Some Call Them Sticks and String... I Call Them Sanity.

What, you're still coming here?

2006-10-20T09:06:00.001-07:00

I've moved!!! Change your links! My new address is: http://somecallthemsticks.typepad.com We'll see you there!

Happy Blogiversary!!!

2006-08-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I"ve been blogging for two years now. I've really enjoyed my stay in Blogland. I've got such great neighbors! (grin) As a gift to myself, I got myself a typepad account. I can't believe I put it off this long! It is such a great tool! So, for now I'll be working on transferring this site to that one. Make sure to change your bookmark or feed. My new address is: somecallthemsticks.typepad.com I hope to see you there! hah! Goes to show how much I know.... I just went back in my archives to double check my blogiversary date, and guess what? I was wrong! At least I'm 10 days early instead of 10 days late! We'll just extend the celebration till then. Maybe I'll make it my goal to have everything transferred to the new site by my official blogiversary....

I'm Baaaa-aaaack!

2006-08-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Whew! So I guess this has been the greatest ~~annoyance~~ test of our blog-relationship yet. But I'm back now. Okay? And I promise to never leave like that again. Really. Unless it is against my will, like this last time.... So I guess I can't really promise anything. Oh well.... Did you miss me? I've certainly missed Blogland. I hate to pop in and out, after it's been so long and all, but I have some motherly duties to attend to. Snack, Diaper, Laundry, etc. etc. Tonight is Downtown Night in Elkhart Lake, and we go every year. We can't wait until 5 o'clock, when all the festivities begin. I'm heading over to Nordic Accents in the middle of it all to pillage her collection of knit books and magazines. There's a rumor that she has one copy left of A Season's Tale by Kim Hargraeves (out of print), and it's MINE-ALL MINE! mwahahahaha! Please leave a comment, because I read all of your blogs, but my links went to the grave with my last hard drive. So I need to re-build my links. I'll farm through the more recent posts, but if you haven't commented in a while just leave one today. Thanks!!!!

We are experiencing technical difficulties

2006-07-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Like my hard-drive died. May it rest in peace. I hope to be back up, at the latest, by the end of the next week. In the mean time I'm blogging from my parents' house. I must not covet, I must not covet, I must not covet.... My dad has a really nice computer. Really nice. Now I'm off to cuddle my new niece, the latest and greatest part of my day.

It's Wednesday!

2006-06-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

All Day! Let's see, where do I start.... How about with the best? I stumbled across a knit ring called teje-teje. My favorite ones are Buenas Puntadas, Cafe con Leche, Mi vida con Malgam, Viento del Este, Manos que Tejen, and Los Suenos. But there are many many more, and I have bookmarked them all! Tim and I have been discussing my returning to school to finish my degree (a BA with a major in Spanish and a minor in ?). I planned on starting to fill out the necessary paperwork this week I asked him to seriously look into transferring to an office in a Spanish speaking country, but you all know it's been impossible for us to move even an hour south of here, let alone leave the country. Oh well, it's a nice thing to daydream about.... Last night Tim picked up our box from the garden. So I took a few shots, nothing like Cara, I've got to learn more about my camera. We have onions, scallions, lettuce, sweet peas, zucchini, snow peas, garlic scapes, summer squash, and strawberries. All organic, all local, all delicious. I forgot to post last Saturday, but here is my photo for that day: Have you ever seen such a bright rainbow? It was so beautiful, and it seemed to be a triple rainbow. I can see two on the photo, but in real life there was a very faint one (maybe a reflection) between them. What luck to have a rainbow my first "Saturday" participating! (I really did take it last Saturday.) This afternoon we're off to see Mr Tom Pease, my daughter's new hero. He's giving 3 concerts today at Mead Public Library at 9:30, 11, and 2. We love his music, they are the only CDs Tim and I don't get sick of listening to in the car. He's hilarious. Iris's fav is the Belly-button song, she sings it non-stop. Last, but not least, I started the chevron linen hand towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting. No photos, because that would make sense, being a knitting blog and all. Tomorrow, when I have more progress to show. I absolutely LOVE this book! Not only are there great projects, it's a great read. It's the first time in a long time I sat down to read a knitting book. It may even force me to buy something at W*l-M*rt, my knitting group has threatened to follow me and post pics on the net. We'll see....

I guess I'm pretty happy anyway.

2006-06-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

You Are 92% Happy

It's unlikely that you know anyone happier than you. You know how to be happy, no matter what life throws at you.

How Happy Are You?

No se....

2006-06-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

Estoy tan animada, porque encontre un ring de blogs de tejendo en Espanol. Es comico, porques estoy hablando cada dia de completando mi titulo de Espanol. Estudiaba Espanol por 7 anos, pero cuando nos casemos y nos mudemos aqui, no conoci ningunos hispanohablantes. Ahora tengo mi amiga Maria, y hablamos cada dia, pero 13 anos han pasado y mi Espanol es horrible! (como no puedes saber esto, leyendo mis errores....) Necesito regresar a la universidad, necesito completar mi titulo, y quiero mudarnos a Espana, o Costa Rica, o Ecuador, o algun lugar donde tienen una oficina de Compuware donde mi marido esta trabajando. Pero si nos conoces, sabes que tenemos problemas mudandonos una hora al sud de aqui, menos saliendo el pais.

Busy Busy Weekend! (last weekend)

2006-06-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

I suppose, it must have been busy if I blog about it 4 days later! Tim took Friday off and we headed "up north" to the Green Bay Railroad Museum to see Thomas! It was the epoch of Harrison's 3 years on this earth, he was on cloud 9 the whole day! There were a ton of activities to keep the kids busy, and everything was reasonably priced. I highly recommend it! Unfortunately, while we were riding on the vintage 1917 passenger coach, which was full of spiders, I think Harry got bit. By the time we got home, the bite had started to swell and was the size of a silver dollar, with a purplish center. By the next morning, half of his shin was swollen, and the center was a yellowish color. I took him in to see his doctor, who just said it was just a nasty bite. I guess she has seen a lot of them this year. He was already on Clariten (antihistimine) and Augmenten (antibiotic) for a sinus thing he developed earlier in the week, so we were fine. Oh, and she mentioned it would get worse before it got better. Which it did. Fortunately for him, by Monday it was pretty much gone. Whew! Then my dad went into the Hospital Friday night. He has Cellulitis in his leg (he had a few moles removed earlier in the week.) They wanted to keep him, but he hates hospitals. So he went home... and was back Saturday night. They let him go home Tuesday. Cellulitis can be life threatening, so we were worried, to say the least. While I was visiting my dad Sunday morning, our Ford Escort (affectionately called "the Beast") decided to give up the ghost in the hospital's parking lot. So we are back down to one car. That's okay with me, it's summer, we can get around. The Beast was a tremendous blessing while it was with us, but won't be too sorely missed. That evening we had a Tornado Warning. "Cleaning the Basement" has moved higher on our to-do list after spending half an hour in the closet under the basement stairs. Yuck! We went up on our 2nd story porch afterwards, to look at the sky (like any intelligent adults would do) and I was "fortunate" enough to get a photo of a funnel cloud! It was definitely moving in a spiral motion, but slowly. Within 2 minutes it slowed to a stop and turned into wisps of clouds. I know I heard there is some connection between changes in barometric pressure and women going into labor, and now we have proof! My sister went into labor about half an hour before the funnel-cloud producing storm went through! Alicia Ellen was born early Monday morning!!!! Isn't she beautiful?? She is such a little peanut! Well, not so little-she was 8 lbs 8 oz, and 22 inches long! (My sister is 6 ft tall, and I think her hubby is 6'5"). About an hour or two after birth they discover Alicia has a Cleft Palate. Pretty much all of her soft palate and most of her hard palate are missing (basically the entire roof of her mouth). So we've spent the last 3 days learning everything we can about that. She will be just fine. And they will fix everything with one or more surgeries after she is a year old. Before she even realizes she's a human being, it will all be fixed. My sister is amazing, as well as her hubby, and they are doing a spectacular job. Alicia is healthy, and the "only" thing really affected for now is her eating. She is a little barracuda though, and seems to have adapted marvelously to the special bottles they will be using. My sis is a real trooper, and true to our heritage, producing more milk than a Holstein Cow. Which is perfectly perfect for little Al! The only knitting I've done in the past few days is this. For Alicia of course! I'm going to write up a pattern, because it turned out too darn cute! (I've got to learn how to adjust the flash on our camera!) I used Manos Cotton Stria, and size 5 needles. (Hah! I bet you thought there'd be no knitting content!) So now I'm enjoying a boring week of nothing but cleaning, cooking, and my favorite form of therapy, KNITTING!

My Little Shawl Addiction

2006-06-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is the latest in my little shawl addiction. Another Flower Basket from Evelyn Clark. This one is out of Misti Alpaca in Moss Green. I got the yarn from a Secret Pal. I can't remember if it was SP 3, 4, or 5, but I do remember who gifted this wonderfully soft laceweight! I'd like to make this one a few repeats larger than my last Flower Basket, but I am unsure how much more yarn that will consume. I only have these two balls. Right now I'm on repeat 7. Actually, I'm not sure how many repeats I'm even supposed to do. I know it's 6 or 7, I'll have to dig around for the real pattern. I copied it into my graph notebook, it's a little bigger that way and easier to see. (I'm getting old, or blind, or both!) But now I have to find the original. I seem to have enough yarn left for another couple repeats. I think. It's deceiving, because each row takes more yarn than the last. The pattern says if you want to make it bigger, just do 2-3 more repeats of the lower basket pattern, but it doesn't say "but then you'd better buy more yarn!" Is that assumed, or will I have enough??? I don't want to repeat the Birch mistake. Oh well, if this is my biggest problem today, I'll be fine. I'm still working on this other project, and then the next shawl in line is this. I think I might even know what the shawl/scarf after that will be. I stumbled upon Trinket yesterday. I can tell it wants to come live with me. Isn't ~~Cracksilk~~ Kidsilk Haze ~~addictive~~ wonderful?

TNNA

2006-06-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Shhhhhhhh, I have a headache, from a "yarnover". (not in the technical sense of the word, I mean something similar to a hangover, except it comes from binge-ing on yarn....) (and I think TNNA would qualify as a "3 day binge.) For those of you that have never attended a TNNA trade show I'll try to explain it. Basically anyone that sells anything to do with yarn goes and sets up a booth there. Now, you'll know from other markets, like Stitches, that a conventional booth space is 10 x 10 feet. TNNA had booths numbered starting at 100 and went up to 11,000! Most companies use 2 spaces, but some used more. For example, Rowan/Jaeger/Nashua used 17 spaces. This is a wholesale event attended by 1) Companies selling things (like Rowan, Dale, Unicorn book distributors), 2) Buyers buying things (like retailers, your local yarn shop), 3) Designers (promoting, and looking for the latest yarns for their new books, patterns, etc.), and 4) Teachers (like me!) The Yarn companies had their wares displayed creatively (my favorites were: Alchemy, Rowan, and Dale of Norway, Mountain Colors, oh ok, all of them were my favorite!) And you really had to be careful not to make eye contact lest you be drawn in and subjected to the seller's whole 'shpeal. It was HUGE! My feet started hurting by the second row, and it really took an entire 3 days to walk thru it all. And yes, by the end of it, I know it's hard to believe... I was sick of looking at yarn! (gasp!) I know, unbelievable, but it's true. The first day, you want to just want to throw it all on the floor and wallow in it, the second day you re-visit your favorites, and the third day you go back to ~~the second half~~ see whatever you've missed. Photos are not allowed. Otherwise I'd have taken thousands. I only have two to even prove I was in Indianapolis this past weekend: I could have been blogger-paparazzi and taken photos of Melissa Leapman, Vickie Howell, Anne Modesitt, Amy Singer, Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Kay and Ann, and more (everybody was there).... but I thought that would be in bad taste. So, you get pics of the Fountain and the RCA dome. Sorry. I even had intentions of a sock-mascot for the trip. Unfortunately, the poor sock was shoved in my purse when we arrived, and didn't resurface again until we got home. Poor sock. I got to spend a little time with Lorna, who will from now on be referred to as "My Angel of Clarity." It was a great weekend. I really feel focused on what I want to do with my whole "knitting career" (stop laughing, I can dream, can't I?). I feel as if a millstone has been lifted from my neck, and the pressure I place on myself is gone. Life Lessons Learned. As far as my opinion of the future of knitting, based on this show, I can offer the following: Novelty yarns are no longer center stage. They are taking their proper place (IMHO) as fringe and embellishments. And may I say, gorgeously used this way. There is even a trend it seems to use more and more natural fiber in the novelty yarns. Silk, and other luxury fibers, are center stage. As hand-crafters we are finally deciding that Knitting is what we love, it's our hobby and we're proud of it! We're learning how to not be afraid to spend a little money (for goodness sakes, look at what a golfer spends!). Look for things like Buffalo, Bactrian Camel, and others to become more mainstream. Ribbon. Ribbon is big. Hand-Dyed Silk ribbon, Merino Ribbon, ribbon, ribbon, ribbon. Beautiful Ribbon. All found at Your Local Yarn Shop in the next month or so. Excuse me, but I think I need to go lie down in a dark room for a bit.

Do you know what today is???

2006-06-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well, besides being the day before I leave for TNNA. Remember this day? Well, today was the last day of school. I put her in the same outfit as the first day of school. (It's her favorite dress.) She does have a different back-pack though. And the shoes are considerably grubbier (if that's even a word.) They had a bridge-crossing ceremony, a mini-graduation. I didn't even cry. I was too busy snappin' photos like I was a member of the paparazzi. Here she is, walking out the door. Next year she'll be in Kindergarten, at the Elementary School with all of the Big Kids. Afterwards, we went out for a special lunch, Iris' choice of restaurant. Can you guess where we ended up? Why, Il Ritrovo of course! Iris loves the Fonduta al Forno. It's basically a crock of gooey melted mozza with herby and saucy goodness, draped with prosciutto sliced so thin it's transparent. All of this is nestled in a bed of baby greens tossed with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls, and a vinaigrette made with balsamic vinegar that has been aged 25-35 years. It's eaten with toasted, homemade Italian bread. The girl has good taste! I'm bursting with pride! Now pray that I'll survive the summer!

Hello!!!

2006-06-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! Hello!!! Hello!!!! Hello!!! Wow, quite an echo over here, huh? I'm still alive, although from all internet activity one would think I fell of the face of the earth.... Honestly, the first 2/3 of last month, I was being internet-lazy and home-diligent. I decided, after annual birthday reflection, to become a disciplined person. I implemented a cleaning schedule and new budget. I was gaining ground on laundry, I was making a weekly menu. I made it to the YMCA more often than in the previous 3 months. Plus I did some spring-cleaning things like shampooed my living room carpet, washed a few walls. I redecorated the bathroom. My schedule was kept lean, and my focus was my family. It all went to pot last week during Dear Hubby's week of vacation. For some reason, we are useless together when it comes to disciplined living. My house is messy, the dishes are dirty, I'm canceling the Y-membership, budget? ( or more like what budget?), and now I'm back to blogging. There you go. As far as knitting, it's been blah lately. Putzing here, putzing there. Nothing major or serious. I'm hoping to reverse that by starting a Little White Lies design sweater this week. It looks like it will be the perfect jolt. Nice gauge, a little lace to keep things interesting, and a crochet edging to really livin' it up in the home stretch. I might be over optimistic, but I think it will go quickly. I'll have a lot of time to work on it this weekend at the TNNA trade show in Indianapolis. I'll be there Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Lorna and I are planning on bumping into one another at some point during the weekend, but other than that, my weekend is open and free. If you're going too, it'll be easy to find me, I'll be the one pushing my bottom jaw around in a wheel barrow. From what I hear, this trade show is kinda a big thing. I'll give a full report on Monday. So, for better or worse, I'm back.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-05-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

That's right, today's my birthday. 31 years old. Tim and Iris brought these home for me last night. I also got a balloon, card, and some jewelry! Have you ever seen this before? I'll bet most of you can guess what it is!A needle gauge! I He found it at The Sow's Ear in Verona. I love it! It looks like an abstract artsy pendant, almost tribal. Actually, it is kinda tribal, isn't it? The tribe of the Knitters. And now for Midwest Masters! What a great time! Uni and I started out late on Saturday morning. An hour and a half late. My first class was a Color Theory class with Ruth Lantz. It was really great. It was like sitting around the kitchen table with a bunch of girl-friends. Ruth has such a relaxed, yet structured teaching style. Her handouts are excellent! And the class was so much fun! 6 hours (well, 4.5 hours for me) of playing with color, markers, scissors, magazines, and all. I learned a ton about color. I made an announcement in class that I would be going to Zuppa's for lunch, and asked if anyone would want to go with. A group of six decided to go, including the teacher. That's when I remembered that I had Tim's car, and it hadn't been cleaned in a while, in fact it was kind of gross. Well, Ruth and Sharon rode with me, and they were both very gracious. I spread Tim's coat over something I assume was spilled ice cream, and she rode to Zuppa's and back that way. She was very gracious! Isn't her jacket amazing! It is crocheted out of some silk merino from La Lana in Taos. That night was the fashion dinner. Amy Detjen emceed. I sat with Chris from Stumbling over Chaos, and two very famous non-blogging blog readers, Carla and Jodee. We all went back to my room to knit a while after the dinner. Unfortunately our knitting time was interrupted after an untimely incident (my underwire broke! I must have been knitting too fast!) So I had to cut it short while I went to Kohl's for a replacement. That night I got to sleep in a very lovely hotel room, ALONE! Uni even had her own bed. It was glorious! And after a good nights sleep, I started out with Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen in E.P.S. updated. I highly recommend it! They are just a wealth of knowledge, and you always walk away knowing so much more than just the assigned topic. They really make you feel like you can do anything. Meg looked at my Olympic sweater and said I did a really good job. I needed a photo to preserve the moment for all posterity. Uni loved the treats we got in class. My afternoon class was with Ruth again. We discussed using cables and lace together. Again, great class. She is just a born teacher, and she is so talented. Everything she designs is so current, yet absolutely classic. It was great to hear her explain things. We had beginners and people that had been knitting 50 years in that class, and we all walked away empowered, not overwhelmed, and everyone learned something new. Kay was in the class with me. I adore Kay, she works at Yarns by Design. I always look forward to seeing her! I left right after my last class. I was mentally and physically exhausted. As I was leaving the city, I saw something laying in the road. It was a wet, white lump. (It had been raining all weekend) Not 50 feet away was another. This one was green. I gasped, they must be someone's beautiful sweaters from this weekend! I was so moved, I pulled my car over on the side of the road and put on my hazards. Cars were whizzing by at 60 mph. I waited until it was safe and ran to the middle of the highway to rescue the first sweater. When I reached it, I realized it wasn't a sweater. It was a hand crocheted afghan. I rescued the other lump, another afghan. They were beautifully done. I folded them neatly and laid them on the side of the road. I could only hope whoever lost them would return for them. I felt terrible leaving them, but I consoled myself with the thought that they meant a lot to whoever lost them, and this way they might back-track and find them. If I took them home, they'd never be reunited. If anyone you know lost two beautiful afghans, you'll find them at the intersection of 114 east and hwy N just out of Neenah. (There were a pair of wet and soggy pink undies on the ground in the parking lot where I went to turn around, but I left those there. They weren't hand-knit.)

and the Winner is.....

2006-05-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

None other than... Christine at Shteeni's Knits! I guess I was a little over-dramatic, I don't know how, but there were only 199 pins in that thing. I guess when you are searching your house high and low for sharps, pinning and measuring and pinning for almost 2 hours, it seems like more. As for Midwest Masters, it was a lot of fun! Yarns by Design always puts together such great weekends! I have a lot of pics, and tons to share, but right now I have to feed my children lunch. I'll post more later. Other excitement this weekend, Iris' guppies had babies Friday evening. We started with 8 (I'm guess there were even more before we noticed) and we are now down to 5. They got moved to their own tiny 1 gallon tank. I had to put a piece of paper toweling behind them so you could even see them. I took the picture with my new camera, I'm lovin' it! Like I said, more later....

Whew! (sigh) Birch is done!

2006-04-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here she is, all pinned out! It's huge! In the pic, from the bottom corner of the shawl up to the upper right corner of the pic is the diagonal corners of my king size bed. It took a trillion pins, seriously. I used all of my pins, and then I dug out the pins I have from my grandmother. Then when those were gone, I use all the sewing needles I could find (about four packs.) When those were gone, I found some hat pins, used those. Then I found a tomato, with more pins. I used up those too, even the ones holding the felt leaves on. I used Every. Single. One. I wonder if my grandmother every thought her granddaughter would be thanking her for saving every single pin/needle/skinny-sharp-object she every came across in her entire 85 years (even the crooked ones), a year and a half after she was gone. A legacy of pins. I soaked her for 20 minutes with some Eucalan in luke warm water. Then I rolled her up in some towels and danced on her (that felt good.) And by the time I finished blocking her out (2 hours later) she felt dry, so I spritzed her with a little more water, opened the bedroom windows and shut the door. So how many pins do you think are in this thing? I know, let's have a contest! Leave your guess in the comments. You'll have through the weekend, I'll see who's closest on Sunday night when I get back from my weekend of Yarn Fun. The winner will get a skein of Knitpicks Dye-Your-Own fingerling/sock yarn and some packets of ~~Kool-Aid~~ dye. Tomorrow I will be getting up at 5:30 so I can leave by 6:30 so I can be in time for my class at 8. That's right! Midwest Masters is here!!! I'm starting off with Tricks to working and designing with Color with Ruth Lantz. Then Sunday I'll take E.P.S. updated with Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen, and in the afternoon I'm signed up for Xs and Os, with Ruth Lantz again. Will anyone else from blogland be there?

ACK!!!!!!!

2006-04-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!! I have only 3 repeats left to go on Birch, and I RAN OUT OF YARN!!!! Seriously! I mean, seriously!!! I could just spit nails. Update: I just called Bahr Creek, and they have 2 more balls left in this color. Thank goodness it's Thursday (knitting night tonight) I'll be able to finish it tonight and block it tomorrow. I want to be able to wear it to Midwest Masters this weekend!

Knitting and knitting and knitting...

2006-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The first and last 6 inches are always the worst! I have 129 sts still on the needle. According to the pattern, I will be decreasing 10 sts every 8 rows. If my calculations are correct, that means I still have roughly 96 rows to go. (129-the last three sts of the last repeat=126, oh heck, round that to 120. 120/10 sts dec. every repeat=12. 12 x 8 rows per repeat= 96. For those of you who wonder how I got that number....) I know that the last few rows will have less than 10 sts, and the rows are becoming shorter every other row, but still!!! My devotion to this project is waning. The repitition is rubbing my patience raw. I still love it, and I'm still plugging away at it. Other interesting facts for this project are: I'm on my third ball of Kidsilk Haze in Jelly (and I highly doubt I'll finish it). For needles I'm using US sz 8 Crystal Palace Bamboos. My addis were too slick. My LYS is waiting for their shipment of Lantern Moon circs! I can't wait to try them. The next shawl I have in mind is another Flower Basket out of Silke Tweed. This little skein has been teasing me for days now. I had my sock class on Saturday. Never mind that I already have a few "in process" sock for demos, no, that wasn't good enough. I was itching to cast on just one more.... Isn't it pretty? I think I'll dub it my "Orange Dreamsicle" sock. (Ignore the little bit of green in it, it's not "Moldy Dreamsicle", it's "Lime and Dreamsicle" or something like that.) Do you think it would be too weird if I took it to the YMCA with me this morning and knit on it while I'm on the treadmill? I have such a hard time walking slow enough to keep my heartbeat low enough to be in the "fat burning" zone. Maybe if I'm paying attention to my knitting, it'll help. As long as I don't trip and go flying off the thing....

Tax Return = Stash Enhancement

2006-04-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Two skeins of Trekking XXL, colors 136 and 131, Recycled Banana Fiber Yarn (silk made from bananas?) and two skeins of laceweight Soy Silk by Pastimes. The purpose of the sock yarn is obvious, and the banana sock will become crocheted sandals. But I don't know what to do with the Soy Silk. There were only two skeins of each colorway, and each skein is only 530 yards. It is super thin. Does anyone have any ideas? I don't think I'll be able to make a shawl from it, maybe a stole or scarf? And here is the progress on Birch. I'm down to about 200 sts per row. I think that means I'm a third way done in length, but probably more than half done in the number of sts left to knit. Hooray! I love it, love it, love it! So far, potty training has been a challenge. The first two days were great, the last two were terrible. We're going to hang in there for now. I think I'll give it a few weeks. I hope he catches on soon.... Check out my Knit Group's blog, I actually updated it!

One little meme.....

2006-04-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have time for one little meme.... Name five places, other than your house or a knitting store, where you have knit: (honestly, it would be harder to think of 5 places I haven't knit!) 1) In the dentist's chair 2) McDonald's playland 3) The Movie Theater (I don't remember which movie, but I do remember the project!) 4) At a rock concert 5) At a red light (on several different occasions) Thanks Vicki, and Kat!

Get on Board the Potty Train!

2006-04-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

We have jumped aboard the Potty train, and I don't anticipate being back to blog before Saturday. I'll spend the week sitting next to Harry, while he sits on his little throne. 3 jelly beans every #1, and a Take-Along Bob the Builder team member for every #2. (We needed major incentive, hopefully this will work.) On the upside, I'm spending a lot of time sitting and waiting (you know how it goes) and Birch is keeping me company. I'll post some photos on Saturday to show our progress (of Birch, I don't think you want to see our other progress!). Have a good week, and wish us luck!

The laughter may begin....

2006-04-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

Birch, sadly, missed her Easter debut. I did manage to use up an entire ball of Kidsilk Haze (229 yds is nothing to sneeze at), which means it's about a third done, and I'm two repeats into the second ball. It became evident Friday evening that I was perhaps delusional and maybe a little over-confident setting an Easter goal. But I knit on. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I accepted defeat. At which point I stopped speaking to Birch, and shoved her into my bag. We haven't spoken since. I'm feeling a little guilty about that, and thought about pulling her out this afternoon for some quality time, but I'm still too upset. I have a class tonight (Cast-ons. Usually I'm crunched for time in that class, but tonight I only have one student. And we pushed back the start time 15 minutes. It'll be a nice relaxing evening.) Maybe after class we (the shawl and I) will be able to make up and move on. I guess I can accept some of the blame, I mean, Birch can't exactly knit herself....

Easter!

2006-04-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is a totally non-knitting post. Just an excuse to show off my kids! (Wait, there isn't a pic of Harry, I guess it's just "kid") Easter is the most important Holiday for Christians, and we like to make a big deal of it. I also use it as an excuse to dress my little girl like a doll. The night before Easter, Iris looked like this. Because every mother-daughter relationship needs one bad experience with curlers, right? At this point she still thought they were hilarious. She never put up a fuss, but half of them were out of her hair by morning. That night, mommy & daddy put the Easter baskets together and hid them. (We don't do the Easter Bunny. My mother thinks we are terrible parents for this, that we are robbing them of all the fun of childhood, but who need a giant rabbit with a thing for eggs when you have an Amazing God that sent His only son to die for everything you ever did wrong so you can spend an eternity in the most Glorious Perfect Heaven? Not to mention the whole Raising from the dead on the Third Day?!? And it Really Happened! What can be more exciting and "magical" than that???) The next morning we decided Harrison's cold was too bad to go to church, so Tim stayed home with him while Iris and I went to church. Our Church holds Easter services here. It is so incredibly beautiful. We sat in the balcony (for most of the time, it's hard for a little person to sit through an hour sermon, so we took a little walk half way thru.) Iris said to one of her little friends "The Lord is Risen!" to which her friend (4 yrs old?) replied "He is Risen indeed!" Too cute! After a very yummy lunch at my parents', we headed home. It was a good day.

Pirate Booty & Project Spectrum

2006-04-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

The pirate booty has arrived! It turns out that my unbelievably creative Pirate Pal was none other than ~~Allison~~ Graybeard of Perknitious! I can't believe the thought and detail that she put into this! Especially my new buddy "Pirate Lil". Lil even has a story. Listen to this: She used to be a sweet little girl named Lilac, but when the Pirate ship of Capt. Bill, First Mate Phil, and deck-swabber Will pulled into town, she couldn't resist the pull of their eye-patch-wearing, tattoo-sporting life on the high seas. She packed her warmest scarf, shortened her name, and signed on as lookout. She likes to yell "MAN OVERBOARD!!!" Everything was pirate themed, down to the tissue paper and ribbon. She made a gazillion of little origami stars (because stargazing is the best part of a pirate ship) and had me smiling all afternoon. As far as Project Spectrum, I've been holding off posting, because I was going to gather all of my yellow and orange yarn like I did for March. Except I don't have any. Well, I have some. I have had six skeins of Rowan's All Season's Cotton in a nice mellow gold color. It's had nine lives. It was a poncho, it was another sweater, and most recently it was the Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Except it was too big. I didn't want to show you a sweater that was going to be ripped out anyway, so I ripped it first. But then I didn't want to show you a pile of yarn, you've already seen that. So I cast on the correct number of stitches (thank you Edie Eckman and Where do you get those numbers?) and knit up to the armholes. Well, everyone knows that once you've knitted to the armholes you're half way done. So I thought I might as well finish it. So I did. (Except for the buttons/beads.) I still had some left, so I found something that would use up a little of what was left. Meet Uni: She's taking over the third floor of the doll house. That is the sum total of my yellow/orange yarn. Pathetic, huh? So lets move onto GREENS! I'll save the total stash pic for May 1st, but I'll show you what I've started: BIRCH and I plan to have it done for Sunday. Stop laughing, I can too.

Ruffles is finished!

2006-04-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Ruffles from Scarf Style Yarn: Classic Elite Lush, 2 skeins plus what was left from the hat (maybe 1/4 of a skein?) Needles: Addi Turbos 5mm (US 8) This is a very cute scarf, especially for a little girl. I made it to go with her hat, which is a smaller version of one by Maggie Jackson. I'll cast on some mittens sometime soon, as soon as I figure out what I want them to look like. This is a picture of the top of the hat. The last third of this scarf seemed to grow at an excruciatingly slow pace, but now that it's done I feel as if it wasn't too long at all. I used this project to practice a few techniques. For starters, knitting backwards. (You can find a great explanation of this in Latvian Dreams by Joyce Williams.) I also tried Combination knitting (see Anne's site) and yarn-over short rows. It's narrow, so you get lots of practice. Iris likes it, and she didn't complain of itching at all during the photo shoot. Hopefully that means she'll wear it next year. She might get to wear it a few times this year yet. You can tell from this picture, where she is standing in one of the flower beds in the front of the house (note the lack of flowers), that it isn't all that warm here. As I've been strolling through blogland this week, I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's stashes for the 2006 Flash your Stash project. I plan on participating, even though I just started taking pictures yesterday. I didn't have my yarn entirely organized the same way I wanted to have it in the photos, so it's taking some time. It's a good excuse to move some things around. And last but not least, I registered for Midwest Masters today. I'm very excited about the classes I'm taking. I signed up for Tricks to Working and Designing with Color and X's and O's with Ruth Lantz, and then E.P.S. updated with Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen. I can't wait!!!

Swappin' Pirate Booty, Arrrrrrrgh!

2006-04-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

And now for something a little "Piratical".....

My pirate name is:

Red Anne Flint

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

I joined the Pirate Booty swap, oh... ions ago, over at Nipper's. It sounded cute, and since it was a one time thing, that didn't require me to knit anything for anyone (that always takes forever) I thought I'd sign up. In typical ~~Amy Lu~~ Red Anne Flint fashion, I'm mailing out my booty today, 3 days late. But how much fun is a Pirate themed swap??? Our rules were to send: 1) Something made 2) Something stash-y 3) Something to eat 4) Something bought specifically with your person in mind 5) And of course, something piratical One thing can fall under several categories, for instance, Chocolate coins are both to eat and "piratical". I'm thinking my homemade stitch markers made with faceted beads are homemade and "piratical". (Because they look like jewels, pirates like jewels, right? That one's not too far fetched?) The person I'm sending all the booty to is really really fun, and without revealing too much, seems to like the colors red and grey. So the something stash-y was bought with her in mind, the Lux Tweed is red and grey. However, I don't feel done yet, and I think I might stop at Target on the way to the post office, and look for a couple more #3's and #5's. Avast mateys, excuse me, but it's Monday, and I need to go and swab the deck! Arrrrrrgh!

I love making dinner for my family!

2006-04-01T18:07:00.002-08:00

I love making homemade food to warm my family's tummies. Tonight we had Chicken Potpie and Cake. But wait, what is today again? APRIL FOOL'S!!! It may look like Chicken Potpie, but in reality it is Vanilla Pudding with Starbust and Jolly Rancher Chewy Candies (Peas, Carrots, and Corn), Dried Mango cut up (Chicken), and Bananas (Potatoes). The Crust is just a Pie Crust. And the cake? Well, that would be meatloaf baked in two 8 inch round pans, frosted with mashed potatoes. Looks yummy, doesn't it? I think I've traumatized my children for life. Iris got the joke, Harrison was disgusted. My friend Kari came and helped, and we traumatized her son too. He's Harrison's age. Her daughter, Alana, thought it was hilarious though. She claims she'll never eat dinner at my house again, but I don't believe her. This was the best April 1st I've had in a long, long time! What did you do for April Fools? (Oh, and a "p.s." This isn't the piratey thing, you'll have to wait only one more day for that, I promise)

Last minute self-imposed deadlines....

2006-03-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

I read somewhere (I think in Bonne Marie's blog) that a scarf should be as long as the recipient is tall. If this is so, Iris' scarf is done! This is the Ruffles scarf from Scarf Style. I love the way it looks, but it reminded me why I don't do scarves. It's repetitive. It's repetitive. It's repetitive. It's repetitive. It's repetitive. But I love it. It's very girly. I made it out of Classic Elite Lush. I think I'm going to finish the ball. I wanted it to wrap around her neck twice, but on second thought, once looks like enough. Do you like the "pouty" look? When Iris smiles, she tends to do it 5 yr old style and pulls her lips so tight, it looks like she doesn't have any lips at all. So I told her to "pout a little". I think she has a future in the modeling business, don't you? She's wearing her favorite Sock Monkey jammies (it's spring break, we can still be in our jammies at 10:30 am, right?) During this shot that she mentioned the scarf seems a little itchy. Hopefully some Eucalan will take care of that. So, if I keep everyone in their jammies till lunchtime, I'll be able to finish the scarf this morning, so I can start the mittens this afternoon. Tonight is knit-night, and I can go early, so hopefully the mittens will be finished by midnight. Or at the latest tomorrow. Then I will have officially met my goal of finishing this project this month! Project Spectrum starts April 1st with yellows and oranges. I can't wait! I had to share the photo of Harrison, he couldn't resist popping in too. He's such a ham! Check back tomorrow for something a little more Piratey! Arrrrrgh!

Photofest 2006

2006-03-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

So I decided to sit down and catch up on my blog reading today, and found that I was linked in both Vicki and Roberta's blogs! I better give people something new to look at! I've been "saving up" for the past few ~~days~~ weeks and there's no day like today! So here we go: In the last knitting related post, I was working on my mitered square bag. Anita was wondering what the pattern was. Well, that's an interesting story. Short version-it's a knock-0ff of a Vivian Hoxbro bag. Long version-At last spring's Midwest Masters dinner I sat next to a very nice woman with a really cool bag. It was made with mitered squares and had a very cool draw-string top. I asked her where she got the pattern and she said she made the bag in one of Ms. Hoxbro's classes. Apparently, she doesn't offer this particular pattern for sale, you have to take the class. So I went to her web-site to see if she had anything nearby in the near future. No luck. I was disappointed but I just figured one day Ms. Hoxbro and I might cross paths, and then I would make this really cool bag. Then I ran into ~~the bag~~ the very nice woman again at Stitches Midwest. We were both headed to our cars, and I only got to ~~see the bag~~ talk to her for a few minutes again. Life moved on, but I couldn't get that bag out of my head. I couldn't wait for a class, and I was smart enough to figure it out, right? So I "rented" Ms. Hoxbro's book from the library (bad experience, late charges, very expensive) and learned all about mitered squares. I started playing around with some color pencils & a calculator, and voila! I had my version of the bag. ( Which I won't share on the off chance I actually got it right. Copyright issues and such, but really out of my respect for a fellow designer.) But I will share the pattern for the "string" in it. A friend showed it to me. Cast on 5 sts. Row 1: k3, yf, sl 2 purlwise. Turn work. Row 2: k3, yf, sl 2 purlwise. Repeat rows 1 & 2 until strap is desired length. yf=yarn forward. It just means bring the yarn to the front of your work between the sts. When you turn your work, it will be in the back. Since then I've knit two furry (also felted) Easter baskets out of Manos del Uruguay and Fizz held together. They are at the shop, and I forgot to take a picture after they were felted. The pattern for those is in The Second Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi. Currently I'm knitting a baby hat and pair of booties out of Rowan's Denim for my sister's husband's best friend's wife's baby shower. (Got that?) (Basically, for the guy I stood up with in my sister's wedding. He and his wife are expecting, but they're not sure what. I mean, they know it's a baby, it's not a puppy or anything, but they don't know if it's a boy or a girl. Everything she registered for is yellow. I wanted something a little trendy, so I went with denim. Iris had denim booties from Hanna Andersson that I loved. I'm sharing the love.) I plan on putting a button on the top of the hat, and I'm going to crochet a removeable flower to fit over the button. That way if it's a girl, the hat will look girlie. If it's a boy, the button will be cute. And I can't post without mentioning that my own baby turned 5 years old Wednesday! I feel like it's a huge milestone. She isn't my baby anymore. She'll little (but I can't say that out loud, according to Iris she is "big" now) but she's not a baby. I put her hair in a bun for swimming class last night, and she looked so grown up, long, lean, pretty. Not to mention she discovered not one--but three loose teeth this week! (I'm not being gradually eased into this growing-up thing) She's definitely a little girl. We were in charge of snack at preschool on Thursday, because of her birthday, and there are new rules banning sweets. We decided on fresh fruit, but it needed to be "special" (according to Iris). Then I got my Family Fun magazine and found this on page 70. I love it! It brings a whole new meaning to "fruit basket". We served it with our favorite fruit dip: 1 8 oz. pkg Cream Cheese, 1 jar marshmallow fluff, and 2-3 tablespoons orange juice. (That's not too sweet *grin*) Happy Birthday Iris!

Too Funny!

2006-03-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

For wives of computer geeks everywhere:

Purling Back Backwards

2006-03-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

I started a mitered bag a while ago, but put it down for while when ~~I got bored with it~~ other things came up. I love the concept of knitting a "patchwork" bag without sewing seams or weaving in ends. I don't love miles and miles of nothing but garter stitch, even though I like the way it looks. When the Project Spectrum knit along came up, I thought it would be a great excuse to work on a rainbow themed bag, so I dug it out. To hold my interest this time, I'd have to spice things up a bit. I'm already working with every color under the sun, so I'll have to jazz up the technique. What better way to make me pay attention than to knit backwards! Now, "What exactly is knitting backwards?" you may ask. It's simply knitting your stitches from the right needle to the left needle. In "normal" knitting our sts move from the left needle to the right needle. Then we turn our work, and move the sts from the left needle to the right needle again. Knitting backwards eliminates the need to turn your work. The right side of your project is always facing you. You can find an explanation of knitting back backwards in Joyce William's Latvian Dreams book. The following is an explanation of Purling back backwards, so you can knit garter stitch. First knit one row as usual, from your left needle to your right needle. Don't turn your work at the end of the row. Instead: Holding your yarn in front (like when purling) insert the tip of your left needle into the first st on the right needle from between the first and second sts, back to front. Then wrap your yarn around the tip of your left needle counter clockwise. And back the needle out of the first st on the right needle. Slide the right needle first st off of the right needle, and you have your first st on the left needle. Then repeat across row. When finished, move yarn to the back of your work and knit across as usual. It feels awkward at first, but quickly becomes comfortable. Are my instructions easy to understand? Are the pictures bright enough? Do you need anything clarified? Leave a comment and I'll be sure to fix it/explain it/ show it better. Have a great day!

Project Spectrum

2006-03-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

This month is the start of Project Spectrum! Lolly has become a beacon of hope for those that feel purposeless since the end of the Olympics. She has come up with a six month knit along that is structured without being confining, revolving around Color. I think it's quite a clever idea. What a sneaky way to get me to do some stash-busting! Speaking of which, I dove into my stash this morning and pulled out all of my Reds and Pinks for March. Don't you think it'll make a nice centerpiece? I even got out a few Finished Objects, can you identify them? Starting on the left there is a Manos hat, my Weasley sweater, a fluffy hat, a Scribble Lace Shawl, my first sweater I ever ~~knit~~ finished (from Minnowknits), and Iris' Ruffles Scarf. Actually, the ruffles scarf will be my project for the month, and some matching mittens too. And then along the rainbow theme, I'm going to keep working on a mitered bag that I have going, and a super secret project using my two skeins of Lorna's Laces Rainbow sock yarn. It's so super secret, even I don't know what it's going to be yet....

Look what I get to knit next!

2006-03-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

This is a beautiful sweater from Maggiknits. I'm knitting it for a friend. The yarn is yummy, the pattern is fun, I can't wait. I love Maggi's patterns, but their not really my style. I doubt I'd ever knit any of her patterns for myself, so I'm glad to get the opportunity. Until I get the yarn and pattern, I think I'll work on my Pomatomus socks.

Olympics, how I miss thee...

2006-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday, and I still can't believe the Olympics are over. I think I have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. When I wake up in the morning, I jolt out of bed thinking "I've got to finish that sleeve!" and then remember it's all done. All day long I have that feeling that I should be doing something really important, and then I remind myself, the sweater is all done. I'll be fine. My eye is still twitching, but I'll be fine.... I was so busy knitting, that I didn't get to visit many other blogs. So that's what I was doing this morning. I finally got a chance to put up all the amusing buttons I came across, did you know there was an actual Team WI? Like, they had a closing ceremonies party and everything? I would've been all over that! I guess I was just too ~~obsessed~~ focused. My hubby thought the "Freakin' Steekin'" button was the funniest. But my favorite one was this one: Ahhhhh. The sweet smell of Victory! Ahem, *cough, cough* (composing myself, wiping away a tear) And now back to reality....

Finito!

2006-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

I finished weaving in the ends and blocking very shortly after my last post. I'm hoping I still qualify for a medal, maybe Silver or Bronze? Gold? I think I had it finished before the closing ceremony was airing in Hawaii.... *added later- I declare myself a Gold Medal winner, and I'm buying myself one of these! I could have knit this sweater twice, I swear. I made so many little mistakes. I only left one in, as far as I know (In the neck, I joined Crimson half a row too early. It was like, 4:30 in the morning, and it looks good) . Almost all of my mistakes came from not paying attention to the written pattern. I was chart-happy. The farther along I went, the cockier I got, and the more mistakes were made. My first big boo-boo was knitting the body too long. Then I didn't make any more mistakes until I got to the sleeves. That's a lot of good Fair Isle! After that, well, let's just say I could have knit two sweaters in the same amount of time it took me to fix the mistakes from just the sleeves and collar. Me: knit, knit, oops-wrong color, rip, rip, rip, re-knit 1 row, oops-wrong needle size, rip, re-knit, knit, knit, knit, oops-forgot decrease 3 rows back, rip, rip, re-knit, oops-forgot decrease at end of same dec row now 5 rows back, rip, rip, rip, rip, re-knit, knit, knit, ACK! opposite cuff fell in cup of hot tea, blot, blot, blot, UGH, please don't felt, please don't felt, blow, blow, blot, knit, knit, knit.... And so forth and so on. I did learn something cool though. Blocking is to knitters as wax is to downhill skiers. It makes things much nicer! All my little stitches lined up so nicely! It blocked like butter! (and smelled a little like a hot wet sheep) (not that I know what a hot wet sheep smells like, it was just still warm from the steam.) According to the Starmores, I was supposed to turn my garment inside out and press lightly with a warm iron and a damp cloth on the wrong side. I used one of the kids' cotton washcloths, and my baby rowenta. It was very fun. Those last two days were the worst. If I had anything to do over, it would be the whole what-do-I-do-with-my-tails issue. It came up early, and I should have listened to the wisdom of my blogging friends. Marina suggested splicing. Roberta suggested weaving them in as I knit. They were both right. I was wrong, very wrong. I didn't want to splice, because I didn't want any little threads looking like barber shop poles. And I didn't want to weave them in as I went, because I thought they would show. Wrong. with about 3 inches to go on the second sleeve, I decided what see what Joyce would do and consulted my Latvian Dreams book. Joyce splices. Okay, I thought, I'll give it a whirl. What a difference! And Marina was absolutely right, no one will notice. I humbly bow at the feet of Marina (I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy...) 2nd Wrong. There were some places where I couldn't splice, like where a new color was being added in a new repeat. There were quite a few of these. Still fearful of weaving, I let the tails hang. However, when I went back to duplicate stitch them in, that didn't works so well. So how did I end up weaving them in? Exactly like I would have knitted them in. And they don't show at all from the right side. Roberta was absolutely right. I humbly bow at the feet of Roberta (I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy....) Over all, I highly recommend this pattern. I got experience everything that has to do with knitting a traditional fair isle, on a very small scale. The colors are great, the pattern is cute, and the yarn is very forgiving. I feel I really challenged myself, and I have learned so much. And the bonus? Now I have this gorgeous little sweater to look at.

2006-02-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

I guess officially, I didn't make gold. The credits are rolling, and out of 220 ends that I needed to weave in, I have 27 left. And I need to press it with a damp cloth and warm iron yet. That will take maybe 15 minutes. I'm going to keep going anyway. Just in case the broadcast is still airing, somewhere.

Citius, Altius, Fortius!!!

2006-02-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

The knitting is done! I stayed up until 5 o'clock this morning to finish this!!!! Without caffeine! I slept from 5 to 10 (oops) and then ~~rushed~~ went to church. After ~~wasting~~ enjoying my morning there*, we had our usual Sunday lunch, and now I'm ready to sit again and weave in ends until the end of closing ceremonies. It's not over until Bob Costas sings.... *disclaimer~Church is never a waste of time. It is encouraging, inspiring, and extremely educational. I didn't think about weaving in all those ends at all during the service. Really, I didn't. I was just trying to be funny. Seriously.

Picking up some speed!

2006-02-25T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Olympic Flame still flickers...

2006-02-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

And the house is still a mess.

But I don't care. I can do this.

After a few loads of laundry, and my dear hubby promising to do the dishes tonight, I feel better about my Olympic Dreams. I can do this. My knitting group meets tonight. I'm going to try to have most of the sleeves finished by then. Harry and I need to run errands today, that should tucker him out (enough for a good nap.) Stayed tune for more details...

Can I gracefully bow out now?

2006-02-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to "pull a Kwan" and gracefully bow out of this competition. As I was sitting up this morning at 1:45 am, working on my sweater, it came to me that it was 1:45 am and I was working on my sweater. What am I doing? And Why? Anyway, here's my update: I saved the alcohol for after cutting the steeks (better accuracy?) I had Door County Blackberry or a nice Marsala to choose from. I went with the Blackberry. Not too much, I only drink alcohol about twice a year, so I thought this would be enough. Can you read what the glass says? It says "I dreamed my whole house was clean!" Incredibly appropriate, don't you think? My dear hubby gave me a foot rub while I slowly sipped. I picked up the sts around the armhole and kept going. Then I had my 1:45 revelation. Then I went to bed. This morning I woke up grumpy, I guess 4 hours of sleep will do that to a person. But I forged on anyway. My plan was to neglect everything and just knit today. Then this happened... I know the lighting is terrible, but do you see the baby doll dangling from the lamp? How about the half eaten banana in front of the fish tank? Can you make out the tiny grains of uncooked rice on the floor? The children trashed the place. (They're the ones sitting in the middle of the mess, still in their jammies.) Not only that, but Iris is traumatized. Harrison found her "pet" ladybug by the big window and proceeded to squish and dismember it. The loud mourning that followed along with wiping of ladybug parts off Harry's hands is what pushed me over the edge. I couldn't take it anymore! First thing I did was take an Aleve and a long hot shower (the house continued to fall apart.) Then I put the knitting away. Now I'm blogging about it (it always feels better to vent) and next we're cleaning. Here's the sweater progress, was it worth it??? I promise no more doom and gloom. The next post will be wooly and happy. I promise....

And she falls on her face...oh, that's gotta hurt!

2006-02-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

Did anyone watch the Ice Dancing competition tonight? My goodness. I'm glad screwing up my knitting only bruises my ego. Speaking of which, I'm nursing my bruised ego right now.... Bode clipped a pole, Anton slipped, Lindsey wiped out. I missed the words "from beg." Does anything seem off to you? It seemed a little odd to me that the arm-hole would be longer than the body below it. I read and re-read the instructions. They said mark for the armhole, start the steek, and then knit 78 rows. 78 rows FROM THE BEGINNING. The beginning of the sweater, not the beginning of the steek! Duh! Can I cry now? Do you know what this means? You know the picture in my last post? I only needed a few more rows and I could have started the neck shaping. I mean, literally, a few more rows. I just plowed ahead, knitting almost an entire pattern repeat. (I blame it on my incredibly poor math skills that I would assume 78 rows would equal 14 cm) Ouch! Where do you put the ice when you bruise your ego? Well, I'm not going to sit and whine about it all night. The only thing to do is pick up my sts, dust myself off, and rip it. I can start the neck tonight, maybe even get to the point of grafting the shoulders. I think I should get a good night's sleep before attempting Kitchener Stitch. Tomorrow I will attack the sleeves. A positive thought is that it should be smoother sailing from here. I get to pick up sts around the steek and knit the arm down. The ever shrinking sleeves should be encouraging. I might still make goal. But for now I'm going to make cheezy-salsa dip and drink a tall glass of milk.

Knitter Interrupted...

2006-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should pause for an update? My Official Olympic Project is Alice & Jade Starmore's Fish & Anchors Sweater. I got out my calculator and crunched some numbers Friday morning. I'm knitting the 4-5 yr old size, which comes out to approximately 35,741 sts. I plan on knitting 13 days, which means 3,249 sts a day. According to my calendar, that will leave 2 days to weave in the ends and block the sweater, and one day for a photo shoot and blogging. For the body of the sweater, 3,249 sts = 15 rows. I'm a day behind. I was a day ahead, but then I volunteered in Iris' classroom Monday and Tuesday and lost prime knitting time. However, we are in the middle of a blizzard right now giving me an opportunity to jump ahead. As far as support for my Olympic challenge goes, lets just say I can relate to the Athletes in Torino. Tim has been mentioning (during every event) that there are a lot of empty seats. This morning they mentioned this in the news, saying that a lot of Olympians have been discouraged by the low turn out. They said it would be cooler to have larger crowds cheering them on. I feel their pain. My Family started out supportive, but have started to slack off in the cheer-leading department (and when I say "Family", I mean "Husband". After all, the kids are just 3 and 4, what do they know about Mommy's Olympic Dreams?) In fact, they may have even slid to the side of sabotage. It's like they don't want me to succeed! "When are we eating?" "What are we eating?" "We've run out of clean clothes." Get over it! Mommy's almost to the neckline shaping! So here is photo-proof of my progress: I just love this pattern, can you see the little fishies? This has been so much fun to knit. I love the colors, it feels like I'm knitting a lot faster than I really am. (I haven't figured out if this is a good thing or not. It may become discouraging as time moves on.) I'm having some gauge issues which I've been paying close attention to. I think blocking will take care of the little bit of wonkiness I'm experiencing. It's my first real Fair Isle Sweater, and I can see my evenness improving as I go on. I think I need to experiment with how I'm holding the yarn in my right hand. And for those of you that like to look at Fair Isle's Private Side, I'll leave you with an Inside-Out pic. I'm itching to get back to my sweater, I have two day's worth of knitting to finish by tonight....

So We're Not Going for the Gold... an Olympic Update

2006-02-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Boy oh boy. Now I know why I haven't knit up a dozen Fair Isle sweaters yet-I stink at it. This is my swatch for Fish & Anchors. I have taken a few classes in Fair Isle, and I do use it on a smaller basis in other projects, but I haven't done an entire Fair Isle Sweater yet. (Or maybe that's totally obvious.) I tried to apply what I have learned though, what I can remember and what's in my notes. I knitted this swatch on US sz 3 needles, just like the pattern tells me too. The first half of the swatch I knitted with both colors held in my left hand. The second half I knitted with the background color in my left hand, Continental method, and the pattern color in my right hand, English method. (Theory being your two hands will be knitting at different gauges. You want to knit the background color tighter, so it becomes a background, and your pattern sts need to be looser so they'll "pop" forward.) This seemed to help by loosening up my gauge a little. I also knitted it "inside out". Not by purling, but by knitting it while looking at the inside of the tube. That way my project is in my lap between me and my hands and I'm doing my knitting on the opposite edge. ( Theory being this is supposed to take up a teensy bit more yarn when you strand, reducing the puckering that can happen during Fair Isle.) It's kind of fun this way, because when you finish, you can turn your tube right-side-out and be surprised by what you see! The pic on the left is pre-blocking, and on the right is post-blocking. Can you see the little fish? Can you see the little anchors? (Hint: they're upside down) I am so thankful for blocking! It makes such a difference! What else is fun to do to a swatch? Why torture it of course! That's what it's there for! So I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to practice crocheting a steek and cutting my knitting! Now, I didn't plan ahead, so there is no steek to cut. It is a swatch though, so we'll just pretend and cut in the middle of the knitting. I'm only allowing a 2 st border, which I'd never do in real life either. Don't do what I've done to my swatch to your real knitting! Here are some pictures of that adventure: The first pic is the crocheted steek (ala Joyce Williams, mentioned in her book Latvian Dreams.) I was pleased the way it turned out. Pic #2 is after I've cut it open. The steek edges obey nicely and fold back out of the way. Then in #3 I've blocked it again. I wish it looked even more even, but I suppose that will come with practice. I can check my gauge now (I always get butterflies in my stomach for this. Did I make it? Am I way off?) The last photo is a close-up of the obedient steek edge. So did I make gauge? Almost. It's supposed to be 30 sts for 10 cm (4 inches). I knit up 32 sts for 10 cm. It's not enough of a difference for me to change my needle size. My plan-of-action is to have a small glass of wine before I cast on tomorrow (Ha! You think I'm joking?) and then keep a very close eye on my gauge as the alcohol wears off. I think this sweater will go quickly, with all the color changes. I'm itching to cast on for my sweater now. If I knew how much yarn I'd have leftover, I'd do another swatch. I suppose I could do one anyway, and then rip it out when I'm finished. I think I'll do that. How are all of your Olympic challenges going?

The Knitting Olympics 2006

2006-02-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

When Stephanie mentioned having the Knitting Olympics, I thought it was a great idea. The whole "Citius, Alitius, Fortius" mantra can be applied to anything in life, why not knitting? So I signed up. I joined Team Fair Isle with the intent of knitting some Latvian Mittens. I've been pouring over my book for over a week now, and I just can't decide on a mitten. I'm trying to stay true to the whole idea of challenging myself, and I feel like I'm wimping out by going the mitten route. For about the same price of the Mittens (four different colors of Satakiel i at 12.50 a skein plus shipping), I could get the rest of the yarn for Harrison's Fish and Anchors Sweater by Jade & Alice Starmore. (Better photo with better lighting here.) Now I have no question that I will be challenging myself on this one. I mean, it's an Alice STARMORE sweater, right? I bought the book over a year ago, and purchased a few skeins of yarn last July. I l-o-v-e this pattern. We live on Lake Michigan (well, not "on", about a mile away, but close enough) making fish/anchors/sea gulls our favorite things, and the colors are amazing. It's just perfect! Oh, and a big bonus is that it's child's size, so I probably won't have to worry about my wrists. Too much knitting+knitting too fast = tendonitis. It's knit on size 2 and 3 needles, which I already have. My goal is to have it done a day or two early so we can go to the beach, or the boardwalk, for a photo shoot. Never mind that the weatherman says Winter is finally coming and it'll be 10 degrees below zero by then. We'll wear layers. It'll be great. We'll probably end up in the ER again, for frost-bite, but the pics for the blog will be worth it, right?

Absolutely No Knitting Content...

2006-02-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

I think I could change this from a knitting blog to a blog about my family's illnesses and injuries. Kind of smaller and less interesting than ShowMeYourWound.com. So, what do I have for our first picture? Why, it's a Blue Rubber Chicken! A very rare bird, found only in doctors' offices and hospital rooms. This perfect specimen was acquired on our latest trip to the ER, just this afternoon. And why were we in the ER today? Because we went an entire week without seeing a Doctor, and we were lonely? No, not really. Harrison tried to carry a very heavy ceramic bowl (filled with popcorn), tripped, fell, and split open his chin. It required 2 stitches. I'm so glad I thought I wanted to be a nurse when I was in college. Those Anatomy and Physiology classes have really come in handy being a mom. Open wounds don't freak me out, and I know what "adipose tissue" means. Harry was super brave, and only cried because he was being restrained. He made Dr. V and Nurse John smile when he cried out in the middle of being stitched up, "I WANT A COOKIE.....YES, A COOKIE..... AND PIZZA!!!" He was a real trooper. And this picture is because I can't resist either of my babies while they are sleeping. He had a bath, got a new band-aid on his boo-boo, and we read a book. A baby name book. We're trying to help my sister come up with some girls names. (He still smells like a baby, I'm going to be so sad when that goes away.)

It's a Girl!!!

2006-02-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

My sister had her ultrasound yesterday, it's a girl!!! She is expecting her second baby (and according to her, her last). Since she is 20 weeks along, they are pretty confidant they are correct. So what did Auntie Amy do after she heard the news? Why, I had to knit a hat of course! Booties too... I used Cotton Fleece in pink, white, and lavender (not the official colors. Officially it was Victorian Pink, unlabeled Not-White (Off-White?), and Prairie Lupine.) I wasn't very creative with the colors. The hat is out of Head & Toes! by Gwen Steege. The booties are just socks (ala Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Simple Socks Plain and Fancy.) The ruffled edge is easy, just cast on 4 times the number of sts for your circumference. Then do two rows of k2tog. Since this cuff was going to be turned over, I did p2tog then purled the cuff. I switched to k2, p2 rib, and then proceeded to the sock. Do you like my little stand? It's Iris' doll house armoire on it's back. I'm going to have to use that again. (If you like the doll house, you can find it for at least 30% less other places. That web-site is a little pricey.) The crocheted little flower isn't the one from the pattern. It's a really easy Violet: Chain 4 and join with a sl st in the first ch to form a ring. Round 1: *ch4, 2 tc, ch4, 1 sl st in ring.* repeat 4 more times. Make 3 french knots in center with contrasting color. The kids are healthy and well again. We had plans to bake cookies for my mom, it's her birthday today, but Tim just called to say he was on his way home from work. He never comes home sick. So, I'm guessing it's pretty bad. It might be a good idea to postpone the cookie baking, hmmm? I think we'll just slide her card under the door and leave her gift on the porch. Iris likes to buy presents, more than our budget allows, so we give her a buck and let her go wild at the dollar store. That way she can pick whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and we don't squash her generosity. She really enjoys this and has chosen some really meaningful gifts. It's really cute.

All about the Blog!

2006-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Very fun! You can make your own word cloud here. I found this site over on Whit's blog and Chic Knits. Too fun!

We are temporarily indisposed...

2006-02-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

Blogging will resume as soon as the Stomach Flu is finished with us.

To teach and what to teach, that is the question...

2006-01-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting here trying to decide what kind of schedule I should have for my knitting classes. What classes should I teach? How often? In the past, I've done project classes and technique classes. They are equally unattended. My favorite class to teach is a "skill-builders" series that is only 2 hours of classes, once a week for 8 or 12 weeks, with different topics every time. People can sign up for the classes that interest them. These are my most "popular" classes. This time I've thought about just listing the classes I offer, along with cost, and letting people choose the dates. I'm reluctant to do that though, because my time is precious and limited. Maybe you can help me. What kind of classes would you want to take? Do you prefer technique or project classes? Is it more fun to attend a series of classes, or an all day workshop? I'd really appreciate your opinion, please leave your ideas as comments. I look forward to hearing what you think.

Mama has a new pair of Shoes Slippers!

2006-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my Turkish Slippers last night. I frogged the other ones completely, you might notice the color change. I used the yarn from the original slippers as the accent color on the edge of these. I would have finished yesterday afternoon (they go so quickly!) but one of the edges wasn't quite right, I missed crocheting in one of the edge stitches and just couldn't live with it. They are crocheted toe to heel, in the round at first, switching to flat. Increases are made a couple of times. I did a few extra so it would sit higher on my heel, and then you just match the two corners and seam it. I did a single crochet border for an edge. I was thinking I wanted to monogram them, but no matter what I do it just doesn't look right. I like them better simple and plain. They look much better when done in the proper gauge, don't you think? The pattern again was the Turkish Slippers from the cover of Simple Crochet by Erika Knight. I used Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece from my stash, but I don't know which colors because they were missing their labels. I really like Cotton Fleece (which is identical, as far as I can tell, to Cascade's Sierra). They are both 80% pima cotton 20% merino, and come in every color under the sun! I have a front-loading washing machine (no agitator), so I regularly throw things I've made from this yarn in the wash, but hang it or lay it flat to dry. I make a lot of children's things out of Cotton Fleece and Sierra because it knits up so nicely (mainly hats, hats, hats!). It has the feel of cotton but is more elastic - not as stretchy as wool, but still very pleasurable to knit with. Whatever I make, it holds it's shape well and takes a pretty good beating. Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I love hearing from you, and then visiting your blogs. My sitemeter has a world map, to show where the computers of those that read my blog are located. There are people from all over the US and Canada, and others from Spain, Estonia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Japan, and more! I think it's so exciting! As Stephanie was saying the other day, it's great to belong to a community that has no borders. I learn so much more than just knitting tips by reading your blogs. Thank you for sharing with me. Health update: We have now gone 3 consecutive days without visiting a hospital or clinic! Yeah!

Go ahead, leave a comment!

2006-01-23T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hello! I totally missed the boat! Last week was National De-Lurking Week. I visited all my favorite blogs (all 200 of them) and tried to leave comments on most of them. I had no idea I was part of a national movement! So go ahead, blow me out of the water. How many people actually read this blog? I get numbers from my site counter, but I don't believe it. If it's true only about 3% of my visitors leave comments. I had a lot of fun at the LYS on Saturday. For the most part, we were busy. After helping a customer look through all of the Crochet books, I was inspired to crochet the Turkish Slipper on the cover of this book: Mine looked more like this: Mine are a little pointier and a little longer. Actually, just one of them is. The other one is much shorter. "Why?" you ask? Somebody thought she had plenty of this color. Somebody's gauge was off, but she didn't feel like looking for a larger crochet hook. Oh well, live and learn. Tonight's lesson will be about frogging crochet... And for the daily family Health update (because lately there is a daily update), I am on another round of antibiotics for a "severe" infection, and my son's new nickname is "Stumpy". While I was at a movie last night (Memoirs of a Geisha, I recommend it), Harrison decided to "help" daddy with supper and remove the chicken nuggets from the oven all by himself. He has first degree burns on 4 of his little fingers. His mouth is open in the pic because he keeps saying "Issa baaahn-dade. You leeevit aaahn." (translated: "It's a band-aid. You need to leave it on." Gotta love that Sheboygan-accent) If we can go one day without contacting medical personnel, I'd be thrilled. Running tally since the week before Christmas: pirulent Bronchitis, poison control call ( ate 10 children's vitamins in one sitting), 3 cases of strep throat, one allergic reaction to amoxicillin, another case of bronchitis, some 1st degree burns, and two more misc. trips. Mommy's all done!

Silly Knitter!

2006-01-20T07:05:00.000-08:00

I finished the Manos hat that I was working on. It seemed pretty big to me. Now I know that it is going to be worn by a large headed man, that has curly hair. And Iris is only 4 years old, with fairly straight hair. But it still seemed larger than it was supposed to be. I had followed the pattern (which I never do, come on, its a hat....) but I thought I'd try it. It's the basic hat pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. For the man's size, it said to knit in St. st for 8.5 inches from beginning. Which I did. With the 2.5 inch brim flipped up. Duh! I guess I have some frogging in my future. Just a little. Saturday I'll be working at my LYS all day. I have two classes. I have "Support Group" in the morning for people to stop by with their knitting problems, and I try to help solve them. In the afternoon we have a knit-a-long group for the Manos All Seasons Throw. We started about a year ago, with the intent of knitting a square a month and being done in a year. One woman is half-way done with her second throw, another is just finishing it up. Then we have a few new people starting tomorrow. Take a guess at how far I am. square 4. That's right, I have averaged one 12x12" square every 3 months. Call me Speedy. Well, I have a hat to frog. I have some phone calls to make too. It's only 9:30 a.m. and the children are already driving me nuts. I think we are going to see if any of our friends want to hang out with us today. It's the easiest way I can think of to keep the kids from ruining my sanity. Distract and conquer.

When it rains, it pours!

2006-01-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas was Bronchitis, last week was Strep Throat, this week is the allergic reaction to the Amoxicillan we were taking for the Strep Throat: I don' t know if you can see all of Iris' polka-dots, but she woke up this morning covered in them. Splotches everywhere! Thankfully they aren't itchy. So, we went to the doctor again this morning (I think we are in his office more than he is!) and saw the P.A., who confirmed that the Polka Dot Princess is allergic to her antibiotics. She even has spots on her arms (where we played connect-the-dots while we were waiting) and her feet. Poor thing! At least they aren't itchy yet. She is taking some sort of chewable anti-histamine to prevent that, and I'm standing by with the benadryl-back-up in case the other method fails. Her birthmom was supposed to come for a visit this weekend, but was going to stay home because of the recent Strep outbreak. Hopefully we can reschedule for spring break. I've noticed one of the latest memes is to post a picture of your "knitting spot." This is mine: It's actually my Reading and Knitting spot. On the left is my little bookcase, with whatever I'm reading now. (Currently it's Sheperding a Child's Heart, Don't Make Me Count To Three, Worn out Woman, my Bible, and the latest issues of Selecciones (the Spanish version of Reader's Digest) and Family Fun Magazines.) (I like to read like I like to knit (obsessively), mostly non-fiction). On my chair are my latest projects. On the floor are my new knitting bag, my Lantern Moon Rice Basket, my Medela foot stool (was great for nursing babies, and is great now for knitting) and my sweet pooch. On the right is our fish tank, new since Christmas. Here's a bigger pic of the fish: It contains 5 Brochis Splendens (my favorites), 1 Pleco, and 1 Dwarf Powder Blue Gourami (named "Azul" by Iris, he's in the lower left corner of the tank. The hot pink plant in the back was her contribution too.) And since Miss Laura is the only knitter/fish lover I know, I'll share a close-up of the chair for the rest of you: Current projects starting in the upper left corner are: Iris' ruffles scarf (it's growing, slowly but surely), the Inky-Dinky Spider Stole, my Pomatomus Socks, and two hats out of Manos - a little girl's hat out of Pink and her daddy's out of Citric. I am going to tag Jessica, Laura, and Allena for the "knitting nook" meme.

We are experiencing Motivational Difficulties

2006-01-16T12:19:00.001-08:00

I should read other blogs on a more regular basis. When I surf other blogs, I get inspired. For the last week and a half we have been battling Strep Throat here. Iris brought it home from school, shared it with her brother and I, and now we are waiting for Tim to contract it. I'm sure this experience will cinch my nomination for "Mother of the Year" award. Iris got up last Monday morning, and was just not moving quickly (she is an uber-perky morning person). She was so whiny I could only think about getting her out the door and on the bus (In my defense, the kids spent Saturday night with my mom when Tim and I enjoyed our first night away since becoming parents almost 5 years ago, I just figured her schedule was off). Later that day, when the bus dropped her off she was still whiny so I peeked in her throat and I'm not exaggerating, her tonsils were so huge they were touching each other. I felt terrible. While on hold with the Dr's office, I thought I might take her temp, since they'll probably ask. Now, I'm pretty good at guessing temps with my hands. I'm usually within a degree of the thermometer (another useless super power I've been given, I guess) Feeling her forehead, cheeks and arms I guessed maybe 99-point-something. Maybe huge tonsils are my kryptonite, I was way off! She was 103.2! (Immediate guilt.) Poor baby. Fortunately, after about 12 hours on antibiotics, she was fine. Here's a picture of the kids the day we took down the Christmas tree. Harrison saw the tree with the ornaments put away, and the lights half off, and said "Awww, mama, Christmas is broken!" Aren't they adorable? Kids are just adorable in general. We'd love more, but it's not happening. I'm going to give herbs a chance, then one more fling with modern medicine. If those don't work we might consider adopting again, depending how far in the future that is. Another friend announced she is expecting. I'm thrilled, but left shaking my head. I can't believe some people can to "choose" to get pregnant. Like it's just a mental thing. They decide they want more kids, and bada bing, they get pregnant! It must be nice.... As far as knitting goes (oh yeah, this is a knitting blog, I forgot for a minute there, sorry) I have been working on several projects. I got secondsockitis with my Pomatomus socks. I'm almost as far as the heel, maybe 5 more rows? I've knit a few Manos hats for some friends, inspired by the Manos hats in Last Minute Knitting. I love Manos! Every time I start a project with it, I'm taken aback by it's beauty and yummy way it moves through my fingers. And my current favorite project is......(drumroll please) The Inky-Dinky Spider Stole out of Alpaca with a Twist, Fino - in white. Here is my swatch. It looks like Raman noodles while I'm knitting it, but blocking the swatch gave me goose bumps! Not only does it look amazing (it looks even better unpinned), it is as soft as a cloud. No.... soft as newborn baby's hair. No.... soft as a 70% Baby Alpaca 30% Silk gossamer lace-weight dream ! There are 4 pages of charts (be still my heart). Lace shaping in every row! I'm loving it! This weekend I stopped by the Lands End and scored a new knitting bag. I've been using a Rice Basket by Lantern Moon, but I'm too hard on my knitting bags to bring it where ever I go. This one is super durable and super big! And its personalized! :-) Actually the monogram said "Icabs", I just removed the first and last two letters. Here it is with 3 year old Harrison, for a size comparison: Pretty decent sized bag, huh? (grin) It has one huge pocket and 3 smaller pockets inside. And a key fob! No more digging through yarn to find my keys. Well, I better clean up a little before my dear hubby comes home. Although I don't really need to, we made 8 dozen chocolate chip cookies today. That equals major wife-points!

Panta is Finished!

2005-12-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

I finished my Panta last night, and seamed it today. I love it! It's warm and fuzzy but not unbearably hot. It's just the right size. I might make one for my sister for Christmas (I'm sure she doesn't read this. Carrie, if you are reading this just pretend to be surprised when you open it, okay?) I made one more change. I decided to do raised increases instead of M1. It's much more invisible. I tried to graft the ends together, that didn't go so well. I used the instructions from Interweave Knits Fall 2004. I couldn't get my sts to line up to save my life. I was frustrated, and feeling a little stupid that I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't let my yarn disrespect me like that. I mean, who's in charge here? I wasn't going to slink away with my tail between my legs and do an easy-peasy three needle bind-off. I had to think of another equally, if not more challenging, way to finish Panta. I came across "Russian Grafting" in the IK index. Hmmmm, sounds difficult. I took one day of conversational Russian in middle school, that was really challenging. I decided to check it out. I found it in IK Spring 2002. I tried to do it by just looking at the pictures, but it was a little wonky. So I read the instructions. That helped, duh. I really like it! It makes a flat seam. It's not invisible at all, but I was very impressed with it's flatness and stretchiness. I'll definitely use it again, maybe even for decorative purposes, I really like the way it looks.

Snot Interrupted

2005-12-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

My wonderful and dear Doctor called back last night and we discussed my son's mucus issues. We agreed that this is earlier than we'd both like to start antibiotics, but maybe it was necessary. So he called in the prescription, and I picked it up. Now 24 hours later my son is a million times better. Not altogether better, still a runny nose and a little clearing-the-throat-cough. His disposition is better, he looks/sounds/feels better. Dear Doc also said that the elderberry and vitamins I am giving him can help. Can you imagine? An M.D. saying herbs are helpful? He has my business for life. (We also attend the same church, so we see each other outside the dr's office and I have to say I adore his wife too.) All previous knitting is on hold today while I participate in the Panta-pandemic. Go and check it out. I'll wait. Okay, pretty cool, huh? I'm knitting up melosand's version (see page 4 of the forum). And I revised it a tiny bit. When it comes to hats and head circumferences, I usually make the hat circumference 5% smaller than the head circumference. I don't like my hats to just rest on my head, I like them to hug it. (Side note, when knitting socks, I do the same thing. I make the sock circ. 5% less than my actual foot circ., and I knit it 5% shorter than my foot length. Why 5%? Ummm, because 25% would be too much.) For the Panta, I measured my head around where I wanted to wear the headband. (For hats I measure my head just above my eyebrows. For the Panta, I ran the tape measure from the nape of my neck around to the top of my forehead, over the tops of my ears on the way.) My measurement was 21 and 1/4 inches. Minus 5 % is 20.1875 inches. Which I rounded to 20 for sanity's sake. The other revision I made was also suggested my melosand, I started and ended each row with a k3 or p3 instead of p1, k2 or k1, p2. To make the edges tidy, I slipped the first st of each row (slipped knit sts as if to knit and purl sts as if to purl). And on the right side, I knit the very last k st through the back of the loop before I turned my work for the next row. Then when I slipped it, it seemed tighter. Otherwise the right edge of the wrong side looked sloppier than the other even though I was slipping my first st. It might just be in my head. Try it and see what you think and then let me know. I searched through my stash for this project and came across two skeins of Classic Elite Lush, in pale blue and a golden-mustard color. One will match the winter coat I already have, and the other will match the coat I want-but haven't bought yet. Perfect!

Ha! Twice in one week!

2005-12-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

She's back!!! Two posts in one week, how cool is that? I am now officially a lady of leisure. I am no longer baby-sitting during the day. Just me and my babies. I hardly know what to do with myself! We are joining the YMCA after Christmas. I'm going to become the size medium that I was always meant to be. Hopefully losing weight will mean I'll be able to afford the yarn it takes to knit myself a sweater. (grin) I'm also going to start volunteering in my dd's preschool class! I love hearing her "dish" during lunch. "Mommy, today I was wearing purple, and Gracie was wearing purple! We were twins!" "Today Kaliegh had braids in her hair." "Hayden had red-light behavior today, mommy. He didn't get to put a marble in the jar." (two behavior modification techniques used by her teacher.) Speaking of children. I'm changing their blog-names. It feels weird to address them by single letters, so I am changing my dd's name from "I" to her nickname "Boo" and ds's name from "H" to his nickname "Bubby". Yes we actually call our children these names. I figure that way I can actually remember what I'm calling them. Sometimes we "enhance" the nicknames and call them Boo-baloo and Bubby-boy. So, to explain the Yarn-Centerpiece from the other day: Vicki was dead on with her guesses. Starting on the top tier we have two pairs of socks. The one on the left is some striped Lorna's Laces. I think I am going to try and find a fancier pattern than my plain generic sock pattern to knit these up. The other yarn is Trekking XXL #108. I ripped out what you see here and instead made it the Pomatomus pattern from the latest Knitty. Let me tell you, this is a very cool pattern. I loved the challenge of having to pay attention. And I love the pattern. And they fit great! All around good socks. The only modifying I did was work one less pattern repeat on the leg to make it shorter, and I did a short-row toe instead of the wedge toe the pattern calls for. I think I could make the foot a little shorter, so I am going to try that on the second sock to see what I prefer. Then re-knit the other one to match. The middle tier holds the infamous Christmas stocking. I decided to knit it out of Cascade 220. So far-so good. I need to complete it in a week (self-imposed deadline) so they can display it for Christmas. Next is a little bag that I've been thinking about since last spring. I saw it at Yarn by Design's Midwest Master's weekend. I was sitting next to the owner at dinner. She had this great felted/mitered-square bag. She said it was a design by Vivian Hoxbro. Unfortunately it is a pattern that Ms. Hoxbro only gives to her students, it isn't available for sale or in any of her books. I studied it then for a few minutes, and then I ran in to her again at Stitches Midwest later this year. I got to look at it again for about 30 seconds. I went to our local library to get Vivian's book Domino Knitting. (This was a mistake on my part. Actually, getting the book wasn't a mistake, not returning it on time was. Apparently you only get one warning to return overdue books. After that you are still required to return the book and you get to pay a $50 fine!!!) So, back to the million-dollar bag, I think I figured out the pattern on my own. The "funnest" part is the very top edge. You'll have to stay tuned to see it. I'm knitting it and hoping to run into the other bag and it's owner at the next Midwest Master's to see if I'm right. Lastly, another little ruffles scarf. Out of Classic Elite's Lush. I got a great deal on it when a local craft store went out of business-%70 off. This one is for Boo. It will match the hat I knit and the mittens I will knit. She is going to wear them with her little red wool pea coat. I have to get moving on this too so it will be done for Christmas. Other than that, nothing else is new. Bubby has been sick for 6 days now. Packed sinuses, runny nose and cough. I tried to treat it naturally: vitamins, elderberry, saline spray, and letting his fever burn. His fever lasted 4 days. Poor baby. I only gave him Tylenol when it went over 102 degrees, at which point he became very uncomfortable. His cough and sinus issues are going on day 6. I think I will call our dear Doctor today to ask for some advice. I am usually anti-antibiotic, but this has been severe from day one and shows no signs of slowing down. And Bubby is miserable. Not to mention his upper lip and nose are bright red and chapped from the mucus and the wiping of the mucus. Back to booger patrol....

We have some catching up to do!

2005-12-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

I could list a million reasons why I haven't blogged in two months, but they would just be excuses. I'm sorry! You forgive me, right??? Whew, thanks! May I suggest we move forward and pick up where we left off? Okay, good. Remember way back to the time we were all receiving our last SP5 gifts, and revealing ourselves? I never gave proper respect to my wonderful Pal at The Blue Garter. She sent the most amazing package, and I am fearful I might forget something because it was literally months ago. This is what I've been able to gather: 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca (super soft, divine and yummy! I know it will be a shawl, but I'm not sure which one yet....) 2 skeins of Country Handpaint in a very pretty colorway I never would have bought myself, but am thrilled to own! (that's what secret pals are for, right?) They will definitely become socks. She also sent a wonderful book for I & H that we have read over and over again. We all love it!!! Oh, and the Hippo mommy & baby bath-tub puppet set. They have been used for every bath my kids have taken since they arrived (only taking breaks to bathe themselves in our washing machine) and are reclining at their new home on our towel bar. If I've forgotten anything, please forgive me and know that everything was adored and cherished! If I were truley picking up where we left off, ages ago, I'd post some fall pics. Here are our three jack-o-lanterns. We had a lot of fun. Actually, I had a lot of fun. The kids didn't want to touch the "pumpkin guts", so I got to do that myself. And they are too little to handle the knife, so I did that too. And here is a sweet picture of "I" with her pumpkin from her Omi (gramma). I remember reading Vicki's comments on her little girls' Hanna Andersson dresses. I love them! I think they epitomize everything little and girly. "I" loves to dance around the house making her dress twirl. I got "H" the matching T-shirt for this and some red sweat-pants because I love brother-sister outfits (I'm a sap). They're going to wear them to my parents on Christmas day. Our family is very laid back on Christmas day. We have a super yummy brunch, open gifts, and then sit around and visit. The kids will be cute and comfy this year. (They have "fancier" outfits for great-grandma's house on Chirstmas Eve and the In-law's party. But they are still comfy, kids need to be able to be kids!) Next: SP6. I rec'd my first sp6 gift in the midst of the chaos I call my life. It was a wonderful boost and pick-me-up when I needed it the most. My new pal sent 3 warm and fuzzy skeins of Mohair in a really great shade of green. What will I use it for? I'm stumped, the possibilities are endless! I've thought about a shawl (I'll bet you saw that coming) but also maybe a pillow? Or maybe an interesting texture to add to a throw? I could be edging. Or what if I added it to a bag or purse? I love options! She also sent a couple of balloons (the ones with the rubber band attached for the kids to bounce off their fists.) They loved them, the pencils too. My kids are really into writing and drawing and they were thrilled that mommy's friend would think of them too. My hubby was thrilled with all the chocolates that were included, and proposed the hubbies of the sp6ers could do their own exchange of candy. She also sent a yummy candle (I love candles) that I'm saving for special mommy time. Then today I got this! (The knitting book, candle, and green mohair are from the first package) Top tier: Hand Creme from Bath and Body works, it is such a sweet and delicate scent! Also two skeins of Regia sock yarn and a charm of my first initial. I think I'll turn the charm into a stitch marker! You all know about my sock addiction, so how perfect is that? Middle tier: Sugar and Cream cotton yarn (I love swatching new patterns in this, then using the swatches for dish cloths. ) The most adorable and creative little sheep not cards. I thought at first that it was the card she was sending to me, then I realized they were being sent for me! Then there is the mystery package that contained a skein of sirdar up country. Third tier: Another crafty card (to me) 3 skeins of fixation (ones I don't have, but love!) Another mystery package that turned out to tbe the Yarn Harlot's latest book! I know what I'm reading tonight! And then the 3 gifts from the last package. And did I mention, my sp6 pal was someone that I visit on a regular basis? She is none other than the Crafty Conservative! It's hilarious because her sp4 pal is my friend Jessica's sister Allena! Small world!!! Oh, I've got to get going to k2tog (my knitting group) now.... So here are my current projects: You can take a few guesses at what they are, I'll post more about it later tonight or tomorrow. And since we opened with fall pictures, I'll leave you with a winter picture, our Christmas tree:

Anger

2005-11-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in over a month. And what do I start out with? A sentence that starts with the word "and" and a the title "anger". Now I am going to post a bunch of pent up emotions that will make people feel uncomfortable and not know what to say. Not to mention ticking off that group of people that think knitting blogs should just be about knitting (I can say that because I think I kinda belong to that group.) I'm angry. "Why" you ask? (The following ranting and raving I had typed here has been deleted and filed under "petty". Not that it wasn't true, and I did feel better after posting it. Sometimes its just best keep it to yourself and not have to apologize later.) O.K.C. (obligatory knitting content): None. I haven't knit in over a week. Before that, I started a bag that will be felted. It's sort of my own design. I was inspired by a bag I've seen twice that was knitted by someone that had taken one of Vivian Hoxbro's classes. The pattern is one she only gives out to her students. It's not published, and can't be bought. I saw the bag once for 90 seconds, and another time for about 20 seconds. It's done entirely out of mitered squares, arranged from my memory. So I'm copying someone else's design, I think. I'd have to see the original again to make sure. I still have to finish the infamous Christmas stockings, hopefully before St. Nick's. And design a table for the Christmas brunch at church. And a million other things, I'm starting to feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest so I'm not going to list them all. Please, do not think that I want anyone to feel sorry for me. I did this to myself. I am also going to undo it. I am going to make myself obligation free by January 1st. Do you think I can do it? Start a pool amongst yourselves and stay tuned....

My first official Book Review

2005-10-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

A while back I had received an email from a Ms. Maran asking to review their new book on Knitting. I was skeptical, so I wrote back, asking for more info. I also checked out their story. Still nervous, I gave them the address of my local yarn shop instead of my home address to send the book to. Very shortly after, I received this book in the mail. I also have to say that all correspondence with the Marans was extremely professional and gracious. They are very pleasant people that have published an impressive knitting resource. I am a very ~~critical~~ ~~discriminating~~ particular person. To me a good book needs to have good writing, clear instruction, great pictures and current/classic patterns. A bonus would be rare bits of interest or a section with tips & tricks. This book has it all! I have to say that I am honestly impressed. There are tips here that I have never seen in print. I recommend it to my students, because it covers everything I do and more. The technical consultant for this book was Joanne Yordanau. Her list of credentials is impressive, and it shows on every page. I was also pleased to see that it is a knitting and crocheting resource. (To say Crochet is gaining popularity would be an understatement, wouldn't it?) The photos and illustrations are so helpful! Reading through there were so many things clarified for me (I've crochets since I was probably 5 years old, but never knew if my technique was correct or not) (I've never seen such a comprehensive Crochet how-to), and I know I will use that section frequently. Any negatives? Not really. Okay, if I were to get really nit-picky, the colors used in the book are not appealing to me. They seem dated. As well as some of the patterns, and clothing on the models. But that is me being nit-picky. Honestly, it reminds me of a college text-book. It's not a coffee table book, but I don't think it was meant to be. There are some very well done, classic patterns that make up for the "dated" ones. Regardless, it's an excellent resource. My favorite part? The tips! Literally, there is one on just about every other page. Good ones! I'm a sucker for self-improvement tidbits. Who should buy this book? Well, everyone, I think. (I'm not being paid for this review.) I believe this book is geared towards the beginner and intermediate knitter. It can really take you to the next level. Even advanced knitters will be grateful to find a new technique here, a new stitch there. Not to mention what a great resource to share with those just learning to knit. And as far as crochet goes, unless you are Lily Chin, not many knitters know the ins and outs of the craft. This book would be an invaluable resource as more and more people pick up this fun past-time. Have you seen IK's new Knitscene? There are quite a few crochet patterns in there. Overall, this book gets 4 out of 5 skeins (five is very hard to come by, hey, I said I'm a particular person.)

Insert Clever Title Here

2005-10-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Without pictures, I feel like it's barely worth blogging. I'll try to keep it interesting... So with the USA today article, I had over a hundred hits a day. Do you think I could do something clever to keep some readers? Like blogging every day? No, I guess not. Where are my priorities? Tsk tsk. I am plugging away at the never-ending sweater. I also have to cast on for some socks. I'm teaching a class tomorrow afternoon, and I only have one student. And she's already knit socks. So I am going to do some advanced tips and techniques with her including knitting on 2 circs, and then how to knit on one circ (magic loop). I love the two circ method, but the more I think about it, Magic Loop is most practical. You only need one circ. needle in every size (40" or longer) to knit anything. A bonus would be you would also be able to use those needles for moebius knitting. Not that I knit moebius things often, but you would have the needles if you need them. The only thing that might not work is if you are knitting something, circularly of course, with a 30" diameter. I don't think there would be enough cord to make it comfortable to do the magic loop method. I'll have to investigate. An easy solution would be 2 circs in every size. One 24" and one 40". As far as no pictures for the blog, I don't own a digital camera. I have a digital camcorder, which suffices. The drawback is lighting. It's very hard to get a decent shot. Lighting has to be perfect, and usually, I'm just too busy with the kids to spend the time it takes to get a good shot. Soooo, I think my Christmas present (Merry Christmas to Me) will be a digital camera. My "real" camera died over a year ago, so I've been using disposables to take pics of the kids. It'll be good to be able to take pictures again, whenever I want, without having to find a disposable. Not to mention much cheaper, because I always take so many pictures "just to be sure" and then end up using less than half the pics on the roll because of all the duplicates. I'm just thrilled that I've found a camera with all the features I want without going over the top. The Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom. Consumer Reports rates it highly and I've found it for less than $400 online. It has all the right bells and whistles. I'm pretty excited! I used to belong to the photography club in school, and my dad is a great photographer. He even had some photographs of some horses published in some magazine. I've always loved photography, so I'm glad I'll have a camera to play with again. Well, my "bosses" are paging me. Being a stay-at-home mom is great, but it definitely isn't the leisurely lifestyle I envisioned as a young newly-married woman. If I worked full time, and the kids were in daycare, there wouldn't be anyone here to make messes all day long. Every day is a continual cycle of trashing the house/cleaning the house. Where are the bon bons?

OK, the big news is...

2005-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

My hubby is switching jobs. I know, it's not a big deal, people do it every day... but it's big news for us. The interesting part is it will be a 1 hour 15 minute commute. The last time he was commuting he missed being in this accident by less than a few minutes. Actually, it was a miracle, looking at the clock, we have no idea how he avoided it. We think it happened right behind him. So, needless to say, I'm a little concerned about the commute. If he loves this job (he already does) we might relocate. At least a little closer. I will post some pics of the newest Scribble Lace shawl later today (Jessica has to come by so I can borrow her camera with the flash, my camera needs perfect outdoor lighting). I'm sure everyone has heard about it already, but if you haven't... Call 1-877-SOS-KNIT right away! It's the Yarn Harlot's Knitting-For-The-Holidays Help Line. It's toll-free for those in the U.S. and Canada. Steph's on her way to becoming a household name (forget it, she's been one here for at least 2 years already, but that's just my house.) On the knitting front, there isn't much to report. Vendor night for the Milwaukee Knitting Guild was really fun. I hope to see all of the fun knitters there stop by the shop sometime. Being there, I discovered a few more shops for myself within driving distance (one carries Habu!), so that was exciting. On my needles? The Sample Sweater! Speaking of which, I need to get back to it. I wanted to be done with it by the end of this week, but that deadline is being revised to the end of next week (but I'm telling myself the middle of next week, because I work better under pressure...)

Holding my Knitting Needles to the grindstone...

2005-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Finished:

Trekking XXL socks!!! and 2nd Scribble Lace Shawl!!!

Still working on:

The never-ending sample sweater.

It's not growing! I am knitting and knitting away at it, but it doesn't seem to grow. The chosen yarn, Brown Sheep's Prairie Silk, is wonderfully luxurious and so wooly-wonderful running through my fingers. I will definitely find an excuse to add some to my stash. I guess it is growing, just not as fast as I'd like. Moving from a pair of socks, to a sweater (man's size medium) is always a bad idea. I should have been working on my afghan before this. On a side note, I was checking my stats the other day, and noticed a huge number of people stopped by on the 6th. Hmmm, that's peculiar. I checked my comments, and what do you know? This blog was mentioned in an article in USA Today! The Christmas Stocking Dilemma is now a National Dilemma.... Speaking of which, I will follow the advice of the majority, and use good wool and good technique. I think I might follow Sarah's suggestion and make each one a little different too. More tangents: Tonight I will be at Mt. Mary College in Milwaukee, WI. I'll be representing Bahr Creek at the local guild's vendor night. That will wrap up show season for us. No more shop-related road trips. I'm happy and sad about it. All of those shows are a lot of fun, and now I'm getting to know people. I have to say, knitters are the nicest people. I am starting a new hobby. It wasn't meant to be a hobby, but I've been bitten. By dolls. I'm making Iris one of these for Christmas. Hopefully some matching outfits too. I'll take some pics of the progress once I get going. Lorna's sweater comes first. Tim graduates in December, so then it will be my turn to be a sponge. So far the plan is to go the non-traditional route, and start with the TKGA Master Handknitters program, and the DONA doula certification program. I can't wait! We have more big news, but I have to wait a day or two to share it. (no, we're not pregnant. I've started some new fertility meds though, so hopefully I can make that announcement sometime in the next year too, but I'm not betting on it just yet...)

If you could see me now...

2005-09-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Oh forget it, you don't want to see me right now, I still have to get a shower in today. The baby is finally napping, and the other two are watching Sesame Street for a minute.... I need to take a 6 week vacation, preferably somewhere warm and sandy with a cool breeze, to catch up on my knitting. And then while I'm gone, someone can clean my house, install a dishwasher, conquer Mt. Washmore for me (laundry), roof my house, and design & carry out a landscaping scheme for me. Come on, you can't tell me that wouldn't make a great reality show? I'll settle for a couple hours away so I can run errands without 3 children--anyone game? I still haven't paid proper respects to my SP5 pal. I promise I will! Can you believe the first month of SP6 is almost over already? I'm doing some hunting this weekend for my SP6 pal, and next weekend is the WI Spin-In, so I should find some great stuff there too. She should be easy to shop for, we have very similar tastes. As far as the Christmas Stocking Dilemma goes, the majority of the votes are with good yarn and good technique. Jennifer let me know that the pattern is on ebay. I checked it out, but I think I can wing it without it. Duty calls, lunchtime... More later...

Christmas Stocking Dilemma

2005-09-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's the deal: A friend of mine asked if I could knit 2 (maybe 3) stockings like this one for her family: It was knit by a dear friend of the family that is older now and physically unable to knit (or she passed away, I can't remember). It is for her oldest daughter (Isabel). She would like another for her baby, and one for her husband too. It is knit out of something acrylic (Red Heart?), it is knit very tightly and all the stitches are twisted (who knows? This may be a design element) It looks like it was started flat from the top. It was knit in one piece with decreases on both sides until the crossed candy canes. It was then split into 3 sections (thing Ostrich foot) with the middle section wider with the fair isle candy canes. Then it gets a little foggy: as best as I can tell, she then seemed the back, turning it into a tube, somehow turned the heel, but instead of picking up stitches, it is whipstitched closed there. The gusset is also whipstitched (how in the world?) And then the red and green on the toe are actually knit in the round and decreased into a wedge toe. Issue #1) Duh, it's Red Heart! I'm sorry, I'm such a snob... I just can't stand squeaky, crunchy, non-elastic yarn. Issue #2) I want to knit it in the round. That would mean Santa and the candy canes would have to be duplicate stitched. Unless I got fancy and did intarsia in the round. Issue #3) Do I twist my stitches or not? Was it a design element or a mistake? If I make it the way I want to, I am afraid that it won't look very much like the original. But maybe it would? The first compromise I think I would make would be to use the same yarn. That way color and texture would match, as much as it would kill me to make an heirloom stocking out of plastic yarn. I have bigger issues with technique. I want to do my best work. None of the ends are woven in on this stocking, the 3 inch ends are (gasp) knotted. The seems are mismatched and holey. The jingle bell is attached with fishing wire. So what do I do? Let me know what you think in the poll and comments below. Thanks!

Progress Report

2005-09-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

There won't be any pictures today, because there is nothing new to talk about. I have quite a few irons in the fire, so I am busy just juggling them. 1) The new first thing on my list (the list really isn't prioritized except for this one, everything else is equally important) is one of the latest sweaters from Lorna Miser. It will be a men's sweater knit out of Prairie Silk by Brown Sheep. It is very cool, but my favorite part is that I get until the end of October to knit it! 2) I will be knitting a Maggiknits sweater for a friend. (It's beautiful and interesting. I'm excited to work with this yarn, Maggi's Linen, a cotton/linen blend.) 3) Manos del Uruguay's All Season Throw. - I'm about a quarter done with the last square of the first row. 4) Trekking socks - I am in the process of turning the second heel. 5) Alchemy silk Ruffles scarf - I'm about half way thru the second ball ( 75% done with the scarf) 6) Mystery Wool Hat - waiting for my second ball of yarn that has been ordered... That is what is in my knitting bag right now. I also need to finish 3 Christmas stockings for a friend... Wait a minute!!!! What a perfect time for a poll!!!!! I have a dilemma (concerning the Christmas Stockings), and you will help me solve it! I will leave the solution to the masses!!! Check back soon and PLEASE help me solve my knitting problem! I'm off to surf the web to find out how to conduct an internet poll...

Another Secret Pal Exchange!!!

2005-09-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

I swear I am addicted to these! 1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I am a yarn snob. I'd rather have cheap wool than expensive acrylic. I tend to buy finer weights so I get a lot of knitting time for my dollar. (I love knitting lace) 2. Do you spin? Crochet? No and Yes. I did start to learn to spin, both on a drop spindle and wheel. As for Crochet, I did that for years before I learned to knit. And I mainly crocheted lace. 3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Smoke, but I'm used to dealing with it since my parents smoke. 4. How long have you been knitting? I think about 8 years. 5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes. It's in my sidebar. I listed it under my Blog name and address, which my secret pal should have! 6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Anything natural, light and clean. Nothing pungent or heavy or artificial. 7. Do you have a sweet tooth? I love chocolate. Dark, Milk chocolate, chocolate with Raspberry, ummm, any chocolate really. 8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I don't have time for other crafts anymore. 9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I have a really eclectic taste for music. Three favorites currently: Praise and Worship, Latino, and Josh Groban. 10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I love jewel tones. And earth tones. I love intense and deep colors. I don't buy pastels, except lavender. Even then, I prefer a light plum over pastel. Burgundy, navy, sage, burnt orange, gold, etc. 11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? 1 husband, 2 kids, 3 cats, and one dog. My daughter is 4 and my son is 2. 12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) I can't think past today, and my life dreams this morning were to 1)shower and 2)get all three kids (I babysit for a 5 month old) sleeping (at the same time) at least once today. As of five minutes ago both happened, so I can now die a happy woman. 13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Habu (I know, they violate my all-natural rule. They are my main exception!) , Koigu, Manos, Cascade 220, Celestial Merino, Alpaca, Silk, KidSilk Haze, Jamieson's, and I could go on and on! I haven't met a natural fiber I didn't like! 14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Crunchy, squeaky, non-elastic acrylic. 15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Lace and Fair Isle. 16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Shawls. And socks, booties, mittens, sweaters, toys, ummm, everything! 17. What are you knitting right now? Socks, a couple shawls, a throw, a scarf, some hats and maybe a sweater soon. 18. What do you think about ponchos? There were two little ponchos done in lacey patterns in a recent IK that I'd like. I plan on knitting a few capelets for my daughter and a few of her friends. Other than that, I think it'd be best if the poncho craze would end soon. 19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circulars, all the way! 20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Bamboo, wood and Addis. 21. Are you a sock knitter? Are sheep wooly? YES! 22. How did you learn to knit? From my mom's cousin's daughter. I just call her my cousin. She is amazing! 23. How old is your oldest UFO? My first knitting project is still unfinished in my closet. So, 8 years. 24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? I love Wallace & Gromit. Sheep and Llamas. Any cartoon character that knits. 25. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. Christmas. The 4th of July. My Birthday. (It's a tie) 26. Is there anything that you collect? Right now I have an extensive Dust Bunny collection, other than that, I'd say knitting patterns and books. 27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Interweave Knits and Cast On. 28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Alice Starmore's book of Fair Isle knitting. (Out of print and on ebay for between $100 and $200. I like to day-dream that I find it at a rummage sale for 25 cents. *grin*)(I'm just including it in case my Secret pal finds it at a rummage sale, you never know...) 29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? I'm trying to get my hands on the Feathers McGraw knitted toy pattern from Woman's Weekly/Patons in the UK. Or some shawl patterns from Fiddlesticks. I'd also love some knitting notecards. Serious or Silly. There really isn't anything I need...but I always love more patterns and yarn! I love being remembered by friends, I love cards too. I am really easy to impress, anything I get will be loved and appreciated!

No knitting content...

2005-09-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I might mention a little knitting later, we'll see. We spent the weekend "up north" in Eagle River, WI with my in-laws. My father-in-law does chainsaw carving for a local plant nursery there. The kids had a blast, the highlight of the trip being this landscaped waterfall/pond: Iris is in the background looking at the koi (giant goldfish) in the water. Harrison just started posing for photos this weekend. They climbed all over this thing. I wasn't thinking, but I cut off the big waterfall on the right. You can just see the edge of it in the upper right had corner of the picture. My handsome little man is getting so big!!! Here is one of my father-in-law's bears. I love the "marshmallows" on a stick. Iris did too. Switching gears from VACATION to SCHOOL! Here is my baby! (sniff) Isn't she adorable? Ready for her first day of school! (this is her special smile-for-the-camera smile.) And this is Iris standing in front of her cubby. I was very proud of us, neither one of us cried. In fact, I had to call her back several times just to get one hug. On Monday, she'll take the bus for the first time. I might cry then. Obligatory Knitting Content: Tonight is knitting night, and tomorrow I leave with the girls for a retreat "up north." Just the girls. Ahhhhhh, I can't wait! We've adding Knitting Circle to our annual retreat, so it will be fun to see if it's just us, or if others bring their knitting too. More on Sunday....

a quick hello....

2005-09-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! I just got back from a vacation "up north" as we say in Wisconsin. And I'm leaving again in two days. And it's Iris' first day of school tomorrow. And, and, and... And I got my last Secret Pal gift, WOW! I doubt any other secret pal will ever hold a candle to my new friend at Blue Garter. I won't go into detail, because she deserves her own post... And I have a lot to share. But no time. I absolutely positively cannot over sleep tomorrow. We have to be in Iris' school lobby at 8:28 a.m. (holy moley! Oh, and on a side note, I now empathize fully with my mother and all those years of school shopping, shoes, backpacks, school supplies, etc.) (and how ancient am I that I have a child in school????!!!!???? I can feel the grey hairs pushing through my scalp as I write....) So, after dropping her off, and after a good cry, I imagine I will have another mega-post with pics of everything! (Hi Heather! I'm okay! Relatively speaking... *grin* You should have my phone number so you can check on me)

Grandma's Woven Lap Blanket

2005-08-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well, after reading the comments of my last post, I feel the need to explain a few things.... I teach classes at my Local Yarn Shop. I also knit up samples for them. After 6 months, I get to keep my samples, but they need to be on display in the shop first. That explains the cream-colored hat, the 220, Birch, and the Manos throw. The booties are using up stash, the silk (half of it) was a gift from my Secret Pal (whom I adore, and can't wait to find out WHO she is!). So my indulgences were the Trekking sock yarn and Habu. (whoa, flashback to Catholic upbringing, the confessional....) (grin) Not that I have to defend my stash, I am a knitter. Stash happens. Anyway.... My grandmother's throw. Here is a picture of the whole thing. It isn't very big, the squares are about 3 x 3 inches. She crocheted them together with cream colored (maybe it used to be white) yarn, 2 strands held together. I love all the colors! I never would do anything like this, because I'd never be able to believe that all my scraps could be put together and look as good as they do here. Not to mention this is all probably Red Heart or Wintuk acrylic. (That testifies to the power of my grandmother's hands. They can make me have happy thoughts about acrylic. Well, not all acrylic, just this throw) She made the squares on a little weavette. I have it somewhere, but I can't find it this moment. I put it somewhere safe, really safe, because now it's even safe from me. I have noticed an advertisement for palm looms in the back of Interweave knits though. You can check it out there if you have one of their mags. Here are a few close-ups: And there are a few extra squares that I'd like to do something with: Maybe a little tote bag? I was just going to see if I could add them to the existing blanket, but there are too many of each color to look random. I might make a new throw. We'll see. My grandmother and I shared a love for Fiber Crafts. She mainly crocheted, and taught me when I was very little. She had doilies all over her home. She also did embroidery, and a little knitting. It made me sick to think of her handiwork going to a thrift store, or being sold in a garage sale for a dime. So I took it. All of it. Most of it came home in this bag. This bag isn't from Target or Old Navy, this is old school! The real deal! Fresh from the 60s (70s?). You'll have to click on it to see some of the treasures inside. I really miss Grandma.

Prepare to be Over-stimulated...

2005-08-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ha! You know how I've been a little M.I.A. lately? Get some snacks, some drink, and cozy up to the computer, 'cuz this is going to be the post that makes up for it all!!! Even though I haven't been blogging everyday, I have been knitting. After a trip to the local library (which has an amazing knitting book collection) I left with zero books for the children (they were along) and about 5 books for me! One of which was 50 Booties to Knit. I had too much fun whipping these up in a matter of two days. Too cute!!! I made them both out of Cascade Fixation. I had to go down a few needle sizes to get stitch gauge, but that messed up my row gauge. Resulting in long narrow booties. I have tried them on a friends baby though, and since Fixation is so stretchy, it might be considered a bonus because they stay on really well. Next up is my beautiful Manos Throw. My beautiful neglected Manos Throw. I started this a few months ago as a knit along at my LYS. Everyone else is much much farther. And now, looking at it, I'm wondering why I'm not working on it, it's gorgeous! And I'm so excited to start these new colors!!! Let's see, what's next? Hmmmmm.... How about the Trekking XXL socks in colorway 100? I love these socks, but they too have been pushed aside lately. I absolutely love the fit. I really dug into PGR's Simply Socks book to make these super-customized and they fit like a second skin! I couldn't be more pleased!!! Too many shadows in this shot. Trust me though, they are so pretty!!! I am trying to show you things in chronological order, which is funny, because I don't remember exactly when I started things. Right now I have two time periods in my head. "Before Stitches" and "After Stitches". These are still from Before... Have I mentioned that I found a project for my beautiful Alchemy Silk Purse? I acquired a second skein from Knit Happens. It doesn't match perfectly, but it will be fine. It's so soft! I'm not sure it was the best choice for the ruffles scarf, but I like it! And now I get to wear it!!! And now for the "After Stitches" group of photos: First, I'll show you my goodies from the Habu booth. Starting at the top and going clockwise: Linen Paper in brown; Tsumugi silk in gold, brown, and orange; a cone of something that is 70% wool and 30% stainless steel! It is black/green with a little shimmer. I have no idea what to use it for, but 30% stainless steel? How cool is that? Next is 4 skeins of paper moire. Then a huge mass of pussy willows and lichen. Right? No, not really. It's a shawl I made out of Kasumi and Tobi Moire. The pattern is in Exquisite Little Knits and it's called the Filigree Shawl. I love it, but I bound it off to loosely, and now I have to pick it out and redo it (don't ask me how I'm going to accomplish that....) It took two days to knit it. It's really fun, kinda different, and about as close as I'm going to get to a novelty scarf thing. (first of all, it's a shawl, not a scarf. And secondly, Habu isn't novelty yarn. It's Art.) (can you tell I've been rationalizing this one in my mind for a while? Sometimes I have to make up stories to quiet my inner Yarn Snob.) A new project my Inner Yarn Snob is very pleased about is Birch. Yep, I started Birch. It is taking every bit of will power I have in me to go on living and not knit on Birch every minute of every day. I'm using it as motivation for everything. ("If you make the kids lunch, you can knit a row. If you vacuum the living room and dining room, you can knit a row. If you use the crevice tool on the baseboards, you can knit two!) I love Kidsilk Haze. Last, but not least, I need to knit up some hat/mitten/scarf samples for the shop out of Cascade 220. (No one told me I needed to, I just decided that on my own. We really do though. Seriously, I have seen a few trees with a few yellow leaves on them already. This is Wisconsin...) So see if you can recognize this pattern: (the sun was setting on my major photo-shoot, can you tell this was the last pic taken?) And here is the rest of my 220 that I need to whip up into something. I mentioned the 220 ladies at Stitches. They weren't the Two Old Bag ladies. I saw them too, very cool stuff. No, these women had a booth with maybe ten or less things knitted up in 220. The main thing they had was a set of 6 hats with interchangeable hat bands. It was very interesting. I'm going to do some stripes, some fair isle, some intarsia, some embroidery. You'll see. After writing all about my yarn I feel the need to touch it. I think I'll knit on Birch for bit... If you are wondering about the backdrop for my photo shoot, it's a throw that I inherited from my grandma. She made it on a little weavette, which I also inherited. I love it. I love that she made it with her hands. It's a treasure.

Stitches is COOL!!!

2005-08-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

OH I have sooooo much to tell you! First and foremost, I think I need to join EA (ebay addicts anonymous). That said, *I* is too cute in all the dresses that keep *magically* appearing in our mailbox. (that's what I tell DH) Not a good incentive to quit! Our biggest news: *I* got her ears pierced on Sunday afternoon. I called everywhere, but ended up going to Claire's at the mall. She was a real trooper. I told her it would hurt a lot, and then it would stop hurting and then it would burn. Our usual pain-phobic daughter told us "okay" and still wanted to do it. After all, Oprah did it! (Watching Oprah is what convinced *I* to do it in the first place.) Well, she had a shocked look on her face, and lots of tears when the nice lady pulled the trigger. She didn't want the second one done, she held her head to my chest and I hugged her while her second ear was pierced. That's when she really started crying. She was held and kissed by Me, Daddy, and Uncle Monkey (Uncle Mikey, but the kids called him Monkey instead and it stuck. He has quite a few "piercings" so we thought he would be good moral support.) After a few trips around the store looking at all the pretty jewelry, she calmed down and was smiling again. I can't believe how BIG she looks now! Ugh! And we register for preschool this afternoon. I don't how I'm going to handle this, I got misty reading the requirements for registration.... And for what you really came to read about: STITCHES WAS SO COOL!!!! I want there to be a permanent Stitches. It could be a Knitting University somewhere, and I would go live there. I took the class "Where did they get those numbers" with Edie Eckman. It was fantastic. I'm looking forward to a few patterns coming to "life" by Christmas.... Market was fantabulous! I spent all my money at the Habu booth. I felt guilty until I saw the woman in front of us spent at least $1500.00 on just Habu, maybe $2000.00. I am not exaggerating. I also found Rowan #34. Birch, here I come! Overall it was a great day. As much as I hate my Crocs (they are plastic! and they make my feet hot) I have to say I would have had blisters in any other shoe. It took us almost 2 hours to make it half way through market. We did the other half in about 10 minutes. Celebrity Sightings: Melissa Leapman - Holy cow, she looks like she is 28 years old. Very sweet person, and incredibly talented. Lily Chin- Signing books, always surrounded by a crowd Ann and Eugene Bourgeois (Philosophers Wool)- Can DH and I be them when we grow up? I have to admit, I lost my cool in front of them. I was very effusive about how much I love their designs, book, wool, sweaters, you name it. (remember the Debbie New experience?) Feeling stupid now.... Joyce Williams- I just love Joyce. I've taken four classes with her. She's great. My goal is to make it to Camp next year. Rick Mondragon (editor of Knitter's Magazine)- He is hilarious! I promise to do something impressive by next year so I can do show-n-tell too. Lorna Miser- I was bummed that I only got to talk to dear Lorna twice, for about 5 minutes each time. (congrats on the Vogue Cover!!!) and many many others. The wonderful designers from Two Old Bags and Cabin Fever. Takako from Habu, my friends from Yarns by Design, Arnhilde Hillesand, and more! There were two ladies with a small booth that were just a hoot! I can't remember their names, but they had just the best stuff, all made out of Cascade 220. They will be coming out with a book (this fall?) called 220 that will be 220 patterns/projects for Cascade 220. Doesn't that sound awesome? And can you believe it, I was so swept away with it all, I didn't take a single picture? I finally remembered on our way out, and Jess and I took pics of each other with Jess's camera at the last Stitches poster before the parking garage. Oh, and when we left the convention center, it was dark, I took a wrong turn, and we got lost at O'Hare Airport for about half an hour. We had no idea where we were going. Finally a nice bus driver led us out with his bus (with people on it and everything!) (God Bless him!) (lesson to live by: when you go to Maps on Us to get a superior driving plan (with detailed mini-maps of every turn), make sure to print out similar superior instructions for the way home! You can't always go back the way you came!!!)

The Day before STITCHES MIDWEST!

2005-08-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

The babes are waking up soon, not much time to post... I'm alive. I didn't go out of town, DH did. We survived. Where have I been? I was taking my usual stroll thru the World Wide Web, and stumbled into Ebaylandia. Now, I've been here before once or twice, but had a terrible accident that resulted in spending too much money on a beat up pair of shoes for *I*. So I haven't chosen to go back. Well, lets just say 2 weeks later I've finally stumbled away with an armload of clothes for *I* this fall. I'm dazed and confused, and a little dehydrated, but recovering nicely. I've also discovered I have a very competitive personality, and a hoarding instinct. I think I would've made a great cave woman. Unfortunately for my hubby, these skills are now applied towards shopping for yarn and children's clothes. On the knitting front, I've knit some adorable booties, and a ruffle scarf from my Alchemy silk. I'll take some pics later if the sun ever comes out. Baby's up, gotta go....

Whoosh!!!

2005-07-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

That was the sound of time as it flew by since my last post. (which was my 100th post! what a pathetic 100th post...*grin*) Honestly, I feel like I'm in the middle of a whirlwind, so I'll make it brief: Knitting: 1) my Trekking xxL socks 2) I made a hat for the baby this morning, and will turn out another before bed 3) Manos All Seasons Throw 4)Tessa's Rainbow socks And many more projects waiting their turn in baskets and closets. Oh, and on the Contemporary-Culture-in-the-United- States-front, I can't even believe this: Empire of the Alpha Mom No matter which perspective I use to look at it, I find this very sad. As long as we are on the "mom" topic, pray for me this weekend. Los ninos and I will be flying solo for 4 days, 4 very busy days....

Boot Camp

2005-07-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

I am still at the last weight posted. I didn't lose anything else this week, and I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled because I was sure I had gained it all back. Only 2 salads all week, and no purposeful excercising. (I still count chasing the kids around the house and when we're out in public "jogging", but I won't cheat and say that here.) Oprah would be disappointed in me. Back to salads and Pilates (very hard to say at 10 pm when I am *yawn* very tired.)

It's Monday...

2005-07-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, for all of my whining and complaining (I'm so uninspired, blah blah blah...) I should really know better. Last night I went for a stroll through the World Wide Web. A click here, and a click there. Now I'm inspired. Here is my list of things that would feed my inspiration right now: 1) The pattern for Birch, and 3 skeins of Kidsilk Haze in the color meadow (KSH is waiting for me at my lys, I think I might pick it up later when the baby wakes up) 2) The rest of the yarn for Fish and Anchors 3) Some Noro silk garden in a beautiful colorway. Maybe Kureyon. I don't know how much, I want to make the Ruffle Scarf from Scarf Style. 4) The Inky Dinky Spider Stole. Out of what? Good question. Morehouse Laceweight Merino? Something variegated. (Blue Nymphea, Steps at Vetheuil or Three Poplars?) (I'm obsessed, this might find it's way to my needles first.) When I think of Spider Webs, I think of an early spring or fall morning, northern woods WI. I like to get up while the air is still cold and crisp. Walking through the grass drenches my shoes, socks and toes because everything is covered in dew. That's when it is so easy to see all the beautiful webs, their spinners working so diligently to repair them from the action the night before. It's mesmerizing to watch. So I think I want to knit it in a spring-like combination of greens and blues, or an autumn palette of golds, reds, and jeweltones. That's two "involved" projects, and two repetitious (yet not mind numbing) projects. Of course all require new yarn and pattern purchases. (Sorry dear hubby, maybe you don't want to start reading my blog.) Oh, speaking of spending more money, I also want to start my Master Hand Knitter Level I and become a Rowanette. It's going to take me a year to coordinate all of that! So I can't say I'm bored or uninspired anymore, now I'm overwhelmed.... In a good way!

A day of rest...

2005-07-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, not really. Not until now. Right now the house is completely silent. All I hear is the hum of my hard drive. I love the peace and quiet of my little home. With the children tucked in bed, the hubby off doing whatever. My quiet five minutes before the week starts again. I'm still uninspired in my knitting life. I am definitely going to knit Fish and Anchors (I got my Campbell Red yarn from Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins yesterday). I also think I need to knit Birch. I was thinking about knitting Kiri instead, but I think I like the way the leaves align themselves with Birch more (vertically). (Although Kiri is absolutely gorgeous, and incredibly brilliant on Polly's part to design it the way she did.) I'll have to think on it. What do you think? Birch? or Kiri? or maybe... The Inky-Dinky Spider Stole?

Boot Camp

2005-07-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe it, but I lost a little more this week. 1.5 lbs. My guess is it had more to do with me having a 24-hour bug yesterday than with my eating/exercise habits this week. I didn't really exercise. Although I did start babysitting this week. That's like strapping a 12 lb weight to myself while I do my daily chores.... And I ate well until Tuesday night, when Jessica brought the most delicious chocolate chip cookies to knitting at Bahr Creek (I had three, ok, maybe four). It kinda slid down hill from there, culminating with me eating a Big Mac for supper last night. Fortunately (?) for my diet, I contracted the flu last night (trying to look on the positive side). I had an extremely high fever, along with the usual flu symptoms, but feel fine now. I might even go into the shop later, we got a huge order of Manos in, and we are expecting a ton of Rowan, including the new Nashua line. As far as knitting goes, I have been feeling very uninspired. I have no exciting projects going on. I don't feel like knitting anything I've started. I'm sick of the boring and mundane. I want to be challenged. (drumroll please...........) I'm thinking of starting an Alice Starmore sweater. I've been looking at the Fish and Anchors pullover from her book The Children's Collection for *H*. All of the colors for the sweater are available in Jamieson's Spindrift except Campbell Red. (I guess Scottish Campion is no longer being produced, but it is the exact same thing as Jamieson's Spindrift. Bahr Creek carries Jamieson's!) I found a shop on-line, that still has some Campbell Red left, so I ordered it. Then I'll just have to get the rest from Bahr Creek. When I've finished the AS sweater, I think I'd like to get Poetry in Stitches, or something similar to make a sweater for *I*. That will keep me busy until I get a little thinner, and then may think about making a beautiful cardigan for myself.

Thursday is KNIT NIGHT!

2005-07-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

The girls are over tonight- we have cupcakes, ice cream and knitting! The kids are sleeping, and we are having fun! Heather (of fore-mentioned knitting group) joined the throngs of bloggers tonight, make sure to visit her and leave a Welcome-To-The-World-of-Blogging comment! More tomorrow...

Not knitting as much? Yeah, right...

2005-07-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I should know by now, the more ~~stressed~~ busy I feel, the more I need to knit. (Hellooo, what did I name this blog?) Adding a new little person to our daily mix has shaken things up a little, so my need to knit has actually increased. Unfortunately time available to knit has significantly decreased. Oh well. I'll just sacrifice the usual, sleep. For instance, I absolutely had to start a project with my secret pal yarn. I decided to turn it into this. I couldn't find anything in my knitting books that I could wear that only used one skein. Nuts, now I'll have to see if I can acquire another. (Alchemy, Silk Purse, color 47w-pale blue eyes, no dye lots-yeah!) (I am never sad about getting more yarn, especially yummy yarn like this!) I am going to check out the book Exquisite Little Knits. Just in case there might be something even more beautiful this yarn wants to be.. I think we might have it at our local library. I am always impressed by wonderful selection of knitting books that they carry.

Busy, busy!

2005-07-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

Oops, and I almost forgot to mention, I'm shifting down to second gear with the knitting. Can you tell what I have in my little bundle? See those tiny feet sticking out? I have a little baby to watch during the day now. I love it! I get my baby fix and I get to sleep all night long, what could be better than that? He's great, and he loves being in the sling, which I love. It's so much fun having a baby in the house again! (and did I mention how much fun it is to not be sleep deprived while enjoying him?) (babysitting rocks!) (I get paid to snuggle!)

2 posts in 1, Habu and Secret Pal strikes again...

2005-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

I promised the next post would be about Habu, so I'll start there. I've heard of Habu before, but didn't have a chance to really meet it in person. I saw a basket of it a yarn shop once, but it was just a basket full of their tiny skeins in various fibers, and I didn't "get" it. So I was pleased to see Habu had a booth at the Midwest Weavers Convention. I visited Takako several times that weekend whenever I had a minute. She was very kind, and it was so much fun to see everything they had to offer. I bought a little skein of the paper moire, and I ordered a shoulder bag kit (destined to be my summer bag/purse). I really like it! A lot a lot! I wish I would have know how much yardage came on the cones, I think I might have made my bag a little bigger. You can see the general silhouette of the bag here (crummy lighting) and a close-up that better shows the structure and color here. I love the simplicity of it. And it feels so unique. I love it! This is all of my Habu. The little piece you see on the needles is going to become my summer wallet. Starting in the upper left hand corner, going clockwise: A-60 Linen Paper, A-1Tsumugi Silk, and A-62 Paper Moire. I also received my second Secret Pal gift on Saturday, and I feel spoiled!!! I got a wonderful bag of Burt's Bees goodies. You can never have too much Burt's Bees! I'm especially eager to try the tomato toner, I've been thinking about trying it for a while now, and just haven't picked it up yet. She (I'm assuming it's a she, her handwriting is lovely!) also sent some Alchemy Silk Purse. I have seen Alchemy's ad in IK for a while, and have wanted to try something from them, but no one around here carries that line. Can I just say this silk is unbelievable!!! It is a dream! It actually came as a hank, but I had to touch it! And when I touched it, it told me if I would wind it by hand, it would whisper to me what it wanted to be. So I did, immediately. It was just lovely to wind, not a single knot in it. When I finished, the ball laughed and said "I could be absolutely anything!" Coy little ball of yarn! I am really stumped. I am thinking of turning it into a scarf or something similar (maybe a cowl? Would that work?). Here are the stats: 100% silk, 50 grams, 138 yds, 5.5 sts/in on sz 6 needles. Maybe the triangular neck scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts? I'm not really a neckerchief kind of gal, but maybe... Anyway, I'll take any advice you have. And those buttons!!! They are so cute! Check out the close-up here. My Secret Pal is an inspiring stash-feeder! (My favorite kind of knitter!) What a fun thing this Secret Pal exchange is. I think I'm going to participate in all of them, I'll volunteer to organize Secret Pal Exchange #49.

What a Loser!!!

2005-07-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, here I go, promising to post on Saturdays about Boot Camp, and I forget the first day!!! And I only promised the day before!!! (I'm blaming it on Mommy Mush Brain) Okay, so let's pretend it's Saturday~~~~~ So, Wednesday night I sat down with my girl Oprah (was surfing the web around 11 pm and decided to check out www.Oprah.com) I quickly came across her boot camp. I liked what I heard (read). I also signed up for her Live your Best Live online stuff (what can I say, I'm a sucker for idealistic self-improvement things). I printed out the commitment to myself page, and signed up for 12 weeks of living differently. Thursday I went for a walk, and ate really well. Lots of greenery. It really helps that our half bushel of organic produce we get weekly is great salad stuff. Spinach, spring greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, kohlrabi, etc. Plus farm fresh organic eggs. I also saw the chiropractor that day and had my first ever adjustment. (that was planned a few weeks ago) Friday I woke up at 6:30 am to evade los ninos, but it didn't work. *H* was up with me. My neck was bothering me, and I thought it was from the Chiropractor the day before, but forged ahead anyway. I did my 45 minutes of Pilates. It was a wonderful thing because I made several realizations during this workout. I realized the last time I worked out to a video (DVD) was in our first apartment. That would make it, ummmm, 8 yrs ago. Can that be true??? Umm, yup. Then my next realization was that this lack of exercise has resulted in total atrophy of my abdominal muscles. They are totally useless. Non-existent. Oh well, they are getting their wake-up call. (trust me, after that work-out they woke up, and they're not too happy about it...) My neck was killing me all day. I'm blaming the Chiropractor. I was not very happy. DH went to Walgreens around 10 pm to get some Aleve for me. (relief!) Today (Yesterday), Saturday- I got up late because DH turned off both alarms when he got up to go the farm. My neck is in immense pain. I popped another Aleve, and ran to my LYS as soon as DH got home. I had a class to teach at 10 am (it was cancelled, but they forgot to tell me {grin}). My class was supposed to be 2 hours, then I had to work until closing at 6. Can I just say how much I love yarn?? Anyway, I planned to walk in the evening again, but it didn't happen. I am happy to report that I did a good job eating though. Salads at each meal, only a cup of tea for snack. Hubby made some great chicken and veggie stir-fry, so supper was muy sabrosa. I was good, even though I really wanted to snack on something naughty. I've decided that very time I want to eat something bad for me I'm going to pick up my needles and knit. I've been working on this shrug: It's made out of Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Crystal Palace Labrador. It's Scribble Lace from Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting. I decided to make a shrug. Just for something different. I really wanted to submit the pattern to Knitty or Magknits, but since scribble lace is Debbie New's thing, I didn't feel right. I mean, it's just a long rectangle with the ends seemed. I don't think I can really call that "mine". I really like how it turned out though. And I love the color. It also can double as a scarf~ Although it looks nice on the DH, I wouldn't say it was a unisex pattern... (I didn't like the pics he was taking of me wearing it as a scarf, so he was kind enough to pose for me, what a guy! Strong and secure in his masculinity, huh?) Next post will be about Habu...

MIT survey

2005-07-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Soon There Will Be Less Of Me....

2005-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not undergoing any surgery... I joined Oprah's Boot Camp. Now what does this have to do with knitting you may ask??? A lot. I have never knit a sweater for myself. Why? Because I am a BIG girl. I don't know if I could afford the amount of yarn it would take. Or maybe I don't want to spend that much money on that much yarn. Whatever. I want to knit beautiful sweaters for myself, and I want to look like the Skinny Rabbit in them! So I went to Oprah's website last night and jumped on the bandwagon. I am going to commit to a different lifestyle for 12 weeks and see where it gets me. I've been inspired by Laura in the past. She uses the knit-blogging community for accountability and I really appreciate reading about her successes and struggles. Since I'm trying to blog on a regular basis, I think this forum will work for me too. I'm calling it Boot Camp, and I will keep a progress report in the sidebar. My "changes" are the following: I am going to exercise every day. I have Pilates DVDS, and various aerobic workouts on tape. I will also walk for at least half an hour every day. I'm following Oprah's eating suggestions. It doesn't look like a lot written down, but it will be a huge life-change for me. I've had some health/fertility issues, and they are tied in closely to my weight. (PCOS) I am hoping to control this with diet and exercise, though I do have a prescription (Metformin) to start it. So, my new life started today. I ate well the whole day (except for the 3 tablespoons of cookie dough I snitched while making dinner.) And I walked for half an hour with my walking buddy: I will keep track of my progress in the sidebar, and like Laura, will only blog about it on Saturdays. If anyone wants to join me in my 12 week journey to a healthier/happier/slimmer me, you can leave comments on those Saturday posts. Thanks for listening and being an accountability partner!

London

2005-07-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

London, please accept our deepest condolences. All of Great Britain, you are in our prayers. We stand beside you, as we wait, holding our breath.

Knitting in the Round on Two Circular Needles

2005-06-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

I promised weeks ago that I would write something up about knitting on two circulars. Well, the planets have aligned: I woke up earlier than the kids today, we have sunshine, and a project to model. I took a class with Joyce Williams and Lizbeth Upitis in April. I learned this technique from them. I have seen a "how to" in Latvian Dreams: Knitting from Weaving patterns by Joyce and in A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi. (Cat will be at Yarns by Design this fall and she will be teaching if you want to learn even more!) To start knitting on 2 circs, put half of your cast-on stitches on one needle and half on the other. These stitches will "live" on whichever needle they are on until you decrease them or bind them off. The stitches on one needle will never ever transfer to the other needle. Hold both ends of one circular needle in your hands. This is the working needle. Ignore the other needle and it's stitches. It's taking a break right now, and will hang there out of your way. Knit across the row using the working needle. When you reach the end of your row, you will stop using your working needle (pull the end until the stitches are completely on the cable so you don't lose any), and pick up the resting needle. You can then work these stitches. Continue going round and round in the same way you would with your dpns. Any questions, class? Is that clear? It's really a breeze when you get the hang of it. I think it helps me spend more time knitting and less time moving needles around. It eliminates the loose-stitch syndrome that can happen between dpns, and I have less anxiety about loosing stitches when I cram my knitting into my bag. I use 24# circs or longer because the needle itself is longer on those lengths, and more comfortable to hold in my hands. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I'll address them in my next post. On a personal-knitting note, this particular sock is driving me up the wall. It is rainbow yarn. I want it to look like a rainbow. Unfortunately, the way it is dyed is not allowing that. Purples and reds are on one side and yellow/orange/green on the other. I am currently using the feather and fan pattern I mentioned from Socks, Socks, Socks, but it isn't' eating enough yardage to make a difference. At this point I see two choices. #1-Make these socks for my children, and hope the smaller circumference throws the pooling pattern. Or #2-Make Sideways Surprise socks or Better mouse-trap socks so the yarn will be going from leg to toe instead of around my leg. I love this yarn (Lorna's Laces) but I don't have a thing to wear them with. I love rainbow yarn, but can't see me wearing rainbow socks. So I am leaning strongly towards kids socks. I will leave you with one last pic. This precious little imp (still in his pajamas) just pushed the button that puts the computer on standby, and I thought I lost this whole post (Thank you, Lord, that I didn't). He's lucky he's so cute, or he'd be in the front yard in a box marked "FREE PUPPIES". (mental note to self and a warning to mothers of toddlers everywhere: click the "save" button often!)

If I had a million dollars....

2005-06-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

If I had a million dollars, I'd sign up for every minute of classes at Stitches. Since I'm don't, I signed up for just one class: Where Do They Get Those Numbers? by Edie Eckman . I am so excited to go. Just to have a taste of Stitches. I am trying to design a sweater now. I have it all in my head, but I don't know how to realize it. I just need to be taught how to design it. I might make a trip to our library and pick up a few design books and shut myself in my ~~bedroom~~ studio for the weekend. I'm in a dilemma about Midwest Masters. I don't think I want to take all the classes. I want to take a class with Cat Bordhi, but only her "inspiration" class. I would love to sit in on her other classes, but I have her books and have made a couple moebius things, so I'd rather learn something totally new (even though I'm sure it would be neat to learn it in person, and I'll bet she has tips and things to share that aren't in her books...) I want to take Lucy Neatby's sock class too. (They are at the same time!) And I want to take Lucy's double knitting class. And maybe Christine Blysthma's button/closure class. I could just sign up for Lucy's class, but I can't imagine having the opportunity to take a class with Cat and passing it up. I guess I should be thankful that life is so good right now that my biggest dilemma is what knitting classes to take. I'll stop complaining now! Sorry! The Yarn Harlot found a cure for the flashing/pooling of LL socks. The feather and fan pattern from Socks, Socks, Socks. I'm going to try it on my Rainbow Shepard sock and pray it works. (My sister just called, interrupting my blogging. Turns out her dog has a flea. My sister was trying to kill it, while talking (screaming) on the phone. I hated to inform her, but if the dog has a flea, then most likely it has fleas. And if the dog has them, surely the cats have them. Oh, poor Carrie. I can imagine the pandemonium going on in their house right now) So anyway, I have to get some pizza-smeared children cleaned up and in bed for a nap so I can reassemble the house. I had the depressing thought today that for the rest of my life, the most positive thing I have to look forward to is "maintaining". There will be no "getting ahead" or "fulfillment of other dreams". The best I can hope for is to have all the laundry and dishes done at the same time. So far my record for "maintaining" is three days. It's kinda depressing. Especially when Dear Husband hands me some stuff he printed out from UW-M about getting his Masters in M.I.S. It will be his 4th degree? I'm still working on my 1st! (its been on hold the last 10 yrs) (I support him, I love him, I want him to go get his Masters. What's stopping me from going too? Nothing but my total lack of energy.) Okay, I'm complaining again, sorry. I'm going to go and pretend I wanted to be a maid when I grew up, not a neuro-surgeon.

Ha Ha!

2005-06-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Ha ha!!! This test is way off, there is nooooooo way I could be a genius in math! If I had a dictionary in arm's reach I could have been a genius in the verbal area too, oh well.

Se habla espanol aqui

2005-06-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

Puedo hablar un poquito de espanol. Spanish was my major in college. I am only two classes and a few general eds away from a bachelors. Anyway, with my phone out of commission (I am not happy with SBC right now) I have been doing some serious www surfing today. And I stumbled upon this: A very cool site! They have everything! Crochet, Knitting, Embroidery, Bobbin Lace, Tatting, you name it! On their Tricot page there is a definition of terms. If you know a little Spanish you can figure out the terminology. I have a few Spanish-speaking friends that want to learn to knit, so I am very excited to find this site. How cute is this? And there's yarn! There is an option to buy online, but I am afraid to. What if the shipping is astronomical? What if I accidentally order the magazine in Portuguese or Italian (they both seem viable options)? (Okay, did further research and it looks like a year's subscription is over $100.00 US, that's stretching the budget a little!) I would love to find some traditional Spanish/South American/Mexican knitting patterns in Spanish to add to my collection. I'll have to peruse the site a little more to see if I've found my source or not. I have Andean Folk Knits on my wish list, it's on backorder at the yarn shop. Has anyone found any other Knitting patterns en Espanol? I would be very interested to hear about your findings...

WOW!!!

2005-06-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a well educated person. And knitting is my thing. But I had nooooooo idea there were so many free sock patterns in the world! The Sock Knitters Wendy's List Knitting About's List Leah's List Wowzers, that's a lot of socks! If you are out and about, you will find me at the Midwest Weaver's Convention at Lakeland College the next 4 days. I'll be in Bahr Creek's booth. Stop by and say hello! I'll be there from 9 am to 9 pm most days, with the exception of Thursday, when I'll be there until 11 pm!

Good to Go Friday!!

2005-06-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is the reason I haven't been around for 2 weeks: You may remember that I got to meet the sweet and talented Lorna Miser (founder and former owner of Lorna's Laces) at Spring Midwest Masters in Neenah in April. We stayed late in the knitting/hospitality room and talked for quite a while. She is such a kindred spirit! We agreed to keep in touch, which led to the awesome opportunity for me to test this pattern for her. It is her "Good to Go Cardi" (modeled by Jessica of Naturally Knitty) and was wonderful to knit! It was well planned and designed. I loved it! I love the efficiency of it, neither assuming the knitter to be a novice or genius. The stitch was absolutely perfect for this yarn, so springy and textured. I was able to whip it up in a week and a half. (Without even needing medical attention for my hands!) I had a blast doing this. I was thrilled. I sent it out on Tues. and I felt like I was handing one of my children over to UPS. (Take care of my sweater, don't lose it! You seem busy, maybe I'll just sit here with it until the truck comes...) Another bonus is that I got to try out a brand new yarn! It is Big Kind by Ornaghi (Filati). 100% Extrafine Merino, and it is like BUTTER! So soft! And warm! I was so impressed by my swatch. It was honest and true the entire time. Every piece measured out perfectly. It was like a dream! (Mind you the stitch is very stretchy, and I think very forgiving.) It felt wonderful as it ran through my fingers. When I blocked it, again, like BUTTER! I steamed it and sculpted it into place, like playing with room temperature butter. So incredibly soft! No one believed this was 100% wool. Probably the most obedient wool I've ever worked with. The ribbon is a hand dyed silk ribbon which I purchased at Nest. (The owner is amazing and great at what she does! Go there and buy stuff!) So, now that the sweater is finished and spending the weekend at the TNNA trade show in Columbus, OH, I can finally rejoin society. No more deadlines! I feel like the world is my oyster! This also means I can fulfill former obligations like choosing a yarn give-away person from the comments. (Iris did this with her eyes mostly closed, but that is okay since she is only 4 and the only word she can read is her own name!) (drumroll please..............................................) And the winner is HEATHER!!!!!!!! The yarn chosen is: Two skeins of Jamieson's Shetland Chunky ready for a Kool-aid dying experiment. Or a felting experiment, or anything else you can think up! (sorry, my stash must have eaten the kidsilk haze, it is m.i.a. ) Could there possibly be anything else to blog about??? Why, yes there is!!!! Look what I found in my mailbox today! My secret pal understands me! We are connected on some kind of level, I swear! I was wishing for this very tape measure just yesterday, I am almost out of tea, I am completely out of chocolate (that never happens) and I am on the biggest sock kick of my life (and totally in love with Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock Yarn). What an incredible pick-me-up at the end of a long day! Just a few hours earlier I was entertaining nine children under the age of ten in my living room. My friend Toni came over for an unexpected visit with her 5 kids. I was already watching 2 of another friend's kids, plus I had my two. Hey, even good stress is stress! I'm embarrassed to say, I ate most of one chocolate bar for supper. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!! So, that is my current life in a nutshell. Things currently on my needles or waiting in the hanger: ~A pair of lace socks in ecru by Lorna's Laces for someone special ~A Hot Pink Sophie Bag for my cousin's graduation present (Sunday) ~Manos All Seasons Throw ~another Flower Basket Shawl out of hand spun Llama wool for my LYS owner ~a pastel capelet for a friends little girl ~and numerous class samples for my summer schedule of knitting classes we're offering

Happy Friday!

2005-06-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hello! I am still finishing a sample sweater today, so I can get it in the mail tomorrow, so I can't post a lot. I want to respond individually to all those that commented to my posts lately!!! I have been looking thru my stash, and it will be easy to decide what yarns will be given away, because I've removed so many labels! The few I have with labels that are still whole will be the give-away. I know for sure there will be one skein of Kidsilk Haze, and maybe a skein of Rowan Big Wool (I have to double check). I'll throw some stitch markers in too. For my Secret Pal: I tried to respond to your email, but it bounced back to me. So I'll say this, you had my address right except for one thing: I live on "Road", not "Drive". If you send anything to the address you have it will go to a waste water treatment plant! (which would probably be a pleasant surprise for them considering the stuff they usually receive! But I doubt any of those guys knit, maybe they do, you never know...) Thanks for emailing me!

SP5

2005-05-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I am a huge yarn snob! Cheap wool is better than expensive acrylic for me!!! I love all wools! If it's too scratchy to wear, you can always felt it! The only amount of acrylic I can tolerate is the nylon in sock yarn! 2. Do you spin? Crochet? I do know how to crochet, but I don't do a lot of it. I am just learning to spin. I love it! 3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Smoke. (even though I was a second-hand smoker the first 18 yrs of my life) But only if someone is smoking in my presence. Whenever we visit my parents I have to air everything out, wash stuff. So I know how to get rid of the smell if I have to. 4. How long have you been knitting? I've been saying 6-7 yrs for a while now, I could probably change that to 7-8 yrs now. 5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I did have an Amazon wish list, but basically it just has some books on it (which I have probably all acquired by now) and some Numi Tea. 6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I like natural herby scents. And some soft florals. For the kitchen I like herbs and citrus. My fav. perfume is some organic natural oil stuff from the health food store that smells like lavender. My fav. soap is Burt's Bees tomato soap (I love all Burt's Bees stuff) or Weleda Calendula soap. 7. Do you have a sweet tooth? I don't like sweets and sugar (except for Maple Sugar candy) but I do love dark chocolate. My kids and dh would live on sugar if it would be possible. 8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I do beading a little bit. But honestly, knitting consumes all my free time. 9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I don't listen to much music, usually just the radio or the few favorites I already have. Josh Grobin, Ella Fitzgerald, Lorena McKinnet (her stuff is a little new-agey for me, but her voice is just gorgeous). Most days I end up listening to Barney and Raffi though! 10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Earthtones and Jeweltones. I like rainbow sock yarn (the toned down jewel colors, not the bright stuff.) I love my koigu shawl I made, and I have some Lorna's Laces rainbow sock yarn that I can't wait to start. I do love color. Pastel Pink or lavender is pretty. I'm not sure what else to say. 11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I've been married to DH for 10 yrs now. Our dd is 4 (drama queen, loves bright colors, much smarter than we'd like her to be at this point) and ds is 2 (laid back like daddy, sweet, shy, the total opposite of his sister.) My dd want to learn to knit this summer, I am currently looking for those learning knitting needles for little ones. Have you seen them? I can't find them anymore. They are two different colors, the same size, and the knob at the end of the needle is shaped like a bunny's head? (If anyone knows where to get them, drop me an email) I also have 3 cats and a dog. The cats sit around and sleep all day (they really could be considered home decor more than pets) and Nigel is the best dog ever. We all love him, he really is the best dog in the world. 12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) Besides winning the lottery? Hmmmm. My idealistic dreams (world peace) or my realistic dream? Actually, there is my shallow realistic dream (travel the world as a knitting teacher, that's realistic, right? Forget it, for my sanity's sake we have to pretend it is) and my unselfish realistic dream (that my children grow into responsible, caring, productive members of society that love the Lord). 13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? See #1. 14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Again, #1. 15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Lace, socks, and bags. 16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Something that challenges me. Patterns that teach me a new technique or stitch pattern. And if it results in something beautiful in color and design, well, that's the amazing thing about knitting. Your hard work results in incredible beauty. Every time. 17. What are you knitting right now? A sample sweater for a friend. It's her design, and some new yarn. It's consuming my life! (grin) Short deadline. I love it, but I will not be sad when I am done. After that is done, I feel like the world is my oyster. I have no obligation knitting left. 18. What do you think about ponchos? Ugh. I feel that one falls under personal choice. If you want one, I won't stop you. But if you chose something else, I'd be proud of you. 19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circular all the way. Addi Turbos most of the time, and after that it's a toss up between Addi Naturas (love that cord) or Crystal Palace Bamboos. 20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? See # 19. 21. Are you a sock knitter? I love socks. I will have at least one pair of socks on the needles at all times for the rest of my life. 22. How did you learn to knit? My cousin taught me. For my first project she made me design a sweater with cables and then knit it. 23. How old is your oldest UFO? I never finished that sweater, and I do have it all in a bag somewhere, so I guess you can say 8 yrs old. 24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? I would have so say Wallace & Grommit. I love the characters from Pixars latest short film "Boundin' ". I'd collect anything and everything I could from those two. Actually, any animated or claymation characters that knit would be what I collect, because I also love Babs from Chicken Run. I also like sheep and llamas. Any sheep or llama related things are collectible. 25. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. It is severely under-commercialized. I love fall. 26. Is there anything that you collect? I used to collect tatting shuttles, but I haven't purchased any in a long time. I just inherited my grandmothers china, so I will start collecting Noritake "Tuscana". Thanks to Grandma, I also now have a collection of Workbasket magazines (over 206). And antique linens. 27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Parents magazine, and National Geographic. Interweave Knits. 28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Yes, all the knitting books I don't already have. (grin) I have a lot of knitting books. I just need more yarn so I can make all the things in those books...

2005-05-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

A Eulogy for My Grandfather Saturday May 14, 2005

Soon all of us will be headed over to Wildwood Cemetery. There will be a stone with Grampa's name and 2 dates on it. The first is Nov. 1, 1909; the 2nd date will be this past Wednesday. But what matters most is the dash between those years. That dash represents all the time he spent on earth. That dash is what means the most to all of us today. The hardest part of coming before you today was trying to summarize that life. My grandfather has always been my grandfather to me. He has always been "old" from my perspective. But he was also once a child, growing up in Maquoketa, IA. He was a young man that grew up in hard times. He was 40 yrs old when he married my grandmother, and he retired the year I was born. He was a blessing to us--and a lesson to the world on how to do things right. He was a good and honest man that provided for his family by the sweat of his brow. In my eyes he was an expert in farming, horses, dogs, gardening, lawn care, and home repair. When I was growing up, my favorite thing was to sit at his feet and listen to his stories. I was the only one that swore I never heard the same story twice. Well, maybe the one about how he had to pull the teeth of a litter of piglets with pliers so the sow would let them suckle. The stories were good, but they weren't always pretty. I think we all can remember asking our grandparents about their lives, its fascinating to a young person, because here is someone talking about a time and place that never existed or could exist for that young person. Right here, before you, is someone that has traveled through time. I look at most of you now through my grandfather's eyes and memories. You are a part of the history he tried to instill in me. It is a good foundation, a good history, and my grandfather's life was a good life. These last few weeks will always mean the most to me because it was an amazing finish to an amazing life. The night my mother called me to tell me my grandfather had cancer, I was devastated. We had just lost grandma. I went to my bedroom and I broke down. My 2 yr. old son was sleeping peacefully on the bed next to me. As I cried out to God, asking Him "why?" A loud voice interrupted my thoughts. "Would you trade your son's life for your grandfather's?" What was that? That's ridiculous. And as I prayed, the voice interrupted with the same question. "Would you trade your son's life for your grandfather's?" As I looked at my baby's peaceful angelic face, I admitted selfishly that "no," I couldn't. To which God replied: "I did." "I sacrificed my son for your grandfather. As hard as it is to believe, I love him more than you ever could." That is when I knew God was calling him home. When I visited grandpa last week Wednesday, our conversation turned towards what was coming next. We spoke of God, heaven, and the cross. And then my grandfather said he'd like to pray with me. In all my days, I never thought I'd hear the worlds "Dear Heavenly Father" come out of my grandfather's mouth. Grandpa asked God to forgive him for his sins and asked to rest forever in the arms of Jesus. He thanked me for praying with him, and then we talked about how much he missed Grandma and I assured him he'd see her again. I asked him what he thought Grandma would say when she saw him walking through the pearly gates. He said, "She'd say 'What in the hell are you doing here?'" I was also able to tell him that night how much I loved him, and how much I would miss him. We reminisced about the time we spent together when I was younger, and I thanked him for the wonderful memories I have because of him. He smiled gently and I kissed his forehead. It will be my most precious memory. And so as we make the transition from "being with" to "memories of", I am consoled in knowing that I have no regrets, no "I wish I had said this or done thats." I feel fortunate to have wonderful memories of a fun, generous, kind, supportive, and loving grandfather, one that has enriched my life immeasurably. I thank my grandfather for his lessons, I love him and honor him. And as it befits a teller of history, I shall not forget him.

Rain, rain, go away!

2005-05-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Actually, this was from a few weeks ago when we had rain for a few days in a row. Today we have nothing but sunshine! It's beautiful! I haven't been around for a while because May has been quite the month. On the 2nd, I turned 30 yrs old (still dealing with that one.) My grandfather had been in and out of the hospital lately and having a rough time. On the 8th he took a turn for the worse. He passed away on the 11th. We buried him on the 14th. (still dealing with that one too.) I gave the Eulogy at his service. The 10th was Tim's and my 10th anniversary. We went to dinner at Il Ritrovo (where Jessica and her husband make the most delicious food!) and then to a movie. Which movie you ask? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I didn't want to see Star Wars, and Tim didn't want to see Monster in Law, and Madagascar isn't out for another week yet, so we chose HGG. Let me just say it was "interesting." There is a knitting-related scene in the movie, it was great (I won't share any more in case any of you are planning on seeing it.) Our experience in the theater was even more "interesting." There were a few people dressed in full Star Wars costume walking around. Poor Darth Vader was cornered by some older woman that kept complimenting him on his movies, telling him that she'd seen all of them at home on her TV, and she thought they were just great. I think she thought he was the real Darth Vader from what I gathered from eaves dropping. I was tickled to see how patient and kind he was with her. Very out of character.... In our theater, there were only 2 others in there with us. We got there early, so we waited 20 minutes for the movie to start. Just when the lights were dimming, one of the guys got up and left. He was back about 15 minutes later. Then about a half an hour into the movie, the guy in the front row stood up and bolted out of the theater like he was on fire! He tripped right by our isle and spilled his popcorn everywhere, scrambled to his feet, and took off. The worst part if it was a moment later, when I realized I just sat and watched him the whole time, like he was part of the movie! I didn't even ask him if he was ok, or offer to help or anything! He came back within 3 minutes. Then he jumped up and did it again about 30 minutes later. Tim and I didn't' know what to think. We laughed all the way home in the car because the whole experience was so weird. Not exactly the date I expected for my 10th. On the knitting front, all this stress has proved to be a productive time. I finished my Charlotte's Web Shawl, and then a pair of socks (in 2 days) and The Flower Basket shawl (in 3 days) just in the last week alone. Yesterday I got some yarn in the mail from a friend. It's for a special project that I'm tickled to help with. But if I told you any more I'd have to kill you. It's top secret work here (at least til I get clearance.) But that will keep me super busy. Oh, and I got a call from Yarns by Design, my bookplate from Lily Chin came in, so they are mailing me my Knitting and Crocheting with Beads book by her, with the signed bookplate. I've been waiting since mid-April. They are including the Ramblin Rows afghan pattern from Carol Anderson. I want to make a Koigu one like Sally from PA. (click gallery, and then Sally)(I don't know Sally, but she knit a beautiful afghan!) Oh, and for the yarn- give-away, I will put all the names of those that left a comment for the last post and this post in a hat. Iris will pick a name, and I will send some goodies your way. (I feel pathetic bribing for comments, lets just say this is a stash-reducing give-away instead...)

Weekend Musings

2005-05-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here is my tea cup progress. I hope to make it to the inside lining by the end of the weekend. I'm waiting for Tim to get back from the farm, he's almost 2 hours late. Usually on Saturdays I work at my LYS, but I have today off. Tim works at a local organic co-op for a couple hours a week. We don't have the time to maintain a garden, so he goes there on Sat. mornings to get his "earth-fix," and I don't have to weed during the week, it's a great set-up for everyone. Plus we get 1/2 a bushel of organic veggies and a dozen organic farm-fresh eggs a week. Anyway, since I don't have to go anywhere today, he's taking his sweet time. Just because I'm not working doesn't mean I don't have any plans! It was supposed to be around 60 degrees today, and I want to transplant some perennials (they can wait, sigh). Anyway, he LOVES the farm, so who knows when he'll come home {grin}. I booked him to be my photographer this afternoon for my "knitting on 2 circs" post. Oh, he's just walking in the door as I type. I'm plugging away on my Easy Lace Shawl. I think it's too easy. I wish I was doing a more difficult pattern. This one was exciting for the first two inches, now it's repetitive. I love the color though, and I like that fact that one row adds a lot more length than if I was knitting in stockinette. I'm predicting I'll be done by the end of the week. I've been using it for sitting-around-in-the-evening-the-kids-are-in-bed- but-I-don't-want-the-day-to-be-over- knitting. This is how far I was last night: I love Jaggerspun. It's 50% merino and 50% silk. It's beautiful, light and warm. Anyone have any ideas for dressing up the lower edge? I'm not sure I want to add fringe, but I do want to add something. Leave me a comment. Supposedly I'm getting 30-50 hits a day on this blog, but I'm lucky to get even one comment! I might have to do a stash busting give-away to coax you guys out of lurking. What do you think? Can I bribe you into commenting?? {grin}

I love Fridays!

2005-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I love Fridays, today wasn't a particularly good day. In fact, I would have to say it was quite exhausting. The weather was gorgeous! We played outside all morning. Then during naptime, after lunch, my friend brought her little guy over while she ran an errand. That was easy, I just had to convince him it was his naptime too. He fell asleep in my arms while we read stories in the rocker. It was then that I heard a crash in Iris' room. It sounded like she pulled down the pole in her closet. I gently put Dylan down to finish his nap on the couch. Then I went upstairs to her room and discovered that it was her window that broke. She was jumping on her bed (instead of napping) and fell into the window (so she says). It broke, and thankfully she didn't go through it and fall two stories to the ground below. We have a storm window and a screen on there. The glass was shattered, but she didn't have a single scratch on her. I was in shock the rest of the day. We had a serious talk, my mom came over to help me clean up the mess, and she had a talk with Iris too. I told her she was lucky her guardian angels were there to catch her, and she thanked God for sparing her when she prayed before bed tonight. I swear I got 20 new grey hairs today. To get myself to think about something else, I decided to have a little photo shoot with my Charlotte's Web shawl. I made it with Koigu of course. And I love it. I made it out of every color so I can wear it every day (and I do.) I cannot express to you in words how much I love this shawl. I still have to crochet around the edge and put the fringe on it. I wasn't sure I wanted to. I don't want it to look too folksy or grandma-ish. But the ends keep curling up. And today I think I was able to picture it in my mind with the fringe, and I liked it. I think it will look more "finished." I think I am addicted to shawls. I have already started Lily Chin's Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl, and I want to knit Kiri, the Flower Basket shawl and Leaf Lace shawl, and there are so many more!

Mamapalooza

2005-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Are you going girls??? I think I am!!! Click HERE to find a Mamapalooza near you!

W.I.P.s

2005-05-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

I think it's a good idea to take a count every once in a while, of how many Work In Progresses one has lying around. Just for a little perspective when trying to stick to a yarn diet. 1) Knitted Tea Cup for JMKAC exhibit. 2) Moebius sling bag out of Tibet Silk. 3) Square for Manos Throw knit-along at LYS. 4) Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl out of Jaggerspun. 5) I need to put fringe on Charlotte's Web Shawl out of Koigu. The above are all competing for space in my knitting bag as we speak. 6) Sew 2 more buttons on Evelyn's sweater. 7) Un-seam and Re-seam Harrison's Harry Potter sweater. 8) Llama/mohair hat for LYS. 9-14) Aunt's Sophie bags (only 6 of them) 15) Harrison's summer sweater out of All Season's Cotton 16) Sister's fingerless mittens. Well, I think that is a long enough list for now. This is just what's in the basket in my living room. I'm ignoring the front hall closet. It still overwhelms me. Since I haven't taken any pictures of these WIPs, I'll leave you with a picture of my dog. His name is Nigel, and he is the best dog EVER! And cute too! Coming next....Knitting in the round on two circular needles!

Thursday is Knit Night!

2005-04-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of the hat and booties, all wrapped up and waiting to be given! I made the pom pom out of the Baby 4 ply and the Kidsilk Haze. I've also begun to knit up my tea cup for the Cup exhibit at the JMKAC. My new friend Christine and I will be knitting up tea cups for the event (a la Debbie New). I decided to make mine an simple aran pattern. I"m pretty pleased with it so far. I'm using size 000 needles and Satakieli yarn from my stash. The red on the pattern is how far I've gone, and the yellow is marking the rows I'm twisting my cables (I decided to put 3 rows instead of just 2 between twists, and I didn't want to re-write the whole pattern!) And last but not least, Spring has sprung! My tulip is up (yes, just one left by the previous owners, I keep forgetting to dig it up.) And my Bleeding Heart has some beautiful flowers on it. I was worried because we actually had some snow flurries last week, but they survived. (please ignore the plethora of weeds, I've been knitting! {grin})

How should I knit these Christmas Stockings?
	Identical to the original (bad yarn and bad knitting)
	Same yarn as original, but good technique.
	Use good wool, but copy original's technique.
	Use good wool and do the best job I can.

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