30 April 2008

some stuff

i've been really tired, going to bed early, napping during the day, sleeping late.  so i've not kept up with writing here these past few days.  my friend brenda's wedding is saturday in chattanooga, and i need to stockpile some sleep for that trip too!

i'll take and post pix of the gifts i made for her and her groom and her children.

one of my meds needed adjusting, so my heart palpitations should cease as i adjust to that.

my breastest doc aspirated three interconnected cysts that formed one mass.  he was pleased and satisfied that he managed to get an astonishing amount of fluid that indicated that damn they're bigger than he thought and wahoo they were silly lil lumps that were of no consequence medically speaking as far as cancer goes and when i asked what the medical reasoning was for aspirating them, he said that it was to check for cancer and infection and also to keep them drained so that they didn't burst and cause problems.  i was too foggy to ask what sort of problems and asked what the fluid is made up of, to which he stared at me and then muttered, 'well, bodily fluid' to which i was mildly irritated but didn't press the point for two reasons, 1.  i didn't see the point in expending more energy and 2. he didn't seem to know.

i'd gotten some lovely items in the mail from a lovely lady and will scan and post or take pix and post.  later, when i'm up to fiddling with the connections and things.  must nap now.

25 April 2008

dude, it goes on and on and on and wha...? tis only noon?!?

So this morning, I went to see if my gp could take a gander at me and she immediately poked holes in my arm trying to find a vein that would bleed and fill her two tubes and such.  Then she instructed me to call her Monday and follow up next Friday.  She's concerned about some sorta skin reaction that could indicate a problem with one of my meds.  And then there's the heart palpitation thing that she is thinking means an adjustment in one of the other meds.

Then she called the Breasteses doc who said, "omg, send her right over".  So I went right over.  And he felt me up and said, "why, oh why didn't you come see me sooner?"  To which I replied, "well, ya know I'm a lumpy bumpy person with twelve lumps in my bumpilty breasts and so it wasn't til earlier this week this specific lump grew so large.  I came as soon as I could, I did".  To which the elderly gent tisked and felt me up some more with an extremely disturbed expression, muttering "don't like this, no, no i don't like this at all".  So what he thought was one massive lump of two inches by three actually is three lumps that are welded together into a rather awkward mass that he is actually looking forward to aspirating.  Oh lucky me, I get to go on Tuesday at the end of his day so that he has no rush after me and can poke, prod, and drain to his heart's content.  Fun!!  Doncha wish you were me?

Then I drove to the library with sticky boob lube adhering my bra to my breast in the most form fitting way ever.  After unloading and donating over 150 texts and other books to the library's monthly sale, I signed a release of liability which seemed a very odd thing to do when donating books to the Friends of the Library's First Monday sale.  None the less, I was glad to do it.   Where oh where is my cape?  And tights!

Next up, I drove to the garage, where Charlie looked very concerned and so next Wednesday I'm to take the car in for the day.  It would have been Tuesday, but counseling in the morning and the boob job in the afternoon, it's just such a fun filled day.  So, Wed it is!

By the time I got home, I was somewhat alarmed to realize it was not even noon and my date book for next week is full!!  I'm in such demand.  Whatta belle.

I can't wait for my guy to get here.  I really really really miss him.  Really.

Drrtee Grrl

Well, today was a good day, but very tiring.  So things will be brief I am sure.  I went to see my counselor today, and then went to WalMart, and then went by the coffee shop and crocheted with the yarn that I picked up from WalMart.  Our WalMart seems to be one of the last that has a fair amount of yarn.  So when I have a few extra dollars, I buy some Bernat Softee Chunky skeins cuz there are not quite two dollars per.  And I use them for all sorts of things.  I already bought them out in a few colors of that sort.  I don't think I've ever bought any yarn for more than that so I cannot bear to consider those skeins that are soooooooooooo expensive.  shudder.

So after I was thru at the coffee shop, I went to the library.   Then I came home and began to do some deep spring cleaning that I have been putting off.  I went thru ten shelves of books and sorted them into keepers (and then organized them) and give-to-the-library piles (those piles had to be sorted into paperback, hardback, audio, video).  And threw out four H.U.G.E garbage bags of piles and piles of papers, some of which I've had for a good ten years, most were about five years old.  I'm gritty, grimey, dusty, and sticky.  I'm not sure why I'm sticky except maybe I was sweating and some of the dust must of mixed to make a glue.  shudder.

Anyway, that's done and now I am left with stacks and stacks of books to donate and have no idea how I will get them from here to there, unless I do it in stages (a portion of one stack at a time to the car).  There are easily 150 stacked up waiting to G.O!!  Most are old text books, sociology, statistics, reading/writing.  There are a few fiction.  And a good stack of christian oriented books.

On the shelves are still rows of books, mostly sociology, almost as many statistical volumes and then a few on writing.  The rest of the cleaned shelves, I used for my crochet patterns' binders and the yarn.  Tons, tons, and tons of yarn...i'm so happy!!

I'm not thru yet, but my lungs are!  They are filled and irritated and burning with dust that made it thru my best efforts to keep the air clean.  So I need to get scrubbed and showered before climbing into bed.

Tomorrow I need to take the car back to the garage.  I think there may be some loose connection, or something.  Cuz some of my systems are flipping in and out, my engine seems fine.  But my turn signal and my radio and my fan would sometimes be ok and sometimes not.  So I called the garage to talk with them and so tomorrow I must return the car so that they can check and such since there may have been something jarred loose while they were working on it.  It isn't a blown fuse, cuz sometimes stuff works, and sometimes it doesn't!

Anyway, now that things are a bit more organized; I can actually see what projects are where.  And I can put things where things go with out needing to move things to get to other things.  So, hope to finish a few projects, esp since some need to be given to a bride and her family in about a week!

Well this has gotten to be rather more than I intended!  Now, I must go dig the potatoes out of my armpits and dump the sand from my shoes!  Grins, Debra

23 April 2008

good yarn? worth the wait

ya'll know i've been getting knitty wit it...and happily hooking...and loomin large...and all those other things ya can do with hooks and needles and yarn and spools.  my friend's wedding is in about ten days and i've been frantically whipping stitches about.  in the mean time, i did get my car back today!  yea!  and i did get my box of yarn!

what grand yarn it is, cotton yarn, acrylic yarn, baby yarn, bold bright yarn, pastel yarn, jewel yarn, smooth yarn, silverlash yarn, oh my!

i'm finishing a few things for brenda's wedding.  and also am in the midst of making a shawl for my mother for her visit in may (perhaps it will be a mom's day gift).  and a few other things.  will take pix and post when i can.

and will write a better, witter yarn for ya later!

22 April 2008

the mail, it's delivered

There is a package that was mailed to me on the tenth.  It finally got to me today.  I got a peach slip from the new postal lady, from a post office the next county over.  I finally tracked her down after calling there, here, and over there.  I talked with her supervisor and let him know that all she needs to do is honk the horn and I will come out to her and retrieve my package so that she doesn't even have to get out of her vehicle.  However, simply leaving a peach slip from the incorrect post office not even in this county is not a good idea and isn't effective.  I'm thrilled that the package is almost here (at least, it's accounted for) after more than ten days.

Next time, I'm gonna request that it is strapped to the back of a turtle with a snail for relief.  I might get it faster with better service.

the car, it goes vroom-vroom

Damn! but I might be able to finally spring my car from the shop tomorrow!  It's been in for the past ten days.  Makes me wanna cry.  First it went in with some damage.  Then they had to wait to order the parts.  Then the parts that came in weren't sufficient.  So they had to wait for the new parts before they could put the other parts in.  Well, ya know, cuz parts is parts.  shrug.  So the verdict is that tomorrow it should be done and I should get the car back!

oh happy day!

17 April 2008

Tunisian Cotton Wash Mitt

Well, early in the wee hours of the morning, I posted a pic of a tunisian knitt stitch done with cotton in variegated yellow.  I experimented with various tunisian stitches; like front loop only from the front, front loop only from the back, front bar up to front loop, etc.  Also, I did some increases and decreases and shaping.  So, here is the end product:  contoured wash mitt!

why I'm blurry eyed (and so are you, wink)

My friend (Brenda) is wedding in about two weeks.  She and her groom will have a ceremony with Brenda's children included.  Katie, age eleven, will be the bride's maid.  James, age six, will be the best man.  It will be a family affair as Mark is marrying Brenda and pledging to care for her children as well.  Her children are welcoming Mark into their lives.

With this in mind, I've made items for all of them.  For the bride and groom, there is a queen sized granny square afghan.  I've no more yarn for that and have to wait til I can get more to finish it off.  It was featured a few weeks back, and I will take a better picture when it is complete.

For Brenda, I've made a lapghan for her legs, which get very cold when she is seated at the computer.  It is done with double-ended hook, so that one side is primarily brown with some yellow and the other is primarily yellow with some brown. I also made a small toy soldier bag for James.  I used several strands of two shades of sage green to give it a camo-like feel.  It was loomed on the green knifty knitter's round loom. For Katie, I loomed a larger overnight/weekend bag on the yellow round knifty knitter.  I used red heart's baby cloud in a seaspray with white draw-cord and reinforcement.

  In an unrelated project, I've started to make a good sized wash-cloth.  It is about fifteen inches wide, using a knit tunisian stitch with a metal crochet hook.  I'm using a yellow/white variegated cotton.  This is the same sort of yarn that I'd used for my mother's apron last fall.  I've no picture of that because I did not acquire the webcam til a few months ago and had already given the apron to my mother.

15 April 2008

well, damn (sigh)

The tip of my nose is bright red.  But considering the alternatives, I'm pretty happy about that.  The reason it is red is because the tip of my nose is the very furtherest protrusion of my face.  My face connected with my deployed air-bag on Sunday.  I'm ok.  Really.  My lower face and upper throat were kinda numb for awhile afterwards, but no broken nose, no fractures, no bruises; cuz damn, I'm lucky.

So right now?  My car is currently at the garage where it may be fixed sometime this week and restored to drivable condition.  It's gonna be more than a pretty penny (well alright, a few hundred thousand of them lil lincoln's).  But what's money compared to health, let alone life, right?

At this point, my wallet hurts the most.

07 April 2008

Bluuuu LOoommm You saw meeee standin thaaaaaiir

I know it's fuzzy, but it gives an idear at the very least...of the big blue granny square afghan I started last night.  I'm about quarter way done, to a queen size, baby!  I'm giving this to my friend who is wedding in a few weeks, and her love.   I've also been a looming fool, so that I can assemble the panels into a lapghan.  My friend's legs get very cold when she's at the computer.  So the lil lapghan is for her. Also the pink loom in the back is a serenity loom.  It is similar to an infinity board, but not the same.  It takes me some time to do that, but I'm new to it.  The purple loom in the foreground is one of my favorites!  It is sturdy and nicely spaced so I can even loom when I am having a bad body day.  Plus there are all sorts of wraps to yield all sorts of stitches.  Fun stuff that!

04 April 2008

tomorrow is another day

I've been putting off doing a few things, that really do need to be done.   So perhaps tomorrow I will actually do them.  I've been feeling either really good, or very very anxious.  It's that blood boiling, nerve singing tightness that has me about ready to leap right outta my skin and run away.

But, that'd be gross.

03 April 2008

Tunisian Variation

Cuz I am having all sorts of problems with my pix-taken skills, I scanned this in directly.  It is a variation of the tunisian stitch, using a double-ended crochet hook.  Both colors are worked at once, across the row, from different ends of the hook.  The result is that one side is predominantly the bright sunny yellow, while the other side is mostly the rich chocolaty brown.  Sorta calls to mind sunflowers, this color combo does, huh?

However, I really need to get moving along so right after I scanned this, I frog'd it and rewound the yarn so that I can try something else.  My friend is wedding next month and I am not having much luck with finding exactly the right thing to make.  I may end up buying her something and then giving her whatever it is that I make for her birthday.

Cuz that's in November

01 April 2008

Putting it all together

Alrighty!  So hopefully you went to the sites listed in the previous entry and were able to watch the demo and see the superclear pix that were at those sites.  Now I will give you some idea how I wrap so that my foundation edge is smooth and firm, with no straggles.

Make your slip knot and secure it on the end peg.  The rectangular loom  is symmetrical, with two rows of pegs in a double-rake formation.  There are no conventional turning pegs on this loom (those would be a peg on either end in the space between the rows in the same direction of the vertical pegs).  On this loom, the end pegs are horizontally oriented, and protrude out instead of up, like the other pegs.

Here, I'm working from left to right, top to bottom (left top, left bottom, to right top, right bottom).  So with the slip knot on the left end peg, I've looped the yarn over the top left peg (in a counterclockwise direction).  After you get comfortable, you can find what works for you; some folks work right to left, bottom to top.  But for the purposes of this series of pictures and explanation, I'm working from left top to right bottom.

I've completed the counterclockwise loop around the upper left peg and brought the yarn down, between the left most peg and the one next to it on the right.  Next, I loop the yarn around the bottom left peg in a clockwise direction and draw the yarn up, and place it between the 2nd and 3rd pegs on the top.  Loop the yarn around the second top peg in a counterclockwise direction, and bring the yarn down between the 2nd and 3rd pegs on the bottom.

 Continue that wrapping process, to the end of your loom.  For the purposes of this explanation, I've pretended my loom was only five pegs wide.  So here, you can see that I've done the five top/bottom and now the yarn is on the outside of the fifth peg on the bottom.  This is my last peg of the first wrapped row.

Now, I draw the yarn up and back to the very first peg that I wrapped; here my very first peg is the upper left one.  Now you can loop the yarn around the first peg in a counterclockwise direction and draw the yarn down to the bottom and wrap that peg in a clockwise direction and so on.  You will be following the exact same path that you already have laid with the first layer.

This is what the foundation wrap will look like.  Now you are ready to continue with the knit-over (removal of the first layer of yarn up and over the pegs so that the second layer is alone on the peg, ready to be pushed down to the base of the pegs).  From there, you can wrap your pegs however you would like to yield whichever stitches you want!

Hopefully this has been much clearer.  However, if you still have questions, let me know!  Thanks for the interest!

in part

I have dial-up and am taking advantage of a particularly speedy connection at the moment (wink).  So this is just a quick note to give you a few sites that I've found last night that illustrates some techniques that I've used and had tried to explain the other day in the post on wrapping for a good foundation.

This website is very good, a comprehensive overview of getting started with both round looms and double-sided rakes (long looms, or rectangular looms).  Check it!  Toward the bottom of the Dreamlooms's site, you will see a section titled "Standard Cast-on Stitch".  This is the figure-8 wrap to which I referred the other day.  It is a basic stitch used in long loom wrapping.  The site goes on to list and demonstrate a few other wraps that will yield different stitches.

This website, Decor Accents, is a great resource to have bookmarked!  Most of the sites that focus on manufacturing and selling looms, also explain info that is essential for getting started.  This is because they want you to USE the product they sell you.  So, if you are wanting some basic info, you might want to check sites where they sell the looms.

The Knitting Paddle is uberkewl!  This site is graphic rich with a wonderful demo that is  very easy to follow.  It does take awhile to load tho, if you have dial-up; so be sure to allot enough time and resources.  Once it fully loads, it is very very good.  I would highly recommend viewing the demo.  You need adobe reader, most systems come with this as a default, so if you are unsure if your own computer has it; try clicking on 'demo' to activate it and see what happens.  Chances are that your system already has adobe reader and you won't have to load it!  If you cannot see the full demo, then you might need adobe, so click on the adobe icon and download it.  If you have problems with this, I might be able to help you, so feel free to contact me.

The Knitting Paddle demo takes you thru the entire process from forming a slip knot to begin the wrap, to showing and explaining the figure-8 wrap.  And it actually shows you a very similar step to what I use on the rectangular loom to transition from the end first wrapped row to begin the second wrapped row.  The purple rectangular loom differs from the Knitting Paddle; as the purple rectangular loom does not have the same exact configuration of end pegs, in the middle between your two rows of pegs that you are wrapping.

Please pay particular attention to the Knitting Paddle's demo's first 9 steps.  These explain a similar process to yield a good wrapping technique which will result in a firm edge with no straggles and loops!  After that, you are actually moving on to looming the rest of the project and may use whatever wrap you would like!  You could use the same wrap for the rest of the garment, or use the wrap that the Knitting Paddle's demo shows from steps 10 to 14, or any other sort of wrap (such as those found on the other pages I've listed here~~Dreamboards &/or Decor Accents).

I will put it all together for you, but I wanted to list these sites because they actually show you clearly what I attempted to; but was not able to focus my web-cam clearly enough.  I am new to the web-cam and haven't used it enough to be able to take clear, well lighted pictures that show you exactly what I mean.  For that, I certainly apologize; as it can be just as frustrating to not understand the process as it is to not clearly explain it!

Next entry, putting it all together!