What not to pack!

My son likes Calgon and asked me to bring some with me... so I packed 2 jars (1 in each suitcase).  And you know what happens why you fly these days...

Suitcase inspections.  The card says that they replaced the contents, but all that was left of one ENTIRE x-large jug of Calgon was...

Some nice smelling, white powdery stuff.  Wonder how long it took them to figure out it really WAS Calgon?  Mind you - these were brand new jugs that were factory sealed.  The jar and cover are attached by a factory strip of plastic that you have to tear off (like a jug of milk).  I am glad I didn't pack it in my carry-on - might have held me up in the security line.
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So, sans one $10 jug of Calgon, I have arrived.  I am sooo happy!

Knitting with Friends

I don't have my own dog, but believe me, I have plenty of dog friends.  They love my knitting... this is Tika.

Bentley is checking out the attention that he thinks Tika is getting - but really, I am knitting - not petting Tika!

I brought my sock to the DRs - good thing because I did have to wait awhile.  I don't mind as long as I have my knitting - keeps me from wanting to look at DR office magazines that probably are loaded with germs, or worse... bite my nails.  Knitting is great for keeping you from biting your nails!

The new puppies in the family - Lola on the left and Tootsie on the right.  My sister lost her Shitzu Yoko this year (she was 14) and had been looking for several months for a new puppy.  Well, these cuties are sisters and she couldn't bear to separate them, so she took them both!  I was trying to keep them down because it is impossible to knit with them chasing after the needles and stealing the yarn... unless they are sleeping (that is Tootsie).

Takes me awhile to knit a sock, as you can see!  This particular one I seem to keep making mistakes and end up knitting a few rows and taking out a few rows.  But, slowly I am making progress.  Even if I am making mistakes - knitting always seems to relax me.
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DR ordered me to TRY not to walk around too much and keep my foot elevated for six weeks.  No break, but a bad sprain.  She gave me this wonderful air cast that takes so much strain off my foot - it is so comfy and I am happy to have it.  It has gel inside so you can put it into the refrigerator is you want it to be cool.  If you ever sprain your ankle - I highly recommend getting one if your DR thinks it is good for your situation.  

Mid-terms are over, so maybe now I will have some time to knit!

Hand-Me Down Socks

Hand me downs.  I love hand me downs - some of my favorite clothes are given to me by my sisters.  A lot of my sons clothes are handed down to cousins - and some of those came by way of cousins originally.
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We have school photos with one of my older sisters wearing a dress, then me, then one of my younger nieces.  
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So, yes - we are big on hand me downs.  But one would not really think to hand me down socks - generally speaking, right?  Well, unless they are hand-knit socks.  The 2 pairs on the left were made by my sister for her son and then given to me for my son.  That 2nd pair started my son's love affair with hand knit socks and for a long time he would only wear hand knit socks.  Finally, he started wearing store bought again, but hates the seam that goes across the top of his foot so he often wears them inside out.  No seam across the top of the foot with hand knit socks!  It is because of that little, innocent looking pair of socks that I had to learn how to knit socks so my son could have, ummm - more than one pair!  Amazing what you can learn with a good instruction book in hand and watching You Tube when you get really stuck.
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And the sock journey continues - these 6 pairs were hiding in the back recesses of  cabinet and I found them last week while organizing things.  They have been handed over to the next youngster who is bound to love the warmth of nice wool socks in the coming winter months.  I just wonder if the Mom knows how to knit?  Hummm.  With fine sock yarn on 2.25 mm needles - my son's preference (and mine!) because the socks feel so comfy when knit on the smaller needles.  I am still not the best knitter... the current sock that I am knitting has been knit about 3 times by now with all the ripping back I keep doing to fix mistakes.  But - I find knitting relaxing (despite the ripping back), portable, and very rewarding.  So, if you have been wanting to learn how to knit socks, I recommend a book on sock knitting, get your needles and yarn and give it a try!

Baking Thanksgiving Pies

It is almost Thanksgiving in Canada!  In the US, we always celebrate on Thursday.  Here, it is a pick and choose holiday - celebrate either on Sunday OR Monday!  I will be celebrating tomorrow with friends and spent the afternoon today at their house visiting and helping with some of the prep work.  I am bringing the easiest menu items - rolls, ice cream, ice tea and coffee creamer.
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My girlfriend is always in constant motion.  I sat on a stool in the kitchen, chatted and watched while she rolled out enough pie crust for 5 of them, plus 2 little berry tarts for us to snack on later with our coffee.  Here we have 2 pumpkin pies and 1 apple pie cooling, plus the baked pie shells for 2 more pies.  I helped to peel the apples.  My friend made 3 jars of apple sauce too, plus then boiled all the peels to make apple juice to use to make apple jelly.  
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She has a small, but efficient garden.  We went out and she picked parsnips, carrots, corn and those little squashes for our dinner tomorrow too.  You can't see it in the photo, but this is actually a pretty deep bowl - all the parsnips are on the bottom!
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We have having turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, fried parsnips, the carrots, corn and squash, gravy, rolls, homemade cranberry sauce (she made that yesterday) and pie & ice cream.  
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We were busy this afternoon and also had a good visit too.  I am still recovering from being overtired.  On Weds. I went out for tea with another friend and ended up fainting in the tea house and spraining my ankle, plus banged my head. Fortunately, she was the one who drove us there.  My ankle is still a bit sore, which is why I was sitting on the stool while my friend rolled out all those pie crusts today.  So, I am really trying to take it easy and rest up.  Easier said than done though because I have a ton of work still to do.  I did take Thurs. morning off though and enjoyed some time with my knitting/quilting group.  I was working on a sock, but it was pretty much agreed that it was rather wide around, so I ended up ripping it back and have now started over with smaller needles.  We always have coffee and a dessert at the group and the person who brought in the coffee cake had used small green tomatoes in it - never had that before, but it was good once you got over the fact that there were green tomatoes in there! 
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So tomorrow - I just have to work the morning, have all day off and then have to take a test on-line for school by midnight.  I usually go to bed by 9:30 this time of year so it will be well before the deadline.  The class I am taking this semester is statistics and it is taking me about 15 hours a week to complete my homework.  I am so happy that I only registered for one class this semester because any more would have been just too much.
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If you are Canadian, enjoy your Thanksgiving this week!

This house down the street from me is getting a basement!
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Edited:  my poor foot on Thanksgiving morning: