Well, Saturday was a beautiful day here. Despite my sprained ankle, I did manage to get out and enjoy it a little bit. I weeded my garden, planted my zucchini, attempted to mow my lawn, and visited the Garden Art Fair at the Depot. I only managed to get through about 1/4 of my lawn before I realized that it was going to be too much for my ankle and quit. Later that afternoon, my neighbor was out mowing his lawn and asked if I had run out of gas since mine was only partially done. When I explained about my ankle, without even hesitating he said, “Oh! I’ll do it then!” and finished mowing my lawn for me! I have the best neighbors!

Saturday night Ethan got to stay at Grandma’s house so Cliff & I could enjoy an evening out. We went out to dinner and a movie (The Forbidden Kingdom). Dinner was great, as usual and the movie wasn’t bad… I don’t think I’ve seen the inside of a movie theater in over two years! Most of the time if I can get out without Ethan, who I think is still too young for the theater, a movie isn’t worth the money. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE movies. I have hundred’s of DVDs. It just it’s usually worth $30 for tickets and snacks for two people when I can buy it used at Blockbuster for $10 three months later. There are always exceptions to this, of course… certain highly anticipated movies like the new Indiana Jones or the Hobbit I’ll gladly pay full price to go see.

I did get quite a bit of knitting done this weekend. Sunday my knitting group met and I managed to finish the cuff of my second sock. I also am now over half done with a gift I won’t go into details about until after it’s gifted.

Karma

Talk about Karma, I complained that I have nothing to write about on my blog, and the world gives me something.

Last night I decided to go ahead and take the wood paneling out of my family room. The pieces were not unmanageable for one person, though they were a bit big. As I was taking the paneling out to the garage, I misstepped, slipped, or something, heard a “pop,” and next thing I knew I was lying in the sidewalk and my shoe was on the top step of my porch.

My first thought is that I broke my ankle. I crawled into the house and made it to the couch. I had to have Ethan bring me my phone and an ice pack. I called my mom and Cliff, who both rushed right over. Mom took Ethan to her house while Cliff took me to the emergency room. Turns out it isn’t broken, but I sprained it pretty good. I’m not allowed to bear weight on it for two days, but after that it should be no big deal… Hopefully.

It is my right ankle so I can work, but I can’t drive. Why did I have to choose a profession where an injury could make working nearly impossible?

I suspect I'll get a lot of knitting done this week since I won't be going much of anywhere...

Ramblings

It has been a week since I've said anything... probably because there isn't much to say. Last week was pretty uneventful. I managed to get a little bit of knitting done on my sock (I am only 3 pattern repeats into the cuff) and finally got my second March square for the monthly CAL done.

The weather last weekend was completely crazy. There was wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, sun, thunder… You name it; we saw it over the weekend. Since the weather was so unpredictable, it made it impossible to actually get out and DO anything. I was hoping to get in a short hike, but no way.

I did obtain all the supplies to make a swift over the weekend. I’m actually pretty excited about this… When I’m done, I’ll have a wonderful tool that cost me less than $10 rather than the $60+ for a commercial one, plus I will have made it myself! Now I have to find the time to actually build it. I'll be sure to write about the adventure when I get to it.

In my family room I have this lovely wood paneling on two walls. We decided that while the floor is in a state of repair, we might as well redo the walls too. On Sunday I removed all the trim pieces. The paneling is glued on, so it should make a lovely drywall mess when it comes off. Then we'll be in for lots of patching and texturing. And while we're at it, we're doing the floor of the entry too, so next weekend I'll be removing trim there (the new stuff we put in back in September) and pulling up vinyl to expose the hardwood underneath. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Great Weekend!

This was a great weekend. I finished my first sock! It is a bit pointy at the toe, but it fits. Hopefully, I can learn how to fix the toe issue for the second sock, which I have to get started on right away or I'll lose interest.


This weekend, Ethan was at his dad's. Saturday was a beautiful day, so Cliff & I went hiking. We hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain, only about a mile each way, but it was just steep enough that we got a good workout. Here's a photo Cliff took of me at the top:


After our hike up Sugarloaf, we decided to drive to Deming. Apparently Ed had oysters. When we got there, Ed was nowhere to be found, but I did get to meet Cliff's aunt and uncle and see where he grew up. Now, when Cliff said his uncle grew blueberries... I thought he meant he had a couple bushes in his garden but no, he grows them commercially. There were acres and acres of blueberry bushes! We walked down to the river, and I got a couple of photos of Mt. Baker. On our return from the river, we picked mushrooms! I've never picked wild mushrooms (Morels) before but Cliff apparently used to pick them with his mom. They are at his house, waiting to be cooked up.

Ravelraiser 2008

I am in awe. Ravelry, an online community for knitters and crocheters, is the brain child of a couple from Boston, funded mostly by specialized affiliates and advertising. A group of Ravelry users decided to start a fund raiser because a new server was needed to host the database... Ravelry is growing so fast! The goal was to raise $10,000 in the month of April. As of today, April 9, more than $29,000 has been raised. The initial goal was met in a mere 4 days!

This just reaffirms my belief that knitters and crocheters are some of the most generous people out there and that a lot of people doing just a little bit can add up fast. Casey and Jess have worked so hard to create this wonderful resource for knitters and crocheters, they deserve this. Congrats!

Socks and gloves

I've been making great progress on my first sock. My only complaint is that I should have knitted them on 4s rather than 3s. They seem VERY tightly knit. They look like they are going to fit fine and make great house socks. I must remember to get some puffy paint or something similar to put on the soles so I don't slip and fall on my hardwood floors! Turning the heel on a sock is MUCH easier than I expected it to be. Like I've been told many times, just do what the pattern says and don't over think it! Now, here's hoping I don't end up with second sock syndrome.

Now for gloves... Ethan broke the laces on his brand new baseball glove, the one Auntie Casey and Jon got him for his birthday. It came with a ball attached and apparently he wanted them separate. Rather than asking for help, he just pulled it off, breaking the laces. When I told him that he broke it, he was VERY upset, apologized, and started crying. I felt bad, because he didn't even realize he had broken it. I told him I would try to fix it, but I needed the right tools. So now I have to try to find leather lacing that is strong enough and re-lace the fingers of the glove. Hopefully I can do it in time for him to start PeeWee in three weeks.

Unusual BBQ

Last weekend, a friend of Cliff's hosted a BBQ that centered around unusual and exotic meat. He made mini burgers so people could try any of the various meat they dared. The menu included Kobe beef, buffalo, wild boar, ostrich, llama, alligator, antelope, kangaroo, and a few others that I'm sure I forgot. Buffalo and ostrich were two that I'd been curious about so I tried them along with alligator. The buffalo was, not surprisingly, very much like beef. The alligator didn't taste like much, but the texture was not particularly enjoyable...not bad, just nothing special. The ostrich I did not like at all. Cliff claims it is because it was undercooked, but I'm not sure that was the only reason.

One of the women at this BBQ, Kris I believe her name was (I'm horrible with names!) commented on my "My So-Called Scarf" and asked if I had knit it myself. At first I thought, oh no! It looks hand made! It wasn't as bad as that. She is a knitter and we had a lovely conversation about knitting. As I was talking with her about it, she was curious about the stitch pattern and complimented me on how even my stitches are for such a new knitter.

The mind of a child

So, I've been kind of out of commission with a cold this week, but had to share a funny from yesterday. Ethan was playing baseball on the Wii. He pushed the pause button, and the game said, "Time Out!" From my office, I heard him get upset and run out of the room. When I went to find him, he was sitting in his time out chair, very upset! I couldn't help but laugh and though I tried to explain that "Time Out" means pause in baseball, he hasn't played the game since.

Ethan is all signed up for PeeWee Baseball and he is so excited! He loves playing with the plastic T-ball set he got for his birthday (Thanks Jan & Cookie!) and wants to play with other kids. Casey and Jon got him a ball and glove for his birthday, which he is patient waiting to use until practice starts April 30.

On a knitting note, I've started my first pair of socks. I'm trying to be better about working more, which means less knitting time but it calls to me!