Tag Archives: random thoughts

April update part 2

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When I hit a snag in the stair refinishing project, I went to my BFF’s house for a few days to clear my head. Plus we hadn’t seen each other since 2013. Something always came up, like life.

She is the kind of friend that no matter how long it’s been since you last talked, wrote, or called, it’s like you were just together yesterday. Other than my sister and brother, she is my oldest and dearest friend.

I took a bottle of Chianti as I knew we were having lasagna for dinner with her friends. She’s not a wine drinker and surprise, surprise, neither were her friends! Um, I had to drink the bottle myself. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it. 🍷

We went to my favorite store: IKEA!!!! We also had Graeter’s ice cream 🍨 and Whit’s frozen custard. 🍦 We looked through Peddler’s Mall and Goodwill where I bought a 50th Anniversary banner and other gold decorations for our anniversary party for $2.00.

We played games like Tribond and Quiddler, giggled like school girls, and talked while imbibing cranberry juice and amoretto cocktails.

One of her friends gave her five or six HUGE tubs of fabric that her dear departed mother had. I went through and took what I thought I would use. I didn’t take much as I have so much fabric but already made two things for Pepper: a crate blanket and travel bag.

We packed in a ton of fun and memories in a few days. When I got back home, I was ready to finish the stair project.

Do you have a friend like that?

Patti

Holy Cow!

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My last post was what? Valentine’s Day?!

Obviously, I dropped the ball with blogging. In fact, I forget how to make a list here. OK, I found it.

  • February – I was so enamored with the Mosaic socks that I couldn’t stop knitting but I did. I decided to have a party* in June and needed to deal with a lot of stuff.
  • March – I wanted new carpeting for the stairs and second floor but first wanted to stain the stairs a darker color.*
  • April – I was still working on the stairs and encountered a problem during the process*. To clear my head, I visited my BFF in Ohio. We had a wonderful time!
  • May – I finally finished the stairs and had new carpeting installed*. We went to our oldest grandson’s high school graduation in Michigan. Then a surprise retirement party for my sister-in-law.
  • June – Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. We had our family reunion and anniversary party.*
  • July – Hot, hot, and more hot! I went to my first Book Club meeting*.
  • August – My neighbor and I decided two months ago to have a combined yard sale so that occupied most of my time. It ended up that I didn’t have as much to sell but still made $101 plus I got rid of stuff. Most of what didn’t sell went straight to Goodwill and not back into the house. As you might know, having a yard sale is way too much work for very little return. After that adventure, I finally got back to my socks and discovered a BIG mistake.

Well, of course, I discovered a BIG mistake.

Here I am past the heel and gusset and two pattern repeats into the foot section.

The leg.
Something happened here.

You can see where the heel begins on the far right where the red arrow points.

The row right there is where the BIG mistake happened. The chart was wrong (or so I thought) so I redrew it and went right on knitting the gusset and foot.

When I looked at the sock, something wasn’t right. I know it’s there but you might not be able to see it. It finally dawned on me that I reversed the Main color and the Contrast color.

Could I live with the sock being wonky and wrong? With that busy pattern, who could tell it’s not correct?

Me. That’s who. I am my grandmother’s granddaughter. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

*More to come (at a later date) about those other projects and events mentioned above.

Have a great day!

Patti

Three things

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#1

I recently read an article about a family who started eating dinner by candlelight. The kids were calmer, less distracted, and more open to talking and sharing thoughts and feelings. Being calm and less distracted sounds like a good idea for meals.

#2 

Thou art dust and to dust thou shall return

Today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season.

#3 I couldn’t wait to begin something new as my knitting mojo went on vacation with Pepper’s sweater so I started a new sock! It’s the Easy Mosaic Sock by Winwick Mum. It looks complicated but only one color of yarn is used for each row except one. To get the two-color look, a stitch is slipped from the previous row onto the right needle without knitting it and continues with the row pattern. 

Easy Mosaic Socks, Regia Tweed, Knit Picks Chroma Twist

I’m using Regia 4-ply tweed yarn in charcoal and Knit Picks Chroma Twist in Surf’s Up (discontinued yarn). 

Easy Mosaic Socks, Regia Tweed, Knit Picks Chroma Twist
Easy Mosaic Socks

The pattern is free and Winwick Mum explains the process much better than me.

Are you doing anything special for Valentine’s Day?

How do you observe Lent or is it just another usual time?

Have you started any new projects this year?

Patti