August projects and miscellany

I’ve been struggling to get through several of my bigger crochet projects … and then of course, I added a couple of new ones this month.

I started off the month, scrambling to finish the Paris in the Spring sweater. I decided to change it a bit, making the bottom longer and less “frilly”, and I added a shell collar. But I still don’t like it . I’m not sure why. If it’s the colors, the style, or what. I think I might end up frogging it (rip-it) and using the cotton for dishcloths or something. "Before"

and after:

I have also been struggling with this doily pattern – the second one I’ve ever tried. I got part way through and it started cupping. The good news is that others in my Yahoo groups are making this and seeing the same thing, so I’m hoping it works out when it’s blocked. This is the doily pattern that matched my aunt Margaret’s mother’s doily that I “borrowed” for a while. Margaret has it back so I want to get this completed.

The only projects I managed to finish this month were afghan squares! A few months ago I signed up to receive a charity square pattern for a Poinsettia. The idea is that you need to send that person one square in return for receiving the pattern; she then combines all the square from various people into an afghan and donates it. The picture doesn’t do this justice – it was done in maroon and pine green and is 12” across.

I couldn’t keep my eyes out of the Ravelry testing “pool” either this month – despite all the other projects to finish. This one is called Never Fading Flower square. It’s a small square. It worked up in just about an hour and was fun to make. I might have to make up a baby blanket or something from this pattern!

In other news…

We had been talking about getting Charlie a new bed – his is years old, not very fluffy any more. Dave picked up this inexpensive one. Instead of treating it as a bed – Charlie apparently thought it was one Gigantic Stuffed Toy!

Dave has gotten a little adventurous in his foraging. After the many days of rain we had last week, our neighbor’s yard had these HUGE, funny looking mushrooms. Dave decided they were worth picking and frying up (after he verified online he knew what they were - of course). They’re called Puff Balls. When you slice into them, they look just like a loaf of bread. I had a teensy piece. He ate a bit more – decided they had the consistency of a marshmallow. He put a couple of slices into a plastic bag and said if he had to be rushed to the hospital, I should make sure to take that with us. Silly man. I think I'll stick with the wild black raspberries.

I Hate Walgreens! (and other rants)

Be prepared for a little (ok, a lot of) venting here…

I just get so frustrated whenever I try and shop at Walgreens.  I look through their ads, see what wonderful deals they have, make a list, and end up coming out of the store with no more than half of what I wanted.

School supply time is the worst… rather than make the one school section larger for the few weeks a year, they split it so part of the supplies are in the front of the store and part are in back.

I went there yesterday to pick up a few things.  On sale:  toothbrushes and floss 99¢.  They must have 25+ different kinds of toothbrushes in the store.  Do they have the one on sale?  Nope.  Not a one.

I also went to pick up cereal until I realized their sale said 2 for $7 – but “really 2 for $5 when you get a $2 Register Reward”.  Just another ploy to get me back in the store … especially since it has to be within two weeks of when I was last there or the RR’s expire.  

Almost picked up some Ragu spaghetti sauce until I realized that it wasn’t a great price (you have to watch there “sales” to make sure they really are a good buy … this is where a Price Book comes in handy).

I think I was on my third trip around the store – (since I can never find anything!!), when I looked at my cart, looked at the list of what I still wanted to find, asked myself did I really NEED to get those items today (answer to myself: Nope.) … and walked out.

That’s not the first time either.  I had a couple other errands to run Friday, but I knew to hit those first because the odds that I’d walk out of Walgreens totally frustrated were pretty high, and I wouldn’t want to do any shopping after that.

 

I’ve had a pretty lousy week with shopping and errands anyway.  Same day, just before the Walgreens trip, Target supposedly had “selected Iams products” on sale, other than the huge 40lb bags of dog food … must have been SECRET selected Iams products, because nothing else seemed to be on sale.

Today, I went to get my oil changed.  They recommend using the higher-grade, synthetic oils for my car.  Even though they’re higher priced, it’s not a problem because it also means I only get my oil changed every 5,000 miles instead of 3,000.  Stopped to get it changed – told the guy I wanted the higher grade.  He even REPEATED the name of the brand!  It wasn’t until after I paid that I realized the bill was too lower.  He put standard-grade in my car.  Grrr…  And I didn’t get one of those stickers to tell me when my next oil change should be, so now I have to try and remember / keep my slip handy.

 

I mentioned to Dave later I felt like I had been a b.i.t.c.h. lately – because I had been grumbling so much.  His response?  “You THINK ?!?”  (he hasn’t learned that husbandly retort could have been playing with fire; thank goodness I have a good sense of humor where he’s concerned!) 

Ok, I’m done venting now…

 

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Postscript Monday night – I just received a call from Office Depot.  It seems I typed in the wrong credit card verification# on an order I placed yesterday.  Not only will my shipment still arrive on Wednesday, but the person I talked to noticed that they inadvertently charged me shipping when it should have been free.  Saved me $10!!  Now THAT’S what I like to hear.

Potato Lake 2009

I always enjoy our Potato Lake weekend – even when the weather doesn’t cooperate.  We’ve had such a dry but cool summer, we really didn’t expect much different for this trip.  Well, just like the weather in June can be unpredictable (and 90º!), August can be too.  It had been close to two months since we had seen any significant rain … we arrived at Potato on Thurs, but this is what most of the weekend looked like.

It rained off-and-on all day Friday.  It rained in short bursts but heavier on Saturday – interspersed with some dead-calm / warm-and-humid periods.  We were pretty close to having a tornado warning in our area on Saturday night – fortunately it moved south of us.  I got up in the middle of the night (nature call) early-early Sunday morning.  It was very windy out, but quite beautiful and impressive: there was a bright moon and no clouds above us … but enormous thunderheads and lightning to the south. 

 

The rain pretty much stopped when the winds came, but this is how wet everything was Sunday morning … (I forgot to get a pic of the BIG puddles Sat morning).

 

 

 

Dave had a good time playing cribbage with whomever he could briefly pull away from fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie took some time out from his busy day of napping to go swimming (only a couple of times – he’s getting old).

 

 

 

 

 

I took LOTS of crocheting projects with me.  Dave said it would have been simpler to just pack up the coffee table.  But I found a victim … uh, I mean convert!  Caitlyn (sp?) expressed an interest in learning to crochet since she feels like she needs a hobby.  On Friday we sat down and I showed her some of the basics.  She struggled at first – and it suddenly brought back memories of Mom teaching me.  I guess I have learned a lot in the last four years!  Look at how proud she is that she made a couple of coasters!  Well, at least she can say she finished a project!

 

The only project I finished was an experiment.  I picked up some stretchy sock yarn before we went camping in order to try and make myself a headband (attempting to grow my hair out and it’s frustrating!)  I finished one on Friday.  Lucy like it so much I made her one on Saturday … and here she is modeling it for me (actually, I just wanted an excuse to take her picture)!  And on the right is my version – a little wider than Lucy’s version.  The headbands worked out pretty great!  I love the fact that since it’s stretchy so it doesn’t hurt my head after a couple of hours (but I still haven’t gotten use to wearing something on my head).  Not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of the yarn…

 

 

Most of the time we did what we normally do – sit around the campfire, talking, cooking and/or eating.  That’s Jerry and Pat (and Mike) on the right cooking the bacon for breakfast.  The women usually organize “everything else” (bread, fruit, side dishes, dish water, cleanup, etc.) … but of course it’s the guys that are cooking!

 

One of the funniest moments of the weekend was in regards to this carp that was caught.  The guys decided to keep it, but hadn’t filleted it yet.  I tried to get a video of Charlie investigating and sniffing the fish, but the fish jumped / gulped for air … just once.  There’s our brave dog trying to ignore that scary fish.  (In his defense, that was a big fish!)

Paris in the Spring

I’m not quite sure why this sweater is called Paris in the Spring when in other descriptions the designer called this Summer Sweater.  Either way, this is a pattern I tested for a woman on Ravelry.

She wanted it tested by Aug 7th, and since we’re leaving for vacation tomorrow, I had to have it done a bit sooner.  I just realized this morning however, that I mis-read the instructions for the bottom.  It’s not supposed to look that “wavy” (I had too many increases).  So I’ll probably rip the bottom portion out and fix sometime later.

It’s all in cotton yarn, so it’s wonderfully soft, and will probably become more so after it’s washed.

But … we’re off for a weekend camping with friends.  And I need a new project and a break from this sweater (at least temporarily).