Random

Today is a bit of a random post, a bit of this and a bit of that.

Max this morning enjoying some quiet time out by the pool with his Mother. Not much quiet time here at this house so you have to grab it when you can.

We returned late Sunday from a big swim meet for my oldest son in Fort Pierce, Florida. He did really well which is fantastic for all the training he has been doing. He achieved two Jr. National Times one inthe 800 Free and one in the 200 Fly. He just missed two others one by .05 of a second. That is faster than you can even blink. He missed another by 1/2 a second.

We are off for our wonderful trip to Amsterdam /Paris to visit my niece and her family this Friday. I am trying to figure out what to pack as I unpack from the swim meet weekend. Of course packing knitting is a big priority. We will have lots of time on the plane so books, ipod and of course knitting will be going into my bag.

Speaking of books, I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society while at the swim meet. This book was sugested by my lovely sister Claudia. Then I received it from my Mother-In-Law as a birthday present. What a wonderful book. I absolutely loved it.

Is it Mine?

Have you ever made something for yourself and things turn out differently than you thought?
You pick the pattern, the perfect yarn, make swatches and more swatches to get the perfect gauge. You cast on and knit, and knit, and knit. You love the look of the yarn, and the feel of the yarn. You watch your project grow and mature. You enjoy the challenge of the project and love the parts that are simple and just let you knit without thinking. All the time you are knitting you are thinking how wonderful this project is for you. But suddenly you cast off and some thing happens. This project is not yours after all. It has been made the entire time for someone else. Once that thought is in your head you can't even fathom that you had any intention of ever
keeping it for yourself.

I finished this beautiful shawl today. The colors are amazing, much darker than the picture indicates. The yarn is Soft Twisted Rayon by Blue Heron Yarns. I picked this yarn up a year ago and finally found the perfect fit for it. I used Addi Turbo Lace needles in a size 9. Can I tell you how much I am in love with those needles? The are worth every penny. They make lace knitting (which I do have a bit of trouble with) so much easier. Oops, I went a little of track. The pattern is by Designer Amy Polcyn and was published in Knit 'N Style, June 2009.

This shawl now belongs to my niece Elizabeth although she doesn't know it yet. We are going to visit her family in Amsterdam in a few weeks. All she asked me to bring her was, "real" Saran Wrap and Chap Stik. I think she will be pleased when she gets a lace shawl that was meant for her all along.

Sorry about the picture quality, but they are better than nothing.

Do You Remember?

Do you remember when you were young all the silly things you said or did. When you are young your mind works in the most amazing ways. I am always fascinated by my youngest son's mind. He has always come up with the most amazing statements ever since he learned to talk. My oldest did too, but right now he is such a teenager that the most I get out of him are one word responses or grunts.

The other day my youngest said he wanted to know what he looked like with his hands in front of his face, but he couldn't tell looking in the mirror because he would still be peeking.

Then he wondered what he looks like with his eyes closed, but you can't tell that by looking in the mirror either as your eyes are always scrunched up.I like the fact that at 12 years old you are still wondering about things that aren't all that important, they are just plain fun. I hope he doesn't lose this quality too quickly.

Yes I am knitting, photos to be posted soon.

Mouse Nest Chair

When I was in North Carolina visiting my wonderful friend Lynda, I went to The Whistle Stop Antique Mall in Franklin, NC. It is an amazing store with every sort of antique you can imagine. I loved the antique wheelchair I saw, but I have no place to put it in my house. But what I did find was a beautiful antique rocker on springs. It is very low to sit in and sort of bounces on these very old springs. Lynda and I checked out the price and were amazed, $95.00. We couldn't believe it. We tried to find out why it was so cheap, we checked it over and over. We tipped it this way and that. We couldn't find a thing wrong. I made Lynda sit in it and I casually walked by to see how cute she looked in it. Then she did the same for me. Can you guess that we both looked cute?


We walked around the store and checked back on the chair. It still looked like it was meant for me. Lynda was going to drive down in her big Suburban and visit in a few weeks so all the stars were lining up for that chair to be mine. I thought of every possible reason not to purchase that rocker and frankly, no space, no need for an antique rocker, just didn't factor in high enough.


We bought the chair, loaded it up and headed back to her house.


My husband did the eye roll technique when he heard the news about the new chair. I got a few, "We need a new chair, why?" and "Where exactly are you going to put it?" And of course, "Are you ever really going to sit in it?" None of these questions seemed worthy of too much of a response.


Fast forward a few weeks and the chair arrives at my home in Florida. My husband gets it out of Lynda's car and "lugs" it into the house with several grunts to show me how much effort he is expending. I promptly sat down in it and start rocking. Yeah! It is so wonderful, but what is this dirt on the floor? I wipe it up thinking it was from Lynda's car. I sit down again and rock, wait more dirt and some leaves. Hmmmmm, this isn't looking quite right. We tip the chair a bit to see any foreign particles, nothing. I sit down again and more leaves and dirt. Something is definitely wrong.


We take the chair outside, pull back the fabric on the bottom and what do we see? You have probably guessed by now, I have not only a new chair, but a previous home to several mice.

I cleaned out the bottom, which is what you see here. I am sure I caught every imaginable mouse disease in the process. I was touching things with bare hands and inhaling who knows what! I was already way to far into the process before I fully understood that this was a mice hotel or apartment at some point, to take more precautions.

Here is the bottom finished. Sorry it is upside down. I don't have time to edit. I barely had time to fix the bottom of the chair.
Here is the finished project. I think it was worth it Mouse nest and all.

No Time

Just a quick update to tell you I have lost all track of time. We have been so busy with swim meets (last weekend Fort. Lauderdale), swim practice, visitors and work that I do not have time to knit or post ( I barely know where I am and what I am doing next). This weekend we are off to Wisconsin for about 48 hours. I will at least try to knit while I am visiting family. Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.