January 31, 2005
I'm Out of Yarn ... Gasp!
So begins another week. FedEx Ground says that my yarn is on the truck for delivery today. Keep your fingers crossed! I asked the nice lady on the phone why they couldn't keep a record of the directions to my house since they have to call every single time they have something to deliver - and delay delivery by at least a day. Brace yourself for this revelation . . . she put the directions into her computer! You have to wonder why no one thought of that at some point in the last 4 years. Hmmm.
Today is payday - yippee! That means I can order the rest of the material I need for my curtains and buy more yarn. I think supporting a drug or alcohol habit would be cheaper than my decorating and knitting habits! I have a couple of scarves I want to knit and then I need to figure out what my next project is going to be. I'm thinking socks, but who knows. I finished Travis' sweater, well except for the mock turtleneck. I didn't really give a lot of thought to how I would do that, and the pattern isn't specific, but I did some research and figured out that I need a size 15 circular needle, which I don't have. Of course! I hate it when stuff like that happens. So, when I order my scarf yarn today I need to order a needle. The good news is that I made him try it on last night and it FITS! He even wore it around the house for a couple of hours - this is a good sign! I think he actually likes it. Will wonders never cease!
Posted by Stephanie at 8:45 AMJanuary 29, 2005
Plan, Why Do I Need To Plan?
Well, I have to tell ya ... the curtain making went surprisingly well. Except for a couple of minor snags. The first is that I'm an idiot. Yep, an idiot. So, I had to order the fabric ... I bet you can see where this is going ... anyway, before I ordered it I measured the height of my 2 living room windows, which are the same height, multiplied that number by 2 for the 2 windows and ordered that amount. Problem was I should have multiplied it by 4 - 2 panels for each of the 2 windows! Really smart, huh. Now I have to order the same amount again on Monday and wait another 2 weeks to get the fabric for the second window. Fabulous, I tell ya. Second, the knobs I got to put above the window to tie the curtains to in place of a rod won't work. Travis says that the screws are too short and for some reason they won't unscrew so we can change them out for longer ones. That little bit of news resulted in a major fiasco. I started by looking on-line and couldn't find anything different than what I already had. My failure resulted in resorting to Plan B, which was to call my best friend in Phoenix and have her run all over town looking for something that would work. Failure there too - she didn't find anything that would work that I can afford (call me crazy, but I just can't justify $300 on curtain hardware!). Plan C was to think outside the box. I found some iron hooks at Pier 1 that I really like and Travis says will work. Now brace yourself, the best news is that they have them in stock at the store and I can go pick them up tomorrow. Of course, I can only hang one window worth of curtains because that's all I have finished (yep - that fabric miscalculation again).
When I was at Lowes yesterday to buy knobs for the curtains, I also bought a new light fixture for my stairwell - it kind of looks like an old fashioned huricane lantern. Travis says it won't work there, so back it goes too. Yesterday just wasn't my day!
In knitting news: the first sleeve on the sweater is finished and I'm about half way through the second one. I'm hoping I can get it finished tonight and the sweater put together tomorrow. Then, if my yarn from Suss Designs would ever get here for my next project, I could start on it - a hat for my sister. Stupid FedEx Ground. They can't ever remember where I live and even after I gave them directions (for about the tenth time) they still didn't deliver my package yesterday! Oh well, I probably won't be ready to start it until Monday and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll deliver my package Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Posted by Stephanie at 7:34 PMJanuary 28, 2005
Old and Unskilled
I'm soooo glad it's Friday. You'd think it wouldn't be such a big deal since I was only at work for two days this week, but I'm really ready for the weekend. The fabric for my living room curtains came last night and that is my weekend project. I hope I can sew them without royally screwing up. I can sew, but I don't know that I do it that well and since I don't have a pattern for these lovely curtains, it may be a train wreck! I'm hoping my mom will take pity on my ignorance and feel bad that she hasn't instilled in me more sewing skills and come help me tomorrow. At least until I get started. Keep your fingers crossed that things go well. I will try to post pictures of the finished product - assuming there is a finished product!
In other news, I had to rip out that same stupid sleeve on that same stupid sweater for the second time. This time it was all my fault though, which somehow makes it worse. I got done with the increases and was short two stitches. Lovely. I finally figured out that I had indeed increased the correct number of times, but had failed to increase on one edge of two different rows. Jeeze. I think I must have the attention span of a mouse or maybe even a goldfish. How hard is to increase at the beginning of a row and twenty or so stitches later remember to increase at the end of - the - same - row ?! Shouldn't be difficult, but I sure couldn't do it right.
I went to karate last night. I always miss going to class when I'm out of town. Nothing like taking your frustrations out on someone who pays money to let you beat on them. We're getting ready for a tournament and have been sparring with students from another school. In theory that's a good thing, but it doesn't work out that well when one of the little punks kicks you in the knee. Talk about annoyed! The bad thing is, I'm old and stuff like that hurts me. I can barely walk today and didn't think about my limping when I got dressed for work this morning and put heels on. Brilliant I say!
Posted by Stephanie at 8:35 AMJanuary 27, 2005
Home Sweet Home
Trav and I came home yesterday afternoon and I gotta tell ya - there's nothing like being at home. I know, it makes me sound like an old fuddy duddy, but I like to be at my house. I think it's comfy and I can relax there. Don't get me wrong, I like to visit my in-laws and my dad and step-mom (my mom lives in the same town I do so not a lot of overnight stays at her house!), but I'm always so glad to be home.
Step-mom is doing fabulous and is coming home from the hospital today. Miraculous really. She's going to take it easy for a couple of weeks and then do some stuff around the house. She has some time off from work to recuperate (she says 4 weeks, Dad says 6 - like that's going to happen!) so she's got big plans for her down time.
Work on Travis' sweater was going along quite nicely (did you notice the past tense?) until I got almost done with the first sleeve and noticed that despite my meticulous following of the pattern, the sleeve was getting too long and not wide enough. So, I had to call the Yarn Co. and they said "Oops, it should read increase every 6 rows, not every 10." Oh goody. That little piece of wisdom resulted in ripping out the entire sleeve because it was easier to redo 6 rows than worry about whether or not I had the stitches picked up correctly. The good news is that I got a good start on the sleeve last night while I watched my favorite show (Alias).
Being gone from work for three days is always a nightmare. I have piles of e-mail and mail to go through and voice mails to return so I'd better get busy. Have a good day.
Posted by Stephanie at 8:36 AMJanuary 24, 2005
All Is Well
Well... the step-mom came through the surgery like a champ and is doing better than expected. What do those doctors know anyway? The surgery lasted 10 hours (or there abouts) and she was awake by late last night, talking this morning, and eating jello by lunch time. What a champ! Apparently she was trying to bribe anyone who looked weak to unhook the iv's and let her up out of her bed in ICU. She was tired of the hospital and wanted to go home! Sure...I can't understand why the doctors didn't think that was a good idea - less than 12 hours after major brain surgery. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any paralysis or any real after-effects, aside from a major headache. Go figure!
All is good at the ranch. Ranch life is different from any thing else - very slow and in touch with nature. I find it relaxing, but can see where it would get monotonous after a while. Oh well, it's nice to be here for now, even though there isn't a LYS in town - I checked. Life will be back to normal soon enough. I finished the back of Travis' sweater and have about 10" on the front done. Cruisin' right along. I'm just sure that my drapery fabric has come and is sitting out on my front step and it's killing me. I want to see it and reassure myself that I chose the right fabric. Indecision is a bitch and a major problem for me, by the way.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:16 PMJanuary 23, 2005
You Just Never Know What Life Has Up Its Sleeve
Just when it seems that there's nothing more important than what you're going to make for dinner and how you latest WIP is coming along, life throws you for a loop. Late Friday we found out that my step-mom has a brain tumor that required immediate operation. The nearest hospital that could do the operation is about 3 1/2 hours from my dad's ranch. My husband and I drove to the ranch late yesterday so we could feed the animals and take care of things while my dad and step-mom are at the hospital. They started the operation this morning at about 8:00 and their best estimate is that it will take 10-12 hours to complete the surgery. The doctors estimate that the tumor is about the size of a fist and has probably been there for 10 years. The latest update from the hospital is that things are going well - thank God, but the worst part is the waiting. Luckily, Travis and I have things to do around here so we're keeping busy. Waiting with nothing to do would be torture - thankfully, I also have my knitting to keep me busy while we wait. Travis is going to have his sweater sooner than anticipated.
Posted by Stephanie at 1:00 PMJanuary 21, 2005
My First Sweater!
It's day two of the blog and so far, so good. I have to tell ya, it's kind of fun. I'm having trouble with a few of the technical aspects, but probably just because I'm computer challenged. It's Friday and for that I'm extremely grateful. I got my yarn for that fabulous sweater for my husband yesterday. I tell you what - I am a huge fan of DHL. Everything I've ordered from the Yarn Co. has come from Manhattan to Wyoming in two days! Yep, two days. Amazing. I'm a little worried about the color of the yarn. It's supposed to be a medium denim blue, but to me it tends to go a little toward purple - a disadvantage of not having a LYS and having to order on-line or over the phone. I have trouble with blues and purples and sometimes can't really distinguish between the two. My husband doesn't seem to have an opinion either way, so I'm going to knit it up and keep my fingers crossed that he likes it. I'm a little annoyed about my order though. I ordered size 10 needles for a hat project and I got one size 10 and one size 9. I'm pretty sure that isn't going to work, so back those go. I'm glad that the yarn isn't here yet and I'm not itching to start it or I'd be really annoyed.
My first sweater is finished and finally dry - it only took 6 days for the puppy to dry. I was going to wear it to work today, but thought I'd save it for tomorrow - something special on a Saturday. Here is a picture. It isn't very good because I took it last night and the light kind of sucked, but you should be able to get the idea.
I think my in-laws are coming this weekend so my mother-in-law and soon-to-be sister-in-law can go look at wedding dresses. Sounds like things are kind of up in the air still, but I guess I'll know soon enough.
I'm having trauma over finding the right hardware for my curtains. What would my life be without decorating trauma, I ask ya. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Nothing is ever as simple as you think it will be, or should be for that matter! Maybe my expectations are just skewed??
Posted by Stephanie at 9:10 AMJanuary 20, 2005
Well . . . Here Goes Nothin'
Hello everyone. This is my very first attempt at a blog. I really have no idea at all what I'm doing, but I'm hoping I'll figure it out as I go. Maybe I should start with a little bit of background. I have two main hobbies (ok, let's be honest, they're really obsessions!) - knitting and decorating my house. A few months ago I would have said that my obsession was shopping, but I've given up shoes and clothes for yarn and paint. And I have to tell ya, I'm happier for it. I live in Wyoming and am married to a wonderful guy (on our second year of bliss now - although we've been together for almost 12) who thinks that knitting puts me one step away from senior citizen status (we'll see if his opinion doesn't change after I knit him a fabulous sweater) and thinks that all walls should be white. Yikes! I think he's finally just decided that it's easier to let me do what I want with the house because I don't really listen to him anyway.
I learned to knit as a kid in 4-H, but didn't really enjoy it. A couple of years ago I picked it up again and retaught myself. It was something I did off and on, but I've only recently really caught the bug. Since the 1st of December I've made six scarves, a baby blanket, a sweater, and my next project is that fabulous sweater for my husband, then an awesome hat for my sister (who thinks all things made of wool must be scratchy - boy is she in for a surprise). I'm hooked and I'm never going back.
On the home front, I have big plans for curtains in my living room. The scary part of this proposition is that I'm going to try to sew them myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I can sew, but I'm not really very good at it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the craft gods are looking out for me on that project. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks for listening and taking the time to read about me. I hope you come back to visit again.
Posted by Stephanie at 10:00 AM
