Warm Feet

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This is one of the gifts Santa left for us. We all like playing with Mr. Potato Head.These are the stitch markers Youngest Daughter made for me. The puzzle piece is the logo for Autism Awareness.I finished up the leg warmers for myself. They are nice and warm, snug and work perfectly. I had nice warm ankles all day yesterday despite the fact it was close to freezing for most of the day!And I liked how nice and thick the legwarmers were, I decided to make some similar socks. These are only two strands of sock yarn. If they are big enough, they'll be for Youngest Son (after they are dyed black). If not....maybe Youngest Daughter or DIL. They will still be overdyed if given away, as both YD and DIL are far too conservative for bright unmatched socks. Still using up left over sock yarn.

I finished up my two books yesterday! Still don't think I'll make my goal of 100 by 2009, but....the mid 90s is an admirable try! I remember in July thinking this would be an easy task. then life got in the way.... Ain't that how it happens, though?

I just discovered Patricia Cornwall has released another Kay Scarpetta novel, Scarpetta. I started reading this series several years ago, and loved the first eleven of them. Then it seemed the author began to hate the main characters and did everything she possibly could to turn them into people that hated each other and themselves. I've been very disappointed in the last five or six of them and wonder if should even bother with the new one. Hope, however, springs eternal and I keep reading to see if the characters I knew so well would snap out of it and begin to work together.

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Keeping the "We" in "Yes, We Can!"

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I get tired of never being able to have a meal out...it's just to expensive. Or maybe not? Then again, trying some new recipes may be all that's needed to make you think you're dining out.
It's time to start making slippers and socks for those living on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Here's some neat patterns for Heet the Feet.
Need a themed night light for your favorite kid?

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Dark colors are so hard to photograph. This is the progress on my sweater, which isn't much. I tried three times to add a design using Mosaic Knitting. I guess the only way I'll be able to do it is if there isn't anyone in the house...which narrows it down to just about never. So I'll have to develop Plan B.

The 5th Horseman by James Patterson

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another good book in the series. Lindsey Boxer and the rest of the Women's Murder club solve two more murders and make San Francisco a bit safer for a day or two.

One murder concerns an Angel of Death, deciding which hospitalized patients should live or more importantly, die.

The other is a series of high priced call girls that end up posed in classic automobiles.

Although we have no clues to the identity of one murderer, we have far too many suspects for the other.

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Did you see the video of the meteor over Montreal! Cool!

If you know someone with Asperger's Syndrome, here's some ideas on how to have a better relationship with them. Now, not all Aspies have the same preferences, or to the same degree, but it's a good start on understanding how to make the relationship more comfortable.

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Keeping the "We" in "Yes, We Can!"

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No Buy Gifts

When you get done with that turkey this week, put the carcass in a big pot, add lots of water and boil it down for homemade turkey broth. You can use it to make stews and soups throughout the winter. I use a big spaghetti pot that has a colander in it. Makes it easier to separate bones and meat from the broth. Once the bones are cooled, I go through them looking for good meat that can either be kept in the broth or saved and frozen for soups later on.

Cool the pot of broth in fridge. All the fat will rise to the surface and become solid. Just carefully spoon it off and reduces the fat content of the broth. Or keep it to add calories in your soups. Your choice.

Leftover turkey meat can be frozen to add to turkey soups and stews later on. Even if you only paid $.50 a pound for your turkey, you might as well get as much for your dollar as you can. Here's a more flavorful recipe for broth.

To make vegetable broth, save all the clippings and parings when you prepare fresh veggies. That's right, carrot tops, celery leaves, potato peels, etc. Put them in a bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, boil them all down. Strain and freeze. We made great veggie and bean soup from this broth when my kids were little. They called it Garbage Soup!

Beef broth can be made from saving bones or buying soup bones from the butcher.

Ten Ways to begin living a frugal life style.

Sweater Done!

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The sweater is a bit big for the model, which is a good thing, seeing he's three years older than she is! I'm very happy with how it turned out.



Details:
Pattern: Camouflage Hooded Sweatshirt
Yarn: Red Heart Acrylic WW
Needles: US 8
Modifications: Created casing as I knitted hood rather than sewing it shut afterward. Garter stitch cuffs and and on the bottom instead of ribbing. Next time I'll do it in the round.

Oh, and the model? It's her third birthday today! Time flies.....

Interweave Press now has e-books! Elizabeth reviews Christmas Stockings.

You know how you see those Folger's schmaltzy commercials and those Normal Rockwell paintings and think, "Oh, isn't that just so homey!" And when you try to recreate them in your life it just never quite makes it? Well, Rebecca's sweater, near the fire, on a cold winter's day.... First of all the cables would make me crazy after awhile, and I don't think it's ever gonna get cool enough here ever againfor a fire. But, despite all that, isn't a gorgeous sweater.



2nd Chance by James Patterson

rating: 2 of 5 stars

Has James Patterson decided to let high school Writing 101 students do his work for him? This was the most poorly written book of his I've ever come across. Something you'd expect from maybe a sophomore trying his hand at a novel.

The story was good, not as good as most of Patterson's stuff I've read, but good enough. Lindsey and the girls connect the killing of four seemingly unrelated black individuals and then begin the search for the killer that calls himself Chimera. She must wade through the emotional turmoil of reacquainting herself with the father that abandoned her and her mother many years ago, she must also discover how he is involved the killings attributed to Chimera.

Lindsey's character seemed a bit dunderheaded in this one...not the cool, clear, crisp thinker Patterson usually portrays in his protagonists. It's like she was on some other allergy medicine than Claritin.

Because I generally like Patterson, love Alex Cross and enjoyed 1st To Die, I'll give 3rd Degree a try.

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Baby Dobby

Baby socks are so quick to make. I finished up the first one before we left to go to the movies and run errands. I am almost half way done with the foot on the second one now just working on it for one evening.
Sugar is naked! The above is before, the bottom after. She went in for a clip and a grooming yesterday. It'd been so long I told them to just cut it way down. And they did. It went from about two inches to a half inch. She looks and smells so different the cats keep yowling, arching their backs and spitting whenever she walks by! It'll grow back quickly, it always amazes me how quickly it does grow back. As I told the groomer, she's mostly an indoor dog and the back yard is heavily shaded so I'm not worried about sunburn. We don't have AC, so it rarely gets cooler than 75 in the house. She's not gonna get cold in the meantime!

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the fourth in the currently six book series.

These are my favorite series of books, I think, although it's a toss up when I'm listening to the Harry Potter series...then they they are my favorite! I love the narrator, Davina Porter, of the unabridged series. She has a wonderful voice, a talent for accents and adds so much to these stories.

The saga of Clare and Jamie continues in the Colonies in the 1770s. As they build up their homestead in the hills of South Carolina, their daughter, Brianna, back in the 1980s builds a relationship with the historian Roger Wakefield. He finds the death notice of her parents and decides to keep the information from her, after all what can she do about deaths that happened some two hundred years in the past?

What indeed....

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We went to see Star Wars The Clone Wars yesterday. I thought it was great fun. Moved so much faster than the other movies did. Lots of action, lots of fun references to other stories, and many other things. We laughed alot. I'm not sure I'd recommend it highly in the theater, although there is the big screen element that often makes a movie so much fun. But definitely get it on DVD and watch it.

Bright!

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Lest you think in this household we think bright colors are just for socks.... Youngest Granddaughter is very picky about clothes so when ever we find something just loose enough that she'll wear we are very happy. And when it's bright and colorful, well, that's just too good to be true!
Baby Dobby's are moving right along. I spent most of the day working on the Mystery Knitting and it ended up being too small. So that is a start over today.

Running Blind by Lee Child

rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another good Jack Reacher story. I found myself not want to fight the story and try to figure it out, just flow along with it and see where it took me. And it took me through some rapids and over a waterfall without me suspecting it till it was too late.

A series of prior service Army women are being targeted. All the have in common is they've left the service due to sexual harassment. Reacher narrows the list of almost 90 women down to eleven that will be killed by someone who leaves no evidence, no sign of struggle, just naked women dead in a bath tub full of camo green Army paint and no apparent cause of death.

The FBI hires him as a consultant, then proceeds to finger him for the murders and he must solve the mystery to save himself while the Bureau dodges his every step and negates every idea he presents.

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Dobby's Houdini Socks

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This is a closed piece of knitting. Soon it will be the foot of a sock. I have to admit, this is an interesting way to make a sock. I'm making these to fit one of the grands... just to try out the concept. This is the Houdini Sock by Cat Bordhi.

The Ocean Waves are finished! Didn't take long to finish off the toe decreases while listening to my book du jour, Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs.
Kathleen's finished her "Dobby Socks"! Aren't they gorgeous?
Bones to Ashes: A Novel by Kathy Reichs

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another good Tempe Brennan book. Tempe helps Ryan and another detective, Hippo, solve cold cases concerning young girls who have disappeared and bodies of young girls who have no names.

Tempe remembers a childhood friend who disappeared when she was about the same age as these girls. Harry, Tempe's kid sister flies in from Texas to help--and even is a bit of a help this time

The book follows the familiar Kathy Reich's formula. Even though Tempe has been hit on the head in every story because she's wandering off alone where she shouldn't be, she still keeps doing it and still keeps getting bonked on the head. Book smart, but common sense, not so much.

She's still a good, likeable character.

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When each wave comes a rollin' in....

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The first wave of the ocean is done. I'm really pleased with the finished product and seeing the patterning in the yarn not interrupted by the heel. This is probably the nicest afterthought heel I've done so far. The socks fit well. Second sock has been CO and the waste yarn in place for the afterthought heel.

Spent some time with my BFF, F, yesterday. He's moved and pretty much settled in and lives ten miles away. Won't be as easy to get together....

Came home and we went to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I thought it was great! Lots of one liners, lots of action. I'm disappointed Rachel Weiss was not in this one, but all in all we all had a great time.

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was great! Tempe and Ryan end up in Israel trying to solve a murder and find out what happened to a skeleton reputed to be found at Massada, that many believe are the bones of Jesus Christ.

Lots of international intrigue, racing around Israel, disappearing people, grave visits and finding yet another skeleton in the Jesus Family Tomb. Not a book for those of weak faith.

I would love to see this story line done on the TV show.

View all my reviews.

Shrug!

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Well, I didn't work on socks at all yesterday. Somewhere a lightbulb went off and I thought of a project I could make for my Eldest Daughter in Hawaii. As I don't have a stash of nice cottons, I'm always at a loss. So I thought a shrug would be a good idea. It'll be a narrow shrug, just sleeves and a bit of covering on the upper back. Very simple in construction: A rectangle that is as long as the sleeve length plus the distance across the back. Sleeves will be seamed and the back left open. Kinda like the Modesty Shrug. So, I started out with this pattern for the sleeves: Row 1: K1, YO, K2tog; Row 2: Knit; Row 3: K2, YO, K2tog; Row 4: KnitThen I switched to cables for the back: Row 1: Knit; Even Rows: Purl, Row 3: K2, C4B; Row 5: Knit; Row 7: C4F K2; Row 8: Purl
Those took me to almost the center of the back. Seeing I don't have measurements, I'm doing four repeats of: Row 1: K; Row 2: P; Row 3: K; Row 4: K; Row 5: P; Row 6: K. Those rows kind of pull together to form a soft ribbing that runs the perpendicular to regular K2, P2 type ribbings. It'll pull together if I make the back too wide, or pull apart some if the relaxed measurement is too small. At least that's the theory. Then I'll do the cables and the open pattern to finish the knitting.

The only iffy part is that I don't have enough yarn to do both sections identically. The part I've done is Malabrigo and Idena Mohair Lux. Very soft and slightly furry. I have some other purple and some handspun white mohair that combined is the same weight as the Malabrigo and Mohair Lux. I just don't know if it's gonna look like a clown shrug then with the two halves slightly different.... I suppose if it does, I can dye the whole thing a deep purple and that'll be that! Fortunately Eldest Daughter loves purple!

Monday Mourning: A Tempe Brennan Novel by Kathy Reichs

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good book! I didn't have any good guesses on who the perp was until close to the ending. I did figure it out before Tempe and Ryan did, but not till the end which is okay.

Tempe is brought in to help identify three skeletons found buried in the basement of a pizza-by-the-slice joint. Although the police are willing to write them off as "old" bones from the last century, Tempe's not. With the assistance of her best friend, Ann, visiting from North Carolina and her heart throb, Ryan (who has suddenly been acting a bit stand offish and cool) and finally the police, she discovers who the three individuals are, who killed them and why.

Although the formula for Reichs' books is pretty predictable and the highly intelligent Temperance Brennan looses all her common sense to meet the killer face to face alone, it's still a good read.

These books are the very minute basis for Bones, a TV show on the Fox network. The only things the books and show have in common is a forensic anthropologist name Temperance Brennan who works with a hunky law enforcement investigator. Both the show and the books are good in their own rights, but don't expect to find the lab, the lab assistants and the Smithsonian in the books.

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a great murder(s) mystery! It was a little slow in the beginning, but it picked up pace until it was a page turner in the last 150 pages or so. Although all the way through the book we knew "whodunit" how he was going to be caught and if he'd ever be caught was always up in the air. The ending was unusual, but very very good.

View all my reviews.

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Bellamoden has a unique item in her etsy store. She'll sell you several small balls of sock yarn (100 g total) so you can make your own Dobby Socks!

Speaking of Dobby Socks: Check out Kathleen's! Wow!

One done....

Isn't it purty? Fits nicely and the yarn did bloom and soften nicely when washed. I would give Red Heart Heart & Sole thumbs up. Not as fantastic as the $22-25 per skein sock yarns, but certainly as good as KnitPicks Essential Sock yarn.

Second sock has been CO and the cuff is finished.

Bare Bones: A Novel by Kathy Reichs

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kathy Reichs' books is a lot like Patricia Cornwall's early Kay Scarpetta books. Which is a good thing. I really loved PC in the early books. The last four or five should never have been written.

Kathy Reich's heroine, Temperance Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist. Her expertise is called into play in North Carolina and Montreal, Canada, where she joins law enforcement officials in determining what can be determined from the bones that are found.

She often works with a Canadian inspector, Andrew Ryan. He's cute and hunky and highly intelligent.

This book is based in North Carolina and Tempe strings together the bones of a new born baby found in a wood stove, the hands and head of a human found in an outhouse, the remains of a valuable tropical parrot, and bear bones.

The TV show Bones is very loosely based on these books. So loosely that I really think the only thing they have in common is the name Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropology and a hunky side kick. Both the show and books are good in their own right. Kathy Reichs, a forensic anthropologist writes about Temperance Brennan and the TV Temperance Brennan writes novels about a fictional forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs.

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Heel Flap

I'm on the heel flap of sock #2. About half way through it. This sock seems to be taking so much longer than the first one did... I think I'm impatient to get on to the next skein of yarn.I've got this skein of Neapolitan I got the same time as the Go Ireland! and lately it's been calling to me. I just can't decide if I want to make plain vanilla socks with it so the stripes show up, or find a pattern that will break the colors up like the Éire go Brách socks...

MyWii Me:
16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber

rating: 1 of 5 stars
Just as saccharin as I thought it would be. But I want to meet the old lady that can knit a lapghan in a week or less.

For those that enjoy the "happily ever after" scenario and every other happy cliché, this book is for you. Reality couldn't be further from Ceder Cove, WA. Everyone gets their guy or gal, recalcitrant children grow up and even the woman whose husband abandoned her ends up with smile on her face.

It left an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth!

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Master has given Dobby a sock!

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The socks are done! Even Dobby would be proud of them!

Pattern: Basic Child's Pattern
Needles: US2 Addi
Yarn: Various and a sundry sock yarns
CO July 24, BO July 26

Dobby Socks II for Oldest GS have been CO. These will be a bit more conservative on the tops as we are afraid his father won't let him wear them otherwise.

I had the whole day to myself yesterday. Youngest Daughter took the GDs and went to a friend's house for a Girls Night Out on Friday. She spent the night and didn't get home until after 8:00 pm last night. 24 hours of relative peace and quiet. Except for the thunder that kept making my 60 lb dog think she was a lap dog. I caught up on TV shows, finished listening to HP & Deadly Hallows, and knit! It was grand.

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good story. However, I think, for marketing purposes, they've split up one novel in to many in order to sell more books. The ending of this book is more like the end of a chapter than the end of the book.

I'll look for the next one, Among the Impostors just to see if it's worth it.

Luke is a Third Child in a country that only allows two children to a family. He is kept on the farm in hiding, sometimes spending as long as six months without going outside. One day, in the housing development that destroyed his woods, he sees another child peering from a window in what should be an empty house.

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