Another Day

   We had to go to my cousin's funeral yesterday so, of course,  Fanny had to stay home.  Bad move.  Jeff thought it would have been too long for her to be left sitting in the car and she would be better off at home stretched out on a bed, asleep.  If only she had been.  After the funeral mass, my cousin, Diane, invited us to her house in Frankfort for lunch. One of her friends was a former 'Cornhill girl' and talk turned to old times as she and our 'Cornhill boy', Jeff, remembered what it was like living in that part of Utica 50 years ago.  After the group had dwindled to just family, I asked if Diane had a photo of her parent's wedding.  I was just 2 or 3 years old when they had gotten married and that was probably the 1st wedding/bride I saw up close but I remembered her dress.  My cousin, Phy, was a petite little woman and she wore a ballerina length dress...the only one I've ever seen!  (It's funny sometimes what makes an impression on you when you're a child.)  So, photos were brought out, and then Dean and Jeff got talking about politics and family court and suddenly this 10am funeral had lasted until 2:30pm.  By the time we got home I was a little apprehensive about what Fanny could have done.  She's house trained and I didn't expect any surprises in that area but she tends to collect 'mementos' of Jeff and me while we're out and you can never tell what you'll find in that pile!
   We walked into a totally quiet house...no sign of a dog.  Her water dish which holds 1 qt of  water and was full when we left, was empty.  I walked from room to room but there was no collection in the TV room or parlor, or on my bed.  Suddenly from Jeff's room burst Fanny so excited to see us!  She had to be greeted and patted by both of us before going 
out for a quick pee and then back in to make sure we were really home.  On Jeff's bed there was her collection:  one of my blue Croc's (real ones! not Walmart knockoffs but w/o any chew marks), a chewed on...but just on the end...roll of black electrical tape, an empty roll of TP, and an empty plastic bread bag...that had held about 6 slices of rye bread when we had gone out that morning. (No wonder the water dish was empty!)  And the pillows and blankets of Jeff's bed scrunched up where a dog had napped. Fanny kept her eyes on us for the rest of the day.  And last night while she and I were watching Little Couple on TLC, a mouse ran across the kitchen and Fanny who was laying at my feet turned and looked up at me as if to say 'see what you leave me to cope with'.  I promised to put D-con on the top of today's shopping list so I better get going and do that.
p.s.  Jeff's socks are almost finished...I'm trying to use all the yarn and make the legs as long as I can  

so I haven't cut the yarn and I am working from

both ends of the skein.  He likes long legs on his socks and I'm hoping I can get these socks to be at least 12"...if not longer. Remember, this is using just 1 skein of yarn of at least 465 yds.

p.p.s.  Oh, the folks at the bakery laughed like crazy when we told them today about the empty bread bag...and Jeff says bread crumbs...that we found in his bed when we got home from the funeral.

Winter Vacation Goes On

   The nor'easter did what the weather forecaster said it would do, stay south of us.  We had a gray, overcast morning that brighten into a beautiful blue sky afternoon.  It was cold with a strong wind but NO SNOW!   This afternoon Jeff and I went looking for a gun shop he had found on line in Ilion but all we found was an empty building and house.  Guess they went out-of-business.  Oh, well.  We stopped at the new hardware store in Ilion on the way home and Jeff wandered around starry eyed.  One of the sales girls asked if he needed help and I told her no, Jeff in a hardware store is like one of us in the mall.  She laughed.  I got some gourmet dog biscuits for Fanny before we left.  She's beginning to recognize the parking lot of that store.
   Last week I learned that my cousin Peter Molinaro's mother-in-law had passed away.  They live in Loudonville so I sent a card.  Thursday I learned that my cousin, Phyl, the last 1st cousin on my father's side, had died.  She was...like most of my 1st cousins except Peter and Ed...about 20 years older than me.  She had Alzheimer's and had been at Folt's Home for quite awhile.  My mom always missed not being able to visit with Phyllie anymore.  I guess they can visit now.  Her funeral is Tuesday at St Francis in Herkimer.  I won't try to make Jeff go with me...he doesn't do funerals...but maybe he'll drive me down.
     I got my yarn order from LittleKnits on Thursday and let Jeff pick out which skein he liked.  He choise the Opal Classics Luxurious, a washable wool blend of blues with a streak of white (leaving the green Opal Classics Exciting for me).  Before we went out today I started the socks for him.  And I worked on them again last night, so by the time I went to bed I had half the foot done! (Remember a foot for a sock for Jeff is really a foot/12".)

Half of a sock foot!

The yarn is working up so...luxurious!  I love it!  And I hope I get them finished in the next week because I have got to start knitting more than just baby socks for my stock bag for the shop!
  P.S. 1/24/16:  Well, this afternoon I finished the foot and turned the heel on that 1st sock of this latest pair of socks for Jeff  while Denver and New England kept things interesting on the football field, and Jeff put together a 16-bean soup for tomorrow and a great stir-fry for supper tonight.  (I think that man really wants another pair of socks!!)  I don't know if I can do the entire leg tonight but I'll try.  The 2nd game, Carolina v Arizona, just started so I better get the table cleared off...the dishes can sit in the sink...and get back to his sock. 

Ring Ring

    We got new phones today!  Jeff and I have been talking about replacing our phones long before he moved in last August.  The cordless handheld units don't bounce very well and the 4 unit set I had was dying one unit at a time.  We had started looking at units at Walmart and Radio Shack but they were all 2 or 4 unit sets and we wanted a 3 unit set. (Why would 2 people in a 6 room house need more than 3 units???)  Last week I looked online at both Walmart and Radio Shack's sites and wasn't impressed.  Then  I looked at Best Buy's site and was pleasantly surprised.  They had a VTech 3 unit set on sale for $35.99 and there was no shipping charge!  We talked it over and I ordered the set on Wednesday and started following it's travel path online.  Today we found the box sitting on our door step!  Jeff quickly put the batteries in the units and now the new answering machine with its cordless handheld unit is in the TV room and there is a cordless handheld unit in each of our rooms.  Oh, no more jumping up in the middle of the night to run thru the dark house to answer the phone!! (We probably won't get anymore middle of the night 'wrong numbers' now.)
   Before the shop closed for the season in December the powers that be decided it was time to update our brochure.  New photos were taken and now we're working on the copy.  This morning we've been emailing revisions back and forth trying to come up with a working version.  Hopefully, we did it and our new and improved brochure will be ready for the spring reopening.
   It was also suggested that we keep posting photos of our 'growing stock' to the shop's Facebook page to remind people of what the shop carries.  Well, I can't post anything photo on this PC so I tried to use Jeff's but it didn't work as well as I wanted.  I ended up posting it to Facebook but not to the shop's Facebook page.  I think I'll have to go to the library this week and ask for some help. Oh, well.
   Today the wind is blowing and it's very cold but at least it stopped snowing. It looks like winter now...but that nor'easter isn't suppose to get close to us! 

Thinking Small

   Last night I started knitting for the shop by casting on for a pair of baby socks.  I have to admit that I started to knit for the shop early only because I ran out of sock yarn for Jeff and me. (My washable wool socks are almost finished and I'm waiting for a shipment from LittleKnits which I think is shipped from the Pacific Northwest and will take awhile to get here.)  I know I only sold 6 pairs of baby sock last season but that was because I never took the time to make more.  Baby socks don't take very long...or very much yarn...to make but they are very hard on the index finger of my left hand.  It ends up looking...and feeling...like a pin cushion!  (A US 0 needle will do that.)  So with my finger wrapped in a Tough Strip flexible Band-Aid I cast on with some of the blue/green wool blend yarn left over from my socks.  By the end of the evening, the 1st sock was finished...and cute!  This morning I finished the 2nd sock and started another baby sock with a cotton and acrylic blend in a red-pink-orange ombre. 

Baby Socks
Washable wool on the left
Cotton/acrylic blend on the right

(Why I have 2 122yd skeins of that I don't know.  Maybe I was going to make myself a pair of socks out of it, too.)  I took the time to go through the sock yarn box and found enough white, yellow and jade in cotton blends to make baby socks out of each.  I think the white and yellow will have a little lace trim...wonder if there's any pink in there?  There was enough yarn in wool, cotton and you-name-it blends left over from other socks to make more, too, but it all depends on how long it takes my LittleKnits order to get here.

Wool Sock Weather

   Everyone will agree that's it's been wool sock weather lately so I think I got Jeff's Christmas present finished on time...even if it was today.  Actually the socks would have been finished in time for Christmas if the yarn had had enough yardage in each skein.  Patons Kroy Socks FX while weighing

Jeff's socks...finished at last!

50 grams, has only 166 yds in each skein...and that's not enough for a sock for Jeff.  I had to order another skein and watch online as it made it's way from Kentucky to Indiana to New Jersey to Syracuse before arriving in our mailbox yesterday. (Not exactly the most direct route.  And it was USPS!)   I started yesterday afternoon and got the necessary 4 1/2" added to the leg of the 1st sock before bed.  And today I finished the 2nd sock.  I even toyed with the idea of ripping it out and starting over because the stripes didn't quite match but when I mentioned it to Jeff, he said not to.  He wasn't going to be wearing the socks so people could see the stripes didn't exactly match. (Actually he said, don't because he wouldn't be wearing them on his ears where anyone could see them.) I'm glad coz I really didn't want to.  Instead I cast on for socks for me with a washable wool blend from DarnGood Yarn.

My sock OTN

  I'd like to get them finished before the sock yarn I ordered from LittleKnits gets here sometime next week.  One of my knit sibs from the chat group KnitTalk on Yahoo pointed out that there was a great sale on sock yarn going on right now.  I checked it out and sent in an order.  I hope I'll be able to knit another pair of socks for both Jeff and me before my winter vacation is over and I have to start knitting for the shop.

Time to Move Furniture

   I decided this morning that it was time to move furniture.  Yesterday we got new light bulbs for the bathroom and the LED light was too bright...it lite up the bathroom (showed how much in need of a good cleaning it was), the hall and my room, shining right in my face in bed.  I did not like that.  Last night I slept with the sheet tented over my face! And Fanny slept at the other end of the bed! (If I had know that's all it took to turn her around....) Anyway, this morning I started moving furniture but since everything just fits in there, things have to move in a circular motion, little by little around the room until things are where you want them.  Every thing was going ok until the top of the (empty) hutch started to sway and toppled over on to the bed.  I screamed and Fanny ran barking to hide in Jeff's room, all accompanied by the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.  By the time Jeff arrived on the scene I was in tears...over a  square red florist vase that didn't survive the move. Jeff was yelling and Fanny was still hiding. He took over moving furniture and everything was soon put in its new place. Not exactly where I wanted it but there is order in the room, again.  And the room got a nice unexpected cleaning, too.  Now I've just got to dust the furniture  and make the bed.  And the light from the bathroom will no longer shine in my face.
   I finally finished my mittens last night. 

My Mittens are on the bottom

They're a washable wool blend from Classic Elite Yarns called Liberty Wool and long overdue!  I've got the pair I want to use as a gift done, too, except for working in the ends on those. I'm not too crazy about the ombres but the worsted weight worked up very nice. And Jeff's 2nd sock is about ready for the heel turning!  I had to order another skein of yarn to make the legs long enough to suit him and I've been tracking it online.  This morning the site said it was in Syracuse so I figured the yarn would be delivered tomorrow but it was in my mailbox today!  Guess I know what I'll be working on today.  Hey, they were suppose to be a Christmas present so I better get them done quick!  Then I can finally make myself a pair of socks before I start knitting for the shop.  Maybe working on spring colors will help to make the winter go faster?

What I Did on My Winter Vacation

     I have enjoyed these 2 weeks of winter vacation very much, accomplishing very little except reading all most of the Royal Spyness Mysteries by Rhys Bowen, watching all of last year's episodes of The Little Couple on TLC, going out to lunch with Jeff, visiting his sister in Utica, running into my cousin's grandson in Walmart and ending with a visit from Jeff's brother and nephew today.  My car finally returned from the repair shop late today with new brakes...it's been there since 12/28. (The long delay was because parts had to be ordered from Subaru and the back seat had to be removed before the brake line could be replaced.  Oh, yeah, and the mechanic is allergic to dogs and had to keep taking his meds to work in my car.  He said there was enough white dog hair under the back seat to build a rabbit!) 
   I've got a pair of mittens for me almost finished and could finish the job tomorrow if there's a good football game on.  I ordered the skein of sock yarn I need to make the legs of Jeff's socks the length he likes.  It was shipped yesterday and I think I'll find it in the mailbox on Tuesday or Wednesday so I better get my mittens done so I can work on his socks!
   Jeff's cutting wood again trying to fill up the new woodshed while we're burning wood from the old shed.  We're managing to keep the house warm during the day without the furnace running all the time, too.  When we went to Utica this week, Jeff bought a case (that's 40 lbs) of boneless/skinless chicken breasts at Chanatry's and we're canning about half of it.  Hamburg was only $2.88/lb there so we got 5 lbs of that, too.  We both wish we had a market like Chanatry's in Herkimer.
   We stopped at the Pro Bass Shop in Riverside on the way home from Utica, too, and since they let you bring your dog into the store, Fanny went in with us.  She walked on lead with Jeff and behaved very well, no barks or growls, or "oops" on the floor.  She wasn't too excited about people bending over to say hello to her but she behaved very well.  So well that when we stopped at Burger King to get something for to eat, Fanny got chicken nuggets as a treat!
   I guess I've goofed off enough and I should start knitting for the shop.  Maybe knitting spring sweaters and hats will make Spring get here faster?  Nay, I don't think so.

Brr, It's Cold Outside!

    It was cold...single digits today but Jeff had errands to run and Fanny needed dog food so we went out this afternoon.  I don't care how much warmer it's suppose to be tomorrow, I'm not going any where!  I want to finish the mittens I've got started and maybe start socks for me.  Besides sitting by the fire is a lot more comfortable than getting in and out of the car...even if one of the stops is at the library.  And, TLC is running a Little Couple marathon tomorrow bringing everyone up to date before starting the new season tomorrow night.  (And I didn't see the last couple of episodes of last season so they'll be new to me!!)      
    I'm impressed by the amount of knitting many of my knitting sibs at KnitTalk@yahoogroups.com did last year for family, friends and charity.  From April to December, all I do is knit for the shop and while I produced quite a bit, if I say so myself, there isn't much 'just' knitting I do.  My mom and I use to knit for the shop together and it was a lot easier to keep the shelves full with 2 of us knitting than me alone!  (This is just one of the times I miss her.) This past year I really tried to produce and today I went thru my monthly statements to see how I had done, counting what had sold, and coming up with 102 toddler hats (40 baseball, 36 flower, 8 apples, 14 pumpkins, 2 Santa and 2 Ms Santa), 10 baby sweater and hat sets, 2 skirt and sweater sets, 10 toddler sweater and hat sets including 3 Yankee pinstripe sets, 7 toddler hoodies, 5 girls' shrugs, 10 pairs of socks (4 ladies/6 baby) and 2 bibs. (No wonder my hands hurt some times!)  I had 4 hoodies, 3 baby sets, 3 shrugs, 1 skirt and sweater set, 2 sweaters, 1 pair of baby socks, 1 bib and 17 hats left over at the end of the season.  I'm going to take the rest of January off...except for working on mittens and socks for Jeff and me...before I start knitting for the shop.  Cooper Country reopens April 8th.
   My job tonight...and tomorrow...is to keep the fire going so I better get back to work.  Maybe I can finish the thumb tonight on the mittens I'm gifting. 

Happy New Year!

      2016...sounds like a scfi location doesn't it?  'the barren waste land' and all but maybe today's snowfall will improve the view from my window.  Hope so. Brown, dead leaves are so...dull.
   The 2nd wood shed is up and ready to be filled and Jeff has been busy cutting wood for it.  I, on the other hand, have been busy burning the wood in the 1st wood shed.  At the rate we're going we should meet in the middle....
   The shop in Cooperstown is closed for the season after a very good Christmas.  We're not sure why but each month sales have been ahead of last year.  Just hope it continues next year. (The shop reopens April 8th.) In the meantime, I get to take a few weeks off...until the beginning of February...and read mystery novels and knit socks and mittens for us. I found the yarn from Darn Good Yarn for my socks in mailbox on Wednesday(12/30).  According to the invoice they had been shipped on Monday 12/28.  I found that a little hard to believe until I looked at the invoice a little more carefully and realized they had been shipped from Schenectady, NY, only 60 miles away. The 50gm balls are a little short on yardage (122yds) so they are definitely not for Jeff. But the colors are great!  Hope I like they way it knits up!
  We celebrated New Year's Eve by going out to lunch at our favorite diner, Belly Busters on State St in Herkimer, stopping at the libraries (Herkimer & Ilion) and going grocery shopping.  Last night was quiet...not much excitement out here in the little woods, nothing good on TV, and but since we both had picked up books, we were content.  Met in the kitchen at midnight getting snacks, then back to our books.  We must be getting old. 
   This morning I want to watch the Rose Parade and knit. Got to finish my mittens and start my socks! Hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve and enjoys a great year ahead!