A Full Day

   I was scheduled to work half a day in the shop yesterday so I was one of those lucky ones who got to drive in the downpour yesterday morning.  It rained so hard going south on Rte 28 I could hardly see in front of me.  Good thing there wasn't much traffic coz I was barely moving up the hill!  I think I may have hit 45mph!!  Then, when I got past the Jordanville Rd the rain stopped suddenly.  I just drove out of it!!  And it was dry and almost sunny the rest of the way to Cooperstown.  Strange weather.  But, remember what they say about the northeast, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change.
   Cooperstown was busy but not hopping!  It took all morning to get a good sale...and of course, it wasn't anything of mine. But some nice people came in including a 3yr boy with his mom who were on their way to the farmer's market to celebrate his birthday with a special treat.  Mom decided to stop and let him pick out a wooden truck, and then he picked one out for his little brother, too.  Couldn't tell which truck made him happier his or the one for his brother!   I asked if I could offer him a treat from our Trick or Treat jar before lowering the glass pumpkin down to his level.  The idea of picking out a Reese's cup really thrilled him.  I think he was having a very good birthday.
   I took several hats to fill up my display...owls and penguins...but I couldn't take any photos because my camera needed to be charged.  Seems I grabbed the wrong cord the other day when I tried to charge it and it didn't work.  Gotta get rid of that cord!!  I ended up doing 3 penguin hats (2 baby and 1 child) to add a little winter variety to my display.  Anita and Elma liked them...hope some customers do!  I didn't get my sweaters finished so it looks like I'll have to go down this week and put them up.  I'm not scheduled to work until Nov. 15th and that's a long time with empty shelves!!
   Several other crafters stopped in during the morning.  Debb was there to restock her hand-carved wooded pieces and I got to meet her daughter.  Then Anita came in, too.  I had promised to make her an Owl hat and she came in to try it on.  It fit and she liked it and we decided to trade rather than do cash for it.  I got a very nice pair of earrings with real carnelian stones in them.  I also heard about her adventures with their new mattress.  She's got to be careful getting out of that bed...it's a little high and she's fallen out once already.  Then Elma came in and she was my 'other half' so I could go home. I hope sales got better as the day went on.
   When I got home after an mostly uneventful ride...just a lot of deer sightings and some strange fog hanging over the Valley when I came down the hill into Mohawk...Jeff wanted to go pick up his new PC at Walmart.  He had put an Acer on layaway last week and decided to get it now.  He spent most of last night setting it up.  I kept hearing '#*@!*' coming from his room at regular intervals along with the beeps of the PC starting up.  Fanny got me up once during the night to go outside and Jeff was using this PC because his was still downloading some program or other.   Jeff and I stopped at Burger King for a really late lunch after we got his new PC (I got Fanny some chicken nuggets as a treat, actually, that was her dinner...cut up and mixed in with some kibble...she enjoyed it) so there was no supper to fix last night.  I put on a pot of coffee
when we got home, Jeff started to set up his PC and I played on this one for awhile.  I think I gave up and went to bed by 8pm.  Eventho I don't mind working in the shop, the trip to and from Cooperstown is starting to get to me...especially when the weather is 'interesting'.

SNOW...NO! IT"S TOO EARLY!

  Good thing Jeff decided to refit the chimney pipe for the woodstove yesterday.  We woke up to snow this

morning.  Not heavy...just the wet stuff.  The forecast is for  'light snow changing to a winter mix'.  Fun, huh?
Can't wait until he finishes cleaning the stove inside and lights a fire.  It will make a big difference in the temperature in this house. 
   This is one piece of
pipe he replaced.  He 
thought we could have gotten by this winter with this before he opened the pipe and saw the crack.  By the time he worked the pipe free the crack had become this hole!  This pipe led from the double walled pipe that goes thru the wall to the T that goes up and is the chimney. The double walled pipe was fine, no rust or cracks.  Jeff thinks the cap on the T needs more drainage holes.
   While Jeff was working outside, I was cleaning
the TV room around the stove...the windows (curtains got taken down and washed) and frames were washed and the walls dusted.  The floors got swept and vacuumed several times.  And the rugs...well, they're as clean as they'll ever be.  (Remember, we live in the country without sidewalks so lots of stuff gets tracked in.)  I have to do half the room at a time because there is too much furniture to move it all at once.  Most of the chairs are still piled up in front of the couch...only Jeff's chair was put back in place when he got up during the night and watched TV...and covered with old sheets.  That's the only way I can protect my yarn basket!   This morning he's finishing cleaning the stove pipes and firebox from inside the house and then I'll sweep the room again and finally dust the tables, TV and shelves...more or less. Ah, this is one task I do not like doing BUT I do enjoy the wood heat!!

  

Gotta Keep Knitting

   Today was an adventure in automotive expenses. 
   I had an appointment with my mechanic to have 2 new tires installed on my 2009 Subaru Forester.  Jeff and I had talked about it with Dave and we came to the conclusion it didn't pay to have a car that would go thru just about any road condition if you didn't have good tires, so we agreed to order a pair of mid-priced tires thru Dave.  Today was the day to have them installed.  Jeff also pointed out that I needed back brakes, too.  OK, I said, while you have it up in the air, you might as well do an oil change, too.   We took the car down to Dave yesterday afternoon because today was also the day the new chimney pipe was going to be installed on the woodstove. More on that tomorrow...complete with photos!

  About 10am Dave called to say that he had a deal for us.  By mistake his distributor had delivered 4 high-end studded winter tires to him and they would fit my car...if I wanted them.  I could have all 4 for the same price as the 2 all season-tires I had ordered.  I woke Jeff up and he nixed the idea.  He doesn't like stuffed tires for several reasons...you have to have another set of tires for summer use, he didn't think they'd do me any good and he saw a really bad accident once where a stud flew loose and killed a child...so we passed up on the offer.  Dave also told me that the brakes were worse than
he first thought and I needed new rotors and calipers in the front and back.  This was going to get more expensive than I had planned.  I told him I wasn't planning on front and back brakes and he said 'not to worry'.
   That turned out to be the motto for the day.  The total at the mechanics came to over $1000.00 and while I was able to pay half today he kept saying 'don't worry'.  Unfortunately, I am.  I hate unexpected bills.  I hope I can pay it off next month.  Gotta keep knitting!!

New Hat...a Penguin!

How about a new hat idea?

More Owls

     I'm having fun making Owl hats!  Here are the latest 3 I've finished.  I've added a frame of cables around them, too.  I like they way they stand out against the colored backgrounds, too.  Ok, that's enough with the birds on hats.  It's back to sweaters.

Getting Ready for Winter

      I went to the shop yesterday morning to restock pumpkin hats and my Snow Owl hat and Fanny went with me and I stopped and got treats for everyone on the way back.  (Chocolate glazed donuts for Jeff and chicken nuggets for Fanny) and I swear it was snowing up on Rte 28 by the Jordanville Rd!!  When I got home it was just raining lightly and Jeff was ready to go shopping.  He had decided it was time to

re-fit the pipe to the woodstove instead of

thru a house fire when he lived in Gray the first time that destroyed everything!  They were lucky to get out alive.)  He checked the pipe and it probably would last another year but why take the chance, he asked?  So yesterday afternoon we went shopping for a length of double walled stove pipe.  Lowe's has always had it but when Jeff...and the guy he talked with there...couldn't find it on the shelf, Jeff wanted to check out the other places in the Valley who had stove pipe before ordering it.  We went to Ace Hardware in Ilion, Farm and Tractor and Collis Hardware both in Herkimer before trying Lowe's again before ordering the pipe.  This time the Lowe's guy we talked to looked things up on their computer and found out that there were suppose to be 6 sections of that pipe in the store.  Jeff and the Lowe's Man went back to the display and actually found it!  We had our double walled stove pipe and a few extra pieces and were all set.

just cleaning it before lighting the first fire of the season.  I think the section of pipe that goes

thru the wall gives Jeff
nightmares.  (He lived 
   When we got home, Wally met us in the driveway to let us know the electricity was out.  That meant  no lights, TV, PC, water or heat (especially with the stove pipe in the back of the car!!!).  After a few minutes it dawned on us that it also meant no supper since we have an electric stove.  Jeff suggested we go out to supper.  I said yes, of course...hey, that made 2 nights in a row!  (A new record...we had gone out for fish fry at Fat Cats Friday night.)  We checked out the new Italian Feast that has replaced our favorite Belly Busters Diner in the old Dandy Donuts.  It has an all-you-can-eat buffet and has just opened.  We walked in and looked around.  The buffet didn't appeal to either one of us so we left and went to the Knight Spot in Frankfort.  I had a covered meatball sandwich with a side order of greens and Jeff had a huge hamburger with real onion rings.  We both ate well.  We stopped at Stony's on the way home to leave a bag of hot peppers and tomatoes from the garden and when we got home the electricity was back on!  I made a pot of coffee and one of us turned on the PC and the other the TV.   I cut up the section of sandwich I had brought home for Fanny and she was happy to have it in her supper.  It was a cold, wet, black night and I was glad to be home.  I just wished the stove pipe was up where it belonged and not in the back of the Forester.  

Giveaways

   I've been having so much fun lately entering contests to try and win yarn...as if I don't have enough already!  Today I signed up for a chance for some French Vanilla Superfine Bulky yarn by Zen Yarn Garden, some Universal Yarn from Jimmy Bean Wool, Connect the Dots Puzzle yarn from Premier yarn, Bonsai Lana Boucle Yarn from the
Brown Sheep Co. and The Downton Abby Yarn Collection.  As you can see from the titles of the yarns they are all different and not what I'm use to using.  But with the season winding down I'm looking forward to doing some recreational knitting...not just baby sweaters and hats...and these 5 groups of yarn appealed to me.  Hope I win something!  Until then, it's back to a size 1 raglan from the neck down sweater....

OWLS

 I have been inspired to knit owls.  It's strange what inspires me.  It's been owls this weekend.  There are a lot of owl patterns out there, I guess.  Anyway I decided it was time to put owls on a sweater and got a skein of Red Heart Warm Brown and 3 flat wooded buttons and started a size 1 pullover with a Henley front.  Those size 1's go fast and I had the sleeves finished before I knew it.  (Well, not really, it took 1 day to do the yoke and sleeves, but that's still pretty fast!)  Before I reattached the yarn to start the body of the sweater I remembered to thread on my beads for the owls' eyes.  I still had 2 or 3 old-fashion flimsy metal threaders that I got when I did the Hogwarts Express scarf last month.  I thought I could get away with using them to thread my beads onto my worsted weight acrylic yarn.  Wrong.  The scarf had been done with a washable wood sock weight yarn and was a lot finer.  The threader worked very well pulling it thru the beads.  The heavier acrylic worsted yarn was not so easy to pull thru and I destroyed the last 2 threaders before I saw the dental floss in my bead box and remembered why it was there. Voila. My beads were threaded on my yarn and I finished the sweater working in the owls and placing their eyes  were they belong.  I really like the way the sweater finished up...and Jeff says these owls actually remind him of owls (an improvement over what he thought about the owls on the scarf but we won't go there.)  I used all the brown yarn and

then switched to white yarn and did a Snow owl hat.  I'm ready to mail the hats and sweater to Judy and she'll put them in the shop later this week.  Now I have to come up with something to work on.  We have plenty of outside work to do but I like to knit early in the morning and after supper so I better find something.  I'm kind of inspired to do some more knitting with beads.  I saw an interesting scarf with a beaded design worked in...but I'm not sure where I saw it.  I know I saved it...but where....

Judy got the package yesterday and took the sweater and hats to the shop this morning.  Cheryl, who was working, had seen the photos here and on Facebook and thought they even looked better in person...hat/sweater?  Anyway, Judy took them over to her hairdresser's and got another wave of approval from the ladies who were there this morning.  Somewhere along the way another color suggestion (gray) was offered and I went shopping for gray yarn.  All Walmart had on the shelves were pewter and dark heather so I went online when I got back home and ordered some soft gray, really a silver, from JoAnn Fabrics.  Should have it by Monday.  In the meantime, I think I'll try to do a couple of Christmas stockings for the shop. 10-13-16

How Memories are made

Add caption

   One of the members of the shop makes fantastic teddy bears and some of the best ones are from re-cycled clothing/blankets/etc. , and since I decided it was time to do something with my mom's wedding dress...a velvet gown she made herself for her 1948 wedding...(and kept in the cedar chest ever since...I think I asked once when I was in college and could still fit into the gown if I could wear it for Halloween and she said no.)I decided it was time to have the gown made into a bear.  Brenda...the crafter...called it 'vintage'...and asked if I had something to trim the bear.  Couldn't find her veil but I found Dad's bow tie!  Then I was texting Brenda and talking to another friend and decided to look for something to she could use to make a vest for the bear to wear and be decorated with those
covered buttons that run
down the gowns back.  Well, I looked in the cedar chest again and this time found the raspberry silk shantung dress that Mom wore when she was matron of honor for her sister.  So I'm going to have a beautiful memory bear by Brenda Petty made out of my mom's velvet wedding gown wearing a vest of raspberry silk shantung made from the matron of honor's dress from my aunt's...and godmother... wedding...and wearing the bowtie from my father's wedding tux.  And that sure beats letting everything stay in the cedar chest and rot.

Living With A Dog...and A Man

    I worked in the shop in Cooperstown yesterday leaving the man and his best friend home together.  When I got back home after 6pm both were happy to see me and all seemed well.  After supper...subs that I picked up on the way thru Herkimer...I noticed a small pile of dog food on the floor under the table so I asked Jeff about it.  He said he never noticed it but he had given Fanny a scooper of dry food before he went to town during the afternoon when she didn't want to go with him.  I swept it up and started looking around.  I asked him if he had finished the loaf of bread that had been on the table when I left.  He groaned and suggested I check his bed.  Fanny (who had done it before) had taken the loaf of bread to bed with her...along with the empty Styrofoam tray that had held the veal cutlets we had Friday night for supper and had been in the garbage but was now washed...licked clean by a dog(?), a new hard rubber toy with the hangtag still attached that had been on the counter and a half empty one pound package of chopped walnuts, that had also been on the counter.  (She left the bag of dog treats untouched.)  I've never heard of a dog eating

walnuts.  She did not get sick (thank God!) but did spread some of the nuts around a little.  And no, she did not eat any of the bread.  I guess walnuts and veal juice/blood may be appetizing to a dog but Italian bread didn't sound good.  Anyway, Jeff and Fanny stayed on opposite sides of the house last night and this morning she was still avoiding him. 
There is never a dull moment around here.
p.s.  My TracPhone is still working but the screen isn't showing anything except a big blank.  I called home from Cooperstown and got thru just fine.

Working in the Shop

   I worked in the shop in Cooperstown today and took a bag of things to finish.  I had to do the embroidery and sew on the buttons for this Black

Sheep sweater.  It's a size 1 done in Red Heart Turqua with lemon yellow trim.  Customers are always surprised to find the black sheep on the back.

    The Flowers and Lace Sweater (below)is a size 1 knit with Red Heart's
Light Purple with Pale Pink Flowers and buttons.

    The baby cloche with rolled brim (below) is also made with Red Heart yarn in purple with a pale pink hand-knit rose.  It fits most 1-2 year olds.

   I also finished working in the loose ends of yarn inside all of these projects.  Many customers enjoy watching the projects take their final form...especially things like the rose which is made in a narrow strip and rolled up.  Having something to work on...and something to talk about with the customers...helps make the day go by.