Leaf Job!

 Today Dear One put our new leaf rake to work.  Of course, there had been a lot of rain overnight so the leaves were heavy and sludgy but still, he did manage to rake up thirteen piles.  

This afternoon it turned out that he needed a couple of extra hands to hold the bags to put the leaves in the garbage bag.  Since we cannot have a compost pile, we could not use the leaves.  Unless I went down to the garden. and dug them in.  This is something I considered since we are hoping to put in blueberries in the next season, BUT the day was pretty much done by then and I did not want to walk that close to the HOA bad line...NO COMPOST PILES in our neighborhood....

The lawn really does look better.  Interestingly enough, the live oak trees that dropped all the leaves are not on our property!  

Another thing, not interesting, but something I learned today: I might have learned why they call these trees "live oaks".  I have wondered about that since the very first book I ever read many years ago that referenced "live oaks".  I thought that was the dumbest thing ever since of course the trees must have been alive.  Well, it turns out that they do not drop all their leaves.  We do have some sort of native tree on our own lawn which shades us beautifully in the summer, but which does lose its leaves.

It is a great day when you learn new stuff!

Royally Miffed...

 Do you ever get up in the morning and, after your morning rituals, find yourself really miffed?  And realize that, yet again, you have only yourself to blame for the predicament you are in?!  Well, that happened to me today.  I am not happy.  Not at all.  And there is no way to point fingers at anyone but myself.

This being the case, I have proclaimed today the first day of the new year and am changing my ways.  At least, that is what happened early this morning.  Now nearing the end of the day I find my resolution was not wholly carried out, but still, today was better than yesterday.  That is a plus.

Of course, as usual, Dear One gets the brunt of my dissatisfaction.  I have also made a proclamation about eating upstairs in the evening.  WE WILL NOT HAVE IT PE RIOD.  Anyone who wants to eat must go downstairs to eat in the kitchen or dining room.  It is just too easy to eat a cup of Chex mix in the evening,  Or even more. Especially when one's hands are not busy knitting or doing some other handwork.  The lap is empty and the hands are idle so what to do but pick up the canister of salty buttery nutty treats.  VERY BAD IDEA.  At least as far as health is concerned.

Do you have a plan for better health for the new year?  Please share!

One of my plans is to continue on with hand work when I am upstairs in the evening.  Tonight I will work on the initialed hem of my Jacqueline Fee Sweater Workshop sampler. I am getting ready to share that book in a class starting the first week in January.  We shall see how it goes.  I needed to get a sampler made in advance to catch any problems I might have forgotten since the last time I made that sampler.  It really is a useful workshop.

While the book is not available currently on ThriftBooks, it does appear to be available in several other places. Maybe even in the local library.  It is worth getting.  Another book worth getting is Knitting Workshop (or any other book by Elizabeth Zimmermann)!  ThriftBooks does not have Elizabeth Zimmermann, either, but I am confident her books are available at Schoolhouse Press.   

One final book I want to mention that helps me keep my hands, and my mind, busy instead of eating bad stuff is Sweater 101 by Cheryl Brunette.    I have owned at least three copies of Sweater 101 though I only have one now.  I had the great fun of following her directions and made a size two sweater for a child.  I finished that sweater just in time to go to a knitting guild meeting in Vancouver, Washington when Cheryl was there to speak to us and encourage us in our knitting,  I loved learning at her feet and was so pleased that she admired the work of my hands that night. Another dear sister from our mission also attended and brought her sweater which also was perfect.  That sister has knit a sweater for herself following Cheryl's instructions and it fit her perfectly!!!

So--new year, and this time I plan to keep promises I made to myself. I hope you do, too.

The Cookie House

 Despite its appearance, this Oreo cookie house seems to be consumed a little more every thing I enter the dining room.  This does make me happy.  Especially since I am not the one eating it...!  Though I have had a few nibbles...

We hope you all had a wonderful sacred Christmas with family and friends.

Christmas Packages 2021

 This year the build up to Christmas has been very very full.  It did not include handmade gifts for our family members. I don't know if that has ever happened before.  It will be different next year because I already have a plan!!  It makes me smile. I hope it will make our family smile...next Christmas!

Anyway, it is not as if we did not plan to send gifts.  We did.  And as of this writing the packages are in the mail.  They promised me at the P O that they would arrive by Christmas Eve.  I hope so...though everyone in the family does know that timing does not always work well for me...!

Here are the packages ready to go to the Post Office. If you like a guessing game, tell me what you think they are!  You probably will get it, though not specifically!

Another Finished Project

 This time the project was a crochet project.  It was shark slippers for a friend's family members.  I needed to up my game with crochet as the designer was Dutch and translated the pattern to English.  She put it on Ravelry.com.  I learned that when a designer says "join 2 stitches", she actually means to decrease 1 stitch.  I finally got it and was able to complete the slippers.

These are the slippers.  The photo does not do them justice.  They really are cute.  The particulars are on my project page on Ravelry in case you are interested in them.

Big Surprise Today!!

 Recently I have become impatient and dissatisfied with my homemaking prowess.  A few days, maybe weeks ago, I began mildly carping about my need for a bureau.  At present all my clothing is stored in the closet.  Don't get me wrong, it is a great closet with a lot of hanging space and a shelf over all.  I have my underwear and socks stored on the shelf along with many other things.  The shelf is just a bit too high for me so I have to throw my undies up there.  That does not make for a nice neat stack, thus the carping.

Well, today, when I was about at the end of my rope for many many reason, Dear One told me UPS had arrived. I knew he was expecting a package but no idea what it was.  I asked him if he wanted me to come see the box. He said, "No. I want you to come help."  When I got to the entry way there was a big box from Vietnam!  I thought he had broken down and gotten me a bookcase for the side of the bed which I ALSO have been carping about for about two years...!  We have already ordered and put together a beautiful bookcase, a table, and two chairs all from rubber wood from Vietnam so I was pleased.

It was NOT a bookcase!

There he is with the packing box mostly emptied, well, half emptied as you can see other things in the big box, but he was organizing the refuse so it would be easy to take care of.

We decided to put it together upstairs since it was going to be very heavy and we have had incidents as we have taken things upstairs in a put-together situation which were very heavy.

Here is the bureau together except for the drawers!

Now the complete bureau sitting next to my mother's slipper chair. I could not be happier.  And, yes, my underwear and socks are happily ensconced in the new bureau and I am a happy camper.  

How I love my kind, generous, considerate, thoughtful, hard-working, loving husband.  I am most fortunate among women.

When it was complete, he smiled at me and said, "Merry Christmas!" So nice.

Listen to The Spirit! Then Act Immediately!

 This morning as I was reading scriptures a #LightTheWorld prompt showed up.  Today it was suggested that we share an inspirational story, presumably from our own lives. I spent some time thinking about what I had to offer and nothing popped into my mind first thing.  The day was busy so I put it out of my mind.

After a lot longer than I expected at the car service center and about half a dozen other errands,  I finally arrived home.  I was so tired I did not even make a late lunch.  I sat on the loveseat and reclined.  I thought that I had not seen Kate at The Last Homely House East of the Sea for the last week or two so I looked for her on YouTube.

There on her channel was a video from last year with her tutorial on making a no-sew Christmas star.  As I started watching it for a moment I stopped because it crossed my mind that I should see if I could get a second appointment at the temple tomorrow.  It is Dear One's day as assistant shift coordinator so we will be there until at least 1:00 PM.  I had already been able to schedule a 9:00 AM appointment several weeks ago and even though I have been checking back day by day there has never been an available spot.

Today, you guessed it, when I went to the temple appointment page, there was one spot available at 11:00 AM!!  Immediately I registered for it and now, tomorrow, I will be able to serve two sisters while Dear One serves in other ways. I am so happy.

So my inspirational personal story is to say that when we feel or hear the whisperings of the Spirit, and they usually are just the quietest of feelings or thoughts, it is good to act on them immediately.  That way Heavenly Father can bless us right away.  I am so grateful for this.

Both session tomorrow!  So happy!

Christmas Lights In The Neighborhood

 One of the things I love about Christmas each year is seeing the lighting displays people in our neighborhood put out as part of their celebrations.  Here is one of them:

This picture was taken through the windshield at the stop sign at the end of our road.  This is way not the most fantastic lighting set up in the area. I am sorry to say that someone came up behind me while I took the picture and started honking his or her horn.  That put me off my stride and I only took this picture...Still, I do think it gives a good flavor of what it looked like.

#Light The World Prompt for Today

 This morning I was reading scriptures using the Come Follow Me Foundation App.  I have just noticed that at the top of the page there are some little grayed-out dashed lines and each time I do one of the suggested readings the dashed line lights up.

Today I noticed that one of the options now available is the #Light The World Initiative prompt for the day. (If you don't know about #Light The World, just Google it.  There is a calendar of prompts for each day leading up to Christmas.) Today's prompt was to feed the hungry.  The prompt suggested dropping off food to someone who could use it, or create a donation package for a local food bank...even suggested recruiting a friend to help.

This is what I am doing with this post!  I am specifically inviting people to make a donation package for a local food bank.  I personally am gutless.  I am so happy to help people and will do almost anything that is suggested to me, especially if someone else has already paved the way.  In this case I bit the bullet, found the address of a local food bank, got in the car and drove to the location.  

The building was rather un-pre-possessing with some tall (older-looking) wooden stairs leading up to a door.  From the foot of the stairs I could see a batch of notices on the door but since I had some hope that they would be open I hauled my heft up the stairs, found a locked door, knocked, and in a bit a very nice gentleman with a soft very Southern accent/dialect opened to ask what I wanted. At least that is what I thought he asked....I told him I wanted to maybe make some donations and needed to talk with someone about details.  He asked me to come in and someone who had information would come talk with me.

A very nice lady named Sherry came to speak with me.  She gave me information that I mean to share in this post, so I will get to it rather than working up to it with a long drawn out possibly very boring story.

What they need at that food bank (Sumter United Ministries at 36 Artillery Drive, Sumter) is:

Paper towels--these can be singletons in case you buy large amounts at Sam's Club, Costco, or the like

Toilet paper--these can also be singletons

Feminine hygiene products

Tooth brushes

Tooth Paste

Shampoo in small bottles

There is a fence at the building.  It should be open from 9 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday.  If you drive through the open gate to the back of the building there is a covered area which has bins.  There are bins for Food and bins for Clothes.  All the above items go in the Food bin.  

They DO NOT need clothing at this time.

While there at United Ministries, Sherry told me about the Emmanuel Soup Kitchen at 421 South Main Street in Sumter.  Sherry volunteers there on Wednesday, or at least she did yesterday.  

She says they accept anything you have that could be used by homeless and less fortunate people, including clothing.  I myself was hoping to bring some of the multitudes of spices we have acquired since arriving in the South two years ago with the idea I would make some fabulous meals. 

 It turns out that most of these spices turned into meals "my family" did not enjoy!!!  So I will take them over to Emmanuel Soup Kitchen.  If they cannot use the spices themselves they will put them out on a table and let their guests take what they want.  WIN WIN WIN!

These two photos show SOME of the spices in our kitchen...there are lots more.  I think divesting will be a very good thing.

It happens that I also tried to put gutlessness aside a second time in the same day and drove to Emmanuel Soup Kitchen.  I had driven by it many times but did not recognize what it was as I drove by.  There was a very slim older gentleman hanging around outside the door (which did not have a handle to open it from the outside!!) and when I got out of the car I immediately realized the stroller was critically important at that location as the ground was very uneven.  Anyway, I walked over to him and he started talking with me.  The dialect was so heavy I could not understand him.  Not at first.  Eventually I caught a word here and there.  There was another gentleman sitting in his truck with the door open.  Shortly after I got there he began drumming on the door of his truck. I could not grasp the beat.

Eventually I told the waiting gentleman that I was looking into making donations.  He told me to go around to the back door and speak with Jean.  I did it.  Knocked on the door. Twice. There were voices inside but it was lunch time and since the soup kitchen door was still locked, I assumed they were still in the rush of preparing food so I went back out to the front.  And waited some more.  The door still did not open so I decided to come back again later. Probably another day.

That is the end of the story for today...

So, this is information for Sumter people.  In your town or city there must be similar places.  #Light The World today by finding them!

Christmas Party Games!

 Last week I attended a wonderful Christmas party.  Let me tell you about the games!

Each person coming to the party brought a pair of socks that they had filled with all sorts of fun inexpensive little gifts.  The socks were attached to each other by rubber bands at the top and a ribbon was put on.  When they arrived at the party the socks were hung on a tree and numbered.  Later on guests drew a number from a bowl.  If the number was even, they got that pair of socks. If their number was odd, they could choose any socks that had already been removed from the tree.  (In this case the "tree" was a hall coat tree!)

This was my pair of socks:

Sorry I cannot figure out how to rotate the photo so you can look at it straight on.

These socks make me so happy.  They are the first real project I did on the Brother KX 350 knitting machine.  I used Patons Classic Wool in Bright Red, Pine, and Winter White.  I have a good mind to make more of them!  The knitting look less than an hour but the handwork to move them from flat to socks took WAY longer!

One thing I am very happy about is the bow!  Basically I took a wide piece of the black and red checkered fabric, attached the fluffy white stuff to the ends then sewed it into a tube.  Next was to turn the tube.  It worked!  I was really so pleased.

Another day I will describe another party game...

Quick and Easy Tree Ornament, Sewing Project

 The other day I found a red and black plain metal tin that I immediately loved and thought I would fill with chocolates and give in the big Christmas stocking I knit on the knitting machine.  I was in Hobby Lobby at the moment and was passing by the fabric area.  THERE WAS THE SAME FABRIC!  So I had to buy it to make a stocking ornament.

After exploring YouTube a bit I found orangebettie.com who had a very easy pattern for a lined stocking ornament.

This is the ornament.  It probably took 30 minutes from start to finish.  If I wanted to make more I could do assembly-line and get lots more made in a short time.  If I wanted it to be perfect, I could press it at various junctures, but chose not to get up from the sewing machine.

This makes me happy, even though it is not perfect.  And I did not hand stitch closed the  few stitches needed in the white fluff.  Oh well.

Learning To Knit on the Brother KX-350 Knitting Machine

 Years ago I acquired a fabulous standard gauge punch card knitting machine. It had all the bells and whistles.  For some reason I thought I needed to divest.  I am now sad for that but recently acquired a new-to-me more-than-30-years-old flat bed knitting machine.  I have a Bond Incredible knitting machine which I used to make many items for our family and others.  This "new" machine is a step up.

May I say that I love to learn new things!  AND I love to learn useful practical things. A first project on the KX350 has been a Christmas stocking.  I used an Anna Haferman pattern and was mostly successful.

The learning part came in with the short rows on the heel and toes.  I did a pretty pathetic job but learned a ton.  

This picture is of the first heel.  Pitiful but...learning experience.

This is the toe, also bad, but also think I solidified some learning with this one.

What I now know is that on the decrease part of the short rows you put the needle next to the carriage into hold and knit across to the other side.  Then do the same thing on the row back.  

On the increase part of the heel, which immediately follows the last of the decrease rows (and the decrease rows go until you have one-third of the heel stitches remaining in work-) you pull out the needle farthest from the carriage back into work.  Do this on every side until all the heel stitches are back in work.

Before beginning to work on the heel, you need to put half of the stitches on the needle bed into holding position AND you need to put the levers on both sides of the carriage into hold.  This way you will only be working on the heel stitches and not the top of the foot stitches.

Just a reminder to self and others--the heels and toes are knitted using half of the needles on the project and decreasing until one-third of the needles remain un-knitted, then increasing until all the needles are back in work. I believe I worked one more row with the carriage still in hold then, when knitting back across from the left side, I returned the carriage to Normal knitting.  I learned that if you return the carriage to Normal before that last row with the carriage in Hold then you will effectively knit at least half of the stitches off the bed.  Which necessitates laboriously picking each of them up one by one and returning the stitches to the needles.  No need to make THAT mistake again!!!

The cuff is the first thing I did after casting on and I am rather pleased with how the picot edge worked. I think it looks pretty nice.

The cast on that I did for this stocking was to pull out every other stitch and put the remaining stitches out of work.  Using waste yarn knit across one row then hang the cast on comb.  Put the out-of-work stitches into work then knit across again.  Hang weights on the cast on comb then knit 8 or 10 rows of waste yarn.  Thread the carriage with the cuff yarn then knit half the number of rows you want for the cuff.  In my case I cast on 54 stitches then knit 20 rows after the waste yarn.  At this point to make the picot hem each stitch is removed from its needle and place on its neighbor's needle, making every other needle empty.  Knit across one row to solidify that picot edge then knit 20 more rows.

Now comes the fun part of picking up stitches from the waste yarn and placing them on the needles so you can close up the hem.  It is really easier than it sounds after the first one and it looks really nice.

After that first bad stocking, well, bad heels and toes, I made two more.  They came out pretty well though each one gave me a bit of a challenge. In the end, I am pretty happy with them.  Now to fill them...

Another thing I learned:  you cannot always trust what Ebay sellers have to say about their products!  If you go to the Anna Haferman video you will see she used needle pushers.  The woman who sold me her very old KX 350 did not give me either the row counter or the needle pushers.  This machine is a 7 mm machine.  That is different from a 6.5 mm machine.  AND despite what Ebay sellers say, you CAN NOT use the same needle pushers on both the 6.5 mm and the 7 mm machines!  Makes me very crabby that I did know understand that at the beginning.  Now I am smarter.  I also had to order a row counter for the second time because the Ebay seller failed to tell me he was only selling me the counter and NOT the critical connector for the machine.  Money down the drain.  Makes me VERY crabby.  And now I have been waiting since 28 October for a (possibly!) correct row counter to arrive from England.  If this one does not come, I believe I will stop all internet commerce and just buy things that I see face to face.  Will save money (and time!) in the end probably.

Cute Kid on Mom's Back!

 We went to the ward Christmas brunch on Saturday at the Judson Family Farms.  It was a really wonderful event.  The main food was breakfast burritos with all the fixings plus pastries and juices.  EVERYONE loved the food!

There was a lovely short talk on the real meaning of Christmas and how we could enjoy that in our lives.  So nice. Plus other activities including picture-taking and a sweet gift for everyone.

We also had the blessing of walking around the farmyard and seeing the variety of farm animals there.  One of the cutest things was the baby goats/kids!  The babies were docile when we got there to the pen in the large clean tidy barn but then they decided to entertain us by jumping on Mom's back!  Here is one of them:

Both kids were trying to do it at the same time which had the effect of one of them dropping off so it was rugged to get a picture with one actually on the back.  This must happen regularly because Mom just stood there and took it!

Such a funny thing.