Looking in the past

So I'm getting all ready to post abt the wacko weather we're having here. It's November 9th and what is on the news (other than shootings in Orlando and Ft Hood, the crappy economy, universal health care and other such insanity), but this!

This is Hurricane Ida. It's been on the news since it was in Central America. We've had such a quiet hurricane season, to see one brewing now is just weird.

Or so I thought.

I decided to tie in how hot a November we've been having, different compared to what we had last year. So what was my post abt on November 8, 2008? A hurricane in Central America that was headed our way!!!!

~sheesh~

That one was Hurricane Paloma that turned south of us and pounded Cuba instead. I think that was the year Cuba got hit by 4 major storms. Considering how small a country it is, that's a lot of water and wind to deal with.

This one won't be turning that quickly. Depending on the map you look at,

it will be curving to the east after it hits the panhandle.

It's just a matter of when.

Stitching Away

Is it really the beginning of a week already? Didn't we just have a Monday not too long ago?

I'm also learning that I need to blog earlier in the day. Right now it's 10:30pm and the creative juices are not flowing as much as I'd like. Instead I'm in Monday Morning mode, thinking of what I want to get done tomorrow. However I'm really thinking tomorrow is going to be like the past couple of Mondays, drop the kids off and then piddle away the morning catching up on blogs and motivating myself into the coming week. I do plan on doing laundry, so that will be an accomplishment, right?!?

On Friday I got to meet up with Dee and while the original goal was to knit, I decided to pull out my stitching instead. I started a project for #1 Son back in June, an underwater scene of dolphins. This is his favorite animal and I thought it would be a great thing for him to hang in his room. The goal is to decorate his room in an underwater theme and this project would fit right in. Of course we'd have to keep up the pic of the earth and of Albert Einstein, but that just shows the eclectic taste of my Science Boy. Here it is as of today.

You can sort of see the beginnings of a dolphin face. Click here to see the completed picture.

It's BIG, but a lot of it is 1/2 stitches in various amts of floss (some 3, some 6!) I'm hoping to keep working on it and get a good chunk done on him. I still have my snowman waiting in the wings, but I know I can still work on him next year. I really want to finish this off so that #1 Son can enjoy it for as long as possible.

Saturday Sky

Today's sky is brought you to by Baby Girl.

She also thought you'd enjoy the bright clouds.

and our temps.

Looks are definitely deceiving because it may say 76 but it felt more like the 80s. I ended up putting the a/c on abt a half hour after this was taken.

I picked up a bag of knitting today and it ended up being #1 Son's hat.

I'm not much of a yarn snob, but I'm really not enjoying this yarn. I've never had an acrylic squeak on me, but this one does. Plus as I was knitting, I was noticing a smell. At first I thought it smelled like plastic, but that wasn't quite right. Then it hit me. It smells like carpeting. Carpeting that was just put in. The IO thought it smelled more like commercial carpeting. I tried to convince myself that the smell would wash out, but the more I knit with it (squeak, squeak, squeak) (sniff sniff sniff) the more I realized that I didn't want my son wearing a carpet tile on his head and I now have this.

I also found the receipt and it will be going back to JoAnn's sometime next week.

Once this project was ripped out and bagged to go back to the store, I pulled out some cross stitch. I'll post more on that tomorrow.

Friday Foto

St Augustine, FL

Feel the warmth!

Dragging on.......

Hmmmmmm, day 5 of NaBloPoMo and I'm already starting to struggle. I woke up with a headache this AM and after the kids got off to school, I took some meds, a cup of coffee and watched a show I DVR'd. Afterward, I shut the tv off just to rest my eyes and give the meds a chance to work. The next thing I know it's noon.

I finally get out of bed at 1pm. ONE IN THE AFTERNOON!!!! This seems to be the only lingering thing from the flu, waking up feeling like I could sleep the entire day away. And then I do.

One thing I've been working on all week was cleaning up the projects by the side of the bed.

This is MUCH better than it was before. That basket tends to collect projects that I hope to get to, and then gets buried under additional projects I hope to get to. Then I have to dig to find a tape measure which mixes all the piles together. Since I'm hoping to finish some things off this month, I wanted to clear out the excess clutter.

Speaking of clutter, did anybody see the episode of Dr Oz today? He had a segment on hoarding, and while I don't usually like watching these shows, I really wanted to see this one. It was really interesting and made me feel like I'm a borderline hoarder. Could I throw out my piles of cross stitch magazines w/o looking thru them? NO WAY!!! However I have been eyeing my fabric stash and thinking abt how much more space I would have if I'd only get rid of the bins of fabric that haven't been touched in a couple of years.......That would free up space in the office for my yarn stash that is currently residing in my closet. It may be a walk in closet, but I can't walk in it! It's on my list.....

Actual Knitting Content!

I finally decided to take pics of all the knitting projects I have going on. I'm hoping this will motivate me to finish a few of them.

First up, a hat for #1 Son.

I'm using this yarn that I bought specifically for this hat. He approved the yarn and I cast on a couple of days ago. It's a hard color to capture, the above pic is a bit washed out from the direct sun, but you get the idea. While the yarn is a bit squeaky, I REALLY love the colors in it.

Next is a scarf for me.

We don't usually need scarves in this neck of the woods, but last year we had some REALLY cold days and it's pretty sad when a knitter has no hat or scarf to call her own when she shivers from the cold. I'm abt half way done with it using this yarn.

Then we have my always ever present kitty blanket.

I like these blankets because I can use up the fugly acrylic yarn and make something that definitely is needed. With the nights getting cooler, I need to bring the other two blankets to the local shelter.

And then there is my sock.

I'm on the gusset decreases on the 2nd sock so the end is in sight, but UGH this is taking me a long time!!! I started this back in MARCH!!! ~sheesh~

HOWEVER, it is further along than #1 Son's sock that I started at the same time.

No different than the last time I posted abt him. I really like the yarn, it's a self striping and it keeps my attention as I change colors, but again, it's gotten pushed to the side for other projects. Now that it's starting to get cooler, I think my sock knitting mojo will return.

So there you have it. All the knitting projects that have been cast on. I also have another sweater I want to do for Baby Girl, but I want to FINISH something before I cast on for it.

A Double Header

As I mentioned on Sunday, I'm going to try to finish up some projects. I've been working on my Seasonal Fall cross stitch and was SOO hoping to finish it this Fall, but it's just not going to happen. I could probably finish off all the cross stitches, but there is a lot of back stitching that I know I won't be able to get to this season so it's time to put it away and pull out my snowman. Here are my before and after pics of Seasonal Fall before it goes into hibernation.

Before

After


There is a lot more white on the bottom of the After, you just can't see it well in that picture. If I start on my snowman, I'm hoping to have it done before the end of the year.

Today's double header??

I got to attend ceremonies for both a

Terrific Kid

and

Student of the Month

I was a proud mama times TWO!! I brought a hat to work on during downtime, but I should realize by now, I never had downtime at the school.

Stay tuned for some knitting content coming up!