Christmas 2019

   Christmas has come and gone for another year.  My cousin, Ed, and Jeff's sister, Sherry, joined us for Christmas dinner this year.  We did a pork loin on the Ronco with baked potatoes (in the microwave), gravy and green beans.  I even made baking powder biscuits!  For dessert I had made a sugar-free chocolate pudding pie and a sugar-free cake.  Ed went the other route and brought petite-fours and frosted brownies...definitely not sugar free!...for dessert.  Everything was delicious!!  Can't beat the Ronco for doing a piece of meat.  We put a dry rub on it the night before and left it in the refrigerator in a plastic bag over night.  Never had a roast been so tender and flavorful!  Jeff did the green beans...he calls them 'fried' actually you saute them in olive oil and butter and seasoned with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper.  I'm not sure if he didn't put in a jigger or two of hot sauce, too.  Anyway, he opened 2 cans and they all went!  
    Dinner was suppose to be at 1-1:30 but we couldn't find all the leaves for the table.  Years ago, Dad and I had measured and cut 4 pine boards and he had drilled and put in holes and pegs to create the leaf system.  (In those days it was nothing to have 25 people or more here for Christmas Eve dinner!!)  I even had numbered the sides of the leaves (1-1,1-2, 2-3, 3-4) so we could save time putting it together!  This year we couldn't find leaf #1 and while #2, 3 and 4 fit together they would not stay put in the table because the pegs that fit into the table were in the missing leaf #1!  Finally, we just gave up and put them all away and used the table without and leaves.(There were only 4 of us so while it was cozy it wasn't that crowded!!) But the time we wasted trying to get the leaves to fit...I forgot to start the Ronco at noon so we ate a little later than we had planned...but it all worked out ok.
    Sherry went home a little after 4 pm so she wouldn't have to drive after dark but Ed stayed and we talked.  He's sold his house in E Herkimer and now lives in Sherwood Acres.  It's been a change he's still getting use to but he likes it.  It's got me thinking about all the stuff (read: junk) I've collected over the years,  what Jeff brought with him and what we've accumulated since his arrival and I'm thinking maybe we should start downsizing and not wait until it's just one of us left to do it.  We'll have to wait and see.  Jeff is a bit of a hoarder...worse than me with yarn...and I'm sure it will be difficult to get him to part with any of the old computer monitors, keyboards...just look around our living room!!
  I did get the hat that I was doing for 

Sherry finished in time.  I used Red Heart's  'with Love' in Metallic Blue on US 7's.  The pattern, A Lady's Hat by Nurcan Kaya, that I found on Ravelry called for a larger needle but Sherry prefers a snug hat.  And that's a braid not a cable around the hat with the button holding the ends together.  For Ed I made a pair of socks

using Paton's Kroy sock yarn in 'Route 66'.  It made up rather nicely, too.
(I also got a shawl/scarf finished for Maggie with Red Heart's 'with Love' in Metallic Pewter using Liz Abinante' Saroyan, another pattern I found on Ravelry.  I had it all ready to take to the Post Office to mail to her on Christmas Eve when she stopped her on the way home from her husband's PT at Little Falls Hospital.)
   Before Ed left, Zoey started playing tag with her friend, a mouse.  They'd chase each other around the TV room but never let the other one get closer than touch.  Then they'd sit and stare at each other for a few minutes and then the race was on again!  It went on for over half an hour!!  It was so cute...and sweet...and funny.  Zoey never got closer to the mouse than to kiss it's head or ass depending on which way the mouse was heading.  Suddenly it was over and the mouse headed back into it's hiding place and Zoey jumped up on a chair and went to sleep.
   Saturday Ed and I went to Cooperstown to unload my display in the shop.  The ride was nice, no snow or ice on the road...or on the hills along the way, either!  I was disappointed with my December sales in the shop so we had a lot of stock to bring home.  The parking lot of Doubleday Field is still a muddy mess!  It was dug up to replace water and electrical lines as part of the $$ renovation of Doubleday Field and won't get it repaved until Spring.  While we got new stairs up to the shop and a 
and a new wall along the big parking lot, our flower bed took a direct hit.  I don't think it will be as nice as usual next year.  And we still have to have a new railing installed.   After we finished in the shop I took Ed over to the Doubleday Cafe on Main St for lunch.  It was crowded...lots of tourists...but we got lucky and didn't have to wait long for a table.  Jeff was waiting for us at home with coffee to hear about the trip.  Now I've just got to find someplace to put all that stock until next April.  
   Last night I was working on Jeff's

Christmas socks...yes, Christmas 2019 but I was close!...and was ready to do the heel on the 2nd sock when the power went out.  There was no sense in trying to knit by flashlight and it was almost 10 pm so I just took my pills and went to bed...and the dogs went with me!  The power came back on in about an hour and woke me up because the lamp by my chair as still on and the clock on the night table started flashing!  I got up and took care of them...and the flashing clock on the stove in the kitchen...and then went back to bed.  The power went out twice more during the night and I got up to let the dogs out and stop the clocks from flashing around 5 am.  We all went back to bed after that!  You've got to remember when the power goes out around here it means no heat, water or lights so bed was the warmest place in the house...especially with 2 dogs!  Zoey even crawled under the blankets for while!!
   Jeff's got PT this afternoon...not that he's looking forward to it.  His range of motion has improved but the pain hasn't lessened.  He was evaluated last week and the recommendation was for another course of PT.  We've got to stop at the grocery store on the way home, too, and I've got a movie overdue at the library.  (I've got 12 books waiting for me at Ilion Library, too!  How do I get so many of what I order to come in at once??)  It's been raining steady all night and day but most of the ice and snow is gone.  There isn't much snow in the forecast for the next week, either.  
    I ordered some more sock yarn...this time from JoAnn Fabrics...so I can finally make myself a pair.  Ed got a pair for Christmas, and Jeff got his birthday socks...due in March but finished in December, and another pair I found that I had started for him besides these I'm doing now so the next pair is for ME!!  I usually order sock yarn from Mary Maxim but the last couple of times the color runs in the 2 skeins that were suppose to match haven't.  The socks I'm finishing now had a couple of yards of yarn wound around the skein...like an after thought...just to get the weight up to where it should be?  I ordered the same label yarn, Paton's Kroy, but this time from JoAnn Fabrics.  Let's see if it's the yarn or if Mary Maxim had gotten bad skeins.  Oh, I also joined KnitCrate, a yarn club.  Once a month they send a box with enough yarn to make...in my case a pair of socks...Sock Crate.  But I think merino and baby alpaca is too good/nice/soft to be walked all over so I'm planning to use my first skein, a beautiful green called Garland, for a shawl.  I've already found several patterns that call for only 400 yds of yarn...the amount that's in that skein.  Photo to follow!!
   Now it's time for Jeff's PT!!

Jeff's Birthday Socks...A Little Late!

   Yesterday I finally finished the 1st sock of a pair I was making for Jeff's birthday last March 1st when I suddenly put it away.   It sat unfinished in my stash

 for months!  When I pulled it out yesterday and started working on it again I couldn't remember why I had done it until I pulled out the 2nd skein.  See, Jeff wears a size US 12 shoe and is about 6'3".  It takes an entire skein of sock yarn to make 1 sock so I always buy 2 skeins...that way I'm sure the numbers match and the self-patterning/striping will.  Well, these 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Sock yarn in Sunburst did not match.  Oh, the numbers did, and the name did but the colorways didn't.  At first I thought one skein had been wound up backwards so I rewound it.  Nope, the colorways still didn't come anywhere near matching.  All I can figure out is that the machine operator started to wind one of those skeins in a different place in the colorway.  Jeff said who cares?  My feet will be in my shoes!  Well, I care!  I like my wild and crazy patterned socks to match!  The only way I can get this pair to do that is to 'cut and paste' the colorway but since I had about 2" left over after I BO I'm not doing to try that!
   To make matters worse, I was later going thru my stash looking for something when I came across another pair of unfinished socks I had been working on for Jeff.  These were done with Patons Kroy FX sock yarn in Chambray and 1 sock was still on the needles!  (THAT'S where those 2 short circulars were!!)  This time the colorway was different.  The blue gray in the 1st skein...and sock...had changed to blue brown in the 2nd! Again, he said So What?  In fact, Kroy FX is his favorite sock yarn and he was thrilled to get another pair especially since they discontinued that yarn.  
   I am so disappointed with Patons Kroy sock yarn right now that I don't know if I'll continue to buy it.  I've got another pair of socks in Sweet Stripes I'm doing for a friend that are coming out a match and I have 2 skeins each of Landscape Stripes and Route 66 that are going to be socks for Jeff and me that I have my fingers crossed over.   But after that I'm going to have to decide if I want to continue to chance getting matchable skeins or switch to another sock yarn.  I just joined KnitCrates...or rather SockCrates...so I'll wait and see how that yarn is.  There isn't a yarn shop anywhere near me so I have to order yarn and take chances.  Patons Kroy Sock yarn was always so reliable.

Jeff 13 Mice 0

    Jeff got a couple more mice yesterday and 2 more overnight.  I sure hope that wipes out at least 2 nests.  A mouse nest has an average of 6-8 inhabitants and he's gotten 13 so far!  I know there are at least 2 still alive but their days are numbered.
    It was another of those gray, damp, chilly winter days yesterday but with rain instead snow.  My body knew something was coming because I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep last night...kept tossing and turning.  I knew it was bad when Fanny, the Australian Cattledog/mix sighed deeply, got up off the bed next to me and jumped into the armchair at the foot of the bed.  She stayed there for a couple of hours...until she was sure I had fallen asleep?  I remember looking at the bedside clock at 2:40 am and then it was suddenly blinking at me!  I must have fallen asleep (at last) and the power had gone out.  When it came back on, the clock started blinking wildly!  After I realized what was happening I managed to turn on the light and reset the clock...my cell phone in it's charger said it was 3:45 am.    I decided a quick trip to the bathroom was probably a good idea then and when I got into the hall realized something in the kitchen was blinking, too!  Turned out to be the clock on the stove!  Got it reset and finally made it back to bed around 4 am.  Fell back to sleep quickly and the next thing I knew the phone was ringing!  It was 8:30 am!  A telemarketer!  I not too graciously nor ladylike told her what I thought of her calling at that time and hung up.  Two more telemarketers called after that...about 45 minutes apart...but I had given up and gotten up.  Jeff was up by then and both dogs had been let out and brought back in but that hadn't stopped Zoey from 'going' on the TV room floor.  (At least she picks the room with vinyl flooring instead of hardwood.)  Today's weather turned out to be about the same as yesterday so I layered up before we headed out for Jeff's PT...scheduled for 2 pm.  We stopped at the car dealer on the highway across from the florist on our way past because we both saw Subaru's(different ones) in the lot.  We stopped again on the way home and got the details.  It looks like we may end up buying a used Outback (my preference) or Forester (Jeff's preference) if they can find us one and we can make a deal.  Their mechanic also rebuilds Subaru's so that's probably where we could get the best deal  for ours.  We told them we weren't really in a hurry...just by Spring!
   I took a sock I was making for Jeff's birthday (March 1st) with me to work on while he was in PT.  Got plenty of questions and

comments about it.  Got quite a bit of it done, too!  I'm about ready to turn the heel and start on the leg.  Jeff likes wearing wool socks...wears them all year...and really needs some new ones.  (You can darn them only so many times!!)  When I got home today I started looking at online catalogs for sock yarn but couldn't find what I really liked.  Then I found Knitcrate...a monthly club that sells yarn.  I joined and ordered some sock yarn.  If I don't like it...for Jeff...I'll use it for me (I need new socks, too) and the yarn I was going to use for myself will just become another pair of socks for him.  One thing I do have to say about Jeff, he doesn't complain if the colorway of the sock yarn is a little wild.  He always says...his feet are in his shoes...who cares what color his socks are.  That sure gives me a lot of leeway when picking out yarn.  (I do compromise a little and stay away from the purples and pinks and the beaded yarns.) Now let's 
see if I can finish his birthday socks AND make him a pair for Christmas. 

 

Finally Over That Storm!!

   Thanks to Jeff's nephew, Doug, we are finally ready over that last storm and ready for the next one!  He was here yesterday and changed the decks on the Cub Cadet and plowed the long driveway with his truck and plow.  The riders and walk-behind blower do great jobs of removing snow but a truck with a plow has them both beat.  That was the verdict by the 'old men's club' at lunch yesterday.  Jeff had made one of his soups (chicken and sausage) and between what was eaten and what we sent home with Doug, about half the pot was gone!  Not to mention half the cake I had made!  Any way, Wally and Jeff were in awe of Doug for getting his truck and plow for such a great price (The original owner didn't want to pay the mechanic for some work done, so the mechanic kept the truck and sold it...to Doug...for that price!).  Wally kept saying we just have to find a truck that runs.  He doesn't plan to register/insure it, just put a plow on it and only use it to keep the driveway open.  As long as it has a heater that works!!  After opening the berm created by the town plow's in the mouth of the driveway with the walk-behind blower, Jeff agrees.  Wally has peripheral nephropathy in his hands and feet from diabetes and the cold really bothers him.  Jeff is so full of degenerative arthritis most activity hurt him.  A heated, truck cab sounds like a great luxury to those two right about now!
   I told Jeff before Doug got here that I was going to 'hire him' to change our wood stove pipes.  Jeff actually agreed with me without an argument!  (I knew he was hurting then!)  Jeff had had some trouble the last time he changed the outside pipes climbing up the ladder while balancing 5 lengths of stove pipe on his shoulder.  Now he couldn't do it.  His balance is pretty well gone and his shoulders are so full of arthritis it hurts to move his arms.  When I talked to Doug about it, I showed him the chimney from the living room window.  Jeff explained what had to be done and I added we'd get the pipes.  Doug agreed.  Now we just have to get the pipes and call him.  Oh, I am going to love having my wood stove back in operation again.  Knitting on a Sunday afternoon while watching the NFL...that's my idea of a good weekend!!  Today I'll just layer on an afghan!!
Let's see...Baltimore v Buffalo then KC v the Patriots.  I should be able to get a lot of my Christmas knitting done during those games!  

Keeping Up The 'Chooch' Tradition

     Wally cried "Uncle" today and admitted he couldn't get the entire driveway open even on his riding blower.  He really felt the pain he has in his hands and feet from peripheral nephropathy from diabetes when he tried to clear around his garage and house.  He also said he tried to get someone to plow us out but that guy...a friend of his...isn't that reliable and hasn't showed up yet.  Wally suggested Jeff try to knock down the berm that the town plow has created in the mouth of the long driveway.  
   That's what Jeff is doing now...outside trying to open the berm with the walk-behind blower.  If Jeff wasn't low on a couple of Rx's I don't think he'd be out there...at least I hope he wouldn't.  I told him we belong together.  We're what my mom called  'chooches'.   Good-hearted folks who will help others without being asked but have to beg for other to help them.  
   Mom had a glass donkey with a cart where she use to put her earrings at night that she called her 'chooch' cart and always said that if we ever had a

Josie's Chooch Cart

family crest or flag it would have a 'chooch' cart pulling a load of manure on it. I don't see why we couldn't wait until Dougie comes down with his plow on Saturday....  (I really have learned when to keep my mouth shut!   Sometimes!!)  Anyway, I made a packet of potato soup so Jeff will have something hot to eat when he come in and it smells pretty good!  In the meantime I think I'm going to go back to my knitting...if the dogs let me.  Both are barking up a storm and Zoey keeps running from window to window to try and see where Jeff is!  I tried that but I can't see him or the arc of snow from the blower.
   Well, Jeff got the berm cleared out but the effort did a number on him.  He is really going to need PT on Tuesday.

Still Snowed-In!

      That snowstorm on Sunday left us about 13" of snow in the driveway and it's still there.  Wally cleared around his house and garage and that's all!  Our Cub Cadet is still waiting for the decks to be changed...not something Jeff can do right now with his shoulders the way they are...so he thought of using the walk-behind snowblower.  I volunteered to help but thank heavens, Jeff thought better of it and called his nephew, Doug.  Doug has a pickup truck with a plow on it and while he can't come down today, he will be here on Saturday.  We can easily wait til then. 
   I called the clinic and rescheduled the INR that was suppose to be repeated today until Monday.  (I was .2 out of range when I was tested last Wednesday.)  The only thing that may have done it was the Chinese seasonings Jeff used a couple of times last week.  The chicken and pork chops tasted great but if it pushed me out of range I'd just as soon not eat it.  Jeff was suppose to have PT today, too, but I just called and rescheduled that for next Tuesday.  They'll fit him in for his other session then.
   I talked to my cousin, Ed, last night.  The closing on his house had been postponed by the storm, too.  He doesn't know when that will happen now.  He said he went up to the house yesterday to turn the furnace up a little.  He said it was starting to smell damp and musty inside.  I had promised to lend him my statue of St Joseph to put in the house until the closing but forgot to give it to him on Thanksgiving.  If it doesn't close by Saturday I'm going to call him to come over and get it. 

Baby Norgi by Wendy Johnson

   I've been trying to do a Norwegian ski sweater called 'Baby Norgi' by Wendy Johnson that I found on Ravelry.    I really liked it but finally had to admit defeat.  I got all the patterns right but it just doesn't fit on a raglan-sleeved sweater top. Left too much open spaces.  I ripped it out yesterday and started a 'Flowers and Lace' sweater instead.  Today I'll do the sleeves and start the body.  Maggie was going to stop here after PT on Friday to pick up my stock for the shop but that's out of the question now with our snow-filled driveway.  I really wanted to do this 'Baby Norgi' sweater....  Maybe I'll try it again after I finish the 'Flowers and Lace'.
   I've done 4 Hats for the Library Fence but since they're not going to be delivered this week, I might do a couple more.  I'm using patterns I've been collecting but never had time to try.  Had a bit of trouble with an adult swirled rib watch cap.  The swirled rib worked fine until it was time to decrease the top and then it became a mess so I had to improvise.  Ended up looking pretty good, too.
   Jeff and I have a bet on how long Wally will last snowed in.  I said until he got tired of eating TV dinners.  Jeff doesn't think that will happen.  We'll just have to wait and see until then it's time to get back to knitting!
   Oh, yesterday would have been my cousin Tom Paul's birthday.  We lost Tommy a couple of years ago and he is truly missed...especially this time of year.  Tom and his father (and in the beginning, brother Jerry) would get a Christmas tree for us every year.  It wasn't always a 'perfect' tree but it was always a wonderful Christmas tree.  They'd bring it up and my mom would put out an Italian feast...meatballs, hot peppers...you name it!  Boy, those were the days!  This time of year it's easy...and difficult...to remember those who have left us.  At Thanksgiving my cousin Ed said he never thought it would get so lonely, there were so many people around all the time but....   Tom, you are still loved and greatly missed.😢

Black Friday? Bah! Humbug!!

      Black Friday sales were not up to those from the recent past.  It was still a decent weekend...till the snow storm hit on Sunday...but I didn't sell what I had hoped.  It looks like my display will be well stocked for the rest of the season with just a few admissions.  I've got those 2 Fair Isle hats ready to go and I started a raglan sweater based on the Baby Norgi pattern I saw on Ravelry.  I think I'll keep it to a size 2.  I got stuck on Hat #4 for the Library Fence...really screwed up the pattern...and it was just a spiral rib!  I want to finish that today and do 1 more and then I've got to finish sewing in the lining for the Puppy Helmet and get that in the mail, and finish a pair of socks for a friend THEN I can start my Christmas knitting.  Maybe if we get a couple more days of being snowed in I can get everything finished!!
   That snowstorm produced quite a lot of snow (13") yesterday but not the whole 12-24" that had been forecasted.  Our driveway is full and Wally kept his word and did not snowblow it's entire length.  Jeff hasn't been able to switch decks on the Cub Cadet yet (with his shoulder problem) so the only snowblower we have is a 'walk behind'.  He said he's going to be able to clear between the garage and the house with that without any problems.  (Wally cleared between his garage and his house with his riding blower but did not open up the long driveway.)  I called and rescheduled Jeff's PT so we don't have to go anywhere until Wednesday.  Maybe the garbage truck will make a wide enough track tomorrow so we can get out after him.  I just hope it doesn't get stuck!!
    I think I'll have another cup of coffee and find some lunch.  Maybe I'll make some Oatmeal Squares before I start this afternoon's activities (knitting).  It looks very pretty outside but not very inviting!