A tough week, to be sure

A tough week, to be sure! How and when did I get so popular. Something to do, somewhere to go, every day, even Saturday!

Sunday, as usual, went to the 11 a.m. Mass. During the Communion Break, we were treated to a solo of - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - in many variations. So beautiful, that we all wanted to applaud but the solemnity of this portion of the Mass restrained us.

Monday, was tied up with doctor appointments. Seem these all come at the same time. How do I let that happen. Makes sense when I schedule them, but not when the day comes.

Knitting - finished a shawl for my Prayer Shawl Ministry. A creamy color by Simply Soft, a Caron yarn. It is so soft and pretty but I hated doing the pattern. A simple enough pattern but too simple for me. I keep making mistakes because of it's simplicity, my attention wandered. So simple and easy, I thought it was a snap and didn't need to pay attention. Seems I'm always learning lessons. Next shawl will be a more intricate pattern that I have to pay attention to and not think I know it all!

I have several other items on the needles. However, I just found a new pattern for an infinity scarf and just have to make it. Went through my stash but didn't have the appropriate yarn. Found the yarn called for at Yarncountry.com, Aslan's Del Cerro in Glacier Blue. Perfect. Also got 10 skeins of light blue for a sweater. That's for later and after I finish the sweater I have on the needles. Guess I'm just a yarnoholic, eh?

Why is Christmas shopping never fun? I spent an afternoon shopping for the small amount of gifts we have this year. These were outside gifts, like for charity. Gifts for the family were taken care of via internet and shipped to Susan in Melbourne to hold for us. That's easy.

The aquatics group went out to lunch on Friday, The Countryside Inn, Swathmore,PA. Friday is the only day free of classes. Jerry, a swimming classmate, thought up the idea and made all the arrangements. And he picked up the tab! What a generous guy!
We were all prepared to pay out own way but he made his arrangements ahead of time and they gave him the entire check! We'll get back at him sooner or later.

The restaurant is located inside a deli and market. The tables are in the middle of the store, with the deli counter and all its wonderful meats and cheeses on one side, while on the other side, are all sorts of tchotchkes on the shelves. All sorts of stuff like the almond cookies served with your lunch along with dolls, Christmas items, teapots, and myriad other things that just clutter up your house.

Today we have lunch with old friends of ours. We'll be going to Appleby's. Hope they are happy with the choice. And I won't elaborate on this further.

Trouble with the TV...I bit on an offer from Verizon for more, better service at a lower cost for 3 months, the price goes back up to our former cost. Too good to be true. So far, I haven't noticed a upswing in our internet connection and I can't get the On Demand free shows...the popular ones from the networks that are available a few days after their scheduled time.

I went into the big, new shiny Verizon store at the mall and told them my problem. "Oh," she said, the problem is with your settop box and remote control. You need to replace your old set. I'll just put it in this nice red, reusable bag and you can easily change it at home." At my look of dismay, she continues, "You just have to put this cable here and that cable here and plug it in." Oh sure.

Gave the nice red bag with the new equipment to the DH who immediately went into paroxysms, screaming all sorts of blue words. I left the room. Friday when I got home, there he was on the floor. I didn't see him there when I came in. He hollered for me to help him. "I'm here on the floor." Ever feel your heart drop? I did then. I raced around his usual sitting places but couldn't find him. In a panic, I run into the living room and there he was lying the floor in front of the TV, with the settop box hanging out of the credenza. With relief I helped him get the box and the DVD box back it's little compartment in the credenza.

Now to turn on the TV and have it go through it's gyrations of setting up. Only take about 20 minutes I was told by the smiling salesperson. Uh huh! No such thing happened. After a prolonged call with the tech person at Verizon, we learned that the new connection, HDMI, is not working correctly throughout Verizon's entire system and he couldn't tell us when it would be fixed or how we would know it was fixed.

Ed decides to unhook the the cables and go back to what we had. Well, we had picture and sound but it was noisy when there was information being feed across the screen.

I gave up and went to bed to read. This morning, Ed, who must have pondered the problem all night long, decides to rehook the HDMI and unhooked the original "TV In" cable. Have sound and picture but I still can't get my programs from the On-Demand service.

It's been a tough week. I did buy a Christmas wreath for the door, but it's lacking a bow. I'll get around to it this week. Oh sure, something is scheduled for every day this week, too! How did I get so popular?

August 28, 2010

So...I'm the least visible blogger on the planet. Really, I forget all about my blog. And I still haven't mastered uploading pictures.

Knitting is my pastime as the name of my bloG indicates. I change the appearance and background to show my other passion...books. Avid reader. Right now it's Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell. The book was published in the 1960s and Caldwell said it took her 46 years to write this book! I can believe it. She writes in the forward of the book "The first version was written when I was twelve years old , the second when I was twenty-two, the third when I was twenty-six, and through those years work did not cease on this book." Wow!


Caldwell was a prolific writer, publishing 35 books in her lifetime. She was born in Manchester, England in 1900 and died in 1985 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Caldwell had four husbands.

It's my second reading since the '60's. What a difference to read a book 50 years later with all the knowledge one thinks they have in their twenties. I've learned so much more in this second reading. Caldwell has always been one of my favorite authors. I think I'll be re-reading her books for a while.

As for knitting, I finished a number of projects since my last post, but have yet to finish the Wrap Me Up Shawl. I have 3 small sections to go plus the edging and finishing touches. Other projects have interfered with the complete of this shawl. Shawls for friends,and for the Prayer Shawl Ministry, Christening blankets and lap robes. I'm a slow knitter but seem to make quick progress when I sit down to do it.

At my age, my attention wanders and I make silly mistakes which means tinking back (for non-knitters that means taking out the stitches backwards one-by-one) or else just ripping rows to the error. This happens quite a lot. Know it is said that only God is perfect and that we must leave a mistake in all our creations. Well, believe me I leave more than one. But I can't help trying to do just one project perfect. Reminds me of my days in my twenties when I wished to type just one page without an error. Never made that goal. Now the computer makes this possible.

Speaking of spelling (Wasn't I?), I read many posts where the spelling is atrocious. (Note, after I published this post, I noticed all my spelling errors ::blushing:: I came back and edited it. Talk about red faces!) I wonder if they ever read over what they have typed. So many errors in both spelling and grammar. Makes one wonder what they learn in school. One they don't learn is penmanship. And I won't start on my feelings about what history is being taught in our schools. Just believing in history, we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Our Congress proves that every 4 to 6 years. Re-elections and new faces don't seem to change anything.

A congressman being interviewed recently (I've forgotten his name and the program...it's my age, sorry) said when asked if he read the bill just passed, replied, and I'm paraphrasing here,
"Of course I didn't read it. We never read these things. We just pass them and then send back to 'experts" to write the law." Reassuring, eh?

Time's wasting. See you all in a few days, weeks, months, years.

joaniecomelately

Wrap Me Up Shawl Progress

Today finds me rushing, once again, to another meeting. This is with friends, at a friend's home. Yesterday, our Prayer Shawl ministry met at the local B&N for the afternoon. Small turnout, a good thing, since B&N's large library tables were covered with books and the reading nook was completely filled. So we sat at the tables along the cafe, not a good arrangement. It doesn't promote networking with all of the ladies there. Not the intimacy that works at the library tables. I'm going to call the store manager and reserve the reading nook. Just found out this is possible. Networking is good. A writer friend employed at the store filled me on this.

Working on the fifth block of the 21 block Wrap Me Up Shawl. This block is the ruffle, a first for me. I took this class learn all the different stitches and techniques in advanced knitting. The ruffle is fun to do. I hope to finish it tonight.

This afternoon, at Tina's, I'll be working on my Yoga wrap, a luscious wrap using Plymouth's Bristol Saint George yarn, a cashmere combination in a soft pink. These two projects are for me.

Being in the Prayer Shawl ministry means knitting for strangers and giving away our work for those in need. Lately, I've not contributed much but do have two projects going for the ministry. A baby shawl, in a pretty draped pattern that taking a long time to finish up. Also started another in Simply Soft that looks like sets of chains between garter stitch rows. But I confused all the purl yarn overs - not used to doing yarn overs on purl stitches and kept switching to the knit stitch. Have to frog.

Someday I'll get around to taking pictures and posting my ongoing projects. Right now, it's off to Tina's for the afternoon.

Quick catch up & Wrap Me Up Shawl

As usual, it's been a long time between entries. So much time has passed.

November, 2008, I finally got the transmitter for my BAHA implant to help correct my single-sided deafness. Taking a while for my brain to "triangulate", as the doc says. This means that after all these years of life, my brain needs to recognize it's hearing on the right side. This is a first in my life, and it's been a great long life. Just lately I'm beginning to notice sound on my right side. Unique experience for me.

My Prayer Shawl Ministry gave away all the shawls, etc., we made in 2008. After the 11 a.m. Mass on a Sunday in November, a fellow standing at the table told me he was waiting until everyone was gone so he could buy all that was left. We did have a number of items left. For this he gave the ministry $500. Talk about generosity. In addition to this donation, the people of the parish donate over $500 more, giving us a grand total of $1200.

Now we don't encourage donations. We offer the items we make for free. They are for folks in need of comfort, solace and prayers. This is our gift to the parish and our work for God. However, the parishioners refuse to take them for free. Hence, the donations. So far, in 2009, we've given away 71 items.

My contributions to this ministry are scant. However, I do all the administration work, etc. But this doesn't satisfy my soul. I have a shawl on the needle, actually a christening blanket. Monsignor upped the ante for us this year. Instead of doing shawls, etc., for the sick and infirm, he asked us to make christening blankets for the parish. This doubled our output from last year. So far, we've managed to get two months ahead in baptismal blankets.

I'm busy doing several other knitting projects, a yoga wrap, and a Wrap Me Up Shawl (21 different blocks, knitted continuously in different stitches. The challenge is interesting. I'm anxious to get this down in the time allotted for lessons. (This shawl is a class at my local LYS). That's six weeks and already two weeks have passed and I only have 3 blocks done. The blocks go fast once you figure out where to start the next block and learn the new stitch. I'm almost ready for the ruffle.

Have to scoot, now and work on the WMEU shawl.

Joan