Welcome to "modern" times

I found this flyer for music microfiche while cleaning out a cabinet in the music library:





(Click on picture to make bigger)

Needless to say, I was very entertained by it. It probably is from the early 1970s. I am cleaning out cabinets to make space for stuff that needs to be stored so that other newer stuff can go on the shelves. I need more shelving, but fat chance I'm gonna get it.

I am moving right along on my shawl. Here's the progress so far:

I'm not bored yet!

Guess who's birthday it is tomorrow? It's our lovely blog mascot, Churchill's!! He will be getting some more cat grass and who knows what else. Mommy has a meeting in the morning and then needs to shop for him, so his celebrating will have to wait until later in the day.

The snowflakes yesterday were huge. Some of them were as big as snowballs. No kidding. It sure was fun shoveling that stuff last night at 9PM. Not.

Happy Mardi Gras!

It's Mardi Gras at our house:

I bought the fluffy garland in New Orleans at a Christmas store. They had a lot of Mardi Gras decorations there. The ornaments on the wreath are from the same store.

Unfortunately we don't really have time today to properly celebrate Mardi Gras. We have a labor council meeting at 6PM. I did buy Zatarins red beans and rice for supper, so that's something I guess.

My socks are done!

I agree--they don't look like much in pictures. They are pretty in person.

I started my shawl last evening:

The pattern uses fingering weight yarn with size 7 needles. I am using Misti Alpaca Handpaint lace yarn with size 3 needles. I tried size 5s, but the lace was too loose and you couldn't see the structure of the leaves. The pattern is "Shoulder shawl in cherry leaf pattern" from the "Victorian Lace Today" book.

It's a pretty simple pattern to memorize. I hope I don't get bored knitting it because of this.

Random Thursday

Well, the day working at the polls was reallllllly loooooonng. I got up at 4AM -- ugh. We were done with stuff by 9PM. There were about 200 or so voters at our polling place at the airport. I sure am glad I brought my knitting with me. I knit so much while I was there that one of my fingers started to hurt from the needle rubbing on it. I got a lot done on my second sock of the pair.


Yesterday was a good day. I lounged around in my jammies at home until 2PM. It was nice. I took a nap in the morning. Knit night was last night. Margaret took a picture of Paulette and I in our twin Penny Straker sweaters:





Paulette knit hers in the 1980s. Penny Straker patterns never go out of style. That's why I wanted to make one.

As always, is it Friday yet?

Is it Monday already?

We had a good Valentine's Day at our house. I got Paulette a bunch of stuff, including potted hyacinths which are now blooming.

This is what Paulette got me:

I spent a lot of yesterday afternoon downloading podcasts from KnitPicks (yeah, I'm a knitting geek) and music from CDs in our collection. I also downloaded an audiobook on the social history of knitting. I did want an IPod, but it just wasn't high on my list of "must buy" items. I love this thing!

I got one sock done in the pair:

I know, it doesn't look like much. It needs blocking because of the lace pattern. Sock #2 of the pair is now started.

I went to Hobby Lobby and got beads to add into the shawl I'm going to knit when the socks are done.

I have dug my work in progress quilt out of it's hiding place. I have decided to change up the quilting or it's never going to be on my bed. Here's my quilting inspector:

Churchill says it's hard work inspecting. He needs to sleep test this thing.

Tomorrow Paulette and I are working at the polls for the primary election. The day is going to be a long one. I don't know how retired folks do it. I am taking all day Wednesday off to recover.

On the illness front, I think I am on the mend!! Woo hoo!!

Finally Friday!

It's been a really long week. I know that it has had the same number of days as any other week, but it sure seemed a lot longer.

I am almost finished with one sock of the pair. I am working on the toe decreases now.

I have a story for you today. It's called :

Paulette and the magical keys

Paulette was on her way to her car one day early last month. She had put her set of car keys and house keys in the pocket of her down jacket. Well, the keys fell out of her pocket into the deep snow, not to be seen again. She searched for them. They were nowhere.

Paulette got her spare keys out of her purse and had a whole bunch of copies made at the hardware store. It was okay then. She still had her spare electronic remote for the car.

Since she lost her keys, the weather had gotten much warmer for a few days, melting the snow and ice and revealing all sorts of things.

Paulette's coworker, Karen, was on her way in to work earlier this week. She looked down on the sidewalk, knowing that Paulette had lost her keys last month, and was delighted to find the set of keys. The keychain was a little rusty, but all the keys were there. The magical part about the set of keys is that the electronic door remote that is attached to that set of keys still works--after being outside in the coldest weather we have had for a while and in the snow and wetness. It's a miracle!

See, sometimes stuff works out.

Unfortunately, the magic hasn't rubbed off on me. I am currently in week 4 of my mutating illness. Hopefully it goes away soon. I'm tired of being sick. Others are probably tired of me whining about it.

Out of sorts

I'm sorry I haven't posted much. I feel really out of sorts lately. I miss Jeffy so much. It surprises me that I am so upset about him being gone. I think about him every day. He would have loved the weather outside yesterday. Churchill was really interested in the outside when I let him look out the front door yesterday. He also did not object to me putting a leash on him in the house. Maybe there's hope that I will have a new garden buddy this year.

Most of the snow is gone in our yard now, except the part in the backyard that is shaded by the house this time of year. It is really funny that the portion of yard I am talking about is the part that gets really a lot of sun in the summer.

The snowpiles at the end of the driveway have really shrunk to almost nothing-yippee! Paulette and I spent part of yesterday afternoon, after our pollworker training, sweeping water from the driveway and sidewalks into the street so that it would drain down the storm sewers and hopefully, not into our basement. The basement is holding up well with all the melting. Hopefully this year we won't have any problems with large floods. Geez, last year really was a bad year (I'm counting Jeffy's getting sick as leftovers from last year).

On the knitting front, I am up to knitting the foot of sock #1 in the pair. I am thinking about finishing the quilt I started, like 8 years ago when I am done with this pair of socks. I want Churchill to be able to sleep on it some time yet in his lifetime.

I really do need to get on my self imposed project of scanning all those photographs of Jeffy to put on a CD. He really was a photogenic guy-he liked to pose for the camera. When I get them scanned, I'll put some of them on here.

Overscheduling is not your friend

My sweater is finished!

If I were not so darned overscheduled in my life, it would not have taken me from November 7 until yesterday to finish it. It also has not helped being sick for over two weeks. (I am getting better) Rant over.

This sweater turned out so nicely. It's really warm. I could have used it in January. Oh well, it's done now.

I am now working on the socks I started for airplane knitting.

They are the Spring Forward socks from Knitty. I am using the Socks that Rock mediumweight yarn I bought at Stitches Midwest last year. The yarn is nice, but keeps winding back on itself something fierce when I am knitting. It's really annoying. I won't let that keep me from knitting them.

I bought this yarn in New Orleans at the Quarter Stitch:

It's Koigu KPPPM. I bought 3 skeins of it (that's 525 yards). I don't know what I'll knit with it yet. Maybe a scarf.

Churchill is doing okay. I think he is still in mourning for Jeffy, poor guy. He's getting better. He has been sleeping in Jeffy's chair sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.

I like snow and everything--I mean I snowshoe--but when is spring going to get here? I just don't want it to melt all the snow before Saturday. There is a candlelight snowshoe at one of the nearby state parks that we want to go to.

My niece, Beth, started classes at UW Oshkosh this week. It's really nice having a relative living in the same city as me again. I haven't had that since I was in my 20's. Welcome Beth!!