Summer Vacation, Part Two

So I think you all got that I didn't get any re-decorating done. I didn't even get the woodwork scraped and ready to refinish, but I did get about half of the wallpaper border taken down in Elder Son's room. Yay me!

Before I get to the summer knitting report, I promised a picture of the tallis I made (yipes!) last October. Here is the Bar Mitzvah boy holding it up so you can see most of the stars. There are four large stars representing his parents and his maternal grandparents (the Jewish side), eighteen medium stars for life and thirty-six small stars for double life (c'hai in Hebrew, I could explain how each Hebrew letter has a numerical equivlent and why, but that would take a whole 'nother posting). The band across the top has the prayer he says just before he puts on the tallis. Hand embroidered

These are my roulette socks. As you can see I got a few extra things. The knit towel just matches my bathroom (that I redid eight years ago). The tiny sock blocker is hanging on my purse and the second sock has been knit. Sadly, I finished it in June and it was too warm to wear wool socks. With October here, it won't be long before I need them.

OK, on to the summer knitting list:

I finished one or two things, but not everything. Not by a long shot! I did, however, dye yarn!!! Whee!!! Early in the summer, youngest niece and I took a dying class in Nazareth PA (Kraemer Yarns). We had lots of fun and both came home with two skeins of colorful yarn. One of mine went to Amy Lane with greens (for Green), grey (for Bracken), and sunshine yellow (for Corey). She has promised to post a picture, so I won't bore you (hint, hint). These are yarns I died in the back yard at the end of summer. Youngest Niece sent me a kit and yarn blank for my birthday last year and I finally got around to using it. After I had dyed all the blanks I had, I had some dye left over and went hunting through the house for some KnitPicks' bare yarn. That's the rainbow colored stuff on the end. I think that is my favorite. It is in light worsted weight so maybe a scarf?

This is the Warm Shawl by Veronik Avery. I must have picked up that book six or seven times before I finally made the commitment. It is knit from KnitPicks Elegance (have you picked up that I use a lot of KnitPick's yarn? Good price, reasonable quality, and they have that "spend $50 and we'll ship for free" thing going). Any way, back to the shawl. I have worn it to services a few times and been so warm I needed to hang it over the pew in front of me. Youngest Great Nephew took a short (very short, he's pretty active) nap on it. So, nice and warm. Hella impressive and really soft. I can see this getting a lot of wear over the winter. Warning: There is an error in the lace edging chart check Ravelry for erratta before you knit this.

This is Elder-Great-Nephew's Steggie. Knit with Vanna White's acrylic. Shhh! I know it's not really harder to take care of wool (then again something that can be thrown in the washer seems to get washed earlier than something that has to be washed by hand, but I digress....), but I want him to wear it to death before he grows out of the dinosaur phase. Everyone at school loved it, to the tune of "can you make one for me?" Ha. It was fun to knit with no errors in the pattern. I think I switched needle sized between the body and the hood but that will just keep his ears warmer. Right?

Well, there you go. That was most of the summer yarn goodness. Next time (well, maybe) the crafty, social, other summer projects. Happy Veteran's Day.

How To Clean A House

First, spend two weeks making this:

Pretend this is a picture of a prayer shawl with

a hand-embroidered prayer at the collar and

49 appliqued silver stars

(real picture to follow, once I trace down

the Bar Mitzvah boy and he isn't fresh from

a sporting event....)

Then think about at least cleaning the bathroom. Spend two more weeks making this:

A wedding canopy for some members of my Temple (yes, I got paid). It's totally original!! Look closely and you will see the word "LOVE" in the heart. Start at the upper left and go clockwise. If you go counter-clockwise (sort of) you will see the word "AHAVAH" (I have no clue how to get blogger-post-thingee to write in Hebrew) in silver. When the bride and groom came to my house we went through the fabric stash for colors and then on-line to look at other chuppot. There was one way more abstract than this, but both loved the idea of having "LOVE" on the chuppah. Tah-dah! The stenciling around the silver swirls says "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." It's the same thing, only in Hebrew at the bottom.

Ah Ha! Now you can get at that whole cleaning thing.

Wait! Work every day at school and spend the evenings catching up on paper work and reading.

Now? Sure. Start with a discussion with Elder Son's girlfriend about the mold in the bathtub. "See that pink stuff? That's mold." Luckily, the mold seems to have kept the blue hair dye Elder Son and she were using (his hair and I don't ask any more) from staining the tub. Whee! Take Sunday evening to clean the upstairs and plan to finish one room a day downstairs.

Whoops! It's almost Hallowe'en and you don't have any decorations up. Bring up box and decorate. Too late to clean this week. Wait until the weekend.

Start cleaning the living room and realize that it has now been a week since you have cleaned the bathroom and we don't want any more mold now, do we?

Figure that as long as you are waiting until the upstairs is clean to start on the downstairs, you had better finish the library book that will be due next Sunday (Stephanie Plum. The Husband laughed out loud and don't we all need a little laugh?). Finish book. Decide that you deserve a little reward and bind 12 stitches off the moibus that you are knitting (I am trying a new thing. Moibus knitting, and I-cord bind off. What fun!)

See The Husband pulling up outside and jump to work. Clean the upstairs. But, wait! I know I have Youngest Niece's Hanukkah gift here somewhere. I should probably find it before I forget. While looking discover that I have all the materials to make ABC stitch markers so I can try Cat Bordhi's sock pattern, after all the moibus thing is working sooo well.

Clean the upstairs.

Time to stop for lunch.

Start cleaning the steps, entry hall, and living room. The Husband suggests a recreational break. Shazam!

Remember that the Lia Sophia lady wants a jewelery bag (that I designed for the necklace with all the different dangles) and if I finish tonight I can get it to her tomorrow.

Time for dinner.

After dinner, start putting away the Hallowe'en decorations and decide that you should blog since it's been a while.

Next update: How to finish a project in just twelve years..

No More Pain!! Whee!!

Warning: medical content ahead. I am not a doctor, read if you are interested, but check with your own doctor before changing meds. If you are not interested, skip to the Red line.
For the last two years or so I have been on medication for acid reflux. Recently I mentioned to my Doctor that the meds she had given me weren't working so well. Naturally, being an American trained doctor she gave me something different and stronger. After a week that hadn't worked either. During that week, however, I read the People's Pharmacy in the Sunday paper. Someone wrote in that for another stomach problem, they had tried ginger candy and it really worked. Now, I had been especially miserable for six weeks or so and the new meds weren't working. The Husband happens to enjoy the taste of ginger so he had some Ginger Chews laying around. I figured I didn't have anything to lose so I ate one. The relief was immediate!! The first day (Sunday) I ate one of the candies whenever I noticed the acid climbing my throat. That was four times. Today (what? Five days later?) I needed one. One I tell you! As I sit here at 11:00 at night there is no acid perceptible and I feel great! Apparently the ginger rebooted my stomach. BTW, I stopped the stomach meds, after calling the Doctor. Don't try to stop these meds without your doctor's advice, from the reading I have done if you are on some of these meds and you stop suddenly the acid rebounds and will make you even more miserable. Keep taking the meds, try the ginger and call your doctor.
This is for Amy, who is having some foot pain. Last week the People's Pharm recommended a natural treatment for plantar faciaitus. May it help you as much as the ginger helped me.
On the knitting front, Youngest Niece has really been hooked by the knitting universe. Last week she sent me a killer present (you'll have to wait until I get organized and use it to see pictures. 'It's awesome!!) and when I called to tell her that I had posted a thank you on her blog, she said, "I don't use that much any more, I'm on Ravelry" the student has outpaced the master. Let's see her knit lace.
I felted my first piece, well, my first on-purpose felting. As soon as I get the fabric finish attached, I will take a picture and post. Otherwise I am knitting away on the ribbon vest. I counted all the slipped stitches to figure out where the buttons will go, now there's just the knitting.
In quilting, I am still working on Eldest Niece's quilt. It has been languishing in the corner for way too long, but I think I've figured out my problem with it. The background for the applique border is just too dark. Today I bought some new background fabric and we'll see if that's the ticket.
In other venues, I organized all the clippings I have piled near the knitting chair and will let you in on my organizing methods when I can load pictures. This evening my friend's children came for dinner. The son (Let's call him Aaron shall we?)is getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah and we chose some fabrics for his prayer shawl. The daughter (hereafter known as Greta) helped me clean out the "water feature" on the back patio. Seems the fish can swim in black water. Who knew the algae would grow that quickly? Good times.
See you next week.