Six Days and Counting

Saturdays are usually lazy days for the man of the house. As for me, most of the time on Saturdays you can find me at the kitchen sink with my hands deep in hot, sudsy water, loading and unloading the washing machine or putting away clean laundry. But, somehow I managed to get the laundry done before this Saturday, and there are not enough dishes for me to wash...yet. lol It’s nearly time for dinner, so fear not; I’ll have a sink full to wash before bedtime. This first day of the weekend has been a bit different. First of all, unless you missed the title, it is the sixth day before I leave for Pilot Dogs in Columbus Ohio to get my new guide dog. I’ve been awake since three AM thinking about dogs. What breedd of dog will I get? A stately German Shepherd named Phoebe? A little black lab named Izzy? A laid-back golden retriever named Porter? A happy yellow lab named Daisy? No way of knowing. :) Will I get him or her on Friday evening, or will I have to wait until the next day? Here are a few things I do know for sure. It will be a dog. lol 2. He or she will know how to guide a blind person. 3. Pilot Dogs, from what I’ve been told, crate their dogs at night, so my dog will be used to this. 4. The dog will already have a name before I get there. 5. The dog, no matter how much he or she loves me will take a few days to get used to the fact that I am his or her new person and not the trainer. 6. This dog will have me figured out in a matter of minutes; I will not be able to fool him or her about anything. 7. Whereas The Seeing Eye breeds all their dogs, Pilot does not. They receive most of their dogs from other breeders. Looks like I know a lot, doesn’t it? hahaha! Well, to even things out, here’s some things I do not know. As I have said before, I don’t know what breed or gender my dog is. 2. I do not know what Pilot’s facility looks like, but I do know I can navigate it, dog or not because I have been taught Orientation and Mobility. 3. I don’t know any of the staff personally, but so far from the conversations we have had over the phone, I feel confident that they are ready to help make this experience the best it can be. 4. I don’t know whether I’ll get my dog the Friday evening I arrive or the next morning. 5. I don’t know what taking the Grayhound bus to Columbus is like. 6. I don’t know whether I will crate my dog once I get home or not. Depends on whether I feel it is necessary and depends on if I have the money to buy a crate. 7. Finally, I don’t know how different this new dog will be, but I know he or she will not be like my first one. These are just a few of the things running through my head today. I googled dog crates, and unless I get me some dough, soon, I won’t be crating. But, then again, I might change my mind. Since I don’t know what kind of dog is waiting for me up there, I googled a few of the breeds that Pilot trains. In case you are interested, Animal Planet does a series on different breeds, and you can find them on YouTube. I learned a lot, actually. The breeds I researched were as follows: golden retriever, german shepherd, labrador, and standard poodle. I already told the folks up there I did not want a boxer or a doberman, so I did not research those breeds. I’m actually hoping I don’t get a poodle, simply because of their high maintenance, but if the trainer says a standard poodle is perfect for me, I’ll give that dog a chance. One thing I do want to say about Pilot Dogs. I do like the fact, I can apply online. I get so tired of asking a sighted person to fill out printed forms, so it was nice, for a change to just do it myself. After filling out the online form, Pilot did send some print papers. One I needed to sign to prove what I put on the internet was true. The others were for doctors to fill out, and I’m sure glad they were sighted and able to fill them out. lol But, I’ve yapped the entire time about my new dog and Pilot. Never did tell y’all why this day was different. :) So, this morning my girls and I went to the park here in town. My 7-year-old can’t seem to figure out how to swing. hahaha, so I took some time teaching her...again. lol We had fun. A little, black and white dog came to visit us while we were there. He never barked or even came near enough to touch. He just sat near my 4-year-old while she was on the swings. He yawned and scratched an itch, my daughter said, and when we left, he followed us. Sometimes, he walked in front of my girls who were in front of me, which meant my girls got caned accidentally, but we finally got things smoothed out. The dog didn’t try to follow us in the Post Office, which would have been funny. Instead, he waited and followed us almost all the way home. He left us at our back gate. :) We came in and opened our packages that we got in the mail, and then ate some lunch. Knowing I needed to take some soap and lotion to Pilot, I decided a few days ago to order some stuff from Clean Logic. You can google that, too, if you like. They put braille on their bottles, so folks who are blind will know which bottle is which. Nothing like getting your body wash mixed up with your lotion. lol My Clean Logic came in today’s mail, and so far I’m well pleased with it. Don’t have to ask a sighted person what is what, and that’s the best part. One more thing on my mind today. I am almost finished with the sweater I am crocheting for myself. It’s a fall or springtime sweater, made of yarn that is part cotton and part bamboo from rayon...or is that rayon from bamboo? Ha! I don’t know. Anyway, it’s wonderfully soft, lightweight, yet heavy enough to keep me warm. I made it a little dressy, but not fancy. I think it will look good with my jeans, and I plan to take it to Pilot. Now, all I need is some prayer warriors to believe with me that I’ll get a dog that does NOT like to chew on cotton things. lol Well, reckon that’s all that is on my mind this sixth day before I leave. Y’all keep praying for us and keep reading. You faithful readers keep my spirits up more often than you know. God bless.

What I've Learned From Crocheting

I am not perfect. Did you all know that? Well, it’s true. Amazing? Maybe, but most certainly not perfect. If I was, I would not have had to spend an hour and a half correcting a huge mistake in this sweater I am crocheting. Crochet is something I always wanted to do. My mom used to crochet, and I remember feeling her projects and holding them close to my face in order to see all the bright colors. After I got married, Mom tried to teach me. But, she said my fingers kept getting in the way, and she couldn’t see what we were doing. Thankfully, my husband stepped in and helped. Between him and my mom, I learned the basics. When I finally learned how to navigate the world wide web, I found sites with instructions on various stitches and patterns, which is how I learned to follow patterns. I made all sorts of crazy things in the years before I became a mom: adults and baby booties, mittens, ugly hats, decent afghans, pot holders, dish rags, hair scrunchies, and a lot of other stuff that never looked good enough for a name. Then, a couple of months before my oldest daughter was born, I sat down and crocheted my first poncho. It was the Martha Stewart one, and if I do say so myself, it wasn’t too bad. But, lemme tell ya, that summer was a hot one, and I about burned up with my lap full of yards of Lion Brand’s HomeSpun yarn. That fall I made pink booties for my daughter that she wore on her first Christmas. Several months later I made a friend of mine a scarf. When my second daughter was born I made her a pair of pink booties. In the spring of 2009 I found a pattern for a sweater on the internet and decided it was time. I bought the yarn and the proper size hooks and slowly began. It was surprisingly easy, and the sweater fit me when I was finished. But, I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted something more. Then, somewhere on the internet I found directions for creating your own sweater pattern. The lady gave instructions for crocheters and knitters, alike, and I read that article over and over again. Deciding I had nothing to lose, I grabbed up some scrap yarn and a size G hook and made sweaters for my girls to ware for Easter. Everyone loved them, and I will admit I was surprised that they turned out to look pretty good. So, I used the same instructions and made a sweater for myself. Everyone loved it, but I knew that next time I tried one for me, I would have to do more careful measuring. ;) If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might remember my post back last fall about buying new yarns to try. Back then, I bought some pink angora merino. I loved the way that stuff felt, but it was difficult to work with. I set it aside and work with other kinds of yarn for a while. Then, last spring I picked it up again and made a baby sweater for a friend’s new grand baby due to arrive in September. The little garment turned out so sweet, that I crocheted a pair of booties out of the same yarn to match. Angora merino, for those who do not know is yarn made of part merino wool from sheep and part angora which is fur from rabbits. It’s lofty, which simply means it feels thinner than it looks. You have to be real careful with it, because if you have to undo any stitches, the yarn fibers stick together and get knotted up real easy. I guess y’all know what I’m leading up too. Right? Well, I’m crocheting an adult sweater out of angora merino. I practiced my stitches before beginning, made swatches and measured them, carefully figured out how many stitches it took to make an inch and how many rows made an inch. I don’t work on the sweater if I’m already aggravated. Instead, I wait until I feel calm and at peace. I finished the length the other day and stayed up late one night to start the first sleeve. I was truckin’ right along and had 5 inches of sleeve done, when I realized I had made a terrible mistake. My sleeve I had been working on was 3 inches too small. Ha! Nothing I can do about it...except take out 10 rows of double crochets and pray the yarn doesn’t knot up on me. So, stitch by stitch, row by row I began to gently unravel that rabbit/sheep fur/wool. Then, near where the sleeve joined the body of the sweater, the crazy stuff knotted up on me. In the past, I would have laid it down and said, “That’s it!” But, I can’t do that! First of all, my friend is expecting this sweater. I’ve promised it to her. Second, I can’t give up; I’ve put too much time and money in to this project. I have to fix it! Y’all, I have no idea how I managed it, but I cut a little here, and tugged a little there, and crocheted a bit more, and suddenly, it’s fixed. I now have one complete row of stitches on the first sleeve, and it doesn’t look messed up. Fshew! Note to self, “MEASURE NEXT TIME!” lol I never dreamed I’d be saying this, but crocheting...well, yarn crafting of any kind, actually...has taught me some measure of patience over the years. Sometimes, I think it’s like writing in that it’s a type of therapy for me. I mean, if I can create something, and no one can see the mistakes I’ve made and fixed, maybe with perseverance I can do other things. Also, crocheting forces me to sit down and be quiet, something I don’t normally like to do. lol But, if I remember correctly, one of the prophets in the Bible found out that he didn’t hear God’s voice in the wind or fire, but in a still, small voice. Don’t know about y’all, but I can’t hear still, small voices unless it’s quiet. So, for what it’s worth, there you go, an article about crocheting. If there are any morals to this story, I don’t know what they would be, unless it’s stay away from angora merino, unless you have been crocheting or knitting for 10 years or more, and if at first you don’t succeed, tear it out and start again. :) Y’all take care and come back real soon. Oh, and BTW, there's a picture of my first adult sweater on this blog. Look back in 2009 in April. I think the title is "My New Sweater". :)

Ramblings of a Fevered Brain

My talking thermometer can't decide if my temperature is 101 or 99.3. Can a person's body temp be different from one ear to the other? I have an older thermometer that you put under your tongue, but the batteries haven't been changed in it in like forever, so I'm leery of it, as well. Note to self: Don't buy a cheap thermometer from that particular company again. :) Do to the fact that my feel bad is hurting, this post might not be the nicest or cheeriest, but I have a few things on my mind and wanted to jot them down. Recently, I received an email from that wonderful new part of our lives called face book. It said that a particular person just accepted my friend request. I don't remember asking this person to be my friend, but since we used to go to school together, I left it alone. Now, keep in mind this person past away several months ago. I just figured the person's family kept the face book page up for folks to post memorials to them. No harm in that. Well, here's my gripe. First of all, this person, as far as I know, never claimed to be a Christian. They may have been. I don't know, but I do know this person spent quite a lot of time in a particular bar. Does God say in His word that it is a sin to go to a bar? No, but the Bible does say to abstain from the very appearance of evil. Anyway, whoever is posting on this person's wall, talks as if they are this person talking from heaven. They say things like, "Hello my families and friends. I made the sun to shine because I want you to know I love you." This person, bless their heart, can't spell very well, and needs to learn more about punctuation and correct grammar. Now, i know me saying that is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black; I'm not the best when it comes to punctuation, but it irritates me how bad this person's posts are. Regardless if you believe Christians who die go straight to heaven or not, that person, if they are in heaven, has no control over the sunshine. And, if there are no tears in heaven, why would they be able to look down and see all the suffering going on down here? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and this is a free country; you can say what you want. You can even think what you want, and you can even type what you want. So, I did. I mentioned in my last post that I had been doing a lot of crocheting. Well, I finished another Mother's Day gift. It's a bit misshapen, but the recipient, I hope, won't mind. :) I also finished 2 more tiny garments, which are also crooked. lol I have one more gift I hope to complete by Sunday. As for baking, haven't done any of that this week. Didn't make brownies last week, after all, but the cookies, I believe where a hit. :) Are you looking for a new author to check out? Look up Rachel Hauck. I bought a book by her from http://www.audible.com/ the other day. It's called "The Wedding Dress", and I really enjoyed it. A heroine with a gift that had nothing to do with a man, a longing for love and romance and a deep faith in God. A hero whom I liked from the get-go, even though he needed to learn a few things along the way. I couldn't hardly put the book down, and it even made me dream about my own wedding dress, which i haven't seen in twelve years. lol Go look it up. You'll be glad you did. A glass of sweet tea, 2 cups of coffee, a couple of Aspirin and a chocolate doughnut. Yep, I think I'm gonna make it...ok, make that 2 doughnuts. lol Actually, on a more serious note, all sugar and caffeine will do for a person is hype them up and then a few hours later leave 'em high and dry and feeling worse than before. A dose of God's word, now, that will last for quite a while. And, a dose of the Word has no calories. :) "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;" 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 KJV A song puts it this way: "When I think of the love that you've given When I think of the price you paid for me, The trials on earth seem like nothing, When compared to dark calvary." Y'all have an awesome Thursday, and remember, you ain't gotta be perfect, but you'd better be forgiven. :)

An Update

Ok, so Blogger has a new format for posting entries. I don't know if I'm even typing in the correct place or not, but I'm willing to give it a try. Just to make things clear, I'm still alive. lol As for writing, haven't been creating much of my own, except here in the last day or so. A friend of mine and I are writing a story together. So far, it's just for fun, but you never know what will come out of it. What I have been doing quite a bit of is crocheting. I've made a few kitchen items, a tiny garment and a Mother's Day gift for one of the mothers in my life. Don't get too excited, ladies. I'm not giving away any secrets today. :) I've started on another Mother's Day gift, but I have to wait to finish it, when I get more yarn, which I had to order. Another homemaking thing I've been doing, is baking. Last week, I made about 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies for my daughter's youth group at church. Tomorrow our church is having a hot dog and bake sale, and I have been asked to make more of those cookies. I'm planning on baking a pan of brownies, as well. All of that baking will take place some time today, the Lord permitting. I've done a bit of reading, but I'm not really in the mood for it. I read "Cinnamon Roll Murder" by Joanne Fluke, last week, and this week I've been reading on "The Irish Healer". I don't know the author's name to this one. Forgot it. :) But, it's a good book. It's set in England, in 1832, and it concerns a woman who is an herbalist from Ireland who believes her talent lies more along the lines of letting folks die instead of curing them. The hero in the story is a physician who believes he has let everyone down, from his late father to his 3-year-old daughter. These 2 come together and are forced to face a few truths about themselves and what God has called them to be. It's a slower book...those who love action will be let down, but it's a perfect book to crochet to. :) You know, sometimes I wish I was like Samantha on "Bewitched." If not her, then I'd like to have some kind of super powers. Sometimes, it seems like there is so much to get done in such a small amount of time, and I feel like I won't be able to manage it. But, I guess I do have strength that is out of this world, because every time I pray about it, the important stuff gets done. Of course, I have to put action to those prayers; wouldn't get anything done if I asked God for something and then sat back and waited. Yeah, I know He says to wait on Him, and i believe He means for us to do so. But, I think His waiting means, keep busy while you wait. lol Going to try and post this now, so y'all have a happy Friday and a good weekend. Catch ya next time.

The Date Says it All

If you came here via Facebook, then you might hear some repeats. Just saying, just in case you can't handle my sarcasm or whatever it's called. :)

So, last night my dear husband put Angry Birds Space on his phone...I think, anyway. He also put it on the 2 old iPhones that we gave to the girls to play with. I stretched out beside him on the bed, lay there for a minute, then realized we had reached a new family pasttime-lazing around playing Angry Birds on our individual phones. Ok, so I wasn't playing Angry Birds. Not sure if it would work with the VoiceOver, but ya never know. lol And, my girls thought I would download the Angry Birds song as a ring tone. It's like we used to say when I was a lil kid in 6th grade. NOT!

There is a website where I get a lot of the audio books I listen to, for free. I went there this morning to see if they had anything new. They did, but I reckon Friday the 13th is like a SciFi day or Final Frontier day, because no matter if it was romance or adventure, every book on there had something to do with space. There were mostly Star Trek books, but there were some r-rated romances where the characters live on weird, made up planets. Not my cup of tea, but I'm glad they are out there for those who like that kind of book. Course, I ain't got any room to talk, really, I have read some vampire romances before. We'll not go in to that, though. ;)

Would it be child abuse if I put duct tape over my kids' mouths to shut them up? I get so tired of hearing, "Mom, she won't stop looking at me! Mom, she won't leave me alone! Mom, she's pushing me! Mom, can't you hear me?" Goodnight! Since it probably would be abuse to do that to them, maybe I'll just buy some ear plugs for me. Ha! lol

I'm in the mood to crochet something. Apparently, the 6-year-old is too, because she's been chaining with a size K hook and some old yarn of mine. She wanted to make something bigger, and I tried to show her how to single crochet (SC) but she didn't get it. Her biggest problem is she is too much like her mother in that if she can't do it right the first time, who needs it. But, her chain looks nice, and with age will come the want to do more. After all, I was married before I had the patience to learn how.

Ok, so the other night at church, all 3 youth teachers did not show up. Two were sick and one had to work over and couldn't make it in time. But, besides my own 2 girls, there were 3 other kids plus 2 teenagers. I told them if they wanted to go downstairs, I'd teach youth. Lemme tell y'all something, it was interesting. lol Teenagers like to try and sneak off, but thanks to the others kids who were wonderful tadlers, we made it through and nobody got in trouble. I like kids. They are so funny, and they don't even know it. Ha! The funniest part was when I couldn't think of anything else to do with them and took one of my prosthetic eyes out to entertain them. Some were like, "OOO," and some were like, "COOL!" I can say one thing, though. I sure did sleep good Wednesday night. lol I'm already looking forward to next time when the teacher isn't there, but when that happens, somebody else can take the teens. I will gladly take 10 and under. lol

Well, now that I have vented some of my frustration and talked about what weirdness has been on my mind in the last hour, I'm thinking of dozing off for a minute or 2. Get some Angry Birds going, and they will never notice. :) Then, again, they'll probably start arguing again. But, it's all good. Those babies are what keep me going. Think my mom is going to stop by here in a bit, too, and there's the usual dishes, laundry and straightening up to do. Never a dull moment round here.

Just want to leave you with one more thing... That banana song on TV is almost as annoying as the Angry Birds song! lol

Kitchen Nightmare

Do y'all ever watch that show on TV? We do. In fact, we watch a lot of cooking shows, especially with Chef Gordon Ramsey in them. I get a kick out of watching people mess up real bad. I like to think I wouldn't be that stupid, but knowing me, I would. lol

Today, I am so very glad Chef Ramsey is not coming to check out my kitchen. It's not as bad s it was, but it sure isn't what it should be. Of course, I'm not cooking for anyone and making them pay for it, but still. If a chef, or anyone else for that matter would have been in my kitchen today, they would have thought I didn't know how to bake. All my cookies, except for 3 pans, stuck, badly. All except 3 pans needed put back in for an additional minute or 2 and never did feel done. As for the rest, most were ok, some got too done and others fell apart to the point we are eating them in pieces. Honestly, y'all if I had managed to goof up this bad in the beginning of my cooking days, I would wait a very long time before trying again. Luckily, I know I am a better baker than I was today. Also luckily, I like bread better than cookies. Ha! I'm better at bread, too. I have messed up my bread before, of course, but not this bad.

What did i try to make? Well, I mixed up a batch of chocolate sugar cookies, a recipe I got from one of Joanne Fluke's books. I can't remember which one. "Apple Turnover Murder" maybe? I don't know. Anyway, the first silly thing I did was tip my mixing bowl too much and splashed hot butter and chocolate on to my hand. It was a yummy mess, but it was hot where it had just come out of the microwave. And, yes, I melt my chocolate in the microwave. Sorry Chef Ramsey. :) Then, I made my dough balls too big and that first dozen didn't get done. Had to put them back in for another minute. After that, some of them stuck to the pan. My recipe didn't say whether to grease the pans or not, so I didn't. Probably should have.

The next batch of cookies was a recipe I found online somewhere. I don't know what they were called, but I call them pecan filled. When I measured out the nuts to put in the bowl, I spilled about half of them out on to the table. My 6 year old was happy to tell me I had made a mess. lol Basically, with these cookies, you make your batter, roll them in balls, press your clean thumb in them and put a pecan mixture in the thumb print. Before I had even finished rolling all the dough out, I had run out of nut mixture. Also, because the last time I made these cookies they didn't rise well, I made them bigger. Mistake. Last time my baking powder and baking soda were old. This time I had fresh, and y'all fresh works better than old. Haha! Needless to say, they spread out way too much, stuck to each other and the pan and made a mess. Tasted good, though, but had to throw a lot of them out.

I put together the flour and other dry ingredients for sugar cookies, but when I saw that last batch of pecan cookies looking that way, I put foil over that bowl, set it aside, cleaned up my mess, took out the trash, poured me some tea and gave up.

Note to self, next time you want to bake a lot like that, get more than 3 hours of sleep. I tried to sleep more, truly I did, but the baby was kicking me most of the night. She had sneaked her way in my bed without my knowing it. By the time she got there, it was too late. I was awake for good.

What's that? I should have went to bed earlier? Well, yeah I should have, but here's that story. See, I got my yarn yesterday that I had told y'all about on Wednesday. I had to work with it a bit. Made myself a pair of my wristers in pale green velvet spun, which is lovely BTW. I finished the second one around 11 and turned everything off so I could go to bed. But, before I made it to bed, I had an idea for my WIP. Knowing I would forget it, I hurried to turn the mac book back on and write. An hour later, I turned it off again, got a drink and hit the sack. So, I think I slept about 3 and a half hours.

Ok, so now a bit about that yarn. The velvet spun, like I said, it's wonderful. You have to be careful when tying it off, though, because the fibers are long and not really tight. For me, paying $5.99 a ball was worth it. I wore the wristers last night when I did my writing. Kept my hands warm, too. As for the angora marino (probably spelled wrong) well, it isn't quite what I expected. It is soft, wonderfully soft. I love the feel of it. But, where it's a real fine yarn, it takes patience to work with. Also, after balling it up and crocheting a while, I felt like I had little fuzz balls all over me. :) I think I did, cause Kierstin said something about me having fuzz balls on me. Ha! I'd say if you are allergic to animal fur, you might not want to buy it or wear it. Would I buy it again? Maybe. I crocheted a chain and one whole roe so far, so I really can't say how it works up, but I think that if one had the patience, it would make a lovely sweater, shrug, or scarf. Thinking of a scarf with this particular bunch. We'll see, though.

So, that's my Friday. How was yours? Some of you have asked for a post about baking, so there you go. Hope you got some enjoyment out of it. I will tomorrow when i can laugh about it. Today, though, I'm just tired. :) Take care and come back Monday. Also, feel free to comment. love hearing from y'all! It keeps me writing.

Of Yarn, Writing and Rolls

It is one rainy Wednesday out there, y'all. Makes me want to go back to bed, but who can do that with a couple of restless rug rats in the house? lol

I did something the other day that I don't normally do. I bought some yarn online. Like I said, this just isn't usual for me. For one thing, I do not need yarn, y'all. :D I have a huge, wooden box sitting in the middle of my living room floor, absolutely full of yarn. Also, I have several balls of it back here in my computer room. I do not need yarn. The other reason I don't like buying it on the internet is that I can't feel it before buying. The very best thing about buying yarn is feeling it. Drop me off at a Michaels or A C More (probably spelled wrong) and I'm like a kid in a candy store. I walk up and down the isles, hands outstretched touching every piece of yarn I can. Each strand that passes by my fingertips gives me an idea for a project. From baby afghans to sweaters, from wrist warmers to wash cloths, I love to shop for yarn.

So, what made me buy it the other day without feeling it, first? Well, Lion Brand had a sale. :) Twenty percent off some of their luxury fibers. Now, y'all, you just can't buy some of this stuff from a craft store. The only two ways to feel it are to buy it like I did or go to the lion Brand studio in New York and feel it. Since New York is a bit too far for a quick shopping trip, I decided to splurge and get some. I ordered it Friday, and I got the email that it shipped on Monday. Y'all don't know how bad I want to go to the Post Office today to see if it's there. Haha! It's probably not, but I still want to check. I can't, though, because of all this rain. Taking the girlies out in it when they are getting over colds would not be a very good idea. I must wait.

However, in the mean time, I did get started on some Christmas gifts. I sat down yesterday, grabbed up some cotton yarn and my size G crochet hook and made a wash cloth. Actually, the finished product looks more like a doily, but oh well. It was supposed to be in the shape of a hexagon, but somewhere along the way, I made a huge mistake. It's the shape of a pentagon. Haha! At least it's different, right?

Over the weekend, I finished a pair of what I like to call wristers. It's basically a fingerless glove. Even the thumb sticks out. There are countless patterns all over the internet for these, but I just made up my own version. The first pair I made was out of some left over chenille I had laying around. It was a category 6 yarn, which for you who do not know is just real thick yarn. I used a size N hook, and it worked up really quick. Lion Brand stopped selling that lovely-feeling yarn, so I had to look for another. I didn't have a lot of money, so I bought some Michaels brand called Loops & Threads, I think. It said Charisma on it, and it feels really nice. It's warm and cozy and makes a wonderful pair of fingerless gloves that are great if you do a lot of typing.

As with most things in life, the fact I am not a millionaire keeps me buying the cheaper stuff, but even then I am very picky about what yarn I use. The biggest reason is if I'm going to hold it in my hands for hours, I want to like the way it feels. I've used Red Heart and Caron. Both are great for afghans, but Caron is my favorite of the two. I like to get those cones of cotton from Walmart for washcloths and oven mitts. I used some bernat once to make a scarf, and loved it's silkiness. It was a category 3, so I'm not sure if it was a baby yarn or not, but it made wonderful Easter sweaters for my girls. Lion Brand's BabySoft is great, too. I don't like the feel of cashmere, sorry to say. :) I don't like real fuzzy yarns, either, like that eyelash stuff. It's too hard to feel my stitches. Lion Brand's Homespun is one I like, though. I felt some of Lion Brand's Velvetspun once, and that is one of the yarns I bought on Friday. Three skenes of it, actually. The other one was angora marino - I think. :) Not sure how that one feels, but I will know in a couple of days.

So, with November half way gone, how am I doing with NaNoWriMo? I've written approximately 18,811 words. I got about 16 thousand, and the Lord tells me to take it another direction. I'm praying, researching and thinking, but I don't know if I'll reach that 50K words by the 30th.

Oh, and next week is Thanksgiving, for those of us living in the US. Of course, it should be thanksgiving everyday, no matter where you live, but you know what I mean. :) There are some who are hoping and praying I make rolls again, but then, I think there are folks who hope I don't. Last year's roll making was a disaster. Think, bad yeast. Yeah, yeast can die, and when it does, folks, ya don't wanna be using it in your bread dough. Haha! But, this year, the yeast is good, so I might try again. Rolls should not be hard to make, and they aren't, except, my family like those rolls they used to have in school, and that recipe calls for a 5 lb bag of flour. Five pounds of flour, plus 6 to 7-1/2 cups of water can make a mess, as you can well imagine. It's so much dough that I have to use a big soup pot to mix it up in and about 4 big bowls to let the dough rise in. This year, because of the successful halloween we had, I have no big bowls. I might have had one, but I broke it this past summer when I dropped it full of banana cookie dough. For the record, those cookies weren't worth loosing my favorite bowl over. Deed, anyway. lol

Have a happy Wednesday, and come back to see me on Friday, where hopefully I'll be able to report on the yarn purchase and be able to tell you I've written thousands of words on my WIP. Don't forget, sometime soon, I'll be having another giveaway, and you won't want to miss it. Take care and keep smiling.