My local yarn shop has been closed for the past two weeks taking inventory. I have been having withdrawals, so I called again today to see if they had reopened. The lady who answered I recognized as one of the owners. She said they had not reopened and that there was another lady who was trying to buy their inventory. I said, "Oh, are you closing?" She never gave me a straight answer, she just said that this lady was trying to buy their inventory and she hedged and hemmed and hawed and said that until the bank told this lady something one way or the other, they could not reopen. She said she should know something today or tomorrow and that if for some reason the lady did not buy their inventory, they would reopen. ???? What's up with that? Very peculiar. I talked with a coworker of mine who said she thought that one of the owners had been sick and maybe they were trying to sell the shop. What I want to know is if the new person buys the inventory, are they going to open their own shop, perhaps bigger and better, or will it close for good? If they close it won't be for lack of business because every time I go in there, there are people everywhere and they have knitting classes that are always full and have a waiting list.
I really, really hope it doesn't close for good because we have no yarn/knitting shops at all in our city. You have to drive for at least 2 hours to get to another one. Another frustrating thing is that they are the only store in my city that has the Brittany double pointed knitting needles (for knitting socks and hats and other things) and a wide selection of Brittany and Addi-turbo circular needles. No one else has these, which means that we would be resigned to ordering them off the Internet and have to pay shipping, which costs almost as much as the item you are ordering.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Knitted Hats
Here are the promised pictures of the knitted hats that I finished this week. They came out really well.
Preemie Hat
Knitted Chemo Hat
Preemie Hat
Knitted Chemo Hat
Down Time
There has not been much going on with me for the past week. I have been taking a little down time because on Friday, my uncle (by marriage) passed away and we went to his military funeral on Monday afternoon. It was a very nice full military service, but it was sad at the same time. He was a veteran of World War II and I didn't realize that he had so many medals including a bronze star and a purple heart. The really sad part for me was when they folded up the American flag and presented it to my cousin (his son). It was very moving.
I haven't been doing very much this week with knitting or anything else really, except I did knit my very first Preemie Hat last week. It came out really cute. I had gone to my knitting guild meeting the previous Monday and saw several of these cute hats that one of the members had made. She gave me the pattern and I couldn't wait to try one. I'll be making some more later on. I also decided to try to finish a vest that I had started last year and had put aside because I was tired of working on it. I decided that I wanted to finish it in the next few weeks, because my knitting guild is going to start a sweater in September. I didn't want to have too many unfinished projects while knitting the sweater. The vest is knitted in 4 sections and I'm on the last section. One problem is that in the knitting directions it says to reverse the shaping that you did on another section. In other words, right now I'm working on the left front and for the pattern, it said to knit the same way I knitted the right front only reversing the shaping. It was very hard to figure out how to do that, but I finally figured it out. The problem now is that I have had to frog several rows and restart them about 5 times because for some reason I either wasn't paying attention (watching TV and knitting at the same time) or something because I would knit a few rows and it didn't look right and I knew I had done something wrong. I finally got a little frustrated with it and I've put it aside again for a short while, but I'm going back to it soon. I'm just going to have to pay better attention so I can get this thing finished. I really want to wear it this winter. I love the look of the vest, so I can't wait to finish it. Maybe that's part of my problem.
I also finished knitting a chemo hat. I'm at work right now, but when I get home tonight I'll post pictures.
I haven't been doing very much this week with knitting or anything else really, except I did knit my very first Preemie Hat last week. It came out really cute. I had gone to my knitting guild meeting the previous Monday and saw several of these cute hats that one of the members had made. She gave me the pattern and I couldn't wait to try one. I'll be making some more later on. I also decided to try to finish a vest that I had started last year and had put aside because I was tired of working on it. I decided that I wanted to finish it in the next few weeks, because my knitting guild is going to start a sweater in September. I didn't want to have too many unfinished projects while knitting the sweater. The vest is knitted in 4 sections and I'm on the last section. One problem is that in the knitting directions it says to reverse the shaping that you did on another section. In other words, right now I'm working on the left front and for the pattern, it said to knit the same way I knitted the right front only reversing the shaping. It was very hard to figure out how to do that, but I finally figured it out. The problem now is that I have had to frog several rows and restart them about 5 times because for some reason I either wasn't paying attention (watching TV and knitting at the same time) or something because I would knit a few rows and it didn't look right and I knew I had done something wrong. I finally got a little frustrated with it and I've put it aside again for a short while, but I'm going back to it soon. I'm just going to have to pay better attention so I can get this thing finished. I really want to wear it this winter. I love the look of the vest, so I can't wait to finish it. Maybe that's part of my problem.
I also finished knitting a chemo hat. I'm at work right now, but when I get home tonight I'll post pictures.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Spinning Star
I took some pictures of the quilt blocks I worked on this weekend. I was able to do one sample block yesterday before my company came, and I made the other 3 blocks today. I was really pleased with the way they came out.
Block2
Block3
Block4
Block1
Our company has been here and left. They were planning to leave today to go back home to Virginia. They had already been here for 9 days, so I'm sure they were all ready to get back home to familiar surroundings. We had a great time. I enjoyed having them very much. I didn't realize how much we had done to prepare for their visit. I was very tired last night after they left, and I have been tired today too. And to beat it all, I guess there was just so much going on and so much commotion that I totally forgot to give my cousins their dishcloths that I had spent all week working on just so I could give them to them. I was really aggravated at myself for forgetting that. I guess I will have to mail them. Sigh... There were a couple of other things that I meant to do too that I forgot, but they weren't major things. Just some details that would have been nice to do. Such as lighting candles, etc.
Eddie is not feeling well. We slept with the ceiling fan turned on low a couple of nights ago and now he's all stopped up like he has a cold, or it might be recurrence of allergies. Since this has happened to him before when we slept under a ceiling fan, I guess we won't be doing that again. I'll probably just use it in the afternoons when I get home from work and need a nap. I'll turn it on and lie down on that nice, comfy bed and curl up with my cat, Heckle, and take a nice catnap. Speaking of which .... maybe I'll go take one now.
Block2
Block3
Block4
Block1
Our company has been here and left. They were planning to leave today to go back home to Virginia. They had already been here for 9 days, so I'm sure they were all ready to get back home to familiar surroundings. We had a great time. I enjoyed having them very much. I didn't realize how much we had done to prepare for their visit. I was very tired last night after they left, and I have been tired today too. And to beat it all, I guess there was just so much going on and so much commotion that I totally forgot to give my cousins their dishcloths that I had spent all week working on just so I could give them to them. I was really aggravated at myself for forgetting that. I guess I will have to mail them. Sigh... There were a couple of other things that I meant to do too that I forgot, but they weren't major things. Just some details that would have been nice to do. Such as lighting candles, etc.
Eddie is not feeling well. We slept with the ceiling fan turned on low a couple of nights ago and now he's all stopped up like he has a cold, or it might be recurrence of allergies. Since this has happened to him before when we slept under a ceiling fan, I guess we won't be doing that again. I'll probably just use it in the afternoons when I get home from work and need a nap. I'll turn it on and lie down on that nice, comfy bed and curl up with my cat, Heckle, and take a nice catnap. Speaking of which .... maybe I'll go take one now.
Saturday, July 17, 2004
More dishcloths
My cousins have been here for the past week visiting from Virginia, and this evening they are coming to my home for supper. I thought it would be nice to make some more dishcloths from the Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth pattern and give to them to take back home. I thought I would take a picture and post on my blog for you to see before I gift packaged them. They came out pretty well. I'll let you know how the dinner party goes.
More dishcloths
When I first started this blog I had primarily knitting in mind, but I have so many other interests that I wanted to be able to post pictures and talk about them too. That's why I named my blog "Sharon's Knitting and Other Stuff." The things I spend the most time on are knitting, embroidery, quilting, and sometimes counted cross stitch when I'm in the mood. I really like instant gratification and counted cross stitch requires alot more attention and time than I'm willing to give it at times. I guess I get ADD (attention deficit disorder) with cross stitch sometimes and want to move on to something else.
I'm excited to tell you about a quilt top that I'm going to be starting this week. There is a quilt shop in Ringgold, Ga, called Sew-Bee-It, that is about 30 minutes from where I live. They are having a $5.00 quilt block a month program that started this morning. The way it works is, this morning I went and paid $5.00 and got enough fabric and the instructions and demonstration for making a star block. Then next month I take my completed block and they give me more fabric and instructions for the next block at no charge. The idea is that you must take your completed block at the designated time each month for 12 months, and when a year is up, you have 12 completed quilt blocks, which is enough for a quilt top. If, for some reason, you are not able to make it the following month, then you have to pay $5.00 again and you can get the next block. Ideally, at the end of a year, for only $5.00 you will have 12 quilt blocks pieced and ready to put together for a folk art patriotic quilt top. Each block is a star pattern of some kind. There was a quilt top on display this morning that someone had made from these blocks, and it was beautiful. The other thing about this is that if you make another block each month (or more than one) using this pattern from some of your own fabric, you get a chance to win a nice door prize. The more blocks you make, the more chances you have to win a door prize.
Naturally, when I got home this morning I wanted to get started, but knowing I was having company and more things to do to prepare for them, I'm having to put off working on my block until tomorrow. I will post a picture of the first block when I finish it. Of course, the instructor said this first block was the easiest one, so we'll see how it goes, but I plan to complete the entire quilt top. I'm really excited about it because it will give me a great opportunity to learn new techniques for putting blocks together. I'm going to do continue knitting too, since hopefully it won't take all that long to piece one quilt block a month.
More dishcloths
When I first started this blog I had primarily knitting in mind, but I have so many other interests that I wanted to be able to post pictures and talk about them too. That's why I named my blog "Sharon's Knitting and Other Stuff." The things I spend the most time on are knitting, embroidery, quilting, and sometimes counted cross stitch when I'm in the mood. I really like instant gratification and counted cross stitch requires alot more attention and time than I'm willing to give it at times. I guess I get ADD (attention deficit disorder) with cross stitch sometimes and want to move on to something else.
I'm excited to tell you about a quilt top that I'm going to be starting this week. There is a quilt shop in Ringgold, Ga, called Sew-Bee-It, that is about 30 minutes from where I live. They are having a $5.00 quilt block a month program that started this morning. The way it works is, this morning I went and paid $5.00 and got enough fabric and the instructions and demonstration for making a star block. Then next month I take my completed block and they give me more fabric and instructions for the next block at no charge. The idea is that you must take your completed block at the designated time each month for 12 months, and when a year is up, you have 12 completed quilt blocks, which is enough for a quilt top. If, for some reason, you are not able to make it the following month, then you have to pay $5.00 again and you can get the next block. Ideally, at the end of a year, for only $5.00 you will have 12 quilt blocks pieced and ready to put together for a folk art patriotic quilt top. Each block is a star pattern of some kind. There was a quilt top on display this morning that someone had made from these blocks, and it was beautiful. The other thing about this is that if you make another block each month (or more than one) using this pattern from some of your own fabric, you get a chance to win a nice door prize. The more blocks you make, the more chances you have to win a door prize.
Naturally, when I got home this morning I wanted to get started, but knowing I was having company and more things to do to prepare for them, I'm having to put off working on my block until tomorrow. I will post a picture of the first block when I finish it. Of course, the instructor said this first block was the easiest one, so we'll see how it goes, but I plan to complete the entire quilt top. I'm really excited about it because it will give me a great opportunity to learn new techniques for putting blocks together. I'm going to do continue knitting too, since hopefully it won't take all that long to piece one quilt block a month.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Memories From a Kitchen Window
Last night I was going through some things getting ready for our company this next weekend (my cousin, from Virginia, and his wife and sister are coming Saturday evening for supper at our house along with a few other family members), and I ran across a letter from a distant cousin that I met a few years back when I was working so much on the genealogy of my mom's side of the family. This lady is my mom's first or second cousin, I can't remember which. She has such a nice way of writing and such an eloquent flow of words. At the beginning of this particular letter, she had just moved from her home of 33 years in Cleveland, TN to Florence, SC. Eddie and I went to visit her last year on our way back home from Myrtle Beach. In the letter, she is talking about how she will miss her home in Cleveland. Without further ado, I'll just type it below. It says it all so much better than I ever could.
On 23 June 2001 a small caravan left Cleveland, Tennessee, bound for the Palmetto State! Although it was a sad departure, it holds fond memories especially the vistas from my kitchen sink: exotic birds feasting at the bird feeder; a golden eagle perched in a pine tree; squirrels scurrying with hickory nuts to store for winter; rabbits hopping to and fro; mockingbirds on the deck railing trilling their symphonic imitations; sweetgum balls glistening like diamonds at early dawn; and hoary frosts which changed my backyard into a winter wonderland!
I just love her writing and the flow of words that she uses to describe the wonderful scenery just outside her kitchen window. I would love to be able to write like that. I wrote a letter to her last night and told her that she should either write a fiction book (she's already written a nonfiction one) or some poetry because if I had her gift of words I would definitely try it.
On 23 June 2001 a small caravan left Cleveland, Tennessee, bound for the Palmetto State! Although it was a sad departure, it holds fond memories especially the vistas from my kitchen sink: exotic birds feasting at the bird feeder; a golden eagle perched in a pine tree; squirrels scurrying with hickory nuts to store for winter; rabbits hopping to and fro; mockingbirds on the deck railing trilling their symphonic imitations; sweetgum balls glistening like diamonds at early dawn; and hoary frosts which changed my backyard into a winter wonderland!
I just love her writing and the flow of words that she uses to describe the wonderful scenery just outside her kitchen window. I would love to be able to write like that. I wrote a letter to her last night and told her that she should either write a fiction book (she's already written a nonfiction one) or some poetry because if I had her gift of words I would definitely try it.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Clumsy Lovers
In our city, area businesses sponsor a weekly series of free outdoor concerts every Friday night during the summer months called Nightfall. Last night Eddie and I saw a very wonderful group called Clumsy Lovers. They are from Canada and they play bluegrass music with a Celtic twist to it. They were very, very good. We enjoyed the concert very much. It's the best concert we've had so far this summer. They played for about an hour and 45 minutes. It was very hot and humid here last night, so I'm sure they were worn out when it was over. They definitely played their hearts out.
In knitting news, I finished the baby raglan cardigan sweater and hat that I was working on. I'm planning to give them as gifts to a coworker who is expecting her first grandchild in September. We thought it would be fun to give her a grandmother's shower.
Baby Cardigan
This morning I was reading my latest Nora Roberts' book Finding the Dream, and happened to look down and saw this.
Heckle
He was so cute that I had to grab my camera and take a picture, but once he figured out he was having his picture taken he was ready to bolt and run.
On Wednesday I went to the orthopedic doctor about my shoulder and arm. I wasn't really happy with the way things went. They took x-rays and saw there weren't any tumors (I hadn't even thought of that), then after examining me she decided that she thought the problem was in my neck. I have two discs near the bottom of my neck that are more compressed than the others. I think I heard the word "degenerative". She also mentioned that it could be the onset of arthritis in these discs, but since she couldn't see the discs clearly enough on the x-ray, she wants me to have an MRI so she could see the discs more clearly. Since I'm claustrophobic (among other things), I would definitely have a problem lying in a tube for 40 minutes. She said she preferred the enclosed MRI's because they are more accurate and she prescribed a Valium for me to take 30 minutes before getting the MRI. A Valium among other prescriptions. She wrote me four prescriptions. She wanted to put a cortizone injection in my hip???, but I said no. So, she wrote me a prescription for a steriod pack to take instead, another prescription for muscle relaxers, and one for pain medicine. Then she made appointments for me to come back and see her in about 3 weeks and to see the regular orthopedic doctor in about 6 weeks.
I'm the type person that when it comes to my health I want as much complete information as I can get. When I asked her questions all I got were vague answers. Maybe I'm just beng stubborn, but I'm not taking all those drugs she gave me and I'm still not convinced that an MRI is necessary. So, I've decided to take another approach with treatment. I'm going to continue what I have been doing and start taking Glucosamine as a dietary supplement. Glucosamine helps to rebuild cartiledge between our bones. I have a cousin who used it and it really helped him. Plus, my cardiologist recommended it to me several years ago for a problem that I have with my ribs. I have something called costochrondritis, which is inflammation of the cartiledge between the ribs.
But, as long as I can keep knittng and sewing, I'm happy.
In knitting news, I finished the baby raglan cardigan sweater and hat that I was working on. I'm planning to give them as gifts to a coworker who is expecting her first grandchild in September. We thought it would be fun to give her a grandmother's shower.
Baby Cardigan
This morning I was reading my latest Nora Roberts' book Finding the Dream, and happened to look down and saw this.
Heckle
He was so cute that I had to grab my camera and take a picture, but once he figured out he was having his picture taken he was ready to bolt and run.
On Wednesday I went to the orthopedic doctor about my shoulder and arm. I wasn't really happy with the way things went. They took x-rays and saw there weren't any tumors (I hadn't even thought of that), then after examining me she decided that she thought the problem was in my neck. I have two discs near the bottom of my neck that are more compressed than the others. I think I heard the word "degenerative". She also mentioned that it could be the onset of arthritis in these discs, but since she couldn't see the discs clearly enough on the x-ray, she wants me to have an MRI so she could see the discs more clearly. Since I'm claustrophobic (among other things), I would definitely have a problem lying in a tube for 40 minutes. She said she preferred the enclosed MRI's because they are more accurate and she prescribed a Valium for me to take 30 minutes before getting the MRI. A Valium among other prescriptions. She wrote me four prescriptions. She wanted to put a cortizone injection in my hip???, but I said no. So, she wrote me a prescription for a steriod pack to take instead, another prescription for muscle relaxers, and one for pain medicine. Then she made appointments for me to come back and see her in about 3 weeks and to see the regular orthopedic doctor in about 6 weeks.
I'm the type person that when it comes to my health I want as much complete information as I can get. When I asked her questions all I got were vague answers. Maybe I'm just beng stubborn, but I'm not taking all those drugs she gave me and I'm still not convinced that an MRI is necessary. So, I've decided to take another approach with treatment. I'm going to continue what I have been doing and start taking Glucosamine as a dietary supplement. Glucosamine helps to rebuild cartiledge between our bones. I have a cousin who used it and it really helped him. Plus, my cardiologist recommended it to me several years ago for a problem that I have with my ribs. I have something called costochrondritis, which is inflammation of the cartiledge between the ribs.
But, as long as I can keep knittng and sewing, I'm happy.
Monday, July 05, 2004
Chemo Hats
I have not been doing much knitting for the past few days. For one thing I have been taking it easy on my shoulder and arm, and for another I have been sewing chemo hats from fleece fabric. I donate them to the breast cancer center at my local hospital, who then distributes them to area breast cancer centers, which includes Tennessee and North Georgia.
Chemo Hat
Chemo Hats
Chemo Hat
Chemo Hats
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