Jesus SAVED Us!!

It's true! For those of you who need visual proof in the power of Jesus, look closely at this photo. That tiny pitcher on the baseball mound? That is Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesus Luzardo. And when my friend Lisa and I went to see the Phillies play the Cubs this past Wednesday, Jesus saved us from losing another game! (And for those of you wondering, Jesus is regular-sized - I took that photo from our seats.)

It's been a rough few weeks for our Phils, but on Wednesday they beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2. And my fave player, Kyle Schwarber, hit a home run which I am sure he did because he heard I was there. 

😂

Lisa and I try to go to one game together every year. We text a thousand times every day, but generally only see one another this one time. We've been friends now for about 25 years, since we were co-workers. She left to give birth to twin boys, and I moved to other jobs. But we always kept in touch. And she is the one that met my niece Amanda ONCE, and immediately added her to our text chain! The three of us are the ones keeping each other accountable in our exercise routines.

Lisa is hilarious just in general, but she is also one of those baseball fans, that knows *everything* about each player. I swear if you asked their shoe size, she could answer immediately. She's also really impatient with them. Whenever they win, she is on cloud nine, but when they lose and/or play poorly, she texts me: "Sell the team." So it was a really fun afternoon, and though it was warm it wasn't humid, and we were under an overhang, so it was especially nice to be out of the direct sun.

Apparently, the person that Lisa bought the tickets from is a regular, and part of a group that are always there for afternoon games. When we first got there, the two guys behind us asked "How do you know Brian?" And a bit later, when a young woman and her friends arrived, she said to me "Are you Brian's wife?" to which I responded that was "that bastard's ex-wife and he lets me have tickets for one game a year." She looked slightly surprised, but I doubt as much as Brian will be when she asks him about his ex-wife! They were all a fun group of people though, so it made the whole game even more enjoyable.

*****

A bit later this morning, I'm headed out to get my hair cut. I'm trying a different place in my neighborhood, so wish me luck. I like the person I usually go to, she is very nice, but the last few times I've gone, she has just been on autopilot, and not really tried anything I want to try. Plus, we are getting to the time of year when I want my hair short all over, and she doesn't want to do it that way so that I don't "look like a man." 

So I'm trying out a different place, which is slightly more money, but if I can get a haircut even close to what I'd like, it will be worth it. 

I just hope I don't go there hoping for a cut like this

And come out looking like this:

*****

This weekend, it is of course supposed to rain at least some of the time. Tomorrow we are headed to the No Kings protest here, but that is our only specific plan for the weekend. Since our weekends are generally pretty quiet and uneventful, we'll likely need Sunday to recover from doing something out of the house on Saturday! We always joke that, if we are like this at our current age, if we are lucky enough to live to be 80 years old, we'll only be able to do maximum two things a week, so that we have time to recover!

Whatever plans you may have, I hope you can enjoy your weekend. Even if you also get some rain, at least a lot of the plants and flowers are enjoying it, right?

Hump Day Musings

Well, as you may know, our Phillies lost the last game they could lose in the series that could have sent them to the World Series. Sigh. It was all incredibly disappointing, especially since they started so strong. But it was clearly not to be. Yes folks, the D-Bags are headed to the Series, they will play the Texas Rangers. I hope the fans of those teams will show up and show their support. Needless to say, I don't want the D-Bags to win, and I have a personal bias against any teams from Texas, so I will likely read about who wins and loses but will not be watching any of the games. Besides, since they will all be in the west, they will start later around here, and as an old person, I go to bed not that much after they start. 😊 

But thanks anyway, Phillies - it was sure fun while it lasted!

In other news, Pip is sending me over the moon with his sweetness:

GAH!

Can you stand it???

He is really so cuddly and sweet, and always has been. But there are just some times when it's over the top, you know? Right now as I type this, he is sitting on my lap, purring like a truck.

In my FO post from yesterday, if you saw it early in the day, I said the pattern for the mitts I made was a freebie. Vera was nice enough to  let me know that when she clicked the link, the  pattern showed as being $6.00. So I'm guessing that when I saw it, there was a short-term "Free" offer that I just happened to have the timing to see. So I apologize if you were happily clicking over to what you thought was a great free pattern, and suddenly it was a paid-for pattern! As soon as Vera let me know, I edited the post - thanks to her for letting me know! (Also go to her blog today for the BEST NEWS EVER!)

Speaking of best news, next week is Halloween, which means that Thanksgiving is coming, and Christmas after that (Vera got an early Christmas present, it seems to me ❤) - it's holiday time for sure. I just love this time of year, with so many happy things going on and all of the anticipation in the air. But it does also make me realize that the year is getting pretty close to the end, and frankly that part never quite computes with me. It always seems surprising, and I don't know why because it's not like it's only an occasional occurrence ... 

I think I've said this before, but one of the best things about my job a the yarn store is that I get to knit with yarns I would not otherwise be able to afford. We all have "store projects" assigned to us that we work on when things are quiet, and then those projects (sometimes just swatches) are store samples. Right now, I'm knitting something with a yarn completely new to me, Studio Misha & Puff. Apparently this yarn has a kind of cult following in Japan, and it's flying off the shelves in places where it's being sold. It's nice and squishy, I have to say, and they have lovely colors. But it would be pricey for something like a sweater, at least for me. So I'm enjoying the chance to knit with it at work. 

Finally, a recipe link to share. Do you like apple pie, but aren't successful with pie crust most of the time? Both The Tim and I have that issue (though his crusts are sometimes really good). Well, last weekend he made this recipe for Apple Pie Bars, and OMG are they good! He was the one who made them, and according to him, they weren't too difficult (I wasn't home when he baked them, though the house still smelled wonderful when I got home!). But I can tell you that they taste just like the best apple pie you ever tried. 

And that's it for this Wednesday. I'm off to a dr appt, then a few errands on my way home. But this afternoon, I'm hoping to do some reading and knitting. I also have to figure out what I'd like to fix for dinner, but I have plenty of time for that.

Have a good "Hump Day," and take care.

Scenes From A Friday the 13th

Hello and Happy Friday the 13th, always a most excellent day!

We're a bit bleary-eyed but very happy today. We were all up later then we usually are, especially during a work week. 

Because we had to watch our Phillies win and move on to the National League Championships! It was more than worth being so tired today. And since they won at home, it was even more exciting.

Now they will play a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks for a chance to go to the World Series. You may enjoy this conversation from last night between myself and my beloved spouse - with the start point of saying that a lot of the sports announcers refer to the Diamondbacks and the "D-Backs."

The Tim: This is so exciting! But I can't believe someone would name a team the "D-Bags."

Me: No one has.

The Tim (looking puzzled): I think you might not be paying attention. They have been calling them that all night.

Me: No, they have been calling them the D-Backs, tonight and all of the time.

The Tim: It sure sounded like D-Bags to me ...

And that's another installment of When The Tim Tries To Be Involved With Sports. Thanks for tuning in. 😂

*****

This morning, The Tim headed for work (where I'm sure he'll talk sports with his co-workers, being that he knows so much), and the kitties and I got started on a few things we wanted to do before we just took the rest of the day off.

Pip would just like to get a drink of water in peace. 

Esme and Alfie are looking too innocent for their own good.

And Milo the Koodle is resting after all of the excitement of last night. And trust me, a sleeping Koodle is the best kind or Koodle. ✔

I decided that it was a good day to make chili in the crockpot. So I got things going nice and early, and by now the house is starting to smell heavenly. I tend to throw different things into my "recipe" every time - for instance, you may notice some carrots in there. I don't usually add carrots, but these were in the fridge and getting towards the end of their shelf life, so rather than waste them, I chopped them and added them to the chili. I figure it will add even more texture, which I like. On my walk, I stopped and got a nice crusty loaf of bread to have with it for dinner. I like knowing that later it will just be a matter of dishing it up. And since it's good weather for it, I think it will hit the spot, so to speak.

So there you go - nothing scary or unlucky for us today, at least not so far, and hopefully not at all. This weekend, The Tim will be setting up our new computer, so he'll be busy with that. I don't have any specific plans, other than having to work on Sunday, but that's fine with me.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and can get in some good relaxing time. Enjoy!

Monday FO Post: One Gift Finished!

Hello and Happy Monday when the Philadelphia Phillies are the National League Champions!!!!! 

Yesterday, I was at work until 4 p.m., and the game had started shortly after 2:30 p.m., so I got to see a good bit of it, and most importantly - THE BEST PART! So exciting, especially since it's been a long time coming, and as usual, the Phillies were the underdogs. (The Tim: I'm so glad they won, but now that means you will have new obnoxious nicknames for the other team, after I just got used the ones you had for the Padres. [Yes, his life is so difficult.])

Anyway, GO PHILS!!!!

Now, to the real reason for this post. I finally have completed a knitting project to show you - plus, it's a Christmas gift, so I'm well ahead of time having it ready to go.

Project: Preller Needs a Musselburgh

Pattern: Musselburgh, by Ysolda Teague

Yarns: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 Ply in the colorway Hope (striped yarn); and, Loop Sprig in the colorway Admiral (navy)

Needles: US size 3

Modifications: None

Notes: You may recall that I made one of these hats last year for a Christmas gift for Greg, husband of my niece La Liz. When I was showing it to my niece Amanda and her husband Pat, he said, "That is so cool - I want one!" Well, at the time, it was about 2 weeks before Christmas, so there was no way that was happening for last year. But I stored away the request for this year. 

Since I have been trying really hard to knit from my stash, I started by looking to see what I already had that might work for at least part of the hat. I knew I wanted to make a half-and-half type, to make it a different hat, depending on how it is worn. I found about half of a skein of the West Yorkshire Spinners yarn that I had used for a pair of socks, but I couldn't find something I liked well enough to contrast with it.

So I took the leftover skein with me to work at Loop one day to find something that I liked as the second color, and decided on the navy blue because I liked the contrast of it.

I made the Adult Large size, and although the beginning is fiddly to cast on, once you get going, it's pretty mindless and goes quickly. It's a good project if you want to watch TV because once you get past the increases at the top, it's just a whole lot o' knitting until you are ready to do the decreases!

So yes, I did buy a new skein of yarn, but a) I used half of it already, b) it will be a good contrast color for lots of other projects, and c) I used my employee discount, so it wasn't as expensive as it could have been ... 😀

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how it turned out - I think I did an even better job on this one than the first one I made, which makes sense because like most things, the more you do it, the better the result. I would recommend this pattern because it's a lot of bang for your buck, as they say. Particularly when you use two different yarns, and as a result, have 4 different ways to wear one hat.

Plus, it's Koodle approved.

'Nuff said, right?

Two Winners, But Only One Is For Week 3

Hello and I hope your weekend was a good one!  Mine was frustrating, but OK.  You may have heard that Google sent out an update for Chromebooks with a typo in it, causing users to not be able to log in.  They sent out a fix, but as of right now, my laptop has not been updated, and I need to use my laptop for work, so I will have to use the nuclear option, and wipe it clean and start all over, losing some stuff again.  I'm upset, but since I lost SO MUCH MORE when my previous laptop died, I'm kind of just numb about it now.

But overall the weekend was fine, and there's more about the best part at the end of the post.

Now to the reason most of you are here, the announcement of Week 3's winner.  Roll the drums, because the winner is:

EllenD !!!!!!

This was her response to the question about reading words, thinking they were pronounced one way, and then hearing/learning the actual pronounciation.

We had to take turns reading aloud (and I hated doing it).  I pronounced the word "pigeon""pie-gee-n" and the whole class burst out laughing.  I was so embarrassed!

Ellen, CONGRATULATIONS on being the winner this week!  When you get a chance, please send your complete name and mailing address in an e-mail to thekittyknitterATverizon.net (I promise that's  correct!).

I had so much fun finding out that all of you also had experiences similar to mine - isn't it funny how words - often even simple ones - can throw you off a cliff?  Thanks for participating. 😊

******

So I mentioned last week that I was headed out on Sunday to a baseball game with my friend Lisa.  Well, that was yesterday, and boy did we have fun!  It was absolutely wonderful to get to see and hug her in person bed catch up!  Plus it was amazing to get to see this in person again after so long:

The usher in our section was kind enough to take our picture:

The Tim: WHY does your hair look weird?

Me: Because I was super sweaty and had just taken off my hat.

The Tim: Well it looks really weird.

Me: Go away.

Aaron Nola pitched, and wow was he on point!  I the 9th inning, the Phillies were ahead 2-1, we needed only one more out to win, and a Braves hitter got a home run - at which time the manager TOOK HIM OUT OF THE GAME, much to the extreme dismay of those of us in the stands (of course, EPIC booing ensued).  But fortunately as soon as the next guy was pitching, he struck him out and we won the game!!!

I was exhausted by the time I got home,  but in the best way.  It was a wonderful day, an impressive game, and a win on top of it was the perfect way to end the weekend.

Let's hope this week will try to be as agreeable. 

***Apologies for any weird formatting or other wonkiness in this post.  I'm not that good with all of it on my tablet,  and have only so much patience at any given time to figure things out.

Stitch 'n Pitch 2015

This past Tuesday, a bunch of us attended this year's Stitch 'n Pitch game featuring the Philadelphia Phillies (yay!) vs. the New York Mets (not yay!).  The Mets are in first place, and the Phillies in last place in their division.  But nonetheless, we were undeterred in our enthusiasm.  The end result of the game was a loss by one run, but it was a good game and a wonderful time.

On my way to meet a friend at the subway, I passed a school in the neighborhood, and thought this yarn-bombing on the railing of the access ramp into the school building was pretty.

Then, while waiting for the friend, I was standing near the subway entrance next to one of the clinics of the Philadelphia Dept of Public Health.  Where I noticed for the first time ever a uniquely named garden behind the fence surrounding the parking lot.

If you look closely, you can see that the little plaque says, "STD Garden."  There are "Chlamydia Tomato", "Hepatitis Pepper," and "HIV Tomato" markers, among other similarly-named plants.  It was ... interesting ...

Anyway, I was the last one to get to the park, so of course I had to see this picture, which was supposed to indicate that they waited so long, one had nearly starved to death.

But eventually we were all there, and ready to go inside.  (I'm the one in the red shirt wearing sunglasses.)

And proceeded to take some more ridiculous photos.

Well, you get the gist of things, right?

The giveaway this year was a project bag, and I for one really like it!

(Back) 

(Front)

We really lucked out, the weather was just perfect, which is not something that usually is the case in late August in Philadelphia.  There were lots of other knitters, crocheters, embroiderers, etc. in our section, and we were a LOUD bunch if nothing else.  :-)

This is the fourth time I've gone to Stitch 'n Pitch, and each time  has been more fun than the last.  In my dream world, I'd love to go to a Pittsburgh Pirates Stitch 'n Pitch too, but like I said, that is my dream world.  In the meantime, I'm more than happy to see the Phillies, and though it's better when they win, just going to a game is enjoyable in itself.

Even if you are not a baseball fan, if you go with a bunch of friends, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll have a good time.