Some Knitting Projects

To give you a bit of background ... Poppa had cataract surgery this year.  His first eye was done in May and the second eye in October... so he doesn't wear glasses - except for when he is reading fine print!  I am so envious!!

So, back to the knitting.  While we were sitting in the hospital reception area, waiting for Uncle David to come and give us a ride home (Poppa wasn't allowed to drive, and I haven't driven for a few years now, due to vision issues) directly across from the Tuck Shop, it occured to me that a long, long time ago I did some knitting for the NICU.  I don't remember why I quit doing that - probably just a time issue.  Anyway, I left Poppa sitting there and scooted over to see if they wanted someone to do some knitting for them.  I left my name and number.  A couple of months later, when I had forgotten all about it - I got a phone call.  They would be happy to take whatever I could donate!  Hurray!  Now I had a really good, legimitate cause to buy yarn and sit knitting!  So, I got started.  Following are the first few outfits I made.

This is a classic popcorn stitch outfit from a book for knitting with Beehive Astra.  I used Bernat Softee Baby yarn which I had left over from a previous project.

I just couldn't get good lighting for this outfit.  I've had this yarn around for a while and don't even remember what I used it for or what kind of yarn it is!  I know it was "3" on the weight scale used for categorizing yarn - so about the same as Bernat Softee Baby.   I kept the pattern simple due to the speckled yarn.

Since the first two outfits looked a little girlie, I thought I should knit something for little boys too!  So I chose this hoodie (youngsters seem to like hoodies these days) and added a little hat just in case - and because I had the yarn.

Then I made this little outfit in brown and beige - totally winged this one because I needed to make it with stripes due to the amount of these colors in my stash.  

It was a great way to use up some of my stash - which created a good excuse to purchase some more yarn!  Then I had to switch to another project - more on that later!

A New Toy!

Before we get to the new toy -- about eight years ago (or so!)  I posted a picture of the two little boys - then about two and four - enjoying ice cream on their front verandah.  At the end of August of this year, I received this picture..........

...... showing both the original shot and this year's version.  In the first picture Curtie is on the left and Munchie on the right.  In the second picture they have switched sides.  Oh my!  How they have changed and grown over those eight years!  Very different - very adorable!

Now about my new toy!  I had several of these lovely skeins..........

...... of sock yarn in various colours.  I was relying on Poppa to sit with his hands out holding the skein while I wound it into a ball of yarn for knitting.  By the time we did two or three skeins, his arms were quite tired.  He had always been quite patient, but I knew it had gotten to the point when he didn't really want to do it any more...and he had a sore shoulder which made it worse for him.  So, I took the plunge and bought something I had looked at for years, but never splurged on.  I had no idea how it worked, but of course, Poppa figured it out.  Picture?  Ok..........

......... do you see?  You place the skein carefully onto the yarn swift - that is it in the back ground - it stretches out to hold the skein at just the right tension.  The end of the yarn is fed into a slot on the ball winder - the gizmo Poppa is turning the handle on.  You continue to run the handle until all the yarn is on the ball winder.  Then you remove the yarn and.......

..... the end result is this lovely "cake" of yarn.  I also bought a "yarn bowl" which has a slot for the yarn to feed out when you place one of these "cakes" into the bowl.  Perfect!!!

I will take a picture of the yarn bowl when I am using it....right now I have been working on a couple of other projects.

Next.........

...........it was time for another visitor!

This time it was Curtie's turn to have a visit with us.  He liked to play games on the computer......so he got to take home an older computer we had here - after we got it erased and reloaded like new.  It was working fine and he played on it quite a lot!  Of course, he also.......

..... spent time playing with Poppa - they were at the beach a lot!  Poppa also kept busy even though he had company........

......... he went over to do a few more repairs to the stairs at the garden apartments..........

......... and Curtie took this photo of Poppa digging quack grass out of the front yard.  Curtie also..........

..... couldn't resist taking a picture of Martha with all her enthusiastic visitors!  Alas, soon both visits were over and our little boys were back with Mommy getting ready for another school year!

Annual Visit

As usual, in August .................

.... a visitor arrived with a couple of bags of clothes and stuff (not very carefully packed 😄) to stay for a few days.  As usual....

......... our little (or not-so-little-any-more) Munchie spent a good part of his days with us, playing with Poppa..........

..... I'm not sure what they were playing down in the parkette........

........ but they seemed to be enjoying it!  Of course, every year when he comes we buy him something special.  This year - all he wanted was a phone.  He couldn't find another single thing that appealed to him.  We did go shopping for school clothes - he bought quite a few.  However, we couldn't find any shoes.  And, of course, eventually.....

........ he got his phone.  Poppa got a break after that because...........

............ as you can see...............

............  he spent a LOT of time on his phone after that!  He really liked it and I hear he still does.   P.S. - Isn't he cute!!!???!!!

Uncle Brian

About the time the rhubarb gets ripe, in late summer, I went to the door one day and discovered a bag full of rhubarb.  Uncle Brian had left it for us!  I got busy.....

... and made a rhubarb crisp for Poppa and myself to enjoy!  It was very good, even if I do say so myself!  In return..............

....... I made him a pair of silly socks to enjoy when the Canadian winter sets in!  But.....

........ I also made him a matching pair in case he wants to wear them out in public!  The photos are taken from further away than usual in order to get them all in.  Uncle Brian has these feet that are........... well .............. even bigger than Poppa's feet!  But, if you click on the pictures you can see them better.

Poppa's Latest Project

As you all know, Poppa loves to be busy and he is very creative.  When we were in Florida in 2017 (we missed this winter entirely - more on that later!) Poppa really liked an item of furniture there.  So he decided to create on for our place.  He carefully measured the available space and..........

. disappeared into the garage!  After several days of calling him in for meals, I decided I should go out and see what was going on out there.

By the time I arrived he had finished the major part of the construction and was staining the piece to match the new stairs.

Here it is from the top, and....

.... here is a shot from a sideways angle.  Have you guessed what it is?  I bet our friends who own the villa in Florida already know!

Here it is!  All finished, upholstered, and fitting perfectly into the space at the bottom of the stairs!  A fantastic place to store our shoes and for Poppa to sit while he puts his shoes on!  Once again - a wonderful, prefect job!  Squeegie loves it - he has a new place to sit when he waits for Poppa to come home!

A Nice Surprise!

Late in June, Mommy mentioned that Daddy had gotten a new truck, so when I mentioned that we were replacing my old recliner with a new one..........

...... Daddy decided to come and take the old one back to his house.  Of course he also took advantage of this excuse to show Poppa the new truck..........and if you look closely you will see that Bam came along the the ride.  I have to admit that as much as I have an aversion to all creatures canine...... Bam was very polite and well-behaved and let me pat him softly and cautiously.

When the admiring was finished (Poppa was, once again, wishing he still had his big Ford F-150), the boys loaded up the truck.  And, when that was done Daddy, Poppa, Bam and myself all went to McDonald's for a quick bite to eat.  The nice lady inside gave me a dish of water for Bam and we all shared our food with him.  Then Daddy and Bam jumped back into the truck and left for home.  It was a short but nice visit, and a lovely surprise for us!

A Bit Behind the Times....

Yes, I know - I'm way behind with my posts ............ AGAIN!  We just seem to have been extra busy this summer, but then the older I get the faster time flies by without me accomplishing all of my goals each day!  So..........

.... back near the beginning of June, I found Squeegie - once again - peeking out the back door at something.........

..... which, once again, turned out to be Poppa working in the back yard.  The picture was taken through the screen, so it's not very clear.

Poppa already had the front of the unit looking lovely...

... all his little bushes had taken root and starting to thrive.

He even put some nice planters at the front entrance to the unit next door.  The gentleman living there is not in the best of health, and Poppa helps him out whenever he can.

Appliances

After returning home from Home Depot one day - when I actually went into the store with Poppa -

...... we found ourselves with a new stove.  It is the kind with a small oven, a large oven, or a super-duper larger oven.  I have been using it regularly and loving it.  It allowed me to take the countertop oven off the counter.....

... which freed up a LOT of counter space (which I love!), but....

..... created more work for Poppa - what is he doing under the sink??  Well, as it turns out.....

... he was installing a new dishwasher.  The old one - which was here when we moved in - was quite noisy and took forever to run through a cycle - so I VERY seldom bothered with it.  This new one has a special 60 minute cycle and is so quiet!  The first time we used it we thought it wasn't working because we couldn't hear anything at all!  So - at least once a week I use a lot of pots, pans and dishes!  The weather here has been quite hot this year....

...... Squeegie and Taffy put on cool outfits, but by the end of the day.....

.... they were still hot and sweaty, so Happy joined them and they all had a nice tubby!  But it was cool in the basement where my knitting corner is and I finished a pair of socks.........

......... that I had started in the car.  It is just easier to finish off the toes while I'm sitting in my comfortable chair!

The Stairs

I just realized - oh my goodness - I never did finish the story of the stairs........

.... when we moved into the condo, we had carpeted stairs with oak railing.  Well, recently Poppa pulled off all the carpet and then pulled off all the underlay and then.....

... Munchie and Poppa pulled out all the staples (there were a LOT!) left behind after the underlay came off.  Then.....

.... this skilled carpenter came in and took off the railing, then....

............ he worked and he worked over a period of three days....

..... he re-capped all the stairs with oak treads, added some oak trimwork and replaced the bannister.  When he left....

.......... the stairs looked like this - except of course, the bannister was back in place as well.  Poppa spent one day staining, followed by three days putting a finish coat on them, and....

.......... here they are!!  We all think they are lovely.  No, they are not slippery at all..........

... they are much more attractive - all the way up!