Bad Driving Cancels Hospital Visit

Last night was a great night:  only one person awoke and required attention between 8:30 and 6:30!  At least here in Wilder.  I think things were not so copacetic at the hospital.

Big news!  The boy has a name:  Brycen Daniel Crossett.  Nice name.  I don't know if it is intentional but those are the names of our former and current Stake Presidents, both truly humble followers of Christ and great men all around.  I could not be more pleased with that sweet little spirit's name.  We will be able to tell him stories about those men as good examples.

Today went well, and will go even better when the dad gets home soonish.  Leah took a very nice nap with no complaints after two stories were read, one of which was about a Tacky penguin and some sort of winter sports competition.  She saw some doughnuts in that book and indicated her desire to have some herself, so old grandma went to the net to see if there were any recipes.  There were many recipes. To how we made these doughnuts, go here.  This is what our doughnuts looked like:

The square doughnuts with heart cutout were popular.  The heart cutout doughnut holes were even more so...

We headed out on a marathon trip around 3:30 but it was raining and long before we got to Pompanoosuc we turned around and headed back toward the city where we hoped the driving was better with all the pavement.  It was quite scary underfoot.  We did call Price Chopper for some fried cod-a very popular treat that Grammie brings every few months to the children.  All three love the fish, and even if some of the health benefits are negated by the fried nature of the beast, fish is still a good thing.

A happy fish eater seriously attending to the fish.  He loves it with catsup.

Leah can't decide between the fish with catsup and the heart-shaped doughnut holes.  {The doughnut holes won this round...}

When we got home we called to report that we were not going to get to the hospital after all.  [There had been a very big uproar in the car when the destination change was announced, but with older brother trying logic, and younger brother being willing to (finally) accept the logic, things quieted down before we got to the first stop light.  It was long enough for me!]  We set up a Facetime date and made some happy little creatures.  They are going to be even happier because the dad is coming home tonight to sleep in his own bed. I hope the Indians remain in their tents tonight as they did last night.  That will give Dad a chance to get one night of sleep before baby Brycen shows up on the scene.  I did hear a report of him sleeping from 2 AM to 6 AM.  That is a pretty good start.

Another soul to carry on the Crossett name!

What a day!  Early up to get to the library for urgent book returns and the Coop for raw sunflower seeds at 7 AM before arriving at Jonathan and Alissa's to watch the children while they went to the hospital for a surgically delivered child.

We switched cars (the Camry was already warm on this 10-degrees-below-zero-F. morning), Caleb stayed home from school, Eldon went racing off to the bus, and Jonathan took Alissa to the hospital and the day was started.

All was well at the house...lots of Star Wars gaming and doll-playing, Candy Land and marble playing.  Cupcakes were made and finally frosted.  The physical therapist arrived and worked with Caleb.  The mittens for James were completed, washed, and hung to dry.  Leah went up to her nap saying, "No! No! No!" all the way but within instants of my arrival back downstairs she was silent.

Liz dropped by with cookies and a lovely soft baby blanket (which she makes for all the babies of the workers in Rik's office).  We still did not have any news, though the phone rang while she still here and we learned that all was well with mother and baby.  There was somewhat of a gender fight at the house.  Leah was certain that she wanted a little sister and Caleb definitely wanted a baby brother.

When the phone call came we learned the Caleb had won on this one and Leah retained her position as her father's little princess!  After Eldon returned from school and was fueled up, we headed for the hospital.  Eldon saw the baby in his mom's arms and thought it was a boy.  Caleb crawled into bed with his mom and was quite emotional.  He had been very concerned about the surgery and the repercussions for his mom afterwards.

Leah, upon hearing that her new sibling was a boy said, "No!  It isn't!" and started to kick up a bit of a fuss.  She did not want anything to do with him initially but she warmed up later on.

We are now back home; the children have been snacked, beveraged, storied, beveraged again, and are finally quiet. I am not so naive as to think they are asleep, but I can hope...!  I will be following them to bed after a little pick-up/clean-up.  Don't want Jonathan to fall over anything when he returns early tomorrow morning to help with the school preparation.

No name yet.

One thing we did today that was different than the usual...we had hear Garrison Keillor speak of the den cam on Sunday so I entered the URL and the children and I watched the bear, who had given birth on Sunday, yawn and stretch and sniff a bit.  For a live video stream click here.  You may have to watch an ad, but click on the Live Cams, and Jewel's Den Cam to watch Jewel sleeping or doing other stuff.  Just now when I put in the URL I noted that there were more that 4300 people watching Jewel sleep! 

Busy, somewhat productive, Day!

For several days I have been going back and forth with a donor from FREECYCLE for a blue wingback chair and ottoman.  Finally this morning I was able to pick it up in Hanover, where she kindly agreed to bring it...rather than making me drive to Grafton, NH where she lived.  It is just exactly what I love in a chair with the added bonus of the ottoman.

Chair in place near the fire.  Needs a very big bath, though.  Also there are supports under the chair which are missing.  Maybe Jonathan can help me make new ones.

After the chair pickup I went to the hospital blood lab for bloodwork prior to Friday's annual physical.  Two sticks finally got as much as they needed for the tubes.  They told me the problems were because my hands were too cold. I had taken the bus from Lot 9 then walked into the north entrance.  Glad that is over.  There is only a smallish area of bruising this time.

Next was a trip to Lavalley's to share the dimensions of the kitchen counter and get an estimate of the cost of same.Way more than I was expecting, and I failed to ask about clearance for the dishwasher.  Once we place the order it will be about ten days for the  construction of the custom-made counter topping.  Sadly, because of our corner sink, we cannot use the preformed material which has the lovely rounded edges.  We will have a square edge on both the counter-topping and the back-splash.  It will be fine, even though it will not be beautiful.

When I finally arrived home I discovered that we were not going visiting teaching as our sister had forgotten our visit and was doing something else.  Today that was good news!  I pulled the soft pretzel dough out of the bucket and made 6 of them.  When I finally finished the process I discovered how ugly they were.  Oh, well.  They were nice and chewy.  Since it was a pain to go through all the process of making them (mixing, rising, chilling, forming, rising, boiling, draining, egg washing, cooking)  I formed the rest of the dough into one oblong loaf and egg-washed it and applied sesame seeds.  The loaf looks wonderful.  It feels a little heavy.  Tomorrow we will slice it and see how it came out.  The recipe came from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day".  Again!  I love that book. 

"Bagel: bread on parchment paper, baked on pizza pan, not pizza stone

Before the pretzel/bread project, I helped Bob put the cover back on the pickup bed since tomorrow we are expecting our first really big snowstorm of the season--4-19 inches,  depending on who you listen to.  I also picked up several tarps, folded/balled up, and put into the car port and moved seven wheel/tires into the carport BEHIND the snow blower instead of in front of the snow blower.  Next I chipped out another very large cart of firewood and, after a very great effort, got it up onto the ramp and in place outside the back door on the "loading dock'.  As we were eating supper, Bob asked what I did with the small blue tarp which he had folded up when we were working on the truck project.  I had mentioned that I never sewed the cover I wanted to make for wood cart, which brought up the subject. I went out with my headlamp and found the tarp just where it had been, though more or less nicely folded. I brought it to the loading dock and covered the wood in case we really do have snow tonight.

While working on the bread project I moved the plastic table which Bob and Owen had been using for sheetrock/tiling project tools upstairs and which Bob had brought downstairs and scrubbed up.  I took it over for a better temporary kitchen in the addition.  This is kind of clutter-y and in the way but much more convenient.  If you think the water in the 'rinse bucket' looks dirty, it really is dirty. I had just put in a mug that had held hot chocolate earlier this afternoon when I was trying to get warm from the inside out.  Didn't work this time.

This is MUCH better than the most recent "kitchen", though that one caused miles of walking back and forth to the living room 'coffee table'.

There was more to the day but that is enough to write.  Tomorrow I look forward to babysitting the little ones, or at least Leah.  I picked up some fruit-flavored candy canes for a quarter at Walgreens today.  Yes, I am trying to buy her off, or at least keep her mind of the fact that Mom is gone for a few hours.

Early-ish morning walk--and other stuff

Well, will wonders ever cease!  This morning I crawled out of  bed, dressed, put on the ankle braces, added headphones and iPod, and headed out.  I walked out to Quail John Road and had a lovely time listening to David Reidy, (from the Sticks and String podcast in Australia--not knitting today but still interesting) and looking at the various winter plants, though no animals today.

It was interesting to note that the neighbor's bushy-tree-like thing had a full set of catkins on it.  On January 9, no less!  I guess the fearsome cold weather we had early last week made the plants all think it was winter, then the 30's and 40's at the end of the week fooled the plants in great shape.  The lilac bushes also had leaf buds all over them.  Great day for a walk.  About 16 degrees F. and sunny.  I was glad to get back into the toasty warm house and stand by the wood fire for a while.

After doing a minimal amount of picking up I became edgy to get my knitting machine weights coated in plastic.  I have probably mentioned the Bond Incredible Knitting machine.  To have success in knitting you have to have the knitted fabric weighted.  I found some lead bank weights at the department store, some 4-ounce and some 2-ounce. I had four of the 4-ounce ones before.  Bob had drilled the ends of two thrift store forks and bent over the tines so they would grab the knitted fabric.  Two were great but we needed more so I hitched the other two to paper clips.  After a while I got nervous about the "lead" content, so today...

There was a person on YouTube who showed how she made some covered weights for her knitting machine.  She used several different solutions, including Plasti Dip.  I found that container at Dan and Whit's in Norwich and this morning set up a system for dipping the weights, taking into account the suggestions of the working men...  Voila, as they say...They are now drying after two coatings.  To do a really nice job I should probably coat again, then four hours minimum of drying time.  In the meantime, while drying between coats I had a breakfast salad, then set up for blanket for Britta's photography.  It may work, with the emphasis totally on "may"!

Notice the drips!

These look pretty good after two dips. 

You probably caught on that we are back to "construction zone" living (you see the table closed up behind the dipping set-up), which is a tad disheartening after having the main level so tidy and empty and home-like for Christmas and the next few days....but...it needs to be convenient for the men who are doing the work.  I can go off by myself and sulk somewhere, or perhaps do a bit of housework anyway.

Empty pantry having had last coat of sheet rock mud installed.

Contents of pantry in "kitchen".  See the refrigerator and stove hidden behind the shelves?  So easy to operate both appliances...not!  But soon.

This morning I spoke with Lavalley's about measuring for counter topping.  Yay!!  That is such good news.  Buddy will call and/or drop by tomorrow to measure then we can get a quote.  Once we have the counter topping, then we can call our plumber and THEN we can have a kitchen sink.  You can only guess at home happy that will make me!!!

The Year Ends as well as The Christmas Knitting Project!

Today is the last day of the year 2011.  It is hard to believe the days have flown by so quickly.  The weather is rather nasty, and unsafe for driving, so I am enjoying a morning at home...though there is no milk in the house and I feel edgy thinking of getting through a weekend without milk...so a little later I hope the roads are better (no ice) so I can go out for milk.

Yesterday I finished the final part of The Christmas Knitting Project (which was actually a crochet project) and this morning boxed them up for shipping.  Janus told the girls on Christmas Day that their sweaters were imminent, so I will get them in the mail on Tuesday.

Lauren's Sweater with blossom buttons

Lauren's sweater (and Grace's white sweater) was knit with Caron's Simply Soft yarn on the Bond Incredible Sweater Machine though I knit up all the ribbings on all three sweaters by hand.  I learned a good deal while doing this. I hope the girls are not too shocked by the variety!

The next part of The Christmas Knitting Project was a blanket knit in three panels on the Bond ISM and seamed as I went along.  It was fairly simple and the learning curve on the "seam as you go" was pretty narrow.  I cast on 80 needles for each panel.  I had thought that I had lots of scraps of the Bartlettyarn that I purchased from Hilda Yates at her farm yarn sale over the years, but you can see the central panel has very few scraps after all.

A big concern of mine had been the roughness of the yarn, which was rather harsh on my hands as I handknit the garter stitch ribbing around the blanket but I threw the completed blanket (including weaving in the yarn ends!!!) into the washing machine on gentle cycle with warm wash and cold rinse, then into the dryer for a few minutes on gentle low-heat drying and the blanket turned out really soft and pleasant.  I hope it is about the right size to cover legs and lap while sitting on the living room couch.  We actually tried it out on our bed as an extra blanket the night is was finished. I thought it was great, but being 100% wool, Bob found it too warm and too heavy.

Intended for Janus.  Notice the nice seams.  I like the way they turned out.

Once the knit blanket was completed on Wednesday I took up the crocheted blanket project.  I needed to finish edging the Granny Rounds, having about 20 left to crochet, then I started sewing together the strips. I made 5 strips of 15 Granny Rounds and 4 strips of 14 Granny Rounds.  On Friday while Bob was gone to help at Ben's house with Jonathan and Owen,  I turned on "A Touch of Frost" on the Netflix TV screen and started crocheting the strips together.  It took most of the day but by the end of the 4th "Frost", I discovered that I had crocheted two 15s together! Argh-h-h!

To solve the problem I remembered that I still had a few of the Granny Rounds in the satchel downstairs so I brought up the satchel, chose some Granny Rounds and sewed them into place so the blanket was all 15 Granny Rounds long.  After one last round of single crochet around the outer edge I called it a day, wove in a few yarn ends then clipped off the rest and headed downstairs to do some actual housework, something that has not been seen in the house for two and a half weeks!

Granny Round blanket meant for Laura. 

By the time Bob got home I had swept the floor, brought in a cartload of wood from the woodpile, dealt with the sink vanity delivery man, given away the warm loaf of bread and gotten another loaf of bread risen (and cooked, too), emptied the table, scrubbed it, wiped it dry and then put on the horrible but new clear plastic tablecloth to protect it until we can get a glass covering made (I say this as if it is a done deal...having no idea at all of the cost of such a thing and how stable it might be...), and I even got three days of dishes washed (a real pain with our current set-up. I don't know why I wait until there is a tremendous pile to do...dumb...) and some really tasty "refrigerator" soup made.  When Bob asked about the soup, he thought I said "garbage" soup.  Some people may think so, but I thought is was really delicious.

Bulging box containing The Christmas Knitting Project 2011 ready to be shipped on Tuesday

Inside the box I threw the leftover yarn from the three sweaters and the Granny Round blanket.  Laura crochets beautifully and she may want to fill in the holes at the conjunction of each of the Rounds.  If I waited to send the box until I had completed that it would be the end of the next Millennium, I am sure!  I am not sure Laura will even want those pretty diamonds filled in, though. I thought they looked fine empty.

Happy New Year to All!  May your next year be healthy, happy, prosperous, and one of continued enlightenment and service, which will bring real joy.

Merry Christmas! and sweater update

It is a beautiful snowy Christmas morning here in Vermont.  We hope each of you finds peace and joy as you celebrate the birth of our dear Savior which happened so far away and long ago, but which is fresh and new each Christmas season.  With best wishes to you all!

As far as sweater update:  two sweaters are completely done and the smallest is only missing part of the ribbing and the buttons.  With good fortune it will be completed before bed tonight.  Then the blanket ribbings....

Here is a picture of the two completed 'new' sweaters (meant as Christmas gifts) and three other items that I never handed out then decided to hold until today:  a wool colorwork hat,  my first Bond sweater with flower buttons on the front, and a pair of requested armwarmers.

Hat, armwarmers, and button detail

Merry Christmas  and Happy New Year to All!

Sweater Number 1: Done!

At Thanksgiving Megan took some measurements from Grace, Anne, and Lauren so I could make them sweaters since we drew their name for Christmas.  What with one thing or another, I was not able to start knitting (on our Bond Incredible Sweater Machine) until last Monday.  I have finally put the last button on sweater number one.  I knitted them as as pullovers with 5 extra stitches at center front so I could do a steek to make them cardigans.

Here is a picture of the inside detail of the crocheted steek:

Here is the front of the sweater:

OK, so it is not fabulous, but I think it will work for a jacket/sweater for a while!