bionicknitter

A Perfect Sunday

2008-11-23T14:41:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday looked to be a good day - the temperatures dropped and we all were happy hanging near the wood stove.

They kind of look like yin/yang cats, don't they?

When to my great excitement, I learned my friend Teresa and her husband Ken were going to be in the neighborhood! We met at Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee VT, which isn't too far from me. Aren't they a gorgeous couple?

I felt a little, um, short if not well loved!

I hate to tell you I have heels on...

The company was fabulous and lunch was spectacular - Simon Pearce has such great food. Very light and fresh. Go there if you're in the neighborhood!

Simon Pearce is known for its glassware. They had glassblowers on site that day. Amazing to watch him make a simple water goblet - it looked so easy when the artisan did it! There also was a bag piper playing which made the whole afternoon even more festive.

Thanks, Teresa and Ken for a wonderful day!

FOs

2008-11-23T13:53:00.008-05:00

That's "finished objects" to you muggles. Also a few new projects I just started.

This is what I've finished this weekend:

Here are the Falling Leaves socks by Debbie O'Neill. It's a sock of the month club kit from The Knitter - isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Alpaca Sox - soft, soft, soft and it feels great. This is a sock for ME.

I finished two pairs of felted clogs for the menfolk in the family. Here are Hugh's:

And these are Sam's:

I also finished Sam's Red Sox "good juju" socks (which got the Sox only so far this year *sigh*). The yarn is Lorna's Laces Loopy colorway. It's a self-striping yarn - very tiny stripes which I kind of like and Sam loves!

This is a Christmas present for "someone". The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A The yarn is Panda Wool Circus - isn't it gorgeous? Sometimes it's really hard to give away socks I make!

A couple of new projects OTN:

This is the pattern Menehune Cobblestones by my favorite designer, Adrienne Fong The yarn is Malabrigo sock, which I purchased from The Loopy Ewe in St. Louis. Gorgeous, soft yarn. Not sure who the sock will be for - maybe my older son?

This pattern is called Take Flight by Monica Jines - I purchased this pattern and yarn also from The Loopy Ewe (they have such a fun, interesting selection and their customer service can't be beat). The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill - possum. Yes, you read that right - there's actually possum fur spun into the yarn. It's supposed to be really warm, which should be wonderful for our cold winters in New Hampshire.

Tom's are OTN (on the needle):

(sorry about the bad pictures - I clearly need photography lessons!)

Frogged....

2008-11-10T20:26:00.004-05:00

For you muggles (non-knitters), think "rip it rip it". I ripped out the scarf I had partially knit and started it again with a different pattern and larger needles. I changed to size 6 U.S. needles using the Branching Out scarf pattern by Susan Lawrence. The yarn is Noro silk garden sock - it's just gorgeous. It's such an addicting pattern and yarn "just one more row".

I'm making this for Miss Linda, teacher of the deaf extraordinaire. I hope she likes it!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-08T19:29:00.004-05:00

I give you HazMat man and a Goth? Or perhaps emo? Heck, I don't know! Oh - they're "Joe the HazMat Man" and "Joe the Emo" - that's it! :-)

Logan and Tom ready to head out for a Halloween party. I still have black stuff in my tub!

I have a few works in process - nothing finished but I'm expecting that to change anytime now.

I'm on a felted clogs kick right now. I'm making them for the "man cave" - what could be better than a comfy man cave with warm clogs?

This is a generic "for the basket" pair made of Patons Merino wool. The pair is finished but for taking a dip in the washing machine to be felted:

Here's a better picture of the clogs as they're being made - the colors are better in this picture:

These are Sam's - one is finished and I've started on the second. Sam is really into orange and navy right now.

I'm making this scarf for the fabulous Miss Linda - the boys' teacher of the deaf. It's pretty hard to say thank you enough for all she's done for all of us.

Check out this yarn!

2008-10-26T11:37:00.006-04:00

It's called PolarKnit, which I purchased at The Loopy Ewe. Such a fun place to shop - they have an incredible, unusual selection of all things yarny.

It's such a cool yarn - very thick and knits up super fast. Here's the start of Sam's hat:

I started it this morning using size 10 needles (I cast-on with size 11s) and knitted for maybe 1/2 hour to get to this point.

The colorway is Mermaid; each ball is about 55 yards or so and it's made of 100% polyester fleece. I'm guessing I'll use three balls for this project. It's so much fun to work with and best of all, will be wonderfully warm this winter for Sam.

I'm adding onto this post this evening to say the hat is FINISHED! Talk about a fast knit. Here's Sam modeling his new hat:

Cute, isn't he *cough cough*.

Family Conference

2008-10-26T08:40:00.005-04:00

We were lucky enough to get to attend a conference this week at Clarke School for the Deaf. They do a yearly mainstreaming conference - this year was the first year that the whole family got to attend. The boys went off to "Making Connections" which is a track designed for teens with hearing loss in the mainstream. They had a blast meeting new friends and seeing old ones (which includes the conference organizers). The height of their day and ours was getting to see comedienne Kathy Buckley. Wow - what an amazing woman. And did I say how funny she is? Kathy is hard of hearing but wasn't diagnosed with her hearing loss until she was 8 years old. I listened to her alternating between laughing so hard I cried and crying because parts of her story just about break your heart. It's safe to say she ruined my make-up that day. You should check her out. She's so inspirational.

Here's a picture of the boys with Kathy - I won't tell you what she told them all to say when smiling for the camera! Aren't all three of them just gorgeous?

John Anderson is one of our favorite people. He grew up hard of hearing then lost the rest of his hearing as an adult and was one of the first to receive a cochlear implant. John is Clarke's adjustment counselor - such a great guy!

Hugh and I got to volunteer with the conference which was a lot of fun - I haven't done that before. It was fun catching up with old friends at Clarke as well as moms of other teens who now are buddies. It was wonderful being there for all of us - as usual!

The Pioneer Valley, where Clarke is located, is one of our favorite areas. It's located in western Mass and is home of Webs which I didn't get to visit. *sniff* I really need more yarn too. We went to the Holyoke Mall on the way home - I swear our whole town could fit in that mall! It's a little overwhelming.

I did knit all along the way - no new projects but making progress on several which is good. The holidays are approaching!

Go Sox!

2008-10-19T12:01:00.002-04:00

This is what the morning looks like after a late Sox game...

Fall!

2008-10-18T11:03:00.004-04:00

You can tell it's really fall - the leaves are just gorgeous this year. Last night we had our first hard freeze. It's funny the way the leaves all fall off of this tree in our backyard all at once. I don't know what the tree is, but here's what greeted us this morning:

Another way is that the cats get really snuggly. Nothing like a warm cat on a chilly morning!

I've been busy with projects, as usual. I started this week another Debbie O'Neill pattern called Autumn Leaves in Classic Elite Alpaca Sock - very soft yarn!

I'm also making a hat for my nephew, Joshua that I started this week. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted weight - it's the softest yarn I think I've ever used!

The pattern is Mighty Mitts and Flap Caps by Cottage Creations. I also made this pattern for my boys, both using Malabrigo worsted.

I also made a flap cap for our newest nephew, Jonah using Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair yarn. It's way too fun (and tempting) to have GMS down the road a ways!

I'll be making Jonah and Joshua's brother (Justin) a flap cap too. Flap cap central!

We're off to a football game today - perfect weather for it.

2008-10-11T11:22:00.004-04:00

I figured since I was updating Ravelry, I should share a couple of my latest projects. This is the latest offering from theknitter.com's luxury sock of the month club. The pattern is Licorice Twist by Debbie O'Neill - isn't it gorgeous? I particularly love the cuff - very fun to knit and kind of different.

The yarn is Dream in Color - Smooshy. It's a little thicker fingering weight but will be so warm and lovely! I think the fall colors are great and go well with our burning bush in the front yard.

Every year a group of us Sox Knitters on Ravelry knit "good juju" socks to cheer the Red Sox on. Here's this year's offering - so far, so good. We believe the formula this year is (1) me knitting the socks; (2) my colleague Peter going to the game; and (3) my other colleague Holly's cat (Shebu). Oh - we're NOT superstitious!

This is my plain vanilla sock knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock stripes in the Loopy colorway. I got the yarn from The Loopy Ewe What a fun shop! These socks are for my younger son.

I've been making hats! My friend Beth (Ms. Baseball Knitter) told me about Malabrigo yarn - heaven! It's SO soft and the colors are gorgeous. Here are flap caps I knit for Tom and for Sam. Both in Malabrigo worsted weight. The pattern is a Cottage Creations design - Mighty Mitts and Flap Caps.

Happy fall!

Resurrecting the blog - if only for brownie points

2008-10-08T21:20:00.005-04:00

My buddy, Adrienne is having a 100th post contest on her blog

She'll be giving away Socks that Rock Yarn - which is heavenly. If you join her contest, let her know the Bionic Knitter sent you! Another friend, Debi, told me about the contest.

Another yarn contest!

2008-03-07T21:11:00.002-05:00

A fellow New Hampshire knitter - NH Knitting Mama - is having a contest to spotlight her Etsy yarn shop. She has the most beautiful yarn! Her shop is HERE

For info on the contest, check our blog blog at http://nhknittingmama.blogspot.com/2008/03/pms-contest.html

Have a look - don't drool too much! I'm thinking pumpkin spice has my name on it...

Yarn contest!

2008-01-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

Now that I have your attention...

Adrienne is having a contest - it's a yarn giveaway! Just go to her website here to read all about it.

Free yarn - does it get any better?

Wash Day

2008-01-20T15:27:00.000-05:00

You can never have too many pairs of handmade socks - it's laundry day! Nice to have a wood stove to hasten drying.

It occurred to me that I've finished up or started more socks.

This pattern is A Little Twisted Socks by Debbie O'Neill for The Knitter's SOTM club. The yarn is Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in Eggplant colorway. The leg was somewhat complicated - LOTS of cables - but the sock I thought turned out really well.

Ta dah! Here are the finished Maze socks from Sensational Knitted Socks vol. 1.

The charcoal color is Regia silk and the offwhite color is Dale of Norway Baby Ull. It's knitted on size 0 (2.00 mm) needles. The leg pattern was FUN - mosaic looks so complicated but really isn't. The feet were very tedious... Hugh loves them!

Speaking of Regia silk, this pattern is for my older son. The pattern is Snicket. I'm done with the first leg. Once I figured out how to cable without a needle, it was much, much easier.

I'm making another pair of Jaywalker socks. This is Regia yarn, colorway is Nation Color #5399 - isn't it fun?

I'm loving the big stripes and what the chevron pattern of Jaywalkers does to it.

Lastly, here is Tea Time - another design by the wonderful Adrienne Fong. This is another mosaic knit, using Meilenweit colors #1334 & #1335. It's going together really fast. I'm loving this design - and wondering what black with a self-striping yarn would look like in another pair?

Off to cheer on the Pats!

Projects for the December and January

2008-01-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

I am SO behind on blogging - so I'm starting on projects I've completed and have in progress, then we'll talk about the holidays (fun!) - I'll get there!

With the holidays I've been busy knitting for family and friends. I made these socks for Uncle Steve - this striped design always reminds me of him and the colors he likes. It's my own design and made with Regia mini-Ringel. The self-striping pattern is really fun to knit with!

The luxury sock of the month club offering from the Knitter was my cup of tea! It's an Adrienne Fong design - what could be better? The pattern is called Zen Garden and the yarn is by Claudia Handpaints and is also called Zen Garden - specially designed for the SOTM club. With apologies to Mike Myers, it was like knitting with butter! So, so soft and wonderful to knit with.

Among my other Christmas treats was this beautiful yarn from Adrienne - I tested knitted a sock for her and she sent me this beautiful yarn by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, home of Socks that Rock yarn. The colorway is Xmas Rock. Isn't it gorgeous?! I had such fun knitting these socks (for me, me, me!). It's another Adrienne design called Crazy over You - very fun pattern and it knits up fast.

In terms of *ahem!* stash exhancing, I just bought some beads from Earth Faire and then noticed they had Apple Pie yarn which I've been wanting to try, thanks to positive recommendations from Baseball Knitter. She's right - it does smell good! Not like apples though. DS 2 has already claimed the yellow yarn for himself. This should keep me out of trouble for at least a little while... Aren't they beautiful beads? I can't wait to knit with them!

I *finally* finished the socks I was knitting for DH! I started the first one last March at taekwondo winter camp in Maine. I loved knitting the mosaic pattern for the leg of the sock but the alternating dark/light in the foot was just plain tedious! This sock is from the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, the pattern is called Maze. The dark yarn is Regia silk - charcoal, the offwhite is Dale of Norway Baby Ull. Soft, soft yarn - if I did this pattern again I'd do the foot as plain stockinette and NOT do the alternating colors again.

This is a picture of the sock in progress - I promise there are two! I'll take a picture soon with the laundry hunk modeling them.

It's time to knit!

TaeKwonDo Demo

2007-11-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

For Tom and Sam's second degree black belt project, they decided to organize our school's participation at the Headrest Action Fair. They had an information booth about their TaeKwonDo school and did two demos. it went really well!

This is Steve, Hugh, Tom, and Sam setting up the booth:

Tom and Jack warming up. Thanks to Jack's mom for working the booth as well!

Sam and Sawyer, both of whom are black belts "warming up" Alex. I'm amazed Alex didn't keel over!

This is Henry being Henry - such a cutie! Thanks to Henry's dad for manning the booth as well.

Here's a picture of the whole group during the demo, doing kiban. From left to right starting with the front row - Tom, Sam, Sawyer, Alex, Marwan. Back row: Derek, Owen, Jonas, Henry and Jack.

The younger belts doing their kiban - Owen, Jonas, Henry, and Jack

Black belt poomse (forms) - Tom, Sam, Sawyer. Sawyer is a poom (under 13) black belt so his belt is black and red. That will change to all-black when he turns 13 next year.

Paddle drills are so much fun!

Breaking is fun and impressive!

Tom demonstrating his sword kiban

Here's a group shot - front row is Owen, Jonas, Marwan, Alex, Henry, and Jack; back row is Derek, Sawyer, Mr. Hopkins, Sam, and Tom.

A special thanks to Mr. Emerson and Ms. Fearon for coming and helping with the table and taking pictures. And of course to Uncle Steve (Mr. Hopkins) for help from beginning to end.

It was a fun day...

November projects

2007-11-25T13:04:00.000-05:00

I've been busy this month with projects - as usual. I've been working on holiday presents and others.

I LOVE these candy cane socks! It's a free pattern called Ruggles Candy Cane Socks. They are working up fast as it's knit with DK yarn on larger needles. The yarn is Plymouth Encore DK - it's very soft and the socks will be nice and toasty warm!

I'm making this dressy scarf for the boys' audiologist, the wonderful Stella. It's pretty hard to say how much we appreciate all she does for us.

The Green Monster socks are finally finished! I started these in - yup! - October as a knitalong (KAL) with others to cheer on the Boston Red Sox. Our good juju obviously is what made the difference. I made these socks for my favorite 13 year old Red Sox fan - Sam. The pattern is Jaywalkers by Grumperina. I used Opal Prisma yarn on 2.25 mm needles. The trick to successful fitting Jaywalkers is to make them bigger than you'd think necessary. I made the larger size and they fit Sam quite well - they're not too tight at the heel.

The October SOTM club offering is this lovely sock - A Little Twisted Sock. The yarn is Soft Sea Wool by Reynolds. It's a thicker yarn as well and is making up nicely. It should be a warm pair of socks!

I finished a scarf for my partner in crime at work, Nicole. She wanted it in Panda wool but since I'd be knitting a scarf in fingering yarn until the next century, I found the colors that (I hope) she likes and made them into this scarf. The pattern is Nana's 91st Birthday Scarf - it was a really easy, fun pattern to knit.

Lastly, I'm making felted clogs (it's a Fibertrends pattern by Bev Galaskas) for holiday presents. Here's a (giant) before picture of a pair that is destined for felting for a friend. The yarn is Jojoland Rhythm, colorway M28. I've not felted with it before so hope I have a happy ending to report in a week or so.

IHappy holidays, everyone!

Giving Thanks

2007-11-25T12:50:00.000-05:00

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. When you live far away from your family, you make your own - we are so thankful for our friends. First, there's Ethan

Ethan's greatest desire is a place of prominence on our blog - your wish is my command!

Tom and Sam both helped a bunch this year. Tom helped Hugh with the turkey, which, per tradition, Hugh smokes in the Weber grill. It's fabulous! Hugh also smoked a couple of Cornish hens.

This is the hungry kids waiting for dinner - Sam, Ethan, Tom, Gabe, and Oren plus Susan, Dean, Tom, and Jane in the background.

Here are the adults - minus Dean - at the table - from left to right Tom, Susan, me, Steve, Jane and Hugh.

And here's a picture of some of the spread!

We are thankful that you all could share this special day with us.

October projects - finished and in progress

2007-10-15T13:06:00.000-04:00

I'm now part of Ravelry - woo hoo! It's a kind of knitting/ handcraft community that's very fun. I've been posting new projects there but realized I need to do them here for folks who haven't yet seen the light that is knitting.

I've been busy! I just finished the luxury sock of the month club offering from The Knitter - aren't they lovely? I hope you can see the design of the sock. The pattern is called Scattered Leaves. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill supersocke merino in a color that was made especially for this sock club. I wish I could describe how wonderful the socks feel made up - very soft but substantial.

As always, I have a few works in progress. This first is made from Opal Neon yarn, the pattern is called Tidal Wave. I'm LOVING the colors in this yarn! I have one sock finished and have started on sock #2.

This is the Embossed Leaves pattern that everyone and their - er - sister is knitting so I hate to sound like I'm a member of the flock but what can you do? Isn't this pattern gorgeous? I have a wee confession to make. I received this month's SOTM club offering from The Knitter - loved the yarn and like the pattern but it's not one I think I would wear. The yarn "spoke" to me and really wanted to be in this pattern and so it will be. The pattern is from the book "Favorite Socks" by Interweave. The designer is Mona Schmidt. The yarn is Sandnes Garn Sisu #7133 - man, I love the seafoam color!

This is sock #1 - it knitting up really fast.

And now I bring to you - tah dah! - Ruth Sorenson's Kauni sweater. This is another pattern that many people seem to be working on right now. I think it's lovely! This will be a cardigan sweater for me. The yarn is Kauni rainbow and it's completely addictive. Each time I'm knitting I think I'll put the knitting down and then think "oh, let's see what the next color will be" and I continue.

This one might take awhile - but it's so much fun to make.

Last month I showed you the socks I knitted for Sam. Here are Tom's socks made with Patons Classic Wool Merino yarn in the Camoflage colorway (zzzzz on the colorway - not what I would have chosen!). The pattern is my own simple design of K3, P1. Tom really loves them so I guess that's what matters.

Apple Butter

2007-10-07T18:45:00.001-04:00

So what do you do with ALL the apples you've picked? Why, make apple butter, of course! It's something we always had growing up in West Virginia so a number of years ago, I decided to try my hand. It's an easy recipe, it mostly takes time and patience. Here are the steps:

First, you need to peel the apples. I peeled 15 lbs today (I tripled my recipe - it's what my pot can handle!).

Next, you combine the peeled, cored, and quartered apples with spices and apple cider.

This is what it looks like with all the spices added. Mirm - no need for a Yankee candle today! It makes the whole house smell like heaven. Or at least like fall!

Once the mixture has cooked down to the desired consistency, you pack it into canning jars. I generally use pint jars - it's a nice size for gift-giving.

Once in the jars and sealed with lids and rings, process in a water bath for at least 10 minutes, then check as the jars are removed from the water bath to make sure they've sealed (if you hear a "pop" noise and can't push the lid down, it's sealed).

Here's the final product!

Here's the recipe:

5 lbs of apples (I weigh them before peeling and coring)
2 C apple cider - boil the cider separately until it's reduced by half
4 C sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg

It's fabulous, if I do say so myself!

Columbus weekend

2007-10-07T16:46:00.000-04:00

It's been such a glorious, fall weekend! Just exactly what fall should be, especially today. The temps are in the mid-60s and there's not a cloud in the sky. This past week was Sam's birthday as well as mine. One thing we always do is go apple picking - usually at Poverty Lane Orchards.

I've never seen so many apples on their trees as this year! You literally could stand in one place and pick nearly a bag. So fun -so yummy!

After picking apples, we drove to New London, NH - Sam had a soccer game.

We had to get to the game early so he could warm up, as is usual. So *I* snuck away and found a yarn shop! Imagine ME finding a yarn shop! It's called - of all things - Yarn of New London. I came away a happy girl with a fatter stash. Very nice owner - her name is Leslie. We both shared tips with each other - very fun!

We had dinner at the Flying Goose in New London with Sawyer's family. We've been there before - excellent food, lovely atmosphere.

All in all, a wonderful birthday-day for Sam and birthday week for me!

Happy birthday, Sam!

2007-10-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, Sam - I can't believe you're a teenager now!

It seems like yesterday, you were a cute, little guy

But now you're such an accomplished baseball player

Martial artist

Not to mention a juggler and good all around guy.

And you were nearly MY birthday present! The best ever...

Love,
Mom

End of the Summer fun

2007-09-09T12:27:00.000-04:00

On Labor Day weekend, we went to a Fisher Cats baseball game. They're a AA minor league team, an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. We bravely took friends of the boys - so we had a van full o' guys! Here are Tom, Charlie and Kitch- such quiet little things:

Then Hugh, Sam, and Jay (the real baseball fans in the group):

And me and my current sock (this is the Online sock using a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks).

The Fisher Cats ended up winning in the game in extra innings (it went 11 innings). THEN we were treated to the most spectacular fireworks display! We got home at 1:00 a.m. but it was so worth it.

Uncle Steve, who is our family third degree black belt, organized a taekwondo demo as part of a United Way fair on Saturday the 8th. Steve's explaining to the group about taekwondo and what's going to happen. I like this shot of Steve and all the kids who participated: Tom (black belt), Alex (high red belt), Sawyer (junior black belt), Sam (junior black belt), Derk (high green belt) and Marwan (green belt)

I now introduce you to my flying boys!

And finally, Sam's flying sidekick over dad-as-speedbump

In spite of the heat, it was a really fun day and fun event.

Lake George

2007-09-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

We took a mini-vacation to Lake George NY last month. I can't believe we've lived here for so long and not gone. Lake George is fairly close (not more than 3 hours away) and such a fun place.

The first night, we ate at a fun restaurant that overlooks the lake.

In the evening, we toured downtown Lake George. It was a fun place, if not a tourist trap! Here are the guys with Frankenstein at the wax museum.

We seemed to play our share of mini golf. They are marketing geniuses there. If you get a hole in one on the last hole, you win a free game. The first night, Hugh got a hole in one on the last hole so we had to go back the next night. Sam got a hole in one the next night - we're holding onto that free pass for the next time we go.

The next day, Uncle Steve joined us and we went to the Great Escape, which is an amusement park in Lake George.

It's now part of Six Flags and was such a nice park. The weather was cool while we were there, so we didn't do any of the water park but wow, did they have rollercoasters!

Sam rode his first ever "real" rollercoaster.

The Boomerang backed up and then let loose and went upside down! See if you can spot Tom, Sam, and Uncle Steve

We then elected for a tamer ride

Then back to rollercoasters! This is the Nightmare rollercoaster with Tom peeping out in the back seat

It was such a fun park and such a fun day.

Where might a carload of 3 people who were born in West Virginia gravitate towards?

We had dinner there after the Great Escape and breakfast the next morning. It's run by an Italian father and his daughter. The daughter - and golly her name escapes me - was just great. She's a professional musician and entertainer. In the evening, she is also Elmo - she dresses up as Elmo to entertain the kids at the restaurant. She also teaches drumming in NYC. The dad was just great. At breakfast, all of a sudden he appeared with a bullhorn while playing a song from the 50s. He walked around the room asking for guesses on who sang the song - Steve finally guessed Bobby Darin and won his breakfast! The restaurant had the best eggplant parmesan I think I've ever had ever. We definitely will go back when we visit Lake George again.

As is our custom, we meandered home rather than taking the most direct route. We drove north on the west side of the lake - the views of the lake with the Adirondack Mountains in the back was breathtaking! We stopped for a picnic lunch in Bolton's Landing NY, right on the lake. They have a beautiful public park with a playground and turkey-stealing seagulls!

We then drove through Ticonderoga NY hoping to be able to catch the ferry over Lake Champlain back into Vermont - and we did!

Of course Tom and Sam being Tom and Sam LOVED this sign!

Note Sam trying to jump off the ferry...

They sold apples on the ferry too - delicious Macintosh apples from an orchard near Lake Champlain in Vermont.

We had a wonderful few days! We definitely will go back - if for nothing else, to cash in on our mini-golf game.

Projects finished and in progress

2007-09-09T11:05:00.000-04:00

I'm still a blog slacker! Oh well, I blame it on a busy life.

I still don't think I can show you the socks I test knit for Adrienne - I finished those. They are for my buddy, Kris. She's had more ups and downs this month than anyone should. Her sweet kitty passed away so was going to give these to her to make her feel better (nothing to make you feel better than a pair of handmade socks!). But she now has a wonderful new job and a beautiful new kitten named Nora - yay, Kris! So at some point... I'm in the process of blocking them so I can mail them to her.

Speaking of Adrienne, she designed the August Sock of the Month Club offering for theknitter.com They knit up so fast and were so much fun - intricate enough to be interesting but not so it drove you nuts. And the yarn is devine! It's Panda Wool, the colorway is Circus. I've finished both socks now - here's a picture with the first done and the second in progress.

I really love the way the yarn colors pooled - I'm pretty sure my socks won't look like anyone else's. The yarn is so soft - I can't wait to wear them!

I started and finished a pair of socks for Sam when we traveled to Lake George NY last month. He wanted a pair of warm socks. These are knitted using Patons Merino Wool - the design (as simple as it is) is my own. The pattern is a k3, p1 repeat.

Here are the socks:

And here's Sam modeling them:

You can see the k3, p1 pattern when he wears them. As fast as he's growing, I'm sure they'll be mine in no time!

I have a similar pair for son Tom OTN - in "lovely" camo colors, and also the luxury SOTM offering from theknitter.com as well. Oh, and also the Online socks (nearly finished) and another pair. So many projects... The last two are the second sock - no SSS for me! Since son Sam made the "A" team in soccer, I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of sports/knitting opportunities.

August and July Projects

2007-08-13T20:45:00.000-04:00

I've been busily knitting - I know that's a big surprise to most of you! Here are some finished projects:

This is the luxury sock of the month club offering from The Knitter As always, Judy has such wonderful patterns and yarns. Judy designed this one herself - it's fairly simple (a cable each fourth row). The design lets the yarn do the talking. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in a colorway called Chocolate Raspberry - yummy, no? I was a little distressed - dweeb that I am - to have "fraternal" socks (aka socks that don't quite match) but others assured me that this is normal for this particular yarn. I love the way the socks feel when I wear them.

Speaking of Judy, this is the July SOTM club offering. The yarn is - I think - Sockotta (I've managed to lose the band from the yarn). It's a cotton blend and it was SO fun to knit! I knitted a bunch during the allstar games so these socks will remind me of then.

And here's the Knitter's June SOTM club offering - so patriotic! It's a design by Adrienne Fong called Betsy. It's knitted using Regia yarn.

I also finished the pieces for a cable sweater by Tahki Stacy Charles using Bunny Print yarn. I haven't sewed it together yet (that's for a cool, inside day) but I'm pleased with it

I have one sock finished with a really complicated pattern below called Fanning the Flames Socks. The pattern is a modular design - each triangle is knit either by itself or by picking up a row of stitches from the last triangles. It's pretty complicated but once I got started, I have the hang of it. The yarn is a new to me yarn - by Seacoast Handpaint My LYS (that's local yarn shop to you muggles) carries it. The woman who owns Seacoast Handpaint lives in NH and is a Dartmouth grad - what's not to like? The colorway for this yarn is Joyful. It's a lovely yarn to work with and I love the way it's working up with these socks.

(the heel looks better IRL = in real life - I need a pair of sock blockers!).

I'm working on the toe of the second sock of this pair. Oh - this pattern is a toe-up pattern which is new to me.

Based on Colin's suggestion (he's on a couple of knitting listserves I'm on), I got a skein of Online and LOVE it! It's another cotton blend and it working up nicely in this chevron pattern from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. I'm trying a different heel for this sock - each time I try to learn something different. The sock is showing off my new-to-me "walk around"knitting bag. It's perfect for socks!

I started the second sock just yesterday.

I'm so pleased that Adrienne asked me to be a test knitter! I was so thrilled that she asked me. As you know, Adrienne is my favorite sock designer so I feel like I've hit a new peak in sock knitting. I can't tell you more about it since I'm sworn to secrecy. Suffice to say it's just gorgeous. It's been a lot of fun for me to see how it all unfolds. Not unlike testing software!

I'm also tackling the infamous Kauni sweater. Take a look at the finished product here. Isn't it beautiful? It's not as difficult as it looks - you're only knitting with two colors at any given time. I'm about halfway up the body of the sweater. The biggest challenge so far has been unwinding the giant hanks. Oh, and sitting with all that wool on my lap when it's been so hot.

Off to knit!

I am here...

2007-08-13T10:19:00.001-04:00

So I am here:

And Hugh is here (he manages the fitness center):

and our children are here!

tough, eh? And I ask you - is this fair?!

Packing for two kids to go to camp for two weeks is a big job. The cats were pretty psyched - they were sure they were going to get to go!

We managed to move the cats from the suitcases and are ready to go to camp!

Camp is only about 40 minutes away. When we arrived there, we helped get both guys settled in their cabins.

Sam's is B-6 (or B-Sick as they are calling themselves - gotta love camp life!). Sam has a buddy, Christian, from last year's camp - they asked to bunk together and are doing that.

Tom's in one close to him with 2 kids he knows from school (and likes a bunch).

The lake at the camp is just beautiful. The camp now owns all the land around the lake which is great for the campers.

An artist is painting a mural of the camp that will hand in the dining hall - isn't it gorgeous?

We had our annual picnic by the lake and then said our goodbyes

They are there for two weeks. We've had two letters from Sam, one, that was one sentence long, from Tom so we know they're happy and having a blast, which is what I really cared about. We told the guys we'd cry the whole time they were gone - right! We did forget chapstick. Poor Sam is so fair that he gets chapped really easily and really bad so Hugh ended up taking some down to him. We sure won't forget next year.

We miss the guys but are getting lots done - heh. I wonder if Tom will recognize his room?!

Blueberries

2007-08-13T09:27:00.000-04:00

I read in our local paper that the berry crop this year was really good. So on Saturday, Hugh and I decided to see if that's the case. The boys are at camp for two weeks, so we gathered up some old clothes that they'd outgrown, dropped them off, then headed to the blueberry patch.

We were greeted with a sign that talked about "end of season picking" and we both thought "oh no, we've missed out!". But WOW - not to worry! There were loads and loads of berries.

We picked three buckets full - 9 pounds of berries!

Here's Hugh showing some of our spoils.

Where we pick is a family place - self service. I love what they do with their trees. They also have a treasure hunt for kids.

I already made cobbler - yum!

The Amazing Allstar Team

2007-07-27T20:40:00.000-04:00

At last writing, our guys had won the District 2 north region/Vermont. The next step was playing the winner of District 2/south - a really tough team. The games were played in Shaftsbury VT, versus a tough Manchester VT team. Shaftsbury is 2 hours from where we live (most of the way is NOT interstate either) and in Manchester's back-yard. We were decidedly in a hole too - of the 13 players on the team, we only had 10 since two kids went to camp and one was on vacation. THEN one of our guys broke his collar bone cycling - so we were down to 9 players! I figured we were as good as gone - but what did I know?

What a thrilling tournament it was. We won the first game 5-2 on Sunday afternoon. Hugh and other parents stayed in Bennington VT, Tom and I came home because Tom had Rock Music Camp this week.

The game Monday was a tough, close game - the score was 3-2 (Manchester won). Daniel pitched a beautiful game; their pitcher was excellent.

So it came down on Tuesday's game *gulp*

My SAM pitched. There are few things more difficult than watching your child pitch. It's completely nerve wracking. After two innings, Manchester was ahead 4-0, but then our guys scored three runs to make it 4-3. Manchester came back and scored one more run, then Sam held them AND in the bottom of the 5th inning, we scored 3 more runs so WE WON!!!!

Our guys now are one of four teams playing for the championship in the whole State of Vermont. The first game was tonight. We played Barre, Vermont in Barre (which is a whole lot closer to us - and all interstate). Sam just called to tell me they won again - 9-1. We have at least two more games (the tournament is a double elimination).

And so the Cinderella team moves on...

Sturbridge

2007-07-27T20:15:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, I'm a slacker blogger! We all have been amazingly busy so I'll break things into parts. First, Sturbridge, better known as the Northeast Cochlear Implant Conference. The theme this year was Technology Rocks - it was an excellent get together all the way around. The kids' program was great - both boys met new buddies - and Hugh and I enjoyed our sessions. Sam was a panelist at a break-out session on the last day. He was one of 7 kids (with about 100 people in the audience) and did a great job. I so remember when the boys were young sitting at conferences like that hungry to hear from older kids/young adults/adults who were deaf I think for two reasons. One was reassurance -these folks were happy and doing well so surely my guys would too? I always found we learned so much as well. It's really good to be able to give back.

Here's the panel of kids - aren't they all cute? Sam really enjoyed Kathy and Catherine in particular.

And here's the tatoo that Sam got in Boston:

I was so happy to finally meet my friend, Lydia. Her son was also on the panel - such a cutie and so well spoken. Lydia is as delightful in real life. I also met Cathy and re-met Terri as well. Then of course, there's Jim, Joelle, and Jonah (the "J" family).

I was also a picture-taking slacker but here's a picture of the "J" family with Tom and Sam, minus Jim. It was mid-afternoon and it was time for a nap for Jonah - he's still such a cutie!

It was wonderful to see my buddy, Nell and to finally meet her husband and son (Mike and Mikey - and boy, are they a pair!). Tom and Mikey really hit it off. I'm a complete slacker here but here's a good resemblance of Nell:

Don't ask!

On the way back, we ran into rain that was so hard and heavy - it was unbelievable. We drove out of it fortunately and stopped in Putney, VT and found the 9th wonder of the world - a BBQ place!

It's always a good day when you get BBQ! They have BBQ kitties there - Tom snapped these pictures. The first is Katama, the second is.......... Oreo! I'm sure we thought of that name first!

Baseball, baseball, baseball

2007-07-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

My goodness, we've been breathing, drinking, and eating baseball this weekend! On Friday night, we made the pilgramage down to Manchester NH to see the NH Fisher Cats play baseball. They are the AA affiliate of the Toronto Bluejays (interesting since we're in the Redsox backyard). Hugh made arrangements to have our Little League team recognized and a few of the kids went to the game with their parents. The kids got to go down on the field before the game began and were there when they played the National Anthem. Our guys got to hang with the Fisher Cats' first baseman, Chip Cannon who is VERY tall (6'5"). The Fisher Cats won and we all got our David Ortiz bobbleheads - a good time was had by all!

Here's the team photo that they took:

I got a lot of work done on my Betsy sock, the first sock is finished and I'm well on my way into the second. Great design as usual and very easy to memorize.

On Saturday our guys played the first game of the Allstar tournament. This tournament consists of five teams, all from central Vermont with the exception of our team which is the Connecticut Valley Little League South team. Players on the team are from seven of the eight teams - it promises to be a fun season! We won our first game in five innings 16-6 (we only played five innings because of the 10 run "mercy" rule). Sam's playing third base for the most part but will pitch and catch as well. He did a great job at-bat. He got on base by hitting the first ball pitched to them - that sends a nice message! Sam's batting second in the line-up.

Looky what bloomed at home this week - my peonies!

Our daylilies should be out any time - they're our fourth of July flower.

And - tah dah! - I got my new dining room table and chairs. I love them! Our old table and chairs predated by several years both boys - Tom is 15 next week so you do the math. Here's my favorite baseball coach putting it together.

Today's my last day of vacation - it was a fun week of being with the guys, getting some chores done, playing mini-golf and going to the pool. Back at it tomorrow.

Seawolves win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-29T11:52:00.000-04:00

According to Wikipedia, a Sea Wolf (Anarhichas lupus), also known as the Atlantic wolffish, Atlantic catfish, wolf eel, or sea cat, is a marine fish, the largest of the family Anarhichadidae.

It's also the name of our Little League team - the Hanover Seawolves. We took the name from the minor league team, the Erie Seawolves. I say "our" Little League team since DH Hugh coaches it and DS Sam is a key player. What a season!!! We finished the season with a record of 21-2 and won two tournaments. We're the newly crowned winner of the Connecticut Valley Little League and we also won the Lebanon Three Pitch tournament in May.

What a championship game it was - a come behind victory in the next to last inning!

I love this picture! It was taken by a fellow Seawolves parent - Jim. It's at the start of the game with Hugh giving "high fives" to the team after introductions.

This is the team - note all the trophies! Each kid and coach on the team got their own trophies, we received a larger trophy for winning the Connecticut Valley Little League South championship, the large trophy is for winning the Connecticut Valley Little League championship.

We played the very tall Newberry Knights who were undefeated going into this game. As a reference, note two of their players standing next to Sam - amazing, no?!

And here's Hugh with his three "clutch" hitters - Ryan, Jamison, and David.

Coach Joe (anesthesiologist extraordinaire) gave out "awards" to all the kids after the game. Sam got the coveted "head hunter" award - as the pitcher who hit the most batters during the season! Joe said that Sam was the most feared pitcher in the CVLLS.

Here's Hugh's write-up of the game that appeared in the local newspaper:

In the peptalk before the game, Coach Hugh Mellert quoted the infamous Yogi Berra...."It ain't over til it's over" Yogi-ism.....telling the team that the season was not over until the Championship game was over.

Six Innings later.....The Hanover Seawolves won the Conn. Valley Little League Championship with a come from behind 7-5 victory over the undefeated Newbury (Vt.) Knights. The Knights jumped to an early lead with one run in the first inning, one run in the second inning, and a 2 run homer in the 3rd inning. It felt like it would be a Newbury runaway at that point in the game. But solid pitching by Hanover's ace, Joe Crevero (11 K's in the game) and flawless infield play (6 infield outs in the game), Hanover got the side in order in the 4th and 5th innings.

With the pressure on and the top of the Hanover order coming to bat in the 5th inning and the Newbury starting pitcher off the mound having used up his 85 pitchcount, the Seawolves mounted a 2 out comeback with patient at bats (6 walks in the game) and clutch hits (7 singles in the game - no extra base hits). All 9 batters came to the plate. With the bases loaded after a walk by Nate Choukas and Joe Cravero and a hard hit ground ball by the shortstop from Sam Mellert.....Ryan O'Rourke (#5 hitter) hit a rocket-shot down the line past the third baseman scoring 2 runs. Seawolves down now 4-3. The bases were loaded again with a walk by Chris Washington and the Knights got the second out of the inning on a force play at home off of a slow grounder back to the pitcher by Chris Mueller. Down to the final out of the inning and with the bases loaded and two strikes on the count, Jamison Jodoin (#8 batter) hit a fly that cleared the infield and dropped scoring 2 runs. Seawolves up 5-4. The Seawolves ninth batter, David White, came to the plate and with two outs and two strikes hit the ball over the second baseman's head to drive in 2 runs and ended the inning trying to stretch the single into a double. Seawolves up 7-4. Nine batters....six runs....4 of them with 2 outs!!! Clutch hits and smart base running!!!

In the sixth inning, Newbury scored one run on errors by the Seawolves but the first out came on a groundout to the pitcher,a popup hit high in the air over the head of shortstop Sam Mellert, who ran back and leaped into the air only to have the ball be 2 inches past his glove....out of leftfield came a charging Jamison Jodoin who snagged the ball for the second out as Sam Mellert rolled to the ground.....a Top Ten Play in anyone's book. Joe Cravero struck out the last batter on 6 pitches ending the game with 84 of his 85 pitchcount used up.

Coach Hugh Mellert got a Gatorade Bath and the celebration began as the Seawolves finished the season 21-2. (12-2 in League Play....6-0 in Lebanon 3-Pitch Tournament....3-0 in Conn. Valley Championship Run.)

Like Yogi said....."It ain't over til it's over"

Middle School graduation

2007-06-29T11:24:00.001-04:00

Soooooooooo much has been going on this month! Tom had his graduation ceremony from middle school and prior to that, his 8th grade trip; we've had tons of baseball (which is another post all to itself), it's the start of a new term at the college - busy, busy.

The ceremony was very nice - each kid was introduced by homeroom. They had a lovely slide show that captured the entire school year. Tom was the first picture! Then the power went out - it was very hot in the gym, let me tell you. Instead of diplomas, the kids got t-shirts. My camera wasn't behaving that night but hopefully this captures the shirts (this was taken at the reception after the ceremony).

As always, it was a bittersweet evening. The long-time principal of the middle school is retiring - she's such a wonderful person and has done so much for the school. In keeping with the way she is, she wanted to ceremony to be about the kids and not about her. I wish she'd have waited two years and retired with Sam!

There is always a post-graduation party at the local bowling alley. I helped chaperone - I think my hearing and voice is nearly back to normal now. It was a fun evening. Lots of prizes - and of course bowling is never a bad thing!

During the course of middle school, Tom's become very active in Playback theater. Playback theater was what Tom chose as his volunteer project - it's interactive theater. They visited day care centers, a couple of retirement community and their old elementary school. He's also been involved in drama and an improv group he formed with some friends. Their improv group is called "Not Gum" (don't ask me!) and they're amazingly funny. The most wonderful thing is the group of kids he's gotten to know and become friends with.

Here are a few pictures from Playback Theater:

this is Ethan, who is funny, nice, brilliant AND amazingly talented:

And a couple of group shots:

There were several going away parties for Mike, who's moving to L.A. by way of Russia:

Here's to high school!

June Projects

2007-06-29T10:51:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted - what a busy month it's been! I'll write more on that in another post. But I wanted to bring you up to date on knitting projects. I knitted a couple of pairs of socks for Tom and Sam's learning specialists. They're the folks who pull together all the nuts and bolts of their accomodations - technology, captions, acoustics. We truly couldn't do it without them. Tom's learning specialist this year was Patti, Sam's was Pat. For Patti, I made these socks:

This is the May SOTM (Sock of the Month Club) offering from The Knitter. The yarn is Tofutsies and the pattern was VERY complicated! I frogged it a couple of times.

I made yet another pair of Monkey socks for Pat. I LOVE this pattern! It's so pretty and knits up fast. It looks complicated but isn't but the pattern is complicated enough to keep it interesting. The yarn is a cotton Sockotta yarn - one I've not knitted with before but liked a bunch.

I finished my Lilac socks! I think these are the best pair of socks I've knitted to date. I knitted these on size 0 needles (2.0 mm) using the Panda Wool yarn I won in a contest on Adrienne's blog. Panda Wool is a lovely yarn but the skeins are shorter yardage-wise than some I've knitted with. I had about 3 feet left over when I finished each sock - that's a little close for comfort! Luckily I have small feet.

I have a couple of works in progress. First is Judy's luxury Sock of the Month kit (also from the Knitter). Isn't this gorgeous? The pattern was designed by Judy, herself, and is so pretty but easy to memorize. There's a little cable every fourth row. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Chocolate Raspberry Swirl - I hope my camera catches it!

And this is THIS month's sock of the month club offering. It's called Betsy and is designed by Adrienne Fong - my favorite sock designer! The yarn is Regia - I need to hurry and finish these socks by Wednesday for the fourth of July.

Sam made the allstar team and we're going to a Fisher Cats game this evening so I should get lots of good knitting time -oops, I mean, baseball time - in this weekend!

Knitting Projects

2007-06-06T20:52:00.000-04:00

I've had a productive few weeks knitting. I haven't made any more progress on the Very Boring Vest but I have three pairs of socks OTN (on the needle) and I finished a pair as well.

Tah dah! The pair I finished are the Rainbow socks pattern by Adrienne Fong using Fortissima Colori 1776 colorway. Isn't it fun the way the yarn makes the stars and stripes pattern? Just in time for July 4.

I have two SOTM club offerings from theknitter.com going at the same time. This pattern is called Dayflowers. The lacework is more complicated than many I've done - you sure can't watch the Redsox AND knit this pattern! It's very pretty - knitted using Tofutsies yarn. I'm really liking Tofutsies. It's very soft and easy to knit with.

This sock of the month offering is theknitter.com's "luxury" SOTM club. How could I resist? This is knit using Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn Chocolate Raspberry Truffle which is a custom color for this sock club. The pattern is called Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Shadow Socks and it's designed by Judy Alexander, who owns theknitter.com. It's a cable pattern and very easy but very elegant. It's a bit hard to see the pattern in this picture - as I get closer to finishing, I'll snap a shot outside so you can see the pattern.

I'm also continuing the Lilac socks on two needles.

I had to laugh - when I open my knitting bag everything is pink/maroon/purple colors which is actually unusual for me. I've always leaned towards blue/green/aquas. Change is good!

Big Boy Ears

2007-06-06T20:10:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe it's already June. My older son finishes middle school in another week and a half and goes on his 8th grade trip. There's a fair amount to be done by him between now and then so keeping his nose to the grindstone all the while enduring "senioritis" is quite challenging. The principal at the boys' school is retiring this year - we really wish she'd stay another two years to get Sam through graduation. It's a time of many changes, hellos and goodbyes. One of my older son's best friends is leaving our town. He's Russian and his mother is a visiting faculty member here so they're moving on to Los Angeles. Mike was accepted at the School of the Arts. He's a very talented actor. So while we're sad to see them go it's going to be a wonderful opportunity - and someone to visit when we're in L.A.!

The biggest news this week was our visit by friends who now feel like old friends. Jim, Joelle, and Jonah who are from Pennsylvania. We met through an internet listserve for parents who have kids with cochlear implants. Like my boys, Jonah has two CIs - his "new ear" is actually brand new to him. He's been activated for about a week. Jonah is three and has the most amazing speech and language. When he met Tom for the first time, he checked out Tom's implants and said "You have big boy ears!". That still makes me smile. Tom and I met them for breakfast and then went to Sam's ballgame so they could meet Sam and Hugh. What a wonderful time! Luckily, we'll see them all at a conference next month.

"big boy ears" *grin*

Here's Tom and Jonah - I'm not sure who's happier that they're together. And check out Tom's knees. He earned them! Jonah is a toy car lover - his favorite is Lightning McQueen. Lightning - as we fondly call him - got thrown into every mud puddle at the ballfield that day. And Tom would retrieve him for Jonah.

Here are Jim, Tom, Jonah, and Joelle. It's so very neat to meet people for the first time and feel you've known them all your life. I'm sure we have programming jobs that would be interesting to you, Jim up here.

It's been a "hearing related"kind of week or two. Tom was asked to be part of the grand opening of the new pediatric perioperative services area at our local hospital. Tom was the ideal person to be at the opening since his first cochlear implant surgery was in the adult unit before the pediatric unit existed; his second surgery was in the pediatric area. He was so articulate talking about his experiences in each place and why for a kid/young adult the pediatric area was so much better. He really liked that he got to play with a PSP to pass the time before the second operation! Thanks to David Mc. for these pictures.

Here's Tom talking with Dr. Joe, the director of the unit. He took care of both boys' anesthesia when they had their surgeries. And Dr. Modlin, who's the chair of pediatrics. Dr. Joe is also Coach Joe - he co-coaches Sam's Little League team.

Coach Joe is introducing Tom who did an excellent job speaking. In the background is David, one of the wonderful nurses who took care of the boys during their surgeries.

And here's Tom cutting the ribbon for the new unit! He got to keep the ribbon.

On Sunday, our support group for parents who have kids with hearing loss had a get-together at the local science museum. The boys had a wonderful time and it was fun to see some old friends and to see how big their kids have gotten!

This is Toni, who's the most organized person I've ever met. She coordinates the group, as well as a frillion other things. She also does a mean face plant while sledding.

Oh - we had great food too!

And this is the wonderful Pamela, who is deaf and has been an amazing mentor to my boys. She feels like my daughter (along with Liz). Pamela and Liz both are graduating on Sunday. I know whatever they end up doing, they will do a fabulous job. We'll miss them both so much.

Oh - check out Tom's short hair! Nothing like a hot Saturday to make short hair an attractive thing to have.

Sunday evening, we had dinner at Uncle Steve's house to celebrate his promotion! Tom made him a sailboat in Woodworking. Steve is a griller extraordinaire and actually grilled buffalo! It did NOT taste like chicken, however. Congratulations, Uncle Steve - it's so well deserved.

Since not everyone gets excited about knitting projects (which I don't understand at all!), I'm creating a separate post for them.

The Drive-in

2007-05-28T08:37:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite things to do in the summer - hands down - is going to the drive-in movie. We're really lucky to have several within a half hour from our house. Our favorite - because it's the closest and it's just a great place - is the Fairlee Drive-In. You can also rent a room at the Fairlee Motel - the rooms of the motel look out onto the drive-in!

They still have their original screen, too, as well as speakers. This is Hugh modeling the screen:

And Steve's car modeling the speakers.

The speakers don't always work, so we take "boom boxes" and tune it to the radio station that gets the movie's sound - it works well, especially for our guys given their hearing loss.

One of our favorite activities is getting to the drive-in when it opens and having dinner. Here are Tom and Win chowing down.

and also Hugh and Steve (who's now speaking to me, thanks to some Blackened Voodoo beer)

We love to play badminton before the movie starts, or football or frisbee. Others join in - it's a fun party! I took several pictures of Sam playing badminton but it was too fuzzy... He's too fast!

Oh - we saw the movie the "Meet the Robinsons" which was great!

Author Signing

2007-05-28T08:10:00.001-04:00

I really love the author Carla Neggers. She writes mysteries that always seem to have a love story that's part of them. She tells a great tale - and sets many of her books in New England. She lives locally - over in Vermont - so of course a group of us traveled to Massachusetts to see her for a book signing for her new book, Abandon! It was a wonderful day...

I left my house around 8:15 because I had to stop at my office to get Tom's backpack that he *cough cough* accidently left. Then crossed the river over into Vermont and got on the interstate. I was actually on time for once! So it was funny when Kiri called to say they were running late. That gave me time to stop at the Dunkin' Donuts in Brattleboro for a cup of tea (let me tell you, that Dunkin' is *the* place to be on Saturday morning!), then over to Wally-world to get the two of them. I got to meet Kiri's son Shane who is VERY tall and handsome. Shane and her daughter, Kyna look very much alike - I immediately knew who he must be!

We traded books and boxes for Jacqui's upcoming move, then we were off again to the Olive Garden in Springfield. Kiri very cruelly knitted in the front seat (hey - that's MY job in the front seat!) while Jacqui crocheted. We were only going to be a few minutes late but the directions from the website were SO incredibly bad - we ended up going out of our way about 20 min *sigh*. I know, I know - I'm blonde but really, it WAS their directions and NOT us!

And dang, guys - we didn't go to that ice cream stand we passed when we made the wrong turn!

We met up with our southern New England buddies - Sue, Teresa and Nell at Olive Garden and had the best lunch. It was so great to meet up again. I think it's so neat that we all just pick up where we left off. They secretly were coveting my new bumper stucker "Don't come knockin' if your socks ain't rockin'" that's VERY bright - he he he. I just know I could convert them to knitting. Then off to Pam's paperbacks.

Carla is SO nice and SO funny! And doesn't look at all severe in these photos, do you think *grin*? She was signing with another new author, Linda Cardillo.

Here we all are waiting patiently in line for the signing.

Nell scores! Carla is signing her book. Carla is closest to Nell, and Linda Cardillo is on the right. Linda was handing out wonderful biscotti - yum!

Here's the whole motley crew, in the front Nell, me, Carla, Jacqui, Kiri and LOOMING over us all in the back from l-4, Teresa and Sue. T & S are the tall critters!

After the signing, we traded books from the bookmobile (aka my car) and hit the road a
gain.

On the way home, we stopped at Table and Vine,which has wines at a great price. I was able to score a case of Blackened Voodoo beer for Steve because I OWE him big time! What did I do, you ask? Well, Thursday was the school's megaconcert. Sam's in both band and chorus this year so would have been in the concert but it also was the evening of the STAR graduation. STAR stands for "steps towards adult responsibility" and it's a program for teens who have a chronic condition or illness. This was the last STAR program of the year so several were "graduating" including Tyler, who's been Tom's mentor. Tyler received his cochlear implant about a year before Tom- I swear Tyler is half the reason either boy has an implant! He's been like a big brother to both boys. And the Dartmouth mentors also were honored. Pamela and Liz both are deaf and have been just wonderful to our boys. So... It was really important I thought that Tom and Sam be there. So i got Sam excused from the concert.

and forgot to tell Steve!

What's worse than sitting through a two hour concert in a hot gym?

sitting in a hot, two hour concert when your nephew is not there!

Hence, the Blackened Voodoo....

He loves me again so all is right with the world!

Knitting projects

2007-05-28T07:27:00.000-04:00

I've had a productive weekend knitting-wise. As always, I have several WIPs (works in progress) and some I've finished. I finished the Menehune Cobblestones pattern in Reynolds Swizzle yarn for my buddy, Nell. I'm really pleased with them and she seemed to like them. I had to laugh - she thought they were "loud" socks. As I was knitting them, I was thinking how conservative they were! It was a really fun pattern to knit - thanks, Adrienne, as usual for your wonderful designs!

Speaking of Adrienne, I finished 1776 sock #1 in the Rainbow pattern and am onto sock #2. Other knitters have spoken of SSS (second sock syndrome) where you don't knit a second sock. I've not ever had that problem - I'm sure I will at some point. I always cast-on and knit a bit of the second sock and that seems to do the trick for me. This is one of my favorite designs - it's so pretty and lacy and is actually quite an easy design - it's a four row repeat; two of the rows are knit - so it works up quickly. I'd hoped to have them done for this weekend - oh well. Fourth of July for sure!

I'm part of a Sock of the Month (SOTM) club at The Knitter. They started a knitalong (that's called a KAL - we all love our acronyms!) to ask questions, etc. I got my new sock pattern on Friday - it's lovely! It's a lacy sock knit using Tofutsies yarn. I've done the cuff of the first sock.

ALSO - thanks to Adrienne - I won some gorgeous Panda Wool yarn that I'm using now with Jeanie Townsend's Lilac socks pattern. The pattern is pretty intricate. There's a group on the Knitter KAL who are helping each other knit two socks on one long circular needle so I'm giving it a try. After some misgivings in the first two or three rows, I find I'm liking it. I didn't have to count rows on the cuff because you knit them at the same time. I do of course count rows on the sock itself because it's a 12 row repeat but it's a gorgeous sock. This one is mine, mine, mine!

I have a Very Boring Vest that I work on in movies, etc. (when I want to knit but it can't be a pattern of any sort). This fits the bill. I got the pattern from Patternworks because it is really simple - and a good way to use up some leftover stash yarn. I really like wearing vests at work during the winter and fall - they're warm without being so bulky. So my Very Boring Vest pattern will get done and I know I'll love it!

That's it from projectland - I think I have enough to keep me busy and out of trouble. Sam has a baseball game today so I should get some good work done *grin*.

Three Pitch Tournament

2007-05-20T20:58:00.001-04:00

I mentioned before that Hugh and Sam's baseball team, the Seawolves, were involved in a 3 Pitch baseball tournament this weekend. 3 pitch baseball is very different from a regular baseball game or tournament. Rather than 3 strikes per batter (or 4 balls), each batter starts with 2 balls and 1 strike; foul balls count as real strikes, a batter can have an at-bat end on a foul ball, and a team can only score 3 runs per inning. There's a time limit too - 65 minutes per game - so it goes really fast! Our guys WON the three pitch tourney, winning 6 games and no losses while scoring 56 runs to our opponents' 10! Some really excellent baseball happened this weekend - it was fun, fun, fun and we managed to not get rained on (well, at least not too much!). Sam hit his first ever out of the park homerun in the semi-final game - he scored 3 runs on that one.

Here's a picture of our team:

And here they are in front of the scoreboard - the home team has a real scoreboard!

As part of the 3 pitch tourney, they also held a homerun derby. Two kids from our town won first and second place! Here's Daniel, Carl and Cody, who's from another team we play:

Big Papi I think should be worried about these guys!

And here's Sam "modeling" the two trophies. The smaller trophy was awarded to each kid on the winning team; the larger trophy is awarded to the winning team.

Keith is the Lebanon dad who put this whole tournament together - what a great job he did! It was very organized and seemed go off without a hitch. And Mother Nature cooperated too.

All in all, a fun weekend. Oh, did I mention getting LOTS of knitting done? he he I have the leg of Nell's second sock done - I'm on the heel turn now so I'm very optimistic that I'll be able to hand them over to her this coming weekend!

Enjoy your week this week!

TGIF

2007-05-18T19:06:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week - aren't they all? We're gearing up for a busy time at work with graduation in another month, lots of new computer hardware, and then new faculty coming onboard later in the summer. I like what I do - it's interesting - and I really enjoy the people I work with. It would be nice if things were stretched out a bit more, though.

This is a big party weekend at the college. So it's a really GOOD time to avoid going into town. But then I learned that the Grandmasters of Funk were performing at the block party today - wow! Cyril Neville, of the Neville Brothers, is in this group, along with Leo Nocentelli, Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish and Tony Mason. The Nevilles have to be one of my top three favorite groups. In all the years we lived in New Orleans, we were never that close to Cyril Neville! And it was outside my building at work... free... Amazing... I'm still in a bit of shock.

This is a picture of Cyril Neville that we took today - we were that close!

I arrived home this evening to all SORTS of goodies in the mail!

Isn't the yarn beautiful? It's Panda Wool that I won in a contest on Adrienne's blog. I've never worked with it before. It's wonderfully soft - the yarn is a mixture of bamboo, wool, and nylon. Red is my favorite color! How *did* you know this, Adrienne?! Of course, she has a couple of beautiful patterns designed just for this yarn that I will have to check out. I also got my copy of Friendly Socks (the first book) AND Janet Evanovich's second audiobook in her Stephanie Plum series. Hugh and I love to listen to books in the car and really enjoyed the first book in this series. It was a good story - a good mystery - and funny as all get out. Janet lives in our town, which is kind of cool although I haven't had any sitings...

So between the yarn, the sock book, and the book on tape - I'm all set for the weekend!

I'm moving along nicely with (still) my three socks in progress. I'm knitting at least ten rows a day on DH's socks - I'm hoping to have them done by Father's Day! My 1776 socks are coming along nicely - I'm really liking how the striped pattern of the yarn is complimented by Adrienne's Rainbow pattern. This pattern was the June 2006 Sock of the Month club offering by theknitter dot com. It's one of my favorites - it knits up fast and the pattern is easy to memorize. I've made it at least three times.

This is also an Adrienne pattern (I'm not a groupie, I swear, just a very happy knitter with her patterns!). Menehune Cobblestones is for my friend, Nell. Nell and I have boys who are the same age with so much in common it's almost scary. They read like crazy, they both are black belts, each has a hearing loss.... And they've never met each other! It's pretty cute how they have a book club via Nell and me. Tom will say "Tell Mikey about this book...." which I will pass along to Nell. Then Mikey always returns the favor! It's not often you run into another mom with a kid with hearing loss - we take care of each other in that regard.

Both socks have deadlines of next weekend! I work well on deadline - no problem!

Tom finished my Mother's Day present and it was well worth the wait. Tom, in addition to his many other talents, is a metalsmither. Aren't these earrings beautiful? They are his own design.

Sam and Hugh are involved in a 3 pitch tournament this weekend. Unlike regular baseball, a 3 pitch tournament involves 3 pitches per batter. So the batter starts out with two balls and one strike so you either walk, get a hit, or you're out. It moves very fast and is a lot of fun. Our guys won this evening 17-7. They have two games tomorrow, along with a home run derby and at least one game on Sunday morning.

Sam and Hugh's Little League team is doing really well! We're 7-0 so far this season. Most of the kids on the team are good and really love playing baseball - so there's not a lot of goofing off. The parents are really nice as well so it's been a lot of fun for me watching the kids play (and of course knitting) and hanging out with the other parents.

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T13:31:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone! It’s a beautiful day here today – not a cloud in the sky and cool (about 60 degrees). The sun makes it feel warmer. This is our big backyard - we live on six acres and we abut about 1,000 acres of conserved land. It's like living in a state forest! Everything is greening up beautifully.

These are the daffodils that line our driveway. I just planted them last fall and they've done well.

As every Mother’s Day, I think of my own mom. Her name was Lenora Thomas. She was funny, creative, tiny, and cute. She loved golf passionately and was an amazing bridge player. She and her twin, Aunt Gussie, were unbeatable. I used to tease them that they could read each other’s minds and so had an unfair advantage. I also remember my older sister, Dee Harrold. Dee was 14 years older than I – she’s the best big sister imaginable. She taught me how to knit! So to you both, I have such warm, happy thoughts and miss you very much. We're so very lucky that Hugh's mom is doing so well - she's 79 this year, as vibrant as ever. We love you, Grandma Bertie! Ditto for my wonderful stepmom, Joyce. We love you, Grandma Joyce!

My mom's favorite flowers were pansies. I always smile when I see them and always plant them year after year with Mom in mind.

My Mother’s Day has been lovely! The boys got me two beautiful hanging baskets with flowers of all my favorite colors. And I got to knit this morning for a long stretch – ahhh, heaven!

I finished my Diamonds are Forever socks. The yarn is Jawoll and the color is so interesting! Sometimes it looks purple, sometimes a dark blue. The pattern was easy to memorize but fun to knit.

I continue on with Hugh’s Maze socks *sigh* - I’ll get them done for Father’s Day… maybe? They are so complicated - I try to do ten rows a day. I am on the second sock so maybe by fall *grin*. And I'm continuing on with Nell’s Menehene Cobblestones socks as well. I started a new pair of socks this morning in a pattern I’ve made several times. It initially was a SOTM club offering by Judy at theknitter dot com – and of course it’s an Adrienne Fong design. It’s called Rainbow over Lahaina. I’m not sure Adrienne or Judy envisioned it being done in the 1776 yarn by Fortissima Colori but I think it’s kind of fun! I made an earlier “plain vanilla” sock out of this yarn and it turned out great. The yarn itself is responsible for the stars and stripes. I'm hoping to have these done by Memorial day.

On the home front, lots has been happening! First and foremost, the school talent show! It was Friday night. Both boys entered. Tom has a sketch comedy group called “Not Gum”. They did a takeoff on “Who’s Line is It Anyway” – it was hysterical! There are five guys in the group – Tom, Kitch, Mike, Ethan and Connor, although on Friday, night there was no Connor but another kid named Jacob. They did a nice job and got a special award – a Vermonster! For those of you who don’t have a local Ben and Jerry’s, a Vermonster is a bucket o’ ice cream with 20 scoops of ice cream. Hopefully they will invite friends when they celebrate their Vermonster.

Tom's in the front in the striped short - they're listening to the awards presentation.

My younger son, Sam, did board breaking for the talent show. Both Tom and Sam have earned black belts in taekwondo at the Blue Wave Taekwondo school. Board breaking is a requirement to earn higher belts – plus it’s pretty cool to watch! Sam did five breaks – and ended up winning the grand prize! Sam is $30 richer today… It was a fun evening. One of his breaks involves jumping over three people (who are crouching) and breaking a board. It's pretty fun! Here's Sam accepting his award from Kitch. Kitch was the emcee, is part of Not Gum and did a fine job all the way around - he's also one of Tom's best friends.

You might ask why Sam's belt is red and black and not just black. An under-13 black belt is called a poom and is designated by having a red/black belt and uniform. Pooms take the same test as everyone else with the exception of self-defense. That doesn't start until they are over 13. Son Tom's belt is all black, although he too started as a poom.

We’ve been doing lots and lots of baseball. Hugh is president of our local Little League; he and Joe coach the majors team that Sam’s part of. They currently are the only team at 5-0 – they’re doing really well so far. Several of these kids have played together for awhile – they get along well and play well. The parents are a nice group too.

We're having dinner here tonight. Steve is coming over and we're barbequing pork tenderloin and tuna. We'll have fresh asparagus from our yard, corn on the cob, salads and strawberry shortcut for desert. I'd better take my walk NOW!

I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and a great week...

Knitting projects

2007-05-06T11:19:00.000-04:00

As always, I've been knitting a lot and have several projects I've finished plus several OTN (that's on the needle for your muggles - er, non-knitters out there!). I remain passionate about knitting socks - dunno why but they're fun little works of art. I'm in the home stretch with my Bunny Paint cable sweater. I'm also knitting a vest with odds and ends of yarn that I have.

I've finished and mailed several pairs - 5 in all, although two pairs were for my little twin nephews down in Georgia and all of their socks probably don't add up to one adult! Here's the finished pre-mailing collection.

This is my Tidal Wave sock. It's made from Tofusies # 731 yarn, which was SO fun to knit with. It's a little thinner than Trekking or Opal yarns but perfect for wearing in Oklahoma where's it being sent to to my evil twin Barbara. I hope you enjoy, ET! *mwah*

This sock is called the Road to Hana by my favorite sock designer, Adrienne Fong. Isn't it gorgeous? It's the March offering from the Knitter's sock of the month (SOTM) club. This pair of socks is for me, me, me! This sock was made using Trekking XXL sock yarn - the band is history so I'm not 100% sure the colorway.

I finished Mirm's Monkey socks. Monkey is a sock pattern by another favorite sock designer, Cookie A. Mirm's a critter buddy who lives in NC. She scored an autographed Susan Elizabeth Phillips book for me - woo hoo! Thanks SO much, Mirm! The yarn for these socks is Knitpicks Dancing.

Multiply these socks by two! I made these for my little nephews, Connor and Brodie, who live in Georgia. I hope you enjoy these, guys - I can't wait to meet you in person!

I have three socks in progress. This is for another critter buddy, Nell, that I've just started. She loves sapphire blue - I thought this yarn would be fun. It's knitted in Reynolds Swizzle #4003. The pattern is another Adrienne Fong pattern - Menehune Cobblestone. I love Adrienne's patterns - they "fit" so well and are so fun to knit.

This is theknitter.com's April SOTM offering. It's called Diamonds are Forever. After a couple of fits and starts, I'm finally making good progress with it - I got the heel turned last night during Sam's soccer game (*snork* - if only he knew). I'm really liking the pattern and I LOVE the color. The yarn is Jawoll, I believe the colorway number is 83.0145. I've not knit with this yarn before either but I'm liking it. It's very soft. The cuff actually sews down to make a picot edge which I think will be really pretty.

And last but not least, socks for DH, also known as LH (laundry hunk). I have the first sock done. It's the Maze pattern from the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. This is maybe the most difficult pair of socks I've made. The top "maze" pattern is easier - it's a mosaic pattern. The feet are kind of a pain to knit because it alternates the two colors but I'm really liking the way it's knitting up. Hugh has very sensitive skin, so I'm knitting this in Regia Silk (the charcoal color) and Dale Baby Ull (the cream color).

For those of you who want to see LH in the flesh, here you go!

Cute, no?! He says it's very soft and not scratchy - whew!

I am SO excited - at the end of the month a couple of critter buddies (Kiri and Jacqui) and I are journeying down to Webs in Northampton MA to see the Yarn Harlot speak! I can't wait - I'm not sure if I'm more excited about hearing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak or getting to have dinner with Kiri and Jacqui! More about our journey later.

I'm off to work in the garden on this beautiful Sunday!

Happy birthday, Hugh!

2007-05-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

Hugh's birthday was Friday, May 4. Despite having to be out of the house in time for a 7:00 (gawk!) meeting, he had a nice day. A friend of his, George, gave Hugh a key lime pie from Lou's bakery - heavenly! We finally made opening night at the Fairlee Drive-in! We saw "Blades of Glory" - very funny movie (just the perfect movie to see at the drive-in.

Happy birthday, sweetie!

Catching up

2007-05-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try and post once a week - I've been bad about posting of late! Things as usual have been very busy. My younger son and husband are involved in lots and lots of baseball. DH is president of our local town's Little League and my younger son is on a majors team. DH is coach for that as well as "Coach Joe" who also was the boys' anesthesiologist for the cochlear implant surgeries. The team of kids is a really nice group as are their parents - I just love baseball season!

Our Easter Sunday dinner was just lovely. We had 13 people total for dinner, including 6 kids. I didn't get pictures of Seth, Kelly or Steve but got everybody else.

Here you have Mike, Tom, Sam, and Owen

These happy guys are Denise (Owen's mom), Hugh (DH) and Mila (Mike's mom)

THESE are all the crazy kids - all boys. Sam, Mike, Tom, Owen, Owen, and Sawyer

The food was great - the fellowship even better. Thanks, guys, for sharing our day!

THEN the Nor'easter of 2007 rolled through. Wow! It was April 16 - we knew we were in for some strong winds but wow! Talk about strong winds!

This is what greeted us when we woke up that morning - trees were down everywhere.

On closer inspection, we discovered Hugh's truck took a pretty good hit

Ouch!

Our street has a north and south entrance; both were blocked:

Our neighbors took a HUGE hit - I'll bet they have 100 trees down. You used to not be able to see their house from the street.

Power was restored amazingly fast - within 6 or 7 hours. Other parts of the state didn't fare nearly as well, including our friend Steve. He was out for 3 days; others were out for longer than that. Steve stayed with us two nights - it was sort of like a slumber party. On Tuesday night, after taekwondo, we went to Ben and Jerry's free cone night. Hugh was the last person in the door before they locked up. He got this great shirt!

I want him to wear it while he teaches his spinning class but he won't (in case you can't read what it says in the picture, it says "Body by Ben and Jerrys"

The boys have been busy this spring as always. They both now are involved in the STAR program and love it. Last weekend they did a ropes course up in Fairlee, VT at Hulbert Outdoor Center. This is a picture with Sam and his buddy, Rowan, who also is in STAR

Here's Sam, Rowan, Jon and Tom. Jon's a medical student with an interest in kids with chronic health conditions - he's wonderful! Mark, the director of STAR, always says "can you find the medical student in this picture"?!

The boys (and Hugh and me as well) were invited by the STAR director, Mark, to chat with the second year medical students at Dartmouth Medical School this past week. Tom and Sam did most of the talking - color me a proud mom! They did GREAT! The students asked great questions and seemed to be very interested in Tom and Sam, their experiences as the only deaf kids in their school, etc. Tom gave an amazingly succinct telling of what's involved with a cochlear implant; Sam talked a lot about doing sports with implant/hearing aids and some of the challenges that it presents. They both were funny and articulate - I know, I know - I'm really prejudiced! It was a wonderful experience for all of us.

It's a beautiful Sunday morning - we have many chores planned today (reference the ugly YARD pictures above!). Steve's coming over and we'll cook out later. Enjoy your week!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T12:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter, everyone! My two boys' favorite Easter cartoon is this one - isn't it funny?

We've had a fun, busy weekend. Uncle Steve came over on Friday night for our annual dinner/Easter egg dye (it's always the four of us and Uncle Steve doing this). Very fun - the eggs were really pretty.

We dyed 36 eggs, although I was "missing" a few this morning when I made deviled eggs for our dinner this afternoon. We're having 13 people in all this evening to share Easter dinner with us. The boys are excited because "they hardly ever get to eat ham". Of course we're having deviled eggs, scalloped potatoes and ham, also baked beans and broccoli casserole (DS1's favorite). Our friends are bringing salads and dessert. Yummy!

The cats are umimpressed...

That's Smudge on the left and Oreo on the right. But the boys loved their Easter baskets! I think the chocolate bunnies are already history....

Speaking of bunnies, I'm working on a sweater for myself using the yarn I got at Webs in Northampton. This yarn is by Tahki Stacy Charles and it's called Bunny Print - so appropriate for today! The pattern is really fun - it's a cabled sweater. The pattern looks like this:

I LOVE cables! I also finished the first Monkey sock for my friend, Mirm - that's here:

I adore the Monkey pattern by Cookie A. I made it for myself in another colorway. Here's a closer look at the pattern:

I'm really enjoying knitting the pattern and the yarn. Hmmm - the colors are similar to that of the Bunny Print colors! I guess I need to branch out a bit.

It's time to put the ham in the oven, take a shower, and clean the house a bit more for our friends who are coming soon. Have a wonderful holiday!

It's Spring, Right?

2007-04-05T11:35:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe the calendar says it is! But my backyard sure doesn't think so:

Here's the view from the front window (next to the cat condo). Notice how far up the window the snow is? It's fallen off the roof.

Our schools were on a 2 hour delay; others in the area were closed (reference Math Lady's blog where "Greenland is closed"!).

We have some "outside neighbors" who visit regularly - the turkeys! They like to eat the food that gets dropped on the ground below our birdfeeders. There are 7 of them - here's the gang this morning.

My sock of the month club kit arrived today - yay! It's always like Christmas in April (or May or October) for me. Judy always puts together such wonderful kits. Very imaginative and fun - they definitely get me out of my socks comfort zone. When you open the big envelope (it's always an envelope rolled up so you know it's a sock goodie!), it's wrapped up like this - oh so tantalizing!

And you never know just what it's going to be! This month's offering is just perfect for me - "my" colors and the sock is designed by my favorite sock designer, Adrienne Fong! Does it get better than this? I think not!

I can't WAIT to get started! But first, I need to finish my Monkey sock by my other favorite sock designer, Cookie A. for a critter buddy. Not much so far but such a pretty yarn. It's one of the Dancing colorways by Knitpicks, knitted on a size 1 needle.

It's always interesting to me how the colors pool (make a pattern) even when the yarn itself isn't self-striping or self-patterning.

Off to knit!

No more braces!

2007-04-04T18:53:00.000-04:00

DS2 got his braces off yesterday. He's had them on for about a year and a half - long enough! His teeth look GREAT! It was VERY hard to find a picture of him smiling with his lips parted. Here's before - DS2 is on the right, DH and DS1 on the left:

And - tah dah! - here's after!

Isn't he handsome? Morine - what do you think? he he he (that's me on the right)

He gets his retainer in a couple of weeks.

Lots of knitting got done in the orthodontist's office!

I just finished my pink "luxury" socks and am really pleased with them. I changed the pattern around a bit - the lace in the pattern went down the back of the socks but I moved them around so the pattern's in the front. The yarn is wonderful! It's Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette. It's a fingering weight yarn made of 40% alpaca, 40% merino and 20% silk - it's yummy! I knitted it on size 1 needles - 32" circular using the magic loop method. Here's Smudge modeling my new sock.

And isn't the ribbing pretty? I hope the picture captures it.

Mapping day!

2007-04-03T21:38:00.000-04:00

When a cochlear implant is programmed, it's called mapping. It's quite an involved, long process as there are four programs (maps) in the processor. Today was DS1's mapping of his left ear. He had his first implant surgery in November, 2005. His second surgery, the left ear, was December, 2006. His left ear has been activated about 2-1/2 months.

Today, after tweaking the mapping on his left ear, our audiologist tested his hearing. What stunning results! Our audiologist - the wonderful Stella - was beaming ear to ear! Here are his results from today:

Word recognition: left ear only - 94%
Word recognition: both ears - 98%! The only word he missed was sane - he thought it was same
Sentence recognition: both ears - 100% wow, wow, wow!

I almost started crying, which is just what your 14 year old wants you to do. We've seen such nice changes with the addition of the second implant - much easier to talk with him in a noisy setting, he can directionalize sound. It's so very exciting for him and for us! It's been such a miracle. Just prior to his first implant, in October 2005, his word recognition score with his hearing aids was 4% - quite an improvement, wouldn't you say?

I did get to knit - a little - in audiology. I'm still working on my pink silk sock. I'm in the home stretch with sock #2 - yay! I can't wait to feel it on my feet - I think it will be really soft and comfy.

I'm hoping to get some of my socks pictures up soon.

It's been busy!

2007-04-02T17:35:00.000-04:00

I have two boys who are in middle school. My older son just had the lead role in the school play. I'm sure every parent says this, but he did a fabulous job. His character was Elliot, a bullied kid who starts out as a dinosaur-loving geek but as he becomes friends with other kids, comes out of his shell and matures. The play is based on the book The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm. Mr. Wilhelm lives in Vermont and visited the cast and then came to the second night of the play. He told our drama instructor (who directed the play) that it was the best rendition of the play he'd seen. All the kids did a wonderful job. Amazing that it was a middle school production - it seemed much, much more sophisticated!

My younger son had a band concert last week (he plays the sax) and has a choral concert this week. My younger DS also plays indoor soccer. Read: excellent opportunities for me to knit! I just finished my Ocean Vest from the Shadow Knitting book that I'm very pleased with. I cashed in my gift certificate to Patternworks my buddy, Nicole, gave me for my 50th birthday and this is the result:

I knitted it using Baby Ull on size 3 needles. It's GREAT to wear! The colors and the yarn were really nice to work with. Even though the yarn is wool, it's very soft. I have some left over but I'm not sure if it would make good socks or not. A good question for the Socknitters listserve I think.

I've also been working on socks. I have three pairs OTN (that's on the needle for you muggles/non knitters out there!). I'll have pictures at some point. I'm working on a second pair of monkey socks for a critter friend (he he he - you'll have to figure out which one!), light pink, silk socks from Judy's Sock of the Month Club, and a mosaic pair for DH. His feet are bigger than mine so they're taking awhile.

I visited the Northampton MA area a couple of months ago with my critter buddies (you know who you are!).

Two of the other non-muggles and I hit Webs - wow, what a fun place! Truth to tell, it was a bit overwhelming. My socknitter buddy, Charlton, told me about the warehouse - amazing bargains to be had! I found the Tahki Stacy Charles cable sweater I was looking for, as well as Bunny yarn for it. I'm about halfway done with the second sleeve - woo hoo! Just in time for summer.

Gotta go help DS1 with algebra - I'm the algebra expert here, sad to say...

Into the land of the bloggers

2007-02-27T15:44:00.000-05:00

I've long toyed with the idea of starting a blog. It seems like a great way to keep friends and family updated (I'm a horrible letter writer) AND a great way to catalogue my knitting endeavors! So here goes nothing....