Tuesday, June 24, 2008

New Stuff

First of all, look at my new big black box!

We did it. We bit the bullet, and went ahead and got a new fridge.

Sears really does make it easy, and no, they are not paying me to say this, really. We've had Sears' Kenmore appliances since we were first married, and not only have they been workhorses, they have been great with the service, too.
Did you know that you can call Sears service, and they will come out and check over your appliance, and tell you how much it will cost to repair it. If you think that's too much, they will give you a voucher to get the cost of the service call off a new one.
Can't beat that!
So, I had them out to check over Old Fridge. Bought in 1991, it replaced the one we had bought in 1965. The verdict was, time to get a new one. So here it is. Oh, and our local electric company will give us a $50 rebate cause it's an Energy Star, and they will pay us $50 to let them haul away our old one. With that kind of deal, how could we not do it??

I do not name my appliances. Sorry about that. I don't usually even name cars. Cats, yes. Children, definitely. That's about my limit!

New knitting on the block: a sweater to match Missy A's new green hat. The book is Sirdar's Little Sweet Peas and the baby model does bear a certain resemblance to a certain Little Sweet Pea in my life--well, except Miss A isn't blonde. Her hair is coming in dark-ish.

So here's a close-up of the 20 or so rows I have done so far:



Then there is my Year of Lace project, which is stalled for the very obvious reason shown in the pictures below:

the yarn is a mess.
I'm not going to say much of anything about this, other than the fact that there have been quite a few complaints on the boards about this. My skein is not too bad, although it was tied up in a way that made it impossible to untie it. When I snipped the tie thread, close to the knot, I got a short length--hard to believe since I had only cut one strand!

Oh well. I've been wrangling with it, and since I pride myself on being a good little detangler, I know it will eventually get wrangled into submission. Unfortunately I'm now on the 4th ball so I'm afraid there will be a shortage once I start knitting. I'm hoping that if I run out, I'll be able to get more from some of the other participants. If not, well, there's always the frog pond. I'm not even sure that I will try this pattern in this yarn--if I can find my STR Firebird, I think I'll use that instead. It's more red and less orange. I'll find a use for this, never fear!

Oh, the ankle is progressing nicely. Today I was able to wrap it in an ACE bandage and put on a sandal with a loosened strap, and the support felt pretty good. It still doesn't like to be stood on, so I'm being careful to rest it a lot. I can drive (just have to remember to put the parking brake on with the RIGHT foot!) although that does twang the ribs a bit--but, having seen Dr. B yesterday, I feel comfortable about pushing things a little more. Not too much! Rest is still my friend!

Tonight is our last class session at our old location. Next week we move to a new shop; I'll get pictures as soon as I visit for the first time! (Dratted ankle anyway...)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Flowers!


Pretties, no?


Sent to cheer me up while I recuperate. Thanks for all the good wishes, too!


Not too much to blog about right now, since I'm more or less confined to quarters and have to take it easy. We did make a foray out to Sears to get a new refrigerator--when the old one gets an estimate of $500 to repair it, well, it's time to replace it. We got it in 1991, so it's done good service over the years. I'll get pictures of the new one once it's in place.
I did start a couple of new projects. I have about 12 rows done on a new baby sweater--photos to come soon--and I started to wind the orange silk yarn for Phoenix Rising. Let's just say, that was not the smartest idea I've had lately--after four hours of struggling and cursing, I have a massive snarl and a small ball of silk. I walked away from it last night and haven't been back; I'm hoping that the Yarn Elves will have magically smoothed it out so it will wind neatly from now on!
Pictures later...