must be KARMAH

Please come visit my blog at http://www.mustbekarmah.com.

Canned Spam

Due to the overwhelming amount of spam comments I am getting on my blog lately I have enabled the word verification feature on blogger. Dang it, they get my hopes up by commenting. I think "Great someone liked what I posted enough to leave a comment!". Then I check out the comment and it's spam. And not even the good stuff. You know, something I might actually be interested in. Something like Yarn. Man, if all the good yarn manufacturers sent me some spam I'd be beggin' for more instead of trying to block it. Sigh. One can only dream.

Backlogging

If you just stopped on by today you will notice that there is a huge influx of postings that were not here before. No, you are not seeing things. Stop trying to flush out your eyes with Windex. (It may make your windows shiny, but it's heck on the corneas.) It's not magic, despite the dust bunny or two that may be pulled out from under the couch with a flourish. Viola! Behold my magic wand... The Electrolux! (You know nothing sucks like and Electrolux. Okay, okay... We don't have an Electrolux, but hubby is always quoting the tag line, so I thought I'd throw it in here.) Since I have had computer connectivity, etc. issues for the past few weeks I am now trying and get caught up on all the blogging that should have been happening during that time. And since I can turn back time in real life, I am turning back time in blogland. Gee, dontcha love being able to predate your posts? Wahahaha! I feel so evil. Yes, it's all a part of my master plan. What plan is that you say? Well first I gather up all the yarn in the Universe, then... ARGH! You sly dog! You got me monologuing! (Yes, too many viewings of The Incredibles there.) Any who... Yeah, believe those eyes of yours. They aren't playing tricks this time. (And to think you spent all that money sending them to clown school!) Go ahead and catch up on all the gossip that you've missed, the insanity that has been my life and the yarn porn that should be outlawed it's so "cinful".

Can Not Compute

Computer issues be gone! Well, wishful thinking on my part as I am still waiting to hear back from Comcast about why my email is not working. Actually it is only the email for the "main identity" or the basic account that is not working. And all because we switched to digital voice phone service. What a perk, eh? I called yesterday, a week after the phone service was installed and a week since the email has worked and got the standard they are "working" on the problem. I was told that the "issue" should be solved that same night and I would receive a call back when they had fixed it. What time was the latest that they could call me? The guy laughed when I said any time. He asked if it was okay if they called at 2 am and I said "Sure!". Don't they get it... I am desperate here. Internet addiction is a terrible thing. Last night I did find out that I wasn't the only one in this situation. Seems that there are about 100 other people in the same boat. Gee, do you think that they should have field tested this new system some more? All I know is that hubby is foaming at the mouth about some sort of discount being applied to our bill since this is more than just a little glitch in the system. Hopefully they won't give me flak about that when I ask for one. Hubby is so much better at talking to people about discounts and working out deals. Me? I am too nice on the phone. Obviously since I have yet to get a call back over the email being non-functional and it is already the next night. Hmmm... Guess the issue hasn't been solved, eh? Yup, pushover. Tomorrow I shall have to call again and see what's up. Maybe this time even demand to talk to a supervisor. Though I doubt that will garner any quicker result. Darn tootin' I'm going to be asking for a discount. First the internet and cable keep cutting, now this. My bill is going to be in the negative if this crud keeps happening!

I Love a Parade

Growing up I don't recall ever going to see a parade. Well, except for the Halloween one I was in as a child. That one was just around a shopping center parking lot, so I am not quite sure if that counts. Then of course there are the ones that I have seen via the boob tube. But that can not compete with real life. When I read about the Homecoming parade scheduled for this Saturday I entertained the idea of going. Then I decided that I would go and the girls would get a kick out of it. It was a local affair with just the high school and the local fire companies. It can not be compared on a grand scale to the Mummers in Philly or the Macy's in New York. It may not be "grand" in that sense but you can not belittle the spirit of it all. The wonder in a child's eyes as he or she watches the band grandly go marching by. The laughter that spills out when something catches the eye and delights the senses. The overwhelming noise of the trucks as they blare their sirens, showing off trucks tended with care. The camaraderie of the people as they eagerly cheer those marching by. It's a site that I am glad we did not miss. A memory my children will have. A time we will look fondly upon. That day of the parade that Mommy ran pushing a stroller down the sidewalk while madly snapping pictures.

Red Light, Green Light

I am going to try and catch up on posts. I am composing them offline and then I will upload them when I get a connection. That way I can quick copy and paste the items into blogger and press the upload button and hope for the connection to hold. It's going to be a dodgey game at best. Hopefully this will work. I keep catching random amounts of internet time here and there and am slowly making the rounds on the net and with my email. I keep crossing my fingers that the connection holds. Soon it will all be fixed and not need another fix in a long, long time. Well, one can only hope!

SP-oiled Rotten

Look at all the pretty little packages! Once again my SP has spoiled me grandly. Shall we open them up and see what goodies lurk inside awaiting discovery? Oh yeah!
Why lookie here. It's some elastic re-inforcing thread. You know for when I get brave enough to pamper lucky tootsies with homemade goodness. Now if only I could break out the sock yarn and actually get started on a pattern. Then I'd be able to put this to good use!
My SP was even spoiling the kiddies! Check out all the cute Hello Kitty stuff. The oldest one claims she is too "grown up" for HK, but I caught her red handed with the lip gloss. And you can bet your patootie she snagged those Crayola Twistables. The artist in her couldn't resist. The youngest is quite glad to play with the "kitty cat" goodies. She is like her sister and loves to draw so you know she gladly took possession of the pencils and paper. Budding artists abound here in Chez Cinful.
And of course once again my SP keeps spoiling me with yummy goodness. Oh my! Some blue and pink Naturwolle. Hmmm... What to make? Will it be a hat? A scarf? A bag? Speak to me wooley!
Irish yarn! Green Irish Yarn! How in the world did she know? Was it the green eyes? The impish smirk in my profile picture. The wee bit of blarney that happens to spew from my mouth in random bits? Oh yeah, it's a big part of my heritage and my love for all things Irish stems from growing up around some rather boisterous descendants of said land. (That and the colorful... uh... exclamations from my grandmother.*) And by now I am sure that everyone knows just how fond I am of the color green! Any ideas on what to make with two skeins of Maggi's Linen? I don't think it's enough for a small shawl, but I could be wrong. And last but certainly not least, my SP spoiled me even more (is it actually possible?) with a package from Amazon.com. I was thrilled to get an extra surprise in the mail. In said package was a copy of a book I have been wanting called "Lavish Lace". It has so many gorgeous patterns in it. The person I took the Cat's Paw Shawl class from had used this book as a reference using the "cat's paw" featured in one of the patterns. Definitely some drool worthy patterns in this tome. So who exactly has been spoiling me? None other than Rayleen from "Uniquely Rayleen". Thank you so very much Rayleen for being a terrific SP partner. I have enjoyed your wonderful generosity of spirit and your thoughtfulness. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Whoever winds up with you in SP6 will be one lucky little crafter! *Apparently telling someone off in Gaelic is much more lady like than when you do it in English, and therefore one did not get their mouth washed out with soap for doing so. I wonder if the nuns still made her say "Hail Mary"s for doing so. (Yes, she attended Catholic school.)

Can You Hear Me Now?

I've been having problems with connectivity. The internet (and digital cable) has only been working sporadically and then cuts out after a few minutes. The cable company will not be out until the 20th to fix the problem. It seems as though they have had problems with one of their contract companies and are overloaded with service requests. So I shall try to make this quick in case I get disconnected again. My best friend is now back in Mississippi. They were actually able to get power running. Hooray! We had a nice visit together, however most of it was overshadowed with dealing with financial institutions (late payments due to the storm) and a fiance who is a PITA.* (Hers, my hubby was golden through it all.) Now that my "slate" is clear so to speak I will be able to finish up the sewing projects that have been waiting on me. I have been so very bad and feel guilty for not getting things out before now. Ugh. I hope to do some sewing tomorrow night. I can't sew until I clear a space to do so and the house is quite a mess at the moment. I need to catch up on a lot of things. I fear that my "To Do" pile will fall over from the unbalanced stack of items waiting on me. Cleaning, painting, sorting, crafting, reading, writing, etc. Where did all the time go? Speaking of time... It's time for me to toddle off to bed. Figures I get the internet working for a little while and I have to cut my time on it short due to a headache and lack of sleep. C'est la vie! *PITA = Pain in the (rear end).

Hurricane Katrina - The Situation & Donations

I just went down south to meet my best friend halfway and bring her back up here. She lives in Mississippi and her inland town had 135 mph winds. Luckily only two trees hit her home. One on the front door and one on the car port, doing little damage. But neighbors up and down her street and all over their town have trees through their homes. I will have to write down her recollections of the storm and the damage in her words later, for now I will give you the generalities. They have no power, and it will be at the very least a month until they can restore it. Their water supply is barely a trickle and is undrinkable. They must boil their water before attempting to do so. But without electricity for their stoves only though with gas grills, charcoal grills or generators can boil their water. With no power their food has spoiled if they could not eat all the perishable items. Even bread does not last but a day or two with temperatures in the 90s it has gone moldy and bad. Many can not use their phones. Some people may get phone calls but can not call out. Some people can call locally. Others can't call anyone at all. Cell phone towers are either damaged or not working due to the power outage. Even the police are having a tough time trying to communicate as their radios in their vehicles will only do so much. If people do not have cash (as most of us have become quite dependant on ATM cards and checks) they can not purchase items. A store may be able to open for an hour or two a day if they have a generator. They only take cash for items and many basic supplies (water, canned items, etc.) are already gone from the shelves. Because all the radio stations and TV stations are damaged and the phone lines are iffy there is no way to let people know about the store openings except by word of mouth. Even if they were working on generators many do not have radios or TVs that are battery operated. And if they do their batteries have worn out by now. Some people line up at a store in the early morning just for the hope that it will open some time during the day so they can get what they need to survive. And many people are not even healthy enough to stand out in these lines in the heat. Not to mention that people are running out of money fast, and many did not have any to begin with. Banks are afraid to open for security reasons. Their alarm and security systems are not working, making them targets for robbery, etc. And without power they may be able to run a generator for lights, or to open the vault, but maybe not for the computer systems to verify funds. My friend has had offers of money to be wired or mailed to her. But without working ATMs and banks being closed she has no way to cash checks or retrieve electronic funds. Then there is the fact that there is no mail, no Western Union service, etc. working. That the money would have no way to reach her even if they did send cash to her. The gas stations are rationing. They, themselves, are only running an hour or so. Stations are only letting those close to "E" fill their tanks, and then only so many gallons per car. For many it is not enough to even get out of the state, or even to the next station that may or may not be open to get more. Police cars are even running out of gas and being left by the roadside. Fire trucks and ambulances are affected as well. Fire trucks are also running out of water to use in fighting fires, and are trying to drain local ponds, etc. to use. People have been asking her how they can help. And she says that you really can't send items down there. No mail service, no package delivery service (Fed Ex, UPS, etc.) to deliver the items. Even if someone gathered all the items up and drove down there, they might not be able to get back because of the fuel rationing & shortage. The best thing would be to donate money to the organizations that are already down there and helping out. They have the capabilities to get the items there and distribute them. That the time for other donations (items such as clothing, etc.) will come later after routes have been established and people have been relocated. People will need help for many months after the power and water are restored. They will have been out of work for a long time and will have no savings to replace what they have lost. Without water and power she can not work. Can't earn a paycheck to pay for necessities, pay her mortgage, her insurance, her car loan, etc. And she is just one of many, many people who are in the same situation. The ones who have lost everything even more so. She counts herself very, very lucky to have a home. She counts herself fortunate to have what she does while others have nothing. She fears that the situation will worsen very quickly. There has already been looting and more criminal activity. As people get more desperate things will deteriorate even more. When you don't have food or clean water to give your child are you going to sit there and watch them suffer, or go out and find a way to get them what they need no matter what? It's hard for us who are safe and sound in our homes to even imagine one tiny speck of what people down in the Gulf Coast States are going through. Hearing her tell how they survived the night of fierce wind, torrential rain and trees flying through the air. That she was afraid they wouldn't make it and that it was the most scared she has ever been in her life. To hear of the hardships and knowing that though the storm was over, they still had more hardship to endure. That it was going to get much, much worse before it gets any better. That she fears this "worse" will be more than she or any one of the people she knows can handle. She even has fears of the future. Fearing that her town, which was already in financial straights, may not recover. That with the main industries down now people will be out of jobs for a long time. That the high number of people looking for what little is available will make it tough to find work. For herself personally she is worried about her fiance whose business is lawn care. A lot of people will no longer be able to afford the pay for this non-essential service. That with the cost of gasoline going up, even if people can afford to pay the rates they once did that he may not be able to afford to do the work. With the cost of the gas to get to the job plus the gas needed to run the equipment he might up owing more money than he brings in. Her job may leave the area if there are not enough people to support it. That means in order to work they might have to leave the area entirely. Everyone has stories like this. For some their jobs are gone as well as their own. They have to decide if they can wait for their towns and cities to be rebuilt or to start all over again someplace new. Can you imagine leaving today from your home with just the clothing on your back and having to start your life over again with only that? You would think that being up here with me in a place with electricity, clean running water, shelter from the heat or cold would entice her to stay at least until the same could be said for back in Mississippi. But no, she is determined to go back. She will be leaving as originally scheduled months ago when we had planned this trip for her to visit as a "vacation" instead of a temporary shelter. She can not leave her fiance, his family, their friends and even her neighbors (many of whom she just met after the storm) go through this alone. She wants to go back and be there. To lend a hand where she can and share what little she has. Her fiance is currently in the process of trying to purchase as many supplies as he can with what little cash he has on hand and any money he has been given by family and friends here to take back there. He even has to take up valuable room in the truck that could be used for more food and water for gas cans. You see the closer you get to there the harder it is to get gas. And he does not want to run out of gas and be unable to get these things back home. My friend? She will be trying to fly back. I say "trying" because her original flight was to go back to the Gulfport/Biloxi airport. As we all know it is damaged and will not be operating for non-essential travel any time soon. The airline said that they could not help her get back. Now we have to find a way to get her to an airport close enough to be picked up. Meaning that if someone from her town came to get her that they would have enough gas to get her and be able to get enough for the return trip. And if someone in that city/town she flew to could take her tome that they would have enough in their tank to get back home as she does not think they would be able to get any there. And if we can't make these arrangements before her fiance heads back down with the supplies (he is in Virginia right now) that she will not be able to get in contact with him or anyone else to come and get her, and therefore would have to rely on a stranger, who has tenuous connections to her job, for a ride home and that's just if she can get in contact with them and they do not refuse her request. Getting her back home will be even more difficult that getting her up here. Do I want her to leave? Heck no. Does she want to be in a place where she can be safe, well fed and in what she has come to now deem "luxury"? Heck yeah. But at the same time she can not leave the life she has built behind. And she can not leave the people that she loves and others that she has come to care about to go through all of this alone. I believe that this is one of those situations that the saying "caught between a rock and a hard place" is truly apt. All I can do is offer what comfort I can while she is here. Lend her emotional and financial support. To stand beside her decision to return to her ravaged home state and try not to cry while she does so. Knowing that as she does she will be giving up everything that she could so easily say yes to, and opting to suffer instead. Knowing that she does still have something to go back to will make it a little easier. I just fear not only for her safety and physical being but her emotional one as well. She is so tired, so worn that she can not even think straight. That just the thought of day to day survival is overwhelming. She has told me how people go into those lines at the store with the mindset of I have to get food and water, but when they get there and are faced with getting the items they just go blank. They can not think. I fear that happening more and more to the point of where people (and her) just loose all hope. Honestly I do hope that there will be a way that enough monies are raised so that people will be able to eat and clothe themselves. That those simple things will do a great amount of good not only for their physical well being, but their mental one as well. Food, water, basic necessities are what is needed the most. Fortunately there is a way that they can get this, through monetary donations to the reputable charities that are already in place down there and have begun distribution. But they need more. More money for more supplies. The more supplies the more vehicles/centers that they can distribute from the greater number of people can be reached. The more food and water, the more people can eat more than one small meal a day (if they are even getting that now). Every dollar counts. Don't buy that package of granola bars or case of water to mail/send down. The organizations such as the Salvation Army & Red Cross can buy multiple boxes of granola bars or cases of water for what you paid for one. Even better they have the resources to get it through to those who are in need of it while a package may languish for a month or more, stuck in limbo because it is unable to be delivered. I have already seen in the Wawa's around here (they are a local convenienceence store) that they have $1 vouchers for donations for hurricane relief funds. I am certain other places are doing the same. I plan on grabbing a few every time that I go to a store that has one and adding them to my purchases. I may not be able to donate 10,000, 1,000 or even 100 dollars. But I can afford to get at least a dollar voucher. If I am buying a gallon of milk for my kids, I can pick up $3 worth of vouchers to make sure that someone in need can have some for theirs as well. It may not seem like a lot, but it will add up. Just imagine if everyone who visited that store in a day did the same. It is worth it to give people back their health, their humanity, their dignity, their smile. List of Charities -- A good list put together by Lion Brand of reputable charitable organizations who are currently involved with helping Hurricane Katrina's victims. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating.

Driving Away

I may not be online for a few days. I am driving down south to meet my best friend and bring her back up her to the north for a little while. She was to come up here during this week anyways. So I will be busy with spending time with her, driving her around to see all of her friends in the area, etc. Now it's an even more precious time to savor. I will post again soon. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating.

Found!

Thank God I finally got through! They are alive and okay. I'll write tomorrow more about it. But thank you for all your good wishes and thoughts. Now to hope and pray for all the other people affected by this tragedy. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating.

Waiting

My heart keeps breaking And I can't take it Anymore. I pace the floor Waiting by the phone I see on the news Hell has come home. Waiting for days Oh Lord I pray That you'll find a way Back home. My heart keeps breaking Each day it's taking A little more. Silence unbroken Words without hope Pictures go by Hell without home. How do I get by How do I survive Without you You are my home. My heart keeps breaking My soul is aching Forever more. Copyright K. A. Rohrer - 31 August 2005 American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating.

Nothing Yet

I still have not been able to reach my best friend in Mississippi. Each land line call I attempt comes back as "all circuits are busy". The cell phone calls vary from being sent through to voice mail or getting a "Due to the hurricane in the area you are trying to call, your call cannot be completed at this time. Please hang up and try again." message. When I have been getting through on voice mail I have left messages stating what time it is and expressing the hope that they are okay, and that I will keep trying to get through. That if somehow they got to a land line that was working to call us collect no matter what. Trying not to let my voice crack or to break down in tears as I do so. I know that if they are okay, they are trying like mad to get through somehow. It's the if that is worrying me. My college friend says that her brother is trying to make his way from Mississippi to Florida where the rest of his family lives. His condo and his office were both located in the French Quarter. All of it is gone. They are not letting anyone back into that section any time soon. So he will not be able to see if there is anything at all left from his life there. I dozed off this evening while trying to read a book. I had the strangest jumbled up dream. But the gist of it was that my best friend drove up here with a strange combination of people and cats. I was following her around as we tried to find food for everyone to eat and asking her what had happened. She said that she did not want to talk about it yet, and wanted to wait until we were alone, that she had to get her bearings. But we were never alone for her to tell me how they had gotten up here, what they had been through, etc. Then I woke up and tried to call her again, only to get sent to voice mail. I can only hope and pray and keep trying. Ignoring the sick feeling in my gut and keeping the tears at bay. Hoping that when all is said and done that I will feel so silly for all this worry. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating. Eye of the Storm -- Local Newspaper Guy in Biloxi/Gulfport Area WLOX -- Gulfport/Biloxi Local News

Power Bound

My husband just called to check in with me to see if I had any news yet. No, still nothing to report. All circuits are busy. You see he is traveling south on I-95. He said that so far tonight he has seen groups of utility vehicles on their way south. No doubt they are responding to the need for electricians, etc. in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. I for one am not going to be griping if it takes a tad bit longer for my local service issues to be solved. Knowing that we will be short-handed in this area since they are sending people to help those who are much more in need of their services. Yes, I can do without. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating.

Hurricane Katrina

My best friend moved away the February before last. Way down south to Mississippi. I have missed her dearly, and think of her daily. Today I can not get her off my mind. We don't get to talk as often as we would like, but when we do she enjoys regaling me with little snippets of her Southern life. Tales of work, the town and just how different things are down there with the slower pace of life. Glimpses of tranquil visits to Gulfport where she would leisurely stroll on the beach and wild nights down in New Orleans sipping Hurricanes and walking the French Quarter. These places have been forever changed today. And I have to wonder how her small Mississippi town has faired in the storm's brutality. Is she okay? Did they make it through? Has her living room flooded as she feared it would? Is their roof leaking? Is it even still there? The last I heard she had lost power at about 12 pm and still had regular phone service but that cell service was down. That they were fine, but that the worse was yet to come. Since then I have heard nothing. I have called many times over the past hours since that last call. The one that I missed and only got to hear the shakily left voice mail recording. The response I have received had varied. From the phone ringing without answer, to a busy signal and for the past three hours just the voice recording from the phone company informing me that all circuits are busy. Watching CNN has become a way to keep in touch. To see if her town is mentioned, to wait and see if pictures are posted. If just by chance I can hear that they escaped the brunt of the storm. Since I could not get through on the phone I wrote her an email. It may seem strange to do so knowing that she has no way of checking it. But it made me feel a tiny bit better to send it. To pour out some of my feelings, knowing that it may not be read until way after the fact, but hoping that it will be read eventually by the person that it was meant for. Knowing that as I sit here worrying, there are others doing exactly the same. One of my college friends has a brother that lives in New Orleans. He left the city a few days before the hurricane struck, knowing that the storm was coming. The thing of it is he evacuated to Jackson, Mississippi. Instead of putting himself out of harms way he walked right into the midst of the storm. No doubt they are all anxiously waiting to hear from him. So many people are affected by this storm. But worse of all the residents of the areas the storm has torn through. We can only hope that they have made it through as best as possible, and that they can find some way to make it through what is yet to come. American Red Cross The Salvation Army BBB for Charities -- Investigate all charities before donating. The pictures in this entry are from August 28th. As they went around town yesterday my best friend and her fiance took photos of some of the places that were getting ready for the storm. One can only wonder if these places are still standing tonight.

Can We Toast It?

Our toaster has bit the dust. Or is that bit the crumbs? Seeing how it is a toaster and all that. It lasted for 11+ years, not a bad burn... err... run there. Here is the newest addition to our little kitchen appliance family. May I introduce you to Bob. Bob the Toaster that is. Yes, the children named him and have been merrily singing "Bob the Toaster, Can we toast it? Yes we can!". So far Bob has gotten quite the work out. Pop Tarts, Waffles and Bagels have all been browned to perfection. One can only wonder what Bob will do as an encore. Can you say toast? Mmm... Toast! Pass the jam please!

Free Yarn?!

Just because you all took the time to pop on by my little blog, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There is free yarn to be had! Oh lawsy! Run! Faster! Get it while you can! Hurry before it's all gone! Run Forrest Run!* Gotta love those freebies! Now if you are among those that only want to deal with natural fibers, then I am sorry to say that this deal is not for you. If you are so addicted to the fiber arts that you will knit/crochet/weave anything you can get your hands on, then you will be very happy. You see, it's for a skein of some funky acrylic get down and dance yarn. Yep... Bernat Disco. Groovy baby.** You can sign up for your free yarn here. I am thinking that it would be good to use in a project for a child or teenager. Goodness knows that once it gets here my girls will both be vying for possession of said yarn. Hmmm... I wonder what color we will be getting. *Forrest Gump! Love all the shrimp references. I could really go for some shrimp & macaroni salad right now. Mmmm... Shrimp! **Yet another movie reference. Must be all that popcorn I've eaten the past week. Yep, this one is pure Austin Powers baby.

Something Slithery This Way Slides

Here we have the famous traveling shot of my newest project. Nope, it's not a sock. Recognize the yarn? Yep. It's that Donegal Tweed that I purchased in Myrtle Beach. Recognize the site? You don't? Well, it's the newest attraction at Broadway at the Beach in MB, MagiQuest. (Pronounced maj-eye-quest.) Children and teens seem to love this place, while parents wait for hours on hard benches, that is when they can be found. But that's a tail, err.. tale for a different entry. Back to the main focus of this one. You can see what began life inside a magical world has grown quite a bit. What is this creature? A snake of course! And not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill snake, but a snake scarf. Yes, a rare breed indeed!
You see this is the display item that my girls, yes that's right girls, fell in love with at Knitting Up A Storm. The owner had made up the scarf pattern herself*. Then when I purchased the yarn to make the two scarves (both in snakey green colors) she threw in the bits of yarn to make the eyes (black) and tongue (red) as well as the instructions. Here I was ready to purchase the pattern and use up some stash yarn for the bits and bobbles and she just added them into the package for free! Gotta love freebies! At this time I am over the halfway mark of the scarf. I've already used up one of the balls of tweed yarn and started in on the second. If you have never worked with Donegal Tweed (and this is my first encounter) I have a word of advice to offer. This is a two twist yarn (meaning two strands are twisted together) and the twists themselves go from thick to thin. So it has happened on more than one occasion that I have found myself not catching both plys of yarn as I knit. Only to realize it later on and have to rip it out to the forgotten ply and then reknit it. Grrr. It can be quite frustrating. I am enjoying the knitting of the scarf even though it is in what most would deem "boring" stockinette. It's neat to see how the sides roll into each other giving it the snake shape and feel. Perhaps making it a little too "real". The shop owner who gave me the pattern said that she had made it up for each of her nephews, that they would play with it but not wear it. They were afraid of the snake choking them. As the current scarf I am working on is for my youngest she keeps petting it, etc. The other day I tried it on around her neck and she stated that it would choke her. I had to assure her that it was just pretend and wouldn't do so. I have no doubt though when it comes time for the item to be finished it will receive lots of play time and in the colder months it may actually get some of it's original intended use as a (gasp) scarf. *If you are interested in the scarf pattern you can contact Knitting Up A Storm at (843) 249-65762, and ask about the Snake Scarf pattern.

Knitting Up A Storm

While I was down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for vacation I had forgotten to do something very vital. Bring a project to work on! Yikes! Silly me thought that there would be no idle time to do crafts and what-not. Thank goodness I had carried three books along, otherwise I would have gone crazy for sure. Lesson learned--Always bring something to work on along with you! In order to remedy my idle hands situation, I went online at the hotel. (At 20 cents per minute it was no cheap search!) I googled for a yarn shop and came across a listing for "Knitting Up A Storm" in North Myrtle Beach. I knew that I was going to have some free time on Thursday, so I called them up and found out that I picked the right day to visit because they were open until 8:30 that night! It worked out perfectly because the girls and I were going to be dropping off hubby and his best friend for a concert. So while the boys are away... The girls will yarn shop! The store was easy for me to find due to the excellent directions from the owner. It was neat and tidy and everything was arranged in good order. They had a pretty varied selection to look at. Tons of Jo Sharp and Sirdar. The owner was nice and quite helpful. She offered her assistance and advice on the projects that I was looking at. She even helped me search through the racks of knitting needles to find the perfect size. Definitely none of that "snobbish" attitude here! A nice store to visit. Perhaps even to become my LYS away from home. (Now to just convince hubby we simply must vacation in Myrtle Beach every year.) There were a lot of displays of items made from the yarns. I really fell in lust with a baby sweater crocheted from Schachenmayr yarns in rainbow hues. Being as there are no babies to crochet it for, I reluctantly left the materials behind. My girls fell in love with a display at the store. Both of them decided that they had to have the item. What's a mom to do? I mean, I just had to increase my stash then and there. Can't go breaking the wee one's hearts, now could I? And just look at how my purchases were packaged up. With tissue paper even! When a store goes that little extra mile you know that they must be a pleasant place to shop at. So what did I purchase? I picked up four skeins of Sirdar Donegal Tweed yarn. (Only one of each color are shown in the photo.) Two of # 173 - Lime and two of # 174 - Grass. I also purchased some knitting needles, Addi Turbos. I did go down to South Carolina empty handed, so to speak, so I needed those needles! (Note how I am trying to justify increasing the stash, lol.) I also picked up a free pattern from the owner for a project involving said yarn as well as some extra "pieces". No doubt you are wondering what in the world the yarn is for and why is there all this secrecy? Stay tuned to find out! Knitting Up A Storm Tidewater Business Center 2100 Old Highway 17 N. Myrtle Beach, SC 29582 (843) 249-6562 Hours: Mon - Fri 10-5, Thurs 10-8:30, Sat 10-3, Other Hours by Appointment Directions: From Myrtle Beach go North on Hwy 17. Take the Cherry Grove Beach exit. At the top of the exit make a left. At the bottom of the hill there is a stop light. On your left you will see a small blue building. Take a left at the light, and then another left into the parking lot. Knitting Up A Storm is one of the shops in the blue building. You can't miss it!

Need a Good Read?

I have a ton of books that I am going to offer up on ebay. But before I do so, I thought I would give you all a chance to get them before they enter the bidding zone. Hubby wants them gone instead of gathering dust. You can see all the books at: JustCinful's De-Stash-O-Rama. The books are sold in "lots", grouped together by genre. Shipping and handling is based on where it is going to be shipped to and the method that you prefer to get shipped by (all post office - just different speeds). If this goes well I hope to offer up some other books and crafting items that I have been uncovering in the great re-decorating de-cluttering process. I know I have some yarns and knitting needles, various scrapping stuff, etc. Just a whole jumble of goodies that need loving homes. If it doesn't go well, I am going to have to take a tip from the B movies and go straight to video... err... ebay. (wink)

Brown & Blue

What's brown and blue and has kept me away from blogging, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading and anything else that's the least bit fun? My basement! Well, parts of the basement anyways. On Friday night I embarked on the beginning of paint prep. I spent my time with some spackle. I must say that I get into my work and came away quite messy from patching up all the holes and dents in the wall. On Saturday I continued the spackle quest. Once everything was patched up it was off to the store to purchase paints and assorted supplies. You see I had picked out a brown color before and test painted the one part of the basement wall with it. The color met with approval by hubby. He is the one who originally wanted white walls! So I picked out some strips of blues that went with the brown and had him pick out one that he liked. He was very reluctant to do so. But at my insistence he chose one. He would have been happy having the walls all brown. But it would make the basement seem as though you were in a giant box! The drop ceiling is wood, the furniture is mostly brown (or black), the bar stools are brown, the closet doors are brown, etc. I told him that we needed a contrasting non-white color to offset the effect of the brown, otherwise we would feel all closed in. Believe me he is none too happy even now that part of the basement is painted. Hopefully once all the furniture gets in, etc. He will see that we did need those strong contrasting colors. I would not have minded a darker blue, but hubby is stubborn about thinking you can't use a medium shade in a dimly lit space. So he picked a lighter blue shade. Other than that it is looking good together so far. I say so far because I still have to go and paint the last few spaces down stairs tonight after the kiddos are in bed. (With the youngest one up it is tough to paint.) Hubby moved all the heavy stuff and now I can get to the small spaces that I missed. Hopefully I can knock out the painting quickly. Then I can play with re-arranging the furniture down there. I have some ideas, but I need to try them out to see if they work. Hubby may be quite surprised after work tomorrow! And now for your viewing pleasure, some painting progress pictures. So far I have put in over 24 hours in prep and painting time over three days (Friday, Saturday & Monday). Hopefully I will only have to work on it tonight and be finished with everything. Notice how I said "I". I as in me, myself, the singular lonesome little gal. Hubby hates to paint. Need I say more? Just think of me, down in the dark basement, covered in blue paint, looking like a smurf and getting zonked on paint fumes while you're all snugged up in bed. I'll be envying you!

Visited by the Sea

I recently received my second Crochetville "sea of Yarn" swap package in the mail. This time it was from Bec. She sent it while visiting the states, but should be back home in Australia any time now. So what goodies did Bec send my way? Here you can see the lovely lot of Australian yarns sent. There are two skeins of Lincraft Amazon in green & black and Lincraft Poodle in a combination of green, blue & purple. Then there are two skeins of boa type yarn one in shades of red and the other in blues. A lovely teal colored skein of wool from Heirloom. And last, but certainly not least a hand-dyed skein of wool in orange to green-blue tones. Bec hand dyed it herself with Kool Aid! Wow. Thank you so very much Bec for all the lovely yarns!

On a Mission to View Mars

Why oh why am I always the last person to find out about a good TV show? This summer I happened to watch an episode of Veronica Mars by accident. Now I am hooked! Is anyone else out there in search of more Mars? Last night (or would that be this morning?) I stayed up until 4 am watching back to back episodes that I had recorded on my DVR. Did I use this extra awake time to knit or crochet while watching? Heck no. I got to into the plot lines. A show that makes you want to sit there and just absorb it is a dangerous thing. I am trying to see all the episodes that I can before the new season starts this fall. So I searched for an episode guide to see which shows I have missed out on and found out that there are over 20 episodes. Somehow I don't think that I am going to be able to catch up. Then I spied an advertisement for the full season on DVD, but it doesn't come out until October. But you bet your butt I put that little gem on my Christmas wish list. I may be a little late on the viewing, but I am determined to see all the episodes. This will make the first time ever that I have wanted to purchase a television series on video, so you know it must be good. Or at least "good" in my version of Merriam Webster's.

Technology, I Think I Love You

Rebecca Spender has come up with a little bit of KnitWit. An ingenious device (along with needles) that keeps track of how many stitches you knit and what row you are on. One can only wonder how many offers she will be getting for this design. Knitter everywhere will be clamoring for this gadget! CNN Article http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/03/smart.knitting/index.html BRUNEL Design (Her Alma Matter) PDF File http://www.sharperdesign.co.uk/downloads/directorypages/74-spender.pdf

Idiots in Training

Every year I get a knock on my door (sometimes more than once a year) from a guy who says that he is participating in a communications program. That part of their curriculum is public speaking and so they have to go out and talk to people. And they every time they talk to someone they earn points towards a vacation. You sit there politely and listen to their whole spiel, figuring you just have to sign a paper saying that you listened to them talk or whatever. But no, they break into that "If you will only buy some magazines". It's then you realize that it is all a scam just to sell magazines. That even though there is a "No Soliciting" sign up in your neighborhood these guys think that it doesn't apply to them. Why? Because their summer job is to try an weasel you out of your money but trying to make you feel guilty. Oh you got the personable little chat where they try to lure you in. Yes, Yes! Come closer little fly. And no doubt you want to help support a poor little college student, after all we're friends right? Climb up my web. Come a little closer. We'll share some... uh... tea. So you just have to pick out one of these magazines that you never read anyways and buy it from me so I can win a trip to Aruba or some other such place. Aha! I've got you now! The shame of it all is that so many people get suckered into doing just that. Hey, if you read the magazine anyways, it might be a good deal, but if you don't, why are you bothering to support these spammers? Yep, in person spam, the joys. Gee, I could pay some of my bills, or buy your magazines that I don't want or need. Hmmm... The first time this happened was right after we moved into the neighborhood. I listened to the guys whole little spiel. Then when he got to the end and started his selling pitch for the magazines I informed him that the local schools do a magazine drive and that we support them. He got all ticked off and left in a huff. Sure, now that you are no longer going to buy anything the fake sincerity disappears real quick. Guess we're no longer buds. Ouch. That hurts. This past fall when one of these guys knocked at the door I politely told him that I didn't want to listen to his speech and that I wasn't interested in buying anything. He tried to say that he wasn't selling anything. So I said to him that he was going to try and get me to purchase magazines from him and that we support our schools locally through their magazine drives. You should have heard him cuss me out. Great people skills there. I wonder if he "flunked" his communications course. Today I had a person ring our door bell. I just figured it was one of my daughter's friends asking if she could come out and play. Nope. The door-to-door spammer had returned. Sure, with a new face and a friend in tow, but the same old sell. He tried to start talking to me above the youngest's whine and the dog's barking. Then I heard that "public speaking" and I stopped him right there. I told him straight out that I did not want to buy any magazines and that soliciting was not allowed in this neighborhood and that there was a sign posted at the entrance saying so. He got all ticked off (silent friend standing by) and he went off grousing and mumbling. I told him that they needed to find a new gig. Apparently he took this to mean him, when in fact I meant the company they work for. So I said that his company needed to find something new to sell. Then he went off saying how he made so much money, etc. Then traipsed up to the neighbors to go and try to scam them. Oh yes, please help me, I am poor little student, buy my magazines won't you. It's so nice that someone takes these young folks aside and teaches them how to present a false front to people, all in the name of money. Such nice values to instill. Now why does it seem to me that these people have such a nice future in embezzlement? Or perhaps their future endeavors will include telling senior citizens that they have won the lottery and just need to pay a small tax or claim fee in order to receive their winnings. Or I'm a lawyer for Zurik Zanzubara's widow. She has many valuable holdings in your country, but can not claim them due to various legal difficulties. If you would send us $500 we would gladly sign over these holdings worth 10 times that amount to you, yadda, yadda, yadda. Can't we just say NO to spam?

Stay Healthy

The day before Thanksgiving last year my youngest daughter showed us that she is truly following in her klutzy mother's footsteps. She had been playing with her toys in the back room when her sister called her to "come quick" from the front room. Of course she took off running and happened to trip over one of her toys she was playing with, a Little People school bus. When she tripped she hurt herself. She would not stop crying and she would not stand up. When I did get her to stand, she would only do so with me holding the brunt of her weight and she refused to put down her one leg. I feared that she had broken it. (You can not reason with a two year old to try and wiggle her toes when she is hysterical.) I knew that she had really hurt herself. The kid may be a klutz, but whenever she gets a boo-boo a kiss and a few minutes of cuddling usually solve it. This time it didn't. Then I looked at her ankle again and it was starting to swell rapidly. I knew I had to take her to the hospital to find out if it was a sprain, a broken bone, or if anything was torn. After many hours and two sets of x-rays (during which she screamed "No, No, No" and "Stop It" at the top of her lungs while being forcefully held in place) she was diagnosed with a severe sprain and was put into a temporary splint to keep her leg immobile. But without that visit to the emergency room and treatment the sprain could have become worse. As it was it took her nearly a month to walk again (some of which stemmed from an intense fear or the pain recurring). But don't you all worry now, she is running around here fine and dandy. Apparently taking your child to the emergency room for an emergency situation constitutes attempted insurance fraud. For months now we have been dealing with my husband's work insurance. Trying to get them to cooperate and pay for the medical bills from the before mentioned visit. It wasn't until March that we even heard that there had been any difficulties with the insurance not paying the hospital and doctors bills. Then we got a bill from the hospital. It seems that the hospital tried to file the claim electronically and it was rejected. You see the insurance company does not accept electronic claims, only paper claims. So we figured that was the end of that. Then we got more notices from the hospital of the unpaid debt. Call again... Oh we just re-submitted the claim, ignore that threatening letter you received. Then a bill came from the doctor. Apparently his bill wasn't paid because he wasn't considered "in network". Huh? We went to the in-network hospital and he was the person on staff who saw my daughter for all of 3 minutes, and somehow he doesn't work there? The funny thing about this is that he was the same doctor who treated my daughter that past summer when she fell out of a shopping cart (did I mention Dare Devil likes to climb?). And there was no dispute then about paying any of the emergency medical bills. So we had to take care of this whole mess about how the doctor bills separately from the hospital (apparently the insurance company doesn't approve of that). Then we had to go through the whole, I don't see any record here of a hospital emergency room admission. Ummm... Yeah, because you all keep refusing to pay for it. Oh, well, once we get that claim then we will be able to recognize the doctor as being in-network. Huh? Once we get the hospital claim then we can accept the doctor claim. So check back with us in three weeks. If the hospital bill hasn't been paid by then, call us back. Ohhh-kaaay. This continued on and on until the end of June. Finally! We had thought that we were through with it. Then in today's mail we get a letter stating that we had to call the insurance company regarding the hospital emergency room visit of our daughter. Hubby is really ticked by now. This happened 10 months ago and still was not resolved? He calls up and the lady on the other end is giving him a hard time about the emergency room visit. Oh yes, we love to torture our children by giving them proper medical care. We are so devious that way. He keeps talking to her and having to explain over and over again how she got hurt. Yes, she tripped over a toy. Yes, she was at home. No we did not claim any homeowner's insurance. Yes, she tripped over her toy and sprained her ankle. She tripped and sprained her ankle. Yes. No, we did not collect any other insurance on this. Hmmm... I wonder why hubby is turning a lovely shade of red. Oh is that steam coming out of your ears darling? Do put on the kettle I'd love some tea. Now the insurance company is sure that we are not trying to scam them. That we haven't somehow sued ourselves for some insurance from our homeowner's policy to cover said medical bills. Only now will they pay everyone the money owed. Or will they? Why do I have this niggling little feeling that we have not heard the end of this? The American Health Care System! Even with insurance you're screwed.

SP-ictory!

What's this? Oh it's a lovely box from my SP5. How I adore packages! I just love getting them so much that it's almost a shame to open them. Notice I said almost. I wonder what little goodies are concealed beneath the colorful wrappings. Oh look! Green tea chocolate. Oh baby, how I have longed to taste your exotic essence. (Insert drool here.) Oh my! Brittanys! Yes! Score! Size 3 DPNs, perfect for the eventual dive into sockdom. Gasp! Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in a lovely Navy color. Come to mama baby! So soft, so decadent. Yes, yes, I will keep you close. SP suggests a pair of socks. Oh toes, you decadent things, you will be wallowing in ecstasy. truly styling! Oh yeah. Scarf Style, a book that I have really been looking forward to. So many wonderful scarves, so many wonderful gifts. So little time to knit! Oh the injustice of it all! And what's this? Pink luscious Bam Boo yarn. Mmm... Bamboo-ey. Perhaps a pretty scarf from the new book, eh? The way to a woman's heart is through confections! How did you know SP? Sigh. Turtles! My weakness. By any other name my hips and I would still know thee. And we can not forget the kiddos favorites... The Muscat (grape) Gummies and Milk Chews. (They gave them 2 thumbs up. Of course they had to give thumb signals at the time, they were too busy chewing.) Someone call the stores! I am going to need a larger wardrobe after this. Aha! Someone's been sneaking peaks at my book shelf! My SP must have known about the two Stitch 'n Bitch books that I already have in my possession and decided to get me the journal to add to the collection. Now I can chart my knitting progress. And check out the famous knitting card! I finally got one! Inside was a nice note from my SP. I fear that my SP has spoiled me for any other. Kind, generous and insightful. Oh SP! Thank you! From the very bottom of my knitterly chocolate indulged heart, thank you. Thank you.

Crochetville SP Unmasked!

Today hubby went and picked up all the mail accumulated since we went away on vacation. Tons of junkmail, a couple of bills and oh yes, a lovely package. Once again I am spoiled. Check out all the goodies that were in the reveal package. There are some skeins of lovely green yarn (my favorite color). Two crochet pattern booklets to make kitchen items out of, yep you guessed it, cotton. Some free leaflets from Hobby Lobby. (We don't have HL up here in the North.) A package of sea shells. What to do... what to do... Some tootsie pops (You know that the kiddos will snatch them up as soon as they lay their eyes on them!). A trio of gift bags in lovely oriental prints. A grape magnetic memo pad, you can never have enough of those as it seems I am always making lists. And last, but certainly not least, since you have previously been exposed to my lust after this beverage, some tea bags! Lion Brand Kool Wool in color # 130 - Grass. I have looked at this yarn time and time again at the store and have always lusted after some. Is it the "Kool" is it the "Wool"? I don't know. Somehow the two words together bring thoughts of toasty goodness. Now I have not one, but two lovely skeins to fondle and eventually work up into some fiber masterpiece. I just have to find a pattern suited to it. I did go to the Lion Brand site to look at the patterns they would have for their yarn, and would you believe they only had ONE pattern featuring this yarn? It is for the same one shown on their wrapper, a two tone knitted pullover. You would think that they would have more patterns for it, but they don't. Plymouth baby Alpaca Brush in color # 1477 - Pear (other sites call it Herb). Alpaca, alpaca, how do I love thee. My hand runneth over thy silky locks... My eyes caress thy fibers so lush... Err... Maybe I'd better stop right there. As far as I know this is a rated PG blog, and we don't want to go there! I am wondering what to do with this oh so fluffy stuff. Any ideas for a pattern that uses 220 yards or less? Thank you so very much my not-so-secret Crochetville Secret Pal Cindy! Even if your identity wasn't a mystery, I still loved having you as a partner! All of the goodies are so very wonderful and will keep me in fiber ecstasy for a good while. Thank you for thinking of me and being so generous. Okay, confession time. I've known for quite some time who my Crochetville SP was. No, it wasn't due to any outstanding deduction or spy work. I am no Sherlock Holmes or 007. If you look at the picture to the left you will see how I arrived at my brilliant deduction.* Although Cindy may be chagrined when she sees this. I too had this oopsie happen when sending things to my SP! (Seems we are in the same boat Cindy!) Just a heads-up for future SP participants around the world, test out that "secret pal" email addy by sending an email to yourself first. Learn from my oopsies, and don't flash before you're ready for the full reveal. No harm, no foul. Hopefully Cindy will forgive me for posting this so publicly. I would post pics of my own oopsie, but I don't ahve screen shots of those. (Since they are on the computer of my SP!) *Last name has been erased to protect the generous giver of luscious green yarn.

By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea

A while ago I received a package all the way from Texas from a sweet lady named Fran. You see we were in the Crochetville "Sea of Yarn" swap and she had my name to send to. Boy did I luck out! Look at how she spoiled me rotten. I must say that I admire the way that Fran even made a plain cardboard box look pretty. She took such care and attention to make the whole package scream "SUMMER!". I loved how she packaged everything. My youngest ran off with the Lei the minute she spied it. It now resides proudly in her dress-up drawer. Not only does Fran take the time to pick out some great yarns, she goes above and beyond and made these fabulous goodies! Isn't the little sandal cute? I can totally see it adorning the bag that we lug to the pool with us. So very cheery. And check out those hand made stitch markers. Makes me want to knit and crochet up a storm just so I can place those things everywhere. My oldest DD wants to kidnap one for her new back pack for school. Hmmm... Should I entrust her with one of my little lovelies to care for? Check out the lovely summery colored yarns. There is some fun fur, pretty blue & purple Berella 4, some colorful threads, yummy cotton yarns (Dishcloths here I come!), some very bright Red Heart (youngest DD loves this one), some fluffy Bernat Frenzy and some Lion Brand Landscapes (Which I have been wanting to try.). Then there were the extra goodies. The flip flop key chain and the stitch markers (in the box) from the above picture, plus some cute tropical cookie cutters and stickers that my girls will adorn everything with, as well as a fun summer note pad. Oh Fran, you have the knack of spoiling a person rotten! Thank you so very much. I love it all!

A Nice Cuppa

I must admit that I do enjoy a nice cup of tea every now and then. So when I heard that Crochetville was going to have a tea swap, I jumped right on that bandwagon. I sent out packets of tea to two people. You see I had mistakenly thought that I had two partners in the swap, and when I went to address the packages I found myself short one partner, so I gifted the second packet to the swap coordinator. Had to let someone enjoy the lovely tea goodness. What lovely teas did I get in exchange? I received the little lovelies seen right here. There is a pretty rose colored crocheted pouch (perfect for storing the tea bags). And there were all sorts of teas. Herbal, regular and white. Some of the flavors included were: Peach Apricot, Blueberry Vanilla, Red Raspberry, Slimming Tea, White Tea, Vanilla Nut Creme, Black Berry Blaze and Green Tea. There are just so many little lovelies to curl up with an a cool autumn night. I can hardly wait! I want to thank Bec for such lovely goodness. She is currently visiting the US from Australia. I hope that you are enjoying your visit with your family Bec! Thank you so very much for the goodies!

Home Again

We returned from vacation very late last night. All I can say is that I am so very tired. Why is it we need a vacation from our vacations? In my case I know why, it was not quite a vacation for me. Still had kiddos to take care of and food to make, grocery shopping, dishes to wash and laundry. For me it was just a location change with less cooking. I did have a good time, and hated to leave. Even though it is good to be back home, I would not have minded a longer stay, laundry and all. One good thing is that hubby has already begun to refer to the "next time" we go on vacation down south. I've got him hooked now. Heehee. I'll just have to bide my time and count the days until we are southward bound again.

Border Crosser!

Alert the media we have a Border Crosser! Err... Winner! Christina is the first person to correctly identify my vacation destination, Myrtle Beach, SC. Congrats Christina! Your mystery giftie will be mailed in the beginning of August. Are you excited? Psst... I need your mailing address, click on my profile and send me an email. Thanks!

Border Crossing Contest

Can you guess where we are heading on vacation? Check out the picture on the left for a big clue.* The first person to guess correctly will receive a lovely little giftie in the mail after we return. I wonder what it will be. Some lovely stash yarn? A kitschy souvenir? Something tasty? Oh the mystery of it all!
HINT #1: We are not venturing outside of the continental US. (Added 7/19) HINT #2: Two people have mentioned the correct state, but not the correct city. (Added 7/20) *For clarification purposes the "place" in the photo is not the actual one we are visiting, but rather one that we are passing on the way to our vacation destination.

Boys, Boys, Boys

My home has been invaded. By strange creatures who eat non-stop, belch and think that soap is a four letter word. That's right, my nephews have come a-vistin'. Actually I only have one at a time. I had the oldest (age 12) last week from Thursday to Sunday night. I currently have in residence the 8 year old from this past Sunday night until Thursday morning. Notice a trend? Both boys do not like to stay over together. They'd rather be apart as they tend to get on each other's nerves. Ah, the joy of sibling-hood! Thank goodness there are things to do with the children, otherwise I would go crazy. The boys seem to have so much extra energy that needs expending! One of the joys of staying over at our house (at least from their perspective) is going to the local YMCA. It's not that we're not exciting enough, but that rather the pool holds extra appeal. I can't say that I blame them! I know that at their age, I was the same way! Ummm... But with different body... uh... parts. I will breath a sigh of relief though when I drop off the 8 year old on Thursday. Not that I do not enjoy spending time with the kids. But it will be nice for things to settle back down to normal. At least for a teeny tiny bit.* *Why teeny tiny? Check the "ticker" at the bottom of the page! Oh yeah.

USA-rican

How in the world did they ever guess I am American? Someone told! Come on, fess up! Who's the squealer? Don't make-a me break you face!

You Are 83% American

You're as American as red meat and shooting ranges. Tough and independent, you think big. You love everything about the US, wrong or right. And anyone who criticizes your home better not do it in front of you!

How American Are You?

Behind

And what a big behind it is! Oh, I, uh, guess you are not interested in my anatomy. Umm... errr... yeah. I seem to be behind in everything lately, over and over and over again. This summer is literally kicking my butt.* The days are just flying by and it seems as though the more things there are to do, the less that gets done. By this time I had hoped to have all my swaps out. I wanted to have my back room cleared of clutter so that our brick wall (leftover from a wood stove we do not have anymore) could be demolished. Thought that my oldest daughter's bedroom would have the wall paper stripped, be repainted and rugs cleaned by now. I also thought that the basement would be decluttered and painted as well. Oh what a fool I was! Where does the time go? *Please do not mind all the posterior references. I seem to have my mind stuck on something. Lol.

SP5 Prize

I was shocked to learn that I was the winner of the SP5 contest. It was a most welcome shock. And lookee-lookee what came in the mail! Funny thing is when this package arrived I had no idea what it could be. I knew I had won the contest, but didn't think the prize would get here so soon. Look at the goodies! Three lovely skeins of Rowan Kid Classic in color #845 Battle. It's an olive green tone. That's right, green, my favorite color! There was also a lovely tube of Reeses Peanut Butter lip gloss. My two girls had a tug-o-war over that one! Mommy was mean and made them share it. No black eyes here, but plenty of shiny lips! Thanks for everything Rox!

Red, White & Blue

How did you all celebrate your Independence Day? The beginning of July seems a busy month for lots of countries to celebrate holidays. Canada, the US and France are among the ones that seem to favor this month for national holidays. This past weekend we stayed mostly at home. On Saturday Night (or rather 1am on Sunday Morning) I found out that my husband had invited a bunch of his co-workers over to our home on the 4th for an impromptu BBQ. Short notice indeed. Yikes! With very little time to prepare I found myself run ragged. You see I had already promised our girls that we were going swimming on Sunday and then to dinner at my parent's home. So that ate up all the free time on that day (as the dinner visit lasts past 10pm or so). That only left me with Monday to cook and clean. Early Monday we went to the store for supplies. (Thank goodness that there are now stores open on the 4th. When I was growing up the only thing open was the gas station.) I had to go to a second store with the girls since the first store did not have the special mustard I needed for the potato salad recipe. While we went to the second store hubby went to go and pick up one of the invitees. I got home a scant 5 minutes before hubby returned. Then I spent the next 4 hours in the kitchen cooking food for the event. What did I make? Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Cucumber Salad, Corn on the Cob, BBQ Sauce (from scratch) and Rub for the ribs, Vegetable Dip, a Veggie Tray and a Fruit Tray. By the time that I was done that I was exhausted. I went outside and took a ten minute break to cool down a bit. Then it was back at it. I cleaned and vacuumed and washed floors. When that was done it was time to hit the showers before more people arrived. When I was getting ready for my shower I was hit with intense stomach cramps and nausea. They were so bad that it hurt to move. This lasted for about 30 minutes. I pushed myself to get dressed and go downstairs to drink water at least, even if I could not eat the food I made. Once I did drink more water I felt better and was able to eat and enjoy myself. I have since learned that it was some form of heat exhaustion/dehydration that hit me. I guess you shouldn't spend all day in a hot kitchen without eating or drinking. Funny how I got stuck with all the prep work for the party and hubby (who wanted the party and invited everyone) got to sit back and relax! After feeling better the night turned out nice. Lots of chatting and enjoying each other's company. And of course fireworks! It's just not the 4th without those bright sparks of light and loud booms.

Talking Your Ear Off

For some reason I have a strange urge to clean while I am on the phone. Okay, maybe it's not so strange, or even an urge. Usually when I am on a call that I know will last more than 5 minutes I find myself wandering around picking up items, putting dishes away, etc. Tidying up the kitchen, making sure there are no cheerios in the seat cushions of the couch, things like that. These mundane tasks are made easier when I have the distraction of the latest familial crisis to concentrate on or laughing through a story about a vacation mishap. I much prefer having "company" while I clean. I also find that I get a lot more done, than if I was left on my own. Don't anyone tell the hubby about this! If he knew he would have people calling me up morning, noon and night in order to have a spotless home!

Back in the Saddle

I'm back! Thank goodness both the kiddos and I are over feeling sick and yucky. Summertime is not the time to be sick. You miss out on all the gorgeous weather! Gasp.

The Return of Brittany

Look what came in the mail last week! The replacement for the needle that was broken. Hooray! What really surprised me is that they sent not one, but two needles! How great is that? So now I have a set of three usable 14" size 8 needles. Brittany Rocks!

Versatile Scarves - Triple Eyelet Oh NO!

It's a looong way to Tipperary, it's a looong to go... Err.. It's a looong, looong way to rip back, and it's heartache I'll know!* Apparently when you are knitting like a fiend to try and finish a last minute gift and it's the wee hours of the morning and everything is all a blur, you tend to overlook an obvious mistake, oh let's say 30 rows down. Grrr! If you look at where the tip of the knitting needle is pointing you can see the messed up stitch. (In the photo below you can see it better.) A close up of the messed up stitch. A non-knitter might not have seen it. But to me it is glaringly obvious and I so could not in good conscious finish it. It has since been tossed to the side laying neglected until the time when I can bring my self to rip, rip, rip back the rows and fix the error. Oh the horror of it all! *Please pardon my bad take on the song.

Versatile Scarves - Plain Jane Finito

The first versatile scarf has been knitted, blocked and gifted. This was my first experience with blocking a knitted item. I think I might have been a tad bit aggressive with it and made it bigger than it should have been. I think I like it in it's unblocked form better. I washed it in some Eucalan and then gently pressed out the excess water and laid it out on a towel on the floor and pinned it into shape. Now I know why a blocking board is so very coveted. It is much easier to block something to a certain size when you have measurements and guidelines to use. All in all it did turn out well, and it did not come out a funky shape, so I am pleased.
Here you can see my reluctant model (actually my 9 year old). The scarf is jauntily tied in a loose knot on the side. Oh-la-la! What fashion sense she has at such a young age. Okay... I made her do it, but still... DD took it to school with her on the last day and said that the teacher liked it. That she wore it on her head (what the?) and also around her neck during the day. So I am gathering that will get some use. Next year my DD is going to another school, so she won't be able to see if the teacher does wear it to school. Perhaps someday we will run into her when she is sporting it. That would be something. I have never seen anyone wearing something that I have made outside of my immediate family. Would there be a strong sense of deja vu?

Slumped Over

I'm here! Honest. I've just been going through an email/blogging slump. That plus dealing with sick kiddos. Not exactly fun. Has it been over two weeks? OMG! I am a naughty blogger. Somebody whip me with some Kool-Aid soaked yarn! Oh wait... I may like that just a little too much. There are things to write about and pictures to post. But I have to get some sleep. I was up from yesterday morning until 1pm today. Then I took a three hour nap. Not exactly a lot of beauty rest there. My ugliness has taken on new levels from lack of sleep. I definitely need to get some shut eye to make myself appear halfway decent. I will post some more soon and I have tons of pics to upload. Well, maybe not tons, but some anyways. So stay tuned!

I Am Not Super Mom

Sigh. Well, it looks as though I won't be finishing the pink scarf for tomorrow. Ugh. You see I was knitting happily along when I found a mistake. Yup a weird looking stitch at the beginning of the project. UGH! There is now way that I can rip it all back to that point and then make up all that knitting before 8am tomorrow. Well I could, but that would mean going without sleep. That is so not going to happen. Especially since right now I am so tired I could just keel over. So we are going on to plan number two. The one teacher loves chocolate. So the plan is to give her two handmade dishcloths with chocolate stashed inside of them. Oldest DD has picked out two cloths and I am going to weave a removable ribbon around them to make little sacks to open. Then we shall fill one with milk chocolate and the other with dark chocolate. The finished scarf will go to the one teacher who has had my daughter in her class the most. Meaning that she has spent more time with her helping her with her learning. DD is pleased with this and she is the one who insisted the one teacher get the scarf. The "chocolate" teacher has gotten crocheted items in the past from me so I am sure that she will love the cloths stuffed with chocolate treats.

Versatile Scarves - Triple Eyelet

As I mentioned in the previous post I have begun the second round of scarf making. Ding, ding. I am using the same needles and the same yarn, just in a different colorway this time. This one is called "shocking pink". Hopefully it won't be too shocking for the recipient! This is the second pattern on the "Versatile Scarves" leaflet and is called "Triple Eyelet Border Scarf". Did I hear someone ask if I was going to make the third pattern? I may but probably not for a while as I will undoubtedly need to rest my poor rushed little hands for a bit. Here is where I am at right now. I have 53 stitches on the needle and need to get up to 83 before I can begin working on the ties. I feel like Frost... "And miles to go before I sleep." In other words, I need to get my butt moving on this. The last day of school is Friday. Yikes!

Versatile Scarves - Plain Jane Progress

Since Sunday I have finished the knitting part of the basic garter stitch scarf from "Versatile Scarves".
In the first picture you can see how you bind off the center stitches. When you hold it up (see second photo) you can see how your work gapes. Then you only work with the stitches nearest to the point of the needle while the others sit patiently and wait their turn.
Here you can see the first "tie" worked. As you decrease stitches it forms a gentle outward swoop. It makes for a more comfortable fit around the neck. The last picture is of the finished scarf with the ends folded down. (Please ignore the yarn ends.) Even though it is plain, it is still quite feminine. The knitting part is all done but... I still have to weave in the ends. (Any tips on how to do this so the yarn won't show?) And I also need to block it. I am going to wait to block it with the other scarf I am working on. Oh yes, I have already started round 2.

Brittany and K. Anne

I am so not having an affair with Brittany Spears. But I am having a love affair with my Brittany knitting needles. (My Addi Turbos too, but shhh... We won't tell Brittany will we. She can be so jealous!) The other day I decided to take out the unfinished poncho for my youngest daughter and get it finished up. I took out the needles and something seemed a little bit askew. Oh no! Look at that curve. What in the heck happened? Can you see it? Look closely at around the 4 inch mark on the ruler. Look at the needle there. Squint really, really hard. There! Do you see it now? Do ya? Do ya? No? There's a crack there, I swear! What? You don't believe me?
Here I inserted a piece of colored envelope into the split so it would show up better in the picture. Now you can see that my needle (sob)is (sob) broken! What's a girl to do? I bought the needle at the TKGA convention, and they do not have this size locally. Dang it. Then a light bulb went off over my head. (Honestly, with the little pull chain and the straight emphasis lines and everything.) And I remembered that Brittany has a guarantee on their needles and will replace them. Hooray! I emailed them about the needle (complete with pictures) on the first of this month. They have since emailed me back stating that they would be happy to replace it. It's so very nice to see a company stand by their guarantee, no questions asked. I can not wait for my replacement to arrive. Until then the poncho is stuck on the other needle. But I am sure it shall be set free very soon.

So Very Berry Turtle-ly

Look it's the first manned space strawberry getting ready for take-off. Okay, so maybe the kiddo isn't getting ready to rocket off into space. But she and her older sister had some fun at a local strawberry festival this past weekend. They got to play some games, have some snacks and get their faces painted and hands stamped. They had the free activities for kids, lots of food to purchase (bake sale and off the grill stuff), and vendors. A lot of the vendors were crafters. There was a big variety of crafts, but nothing that really tickled my fancy until we headed on over to the "Resident Crafts" section. (The place putting on the festival was a home and rehabilitation center.) Isn't this a cute little guy? We picked him up in the "Resident Crafts" section. He now has a home in my garden, and looking mighty happy in his new leafy surroundings. Out of all the animals/reptiles on display we had to get this one. You see hubby has a special affinity for turtles and tortoises. He used to terrorize gift his mom with all the turtles, snakes, etc. that he found during his wanderings as a child. At one time their small back yard was home to over 30 of them. Can you imagine trying to make your way through the yard to the shed and having to play dodge the turtle? Or would it be a rousing game of leap-turtle? Now hubby does bring home the occasional turtle still. But he does not keep them long. Usually he finds them on his way home from work. So he lets the girls watch them for a while. Then the next day he takes the turtle back to where he found it and sets him/her free again.
Can you imagine the conversation that turtle has with their spouse once they get home? Sure Larry, a guy in a big boxy thing that blinded you with it's lights kidnapped you and held you hostage. Some kids kept you penned up and force fed you wilted lettuce and warm tap water. Then this "turtlenapper" just happens to bring you back right where he abducted you from. Right. You've been out with that Shelley again haven't you? I ought to crack you clean open and make soup out of you, you two timer! Note: The "Get Me Outta Here" picture is of one such turtle hubby has brought home in the past. I believe this picture is from 2002.

Gettin' Swimmy With It

I just thought that I would make all my online friends green with envy and brag about how we officially opened our pool for the season today. It feels so nice to take a cool refreshing dip after being out in the sweltering sun. Oh my ankles couldn't be happier! I can see you turning colors from here. Yeah, give me that lovely shade of green baby. Hey! You're supposed to be turning green not red! Why are you laughing? What you don't like our wading pool? You know, not everyone has a vintage* purple pool with monkeys on it. Now stop laughing and admit that you are jealous. You envy me my nice cool ankles dontcha? *I refer to this little lovely as vintage seeing as how it has made it through two seasons with us. Truly an admirable record considering all the abuse the poor thing has suffered. I am wondering if it will make it through year three seeing as how the girls are a rough and tumble lot. Save the monkeys!

Back Tack - Fabriclicious!

Guess what came in the mail today? The fabric for the Back Tack swap! Woohoo! Can you tell that I am excited? Just look at all the goodies to play with! It's almost a shame that I am going to have to cut these up. Notice I said almost, as there is no way my little itching fingers can help themselves from reaching for the scissors. The temptation is too great. Check out the cool flower fabric. There is a coordinating brown solid, some pink rick-rack, some blue ribbon and a spool of blue thread as well. Now I just need to think of how to put it all together. That, and actually make the project and mail it out before the end of the month. I wonder who will be the lucky recipient? Some cool rectangle beads. Yes, I was a geek and made them spell out "BT". What can I say, I'm easily amused. Thank you so much swap partner! I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have no trouble unearthing* who sent these lovelies to me. *A little "clue". I think I know who sent the fabrics through my little investigative work. But I am not 100% positive. Should I post my guess here? Hmmm...

Slip Slidin' Away

It seems as though summer has actually arrived. The kids arrived at Grandma and Grandpas this weekend armed with bathing suit. Yep, summer has officially arrived. Hose + Sprinkler + Water + Makeshift Slide = Happy Kids.

Versatile Scarves - Plain Jane

Even though I couldn't find any pictures on the net of other "Versatile Scarves" I decided to plunge right in. Call me impulsive or should I suggest "insane" instead. You see I have decided at the last minute to make these for my daughters two main teachers. Procrastination at it's best? Perhaps. But you see, I do have a legitimate excuse. I didn't get the pattern until Friday so I couldn't have worked on it before then, right? (wink) I am making the first pattern for a plain garter stitch scarf using some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in the color "woad"* and size 10 needles. Even though it is not worsted weight I am using the directions (and needle size) for worsted on the pattern. You see the Silky Wool comes in a 192 yard skein and the pattern calls for 190 yards in worsted. I am hoping that I do not run out of yarn along the way. Why am I making these as a gift for the teachers? I figured that they would get use out of such items being as they have to "dress" for their jobs. Well, at least 4 out of 5 days a week since they are allowed to wear blue jeans on Fridays. It is fun seeing this scarf come together. It is the first thing that I have made like this. I just hope that when it comes to making the ties that I don't mess up on it! As you can see by the pictures I have gotten almost to the point where I shall be tackling them. Wish me luck! * Woad = An annual Old World plant (Isatis tinctoria) in the mustard family, formerly cultivated for its leaves that yield a blue dye. Definition from http://www.dictionary.com.

Versatile Scarves

Has anyone made the "Versatile Scarves" pattern #AC-32 from Fiber Trends? In the photo on the pattern it shows the scarves on mannequins and folded up, but it does not show you them flat out. I would like to try and make one to see how long it would take me (with worsted they should work up fast). But I really want to see a flat-out version of it that someone has knitted in order to make sense of the pattern. If you know of anyone who has made up this pattern, or have a link to where one is shown, please let me know. Thanks!

SP5 Questions

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I have found that I am slowly upping the mark on the yarns I use. I have moved from old chain store stand-bys into the "LYS" world of natural fibers. 2. Do you spin? Crochet? I crochet but do not spin. I would like to needle felt though. 3. Do you have any allergies? (Smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) I do not have an allergy per-se but smoky smells turn me off, as do over flowery smells. 4. How long have you been knitting? I just learned to knit in March of 2005. 5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I have an Amazon wish list. Just enter in my email address into the search for wish list function and it should come up. I try to keep it updated. I also have a list of patterns, tools, etc. that I keep for future acquisition. If you really want to see a copy of that big old list of self-indulgence just let me know via email. 6. What's your favorite scent? (For candles, bath products etc.) For Candles I love the Yankee Candle Green Grass, but they stopped making it, so I switched to Spring Meadow. For Bath stuff I tend to go with light non-flowery scents, more towards the Burt's Bees type of things. 7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Oh yes! I try to stick to sugar-free chocolates (no medical reason) I find myself lusting after neat things I see on other peoples blogs like strawberry kit-kats (or green tea ones). I seem to gravitate more toward caramels or turtle (nut & caramel) the most. When they make Pecan Pie candies, then I am in big trouble. 8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I'm in the process of taking up sewing. What's the thing that inspired me to go for it? All the lovely fabrics out there from Michael Miller, Amy Butler, Alexander Henry, etc. They are very drool worthy. I have a fear (or is it just anticipation?) that my fabric stash will one day grow to rival my yarn stash. 9. What kind of music do you like? Honestly I listen to a ton of different stuff. From rock like Puddle of Mudd to pop like Kelly Clarkson to country like Reba. You will even find me tuning into the "oldies" and singing along with songs from the 50s, 60s & 70s. It's just whatever I am in the mood for at the time. 10. What's your favorite color? My favorite color is green. The colors that I wear tend to be the classic neutrals (navy, grey, burgundy, black, hunter green, etc.), although I am trying to break into new color territories and bought some sky blue, sage green and purple shirts. 11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am a SAHM of two girls (ages 9 & 3). I have been married to my hubby for 11 years. (Time flies!) We have a sheltie and a cat of undetermined origins. We also have 5 goldfish. 12. What are your life dreams? To be happy, healthy and hope the same for my family. I would love to experience and learn new things, and one day I hope to be able travel all over and outside of the US. 13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I am loving the silk/merino blends (currently using them so they are top-most in my mind). I am getting quite spoiled by all the hand dyed yarns out there. I love all the gorgeous colorways and I keep getting drawn to colors that I do not normally wear. I guess that is a good thing. (grin) I am really interested in trying out some of the more unusual fibers coming out. Bamboo, Banana Fiber, Soy, Hemp (not the twine), Corn, etc. 14. What fibers do you absolutely not like? I haven't found a fiber that I dislike using per-se, and hope that that day will never come. I think that they all have their uses. And it seems to be my lot in life to find out what they are! ROFL. 15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Felting is one (oven mitts from LP Bulky), tool acquisition (mostly needles) and pattern acquisition is/are another. 16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Gift items and things for my children. I hardly ever seem to make anything for myself to keep. 17. What are you knitting right now? Currently I am knitting a lace shawl, ponchos for my daughters and some squares for cat toys. 18. What do you think about ponchos? I must admit to making them. I don't know if I would wear one, but the girls love them and have begged for more. 19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? It depends on the project. I like straights for certain things and circs for others. I think I am a needle-a-holic. Is there a cure? 20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Wood (Brittanys) or metal (Addi Turbos or Susan Bates Silvalume). I do use the Bamboo (Clover) circs as well. 21. Are you a sock knitter? Although I have purchased sock yarn (and size 2 & 3 wood DPNs) I have not yet attempted to knit the socks. I am thinking by late summer I will start. 22. How did you learn to knit? One day after working out I got into a discussion with a fellow member about this scarf that was hanging on the coat rack. We got to talking about crochet and knitting, and I mentioned how I always wanted to learn but never had anyone to show me. She offered to teach me the next time I went in and we set a day to meet and about 15 minutes into it I knew how to cast on (long tail), knit & purl. I taught myself how to cast off and then learned a different cast on and increasing & decreasing and working with DPNs at the TKGA in Valley Forge. And recently I took a class to begin to learn how to knit lace at one of the local yarn stores around my area. 23. How old is your oldest UFO? My oldest knit UFO is from March (still have to finish the practice scarf). My oldest crochet UFO is about 2 years old and is waiting for me to join squares together and sew in ends. 24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? There is some weird sort of kismet going on with me and the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" by Stephan Pastis. My best friend got me hooked on it and in retaliation I have bought her the books from the series. 25. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas time is my favorite. Not exactly Christmas day but the day before as that is when my side of the family all gets together. (About 40 or so of us.) 26. Is there anything that you collect? Other than yarn? (gasp) Lol. Longaberger Baskets, but I must confess that they have either been gifts or I won them at Basket Bingo. Everything else that I collect is craft related (yarn, fabric, etc.). One thing I would love to find is an old opaque milk bottle. I think it would be a cool vase or to display needles in. I haven't come across one locally yet. 27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? The only one that I have is through the TKGA, Cast On it's called. Although I am waiting for my subscription to start at the end of summer. I would love to get a Rowan #28 as there are some patterns in there that I have been wanting to make. 28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? The knitting books that I'd like to have the most are "Scarf Style" and "Lavish Lace". As far as other books for reading pleasure I have them on my Amazon wish list, as there are quite a few that I'd like to have. (Greedy Gus that I am!) If you have any other questions secret pal, feel free to email me!

Seeing Stars

Since warmer weather is fast coming upon us (and Mother Nature keeps teasing me with an 80 degree day in the midst of a 60 degree week) I thought it prudent to find some small projects to port around. With all the outdoor activities going to be happening (playground visits, picnics, etc.) I need projects to work on that are small and won't make me sweat to death. Working on an afghan in 90 degree weather while watching your wee ones romp about the teeter totter is not the action of a sane woman. Okay, it is not the action of this insane woman. My first project? Dish/wash cloths. They fit my criteria, plus I know they will make great gifties come the holiday season. I loved this pattern when I saw Dawn post pictures of the ones she was making at Crochetville. Here is a close up of one of the cloths. For some reason I just love how this color turned out. It's a color combo that I would be hesitant to wear, but just works for this project. I officially have 20 1/2 crocheted. But none of the ends have been woven in. I am trying my best to use stash yarn for this project, but all the new colors of cotton that have come out keep tempting me! I think I am going to make a few more of these then look for another knit or crochet pattern for more. Any suggestions out there? UPDATE: Some people have asked about the pattern for the cloth. It is on the Dishcloth Boutique site and it is called Star Dishcloth. They have many other patterns for both knit and crochet on the site.

Flavor Crazy

Kool Aid Flavors (Available in the USA) AGUA FRESCAS Jamaica* Mandarina - Tangerine* Mango Pina - Pineapple* Tamarindo* ICE COOL Arctic Green Apple Lemon Ice INVISIBLE*** Raspberry Watermelon Kiwi MAD SCIENTWISTS Raspberry Reaction Wild Watermelon Kiwi** MAGIC TWISTS Changin' Cherry Grape Illusion* Switchin' Secret REGULAR Black Cherry Cherry Grape Lemon-Lime** Lemonade Orange Pink Lemonade Strawberry Tropical Punch TWISTS Berry Blue Blastin' Berry Cherry Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi* Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade Swirlin' Strawberry Starfruit** Watermelon Cherry** If you know of any other flavors that are currently available on the US market, please let me know! I am also curious as to what flavors are being sold in Canada as they use different food grade dyes in theirs. *These are flavors that I do not have. **These are flavors that I have recently discovered, but have not had time to swatch. ***Invisible Kool Aid is colorless and although it may taste good, it's useless for yarn dyeing. Sigh.

Kool It!

Recently I found four more flavors of Kool Aid. I had to hit the market when we were moving my grandfather's things and discovered some "Lemon-Lime" and "Wild Watermelon Kiwi". (For some strange reason I now feel the compulsion to visit the drink mix aisle every time I go to a new grocery store.) Then during the visit to the in-laws in Maryland I came across "Watermelon Cherry". What a find. I had never even heard of this flavor before. Then I went to another grocery store I happened to be in the neighborhood of and found "Swirlin' Strawberry Starfruit". I will have to set up a yarn dyeing session real soon. I need to crochet up at least four more swatches for the "new" colors. Then I can add them to my little swatch page. I think I may have some connections for obtaining more flavors. I have been offered some "Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi". Then I have my best friend who is living in Mississippi on the look out for the "Agua Frescas" line of Kool Aid since I could only find the Mango around here. I think I have an obsession with colorful fruity drinks! Sigh. Has anyone tried Wylers or Flavor Aid, etc. to dye yarn with? I saw some of those mixes while I was in MD as well. Hmmm...

Crack!

Why am I writing about crack? No, I do not spend my time scouting street corners looking to score my next hit. (Unless you call perusing the internet for more stash goodness being a strung out junkie... Then yeah, you got me.) Nope, this is not a rant against plumber butt. Or those lower than low rise jeans that share all the spread "glory". It's my oldest daughter's newest saying. Instead of "wow" or "darn", etc. She has come up with a multi-purpose idiom... Crack! Where she comes up with these things I do not know. However I have found myself muttering it to myself during times of stress. (I suppose it is cleaner than the mixed up fish word*.) Can you picture me out somewhere and I stub my toe on a curb or some such thing, klutz that I am, and scream "Crack!". Will people think I am commenting on the condition of the sidewalk or will they simply call for the men in little white coats as I am clearly delusional and shouting out random bits? Personally I am leaning towards option two no matter what. I mean who stands there and yells about sidewalk cracks? Crazy people? Right. Then you see my point. Oh crack! *Rearrange the letters of "carp". Note: Picture shows oldest DD in a soccer game from this past fall.

Bad Blogger

I can't believe that it has been almost a week since I last posted. I'm telling ya I should be whipped with some wet wool. Oh yeah baby... Let me grab the kool-aid! Take that and that. This past weekend we went to visit with the in-laws. Yep... Three whole days of torture family goodness. Well, actually only two whole days since we didn't see any of the in-laws on the third day. I am still tired from the trip (and other events of last week). But I did finally manage to drag my butt to the post office yesterday.* 'Bout dern time! I mailed out a remote control to hubby's best friend. (He's only been waiting a month for it!) The contest prize to Wendy.** The fabric stuff to my Back Tack partner for the first round.*** And a gifty to a secret pal.**** Thank goodness I am all caught up on my mailing. I swear that there was a time that I would go to the post office every day. (Hubby might have had suspicions about an affair. Oh yeah, post mark me. Hand stamp! First class! First class! Pri-or-i-ty!) Now I can barely drag my butt there. I think it has to do with the fact that my local post office sucks. So I have to drive to another town if I actually want to get out of there in under 30 minutes. No kidding. They are slow and seem to think that having a 15 minute conversation (non-business related) with their "regulars" is okay while a line of 10 or more people holding heavy packages shuffle their feet in line. No wonder so many people are turning to FedEx & UPS to mail their packages! Grrr! And speaking of time getting away from me mail-wise, etc. Crack! It's June already! *The blurry shot of the post office boxes is cropped from an older shot of my youngest twirling in the box area. I assure you, she is in focus in that picture. Lol. **Sorry about the delay. There might be something extra in it to bribe you make up for the delay. And just in case the chocolate melts! Don't worry, the chocolate has been doubly wrapped in case of "meltage". ***I haven't received my package from the swap yet either, so I am thinking that the person who had my name ran into the same late mailing thing too. ****Now which secret pal could it be for? Heehee. The good thing about being in more than one "secret" exchange at a time is that you can casually mention something like this and still be deep undercover. (grin)

It's Here!

My new camera arrived Wednesday morning. I really haven't had the chance to figure out what everything does on it. But right away I can tell just how much faster it is than my older one. I am also so very glad that I went ahead and purchased the 1GB card for it. The 32MB one it came with only held about 10 pictures on it! And since I like to take high quality pics I have it set on the high setting and it eats up a lot of the memory. Ten pictures isn't going to cut it when we go out places. Hey Joe, I heard you went to Kilimanjaro for a month. Do you have any pictures? Yeah, just these 10. But they're beauts! The battery charger also came in the box that was delivered on Wednesday. Hooray! So we shall have two working cameras now. Hubby will no longer be able to say "Did you have the camera with you? Dare Devil did something really cute and I wanted to take a picture of her, but I couldn't find the camera." Now he shall have a digital of his very own to play around with.* Food for Thought: Is it morally wrong to take a picture of your new camera with your old one? *It's strange to have an electronic hand-me-down with my hubby. You see in the past when he would get a new cell phone I would inherit the old one. (He needs one for his work. I get one because he worries about me when I am out. Awww!) Now it's apparently roll reversal time.

Tired and Worn

Over the past few days I have felt very tired and worn out. I think it is partly due to the stress of having to sort through and move my Grandfather's belongings. I even went to bed last night before 10pm. That is so very unlike me. The other part can be attributed to the lousy weather we have been having. Can someone please tell Mother Nature that it is almost June and that it should be warm and sunny out. What's up with all the 50 degree weather and overcast skies? The bad part of it is that it's not even raining. It's just been threatening to for four days now. One can only hope that it will pass before this weekend. Can you imagine all the holiday BBQs getting rained out? How would you like your burger Lou? Soggy or soaked or drenched?

Camera Hog

I wonder if I can finally come out of the closet about my camera stash? I did have quite a few of them at one time. I mean just because they don't make the film for your camera anymore doesn't mean that you have to get rid of it, right? For years I've hung on to my oldies never wanting to part with them. There was the old 110 camera that I used during childhood field trips. Then there was the memorable disc camera that was dropped into a pan of blue paint during a community service event (it still worked afterwards). And who could forget the old instamatic? I just couldn't part with the camera that hubby bought while stationed overseas. Or the one that I bought after discs went out of style. But as the pile of cameras grew, so did the dust. Hubby had us buy an Advantix camera and made us yard sale all the rest. Oh yes, it was very painful to part with my past. After all they had all been with me on various adventures. It was almost as if they were old friends. When I looked at them I could almost picture them sitting in a smoky bar, reminiscing about their travels with their bourbon warmed voices. Pausing to tag a long drag off of their film "cigars" and looking around the table at their comrades in arms, trying to think of a story to outdo the others. There was the time that I was with these sorority girls... Now I find that I have begun another camera collection. One which is compromised of digital cameras. I have three. One of which is somewhere lost in the chaos. It was an old cheapie Kodak one which took very poor pictures. The only reason we upgraded on that one is because the display totally went black on it and we couldn't ever tell if we "got the picture" or not until it was uploaded into the computer. I was much happier with my Canon S40. It takes good pictures. And we all know that the reasons behind scooting that out of the forefront (lost charger, couple of bad pixels). Now we have the newbie Elph added into the mix. Do you think they have a Digital Cameras Anonymous group out there? I hope that I am not that far gone yet!

Sorting More Memories

Today I was over at my Grandfather's apartment. We really have to get working on moving everything out of there. That is what part of today was about. Sorting through items and getting stuff moved out. That is something that is causing quite a lot of stress between the brothers. Yes, more arguing over things and hurt feelings, etc. And it is not the two who have been taking care of my grandfather that are doing the arguing. It is the other two brothers who are never around, and only want things of monetary value. But Grandpa has been well enough to call the shots and say who gets what. Which in itself has caused one brother and wife to become very upset when they had to return a family heirloom. Said wife is in such a snit that she has said she will no longer go and visit my grandfather. Now that is something that does not make much sense. I mean the items are his, and he is still around and how he wants to dispose of said items should be up to him. To be upset because you didn't get your way over something that wasn't even yours? Childish. And to throw such a tantrum that you refuse to see a man who means something to your husband (it is his father after all) who does not have long on this earth, is even more so. I mean, down the line do you really want that to be one of the things that you regretted? To give up a person over a thing? The stress of it all is really getting to my father. And it is ticking me off to see him and my youngest uncle having to put up with the BS. It is hard for them to have to deal with this one a daily basis. They can not get a break from it which they both need very badly. I can only hope that once the apartment is cleaned out and turned back over to the management company that the stress level will go way down. Please let it be so.

Still MIA

My battery charger for my camera is still MIA, dern it! So what's a girl to do? Order another one of course. I ordered a generic one from Best Buy that says it is the right one for charging said battery.* It is going to arrive tomorrow. Along with something very, very naughty. Remember how I mentioned before that there were some pixels on my camera that were going bad? Well, I kinda sorta ordered a new digi as well. Shhh! Well, you see we would have purchased said camera at the store, but they didn't have any in stock (apparently it just came out within the past 2 months and it hard to keep in the store). Oh, and I got a 1 GB card for it at the store. Now if that doesn't hold all the vacation photos when we are on our trip, I don't know what to do. Lol. And the glorious day of arrival is tomorrow! Tomorrow!** At least according to the UPS site. We shall see. Tomorrow I may be snapping photos like mad. So be prepared! Oh guilty photographic pleasures, how I lust for thee.*** *Yes, I know that now the other one will no mysteriously show up on it's own. Hopefully it will do so before I take the charger out of it's packaging. If not, then I will have two chargers, which is not really a bad thing. **Can you tell I am a wee bit excited? ***What will happen to the other camera? We will still keep it despite the bad pixels. After all, we ordered that second charger. Lol! It will become my hubby's knock-around. Meaning that he can take it on his fishing trips, bike riding adventures, etc. I was too paranoid about letting him do so before. But since I am getting a new one, he gets the hand-me-down.

Contest Winner - Ritter Sport

We had a grand total of eleven entrants for the Ritter Sport chocolate. I carefully, okay messily, wrote each name down on a piece of paper. I scanned them since I couldn't take a picture of the drawing process. I folded up all the little pieces of paper into little rectangles of approximately the same size and placed them into a hat. A witch costume hat to be exact. I mixed up the names and had my oldest draw the winner. And the winner is... Wendy. Congrats Wendy! Soon the yumminess will be winging it's way to California. Hmmm... I hope it doesn't melt along the way. I must admit that my daughter and I had quite a chuckle over the fact that the names were put into the witch hat, and that the name picked out was Wendy. Is anyone else having a "friendly ghost" flashback here? Heehee.

Mmm... Contest-y Goodness

Does anyone remember what day it is today? That's right, Yummy German Chocolate Day! The drawing will be after 8pm EST tonight. So go visit the contest page. Remember to leave a comment there to be entered for the drawing.* Oh the anticipation! *You can leave a comment here if you want, but only entries on the contest page get entered into the drawing.

Olly Olly Oxen Free!

Battery Charger, Battery Charger I need you! Yes, I do! You and Your Charging Power! Where are you Charger? Whoa - Whoa Where are you Charger? Whoa - Whoa Alright, who snuck that Tom Jones CD into the player? Come on. Fess up! Since I can't seem to find the dern thing anywhere I went online to look up prices for a replacement. Best Buy has it for around $50 and Amazon has it for about the same. Although right now it's on sale for $5.00 off at Best Buy and $14.05 off at Amazon. Dang. I'd really hate to spend that much on a replacement. With my luck as soon as I purchased a new one the old one would show up! Grrr. Maybe I should make up reward posters and tack them up all over the house. I guess I can't file a "Missing Electronics Report" with PECO. Dag nab it!

Happy Anniversary!

Today hubby and I have reached the eleven year mark. Where has the time gone? So how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? We went to Bob Evans, of course. Huh? Okay, I need to back track a little bit. Do you all recall last month when we went to go and visit the in-laws? Well, I got cheated out of my IHOP chicken fried steak and eggs breakfast. So the deal was to have breakfast out at Bob Evans today since they also serve this dish and there are no IHOPs close to where we live. Well, hubby came home from work this morning and ate breakfast while I was in the shower. I came down all dressed and ready to go out and he had already eaten! I tell you that boy has the worst memory. I reminded him about it, and he was astonished that he forgot. Then I told him that he would just have to suffer because we were going to eat dinner there instead. I was going to have my chicken fried steak and that was that. Mmm-hmmm! And let me tell you it was yum-my! You might be wondering what in the world is wrong with me that I didn't go and pick some ritzy place to go out and eat at. Well, the truth is I could have, but none of them make what I wanted to eat. Sometimes you just have to have some home cooking, even if it is out at a restaurant. My folks never made these Southern dishes. It was my best friend who corrupted me when she moved up north after her sophomore year of high school. She grew up in Texas and Tennessee. I keep wanting her to take me to visit her Dad and Stepmom in Texas to get real TexMex. Oh man. Am I drooling here? Do you want to know what I received for my anniversary. Well, besides the usual undying love and devotion stuff. Heehee. Hubby bought me snack replacements. He bought you more food? Not quite. You see a couple years ago for my birthday the kids and him bought me a pair of small diamond earrings. About a month ago he went to nibbling and one of them came off and is nowhere to be found. We now joke that he has expensive tastebuds. I guess he felt guilty about me going earring-less (my only other pair is a set of gold hoops my parents gave me when I was 17)* and bought me a replacement set. Now I have three earrings! Hmmm... Maybe I should get a third piercing? What did I get hubby? Well, he went ahead and bought himself his own anniversary gift. He splurged (big time) on a new CB radio for his truck since his old one was giving him problems. Since it is a necessary part of his job, it will be tax deductible. Gotta love that. It's also nice that I didn't have to try and rack my brain to figure out something to get him. Like a lot of guys I know he is difficult to buy for since all the "boys" in our family always seem to want very expensive things. Thank goodness the kisses and hugs are free! *I am not really big on jewelry, so I don't really have a collection of earrings, etc. I guess you would call me a minimalist in the adornment department.

The Mannings

Yesterday I was browsing online and was trying to find a site that carried some of the patterns I wanted. I was looking for the Sunburst Sling Bags from Just One More Row, the Queen of Hearts shawl from Fiber Trends and the Diamond Poncho (child's) from Cabin Fever. My search ended when I stumbled across The Mannings. They have a huge selection of items. I used the search feature to find what I was looking for. Then I browsed through the available patterns and found the ones I wanted and also picked up a pattern for the Koigu Scarf*. Then I was looking around and saw that they had yarn as well. So I gave into my weakness and ordered three colors of the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that they didn't have at my LYS. (Two skeins of 018 chocolate, 1 of 016 Sienna/Mahogany** and 1 of 024 Claret.) So today I see the mail man drive up and walk up to my door. Now he only drives up if there is a package. I thought this was strange as I couldn't remember ordering anything. I open my door and there it is, the package from The Mannings. I was flabbergasted! It was here already and I had placed my order at 1pm the day before. (I know, I checked the confirmation email.) Wow. I know we are both in PA, but the store is about 100 miles away from where I live. That is fast delivery! Everything was packaged nice and neat as well. They also sent a printout of the order along with a register receipt. It's nice to have those for your records. Right now I am kicking myself because I never thought to look to see if they sold the Brittany knitting needles I have been wanting. All of my local yarn shops do not carry the 10" needles and a lot of them only carry the larger DPNs. I just went and looked at the site and they do carry both! ACK! I guess this means I will just have to place another order. Heehee. The only negatives that I have to say about The Mannings is their website. It could be ordered a little better. Some of the yarns are listed by manufacturer name while others are just listed under general categories such as "Wool Yarns". When I went to look for the Charlotte's Web pattern for a friend I checked under Koigu patterns then I clicked on Shawls, but it wasn't listed under shawls. For some reason it was under "Other". They also do not provide pictures of a lot of the things they sell. That makes it difficult to shop. My solution was to go there already knowing what I wanted to order. Then when it came to something such as looking up yarn colors, I did an online search and found a color chart at a different location to see what I was ordering. These are little things, but may bug other people. Me? For good prices (they don't over charge on items) and great shipping, I can put up with some idiosyncrasies. Has anyone else ever ordered from this store? Apparently some people online have visited it in person and say that it is absolutely huge. It makes it very tempting to drive the 2 1/2 hours to go and see it. But I would pay a heck of a lot more in gas. Shipping is much cheaper. Hmmm... Save money on gas and spend it on more yarn. Oh, it's a tough choice! *You see I bought 6 skeins of KPPM at the LYS on Saturday and the Charlotte's Web Pattern. Well, for the Charlotte you only need 5 skeins, so I have an extra. Just enough for a small scarf. I would take a picture of the yummy yarn for you, but that dern low battery light is blinking on my digi and I still haven't found the battery charger. Dang it! **Different online sites are calling that one color by two different names. The yarns themselves do not list names on the labels, just color numbers.

Contest - Ritter Sport

In celebration of the fact that hubby and I will be celebrating our 11th anniversary this week, I thought that I'd spread the happiness around. What you see before your very eyes is some luscious German chocolate called Ritter Sport. You get not one but two delicious bars! The flavors are: Milk Chocolate with Rum, Raisins & Hazelnuts and Milk Chocolate with Praline. So what do you have to do to win this lovely chocolate. Mmm... Chocolate. No, you won't have to fight Mariko to the death for it. Despite her obsession with candy, I don't think she'll duel. Will you have to part with some of your yummy fibery goodness for it? Nah, I won't be that cruel. Will I traverse back to school days and torture you for a written essay of 500 words about why you think fiber lovers rule? No way! Even I, who loves to write, hated those dern things. To enter into the contest all you have to do is leave a comment here on this entry in my blog. Then I will conspire with my oldest to draw a name randomly from all the commentees. Simple, eh? THE RULES -- A Necessary Evil -The comment must be left on this blog entry by 8pm EST* on Friday May 20th. You can use either the Blogger comments or HaloScan comments to do so. -You must leave either your email addy or your blog url which has an email link on it when you fill out the comment form. I can't send out the yummies without knowing how to contact you. -Due to restrictions about sending food internationally I ask that you only enter this contest if you know you can get chocolate sent to you from the US. I'd hate to try and send a package out, only to have it be returned due to customs. Good luck everyone. I can't wait to see who wins. And if this contest is a success, we can have some more in the future. Woohoo! *8pm EST, 7pm CT, 6pm MT, 5pm PT, 4pm Alaska. Whew! Well, I won't be totally strict about the time, but when I check back on Friday night after 8pm my time I will then write down the names of the entrants and choose the winner (along with oldest DD's help).

B-I-N-G-O

On Sunday I got to spend some quality time alone with my mom. We got to go out and play basket bingo together. Bingo?! Yes, bingo. Some may think that it's a game for nursing home residents only, but you would be surprised at the wide variety of ages who attend. I remember going as a teenager to with my mother to play bingo on Tuesday nights. We loved our nights out. It was a local Catholic church and boy was it rowdy! People would talk, laugh, etc. at it. They had little things to do when certain numbers were called (ring bells, blow whistles, sing little ditties, etc.). When the church stopped having bingo night we were really disappointed. It was a night that we got to go out and laugh and have a good time while we bonded. Shortly after that I moved away to Alaska. So we never had a chance to find a replacement for that activity. Flash forward about 9 or so years and I am back home in Pennsylvania with two children and in definite need of a sanity break every now in then. One day I happen to see an advertisement for a local basket bingo, it is on a Sunday afternoon which is perfect as it means both my mother and I can go. (I can not attend the ones on week nights due to hubby's work schedule. And the person who would babysit for me, aka Mom, is the person I want to go out with.) So we ventured off to bingo and had a great time. We laugh, talk and bond. It's not as rowdy as our old haunt, but the idea is the same... To spend time together. There are some differences between the regular bingo we used to play and the basket bingos that we get to go to about 2-3 times a year. One is the frequency of them. Every week at regular bingo versus one to three times a year if we can find basket bingos in our area on Sundays. Another is the crowd. Basket bingo is more of a serious game and there is very little carry-on there. You may hear some laughter once in a while, but it is a quiet chuckle. Another difference that astonished me is the amount of food that some people bring to these events. Some people lay out a whole spread. Now this is shocking because usually they sell food at basket bingo for the crowds, but apparently it is also a bring your own kind of deal as well. The first time we went, we had no idea of this unwritten "policy". The next time we wised up and brought along our favorite munchies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can hear you saying "Get on with it. Did you win or what?" Ummm... No. I didn't win a single dern thing, dang it. I got close a couple of times, and almost had a heart attack as I waited for that number to be called. No such luck though. In fact I have never won bingo at one of these things. A glutton for punishment I am! However, during a raffle at one last year I won two baskets and my mother won one as well. Quite a happy day for us. This time my mom won a door prize, some "smellies" as she calls them--soap and lotion. NOTE: The pictures featured in this blog were from a basket bingo in March that my mother was unable attend at the last minute. I went without her and took some pictures of it all, as it was one we had never been to before. I would have taken a snap or two of the one we went to on Sunday, but I still can not locate my camera battery charger. Grrr!

Cat's Paw Lace Shawl

On Saturday I got to take my lace class for the Cat's Paw Lace Shawl. The yarn shop that I took the class at, Yarnings, is located in a little town called Skippack. It is a part of a whole long line of shops and restaurants. Now it's been a while since I have lived in the area that the shop is located in. Silly me, I thought that there wouldn't be any traffic on a Saturday. Double silly me... I didn't know that they were having a sidewalk vendor/craft event that day either. Which made traffic even worse! So, I ummm got to class 5 minutes late. Thank goodness that the only detention I had to serve out was yarn shopping after class, but it was voluntary. No arm twisting needed! Class started and we got to meet the other knitters. There were five of us taking the class plus the teacher. The people were all friendly and we all had a great time. The store provided free beverages. (Gotta love freebies!) I even got the yarn I bought the previous week wound while I was taking class. (The store was closing last week and there wasn't enough time. They had offered to keep the yarn and wind it for me to have me pick it up later*, or to wind it for me when I brought it back to me to class.) During class the teacher showed us some lace projects that she made. Everyone also loved her "Queen of Hearts" shawl by Fiber Trends. She uses it as an every day shawl since it is made out of worsted. I think I may just have to get that pattern. Then she also shared with us the book she had bought that has different lace patterns in it. It is called "Lavish Lace: Knitting with Hand-Painted Yarns". Another book to add to my wish list. So what did I accomplish? I got through the first two repeats during class. Although I did have to rip it all the way back at row 11 because I did something wonky. And there have been several times where I had to pick up dropped stitches. Through all the trials and tribulations I managed to get to row 54 by the end of the night (after coming home). And today I am up to row 67 today. I only had to stop because the written directions end after row 64 and I need to be able to keep row count, so I stopped to make a knitting chart. That way I'll be able to keep on row count, and not become lost in the pattern. The photo above shows a close up of one of the "paws". Isn't it cute? I showed it to my Mom yesterday and she thought it was quite lovely. I know that if I find Anne in that blue colorway it will have her name written all over it. *How could I leave my lovely fiber there all by it's lonesome with no one to pet and cuddle it?

I've Been Tagged!

My first MEME. This was passed on from Denise from KWON. BOOK MEME Q: You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be? None of them! I just looked this up and apparently in the movie they destroy the books. Ummm... I wanna live! No book burning mobile for me*, thank you. Q: Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Nope. I have never had a crush on a book character. Now when I was a pre-teen and teen I had crushes on movie stars and musicians. Just typical teen-age angst there. Now with the amount of books I read (even then) I am wondering why I never had a crush on a character. What's wrong with me? Q: The last book you bought is: Actually the last ones I bought were some craft type of books off of Amazon. "The Crochet Stitch Bible", "Stitch and Bitch" and "Stitch and Bitch Nation". You see every time we went to the mall I would take a long, long walk to the book store to flip through these. After so many trips, hubby was tired of my walking (I think he just didn't want to walk from one end of the huge mall to the other with me.), and told me just to order them online because they'd be cheaper. So now I no longer have to walk the mall to visit the books, they are right here in my home! Q: The last book you read: It was a book for review. "Undead and Unappreciated" by MaryJanice Davidson. Before that it was two books by Kelley Armstrong -- "Dime Store Magic" and "Industrial Magic". There seems to be a lot of paranormal in my reading repertoire lately. Q: What are you currently reading? Nothing at the moment. (GASP!) I have a whole stack of books ready to go. My Love Spell book club. Q: Five books you would take to a desert island. This is a tough one because I read through books so quickly. Q: Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why? I think I am going to let this go free range. If you want to answer it, leave me a comment. I'd love to visit your blog and see what you are reading! *Oh yes, a Simpsons reference. Hubby is addicted, and so I absorb a lot from osmosis. Oh, okay, you caught me. I watch it too!

Acquiring Some More Class

For Mother's Day I got to go yarn shopping! Woohoo! Can you guess what I bought? More Elsebeth Lavold of course. I only put one of each color in the photo, but some of them I bought 2 skeins of for the Irish Hiking Scarf. Do you have the feeling that a lot of people are going to be getting scarves this holiday season? What colors did I buy? Top Row (L-R): 027 periwinkle, 007 yellow ochre, 008 moss and 026 shocking pink. Bottom Row (L-R): 009 verdigris, 004 charcoal, 003 granite and 010 woad. There are so many more colors out there (that the store didn't carry) that I would love to get. But perhaps I should work on these first, eh? You can't think that I would go to a yarn store and only buy one kind of yarn? There is just too much temptation! I actually bought this one with a specific project in mind. Both are for the same but separate project. In other words... I'll be making up the same pattern twice. The yarn is Schaeffer Yarns Anne. Unfortunately on these there are no colorways listed. One is pastel pink, green, yellow and blue on white. The other is navy, dark purple/burgundy-ish and dark green on black. So what is all that lovely Anne for? Why my first lace project of course! I got to sign up for a class to learn how to make this lovely. Sheesh. Teach a girl to knit and she thinks she can tackle lace in less than three months. I will be making the shawl shown here. I love the subtle variegation of the blue colorway shown here. Unfortunately there were only three Anne skeins when I went to choose mine. The third one (that I didn't take) was similar to the dark colorway I already chose. The shawl's name is "Cat's Paw Lace Shawl". The pattern is one by the teacher of the class, so unfortunately it is not available for purchase. I did do an online search and found some patterns that use what looks like the same lace stitch. So I thought I would give you some linkage in case you catch Cat's Paw fever too. Cat's Paw Bookmark and Cat's Paw Lace Shawl. (A different pattern than the one I am making.) I also bought some Addi Turbos. Oh yeah. Well, I did need circulars for the lace class! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) I bought the size 4 for the class and a size 8. I figured an 8 was a pretty safe bet as a popular size for patterns. We shall soon see if I develop an Addi addiction.

Silky Goodness

The weekend before last I got to go to the LYS by my mother's house. I had been there once before with my then 2 year old (she is had a birthday recently and is now 3), but didn't get to see much. A toddler running back and forth between rooms at a yarn shop is a shop-keepers nightmare. And not too pleasant for the mommy who has to keep saying "Please don't run, come look at this with mommy. No,don't take those off the shelf! Please get out from under there." etc. You can't really admire fibery goodness while attempting to hold a squirming toddler against one hip and trying to keep a huge diaper bag from slipping off the opposite shoulder. Well, maybe there are some super shoppers out there who could do so, but I can't. So I conspired to go to my mother's home a little early for Sunday dinner, just so I could sneak in a shopping trip sans kiddies. Hubby stayed at my mom's and I got to run free through the yarn store and loll in the fiber filled atmosphere. Okay, I didn't exactly run. It was more of a jaunty step as I wandered the rooms filled with yarns. I managed to grab some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. What for? Branching Out of course! I chose four different colors (as you only need one per scarf) and some size 10.5 needles that I had been needing and headed to the check out counter. Imagine my surprise when the lady behind the counter offered to ball my yarn for me!* Of course I jumped at the chance and got to see a swift and a yarn wonder in person. I was suitably impressed, and in envy. I wanted to smuggle them out with me to wind some yarn at home. Is that so wrong? I would have brought them back. Honest! You can see the yummy yarn in all it's glory. Sigh. It's nice and soft too. Even my sensitive skinned brother loved it. (I can see making his Christmas gift out of this yarn!) The lovely colors featured in the photo are (top to bottom, left to right): 006 Ferrous Red, 010 Woad ,008 Moss and 005 Lava. *Now why does that sound dirty to me?

Sorting Memories

I spent the day with my mother today. She wanted me to accompany her to my grandfather's apartment, to start sorting through his things. You see he will not be returning there, but living in the care center from now on. His health is at the point where he needs someone to be with him 24 hours a day. Not because he can not do anything for himself (on his good days he can do more), but because he needs someone there in case he can't. He is no longer able to operate a vehicle. He is starting to not remember things and has small bouts of what some would call "forgetfulness" and others "Alzheimers". He doesn't always eat, and needs to be monitored for food and fluid intake. And as you know from my posts about his many hospital visits, he needs the care of medically trained people. Now my father and my youngest uncle are the ones who have been taking care of him ever since my grandmother died in the late 90's. They would go over to his place a couple of nights a week each and help him with anything and have dinner with him. If he needed something they were there, etc. My other Uncles have not done so. They have not even offered any help what-so-ever even after his big hospitalizations. However, now that they know that the apartment has to be let go they have put in bids for the heirlooms. (We are talking about the only "money" heirlooms--a Maxfield Parish print worth thousands and a marble topped table that belonged to my great-great-great grandmother who was from a rich New England family, etc.) It seems callous and cold that these things obviously mean more to them than their father. Even knowing that they want these items, they have not offered to come help and clear out the apartment. You'd think they'd at least show up and get these things they want. Nope. Apparently they expect the other two (their younger brothers) to take care of it all and deliver "their" items as well. It is quite frustrating and very selfish. It makes me wonder what they asked for when my grandmother passed on. She left certain things to people*, but I am sure that they must have "claimed" some things as well that my parents didn't talk about. Another big part in all of this is the grief or stress of the whole situation. No one wants him to be in the care center. But he needs to be there. My youngest cousin is giving her parents (the youngest uncle and his wife) the guilt trip. Her maternal grandmother was sick for years (breathing problems mostly) and she was able to stay with them until she passed. This youngest cousin (currently in college) is giving them flak over the fact that they didn't put her in a home, why are they doing this to grandpa? I think it is more an emotional response on her part. No one likes the fact that he is there. But to have him out he would have to live in a house with a relative. Said relative would have to be able to be with him 24 hours a day. They would also have to be able to have the strength to help him bathe, etc. And then there are the medical things, which they can not provide (IVs, monitoring, etc.) and would have to hire a private nurse to either be there part time or make home visits. The only people I can see taking on this task would be my parents or my youngest uncle and his wife. My father works 6 to 7 days a week. My mother is unemployed due to the fact she became disabled from her previous job. My uncle works 6 to 7 days a week and his wife works 5 days a week. Obviously the only person who can be there 24 hours a day doesn't have the physical strength to take care of him. For anyone to stay home and not work would cause financial strain. And soon they would not be able to afford to take care of him. None of them has the medical training to help him in an emergency. The care center can do all of those things and more. Being able to work means that they can make the money that will help cover what insurance does not for his care. Heaven forbid that if he was living with them that something would happen while they were at work. I only hope that said cousin comes to realize this and knows that he is not there because her parents don't care. But that he is there because they do care. Being in the empty apartment is strange. Going through the drawers, etc. is even stranger. You feel like a peeping tom poking into private papers, saved memories and assorted clothing. My mom could not stand being there for long. She has spent more time at this apartment (he has lived there for about 6 years). I think the emptiness would have been more so if it was their old house we had to go through. There are so many memories we made there. The only ones we have of the apartment are ones of my grandmothers and now my grandfathers illnesses. I am going to be haunted by the shadow of those memories all next week as I help my mother sort, pack and clean up his life. I think it will be harder on her, my father and my uncle. For in doing this it closes another door, and faces all of us with the harsh reality of a life that soon may end. *Each granddaughter was left a ring. My mother has mine somewhere, I think in a safe deposit box. I have seen it very briefly, once. Why do I not have it? It wasn't important to me to have a "thing". The memory of her that I have (flaws and all) is more important to me than an item that might help pay some bills if I sold it. I have not sold it or given it away and figure that one of my daughter may enjoy having it when they are older. My oldest remembers her great-grandmother while my youngest was born after she passed away.

Lost and Not Found... Yet

Somehow in the great cosmic chaos that is my house I have lost my camera battery charger. This will not do. Both of my batteries are in serious need of charging.* So even though my camera works (despite the red spot from pixels going bad), it still needs a power source. Funny how that works. I was so happy that I had rechargables and wouldn't need to go out and buy batteries over and over again. Now I find it ironic how I would love to be able to pop down to the store and buy a pack of batteries and be ready to snap away. Where oh where has my little charger gone? Where oh where can it be? I have checked all the usual places and I am cringing over the fact that I am going to have to dig through piles of stuff (no exaggeration) just on the off chance it may have migrated into the current works in progress pile. Or the pile of papers on the desk. Or the pile of ads from the mail waiting to be sorted through. Do you think the charger got sick of being used? I mean it is one thing to charge batteries for pictures for posterity. Photos of a momentous occasion such as the rise and decline of a civilization, or the family trip to an amusement park. But yarn porn? The lowest of the low apparently. I'm surprised that I haven't stumbled across a "Dear Fiber-Obsessed Sicko" letter. Hmmm... Would we refer to that as a "Dear Yarn" letter? Do you think it was jealous of other camera battery chargers and went looking for someone who takes pictures of something besides yarn? Maybe the charger has a fetish of it's own and wants to be used for battery porn. Oh yeah baby! Show me your triple A's! After all it's what they get a charge out of. *It may seem strange to have two batteries for a camera. However I must point out that my older battery that came with said camera goes kaput after 15 pictures. Not exactly a good thing. I recently purchased a second battery so I could have one that lasted for longer periods of time. Unfortunately having a back-up battery does no good if there is nothing to charge them with.

Simple Pleasures

Today I rediscovered a simple pleasure. My youngest loves to blow bubbles. Usually I am just the bystander during this process. I open the container, hand her the wand and sit back and supervise. You know make sure she's not tempted to fling the contents of the cup all over creation. Or, heaven forbid, be tempted to drink the "nummy waner"*. She took a notion in her head that Mommy needed to participate in her festivities and would bring her wand up close to my lips and tell me to blow. She thought it funny when I accidentally used too much force and it would make the bubble mixture splatter. Hilarity set in when she came a little too close and accidentally smeared the bubble mixture on my lips. Now I didn't actually taste it, but my over emphatic "eeeew yuck!" had her in giggles galore. About that time I decided to take matters into my own hand and get out the big guns. It was time to break out the huge "unspillable" (trust me it can be spilled) bucket with the huge bubble wands from storage. We cleaned it up in the sink (how do things get dirty inside a box?) and then filled 'er up. Then we spent a messy fun filled time blowing bubbles and dripping the solution all over the back deck in our quest to fill our world with bubbles. We watched them as they floated up to the sky, shimmering in the late afternoon sun. I watched her chase them around the deck as she tried to capture them on the end of the wand, and smiled. Fleeting magic, lasting memories. *nummy = yummy and waner = water.

Getting Knitty with Bloggin'

Knit Blogging, why do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Over your blog pages I hover. Your yarn porn makes my heart shiver. In all it's glorious color. Lust, envy, greed I discover. Your ways with sticks and fiber. My drool runneth over. A project I must sire. Some unread posts, one more progress picture. I must read another, and another, and another. Your patterns, your techniques I discover. You infect me with knitting fervor. An indescribable desire. Must knit, must post on blogger. Oh knit blogging, my KIP FO LYS SEX lover. For me there can be no other. I must admit to being addicted to reading knitting blogs. I may be knew to the world of knitting, but I've been stalking knit blogs for ages. It is awe-inspiring to see what others create. This little ditty was written as a response to Jill's request to find out why others like to blog and stalk err... read knit blogs.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

No, I didn't pass out at 31 Flavors over the weekend.* I am alive and feeling okay. Hooray! I still get coughing and sneezing bouts, but that is much better than what it's been. Thank goodness! Hopefully by Friday I will be back to my normal self. Hmmm... I wonder if that's a good thing. *Kudos to you if you recognize the movie references.

Sleeping Ugly

Well, I would have named this post "Sleeping Beauty", but it seemed so wrong to be misleading. I spent most of today asleep. Even my youngest joined me in the marathon of sleeping. We got up to see my oldest off to school this morning. Then we trudged back on upstairs to collapse in bed. We slept until 2:30pm! Yikes. Yep, being sick sure takes a lot out of you. And apparently it's trying to take my voice as well. It keeps fading in and out and is very scratchy. My oldest keeps asking what is wrong with me. I think she just wants to hear me say "I'm sick" over and over again in my funky voice. Hubby told me to go and take some medicine. I could only give him a dirty look at the time. Does he really think that I, the doser of all the sickies in the house, would forget what medicine is for? I guess he forgets it is me who has to nag him to take his medicine! Yeah, I like feeling cruddy, so let's do nothing to relieve the symptoms so I can sit here and take some perverse pleasure in coughing up a lung. Oh yeah. That's the stuff baby. I guess being crabby goes along with feeling cruddy. Cruddy Crabby, that's me!

Leaves a Bad Taste in Your Mouth

The other day hubby was on his way home from work and thought that he would call to see if I wanted anything. He was offering to stop on his way home to pick me up something. What a man! I noted that we were out of both dish soap and dishwasher detergent. Not a good thing, unless you want to do your dishes with shampoo. "Gee K. Anne, your dishes are so silky soft, what's your secret?" "Rinse, lather and repeat of course!" I already dislike doing the dishes, so no way were they showering with me. I don't have that kind of relationship with them. I want to be just friends and they want more, but that is so not going to happen. Thus, I asked him to pick up some dishwashing supplies at the store. When hubby walked in the door I was presented with the sack of much needed soap. The mighty hunter returneth. Yes, yes! As God as my witness, we will have clean dishes again! (Sorry I was having a Tara moment there.) I scurried to the kitchen to investigate the purchases. In the bag was our regular brand of dish soap, but in a new scent. Oooh! Citrus-y! Then I pulled out the Cascade. Now this threw me for a loop as it is the most costly of the dish washer detergents at the store, and hubby is not known for buying the more expensive brands of household items. I checked it out and then opened it up for it's test run through the wash. Soon the whole kitchen started to smell fresh and melon-y. Not an unpleasant scent. I was quite impressed that I could get clean dishes and a sweet smelling kitchen in one shot. After the wash cycle was done I put the dishes away in their cabinets and decided to grab a glass of ice water while I was at it. Using a freshly washed glass of course. The first couple of sips of water were cool and refreshing. Then I set my glass down for a few minutes while I did something else. I came back thirsty and craving some more water. I lifted the glass to my lips and took a deep gulp. Big mistake. It tasted like soap! In fact, it tasted like there was perfume and soap in my water.* At first I thought that it may be just me. Maybe my taste buds were playing a horrible, horrible trick on me. "Yeah, we'll get her for sabotaging us with those hot wings. They killed Kenny!" "Let's strike!" "no, I have a more diabolical plan. Let's make everything taste like... SOAP!" I took another sip and sure enough it was as awful as the last. Dang it. Sure the Cascade cleans the dishes and makes your kitchen smell good, but you can't eat off of or drink out of any of the dishes it was washed with. And yes, I did try using the dishes and found out that it transferred that same yucky taste to food. What was I going to do with these dishes? I couldn't be serving everyone soap flavored food and beverages! Use bad language in my house will you? Here wash out your mouth with some delicious cake and a nice glass of milk. Wahahaha! (evil laughter)** What in the world were they thinking? Don't they test these products? Do you think that years of working in a soap factory screwed their sense of taste? Eeew! I wonder if you can get worker's comp for that, or if they consider it a perk. You know, depending upon whose cooking they are forced to choke down. (No hubby isn't running down to the local soap factory to put in his application. Although I can tell from that little gleam in his eyes that he is tempted.) So what did I get to do? Go to the store and buy my regular dishwasher detergent, Electrasol, and re-washed the dishes. Ahhh! So much better. The water is cool and crisp again and the food, it tastes like food. Okay, okay, so the food tastes like my cooking and I suck at that, but hey, it's at least edible now! Cascade Complete... No need to pre-wash! You just have to wash your dishes with this. Then drive to the store, buy our competitor. Drive all the way home. Re-load all the clean dishes you just put away and wash them all over again. Why? Because our detergent infuses your dishware with soapy-goodness and apparently some wussies out there can't handle it. They can't handle the soapy truth! Anybody want some slightly used Cascade? It will make your kitchen smell real purdy! *Anyone who has ever tried that spray the perfume in the air and quick dash through it trick has no doubt gotten some in their mouth/stuck in their nose during said process. Very yucky, and apparently not the way you are supposed to use perfume. Who knew? Sure we have warning labels on dryers telling us not to use them while showering, duh. But no warning about spray fallout and how gross it is. Where's the warning label on the bottle for that? Warning: Do not snort perfume. Do not taste perfume. Trust me on that one. **Yes, in my supreme stupidity I feel the need to point out that Wahahaha is an evil laugh while Hahaha is not. Yes, I am a geek. And no I have nothing better to do with my time. Sad isn't it?

And Where Have You Been?

Oh wait. I guess I can't nag at myself for not posting, or can I? The truth is very dull and boring. I've been down and out with a cold. Mostly a fever, but now other things are kicking in. Like a throat that feels like it is closing up and a lot of sneezing. So make sure you have that computer sneeze guard up and put on a mask and some latex gloves when you visit my blog over the next few days. You may need them! Better safe than sorry, eh? Are you wiping down everything over there with disinfectant? Sheesh, you can't even wait until I leave the room to show the obsessive compulsive I hate germies side! Hey! Why are you pointing that can of Lysol at me? OUCH! That stings! I am really hoping that I am not contagious as I do not want the kiddos or hubby to get sick. I am sure that they are not jumping up and down with excitement over the thought either. Well, maybe my oldest daughter would if she wanted to get out of school. But I don't think that is going to happen as tomorrow is field trip day. You definitely don't try getting out of school on field trip day!

Just Sitting Here Tinking

Okay, so I did that yesterday. But I did make this little cute button. He's the cousin-once-removed of the Gone Froggin' Frog. My I present The Little Tinker. (Yes, he is a little stinker!) Tinker? Tink? Tinking? What in the world am I talking about? Well, it's not Disney baby. Look Ma no bells! TINK is KNIT spelled backwards. So when one "tinks", one is simply un-knitting. And yes, it does stink to tink. If you want to go ahead and snag the "I tink, therefore I knit" froggy, go right ahead. Just remember to upload him to your own server. I think I shall have to make a "Stinkin' Tinkin'" or "It Stinks to Tink" button next as I see a lot of it in my future. Sigh.

It Hurts to Tink

Would you believe that was the third time that I had to rip back? Grrr... The first two times I made mistakes in the bottom purple section. Once due to the yarn separating and the other time because of "human error" ie. my stupidity. Both of those times I ripped back all the way and started completely over. One good thing about this experience is that I learned how to use life lines. Hooray!* Picking up these dern stitches is not fun at all. They just want to slide on through and keep on going all the way down. I guess due to the slickness of the Micro Spun. That's why I am wondering why others have been having trouble with it when they make the Clapotis and they go to drop the stitches. My project is apparently suffering from Clapotis envy and wants to run, run, runaway! What exactly am I making? This is a portion of the first half of my youngest daughter's poncho. Yes, I am finally making the girls their matching ponchos because I am now the proud owner of Royal Blue Micro Spun! Woohoo! Now that we have all 12 colors for the project I can knit on, and on, and on. And hopefully the "tinking" or "frogging" will be kept at a minimum. Please, oh please, let the senseless slaughter of innocent rows stop here. *Please note the sarcasm. Although, I suppose that it is handy to know how to thread a life line in your project, just in case. But it was one of those lessons I never wanted to have to learn.

Would You Like Fries With That?

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100%

Spelling: 100%

Punctuation: 80%

Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Alright, now who's been spying in my school transcripts? I do have to confess as signing up for English as my major in college. Not that I completed my coursework (shhh), but darn it, I've got it going on in the lit world baby!

Strike One

Apparently last night, while I was offline, I received my first negative comment on this blog. Ordinarily I would not post someone's comment like this on my blog. Yes, even if it was negative and nasty. But you see, this comment is not from a real person. Yes, the person who left the comment exists somewhere, but not in this identity.* Huh? You see I was feeling a tad bit upset that someone was offended about my previous post about spam, so I went to click on the link to visit their site and see who I had offended and to say I was sorry if they were offended by the way that I expressed my views. I clicked on the link to be taken to http://lollygirlxxxx4.blogspot.com. And this is what I found. Hmmm... A blank page. How curious. So I looked at the page source. For those who don't know looking at a page source on blogger, you may be able to find the person's blog ID number. Then you can view their profile, if it is public, along with any other blogs they publish (or are group blogs they are on) associated with that ID. This is what popped up. Does anyone see something that is a little bit off? Look closer. I didn't find any blog ID number, but I did see a link that when I read it too quickly caused me to pause. Yes, I thought that there were some extra letters in that end link. Wouldn't that be too funny. Someone who claimed to be offended by my post, would in turn be linking to something someone else might, themselves, find offensive. I did look at the ISP for the poster. (As apparently they keep track of such things when you post comments, hey, who knew?) What I did find out was that the person is using cox.net. I'll let you make of that what you will. Let other "sick and perverted"** minds link that together with the spam. Go on, I dare ya. You are either rolling on the floor with laughter right now, or rolling your eyes in disgust. What's the point about this whole thing? Yes, I was upset that someone was offended. I could have just let the whole thing slide. You know, being American and getting the "freedom of speech/religion/opinion/etc." stuff spoon fed to me as a child. But something in me felt that I had to apologize for my opinion***. What in the world? Looking at the whole situation, I know I am taking it too personally, but it is hard not to do so. But this hiding of identity, hiding behind anonymous names or dead end links with made up identities, could be construed as offensive. Dang it. Maybe I am the one who should be offended. That the person posting felt that they had to comment, yet not be honest about saying hey this opinion is mine, this is who I am. More than likely this was just a random visitor to the blog, having clicked on the next blog link no doubt. So they may never come here to read this bit of insane ranting. (I call it as I see it.) But if they ever do wander back this way... Let me just say that I post, I comment and I do so as me. I may use an online name to do so, but everything I do online is connected to this name, this identity. It is a part of me, and I represent myself in the blindingly horrible oh-my-god-I-can't-look-away-from-this-horror-of-a-wreck that comprises my life. Even with this name I am me, and I am not ashamed of it or myself. And if I ever get the chance to post on your blog, I will do so as me with a link leading not to a dead end, but to a life, lived in unabashed pride in the "sick and perverted"-ness of it all. *Since the URL appears to lead to a dead end, I am posting it. Seeing as how this person will not receive any nasty comments or emails in turn. Hiding behind a wall as it were, they will not be getting pelted with rotten tomatoes. **Yes, I felt compelled to correct the spelling of "peverted" to "perverted". ***If at any time, place, etc. ad infinium you are offended by any thing I say or do, I apologize. Let me make a blanket apology now, as who in the world knows when I will regain my senses and curl up into a little ball in some remote corner and not move a single millimeter, just so that I do not offend. (I swear I use deodorant!) Unless, of course rolling oneself up into a little ball is offensive to you, then I apologize for that as well.

Would You Like Spam With That?

*
It seems my predicament is getting worse. Apparently everyone knows about my penile erectile disfunction. I tried to go about the office as usual, but somehow I must have let it show. Perhaps I lost the spring in my step. Maybe it's because I'm not standing around the water cooler with the guys reminiscing about our weekend conquests. Could it be even the dog pities me and has sent out the word through the bark alert system? How could my life go down the drain so fast. I mean without my dear little pal saluting me every five seconds, popping up just to say "Hi there big Fella!", my life is just not the same. One of you thoughtful folks out there has been sending me daily reminders, some times even several of them in a day to let me know that you are concerned about my lack of "get up and go". Thank you... Hey wait a second here. I am a woman. I don't even have a "penile" to erectly disfunct with! What in the world was I thinking? Those darn spammers must have brainwashed me. I wonder how many links I've clicked? Oh gawd. Please don't tell me that there is a truck load of viagra on it's way. What in the world would I do with the stuff? Grind it up and feed it to the house plants to perk them up. Gee, your daisies are sure looking nice and fresh. Hey! That one pinched me. Yeah, that's all I need. A reputation as the woman who grows those perverted plants. Seriously, does anyone ever click on those spam links? Gee, let me purchase some medications from this unknown person with the bad spelling errors, too good to be true prices and oh so persuasive advertising. How could I go wrong? And they wonder why they are in the hospital getting their stomach pumped. NOTE TO SPAMMERS: Honestly, the plumbing here is incompatible with the product that you are trying to push. I do not want or need said product. I am a female. I know you may not know what that entails in it's entirety having flunked 5th grade health class and all that, but trust me, that little miracle pill will do nothing but give me an upset stomach, oh and apparently perky house plants. As for the business end of your gig, no one likes a spammer. Get a real site and start advertising legitimately. Oh, and get spell check while you are at it. Hey, I use it and it works to take those pesky numbers and symbols out of your gobblety gook spelling. Honest! Hey, here's a novel idea, if people can actually read about what you are selling, they may actually buy it! But not me, honestly I don't need it. Oh, and if you are thinking about sending that same advertisement to hubby, trust me, he doesn't need it either. Everything is working just F-I-N-E fine. *Email address originally shown on the email has been blacked out to prevent that person from getting more spam or unwanted emails. Trust me, it wasn't my email. I must have been one of the many "blind carbon copy" people on it. And poor Charlene Juarez. Her name is being used in vain. No doubt somewhere someone has hijacked my email addy and/or name to do some spamming with. What did spam ever do to you? Why can't you just leave that poor innocent canned meat alone. Stop the abuse! Oh, and stop sending those dang ads while you are at it.

You Spin Me Right Round

When I went to sleep Saturday night I had no idea what was in store for me. After sleeping soundly for an hour I woke up feeling horrible. I was dizzy and nauseous. Oh great. Ear imbalance strikes again.* I had to keep the light on. For some reason it was okay for me to watch the room spin around and round. If it was dark in the room it was worse. I layed down on the very end of my bed directly under the ceiling fan, which was on full blast, and had a cold wash cloth on my head. I lay there squeezing my eyes shut tight, just hoping that I would uh... Release the cargo through the emergency exit, just to feel better and get it all over with. Unfortunately that never happened. What little time I wasn't in agony I spent getting some sleep. Thus the reason that I did not wake up on Sunday until 1:30 in the afternoon. I stumbled down the steps and landed on the couch. My husband asked what was wrong, so I explained to him what happened. And that I did not know if I'd be feeling up to going to my parent's house for Sunday dinner. It was then that my oldest came into the room and asked when we were going to her cousin's birthday skating party. Oh crud! (Yes, I did want to say something stronger, but little ears repeat and all that.) I had forgotten that the party was that day. And not only that but it had began 30 minutes before. ACK! This was not good at all. I tried calling everyone's cell phone to let them know what happened, but no one answered. So I asked my oldest if she still wanted to go to it. She said yes, and the mad rush ensued. I swear I have never shoved a toddler into clothes faster than I did that day. I was grabbing things left and right. If there was an Olympic event in speed showering, let me tell you I would be a contender baaaaayyyybeee! I got the kids all ready and we literally ran out the door. Hubby, lucky dog, got to stay home and relax. Now my older brother and sister-in-law live over an hour away from me. The skating rink was beyond there home. Somehow I made it there within 45 minutes. That was without speeding. I think someone really wanted us to go skating. We piled on out of the car and went into the place. I located the skate room and set up the oldest with some skates to put on while my Mom corralled the youngest. Then I went off in search of the rest of the family. I had to explain several times over about why we were so late. (My family is no stranger to my bad balance days, though thankfully they do not happen that often.) I found out that there were about 8 other children who were to show up, but never did. Can you imagine? I was doubly glad then that we had trucked on over, despite our lateness. You are probably wondering how the skating went. Did I don the little wheelie shoes? Nope. The last time I did that was about 4 years ago before being pregnant with my youngest. That was for a birthday skating party as well. And let me just say that my "skating legs" from childhood were not recovered then and I had no doubt that they would fail me as well at this rink. My oldest had her own bout with the skate klutz. She put on her skates and then went to the bathroom, and fell in there. Yes, the genes do pass on quite nicely. No more skating for her. (And yes, she is fine, she was just a little sore from her fall.) The youngest however, was busy watching all of the other children skate and wanted to do it too. My SIL hooked her up with some skates that were 4 sizes too big. But hey, they worked. She did not want to be held on to. She did not want to skate on the little floor in the party room. She wanted to get out on the big floor with all the other kids. She clung to the skating rink wall and slowly worked her way down to an opening. Along the way she had a few spills, but she got right back up and continued her trek. She did get to go out on the floor and got to boogie on down for all about 2 minutes. Then she worked her way back to the party room and her shoes (due to it being rink closing time). She had fun, and honestly if she was given a week of such exposure, no doubt she would be skating circles around us all! *I have had ear problems since childhood. It all started with an ear infection from swimming. In first grade our school thought it would be a great thing for everyone to learn how to swim. They had a course where we would go to the local Y once a week for swimming lessons. Needless to say I got to participate in one lesson. The rest of the course I got to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone swim. And boy did I pay the price for that. Ear plugs, operations, motion sickness, ear imbalance and loss of hearing. Oh yeah. Lets take the kids to learn how to swim! Funny how something that started with good intentions ended up causing nothing but trouble. Story of my life. Oh, and in case you are wondering. I did learn how to swim, on my own about 5 years afterwards. But to this day I still hate swimming under water and fear the dreaded ear infection ever time I go to the pool. Most people are just afraid of the pee in the water at the pool. I just have to be different, don't I?

Knit Club

When knitters go bad... They make movies.

One is the Loneliest Number

Before going to the convention I went on a hunt for needles for the class I was to take. During that hunt I happened upon one of my local* yarn shops. There amidst the miles and miles of novelty yarns was one lone skein of Noro Silk Garden. A pearl among the gaudy masses. I asked the owner if she had any more, as the skein could have been separated from it's brethren. She said that she had a difficult time getting the distributor to send her the yarn, so she was no longer going to carry it. Having heard the rave reviews online from people who have used this yarn, I was quite curious. And no way was I going to let that poor little skein languish all alone and forgotten. I snatched that bad boy up and told him that I would give him a new home and that we'd have many hours of quality time together. Since he was the last of his kind, I got a discount and only paid $8.00. (I love a bargain!) Now I sit here staring at that lonely little skein. Knowing that I can not back out of my promise to it. The same question keeps repeating itself over and over again in my mind. Just what in the world do you make with only one skein of Noro? Any suggestions out there? *There are a handful of shops within an hours drive of my home, so I consider them to be local. The one closest to me is very tiny with a very poor selection of yarns. The second closest is the one mentioned in this post and seems to be the breeding ground for nothing but novelty. Very frustrating when one wants to see the likes of Rowan, Sirdar, Debbie Bliss, Cherry Tree Hill, etc. and is only faced with insubstantial ladder and glittering fur. Sorry your baby sweater looks like a hooker's hand-me-downs, but that's all they had. Look on the bright side, when the sun hits the fabric just right you'll be able to work on your tan.

Swatchy Goodness

Last night I cast on to figure out how many stitches I am going to need to make the girls ponchos out of all that Micro-Spun I bought. I am going to do the two rectangle poncho shape. The question is of course am I going to make the rectangle lengthwise or width wise. I am considering doing one of each just for variety. That way the girls would have "matching" ponchos, but each would be unique. We shall see what happens. I may change my mind before all is said and done. I am glad that I did the swatching. From that I can figure out just how many stitches I will need to cast on per inch. The yarn calls for a size 4 needle to be used. I wanted a looser knit fabric, so I tried out a size 6, and then a size 8. This swatch is made using the size 8 needles. Another thing I found out what it was like to work with the yarn. Oh boy does it like to unravel. I had to knot the beginning end so it wouldn't all come apart on me. Then working with it I would sometimes have to go back and re-do a stitch because one little strand of the ply would become separated (like in the photo) and make the stitch look funky. I will have to be careful as I knit. Otherwise there will be a lot of froggin' going on in my future.

Wandering Down the Garden Path

Your Life Path Number Is 3 Your Life Path is one that emphasizes expression, sociability, and creativity as the lesson to be learned in this life. You are among the entertainers of the world, bright, effervescent, sparkling people with very optimistic attitudes. You possess the most exceptional creative skills: normally in the verbal realm, writing, speaking, acting, or similar endeavors. The lesson to be learned with a 3 life path is that of achievement through expression. The bright side of this path stresses harmony, beauty and pleasures; of sharing your creative talents with the world. Capturing your capability in creative self-expression is the highest level of attainment for this life path. You are warm and friendly, a good conversationalist, social and open. A good conversationalist both from the standpoint of being a delight to listen to, but even more importantly, one who has the ability to listen to others. You are always a welcome addition to any social situation and know how to make others feel at home. Your reative imagination is present, if sometimes latent, as the you may not be moved to develop your talent. Your approach to life tends to be exceedingly positive, and your disposition is almost surely sunny and open-hearted. You effectively cope with all of the many setbacks that occur in life and readily bounce back for more. It is usually easy for you to deal with problems because you can freely admit the existence of problems without letting them get you down. You have good manners and seem to be very conscious of other people's feelings and emotions. Life is generally lived to the fullest, often without much worry about tomorrow. You are not very good at handling money because of a general lack of concern about it. You spend it when you have it and don't when you don't. On the negative side, a 3 may be so delighted with the joy of living that the life becomes frivolous and superficial. You may scatter your abilities and express little sense of purpose. You can be an enigma, for no apparent reason you may become moody and tend to retreat. Escapist tendencies are not uncommon with the 3 life path, and you find it very hard to settle into one place or one position. Guard against being critical of others, impatient, intolerant, or overly optimistic. Typically, the life path 3 gives an above-average ability in some art form. This can encompass painting, interior decorating, landscaping, crafts, writing, music, or the stage, or all of the above. You are apt to be a happy, inspired person, constantly seeking the stimuli of similar people. Your exuberant nature can take you far, especially if you are ever able to focus your energies and talents. What Is Your Life Path Number

So what do you think, am I a creative enigma who gets ticked off when I spend too much money? Lol.

Kool Aid Color Swatches

As promised long ago... The swatches of the 18 different colors that we test dyed in Kool Aid. Keep in mind each of these was died in a cup of water containing 3 packets of each Kool Aid. If you use less Kool Aid your colors will come out more pastel. The only color that didn't really make a difference to the yarn was "Lemon Ice". It only made it a teensy bit lighter than the natural wool color. The Journey into Madness -- The story of my adventures in Kool Aid dyeing.

Surfin'

Look who tried to take over the computer from me today. What in the world does a cat need to look on the internet for. Do you think he's suddenly developed a passion for catchin' some air? Don't tell me he's part of the underground Morris the Cat fan club? You know, the one trying to take over the world one couch at a time by shedding all over it any chance they get. Personally I am thinking he is trying to find some knitting patterns for more cat toys. What can I say... I created a monster!

Knitted Headbands

Since my youngest hasn't enough hair for barrettes, etc. I thought it was high time to whip up some kind of accessory that would stay put. Thus a headband sprang to mind. And of course if you make one for one daughter, you must make a second for the other.
I used Sugar 'n Cream yarn to make these. The fabric comes out quite stretchy. I have found that the yarn can be machine washed and dried, despite what the label claims. It shrinks back into shape nicely.
KNITTED HEADBAND ©21 April 2005 by K. Anne Rohrer Materials: Worsted Weight Cotton Size US 5 (3.75 mm) Knitting Needles Size F-5 (3.75 mm) Crochet Hook Abbreviations: kfb - Knit in the front & the back of the stitch. k2tog - Knit two together. Directions: Measure the person from bottom of ear up over top of the head and down to the bottom of the other ear. This is the length of the headband that you will knit from cast on until ?. Once you reach this measurement, go to the decrease row. (My headbands average around 17 inches.) Pattern: Cast on 3 stitches, knit across for 4 rows. Row 5: kfb on the first stitch, k the next stitch, kfb the last stitch. Rows 6-?: Knit each row until desired length is reached. Decrease Row: k2tog, k the next stitch, k2tog. Last 3 Rows: Knit all. Fasten off. For ties: Insert crochet hook into the middle of the first row of stitches. Pull yarn through and chain 55 stitches. Fasten off and tie knots into the bottom of the chain to prevent unraveling from use. Repeat on the other side of the headband. Weave in all ends. THE FINE PRINT: This pattern may not be copied and distributed on any other site. You may, however, link to this pattern. Patterns may be printed for personal use only, not for distribution. Copies of this pattern may not be sold. Finished objects made from this pattern may be sold.

Bulky Baby

Look what came in the mail yesterday! Remember how I went to the TKGA convention and learned how to use DPNs by making an oven mitt? Well, I decided to make some more and give them out at Christmas for gifts. The other day I placed an order for some more Lamb's Pride Bulky. It only took 6 days for me to get my order from Patternworks. Now I just have to figure out when I will be making the mitts. I may wait until the fall. Until then I shall be stocking up on some more of the yarn. Anyone know of a place that discounts the LP Bulky? The yummy colors! Bottom Row Left to Right: Ruby, Gold, Aubergine. Middle Row Left to Right: Blue Flannel and Rust. Top Row: Medieval Red. I also have a tiny bit of Olive Green left over from the first mitt and a skein of Fuchsia that I bought extra from the class teacher. So that will make 7 mitts for gifts. (I am keeping the first mitt just for me, me, me!) I definitely need more yarn. Story of a yarn-a-holics life.

Back Tack Swappin'

I signed up for a new swap today. It is one that sounded like a lot of fun. You send one person some fabric, etc. to make a pounch or bag of some kind. They in turn take those materials and then make the pouch/bag for a different person. (The pouch or bag is geared towards the crafting that the recipient does. ie. knitting, sewing, crochet, etc.) The whole thing is done secretly. You don't know who you will be getting the material from and you won't know who is sending you the finished bag/pouch either. It's a neat idea of a double-blind swap. If you want to check out the swap go here: back tack. Hurry! Sign up ends on the 24th.

Son of the Beach Bag

When I sent in my contribution to my daughter's school raffle the teachers ooohed and aaahed over it. Then the one teacher who had me make the baby blanket liked it so much that she wanted one too. She picked the colors for Penn State, navy and white. I told her that since they did not make a variegated yarn in those colors that I would make it striped.
At the time I had no idea how I was going to work out the striping. But then the more I thought about it, it started to make sense that the mesh panels should be the lighter color. Then the navy would be used in the places that would get the most use. She wants to use the bag to go back and forth to football games and such. I figured a mostly white bag would get dingy awfully quick. I think that the striping worked out well. I can see making another bag with a variegated and a solid and using the solid as the mesh. I did procrastinate on making this bag. I had told her it would be done on last Friday. So on Thursday I finally started to crochet it. I had to frog it twice due to errors. Then I stayed up until 5 am crocheting it. I slept for 2 hours then got up to finish crocheting the second handle and then wove in all the ends. I was so afraid that the teacher would not like it. But my daughter assured me that it was met with rave reviews and happy smiles. Whew!
***UPDATE*** Many people have asked what pattern was used to make the bag. It is one of my own design. You see when I found out my daughter's class was having a beach theme for the basket they were putting together for the raffle I thought of making up a bag. So I just winged it. I did (at that time) write down the pattern for the handles only, but forgot to take notes on what I did for the rest of the bag. So this one turned out a tad bit larger than the other one. I did write down what I did for the second bag. However I need to make up the pattern a few more times to get the kinks out of it and come up with a consistent product.

Feeling Springy

The weather the past couple of days around here has been beautiful. Warm temperatures. Ah the sun! The sun is actually shining. And bare legs are being flashed everywhere. I think that I blinded a few people with my gams. Their reflective quality puts the moon to shame. Flowers are popping up everywhere. Of course I had to import mine from the store. Shhh... My day lilies are starting to sprout, so some home grown flowers will be arriving soon. I took some pics of the flora popping up in the neighborhood. Check out the pretty flowering tree. I so want one. But alas, we have nowhere to plant one. Sigh. For now I shall just enjoy looking at other people's, and not worry about having to clean up all those blossoms when they fall.

Invisible

Someone at Kraft is having a jolly good old time messing with the mind of yarn dyers. I mean they are supposed to be coming out with new exciting colors flavors for us to dye with... err... I mean drink. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. It's not like we're indulging in non-sanctioned practices with Kool Aid. (wink, wink) We're just giving it to very thirsty fiber. I mean yarn has to drink too, right? Today I spotted these two packets in the store. I got all excited when I spied these new packages across the aisle. Then I got closer and actually read it. Yup... COLORLESS Kool Aid! One hopes that a fellow yarn dyeing addict will not pick up these packets by accident. Attention Yarn Dyeing Enthusiasts: Stay clear of the... uh... clear. Hey Kraft peoples, we have nekkid yarn here in need of dressing up with wild wonderful colors and you give us nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch, squat. Oh the inhumanity! Oh the exquisite pain of it. My eyes! How they yearn for color. Poor, poor eyes. They never had a chance. (sniffle)

Ms. Blankety Blank

I guess my picture host (who is also my ISP) is having issues today. None of my images are showing up on here. Argh. Hopefully they will get thier act together and things will start popping back up. (In a good way.) Just like my graphics to get a diva complex. Sheesh. ***UPDATE*** Is anyone else using Comcast to host their pictures? Are y'all having any problems? 10:04pm The pics are back! Hooray!

Well I'll Be

Your Inner European is Irish! Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table. Who's Your Inner European? Now who would go and be thinkin' that a green-eyed lassie like meself would be all fer wearin' o' the green? Me own Da will be prouder than spit. 'Tis true me slip be showin'. Now hand me o'er some of that fine root beer. I gots me some table drinkin' ta do.

Sex and the Pulpit

OMG! What in the world have I been missing out on in the world of TV evangelism?! Hubby has fallen asleep with the TV on and I look up to find a church service on (it is Sunday after all, and you know there are at least 500 of them on). This one is all about sexual relations between a husband and wife. It deals with a lot of intimacy issues. And all about how sex isn't dirty, etc. Man oh man. About not being afraid to experiment and not to be serving your husband that same frozen TV dinner every night. It keeps going on and on. I tell you, they never taught this part of the Bible in Sunday school!

Hacked

Yesterday hubby told me that GM had a security breach and that over 180,000 accounts were stolen. Today we were informed that our account was one of them. Great. So they shut down our account. We will now be getting new cards in the mail with a brand new account number. If you read the news story it seems that the theft of account information happened through the Polo Ralph Lauren store. Now I am wondering how this is all tied together because we have never ever shopped in their store or ordered online from them. (If only I had that kind of money to toss around!) So I have to wonder if this is in fact the store that the credit card numbers were stolen from. Curious that they are not releasing the information about which store it was yet. It makes me think that they are withholding the information for one of two reasons. One being that the investigation is not complete, so they don't want to get any false leads, etc. by releasing too much info. And the other reason being the integrity of the store. I mean if you shopped at XYZ and then found out that XYZ's credit card transactions were not secure, you would more than likely think twice about shopping there again. And if you did shop there it would probably be a cash transaction, so you would avoid the whole credit card issue. If you have a GM card, you may want to call them up and see if your account was one of the ones that was breached. We only found out because hubby emailed them. Apparently they are just closing accounts without telling the customer and issuing them new cards at the same time they close the account. You don't want to get to the store just to find out that your card is no good anymore.

Happy Tax Day!

Somehow it doesn't seem right to call tax day "happy". We filed our state and federal returns as soon as we got our W-2s. Or should I say when we got hubby's W-2, since I am a lazy unemployed slob homemaker. We always seem to forget about the local tax. (Ours is 1% of gross income.) This morning I found that I could print that sucker off the internet. Woohoo! No rush trip to the local library, crossing my fingers and chanting the tax mantra "they will have a form, they will have a form, they will not be all gone, they will have a form". Now that little form is all filled out and waiting for the mailman. And it will be stamped with today's date so it will be considered on time. Whew! We made it. Now only one question remains... Did you do your taxes?

Acquiring Some Class* (Tails from the Convention)

Hey Ma look what I made at school! I had a great time taking a class at the convention. I learned how to use five DPNs at once to make a giant mitten. "Jolly honey! I'm home. Here's something to keep you warm in the freezer section!" Okay, so it's an oven mitt. Or at least it will be once it's felted/fulled. I just haven't gotten around to doing so since I want to make another one at least before I do so. I want to use the original as a reference as to what the next mitt should look like as I go along. And if it's already been felted, then I can't see a dern thing. Lol. Class was fun. I think this was in part due to our instructor. Who did we have? Gwen Bortner of Knitability. She was friendly, fun and fantastic. She took the time to help everyone out with a cheerful attitude. Didn't go nuts if someone messed up. She gave us all the confidence to work with all those pointy sticks, and let us know over and over again that any mistakes would be felted out. With her positive attitude and great teaching skills we were able to fly through the project. And she managed to do it all on her birthday! Our class was a novelty for her. Although she had taught such classes using the same curriculum, etc. Before she had never had one who was so quiet. (We were all in the knitting zone.) Nor had she ever had a class that finished before the time the class ended. Usually they stayed late in order to finish up the knitting of the project. Our class finished before 4:30, and class was officially over at 5! I guess it was our birthday gift to her. The project went along well for me. It was tricky working with all those sticks at first. But then as you went along it got easier. A couple of times I pulled out the wrong dpn when knitting. I would mean to pull the newly nude dpn out of my hand and accidentally pull out a dpn with stitches on it. Yikes! But they easily went back on and I continued progress. There are a few errors here and there (a twisted stitch, a bigger gap on the thumb where it joins, etc.) but as Gwen assured us, it will felt out and no one will ever be able to tell about the oopsies I made in the learning process. (If you come to my house hoping to see the mitt just so you can see if you can spot the mistakes, no cookie for you!) At the end of class someone had made a hanging loop for their mitt. And having made numerous crocheted cotton potholders I decided to do the same with a twist. I crocheted one round on the bottom of the mitt, made a chain loop and joined it to the mitt. Then I "turned back" and single crocheted around the loop and back around the bottom of the mitt, then fastened off. Since it is going to felt (and shrink) I thought a wider hanging tab would work better. We shall see how it comes out of the wash. I was quite the shutterbug during class. I kind of felt as though I was the odd man out (or odd woman as there were no men in my class**). No one else was taking any pictures. But now I have a visual of how the mitt progresses. While we were knitting Gwen had gone around the room and asked each of us what we did for a living. There was a high school student, a lawyer, a retired banker, a teacher, etc. When she came to me I said that I was a stay at home mom and she seemed quite surprised. She said that with my note taking (yes I furiously scribbled notes as well as taking snaps) and the pictures I kept taking of the mitt progress she thought for sure that I was in some kind of research or other detail oriented work. In fact she pointed out to the whole class that I was smart to take my progress pictures as it was a good reference for later. I guess I was a class novelty for both my mad snapping and being the only SAHM in a class of working women. (The high school student being excluded because she was there with her mom and chatting about working towards her college degree beginning next year, and looking forward to being a working woman.) Overall it was quite the positive experience. So much so that I am now looking into maybe attending Stitches East 2005 in Atlantic City this fall. Can I manage to swing that without hubby wanting to tag along and bet the house (literally) on a game of cards? That's the tricky part. For now it is only in the dreaming stages. I did sign up for the information packet, and am eagerly awaiting it's mailing. Hopefully it will be hear by the end of the month. The sooner, the better so I can start drooling. *When talking to our friends the weekend of the convention I mentioned that I was going to take a class on how to use double pointed needles. Hubby overheard and made the comment that I was finally going to get some class. Thus the name for the post. **There were men at the convention. I can not say if they, themselves, were knitters or crocheters since I did not see them working on any projects.

Learning Again (Tails from the Convention)

I did take that Learn to Knit class at the convention. On the flier they said it was free with paid admission to the Fiber Arts Market. But when you went to the counter to register, they didn't ask if you paid to enter the convention or not, so people got to take the class for free anyways. When you signed up they gave you a card/ticket for the class and a bag of goodies. You would need to give this card to the teacher in order to be able to participate in the class. In the bag there were two learn how to knit booklets, a Cast On magazine, a skein of TLC Essentials, a pair of plastic Susan Bates knitting needles, plastic yarn needles and a pattern for making a scarf. The class itself was only taught by one woman. In all honesty she could have used a helper. Teaching 20 people how to knit in 45 minutes is not an easy task. Especially since you have to go around to teach each person how to cast on. Then go back to teach them the knit stitch, then back again to teach them how to purl, and then once again for the bind off. If you spend 2 minutes with each student, poof! There goes all your time. I am glad that I went to class. Even though I had someone show me how to cast on (long tail method), knit & purl, I still had some questions. I was able to learn a new cast on and also got the answer I was seeking to my loose end loop query. I am glad that I did know how to do the other things. Otherwise I would have been like the other students in the class. Many of them were attending their second class of the day (just so that they could get more instruction) or planning to take the next class after that one so they could get beyond the knit stitch and into purling. I started on the scarf pattern, but had to stop. I goofed up and want to frog back. I am thinking of undoing it all and starting it over. The TLC does not like the plastic needles. It "sticks". It also does not get along with metal needles. At least not my Silvalume ones. I am wondering if it will play better with some wooden ones. Since I do not have needles in the size needed for the pattern, I will have to wait until I get some to see if it will work better. Brittanys where art thou?

Big Fat Mouth

Our adventurous dare devil strikes again! But this time it wasn't because she was climbing up railings, or jumping off couches, or even trying to leap buildings in a single bound. She was simply walking and whomp! fell flat on her face. Oh lordy! The poor girl is taking after her klutz of a mother. It is always the simple things that literally trip us up. This happened on a public sidewalk, which is in very bad repair in the town where my BIL lives. We got out of the car and started to walk towards his house. My husband turned to warn our youngest to be careful and just as soon as he started to warn her and go to the "careful" part she took the nose dive into the pavement. Bloody and tear-strewn we arrive on BIL's doorstep and quickly went to work on accessing the damage. A clean-up, some ice and two episodes of Sponge Bob later and everything was alright again in her world. Notice in the picture the happy smiling mouth fresh with sticky glaze from a delicious doughnut. Notice the after shots of the puffy lip with dried blood. Not so happy smiley. But luckily it was only scraped. No stitches, no broken teeth or bones and no hospital visit*. Hooray! *Said child has already been to the hospital twice for other falls. One where she hit her head and had a huge lump. (No concussion, thank goodness.) And the other time she hurt her leg.

Pit Stop

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the... uh... fumes? Need I say more?

Pet Makeover

Is your kitty a little bit mangy? Is that puppy down in the dumpies? Get them a makeover! Today I received my pet makeover kit in the mail from Hartz. I got it for free! Man, dontcha just looove freebies? The kit contained a little zipper bag with a see-thru window, a 3 pack of mini toy mice (notice it has already been savaged), a sample of cat shampoo, a bag of catnip (gotta have a fix!) and a booklet of coupons for all sorts of products. Mr. Kitty is a very happy boy today. You can get one for your cat, dog, bird or other small animal by following the link above and signing up for their newsletter. Go! Sign up Now! Your pet will thank you.

Pin Me Up

How'd they know I was American? There are spies watching my every move I tells ya! SPIES!

What Classic Pin-Up Are You?
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I Will Survive

I made it through the weekend. Hooray! No big blow-outs or anything. Thank goodness. I have some bad news to report. No trip to the yarn shop. :( I know. The tragedy! The horror! My only free time was on Sunday and they were closed. Sigh. What is it with yarn shops being closed on weekends? ACK! However, I did get to make it up somewhat. I got to go to both AC Moore and Michaels. I got some Microspun in 10 different colors to try and make the girls some summer ponchos. Yes, there may be those against them out there, but the girls love them. I figure by using all the colors in the poncho it should go with everything that the girls will wear this spring/summer. No doubt I have to replace the loomed poncho that I made for my youngest. She is always wearing it. (A very high compliment.) I think she definitely needs a summer replacement. And we all know that when you make one child something, the other one needs one too! I just found out that there are two colors (besides white, black or brown colors) that I don't have for the ponchos. Shame on me! Lol. Royal Blue which is "new", and Peppermint Pink which has been discontinued. I already hit up ebay and they did not have either color. Sigh. Hmmm... I may have to do some searching! I would love to have a skein of each of these to incorporate in the ponchos. More colors... More fun!

Yarn Porn (Tails from the Convention)

The long awaited and much drooled over in anticipation yarn photos. I so longed to just jump on some of the display tables and roll around and around in the yarn. But that would make it get all dirty and tangled. And we all can't have dirty knotty yarn now can we? (snicker)

Original Knitting (Tails from the Convention)

At the convention there was a contest for original knitting designs. The winner of the design contest was picked by the guild, but the attendees got to vote for their favorite. Yes, I did vote and I tried to take pictures of all the different kinds of entries. Can you guess which one I voted for? No? It was the green sweater. TKGA hasn't posted the winner on their site yet. I wonder who won as there were so many great entries.

Inquiry

Another teacher at my oldest's school wanted to know the information on the beach bag I made for the raffle. I sent her an email with pictures of the bag, a color chart of various cotton yarn available and a price listing with the reason for the costs. She said that although she was not interested in ordering a bag from me at this time that she did forward the email to several other teachers at the school. Now mind you, I do not in the least mind that she wanted to share the information, but I do think the correct etiquette would have been to ask me if she could do so first. Yeah, I know I shouldn't complain that her doing so may bring me more orders. Sour grapes and all that I guess. She did pass on a compliment to me saying that I made wonderful bags and quilts, and what talent I had. It did make me smile in part for the compliment and in part due to the oopsie of calling an afghan a quilt. (Remember the baby blanket I made?) But then we all know that people who do not do a craft/task/job themselves oft times use the wrong terminology. I shudder to think about what I would say to a biochemical engineer. "That's a lovely test tube you have there." "That's a flask." "Oh."

Frustration

I tried to get online yesterday but either comcast or the internet was having a grand old time playing cat and mouse with me. I'd get the connection to work, quick download some email, then go to load a page. Yeah the webpage would open up and then whammo! I'd be cut off again. Grrr. So now I go to check out my blog and the HaloScan comments aren't showing up any more. What the #*@!? Now I have to go and figure out what has happened. I swear I have not changed my template from the other day. And they were working fine and dandy then. Perhaps blogger submarined me? Ugh. ***UPDATE*** I just went over to the HaloScan site and it seems as though it can not be found right now. Figures, just as I implement a service it crashes on me. Just my luck. Lol.

Just Beachy Got an A

Yesterday My eldest DD comes home from school with a note from the teacher written in her homework assignment book. It was a rave review from said teacher saying how she loved the beach bag I made for the raffle. Then she went on to ask if I could make another one in the Penn State colors, and if so how much it would cost to do so. This morning I sent her a note stating that I could make her a bag like the one I made for the raffle in alternating stripes of navy blue and white solids as I do not have access to a navy and white variegated cotton yarn*. (I have never seen one in this colorway, although I have seen brighter or lighter shades of blue combined with white and/or other colors.) I sent in a price like I did last time with the cost of the yarn and then my fee for labor. (It takes 5 double balls of yarn to make the bag or 10 regular. A little bit less if using solids, but prices change depending on where I buy the yarn, so I came up with a figure that would take all that into account.) I only charged $15 for the labor. The total price comes out to less than what you would buy a lower-end department store. (By lower-end I mean JC Penney and Sears** not Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, etc.) I think I am probably under charging, but hey, it's still money for the stash enhancement. She already sent in payment, so I need to get busy on it. I am going to send in a note to school tomorrow letting her know that it should be done before the end of next week. I would really like to finish it before Monday, but I need to give myself some leeway. That way if something unexpected happens I have some breathing room. Now to see if I took good enough notes when I made the bag the first time. Now where did I put my scribblings? *I have local access to Lily Sugar 'n Cream, Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton and Peaches 'n Creme cotton yarns. I am sure if I was to go to one of the yarn shops in Philly I might find a higher cost cotton to use that may have the navy/white colorway. Since the first bag is made out of Sugar 'n Cream and she liked that, my best bet is to stick with a winner. **Yes I do shop at JC Penney and Sears, I am not knocking them. But around here when the local mall has Bloomies, L&T, and tons of high end stores, a lot of people start to think of anything you can get for under $100 as quite the bargain. Not that I charge anywhere near that much. Although that would give me tons for stash enhancement. Hmmm... Nah. I'd feel very guilty charging 3 times plus.

The Floor (Tails* from the Convention)

Yes, I have finally finished uploading all the pictures from the convention. I couldn't stand those cute little pouty faces out there in cyberland begging for yarn porn. Yes, it is an addiction and there is only one cure... BUY YARN! Lots and lots of glorious yarn. Sigh. Are you ready to take a trip kiddies? Has everyone gone potty**? Good. Let's all get bundled up and have a go, shall we? Our first collage will take you into the dimly lit halls of the convention floor. Yeah, the decor is not the best, but hey, we're here for the yarn, remember? (This coming from the woman who thinks the pencil drawings done on her basement wall will be worth millions once her talented tot becomes the next en vogue artist.) You will notice that it seems that the aisles are quite sparsely populated. That is because a ton of people were in class at the time. And a ton of the hand dyed yarn booths were packed with people trying to crowd into them. There was one booth that I had to pass by several times because I could not get into it to look at the yarn. I finally did get to see the yarn, but ending up not buying any of it. At $100 a skein, let's just say I'd have a tough time explaining to my husband why there was not heat and water in the house for the next four months because I had to buy enough yarn for a sweater. Yikes! What did surprise me were the vendors who didn't have prices posted on their products. I am sorry, but if I have to stand in a long line just to ask how much something is, or if they have a pricing guide, chances are I am going to move on to the next vendor. Y'all knew you were going to the show and that a lot of people would be browsing through your products. Now do you really want to be asked a million times over how much such-and-such is, or would you rather spend your time taking some ready cash from an eager customer? Don't feel like pricing each and every skein? Just make up a sign that says "Merino Lush $40, Amazing Alpaca $30". Wow, we have prices. Now that didn't hurt, did it? Makes it much easier for me to see what yarns I can afford to splurge on. And I am sure other people out there feel the same. Psst... This goes for other markets as well (craft fairs, vendors, etc.). What I have to gripe about is the market hours on Sunday. It opened at 9 and closed at 2pm. Class starts at 9am and break is from 12-2 then class ends at 5pm. If you are in an all-day class (like I was) you had two hours to eat lunch, go to the market and do the "over lunch" class homework. Needless to say I gulped down that $15 cold lunch (was supposed to be hot, but what can you expect from a buffet***?), ran down to the market and made a few mad grabs and ran back up to the class room to try and finish my homework. (Yes, I did pay for the yarn. No, I didn't finish the homework before class started. I had to knit during the first five to ten minutes of the next part of the lesson, but I caught up in no time.) You'd think that the vendors would be amendable to staying later as well to make more sales. Another thing that surprised me at the market is that there were no last minute markdowns. I guess I am just too used to going to local flea markets and farmers markets where they try to unload as much as they can so they don't have to lug it home with them. The funny thing is I visited the one vendors site and they are unloading "extra yarn" from previous shows that they lugged home with them. Some of the vendors travel hundreds of miles. Some even pay to ship their equipment and yarns to the shows. Less to pack back up would equal less to haul or ship and thus save money. But I guess they don't see it that way. *Yes, tails is meant to be spelled that way. Knitting, Crochet, Fiber Convention= Yarn= Projects= Tails to Weave in. A story teller weaves a tale. Thus tale became tail. Yes, I know I am a dork. But don't tell the other whales. They'll just get jealous. **When you are toilet training a soon-to-be 3 year old you always have potty on the brain. This is of course in no way related to potty mouth. Unless of course you are apt to curse while shampooing the carpet for the fifth time in two days. By all means, cuss up a blue one. You have my sympathy. Just don't do it in front of the wee ones. That is unless you want them to tell Grandma that they really hated the #@%! broccoli she made. ***I hate buffets. With a zealot's passion I am an anit-buffetite. I have yet to ever attend a good one. Hubby's family thinks that the more food you can get= better quality. Thus I have had to suffer many a buffet outing in the past 11 years. If you have actually been to (dare I say it) a good buffet, please, please, please post where. Especially if it is in South Eastern PA or North Western Maryland. I would at least like to be proven wrong once on the whole buffet issue.

Bad Weather (Tails from the Convention)

For the first day of the convention we had rain, rain and more rain. It caused a lot of flooding in the area. Trying to get to one's vehicle without getting wet was impossible. Most people did like I did, protected their knitting and their purchases, and let themselves bear the brunt of the storm. Hey, I'd dry out, but if my patterns got wet, that's all she wrote. Driving home I saw one person in the grass median and another who went up the side of a hill, both were regular cars. (No one was hurt.) I am still trying to figure out how that guy got up the steep hill. Must have been some ride, eh? Shame I don't have a picture of it. Here are some pictures of the rain. Yes, I did pause on the mad dash to the car just to take pictures. Oh, the things I do for my blog! Thankfully on Sunday there were only occasional spritzes of rain. Nothing at all like the deluge of the day before. So I did not get to perform any herculean tasks trying to protect my precious fibers from the big bad menacing rain.

Web Ring Button Mania!

Okay, so I've been a little cuckoo on joining web rings. I just wanna be loved people! Lol. So I've been making buttons for those that don't have buttons shown. But my pride & joy are the Purling Puppy & Knitting Kitty webring buttons (go ahead and scroll down). They feature my very own kitty & puppers. Awww!

Just Beachy Goes to School

I sent the beach bag into school today with my oldest daughter. It's for her class raffle. I am wondering if the teacher is going to make a comment about it. This is the same teacher who I made the baby blanket for, so we shall see. Shame that I can not go to the Raffle. You see they made it an adult's only night. And it's on a Friday. Which means that hubby works, and there is no one to watch the kids. Well, that is not strickly true. But I am not driving 30 minutes to take the kids to my parents house, then 30 minutes back to go to the event, then do the whole hour round trip again to pick up the kiddos. It's just not feasible. You'd think for a school event they would make it something family oriented. Since it is, after all, for the school that our children go to. They should have just had another family night event with the basket raffle being a part of it. It makes me wonder if this is going to lessen the amount of funds they raise as well, since I know there are other parents in the same boat as I am. Shame you can't purchase tickets just for the raffle, and be able to pick up your prize later on.

HaloScan

Due to the problems with the Blogger comments I have added HaloScan to this site. If you notice at the bottom of this entry there are two comment fields. One is the regular blogger one. (I get email notification when you sign this one.) And if Blogger is having fits I have the back-up HaloScan ones. Does anyone know if they have email alerts for that one as well?

Want an Alias?

I got this from Sara's blog. She got it off of Ro's. And Ro found it on Lori's and Trish's blogs. Whew. Yes, I am a sheep. Baaa! PORN STAR ALIAS (Name of first pet / Street you live on): Cinnamon Boniface -- OMG! Let the jokes begin. MOVIE STAR ALIAS (Name of your favorite snack food / Grandfather's first name): Nachos James -- It's pronouced Na-shay darlink. FASHION DESIGNER ALIAS (First word you see on your left / Favorite restaurant): Nivea Rock Bottom -- You too could be dressed by the hand cream designer for down and out stars. Only the finest offal for you my dears. EXOTIC FOREIGNER ALIAS (Favorite Spice / Last Foreign Vacation Spot): Pepper Canada -- I've only been outside of the US once, when we drove from Alaska to Maryland. SOCIALITE ALIAS (Silliest Childhood Nickname / Town Where You First Partied): Pumpkin Ambler -- First fraternity party memories! "FLY GIRL/BOY" ALIAS a la J. Lo (First Initial / First Two or Three Letters of your Last Name): K. Ro -- Ugh. Sounds like Scooby Doo saying "hello". ROFL! ICON ALIAS (Something Sweet Within Sight / Any Liquid in Your Kitchen): Candy Red Hot -- Hey, it's after Easter, there is candy everywhere! Poor chocolate bunnies have already been massacred. Plus it's spicy, and uh.. saucy. Lol. DETECTIVE ALIAS (Favorite Baby Animal / Where You Went to High School): Kitten Sahs -- Now that one sounds porn-ish. I wonder if she and Cinnamon made any movies togehter. BARFLY ALIAS (Last Snack Food You Ate / Your Favorite Alcoholic Drink): Pecans Virgin Strawberry Daquari -- Well, what do you expect from a non-drinker? At least it's not a Shirley Temple. No virgin jokes, please. We all know the truth to that one. It sounds like a race horse's name. Giddy up! SOAP OPERA ALIAS (Middle Name / Street Where You First Lived): Anne Stanbridge -- Oooh! Class-aaay. ROCK STAR ALIAS (Favorite Candy / Last Name Of Favorite Musician): Peppermint Bon Jovi -- Hard to choose a favorite Rock Star, as I tend to prefer songs rather than performers, so I chose the last one I saw live. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (First 2 letters of your first name and the first 3 Letters from your last name makes your first name. Then take the first 2 letters of your mother's maiden name and the first 3 letters of the city you were born in to make your last name): Keroh Konor -- Rhyming, oh how, uh, sweet. Now take me to your leader. WHICH ALIAS DO YOU PREFER? Anne Stanbridge -- Yes, I tend to go with classic rather than trendy, despite my sheep-ish leanings.

Warm & Fuzzy

You are Merino Wool. You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes. What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla Note to all the fiber lovers out there: Please don't sheer me! I swear I would not make a good sweater. Lol.

Fiber Overload

I am "back" from the convention. Does it count that I cam home each night and went nighty-night in my own bed? Lol. Yesterday I came home after having class all day, ate dinner and then just collapsed. I slept until it was time to get my oldest ready for school. Who knew that having so much fun would take a lot out of you. Is this a sign that I am getting old? Oh no! I tried to take a lot of pictures of fibers and stuff at the market. I didn't see anyone else doing this. And did get a lot of people looking at me strangely. I think some people might have thought that I was trying to steal their pattern designs by photographing things. So I tried to take pictures of mostly yarns. I'll have to post my pics later on as they need to be uploaded and resized. It's a shame that there won't be another convention around here for a few years. Although I am sure my bank account will be grateful for that! Man can you spend a bundle on yarn! Okay... Time to go and veg out for a while. Maybe surf the net and space out for a bit. My brain is still on overload. Maybe I will go and pet my new yarns and dream about patterns.

Chop Chop

Recently my best friend had a hair disaster. You see she is one of those people with really long hair. You know the kind that you can sit on. She wanted to get her hair cut and was sent on having 10 inches* taken off. Why that specific amount? Because that is the minimum length that Locks of Love accepts. She is not one to get her hair cut (or even trimmed) often, so she has not had her hair done since she moved down south back in February of 2004. Since she currently lives in a relatively small town she picked a chain salon to visit, figuring it to be better established. (I won't mention names, but it is the type that is in a big department store.) She goes in and explains what she wants done with her hair. That she wants it to be cut at the very minimum five inches below her shoulder line. (It would give her plenty for the LOL program.) The hairdresser pulls back her hair and makes a cut, exactly at her shoulders! She is now the not so proud sporter of a shoulder length hair style. She spent the whole day crying after the fiasco. It is quite a traumatic event for her since she has not had her hair that short since before she was in Kindergarten. To go from but length to shoulder length is a big change for her. One she is not taking to well at all. She keeps her hair up in a ponytail (apparently it barely fits into one) and refuses to show anyone at work what her hair looks like. Upon seeing her they knew she was upset and asked who her hairdresser was. When she told them the name, they replied "Oh yeah, she's a chopper." Small towns being what they are, why in the world didn't they warn her ahead of time? Hearing her tell the story and seeing the pictures her fiance sent me in an email I started crying. And it wasn't even my own hair! I could not let her go into the land of shoulder length hair alone. In sympathy for my best friends plight, I chopped mine too. (Please note it is tough to take a picture of the back of your own head, thus the weird camera angles.) And in case you were wondering, since this is being posted on April 1st. Nope, it's not an April Fools joke. Although my best friend heartily wishes it was. *She has done this in the past, about once every 3 years.

Very Convention-al

Can you guess where I am going this weekend? That's right! I am going to the TKGA National, CGOA Regional and Fiber Arts Market events at the Valley Forge Convention center. I think I am going to go into fiber overload. (Is such a thing possible?) I am getting to go two days. That is an absolutely huge thing as I rarely go anywhere to do something without the kids. And as a huge bonus I am getting to take a class on Sunday. A SIX hour class! Woohoo! Since it was all very last minute I had to go down to the convention center and register in person. At the same time I signed up to join the TKGA. You get a magazine subscription and other perks, plus it took $20 off the cost of classes. Although the membership is $27. Lol. But there are one or two places that are sort of local who will give you a 10% discount if you are a member of a knitting guild. Who knows what other benefits may come from the membership. I also got a lunch ticket (I feel like I am back in school again!) and free admission passes to the Fiber Arts Market. When I went to sign up I took my youngest daughter with me. Thank goodness for strollers. You see I had been to the convention center before. Once to attend a computer show and another time to visit Lily Langtry's and stay at the hotel. So I was sort of familiar with it. But dummy me, I parked in front of the hotel and had to walk all the way around to the second hotel side and down the hill to get into the convention center. It was quite a hike, and I am glad that she didn't have to walk. While I was registering an announcement came on in the conference center about the power being on a generator and that when the time came to switch back to the main power there might be a moment of darkness. I had just finished signing up for everything when the power went out. Then everyone was asked to leave the building. Now I had gotten down to the main floor of the convention center by using an elevator. No power = no elevator. So I thought that I was going to have to take my daughter out of the stroller, fold it up and carry the diaper bag,and stroller while holding her hand and walking up the two flights of stairs. I started to tell her that she was going to have to get out of the stroller so that Mommy could carry it up the stairs when a nice exhibitor from the market showed me that there was a loading dock with a ramp that I could use instead. The loading dock turned out to be a long and dark tunnel with a steep ramp heading up to the parking lot. It made me wonder how the trucks get down there without getting into accidents all the time. (Yes, I know, very carefully.) I pushed the stroller up the ramp (ah the light, it's bright!)and continues the long trek to the car. When I went to take my daughter out of the stroller I noticed that she no longer had her two stuffed animals that she had brought with her. Oh no! That meant going back into the Convention Center. The long, long walk... Nope, not this time. I piled her and the stroller into the car and drove down to the lower parking lot. From there we walked back down the ramp and into the now brightly lit convention hall. There on the floor were her animals, safe and sound. We grabbed them up and then traversed the stairs (didn't want to get caught in the elevator in case the power blinked, and wanted to avoid the steep ramp) and headed on back to the car. Quite an adventure! And there is just more to come at the show! Don't worry, I'll take pictures for ya. It's almost like being there yourself.

Double Decker Blossoms

Talk about a good mail day! I received two Spring Blossoms Swap packages in the mail. Lots of stashy goodness. Yuuum! In the mail this morning I was doing the clunky* dance. I received a box from Woven 'n Spun aka Kimberly. She sent me a nice stash enhancement along with a thermal US Army mug (have to hide it from hubby, he's former USAF) and handmade stitch markers. The one stitch markers even has part of my name on it! Nobody go swiping it now! It's mine, all mine! I received 3 skeins of Bernat Soft Boucle yarn. I can so picture making a matching hat and scarf out of this. My oldest will definitely be jealous as her favorite color is blue! Then there were also 2 skeins of Red Heart Fiesta and a skein of Lion Brand Jiffy. I have no idea what those lovely yarns will be made up into. I bet Kimberly didn't even know she sent a kitty gift as well. Yep, my old alley cat climbed right up and claimed the empty box as his. I am beginning to think he has a box fetish. He must love the sudden influx of "new models" that he has been getting to "test drive". I wonder what model comes out in April? Perhaps a luxury double decker? Lol. Do you think he may be trying to tell me something? Perhaps he is in need of a Kitty Pi? Now if I only knew how to knit in the round. Poor kitty, no pi for you! My second package was sent via express mail. It went all the way from India to JFK to Philadelphia to my house. Hubby got to answer the door as the post office made a special delivery later on in the afternoon (while I was out**). The package was from MidnightCrocheter aka Yamini. In it were some big hanks of very silky fibers in mauve, white and green. The yarn states that it is made out of 72% Poly Mide and 27% Acrylic. There was also a little package of craft mirrors and ribbon roses (great for embellishing purses) and a booklet on different crocheted lace patterns. Oh the edging possibilities! According to the letter there was to be a handmade notepad, but it must have snuck out of the box. You see the box had been in a big plastic bag because it had torn open during transit. Speaking of the box, when my daughter saw it she wanted to open it and play with the "doggie". You see it was a recycled toy box with "Digger the Dog" shown on the outside. I don't thing my youngest was disappointed, as she has such fun playing (ie. tangling) with Mommy's yarns. Lol. Thank you both so very much for all the lovely goodies. They have already found their home amongst their newly adopted brothers and sisters in the stash family. Thank you for a whole big bunch of swappy yarny goodness and your thoughtfulness! *A "clunky" is a tern to describe a swap/present that arrives in a box. A "puffy" is a swap/present that arrives in a padded envelope. **I'll write more about what I was doing in another entry. It's a surprise. Shhh...

Kitty Pusher

Okay, so I don't push cats. But I do supply mine with his fix. His catnip fix that is. I am such a bad influence, encouraging his habit this way. I am, gasp, an enabler! But ya gots to luv da catnip! Can you feel the love? I am getting purrs now like you wouldn't believe. Ka-ching! Oh yeah. I feel it! I feel the love! Gimme some paw. RAOW!
When I brought that wonton home the cat just went bonkers over it. He was rolling around, tossing it up into the air and lickin' the dickens out of it. The dog must have been thinking the cat was going into convulsions. He had the strangest look on his face. This is when he went in for a closer look at the object causing all the commotion. Somehow I don't think he's impressed. Although I can tell by that evil little glint in his eye that he'd love to chew it to bits. Send it to the kitty toy graveyard with all those fuzzy mice. Take my kitty play time away from me will ya?
He likes it! I think he likes it! No doubt about it. This is the last that I saw of the wonton. I have no idea of it's current whereabouts. Perhaps he has stashed it in his secret kitty lair. One can only hope that it is not in the ceiling of the basement.*
*The previous owners of our home had the bright idea to clad the basement ceiling with paneling. There is apparently enough space up there for the cat to crawl into and walk under the heating vents. When he does this you can hear the "pop" of the metal heating ducts as it depresses.

Who Ordered the Wontons?

I did! I ordered... Err... Made the wontons. That's right, I followed my very first knitting pattern. (Enthusiastically tosses knitting needles up into the air...) ACK! (Runs like heck.) Whew! Guess I should know better than to toss pointy sticks up in the air. Not like I'm playing lawn darts or anything. Heehee. Anywho... I was browsing Knitty looking for an easy pattern that I could whip up fast and then crow about my knitting genius put my paltry learned knowledge of knitting to work. I saw the Feline Dim Sum and knew I had to make one for my little alley cat.
I followed the pattern directions and cast on 30 stitches and worked up my square. When I was done it seemed huge for a cat toy, even though it was the 5" specified in the pattern. So I had the brilliant idea of just casting on 15 stitches. This gave me a teensy tiny square about 2 1/2 inches. I gamely sewed them up and stuffed them with my Mother's home grown catnip. The larger square came out a hefty size, and the smaller square is fit for a kitten. While the tiny one is cute, it kind of looses the whole "wonton" shape.
I also tried tucking the top point in-between the sewn triangle ends. Sort of reminds me of a tortellini. I am considering making more of these as kitty gifts. However I am going to try a 20 stitch cast on. This will hopefully make a size between the two. One that I would be happy with. Faster knitting = More output. I am thinking of making these, the egg roll and a fortune cookie and placing them into little see-thru take out boxes. Just thinking of it makes me want to coo "It's sooo cute!" I also got a tip from a fellow blogger that cats love valerian. Apparently there are cats out there who do not like catnip. Mine have always been crazy for the nip, so I have never come across it as a cat owner. Stacey told me that even cats who hate catnip go nuts over valerian. So perhaps a catnip-valerian mixture is the way to go. Apparently valerian is also used in tea to help promote sleep. So something that puts us to sleep jazzes up our cats. What else is new? Lol.

One Bloom Picked

One of the Spring Blossoms Swap packages that I sent out last week was received! Hooray! Dawn got her swap safe and sound over the weekend. I would post a picture of what I sent to her, but it would spoil the surprise for my other two partners who have yet to get theirs. Don't worry though! After everything is all said and done (and all the packages arrive) I'll post the pictures here on my blog. Then we can all stare at the yummy stashiness of it all. Sigh. It was tough not to add all that yarn to my collection!

I've Been Blossomed!

Not only do I get to mail out packages for the swap today, but I also received one in return! Woohoo! If only I knew who to thank for my wonderful bounty of new playthings. You see, there was no name on the box or in the box. Just a hand written street address on the outside of the package. One somewhere in (bleep)*, South Dakota. A secret swapper. Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him? Watson! Watson!
Check out the colors! Oh the colors! All the colors! I seem to be color obsessed lately for some reason. There are some purple shades from Herrschner's, youngest DD has already claimed them as hers. A skein of TLC Amore in Rose, nice and cuddly. Some Red Heart in green, purple and a green/purple variegated, very mixy-matchy. It's going to be challenging to come up with projects to use these yarns in. Perhaps purses?
Ahhh! Mystery yarn! Mystery yarn! How I love thee! Okay, it's not completely mysterious. The one yarn is written in English so I can pretty much tell what it is. But it is a yarn that I have never come across before. (I love meeting new yarns. Hi! How are ya?) The white fluffy one has speckles of pastel shades in it that are tough to see in the photo. Then there is the very mysterious yarn wrapped up in a foreign language. Kind of like Garbo. It may be saying something with those luscious fibers, but I'm just not getting a clear signal. Crochet, knit, loom? What do you want me to do yarn o' mine? What I have been able to make out on the label is that it was made in Istanbul/Turkey and is 50% acrylic. And this because Istanbul/Turkey is spelled on the wrapper as Istanbul/Türkiye and acrylic is spelled as akrilik. I'm a genius, aren't I? (Uh-hu.) Does anyone know what language this is? I'll have to find an online translator to find out what 50% Yün is. Is it bigger than a VW bug? Will it fit into my beach bag? Well, for my secret sender, there is something I need to say... Thank you! (SQUEAL) Thank you! (SQUEAL) Thank you! *Town/City has been bleeped to protect the location of the generous yarn sender, who shall remain blissfully innocent until proven guilty. Guilty of what? Stash contribution. A serious offense that is punishable buy profuse thanking and much squealing of joy, and could carry a life sentence of friendship. Let that be a lesson to you folks. Friends let friends send yarn.

Ripple Folly

You would think having made a pattern three times I would pretty much have it down pat. I mean, after a time it becomes second nature, right? Not! It all started with the counting. Having 180+ chains to make and then counting the single crochets of the first row which should be 1 less than the number of chains could drive anyone batty. Add in a husband who knows you are counting, and keeps trying to ask you questions (said husband was noticeably quiet when there was no crocheting being done) and you get a lot of frogs. I ripped out the first two rows two times. Then I thought I finally had it. And I went to crochet the third row (that starts the ripple pattern) and got all the way to the end. Just to find out that I had miscounted yet again! AAAH! Rip-it... Rip-it... Rip-it. It finally took a trip to the laundromat to be able to count in peace. Hubby wanted his sleeping bag cleaned before going on a fishing trip and I wanted to get the afghan started. In the end, we both got what we wanted. Lol. I am only about 2 skeins of the way in now. Ten more to go. My SIL is quite anxious to get her blanket. But I fear since being sick it's going to take at least another full week of crocheting to get done. Maybe she'll have it before the first day of summer! The funny thing is as I am crocheting it, I am thinking to myself that it would be nice to make one for myself. That would mean counting again. Am I nuts, or what? Yup. Definitely certifiable.

Mooooola

Today I sent out my packages to my swap partners in the Spring Blossoms swap at Crochetville. I was so happy that I could get them all packaged up and sent off. One of them is going way down south to... Oh wait, I can't say where they are going, or who they are going to. Shame on me! But I can say that two are staying in the states and the other is winging it's way across "the pond". Then I got a big shocker at the Post Office. Man oh man! When did the rates go up for shipping overseas? It cost me $35 to send a box that was between 5-6 pounds. Yikes!* I can remember sending things to Australia, France, England, Malaysia and Japan before I got married (ummm... almost 11 years ago, shhh). I don't recall it costing an arm and a leg, okay a wrist and an ankle, to ship packages. When did the post decide to take such a drastic hike? Here I was expecting to spend maybe $18 to send it, and go paying almost double. That'll teach me! Next time I'll order stuff online in the country it's already going to and save on the postage costs. I'll just wait until a good currency exchange rate day. Lol. I do not mean to sound as though I am complaining about shipping overseas. (I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Well, perhaps longer than a heartbeat since you have to wait in line at the Post Office!) I knew what I was getting into when I signed up. The inflation just took me by surprise.

Beached Whale... Err... Bag

I finished crocheting the beach bag for my oldest DD's school. They are having a basket raffle to raise funds. Her class is doing a beach themed basket and I decided to make a bag for it. A bag in a basket... is that overkill? Lol.
Photos of the bag with fully finished handles. I had to go out and purchase another ball of yarn as I ran out on the second handle. Yikes! Luckily I was able to get the same dye lot, so it's all good. In total the bag used about 14 ounces of yarn. (I bought four 3oz. balls and then had to buy the fifth for that little bit extra. Plenty left over for some other small project.)
A close up of how the handles look when they are tied together. I thought that it would make the bag more interesting to have tied handles instead of one long flat one. It would also make it easier to adjust the strap size. Simple untie, and then re-tie them in the place that you want them.
The gratuitous hanging bag shot. You can see how big this monster bag is. Yes, I think those oversized beach towels will fit in there quite nicely. Along with a book, some bottled water, a small VW bug and oh yes, the kitchen sink. ROFL. Hopefully it will be a hit and they will get a lot of raffle tickets sold.

Send More Tea!

I have a cold. Not a major news flash, but none-the-less there you are. It really sucks right now because it keeps me from being able to visit my Grandfather. Not exactly a good idea to give some germies to an old man who has just gotten out of the hospital. I sit here sniffling and sneezing and drinking tea by the bucketful. Okay, so they aren't buckets, but rather mugs. Ya caught me out. I don't think that I can stuff a bucket of tea in the microwave. Wait... Hold on a sec... Nope, won't fit. But I put a big dent into my supply of green tea with lemon and ginseng. Kleenex, Nyquil, Lipton (shhh... don't tell the Adagio-ites that I haven't sprung for my order yet) and the water company are all very pleased with me. They are making quite a tidy sum. No doubt they planted this bug just to increase their profits this quarter. Why those dirty rascals! I tell you, I am not going to give in to it. I won't give them the satisfaction of winning! I'll fight it with every molecule of my being! They won't sweet talk my fevered brain. Trying to tell me that I will feel better if I purchase their products. This conspiracy can not continue! It's an outrage I tell you! It's despicable! It's, it's... Oh darn. I'm out of tea again. Be a dear and make me some more would you? And while you're up hit me up with another dose of some meds. Oh and grab another box of tissues on the way back, I seem to have run out. Thanks Deary!

The Rival Delivers

Today I got a package in the mail... err... UPSed to me. (Shhh... Don't tell hubby he works for one of the other companies.) What was in it? Well, feast your greedy little eyes on this stashy goodness. That's right... SUGAR BABIES*! The yarn that's been discontinued. The one that I love to make those little bibs out of. I got it from a secret online source. Okay, it's not really a secret. It's from Yarn and Thread by Lisa. Quick delivery, good customer service and she even threw in some free little patterns. Woohoo! Gotta love freebies. She even had in stock the size 11 ten inch knitting needles I needed (and could not find anywhere local). SCORE! Check out all the pretty colors! I must admit that I wanted to go really wild and buy tons of it. But I held myself back and settled for a measly 10 skeins. Really, you must know that this is an incredible show of self control. I picked out some colors that I never had the chance to use before (the darker purple and blue, plus both variegated yarns). The sparkly white and the yellow are replacements for the colors that I had run out of. Since the yarn has been discontinued I can see myself ordering some more in the very near future. Gotta get it while it's still out there. After all, every yarn wants a good home, and my stash is just one big old happy family waiting with open arms. Awww! *Sugar Babies is a sport weight cotton yarn made by Lily. It was marketed as a baby yarn. I can see it being used for lightweight summer items as well. Shame they never marketed it that way and branched out with more colors for it. Perhaps if they had they would not now be discontinuing the line. It's a shame as it is so tough to find a good sport weight cotton yarn that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

The Journey into Madness

Oh the Kool Aid! Can you spot all the flavors? There are EIGHTEEN different ones. So many packages... So much sacrifice to the yarn gods. (We used 3 packages of each flavor.) You can also see all the little circles that I crocheted. These were just the ones for each color. There were also others (3 of each) of the six different types of yarn tested. In all there were over 30 of the little rounds. (Psst... Only the 100% wool really dyed. The 100% nylon dyed as well, but the color was anything but what it looked like in the cup. The same color that dyed the wool green made the nylon gold.)
The yarn soaking in water and vinegar. While researching the Kool Aid dyeing techniques we came across sites that said just to soak the yarn in water, others said to soak it in water with a little vinegar added and others said to wash the yarn and then soak it. So many choices... We picked the water & vinegar mixture. And then it was on to all the purty dyes. Look at them all waiting there so tempting in their individual cups. Let the yarn orgy begin!
Toss some circles into the cups and watch them gasp for their last breath of sickly sweet scented air. "Hmmm... Smells like Kool Aid." Glug, glug. Then the mad, mad dyeing continues as you mercilessly torture more yarn. Splashing color upon color upon it until it screams for mercy! "The colors! Oh the colors!" You cackle with glee. Heehee. (Yes, I know I need help. Perhaps inhaling too much powdered drink mix is not good for you after all.)
Of course after you drown your yarn, you need to do something absolutely diabolical. You nuke it. Then you give it a little reprieve, tease the yarn with thoughts of sweet, sweet freedom. Then slam it on back in the microwave for more time in the "hot seat". Notice how in the first picture the water is blue and in the second it is a milky white color? That means the yarn soaked up all the dye out of the water like a greedy little Gus. And here it kept screaming during the torture session. Yarn, me thinks thou dost protest to much!
After such a strenuous work out during the torture session, everyone needs a nice relaxing bath. Ahhhh... Good stuff. (Please disregard the dirty drain. Eeeew. Yuck! Where's my Comet?)
No torture session would be complete without a little time on the rack. (It's actually a plant hanger, but I won't tell if you won't. Shhh...) Note the lovely views of the dead grass of our back yard. Well, at least the snow is all melted.
Drip, drip, drip. The soothing sounds of drying yarn. Now you know why it's hanging up outside. It would make quite a mess indoors.
Whatever happened to all the poor little circles swimming in the dye? Don't worry, they got their fair share of the torture as well. Note the improvised popsicle stick and brick drying apparatus. The things you resort to when your HOA* won't let you have a clothesline.
It's dry! It's dry! Woohoo! It's dry! Now where did I put that swift and ball winder? Oh. Yeah. That's right. I don't have those things. Dang it. Oldest DD stood in for the swift (and she is sure that there are child labor laws against such things) and I pretended to be a ball winder. Wee! And around, and around, and around we go... A few hundred times or so.
Look Ma! YARN! Check out the psychedelic rainbow. DD is particularly enamored of the blue. But then again, it is her favorite color. Then there is the little rainbow circle crocheted with the new yarn. Can you imagine a whole blanket out of this stuff? Definitely not for the faint of heart.
I must present, with some astonishment, my first ever knitted finished objects. Lol. Two swatches about 4 inches square each of both yarns. Hey, I got to practice binding off. It will come in handy when I get to the end of my long, long practice scarf. I think it's neat how different the yarn looks when you use it in different ways. Take a gander at the differences between rainbow yarn when it's knit and when it's crocheted.
Oh yes... Just in case you didn't figure it out by now... Kool Aid will stain. Yeah, I got tired of putting on and pulling off the rubber gloves. Shame on me! The good news is that my hands are no longer pruney or stained. Although I am still in dire need of a good manicure. Not that I ever had one to begin with. Lol.
And so ends the journey into Kool Aid Madness. I hope you made it through in one piece. Oh the colors! **ADDED** Where did I get the directions to dye? From the article "Dyed in the Wool" at Knitty. Also, I have a webring called Drink Mix Mania for people who like to dye with Kool Aid and other drink mixes so if you are a webring-a-holic I thought I'd let you know of this grand addiction promotion. Lol. *HOA = Home Owner's Association = Nasty little things with tons of rules that make you wonder why on Earth you ever signed those closing papers.

Rehab

My Grandfather is out of the hospital and is now at the care center. Or "rehab" as they call it. (Funny, but when I think of rehab, addictions come to mind. Do you think that they have rehab for yarn addicts?) He is doing better there now that they have him back on the meds to get rid of the water weight. Apparently they "forgot" to have the hospital continue the meds they gave him after having his congestive heart failure. Since being admitted to the hospital he had gained 20 pounds. And I am sure it couldn't have been for the transfusion of 8 pints of blood! Now that he is back on the meds he is getting rid of the extra fluid in his system, and thus out of danger (for now) of having a recurrence of CHF*. He is now eating more. I guess he no longer feels "bloated" and can handle eating again. Thank goodness! The one day all he would eat is a single slice of bacon. But I guess when you have 20 extra pounds of fluid pressing in on your organs and making you feel like you will burst, you wouldn't feel like trying to squeeze some food in there as well. Grandpa will be in the care center for at least a week. I think it may be a little more than that since he needs to get his strength back and be able to do things on his own. Once he is back in action he'll be released and can go back to his apartment. I know that he is itching at the seams to do so, but you just can't rush recovery after such a big episode. We are all happy that he is doing better. But it seems as though everyone is on edge just waiting for the next episode to happen. I guess we can't help but feel that way after so many hospital visits and health problems in such a short amount of time. Every day that he is still here is a gift. *CHF = Congestive Heart Failure

Kool Aid Madness

I have been working on my oldest DDs science project with her. She had decided upon dyeing yarn with Kool Aid. We selected six different types of yarn with different fiber contents. Then I made up little circle swatches and we dyed them. To see what would happen to the yarn before dyeing, after dyeing, and after hand washing. So I have been busy turning my hands all sorts of colors this weekend. Plus crocheting all the circles to dye. I made about 30 or so of them. One for each color of dye aka flavor of Kool Aid (we managed to find 18 different colors). Then three for each type of yarn. And then a few extras added in, just in case. Right now I am franticly knitting up swatches of the pour dyed yarn (we spooned different colors on top of the yarn) and the immersion dyed yarn (yarn put into one color of dye). Oh the things we do for our kids! Plus I need to upload pictures of the whole process and print them out. I think it is going to be a late night here! I will post pics of some of the colorful fun later on. Gotta get back to swatching! Morning will be here before I know it. Sigh. Well, at least it's not me who has to write the report. Poor kiddo.

Brainiac

Who would of guessed I would be a girl? Lol.

Your Brain is... 66.67% Female, 33.33% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Just Beachy

My oldest DD's school is having a basket raffle. Each classroom is donating a basket. So they have sent home a note asking for donations. Apparently each class has a theme for a basket. My daughter's is beach related. I figured that everyone would be sending in suntan lotion and such. So I decided to make a beach bag.
Perhaps I was a little too ambitious, as it is turning out quite large. But then I am thinking if the people who win it are anything like my family, they have a load of towels and such to lug around. And so it should fit it all. I am making it out of Sugar and Cream cotton in the Cool Breeze colorway. The pattern is an off-the-cuff one. I am in the midst of making the second strap for it. (I did write down how I formed the first so they would match.) I plan to have the two straps tie together in the center. Hopefully it will work out!

Erin Go Bragh

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Apparently the day is greeted with some humor. A play on the old Gaelic "Erin Go Bragh"*. But somewhat... Err... Less... Umm... Patriotic.
Erin Go Bragh = Ireland Forever

Grandpa's Condition

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the hospital again. Just being there and visiting with my Grandfather and various family members that were there. Grandpa was sitting up, alert and talking up a storm. He has a theory as to why he was able to recover from being so close to dying. That all of us who came to see him, "filled his tank" with energy. That it was us who gave a little of our spiritual energy to him, and help him to stop bleeding and start healing. Today my Grandfather had a colonoscopy. (They had already done the throat to stomach one the other day and two other tests besides that.) The reason the colonoscopy wasn't performed before now is due to the bleeding. They had to wait for the bleeding to subside in order to be able to see anything. What did they find? That he has Diverticulosis. He has the bleeding type of it where the walls of the Diverticulum rupture. Unfortunately there is no "cure" per se for it. The doctors say that it may happen again, or it may not. They can not predict such things, but there is always a chance. If things keep going well with his recovery he will be moved into a regular room on Friday. Then on Saturday he will be moved to a care center. I don't know what else to call it as it is a transitional place where they help you until you get your strength back and can be on your own again. After that he will be able to go back home. Things are looking up, and we are all hoping that they stay that way. For him, every day will have to be taken as they come, one at a time. Hopefully there will be many more of them to come. Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers.

Ready to Fly

I spent most of today at the hospital. My Grandfather was rushed from one hospital to another. They had him in and out of testing all day, and still have been unable to pinpoint where he is bleeding from. If and when they do find out they can give him surgery. He has lost a lot of blood, and they keep giving him more. He made a comment about how he now has somebody else's DNA in him. My SIL replied that it was more than one somebody. He keeps going through spurts of good and bad. And the bad is very scary. He will be okay and then not 15 minutes later take a turn for the worse. As of tonight he has stopped bleeding (for now) and is awake and alert. But that is of little comfort. You see the same thing was said yesterday and he took several bad turns afterwards. The same thing was said this morning at 8am. And not 15 minutes after that there was a phone call stating that he took a bad turn, was dying and had to be moved to a different hospital that had more facilities to treat him. So we can not set our minds at ease as the situation is liable to change at any moment. The last test they got the results back from didn't show where the bleeding was occurring from. (As was the same from the second test.) So now they are waiting to see if the bleeding occurs again. The first test they did this morning was inconclusive because he had stopped bleeding. If they can catch it, then they may be able to do this procedure/test again to see where it is coming from. But in order to do so he has to be actively bleeding at the time. Which is not good, but on the other had they need the bad to happen in order to help him, so it is good in that retrospect. But I would rather him not be bleeding at all. If they can find the source they can do something about it. As it stands right now they can not just make a "guess" about it. And they are not going to do exploratory surgery because at age 92 that would not be a good thing. He has a DNR order and if something were to happen during an exploratory then that would be it. When the Doctor came in to clarify his living will, he asked my Grandfather is he wanted to be resuscitated. Grandpa looked at the doctor with steel in his gaze and said "I don't want any heroics. If it's my time to go, I want to go." He started making little flapping motions with his hands. My Uncle looked sadly upon him and said "Yes, I know you are ready to go Dad. But you can't leave yet." Grandpa said "I'm ready to fly. To see what comes after, what's out there." With a world of weariness weighing heavily upon him, he sighed. "Ninety two years is a long time to live." We all in various ways exclaimed how we did not want him to go. I spoke up and said, "You may be ready Grandpa, but we're not." He's a stubborn, brave man and we all love him. And it's going to hurt like heck when we have to let him go.

My Grandfather

In 2002 we had a party in honor of my Grandfather's 90th birthday. I made candy bar wrappers as part of the party favors/keepsakes. This is the series of photos that were featured on it. The pictures of him span from 1912 to the 1980s. (His last "formal" picture was of him & my Grandmother at their 50th wedding anniversary in the 80's.)

Hospital, Take 2

My Grandfather called 911 to take him to the hospital today. He was bleeding an awful lot (I won't say where from as it may gross you out). They took an X-ray to try and figure out what was happening, but it did not show them anything. They would like to give him another test, but can not do so until he stops bleeding. The doctor said that at this point there are three possible causes. But they can not pin point anything, or suggest a course of treatment until further testing is done. Right now he is in ICU. His condition is listed as a 2 out of 10, with 1 being the worst. Visiting hours are over and no one can see him until 11am tomorrow. He has been given 2 pints of blood so far. Thank goodness they did not give him those blood thinners when he was released from the hospital last time. If they had, he would have died from blood loss before even getting to the hospital. I am trying to keep busy and get my mind off of the situation, but I keep wandering back to it. My eyes tear up, but I refuse to let myself cry. It will do my no good and only make me even more upset, so I am fighting it. There is nothing that I can do right now but wait for the time to tick past. I will be going to the hospital tomorrow morning. I just hope that nothing bad happens, and that I will be able to see him.

Got Spare Parts?

This afternoon my hubby had a gathering of work cronies at Hooters. (Yes, believe me I can hear the groans now. I am right there with ya.) So I dropped him off to hang out with the guys (and gals from work too). And the kiddos and I got to roam. We went to go see the new movie "Robots". The last time I took my two year old to see a movie was Shrek 2. At that time hubby went as well, it was a family outing. Poor hubby spent 3/4 of the movie out in the lobby with said youngster. Yep, she wanted to be free! So he let her run around there until my oldest DD & I were done watching the movie. I knew going into this I was taking a chance, but I was counting on the 50% chance that all would go well. Every time the Robots commercial came on, youngest DD would exclaim, with great excitement, "ROBOTS!" I let that be my deciding factor in going to the movies. She wanted to see it, so maybe she would actually sit through it. Since we were in the neighborhood, I decided to go to a local theater, one that we had never been to before. It was 20 minutes before show time and I figured that was plenty of time to get the tickets, popcorn and what have you before the previews began. We park and I get the kiddos to the door. We go into the building and there is a long line for tickets. In the window is posted "Robots Sold Out" with the time of "3:15" listed below it. But that was okay, because we were going to the 5:20 showing. Then I glanced at the next ticket booth and in their window their sign had "3:15: and "5:20". ACK! So, I tried to hussle the kiddos back out for the long walk to the car. (This place was crowded!) Youngest DD starts crying and saying "Robots, I want Robots." and "No!". I held her hand as we walked to the car. She cried all the way. Even though I tried to explain to her that the Robots were all gone, so we were going to another place to see them. Once I had her in her car seat she calmed down and then fell asleep. We made it to the other theater in plenty of time to catch their show. We got our tickets, etc. And then went to go and get our seats. Oldest DD picked the first row of the stadium seating section. So we didn't have anyone in front of us. It would be easy to get out of the theater in case someone was upset, without having to make other people stand up to get out of a row. They were showing commercials on the screen and then switched to the previews. Youngest DD didn't like being so very close to the screen. When the previews came on she tried to convince me to go higher up the steps. I think she wanted to get as far away from the screen as possible. She spent some of the time at the end of the row trying to stand beside and a little bit behind the end seat. (She does this at home when a "scary" part comes on a movie... Like when Marlin & Dory get swallowed by the whale in Nemo.) I kept trying to get her to sit down in her seat. And yes, I will admit it, I did bribe her with M&M's. She's a woman, and she loves chocolate. Lol. It only worked for a little while. She spent most of the movie trying to hide or in my lap. Then towards the end of the movie she got up and was doing circle laps in the big in front of us. However, there were no screaming or crying incidents which I was very glad of. I just didn't like when she would try to hide behind the seats because I couldn't see her. (I am a paranoid Mommy.) All in all it went well. We enjoyed the movie. Although I would have liked it more, I am sure, if I didn't miss pieces her and there. I am sure that when it comes out on DVD I will see it plenty. As I am sure that it will get many a viewing here. Let me just say that this week I have watched Lilo & Stitch no less than 10 times. And the Stitch movie about 5 times. Youngest DD has a way of wearing movies out!

Cleaning House

I spent most of the day today cleaning. Somehow just muttering "ugh" does not truly express how very much I loathe housework. Can we hire a maid? Not like we can afford one, lol. I wouldn't even know how to act if we had one. One thing is for sure. I'd feel funny about having some stranger launder my undies. There is something just not right about it. Guess I'll just have to suck it up and slog through the chaos. Ugh.

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have been trying to practice my knitting a little bit each day. It has been a little less the past few days as I have been busy with home stuff. How dare I neglect my yarn interests in the pursuit of a more organized and cleanlier home! Shame on me. Tsk, tsk! I have decided that my little practice piece is going to be a scarf. While it is not the most striking color or piece of knitting, it will do quite nicely. If I am going to make something, I might as well make something useful, right? Plus since it is 100% cotton, I can always dye it a flashier color later on, when the mood tickles my fancy. You will notice that the scarf is made of completely random knitting. It will be quite... Ummm... Unique, that's for sure! My first attempt at ribbing. I did a knit 1, purl 2,(knit 2, purl 2)across and a knit 1 in the last stitch. I thought it was awkward changing from knit to purl ever two stitches. Then I did a k1, p1 rib. Now that was awkward to learn. After you get into the rhythm of swishing the yarn from front to back you don't notice it as much. But it sure is slow going at first! I will have to tackle the "moss" or "seed" stitch next since it has the same amount of switching back and forth. The garter or stockinette stitch. My little Vs all in a row. Fly little geesies, fly! This is when I realized that I was holing the yarn in my right hand and throwing it to knit, but holding the yarn in my left hand when I purled. I guess I am not really a "thrower" or a "picker", but a combination of both. Does this mean that I am cross-group-ial? Would I then be called a cross group-er? Nothing like a ticked off fish, eh? This is what I do with the scarf when I am ready to put it back into my little black bag. (Knitting is sexy, so it deserves a little black bag, lol.) My youngest DD loves to put her hands around the rolled up knitting and squeeze it. I can't say I blame her because I do the exact same thing. It's just really nice and squishy, in a good way. Does anyone else roll up their knitting or am I just weird?

Blogger Burps

Has anyone been experiencing trouble with Blogger over the past 24 hours? I kept not being able to log in and post. I had to catch it at an "on" moment. Then it would wink out again on me. Now I have an email from someone who said that when they went to post a comment it said "blog not found". Not found? ACK! How did I lose myself? Sound the Alarm! Awoooooga! Awoooooga! Send out the search party! I need to find me before some stranger tries to make off with my yarn stash! Hey, what are you doing in my closet? You're supposed to be helping to find me, not raiding the yarn! Sheesh.

Signs

I love reading the signs on the local floral shops and churches. They certainly come up with some grand sayings! Sometimes thought provoking and sometimes ones that just leave me with a grin on my face. Driving home tonight I came across the following two sayings posted on signs. "Forbidden Fruits Often Lead to Jams" -- On a florist shop "Death is No Way to Meet God" -- On a church I wonder if it is only here in the US that places do this on a frequent basis. I can't recall seeing anything of the like while going through Canada. And since I have never been to any other country other than the US & Canada I really can't say. Perhaps visitors to this blog can chime on in with some of their favorite "sign sayings". And all of y'all from other countries let me know if you play the sign game too!

Martha Stewart Poncho

Are you one of the people who envied Martha her "get out of the big house with a neat ankle bracelet" poncho? People have been clamoring for the pattern. It seems that a fellow inmate had made the poncho for Martha without a pattern. Gasp! She sounds like us wingers out there who just go with the flow. When I looked at the photos posted it seemed to be a basic granny poncho with a funnel neck added to the top and a scalloped edging to the bottom. The "funnel" part being single crochet around the neck opening for a few rounds. The "scallop" being more than likely rows of single crochet double crochet and triple crochets combined into something like sc in stitch, sk next st, (dc 2 twice, tr, dc twice) in the next stitch, sk next stitch and repeat around. Then additional rows around to make the scallops bigger. Kind of like adding a hill of a ripple to the bottom. Yarn manufacturers and crochet addicts alike have been scrambling to come up with their own pattern for a look-alike "Martha Poncho". Yesterday Lion Brand sent out an email to their newsletter subscribers that they were working on a pattern for their version of the poncho, and that it would be ready within the next week. Today I found out that Bernat has released their own pattern for free on the net. And it only makes sense since the original "Martha" was made from Bernat Galaxy yarn! I wonder how LB feels about being beaten to the punch so to speak. It also makes me wonder what differences the patterns will have between the two. I guess we shall just have to wait until the LB pattern comes out. I am also wondering how the inmate feels about being notorious. I mean for something other than whatever got her behind bars. It seems a shame that Martha is getting the fame and credit, in a way*, for something that she herself made. Hopefully she will be happy that something she created has sparked the imagination of the hand craft world. And that the patterns themselves are being shared freely, instead of making more money for someone** who is clearly not in need of funds. UPDATE: Found that Herrschner's is selling a "kit" to make the Bernat pattern. They have a picture of the finished product on their page and it is different than the one that Martha wore. It doesn't seem to have the "thick blocks" in the pattern like the other. Hmmm... Bernat's Martha Poncho Pattern Lion Brand's Version of the Martha is called "Coming Home" Herrschner's Kit Using the Bernat Pattern Lily Chin's Freedom Poncho for Interweave Knits *That it is a shame Martha gets the credit and the glory, instead of the pattern creator. And that even though she says who it was made by (if only in the general terms allowed), it is still called "Martha's". **someone = Martha (Annotations added due to some confusion.)

Fur Babes in Snowland

Whenever there is snow, we must take pictures of the kiddos enjoying the winter wonder. This includes our darling fur babies as well! Here is a picture of our "shrimp". He is a Sheltie, and a very small one at that. Most people ask if he is a miniature (is there such a thing?). He weighs in at a whopping 13 pounds. We got him when he was 6 months old. Poor little guy lived almost all those months in a cage. He is a bit skittish even now when he hears sounds that are unfamiliar. I remember the first time he heard a train crossing on the television. He started growling like there was no tomorrow. Then he quickly ran to me for protection. He's a big sweetie and loves everyone. A house is not a house without cat hair. Err... I mean a cat. This is our big boy. And funnily enough he weighs the same amount as our puppers. (The vet was quite surprised when he weighed them both!) He was part of the free kitty program. Hubby and oldest DD picked him up the one day when they saw a "Free Kittens" sign. Hubby brought him home and they both swore up and down that he was a she. (Up to that point we had only had female cats as a married couple.*) I kept looking at the cat and saying "Are you sure? He looks like a boy." Turns out that I was right! Trust a woman to know gender better than a man. We've had our kitty for over 5 years now and he is a lover. I have no idea what breed he is. Just a run of the mill, ever-so-lovable, kitty cat! *Growing up we had tons of male cats and only one female cat. Hubby did not have any cats for pets while growing up. So... I converted him to cat-and-dog-ism! Lol.

First of Many

Today I ordered my first official knitting pattern. Woohoo! I am sure it will be first in a line of many patterns to come. I was browsing the web and came across the site One of Susanna's. It is a blog by Susanna Hansson who teaches knitting in Washington state. On the blog she discusses her knitting adventures and the classes that she teaches. Oh if only I was close enough to take one! Since I can not take one of her classes I did the next best thing... I ordered her Two-Thirds Sachet pattern. Now I could not order the pattern from her site, but she gives a listing of the stores that carry her patterns. So I looked at the list and selected the only store in PA and clicked on their website. Sure enough, they had the pattern listed for $5.00 and then a shipping and handling charge of $4.50. That seemed an excessive amount for shipping. I clicked around some more and came across the Acorn Street Shop. They had the same pattern listed for $4.95, but did not have the shipping and handling listed on their site. They didn't open shop until 10 am Pacific time, so I had to wait three hours before I could call them. When I did they were most helpful on the phone and told me that their shipping cost for one pattern was $2.00. So I snapped it up right away! It seems funny that a place in the same state as me and a mere 95 miles away* wanted $4.50 for shipping. But a place that is 2,806 miles away is only charging me $2.00. Hmm... More Mileage = Less Postage? *When compared to another place on the opposite coast it is quite "mere".

Knock on the Noggin

A loud crash tonight had me sprinting up the stairs in terror. You see my oldest DD was getting a shower and it sounded as though one of the glass doors had fallen. I was afraid that one of them had fallen on her or had broken and somehow injured her. With my heart racing a mile a minute I dashed into the bathroom to see her wrapped in a towel and holding her head and moaning in pain. I gathered her into my arms and glanced over her head at the shower doors. They were still there, so nothing had crashed in on her. It turns out that she had crashed into the wall. Or more accurately into the metal door track on the side of the shower wall. Ouch! Yep, she inherited her mother's clumsiness, dern genes! I checked her for signs of trauma and found a small lump up near her hairline. No blood, thank goodness. Then I made sure that she did not have a concussion. No dilated pupils, black outs or loss of motor skills, check. She settled on my bed while I went on the search for pain medication and made an ice pack. I located the "stay dry" ice pack* the hospital had given us for youngest DD and filled it with ice. Grabbed the Junior Motrin and went to go and tend the patient. After she was suitably dosed she crawled under the covers and made to sleep in "Mommy's Bed". Then youngest DD crawled into bed along with her. And then the dog. It seems that Mommy is going to have a lot of cuddle company tonight. Time to get in those jammies and stake out my portion of the bed! 10 March 2005 UPDATE: Oldest DD woke up this morning and is doing fine. 2nd UPDATE: I rechecked her head after she came home from school and there is no more swelling and not a bruise in sight! Guess that ice pack worked really, really well this time! *Man we love that thing! I think all of us have used it at one time or another and it does what it says. It keeps the ice in and you stay nice and dry, no leaks! Shame we can't find them in the stores. I'll have to check the pharmacy by the hospital the next time I am over there since they carry a lot more medical supplies than a general pharmacy does.

XM versus Sirius

Hubby is feeling bummed lately. You see he purchased an XM radio to use in his work truck. Since he is a truck driver and frequently crosses into various radio areas he wanted something that he could listen to the same station wherever he went, plus get multi-state weather. He was quite pleased with XM at first. He's been using it for over a year now. However, he recently found out that all his favorite programs are switching over to Sirius. He has also begun to see a gradual deterioration of XM reception in the areas that he drives through. Which, when you are paying for a service every month, is extremely aggravating. All of this has him browsing the Sirius site online. He is considering purchasing a new system and then selling his XM. No doubt it will be very soon that he starts getting serious about getting Sirius. Lol.

Snowy Dismissal

It is snowing today. Yesterday it was in the 60's and today it is 22 degrees out with snow! (With the wind chill it feels like it is 8 degrees outside.) Oh what a tease Mother Nature is. So cruel to give us a taste of spring one day and yank it away the next. At least one person is going to be pleased that it's snowing. My oldest DD is getting out of class an hour early. Now doubt fidgeting in her seat with barely contained joy. I can just hear her when she comes in the door, "Mom, can I go play outside?" What do you expect from a child born in Alaska?

Reverse Posting

I have been so busy crocheting and trying to get my book reviews done this week that I have been neglecting my posts. I am such a naughty girl! There are many posts waiting in the wings in their "draft" form. They are anxiously awaiting their pictures to be uploaded and their final touches added. I hope to be able to get them up within the next two days. So if you check back on Monday be sure to skim on down and check out what you might not have seen before. On a side note... For those who read the Sookie Stackhouse stories I just finished "Dead as a Doornail". Woowee you will not be disappointed by this newest addition. I am off to read Katie MacAlister's next dragon book "Fire Me Up". Gotta love being able to review these books before they are released for public consumption. UPDATE: The New Posts are... Getting My Curves Back - The Learning Curve - Yellow Peril

The Learning Curve

On Wednesday, after my workout at Curves, I was getting ready to leave and I happened to see a basket of scrunchies for sale that were hand made. The lady sitting next to me (also changing her shoes) commented on them and we started talking about knitting and crochet. Then I saw a scarf hanging from a coat hook. It turned out to be hers! She (we'll call her R) said that although she had not made that one (pointing to the scarf hanging up) she had made others, and was in the process of knitting a black and white one, but she needed to purchase more yarn. This led to a discussion about yarn shops. She mentioned one called Unraveled that she was going to. I had never heard of it. It turns out that it is a fairly new shop with a young owner & workers (she is in "young" her 70's so I don't know what her definition of young would be). That they were super nice not like that lady at the "Phoenixville Store". Right away I new what store she was talking about. You see I had talked to the owner of the yarn shop about knitting lessons. She was going to charge me $75 to learn to knit. At the time I had no idea what knitting classes were going for, but was unable to work the class into "mom-life". When I told R about this she was quite outraged. I told her that I had since found out that I could take a knitting class at AC Moore or Michaels for $10 to $15 dollars and learn the same stuff for much less. I told her of how my hubby had purchased a CD Rom for the computer one Christmas for me to learn how to knit. But that when I tried, the work kept twisting around the needle, and that I was pretty sure that was not supposed to work that way. R looked at me and said "I can show you. Will you be here on Friday?" I said that I would be, and she told me to bring in my yarn and needles and we could have a quick session together. I thanked her and told her that I was looking forward to Friday. When Friday rolled around I was impatiently waiting for hubby to come home from work, after all I had an appointment with some yarn, some sticks and a very nice lady. Hubby got home from work late and I raced on over to Curves. Luckily just as I arrived she was finishing up her workout. She sat down and showed me how to cast on (using the long tail method--I later learned what it was called). I picked that up really quickly, so she moved on to knitting. At first it was awkward holding the two needles after so much crochet. But then I got the hang of it. She moved on to purl and that seem ed to be easier for me to pull the yarn through. Then I just worked on both stitches for a little while. She was amazed that I picked it all up so quickly. And I told her that it was because she was such a great teacher! After my 15 minute lesson I gave her a little thank you gift. A potholder that I had crocheted out of cotton yarn in a "springy" color. She loved it so very much and had to go around showing everyone. I think that I made her day the same way that she made mine. Thanks R! Here is a little shot of my practicing. I had ripped out the original and started over practicing the knit stitch. Later on I decided that I cast on too many stitches (such enthusiasm!) and ripped out this piece as well. I am currently practicing with a 20 stitch cast on. Ignore the old, outdated cruddy tile. I can not get the grout white no matter what. They need to be ripped up and new flooring put down. So many projects... So little time!

Yellow Peril

Where do I start writing about my yarn woes? I bought the Bernat Softy Baby yarn to make the Textured Baby Blanket for my DD's teacher. I was merrily crocheting along when it happened... A sudden hissing sound startled me. My shoulders started to quiver and soon my hands began to shake. Was it a gas leak? Nothing smelled funny. Had a pit of vipers s