at all when it comes to accountability for anything they said they were going to do or said about themselves ever being show to be true.  I can’t believe I ever let someone like that into my life.  I always thought I was a better judge of people.  But when your dealing with someone who is a sociopath/psychopath that has no concience or remorse maybe its harder to tell them from the rest of the people.  Who knows, anyway, I’m just glad I got out of it alive.  I still can’t believe it happend but the reality is that it did and then you are left with it all yourself and the person who you thought was real is gone like a puff of smoke.  Then when you begin to try and find out who, what, where you begin to find out things that you don’t want know.  Then your find that there are other people beind the scense who are involved like gypsy’s all working to rip you off.  What I’ve come to call it is just plain old FULL TILT CRAZY!  So that kinda tells ya where I’ve been for awhile.

I’m sooooo looking forward to 2013

Larry the LasVegas show fish says – MERRY CHRISTMAS ! ! !

YUM! A customer brought in some artichoke spinach dip and the box of crackers to boot.  Like, HOW COOL IS THAT!  She said to put it in the oven and heat it up and then enjoy on crackers.  So I put it in these mini crocks and heated it up and YUM YUM YUM.  My mom and I enjoyed it while watching the BBC show Are You Being Served.  I’ve never made this and probably never will but I sure do enjoy eating it .

About the previous knitting.  In the pic the hat with the vertical stripes of blue/browns/orange/and grays is knit flat in mistake rib and then decreased a little at the top, then folded in half and stitched up.  It started out as a cowl neck warmer thing that a customer brought in to show me that she was making and she told me how to make it.  Well, got it knitted up into the cowl and tried it on and it was too tight for a cowl so decided to knit on with my bad self and make it into a hat instead. 

The rainbow looking hats are some experiments in short row knitting.  I love this yarn (Bernat Mosaic – the colour ways are really cool) and it looks great with the striping effect it makes so I thought short rows would be really cool for a hat.  The finished one is done with the short rows more towards the top of the hat to give it the shaping at the top to close it in.  The one in progress is done with the shortrows throught out the row giving a more gradual shaping as in more like the shape of an xmas tree. 

The green one is done in the round on double points and knit from the top down.  First time I’ve ever knit a hat from the top down.  I like how that one has sort of a peaked top on it. 

Then there is the giant cable scarf that I learned how to make with 3 strands of yarn on giant size 17 needles .  I learned how to do this on the www.creativebug.com site where you pay for a subscription and can watch/learn from all the craft videos on there.  That was my gift to me for the holidays so when I’m huddled inside during the cold days of winter I can watch the videos and get crafty.  Now I just got to stop falling asleep in the middle of the video and waking up in the morning finding the kindle fire beside me and be like DOH!!!  Xmas is on a tues and we are closed sun and mon so it will be soooooo nice to just chill and get things done around the house at my own pace and get ready for TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN -  I’m soooo ready to be there

Gawd, I’m still figuring out all this how to post pics and stuff since I just haven’t been on here in eons and not familiar with how to navigate, Pft.  Anyway, here is a pic of some of the knitting thats been boing on.  I’ll post about it all later since I gotta get the train and get me buns to work.  Merry xmas everyone : )