Valentine's Weekend

Paul got me some dark chocolate covered pretzels for Valentine's Day. Yum, my favorite! The purchase went something like this ....

Paul: I'll take a half dozen of your dark chocolate covered pretzels.
Girl behind counter: They only come individually.
Paul: Um ok, then I'll take six.

LOL, what's with people these days?

I haven't been feeling great lately, and insomnia has set in. I hate when this happens. I lay awake almost all night, then crash hard just before dawn. I'm super tired tonight, so I'm hoping to get back into the habit of actually sleeping at night.

I did manage to get out Saturday night for dinner though. We went to a Turkish restaurant I had heard about that has a bellydancer on Friday and Saturday nights. Isn't she cute? She did some really neat moves with those candles balanced on her head.












I got quite a bit of knitting done this week. The first of the Flying Carpet Socks is half done. I should be done with the lace repeats on the leg tonight, and be ready to do the cuff.



I got the first of the sleeves for Solo finished and sewed all the seams. The second sleeve is cast on and is about a quarter done. With luck, this jacket will be finished this week. Of course I said that a couple weeks ago didn't I?






I really like the way this is turning out and think it will get a lot of wear once finished.

I've also been doing some emergency alteration knitting. The sweater I made my stepdad for his birthday wasn't fitting quite right and needed a bit of attention. I had to buy more yarn and pray that the dye lots weren't too far off. It looks like it will work out ok, but if it's off too much I have a plan that should hopefully turn out not too bad. Ron wanted the ribbing to be a bit tighter, so I had to alter the pattern some. I've got the new ribbing knit, and I've cut off the old ribbing and picked up stitches so I can graft the new ribbing on. If the dye lots are enough different, I will need to knit new ribbing for the sleeve cuffs. The neckline was a bit too wide for him too, so I will knit that again using the new yarn. I'm hoping to have this done this week too, so he can hopefully get to wear it this year before it gets too warm.

New Project!

Well, I didn't manage to finish Solo, but I did finish the body and have just about 1/2 of a sleeve completed. Paul is going to be out of town tomorrow night and I envision a lot of knitting time :o)



Tonight I will weave in the ends on the finally completed gloves for Emily. I sure hope she likes these.



And, as a reward for being so darn good with sticking to those 3 projects for so long, I caved and cast on a pair of socks using the yarn my SP sent me. The dark yarn is not sparkly like it keeps photographing, but boy is it lovely to work with. I can't wait to get to the lace portion on the foot. Hopefully will have much more progress to show in my next post, but I am planning on concentrating on Solo during most of my knitting moments.

First FO of 2009!

I got my second SP13 package this week! More fabulous sock yarn! I love the colors in these, and can't wait to cast on a pair of socks with them. Last weekend I picked up a kit with a Cat Bordhi sock pattern that I think this yarn will look great in. And, there should be enough of the darker color left to make some matching hand warmers. Along with the yarn there was a dpn holder and a book. Some of the cartoons in this book crack me up (like the one on the cover). Definitely worth picking up if you like knitting humor. If you're reading this SP, THANK YOU!!



I spent a lot of time this weekend working on Solo. The body is almost complete, and should be so if I have enough time to work on it tomorrow night after bellydance class. I'm still not tired of knitting on this, but boy am I tired of blogging about it. I'm going to put a lot of effort into finishing it this next week so I can pull out some other projects to work on.



I'm into the hand section of the second of Emily's gloves. I'm a bit gloved out now, so I think I'll hold off casting on a pair of these for me until later in the year. I'm itching to cast on some socks now.



I finished Jenn's gloves this week and she's very happy with them. If I'm not mistaken, my pair of these were the first FO for 2008, so it's only fitting that hers are the first FO for 2009.



I've done really well so far sticking to my plan to get all my WIPs finished up, but this method isn't doing my blog any favors. There's just only so much you can say, and so many photos you can show of the same projects over and over. If I'm bored with them, then I'm sure that anyone who reads this is just as bored. I may have to adjust my "rules" a bit and allow myself to add a new project if I finish one of the secondary projects. We'll see.

My husband, the haggler

In December, we closed a refinance on our house. Much better interest rate, lower payment obligation, and if we continue to pay what we're used to paying, the mortgage will be paid off about 10 years early. Can't beat that!

Since we closed early enough in December, we didn't have to make a mortgage payment that month, and we didn't owe one in January either. Between that and the refund checks we received (PMI, escrow, and overpayment of tax estimate at closing), we had a bit of extra cash to spend on the house. We didn't really need anything, with the exception of livingroom furniture (but I'm not ready to get into that yet), I suggested we replace the dishwasher so all the kitchen appliances match, and put a hefty sum into our savings. Paul agreed. Until yesterday that is.

Friday night, one of the kids notified us that there was something wrong with the dryer. Paul was pretty sure it was just the belt and spent the better part of yesterday taking the dryer apart trying to figure out how to change it. Poor thing still doesn't get that Google is your friend. This morning, when he still hadn't gotten it figured out, I typed in "change belt on kenmore dryer", and the first link gave step by step photos. Within 10 minutes Paul announced that there was nothing wrong with the belt and it must be the motor. We decided to skip the dishwasher and replace the dryer instead. Off we went this afternoon to HH Gregg. It went something like this:

Paul: Let's just replace both the washer and dryer.

Me: OK, but I want a top loader so felting is still easy, and we have to make sure it has both a delicate and handwash cycle.


We decided on the Maytag Bravos 300 pair. The salesman came over to talk to us and write up our order. He asked if we were considering getting a new bed and told us that if we were willing to go try out their Serta mattresses, he could give us $10 off.

Paul: Is that $10 per body?

Salesman: Sure, ok.

Paul: Come on baby, let's go lay on some mattresses. (After we had tried out a few.) Dude, you got any chairs I can sit in.

Yes, sometimes just being around him is a hoot. At least the salesman laughed.

While the salesman was writing up our order and checking on delivery, Paul told him that we were going to look at dishwashers. He told me he was going to see what kind of deal he could get if we bought a dishwasher too, because you know with the economy what it is, people aren't just buying a bunch of appliances all at the same time.

Next, while the salesman was writing up the dishwasher information and checking on delivery and installation, Paul told him we were going to check out the mattresses again. The salesman quickly went to get his manager to explain the differences to us. Now, mind you, I was thinking this looking at mattresses was some kind of ploy, and I know better than to question Paul when he's in haggle mode (I always wind up saying the wrong thing within earshot of the wrong person and he gets mad lol). Paul was really working this purchase. We really do need to replace our mattress, but I didn't think now was when we would be doing it. Paul haggled with the salesman and made him think we were going to go for the "cadillac" of Serta mattress sets and had him go check with the manager on what kind of deal we could get if we purchased the washer, dryer, dishwasher, mattress/box spring set, extended warranty on the washer/dryer pair, had them all delivered and installed. We wandered around in the small appliances while the salesman went to talk to the manager. I saw the manager give us a look. I just know he was thinking that we were bored on Sunday afternoon and were just messing around and weren't going to purchase anything at all.

The salesman came back and gave us a price that wasn't to Paul's liking. Paul let him know that it was more than he was hoping for and let slip that all we really needed was a dryer and not the dryer we had chosen with so many options .... we were looking at one that was in the $350 range now and might just go with that, but if they could come down to $3,500 for the lot, including all the extras, delivery, installation, tax, the works, he would sign right now. I about choked since that was basically saying we would pay full price for the mattress/box springs and washer/dryer, and get everything else at no charge.

The salesman ran off to talk to his manager, and we got another one of "those" looks. After quite awhile, the salesman came back and said the best they could do was $3,900 out the door. Paul hesitated a bit, then asked him to go see what kind of deal he could get if he added in a garbage disposal and installation (since this house didn't have one and we never installed one).

After 2 1/2 hours at HH Gregg, we walked out with a receipt for a king size Serta mattress/box spring set, Maytag Bravos 300 washer/dryer pair, LG dishwasher, garbage disposal, extended warranties, delivery, haul away, and installation for $4,000 and change. Next time we need a dishwasher, I think I'll let Paul go shopping by himself ROFL.

Even with all that appliance shopping, I managed to get some knitting done.

Jenn's gloves are almost done. Just need to finish the thumb on the first, and the fingers and thumb on the second.




Not as much knitting done on Emily's gloves, but I am almost done with the first one. Need to finish the thumb, and I don't really care for the pinky finger, so I think I'm going to reknit it.



Solo has gotten some attention. A couple more evenings of knitting and I should be at the second sleeve opening.



A couple of closeup shots since the detail gets lost in the full photos. I love the combination of the red and fuscia.

Happy New Year ..... a few days late

There's been a lot of progress on Solo. I've worked on it almost exclusively during my knitting time. Just about to the center back, so about 1/4 done with it. So far I still haven't lost interest in it, so I may just get to wear it this season instead of having to put it up until next year.



I did do a bit of work on both pair of gloves too, just not as much as on Solo. I'm ready to start the fingers on Jenn's first glove.



And I finished the second finger on Emily's



No urges to cheat on the new program to get the WIPs finished either, so that's a good thing.

I finally got tired of all the grousing I've done about the poochy belly I've gotten over the past year, and decided to do something about it. For our anniversary, Paul and I bought an elliptical and I love it. I've added some strength training in with my cardio workouts now and hopefully this will do the trick. I figure I only need to lose 10 pounds so it shouldn't take too long to get back to where I want to be.

We're trying out the Flat Belly Diet too. Tomorrow is the last day of our 4 day antibloat jumpstart. Can't wait for that to be over!! Gotta love having a smoothie every evening though. It's just not enough calories for me with the workouts. I am ravenous by the time we're supposed to eat our next meal. I'll be altering the rest of the diet to make dsure I get enough calories since it's still under what I really should be taking in. I want to lose that 10 pounds, but I want to be healthy too ya know?