NEW BLOG NAME

I have set up my new blog but I haven't posted anything there yet.  Stay tuned for a post to be published. 

The title of my NEW blog is http://needlesandpurls.blogspot.com/.

I see the new blog doesn't have a spell check.  I guess that means I will have to switch back and forth from the old editor with spellcheck to the new editor without spellcheck or write my posts on my word first to make sure most of my spelling is correct since I am phoneically dyslexic and spelling is not my forte.

LAST POST FOR THIS BLOG

This is way way too funny. I hope you enjoy this you tube video especially all my cat and kitty loving friends.




YUP, I have had the first surgery to repair my left torn medical meniscus.

AND here is what it looks like under the dressing.

Yesterday I went to the ortho clinic and had the stitches under the steri strips removed. I also had a small sebaceous cyst removed. I am getting a referral for physio. My knee (the one repaired) continues to be swollen, warm, and I still feel like one bone is riding over another. The clicking remains also. Sometimes it is just a noise but most times it actually hurts. Meanwhile the right knee also remains swollen, and painful. I guess the repair of the right knee will be in Jan. I should find out after my next visit to see the surgeon on Dec 17. Of course, after I get there for my appt (3:30PM) the receptionist tells everyone he was called back to the OR and will about 1/2. He was gone close to an hour and I was the last of the seven patients to be seen. I was told that I am going to need new knees. I hope I can keep my old ones for a long while yet, BUT........

Now that is over I am waiting to hear when I will have a repair of my left middle finger which is locking. This is the seventh finger that has locked on me and needed to be released. I even had to have one finger fixed twice. I started this procedure by trying to see the doctor in Feb and finally got in in June and have been trying to get it set up only the receptionist wants to do her own thing not what I want or what has been done before.

I have received a couple of swaps to show off and brag about. Late but better late than never.

Knitting Goodness

This first is my whoduknit Halloween swap which I should have posted in the previous blog as I did receive it before Halloween.

I received some lovely yarns. This first yarn is Fruity Toes Sock Yarn by Etsy Treasury and it's name is Vampire's Cocktail. My partner was told of my dislike of orange and orange is one of the main colors of Halloween and of the fall but I do like the deep reds of fall as well as black (bats, witches, cauldrons) and white (ghosts).

I also received two other different sock yarns.

This one is Regia Flusi das socken-Monster color 01804.


This one is Deborah Norville Serenity Sock weight yarn color purple spice #104.


I received knitting accessories.

First this lovely pattern,


Some wonderful tiny stitch markers are in this tin.


Aren't they adorable?


Some needles and a Chibi.


The cutest little project bag with a pattern of wonderful kitties.


I received Halloween goodies also, stickers and hanging spider.


Some of my treats came in these cute plastic Halloween bags.


AND a few others in this very neat little bag especially for Halloween.

These are cards. Here is one side


and here is the other side.


There also was editable in my TOT swap box. I not only got flowering tea but also information on flowering tea,


to kinds of fudge,

and cheddar cheese dressed up as a Halloween pumpkin.


Lastly there were a couple of books which I haven't read yet.


The next swap I received was my Fall Starbucks swap from rdodo all the way from England.

This is what I saw when I opened the lid of the box.

Inside my box I found this lovely Starbucks Christmas ornament. It is just like the one I sent to my partner. Now I have one also.


Of course, there was Lots of yarn. This first is Collinette Jitterbug (fingering weight sock yarn) in the colorway Moss. I have always wanted to try Jitterbug and now I can.

Next there were two skeins of this sock yarn called Cortina. Two people on ravelry faved it as soon as I stashed it.


AND there was this most lovely lace weight white yarn with 1200 meters of 90% merino and 10% nylon in the one skein. It is very yummy.

I received this chocolate bar which is long gone but I still have the wrapper.

Here are 15 lovely stitch markers.

AND here they are separated into groups of matching markers.






Also, in the box were these two little sock pattern booklets.
Here are close-ups of two different patterns I liked; one from each booklet.


I was also sent a Starbucks card but it can't be loaded with UK pounds that can be converted to Canadian dollars and used here so it is for show only and to use as a bookmark.

Lastly. and I hope I haven't forgotten anything I was made this scarf. It was hand woven in perfect colors for me. The photo doesn't do it justice.


This is probably going to be the last post on this blog. I am having so much problems with it. I am going to start a new blog in January and I hope I don't have as many difficulties. This blog entry will most likely be posted in Jan when under this I can list the new blog address. I can't seem to do anything with the side bar as the scroll part doesn't work, I can't change the publishing date after it has sat in the draft part of the blog. I can't change the amount of posts showing up when you pull it up. I also can no longer do the edit paste on the compose area of the blog but only on the edit htlm area. AND I am constatnly having to adjust the spaces between what I write even after I have previously adjusted it. These are just some of the problems I am having and I don't know if anyone else has them. AND also I only have about 10% space to use for photos now. Have I used 90% of the allowable photo space since I started my blog a couple years ago??? WOW!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

YUP Halloween evening and all the little ghosts and goblins have come and gone. I didn't get as many as I did last year by about 40 less. Only about 90 this evening. I wonder if the scare of the H1N1 FLU frightened many of the parents into not letting their children go out this year. I have some left over treats; small packages of Lay's Chips and assorted mini chocolate bars.

This is how I decorated my dining room window courtesy of Dollarama one of my favorite stores.

This is the top of my window.


AND here it is with the bottom of the window and my mini pumpkin lanterns.


On my fall wreath on the door I added some scary sticks to make it more Halloweeny. Is Halloweeny a word?

Now before I continue on my life and knitting check out this wedding gown. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1205007/Shepherdess-bride-marries-stunning-dress-wool-flock.html#comments%23ixzz0OogT2uOx. So what do you think? Could you carry it off at your wedding and would you ever consider wearing something like this?

These past two weeks have been busy busy busy. Monday October 18 I started a Hilltop study. It was for seven days Monday - Saturday 3X/day and once on Sunday. The money came in handy and let me put more on my VISA and also get some groceries and Halloween treats. It also allowed me to knit away and finish my second Sockknitter's Antonymous challenge of knitting with yellow. I have now knit two socks in yellow and don't think I will knit with yellow for a long time or knit yellow sock in a very long time. I enjoyed both patterns I knit but certainly was NOT in my comfort zone knitting with yellow.

Here is the challenge for September which was knit in yellow and the Sockknitter's Anonymous Sock which is called Froggie Faces. I purchased this yarn from The CraftsMeow on etsy and the color is called banana. It is 100% merino. It is a very thin yarn but bloomed beautifully after washing.

I felt better when the sock was completed and I noticed it was quite tonal. Why you ask? B/c the other yellow sock I knit, I dyed myself and it was tonal and I thought it was something I did wrong. Seeing someone else who sells sock yarn she dyed tonal made me feel a lot better.


Can you see the froggie faces in the pattern?


The second yellow sock managed to fall into two challenges. It was the fourth sock in the 2009 Sock Pentathlon called SUMMER and by doing it in yellow I could enter it in another September Sockknitter's challenge of knitting "any" sock pattern in yellow. I also entered it in the yahoo Whoduknit Sept project which was anything related to any book we have previously read. It was to represent yellow toddler socks for the book Bone harvest by Mary Logue despite it NOT being toddler socks. I figured since I used the lemonade Kool-Aid it would fit. You have to read the book to understand

The yarn I started with was Knit Picks Bare which I dyed with some lemonade Kool-Aid. Unable to find a second packet of which I knew I had as I received it in the whoduknit yahoo group I had to add some yellow food coloring. Here it is drying on a tree out my front door. Oh and on this tree I tied up a mummy for Halloween. Just look how nice it looks outside with green grass and leaves on the trees. It will be nice out like that again in several months. I am already counting the time and wishing my life away as I tend to do when the weather starts getting cold.


Here it is skeined ready to be caked and knitted.


Completed SUMMER Socks.


In this photo you can see how tonal these socks I dyed came out.


Close up of the PICOT cuff and pattern of the sock leg. I knit extra length on these socks as the pattern makes a short sock.


Back to my week's study at Hilltop.
Hilltop itself is always a challenge as I am NOT a morning person and I needed to be there for 8:25AM Monday thru Saturday for my first of three appt each day and on Sunday I needed to be there at 7:45AM. To get there for 7:45AM I had to take the first bus arriving at 7:24AM. Actually, I was #1 on the study and the time of that last visit on Sunday was supposed to be 16 - 18 hours after the second Saturday visit making the appt between 5:20AM and 7:20AM, only the staff doesn't even arrive until 7:30AM. The head of the study had to arrive by 7:15AM to set up the instrument machines and get them acclimated. It wouldn't have been so bad since I was there for such a brief period and could head back home to bed. Only there was a glitch in the plan when the I got to the bus figuring I missed one bus by 4 minutes realising I had to wait for the next bus., I was told by another waiting the bus I missed, it never arrived. The next bus 9:04AM didn't come either. The third bus was 11 minutes late. Thus, I didn't get home until 10AM and I had expected to be home much earlier and back to bed before 10AM. I did go back to bed anyway.

Monday I was just so tired I didn't do very much. I did go and get my Halloween treats and some groceries. I also had to prepare myself for my capsule camera endoscopy which was Tuesday October 30 starting early in the morning. My preparation was only clear fluids after lunch and nothing after MN. Thank-goodness I didn't have to take any laxatives but I usually don't anyway since I have no large bowel and am missing a bit of my small bowel also.

Here is the camera I had to swallow. Over the course of eight hours it would take 60,000 photos of the inside of my small bowel. I had a lot of electrodes stuck on my abd which were connected to a computer that was recording the photos the camera was taking. The computer was in a case I carried like a pocketbook with a shoulder strap. After two hours of swallowing the pill I could have some clear fluids and jello. In another two hours (four hours after swallowing the pill) I could eat. Once I swallowed the pill I could go about my business to return at 4PM to have the electrodes removed. Then the computer I was carrying was sinked to a regular computer to download the photos which would take several hours. I did get to see the beginning before I left. Now I wait to hear from my gastroentrologist. Only one of these procedures is done each day as they only have one of the portable computers you carry about. I never did see the doctor in charge of this procedure, just a couple of nurses.

Well since this is so old and sitting in my folder waiting to be published I will do that now and won't tell you what the date is I am doing this and go on with another blog post especially since I can't remember now what else I was going to write here.

LOOK AT ALL MY GOODIES

This post is extremely late in coming. I can't apologise enough for my bad manners in blogging about a swap received three and half weeks ago.

I have received two wonderful swap packages my angel Ravelry Starbucks Swap and my Kitty Mat from the Ravelry Kitty Toy Swap. I also received my Phat Fiber Box and my 2010 Dishcloth Calendar. OH MY OH MY OH MY

These three boxes arrived the same day.

I will start off with my Ravelry Starbucks Swap Swap package which was sent by an angel since my partner disappeared. The box was addressed to me but the enclosed card was written to someone else by the name of Marjorie. I guess my partner Michele had Marjorie on her mind.

I adore this little crochet hook which is great for picking up dropped stitches. I have a couple different ones but this is the smallest. Every project bag should have one. I love my Euclan and Soak I get in swaps to wash my knitted garments especially my socks when they are done. AND a Starbucks gift card. YUM YUM

Now check out this yarn. It is Wollmeise in color Box Wreath. Drooling is allowed since it will be on your keyboard and not mine or my yarn. HEE HEE These are the best of all nine photos I took. My camera is just not taking great photos anymore. I tried taking photos of this yarn inside and outside close up and further away with natural and artificial light. ARRGH!!!! The actual colors are unbelievably gorgeous.



I also received stitch markers in both swaps and in my PHAT Fiber box. Here they are. these photos came out good.


These two stitch markers were from the PHAT Fiber box.



Now for my package from the Ravelry Kitty Toy Swap.

My big girl Solara took immediately to her package and enjoying her kitty mat, which is so to her liking being it was felted. Check out her name on it.

I certainly hope I got this correctly. These are from my pal in the Kitty toy Swap. See the card. It has disappeared along with my note/card from my angel in the Starbucks Swap. It was on my desk for me to refer to and now it is gone gone gone. I know it will show up since I hardly ever toss cards and notes out. It is just a matter of when it will reappear.

This is YUM YUM yarn. It has glittery shiny yarn in it which makes me very happy. I checked ravelry but couldn't find it listed there to help decide what to make with it.

Here is Solara enjoying her mat and her catnip snake and mouse.


AND then she also got some Kitty Treats which are long gone now.


Yes Solara enjoys here swaps as much as I enjoy mine.

Again please forgive me if I got some of the swap items mixed.

So you want to know what is a PHAT Fiber box?

From the PHAT Fiber ravelry group it says, "A yarn store or fiber festival in a box delivered to your doorstep once a month. Featuring indie yarn samples, batts, roving, original patterns, teas, stitch markers, and much more!"

More details can be found here: http://www.phatfiber.com/ and you can sign up here to be notified when a box will be available to purchase from etsy:
http://www.phatfiber.com/notifyme.htm.

This is what it says on the blog, "The Phat Fiber Sampler box is a way for independent fiber, yarn and related needlecraft companies and artisans to promote their products through a tactile goodie box that goes on sale once monthly. Our contributors get exposure while the consumers get to handle and experiment with products before making larger purchases."

This is what I saw when I first opened the lid of my box.



My first box in September contained these items in addition to the stitch markers. For my first box I chose a mixed box of fiber and fluff. You can also choose just a fluff box or just a fiber box. BUT you have to be fast to get one. I so need to learn how to spin better so I can play with these new fluffs. On the ravelry site you can see what people have spun with their samples.









AND also in the box was discount coupons for different sites on etsy. Here are some of them.





I also received my 2010 Dishcloth Calendar and stitch markers. This is the third year I have purchased this calendar. Each year it gets better.