Goodbye

There are four less feet clicking on our floors today at my house.  One less gentle loving friend to greet us at the door.  It's heart breaking.

Jette was 13.5 years old and suffered from hip and knee problems.  Her body just couldn't keep up anymore.  We're going to miss her dearly.  A more gentle, psychotic looking dog you've never met.  She was the best alarm system that we could have had and a wonderful playmate.   She was our first baby and is the first to go of our four footed children. 

It's been difficult to explain to the Youngest.  When he asks where Jette is, we just tell him that "She's at God's house."  He asked us after that if the baby was hugging her and we said, "Yes, Baby Jesus is hugging her."  It's only the truth.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I'll see you on Monday.

Easy Denim Quilt

I showed you a WIP last week that was over a year and a half old.  Well, this week's FO completely put it to shame.  This one took me over SEVEN YEARS.  Yep, seven whole years. 

This is my denim quilt that I began way back when: and finished a couple of nights ago:

We were cleaning out the garage and I found it.  The reason that I never finished it was because of the scissors and denim combination.  You have to clip through two layers of denim and two layers of cloth and it's very tiring on the hands.    When I found it again, I got it out and started cutting. I ended up using small garden shears to do it. I was supposed to be doing laundry, but we all know how that goes, huh?   I ended up with blisters on my thumb and my pinky finger the other night as I finished it.  Not the fun part of this quilt.   Then I washed and dried it and it was ready to go. 

The denim was all from jeans that were worn my me, the hubby and the Eldest.  The Youngest wasn't even a thought at the time of this quilt's beginning.  This is such a great way to use up old denim jeans and jackets.

Here's a close up so you can see what I'm talking about with the clipping of the denim.  The clipping allows the backing fabric and the denim to fray so that the backing color peeks in through the denim in the front. 

It is an incredibly easy quilt to make.  The hard part is getting enough denim to start the project. 

How do you make it?

Wash your backing fabric first!  Then start cutting out squares.  You will have to do some math to figure out how many to make.  It depends on if you want a throw size or a specific bed size.  This one is a twin size.    A smaller quilt would have been so much smarter to do on my part.      I believe the squares were around 6" square.  Then they were sewn in strips - one denim and one fish.  Next, the strips were all sewn together with the seams all on the denim side.  Clip the seams carefully, don't go through the sewing.  Wash and dry about four or five times and you're done!  You really don't need more instructions than that for this quilt.  If you want more details, let me know and I will attempt to remember back seven years for you.

It's extremely heavy.  This would be a great one to leave in the trunk of the car and use for picnics or other outdoor activities.

Santa Lives at the Mall!

Here at the House O' Shea, we're gettin' into the Christmas Spirit a wee bit early.  We do this every year really, because I hate the Christmas crowds, specifically, the ones waiting to see Santa.

I got the kids dressed up and off we went to the mall.  (I should have inspected the Eldest before the picture, I let him dress himself and I didn't notice until we got home that his collar was all out of whack.)  There were no other people in line, yay!  We walked in, talked to Santa and off we went.  Well, sort of.  It took about ten different takes to get an okay picture.  They were either blinking, not smiling at all or were distracted by other stuff in the mall and wouldn't look at the camera.  I took what I could get, messed up collar and all.  I'm sure Santa's leg was going to sleep with the Eldest sitting on it for so long.  That kid is heavy and tall for his age (9),  he's 85lbs!  

The Youngest was really funny, he went back to talk to Santa some more since there weren't any other kids waiting and asked him where he lived and if he knew where we lived.  Santa replied that the elves have a GPS to help him get to every house, so no worries there.  When we got home The Youngest said, "I had fun going to Santa's house!"  Did you know that Santa lives at the mall? 

Now, I'm almost done with the shopping for the boys.  Again, I hate lines and people with miserable attitudes, so I shop as early as I can.   I've never heard the Youngest as for anything until today.  Crap.  Now my shopping list has been expanded by a couple of toys.  He asked for a Batman Bat Cave with Robin, Joker and Penguin.  They should be delivered next week sometime.  I couldn't wait, I ordered them as soon as I got home from the mall. 

The Eldest has a mile long all year round list that is usually filled with expensive electronic type games, so he's no problem, but I figure I have to get the only thing that the little guy has asked for all year long.  Cause Santa has to bring at least one thing on the kid's list, right?

Return of the WIPs

It's the Return of the WIPs Episode of All Things Shea!  Well, only one really.  Remember this project?

This is the Old Shale Scarf (Ravelry link) by Tienne.  I'm using Colinette Jitterbug Sock Yarn for it.  Aren't the colors great?

I started this project back in September 2008.  The whole project was sidetracked by lots of other projects.  This time, it's sidetracking my current project.  I am halfway through the first sleeve of my sweater and very bored, so it's time to pickup and finish this little 2008 WIP.

It's funny really, I don't have very many WIPs.  (That's Work In Progress for those that aren't familiar with the term.)  I'm a fairly monogamous knitter.  There are only two other WIPs that I have sitting around and those were planned that way so that I would have something to do between big serious projects.  This, however, has just been plain neglected, poor little scarf.    

The Thrill of Bargains

I hit up my favorite thrift shop over the weekend to get the Eldest some "camping" clothes.  Basically, he needed some play clothes that he could wear that it wouldn't matter how much dirt he ground into them.  So, off I went.

Check out the cool deals that I found:

1 pair of camouflage pants = $2.48
1 pair of pants (zip off, REI brand, never worn) = $2.98

Perfect!  But I found more goodies too:

1 Rubbermaid storage tub (it's pink, but I can live with that) = $.99  Most of my jewelry making stuff fits in it, which makes me really happy.  I've been tired of using three smaller storage boxes.
1 Knit It Sheep Kit (Retails for $14.99, still shrink wrapped) = $1.98

Being frugal can be hard, but sometimes it's just plain fun.  All that for $8.93, which includes the 6% sales tax in this county, and let's not forget to mention the thrill of finding stuff for next to nothing.  Combine that with the $22 bucks that I saved on our grocery bill from coupons and sales and you can go ahead and call it a good weekend! 

Of course, my Monday totally and supremely sucked, but what else can you expect from a Monday anyway?

Moving Issues and Sweaters

Yikes!  I just realized that I haven't mentioned yarn or knitting kinda stuff since October.  Wow.  Can you tell that I've had other stuff going on?  My interests are wide and varied and I seem to have the attention span of a flea lately. 

There is a reason that the attention span is so tiny right now.  Remember me telling you about the hubby losing his job?  Well, another has come along.  We're not thrilled about it, but we're going to have to take it.  He has sent out a bazillion resumes and nobody is calling for interviews.  I mean, Atlanta is a big place.  Isn't there somebody hiring around here?  So, the new job.  It's in Raleigh, NC.  He starts in December and will be there by himself for a good while. 

See, we've got numerous things that have to be done to our house before we can sell it, we have rental property to deal with and the kids are still in school.  The housing market still sucks so it looks like we'll end up losing money and then still not be able to get a loan for a new house in NC cause we won't have any cash to roll over into a new house.  Sucks huh?  On top of that, he's not going to be getting paid very much. 

At this point, we're not even sure that we'll be able to survive even with the new job because of the moving issues!  See, I told ya there was a lot on my mind right now!


However, this is a knitting blog and there should occasionally be knitting to look at right?  Here's where the sweater stands at the moment:

I have finished the front and back and I've begun the first sleeve.  I started that while on the school bus rides to and from the Ga Aquarium yesterday.  The kids were so funny about it too.  Is that hard?  Why are you doing that?  Do you take that everywhere you go?  They were so fascinated that someone would be knitting on the bus.

Chaperone for a day

I am now officially in need of a good stiff drink.  I chaperoned a field trip at the Eldest's school to the Georgia Aquarium.  While the aquarium is incredibly cool, chaperoning elementary children in a crowded venue is like herding cats.  It was fun though, don't get me wrong, just exhausting.  I got a few good pics to share with you though:

Love how the kids look like shadows here:

I love seeing the alligator like this:

 

 

The shark isn't very clear.  It was almost impossible to get a good shot of most of the exhibits.  You're not supposed to use a flash, so most of my pics weren't as nice as they could have been.  

One of these days I'll get around to showing you my knitting again, like tomorrow!

It's Elementary My Dear Watson

The Eldest portrayed Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame for a presentation at school on mysteries.  It was worth 40% of his grade.  He got a 105!  The costume got him the extra brownie points.  This was a costume that we put together a couple of years ago and he got to use it again.  The bowler hat, moustache and pipe all came from party city.  The coat is a jacket that belongs to his dad, but looks like a trench coat on him.

  Yay Eldest!

In Nanowrimo news, I've had to give it up.  Once again, family and sicknesses have derailed me.  I may try again at around 500 words a day instead of the 1667.  I was managing that amount just fine, but for some reason the 1667 just wasn't doable.  Maybe next year.

I Got Tagged!

Abby,over at BittenbyKnittin tagged me for an award! 

Here's the details (as stolen from Abby's blog cause I'm lazy):

The Neno’s Award Rules and Regulations:
1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.
2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.
3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

Why do I blog?  I began this blog as a place to put my Knitting FO's.   It quickly morphed into a place to put stuff about my boys and then my weird spinning and diy projects.  It's kinda funny, but now I get more hits on diy stuff than what I started out doing.  I guess more people are into makin' and doin' their own stuff now that the economy has gone south.  I love that more people are branching out now and trying new things for their home and hobbies.  Maybe now I won't be the only "weird" one!

Now, it's my turn to tag! 

I'm going to tag Filth Wizardry.  This is a new blog that I've just discovered.  This woman puts me to shame on the stuff that she comes up with for her kids.  I'm especially in love with her hotdog/spaghetti supper that she came up with.  I am so doing this tonight with my kids.

What a Difference!

What a difference some hot glue and beaded trim makes!

Before on the left and After on the right:

Burlap Curtain Project Review:

1.  I did this on a bay window.  It would normally be very simple to do the hardware for the project, just have 3 straight curtain rods and 2 swivel socket connectors.  Put them together and install.  However, Ikea's connector was for a 90 degree angled wall and the angle for my bay windows was not.  Thus, the blow torch that I mentioned in an earlier post.  It would have been much simpler to use a swivel socket connector.  This carries on the tradition of my making every single project I touch much more difficult than it needs to be!

2.  My burlap panels are not going to be closed, they will stay as they are in the pic above.  So I cut the panel in half, approx. 24 inches wide.    If they were to be closed I would have left them at 48 inches wide, but that wasn't necessary for these windows.

3.  No sewing necessary!  I added 9 extra inches to my finished length.  1 inch to be turned under at the bottom for the hem and hot glued and 8 inches to be folded over in the front for a faux valance-y kinda look.  Obviously I do not know the formal name for this type of curtain.  Normally you would put the black part of the trim to the inside of the flap, but I wanted the black trim to echo the black bar above and the knobs on the cabinets.

4.  The panel is hung on the alligator clips attached to the rings.  So, you don't need to sew a pocket for the rod or put in grommets.  Grommets are not my friends.  They don't like me very much.

5.  For the bay window, I did 4 total panels of burlap, which was super cheap.  It was $2.99/yd and I had a 40% off coupon from JoAnn's.  The trim was purchased there as well.  I only used about two yards.  I got this on sale as well.  There are also 4 sheer panels that I found at Big Lots for $5.00 a piece.

Here's how I hung them up:  Panel, sheer, panel, sheer, sheer, panel, sheer, panel.  Or, one panel on each side and one in between each window.

6.  These go down to one inch above the floor.  I wanted a more dramatic look in the breakfast nook than shorter curtains would have given me.

So my breakfast nook is now complete:  (Please ignore studious boy doing homework)

I added new chair cushions and table cloth and it's finally done!  I love all the colors and textures in my kitchen now.

Computer Expert

This so needs to be sent to my Father In Law, I totally cracked up when I saw it.  He's forever having difficulty with computers and calling me and the hubby to fix it:

Have a great weekend!

Nano News

Welcome DragonMount readers!  It's nice to have you visit.  For those that don't know, DragonMount is the official site for Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  My book review has been linked to the site and I'm just tickled about it.

In Nanowrimo news:

• I'm still chugging along and gradually making up the deficit in my word count. 
• I wrote myself into a wall with my story, mainly because of some of my secondary characters that need to be more prominent.
• I need help with dialogue.  Seriously, that is not my forte.  I can be descriptive, have great action scenes, but my characters are having a difficult time talking to each other.  I can only hope it gets better as I go along.

I've been using Google Docs to write my story, mainly because I can access it anywhere and because it has a word count.  The word count tool is nice, but I really wish they'd take the stupid readability index off of it.  I realize that this is a first draft and that it will need a crap load of revision, but how depressing is it when you've written something and then check your word count and find that the readability is around the fifth grade level, that the average eleven year old would be able to read it just fine?  

I did get all down about it.  I'm college educated, I should be writing better than this!  What a stupid thing to get all hung up on.  When this happened was around the time that I had written myself into a wall yesterday and that didn't help my sense of humor either.  I took a couple of hours to think about things and then tackled it again.  Story got back on pace and grade level went up.  Much better.

How's everybody else doing on their Nano novel?

Burlap Curtain Progress

The curtains are coming along.  I'm almost finished.  I still need to add the trim and then hot glue my hems down.  I refuse to sew the burlap.  I've already got a mountain of fuzz and lint from it in my dryer, I don't want it in my sewing machine as well.   It already needs a tune up, the last thing it needs is burlap abuse.  Here's how they look currently:

Look at how the sunlight shines through the burlap.  I love the texture it's bringing to the kitchen.  The burlap panels will never be moved.  Only the sheers will open and close.  The burlap is only there for color and texture.  I have a ton of the burlap left over.  I'm planning on using that to make a valance for the window over the sink.   If I get around to it, I'll put the trim on tomorrow and will give you a finished project pic then with details on how I did the whole thing.  This would be a piece of cake if it was just on a straight rod.  I'm already over the whole bay window thing, trust me.

Oh and yes, those are Halloween decorations in November.  Why do you ask?

On the writing front, I'm still about 800 words behind on my goal.  The night's not over yet of course.  I've written  over 1,000 words so far today and I'll have more time to write this evening.  I'm already doing better than I did last year, and I'm only three days into nanowrimo.  Cool!

The Cost of My Curtains

I am now officially a day behind on my nanowrimo challenge.  I had an unexpected guest to spend the night and forgot all about my writing until around 11pm.  I got 923 words out of 1667 written.  I now get to do my regular 1667 for the day plus the deficit from yesterday once the kids finally go to bed tonight.

In other news, I finally got all my curtain stuff straighted out.  Yeah! 

I got all the rods and clips at IKEA.  The rods were $6.99 each and I bought three.  However, I am only using two of them, so I will put the other one away for another window project later.

Here's the cool part about my curtain project.  I bought 10 yards of burlap at JoAnn's yesterday and used a 40% off coupon for it.  It was regular $2.99/yd.  Then, there was a sale for this really pretty beaded trim that normally went for $12.99/yd.  It was also 40% off.  Then, I used two gift cards that had been given to me for my *ahem* anniversary.  Wanna know what the total cost of my kitchen curtains (fabric and trim only) came out to be?

$9.44!  How cool is that?  Add the hardware and it comes to a total of $23.44 for everything!  I'm so excited about this.

At the moment it looks like this:

You wouldn't believe the trouble we've had with the corner connection pieces.  Let's just say that a blow torch was involved, okay?  Oh, and let us not forget to mention the pipe cutter that I learned to use today, very fun.

Here's the mess of clips I still have to deal with.

I'm going to add the clips and sheers tonight if I get a chance.  I will begin working on the burlap part tomorrow sometime.


For now, here's a pic of the Jack 'O Lantern that I carved out on Saturday:

Ooh, Scary!

Happy Halloween from Our House!

Happy Cold, Wet Halloween from Zorro and the Pirate!

Pirate Action Shot

Does this happen at anyone else's house?

There's a young boy child that's racing around the house, buck naked and holding his underwear in his little hands.  He's running and yelling "I'm naked!" as fast as he can while giggling maniacally.  Of course, his elder brother is mortified at this behavior and telling him to stop running around naked, which just encourages the little rascal more.  His father and I are just sitting here watching the show.  Does this happen to anyone else?

Book Review - The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan

I was devastated in 2007 when I heard of the death of one of my favorite authors, Robert Jordan.  He was a superb storyteller who created a work of fantasy that was unlike any other.  His death brought mild panic to my world.  It looked like The Wheel of Time books would have no ending, would leave us readers hanging off the cliff on a rope with no one to pull us up.

I was also aghast that Jordan's wife and manager would pick a relatively unknown author to pick up the storyline and continue it.  Who was this Brandon Sanderson anyway?  I decided to go read his previous works, looking for clues to how his writing style would stand up to Jordan's.  And ya know what?  I wasn't disappointed.  Elantris and his Mistborn series of books were fantastic.  Heavy in detail, magic and politics that for me, are the essentials in good fantasy stories.

Two days ago, The Gathering Storm arrived on my doorstep.  I've spent the majority of those two days reading.  I've neglected everything in my life shamelessly, devoting every second of my day to reading 800 pages.  I finished it, very late last night.  The verdict?

It was everything that I could have wished for in a Robert Jordan novel, and more.  Sanderson has managed to tie his and Jordan's writing together seamlessly.  It was an incredible read.

There are two main story arcs in this book, concentrating on Rand and Egwene.  Perrin and Matt are there briefly, but just barely.  The story line with Rand tends to be quite dark, and the character must deal with having incredible power and unbearable duty.  There's only so much that one person can bear in his lifetime and we get to see if Rand can hold it together long enough to make it to the final battle.  The story line dealing with Egwene however, is much more fun and enjoyable.  She's already fought her demons in previous books and now gets to act, trying to reunite the White Tower's various mule-headed and power hungry factions.

If you are into Perrin and Matt and Elaine, well, you're going to have to wait for the next couple of books.  Yes, there will be two more.  The amount of loose ends that Sanderson must tie up is staggering and will take a while to deal with.  In my opinon, Sanderson is handling that quite well.  Already a few of the questions that have been lying out there have already been answered and I look forward to finding out more.

I'll avoid going into more detail, I don't want to ruin the book for anyone out there that hasn't read it.  I will say this however.  If you have been worried about the 12th book in the series, don't be.  It's that good.

Not One Knit Stitch, but Lot's of Spinning

I took this past weekend off from knitting.  I didn't knit a single stitch.  Not one.    I did, however, do something I haven't done in months:  Spinning!

I have a pile of batts that I have put off and put off some more, mainly because when I did a test sample, the finished product felt like rope, not pretty fluffy yarn.  The culprit in the mix of fibers that's causing the problem is some Corriedale that I knew I shouldn't use and did it anyway.  I thought it would work if it was mixed with some alpaca and faux cashmere.  Nope, didn't work.  This stuff has been staring at me for MONTHS.  I became depressed and just couldn't look at it anymore.  I stored it away in some boxes in a corner under lots of other boxes just hoping that it would change it's mind and become more cooperative, but it didn't.

Until, that is, I had an epiphany on Saturday.  If it wasn't working in a three ply worsted, maybe it was because I had too much twist and it was way too small of a gauge.  So I broke out the spinning wheel  and approached the batts from a different point of view, after I caused an avalanche of boxes, naturally.

The collective "They" say that it's harder to learn to spin big, fat yarn after you have learned to consistently make thin plies of yarn.  Maybe I've been away from it long enough that wasn't an issue.  I did have a harder time keeping in slubs though.  I decided to try for a super bulky art yarn.  This is what I actually got:

More super bulky, less art yarn, but I like it anyway.  The yarn pictured above is approximately 390 yards worth.  I still have a bazillion batts to spin up, but it goes really quick like this.  I've been perusing Ravelry for sweaters that have this gauge yarn and I've found a couple that I might like.

So did spinning it at a larger and looser gauge work?  Yep.  It's much, much softer.  I'm going to keep it as a single ply too.  That way I'll get more yardage that I can work with and it won't lose that softness that I craved when I created these batts.

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Today's a big day around here.  It's the first anniversary of my 39th birthday!   Woohoo!

At this point in my life, I have decreed that there will be no further birthdays, just anniversaries.  I am stopping at 39.  I want my (eventual) obituary to read something like "Shea, passed away today.  She had just celebrated the 51st anniversary of her 39th birthday."

Yep, that's what it's going to say.  I plan on being in total denial for the rest of my life. And, barring something totally catastrophic, it could very well say that.  I have grandparents and other ancestors that lived well into their late 90's!  So, that means I haven't even hit the halfway point yet.  That deserves a big Woohoo! in my book.  :)

Just wait until you see what my boys picked out for me for my birt  anniversary!  We have a tradition around here of letting the boys pick out the gifts for people.  It's way more entertaining that way.  One year, for mother's day, the Eldest picked out these plates that had a summer Hawaiian theme.  He gave me a hint that he had gotten me some "Mexican eatin' thingies."  It's been an endless source of amusement for my mother.

Today's gift was just about as good.  I got a six pack of Snickers candy bars and these lovely skull and cross bone orange-black-gray argyle slippers:

I've been wearing them over my green Wicked socks that my Sis In Law gave me for my "anniversary".  She's in denial too.  She just celebrated the same "anniversary" as me, just 25 days sooner, which makes her older than me.  Ha!

But don't they look lovely together?

Edited to add:  When I wrote this earlier today, in my little obit section I put 49th instead of 39th.  Gee, senility sets in early when you hit the big 39 + 1, doesn't it?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

 You all know that my Youngest is incredibly unpredictable and wild, right?  I mean, remember THE picture?

Well, he pulled another one on me and embarrassed me to death at WalMart.  Here's how it went down:

The Scene:  Youngest is riding inside the shopping cart while looking through the cart with both little hands up on either side of the front of the cart.   A woman is squatting down and restocking the shelves.  The whole right side of the aisle is open and there's plenty of room for us to get by.

I stopped the cart just in front of her, just so that I could look at what was on the shelves to the right of us.  Okay, if i have to confess, I was in the shoe department.  Okay?  Anyway.

Now you all know the voice from the old wild western movies where the bad guy says "This town ain't big enough for the two us."  That mean, low, gravelly voice right?

Youngest:  Says loudly (In the meanest, lowest, gravelly-est voice possible) "Get out of our way." 

Thank God she started laughing.   I was mortified and made him apologize asap.  There's just no way any mom can control what comes out of their child's mouth nor when it will happen.  Ack.

It doesn't come across as funny when written down, but trust me, it was HILARIOUSLY EMBARRASSING.

 ******

The curtain project didn't happen.  There was a problem getting the hardware that I need, so I'm going to have to order it online.  bummer.

I did, however, knit up about two more inches on Ye Olde Sweater Project though.  I'm at the point where I begin increasing from the waist shaping that I added to the pattern, so that will at least add a few stitches of excitement to the otherwise boring part of the sweater.

Have a great weekend!