Knitting and electricity

Well today I re knit Elizabeth's purple fuzzy scarf. She brought it over on Sunday all upset because it was "ruined". It looks like on if the strands broke and it was unravelling. Her Mom had told her Grandma can fix it so I took it apart and today I re knit it so hopefully she will be happy. After all I have only done this scarf THREE yes three times. The first time it was too short for her liking, the second time it wasn't wide enough but I didn't have to redo it. This time it is longer than the first and wider than the second............. we shall see if it meets with her approval. Apparently she was born with a rule book. No one has ever seen this RULE BOOK but very so often she says "You broke a rule". She won't tell you what you did wrong but you BROKE a RULE............. She won't even tell you what the rule is but you have to say you are sorry..........this child has a VERY VIVID IMAGINATION. One day she was playing with her imaginary horses, took a blue blanket and spread it on the floor, took off all her clothes and went swimming on the blue blanket. Apparently it was a very hot day on the prairie. Shelby is going to come by today and show me how to get the zillions of emails off my IPhone. Maybe we will go shopping after that ........... Depends on her mood. At 13 that mood changes in the blink of an eye. I have been working at THE ROOM as I really need to do some quilting. After months of knitting I am slowing down in that area for a while. Have to fix the border on my two colour shawl and then that will be finished. My only problem there is I didn't write down what needle I was using ......... Will just use a LARGE set to bind off. The electrician is back again today. We lost power in half the house yesterday and it's no ground or something so he is running a new wire to the breaker or something. Fortunately we don't pay for it, one of the advantages of renting. I am going to try David Suzukis get outdoors for so long every day in May. Will see how it goes. Anyone want to join me? Well it is time for more coffee.

Tears

Well we just finished watching "Grand Turino" with Clint Eastwood. Anyone who has watched this movie and knows me knows why this is entitled "tears". My kids just shake their heads and Shelby looks at me and says "Gramma it's just a TV show. Meanwhile the tears are running down my face and sobs come from my area of the room. My children say they won't go to the movies with me because in the movie "Return to Snowy River" I leap up and yelled "THEY SHOT THE HORSE". Is it a wonder I do not watch scary movies............ I get so involved in the show. The only scary movie I ever watched was "The Shining". My siblings forced me to watch it. I spent most of the time with my hands over my face. It would be better if I could turn off the sound because then I wouldn't be able to hear "The Scary Music"......... You do realize that all bad parts of movies have SCARY MUSIC. If there is SCARY MUSIC I usually have to do something in the kitchen or THE ROOM .............. I come back when the SCARY MUSIC stops. You see I can listen to the SCARY MUSIC or watch the show but not both........ Oh well. Off to make some tea.

Half a block

That is what I managed to sew at quilting on Sunday. Five of us went out it Birgit's. She had booked the lodge for the day so we had lots of room. I just took hand sewing as I didn't want to haul the sewing machine and assorted other stuff. I worked on one of my DJ blocks and managed to sew 21 small pieces together by hand. I would have got more do e but we had to have show and tell, catch up on what has happened since October, have a look at everyone's projects and just generally visit. That sort of limited my sewing time. I have discovered that I am way more chatty than I think I am. Here I always thought of myself as quiet and shy......... Finished the throw I was making. It has Elizabeth's approval as her comment was "it's big enough for me."

Doctors

Yesterday I went with Bill to the Complex Joint Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital. He had x-rays, blood work, ECG , was seen by the rather negative resident and the more positive surgeon. They told him he has to see the Cardiologist who will have the final decision on whether or not he can have the surgery. I had a disagreement with the resident when he said Bill had COPD, the surgeon said it was almost the same as asthma. I showed some restraint and only said "No it isn't" and left it at that. Didn't tell him I was a retired PT. Have been trying to figure out the project(s) I will do during the Olympics. The Ravellry group has what are now called Ravellenics when the Olympics are on. The idea is to challenge yourself with the type or number of knitting projects and we get badges for finishing. It was called the Ravellympics but the IOC demanded that the site owners stop using that title. Apparently us doing these knitting projects was demeaning all the work the athletes went through, plus there was a whole lot of other sh"&#^~€. Cripes it has been four years since this happened and I am still annoyed about it. I know for me I watched way more of the Olympics than I have in the past. Anyway the past is past and we are doing the same thing under a different title. For my projects I want to do a pair of colour work mittens and a Maple Leaf Shaped shawl. Then I looked at all my UFOs ( unfinished projects)and thought maybe I should be finishing them instead of starting something new or maybe I should see if I can finish my Williamson shawl. Mind you if I wanted to finish my shawl, I would have to lock myself in THE ROOM and ignor everyone for the duration of the games......... Some how I don't think this would be a popular choice.

Dying

I don't do this very often so finding the supplies and equipment can be a challenge at our house. I had some yarn I wanted to dye and I found the dyes okay but the pot was eluding me. Anyone who has ever been in our house will understand this problem. So I check the back porch, good place to start right ............. Not there but now I am thinking WHAT A MESS!!!........... Some needs to clean this mess up ........ Someone = Me in our house. It's raining .......... I don't want to go out in the rain. ............... but I need the dye pot. Brew a cup of coffee and try to think of alternatives. I could use the food colouring and vinegar in the crock pot. Don't think I can get the colour I want. I have the colour in a dye packet but you can't dye with it using dishes you are going to eat from so although I tell the family to eat their poison mushrooms it is just a family joke. (I don't think they use mushrooms to make this dye.) Having been unable to come up with an alternative solution I put on my boots and coat, get the shed keys and bravely go out into the downpour (it's really more of a constant drizzle). The back shed is the most likely one to have the dye pot in it as it was here when we moved in..............THE KEY DOESNT WORK ............ The lock is rusted shut. Check the tarp garage what's-it. Can't get in there as DH has it full of STUFF. ( he says it's all good stuff......I say it is 3/4 full of JUNK). Anyway you don't want to hear about on going family issues (like for years) One shed left to check, I am fairly sure the pot isn't in there but I will check. Lock opens nicely, NO RUST, and NO POT. Now what ... Back into the house, brew more coffee, sit down, think, think, think. The crock pot will take too long so what else is big enough.......... The canning pressure cooker will work and I will just have to use the food dye. Into the kitchen, look up at the shelf above the cupboard for the canning pot........................ What do I see sitting right nest to it ......... You guessed it THE DYE POT. If anyone knows where my brain went please send it home. .

Almost a month

I did have good intentions of blogging more frequently and today I noticed it has been almost a month since I posted anything. So much for those plans....... I really have been busy with Birthdays, Christmas, Anniversary and dogs. For her Birthday Aaron took Cory to Mexico. They have three dogs so DJ (old, poodle cross, sweet and well behaved) went to a friends house. Dozer, a roly-poly white chihuahua came to us and Kujo, active, black and white chihuahua/Boston terrier cross went to Jill. The only problem with this plan is Jill and Elizabeth come over every day and yes she brought their dog Princess AND Kujo. When she left to go do what ever she goes to do we got left with FOUR ........ YES 4 dogs. I realize I have already told everyone about this but that was at the beginning of the "week of extra dogs". Kujo and Dozer are both male dogs so like to mark their territory so they had to be watched. Kujo and Priscilla played and played together. Princess would get involved if she thought Priscilla was getting hurt......... I guess this is sort of a sibling thing........ I can be mean to my sister but don't you dare. Well about this point Dozer joins in as he thinks he is the boss and the the fight is on. The fight was usually between Kujo and Dozer. So the dogs are fighting , Elizabeth is laughing and trying to get in the middle Of the dogs, Bill is yelling things the dogs don't understand and Elizabeth shouldn't hear. Meanwhile I or Jill and I are trying to separate the dogs and hoping none of them gets injured........... Needless to say all thoughts of having two dogs have been discarded. Mind you Bill had said NO to the possibility of having two dogs but it isn't really his decision. I announced years ago that I have the final say about pets in the house as I am the one that always has to look after them. Christmas was lovely, Jill and girls came over Christmas Eve and then I went to Jill's Christmas morning. We all went to Cory and Aaron's for dinner. We had churducken, don't know if the spelling is correct, but it was good, very rich and not something I would want every year. For our Anniversary I cooked a turkey as we NEEDED turkey for sandwiches. I can't believe it has been 44 years that we have been married, I can't be that old..........LOL. I didn't knit Christmas gifts this year as I never seem to get things done on time and always am madly knitting Christmas Eve. This year I gave my self a rest. Every year the Girls want dish cloths so this year I have joined a Ravellry group that knits two rows every day. By December I will have 12 dish cloths, at least that is the plan. I am sure some of them will get gifted during the year but either way I won't me madly knitting dish cloths Christmas Eve. On the spinning front I am plying some of the fibre I bought at OFFF with a green silk thread. Haven't decided if I like it as it is coming out very green ............. What a surprise. Needless to say I have been dragging my feet about finishing the plying. My "Williamson Stole" has been on hold but will get back to it this week for sure. Oh oh it's Friday ........well next week...... For sure. Have talked to Che and Liz a couple of times over the holidays. I really miss not seeing them but this year I will see them one way or another. Well that's it for today. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

Husbands, tea towels and dogs

What is it about DH that he can't tell a dish cloth from a tea towel. I mean one is at least 4X bigger than the other. He has done dishes in his life so knows dish clothes are used to wash dishes and wipe counters while tea towels are used to dry dishes. But at home if he spills something he wipes it up with the TEA TOWEL......... part of my Birthday present from DD#1 was a lovely WHITE tea towel with Christmas embroidery on it. Like a fool I put it out in the kitchen to show it off. Last night HEwas making a snack and spilt BEET JUICE. ............. Can you guess what happened next........ YES HE WIPED IT UP WITH THE NEW WHITE TOWEL. Yes he is still in the land of the living but only because my car is broken and I have no way to dispose of the body ............well not really but he is at the top of my "shit list". My dear son-in-law Aaronis taking Cory to Mexico for her 40th Birthday. We get to take care of Doozer who is a very round, white Chihuahua who has spent the last hour whining at the door. He finally came and sat in my lap .........until Jill came by just now and he is at the door whining again. Aaaaaaauuuuuuuggghhhh. To top things off Jill is looking after Kujo who is a chihuahua crossed with a boston terrier. So when jill and Elizabeth come to visit in the morning we will have 4 dogs. I may lose my mind over the next week. Elizabeth tries to pick the dogs up by holding them around the neck so is not real popular with anyone when she does that. If she is not doing that they are all playing dog tag which involves a lot of running, chasing and laughter.