Picture of Poncho

I finally got a chance to take a picture of my poncho. Here it is:

The color is called Barrington. It isn't quite as purple as it looks on my screen; it is acutally a tweedy mixture of purples and teals. I really like the color. The photo doesn't really do it justice. I needed a model for it but no one was available when I took the picture.

I did get the next sweater started Thursday but I had a major problem with it. I measured it after I had almost all the back done and it was not matching my gauge swatch! It wasn't even close! I have no idea why that happened. I did a swatch and it was right on the money but when I measured the width, it was almost TEN inches narrower along the bottom edge than it was supposed to be! So I took another skein of yarn and started swatching again with larger hooks. I never could get it to match. I was really getting frustrated! So I put it aside and thought about it for a while. Then yesterday afternoon I got it back out again and did more measuring. I figured out how many stitches I needed to start with using the same hook I had originally used. So then I frogged it all and started all over again last night. You'd better believe I did a LOT of measuring as I went this time! And I'm matching the measurements just right. I have the back and the left front completed and they match up just fine! Next will be the right front and then the sleeves.

On another note, the guys finished getting all the yard debris cleaned up Friday night. It looks so much better! And the plumber came by to see just what he needed to get and will be back Wednesday to put in a new hot water heater and a new sink and commode in the bathroom. The water heater replacement was due to the storm; the other part wasn't. We had intended to replace them this spring anyway but decided to go ahead and have him do it all while he was here this time.

We had more snow last night. At least it wasn't much and there was no ice to speak of with it so it wasn't bad at all. I am ready for spring!

The poncho is done! I can't believe how fast it went. I just started it over the weekend. Haven't taken any pictures of it yet but will post them when I do.

Since we've gotten our insurance money from the storm damage (did I say that before?) we got in touch with the guy that we wanted to do the tree/limbs removal and he will start either today or tomorrow. I'll sure be glad to get rid of all that debris! I'm sure our neighbors will be glad, too. I think we are the last ones on our street with tree debris still in the yards (except for what is at the curb waiting to be picked up).

I'm going to try to get the next sweater started here at home this morning before I leave for work. I'd rather start them at home where I can concentrate on getting the first little bit done without interruptions.

I've almost finished my poncho. The main body is done and I'm working on the cowl collar. I'm guessing I've got about an hour of stitching left to go on it. Hopefully I'll get it done before work tomorrow morning. Then it will probably be on to the Vintage Tie Jacket from Lion Brand. I have Homespun in cobalt for that.

Work is calming down now and I sure am glad! I'm still very tired when I get home but it isn't as bad now. The worst part about it is when I get so tired my stinosis acts up more and I'm in more pain. But at least now I know what it is and I have medication that helps with the pain, too.

I'm still waiting on my patterns that I orderd from Annie's Attic last week. They have been shipped and I should get them some time this week. I ordered a basic cardigan, a basic pullover, and a vest pattern.

Gonna go catch up on emails and then call it a night.

Day to Day Poncho

No, that is not a typo! I am doing the Night to Day Poncho (or is it Day to Night?) from Lion Brand but I am doing both halfs in the Day version; thus the Day to Day Poncho. Can't believe I forgot to say I had started this. Anyway, I started it Sunday night. Instead of making 2 halves just alike, I am doing them both together as one big item (no sewing it together that way!) It is coming right along. I am using LB Homespun in the Barrington color. I had never liked using homespun before but I'm trying it again and it is going better now. I guess with more experience it makes it easier. I had trouble before seeing where to put my hook or needle with the boucle style yarn. Plus I had trouble with the ends. But since I learned the Russian join, that is not so much of a problem any more. I have always liked the way anything made with homespun felt--it was always so soft and cuddly--that I decided I had to give it another try. So far, so good. I am almost finished with the second skein now. Will probably finish up that skein before going to work today--I don't leave here until noon today.

I finished adding more rows to Maurice's VVS last night. He says it is perfect now!

Gonna go get dressed and then back to the Poncho until time for lunch and leaving for work.

It took me longer to get the pictures taken than I expected but here is a picture of my teal matinee jacket.


And this is a closeup of part of the bottom trim that I added.

The color doesn't show up accurately; it really is a true teal in real life. It looks more blue in the pictures than it is.

I also finished a small blue varigated basket like the larger one that I had made. I did it just like the large one except I didn't do as many rounds for the bottom. Here is a pic of it.

Yesterday we went to Mel and Linda's where she was cooking a birthday dinner for me since we didn't get to see them last weekend. It was great! She makes the best hamburgers! (And I'm not just saying this because she reads my blog!) Supper was great, I really liked my gifts, and we had a good time. We watched two movies--Space Buddies and Open Season 2--and they were very enjoyable. The guys watched another movie that Linda and I didn't care to see. We went to the computer and I showed her some crochet instruction sites so she can learn some more stitches. She is doing great so far and what she is doing is looking good! Then we just talked and visited.

Work had calmed down a little bit by Friday afternoon. I certainly hope this week is calmer than it has been. I'm ready for a break!

I bought more yarn over the weekend. I got enough Homespun in Barrington color to make the Lion Brand Day to Night Poncho all in the day version and enough Homespun in Cobalt to make the Vintage Tie Jacket also from Lion Brand. Think I'll do the poncho first.

Oh, Maurice decided he would like his VVS afghan to be a little wider--6 or so inches--so I have been adding on to it, too. Since I did not put any kind of border around it, it is no problem to make it wider. Have added about 4 more inches to it so far.

Jacket is Finished

As I hoped, I finished the matinee jacket last night just before CSI Miami. No pictures yet but I will take some soon and post.

I think I'm gonna make another basket like the blue/white one only smaller while I decide what other project to start next.

It was crazy at work yesterday. Thanks to the computer problems last Friday, I had THREE appointments for me at the SAME time! I had one right after another all day yesterday. And these were all my regular customers that would not let anyone else do their returns. I got them done and no one had to wait very long. Hopefully today will be a little calmer; I'm still worn out from yesterday.

Teal Matinee Jacket

Tonight I finished the matinee jacket. At least I finished the pattern. I want it longer than it turned out so I am going to add a border around the bottom to make it 2 or 3 inches longer. I'll probably also add some of the border to the collar to tie it all together. Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow and can post a picture of the finished item.

Friday was my birthday and it was wild at work so no time to post. The main problem was the computers. Our program crashed! Tech support was working on it all day. They did get it to where we could do tax returns before too long, but we could not transmit anything. It lost our scheduled appointments list so we had no idea who was supposed to come in. So we had no idea if we were double booking anyone or not. Then it kept locking up and we had to reboot the server and start over again. But I think all is fixed now.

Maurice and I went to Stone Hearth after work Friday for a very nice steak dinner to celebrate my birthday. I was so tired when we got home that I fell asleep in my chair a little after 8; woke up around 9 and got up and went to bed! I'm such a party animal!

Got a call from the insurance people tonight and someone is supposed to be here Thursday morning to assess the damage. So maybe we can get started on getting things back to normal soon.

I spent over $200 restocking the fridge this weekend. Yesterday afternoon I made more soup and put it in the freezer and I cooked another ham in the crock pot overnight and it is packaged and in the freezer now, too. Slowly getting it all together.

Back to crocheting.....since I am almost finished with this jacket, I need to decide what I want to do next. I have the yarn for 3 more projects so I just need to decide what I want to start next. Decisions, decisions......

Trying again...........

Had a nice post and when I hit publish, it vanished!

The rush is on at work so not much time to post. It will slow back down soon, though. Very little internet time at the moment. Still trying to work on my sweater when I have time. Finished the first sleeve last night so that just leaves the other sleeve, putting it all together, and adding a small collar. Then I'll decide if I want to add some kind of edging around the bottom or not.

Back to work now.........

Power is back on!

We just got our power back on tonight after 5 days. We hung in there and managed to get through it all. The temps inside here got down to 40 degrees but didn't go any lower than that. I promised some photos as soon as I could post them. Again, these were all taken from either my front or back doors. This just gives a little idea of the total disaster in our area. Many, many people still do not have power and some may take another two weeks before it can be restored! We are just thankful that as many have it back as they do.

We were lucky with all the trees in our yard, that only one tree did any damage to the house. We had one limb go through the roof and leave a hole about 3 inches in diameter. One of our neighbors came over today and did a temporary patch to it to hold it until we can get the insurance people to check it out and see what kind of damage was actually done. And we lost all the food in the refrigerator and freezer. But it could have been so much worse and we are very thankful that it was no worse than it was. Our neighbors seem to have fared okay, too, in that we did not see any major house damages.