Congratulations to the new brides and brides-to-be! I am rather jealous. 16 years ago, Jim asked me to marry him, while he was flipping hamburgers on a BBQ. Silly fool that I was, I agreed. Not the most romantic proposal in history. :-) 6 months later we got married. It wasn't exactly the day of my dreams, but I was 12 weeks pregnant, and had been through so much pre-wedding drama (not us, other members of the wedding party) that I think elopement was looking really good at the time. For a wedding on a budget, it came off really well. And all Jim's friend who figured he would never marry are shocked that we are still together. I have never told them that the secret is that the first person to leave has to take the kids! Seriously, I suppose looking back, that it hasn't been all roses and sunshine, but it hasn't been all storm clouds and tidal waves. He stuck by me through some pretty wretched stuff, and now I am fetching and carrying for him. :-) One day at a time, and all that jazz!

Has anyone else noticed that the pink knitty box changes its message regularly? Somehow, the current one always makes me wonder if it is asking about the state of my bowels. :-)

I hate this Error 503! I wish that it would go somewhere far away, before I do! Maybe that is the intent?

Yes, it is that time again! Here is The Friday Five!

1. How long have you had a weblog? Since January 2001, when I set up my first blog on Xanga.

2. What was your first post about? I haven't a clue.

3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one? I have blueangel and another private (very dark and depressed) blogs on Xanga.com, and Scattered Marbles, which was originally called Fribble Time. I also had jannieland on Blogger, but that was just to try out Blogger, and it made me realize just how much I needed to learn.

4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else? Xanga is really easy to use, and it super for someone with little or no programing knowledge. Blogger has been OK, but I am having some problems with it. I have been looking into Grey Matter and Movable Type, but haven't made the leap yet.

5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Ummm... I read all sorts of things. Some more regularly than others. If I find someone whose style I like, I will read just about everything they have written. Journals can be interesting, but many people I read use the blog as their journal.

Here is a picture of the washcloth I knit for the exchange. I didn't spend the time to block it, which I probably should have. It would look so much nicer. The pattern was pretty much a no-brainer, or at least, it didn't require too much of my limited brain power. :-) I found the pattern at Dishcloth Boutique, page 3 It is called Friendship Chain. It seemed really appropriate anyway.


I am also knitting a shawl using a pattern from here. I am using a yarn I found at Wal-Mart (Red Heart Light & Lofty) which doesn't allow the pattern to show very well. However, it is a big cloud-like shawl, and it looks pretty good. I will try to take a picture tonight. I have one more ball of yarn to knit into it, but when you are using 15mm needles it goes really quickly!


And on the rant side, Blogger is really irritating me! I keep getting an Error 503, which they say is "Unable to load template file". I have looked for more information, and cannot figure out what the problem is. I know it is likely to be something minor, but it is driving me batty! The only thing worse is trying to move my blog from Blogspot to my own server's webpage. I might as well just bang my head against the wall. I really suspect that would produce more results!


Well, I am off to fetch and carry for my husband. His ankle is slowly returning to a more normal colour and size. It was really scary just how big and red it got. I think if you had stuck a fork in it it would have exploded! (Isn't that a pleasant image to leave you with?)

Last night I spent several hours with Jim in ER. His ankle is not getting any better, and is quite the collection of colours. So we went back in to have it checked out again, by yet another set of doctors. It would appear that he now has a danger of blood clots in his foot. And they were able to see a bone chip floating around. And... well, suffice it to say he is finally listening to me and is parked and not moving at all. I have toyed with teaching him to knit, but he is unreceptive so I might just dig out one of my half finished cross-stitch kits and let him go to town. He doesn't like cross-stitch much, but he can do it, and it might help keep his mind off not working.


ER gave me a good chance to get some work done on my FFI sweater. I was able to get several rows knit and had to stop only when I realized I hadn't brought all of my colours with me, and I needed one of the ones that is still at home. It is really looking lovely!


I also knit a dishcloth yesterday. I need to get it into the mail today. It is for an exchange on the knit with cats list. I'll post a picture later on today. For now, I have to go tend to my husband. I really wish there was a way to remove the pain and speed the healing.

This site was posted to the sockknitters list. Should you ever find yourself in need of help in translating a knitting pattern from another language go here. There are eight languages including English. Now to go back to that site that Bonne Marie suggested. Maybe I will have a clue this time. :-)