Books - Quarter 1

Yes, I have been a big slacker...I have not been reading (in addition to blogging)...

Since my move I have been too busy to do any crafty projects.  Just unpacking and cleaning - lots of cleaning.  Hopefully I get back on track soon.

Since Christmas, or even earlier, I have not even read much.  When I visited my family over Thanksgiving, I brought a book up with me.  It took me until January of this year to finish it.  I've just been too busy to read.

The one book I finished in the first quarter of 2013 was:

1. This book was a bit dragged out in the middle part, as usual for Stephen King.  I think that is why it too so long.  I finally had to hole myself up on a Sunday in the house and finish it.  It starts off by telling a bit of history of a group of guys that grew up together.  During middle school, they befriended a kid with downs syndrome, Duddits, by saving him from the local bully.  Duddits had a special gift that can show the way (for lack of a better term).  This talent and his association with the other guys lead to each of them possessing a special mental gift.  The mental gifts show themselves at times and it prevents them from developing real relationships with people as they grow up.  They never formed friendships like they did in middle school.   During their childhood, they visit a hunting spot in the middle of nowhere in Maine with one of the fathers each year.  There is a dreamcatcher in the cabin.  They experience unique times together in the cabin.  They continue to meet once a year at the cabin, even though they have lost touch with each other as they are adults.  Fastforward to them as adults: They take their annual hunting trip to the cabin.  One of the days, they encounter a lost, unwell hunter in the woods and bring him back to the cabin to give aid.  This man has something very wrong with him and this starts the tailspin of everything going out of control.  There is an alien inside this man and it came from an alien aircraft that lands in the woods and pretends that it has come in peace.  The government thinks they know better (that the aliens do not come in peace) and want to annihilate it and all the beings in it.  The government then quarantines the entire area that encompasses the cabin and wants to kill every living thing in it.  One alien takes control of one of the hunting guys and sends him on a suicide mission to kill the government people and to want to eventually kill Duddits. The surviving main characters mentally work together to make it out alive and save Duddits.  Leave it to Stephen King to take a hunting trip and turn it into the end of the world, fighting off aliens.  It was a good read, but way too long.  I know Stephen King likes, not loves, to build each character, but sometimes it gets dragged out.  I give it 3 out of 5 thumbs up.

That book was like 700 or something pages long.  Ugh.  But, it was good.  I took equally as long to read my next book, so you will have to wait until summer to get the next list.

I found a great used book store:  The Bookstall in Brandon, FL. 

They will take your used paperbacks and give you store credit for them.  They even rent out best seller hardcover books.  Downfall is that they do not take hardcovers as used books.  In the past, I have brought in books, they look through them, select what they can sell, give me a small percentage of the cover price in store credit and I go down the street and donate the rest of the books to the library.  The library has annual book sales and the main branch in downtown Tampa has a bookstore that is open the first Sat of each month.  Everyone is happy: I get rid of book-clutter and get credit for more books and the library can sell my donated books.

Back in Mass, there is a used book store: Readmore Books.  Old, dusty building with books probably older then me in there, but they would take books for store credit and such.  I cold spend hours in there.  I am happy to have found better than equivalent to my "Readmore Books" in Brandon.

Origami Sweater - Part 2

I have been knitting like crazy all throughout November, and I'm still not done with my Origami Sweater.  I have been knitting the lace stripe then knitting the seed stitch like a robot.  That seed stitch is enough to drive anyone mad!

I started the Origami Sweater in the middle of October; the first post is here:

• Origami Sweater - Part 1

Now, I can positively say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Like I said, I'm still not done, but it's close.  I brought it with me when I visited Mass over Thanksgiving and got a good portion done.

I knitted the rest of the body, then left that on those needles.  I took a second set of longer size 7 circs and did the Magic Loop method to knit the sleeves in the round, rather than using double pointed needles.  My double points were metal and this yarn is like string, so it kept slipping off of them.  I knitted both sleeves and put a contrasting yellow yarn on the live loops to hold them until I was ready to attach them to the body.

Once I was ready with that I would knit a bit from the body, then knit from the yellow holding yarn from the sleeve, knit more body, then attach the second sleeve in the same manner.  It was a bit weird knitting from a piece of yarn, but it worked.

That yellow yarn in the pic is my left hand "needle".  The work on the right handed needle is the body of the sweater.

I got to attach the sleeves while I was on the plane.  I read a bit, then wanted to attach the sleeves before I forgot what I was supposed to do.  Then I went back to reading.

Can you believe that it is starting to look like a real sweater!  Although, it does look a bit shrunken; I'm expecting that once complete, I will stretch it this way and that way to get the stitches settled in and it will fit fine.  Keep your fingers crossed!

One bad thing about all this knitting is that I sort of injured myself.  Yes, a knitting injury, if you will.  My sister calls it epicondylitis, which is pretty much like tennis elbow in my left forearm.  When I knit, I keep my left hand and arm in a bent clenching position for long periods of time holding the left hand needle and that has made my arm very sore.

In the above pic, it is my extensor carpi radialis brevis that hurts!  When my elbow is bent for a period of time, it is very stiff when I extend it straight.  Ugh!  I do running, cross-fit, and the occasional bike ride...I don't get hurt doing any of those activities, no, I get hurt KNITTING!  Like, could it be any more ridiculous?

As a result of that, I have been slowing down on my knitting.  I'm not even done with my holiday gift knitting either.  I may have to forgo those other gifts and start mixing reading and sewing in between my knit projects.

On that note, let me put a warm compress on my arm so I may finish this sweater!

Whitin Five Road Race

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am still up in Mass visiting my sister for Thanksgiving.  I leave on Monday.  In the meantime, we ran a road race on Thanksgiving.  My sister, Vince and I ran the 24th Annual Whitin Five Mile Road Race in Whitinsville, MA.

It was freezing, literally.  It was between 35-40 degrees out.  I had did a practice 3 mile run the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I got a serious side cramp that was painful.  I walked about a quarter mile home, then when it subsided, I jogged the rest of the way.  In sum: it was a horrible training experience.

Then my sister, Kathy and I ran a 5 mile loop in her neighborhood on Tuesday, which went very well.  I think it was because I did my stretching and deep breathing outside, in the cold, to acclimate my body and lungs.  It must've worked.

So, Thanksgiving day came and we got all suited up in some cold-weather exercise clothing and went out to the race.

My goal was to run the 5 mile race in 45 minutes or less.  Vince did it in just over 41 minutes and Kathy did it in just over 43 minutes.  I did it in just over 46 minutes.  I'm not upset about that, because it was cold and I did get a slight cramp at mile 3, but I'm not making up excuses!  I'm proud of my time.  It is just under a 9 and a half minute mile - That's better than many of my practice jogs at home!

Here is the preliminary time sheet posted after the race.  I came in at 504th place out of over 800 runners.

Once the race was run, we got some water and some coffee and was off to finish the Turkey Day lunch back at home.  It was fun, even though I complained about the cold, it was a great time!

Thank you, Kathy!!!  Love you for making me do these things!!

Kathy's New Cardigan

During the summer, my sister Kathy came to visit and brought about 5 pullover sweaters that she wanted me to convert to cardigans.  She said she liked what I did for the Unbiased Cardi back in March.  I assume she wanted these for the upcoming fall and winter months (she lives in MA).  I also thought: It's still summer, I have plenty of time to get to them.

Well, here we are, November, and I have not worked on any of them!  Ugh, I always do this.  So, I am currently in MA now visiting the family for Thanksgiving, and I really had to get a move on with at least one of them.  Here is what I did for a v-neck green cabled pullover from Old Navy:

As you can see, she used to roll the sleeves.  I know this because there were dents at the arms, and I also tried it on and we are similar sizes, and it was too long for me.  So, you know I had to take my new skill and shorten the sleeves, like I did in Pink Cashmere. 

Basically, I snipped one stitch about where I wanted to add onto, and unraveled and detached the cuff of the sleeve.  I then unraveled it and with that very yarn, reknit a cuff.

Last time, I used straight needles to do this and then seamed up the arm again, this time I tried using double points so that I can knit in the round and not have to worry about seaming.  It worked great.

This is how much I shortened the sleeve.  That's a lot, huh?  I did the same to the other sleeve and then seamed up the small hole that remained from opening up the sleeve to unravel.

Alright, here comes the "cardigan" part.  Since there was a centrally placed cable, I simple cut up the middle of the cable.

Before I cut, with a sewing machine I stitched stitches on either side of where I was going to cut, just to hold the stitches in place so that they do not unravel as I'm trying to work with it later.  Then I cut.

So, it was cut all the way up.

I pinned the edges in.  I intended on sewing right down the middle of this cable half.

Next, I went out and bought toggle buttons.  This is a perfect sweater for toggle buttons! 

With the yarn that was left over from unraveling, I made loops.

I cut three strands and braided them.  I made a total of 4 loops.

I stitched the toggle buttons to one side and lined up the cables and figured out where the loops would go.  I poked through the ends of the braided loop and knotted them together on the back side.

I then trimmed the long strands.

Ladies and Gentlemen:  I am done!  Above and below is my sister modeling the new cardigan.

It fit her so well!  The length of the sleeves were just right.  She also just got her hair cut, so it was so sassy to have her new 'do with the new cardi.

I love it and she did, too!  She told me later that she wanted to ask me about all the sweaters that she left with me.  I'm sure glad that I was able to deliver at least one to her.  Although, not sure how long this one can keep her at bay from wanting the other ones.

Last thing, since I am on vacation in MA, freezing my butt off in 32-40 degree weather (FL is still in the 70's), I'm not sure if next week's blog will get written.  Just saying....

Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for all my friends and family, my health, and to all that make this country a free one!  Without these things, how would we make it through?  Vince traveled to California to see his family, while I stayed in Florida.  I went to his parent's house, where his eldest daughter roasted the turkey.

Mouth Watering

This was her first time roasting a turkey and she did a great job.  I was in charge of the desserts.  I made a Pumpkin Ribbon Cake:

Ribbon of Cream Cheese Inside

I made a second dessert that was a Sweet Potato Pie:

Gluten-Free Crust

I also made an appetizer that was a Baked Apricot Spread:

Serve with Ritz and Nut Thins

The parents also invited two other couples over.  They also brought food.  Vince's dad baked a ham.  We had a ton of food.  For the food finale, Vince's mom made her infamous flan.  This is to die for and you really can't get enough:

Family Recipe - Cannot Share!!

It was a great day with beautiful weather.  Vince's mom gets the house ready for Christmas early, so here is me in front of the tree:

A Bit Early...Whatever!

Once the holiday was done, I had to make this a project filled weekend.  I'm only going to show what materials I had to work with, but not the projects.  I know it's a teaser, but it's too early to reveal Christmas gifts!

Fabric

So, I have two sewing projects.  One for Vince's daughter (fabric on the left) and one for my sister (fabric on the right).  They are different projects...so, Kathy, you won't know until your birthday!! (I told my sister what I was making for the daughter, so just so she knows, it's not the same thing)!

Yarn

This yarn is for making two projects for my friend's girls.  Who knows, if they don't come out good, then I'm just buying something.  I hate when projects don't work out, so I'm not going to stress about it.

More Yarn

This is another knitted project.  I don't know when I'm actually going to have time for all this, but I can always finish it and give as a birthday present.

I'm practically done with my Christmas shopping.  I am traveling in Dec to see my sister and parents, so I had to have them done early.  I hope to learn how to knit socks with my sister.  I also hope to go to Foxwood's Casino for some BINGO!  (Love Bingo)....

Time to work my fingers to the bone on the knitting needles....