Saturday, September 17, 2011

Still knitting

The summer really flew by and now I find myself right smack dab in the middle of September. Can't believe the month is half gone. It really feels like fall already. It is actually cold here with the temps yesterday barely reaching 60 degrees.

I have not been a very good blogger. At the beginning of the summer I thought I'd have so much time to do everything I wanted to do. Never happened. I did have a wonderful visit with my sister and husband, but the rest of the summer just flew by.  We spent a little time at the cape. Then, once home had an extended power outage due to that nasty "lady" named Irene, mean Irene, as I have heard her called. The hurricane that hit New England pretty hard. We didn't have much damage, a few minor branches down, but we lost power, phone, cable, internet for almost four days. That was hard. We managed ok. I bought ice to try to save our food. Lost some, but not due to spoilage. Just couldn't refreeze what had thawed and couldn't cook and eat it all. Lost the ice cream I had. We sacrificed it, knowing the if we opened up the freezer to eat it, we definitely would lose what was in the freezer.

I have been knitting. I've been listening to audiobooks. Early in the spring/summer I discovered them and have not looked back. It all started when I borrowed one of those playaways at  my library and I liked it! I also tried downloading audiobooks from my local library. My middle son was kind enough to let me borrow his MP3 player, a sansa fuze, and I loved it! Totally awesome and I found myself not only knitting with it, but cooking and doing my household chores while listening to my books. This takes multitasking to a whole new level for me. Doing something you enjoy while doing things that are not, well, exciting, makes me stay focused and I easily get the jobs done with less distraction. I also found when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep, I really liked listening to my books. Since my husband didn't know what I wanted for my birthday in June, I suggested he get me my very own fuze. Which he did. I did a little research and found that the best model for audiobooks is the older model of the  Sansa Fuze MP3 Players), the same one my son has:
IMG_1271I found it surprising that the newer and "improved" fuze was not so good with audiobooks from the reviews I had read. Thankfully new models of the old fuze are still available. I bought mine on amazon. I have got to tell you I LOVE that little thing.

Now this leads me to tell you about what I have been knitting, well actually if you really must know know I did do some crochet, not knitting this time. I needed something to hold my fuze when I would listen to it in the middle of the night. I came up with this, a bed sling for my fuze:IMG_1313IMG_1314

Perfect to hang on the bedpost. It keeps it nice and handy for when I need it during the night. I can listen and I don't disturb my husband. Perfect!

Then I realized I could use a sling for me to wear around my neck. Most of my pockets don't hold much and some of my pants don't even have pockets. I didn't want to buy a special case so I crochet a similar little pouch to wear around my neck. IMG_1311IMG_1312The neck sling is ideal for a mobile fuze holder while I'm actively doing housework or just for sitting and knitting and when I knit and listen in the car. It's always handy. Can you tell how happy I am with the way both of these slings turned out?IMG_1315


The other project I worked on was a poncho for me to wear in the house this winter. I can wear it over my multiple layers when I get cold. I made it on the suggestion of my sister when she was here this summer. I used some of her handspun wool, plus some of my odds end ends of wool yarn that I have accumulated. It is a real stashbuster! She even furnished me with the pattern. Not sure where she got it from....have not been able to find it on the internet anywhere. Here it is:IMG_1320IMG_1323


I'm sure to be nice and warm this winter :)


Currently I am working on a baby blanket for a niece whose baby is due in November. It's a new to me pattern and I'm liking the way it is knitting up. I'm also still working on the circle squares for a blanket, but I have to admit there has been very little progress on this project.IMG_1316 I In addition I have to get going on some gift items that I'll be needing soon. You may not be hearing from me, but I assure you ....I am still knitting away....happily :)

Bye for now....Happy Knitting :)

P.S. I'm getting very forgetful. In my last post, I forgot to show you the pepper mill my brother-in-law made for me:
IMG_1325 It looks like a lighthouse and I love it!


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