Waste not...

If you've been following my blog, you know I love to knit. And I especially love to knit socks. But like the cobbler's children I had made dozens of pairs for friends and family but hadn't made any for myself. Just after Christmas I decided to remedy that.

Finding a great yarn of wool and nylon in bright pink with accents of purple, yellow, lime green, and light pink, I cast on. Because I have a health issue that makes my left leg swell quite often, I wanted to start with that sock and make it a bit bigger than the normal women's socks I've been knitting. I finished it up and tried it on....ummmm it looked like I made it for bigfoot's wife!

Rather than unwind the whole sock, I just grabbed the skein and started knitting new socks, using smaller needles. The finished socks fit me perfectly! I did add a couple of extra stitches to the left one so it is one of the only pairs of socks that I can wear that actually don't cut off the circulation at my ankle. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Now since I'm one of those people who hate to throw away anything that I might find useful in the future, I just stuck that extra large sock away in my knitting cupboard and continued on with the next project.

Then about a week ago I ended up with a horrible ear ache. One that went down into my neck area. I thought if I could lay my head on a heating pad it would help. The problem was that laying the affected area on the pad didn't really get the heat where needed because of the contour of my neck. I tried laying on the opposite side and placing the pad on top of the neck area. Again, it didn't really work because I couldn't get the pad close enough to the neck area to do any good.

Then a brilliant thought hit me! I could take that extra sock, fill it with some old stale rice (again, can't throw out anything that could possibly be used for something in the future), and  microwave it for a bit.

Holy Smokes! It worked like a dream. Because of the rice and because the size is fairly small, it works great as a spot heating pad.

My sister was over the other day and saw it and could not, for her life, figure out what it was. So now it's not only a useful health aid, it's a conversation starter as well.

Ain't life grand?!?

ABC's The Chew...

Oh my goodness! I received an email from The Chew that they posted one of the photos I had submitted in the My Bites section of the website. They even offered a link to the page.

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/my-bites?x=us_showcase_6059_

It's a photo of Carla Hall's Pumpkin Chocolate cake I served for Thanksgiving FoSaP.

It was a really delicious cake and actually fairly easy to make while still making a dramatic statement when brought to the table. One of my friends said she thought I had bought it at a bakery it was so beautiful and professional looking.

What a treat to know that one of my photos will now be seen by hundreds of people (in fact, at last count it had been viewed by 220 people).

FoSaP for February - Oh Balls!

Alright, when I scheduled my monthly dinner for February I went with a theme that I thought I could do in advance. After all, it was my birthday weekend and I assumed at the time that I might be celebrating the occasion the night before and wanted to get as much done as possible, just in case I was feeling a little under the weather.

As it was I only got a couple of things done the week before because I made the decision earlier in the week to make swag bags for everyone to take home from my birthday party the evening before...and ended up making 36 bags (and still ran out by the end of the evening).

Fortunately, because I was driving a rental (Enterprise even surprised me by upgrading me to an Eclipse convertible for free since it was my birthday weekend) I drank only water at the party so I was feeling perfectly fine the next day. But since I had this convertible and it ended up being a gorgeous sunny day, I put the top down and took a drive for an hour. I had my warmest winter coat and the heat on, but still.....

Now, back to the balls! Here's the menu for the evening:

Ranch and Bacon Cheese Ball

Smoked Salmon Balls

Spinach Balls

 

Potato Balls

Amazing Apricot Balls

And then there were the Olive Balls, Great Balls of Fire Crab Balls, Ham Balls, Buffalo Chicken Balls, Garlic Bread Balls, Hula Balls, and It's Raining Cats and Dogs Balls that I forgot to take pictures of.

Of course, when a bunch of adults gather together to eat balls for dinner you know which direction the conversation ends up going. Let's just say there was a lot of very entertaining (my sides were actually sore the next morning) and very educational discussion.

But in the end even Chester thought the evening was exactly what was needed to feel peaceful.

Best 50th birthday ever!!!!

Hermione's Everyday Socks

As a Harry Potter fan, I'm sure I was drawn to this pattern by the name. But the repeat was an easy one to remember and these socks knit up quite quickly. I remembered about halfway through the first sock that I promised Papa John I would make him some socks so figured I had better get these finished lickety-split so I could start workin on Papa's socks.

Here is the end result using more Deborah Norville's Serenity sock yarn. This time in Teal Tease (S2656).

Full view of both socks

Close up of color variation

 

Close up showing the pattern variation

People often ask me who I'm making something for. These will go in my stash drawer along with the Vanilla Latte and the Jaywalker socks. It's always nice to have a fun hand-made gift on hand in cash you forgot someone's birthday.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hermiones-everyday-socks

Now on to Papa John's socks...

Say it ain't so.....

So, my local live music venue has recently changed hands and there is speculation that the new owners will no longer have live music. This can't be happening (again). I discovered Trail's End in 1997 after my divorce and have been going on a fairly regular basis since. That was one reason I chose to move to the area.

 

Shortly after moving to be close by Trail's End, I discovered another great place for live music in Portland called The Candlelight Cafe and Bar. The Candlelight offered live music 7 nights a week and the only times they ever charged a cover was for New Year's Eve when they had to try to limit the number of people. When I first started going there, this was the lineup:

Monday - Margo Tufo
Tuesday - Jay "Bird" Koder
Wednesday - Linda Hornbuckle
Thursday - Norman Sylvester
Friday - Bands rotated
Saturday - Bands rotated
Sunday - I can't recall who was there before Andy Stokes

Not only was the music phenomenal but you felt like family when you were there. Some of my best friends are people I met at The Candlelight. As a single woman it was nice knowing I could go somewhere alone and either run into people I knew or know that there would usually be someone I could dance with and/or who would be keeping an eye on me to make sure I wasn't being harassed.

A year ago the building was overtaken using Imminent Domain and torn down to make room for the Light Rail project running from PSU to Milwaukie. All the people I used to see are now scattered hither and yon throughout the Portland area. I don't think anyone has found the perfect spot to replace the good old Candlelight.

So once again, I started spending more time at Trail's End. They have live music Wednesday through Sunday with a $5-7 cover charge on the weekends. The first Sunday of the month, Rae Gordon hosts a Gospel set. But now that I've gotten comfortable in this new routine, the rug is again pulled out from under me. I notice they have yet to post musical acts after the end of February which would be a good indication that the new owners will not be having live music.

I just hope they don't tear the building down and put something new there. It is a historic old building with more cobwebs than glitter. There's an historic buggy hanging from the ceiling and several gigantic fans that all run off a pulley system with one motor. I've already noticed things changing so it will be totally heartbreaking to see this lovely old spot disappear. I honestly don't know how they think they can make it if they don't offer live music.

Lovely old chandelier - notice the cobwebs

One of the many ceiling fans run by a pulley system

New Year's Eve 2012 - where else can you go that has a wooden Indian?

Job possibilities

If you've been following along, you know that my current job has been cut way back in hours. I feel so up in the air all the time because I really don't want to leave this job, if things pick back up, yet I don't feel I'm out pounding the pavement like I could be if I wasn't working at all.

The good news is there are a ton of free workshops and classes through the Employment Department that I have taken advantage of. The bad news is, there just don't seem to be a lot of jobs out there similar in pay and duties than what I've been doing. And we were told yesterday at the 'Apply On-Line' course that there are approximately 200 people per open position, depending on the job. So I'm in the running with hundreds of other people every time I find something that could work.

I am trying to find the perfect (close to home and decent pay) part-time position that would allow me to stay where I am and yet have enough other income to get me through the month. Last month I was about $300 short. I've been cutting expenses everywhere I can but when you already live paycheck-to-paycheck, it's kind of tough.

Today I found a part time job at a beekeeping supply store. It's close to home and except for knowledge about beekeeping, I am perfect for the job. I sent the required docs out today so we'll see if we even hear from them. I also found a part time temporary job with Clackamas County working in the library system. There seem to be several openings in the are for Library Directors so I would love to get my foot in the door with a job like this. Again, sent in the required documents so we'll see.

I'm really trying to stay positive about the future, but it's looking bleaker by the day.

Oh and then last night I went to look up a recipe in the index of my cookbook only to discover the entire index seems to be screwed up. Ugh! I've used Word many times to compile things like a cookbook before but this was my first attempt at inserting a Table of Contents and Index. When I went back into the file and said to 'update' it now appears everything is fine again....but I'm pretty certain that was one of the last things I did before printing so I'm uncertain why it would have been off. I'm still going to print the index out and double check against the book itself to make sure it's accurate.

Jaywalker

I have so many knitting projects to finish but I just can't seem to put away the socks! I've been absolutely enamored with them lately. Here's a pair that were 'almost' finished that I found in the stash drawer.

I used Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern and found the pattern to be a fairly easy repeat to remember so after the first few rows, I was off to the races. The socks weren't quite as stretchy as I would have liked, but I did love the way the colors are all wavy.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaywalker

Yarn is Deborah Norville's Serenity sock yarn in Chili (Lot S2142).

So nice....

Have you ever had one of those weekends that you were glad it was over because you were so busy that now you need some time to relax? Well, that was MY weekend. I got my ear warmers and bracelets done and delivered tonight along with the OSU birdhouse. The lady that asked me to make them was one I met at the Craft Fair at Marylhurst in November. She is such a sweetheart that I can't say no, whenever she asks me to help her out. She had asked for one ear warmer in a grey color and another in black with sparkly yarn. She was absolutely thrilled with both of them. I finished them up on Friday evening (instead of going out to shake my tail feathers) so felt like I could get out and enjoy the weekend and boy did I.

Saturday I printed a couple more copies of the cookbook and had them bound. One for Brittany for a birthday gift and one for myself so I had one....you've heard the story about the cobbler's children, right? Anyway, while at the office supply store, a friend sent me a text message to say that she, another friend, and my sister were all at our favorite thrift shop. I stopped by and while they each rolled out of the store with multiple bags of goodies, I walked away with nothing. I'm really trying to watch every penny now and am looking only for specific things....a Keurig coffee maker or items for my steam punk picnic in July.

After getting home from running errands I did a few things around the house and got Julia's bracelets finished and Brittany's gift wrapped. I then went on a nice long 2 mile walk enjoying this glorious weather. And it was so nice....I got home and took a quick little nap before getting ready to head to Coaster's to celebrate Britt's birthday. I still can't believe her friend talked me into singing karaoke. It's been years since I've done that and I was even more nervous because Lady Kat was in the bar. But I think we pulled it off without embarrassing ourselves too badly (except for not keeping up on Lady Gaga's Poker face....I really didn't know the words to that song).

I woke up today to another gorgeous day so took myself to the local Goodwill. Since Sunday is the first day they start the 50% off color for the week it's the best chance to get a great buy on something. I found the perfect mini chest for my steam punk picnic. It's missing one little grommet but otherwise in great shape. And only $5!!!

Afterwards I hit Joann Fabrics and grabbed a couple skeins of yarn to make the bearded hats for Hayden, Kaysin, and Mike. Changed clothes and did another quick walk this morning before getting ready to get to Trail's End. My girl Rae Gordon was doing her Gospel Blues and I just couldn't miss it. I was able to sit and knit, listen to amazing gospel music, AND watch the Superbowl. Can you say multi-tasker???

I met up with Julia to pass along her goodies and had a nice visit with her and now I can spend the rest of the evening relaxing and catching up on some television watching. What a fun filled, active, never-a-dull-moment weekend!!!

Glorious Day

After weeks of grey skies and cold temperatures it is sunny and warm and I feel like getting out in it. But wouldn't you know that today is the day I have to strap on the old ball and chain and get a bunch of documents out for work. I am getting a bit frustrated with the job situation because I want it to be secure or I want it to be done. This being in limbo is killing me. I never know from one day to the next if I'm going to work all day or not even need to come in to the office.

Plus I have a ton of projects I need to work on while searching for a new job. Things like finishing up my promised knitting, cleaning out the spare room, checking into renting it out via air bnb, listing items on eBay that I just don't need anymore, gutting the basement, etc, etc. Oh my, I have a lot to do.

And then of course, I'm kind of going into Geocaching withdrawals since it's been months since I've had a chance to get out and find some treasure. It had to have been around Thanksgiving since I grabbed my special backpack and got out there. I really want to get out tomorrow but I promised Julia I would get her two ear warmers as well as a couple of bracelets done and delivered to her by Sunday.

I can't work on them tonight since I'm going to see Deep Blue Soul Revue. I am so looking forward to shaking a tail feather. And tomorrow evening is Brittany's birthday at Coaster's. Oh and then Rae Gordon does her Gospel show on Sunday. Good golly!

Well, hopefully I can get all my promised things done this weekend and have some fun at the same time. Wish me luck!