Back On Line

After a hard-drive crash last week, I'm back on line. Unfortunately, I've lost some stuff and am still trying to access the backup CDs. Not being on line has given me more time to knit & read. Will try to get the camera software running again and put some photos up next time.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Ok, I admit, I started it when I tagged Sallee of Knitnana for a MeMe a couple days ago. As is only fair, she tagged me back. I'm supposed to turn to page 161 of the book I'm reading - Spindrift, by Allen Steele, which I just started last night - and read the 5th sentence. If I don't count the run on sentence continued from the previous page, the 5th sentence is: "'Yes?' Rauchle asked, his sardonic smirk making another appearance." Now, in that I'm only on page 12, I have no idea who Rauchle is or what he's smirking about, but I suspect that I'll find out. Rather than tag anyone - inviting retaliation - I'll just leave it to anyone who reads this who is so inclined to join in.

On the knitting and crocheting front, it's the same old, same old. More hats & scarves for the veterans. Boring, but items that will be useful to these men & women who are in the shelter or on the street waiting for a place to open. It's turned cold here in south-east Michigan and there were snowflakes flying, though not sticking, a day or two ago. I've filled two totes with approximately 25 sets each and have started filling a third. I think we sent 50 sets last year, but with a couple more weeks to work on them this year, I think we'll go well past that.

Caught In The MeMe Web

I think this one has gone around before, but what the heck. Diane at Sand to Glass just tagged me for another Eight Random Things MeMe.

· When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you.
· Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself.
· At the end of the post you must tag and link to eight other people.

Ok, here we go round again, singing a song about Molly Bee - oops, wrong song..

Numero Uno: I love cats and firmly believe that a house without at least one cat in residence is not a home. Right now, we have three:


Callie, age 13, who we've had for 10½ years.


Sadie, also approximately 13, Mom's cat who we inherited and is now part of our family.


And Boomer, about 4 years old, who we adopted last spring. He's curled up on my lap right now, making it difficult to type.

2) I'm a fan of the Grateful Dead - see t-shirt in the above photo.

3) As might be evident from my having a knitting blog, I love to knit and crochet. I teach knitting at the local Senior Center and am a member of the K4 group that meets Thursday afternoons at the Center. Right now we're concentrating on hat & scarf sets for the shelter for homeless veterans in Detroit.

4) We just bought a new car - a 2008 Prius.


5) I'm married to the most wonderful guy in the world and we just celebrated our 26th anniversary last week on the 7th.

6) I love to read - check out the book lists in the sidebar.

7) In college, I had a history major & an art minor. Today I do research in genealogy & design knitting patterns for The Wool Peddler.

8) I make quilts - usually antique looking reproductions - but I haven't done much in the last three years since our K4 (Krazy Kool Knitters & Krocheters) group formed. I've made over 50 quilts in sizes varying from king to baby and have three large tops ready to stretch one of these days.

Ok, that does it other than tagging eight more victims (ah, I mean friends)..

Sallee of Knitnana

Ruinwen of Vixenpath

Magic Knitter

Shelob of Caution Blind Knitter

Erica

Bron

Birdsong of A View From Sierra County

And, last but not least, Kary of Sheep At The Beach

Sorting Redeux

I've spent the last few days digging yarn out of various corners of the house. I think that I have most of it but I suspect that more will turn up as I continue to move boxes around. The tally in my database after adding in this summer's garage sale finds is up to just over 51#s and that doesn't include the small balls of yarn that will probably wind up in K4 rag-tag afghans. It also doesn't include the recycled wool yarn that escaped the moths or the skeins of Palette that I bought this summer from KnitPicks. Here's the loot to date - these are all 18 gallon totes:


The variegateds - mostly Rainbow Dreams but also regular ones like the rainbow one and several skeins of a baby print that were garage sale finds


Browns & rusts, more of the latter than the former.



Beiges & yellows.


Blacks & greys. I'm not sure why the black skeins photographed as a deep red, but they really are black.


Blues & greens.

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Whites & creams.


Reds & purples.


And finally, baby, sport & bulky yarns. Some skeins of WoolEase chunky are scattered in the other bins by color because they wouldn't fit in this one. Between the database & these photos, I'm hoping it's organized enough that I'll be able to find the yarn I want.

A Sorting We Do Go...

I spent quite a while last night sorting out the K4 yarns I have here at home. Most of them are small balls destined for rag-tag afghans but a few are full or almost full skeins that may wind up as hats & scarves or maybe shawls. I sorted the skeins toward the end, so they look more prominent than they really are. Anyway, here's the stash.


The blacks, greys and a full tote of whites & creams, the colors I use the most in the middle of the planned versions.


The blues. Unfortunately, the greens which are in the other end of this tote didn't get included in the picture except for that one lonely skein on the right, but they're there.


Browns & beiges.


The reds & purples in one tote and the yellows & oranges in the laundry basket as I'd run out of totes. I'll probably combine some of the totes but if I do, I'll put the different colors into bags so I can pull them out along with some of the creams & whites to make an afghan or lap robe.

We went up to Meijers today for the weekly shopping trip plus to get more totes. Unfortunately, they'd raised the price of the 18 gallon ones I've been using around 25% since last week - from $4.29 to $5.49. Kmart had "Halloween" totes in the same size advertised for $4 so we headed there. They were all out of the orange & black ones but a kindly manager sold us solid grey ones for the same price which was even better. We bought 16 which I hope will last a little while as I'm packing. Next up is my yarn stash.

At K4 today, I finished one scarf and started another in a brown, beige, green variegated to go with a hat that Gloria made. I still need to knit hats for two scarves that Frances made plus I'm working on sets from three strands of the coned yarn. I finished one set tonight & started another in the early evening before moving downstairs to watch TV and work on the variegated scarf. I'll be moving the rag-tag yarn in the totes over to the other house and concentrating on the hat & scarf sets for the veterans' shelter. I already have 8 lap-robes/afghans in various sizes finished so along with the ones other members have made that should be enough to cover any of the shut-ins from the Sr. Center. I love this charity knitting & crocheting because I can work on projects to my hearts content and not have to worry about finding a family member who doesn't already have a closet stuff full.. {g}

OK, I'm A Sucker For Tests

I'm a little surprised at the high score for naturalist - true, I like to garden (I love tomatoes)& watch nature shows on PBS, but otherwise I'm not great on the great outdoors. Too many bees (allergic) & mosquitoes out there for my tastes. Visual/spatial makes sense because I like to design and I hope I'm fairly logical. On the other hand, I'm not surprised by the low musical score because, despite liking music, I can't carry a tune in a bushel basket and arthritis has limited my ability to play the only instrument I ever learned, the autoharp (aka music for dummies {g}).. The low score for interpersonal may reflect that I'm basically very shy until I get to know people.

Verbal/Linguistic
People with Linguistic intelligence are naturally good with writing or speaking and memorization.

Logical/Mathematical
People with Logical intelligence are driven by logic and reasoning.

Visual/Spatial
People with Visual intelligence are good at remembering images and aware of surroundings.

Bodily/Kinesthetic
People with Kinesthetic intelligence love movement, have good motor skills and are aware of their bodies.

Musical
People with musical intelligence are musically gifted and have a "good ear" for rhythm and composition.

Intrapersonal
People with intrapersonal intelligence are adept at looking inward.

Interpersonal
People with Interpersonal intelligence are good with people and thrive in social interactions.
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Naturalist
People with Naturalist intelligence have a sensitivity to and appreciation for nature.