theyarnwhisperer

a need of inspiration

2010-04-12T12:58:00.002-04:00

I got put on call today (at my request) because of a flippin headache. I'm trying to get some things done around the house despite the fact that the headache refuses to leave. I've thought about planting my backside on the couch with some knitting in hand, but the baby sweater I am currently working on just isn't doing it for me. I originally started out with a Debbie Bliss ribbed yoke pattern and that sweater was just way too huge. So I tweaked the numbers and decided that instead of a stockinette stitch I would do a reinforced heel stitch to jazz it up a bit. Well, I got to the yoke part and just didn't like the way that the yoked rib was looking with the reinforced heel stitch so I frogged it. Then I decided to go with a cabled fabric look. I like the cabled fabric but not with the heel stitch. *sigh*. So I am currently thinking of frogging it and doing the whole thing in the cabled fabric but I just haven't brought myself to frog almost the entire front of the sweater yet. I've got some seaming to do on a sweater so I may do that instead. I hate when I'm not feeling the groove of a project!

the pink sweater

2009-09-30T09:45:00.005-04:00

Finished a baby sweater for a pregnant coworker over the weekend and got it to her just in time for her shower. The sweater is based on the Helena pattern from knitty.com. I changed up the bottom of the sweater, though, and used the ribble pattern from the Socks, Socks, Socks book. I loved the yarn...... Sheep Number 3. I've used the yarn before for some socks so I knew I wanted to do the sweater in the same yarn. Its such a soft pink.
Now I'm working on finishing another pair of socks, working on my Malabrigo sweater, and the sweater I'm knitting for Nathan. And just to add some more fun to all of that, I'm making a swifter cover from the Mason Dixon knitting book.

while I've been whiling away the time.

2009-09-09T14:46:00.005-04:00

Four weeks ago I had knee surgery so I've been out from work since then. I didn't feel much like knitting the first couple of weeks as I had to endure pain and physical therapy. The upside to this is they gave me some good pain meds so it made up for it. I HAVE managed to get some knitting done lately, though. I am working on a baby sweater for a coworker, some socks, and a couple of sweaters. The sweater piece in the picture is the front of a sweater I'm knitting for my youngest son. I've got one sock done and about 10% of the second sock. The yarn is from my good friend the Knitwitch. Its a worsted weight and I do believe the colorway is Sagittarius. She'll have to correct me if I'm wrong. It has a really nice feel knitting with it. The pattern is Red Dwarf by turtlegirl. I've never been much of a toe-up sock knitter, but this is a fun pattern. Also, after a much anticipated wait, my LYS Sugarfoot special ordered me some Pagewood Farms sock yarn Glacier Bay in the colorway Crayon. I am loving working with this yarn and highly recommend it if you can get your hands on some!
I go back to work in about a week and a half so we'll see how that goes. Besides the physical therapy I 've been trying to take some walks around the neighborhood to build up my endurance in anticipation of my 12 hour shifts I'll be going back to!
Also posted is a picture of my cat Zooey surfing facebook.

Harry Potter

2009-07-17T17:00:00.002-04:00

I went for my second viewing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today. I saw it on opening day with my husband (who bears a striking resemblance to Dumbledore), Ramone (aka calicoknits), and another friend who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. I had promised my boys I would take them to see it so that's what we did today.
Now, we're just kinda chilling out and I'm about to work on my February Lady sweater some. I'm doing it in Malabrigo in Olive that I got from Sugarfoot Yarn in PTC. Its super soft and goes well with my reddish hair.
I imagine I'll see HP again before the weekend is out. My stepdaughter is out of town right now and she'll want to see it when she gets back in town as well.

summer knitting

2009-07-06T21:16:00.005-04:00

While on vacation, I managed to finish a baby sweater for a friend of mine who just had a baby. I had started completely different sweater and one sleeve to go when I totally misplaced the yarn I needed to finish it. I grabbed some Rowan Calmer out of my stash and took it with me to do a "do over" while we were on vacation. I did the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater on two needles. The pattern February Lady is inspired from it. I had been wanting to knit February Lady and figured this was a good way to give it a test run. After completing the baby sweater, I went to Sugarfoot Yarns and scored some malabrigo in olive to knit my own February Lady. I'm still on the garter stitch yoke right now.
On another note, I've got some pictures of the mailbox I painted for my husband for father's day.

little cable chemo cap

2009-03-26T09:38:00.002-04:00

I had a request for the chemo hat that I designed, so I'm posting it in the blog for all who are interested. Its a rainy day here and I'm trying to get motivated to get some domestic chores done.
Project info

Where NOT to be at 9pm

2009-01-30T07:58:00.002-05:00

Last night as I was driving home, my car (that is also home to my many opinionated bumper stickers) started slowing down and I was cruising on I-20W. Now, I do have rather short legs and sometimes it takes an extra effort to extend my leg to the gas to keep my speed up, but the car was slowing down no matter what I was doing to the gas. I put my hazards on and started to pull over to the side of the road. The engine light came on. And despite my best efforts to try to drive slowly to the next exit...my car came to a dead halt. I had to call my husband and he came to retrieve me right away but it was a long wait as we live in Peachtree City and that's about an hour from where I work. It was cold. I was tired. And I have to say that the whizzing by of semi trucks by the side of my car resulted in quite a vibration of me and the car. It was rather scary. But my husband did come and rescue me. The car did not start so we had to leave the poor little thing where she was and come home and call a tow truck. Luckily we have a van and another older car that my husband drives so I'll be able to get to work to do some paperwork today and then go get my kiddos. However, I'm still trying to figure out what my cosmic lesson is in all this. I'll let you know if I get an answer.

tooting my own horn

2009-01-16T11:49:00.003-05:00

Today is my 42nd birthday. For those who are fans of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. So, considering the magic of the number, I'm hoping that this will be a stellar year for me.
I've been quite deficient in blogging lately due to some health issues. I believe I am finally getting better and will be more faithful to blogging in this year of answers.
Happy Birthday to Me!

imagine me and you

2008-11-30T08:04:00.011-05:00

This blog is a day late. I guess it balances the other one that was a day early. I wanted to post a true anniversary blog yesterday but my husband was running a virus scan that took all day. Apparently when I go to the ritzpix page I have to type everything in backwards thanks to some secret virus stuff. I had to write out everything and then type it in backwards. I really only use them because I can get a matte finish on them.
Enough said. I started, or shall I say restarted a sweater for my youngest child. I had started one for him but I had to pay far too much attention to the pattern for me to realisiticaly finish it in time for him to still wear it. So, I picked a different pattern that still requires a little focus but not not as much. Its from the Winter Vogue 2006/07. I've liked the sweater for years. Or maybe I've just like the hunky guy IN the sweater.
Ok, so, enough of hunky guys in sweaters that are not my husband. My fave picture is the one with us on the top of Mt. Tam and I have a red sweater and a hat on and I look like a 6th grader standing next to my husband. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy Anniversary

2008-11-28T10:43:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow is me and hubby's anniversary. I've been promising him a sweater for 4 years now and I was able to finally make good on the promise. I broke down and gave him the sweater a few days early so he could wear it for Thanksgiving. The yarn is lion brandy chunky (I love my husband dearly but knowing how hard he is on clothes I couldn't bring myself to buy some really expensive misti alpaca to do a sweater for him). The colorway is spice and it looks really good on him.
The sweater is my own design (well, I used the little cable fabric pattern but the construction came from my own little head) and turtlegirl was a big help in giving me some last minute input on how to get my garter stitch edging from rolling. We decided it was NOT going to be too girly to put a row of crochet crab stitch on it and it looks GREAT! Thanks, Christi! I would actually add a link to Christi's blog but I'm just not that technologically suave. I can never link properly when knitwitch has her contests either.
The far away picture posted was at hubby's request since he wanted to get a picture that showed our "tree face" in it. If you look near the top of the tree, it has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. We bought the face at a local craft festival a few months ago.
Perhaps tomorrow on our actual anniversary I will post some pictures of when we actually got married, back when I was skinny and cute and didn't look like jabba the hut. Do you know how hard it is to get a sweater to look good on jabba the hut? Speaking of that..... I have on needles (for Jabba the Hut) the country weekender sweater from fiber arts. Of course, I'm going to give it my own version with the little cable fabric instead of stockinette stitch and I'm going to add a row of cables in a complimentary variegated yarn in the place of the contrast yarn three needle bind off. I never can just leave well enough alone, ya know. I'm also considering knitting Strawberry Hill by Nora Gaughan. It looks kind of fun and might not look too terrible on Jabba when all is said and done.

long time, no blog

2008-11-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

I don't have any pictures to post. I know, I'm a bad blogger. I did recently finish and send off a pair of yoga socks to a friend in Boston but didn't get to take pictures first because I couldn't find the friggin camera at the time. Perhaps she'll take some pictures of them on her feet when she gets them and then I can post those.
I finished an anniversary scrapbook for my husband and have it wrapped and hidden away for our anniversary on Saturday. I have his sweater pieced together. I just need to figure out how to sneakily sew in the ends and put on some edging without him knowing what I'm doing. That's going to be really hard to pull off since I'm working tomorrow and then he's off work and will be all up in my business the rest of the week. Maybe I can pull myself out of bed at 4am Thanksgiving morning and work on it.

Trick or treat smell my feet give me something good to eat

2008-11-02T13:22:00.005-05:00

Halloween has come and gone. My kids went trick or treating on the golf cart (as is tradition in PTC) with my husband while I stayed home to pass out candy. The only trick or treaters we got were BEFORE my kids left to go out. Absolutely not a soul came by while I was at home with the cats and the dog. It did give me some knitting time, though, so I can't complain too much.
Jonah was a voting booth. There were slots on the top of his box so that you could "vote" for your favorite candidate. There was some stuffing of the ballots via candy and it appears that McCain is the favorite in PTC.
Nathan went as Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. I thought he looked pretty bitchin'.

I am the eggman

2008-10-27T10:31:00.006-04:00

I just felt like saying that since that song has been running through my head nonstop for about 3 days.
The F.O. is a sweater for a friend at work that's having a baby. Its from the Nashua handknits book and done in Rowan summer tweed. It makes a very pretty sweater and is soft to the touch, but the yarn is just a bitch to work with. I have some leftover that I may make a matching hat with, but after that...me and rowan summer tweed are breaking up. I got a lot of smart-ass comments at work when I took it in to show it off. People were saying, "My 4 year old could wear that." I purposefully did not make a wee baby sweater. Babies wear them like twice and then they outgrow them. Also, everybody gives you all this cutesie stuff for your newborn but then when they got older, nobody gives you cute shit. So, I figured I would make this sweater so that her little girl could wear it when she got a little older. I did, however, also knit some socks and booties in Lorna's laces to fit a newborn, lest I be accused of not meeting her newborn needs. Geesh.
Also featured are some pictures of my boys' room that we just finished laying bamboo flooring in. My husband has been driving me bonker-shit about furniture arrangement and I am not in agreement with the layout of the room, but it seems that I've been vetoed. Also, the man has a thing about wire shelving. My stepdaughter has some wire shelving in her room with big plastic bins on them in leu of a proper dresser. So, please note that the wire shelves that my husband is using as a "room divider" in the picture are not of my design ideas. I watch way too much Clean House, Dress My Nest, etc. to try to pull that one off legitimately.

fallout day

2008-10-21T09:23:00.003-04:00

http://knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/knit-witchs-haloweenie-contest.html

The above is the url for a contest that Brittany from Knitwitch is having. If I actually had a clue how to paste the little picture and make a link, I would. But I'm stupid that way.

I had a really really really bad day at work yesterday. To make a very long story short the straw that broke the camel's back for me happened at about shift change and I ended up literally crying my contacts out. I was boohooing and when I settled down I realized that I couldn't see. So, Steven, bless his heart, had to bring me my glasses all the way from Peacthree City to Rockdale so I could see to drive home since I'm legally blind without corrective vision.
What a day. Damn.

Puss and boots

2008-10-12T17:53:00.006-04:00

I've actually cranked out some knitting lately. I suppose I should have been working on some more painting of the boys' room but having all three kids by myself is worse than herding cats. Today I was trying to round up the children to go see a movie. I told them that once they were ready they needed to go get in the van. They couldn't understand why they had to go sit in the van once they were ready. I was thinking to myself, "If they were kittens I could just find one, put it in a big box and then go find another kitten and put it in the box and so forth and so on until I had all my kittens." *sigh*
Anyway, the picture is of the moc-a-soc pattern found on Ravelry and my own little hat pattern that I made for a pregnant co-worker. Its done in Patons Grace and some lightweight fuzzy yarn from Hobby Lobby that makes things sooo soft when you knit it with another yarn.
Also pictured is my cat TingTing with the booties. What she was doing with a copy of The Hobbit and some cotton balls, I have no idea and I'm just too afraid to ask.

before and after

2008-10-10T18:32:00.007-04:00

Ok, the after shots came before the "before". Posted are pictures of my stepdaughter's newly redecorated room. She got some new paint, new bed, new bedspread and new flooring. Actually, the bed was my old bed back from when I was a single girl. My darling hubby installed the flooring all by his not-so-little self. Its bamboo so its eco-friendly and you know that makes me happy. We got rid of a crap-load of things that were in the pit of hell formerly known as her room. Neecy Nash would have had a field day but I don't think we did too bad ourselves. Mostly, my hubby and I took everything out of her room and put it in bins, no matter what it was. After we got her room done, she had a week to put the things up that she wanted to keep... after that the rest was going in the trash or for a yard sale (we have yet to have the yard sale since we have yet to have a weekend that we are all home at one time). I have to admit that I've succumbed to making her bed and doing some picking up. I just can't live with the thought of it looking like it did before so for now I guess I'll be the one keeping up after it. Apparently my mother-in-law never trained my husband in making one's bed upon rising so I guess she's just following suit. We stripped the carpet up in the boys' room and I painted the baseboards the other day. Maybe I'll get it painted in between soccer games this weekend. We'll see.

Saving the planet

2008-09-28T09:55:00.003-04:00

Those who know me, know that I'm a "no-plastic-bags" person and always saying, "save the planet."
I found this website and have emailed it to my friends whose email addies I could remember off the top of my head.
For anybody else who might read my blog, but didn't get an email from me, please check out this:

Global warming is an urgent, but solvable problem. That’s why I’ve joined the We Campaign, a powerful nonpartisan movement of concerned citizens that was founded by Nobel Prize Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. We're already a million strong -- and growing each day.

Will you join, too? Visit this site to learn more and add your voice: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

new toy

2008-09-20T20:05:00.002-04:00

So, Walmart had the ipod Nano 3rd generation on sale this weekend and I broke down and bought me a blue one. I've been kind of wanting one but have been trying to hold out until Christmas. With it on sale at a good price, though, I broke down. Now, I normally keep myself quite entertained with all my knitting toys. I'm not a techno geek at all. Its a wonder I can figure out how to get on here and blog. But I have to say that I have been having a blast with my new ipod since my son showed me how to work it. I made myself a playlist (I intend to make a few more). I've entitled it Stay Awake and it has some Nirvana and Faith No More and Pearl Jam in it and it is designed for me to listen to on the way to work in the mornings and keep me awake. The older I get, the harder that hour drive to work is at 5:30 in the a.m. I love it because I can go and buy a single song without having to go find and buy a whole album. I've even downloaded me some Psychadelic Furs, Modern English, and The Cure. I know, I'm showing my 80s roots but there was a little bit of cool music in amongst Culture Club and The Thompson Twins.
On another note, I'm battling some lingering upper respiratory infection. I've taken a z-pack and managed to get rid of the rainbow-snot spewing forth from my head, but I've still got a cough and a tickle thing going on deep inside my ear.... you know, the one where you have to swallow and swallow to try to scratch it. I told my husband that it feels like tiny furry kittens are running around my eustachian tube. Meow. I just hope that the tiny kittens don't start using my ear as a litter box.

babies, babies, babies

2008-09-07T13:49:00.009-04:00

Seems like everybody at work is having a baby. Geez. I've got some socks and a hat completed (cat bordhi sky socks and a cabled hat from a pattern on ravelry). I'm working on sock number two of another set and have one sock done on a third pair. In addition to all this, I've got the front and back of my hubby's anniversary sweater done and am waiting on him to get home so I can double check sleeve length. I've also got a sweater for my youngest son on needles right now and have the front of a toddler sweater that I'm designing finished.
Dang..... Just reading that made me tired.
On top of all that, we're redoing our upstairs flooring and repainting bedrooms. We're laying bamboo flooring because its pretty AND its eco friendly. So far, we've gotten my stepdaughter's bedroom repainted and my hubby had started on the floor before he had to go out of town. He'll be back late tonight and will resume flooring next weekend.
TingTing has become addicted to kitty treats and she will follow you around meowing like the friggin house is on fire or like one of the kids has fallen into a deep well somewhere until you give her some treats. The dog has decided that he also likes these treats (even though he has his own) and I had to purchase a dog-proof container for the kitty treats.
Posted are some pictures of TingTing and Zooey being snuggle kittens and TingTing getting her daily workout to work off those kitty treats!

My own Mr. Tumnus

2008-08-22T07:41:00.004-04:00

I finished the 'my so called scarf'. Its been a project reserved for doctor's offices and short drives in the car so I didn't feel any pressing need to hurry up and get it finished. Its done in Lorna's laces bulky in Tuscany. As you can see, Steven is the recipient of the project. I think he has a certain "Mr Tumnus" about him with his scarf on. Personally, I think Mr. Tumnus aka James McAvoy is pretty hot. So, its a win/win situation. Steven gets a scarf and I get to fantasize about hot Narnia characters.
I'm still working on Steven's sweater and have a sweater for Nathan on needles. Not much to show on the latter so I'll wait until its got a bit more to it.

close call

2008-08-04T16:46:00.005-04:00

Right after I finished my Williamsro sweater, I started in on making a sweater of my own design (with the help of sweater wizard) for my hubby. I had bought the yarn a while back after much deliberation. I chose Lion Brand chunky in spice. My hubby looks very good in that spicy-orangy color. I waited until I finished the Williamsro until I got going on the hubby's sweater. I finished the back last week and started on the front while I still had my sweater-knitting mojo. I got about 19 rows done and realized that the shade of spice that I was using for the front did not match the back. Of course, my hubby couldn't tell the difference, but I could and I knew I couldn't live with the difference in the shades. I had two skeins in the darker spice colorway and the rest were what I knit the back with. I guess I didn't realize I had two shades when I was stockpiling the yarn into my basket.
So, today I loaded up myself, my crutches, and my stepdaughter as my minion into the car and we headed to Fayetteville to search for yarn that might possibly match the back of the sweater. there was absolutely no Lion Brand chunky at our local Michael's but we did manage to find 4 more skeins that would work between Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. *whew*. I was like seriously stressing over that. Now I can sleep at night once again.
My horrible picture taking does not do the colorway or the pattern definition justice. We all know I can't take pictures worth crap.

new blog on Monday

2008-07-28T09:03:00.004-04:00

Time to move on with a new blog. As much as I love my hubby and am glad he was born, its time to end the birthday tribute and move on to knitting.
I've got enough projects going right now to make my head spin and I'm trying not to turn into Linda Blair because of it. I have 3 different pairs of socks on needles right now. One of them is just outright boring, one of them is pleasant but for some reason just isn't bonding with me right now and one is of my own design and is toe-up so it takes a great deal of energy and uninterruptedness to work on those. For no-brainer knitting in the car I am working on my-so-called-scarf. I also have a sweater for Steven of my own design, a sweater for me from an old creative knitting that I've been jonesing to knit for like 2 years now, and I've taken up a new sweater pattern (for me) from the latest Knitscene (the ahlstrom bodice sweater). The latter of these is a little tricky and I took it down to two yarns since I was getting ridiculously tangled. The pattern isn't that difficult but for some reason my brain can't wrap itself around how this all comes together to be a sweater. So I'd say that right now that project is the source of most of my frustration. Why I do this to myself I'll never know.
I manage to reorganize my downstairs stash of yarn (yes, there is an upstairs closet-full stash as well. Its just that the downstairs stash was taking over the living room like a bunch of tribbles and I was afraid that DH would finally lose his mind if I didn't do something soon). I also took my sons to the library. Our local quilting guild had many beautiful quilts hung all over the place. There was even one up for a raffle (of which I bought a ticket). One in particular that caught my eye was a dreamcatcher quilt. My pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. I wish I could remember the name of the lady who quilted it, but it escapes me at the moment.

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-18T14:57:00.007-04:00

Today is the big 5-0 for my hubby. He's a sweet, handsome, supportive hubby who never says anything when we are just about covered in yarn.
A very happy birthday to my sweetie! And take a look at that baby face!!!!

all's fair in love and knitting

2008-07-09T11:23:00.005-04:00

I finished my williamsro sweater this morning while watching Patch Adams. Its really lovely lying on the couch. The alpaca blends knit up nicely and its very pretty...... until I put it on. I look like a walking snowball. Its a little better when I don't button it, but the sweater was not designed to be flattering on fluffy girls. But then again, are there any sweaters that are really attractive on fluffy girls? The alpaca blends is itchy on my bare arms which I wasn't anticipating. Not that big of a deal since I won't be wearing it until winter and will have long sleeves on.
Maybe if I lose like 40 pounds I'll look more like a poodle and less of a snowball. I haven't knit myself a sweater in many many years. Might be some more years between me and the next sweater I knit for me. I had started a sweater for the hubby and plan to resume it today. I was on a mission to get this one finished. Oh, notice the button band.... those are buttons that were handcrafted by Brittany of theknitwitch and myself one afternoon when I was on a raw food fast (don't ask). Brittany is holding a contest for her new yarn company so you need to check that out. She's also got some more buttons in her online store if you want to get you some cool buttons!

and we were swinging

2008-07-06T19:47:00.005-04:00

This is a picture of our new "swing" that Steven wanted for his upcoming birthday. Its one of those that glides more than it actually swings. About a year and a half ago we saw one in Helen and really liked it. We've had our eye out for one every since. He ran across this one on Craig's List.
Worked the 4th of July and it was busy, busy, busy. I heard the weekend was fairly stable but its supposed to be busy again this upcoming week.
I'm getting close the finish line on my williamsro sweater. Its seamed and I am doing the bottom trim to finish up the last of the knitting. Then I have to put on the buttons and weave in the loose ends. I'm waiting until I'm finished to post any pics of it.
I've been working on a sock pattern that I ran across on Ravelry that's from Interweave Knits. I think its called The Simply Lovely Lace sock.
I'm also attempting to do the Meida socks from 25 Favorite Socks in lorna's laces shepherd sock on size 1 needles. I may go insane. I know Ramone is proud for me knitting on such micro needles but she may be proud of me in psych ward by the time I get them finished.
On a last, but completely different note..... we went to see Hancock yesterday. It was awesome! Whatever you are doing right this minute....stop.... go get in your car and drive to the nearest movie theater and see the movie! Will Smith is awesome and he's a hottie to boot!
http://knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/contest-time-again.html

pictures coming soon

2008-06-29T18:57:00.002-04:00

I had forgotten how much I HATE piecing. Then I was reminded. I'm piecing the second arm on my williamsro. Its taking and inordinate amount of time. Partly because to spread it out like I need to in order to make sure it lines up correctly I have to spread it out on my bed and kneel at the edge of the bed to sew it together. Now being that I've got a gimp knee and am running around looking like a geriatric patient with my TED hose and my knee brace, I don't tolerate this position for very long (Brittany, get your mind out of the gutter. You too, Mr. Man) So I sew for a few minutes and then I have to get up and knit something else. I've loved working on the sweater. I started it at the beginning of the month and am excited to be on the home stretch. I'm even going to be able to use some of the ceramic buttons that I made one afternoon with Brittany and Mr. Man. Wicked cool, huh? So, I do promise pictures soon. I'd like it to be done or closer to done before posting any pictures. I've also started on some Meida socks from the Favorite Socks book. I'm doing them with Lorna's Laces shepherd sock in Buck's Bar (very lovely colorway) on size 1 needles. I may go blind or insane or both before these get finished. the pattern is pretty and easy to memorize but the tiny stitches are torturous..... at least for a geriatric gimp like me.
I'm also working on some trinity knot cable socks that I'm piecing several different patterns together to create this AND I'm doing it toe-up. Damn, I'm just full of masochism these days.

my big fat greek lip

2008-06-18T11:06:00.005-04:00

Warning, the picture of my lip is not for the faint of heart. Its, as my husband would say, "iggy".
Also, the title of the blog should be "My Big Fat Italian Lip" since I am not Greek, but rather 1/4 Italian, but it kind of loses the play on words when I get technical.
I went to the dentist yesterday for some routine fillings and also a gum flap removal. My dentist forgot to tell me that the gum flap removal would be sore afterwards and that I would resemble a hideous version of Angelina Jolie. I think perhaps some banana popsicles are in order to help nurse my swollen and painful lip back to its normal self. The pain from my gum extraction runs along my jaw and for some reason is even causing me some bizarre ear pain. I did refrain from going to work today. I just couldn't fathom dealing with my lip and my painful gum flap removal site for 12 freakin hours. Last time I went in to work when I wasn't feeling well, I ended up losing my voice partway through the shift and had to write notes and have our unit secretary answer all questions and calls for me.
On another note, we got back from vacation on Saturday. I only came off with a small turtle sand sculpture that my husband accidentally stepped on before I could get a picture. I did get some good knitting done on the way down and back and have pictures to show for it.

just a blog before i go

2008-06-06T22:06:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd share a blog before we go to Cape San Blas for a week on the beach. We'll be camping in our pop up. There will be plenty of sand in the camper and up my butt as well. Last year I made a few low-relief sand sculptures. I'm coming to the beach more prepared this year to build them bigger and better. I don't enjoy being out in a bathing suit in public. I don't try to achieve a tan and I can only handle the salty water for so long. So, its sand sculptures for me.
I've started a new knitting project. I was inspired by somebody else's williamsro on ravlery. I'm not using the noro cash iroha. I'm using Bernat alplaca blends, but I am using the noro blossom for the trimwork. I'm posting what I've done so far in the alpaca blends. This will most likely be my knitting project on the way to Florida. Its been knitting up fast which is a nice treat.
So, hopefully I will come back from Florida with pictures of works of art through sand and no burns or tans. I intend to come back as caucasian as I am leaving for down there.

long time, no blog

2008-06-03T18:29:00.003-04:00

I know its been a little while since I've blogged. I am working on a couple of pairs of socks and a couple sweaters but don't have any pictures. One of the sweaters is kind of an experimental thing that I'm kind of winging. I'm still unsure of it, but we'll see how it goes.
Mostly I just had to ask if anybody else out there thinks that one chick from the Nutri System ad is absolutely obnoxious. you know, the one who claims to not be like an ordinary girl and catches the football and says, "how many girls can do that?". What audience are they going for with this chick? I'm thinking that women are going to find her arrogant and not an all an inspiration even if she lost 40 pounds. Perhaps she's supposed to appeal to men as the dream woman who can be skinny and catch a football? If that's the case then she needs to be on an ad for match.com or something.
I find her totally obnoxious and annoying.
I did survive my trip to Pennsylvania for those who are in the know about that little ordeal. It actually went better than I thought it would although it was a helluva long drive. Steven went with me. Actually, he drove. Good thing he did because I forgot I get kind of freaked out driving in tunnels under large mountains. Pretty hard to drive through those tunnels with your eyes closed.

Roll over, Beethoven

2008-05-20T18:49:00.006-04:00

Nathan had his piano recital last week. He did an excellent job and I'm very proud of him. He looked like a little professional up there at the baby grand (I'm not biased). He played something called Airy Fairies and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. He did very good on both numbers. Truth is the child can play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Pachabel Cannon in D, Fur Elise and other classical stuff, but this is what he and his teacher agreed on. I'm currently trying to convince him that he should learn Imagine by John Lennon. He's slowly warming up to the idea. He's a classical music snob.
On another note.... I finished the odessa hat and donated to a chemo patient at the hospital I work at. It wasn't a hard pattern once you get the knack of it.
I also started the Brigid sock from Ravelry in some berroco alpaca. I'm doing this pair for my primary care provider. She's taken good care of me and was the only person who seemed to want to consider my blood pressure when I had the onset of horrible headaches. She's also taken good care of the hubby and my kids. She always asks about the projects I'm working on when I go in there. She knows I'm feeling really crappy if I don't bring any knitting in. So, this pair is for her.

movies

2008-05-14T11:48:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching Lars and the Real Girl. Its one of the slightly weird films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Everything is Illuminated, but I have a thing for weird films like that. I thought it was excellent so if anybody is out there who likes movies that are kinda "off" I highly recommend it.
On a more mainstream kind of note. I will be seeing Narnia this weekend. That goes without saying. My children and I have this kind of a sacred oath that we see all Harry Potter and all Narnia movies on opening day. So, I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to the Sex In the City movie. I was a die-hard fan. I cried at the last episode. I watch reruns whenever I can. There's just one thing, though....... Is there anybody else out there that thinks that Carrie was a complete and total bonehead to let Aidan go? I still haven't gotten over them breaking up and that's been how many years now? Every time I see John Corbett in a movie, I think, "What the hell was she thinking to ever let him go?" I personally think they should have ended the series with her being a strong single independent woman. Big strung her along far too long. I also don't think they should have ended the series with Samantha riding Smith and having an operatic orgasm. That's just me, though. Hopefully the movie will warm the cockles of my heart and give me fond memories and not leave me bitter and disgruntled.
Enough said for now.

What do you call a bear with no arms or legs?

2008-05-13T20:05:00.003-04:00

Well, at my house you would still call him John the Baptist bear....even if he has a body now. His neck is a bit skinnier that I would like but I did follow the body instructions to the T. I am revising his arms. When I started knitting by the pattern it looked like the poor bear was going to have massive edema in his arms. So I revised it and his arms are looking better.
I'm trying to finish up my odessa hat. The manager of the medical floor has found a recipient for the cap to go to.
I've started on the Brigid socks with some bernat alpaca and am swatching for the dragon skin baby wrap. I'm planning on making the big person version (Wyvern wrap) but figured I should conquer it in miniature first. The little people version will be done in Rowan calmer and the big person version will be done in Patons Katrian (which is now discontinued).
Had to work mother's day. It really wasn't bad for having to work on mother's day.
Steven is out of town.... again. He was diagnosed with diabetes on Friday and he left out of town on Sunday so we've been trying to modify his diet with him on the road which isn't easy, especially with Steven being of the mindset that he'd pretty much eat anything that didn't try to eat him first.

the evil person I've become

2008-05-06T11:02:00.002-04:00

I've always been a fairly nice person. Or at least that's my opinion of myself. I let people go before me in line that have fewer items than me, I do random acts of fast food, I pay it forward, I do knitting for charity, I drive the speed limit and yield when I'm supposed to. I will also park and repark trying to get my car in between the white parking lines appropriately rather than park all the way over on one side.
For some reason, I have been witness to myself exhibiting a couple of real asshole behaviors this week. The first one was the other day when I went to Books A Million. There were some folks around me who had exhibited interesting parking techniques and rather than park in a different spot or pull forward and back up a hundred times to get it right.... I parked using up one and a half parking spots. Yep, I did. I'm sure somebody was calling me everything but a child of God, but I parked that way and I thought to myself, "I never do any asshole parking. Today I am going to be an asshole parker. Today, I invoke the right and privilege of being one of the assholes out there who gives no thought to others and their right to park."
My second evil doing occurred today. Now, I didn't actually intend to do this one, but it just kind of happened. And I did nothing to stop it. I went to Kroger to pick up some toilet paper. For some reason, my stepdaughter makes a habit of taking all the toilet paper rolls into her room.... one by one. Now, I don't know if girlfriend has a super snotty nose or he just gets some deviant thrill on absconding all the toilet paper in the house to leave the rest of us stranded and in a mess. I had gone into her room and retrieved what rolls I could find left and we were still in need. So to the store I went. I was also in need of coke zero. I am down to one 20 ounce bottle and this constitutes an emergency in my line of thinking. I bought the TP, a few other items, and some coke zero. Now for some reason they did not have a six pack of 20 ounce bottles. All they had was a 3-pack of 1 liter bottles. I was desperate, though, so I put them in the cart. I went up to the checkout. I felt the need to have somebody else scan my items and fight with the barcodes for a change as opposed to me doing it which is what I normally do. Perhaps it was attention seeking behavior and the need to have somebody wait on me. Whatever the reason was, I went to the checkout. Of course, my coke zero wouldn't scan. By this time, a little line behind me had formed since the lane I was in was the only register open with a cashier manning it. I could very well have told her to forget about it and I could have searched elsewhere for the six pack, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to get in my car and go to yet another store in search of the coke zero. I had a three pack right there and I just didn't want to be the nice guy and tell her to forget that particular purchase so I could expedite my checking out and thus expedite the checking out of others. So. She had to go back and find the price. I patiently waited. No, really. I was quite patient. People got frustrated at the length of time it was taking her to get the price and left the line in search of a quicker mode of getting out. I stood there. Several other people came up and asked where the cashier was. I told them she was getting a price. I didn't care. I was an asshole. I was being a selfish, self-centered person concerned only with my only personal gain through coke zero.
so, there you have it. The synopsis of my week thus far in being an asshole.

what do you want to be when you grow up?

2008-05-05T18:10:00.003-04:00

I've had a small reprieve from knitting today (ok, not actually. I did work on a doll that my son is knitting but I've done nothing of my own projects). A friend of mine gave me some pictures and asked me to combine the pictures together to come up with a drawing that she's going to use for a tattoo. She keeps telling me that I need to be a tattoo artist. I told her that is quite a deviation from my desire to be a knit store owner, designer, or alpaca farmer.
Anyway, this is is the artwork I came up with. I told her I guess I could put tattoos on the alpacas but I'm thinking they would definately spit if you tried to tattoo them.
I've got some of my other artwork that I've done on my myspace page (www.karmaandkismet/myspace.com) and of course some of my artwork is on t-shirts and stuff at my cafepress site if anybody cares to see what things come out of my warped little brain.

Melissa in real life

2008-05-04T18:02:00.007-04:00

I've got Dan in Real Life on the tv in the background. Ok, so is anybody else a Steve Carrell fan? He is especially adorable in this film. I'd date him...... if I weren't married and all that jazz. I'd get into more explicit details but I believe my children do occasionally read my blog.
ANYWAY. My stepdaughter is off with the neighbors and my oldest son is at Disney with chorus and my youngest son left at 1630 with his father. So, its me, the dog, the cats, and parts of a disemboweled chipmunk on my back porch.
I finished the log cabin socks. I'm in the process of blocking sock number 2.
I'm also having a lovely, leisurely time knitting odessa from ravelry. The beads seem to want to sink and hide on the wrong side of my work, but the pattern is easy and I'm knitting it in Rowan Calmer which is lovely to work with and feels yummy on the hands as you're working it.
I'm attaching pictures (only of the knitting, NOT the disemboweled chipmunk on the back porch).

gone, baby, gone

2008-05-02T19:05:00.004-04:00

The hubby man is gone....again. He's in a plane right now on his way to Detroit. *sigh*. I think he purposefully keeps his boss' email from me to prevent me from sending him nasty emails.
On another note, I did another chemo cap to send to the organizer of headhuggers.org along with the pattern I wrote. It isn't the original yarn I used, but its pretty soft so overall I'm happy with it. I've been designing a sock for my husband since he is my number one sock recipient. I managed to pin him down to give it an initial try on today and its too small and its not good on the stretchiness to get it over the foot thing. So, back to the drawing board and back to frogging. He picked out the colors for the sock so it makes it hard to see the little cable fabric in the sock. Its basically the same pattern as I used for the chemo cap. I guess I'll add some plain ribbing to the back of the sock to make it more stretchy.
I think my first pair of cable socks from Holiday knits may end up being an adversarial sock. For those who know me well, there's been some issues with my father these last few weeks and he was placed in a nursing home yesterday. At this point, I don't know if he even knows who I am and if he does, he might would throw something at my head. He's in the mental frame of mind that the other day he announced to the staff that he had grown another reproductive organ overnight. (I'm giving you the less crude version). Anyway, since I've been known to knit socks for those whom I hold far and away from my heart, these socks may go to him .

Infusing positive energy on the earth

2008-04-21T19:35:00.002-04:00

The following is a quote that my friend sent me on the effects of embracing peace and what effects it can have on our world. Perhaps if somehow this message can get to enough people then we can make positive changes in our world just by embracing peace.
Please read below and if you yourself are not able to find peace within and generate it out to our planet, but you know somebody that you think could, please pass this message along to them.
Namaste

As I mentioned in The Divine Matrix, one of the most powerful examples of group feeling and belief affecting a broad geographic area was documented as a daring experiment during the war between Lebanon and Israel that began in 1982. It was during that time that researchers trained a group of people to "feel" peace in their bodies while believing that it was already present within them, rather than simply thinking about it in their minds or praying "for" it to occur. For this particular experiment, those involved used a form of meditation known as TM (Transcendental Meditation) to achieve that feeling.

At appointed times on specific days of the month, these people were positioned throughout the war-torn areas of the Middle East. During the window of time when they were feeling peace, terrorist activities ceased, the rate of crimes against people went down, the number of emergency room visits declined, and the incidence of traffic accidents dropped. When the participants' feelings changed, the statistics were reversed. This study confirmed the earlier findings: When a small percentage of population achieved peace within themselves, it was reflected in the world around them.

the experiments took into account the days of the week, holidays, and even lunar cycles: and the data was so consistent that the researchers were able to identify how many people are needed to share the experience of peace before its mirrored in their world. The number is the square root of one percent of the population. this formula produces figures that are smaller than we might expect. For example, in a city of one million people, the number is about 100. In a world of 6 billion, its just under 8,000. This calculation represents only the minimum needed to begin the process. The more people involved in feeling peace, the faster the effect is created. The study became known as the International Peace Project in the Middle East, and the results were eventually published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1988."

This shows we can make a difference and peace does begin with me. 8,000 people feeling peace within themselves isn't that many! Isn't that exciting!

a few WIP

2008-04-18T11:47:00.003-04:00

I've been a bit busy lately. We went camping last week and did a couple of small hikes. I lost my footing on the second hike, fell, skinned up my shin and have cellulitis so I've been hobbling about like Quasi Moto and taking antibiotics and trying to keep off my leg as much as possible. Fortunately I worked on Monday (my leg was swollen and red when I left Monday night) and have not had to work all week until tomorrow so its given my leg a little time to recuperate before I have to go abuse it some more.
I've had some issues going on with my estranged father. He's been hospitalized and I'm his next of kin and the only living relative they could find so now I'm being bombarded by the hospital several times a day with questions and requests for consent and I haven't even talked to the man in several years. Its been a rather stressful ordeal.
I did start the log cabin sock from Holiday Handknits while we were camping and have a picture of it. I'm not sure who it should go to yet. I also contacted headhuggers.org with a pattern I designed for the Harlot show and the lady there wanted me to make another hat using lighter colors so you could see the stitches better. So, I went and got some completely different yarn than the original since the original yarn didn't come in any lighter shades and I'm not happy with the beige "fluffy" yarn I used. I guess I'll go today and see if I can come up with some other yarn that works better and see what I get.

tagging

2008-04-04T12:38:00.008-04:00

I've been tagged by http://www.knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/ for the latest blog meme:

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules.
3. Share a 6 word philosophy of life
4. Tag 3 other people

My philosophy?

give hugs often, pay it forward

I tag..........................hmmmm......................

sassy knitter

bubblycauldron

and...................

it won't me do a link for the third person:

www.1crazycatlady.blogspot.com

parisian tote

2008-04-03T12:22:00.002-04:00

I finished up my parisian tote today. I had the knitting done and had sewn the lining. I just had to sew the handles on and sew in the lining. I'm hoping to take it with me to the Harlot on Sunday.

little cable hat

2008-04-02T19:06:00.005-04:00

Last night I whipped up another chemo hat for the Harlot appearance. I just didn't feel right unless I had a knit one to present. Its the Type A in me. This ditty is of my own brainstorm (with the inspiration of the little cable fabric from 365 knitting stitches calender). I modified it to be done in the round.
So, if anybody needs a quickie pattern and feels game, here's the pattern:

Little cable fabric chemo cap

1 skein Bernat softee chunky beige

1 skein Bernat softee chunky cream

Size 8 circular needle 16 inch

Size 10 circular needle 16 inch

little cable pattern: (this has been modified from the 365 knitting stitches a year calendar)

rows 1 : *slip1,k3; repeat from* to end
rows 2 :* slip 1, k3; repeat from* to end
rows 3 :* cable 3 left, k1; repeat from* to end row 11: *k1, C3L, k1; repeat from * to end
rows 4 &12: knit
rows 5 : slip 1, k3, *sl1, k3; repeat from * to end
rows 6 :* slip 1, k3; repeat from* to end
rows 7 &15: slip 1, k1, *C3R, k1; repeat to last 2 stitches, C3R (this will involve using the 1stitch of the next round. Do not move placement of stitch marker. Start row 8 and 16 with 2^nd stitch of round)
rows 8&16: knit

row 9 & 10: k2, *sl 1, k3*; repeat from * to last stitch, sl 1

row 11: *k2, C#L, k1; repeat from * around (include 1^st stitch of next round in C3L)

row 13 & 14: k2, *slip 1, k3: repeat from * to last 2 stitches, sl1, k1

Directions:

cast on with beige color and size 8 needle 72 stitches. Join.
work k3, p3 in rounds for 2 inches in bernat softee chunky in beige. Knit one row then
change to bernat chunky softee in cream and knit one row
Change to size 10 needles and Follow little cable pattern for 16 rows . Knit one row around
change to bernat softee chunky in beige with size 8 needle and k3, p3 in the round for 2 rows
next row: k2tog, k1, p3; repeat to end of round
next row: k2, p3; repeat to end of round
next row: k2, p2tog, p1; repeat to end of round
next row: k2, p2
next row: k2tog, p2; repeat to end of round
next row: k1, p2
next row: k1, p2tog; repeat to end of round
next row: k1, p1
next row: k2 tog; repeat to end of round
take long tail and run through remaining stitches twice. Pull tight and weave in ends.
Ta-da.

chemo cap for Harlot appearance at Knitch

2008-04-01T08:31:00.004-04:00

Just a quick blog before I have to run off to work and do the schedule.
I saw on the Knitch Knitters group on Ravelry that chemo caps were being requested for this trip of the Harlot, so I did a little pattern searching and grabbed some Bernat Softee Chunky and some other bernat yarn I had lying around and crocheted up this chemo cap yesterday evening. I improvised some since I've never been known to stick 100% to a pattern. If I had it to do over again, I would crochet it in the round to avoid the seaming (I'm not the greatest crochet seamer). I got the pattern off of www.headhuggers.org . There are lots of knit and crochet patterns on there if anybody is looking for one. I may try to squeeze in another hat before Sunday but I'm going to be pretty busy the next few days so we'll see. At least I'll have one done before The Harlot. I do feel like such an incredible cad, though, because until I did a little more Knitch research, I did not realize that one of their employees had passed away from cancer. I remember seeing her at Knitch and I remember how upbeat and nice she was. It amazes me that she had such a positive energy coming from her when she was in the last couple months of her life.

Kendall

2008-03-31T18:14:00.004-04:00

14 years ago, a wise sage and spritual being disguised as a premature baby left his tour of duty here in the physical realm and moved on to a divine spiritual plane of existance. His name was Kendall. He was my first child. He spent 13 days here before moving on. I tend to think that once you get your shit together and get things figured out, its time to check out here. I guess he really had his shit together. 14 years later he is still missed and I still wonder what he would look like, what he would be like if he were still here. I see 14 year olds and think about how he would be like one of them.
You will always remain in my heart, Kendall..... no matter how many years have passed.

John the Baptist bear

2008-03-28T10:20:00.004-04:00

I've been working on a teddy bear pattern from the book Toys to Knit. Overall, the pattern hasn't been too bad thus far, although there was some decreasing on the snout of the bear that I wouldn't do again and I would definately make the snout shorter. But anyway...... So, after I completed the head of the bear, I stuffed it, made him some eyes and a nose and knit him some ears. As I am working on the body of the bear, I've had this bear head sitting around on my nightstand and everytime I see this bodiless bear I can't help of Salome (is that who said it?) "Bring me the head of John the Baptist." I'm hoping that once the bear has a body and some limbs I'll find another name for him. First off, I certainly don't want to name him John because that is the name of my ex husband (it happens to be his birthday today. Perhaps I should be saying "bring me the head of John the baby daddy." Nah, not good karma. And speaking of karma, I'm not Baptist. So the bear definately needs another name once he's completed)
Hubby is safe and sound on the ground in Rwanda. Not that him being in Rwanda puts me at ease, but at least I know he's not in the air. My baby daddy is an air traffic controller and I just heard too many stores from him to place my comfort in all who are responsible for getting those big hunks of tin from one place to another. I, of course, am sad with him being away from home and halfway across the friggin earth. I am also sad because he commandeered my granny glasses that I use when I have trouble seeing knitting stitches and he also took the batteries I bought for my camera so I could take the picture of John the Baptist Bear in the first place. I asked him if I needed to check my underwear drawer as well. He said I might. Geez.
I just finished a two day fetal monitoring class at work. The class itself was enjoyable and I had a couple of my best peeps with me to endure the pain. The test was insane. Even harder than ACLS. I survived and can't complain too much since I only missed one, but that was by luck and the grace of God.
So, I'm off to do some intuitive painting. Its just me and the dog and the cats today so I thought I would actually do some painting today and save the knitting for tonight. I may possibly not even do any laundry today in my rebellious state of mind.

what my husband did for Easter

2008-03-23T19:44:00.003-04:00

We did have my inlaws over for a late lunch today with ham and sweet potatoes and green beans and corn casserole and key lime pie and little bunny cupcakes with coconut on them. I folded a load of laundry and did an ear on the teddy bear I am attempting to knit. The kids bickered (what's new there?) and aside from his sudden burst of late-in-the-day energy (and I'm talking about 6pm when this sudden desire to go outside and try to do something with the lawn befell my husband) this is how the hubster spent most of his Easter. Now, he did this particular pose in several different places, not just the swinging futon. I think there was a shut-eye on the couch and at least a nap on the bed (if not two). During his napping (and my ear knitting) on the bed, I was watching the movie The Fountain. He kept waking up and asking me ridiculous questions about the movie. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, but you really have to be AWAKE and WATCHING it to follow the movie (and even then you're a bit confused, although the movie is good).
P.S. Notice the small gray cat Zooey (aka Tiny Lion) be an enabler here.

ribble socks

2008-03-20T08:53:00.002-04:00

I finished the pair of ribble socks I was working on from the book Socks, Socks, Socks. they were great fun and I didn't even mind doing the second sock. I used sheep number 3 that I got from purlsoho and it was enjoyable to work with as well.
Today is my "recovery" day after working yesterday where I got my ever lovin ass kicked. I had a patient of my own who had a lot going on in addition to being in charge. Needless to say I went from 0 to sleep in about 60 seconds once I hit the couch.
Today I'll do a bit of laundry and try to finish up my second advesary sock before I have to get the boys and turn into soccer mom.
Happy spring equinox everybody!!!!!!! I know that Sunday is a religious holiday for most out there, but today is a holiday for those of us who march to a different drum, or who consider themselves to be "eclectic" as my friend Zoie calls it.

Saturday blogging

2008-03-15T11:34:00.002-04:00

Today is clean up day. Or its supposed to be. I did work a little bit on my ribble socks until I had to attack the toilet with not only a plunger, but an auger (aka snake) as well. I was finally triumphant in my battle with the toilet but had to clean the bathroom again as I manage to knock down the shower curtain and sling icky water hither and yon in my battle.
The kids are supposed to be cleaning too. However, they (including the boys) are trying on dresses and tutus. I will spare you the disturbing visual images.
I had to do my name analysis like Ramone so here it is.
I thought the part about me being tightly wound easily was pretty dead on the money.

What Melissa Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.

You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.

You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.

You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.

Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.

You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.

You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

terrible tuesday

2008-03-11T19:26:00.002-04:00

I give this post that paticular name because it is known to be quite terrible at work on Tuesdays. tis the day for a plethora of c/s beyond one's imagination to occur. I however am not at work today. Well, I had to go in a couple of hours for a class but I avoided the whole frenzy of deliveries like the bubonic plague.

I cleaned the hall closet today and piddled around with a little bit of knitting and did some laundry. Do I know how to live large or what?

I thought I had a picture of the ribble sock that I had finished (working on numbr 2 now) but it does not appear that I do and sock is upstairs and I am downstairs and I am in the process of putting a hurting on a pitcher of pina coladas (even though my husband says I am irresponsible with the blender. Long story). I do have a picture of the finished knitting of my parisian tote. I am presently sewing the handles on and have yet to put in the lining. I know Susan (the author of the pattern is anxious to see the finished project).

5 needles and a kitten

2008-02-27T15:33:00.004-05:00

I'm on the home stretch of finishing this nashua leaf yoke sweater for a coworker. The buttons are handmade by me out of polymer clay and I need to put a varnish on the back of them and then sew them on. I've already sewn in the loose ends on the sweater. This lovely coworker of mine just happens to be a labor nurse and didn't realize she was pregnant until she was 20 weeks (that's halfway through) pregnant because she felt something like a baby moving (this is her third baby).
I used size 7 dpns on the arms because they just seemed too skinny otherwise. They looked ill-proportioned on smaller dpns to the rest of the sweater.
The other picture is when my youngest son Nathan was attempting to knit on his cashmere (in this case Debbie Bliss rialto) wristers. Actually, just moments before I snapped this picture, his brother took a picture with even more cats on him, but for some reason cannot download those pictures to my computer.

all the rain that we didn't get over the summer

2008-02-26T10:22:00.003-05:00

I do believe that we got all the rain last night that we didn't get over the summer. It's like when you move and leave a forwarding address. You don't get any mail and you don't get any mail and then suddenly you get more mail than your mailbox can hold.
Fortunately, it seems to have subsided for right now because I have to get out and run some errands in a bit and I really hate doing that when its raining so hard that it feels like we're having the second biblical flood.
I went to Knitch yesterday and scored some manos silk blend yarn. Its delightful. I went to get some addi turbos as well, but the size I was looking for wasn't in stock. Bummer.
I wonder if they ever need some more part time help at Knitch. It would be really cool to be around all that yarn and people who get into knitting! My youngest son said he wanted to work there as their ball winder. lol.
So, I don't have any great knitting pictures to share (even though I have 17 projects going at the same time). I did do some "spring cleaning" on my cafepress site and added a couple of things there. So, if you're really bored, check it out: www.cafepress.com/karmaandkismet

what on earth is going on?

2008-02-24T09:38:00.000-05:00

I keep getting these spam-type comments to my blog. I suspect they may have some type of virus or something. Anybody got a clue on how to make them go away?

affirmations and the schedule

2008-02-21T08:27:00.002-05:00

I am off to work on the dreaded schedule today. Earlier in the week I had realized that it was due pretty damn soon so I best get to working on it.
So, off I go when I would much rather be knitting, but then again, who wouldn't?
Part of my plan I was supposed to come up with on my 30 day raw food rast was to focus on an affirmation (preferably daily).
I dug my Abrahams Hicks cards out and random selected one. So, this is my affirmation for today: I will never cease being or desiring. New desires are constantly born within. Source energy will never stop answering my desires, and therefore my exapnsion is eternal. I may begin to relax in this moment if there is something that I desire that has not yet come to fruition.
I hope I didn't violate any copyright laws or anything by sharing that.

OM

2008-02-20T10:41:00.005-05:00

Had a fun playdate with Brittany and Wayne yesterday.
I've been working on sock number 2 of my "advesary" socks last night and this morning. I figure while the energy between me and the "advesary" is non-hostile, I would attempt to make some progress on sock number 2.
I also scored some cool looking yarn by plymouth yarn yesterday called "confusion" that I'm contemplating using for a wrap sweater. I may take it along when I go to get the oil changed and tires rotated in a bit.
I've done some painting this morning. I'm working on an acrylic painting that is rather slow going and I've started on some stuff for possible bumper stickers. I'll post pictures when I've made some progress rather than try to describe the abstractness of it. The picture is of a painting I recently finished. It has a lot of texture to it and I just love my Chinese character paintings. One of the paintings I'm doing now is another Chinese character painting that I'm thinking of implementing as a t-shirt. We'll see.
So.... Namaste to everybody out there!

gita marie

2008-02-18T19:06:00.001-05:00

They cancelled the charge nurse meeting today at work. Yipppee! I wasn't looking forward to driving an hour for an hour long meeting, just to drive back home an hour. The stay at home in my jammies day let me get a pair of pants hemmed, do some knitting, and make these cute earrings. They don't look that cute in the pictures because, as everybody knows, I can't take pictures worth snot. The little charms are Gita marie and I hung three tiny beads off the bottoms of them.
Tomorrow holds for me a meeting with my shaman (I have one week to go on this raw food fast, although I think it may end up being continued for a bit), a trip to Strings and Strands to score some berroco suede and some trendsetter checkmate (and some addi turbos and some sox sticks). Then I'm going to most likely go play with Wayne and Brittany again since I am addicted to playing with clay. Also, I didn't have a chance to enter the paws contest that somebody was holding, but thought I would post my picture of Ting Ting's crossed paws while she was snoozing.

chop, chop, chop

2008-02-12T15:40:00.001-05:00

So, I got my hair cut today after it not being cut for about a year. 5 inches off the back. And I have bangs now. I guess its the perimenopausal woman in me in one of my drastic mood swings. I actually like it though and there's not that many times I've been able to say that about a hair cut in my life.
Aside from chopping my hair off and running other errands today, I've been hemming some pants for myself and my stepdaughter and only managed to get in a row of my parisian tote purse.
I've dug out the advesary socks and am planning on perhaps taking another wack at infusing some positive energy, at least enough to complete the second sock. I had started making them last year for my kids' stepmom but then she and I had a series of run ins and try as I might, I just couldn't find enough positive energy in me to do that second sock. So, we'll see if I can actually finish the second sock before we have another run in like our last Jerry Springer type incident on my ex's front lawn. The stepmother has been pleasant lately and I do feel that one should do all they can to be peaceful and positive towards those they have adversity with. So. Lets see what happens.

just another day

2008-02-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'm off this afternoon to go do crafty things with Brittany and Mr. Man where I teach Brittany the art of making stitch markers without cussing too much and Mr. Man and I do some creative brainstorming over his button dilemma.
Yesterday Jonah and Nathan's bikes got stolen. They had ridden to a shopping strip mall here in PTC and decided to hide their bikes behind a store. I knew they were having some problems with the combo lock and had actually gone to Walmart while they were gone to get another combo chain lock. When they got ready to come home, their bikes were gone. The biggest issue there is that one of the bikes was a $350 bmx bike that was barely a year old. It caused a lot of hoopla at our house and I did not get much sleep last night and have been in a pretty shitty mood today as well. Hopefully the artsy stuff will get my mind off of things.
I cranked out a couple of baby hats over the weekend in my stress-induced state. Sometimes you need some quick immediate gratification projects to feel like you're getting somewhere in your life at a time when you can't see the finish line.
Also, Zoie delved into the artistic world and created a lovely present for me for my birthday complete with dragonflies, so I feel the need to showcase her work as well.

happy birthday Jonah

2008-02-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to Jonah, my oldest. We celebrated his birthday last weekend, but this is the actual day of his birth. The night before my scheduled c/s with him, I was so wound up that I stayed up watching Clan of the Cave Bear until 2am. Being a devoted ER fan at the time, I did make sure that me and my brand new baby stayed up to watch ER at 10pm that night.
On the knitting front, trying to finish up Jonah's socks so I can move on to some others. Still working on my Parisian tote bag and I just couldn't help myself and I've started making some socks from the Socks, Socks, Socks book with sheep number 3 yarn.
Oh, and btw, the sweater Jonah is wearing while eating his grilled cheese sandwich is the first sweater I ever made. I also made his lion costume which he wore for a whopping 10 minutes before he broke down and cried hysterically until I took it off.

Best of both worlds

2008-02-03T12:55:00.000-05:00

We celebrated my oldest son's birthday yesterday. His actual birthday is Friday the 8th, but for part of his birthday celebration he wanted to see the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana 3-d concert. So, we all went to see this young woman sing her pop songs while wearing 3-d glasses befitting of Roy Orbison or Andy Warhol. The movie wasn't quite as painful as I was anticipating. There was some documentary stuff in it as well so that helped add some interest. The girl can sing as well, and she's cute as a button. No wonder every little girl in America wants to be Hannah Montana. And no wonder there were four different acts singing Best Of Both Worlds and two different acts singing Starting All Over at my younger son's talent show on Friday.
Today is day 7 of my raw food fast. Its been ok today, but yesterday was rough. Perhaps because between a movie and dinner (in which I ate a bowl full of nothing but lettuce at O'Charley's for Jonah's birthday supper) and the driving around, I was getting a bit on the hungry side. I had had some bananas and strawberries with honey that morning, but then that was it until 6:30pm since we had to leave early to go get his cake, drive to the theater, etc, etc. Bananas and strawberries will only hold you so long.... even with honey on it. Instead of feeling close to God yesterday(since this raw food fast is a detoxifying/spiritual fast), I was feeling more like close to homicide. We all survived though, including me, and we came home and bunched up on the couch and watched Stardust.
Sending out some peaceful, loving, healing energy today to Brittany who lost one of her four legged family members yesterday.

Parisian tote and PJ's socks

2008-01-31T20:10:00.000-05:00

Day four on the raw food fast, but who's counting?
Managed to get in a little bit of knitting today before I had to go pick up Nathan. I worked a little bit on Jonah's second thuja sock while I was waiting for Nathan to have his turn in the talent show practice for his school. He's playing the Minuet in G. He's remarkable considering he's only had formal lessons for 6 months. He's even got his own little style while he plays. I guess he's a real musician. He loved August Rush.
Anyway........ here's the finished thuja socks for my father in law done in blue skies alpaca and sox appeal and the start of my parisian tote by Susan Zanni.

no pictures for old bloggers

2008-01-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

I have no pictures today. Bad me. I have been busy, though, with trying to finish my father-in-law's socks and I had to dig into my parisian tote kit yesterday and start on it. I also did some laundry as well. Not bad for the day after working the weekend and it also being day one of a raw food fast. In my neck of the spirituality woods, we do a 30 day raw food fast every now and then, especially when we are struggling with something. Since I've been a bit stressed lately, my shaman recommended a raw food fast and to come up with a plan during that time on how to better utilize my energy to take care of myself as well as others. So, now I'm on day 2 with my caffeine-withdrawl headache. It usually starts getting better after about 3 days.
So, today its more of the same and then tomorrow its back to work. If I manage to make any reasonable progress on anything, I'll take some pictures.

just another day

2008-01-23T12:04:00.000-05:00

Went to Knitch yesterday after my appointment with my Shaman. Scored some blue sky alpaca for some socks requested by the hubby and took some pictures of Nell's sweater of the month. I got the kit earlier in the month and wanted some pics in case I needed to remind myself how something was supposed to go. You can't get the pattern/kit through the online site yet so if you're interested, you'll have to give them a call (like I did) or go down to the shop in person.
I wish I took better pictures. I'm working feverishly on finishing the second of a pair of thuja socks for a belated birthday present for my father in law. Its a strand of blue skies alpaca and a strand of sox appeal. It makes a nice combo together both in color and texture. The hubby is wanting a pair for him made of the same materials. He wanted a purple in the blue skies and a variegated with purple and blue in the sox appeal. The sox appeal is on back order, but that's ok. I need to work on a couple of other socks AND the sweater of the month while I'm waiting for the back order. In a moment of weakness, I also ordered a parisian tote kit from a place in NY. I seriously have a problem. I need some help.

attempt to paste

2008-01-20T19:43:00.000-05:00

http://knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/birthday-contest_11.html

I am attempting to paste the link for Brittany's contest. I'm really bad at this and as she and several other people know, I can't even get my pictures to post right-side-up. So, we'll see how this goes. I'm sitting here now with some raspberry cocoa with whipped cream. Yum. Gotta work tomorrow. Yuck.

storm watch 08

2008-01-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

We had an encore of snow yesterday here in Georgia. The kids were jazzed. You would have thought somebody had let them mainline some sugar. It did, however, keep them off the computer for a while as they frolicked in the snow.
Steven is out of town............again. He's only gone until Tuesday this time. He was supposed to fly out yesterday, but they cancelled his flight (before the snow had even started) in anticipation of the snow. So, he drove to Florida for the show he's doing. While he's gone, I get supreme rule over the remote so that's kinda nice and one less "kid" to clean up after. I'll be glad when he's back, though. I like him home.
Anyway, here's some snow pictures. We have a couch that needs to go to the dump and the there was a plethora of snow accumulation on it so the kids decided that that is where the snowman should come from.

A BIRTHDAY PRESENT FROM THE UNIVERSE

2008-01-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

I came out of the movies with my hubby and guess what?! ITS SNOWING ON MY BIRTHDAY, ITS SNOWING ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

: )

i'm not dead yet

2008-01-16T10:03:00.001-05:00

Today I turn 41. The only two redeeming factors are that...... I'm not dead yet and that in 6 months my husband will turn 50 and I can once again go back to being his "much younger wife". My sweet hubby surprised me this morning with the sock wizard program already downloaded onto the computer for my birthday. He said I've turned into a sock guru and he thought the program would be a good one for me. I do have quite a collection of single socks around here right now. I'm trying to finish a pair for his father whose birthday was Sunday and then I intend to get back to finishing the other socks to end the single sock syndrome. So, here are some pictures of me as a young lad. There's one of me and my parents (notice me anxiously eyeing that cake. I still do that!). There's one of my just being my chubby-cheek baby self. There's one that confirms my long love of peanut butter (this is actually one of my favorite pictures of myself) and there's another picture that shows that my love of cats goes way way back.
I plan on having some brunch, going to see a movie, and then having supper with my family for my b-day. I have, of course, ordered a cake (chocolate with raspberry filling and ganache icing) for this evening and I intend to look at it and eat it with as much enthusiasm as I did when I was 4.

a happy belated birthday

2008-01-08T11:05:00.001-05:00

This is a bit of a late tribute, but better late than never, I guess. I thought I would post some pictures of my youngest son Nathan, the budding knitter and obsessive Knitch customer in honor of his birthday. Ok, it was last month, the week before Christmas. I know, I'm a bit late as I said earlier. He has really taken to knitting with dpns and I am amazed at how quickly he caught on to it. I'm looking forward to posting a picture of his cashmere wristies when he gets them done. Oh, and the picture with both of my boys in it where they are wearing sweaters.... I knit both of those. In fact, the one that Nathan is wearing is the second sweater I ever knit. It had been his brother's before he ever wore it.

dip-tets

2008-01-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

I surivved the weekend at work. It was a very challenging weekend since I had a nurse on Saturday and a nurse on Sunday that got thrown into doing something that they weren't real familiar with doing. What this meant was that in addition to being in charge and having my own patient, I was pretty much doing their job as well. I was dog-butt tired when I got home Saturday night and it took everything in me not to fall asleep in the bathtub when I got home. My tiredness was an incredible bummer since my hubby left to go out of town this morning and that meant no pre-travel nookie for me.
In addition to the chaotic work weekend, I let them give me a tetnus shot when I went on Thurday for my yearly grope and probe. It has obviously been quite a while since I've had one because this sucker hurts like bloody hell! There's a big knot on my arm this hurts and its red and feels hot to the touch. For some reason I thought that getting a tetnus was going to be somewhat in the ballpark of what its like to get a flu shot. You know, you're arm is a little sore the next day or two like you've been pumping some serious iron or doing some wicked push ups. This shot makes the flu shot look like being tickled by a feather duster (get your minds out of the gutter, Ramone and Brittany. The swelling is going down some now... finally and its not quite as painful, but the experience did warrant a good whining.
So, I've got a fun-filled week ahead. It kicks off with having my breast smashed and squeezed. As the PA reminded me, I'm of the age to have that done. I get to pick up a relative of my husband's that I've never met at the airport on Tuesday. This should be fun since neither of us have ever laid eyes on each other. Wednesday its back to work and then Thursday I get to have an ultrasound for some pain I have upon ovulation. My PA also made sure that she pointed out that I was perimenopausal now. Lovely. I'm feeling younger by the minute. Then, to top it all off, next week I get to have a bone density scan because, like the PA said, I'm of that age to have that done. Don't you know that all this is making me feel like young, hot goddess....... NOT!
Anyhow, that's my weekend.

prodigal yarn crafters

2008-01-04T11:44:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures of some work by my two boys after our field trip to Knitch the other day. Nathan is working on the artyarn cashmere wristies pattern. He saw a sample of one at Knitch and we picked up some Rialto to do the gloves with intead of getting the cashmere5. Jonah picked out some cascade220 to crochet some socks in. He's got one down and has started on the second sock. The orange-ish color sock is one I knit for Jonah done in blue skies alpaca. I haven't started the second one yet since I need to get boogy-ing on some socks for my father-in-law's birthday in a couple of weeks. One of the pictures is of Jonah sporting one of each of the socks. He actually wore the combination to The Atlanta Bread company this morning. Fortunately, his pants were long enough that you couldn't tell he was sporting two completely different socks.

what you spend at Knitch STAYS at Knitch

2008-01-02T18:22:00.000-05:00

The boys and I took a jaunt down to Knitch today. We were going to go to Why Knot, but by the time we were able to leave it was going to be too long of a trip for that time of the day and the subsequent traffic that would ensue. Jonah and Nathan both got some Cascade 220 and some needles and I went for some more blue sky alpaca. I'm planning on using it in conjunction with some Sox Appeal that I scored in Asheville to make some socks for my father in law. I also got some melange to possibly do some socks for myself with. I spent more than I intended and I'm sure the folk at Knitch didn't mind, but I really gotta curtail my frequent trips to Knitch this month. They're beginning to recognize my boys!

last day of the year

2007-12-31T15:42:00.001-05:00

My phone rang this morning at 0445. It was work. The charge nurse said that we had too many people scheduled and nobody wanted to take call and did I want to? I practically screamed "Yes!". Hubby and I just got back from our week long alone camping trip last night I was glad to have the day off to settle in, unpack, and just hang out around the house. We went to Hot Springs, NC. Its about an hour north of Asheville. We hung out, made fires, watched movies, went hiking, took a couple of trips into Asheville (and you KNOW I checked out the two yarn stores they have there and scored me some yarn!) and had some conjugal activities. We picked up all our kids on the way home in addition to picking up my neice from my ex mother-in-law's house and taking her home as well. Nemo was glad to be home to play with his kitties and TingTing isn't even mad at me. I finished one of a pair of toe-up socks on circular needles that I did while we were camping. Surprisingly, I didn't do the mass of knitting I was expecting to, but I did finish a book (The Memory Keeper's Daughter) and am over halfway through The Subtle Knife that my kids got me for Christmas. So, I've got some pictures to post. Let's see, there's our camper, the picture of across the river to the Appalachian trail (which you could see from our campsite), Steven, Nemo, our little fire ring, my red dwarf toe up sock, TingTing when I woke her up, and Zoe the Princess of Graynosia looking very annoyed.
Happy New Year to everyone. Have a good time and be safe and don't let your dog drink your blueberry martini!

2007-12-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

Today is our solstice celebration (aka our Christmas celebration). The kids got nintendo ds lites and as you can see they were all camped out in the living room engrossed in playing. Also featured is my stepdaughter in the calorimetry I made for her out of patons grace and some hobby lobby yarn. Nathan is posing in his patriotic peace shirt. Also is my mother-in-law in her finished button shawl done in filatura di crosa sesamo. Hope everybody has a wonderful solstice! NAMASTE

twas the night before solstice

2007-12-21T18:48:00.000-05:00

Twas the night before solstice..... or at least it is in our house. I finally got all the presents wrapped and they are under the tree to tantalize the youngsters. Instead of making them from "santa" or "mom" or "dad" I made them from "harry potter", "lucy pevensie", "ashely tidsdale", etc. They each have one from Albus Dumbledore that contains a clue to where there present is hidden. (The presents were to big to wrap so I came up with a sort of treasure hunt.) When they find the next clue, they have to do a crossword type thing to find out where the present actually is. Between my Christmas songs and coming up with this, I need to seek professional help.
I took Nathan to Knitch yesterday to spend his birthday gift card. They were so nice to him and so helpful.... especially Nell. She even let him wind his own yarn... and mine! She was so patient with him with all his questions. He walked out of there with some new yarn and some dpns. I, on the other hand bought some blue sky alpaca and some Rowan calmer.
Maybe tomorrow I'll have some pictures for posting..... after our little family solstice/present celebration.

off 'til New Year's

2007-12-19T08:07:00.000-05:00

I survived a 12 hour shift at work yesterday. A coworker came in a little early so that I could bust my tail and make it to my son's chorus concert in time. But now I am off until New Year's eve. Yaaaay! We're doing our family celebration on the 22nd (solstice) and then Steven and I are going out of town for some alone time, camping in NC. Nothing but reading, sleeping, knitting, and conjugal activities.
I made a trip down to Knitch the day before yesterday. I was going for some addi turbos and the new Noro sock yarn, but the manos del uruguay called to me as it was fluffily hung over the railing as you go upstairs. A particular colorway caught my eye (autumn) and before you know it I was asking Stephanie to wind two skeins for me. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with this yarn, mind you. I thought about some socks, but being that washing and caring for Steven's anniversary socks (done in malabrigo) are kind of a pain in the ass to deal with, albeit very beautiful, I don't know that I want to hand wash socks all the time. Nathan's (who just turned 10 yesterday.... happy birthday Nathan!) hat is done partly in manos and looks great, but I'm not personally a hat person (yes, this yarn is for me. Its my Christmas present to myself.... along with they barefoot yarn I ordered to make the gloves out the Interweave Knits holiday edition and the wick yarn I ordered to make myself some socks with.)
Today I get to wrap the rest of the Christmas presents. I need to sew a button on the caliometry (or however you spell it) that I decided to give my stepdaughter. I also need to do some cleaning, but I'm hoping to get some knitting in as well. I started over with a new pattern for Nathan's sock so maybe I'll work on that. I also have a sweater for Steven that's been hibernating while I finish all these other projects so if I feel real ambitious perhaps I'll dig it out as well.

a little tune

2007-12-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I came up with a plethora of little tunes to pertain to nursing that are sung to the music of popular Christmas tunes. It had started to become an obsession with me. Then, as I was driving today, I came up with a little ditty for all of us knitters out there. It is to be sung to the tune of Carol of the Bells. Hope you enjoy.
Knit one more inch
don't whine
and bitch
yes, this is wool
likely to itch
do a knit row
now do a purl
slip the edge stitch
or it will curl
Oh no, I'll have to frog this
I'll have to frog this
And there's no time that's left
Got to find another Christmas present
Got to find another Christmas present

Hey, where's that hat?
I'll finish that
Where is my yarn?
Can't find it, darn.
My needles's lost
What will it cost
I need it now
Time won't allow
What ever was I thinking?
I was drinking
Now I'm left in a bind
Got to find another Christmas present
Got to find another Christmas present

kittens love shawls

2007-12-14T12:58:00.001-05:00

Oh, who am I kidding? Kittens love yarn. Period. I finally weaved in all the ends and sewed on the buttons to the shawl I am giving my mother in law for Christmas. There is a buttonhold on the other side so that the shawl can be fastened and adjusted to the discerning taste of the wearer. When I spread the shawl out on the floor, my cat Zoe felt compelled to pose with the shawl. I believe she was under the impression that I was taking pictures of her and that the shawl was just a background to bring out her loveliness. The yarn is done in Trendsetter's sesamo and its really a lovely yarn even though you cannot tell it from the pictures. Remember, Amy (www.finerskeinsinlife.blogspot.com) is the photographer, not me. She is, however, not much of a blogger. We love her anyway.
I'm attempting to have a bit of a low-key day. I work the weekend and my hat-wearing son has his piano recital tonight. When I went to pick him up from his father's house yesterday, my ex-husband's wife decided to verbally attack me about a bug she has up her butt in front of my children. I told her that I did not want to discuss things in front of the kids, but she persisted, and my humanness got the best of me after a bit and I had a few words to say to her as well. This just provoked her rage even more and at one point she was literally in my face, her nose touching mine, screaming at me call me everything but a child of God. Needless to say, it was a rather exhausting experience that gave me a headache from out of this world and managed to raise my bp to an unhealthy level. I did not get much sleep last night due to the headache, despite the percocet, so I'm rather tired today. I think that after a nice warm bath I'm going to retire to the couch with some dpns and some chick flick until its time to go to Nathan's recital. If you read in the paper tomorrow that a south Atlanta woman was stabbed to death with her own knitting needles, it will most likely be me as the victim from yet another tyrade.

guarding the tree

2007-12-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

This is my beloved Ting Ting guarding the Christmas tree. She takes her job very seriously, that is when she's not sprawled out on her back, laying on the futon in the meditation room. I guess that after a day of stressful tree-guarding, she needs to go do some zen meditation.
I finished one of a pair of socks for my youngest son (the cap modeler). It didn't fit. Bugger. I had bastardized a couple of patterns to come up with what it was that he was wanting and it didn't turn out. It was a highly discouraging experience. It made me feel like my 12 years of knitting experience is little more than random acts of knitting. I mean, c'mon, after knitting for this long you would think I knit a sock to fit a kid, but Nooooooooooooo. so, its back to the drawing board on the socks. In the meantime, I'm frantickly trying to finish up some "fetching" gloves for Christmas presents and trying to maintain a normal blood pressure while doing so.

mad hatter

2007-12-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

Finally, a post with pictures. I whipped this hat up and my youngest son, who turns 10 in a couple of weeks, claimed it for himself. I found the pattern on ravelry. The yarns used are manos del uruguay and lamb's pride worsted. The lamb's pride has a mock cable twist and the rest of the hat was done in a 2x2 rib.
Obviously, my picture skills do not rival Amy's (www.finerskeinsinlife.blogspot.com) but at least I have proof of an FO.
The hat actually worked up really quickly on some circular addi turbos.
Nathan is my only prodigy knitter kid. He's also a budding pianist! Classical music fills the house as he practices obsessively every moment he has a chance.
I've got a wrap that I'm working on in Trendsetter's sesamo for my mother-in-law for Christmas but I don't know if its going to get done in time or not. It has now reached the status of "bane of my existance" as some projects become as we try feverently to finish them and the never seem to get to the end.
Steven liked his anniversary socks and promptly put them on his feet.
I've been trying to do some online Christmas shopping this morning. We had virtually gotten NADA. I picked up a few small items the other day, but the major stuff has yet to be done.
Oh.... and in the holiday spirit of things, I've come up with a new random act of kindness...... random acts of bagging! Steven and I got groceries the other day and I was teasing him about his bagging skills (the checkout girl didn't have a bagger so he took it upon himself to bag our stuff). I told him he was so good at it that he should do it for the next person in line. He deferred the task to me, so in an effort to spread some positive energy into the universe, I bagged the man's groceries. I think the checkout lady and the man himself thought I was a little weird, but I think overall they appreciated the attempt at a good deed.

Happy Anniversary

2007-11-28T21:25:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow I'll be giving the finished anniversary socks to my husband since its our anniversary. I went to take a picture of the FO, but I keep running across nothing but dead batteries.

So, happy anniversary to my hubby! I love you very much and wouldn't trade you for anything else in the world (not even Johnny Depp or Mark Ruffalo).
Reasons why I love my hubby:

He puts forth great effort to see the positive, beautiful things in people

He's very generous with friends and strangers alike, not just in a material way, but with his time as well.

He's very laid back and counterbalances my neuroses.

He's gentle and loving, but can be aggressive and chivalristic when the moment calls for it.

He believes in me.

He loves my cats

He doesn't yell at me when I mess up.

He tolerates the ever exploding mounds of yarn that seem to multiply.

He give the most awesome foot rubs on the planet.

We like the same movies and he'll even go see chick flicks with me...... and like them!

We like the same books and will read to me or let me read to him.

We like a lot of the same music and when we first started dating he went out and got an Indigo Girls Cd so I would have music to listen to when I came over to his house.

He's creative

He proudly wears the socks I make him.

He doesn't erase my many episodes of Knitty Gritty.

He takes care of me when I'm sick.

He walks the same spiritual path that I do.

I think he's cute.

I think he's sexy.

I like his voice.

I like his kisses.

And there's a lot more, but I'm afraid it would be x-rated!

the road to wellville

2007-11-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Its been a rather wicked three weeks. After months of pretty much daily headaches that seemed to subside with the help of excedrin migraine, I got a doozy of a headache that lasted about 2 weeks. The first doctor I went to proclaimed it to be migraines and sent me home with migraine medication...............all of which made my headache worse. After several calls to the office to tell them that the headaches weren't getting any better, the best they could come up with was scheduling me with a neurologist in a week. So, I jumped ship so to speak and went to a different family care provider who was not too pleased that the first practice had given me an Imitrex in the office and then promptly sent me on my way in my own personal vehicle. My BP was elevated and it had been, but the first doc was trying to say that the bp was up because of the headache. Now mind you, I've never been diagnosed with migraines before. The second doctor gave me some blood pressure medication in the office and then kept me there for 45 minutes closely monitoring my BP. Its been a week now and I've had an appointment with a neurologist and and MRI this morning but it looks like I've joined the ranks of the hypertensive.
I did accomplish some knitting during my illness. One can get some interesting knitting done when on percocet and fioricet. I don't have any pictures to post at the moment of these works done under the influence. But I am back among the living............................finally.

my favorite heel

2007-10-30T19:26:00.001-04:00

This is a closeup of the heel of the anniversary socks for my husband. Its the slip 1, knit one then purl the next row then knit 1, slip 1 heel pattern. I was going to take a picture of the calorimetry I just finished (aside from weaving in the ends and placing the button) but the batteries appear to be dead in the camera. Oh well. I've been fooling with some yarn and some needles trying to get gauge to make fetching from knitty.com, but its just not happening. Dammit. I was trying to use a lavender patons grace with a moda dea held together. I even tried it on size 3 needles, but it was just looking way too big so I let it go for now. I've been having chronic headaches lately and after having to leave work early on Friday because of a headache that just wouldn't go away, I've finally gotten an appointment with a doctor tomorrow. I've never seen this doc before so I'm apprehensive about that, but she's the doc of my nurse manager and she seems to like her. I went to a doc last year for some other issues and did not care for him at all. Considering that I'm getting bitchier by the moment because my headache has not given me much of a repreive since last Wednesday I need to go see somebody about this.
So I am off to snuggle into bed with the anniversary socks and knit around and around and around in monotony. At least I won't have to do any knitting math that would further torture my head.

Sunday afternoon

2007-10-21T12:51:00.000-04:00

I've finished one of my husband's anniversary socks (aside from weaving in the ends). I started on the other one last night. We (the kids and I, hubby is in D.C. right now) were watching Evan Almighty and I needed a knitting project that didn't require a lot of concentration. I had started on some fingerless gloves for my stepneice earlier in the day but I kept getting interrupted so I put them aside for a time when I'm alone.
Also, I've posted a picture of my son's mitten project that he has started. He's learning to do increases now. Isn't his progress great?! He said he wanted a gift card to Knitch for his birthday. At last a confirmation that he possesses some of my DNA!!!
The boys go back to their dad's this afternoon and if my stepdaughter gets her room cleaned up, she'll be going to a church thing with the neighbors then perhaps I will have some peace.

of shoes and ships and sealing wax

2007-10-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

How can one resist reciting The Walrus and the Carpenter when working with Malabrigo sealing wax?
Today my husband and I had an appointment with our shaman as we do about once a month. Gotta check and make sure everything's okey dokey and that we are doing our best to do right by our own individual spiritual paths and each other's as well. Being that the shaman was the one who actually did our wedding ceremony, I think he has a bit more of a vested interest.
After our appointment I brought my crimson-wave-riding-ass back home, donned a depends, and my fave pair of stretchy jammy pants (sometimes we wear stretchy pants. Is for fun.), some dpns, and my husband's anniversary socks. I turned on the tube to watch some teevoe'd episodes of Knitty Gritty and got comfy.
I've also managed to print out two different copies of some knitting instructions I'm proofreading for Brittany and I'll cozy into the couch with highlighter, pencil, and reading glasses to read over it shortly.
So, this is where I am currently on the anniversary socks. I'm trying really hard to get these finished before casting on any more yarn on any more projects.
Oh. And for some reason, I am unable to find my Knitting Over the Edge book. I have looked high and low and cannot find the blasted thing. Dammit. Its driving me nuts. I might not know where a lot of my stuff is, but I know where my knitting books are, dammit. But this one is being elusive.

the knitch experience

2007-10-15T17:53:00.000-04:00

It turned out to be not too bad of a "transition day" for me. I stopped to get gas and lo and behold, the gas station actually carried diet grapico. Its a rarity. So, obtaining a bottle of it was like gold to me. Then I drove up to Knitch and actually got a parking spot............ in the front. Go figure. They didn't have any more malabrigo sealing wax so I'm having to order some online. I don't think one skein is going to cut it for the anniversary socks.
I also got this really cool sock book while there. It is like the coolest sock book ever.
Its called Socks, Socks, Socks. I tried to copy and paste it , but it just didn't work out. There's a pair of leaf socks in it that I'm jonesing to try.
I do have to say that Knitch does have one employee there that I've just found to be a real friendly person. She acts annoyed if you ask her to do anything and she seemed really put out when I asked her to wind my 5 skeins of yarn that I bought today. Everybody else seems really nice, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Socks-Winning-Patterns-Knitters-Magazine/dp/0964639157

what to do with the malabrigo

2007-10-15T10:41:00.000-04:00

I have finally comitted my malabrigo in sealing wax to an actual project. I decided to make some socks for my husband for our anniversary next month. Its a simple pattern that I found on knitty.com and should knit up fairly quickly, unlike my socks I am knitting for my son out of the
Cat Bordhi book. Its not that the socks are hard, per se, its just a different line of sock knitting that is making me think outside my little sock knitting world. I'm sure I'll pick it up and deal with it at some point today. Today is my "transition day". I get one day off after working 12 hour shifts during the weekend before I have to go back again. I usually like to make this day my "do as little as possible day" (aside from knitting of course) although Knitch just seems to be calling to me. I have some dpns I have to take back and I'll most likely need another skein of malabrigo for the socks. (The dpn return has to do with an order that I placed back in June that just now came in and that I had completely forgotten about until the yarn fairy showed up at my door. I've long since found the needles elsewhere and I can use more yarn more than another set of 1.5dpns.

there may be hope yet

2007-10-10T12:26:00.001-04:00

This morning I got my drop spindle out and started messing around with it. I've watched video clips on how its supposed to be done, I've read things about how its supposed to be done and I just haven't been able to make it work. I have found this highly frustrating since I am a self taught knitter. I have learned everything I know about knitting from reading books and practice and trial and error. So, trying to work this drop spindle thing has just been irritating. This morning, however, I got it out and just started doing my own damn thing with it. Instead of worrying about spinning something clockwise or counterclockwise or upside down or whatever, I just played with the damn thing until I started catching on. I was having a big dickens of a time trying to add on more fiber, but quite by accident I figured it out. (I also had a big wad of new spun fiber added in a chunk on the strand since I was whirlying my spindle about while it was grabbing hold of the wad of alpaca roving I had in my other hand). My strand is still uneven and chunky, but I've managed to spin like at least a yard of it. So, maybe with some patience and diligence, and lots of practice roving, I can figure this thing out.

terrible tuesday

2007-10-09T16:32:00.000-04:00

Or at least that's what we call it at work. For some reason, known only by cosmic forces, pregnant women feel compelled to give birth on Tuesdays. Add to this a mysterious force that causes ob/gyn's to schedule inductions and an inordinate amount of c-sections on Tuesdays. Further more, add on top of those two factors a nursing shortage and not enough nurses to take care of the droves of women who are attempting to bring forth life on Tuesdays. Thus........terrible Tuesdays. I, however, am not enjoying the challenges of terrible Tuesday today. Today I am working slowly, but dilligently on my glove, surfing Ravelry for more glove patterns, trying to learn how to knit a flat circle and design my own version of the circular shrug as is shown in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting, and doing some laundry. I keep playing with my one skein of Malabrigo that I bought last week, but have not yet committed it to a project. I'm thinking possible of a shrug (not the in-the-round shrug. I do have some designs on some Malabrigo for that but I was thinking of the brown and gold variegated with some other brown yarn I bought at Knitch and topping it off with this nifty off white eyelash yarn with flecks of gold in it that I bought from Hobby Lobby.) or maybe some more socks for the hubby guy. I made him some hugs and kisses socks out of some yummy bamboo yarn, but even though they look great, they're just not practical for wearing a lot. I'm waiting for the yarn fairy to come bring me a skein of specially ordered Malabrigo in an obscure dye lot to do some more gloves with. I know, I know, I seem to have a Malabrigo problem here. Perhaps Malabrigo would make a good name if I get another cat someday.
Oh. and I've also last night and today been surfing the net for a fan and feather sock pattern that is done from the cuff down and is cast on with something around the mid 50s range and not the 72ish range. If anybody can find such an animal, I would be grateful. My brain already hurts from trying to figure out the knitting a circle thing. I did figure it out after I bastardized it to my own liking. Everything I could find had you starting out knitting straight and then joining and working in the round. This results in having to work in a little flap like thing at the end to cover up the hole. Something about the flap thing wasn't working for me, so I f&*%$d with it until I got it to my satisfaction. I included a picture of the tortured sealing wax Malabrigo experiment.

I am not an animal

2007-10-04T10:55:00.000-04:00

I have started a "real" glove, meaning one that actually has fingers to it and not the fingerless kind. I found a pattern online that is actually a fingerless pattern, but has the little individual stubby things for the fingers so I am doing my usual improvisation and finishing the fingers. I'm using artyarns. I think the colorway is called India. The pattern I am using has been really easy to use. Very direct and understandable and I highly recommend it for anybody interested in taking on some gloves for the first time. The cuff is a bit long so if I do it again, I'll leave off some cuff length. I know that the w.i.p. kind of looks like it would be more fitting for a deformed canine of some sort, but its actually coming together fairly easy. The thumb gussett was a breeze. For any interested party, this is the link.
http://www.interweave.com/knit/interweave_knits/pdf_files/fingerless_gloves.pdf
I used #3 needles since I have very small hands, but used all the numbers that it lists except for length of cuff.

i got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-03T14:50:00.000-04:00

I got my ravelry invite today!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, my head has been in the toilet most of the day and I am planning to retire to my bed in just a moment, so I'm not really up to playing right now.
But as soon as I get better...............................

an exercise in thumb gussets (aka when good knitters do dumb stuff)

2007-09-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

My hubby just went off to fish with a buddy of his, my stepdaughter is at the neighbors, and my kids just left to go to their dad's. So, its me and my blog (and the 4 cats and one dog). I bought some malabrigo (sealing wax) at Knitch last week and was determined to make some gloves I saw online that were entitled "malabrigo gloves". I started them but wasn't too keen on how the thumb was happening so I did some online research about some gloves and found a cute fingerless glove pattern with a thumb gusset. Plus it has tiny twisty cables and I'm just a sucker for tiny twisty cables. I started the glove yesterday and worked in a row or two here and there among the tidying up of what will soon be our meditation room, helping kids with various projects, and doing laundry. I managed to complete the glove today while we were in the car. Its one of those fingerless gloves that has an open space for all the fingers, not one where there is a part knit for each finger. I figured I would tackle the concept of thumb gussets first and the move on to full fingered gloves. I did the glove in Patons SWS. I decided to save the malabrigo for when I figured out how to actually make this all work. Anyway, here are some pictures of the work in progress and the finished glove (without the ends weaved in). I messed up on my knitting math and the the two long lines of tiny twisty cables ended up being closer to the thumb gusset than they were supposed to be. It also ended up being a bit on the big side for me since I have hands the size of a 9 year old (no, really, I do. My 12 year old stepdaughter has bigger hand than me. Its like the only thing on me that is in proportion to my height. My rear end should be on somebody about 6'4 as well as other parts of me, but my hands and feet are tiny.)
Also, I made some more stitch markers and one is featured on one of the glove pictures.

works in progress

2007-09-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

I've taken some pictures of a few of my works in progress (there's more, but it was just too frightening of a concept to go around taking pictures of ALL of them. I realize some of them are not knitting, but that's just the way it goes.
the blue and gray sock is actually for me. I'm doing it in flaming wave pattern from the Favorite Socks book. The orange and brown sock is for my son Jonah. Its the "sock-over" I'm doing since the other one didn't fit him. One of my coworkers had big fun frogging the ill-fitting sock at work yesterday. Jonah's sock is a pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. There is a small taupe panel of my own doing that I plan on incorporating in a baby sweater that I hope to then go on to make a big person sweater (but since it IS my own doing I figured I'd do a baby sweater prototype first). The shawl is for my mother in law for Christmas. Its done in Trendsetter sesamo and that picture does not do the fabulous colors justice. Perhaps Amy can take a picture of it when its finished. I've also taken a picture of the kitty bling I made for TingTing and there is a goddess necklace which my stepdaughter and I (mostly I since she got bored with the project after the first set of 17 tiny sliver beads) made for her mother's birthday. We found the goddess pendant at a rock show and also found a loose opal (her mom's birthstone) to put in the circle that the goddess is holding. I then got some matte opal swarovski crystals and strugn them with some itty bitty tiny silver beads. I just finished it this morning so it will most likely be going in the mail tomorrow.
So, now that I have blogged, I'm taking my plethora of sock projects and heading back to bed with my motrin and my heating pad. I may even eat chocolate!!!

a blog before bed

2007-09-21T20:33:00.001-04:00

Amy and I had a great time seeing The Yarn Harlot Wednesday night. We did, however, decided we were too tired to do The Varsity afterwards and pretty much came straight on home.
I took my boys to Knitch yesterday. Thus far, their yarn exposure has been limited to Michael's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby. When I took them upstairs to see the cascade 220 and the malabrigo they were in culture shock. Both of my boys crochet and I am trying to convert them into knitters. They were also bummed that they didn't get to see Steph on Wednesday night. When I told them I was going to see a person who writes knitting humor, my youngest son said, "you mean like At Knits End for people who knit too much?" I was pretty stunned that my 9 year old had been paying that much attention to my knitting books lying around!
The field trip to Knitch provided a skein of malabrigo for each of them and my oldest son has gone felting mad. When he takes off to the bathroom (the kid scrubs the wool in the sink and then throws it in the dryer. don't knock it............ it works!) he calls it "The Felting Factory" and has let me know that he is there for all my felting needs. Perhaps there is a bit of entrepreneur in him there somewhere.
I've been working on some sock patterns lately and after knitting one whole sock in artyarns chocolate/orange for my oldest son, I came to find out that it barely fits him. So, I just cannot live with that and intend to frog the whole damn thing and am going to be brave and delve into some patterns from Cat Bordhi's latest sock book for a "sock-over".
My two hour drive to Taccoa today (to drop them off with their Nana) gave me plenty of thinking time and I've got an idea for a shrug pattern running around in my head......... and now, thanks to the boys, I'm itching to do it in........................... Malabrigo!
My sweet husband has been kind enough to cut me out some sock blockers from some wood (Ramone was kind enough to trace her sock blockers for me) and now I am in the process of painting them.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my works in progress............. note that they are done in Knitch colors!

bad bad me

2007-09-19T13:40:00.000-04:00

I know, I know. I'm posting without pictures. I should be ashamed. And I haven't posted in over a week. Even worse!!!
So, today is when the yarn harlot comes to town. I'll be heading down the Va Highlands way a bit later. I'm looking for Brittany (aka knitwitch) and her hubby. I told my husband this feels like I'm going on a match.com date where I've been emailing with somebody for a while but haven't actually met them yet, but tonight I am. I've not even had a phone conversation with Brittany although from our emailings she seems very nice and my kind of knitting buddy! The last time I emailed with somebody and never actually talked to them until the day I met them.............. I married him! However, I'm not looking for romance this evening. Just wanting to hook up with my fellow knitters so we can take over the world! Ok, not really take over the world, but perhaps infuse a bit more peace and love and tolerance in the world through our knitting endeavors.
So, to my fellow harlot fans, I'll be seeing you tonight! Knit on!

the poor and the tired

2007-09-08T20:24:00.001-04:00

I went to the Yellow Daisy festival today with my three youngsters in tow. My husband is currently working at the Rome film festival. Personally, I'm thinking there's a lot of knitting to be done when all you're doing all day is running Indie films for the eclectic of Rome. Anyway, after my recent trip on Friday to Knitch in which I had 15 minutes to get what I came for and get out before the restaurant across the street towed my car and my purchase at Kati Russel's booth, I am poor. And having spent the day in the heat I am tired. Therefore, I am both poor and tired. I can't say enough about Kati's paintings though. She's really the only vendor I gave a flip about seeing while I was there. Sure, I did check out some jewelry vendors' wares and feel fairly confident about my own beading and jewelry making skills, but it was Kati I went to see. I encourage anybody who likes abstract angel art or metaphysical art to check her out. My friend Zoie told me about her last year and I've gone to her website on occasion to look at her work. Her orginals up close and personal were amazing. http://www.katirussell.com/order.html
I apologize for no pictures today. I am loving my kaalund silk strands yarn that I bought on Friday and am using to make myself a pair of socks. Go figure. A pair of socks for myself. What a novel idea!!
Oh.... on another sock note......my husband took his hugs and kisses socks with him to the Rome film festival and informed me that he was wearing them today. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!

things to do in Atlanta when your depressed

2007-09-06T11:55:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I started a new project with some yarn that I bought at Knitch to "play" with. I had only bought one skein and had to wait until the yarn spoke to me and told me what it was to be. So, the yarn spoke, and I cast on and did about 10 rows on a cast on of 95 when I realized that this was way too big. I know that frogging is in my future. Normally, I frog it with reckless abandon and knit until I get it at least as far as I did when I had to frog. Unfortunately though, its not been a stellar week for me as I have had issues with the father of my children (my ex, not my current wonderful hubby Steven) and I've just been a bit down in the dumps. I know I'm not supposed to give him my energy, blah, blah, blah, but sometimes we just have to realize we're going to have human emotions in this human experience of ours. So. Rather than frog the damn thing, I decided to do some beading. I needed the immediate gratification. I took a few pictures, but as I have said before, I am not the greatest at taking pictures. I'll post the pictures that turned out. They all have some swarovski crystals in them, although you can't tell it from the pictures. The necklace with the heart stone actually has pearl seed beads and brown and dark teal beads. In the pictures it keeps looking like red and turquoise beads.

a little blue, a little brown

2007-08-28T11:11:00.001-04:00

I liked the look of this variegated yarn (Lion brand wool) and decided to make some socks out of it. For some reason I ended up making a pair of socks that would fit a two year old and managed to think up a two year old I know that I can give them to.
I like the blue and brown and green and it was easy to work with. I'm not sure how they would work on the practicality scale, though since this is the yarn thats pretty much made for felting.

selfish me

2007-08-23T18:05:00.001-04:00

I started a sweater for myself. And its not actually one of my own bastardized creations. Aside from the way I set up the colors, its straight from a book that I bought at a yarn shop when I sent to Seattle from my birthday. I've been drooling over the pattern for months now and when I bought some of the Jaeger Roma for a completely different project, I fell in love with the yarn and knew it would be great for this sweater. I originally used 3 colors of the Roma and some Filatura Di Crosa I had impulse bought a while back, but I just wasn't warming up to the way it was looking. I was digging around my stash places looking for something completely different and ran across my Trendsetter's Pandora that I had also bought a while back to "play" with. I loved it, but wasn't sure what to use it in. And then the light went off in my head. I decided to put the Pandora with the Roma and the Venezia and see how it looked. And when I did, I knew I was home.
I loved putting the colors together and how they look together. It is soooo me. I may look like a hippopotamus with all these stripes when the sweater is done and finished, but I don't care. The combo of the colors makes me happy and the Roma is soooo soft. I'm about to embark on my second sleeve while I wait for my size 9 addis to come in from Jimmy Bean. I did decide to knit the back and the front all together until I get to the arm decreases, so in that regard I am bastardizing the original pattern.
I know its very out of character for me to knit something for myself when I am in the midst of 1900 other projects for other people, but sometimes you just have to take care of yourself.

groovin on a Sunday afternoon

2007-08-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

My boys just left to go back to their dad's. We all went to Whitewater yesterday. It is truly an act of love for a mother to go run around in public in a swimsuit for the sake of entertainment purposes for her children. I can tell you that there is nothing better for shooting down the self esteem of a 40 year old mother than to have her parade around with a bunch of teenagers and twenty-somethings all in their barely-there bikinis, copper skin, and pierced navels. I did sport my own belly ring a few years ago, but the damn thing kept snagging on my jeans and it just became a painful ordeal so I took it out. I also do have to admit that since I have been divorced from the father of my children (a man who was very adamant about my going to the tanning bed and tanning) I am a shade worshipper, wear SPF50, and embrace my caucasianness. I have no desire to submit myself to an increased risk of skin cancer. Other forms of cancer run rampant in my family history and I figure its in the cards that I'm going to meet up with some cancer gene gone active at some point in my life. I certainly don't need to add to the cancer risk factor pot.
Anyway. The picture is of a trinity knot that I cranked out while my stepdaughter was at the dentist the other day. I did make an alteration from the original pattern that I found in a cap pattern, but have not had near the grief with it as I have been having with the peace symbol. I plan to incorporate the trinity knot in the instep of a pair of socks. I seem to be a sockaholic these days. Perhaps I should rename myself the sock whisperer.

that's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh, uh

2007-08-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

This is like take 6 or something on this blasted peace symbol from the top down. But I think I may finally be on to something. Comments and criticisms are welcome.
Wow. If I finally have it....... I can actually work on something else for a change. Go figure.
I'd write more, but I actually have to go do domestic things now since I've spent the good bit of the morning trying to get the peace symbol to my satisfaction.

p.s. I'm looking for comments on the pattern, not on my photographic techniques which really suck.

besting Barbara Walker part 2

2007-08-08T21:46:00.000-04:00

My husband went out of town yesterday and he'll be gone until Friday. I've spent a good part of yesterday and today trying once again to get the best of Barbara Walker. Through much trial and error, stubborness, complete lunacy, and a few pina colada wine coolers, I've come up with a "cuff down" version of the peace symbol that I am bound and determined to incorporate into a sock. After ripping the damn thing out half a dozen times, I got to where I thought I had got the damn thing figured out. I even took some pictures of the finished cuff part that has the peace symbol on it to post, but as I was looking at the pictures of it I realized that I'm still not happy with it. Hell, I even typed up all my hard work thus far and saved it to my knitting designs file. The branches off of the center vertical line come off of it too low for my taste. I just don't have the strength to rip the thing out tonight and reconfigure it tonight. I'm ok with the basic overall pattern............ I think. I just want the diagonal lines to run a bit longer before they disappear into the circle. On paper, it should only take a minimal amount of tweaking to get it where I want it. the thing is I'm actually going to have to frog rows and rows of knitting in the round to get it back to where I want it to branch off.
I have these dreams of one day being a knit-wear designer, but I feel a bit humbled and disenchanted with the fact that it has taken me 2 stinkin days so far to work out this peace symbol (in the reverse from how Barbara Walker has it in her book) and I'm still not where I want to be with it.
I've had enough of "peace" tonight. I am most likely going to go work on a mandala window painting that I'm doing. If I pick up the needles again tonight it will most likely be to do some mindless knitting on a dog sweater I'm doing for our dog Nemo Xavier. I'm also posting a dog sweater that I finished on the way to Florida last month. I opted out of ribbing around the armholes (or legholes as it were) since somebody once told me that some dogs freak out having stuff like that around their legs so I opted for finished the hole with a crocheted crab stitch instead. The pattern is a variation on the dog sweater pattern on the Michael's site. Thus far its been my favorite dog sweater pattern. However, the dog sweater I'm working on now is knit int he round from the neck down (of course I had to alter the dimensions from the pattern since Nemo's chest size is bigger than the largest size they have listed and of course I had to make up my own intarsia pattern to put in it instead of the one that they have, but that just seems to be the way I'm wired..... can't leave well enough alone.)

leaf baby sweater

2007-08-04T18:31:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note with a picture. I just finished my own take on a nashua pattern. I used Reynold's saucy for the yarn. I actually have done the real nashua sweater with the actual called for yarn. Well, I have yet to finish one of the arms. I'll post the picture of it as well when I am finished. The Reynold's was part of a recent single balls of yarn purchase so that I could play with a few different types and get the feel for them.
Anyway, I have to help my son with a school project so its just a short post.