Knitting Along and Travels

I had a good laugh yesterday when I decided to ramble through an old box filled with crochet and found twenty granny squares that I had worked on more than thirty years ago for an afghan. (I had just finished knitting the first square of the twenty-four I will knit for our Christmas Square Exchange at the LYS.) The squares are all crocheted, on probably a size J needle, and all are done in acrylic yarn; still they are beautiful. Each square is crocheted in white with one other color as a filler; they really stand out. I laughed and told DH that I am going to take these squares with me to Knit Night on Tuesday and tell my fellow-knitters that I've almost completed my 24 squares. As luck would have it, the squares are 10 inches square. Actually, I won't be using them (unless there should be an emergency) as part of the twenty-four that I plan to make for our Christmas exchange. For one thing, I want to knit my twenty-four squares, although crochet is allowed, and for another, I think I will finish up that afghan with acrylic yarn and give it to Dariana to enjoy playing in with her dolls and stuffed animals.



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On this map you can see other places, outside the US and Canada, that I've traveled. When I hear people from the European and Asian countries speaking of the many countries they have traveled in it sounds as if I've never traveled anywhere and that they have traveled everywhere; but this is what makes the difference. The United States and Canada are so large that to travel them, you have actually traveled to as many different places (although not countries) as someone living in Europe or Asia traveling in the countries around them. Those countries are so much smaller (in area) than the US and Canada that several countries could be placed inside one of the larger states in the US, or Provinces of Canada. All in all, I
shouldn't be complaining that I've never been to Germany, the Netherlands, or Russia, or to India, Singapore, or China; I have traveled. None the less, I'd love to go to all these countries and more. Our son had a trip to Russia when he was in college but at the time, I thought it was to costly for me to travel along, now I wish I'd gone. I have a dear friend from Pakistan and was invited to go along and visit her family one year when she traveled back to see her mom. Now I wish I'd gone, but at the time I didn't think I should go with the upheaval in that part of the world and then two of my gardening club friends encouraged me to come along with them to China where they were going to teach English for a summer. Again, the timing wasn't right for me because my health was already becoming an issue before I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Life keeps us it check sometimes.

We're having Northern Weather here in the Mid-Atlantic these last few days. We have the gas logs burning along with the heat pump and the humidifier running to counter the dry heat. It feels like soup weather to me so today I think I'll make a big pot of beef and potato soup and maybe put a loaf of bread in the bread machine to smell good while I sit in front of the fire and knit. The neighbor just brought over a couple of DVDs of a ventriloquist they thought entertaining for us to watch however that's not my cup of tea. It shouldn't hurt me to listen along with DH while I knit though(at least I don't think it will). Good neighbors are something to treasure!

Where Have I Been In Canada?

There is still so much to see and do in Canada that we could spend years of our vacation time there and still do something new and different each time we go. But, we love live theater and we keep returning to the same areas, for the Shaw Festivals and the Stratford Shakespeare Festivals, each time we go. Sometimes we go to two shows a day so we can take in as much theater as possible while on a trip. Life can be so good.



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Where Have I Been In THe US?

DH and I are planning our spring vacation to Kansas City in May. Yeah, I know I have said we were traveling back to England for several weeks, but DH refuses to be gone longer than two weeks and I refuse to travel that far for just two weeks. So far he has won, and so far I have only made the 'threat' to go without him. Anyway, while we fight this issue back and forth, we can't just sit at home to see who will win. Life goes on and so does the National Iris Society Conventions which DH thinks he has to attend every couple of years. I love them too and love being able to travel to a another state that I've yet been to so, there will be no complaint from me. I just want to travel more extensively in the UK and do the barge vacations on the rivers of Germany and France. Is that asking too much? There's still lots of the US I haven't seen; you can tell from the map below. The US is such a large piece of land and there is so much for one to see. I feel lucky to be fortunate enough to have traveled to the places I've been to, so...I will not whine; at least not where anyone can hear me.



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Byer's Choice Carolers Had Tea In My Living Room

I've been side trapped from my knitting for the last couple of weeks and in fact, only picked me needles up today for a little while. I've finished the decreases in the Just Enough Ruffles Scarf and if I can find a day this week for knitting, should get it finished, all 600 stitches on the ruffle. I think it is going to look smart once it's completed.

I'm working on a pair of socks too, that I think shall be mine, I love the colors and the pattern for this pair; and, I've spent some time searching for patterns to use in making squares for an exchange I've organized. The exchange is with my TNKG. Instead of exchanging names at the end of the year, we are going to knit squares all year long, two per month, for a total of twenty-four squares. Each month we will exchange squares and then at the end of the year, they will be sewn into a 'whatever' and packaged for the final exchange, a Chinese type swap. Fun, you bet! The squares are to be 10 inches square and after knitting about half a square tonight in a purled ladder stitch I've discovered I'm about 3/4 inch off. I tried to take a measure from a couple of rows and go from there, but I missed it. Too, I decided to use a ball of acrylic yarn in my stash and found it as hard to manipulate as a piece of plastic. I had already decided in the second pattern repeat that I wasn't enjoying knitting with that yarn so actually I not too disappointed over having to knit another square. Some of the ladies in our group like using acrylic and that is fine but personally, for the most part, I hate the stuff. I do have to admit that's a pretty nice looking square laying over there, half finished. Anyone with patterns for 10" squares, let me know. It would be much easier to have a tested square than it is trying to work out twenty-four patterns. Actually, I will probably use the same pattern several times just use different yarns, colors, stripes, and so on to make them all different.

DH and I went out to dinner with our neighbors this evening. They had gift certificates for Applebee's, which is not among my favorite restaurants but hey, I'm always ready for an outing if it means someone else will be cooking dinner. I remarked to DH that I'd just have a salad, but once I was there, I decided to have the ribblets that I've heard so many people rave about since Applebee's first came to the city. It was a mistake, I hated the greasy, sticky, over-sweet, to much smoked flavor, full of tiny thin bone things (they certainly didn't resemble any ribs that I've ever eater before, and I love ribs, that is, real ribs). Still, it was a nice evening out and everyone else seemed to enjoy their food. Next time (should I ever have to go there again) I'll have a salad.

DH and I finally got all the Christmas decorations down and stored and the house vacuumed and dusted and things back in place once again. Gosh, what a chore. The whole of last week was a busy with the cleaning, Dr. appointments, and having dear Dariana for a visit one day. She and I had a wonderful tea party with about two dozen of the Byer's Choice Carolers stopping by to have tea with us. My daughter had a near heart attack when she learned the Byer's were having tea on my coffee table. No one else had ever been allowed to play with my dolls before - BUT - Grand-daughters are SPECIAL.