Decisions, decisions

Ok, here is the skinny.

I have been working on a hardanger project for a few months off and on. Since we went on a RV trip a few weeks ago, I have have been working on it a lot. Well, here is where the decision comes......I took out my project into the sun after work on Thursday night, and just about fainted. The whites are 2 different colors of white, and I had not noticed it until it was bright outside. So much for my special light by my chair which is supposed to make colors more realistic for me. Now, normally I would tear it out, because I just can't stand non perfection. But, a little more than half is a bright white and the other half a dull white. They both said DMC perle coton 5 on them and I never noticed the difference in shading. What to do, what to do!!!!!!

I'm considering this. The design was supposed to be all white and elegant. I'm thinking that if I use a variegated or a couple different colors that it might help deaden the bright white. These colors would be accent only. Put in the area all around that is the center sections between the kloster blocks and blanket stitch edging. Going to have to think about this some. Definitely going to finish this somehow, some way!

The weekend is here again...housework for me for tomorrow. Have to vacuum the whole house and clean the bathrooms. Have to take trash and recycling to the recycling center. Sometime this weekend I need to get some groceries. Have put this off for a few weeks now, cupboards are getting very bare. So, i'm off to check the grocery ads and see which area i'm going to go to...Corning or Watkins Glen.

If anyone reads this....I would love your opinion on what to do with the hardanger.

Joanie R.

What a lazy weekend it was....

The only thing I did all weekend was to work on my Hardanger project. There is a major oops on the placement on my material....i'm off on one end....lack 4 stitches of room for the blanket stitching. What I am doing is not kosher....i'm doing the only thing possible. I am doing the edge blanket stitching on the selvage edge. You can hardly tell that is what I am doing after cutting off the waste. Luckily it is only on the 4 peaks of the diamonds that I have to do. After all this work, there is no way I am going to tear off stitches and narrow the design.

Actually it was a nice way to spend a few days off. But, my knitting and cross stitching have really been getting impatient with me!!!!!

Monday morning I had to go to the hospital and bring my father home. He is 83 years old and fell at his house, 13 fractures in his face. He had to have surgery on one eye socket so that it would stay in position. Dad is extremely weak, but in much better shape than when he went in. At least at the hospital he would eat 3 meals. When he is at home the temperature of the house is in the mid 80's. He doesn't want to pay the electric to run the whole house AC. But, when it is that warm all he does is sleep, and never seems to be hungry. His weight has dropped tremendously. This is a man that was always overweight as in beer gut! He is now thin as a rail.

I'm at the office eating lunch again (like I need any food???). Bruce has brought me some paperwork...so I do have billing to do. Than I have to pay some bills here also.

Boy, is this boring or what? I really want to get in the habit of blogging at least every couple days, even if I don't have much to write about. I'm thinking this might be interesting to my boys sometime in the future. Kinda like learning more about how I ticked!!!!

Have a good day everyone.

Joanie

Thank God it is Friday

I'm sitting here at my office desk, eating my lunch and decided I needed a diversion from horns. Blasting, squeaking, tinny, melodic, noisy and overall too many horn blasts. You see, a major employer in my office area is on strike. One of the main entrances to their place is just outside my front door. I sit only 6 feet from my front door. And, I am SICK of the sound of car and truck horns. The on strike guys and gals are waving at every vehicle with signs that say honk if you support us!!!!! You know what, at first I was ok with them being out there and trying to make a better living, but, my patience is almost at the end. I leave every day now with a headache. This strike is going to be a loooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggg one. They are so far apart in their talks. Guess I better buy a huge bottle of aspirin.

For the last two nights I have been working on my hardanger project. Almost done with part 1, the kloster blocks, should be able to start on the buttonhole stitching tonight. This will take a while too. If I do say so myself, it is looking pretty darn good.

Have not done any knitting since Monday night. Going to go to a knitting shop here in Corning sometime this afternoon. Need to get a pkg. of needle protectors which will actually stay on. I bought some hard plastic ones several months ago, and they won't even stay on the needles in the bag. I'm looking for the rubber ones, I used to see them on my Mom's needles all the time. Wish me much luck .

It is finally the weekend. Don't have any plans for it at the moment, but our boat really needs a good cleaning. We got it in the water late, and never got a chance to clean it. Sometimes I wonder why we got one. Now, we do live on the lake year round, but my husband works hard and is usually very tired when he gets home. The last thing he wants to do on a hot day is go out on the boat . He wants to hit the airconditioned house and chill out, no pun intended. Most of the days I agree with him, but I work in an air conditioned office all day. Guess I should just take my dog Brandy and head out as soon as I get home. I worry that I will somehow get myself out in the middle of the lake and it will break down or run out of gas.

I think maybe this weekend will be a canvas project weekend. I can take my work out on my deck, with a tall glass of whatever sounds good and work away. Gotta talk Bruce into putting up the awning so I can stay out even if the sun starts blasting away. This weekend is also a major race weekend at the track, so there won't be a whole lot of boaters and fisherpeople. Notice I included the women there too. I also love to fish, but didn't get my liscence this year. The weeds are so bad that I hate to constantly pull them off my hook. I don't even know if the fish can see the hook, the weeds are that bad. And swim?, not me with the weeds grabbing at my legs all the time. Seems a shame to have this beautiful lake and not being able to use it to any potential. So, canvas work project it is.

Have a good weekend everyone, anyone?????

Joanie R

Catch up day 2

Well, it is now Tuesday. More on my updating.

Several months ago my friend AnneMarie gave me a hardanger kit that our friend Kitty had started and never finished. Kitty has passed away and AnneMarie had to go thru everything and find good homes for as much of the needlework as she could. Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time working on the kloster blocks, which is part 1 of the pattern. I made it a little larger because the piece of material was so much larger than it needed to be. It is really starting to look very nice.

We had our stitching Tuesday at the Big Flats Community Center today and I worked on that project for most of the time, of course, I also spent time frogging after I found myself off 1 stitch after doing a 16 kloster block square. Got it redone before I left.

All the girls in this get together are great. Linda, Debbie and Carol almost always bring quilting projects. Debbie and Carol love to do all the complicated patterns. They always come out absolutely gorgeous!!!!! Ann Marie and Betty also do some quilting, but they also knit and do cross stitch. Ann G. does a little of everything. And me, I usually have my knitting, hardanger or cross stitch with me.

I have almost all the tools to do quilting now, but for the most important of all, the material! I find with a few other hobbies, seems I never have enough money to actually go and buy material. We have a great quilting shop in Watkins Glen, O' Susannah's. Been there several times oogling all the beautiful fabrics.

Tonight after posting i'm going to get back to my current cross stitch project. Miss December, a Dyan Allaire design i'm doing for a friend, have 4 pages done, have to keep working so I can do some things I want to do.

While stitching I usually have my earphones on with my ipod and knitting podcasts or watching movies on my mini dvd player. I LOVE both of these products. Makes me feel I'm not wasting time doing only 1 thing at a time.

Enough for tonight, want to get stitching.

Have a great evening everyone in blogland.

Joanie

It has been so long.....

Wow, I can't beleive how long it has been since I blogged anything. Recently a neat knitting thing called Ravelry has come out and I've decided that I must write here more often, so that if I post this blog at my site, I won't feel so embarrassed about the few entries.

Let's see......let me catch up first.

My Chatelaine Christmas mystery ended up in the UFO basket. I got to the specialty stitches that I had to do to get to the next section and Just COULD NOT figure them out. I even had pictures to show me the way!!!!!! Someday I will pick it up again. Spent too much money not to finish.

Finished my Forest Canopy Shawl. As I thought it is definitely too small for me. Don't want to pull out the edging and increase the size, so it will definitely be a present for the future.

Have finished several washcloths and a baby kimono from the Mason Dixon book. They came out great. Have several more items I would like to do some day.

Let's see........next...............Christmas afghan never got started. Did a couple blocks on the knitted afghan and decided I didn't like the way it was coming out, so I frogged the whole thing.

Instead I started an afghan in the round. Actually Mary Jeanne's daughter started it for me. Had to start on dpn's and I just could not get the hang of it. She did several rows, then I took over and switched to circular needles as fast as I could. It is really starting to get big and NICE!!!! I think my husband's Aunt will love this.

I have purchased the yarn to make a baby sweater. It is the same one that Stephanie Pearl McPhee knit a few of a couple months ago. I got the girls version. Have not started on it, probably won't until this winter. Want to get a few other projects done first.

Tomorrow I will try to post again about the rest of the things I have in the cue and also working on.


Have a great day tomorrow everyone and anyone who might read this.

Joanie