Monthly Archives: April 2007

Sidebar and Learning

Posted on April 27, 2007 | Comments Off on Sidebar and Learning

I have been playing around with computers as a hobby  in one way or another since the early days of the Apple 2c.  There is so much to learn and do that it is still a mind stretching hobby.   A few months ago have decided to spruce up this blog by adding buttons to the sidebar.  The first button or two took what seemed like forever to place just where and how I wanted it.  That was chalked up to learning. It was hard learning but it also good.  I still remember how proud I was of myself when the first button was in place.

My most recent decision is to join some net rings for the purpose of being connected to others who enjoy the fiber arts .  Once again I am in the position of adding buttons to the sidebar of this blog. It is not such a difficult task as it was the first time or two.  I am still learning and stretching my brain muscles a bit….I know there is no actual muscle tissue in the brain, after all I am a nurse. But you get my point. This whole process of blogging can be and is at times a real learning experience. It is fun learning and helps keep me young.

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Week End Fun

Posted on April 23, 2007 | 4 comments

This weekend proved to be very fun and interesting. On Saturday we explored a historic part of one of the nearby towns. It has several antique shops most of which are in some of the old houses. Our goals were to:

  1. Have a good time.

  2. Do some treasure hunting.

  3. Maybe learn some history.

  4. Have some good family time.

All of those things happened. We explored until we were tired and ready to come home. I found some soon to be containers for hooks and needles:

Needleholders

Sunday found us at a flea market a little less than an hour from home. My husband and I have been talking about going there for a long time. This place was much larger than we has anticipated so it turned out to be quite an adventure. It would have been worth the time if we had not purchased anything. My treasure was a bunch of needle arts books. Here are pictures of a few of them:

Booksa

Booksb

More books

bookse.jpg

booksf.jpg

The lady from whom they were purchased said they originally belonged to a friend of hers who had to move out of her home. After a bit of negotiation, I paid $18 for more than one hundred books and magazines. As you can tell there are both knitting and crocheting books here. Some a newer and others are a bit older. Each is a treasure in its own right. Together they are an amazing find. :)

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About Me

Posted on April 22, 2007 | 1 comment

About Me

My roles in life include being a wife; a home school parent; an RN, and a member of the community. I am a Christian.

My primary role is that of wife and mother. We became a homeschooling family in 2000 in response to our child’s need. Our decision was not made lightly and was done after prayer, soul searching and obtaining counsel of trusted people. Our only regrets are that we did not do this before sending our child to school.

Homeschooling is not something we do during specified hours of the day, but instead is a lifestyle. Our philosophy is that learning is a lifelong process.

I am also an avid knitter and crocheter who has enjoyed both arts for more than 40 years. I can and will knit or crochet almost anything that suits my wants or needs. I will alter a pattern to suit my needs or wants and have written a few of my own. I enjoy writing and doing research about anything that interests my family, friends or myself.

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Spring Fever Follow-up

Posted on April 20, 2007 | 1 comment

My last day off did not work out the way it was planned. Life got in the way with the result that I did not accomplish many of the items on my original list.

The closet in the computer/craft/homeschool supply room was cleaned out a bit. This room contains so much it will take more time to clean it out. There is a pile of items in the living waiting drop off at a local charity.

The only knitting goal I accomplished was knitting on the mate for the first sock. In the past few days the gusset decreases have been completed and the remainder of the foot is being worked on. The other items on the list are still waiting for my attention.  They will eventually get done.

The weather in our area is supposed to be beautiful  this weekend with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s. It is my weekend off so my hunch is that knitting time will be limited.

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Spring Fever

Posted on April 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Spring Fever

I have a case of Spring Fever. It usually hits about this time every year. The only difference this time is that it is a lot more intense than it has been for years. I am not completely sure why this is the case.

My goal for this spring is to tackle one area of the house a week for a couple of hours and see how much cleaning and uncluttering can be done.

Last week’s victim was our living room and hallway. It was vacuumed, dusted and de-cluttered to such an extent that my family was amazed. The best part was that it only took a couple hours.

Later today I will be cleaning out the closet in the computer/craft/homeschool supply room. My destination is the closet shelf which is home to an assortment of items ranging from books to yarn. My goal is to see what is there and get rid of items no longer wanted or needed. Yarn will most likely not be touched. I do know that there are some latch hook rug kits that can go.   The rest remains to be seen.

Another goal for today is to allow myself some knitting project time. Here is my list of knitting projects to work on today:

1. Work on the mate for the first sock.

2. Weave in loose ends on some of the scarves made a few           weeks ago.

3. Work on the first sock of another pair of socks.

4. Knit a while on a scarf that has been on the needles for a          couple of weeks.

It sounds like a fun day. :)

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Slipper Socks and LIfe

Posted on April 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Slipper Socks and LIfe

The second slipper sock is almost finished. It only needs to have the final stitches on the toe woven in. My original plan was to finish it today, but there were not enough hours in this day to accomplish that.

Most of the morning was spent cleaning. First on the agenda was  deep cleaning in the living room. All of the furniture that I could move was moved, dusted and vacuumed behind. The floor of the entryway was washed by hand. The kitchen floor and the hallway were also vacuumed. It was a time consuming project even with help from my family.

The late morning and early afternoon hours found us running errand such as grocery shopping and taking recyclables to our town’s Recycle Center. These were not exciting or fun tasks but are just part of life.

There was a little knitting time this afternoon to work on a scarf that has been on the needles for a while. Between the socks and slipper socks, there has not been enough time to complete it. I will post pictures another time.

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More Knitting

Posted on April 8, 2007 | Comments Off on More Knitting

I am most pleased at the moment. The gusset on the second slipper sock has been started successfully! I was very careful this past week at my knitting lesson to make sure I understood the pattern and could knit from it without anyone around to  interpret it for me.  The fact that I did this is encouraging. It means that the next pair of socks I make from it will be able to be done on my own.

I will post pictures of the completed slipper in a couple of days.

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Socks, Slippers and Life

Posted on April 8, 2007 | 2 comments

It feels like it has been forever since I have written here. Life has been busy as usual.

My first sock is finished!! Here it is:
Finished Sock

The owner of Hearthstone Knits, Georgia, helped me finish it off a couple of weeks ago. I threw the sock in the air very shortly after completing it. Then it was tried on and admired by those nearby. It felt like such an accomplishment.

The second one of the pair was started before I left the store. Part of my reasoning was that I wanted to avoid Second Sock Syndrome. The other part of my reasoning was to make sure that I cast it on correctly and didn’t have a problem.

I was able to the second one done without help up to the point of turning the heel. At my knitting lesson this past Wednesday my questions were answered. I felt silly taking notes as Georgia shared her knowledge of sock knitting with me. She was patient as I did this.

Here is a picture of the second sock in progress:
Second Sock

I am working on the gusset and should be able to complete the sock in the next few days.

There is more to this story than this. Since I had reached a stopping point on the second sock, I decided to start a slipper sock, using the same pattern with fewer stitches and larger needles and yarn. My intent was to have a teaching and learning tool. I dug out some Red Heart Worsted Wt. in a light color and a pair of size 7 dpn’s. I was able to turn the heel accurately on my own. I got stuck on how to pick up the stitches for the gusset. The only other time in my life that I had done this was on the first sock.

The slipper sock and the regular sock went to the knitting lesson with me. Georgia understood and showed me on the larger needles how to pick up stitches on both items. I finished off the first slipper sock Friday morning. Here it is:

Slipper sock

Despite its faults, it is still a wearable item. My husband has graciously said he will wear this and its mate around the house. The off white is not his favorite color, but he has been promised a more manly pair before winter. The mate to it is in ready to have the gusset started. My goal today is to do that later today.

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