Beautiful Autumn Day

Once again, hubby and I went to a nearby park, via Tim's, of course. We just can't go to the park without our Tim's coffee. And this time the lid opening was not in the middle of the cup seam. Perhaps someone has complained.

It's been a beautiful, sunny, and fairly warm day. It is nice that we have this huge valley behind us, and are able to go and discover many nature beauties, even in the fall, when everything is ready for winter.

Some parts look sad, but behind the fallen leaves, and drying plantation, there is water tinkling between the rocks, running happily towards the next curve, turning to a slight swirl, and continuing its path over any obstacles that might be on its way.

Vesting dilemma

I started, some time ago, a sweater, pullover, cardigan, whatever, with my fancy silk yarn from Argentina. I made the front pieces for a cardigan, but something was not right. I tried to fix the "something is missing" with strips for buttons and button holes. It was a little bit better. Then I realized I didn't have enough yarn to make long sleeves, so this morning, after a heartbreaking decision, I opted for a vest, and started frogging pieces that I had made for a cardigan/sweater/whatever.

Guess what, I am very happy about it now. I have a new design, and new inspiration. I have the back piece almost done. Oh, no, I didn't make it this morning; I had started experimenting on the weekend. I had decided that the back for the s/p/we was going to be totally different than the front. It's more or less freeformish, and I feel great about it! the back part isn't too freeformish, but the front might be. Now that I have finally come to terms with this yarn, I can do what ever I want! No cables, no slip stitches, no nothing, just what ever comes, comes. I let the yarn lead the way. The yarn itself is so beautiful that it really doesn't need any special effects.

Oh, no! I was going to take a picture of the back, but it's at home, but I have my camera with me. DUH!

Oh, well, I took a picture of a Berenguer Baby Girl Doll I won at e-bay a few days ago. Not sure if I go for this type of doll making, seems like a lot of work, but if not, I just make some clothes for this one, and save her for my granddaughter. These dolls are made to look real, but when I saw, at the craft show how much work is involved, I decided that the doll needs clothes, and someone else might be more interested in giving her the "live" look.

Scarf

I wanted to make a crazy scarf with all the paisleys I had collected from my paisley exchanges.
Of course I could not find the zip log bag, where they all were stored. I spent many hours in my stash room, looking into boxes and bags, no luck.

I decided to make one quick one to wear at the CSNF today. I finished it last night and here is the picture:

This morning, I was looking for a tote bag for my WIP at the show, while I sit in the
booth. I took one, that looked like a good size and was not full of stuff. Just a few
zip log bags, and one of them had the paisleys from exchanges. Yes, you heard me.

Idle talk, part... um... 5?

I have a small fridgie attached on my filing tray, on my desk. The fridgie has a black cat coming out of a pumpkin. Now, why on earth would a black cat want to go inside a pumpkin? My cat, who isn't black, would do it, but a black cat?

A co-worker brought me a coffee from Tim's. Why do these people at these coffee places have to
dump the lid on the cup, so that the opening of the lid hits the seam of the cup.? Every single time. The seam gets wet from the coffee, when I drink it, and then it starts curling open and it's disgusting. I have started, in my conscious moments, to turn the lid around, so that the seam is far away from the opening. I would take a picture, but my camera is at home. Why would I bring my camera to work? There is nothing interesting here, just desks and people who work, or don't work, and filing cabinets, computers, chairs, piles of paper, and a dying plant on my desk.

Right now it is spooky quiet in this office. There is a meeting in the boardroom There was also a coffee brewing in the kitchen, and I was told not to drink it, because the coffee is for the meeting people. What makes them so special? Oh, well, I like my Tim's coffee more than the one that was brewing in that old coffee maker with some icky coffee grains, that we buy for the office. Can't we buy some decent coffee for the people here, who work so hard, or not? It would be so great, if there was a nice cappucino maker and some expresso coffee, and some nice tea, too, none of that general store brand tea. Although, I've heard those store brand items are the same as the ones on the shelf with higher price and nicer packaging. I know, it's true, I have tasted store brand coffee and compared it to the expensive one, same stuff. Almost. That reminds me,

I must go to the grocery store on the way home, we need coffee and bread. Should I buy some nice dessert, too? Like ice-cream? Maybe some orange/black iced cupcakes, after all, Halloween is around the corner, isn't it? I thought it was next week, but it isn't. We still have one full week of October, how nice. Oh, that relieves me from some self-indulged stress. I was rushing to make something for Halloween, don't know what, just yet, but something, and now I realize that I have plenty more time to procrastinate than before I realized this delightful misinterpretation of days to come. Please, bear with me, I make up meanings for words, when they look like they mean what I want to say. If they don't, skip the part.

I have not complained about the traffic lately. It's been a while. I want to say that traffic in the mornings isn't same as it used to be. I have let way too many people go in front of me, and not receiving a wave to thank me, and flicking the lights doesn't seem to be enough hinting. I must say that I was happily surprised one morning, when I realized that my car wasn't crying at one bridge, there was no clonking or other weird noises coming from the suspenders of my car (haha, a new word for those things that make the car sway smoothly, as a Cadillac would do)
when hitting this rough part of the street. No, the road was smooooooth. It had a brand new blanket of asphalt, or some other dark stuff on top. Oh, what a glorious morning that was. Finally, someone fixed the road. If only I could remember the name of the part in a car where the springs are. Shocking, isn't it, that I don't remember? I used to own a Camaro Z28, and the front was making so much noise that I had to take it to be fixed. Nothing was ever found. The poor baby was crying every time the weather got colder.

In the knitting and crocheting department, there isn't too much of anything happening. My left arm is suffering from too much knitting, and I must take it easy for a while. Until I get home tonight. Some orange colored earrings might be nice for Halloween, or maybe I will crochet a black cat and a pumpkin plus a witch who is boiling water in a big black pot.

Socks done

Hubby has new socks, and they fit perfectly. And now I will start some non-sock projects.
One of them would be a scarf with paisleys. First I need to find the paisleys that are stored somewhere in the stash pile. Wish me luck.

MeMe

I stole this idea from Aunt Purl's site, answers are mine:

Four jobs I’ve had: Department store sales person, Income tax office help, Construction Company AR/AP clerk, Pension Fund person from clerk to department supervisor

Four movies I can watch over and over: Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, Wedding Planner, Can't think of anything else

Four places I have lived: Finland, Sudbury, Toronto (that's three, I was always bad in math)

Four television shows I love to watch: Gilmore Girls, CSI, all of them, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, Everwood (again, counting error)

Four places I have been on vacation: Everywhere in Finland, Several Places in the USA, Bermuda, Argentina

Four of my favorite dishes: mugs, glasses, plates and soup bowls (hahaha), Lasagne, Green Peasoup, mashedpotatoeswithmeatballs, pizza

Four websites I visit daily: what do you mean? freeform, email, my yahoo, msn

Four places I would rather be right now: Bermuda, Argentina, Finland, at home

Four bloggers I am tagging: no tagging

Happy Anniversary!

Today is 20 years since I met my hubby. We met at a ballroom dance hall, of all the places. Somehow my girlfriend's boyfriend got him to come and dance with me. I had made so many subtle remarks about the man at the door, that there was no question about my intentions.

The link above shows a picture of the dance hall. It looks so much fancier now.
I am sure it was nice looking then, too, when it wasn't a ballroom dance night, but a wedding or some other special event night.

So, we danced a tango. Better yet, he danced and I stepped on his toes. Well, my dancing was a little bit difficult, since I was very nervous, and for the life of me I didn't know how to dance with my feet feeling like jelly. Furthermore, my partner is a foot taller than me. Fortunately he was interested in me, at least a little bit, as he didn't give up after that disastrous dance, but he came to sit with me at the table and we talked. We also made plans to meet again. We did, and we got married three years later, and are still married. By the way, we danced again at my son's wedding, four years ago.

He went to a bakery today, to buy a cake. We are going to have a nice dinner at home, he is cooking, he's a good cook. I don't know what he is going to prepare, but whatever it is, it's good. Trust me.

Twenty years ago, around this time, I was recovering from a major surgery; my mom was visiting me; I had bronchitis; I was attending an art course, which I had to quit, due to my bronchitis (I missed too many classes), and then I met my hubby. It was an interesting autumn.
Some other events have an anniversary on this day.

Saturday stuff

First of all, one sock for hubby is done, one more to go. The sock fits, and I am happy.


The yarn is wonderful to work with, and I am eager to begin knitting the pair for this one.







Secondly, I found nice, wood furniture in the antique market today, for 20 our bucks. Not bad. I also found a statue of an old woman sitting on a rocking chair, reading. Two of my little dolls are listening to grandma reading, in the living room. Oh, ok, the dollhouse is not built yet, this is a temporary arrangement. I wish I had tools, I would build the house with wood. Well, I don't have the tools or skills, so I have to pray for a miracle. Or, I might ask hubby to build one.

I will never promise anything

I promised myself, some time ago, that I will NOT knit more socks.
Well, HAH, I bought some sock yarn in Finlad, when I was there last month. I think I was planning to make scarfs. Yeah, right. Thanks to my friend Sherri, who posted a link to sock patterns, and, of course, I had to look, and then get all interested once again. Sheesh.

I am making socks for my hubby; these ones. In a different color, though. I am also using another yarn, so my socks are not going to look like these beautiful green socks. Mine are going to be beautiful blue socks. Ok, I am not finding the sample of the yarn, thinking of scanning, but no, I will take a picture when I get home, and have knitted some more. I am already doing the heel flap.
Ahem, not so bad, I only started last night. The yarn is Novita's Seitsemän Veljestä, Moni Väri in dark blue that has some lighter blue hues here and there.

I also made, last night, two more strips for the silk yarn jacket. I have a disturbing feeling that there is not enough yarn. Well, I will worry about that, after I've done with the blue socks.

Also, get this, I had an idea, HAD being the operative word, to make a doll house. I got discouraged, when I found nothing interesting in a dollar store, when I went today. I only found some idiotic, plastic, small kitchen appliances. YUCK. I want something nice if I am going to make a doll house. I want oak furniture, pine furniture, modern stainless steel appliances, and nice shades for the windows. Asking too much? Well, I am not giving up just yet. Why didn't I pursue my wood working career when I was 5? (I made a pick-up truck, when I was 5, my father made the wheels for it)

In closing for this chat, here is another picture from one of our beautiful parks:

Better today

I am back to work, and feel much better, thank you all for well wishes.

I stayed at home yesterday and was planning my knitting until noon. Then I decided that no stitches will be brought about, if I just plan. I need to hold the needles and yarn to get going.

Using the silk yarn from Argentina, I was able to make a strip with triangles. My problem was
that I had no idea what to do next, until later at night, while watching "Criminal Minds" I decided to make another strip. I tried to post a scanned picture of the strip, I have the second one with me here at work, but the Blogger, ggggrrrrrrr, doesn't want to post it.

While trying to catch my sleep: I'm usually knitting in my thoughts, and planning my knitting and crocheting projects, and making several beautiful pieces. The problem is that I have forgotten what I made, when I wake up in the morning. If only I had someone to write down, or better yet, videotape my dreams and my thoughts before falling asleep, I could have tons of ideas ready for the conscious mind. Last night, in my dreams, I decided to make a jacket, instead of a pullover. I remembered this one!!! Jacket is more practical for me. If I get hot under it, I can take it off, pullover is a different story, unless I have a shirt, if you know what I mean.
I have pen and paper, by my bed, for writing down my dreams, but by the time I wake up in the morning, different events in my dreams have taken place and usually have nothing to do with designing. Besides, I just get up and follow the aroma of fresh coffee, before there is any sensible thought in my head.

Once a year cold

There are not too many thoughts in my mind, since most of my thinking deals with cough syrups and cold medicines.

We managed to go to another park today, and of course some pictures were taken.

Surprise gift

I received a package on Thursday. It was a total surprise. Here is a picture of what was in the package. Look at the socks, they fit perfectly.













The other picture is of a sweater that I am going to make over again, since this first one has been worn thousand times and it's starting to stretch too much. I used 100% cotton. The color used to be navy blue in the darker stripe, but somehow some pink got into it, and I had to bleach the whole thing over and over again, to get rid of the pink. I got rid of the navy blue, but there is still some pink somewhere, fortunately not noticeably.

I copied the pattern from the old sweater, because I cannot find the magazine where the pattern is.

I've done 15 cm of the new one, using acrylic/wool blend yarn.

More Autumn pictures

Walk in the Park

We went to the park, had coffee and took some pictures:
The sun was shining brightly and the air was fresh. It was a good walk.

Rainy Day

It was deadly quiet and still this morning, and then the thunder came. There was no wind, no rain, the sky was grey in the north and orangeish, yellowish, and grayish in the east. (I love creating new words). The leaves in the tree were so still that I thought the tree was a statue, not a living creature.

Then the rain came. It came with an army of rainbullets, pounding the poor tree leaves, pounding anything that was in its way. I remembered that I had to take a shower and get ready for work.

I have been thinking of my designing career. For some reason I have never thought of myself as
a designer. I have just made things. Either from patterns or from my imagination. Either way,
designing isn't the word I would use for my work. I would use creating stuff. I give all designers credit for their hard work and beautiful ideas; I just don't think that I should be included in that group, since I don't work hard to make patterns, I don't make things so that other people could copy. I just create things as my mood allows to create. The technicality of pattern writing isn't something that will sit well in the filing system of my brain. Just give me a hook, or needles, piece of yarn or thread, and tell me to start from a dot, and I'll do it. Just don't tell me what I MUST make, because that will turn my interest around. Unless, of course I myself decide to make something specific, like a gift for someone. Christmas is coming and my pattern books are out. TSK TSK.

Said that, I am truly fascinated on work that other people design/create and this is how my interest stays alive for the knitting and crocheting art.

Idle chat again

I am staring at a plastic container on my desk. There are several green and red jelly beans.
I had put some of the jelly beans already in the front desk candy bowl. You see, I quite often go and visit the receptionist, or should I say, the candy bowl. I left some in the container for my desk, so I don't have to get up and walk to the front. I feel extremely lazy today.

Oh, yes, the dress from our granddaughter was a perfect fit, and she looked amazing in it. I mean, she looks amazing anyway, but this time it was the dress too.

If there are any knitters or hookers reading this, I would like to have your honest opinion (I know a few answers already) of what happens when you buy a magazine or a book with a specific pattern that you want to make. If you don't start immediately but have already bought
several magazines since then, do you go back to the one you liked first, or do you think something better might appear in the next batch of magazines? Or, do you create your own pattern and use ideas from any old/new magazines?

I bought silk yarn in Argentina, two years ago, and started drooling over it yesterday. First I decided to make my own pattern, then I checked a few magazines, and now I want to combine one pattern from Berroco, and some from my magazines, and the rest depends on how the yarn will cooperate.

This is so hard, this planning phase, don't you agree?

Here is the silk yarn. It's a little bit heavy, so I have to be careful
what I am going to make.

You may check in a year or two to see, if I made anything at all.