Texas Grandkids Visit

When we returned from Texas yesterday, we brought back the Texas grandkids, Reyes and Lala. Reyes is 10; Lala is 8. They will be here Thurs. and Friday and Uncle Joe will take them to Oklahoma City to meet their Mom on Saturday. (OKC is about half way to Dallas from here.)  We're getting it ready to sell. (Anyone want to buy a house in a suburb of Dallas?)

We bought them yarn and spool knitters to work on in the van, but they mainly dozed and asked "are we there yet?" We ended the "Are we there yet?" question by stopping in Oklahoma and Kansas at the Tourist Information Centers. We got each kid his/her own map of the state we were driving through and showed them how to follow the line for I-35. Every time we'd pass a town, I'd ask "What town will we come to next?"

Lala caught on quickly, but Reyes has a bit of his parents' ADD. He swore he didn't know how to read a map. On the other hand, he quit asking "Are we there yet?" because he could tell we hadn't traveled all the way along the green line yet.

Mean ol' Grandma. Making a kid learn something on a summer vacation!

Actually, I think the kids are here to visit Uncle Joe. They really love their uncle and don't get to see much of him while he's going to school at Emporia State. Pat and I both worked today and will again tomorrow. Fortunately, Uncle Joe is between school sessions, so he is the designated babysitter. (Ah, that's hard on all of them! He missed the kids as much as they missed him.)

They talked him into taking them swimming today. I've already heard plans to go again tomorrow. They are watching videos and playing Runescape when they aren't pestering their Uncle. This part of vacation is good!

What I've Learned About Knitting Socks

I've found my pattern! I've found the way I like to do socks! I particularly like to make toe-up socks two at the same time. I discovered that this week as I started my July pair on Sunday when we left for Texas and was more than half way across the arch of the foot by the time we got back to Kansas. Travel time is really great for concentrated knitting time. The best part is when I'm finished, I'm finished with the entire pair.

Here's what I posted on KansasKnits about my sock knitting experiences.

I will add to this Jo's comment that acrylic socks retain foot odor. (Ok, they can STINK!!) I'll be looking for cotton/wool blends that are machine washable for my 9 pairs of grandkid socks. The sock challenge mentioned is Jo's challenge to the KansasKnitters to knit a pair of socks a month for 2007. I said I'd knit a SOCK (singular) a month and haven't even been able to do that.

Posted to KansasKnits:
I haven't kept up with the sock challenge very well. I did finish 1 sock of my second pair. It looks pretty pathetic, but I learned a BUNCH making it. I can now make toe up socks!!

Rather than making the mate to this poor bedraggled survivor, I'm going to retire it as a learning experience. You see there is this 1/2 inch jog to the right where the heel begins. It fits okay when you put it on, but it will never be pretty or fold properly. I think my row markers drifted at some point. This caused the edge of the toe to not line up with the edge of the heel. (Ah, but I'm so much smarter now because of it all. . It hurts to cry. )

Things I've learned:

1. I like knitting toe up socks!

2. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE where you place the row markers. Keep them in the same place!

3. Knitting black toes and heels is for the birds. It's hard to see the stitches in black yarn.

4. Tighten the edge stitches as you make them to keep the gaps to a minimum.

5. Short row heels are a lot easier than the heel flaps and gussets used on the top down socks.

6. Totally stockinette socks are monotonous.(Jo says they are more fun with varigated or self stipeing yarn).

7. Knitting socks with circular needles beats the heck out of double pointed needles!

8. To prevent grabbing the wrong circ. when you are knitting with 2 circular needles, use sets that are not identical.

They can be different colors, the barrels can be of different lengths, or the cables can be of different lengths (or any combination of these characteristics.) The purpose is to have quick visual identification of the circ you are using at the present. For example, one of my circs. is silver, the other magenta. The silver one happens to be a 32" Susan Bates and the magenta is a 24" Boye. The cables look totally different. There is no way I'll grab one end of the Susan Bates set when I am working stitches off the other end of the Boye set. I will immediately know I have the wrong needle.

No more working to the end of the row and having one set of circs fall free in my hand because I stitched with the wrong set!

9. Don't try to use my body as a measure for knitting socks for someone with different sized feet than I have. I thought I was making Pat's socks bigger than my measurement, but when we tried on the black heel and toe sock, it fit me, not him.

SO -- I have started the July socks. Again for Pat. I'm going to get a tape measure and get real numbers this time, not comparisons between him and me. AND I'm knitting two socks at the same time. It's fun. I'm really enjoying it.

Of course, when I showed my work in progress to my daughter this evening, she asked if I was making a bra for a doll or ear warmers for the German Shepherd. There is nothing on the needles yet but these two small cones held together by circular needles. (I hope it starts to look like socks soon...)

Baby Projects

I have finished Sandy's blanket and Jaime's baby kimono. All I have left to do is to sew up the kimono and add the ties. I'd like to make a bib or burb cloth for Jaime, too. Have to get more yarn, first. The blanket took a lot of yarn. They are both made with Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarn. Figured that was better for summer babies.
Jaime had her baby on July 2. Dominik Anton Prideaux, 7 lb., 10 oz, 20 or 21 inches long. Congratulations, Jaime and Dom!

Sandy's due date has come and gone and she is still coming to work each day. You know it's got to be hard on her. She's so tiny to start with, but she's keeping good spirits. Pat and I are traveling to Texas for a few days, leaving tomorrow. I do hope to learn Sandy's baby has come before we get back!
Sandy had her baby on July 18! It's a little girl, 8 lb., 2 oz. They haven't decided on a name, but I heard they were leaning toward Amelia.

Third sock finished!

Finally! After so many ups and downs, my third sock ever has been finished. I'm not happy with it -- there is a jog it makes at the heel. My markers drifted? It's not worth frogging but I'm not going to make #2. We'll call this quite an educational experience.

The socks were to be for Pat, but they are too small. They don't even fit Reyes. They fit me exactly, but they are plain "guy" socks, white with black toes and heels. For the entire saga, go to the entry labeled "Slow progress."

Speaking of more interesting yarn. I received my new Herschnners catalog. They have acrylic sock yarn in colors that will appeal to the grandkids. Be still my heart! I didn't want to make kids socks from wool.

I've ordered 2 or three books of sock patterns. Just have six months to get 9 pairs finished. Better get cracking!

FOLLOW UP: This sock sorted itself out after washing. Now I have to make the next one.

Bragging on Grandkids!

I'm so impressed with Kayleigh and Emily! They learned to knit this week and they are really good at it. By the way, I love the picture of them at work, but am so sorry I took it AFTER Emmy ran into a pole on the school yard. She has the most beautiful shiner to show for it. Will her Mom ever let her visit Grandma's again??

Kayleigh is 10, Emmy is 6. They are visiting us from Illinois this week. Kayleigh likes to do handwork and I had promised her we'd knit this week. I found her circular needles and some Lion Brand Cottontots yarn in pink and white. She wanted to make a purse. I cast on for her and taught her the ditty for making the knit stitch. (In through the door, run around the back, out the window, off jumps Jack!). She had it down pat in minutes. The only problem she had was with a few dropped stitches along the way. She finished the purse yesterday. I added eyelets for the drawstring and bound it off. It looks terrific!

Emmy wanted to make a purse, too. She learned to spool knit. (That's right -- now it's called loom knitting...) At first I had her using Lily Sugar n Cream cotton yarn. We set it up and she took to town with it, but kept getting confused which way the yarn should go. That's when I realized Emmy is left handed!. I took the yarn off, and laid the stitches going the other way, then showed her how to work the loom left-handed instead of right. Oh! That was easier. She was off like a rocket.

Unfortunately, that yarn was so thin, she wasn't making any progress at all. We found her some bulky yarn and tried again. That's all she needed! In the course of one evening's movie watching, she produced four inches of knitting!!. No dropped stitches. It's beautiful work.

I couldn't believe a six year old had that kind of attention span. She really enjoys her loom.

They go home tomorrow. I hope to get a picture of them knitting before they go.

Wanderin' Star

My brother and I have always liked the song from Paint Your Wagon called "Wanderin' Star". It was sung in the movie by Lee Marvin, of all folks. A line we took to heart was "wheels were made for rolling. Mules were made to pack. I never saw a sight that didn't look better lookin' back."

Besides living all over the Midwest, I've done a bit of visiting too, with and without my brother.
My whole family has itchy feet. My brother could put more states on his map, and a few foreign countries, too, thanks to Uncle Sam. He was stationed in Germany before he was sent to Viet Nam. Of course we both got to visit Mexico when we lived in South Texas. My present husband took a 48 state motorcycle trip a few years ago. He'd get to color in the whole US map for the Lower 48 and Hawaii. He's been to Mexico for fun and Viet Nam thanks to Uncle Sam. My first husband was born in Honduras, so he could add that one to his map. When he was stationed at NAS Dallas, he was sent to Rota, Spain and Sicily for a few weeks. More spots for the map.

Maybe the best traveled of my friends is my friend Steve, from whom I cribbed the source of these maps. http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/index.html Steve was an Air Force brat so he covered a lot of states and foreign countries while growing up. Oddly enough, he graduated from high school in Wichita, Kansas and looks at Kansas as home base. I'm a Kansan, too, but we had to go to Dallas-Ft.Worth to meet each other.

I guess that just goes to show it's really a small world, and getting smaller everyday. If we put pins in the map forall the folks who read this blog ... Well, we'd probably manage to get a goodly part of the globe.

Guess that Wanderin' Star shines on all of us.

Transplanted Iris

I can't quite sing the song "I've Been Everywhere, Man" but I can sure claim the Midwest. The above map shows where I've lived. It doesn't quite tell the whole story, because I'm 58 and have moved 34 times. With all of that, we managed to live 20 years in the same town -- Grand Prairie,Texas. Of course, my moving started when I was two years old, so that gives me some running room on the traveling. It also instilled an early love of geography and fascination with geology. How did that get formed? Why is it there and not over yonder?
I'm glad to be settled where it all began now. I was born 25 miles from where I am now living. It's all come full circle. If you want to know about our adventures remodeling our 104 year old house, check my other blog http://grannytilla.blogspot.com

Knitting in Public at ALA

Last week I was in Washington, D.C. for the American Library Assn. convention. It was ALA's 100th birthday and the largest convention they've ever held. Librarians, vendors and other guests brought the total around 26,000 people. Wow! That's a small city.
I enjoyed the convention. There were all sorts of great sessions to attend. I came home feeling less intimidated by Library Boards of Trustees because of one session. I have contact information for continuing education ideas, and ideas about training Technical Processing staff. There were far more speakers than I could listen to. My roommate came home pumped from hearing Robert Kennedy, Jr. speak. Together, she and I attended the premiere of the documentary The Hollywood Librarian. I was expecting something fluffy about how librarians are depicted in movies but the film maker (a librarian herself) juxtaposed celluloid librarians with real life librarians facing real life problems -- whether it's fighting to keep the doors open or reaching out to prisoners to encourage reading and literacy.
Julie Andrews gave a short, but on-target speech about libraries and reading. I was less impressed with Garrison Kiellor as the closing speaker, but maybe it was just too early in the morning. I do believe I dosed off during some of his talk.
I took my knitting with me. I knitted on the plane going and coming, and knitted in the airport and hotel lobby when I was waiting for things. I didn't have room to carry knitting to the sessions but there were some down-times when I wished I had it with me. My roommate was a walker, so she hiked me all over DC until the blisters got too bad and I had to bow out of some of her projects.
That's when I did most of my knitting in public. I knit when I found time to sit and give my feet a rest. The knitting attracted many interesting people who stopped to chat with me.
My seatmate going to DC on the second leg of my journey was traveling from Wisconsin to DC for a wedding. She said she crocheted, but always liked the look of knitting. Unfortunately, she didn't knit. She hadn't been able to get the hang of knitting when she tried it many years ago. Her frustration was how to pick up dropped stitches. I promised I'd add a message on my blog explaining how to do it. I will, too, but it will have to wait until I can get into the guest room for my camera. We have company using the room for the next three weeks. I promise to add a blog on that topic around the end of the month.
I suggested the lady visit her local library for a book or video on the knitting. There are lots of good instructional materials available today. A great online source is http://knittinghelp.com.
When I gave the Wisconsin lady this blog address, the woman sitting in front of me turned around, handing me a piece of paper. "Can I have the address, too?" Wild! I hope you all enjoy reading this.
I had a lot of waiting time on Tuesday when I returned to Kansas. First at the hotel I waited for my roommate to finish some of her projects so we could share a taxi to the airport. Then I had a seven hour wait until my plane left. At the hotel I met three young librarians from California. They were my daughter's age or a bit younger. It surprised me that one spotted my knitting and had to know what I was making. She knits and is part of a knitting group at their library. Again the blog address came out. She said she's going to share it with her group. Wow. More readers!!
I spent about five hours as the only person seated at the gate where the Kansas City plane would eventually depart. As I waited, I met a young man from Hamburg who missed his flight to Mexico City by 5 minutes. He was so frustrated. I don't blame him. The plane from Hamburg must have been delayed and that ruined a tight schedule. He could see the Mexico City plane, but they wouldn't let him on because his luggage hadn't gotten off the Hamburg plane and made it through customs.
Later in the afternoon, one of the workers, a Muslim man, came in, found an unobtrusive corner facing East, made his salaams and began his prayers. I was knitting in public, but he was praying in public. That warmed me. I quietly crossed myself and said a few prayers for travelers and understanding. Two of us, of different religions, but taking a moment to talk to God during the day. He's far more faithful than I am. I wouldn't have thought to pray if he hadn't lead me.
I met a girl from Serbia who was en route to Kansas to see her boyfriend. She was fun to talk to. We compared notes on many things, then together we befriended a Hungarian lady who was also going to Kansas. She had her 5 yr old son and 2 year old daughter with her. They had been visiting the grandparents in Hungary. The kids were restless and the (by then) three hour wait was hard on them. I ended up cutting some of my extra yarn and making story strings for the kids. Mom was able to teach the boy to do cat's cradle, but the girl didn't have the attention span for anything.
I tried to remember how to do some of the string stories I did as a children's librarian. Of course, the brain went blank. So I knitted instead. The little girl joined me and I showed her how the knit stitch was made and told her the ditty that Lala likes for the knit stitch: "Through the door, run around the back. Out the window, Off jumps Jack!" The girl liked that and had me show her several times. Planting knitting seeds early? Hm..
By the time I got on the plane, I felt I was honorary grandma for the entire airport.
I was working on Sandy's baby blanket as I waited in the airport. I got within 100 rows of having it finished by the time I got to Kansas City. (Yeah!). I really expected to have it finished sooner, but it just kept using yarn, and more yarn, and more yarn. I did finish it on Saturday June 30. Now I have to get Jaime's finished. Today is her due date! I hope the baby came. I have to wait until I get back to work on Monday to see if there is any news. (Sandy is due in 2 weeks. I've been telling them Sandy will come early and we'll get "library twins". )
Now I hear all this rain we've been having caused Iola to flood over the weekend. I called my boss to see if there was anything I needed to know. He wasn't worried about the library or Iola, he was just wondering if the roads I usually take will be passable. Well, the rain quit Saturday afternoon. Hopefully the creeks will be down on the back roads I take to work. Otherwise I'll have to come home and work from home. Glad I brought my library computer home with me.
Then again, if I'm here, that knitting project will be beckoning me. Jaime's baby kimono is nearly done. Just 1/4 of the right side to finish.
Maybe I'd better try really hard on getting to work. Working at home might be difficult.