Thursday, August 23, 2012

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - My History

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Blog post on Live Journal

mmm...my first post. I am still figuring out how this works. I am familiar with posting blogs on MySpace. But I am having problems figuring out how to insert photos. I tried for an hour and no luck. It shouldn't be this hard. I love to see lots of photos on a blog.
I will try again right now.................



This is my daughter Sierra. I lost her a year ago. She was my only daughter and I do miss her so so much. She was 23 when she died by a gunshot to her beautiful head. It's so sad. Her little daughter Peanut is living with me now. We are taking each day one at a time. Life is certainly changing for us. Here we are...



We were dressed for Halloween. On this night 10/31/06 my daughter was taking the photo. Then my daughter Sierra, Peanut and I walked around my neighborhood to trick or treat. 
Sierra and I had several good times like that before she died Jan. 2007. 
I miss her so. I do not understand why she was the one person out of hundreds or thousands who would die by a gunshot. We are not gun people. I never had handguns in the house ever, never in all my life. She only had that gun in her house for 3 weeks before a fight broke out between her and her boyfriend. No one is sure what happened. The police think the boyfriend is responsible. The coroner put gun shot wound to the head.  But it is the boyfriends word of what happened on that day. Peanut saw and heard the fight. She was watching from her room when the gun went off. I think her dad was blocking her view of the gun so she only knows what he told her happened. She was only 5 years old. What a horrible tragedy to have in a young girls life.



This beautiful granddaughter is living with me now. I am in a guardianship case trying to get full custody. For more than a year I have been in and out of court. I finally got Temporary custody on 10/30/2007. What a long wait.
It is not an easy road. Peanut is in therapy now. We are both grieving so much. But we are having good times. We took a trip to Idaho 2 weeks ago. My son Dustin, her uncle, got married. He lives in Idaho. Peanut and I have a goal to move to Idaho before the end of this year.

My new love is WOOL and KNITTING!!!!! more on that in the next blog.

Today and everyday, I thank God for carrying me this far in my grief journey. He has taken my burden. On days that I have a very heavy heart is usually when I have not looked at the LORD to give him praise for blessing me with my children, Peanut, a home, food, clothing, love and good friends. I have a lot to be thankful for.
Richard and Carol


Seven years ago my handsome, wonderful, hardworking husband died of cancer. I miss him so much. He never knew his grandchildren. He was my high school sweetheart. We were married 28 years. I was 45 and he was 47 when he died. I believe he is in heaven holding our daughter in his arms. God bless my family in Heaven.

So there is my first POST on Live Journal.
Yeah.....I'm glad to be here!!!!!!

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - First felted Hat

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Felted Hat

I am very new to knitting. I began at the end of March 2008. I jumped into "Wool" with a hat I made. It was not knitted, it was crocheted.
I wanted to see if I could tackle felting. So I stuck to crocheting since I have been doing that since I was about 7 years old. I crocheted this hat our of Paton's wool.




I crocheted it larger than I wanted the finished product. Here is it before felting on my 6yr. old granddaughters head.





Then I washed it in the machine on hot inside of a pillow case. I then let it dry stretched over a glass container since I didn't have any other form to put it on.





When it was dry this is how it looked.





I liked it a lot. My daughter in law Anne loved it so now I am crocheting her one too.







I'm going to make it bigger than my first hat since I think my hat is too tight. I don't look good in hats but I am going to try to get over it since I plan to knit a bunch of them and I want to felt more hats.
My granddaughter Peanut asked for a hat so she is next on the list.

The yarn in both hats is Patons Classic Wool- merino, 100% wool
The red/mix color stripe on the second hat is recycled silk from Nepal.
It is handspun by women's cooperatives from silk weaving mill waste.
It is very soft and has bright vibrant colors. I will put more stripes in the hat and I know it does not shrink so it will stand out. Should be interesting when I am done.



A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - First Socks ever

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  My first socks ever


I am addicted to Sock Yarn. I have to admit I will spend hours looking at blogs or yarn store websites just looking at SOCKS. I love the self striping sock yarn. I only want to knit them in wool or wool blends since if I am going to put in the time I want these puppies to last.
Here is my first attemp at knitting a pair of socks.
Ahhhhhh don't look at my dry legs!! we are in winter in this pic and boy do I need lotion!!!!!



This is before they were washed. I didn't know about SWATCHING so I just measured my guage after I had knit the ankle part. I was off but I said "I love this yarn and kept on knitting."
I later did stop and knitted a swatch, it was off a little so I learned a lesson. Always always Swatch!!!!!
These were knit on 3.25mm DPN's. See 2nd pair of socks below knit on 2.75 DPN's and story.

So here they are on my feet.





They are a little droopy at the ankle. They have to be the most comfortable socks in the world. I knit them with Felici Self Striping yarn from Knitpicks.

Now I am on my second ever pair of socks. I am almost done.
They're are for my daughter in law Anne for her birthday (7/1) yeah I'm early but I didn't know how long it would take to do 2 pairs of socks and a hat.




I am using Austermann wool yarn with Aloe Vera and Jojoba in the yarn to make your feet soft. They make your hands soft to knit them.
I don't like the color much, I am a bright color kind of gal, or an earthy kind. So I showed them to Anne and she loved them. She tried one on and loved it. But I let her look in my "Stash" (yes I already have a stash) and she picked another yarn for me to make a SECOND pair!!!
Well it's ok cuz I am having fun.
Yes I swatched this pair. The swatch came out a little small so I thought "I'll knit a little looser". LOL.
I am using size 2.75mm DPN so what I did was order a set of 3.00mm DPN's for my next set of socks. That is because I already swatched the yarn she picked out and I was still knitting tight. The yarn for the next pair of socks is ON-LINE Supersocke 100 and the color is Tropic, very pretty. 
I like how these socks are coming out. I think I solved my droopy ankle problem with doing the ribbing all the way down. 



This sock has a different pattern for the heel. It is a K1 S1,repeat then on the wrong side you purl. The turn of the heel is a triangle shape where the Felici sock had a retangle shape heel (bottom). I am not sure which I like more.
I was able with this 2nd pattern to close up the holes when turning the heel. See my first sock holes.



I will continue with this pattern for a few more pairs and then watch out, I am going to try a cable or some kind of interesting pattern (easy). Any suggestions????




A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Knitting Books

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008 Knitting Books

So the mail came yesterday with a box full of goodies!!!!!! I received the books I had been waiting for. Here is a pic of the books plus some of the others I have been collecting.



Some of the books I have had a while. Of course when taking a photo of the books I am reading I must have my Bible there. I read it almost everyday. It's on the top right. My son gave me it for my birthday several years ago. It is a Life Application Study Bible. I used it so much that the cover was falling off. So I took it to this little book binding shop that restores books and especially Bibles. I had them recover it with a pine green lamb skin leather. It is beautiful and feels so soft.

On the left edge is a reference book on stitches. My grandmother gave me this book probably 30 years ago. It has a lot of information.
Other than that there are a lot of pattern books and then the reading books by the Yarn Harlot. I love her books. The Yarn Harlot first book is not in the pic because I loaned it out to my sister to read, It is just so funny.

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Socks & Sun

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Socks Enjoying the Sun



So I finished the "Step" socks for my daughter in law Anne today. They wanted to take a little sunbath so they spent some time on the grass and........................ then they wanted to view the pool.




They were afraid of the water, a little cool. So they just watched my granddaughter lay on a HammerHead Shark while eating ice cream.





The horse tried to entice them into the pool. But these socks haven't seen water in all their life and they are waiting for their maker (me) to put them in gently for a nice bath before being wrapped up as a birthday gift.





The Step socks wanted to try a few steps so they ran in the house and jumped on my feet just to see if I knit them comfortably. The answer is yes, they made me put my feet up and boy were they cozy. 



A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Notions

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Notions

So the box of books and a few more notions came yesterday from Knitpicks. I put all of the needles I own on the floor to check out all of the beauty of these wood needles. I do have some straights that don't fit in the little box.



Then I put them in their Striped Box. I love Stripes and the box is metal and I wrote in the lid all the sizes I have in DPN's and Circulars.
I know you can hardly see my writing but it is there.



So I started the next pair of socks for my daughter in law. Her birthday is July first. I am starting early because she will get 2 pairs of socks and a hat/felted. I have started the hat, see other blog. 

I cast on the new socks while sitting at the plaza, outside at a table, in the sun. It is a beautiful day today. Warm but not hot. 




I'm using Harmony's size 3.00mm DPN's this time. I think the step socks were too tight, they fit but they are snug. The swatch was asking me to go up a size too. Well ok, it was yelling at me to go up.





That is my new sock cast on and a few rows done. And that is my knitting bag with all my Notions, Lovely Lovey NOTIONS.
I have the pattern, notebook, Ipod, pencils, etc. in the bag.
I keep my ball of yarn in a plastic bag so that it stays clean and doesn't get all fuzzy. I embroidered my name on the bag. You never know....

Now for the bad news. I timed myself on the last sock I made. For one sock it took me 3 weeks and a day. There was a wedding for my son thrown in there during that time but I did knit at his house in Idaho while we visited. I think I am slow. I hope I speed up with each pair of socks I do. I read that some people can whip out a sock in a day or two. How do they knit so fast?
I have been knitting socks since the middle of March 2008.

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Fairy Wings

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Fairy Wings



My sister and I worked on our costumes together at my house. It was so much fun. 




We did this for Halloween 2006. That was a special Halloween. My granddaughter came over in the evening....



This turned out to be the last time my daughter Sierra and I could take Peanut trick or treating, because Sierra died 3 months later.

So regarding the fairy costume, I bought the wings at Walmart of all places. First I tried to put holes in the wings with a flame but that was too harsh so I got some incense that was a stick. I lit it and then it had a burning coal at the end. A cigarette could do the same but I don't smoke. 
So I burnt holes here and there. The burning melts the edges so they don't unravel. And it looks cool. Then I got out my watercolor paints and I painted the wings with violets and blues and reds. The wings were a light green color.
After they dried, I put some fabric paint from a squeeze tube with glitter around each hole that I had made. Then when that was dry I sprayed glitter on all of the wings.

The costume is a skirt made with soft fabric of purple and greens. I had a long ribbon waist band and sewed petal shapes to the ribbon, then tied the ribbon around my waist. Under the skirt I had on the tights and some exersice shorts. For the top I wore an embroidered tank top that had little roses on it and a sheer long sleeve shirt and then over that I wore a purple vest that laced up on each side, front and back. 

I made my wreath for my head with wire and hot glued ivy and flowers, then added a dragonfly, bird, and lots of ribbons down the back.

So that was my winning costume at work. I won a gift card to Home Depot for $50. I liked that.

Then I kept on the costume and wore it to trick or treat around my neighborhood with my granddaughter, as me and my daughter Sierra took her around. We had a nice visit as we walked that night.

A post from the Past: May 29, 2008 - New Knitting Needles


I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

May 29, 2008  New Knitting Needles

I'm so happy. My new Knitting Needles from Signature arrived. 


They are Beautiful with a big B. 
They are smooth and they have nice sharp points. I ordered them with a 7" length. They are US size 4 or 3.50mm. 


The Idea to use my pet as a model came from my friend seweccentric. So my kitty "Solo Vino" (means he came alone in spanish) was a model to show off my new Needles.



He seemed to like the job and he models like a pro. He is thinking of taking up knitting too!!!!!





He is a little nervous because a new kitten is coming to live with us tonight. Photos to follow tomorrow.

A post from the Past: May 30, 2008 - New Cat

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

May 30, 2008  -  New Cat, Sally

Yesterday evening my little sister came and delivered a new kitten to our home. This is Peanut's kitten. She named her "Sally Flower Lee". Lee is Peanut's and my middle name. Sally is Jack's girlfriend in Nightmare Before Christmas. Flower, well I guess Peanut likes flowers.



Peanut is in love.



My other cat Solo Vino was cool. He tried to act like he didn't care.
Peanut made a bed and Sally slept with her all night. Here she is ready for school.



Peanut said, "now I have a friend to play with me." She lost her mommy a year ago. My daughter Sierra died by a gunshot. Peanut was in the house when it happened and probably saw something. She was found by her mommy's side when the paramedics arrived. It's been a hard journey but we are doing ok. We take each day as it comes and we have a deep faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that Sierra is in Heaven with her daddy, my late husband Richard.
This kitty is a good thing in our lives and in Peanut's life. She is being so nurturing with the kitten. It is sweet to watch. 

A post from the Past: June 1, 2008 - Knitting Projects

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 1, 2008  - Knitting Projects

I received this beautiful wool yarn yesterday by mail. I couldn't wait to cast on and start a scarf. It is K1 P1 so that it is thicker and reversible.
My first project on my new needles. I love them. they are short for this kind of project. Size 3.5mm US4 and 7 inches long. This scarf is for me.


At the same time I am working on the first sock of the second pair for Anne my daughter in law's birthday. It is knitting up very fast. I'm using ONline Supersocke 100 sock yarn in color Tropic. Needle size 3.00 DPN's by Harmony. 



And then there is the wool felted hat I am also making for Anne's birthday. I am using Patons Classic Merino in color gray and blue/green. I am putting stripes with recycled sari silk.
Hook size is Boye I (as in eye). 



I hope I am not working on too many things at one time. I won't begin any more projects till I finish these. I'm excited about all of them.

A post from the Past: June 1, 2008 - MOTHS

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 1, 2008   MOTHS!

Yesterday my sister and I moved a cedar chest to my living room. I wanted to put my stash of wool yarn into it.
I'm so freaked out right now. This is a cedar chest I got from my mom. I have had this chest in a bedroom for about 4 years. And all that I have had in it was photo albums and a few cotton doll dresses, a wool hat, and an old old patchwork baby quilt. The chest was pretty empty. My mission was to clean out mom's stuff and put in mine.
So today I brought out my box of Wool Stash to put into this chest.
I just began buying wool for about 2 months now.

I opened the chest, and there on the wool hat was LARVAE. I am sure they are moth larvae. 

Ewwww Ewwwww ewwwwww!!!!! I took the cloth things outside and smashed anything and everything I saw. Then I shook out everything.
I came in and washed my hands 100 times.
I put the stuff back in the chest and closed it up. 
My wool stash stayed in their Zip lock bags.

I thought cedar was a wood that kept moths out. I'm so freaked.

Do I need to take the chest outside and spray it with bug spray?
How could I throw out all the paper stuff when the paper is photo album pages with photos from the 40's, 50's & 60's?

I don't know what to do. I haven't seen the moth larvae in anyplace of my house ever. My house is new, built in 2001. 

Help. Any advice is appreciated. Please? HELP. Ahhhhhhhhh
I'm in moth hell.

A post from the Past: June 5, 2008 - My son Weds

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 5, 2008   My son gets married.

For my user name on my first blog I picked idaho_bound because my goal is to move to Idaho before the year is over. My son, his wife and some of my family live there. I am in So. Calif. where a lot of family live too.

I just need a big change in my life after loosing my daughter last year and my husband several years ago. I have my granddaughter living with me and I think it would be good for her to live in a small town.
We will have to adjust to colder weather. I think we will be ok. I get tired of the summers here that are over 100 degrees.

Here she is at the mall in Idaho with her cousin.
My grandkids Peanut and Bryan.

 

And here I am with my kids in Idaho. The son on the left just got married and we are getting ready to go to the church.


Here is Bryan and Peanut, Bryan is dressed for the wedding but Peanut is not. She got ready at the church since her dress is white. In the background you can see my son Dustin the groom and my other grandson Trevor.



Here is the little guy, Trevor. 16 months old.



A post from the Past: June 12, 2008 - Still knitting

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 12, 2008 - Still Knitting

I haven't posted in a while. This week has been busy because it is the last week of school for my kindergartner.
I took some pics of Sally our new kitten. She is a busy little kitty.
Here she is on the couch ready to jump.



This is Sally under the table attacking a crunchy ball.



As for my knitting. I was distracted for a week or so with the scarf on the beautiful new needles. It is the scarf done in Kanui wool. I had started it and decided it was too narrow. So I cast off, and then cast on with more stitches. I had to set it aside to get the Socks done.



I have only 2 weeks left to finish the socks and a felted hat for my daughter in law's birthday. I know I will have the socks done in a couple days. I can crochet the hat pretty fast but the felting takes a few days. I let it air dry after the machine washing so it just takes time to dry out. 

Other than that I did get a call from my boss yesterday. I use to work in a dental lab making porcelain teeth. It was so much fun. I went to school to be a dental technician after my husband died. So I had worked in this lab for 3 years but in March 08 I had to quit because my granddaughter needs me to be home. We are still grieving my daughters death. I got custody of my granddaughter late last year. I worked when I had her for a few months but I was killing myself. I can't be mom, employee, cook, cleaner, gardener, etc. I'm not married since my husband died of cancer in Aug. 2000. It's tough being a single mom again. My kids were all grown. I had the empty nest.

So I was flattered that my boss would call and ask me to return. I know I could have asked for a huge raise. I am still thinking about it. He is even willing to wait for the fall when school gets back in. 
I loved what I did. I loved working with the tools and baking porcelain, grinding the teeth with tiny tiny high speed drills. I was also doing digital design with the Cad/Cam program with scanning models and designing bridges and crowns on the computer then sending those files to be milled out in zirconia. I was in the High Tech department. I loved it.
I hated the drive from my home to the lab. I had to go on 4 different freeways (only 22 miles) and the traffic was horrible. I do not miss that drive at all. It could take 30 min. on a good day or 2 hours on a bad day. Average time was 45 min. I was ok with the drive before I had Peanut. When I lived alone. I would just listen to the radio and kick back. But when you have a little one waiting for you at after school care it is horrible. I just missed her so bad. She needed to be with me or with family after loosing her mommy. 
So now I am home with her and I have more free time for my knitting and hobbies, also for errands and house work. 
We go to church several times a week. Our life is full.