Olympic Knitting

First off, a couple of quick thank yous to every one who answered about the plants, and gave additional information, which means I probably won't have able to have them in Southern California. Darnit. I was so hoping, but knowing now that the hosta/hoya plants are shade plants, well, I guess it's just not to be.

A HUGE thank you to Casey and Mary-Heather from Ravelry for helping me get my goodies while I'm in Michigan. FYI, so you don't get caught like I did, if you're paying with Pay Pal bank account rather than credit card, they can't ship until your bank releases your payment, which can take a few extra days. Next time I'll do a cc type payment and not have to stress that a package will arrive at Mom and Dad's after I've left. Now, isn't that stuff just too cute?

Yesterday's cooking to help stuff Mom and Dad's freezer, spaghetti on the left, Beef Stew on the right.

For those who were questioning how I Love this Cotton! washes up? Here's Mom's face cloth I gave her the other day when we arrived straight out of the dryer tonight-without having to re-block it! She's used it for a couple of days, and I think it's washed up pretty well! Don't you think? I'm guessing I can get 2 cloths out of one skein. So even if you didn't get it on sale (like me) that's not too shabby for $1.50 for a washcloth. Much cheaper than shopping at the mall!

How's your Olympic Knitting coming along? I have a tendency to 'over plan' I think.

From the left. That's Purple! Paton's Classic wool for a 'surprise scarf'. Top: pink I love this Cotton! for 2 butterfly wash cloths, Bottom: Aqua I Love this Cotton for Mom's Chemo hat. Right: right, Berry Jam, and Angel Baby Bee Sweet Delights Baby yarn for size 2 sweater for a 'Little Miss B's" Birthday party-this Saturday at noon-yes, tomorrow.

So far, I have the chemo hat done, while driving up from Fort Wayne, IN and finished it as we got close to Bay City, MI. I consider this to be the qualifying round to advance towards the finals. I tell you, driving with my daughter while trying to 'compete' against myself for the Olympic Knitting, tain't easy. But interesting. And then we'll have to unpack her stuff after getting there on Monday. So, all in all...I'm shortened on my knitting time here.

This morning I was able to get about three quarters of the first of the butterfly cloths done while waiting to go to the yarn shop. This should have been round 2,but it's been pushed back to round 3. After nearly creating Olympic Confetti yarn last night, I decided that the pattern I'd picked from Kids, Kids, Kids and I weren't meant to be on the same team.

So around 10:30am Dad drove me over to 'A Piece of Ewe' here in Bay City, cute yarn shop! and picked up a few choices to knit from. Oh ya, the Baby's birthday party, did I mention is tomorrow...at Noon!

Can't tell which is cuter, the sweater or the little cutie pie wearing it! I'll be making this yellow sweater, called Girl's Lacy Cardigan out of the Sirdar book, #332, Little Sweet Peas." Size 2-3 with Sweet Delight Baby, Berry Jam. (US) 6 (4mm) needles. I've decided to make a few changes, and I'll tell you more after it's finished.

I cast on at the strike of Noon today, and by 1:20 pm this is as far as I'd gotten. It was time to go start more Beef stew. We're rolling now! ahahahaaaaaaaaa......

However, by dinner time, not only did we get more Beef stew finished, and a chicken and rice dinner completed, more had been accomplished.

And as Michael Phelps was accepting his 7th Gold metal of these games, this is how far the little sweater had grown. Too bad I'm in the Eastern time zone rather than in Southern California where I'd have three more hours to work on this!....This could be the Gold Metal feat here if I make it.

Time to get back to knitting, as breakfast will be at 8am with Grandma and Grandpa (Mom and Dad) over at Bob Evans, a staunch Saturday morning ritual around here, with a visit to Mom's older sister between breakfast and the Noon party.

Can someone teach me to knit while I sleep tonight? I'm thinking the surprise scarf might be akin to the post Winter Olympic show that the ice skaters put on. With the last minute changes around here, and the 'little bit of moving' in the middle of all of this, I'm not so sure that's going to be finished by closing ceremonies. At least I'll be able to watch them from Boston and not on the road as we were during the Opening Ceremonies.

Worm Binder and needle storage

Several years ago, OK, maybe more, I took a 'page' out of the old "ABC Home Show" from the 80's and Carol Duvall's suggestion of using a coat hanger and punching a hole into Ziploc bags to store odds and ends of yarn and sewing trims to make a notebook for my circular needles.

While it worked alright, I found the the Ziploc bags got caught in the rings and it ended up being a bit frustrating to flip pages when looking for a particular size, especially in a hurry. Also, when I would go put the notebook back on the shelf, the pages would fall down and hang below the notebook ends. Great idea but it needed a little tweaking.

So, when the knitting groups started talking about this idea found in the fishing department at a store called Bass Pro, my ears perked up! Only, I've never been able to find one that was opened when I was there. And I didn't want to order something online before I had a chance to really look at it.

With that in mind, I bring to you a FREAKIN" FABULOUS idea! The 'Worm Binder'! Let me just share with you how happy a camper I am with this item!

This was the smaller of the binders that they had. My daughter suggested that I might not need the bigger one. Remember, she's not a knitter, but did have a point. Now, I'd like to get a 2nd one for my double points. I don't carry them around often, but I think it would be a great organizer for them. Here's the front of it. Blue, I like blue! Good color, as far as I'm concerned. Perfect for me!

Inside both the front and back sides, you'll find 4 pockets on each that zipper shut.

Abso-freakin'-lutely perfect for my chibi needle holder, needle sizer, stitch markers, and tape measure stuff.

The 'pages' are very similar to the zip bags but the ends are reinforced oh so much better than just plain ziplock type bags. See how well the needles fit into each page?

Down on corner of each bag, I used some clear tape and wrote out each size in both US and mm numbers. That way I SHOULD be able to stay organized, providing I remember to put them back where they belong after using the needles. (Hear the magic word there?)

Behind the pages, in the back, there's even enough space for me to put in my Debbie Macomber notions back that holds a bunch of other little things I like to keep with my knitting bag.

Check out how the holes are all reinforced with metal grommets. And if the snap ring needs to be replaced, a quick trip to the office supply store, and you can put in a new one.

The back of this little gem has a mesh pocket to hold other things like small pattern books (boy do I miss Knitting Digest! That was the perfect size for this pocket.)

Yep, I'd love to have a 2nd one of these now to store my double point needles in. I for one, love this project. Now, can we get a knitting company to make these, so I don't have to have a Bass fish on the front?

Time for me to tear apart my knitting bag. We're going to a 1 year old birthday party on Saturday and I got so frustrated with the sweater I wanted to make last night, after ripping out the sweater 3 times, I have managed to 'misplace' the firewire for my camera. Other wise, I'd be able to share the Spaghetti recipe that I made for Mom and Dad today. I spent the day making spaghetti and beef stew to help stuff their freezer while I'm here. I have the pictures, but can't upload them to the computer. Figures. It couldn't go all smoothly here. Oh, and Mom was ready to make yarn confetti last night with me, too after the knots we came into with one of the skeins of yarn. However, the Mommy of the soon to be one year old...asked my daughter to day if I was going to be knitting another sweater - the sweaters I gave her for her baby shower last summer are all getting to be too small and fall is on it's way. Guess I need to knit really fast tomorrow?

2nd leg of the trip...

While we were in Austin, we went to dinner at Bess Bistro. If you ever get the chance to get there, do it! The food, fabulous, the decor...so cute! (maybe that's not the right word, but I loved it.) See the etching on the front door? That's just the beginning of the 'little' touches the bring the charm inside while you dine. (notice that I shrunk down the pictures today, there's a lot of them. But you can click on them to make them bigger, if you so choose.)

Now, for all you artichoke and spinach dip fans, here's the twist they put on it. Rather than adding a lot of 'sauce' to it, they flash fry it and it comes out crispy! Oh and oh so yummy! We then had some bass and a rib eye, (sans a picture, sorry, you'll just have to go get your own!) and then ....

...Banana Cake that I swear is the same recipe my kids' family uses for 4 generations now for Birthday cakes and the creamiest Creme Brule I've EVER had! It was the kind of dinner where you don't want it to end, and wish to move into the place and be adopted.

One of the things that I enjoy about traveling, other than great yarn finds, is the architectural differences each region and city build. Like this building in Austin, just beautiful!

Heading north, we went through Arkansas mostly through the night..

Slept a bit along the way, not while driving of course. Have you noticed that some states have rest stops that really are there so they can say they are..but others have rest stops that are nicer than several apartments and houses I've lived in? And clean enough to pass my mother's inspection! (Just a traveling comment there...)

Day break found us on the Mississippi River heading into Memphis, with a Red sun in the morning...

Some more knitting at the cast-on stage for my 'Olympic Knitting' project...and so many GREEN trees! (California , can you pay attention to what trees should be like with rain fall? Green..not brown!)

Now, I ask you, when you're driving through Tennessee, how can you NOT stop and see something in Music City? It was bad enough we couldn't hop over to Beale Street in Memphis since we were trying to reach Michigan by the end of the day. But, Come-on...you HAVE to pay homage to the country music in you with a little trip through the Grand Ole' Opry. Right? How can any self-respecting Mother not stop and take her country lovin', Kenny Chesney-hat 'She thinks my tractor's sexy' wearing, daughter through the backstage tour? Check out the daughter trying to see the names on the mail in the mail boxes!

Outside of the Opry House, they share the parking lot with a huge mall. Now, in Hollywood, we have the Avenue of the stars. Here they have these :

Too cool-huh?

But, here's where the knitter in me found the best'est' travel souvenir EVER...

Quite some time ago, there was discussion of these on the knitting boards. I've been trying to find a Bass Pro shop ever since. I'll show more about this in another posting, since this one is already picture intensified. Let's just say for now that I'm a happy camper!

Next up, was Kentucky. More beautiful green rolling hills - are you paying attention Southern California? mmm...but also a state with some of the nicest rest areas! And air conditioned to boot!

What can I say about Indiana? Oh, seems like 2 weeks ago? HA! But, what a strange feeling to be driving up the 65 and pass right by the Bloomington signs and not detour over to see my son. I felt a few pangs I tell you. Another chapter in his life has finished as he's no longer living there. Onward! as a famous knitter likes to say.

Can anyone tell me the name of this plant/flower? They were at another rest area in Indiana that's very lovely to 'visit'. But my grandmother used to have these planted down her driveway when I was a very little girl. I've wanted to find that out ever since I moved away from home. They're so pretty, aren't they?

Towards the end of the night, Dad requested we stop and get a hotel for the night. Apparently he didn't think staying up until 2am was the 'thing to do'. So, we 'toughed it out' with soft beds, Taco Bell and wi-fi! Ah...

Boy did I wish I had a salt shaker and some butter the next morning. Field after field of corn with brown tops as we left Indiana. Yummy. But then I got to thinking, this was probably for grain feed. Umm....

Michigan! we arrived over the border with the end of leg #2 in site. I was knitting away on another chemo hat for mom. This time using the www.headhuggers.org pattern with the rolled brim and the Yarn Bee 'I Love this Cotton!' yarn that Hobby Lobby is now selling. I started the project in the hotel room and finished it just outside of the Saginaw area. We did stop in the Ann Arbor area to hug my auntie who is recovering quite well from her first hip surgery. You may remember the giraffe that I knit the prayer shawl and hat and scarf set a couple of weeks ago. That's the Auntie we visited, and forgot to take a picture. Shortly around dinnertime, we broke the border limits of Bay City. Parked the car, hugged the parents, handed over some little gifts, watched some Olympics (did you see Michael Phelps?) and then hit the sack for some much needed sleep without sitting in the car. Today, we're in a 'slow-motioned' kind of haze. Must go knit, and then we get to have dinner at Grandpa Tony's(no better place I tell you!) with my brother and niece tonight!

Oh, and there's a Hobby Lobby..just over 'yonder'!

Miss you Cuz!

Miss you with all our hearts....I understand why you loved it so much here! It's got you written all over the place! xoxoxooxox