Gorgeous Yarn Find

Kev and I had a great time at church camp last week. Exhausting, but definitely worth it.

Before we left, I stopped at Savers to pick up some suitcases. I found three nice ones for $7.99, $6.99 and $4.99. They nest into each other, this will be great for storage purposes.

I am also so excited about this delectable yarn that I found:

The original tag shows that the two hanks of Country Silk retailed for $24.99. I can't believe someone didn't snatch this up before me - Savers had it marked for only $2.99!! The Savers tag says it came into their store on the 17th, and I found it on the 29th.


While at camp, I tried twice to wind it into a Jacqueline Fee Japanese Yarn Cocoon as demonstrated at Elka Knits. The first attempt Kev was helping me by holding the yarn around his forearms as we sat in our room with the door open. Kev defended his manliness at least twice, explaining that he doesn't knit to fellow brethren who dropped by to see what we were doing. Kev, dear, just in case you don't know, manly men do knit.

I decided against making a ordinary ball since they roll around and I like trying something brand new. Besides, it just sounded so neat. Making a cocoon. Neat!

I only got about a third cocooned before it was time for the evening worship, so I left it for later. Which I then realized I had been wrapping the yarn the wrong way, so I started all over. I wasn't able to make much headway, but I did figure out the correct way to wrap it.

I'd really hoped to have it cocooned in time for the trip home, but never found any more time to work on it.

In addition to the Elka Knits tutorial, I found mention of Jacqueline Fee's Japanese Yarn Cocoon method over at Knit the Knits and she actually found a site - Yarnerinas - which had a video of the procedure! After watching the video I know I now have the process down correctly. Now to find the time to cocoon the lovely yarn.

I am thinking about making a coverlet to wear in the fall, using this pattern Gothic Leaf Lace. I did actually experiment with the pattern on the drive to camp, but I used a two-colored yarn and it is difficult to see the pattern.

I love this Gothic Leaf Stole by Sivia Harding, but I think my yarn is too thick. Here is another link to the Gothic Leaf Stole by Sivia Harding, this is an absolutely stunning stole. Wow. I need to buy some thinner yarn, lol.

Here is another Gothic Leaf Pattern which looks nothing like my attempt with the lace pattern mentioned above. This is another pattern I love, Lace Wrap but again, my yarn is too thick.

Until next time.

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What's In The Bag?

I picked up another knitting bag on clearance ($4 - yeah, I know their clearance prices leave something to be desired) at Walmart a few weeks back. While my husband drives, I have been knitting on my vest, on the way home from work.

I was stumped for about a week, and kept reading and rereading the pattern. Finally this past Sunday I asked Pastor's Wife for a pow-wow as she is the only other person I know in real life who knits, and is a more advanced knitter than myself. I have only been knitting for three years now. The pattern was slightly confusing to her, and she advised that I just ignore some of the directions, which was what I was thinking, so it was nice to have confirmation on which ones to ignore. ;-) So here's the back.

And after I got past my slump, I'm moving steadily along on the left front. I have to continue until the armhole is 9.5".

I'm REALLY going to have to step up the posting if I'm going to have 500 before the end of the year.

Until next time.

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Purple Passion Vest

I started this project on Sunday September 23rd. I don't like our new camera and I can't find my job's camera to take a picture of what I've done so far. This first picture is using the flash. It's practically psychedelic. Hmmm... I seem to have spelled that word correctly. The towel is actually a dark navy blue color.

Here is the same piece of knitting without the flash. Totally washed out.

Here I attempted to Photoshop the correct rendering of the color. It's pretty close. But the purples are more intensely purple. More like the next photo.

Only again, not so psychedelic.

This is the back. There is a neat border on the bottom and sides achieved by using the seed pattern. At least it seems to be a variation of the seed pattern, because it's basically knit the purl and purl the knit for four stitches on each end (five rows to start out with). Then the standard whatever it's called, uh, stockinette stitch, which is knit on one side and purl on the other (wrong) side.

I am knitting on the way home, while dh drives. Except today I realized I'd better get myself in gear and start working on the wedding things that have to be printed out, so I worked on the laptop on the way home today.

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Kitty Pi In One Day

Ds2 decided he wanted to knit a kitty pi for Precious today. Only he doesn't know how to knit, so he asked me to teach him. Only we didn't have any size 11 DPNs, so we had to make some from wooden dowels that I happened to have on hand from the last time I made my own wooden needles. But then I couldn't figure out to get started knitting in the round and shortly after casting on 9 stitches and not knowing what to do from there, I gave up, grabbed a crochet needle and began creating a crocheted kitty pi. Why I didn't write down what I was doing, I will never know. I pretty much winged it and it came out just like I planned! I doubt if it took me more than four hours. Ds2 did crochet several of the rounds, but he has only crocheted chains in the past, and so today was learning to do chains again, plus learning the slipstitch, single crochet and double crochet. We finally agreed on Hunter's Chicken (aka Chicken Cacciatore) for dinner, but I didn't really want to cook. He really wanted the kitty pi to be finished, so we agreed that I would crochet and he would cook. That worked out great.

I did use wool from my stash, the Irish Twist Yarn for Aran Sweaters, but I don't know if it was prewashed - I don't know if it will shrink and felt like the kitty pi is supposed to. We first read about kitty pi's at Crazy Aunt Purl's.

When I finished it, ds2 put Precious into it and she immediately began bathing. We had the kitty pi perched on top of a TV tray. It was a somewhat precarious, but she didn't seem to care much.







Until next time.

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My Hair

ADDED NOTE: I forgot to give credit to the photographer for all the photos in this post. One Kevinsky Stewartsky. Thank you for your excellent photo taking skills, you will one day be as famous as Leonardo Da Vinci!

I never did get to report back on Saturday like I promised. I did finish the housecleaning that I'd planned to do, and got started with figuring out our finances. I got through one credit card statement. I worked for one more half hour on the veil. Then I got his hair-brained idea to thaw out a turkey to cook for today.

Speaking of hair, here's a couple shots of mine. It's gotten very long and it's Day 21 of No Poo. I'm still loving the experience, my hair still smells delicious. Very neat.

I probably need a trim at the bottom... probably a good six inches should be removed.

Around 4pm, suddenly it thundered and rain began pelting down. The wind blew very hard and rain poured down in all directions. This is a picture of the north side of our property.

Because I decided to make a turkey today, of course I had to put together a Thanksgiving dinner with at least SOME of the trimmings. When I got up this morning, after milking, I cut up and toasted the many day old bread cubes (I even used 2 bagels that were a week old), peeled potatoes, started my potato rolls and the turkey broth (using the neck, heart, gizzard and liver). We only had a few potatoes and so after church we stopped by to the store to get more. Of course that meant a family shopping excursion. We finally arrived home just after 2pm.

The turkey was a bit overdone. I immediately punched down the dough, formed the rolls and got them going on their second rise. Strained the broth from the turkey and added it to the broth I made on the stove and made gravy. And on and on. Point being, I never got back to our finances or working on the veil.

I snacked during the entire meal making process and really should have not eaten dinner at all, but fixed myself a plate anyway. I have not overeaten that badly in quite a long time, and I actually had to lie down I was so uncomfortable. :-( I got pretty sleepy around 6pm and fell asleep around 6:30 or so. I'm up now because I slept for three hours and it was like taking an afternoon nap. I got up to email my friend about my hair appointment next week. I hope she'll be available next Sunday so we can get together to see what she can do with my hair for the wedding.

I haven't been doing much wedding stuff, aside from the veil. Not even reading books or putting together the program. I need to recommit myself to the process and get a time line written out.

I did manage to get some knitting in today! On the way to and from church. I grabbed this skein and my homemade wooden needles and started as we left the driveway. Good thing I have a second skein as this came out too short. I will probably bring it with me and finish in the next day or so. I used to sell my scarves on the Internet with some friends but that only lasted a couple of years before everyone lost interest. I tried to keep it going, and the front page can still be seen, but the store itself is no longer available. It was like my baby, it was the first shopping cart I've ever done... it is probably for the best. Rest in peace, baby. So I thought maybe I will look into Etsy to see about selling all these scarves I have on hand. I have at least a dozen, if not more. I have read that other knitters find scarf making to be totally boring. But I like knitting scarves. No pressure. No worry about gauge, am I knitting too tight or too loose? No remembering patterns. Just knit, knit, knit, knit. These two skeins were on clearance at Michael's for FORTY cents each. I wish I'd bought more, but I hadn't thought of trying Etsy. I have been trying to avoid buying yarn because I have plenty in my stash. But who can pass up at least a couple of skeins when they are marked down to FORTY cents? I also got eight skeins of baby blue furry type yarn to make a baby blanket. For who, I don't yet know. But it is going to be so soft! I was going to start on that today, but realized the pattern was for crochet. That would be fine, but it is so furry I think it will be disastrous trying to crochet with it. If I do a swatch gauge I should be able to figure out how to knit it.

It's now 11pm. I had better get back to bed. What's that? My stomach seems to indicate hunger. Sometimes when I can't sleep it is because my blood sugar level dropped. Eventually I'll feel hungry like I do now. I think I'll have a tall cold glass of chocolate goat's milk and hop back into bed.

Until next time.

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Simpleton Socks

I'm using the book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts to try to learn how to make socks from the toe up.

I keep getting depressed because I can't get past the first few rows on the beginning of the toe. I have started the sock over five times while dh has been driving.

I finally learned how to do yarn-overs, and I learned yesterday by reading the chapter prior to the instruction chapter that I'm supposed to be doing a specific type of yarn-over, which she describes. I'm pretty sure I am doing the yarn-overs that she specifies. But then I get to the part where she wants me to "correct the stitch direction" and "enter the back of the next three stitches from left to right and purl" and there are several more phrases which have me completely befuddled. Especially since putting the needle in from left to right isn't even how you purl? And then things like "...slip the first stitch of the yarn-over onto the right needle, and then over to the left needle. Now your yarn-over is divided leaving one stitch on the left needle." Right. You just told me to move one stitch over and then back again. How did it stay divided, what am I missing?! Maybe I should find another pattern and compare the terminology. Like this site here: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern.

Anyway, so instead of depressing myself on the way to work this morning with what a simpleton I obviously am when it comes to knitting, I decided to take the test camisole along and rip out the seams and baste them. Some of the seams came out crooked, and my side seams aren't matching. That's what I get for sewing without pinning or basting satin material. At least, thank GOD I had the foresight to use the largest stitch so the ripping was fairly simple. I got all the seams ripped out and some of the basting done. I should be able to get all the basting done on the way home.

I talked with a lady today who made her daughter's first wedding gown and she said she was working on it every spare minute for MONTHS. She said she lived 5 minutes away from her job and would come home on her lunch hour and sew for 45 minutes. She said something about 15 buttons on the sleeve from the wrist to the elbow and a high neck with a lot of buttons. So I'm hoping it was much more elaborate than mine. Because I certainly don't have much time available. She even made a comment about how short the time was "and you're making a test dress?" I laughed and said I hoped I wasn't running around in a panic the day of the wedding screaming at dh to staple seams together.

I'm hoping to have the test dress done within the next four weeks. That leaves me eight weeks to do the real dress. I think it can be done, especially if I use some of our commute time basting.

I am learning with making the test dress. I think it's important to make the test dress. For example, I learned that I need to be more vigilant when ds1 is around and I'm working on the dress. Last weekend he put his water glass on the table, which left water on the table. Now the blue satin fabric has a stain on it. Looks like a grease mark though.

Today we leave work early. Dh has an appointment.

Until next time.

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Lace

I went to the discount fabric store today at lunch and had to look and look but finally found some blue lace that will match the test dress exactly!! And I like the lace, too. (They had a lot of UGLY lace there, lol!) Can you see the pinkish tint to the edges of the lace? The same thing happened with the blue fabric. I'm thinking it must be sun damage? Odd that both the fabric and lace would have the same pinkish tone to the edges. From totally different shops in different cities, too! On sale, $0.75/yard! I bought five yards. I only needed 2 1/2 yards. I guess to be on the safe side. And especially since the edges are tinted pink. That might cause a problem. But WOW, $0.75/yard!! The cheapest I found at Walmart was $2/yard.

The jacket is also supposed to have lace lining the sleeves and the bottom. I found some. It's not a perfect match, but it might work. After all, this is just a test dress. The lace edging cost $0.50/yard.

I also found the jade green lace. I hope I will be able to match a fabric to it, but all the lace was on sale for $0.75/yard! They had only one piece of this jade color, 4.5 yards. I bought it all. Whopping $3.38. Again I only need 2.5 yards for the jacket, but just to be on the safe side.

I just LOVE the green lace. I really hope I can find fabric to match. I need to go back to the discount fabric store and check it out more thoroughly. I was only able to stay for 25 minutes and had to get back to work.

And I'm feeling MUCH more optimistic because I remembered that my boss is an excellent seamstress and used to sew clothing for her children and has a sewing machine and still sews things. YES!

I'm bringing my box of material and the pattern and everything in tomorrow and see if she can help me.

I started the sock over and my knitting was too loose, so I started it over again.

Until next time.

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Riding The Train

Today DH and I went into the big city to his sister's house to pick up her trailer and bring it home so DH can fix the swing jack. She drove over something and it got messed up pretty badly. He's going to have to reweld a new swing jack to the trailer. Anyway, when we got there she commented to me that I was "riding" instead of driving and I told her how stoked I am about and she said it was like riding a train and that she'd never thought about it that way before.

I came into town with DH because I was maybe going to go by my friend's house, the one that is going to do my makeup for the wedding. I'm going to help her with some eBaying tips. But our plans changed, so I didn't get to her house. We're hoping to try again next Saturday.

I spent part of the drive knitting. I have only knit one sock in my life and now I want to knit a pair of socks from the toe up. Before this morning I didn't even know how to do a yarnover. It was hot since our big truck doesn't have air conditioning and to compound things, it's humid. We got home about 1:30 and I was so cranky I got into the shower right away and then crawled into bed for a nap. I woke up at 3:30, feeling much better. But I also am way behind now on my weekend chores, like washing clothes for the week ahead.

I asked DH to help me start on the test wedding dress. I was hungry when I laid down for my nap and ravenous when I woke up. I don't think well when I'm hungry and DH was also hungry and had just come in from being out in the heat the last two hours since we got home. But he sweats a lot and loves the heat. We put our heads together for a while and then it was time for me to go out and milk and DH ground hamburger and made hamburger burros. In spite of both being hungry we managed to get a bit of progress on the pattern.

I'm growing less confident in my ability to put this dress together.

I also have to start the sock over.

ACK! My Peek-A-Boo post script is broken, the fix is here. In the meantime, every single post on my blog has "Display Entire Post" at the end of each post, even when there is nothing more to see. And I don't think the posts that do open up, are fully displayed. I don't have time to work on this tonight.

Until next time.

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Instantly Add 2.5 Hours to Your Workdays!

I don't recommend this method, but it's working for me.

My Dear Honey got his driver's license today after not having had one for many years. I am so excited! The way I see it is I gain at least 2.5 hours more on each work day since he will happily take over the driving. While he's driving I can look at grocery ads, put together the weekly menu and shopping list, compose blog posts on my laptop, KNIT, I said KNIT!! Whoooo!!!

Today we did our Friday Thang as usual, first stopping at Department of Motor Vehicles. Dh thought he would have to take the written and driving test again, but nope, they took their money and took his picture and we were out of there within an hour!

I retired my vanity license plate which had the letters ***MAMA. Dear Honey has suspected for some time that some of the road rage directed at me is because the other driver knows I'm a woman, due to the license plate. AND... he wasn't too excited about driving with my vanity plate...

I worked on my swatch for the pair of socks I'm planning to knit. I got several rows done. When we set out this morning I had the cast on row and one row of knit. I didn't knit every spare moment, but I got a lot more knitting done than if I'd have been driving the entire time!

We stopped at a little diner and had lunch together. Dh had a burger with fries, and I had a Reuben sandwich with fries. It was okay. Nothing compared to the Reuben sandwiches that ds2 makes.

We bought envelopes on Thursday afternoon for the invitations. $15 for 100 ivory colored greeting card envelopes. I stopped by the post office today to ask the postmistress if the envelope was considered "large" which would mean more postage. Whooo!! We only need to use regular postage. I have 1 book of the love bird stamps, but they don't seem to be available at usps.com, so I may use the wedding hearts for the remainder. I looked for a roller type thing to make the stenciling job quicker and easier, but no luck. There doesn't seem to be such a thing on the market.

I found my "test" material at Walmart today. Too bad it's not my color! Only $1/yard! It looks and feels like satin, the blue on the left side. I'm not sure why but the edge (selvage?) is pink and purple. I don't know if that was by design or some accident. The other blue doesn't really match, but it's to be the lining for the camisole. It was also $1/yard. I am starting with the camisole and hoping it won't be too difficult. I cut around the pattern pieces this afternoon. OH, and Walmart had the FF size of my wedding gown pattern. The pattern shows the price to be $16.95. I think the GG size is going to be way too big for my top. I was planning to buy the FF size from simplicity.com because it was $10.xx. I think $10.55. I still don't know if there was a shipping charge - didn't get a chance to see the packing slip invoice. Anyway, so I decided to bite the bullet and just buy the pattern in real life, instead of from the Internet. I was pleasantly surprised to discover after we checked out that the pattern was only $9.97! Whew. I seem to need a size 20 up top, size 24 for my waist and size 26 for my hips. Maybe I can combine the patterns. I wasn't able to find any lace for $1/yard. I might have to break down and buy it for $2.97/yard. I decided to wait on buying the lace since it will probably take me a couple of weeks to put the camisole and skirt together. I'm going to try to keep track of how much time I spend on it so I will have an idea of how long it will take to put the real dress together.

We stopped at a Super Joann's on Thursday after work and they every color you can imagine, with matching lace. But a very dismal choice for the dark green material. And no dark green colored lace at all. I am already beginning to wonder if this is going to be too difficult to find the green color that I want. I did see some beautiful brocade material that was marked down to 60% off, which would have made it $4.00/yard. I wished I could have bought some. I already have the material for two dresses, so I don't want to start some huge fabric stash that I'll never have time to use. I don't think I'll be able to sew while dh drives. ;-)

Here's a couple pictures of the adorable little kitties.


Ds1 drew a neat picture that I've decided to include as part of the RSVP card. He is so excited that Mom and Dad are getting married again. :-)

Also, I was looking at some ideas for making my own wedding guestbook, which I was thinking was going to be kind of silly since those books have pages and pages worth of lines for people to sign in. We probably won't have more than 50 people attend so only a page or two would be filled. I found this wedding book idea where you give everyone a page to write on and then bind it in a book later. I would love to do this. My friend who is going to do my makeup had the idea to make copies of the books and give out to anyone interested in having one. She said what they did at her daughter's recent wedding was to have a table with a Polaroid camera. Each person was to take a picture of his or herself and then write something to go with the photo.

I've been playing around with the files but it doesn't look like I have a program here at home that will alter them nicely. I do have the programs at work. OH, no, hold on... the program that the guy recommends is Inkscape and it's freeware! Neat! I'll have to check it out.

Until next time.

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Hooded Baby Sweater Finished 7/7/07

Whew! I am finally done with the baby sweater. Now I can focus all my creative energies on putting together our wedding. Although I might get something on the needles, I'm still wanting to make some socks or a hat for ds1...

Until next time.

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Thank You, Margaret Edwards

So far every time I use my sewing machine there's something new to learn. I don't know if I've ever sewn a zipper into anything in my life, so there's that, then the fact that this machine is still new to me. I opened my little orange accessory box to take out the zipper foot. I found lots of feet, and began matching them to the Instruction Manual's images of the various feet. But alas, I could not find the zipper foot. I went through all three drawers, searching for the zipper foot. Thinking there HAS to be a zipper foot. The previous owner of this machine, one Margaret Edwards, bought all the extras and so the zipper foot HAD to be included, didn't it?

Finally, I came across a small bottle with some plastic pieces. I wondered what this could be?

And thank you Mrs. Edwards, for the little note! If you click on the photo you will see a larger image. The beige piece near the top to the right looks as if it has been used frequently. I don't know why a metal zipper foot is not included in my little accessories box... could Mrs. Edwards have lost the real zipper foot? This one says "Unique" on it and apparently there is some type of special zipper foot for sewing invisible zippers. Here's a neat article on zippers.

BTW, I managed to get the zipper into ds2's pants and he tried them on and pronounced them wearable. Oh, there were some theatrics about some missing stitching but eventually he managed to get over the horror of it all.

The chicken, bacon and cheese sandwiches (Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwiches) were a hit.

I worked a bit more on the hooded baby sweater. I've sewn all the seams together, except for the hood. After I sew on the hood I still have to sew the blanket stitch all around, sew on the buttons and make the button loops. I hope to have it completed by the end of next weekend. Then I can finally begin a new knitting project! Maybe some socks!

I am still planning to start a sourdough starter this weekend. Perhaps tomorrow. I'm going to use the procedure shown on this webpage, using rye flour and kefir whey to get things started.

Until next time.

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Washing Machine

Yesterday, while ds2 and I went to Walmart to pick up his glasses, dh sat and read our Major Appliances by Time Life Books book to see if he could figure out, once more, what was wrong with our washing machine. Well, come to find out the lid switch was broken. It's that little piece that is connected to the lid, and it sticks down into the washing machine and pushes a little button that tells the machine the lid is closed so the washer will spin. Which is a really good thing since we stopped at a yard sale over the weekend and bought almost $100 worth of tools. A handyman was going out of business and dh got a compound mitre saw for $50, a pipe threader kit and vice for $30, a pair of metal snips and a huge drill bit for $5. I got an Upwards game for $1 and a Glenn Doman "Teach Your Baby to Read" set for $5.

I was really happy that dh figured out what was wrong because now we don't need to buy a new (used) machine, and again since we spent half of the money I thought we'd have to spend on a used one.

I am replacing a zipper in ds2's cargo pants. I don't know if I've ever put a zipper into anything before. I removed the broken zipper last night, and basted the new zipper in place.

Dh and I went into work today to make up hours we lost from Wednesday and stopped at JoAnn's afterwards. I could spend ten hours in that store. I needed thread to work on ds2's pant's zipper. I got a color that is a close match, and nylon thread, in case I have to go invisible.

I looked at yarn. I am supposed to put that blanket stitch around the hooded baby sweater, but now that the buttons are the same color as the sweater, I wanted to make the blanket stitch a color other than white. I wish the buttons had been white. I was thinking a pastel varigated yarn, but couldn't find any colors that would match to my satisfaction. Then I remembered the button loops are in the "contrasting" color, so maybe it will work out okay after all.

I cooked dinner last night, I made this sandwich: Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich. Dh did not like it. Ds2 said it was the best sandwich he's had in his life. I thought the meat came out good, considering the round steak wasn't professionally tenderized. I did use our Deni 48 blade meat tenderizer, which worked very nicely. I also made this poisonous crap which I dearly love but try to make only once in a great while. Banana Pudding. But I don't really follow the recipe exactly. I just make some instant vanilla pudding, slice some bananas and layer in some Nilla wafer cookies. I love pudding. I especially love warm homemade vanilla pudding.

Tonight ds2 and I are going to try this recipe: Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich. He's already cut up and pounded the chicken breast. I couldn't find peppered bacon, so we'll have to manage without.

I also made a batch of copycat Lawry's Seasoning Salt. I modified this recipe: Seasoned Salt. I left out the chicken bouillon because it almost always contains MSG. Also, I didn't see the point of using onion salt and garlic salt. I just added a bit more salt than this recipe called for. I have not purchased Lawry's Seasoning Salt over the years because I thought it contained MSG, but I'm reading on their website that it does not. However, it does contain the mystery ingredient "natural flavoring" which is often some form of MSG.

At any rate, I'm sure it's less expensive to make my own mixture.
2 tablespoons pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dry marjoram leaves
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 cup salt

Two things to say about our beef. Both may be gross out things. One I love, one I detest. Let's see, how about my favorite thing first, which may be considered gross by some. I love raw beef. I stopped eating it in my childhood due to e.coli scares. (My mom used to get a roast freshly ground and we'd eat raw bites of hamburger). But eating one's home grown beef, especially after having been frozen for two weeks is said to be safe. It is so delicious. The other thing... I have found too much gristle in the hamburger, of which we have several thousand pounds. Okay, actually it's only 145 pounds. It is coarsely ground and I found one hunk of gristle the size of a pea. GROSS. I have got to call the processor and complain. Not that anything can be done, but he should know there is a problem. And next time we'll have to say something and hope it doesn't happen again.

So before I use any more hamburger, I'm going to be regrinding it. Thankfully we have the grinder piece that goes with our KitchenAid. Next I'm going to try this recipe: The Best Lasagna. I haven't decided whether we should just have it for dinner on Sunday night, or whether I should freeze it for a meal during the week. I mentioned this idea to ds2 and he didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Now I must go work on that zipper. Ds2 plans to wear those pants to church tomorrow.

Until next time.

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Allergy Shots

Dh and I traded work days - today for Saturday. We left home at 6:30am and got home right around 3:30pm. I had an appointment with my allergy/asthma specialist at 7:30am. He wants to see me every six months or so. Usually I go to my appointment then head into work, but dh had to take care of some business so it took much longer than it normally does.

Actually my appointment took longer than normal to begin with, I didn't leave the office until 9am. The last couple times I've seen this doctor, he arrives shortly before 7:30 along with his office people. They carpool in from another city. So like dodobrains we sat waiting from 7:22 to see if they would arrive. Finally at 7:31, dh asked if I shouldn't go in and see if they were already there. Duh. Yes, they were there, with an office full of patients already.

My dr. listened to my lungs and asked me how I've been doing. I told him I'd started taking Flovent again (November 2006) due to having a cold that lasted weeks and weeks. He asked that I please see him the next time I'm sick like that. He then brought up the subject of allergy shots.

When I first saw him in 2003, I remember very clearly him saying something very close to, "You're allergic to so many things it wouldn't be worth taking shots because you'd be on them for the rest of your life." Dh also remembers me saying the dr. told me this. I reminded my dr. he'd said this to me to which he promptly responded that I must have misunderstood him (that's actually possible since he is from India and has a heavy accent but I really don't think I heard him wrong) because he would never have said anything like that. He went on to explain that I can take medication for the rest of my life, or I could begin allergy shots which will last four years and would enable me to stop taking medication. He said 95% of people who take allergy shots find they are able to stop taking all medications and no longer have symptoms of asthma. He also told me I was probably exhausted all the time because of my allergies. He said I'd have to come in weekly for 10 months and then the shots would taper to every 2 weeks, then every 3 weeks, then monthly.

He told me in many cases insurance companies won't charge for the shots, because the dr. doesn't charge for an office visit. I guess they charge for the serum to be made initially. I explained to him that my job security is somewhat in question right now and he said if I thought I'd have the same insurance for 3-4 months then the monthly cost for the shots would drop to about $25/month. But it's expensive the first 3-4 months, I understood him to say.

I'm not sure what to do. It sounds great, but I will definitely be researching the whole process. And I never really considered my allergies to affect my energy level. When I was allergy tested four years ago, I wasn't allergic to cats. I mentioned that and he wanted to retest me, to see if I'd developed an allergy to cats. I got three pokes. One was "positive response" two was "cat dander" and three was "negative response". I thought 2 and 3 looked the same, but he thought 2 was a "5x5". The "positive response" was "20x30". Whatever that all means. The positive response was quite a good sized bump and itchy and red all around about the size of a nickel. So I guess it has to do with the size of the area reacting to the allergen. He also had me do a breathing treatment, measuring my lung function before and after the breathing treatment. When he saw me in his office to write me a new prescription for Allegra (which I only use 2-3 pills a month, if that - he gave me a prescription for 180 tablets, yikes), I asked him about my lung function and he told me it was better than his. I asked with or without the medication (breathing treatment), he said, "Better than mine, with OR without." I took that to mean my lung function is pretty good. But thinking more about it, how does that tell me anything really? What if his lung function is like, on a level of 1 to 100, an eleven? And mine's a ten? I'm going to assume my lung function is quite good and stop at that.

Dh and I went out to lunch today at a little Mexican food restaurant which was actually very nice. I am so often disappointed with restaurant food. This little place has been in business since 1950 so I guess they must be doing something right. I had a beef tamale and a cheese and green onion enchilada. Dh had a green chili burrito and an iced tea. They served us with a small bowl of tortilla chips as is the custom at most Mexican food restaurants, but they were stale-tasting. I told our waitress and she took them away and brought back some crispy, fresh ones. The meal cost us less than twelve dollars.

Progress on the hooded baby sweater... first, the lamb buttons arrived today. They are simply adorable. Click on the image to see a bigger shot of them.

I finished the hood last night and began tucking in the loose ends and marking the "right side". Today I finished tucking in loose ends, and began sewing seams. I got as far as the shoulders. The lamb buttons will match so perfectly. This pattern has been difficult at some points, but mostly because I didn't know what the pattern was asking me to do. Once the hooded baby sweater is sewed together, I'm supposed to trim the edges with the blanket stitch. I wasn't quite sure what that was, but just now googling it I discovered I have used that stitch often while hand sewing. I just never knew what it was called, nor did I know it was a popular stitch. I was reading about the stitches that can be used for sewing the pieces together earlier today in my Dummies book. I thought it was going to be another learning curve, some brand new funky stitching, but I've used the stitches before to put crocheted pieces together. And I never had a pattern or instruction. So this won't be as difficult as I'd anticipated. I can't wait to see it all together in one piece.

It's getting close to being time to milk. Dh put beef roast in the oven this morning and I guess I'll volunteer to clean the meat so we can have shredded beef burritos for dinner.

Until next time.

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Happy Father's Day 2007

Pretty calm day today. The washer is may be unfixable. Dh didn't have his voltage meters with him but it might be the timer. I'm very disappointed. This is a Maytag washer but apparently the only "quality" Maytag washers to be had costs hundreds of dollars. This apparently is a cheap version made of plastic. So I guess a "new" washing machine is in order. Although I refuse to buy a brand new one. I would rather get a twenty year old washer than to get one made of plastic that will fall apart in a year.

Ds2 and I went to church. Ds2 enjoyed the service and meeting fellow believers. Next Sunday hopefully we will all attend, including ds1. On the way to church, ds2 and I noticed a man walking along the side of the road. He wasn't hitchhiking and he was clearly leaving a car behind. So we decided to stop and give him a ride. The nearest phone was about 8 miles away. He was very greatfulgrateful. We mentioned we were on our way to church, so we started talking a bit about religion. We decided to give him one of our Questions and Answers from the Bible by Les Feldick books.

I don't often pick up strangers and don't often feel that I should. But sometimes I feel I'm supposed to, and so I do. If memory serves, I've given six rides in the past six years. One was a young couple carrying a newborn baby in one of those baby carriers. The baby was sleeping but in full sun as they walked in the heat of the summer morning. One was a young woman with a bunch of groceries. Two were pregnant women, with broken down vehicles in the middle of the summer, in the heat of the afternoon. Both were crying and red faced from the heat (separate incidents). The other was a young man needing to get about twenty miles east of where he was. It was late at night, it was on my way and I took a chance on that one. It was okay though. I actually asked him if I could pat him down and made sure he wasn't carrying a knife or gun. As it turned out, he was a Christian, carrying a book he'd been reading. A Christian book for men. He and his wife were estranged and he'd spent the night at her home to visit their children. I told him we'd pray for his family and told him the story of our family's reconciliation. Then the man today. I know it's unsafe to give people rides, but sometimes I feel that I'm supposed to. I feel a strong feeling, which I believe is God urging me to help this person for whatever reason. Otherwise, I see people walking or broke down on a regular basis and never have a thought to help them.

I managed to get some work done in the house. I worked on the kitchen again this morning after milking and then it was time to get ready for church. Sunday service starts at 10:45 but they don't get started until 11; service lasts until noon. It's an hour drive there. Once we got home from church I had two loads of laundry left to do. But I was tired, so I laid down to take a short nap at 1:30. I woke up near 5pm. I can't believe I slept so long. Guess I needed the rest.

My comforter needed to be rewashed since it sat in dirty water, then on the porch in a basket and was smelling sour and mildewy all at the same time. So I decided to "borrow" the neighbor's washer (the people we housesit for). They have never had a problem with us using their place, for example when our water pump went out, they said we could take showers there or wash clothes, whatever, until we got the water pump fixed. Thanks, guys!

Am I the only one that still has trouble with Internet Explorer opening Blogger blogs? It takes a long time, used to be I couldn't log in using IE. Haven't tried in a while.

Their washing machine is a pain. It's a GE and one of those that you can't just set it to spin if you want. No way to tell where that setting is. So I chose the wrong setting, the one that rinsed my blanket twice or was it three times? I guess it's good and clean. I was so pertubed because it took about 45 minutes to get that far and I still had one load to go. I put that load in and drove back home because I needed to milk. But when I got here and started to get the milking pail, dh told me he'd milked. Whew. I did water the trees at the neighbor's house while there and I also got in a few rows on the hood for the baby sweater. I can't wait to see the buttons. I hope the color will match. I would have preferred to have white, but they only had pink, blue, green and yellow.

I stuck around at home waiting for the clothes to finish, washed a load of dishes, wiped off counters again, swept and mopped the floor and folded and put away two loads of laundry (done yesterday). Ds2 tidied up the living room and vacuumed. And I got into ds1's bedroom today to clean. I missed two Sundays. It wasn't too bad, but it did need my attention or of course it would have been that much worse.

I'm so glad that I decided to buy everyone a second set of sheets for their beds since the washing machine was broken.

I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday at 7:30am and dh has an appointment that day also, so it's looking like we're going to take the day off. We'll trade that day for Saturday. So next week will be extra busy. I'm still trying to find the time to visit with one of my dear friends. I know she thinks I've forgotten about her, but I haven't. I just don't know when or how I'm going to make the time. If I had any comp time at work I'd just take a Thursday off, but the problem with that is I am about 8 hours in the hole for comp time. Meaning I owe my company an entire day! Since I still work part time, I don't get sick leave, holiday pay, personal days or anything like that.

Dh seems to like his new table saw. He has been experiencing a lack of energy which is so unusual for him. I told him "Welcome to my world". I'm always pushing myself, even though I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything. I almost gave up last week on trying to keep up with the house but I felt like God said to me that He'd given me the strength and don't let Him down now just because no one else seems to care or appreciate. Then when ds2 cleaned up on Thursday that was such a big help. If dh hadn't had his class on Saturday I like to think I would have been able to get a bit of progress on my bedroom or bathroom.

I'm preparing in my mind the story of My Faith and the journey I've gone through over my life, and how God brought me back to Him. I plan to write it in several parts as I have time.

I guess that's it for now and I'm tired again.

Until next time.

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Hooded Baby Sweater Update 6/15/07

I've made some good progress in the past couple of weeks. I'm on the last piece that needs to be knitted, the hood. I've cast on 95 and have completed five rows so far.

Ds2 did a House Blessing on Thursday, wow, the house looked great when we got home last night. The kitchen was clean, including the counters wiped, the stove wiped, dishes done and the floor swept and mopped. He also tidied up the living room, cleaned the little chicks cage and vacuumed the livingroom floor. It was really a blessing to me as I already feel the pressure is off for this weekend. I got up this morning, milked in my new milking parlor, came in processed the milk and still managed to spend an hour in the kitchen. It was already pretty clean, but last night's dishes needed to be done, and I had to put a gallon of milk in the freezer and change out my kefir grain's milk. I spent about an hour and then I was able to sit down and relax for a while and knit on the hooded baby sweater.

Ds2 and I are going to his eye appointment at 2:15pm today. It is also the PERFECT RUSE to do Father's Day shopping. Dh wants a table saw and some coveralls. We are going to come home the back way and leave the presents at our neighbor's house (the neighbor lives in another state and we watch their home throughout the year). Tomorrow when dh and I go into town to do errands and dh goes to his appointment, ds2 will go over to the neighbor's house and bring the presents home and hide them.

I'm going to have to post some pictures of my new milking parlor. It is actually what we used to call the milking shed, since it had boxes stored in it. It was so dusty though and there was almost no room for milking so I hadn't been using it in the past few months. But now that the flies are back I can't milk right out in the open because they are just too obnoxious. I actually have an air conditioning unit in my milking parlor now. It is not completely finished yet. I still need to paint the floor and we have to install the counter and hook up the water to the sink.

I think I'm going to take a short nap.

Until next time.

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Tiger Helps Me Knit

Yesterday before we took off for grocery shopping and errands, I snuck in a few rows on the baby sleeve. When I got to the last row in the pattern, it said to continue on until the length was 5 1/4". It was already at 5 1/2" and had ended on the Right Side, so I just stopped there and casted off. (Cast off?)

Tiger was very clingy and had to be right up on me, arms stretched up to my neck. He appeared to be sleeping, but his tail kept flicking back and forth, irritatedly. It was obvious he expected that I should put down the string and pet him instead.

Until next time.

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Yarn Rescue

Last Saturday I blogged about some 85% wool yarn I'd found at one of the local thrift stores. I had planned to go back today and see if the other sack of yarn was still available, buy the bag for $4, pull out the wool yarn and donate the bag back to them. Upon closer examination I noticed there were some balls of cotton in the bag as well. So I decided to take the whole bag home. I went to the thrift store first, and then had to run errands and shop for groceries and it was kind of fun anticipating what I'd find in the bag once I got home. You can see in the photo to the left that I found four more balls of the Patons, making a grand total of eleven balls.

Dh found some things he wanted and we both wandered around a bit longer, and then I discovered that there was one more side to the "craft" area. And discovered these:


A passel of knitting needles! Sizes 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11. All 14" long. The 10's are the tiniest bit bent but it won't bother me any. The lady charged me $5.00 for the six sets. That makes each set ~$0.83! The sock needles are size 8 and she charged me a dollar for those. So now my collection of knitting needles looks like this:

I have size 3 and 8 in short needles, and sizes 3 (the hooded baby sweater on currently), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11. This is so exciting to me! I checked the prices of needles at Walmart today and they range from $1.74 up to $2.88 depending on size.

In that same area, I found another bag of yarn to rescue. This bag had 8 balls (50 grams) of Pineapple Frost Bernat Cott'n Silk, 75% cotton, 15% nylon and 10% silk. $5.00 for the bag.




Here's the cotton. The two intact balls are different lot numbers and the colors are noticeably different. I think the unwound ball is the same as one of the others, and there was a partial ball of yellow.

The remainder of the bag of yarn. Mostly acrylic. Yes, those are DOLL HEADS. I didn't really notice they were in the bag when I was looking at the yarn.


This is where I'm storing my knitting needles. I found an old Samsonite overnight case at a yard sale for $3.00. I thought it would be perfect for storing my knitting and crochet needles and it seems to be working out great. It's definitely helping to have one specific place to put all my knitting/crocheting supplies.

Okay. I think it might be time for an intervention. I seriously have so much yarn that I could never use it (at least at the current rate of usage) in the next 60 years. I only started looking at thrift stores to see if I could find some "good" yarn, which I can't bring myself to buy brand new since it's so darned expensive. Well, now that I have some "good" yarn, I need to stop looking. I have much more yarn than I've inventoried here on my blog... mostly acrylic, but some cotton. And I'm running out of places to hidestore it. The most important thing is, if it takes me 3 months to knit one small baby sweater, how can I ever use it all? Speaking of baby sweaters... I have completed one sleeve on the hooded baby sweater! Making progress! That leaves one more sleeve and the hood, assembly, and buttons. Then I can start something else. Something quick. Maybe the hat I want to make for ds1 out of the brown Lion chenille I found at Saver's. I still would like to make a kitty pi. But you know, these cats of ours wouldn't be fussy and insist on a felted wool kitty pi. They'd probably be just as excited about an acrylic kitty pi. I am sure I could figure out how to crochet one. I sure have learned a lot with making the hooded baby sweater. I had to visit knittinghelp.com to watch how to do increases. I learned how to do the bar increase.

Until next time.

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The Cluttery Area Is Neat

Here's the area behind my chair, all neat and tidy now. I need to get the fax machine set up. I rarely send or receive faxes, but it's nice to have it available, just in case.

I made some brownies from a mix. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Brownie Mix. I added pecans and used all the leftover bits of cream cheese to make the cream cheese brownies version. I didn't buy this mix, it was given to me with a few other healthy type canned goods. They are very good brownies, although I had to bake them for 45 minutes rather than the 25 called for on the package.

I also started some pinto beans. I wanted to take advantage of the ham bone that's been in the fridge since last week.

I still need to tidy up the living room and vacuum. I've got one load of clothes ready for folding and will have two more shortly.

Soon I'll have pictures of my new milking parlor. Dh cleared out the shed completely, washed it down and painted it with the light green OOPS paint I got from Home Depot many months ago. We have a several cabinets that will fit in there and I want to get a sink set up so I'll having running water aside from using the hose. I also would like to splurge and buy a window air conditioning unit. It will make milking much more enjoyable in the afternoons.

I wonder how this knit hat would work with the Lion chenille... it's called Odessa by Grumperina. I'd like to make a fitted hat for ds1 which would look hair-like. He has alopecia areata, which means he is completely bald. He's been bald for several years. Actually, he thinks I cut his hair off and that's why he's bald. He's really convinced of it and sometimes yells at me for his loss of hair. Poor guy.

Until next time.

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Why I Quit Crocheting in 1987

I was 22 years old and pregnant with my first child. I'd made a few items, the first was a blanket. It was a bit larger than I'd anticipated since 1) I didn't use baby yarn 2) I didn't do a gauge swatch. I also used cheap acrylic yarn, which was the only thing I knew existed all those years ago. I used a pattern of squares interlocked with hearts. I used the blanket for both boys over the years, it was great for laying on the carpet when they were tiny infants and then laying them on their bellies. Little heads lifted up high, looking all around the room. I still have the blanket, it is 22 years old! It's in nearly perfect condition, (I guess acrylic lasts just fine!) with only one piece of yarn which has been snagged and needs repair.

After the blanket, I made a tiny pullover sweater in yellow and green stripes (I still have it, but don't know exactly where it's at for photographing). I moved on to a cream colored sachet and bonnet. I bought a big bag of tangled yarn at the local yarn store, which was nothing like today's Local Yarn Stores. It was more like a super selection of acrylic yarns. I think this particular shop was called The Yarn Barn.

It took a long time and much patience to untangle that huge bag of yarn but I finally got it wound into balls. I began the sachet, which was fancy and pretty. I completed it, and started on the bonnet. The bonnet was also fancy and frilly. It was a very complicated pattern so much so that I had to go to the LYS and ask the professionals for help. I was close to finishing the bonnet. I was working the frilly top part.

I carried my crocheting in a Kmart bag. They had these heavier duty bags back then and there was a carrying handle on it.

Dh was helping his mother and stepfather build onto their home. We arrived at their house and they were scurrying around in a hurry gathering up any bags of garbage, on their way to the dump which was closing in about fifteen minutes. I tagged along for the ride.

We got back to their house. I went to the entryway to retrieve my crocheting but couldn't find it... I looked around, getting a bit nervous. I asked my mother-in-law and she started to help me look for it. I asked my father-in-law and he asked if I was sure I brought it with me. I knew I had, and he then suggested I was on drugs and had been hallucinating. I was very taken aback by this as I was 8 months pregnant with a huge belly for heaven's sake. I don't drink or do drugs so I was quite insulted. I then spoke with my dh about my lost crocheting, and he suggested we take a trip to the dump to see if we could locate it. But you see, the dump closed right after we left. There was no way to get into it.

I was devastated. It was so upsetting that I stopped crocheting for years and years. I mean like decades!

Of course, having a new baby probably took up a fair amount of my time and I remember not reading anything but parenting books for the next 3 or 4 years. We were also quite poor and I didn't really have the money to spend on yarn. But if I had not lost that sachet (all those hours!) and bonnet, I probably would have found a way to buy a dollar or two worth of yarn every couple of months.

I began crocheting again in 2003 when a friend of mine crocheted a very beautiful sweater for her daughter-in-law -- who promptly hung the sweater in the closet and never even tried it on! I began to long to feel the yarn between my fingers and soon I started crocheting again. I started out by making a huge blanket for ds2. I had never managed to complete an item as big as this before. I made a few more items, but by 2004 the knitting bug was beginning to gnaw at me. A bunch of my online friends were knitting up a storm.

I had tried to learn to knit every once in awhile, but I couldn't get my hand to hold the yarn properly so I didn't think I could ever learn to knit. After all, when you've been crocheting for almost FORTY years, holding the yarn a specific way... difficult to get the fingers to cooperate. But then I discovered CONTINENTAL knitting. One of my friends told me to try it, so I did. Soon I was knitting scarves and more scarves. All knit, knit, knit, knit, knit. I learned the knit stitch very well.

I crocheted another baby sweater for my sister who is 9 years younger than me, for her first baby. The type of yarn I used for that sweater prompted me to try knitting the next one, instead of crocheting.

I am getting better at knitting. I finally have learned how to tell where I am with this pattern. It uses the seed stitch.

I feel like I had a big day today. I didn't get much housework done. Doggone it. That means tomorrow will be full of housecleaning. I'm tired already.

[Correction to title made on June 9th. I had previously said I quit crocheting in 1986, but actually it was in 1987.]

Until next time.

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Hooded Baby Sweater Update

I've been jonesing for my daily dose of Crazy Aunt Purl -- she's at a book signing event in New York. So I've started reading her blog from the start. I'm up to April 14th, 2005. Anyhoo... it appears she names each item she knits. At least that's how she started out. She sure did a lot of knitting when she first got needledhooked. So I decided to name this item Hooded Baby Sweater.

I haven't had a chance to knit for at least two weeks - where does the time go? But today dh had to do some Home Depot shopping for his job. Sometimes I wander round the store with him. I always bring my knitting in case I find time to knit. Today I told him I'd like to find someplace to sit and knit. This particular HD has a couple of benches but they are right outside the sliding doors. So I sat there knitting, getting a cool whoosh of air every few seconds. Not often enough to stay cool consistently and I didn't even realize I was getting overheated. I get rather cranky when I'm overheated.

However, I did finish the front left side of the sweater! It took me awhile to figure out what I'd done last, but I finally did. Once I completed it, I cast on and started the first sleeve.

Dh was also looking for a stainless steel bowl to make into a sink for the mechanics at his job. They need a handwashing sink and he figures a SS bowl will work great, rather than having to go and buy a whole new sinkbowl. And he thinks stainless steel will work best since they will be able to scrub it clean with an SOS pad.

We stopped at the two thrift stores looking for one. Salvation Army had nothing of interest, so we went over to the other thrift store. Dh found a stainless steel cake pan lid that he thinks will work, for a mere two dollars. If I remember, and it works, I'll take pictures and show them here.

I also found some more yarn to add to my stash. I'm seriously considering making a kitty pi. Or maybe socks. This yarn is 85% Wool, 15% Acrylic. Patons' Totem. It says, "Patonised for maximum resistence to shrinkage and piling". Hmmm... guess no kitty pi for this batch of yarn. That little blurb probably means no felting? I'm quite strict with myself regarding knitting, as you might notice, I'm only allowed to have one project going at a time. I am overly prone to starting something and never finishing, so I could easily fall into the trap of having many projects on many needles... uh, it just occurred to me that I started crocheting a baby blanket some time ago, maybe a year or more and have never picked it up again. See that is what I want to avoid, so I'm only allowed to work on the Hooded Baby Sweater. But apparently it's okay to buy inexpensive wool yarn when I happen upon it.

So I'm still bothered by one small thing. The thrift store had another bag, a bigger bag, filled with lots of small balls of acrylic yarn; however, within the bag, there were at least 3 to 4 more balls of this yarn. The bigger bag was $4.00. I should have asked, but figured they wouldn't go for my getting the other wool out of the bag.

The knitting needles are size 8 and size 10 1/2. The shelf said crochet hooks $0.50 each and knitting needles $0.50. But when I got to the register to pay, the lady said they were a quarter each. So two new sizes of knitting needles for $1.00. Whoo! Luckily I don't mind working with aluminum needles.

The smaller bag of yarn that I got was $3.00. 9 complete balls. Each ball weighs 50 grams and is 370 yards long. Seven of the balls are cream colored, well, more like white with bits of light brown. The other balls are white with bits of light blue. Two of the balls are complete, and the other one weighs 25 grams, so 2 1/2 balls of the blue yarn. You can click on the image at left for a closeup of the yarn. I don't think it's beautiful, but I think it would make some nice socks.

If I remember next week to go by that thrift store and they still have that bag of yarn, I am going to buy it, open it up, take out the wool and donate the rest of the yarn back to them. Maybe right after I pay for the yarn, right at the counter. I think those balls are worth even $1 each.

They had a lot of knitting needles, but the two pairs I found were the only matching ones. The others didn't match, some were dented and one was bent.

For years and years I didn't crochet or knit. I don't think I've told the story here. Hold on. I have to run out and throw hay and collect the eggs. Dh is cooking dinner, ds2 is making chocolate chip coconut cookies (and I wonder why I'm so fat?) so I pulled chore duty. Back soon with my story. No wait, I'll just make it a post of its own.

Until next time.

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