SASsy Knitter

Another silly quiz

2007-06-22T11:19:00.001-07:00

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I'm Harry Potter!

2007-06-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

You scored as Harry Potter, You are Harry Potter. You are daring, and have quite a lot of nerve. You rely on your instincts to make decisions. You're a natural leader. You are highly concerned with justice and actively fight for what you feel is right.

Harry Potter

94%

Luna Lovegood

88%

Neville Longbottom

81%

Remus Lupin

81%

Albus Dumbledore

78%

Draco Malfoy

63%

Hermione Granger

63%

Oliver Wood

59%

Sirius Black

56%

Severus Snape

47%

Lord Voldemort

47%

Bellatrix Lestrange

41%

Percy Weasley

41%

Ron Weasley

25%

Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

My brain is yellow... or is that jello?

2007-05-19T08:52:00.002-07:00

Your Brain is Yellow

Of all the brain types, yours is the most intellectual.You crave mental stimulation, and your thoughts tend to very complex.Your thoughts tend to be innovative and cutting edge, though many people don't understand them.
You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about science, architecture, and communication.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourbrainquiz/

What Color Is Your Brain?

No photos

2007-05-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I woke up and am at 195.4 lbs today. Almost to my next goal of 195 lbs. I don't call it until I am there or under. Maybe tomorrow. Lost 2 inches off my waist in the last month. Woot! I got back on Monday night from my training. It was wonderful and I feel more empowered.

Knitting front: I finished a felted tote from "Knitting for Peace." I am really enjoying that book and find it very inspiring. It sounded silly to me, but bought it any way. LOL! I am currently working on an hourglass sweater from Knit Picks Andean Silk in olive. I'm at the waist increases now. I will take photos soon.

Spinning front: I finally broke out my charkha last night. I sat down with the video and started spinning on it right away. Totally fun and addicting since you fill a bobbin quickly. I want to read a book on Gandhi soon. Sort of goes along with the theme of knitting for peace. I love the idea of nonviolent protesting. It's the whole 'green peace-er' in me. Not that I have ever been a part of Green Peace, but I was always called one when growing up. Stigma? Not! Total compliment even if it wasn't meant that way. LOL!

Gonna go knit for a bit. Have a knitty day!

Woot! I finally made it to my first goal!

2007-05-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today, I am at 199.8 lbs. Party time! Woot! Actually, no party time. I have to get ready for a class tonight and I leave tomorrow for training for 6 days. Gotta run. Time for nap for the wee ones and time for me to kick it into high gear. Hugs!
p.s. next goal is 195 lbs. Here I come!

Yeah, well, Strike That!

2007-05-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Ignore everything I said before about plans. I don't even want to go there. LOL! I have been up to lots and lots. I tried out Typepad thinking it would be easier to customize than Blogger, but it isn't so here we go again.

Above you can see my ticker for weight loss. For some reason it can't do math properly as I have lost 9 lbs today! Not too bad for less than 2 weeks. I am currently on a "raw" foods diet. I have been on this before and loved it. It is a bit difficult to stay dedicated to it as you pretty much have to pack food with you every where you go. I made the mistake of Sunday taking unprepared food with me to a potluck so that I could whip something up for myself. By the time the potluck began I was too hungry and just dug into the cooked foods. Oh well. Lesson learned. We have another potluck this Sunday and I'm definitely taking prepared foods with me. I started on this again not so much for the weight loss, which I'm not going to complain about, but to detox and get healthy. I tried to quit smoking at the same time. When you choose not to drink coffee, eat candy, or drink Mountain Dew.... you've cut almost all indulgences. I had to start smoking again after a half a day as I was going to kill people. LOL!

I am really looking forward to being under 200 lbs. Since having gained all this weight with my fifth pregnancy I've flirted with 200 lbs a couple of times, but never has fulfilled it.

I know some of you will object to a "raw" foods diet and voice your concerns for my health. I love you too! :) Trust that I've done the research. Trust that I know my body well enough to stop when I know something isn't right. If you can get past the detox phase you will see what I mean about my body feeling lighter, better clarity of mind, and an increase of energy. I'm in the eye of the detox phase so yesterday I was feeling like total crap.

I would really like to continue on this diet for as long as it is needed/desired. I'm concerned as I leave this Wednesday for a week in which the retreat center will be making all the food. I think I will pack some foods for me to supplement their meals. I know they will have some raw foods there. I'm thinking of trying a hard core detox diet when I get back. I don't know. I have 3 weeks from the return of that training till I leave for the next training in Virginia. I'm a jet setter, ya know?

I will stop boring you for now. Loves to my peeps!

Changes in the Wind

2006-11-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

Come and check out my new blog in which I WILL be posting often. Watch for patterns, knitting and spinning news, other ADHD crafts, and my weight loss!

www.twisted.typepad.com

So Sporadic!

2006-09-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Ok, so I blog and I blog and I make it habit. Then life gets in the way. Then the guilt from not blogging gets to me. Then the to do list in order to blog gets made. And then procrastination sets in... I know someone out there understands! hehehehe.

Lots going on. Building a shed. Had a leak in the kitchen and it still is torn apart. We begin remodelling this weekend. Woo hoo! Been sick a lot lately. Yuck!

Been spinning a lot lately. Trying my hand at a new craft. Pictures will come eventually.

Thinking about switching to a different blogging software so that I can set up a store, cuz god knows I have an overly full wardrobe of handknits. Also, have too many skeins spun up to knit. And, I can finally get my patterns up for sale. Still thinking about it though. Would need to rearrange my life though. Procrastination setting in... hehehe.

I really, really, really badly want to open a retail (brick and mortar) store. I don't know what I'd sell. I don't know what I want to do. But the desire keeps getting bigger and bigger. Some day it will explode into a hopefully brilliant idea. Explode will come... impending... but keeping fingers crossed its brilliant. snicker!

I do exist. I'm still alive and kicking. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. hehehe.

Wha's happenin?

2006-06-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't 'finished' anything this week unfortunately. I did start some projects. Lol. Yeah, so like me. I joined my first KAL (knit along) for a mystery stole. We start in about a week. I'm excited about it and plan to use an eggplant lace weight cashmere for that. Ooh la la. I restarted and restarted Veste Everest from Interweave Fall '05 (I think?). The sizing options are very limited so I started the larger and it looked huge. So I frogged it and started the smaller size which looked anorexic to me. So I frogged it and started the larger size again. Oh so much fun... NOT!
In other news...

Lily's sweater is a blockin'. Lovely space board and blocking pins that Tim gifted me with. He loves me :). Sorry bout the sideways photo. Trying to blog before running out and blogger takes FOR-EVER to upload.

I have all of Bella's fiber spun into singles and now just need to ply the rest of it. Yeah for Bella!

I placed an order for some fiber and spindles a week or so ago and received this sample of wool. It was red, white, and blue fiber. Spun up a lot prettier than I thought it would. Might be enough to knit a hat with.

Here is my new beauty!!! Nhewyt's Dragon from Wooly Designs. Isn't it way too cool? I haven't spun anything with it yet, but did spin it a bit and it goes on and on and on and on...

This little cutie is a Greensleeves Loki spindle. Haven't spun with it either, but looks good enough to eat.

Here is some lovely new fiber! Robin Hood BFL and Summer Berries BFL from Spunky Hats. Can't wait to spin these up! However I joined a summer fiber exchange and may have to part with some of this. sniff sniff...

Last, but definitely, DEFINITELY, not least is a spindle rack that Tim made for me. I was so surprised when he gifted me with it! How awesome is that? It is his first larger project. Makes me want to cry... he's so thoughtful. My handmade spindle isn't on there.... yes that means I only have room for one more spindle. Will that stop me from buying more? Heck no! snicker :). Happy Fiber Day to us all! Woo hoo!

Now on to the Present

2006-06-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

So now we will travel through the museum of handspuns to date. Lol.

Here we find my very first handspun ever. I spun this wool up on my Lendrum Travelling wheel. I knit it up into the multidirectional scarf that I then pot dyed it with Wilton's. I deliberately didn't mix the dye well so that I would get some 'splotchiness.' Like the technical terms. lol.

Here we find the beautiful handspun baby alpaca. This is my second handspun, again on my wheel. You can get a glimpse of my handy, dandy tags I made for my yarns. Yes... an original graphic... hahaha, done in Paint even.

I had a bit of leftovers from the alpaca that I plied using the Navajo technique. I think I did perty good for a first attempt.

Here is my beautiful 3rd skein done up on my wheel. I have tons more to spin up, which will eventually be made into a lightweight sweater for my hubby as long as I have enough yarn for that. This is 100% wool. Not sure what type.

This is my 4th skein made up on my wheel. I adventured into 100% silk this time. I left it as a single. Much more difficult to work with than wool, but a fun adventure anywhoo.

Here I begin playing with textures. Done on my wheel.

Here is my BFL spun up. Beautiful. I'm currently knitting this into a sweater for Lily Mae.

Here we begin my adventures into spinning with a spindle. This is my first successful skein. Well... actually my first skein was successful, but highly overspun as I took the directions a little too literally. Lol. 100% wool. Not sure of the source.

Here is the above yarn knit into a raglan for Rowan. He LOVES it.

This is my second batch on the spindle with fudge brownie fiber. These lovelies are waiting for the rest to be spun up for a sweater for me. Not sure if I'll design a pattern or find one. As always, leaning towards an Elsebeth Lavold pattern. hehehe.

This is my third batch on the spindle. Bella was so envious that Rowan got a sweater that I had to start spinning for her. She loves it so much that she won't let anyone touch HER yarn.

I know I'm a beginner spinner, but had to share with others. So I held a spinning class at my house. We made up spindles, demonstrated dyeing fibers. These are the results. This pretty little spindle is the one I made up. Under it is the fiber spun from my dyeing demo. I didn't dye much.

Check out the beautimus spindles I have no acquired!!! From left to right they are: Viking Santa 1.6 oz spindle, Golding Celtic knot 1.9 oz spindle, Golding Tsunami 0.6 oz spindle, Kundert 1.3 oz spindle, and Cascade Pilchuck 1.3 oz spindle. They have a sibling in transit... :) Wait till you see this new beauty!

I got a noste and a dinky niddy noddy. Bit too small for practical use, but cute anywho. I have an Ashord NN too. Oh and my hubby bought me a Space board. Woot woot. I have blocking pins in transit too. So this wraps up the Spinning Museum. I hope you enjoyed yourself. Snicker!

Bringing up the past

2006-06-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

You'll have to forgive my photos as I haven't blogged in a bit as I was waiting for the *perfect* time to take photos. Ha! That'll never happen so I quickly took some photos. So a blast from the past coming at'chya.

This is a bias knit scarf I made from Pandora yarn. I made this a few weeks ago.

This is a Top Down sweater I made from Silk Road Aran. I finished this sweater in November.

This is 'To Dye For' made from Knitpicks Suri Dream. I think I knit this up around the beginning of the year. hehehe. Can't remember.

Made from Rowan's Calmer. Think I made this up around the beginning of the year. Lol.

This is an R2 yarn and pattern made sometime last year I think. snicker.

Mmmm, Big Wool sweater for hubby. No clue, last year?

Mmmm, Rowan Plaid which I finished up around Christmas I believe.

Even better. Finished up like a month ago. Took about a week and a half. Including 2 days totally down for the stomach flu. I wear this EVERY chance I can get. Love, love, love it!

And last, but not least, is Queen Mab. You notice how it isn't finished? I needed one more skein because I was about 10 yards short. Ordered the new skein and haven't picked it up since then. Will have to finish it soon for winter wear. Loving the Queen Mab!

And that kind of, sort of, brings us up to date.

Ooh la la, New Fiber

2006-05-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Eva, of Alpacas of Fair Meadow Farms, has a fiber group that meets during the summer. Headed over there and picked these lovelies up. The ones on the sides are baby alpaca combed top hand-dyed by her. I can't wait to spin these up. The one in the middle is bombyx top in color Abalone from chasing rainbows dyeworks. I haven't worked much with silk so a little nervous, but totally psyched to spin it.

Umm, so, I went shopping... over to Weaving Works. I picked up a jumbo flyer for my wheel and a couple of bobbins. Also picked up these beauties. From left to right they are cinnamon cotton roving, merino top in colorway Sage, Concord merino/silk blend, and white soysilk.

I happened to pick this up too. It's a Cascade Spindle called Pilchuck. It works really well. I will post some more pictures soon. I spun up some heavily overspun yarn on this and am working on my second batch. On the first batch I tried out Andean plying. Worked really well. I finished spinning some alpaca on my wheel. My 3rd skein spun on that. Not perfect, but coming along nicely. One bobbin was fuller than the other so I tried out Navajo plying with the leftovers. I really like it. Took a bit to get the hang of it. I have some teal Colonial wool on the wheel now. I finished my jacket on Friday... ooh la la. It is sooooo nice. I'll post pics of that soon as well.

Now on to obsessing about wants, err I mean NEEDS. I need Forsyth wool combs, raw fiber of course, 2 Golding spindles, nostepinne, a small niddy noddy, blocking pins and a blocking board... of which I cannot find anywhere online or locally. It would be so handy to pin pieces out to a marked board. NEED... :p

Renaissance Yarns

2006-05-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

You may remember Nancy from my Pastimes Yarns posts. Well, she's gone and done it!!! She has opened a beautiful yarn shop of her own just blocks from where Pastimes once lived and breathed. She has maintained a loyal following of fiber addicts who filled the shop on the very first day of business. Her passion will not only be carried over to customers, but will ensure a very successful venture for her. She deserves it!

Being the enabler that she is, I found a new project. Aaaah! The last thing I need is more yarn, hehehe. The pattern is from Noro Revisited by Cornelia Hamilton. It is called Bettna. Beautiful, ain't she? I'm knitting it from Kureyon #170. I have the lower pieces made and am knitting the second sleeve/upper body portion now. Should be done in a few days. Woot woot! Unfortunately it has been in the 80s lately. sniff sniff. I want to wear this beauty when I'm done with it. Keep your fingers crossed for some cold, stormy weather, hehehe.

I started spinning again. I had to put my wheel away a little over a year ago as the kids wouldn't keep their hands off of it. Well, I pulled it back out again and have been really enjoying it! So... snicker... I had to pick up some more fiber... duh! hehehe. Stupid sheep! So I picked out some luscious merino and silk roving from Blue Goose Glen. Simply gorgeous! And from Spunky Hats I picked up some BFL hand dyed fiber. I'm still waiting on that, but here is a photo to keep me salivating. Yum! Stupid sheep! Oh, oh, oh! There is an alpaca farm within minutes of my house. The owner, Eva, is involved in all sorts of spinning guilds, groups, and whatnot. Tonight is the first Happy Hour of the summer season. I'll be there with bells on! Course some alpaca fiber will jump into my bag 'o tricks whilst I'm there. Stupid alpacas! hehehe. I think I may be incurable. If someone finds a cure, puh-lease let me know. hehehe.

Happy fiber day to all of you out there!

Stay Tuned

2006-03-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

Photos of Queen Mab in progress coming. A lovely sweater I knit for my husband a month or two ago as well...

Peek a Boo

2006-03-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Just a note to say that I have missed blogging and will return to it shortly! Got a little knitting news, a little travelling news, and bit of my hopes and dreams to share.

You are missed

2005-11-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

Dedicated to Amy Skaar who lost a dear friend one year ago today.

Cuddle and hold

Cherish our friends

Old ones, dear and frail

When they pass on

a part of us is taken.

Replaced by a part of them.

Memories, so precious

tender and intimate

Pain so raw, fade

smile, images of them,

us appear in our heads,

our hearts.

Poetry

2005-11-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

Expectations to excel. The thrill of the conquer. The misery of defeat. Mutterings scribbled on a page. Do they delight the mind? Ignite imaginations and passions? Or do they leave you wanting for more?

More intellect. Indulgence. Piquing the mind with hints of illusion.

Do we cater to the masses or write the emotions of the heart? For the simple face of what they are worth. Value. Trinkets of my soul, for myself or for the masses. Precious hidden jewels of immense delight or misery.

The pain of illusion. Raw emotions. The car wreck of my pain for all to see, for all to view, for all to read.

The heavens look down and scoff at this. This infantile scribbling. Oh, to the gods. Muses that be. Guide this pen. The mutterings of a mad woman. May it be to you a nectar of purity. Ambrosia of raw delight.

May the senses inflame with secret passions.

Pastimes Whistler Retreat

2005-10-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night I decided to attend the 4 day Pastimes Knitting Retreat in Whistler. I told you I needed a vacation. I got a great one! Wish it would never end. I packed so much into it though I thought I would show ya'll the landscape. Peep photos coming soon. Be warned though that lots and lots of sillyness ensued.

We arrived Thursday evening around 7 p.m. and walked into the village for dinner. There seemed to springs of life welling up everywhere. I love water, the sounds, the textures, and the soothing nature of it. I think there are few things as beautiful. Even a single drop of water holds an immense amount of beauty. Water holds the power of serenity and reflection.

Friday morning I woke at 6 a.m. I headed out for a short hike at around 6:30. Oh my. The fog seemed to swallow so much of the countryside at that hour. It was beautiful. It was however too dark for my lil' camera to get too many good shots. I found an interesting nature trail. My fears over took me, bear maulings and all, so I tried to recruit someone to hike with me. to no avail. Later on I took a walk up the hillside. Stupid me, I started off at too fast a clip and burned my thighs before I was up the first incline. I didn't get up too far before resting and then heading back down. The countryside here is breath taking... for real... like I gasped multiple times at the beauty.

I would love to be surrounded by the delicate nature of this place every day, however I think I would lose the ability to be awestruck. I live with the gorgeous Mt. Ranier practically in my backyard and forget it's there until someone points it out and then I'm like 'Oh yeah, the mountain.' I definitely will have to make it to the retreat often, which is an annual event.

Saturday we spent the day in classes. Erik, however, spent the day photographing this exquisite wonderland. I am impatiently awaiting his gallery of work.

Sunday, we went horseback riding. Wow, the tranquility!!! We were able to do something as a group of friends, quietly, peacefully enjoying this land that will rip the words right out of your mouth. We stopped for a few more photo ops on the way home. I miss the fog. I miss the rocks. I miss the water and its craddling serenity.

Lots of knitting, lots of crap

2005-10-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

I need a vacation. Like a really long one. Maybe a permanent one. Ever think it would be nice to be declared insane? Lock you up in a padded room. All alone. Where they make sure you don't get stressed? Of course, they would let me have my knitting because it's therapeutic. Sometimes. Ever feel like someone else's life would be better? Sign me up baby!!!

Yeah, it really has been trying for me lately. I've gotten lots of knitting done, woo hoo, kind of. Thank goodness for friends right now. They are the only ones keeping me sane. House is trashed. Kids are sick. Husband is sick. Not only is husband sick, because he's sick I have to give him some slack. It's like trying to reel in a shark on 10 lb line!!! Weeeeeeeeeee, run baby run. Yeah, so his Evercrack (thankies Erik for that term) has reached an all new high. I started playing again which is ironic. It has been my selfish time.

My last week has been like this. Monday, clean, take care of screaming kids, clean and sob into my pillow. Tuesday, clean, a break (better run for it) as a friend and I hung out for a while, go home and clean. Speaking of such friend. We discussed super powers. She has decided that her super power would be setting peeps on fire. I don't think she can call herself a super hero. Well, except the people she was talking about lighting up are villains in their own right. So... she would be doing the world a huge favor. She got a new car yesterday. A black beemer, a Z3 I think. I can just see her careening madly, knocking over pink frilly teenagers and the ones she misses she blasts with a fireball. LOL. I'm scared to go for a ride with her. The 'OH SH&$' handle will be well used. I thought my super power would be to read peeps minds, at will, and not have them know it. I reconsidered and decided that the more fitting power would be the ability to annoy peeps until they scratch their own brains out. LMBO. I'm not sure which skill is more disturbing, hers or mine. Any, back to life as we know it. Wednesday, um... can't remember so I'm going to guess it was so horrific I blocked it from my memory. Oh, if only I could chose to do that more often. Thursday, yeah yeah yeah, it was our knitting group's first time to meet up. Knitting with the ladies. Oh, my memory is going, the super power discussion actually happened on Thursday. My god! I'm losing it... well I lost it long ago... so what do you call it when you are sinking further? Anyway, I think you are getting the picture. Bunch o crap, little sleep and rats!!!

My kids start freakin' last night around midnight that they saw a rat. I'm afraid of the dark and the little ones' light bulb has gone out. Try to wake up Tim. grrrrr. Frickin frackin rotten fink. Um, he didn't get up. I grab the broom, flashlight, and emptied a yarn bin to catch it in. I have no clue what to do as we've never had a rat in the house before. We need a cat again. I sweep out every dark corner in all the room saving the little ones room for last. I heard something, leaped (more like flew) up onto Bella's bed waking her up. No clue what made the noise, but no rat found. Anywhere. It's now 2 a.m. I feel like having a heart attack. I hear rat scratching sounds everywhere. I can see them running all around in the darkness. How am I supposed to sleep? I guess with one eye half open.

Blah, blah, blah. Knitting, that's what you are here for. Shut up T, no one is listening to you!!! So I got a scarf made for Gracie, seed stitch out of Galaxy. Scarf made for Bella, stockinette out of Lucky. Scarf for myself, garter out of Pansy. I got my tank finished. Lousy picture. Give me a break. I am blogging, didn't have the drive to get a decent photo of anything. Got my vest made. Yes, it does look like crap in the photo. I had a problem with it. I washed it, laid it out to dry, and by carefully handling it grew several sizes too big. I washed it and dried it to shrink it back down. It still is a little too big... and wrinkly from the dryer. No brain power to work on it though. Oh, Rowan's hat turned out perfecto! Made from Oddyssey. Wonderful merino yarn. I will post the pattern later with fotos of Rowbug wearing it. I will include instructions on older child sizing and adult sizing as well.

And finally, a foto of my dagger. It is in progress. It originally was just a slab of steel. I've been using a hand saw, hand files and sandpaper to get it to the state it is now. I'm going to define the edge more and then sand, sand, sand till I get a mirror finish on it. The handle should be interesting as I'm going to carve it from wood after attaching it to the blade. I'm pretty impressed with it so far. A ton of laboring has gone into it so far and it ain't even half done.

Captain's log: Life is crap. Friends are good. Send truffles and no one will get hurt!

P.S. Grace says that monsters come in at night and do all the bad stuff. Like get into the ever precious dew, makeup, wipe their fingerprints all over clean mirrors, stuff like that. So, if you see a monster, kick 'em where it hurts for me please.

Pastimes Peeps BBQ

2005-10-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the cute frog trying to get his lunch through the glass! He was so adorable following the bug along the window sill. Made me want to take it out to him. Course he wouldn't appreciate that gesture. There are a ton of tiny tree frogs all over the place at Amy's house. I love frogs.

So the Pastimes crew got together for a BBQ yesterday to celebrate our time together at Pastimes. I have no idea what Emmet was doing here, but he sure has a rapt audience. William, in the grey coat, is such a great guy. I wish I knew him better. I have never seen him in a bad mood. I wish I was more even keel like he is. The crew is going to get together on a weekly basis and I'm hoping he can join us being the big ole college man that he is. :p Over to the right you can see that Emmet is still carrying on. He's wearing the infamous Jack's Back. I love that sweater!!! Liz is standing to the left in the photo in the killer green sweater. I want one! It's from a pattern called Merino Top Down out of Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed. I have some in dark purple for a cabled vest for myself. Liz is another even keeled person. Amy must have hand selected these people to try to balance out us freaks. LOL. Ok, so maybe I'm the only freak in the group and it takes a bunch to try to balance me out. snicker. Don't ask me how Amy snuck into all these photos. I think if you look real closely you can see her reflection in the frog photo. snicker. It's almost like where's waldo. Lol. In the photo to the left you can see Amy (of course), Liz (in the bee yoo tee ful sweater), Nancy (who I think felt it was her job to make sure I cried like a baby), and Kristen. I can't say much about Kristen as I never really worked with her. I do know the rest of the crew was quite fond of her.

And last, but not least, is Erik (seen in the background of this photo). Erik is Amy's brother. Ummm... :) See, Erik played a joke on Nancy and I last week. I got my revenge and boy was it sweet. :P finger lickin'. He looks very suspicious in this photo, doesn't he? hehehehe. So, after all my kind words about the Pastimes crew he felt that I should say something nice about him. I was going to be naughty, but I feel that we should call a truce as someone is going to get hurt so here goes... Amy holds Erik in high regard. That alone should tell you that he is a man to be respected. He is an intelligent, good looking, self-motivated photography in need of a girlfriend so... if anyone has an extra blow up doll, please send it his way. And if anyone wants to send me some flowers, I will be in the hospital... lmbo!!!

Well, it is done

2005-10-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

What can I say? My dream job was to order all the merchandise for Pastimes. I was denied that dream job. I have no idea why, snicker. After months of soul searching I figured out what my next dream job would be. Receiving for Pastimes. Could you imagine? Being the first one to see the new yarns and accessories as they came in. I'm sure I wouldn't have held that position too long because for some reason not too much would make it to the shelves. I was actually going to approach Amy with the idea when she returned from the knitting cruise. *sigh* Another sad thing, I hadn't ever figured out the sales software. Over the last 2 years I had rang up about 10 customers. Now I'm pretty confident with the software after ringing up what seemed to be hundreds of customers. How sad is that! I just learned a skill that I will never use again.

Pastimes closed its doors October 2nd. Sunday was a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Nancy, above, is saying good bye to some loyal customers. Nancy, the dear heart, made me cry so many times. I was having a hard time all by myself, but with her having difficulty keeping the tears under control I lost it a few times. Emmet is helping another customer here finish her shawl. Amy is down further helping another customer. We had scheduled this time to say goodbye to customers, especially those who had developed relationships with us. Instead we got this. Ok, ok, I won't say anything more for fear that I will let my anger get the better of me. I know it may seem weird for me to get so mad.

There have been several other employees of Pastimes, but these 3 especially have made Pastimes what it is. They have been gracious, self-sacrificing, and unbelievably kind to so many that have entered here. Their combined knowledge of business operations, knitting and crochet, and teaching would fill a whole series of books. I respect these people so highly that I was disappointed with the way they were treated. I mean, come on people! Give props to those who deserve it. To those who have served you so that you could grow. Those who have served you and it should have been the other way around. Grrr.

I know that I'm a just a tiny fraction of the customers of Pastimes, but I would like to say thank you! Thank you for what you have given of yourselves! Thank you for everything!!!

I love you.

I have no home

2005-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Worse news possible for a yarn huffer like me. Pastimes, my LYS, is closing it's doors. Very suddenly.
They are closing October 9th and the store is already being changed so that they can sell all store samples and fixtures. Oh. My. It is a very emotional time for me.

I found the shop on my 27th birthday. It was a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dull day. I went to the Half Yearly Sale a couple weeks later. The store was a sardine can of other customers. This is were I learned to hoard yarn. I was so excited. I had been buying top knitting books online and this was my first experience of those designer yarns I had been reading about. Not too long afterwards I started to take classes here. I learned to cable, fair isle, intarsia, magic loop and many other techniques here. It wasn't unusual for me to spend 5 out of the 6 days they were open at the shop. 7 months after finding the shop I was asked to start teaching there. After my children and all they entail, it was the most rewarding experience I've ever had. I became friends with the owners, Amy and Emmet Skaar. These two people richly deserve the many successes this store has achieved.

I've learned about pattern making. I've learned about so much through this shop. It honestly has been a second home to me. I've never had a second home before. If I had a hard day with the kids I knew I could go down and knit on Thursday evening. If I needed a break, I knew I could go down and knit during the weekends. If I needed a challenge, I could ask Emmet for a new project. He has THE best eye for color. I love you man! Yes, now I really am crying. If I needed to be stretched, I could teach a class. Amy is so gifted. In so many ways. She is THE creative genius. Her patterns defy all laws of knitting. Thank you for letting me be a part of such a great entity (it definitely was more than a store!) Thank you all for all that you have given of yourselves. I can't say any more as I'm determined not to cry any more!

Don't Cry for Me Yarn People...

2005-09-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Tman took a day off from work to play EQ2 as a new expansion launched. Yes, he has a PROBLEM. So I thought, my yarn is coming in today! With that hope I ran to my LYS to pick up yarn for a tank I've been longing to do all the while hoping that UPS would come by. I make my purchase, which I kept to a minimum, yeah!!! I went to go say goodbye to Nancy to find her in the back with the UPS man and huge boxes of Colinette... heavily damaged. I watched as they went back on the truck and just about cried on the spot. I have waited somewhat patiently for 2 months for the ever glorious Queen Mab sweater yarn. Depressed and wanting to soothe my soul I decided to stop by a store I had been wanting to check out for a while. Can you guess what happens next? Yup, store is out of business. So... even further depressed I decided to stop by the local craft store to pick up some fall decorations. It is just sort of across the street from where I am now. Take a guess what happens next...

They had like 3 shelves of junk left. That's all. Can you believe this? I guess if you know me you can believe it as this sort of stuff happens all the time to me. How did I resolve my depression? Chinese food. Even that was tainted. I wanted a Barqs root beer to go with it and all they had was Mug even though they had ever other coke product. Come on! This has got to end. But it doesn't... it gets WORSE. That is for another tale though.

Knitting news. I finished Pismo. Woo hoo! I started Gyrid from E. Lavold. I am thrilled to be finally working on it. Time to run. Wait till you hear the new WORSE news. I even had nightmares about it last night!!!

Life as me

2005-09-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

What do you get someone who is marrying their 3rd husband again? Huh? Wha? My sister had been married and divorced twice before when she married Russ. I really don't like being negative at a wedding, but I had little hopes for that marriage to last. Who gets married when you need couple's therapy BEFORE you get married. As you may have guessed by now they divorced a few years later. It was a pretty nasty split. One of the nastiest I've ever witnessed. Anywho, so my sis goes about her life for a couple years when she hooks up with Russ again. They've been dating again, very happily I might add, for the last 2 years or so and tied the knot yesterday. But... um... what do you get someone who has everything? It isn't like you can give them money. For financially successful peeps that would be an insult, right? So I finally decided I would make them something. I thought this cross-stitch was highly appropriate. When I think of a fairy tale I think of something bad happening before the end.. the 'and they lived happily ever after.' I hope my sis likes it as much as I did. Here's a photo of her 'walking down the aisle.' It was a very casual, Hawaiian wedding complete with roasted pig. Oh. my. goodness. I've never had any before. If you are what you eat then I'm a huge porker cuz I ate an obscene about of it! I really liked how she did her bouquet. She had someone hand out flowers to the guests. Jackie went along and collected it on her way to the altar and was able to hug and kiss friends and family. It almost made me cry.

So that was Saturday, right? On Friday I was the fat kid. You know the one that no one wants to play with... Totally was me. A group of friends get together locally to do crafts and what not. I was invited to join them 2 weeks ago and again Friday night. I get driving directions. Tim had agreed to go with me so we're all excited cuz it's a pseudo date, right? W. R. O. N. G. We arrive at the hosts house and her husband answered the door. What craft night, there isn't a craft night tonight. So he calls his wife. What craft night, there isn't a craft night tonight. I'm totally bummed out. With my recovering preggo brain I think for half a second that I got the date wrong when I realize I didn't. I mean, on Tuesday a friend said she'd see me on Friday, earlier on Friday another friends says she'll see me after 8 when she gets off work, and finally another friend sent me the addy to the hosts house. Now, I don't have anyone's cell phone numbers except the hosts. Why bother calling her again, I mean she already said there wasn't one. I only have 2 other peeps phone numbers so for a half an hour I ring back and forth these numbers... all the while knowing that they won't answer their phones because they are at craft night. So I emailed the group and asked if they were playing hide and go seek or just hiding and willing that I would go away. snicker. Anyway, the craft night was at the house that I went to. Everyone met up there. I could have joined them, but it would have been 9 before getting there. Between my night vision, my sense of direction and my total lack of coolness I would have seriously gotten lost. I plan on making the next craft night... if they don't go in hiding again. hehehe. The host's brain got befuddled with a new grandbaby and all. I can't wait to be a grandma. Er, yes I can, I mean my oldest is 11 years old so um, I can wait, but I'm really looking forward to it.... a long time from now. hehehe.

Hey, lookie, I'm making the Pismo hat from Marnie's blog. 150 stitches on a size 2 needle. I know a lot of knitters freak at size 2 needles, but I enjoy smaller knits. Not that I would want to make a cabled colossus sweater on size 2s any time soon. lol.

You will NEVER believe this. I told my hubby and he said he thought it was impossible. Ok, see, I ran to my LYS today to drop off the Blythe scarf and to pick up some wool wash I had ordered. When I walked in I remember these 2 Lantern Moon baskets I had been obsessing over. Oh, and the LM accessory pounch. And don't forget the Silky Wool tank I've been dying to knit. I stood there staring at the stuff for AT LEAST 15 minutes, no joke. I had decided that if I bought the pouch and the yarn for the tank I would be a real good girl for not buying it all. I already know what colors I want and everything. Nancy tells me that if I want to shop she's ok with that. I had arrived before the shop had opened. I tell her "I know, but..." We launched into a discussion of Ireland. I left the store without buying 1 single thing. Someone really needs to call the doctor now. What in the world has happened to me? I'm like motivated or something. Ok, shut up, motivated for ME. ha ha ha. Get this, it has been over a month since I've purchased any yarn. Oh my! That is the longest I've ever gone!!! I don't know if I can call myself a yarn huffer any more. I'm in remission or something. My hubby is a real motivator though. He told me the other day that if I put my mind to it we WILL move to Ireland. He complimented me by saying that whatever I really put my mind to happens so that's what I need to do here.

I'm thinking though that for Christmas that I'm asking for yarn, cuz if I don't buy it, it doesn't count, right??? *snort*

I'm back already!

2005-09-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Goodness. Yes, I'm actually posting a picture of myself here. It was the first photo in a long time that I don't HATE. Weird. Someone call the doctor... something is wrong with me. snicker. ANYWAY, sheesh, Lily, Tim and I went to a Cherry Poppin' Daddies concert on Saturday. It was wonderful. Kick back and relax and watch Tim drink plenty of wine. It was at a winery after all. And we saw the cutest couple. I just love old people in love. It makes me look forward to the future when Tim and I are dancing together at a concert with all the history and memories we will have. sigh. I love old people!

I hate to end this on a sour note. I guess better to end with it than to begin with it. Look what I found on Tuesday. What is it? What was it is more like it! That is my journal of poetry. Grace loves books. All books. But when she tires of them she rips them up and eats them. Chews on them and calls them bubble gum. I know I'm sounding light hearted about it. But... I... bawled! My sweetie Tim tried everything to console me. He suggested that I rewrite them. Ok, so a story I can rewrite. An essay I can rewrite. I blog entry I can rewrite, but poetry, no WAY! I write in the heat of the moment. I sound psychotic when I write. One poem may be about bones and gnashing of teeth and the next one will be about how joy is like a butterfly. Finally, I told him that I just needed to cry so he held me against his chest and let me bawl. I feel like I've lost someone close to me. Not only that, but that I've been violated. I have the journal locked up for now. I am going to buy a new journal and transfer what I can and start over I guess. Thank goodness motherhood has more ups than downs or I would be tempted to eat my own young. :)

I can explain...

2005-09-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

See, our camera downloads all photos into hubby's cpu. My laptop can't access his hard drive over our network. Well, it probably can, but it isn't currently set up that way. Our kids have 2 cpus, but I don't use those much. Our last computer, which, has a terminal in our kitchen, is technically MY gaming computer. Hubby has commandeered it though. Anyway, while he is at work I usually use my gaming cpu to blog, email, etc... It has access to hubby's said drive so that I can upload photos. Well, the network has been down for the last couple of days. I can't really use my hubby's cpu as he usually remotely logs into from work or he's playing EQ2 if he's home. Right now he's out on a customer call so I jumped on his puter. Good excuse, right? Right? Come on now! Be fair. hehehe.

Lookee, so what do you think? Beautiful. Yes she is! Oh, the neck scarf, hehehe, that's what I'm showing off here. For those who have forgotten, total laughs as I've been such a bad blogger lately that I've practically forgotten, this is Classic Elite's Blythe (baby camel) done in a smoke ring I designed for my LYS. I can't wait to knit mine up. This one is for the shop.

Here are some photos of my tooth fairy pillow. I think it turned out really well. The tooth fairy especially loves that it hangs from the bedroom door. Hubby says the tooth fairy loathes waking up children. hahaha. It has a lovely pocket for holding teefers and moolah. I tried to embroider this thing. Again, should have taken photos of the process as it was hilarious. My tooth kept coming out like Strawberry Shortcake's puffy white hat. Anna marveled at how well I could do the hat and Tim was rolling every time I showed him the new and improved version. So I ran to the craft store and picked up some patches. I really like the moon patch. But.... I found the PERFECT patch. Eventually I will knit up a new one to go with this patch as it um, well, ya know it doesn't really go with these colors, lol. I'm thinking a soft blue, peach and maybe a butter color for the next one. What do you think?

And Timothy? He's going to be singing "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth." snicker. Weird, but I think all of my chillens so far have lost their 2 front teeth around this time of year. Christmas... did I, me, Loralyn, say Christmas? Woo hoo! We are celebrating Christmas again. I am so freaked. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I can't think of a more magical time of the year. Now I can sing Christmas songs all year round and not feel so goofy. Shut up Tim! Back to the pillow... Timothy loved the pillow. He especially loved the fact that he was the first one to use it. Anna was looking at it with pure jealousy. I said to her, "I bet you wished you could lose a tooth." She agreed so I offered to knock one out for her. Weird, she declined.

I started taking a few classes again. It is so nice to have some time for myself and do something productive at the same time. I met this wonderful gal named Melissa. She has the cutest little man who is about a month older than Lily. I think he is my favorite baby other than my own. He is so funny. He laughs, actually more like he guffaws, at who ever is talking, usually the instructor. I think I got a glimpse of what it will be like to be a grandma. You can cuddle them, play with them, just sit and hold them and the moment they fuss *bam* back to momma! Pretty nice, hehehehe.

Cafe Bastille

2005-09-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

Cafe Bastille is DONE!!! No longer a UFO. Woo hoo! That's about all I've got to celebrate in the world of knitting. Oh no, it isn't. My baby camel smoke ring is finished and blocking. I'll post pictures as soon as it is done drying. I used a little hair conditioner on it and wow oh wow, did it ever soften up!

Ban the Boogie!!! Say it with me, Ban the Boogie! In other knitting news, my patience has met its match. Ok, so I'm not a patient person and it is pretty easy for me to come to the end of it. LOL. If you know ANYTHING about me, you'll know that I am an optimistic. This is NOT a good thing for me. Why? Cuz I'm a little kid so everything is like Christmas morning to me. My birthdays are a complete disaster. Wait... that's an understatement. I feel like sobbing after every one of them. Anyway, back to the knitting topic at hand. So I'm sitting back one night wanting something relaxing, fun, for me knitting. Plus I have this huge stash that is always making me feel guilty, right?
I found the perfect project, Boogie from Knitty, or so I thought. Enter scary movie music here. The thing is a freakin joke. I like the term handcrafted for my knits. This thing looks homemade in all the bad ways you can take that. There are so many design flaws with it. I've knit several of Knitty's patterns and have always loved them. Ban the Boogie! I so wish I had taken photos of the progress of this THING! The neckline is one of the biggest problems with the pattern. If you look really, really close at the pattern (like really fine print) you can see that she has the collar wadded up under her other shirt collar. So I rip back and kind of fix the collar. Still not totally happy.... but this is my fun, relaxing just for me knitting... RIGHT??? So I start finishing it when I realize that the armholes are another design flaw. Now I am designing sleeves for my vest so that I don't have to rip any more. If it still looks awful who wants to join me for a banishing negativity fire in my backyard? snicker.

I promise to try to be a better blogger. I've really got to get photos up of Rowan, my 1 year old, table top dancing... or Bella running around in her pretty wress (a huge prom dress style fluff)... or Timothy with his two front teeth missing. I am just now starting a tooth fairy pillow to hang from his bedroom doorknob. Thanks Pamela for the idea!!! Taco night, gotta run.

No knitting for a reason

2005-08-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Grrr. So planned to be finished with my vest and my hubby's sweater by now. I decided to relax and do some reading so haven't knitted much over the last couple of days. I guess for a reason. The sweater FINALLY finished drying, but I notice I knit one sleeve 6 rows longer than the other. Yesterday I ripped back and finished it. Sewed on one sleeve and tried it on. Stupid frickin frackin thing! The weight of the sweater causes the sleeves to grow about 3 inches. Sooooo... I guess I'm ripping the sleeve off, frogging the sleeves and trying once again. frickin frackin flippin floof bag. Maybe today I'll work on it a little bit, maybe not. Maybe I'll set the thing on fire. It isn't like it is going to beat me or anything, but I HATE redoing things. I was tempted to just tell my hubby to fold the sleeves back BUT on a $300 sweater I want it to look perfect. grrrr.

Bad blogger

2005-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a week already! Wow, time flies by. Let's see, I worked down at my LYS last week for a day. That's a big no no. Now I have so much on my list to buy. Oh no!!! Sweater didn't make it in yet. Will have to wait another 2 weeks before I can start on Queen Mab. Sad, but I can knock out a few more projects in that waiting time. Cafe Bastille is knit and blocking. Must not have had enough ventilation because it has been blocking for 2 days now. I moved it to the floor to finish blocking with a fan on it. That should do it. Don't want it to mildew!!! I started another project while I am waiting to finish that. I am making Boogie from Knitty.com out of some Reynold's Cabana I had in my stash.

I haven't bought yarn in weeks! Can you believe that? Course that's because my sweater hasn't come in yet. I've been a good widdle girl!

Not much time here. Gonna post pictures of my lovely hubby when the sweater is finished. Will post pictures of Boogie when it is done as well. Should be done on Wednesday. Gotta love fast projects!

Ruffles is done!!!

2005-08-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I finished Ruffles from scarfStyle Friday night. Can you tell I am glad to be done with it? I knit it in Premiere from Classic Elite. Nice and soft around the neck. I did end up only using 3 skeins. I didn't quite get the 86" for the pattern size, but a) it's a scarf and plenty long as is b) it will stretch with wear and c) no sense in using a skein to get another couple inches. So I did the good-girl-no-yarn-hoarding thing and returned the 4th skein. Yeah me! I'm getting better, slowly. Recovery is a long process.

Saturday, I was able to relax and knit for a bit at my LYS. Ahh, so soothing to a mommy's soul. After knitting my baby camel collar to about 3" I realized that it was going to be too wide and since the stitch pattern was stretchier than I thought it would be I ripped it out and started again. I was amazed that such a delicate yarn would withstand that much ripping, but it did. I haven't worked on it that much because...

Saturday night a UFO called to me. Cafe Bastille Cables is a sweater for my lovely hubby. I decided to frog the whole thing. Why? Because it has been in UFO land for over a year and I was worried that my gauge had changed enough to be visible. So I restarted in Saturday night. Isn't it gorgeous? Knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky. Yes, it will take some blocking to get the bottom edge even. This bottom portion is knit in the round and then flat from the armhole shaping. I'm a couple of inches past the armhole on the backside now. I'm hoping to have it wearable by Saturday. Wish me luck!

Oh, and we decided to start celebrating Christmas again. It is one of our favorite holidays, but we really felt like our family needed to take a break from it to refocus religiously. Amazing how things change from year to year. I'm really hoping we can get our spending at a reasonable amount this year. Spending $5000 between just Tim and I is ridiculous. But, yeah! I can clear out some stash yarn making Christmas gifts. Hallelujah! S.W.A.K. for now!

Knit What You Got Poncho

2005-08-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

My little girl is soooo beautiful!

Ok, so here are some generic directions for the poncho. Knit a swatch. Find your stitch to the inch. Multiply that by 30. Round to the nearest even number. Cast on half that number, pm, cast on the other half, join, pm.
Round 1: knit
Round 2: k1, M1, knit to 1 stitch before marker, M1, k1, slip marker, k1, M1, knit to 1 stitch before marker, M1, k1.
Repeat these two round till desired length or till you run out of yarn. Don't forget to leave 4-5 times your round length for binding off.
Block and enjoy.

Need a better example? My Recycled Silk poncho is 3.5 stitches to the inch on size 10s. I cast on a total of 104 stitches. I used approximately 278 yards. It definitely would look more like a poncho with more yardage, but it looks like a nice capelet at this length.

Having said all that, I'm gonna frog it. I really don't like this yarn and don't want to wear it as a poncho. You heard me all complaining about it last time I blogged, but I forgot to mention a couple of other things. It smells bad. Like musty old people. And it breaks. Yeah, because it was spun so poorly. One skein broke 5 times while I was knitting it. The other skein only broke once... while I was winding it! So gonna make a bag or something with it instead.

I started a muffler for Pastimes. That is Classic Elite Blythe. Baby camel hair!!! It is very lightweight and soft. You have to be tender with is as it snaps like a brittle twig, but I haven't had any problems with it yet. Ruffles, grrrr, is coming along slowly. I am knitting 10 rows a day on it so I'm slowly making progress. Can't wait to be done with it!!!

Hail me, the Tard Queen!

2005-08-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to say something flattering such as I'm such a good blogger, but I thought I'd be honest. hehe. I did some more improving on the blog. Finally added 3 more patterns. Yeah me! Photo to the left shows my in progress poncho. I'm not sure how the pattern will work out for others, but I guess we'll see as peeps try it out.

Yarn review time! Recycled Sari yarns. Mango Moon is delightful. Soft and magical. Wonderful to wear and work with. Tibet is so scratchy in the hank that I haven't even tried it. It feels like rough rope. I bought some of this recycled silk shown here the other day. Shop owner said that it was much better than Tibet. My only hope is that it will soften greatly after washing, cuz right now... ugh! It has garbage spun into it. Like paper, grass, thread that obviously did NOT come from sari remnants. It is terribly scratchy. As I play with the knitted portion it does feel like it is softening, but hey! Save yourself some agony and go for the good stuff, Mango Moon.

Here is my other WIP. I know, I know. I said I would be done with it by now. It's killing me. It is so. boring. Mind numbing even. I am working a little bit on it each day. I think the pattern maybe a little off though. It already is very long and still have half my 3rd skein left. It calls for 4 skeins. I'm 5'10". 4 skeins and I could wrap it around my neck 3 times and it'll still drag on the floor. Ok, so I don't know that for sure, but it really is long already.

Good news. I haven't purchased any yarn in like 4 days. And I didn't even buy it. LYS gave me a skein of Classic Elite Blythe for writing a pattern for a little collar and knitting one for them. Now if I could only get them to do that with Queen Mab. The scheming begins, lol.

Felted Soap

2005-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Felted Soap
worsted weight wool yarn suitable for felting, quantities will vary depending on your soap size
bar of soap
size 11 needles

gauge: 3.5 stitches and 5 rows per inch.

You’ll begin by measuring the complete width of your soap by wrapping the tape measure around the circumference. Referring to the cast-on information, use the closest number to your width by rounding up. Next, measure the height of your soap, only measuring the longest side. Keep these measurements handy.

Cast-on on the number of stitches that corresponds with your width measurement:
2.5"- 11 3"- 14 3.5"- 16 4"- 18 4.5"- 19 5"- 21

If your soap does not fit closely to the above sizes you can determine your cast-on by adding 1 to width measurement and then multiplying that number by 3.5. (width+1) x 3.5= cast-on.

Work in stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) until 1 inch longer than length of soap, ending with a purl row.

Next row: *k4, k2tog* repeat across. Note: you will most likely end in the middle of the repeat section, this is normal.

Final row: Bind off purlwise.

Finishing
Fold in half. Seam up cast on row and up side leaving bind off edge open. You will now partially felt your sack in your washing machine. Set your washing machine to small load, hot water on a normal cycle. Place in pillow case and small amount of Eucalan woolwash in machine. Start machine. Check every 5 minutes to make sure that your machine does not go into spin cycle, you may need to reset your machine, and also to check sizing. When felt bag is close to soap size you will remove the soap sack. Place soap into sack. Using a new piece of yarn, whip stitch the bag closed. Redampen entire sack. Rub sack vigorously with hands to felt sack to fit around soap. Pay extra attention to whip stitch edge to felt it and blend it with the rest of sack. Once felted to the soap, lightly rinse excess soap out of felt. Allow soap to dry fully. Tip: Wire cookie racks are an excellent place to dry soap as it allows air to circulate around soap.
Enjoy!

Cabled Silk Scarf

2005-08-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Cabled Silk Scarf
330 yards worsted weight yarn or 3 skeins of Noro Silk Garden
size 11 needles
cabled needle

gauge: 3.5 stitches per inch

size: 7 inches wide by 86 inches long, relaxed

C6F: Place next 3 stitches on cable needle. Bring cable needle to the front and knit next 3 stitches on left needle. Knit 3 stitches from cable needle.

Cast on 26 stitches.
Row 1: p2, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p2
Row 2: k2, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, k2
Row 3: p2, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p2
Row 4: k2, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, k2
Row 5: p2, C6F, p2, C6F, p2, C6F, p2

Repeat Row 1 and Row 2 placing a cable row (as in Row 5) every 10th row. Knit until 86 inches or desired length. Bind off.

Crochet Bauble Pillow

2005-08-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Crochet Bauble Pillow
530 yards worsted weight yarn*
4 buttons
16" pillow
size H hook

gauge: 3 stitches by 3 rows per inch in non-bauble pattern

bauble stitch: Worked on WS rows, *yo, insert hook into next stitch, yo, pull through, yo and pull through 2 stitches on hook* repeat 4 more times working in the same stitch. 6 stitches on hook. Yo and pull through all stitches.

Chain 52 loosely.
Row 1: sc in 2nd chain from hook, *dc, sc* across. turn. 51 sts
Row 2: (RS) chain 3 (counts as first dc), skip next stitch, *sc, dc* across. turn. 51 sts.
Row 3: chain 1, *sc, dc* across, sc. turn.

Repeat rows 2-3 until piece measures 2 inches ending with row 2.

Row 4: Chain 1, *sc, bauble, sc, dc* across to last 3 stitches, sc, bauble, sc. turn. 51 sts.
Row 5: same as row 2
Row 6: chain 1, *sc, dc, sc, bauble* across to last 3 stitches, sc, dc, sc. turn. 51 sts.
Row 7: same as row 2

Repeat rows 4-7 until measures 12 inches ending with a WS row.

Row 8: same as row 2
Row 9: same as row 3

Repeat rows 8-9 until piece measures 33 inches.

Buttonhole row
Continuing in pattern work 10 sts, *chain 1, skip next stitch, work 9 stitches* repeat 2 more times, chain 1, skip next stitch, work across.

Work across next row working 1 stitch in each chain 1 space.

Continue to work rows 8-9 until piece measures 34 inches. Fasten off. Block to 16 inches by 34 inches. Measuring on long sides, place markers at 12 inches and at 28 inches from chain row. The first 2 inches and last 2 inches overlap for the button band. Refer to the pictures if you need to. Where pillow is marked with pins are the fold lines for the pillow. Fold pillow WS out and pin into place. Where the button band is created there will be 3 layers thick. Seam using whip stitch. Turn to the RS, sew on buttons and voila!

Please let me know if you have any troubles with this or if you find errors in the pattern.

*I used Red Heart Super Saver Aran Fleck. I hate it. Can't stand acrylic. However I am determined to finish a throw and I decided to make it smaller with a coordinating pillow. I highly recommend working with higher quality yarns. If price is prohibitive, Cascade 220 would work well. Cascade even has a Tweed that looks almost exactly like this yarn if you like this look. When I make this again I think I will try a Rowan Tweed. Just a suggestion. :)

Tattoos and Yarn

2005-08-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

We'll try this again after I lost my last post, grrr...
MMMmmm, what could be better than tattoos and yarn? My friend, Sarah, came for a visit from Texas this last week. She arrived at our house Tuesday night. We stayed up and chatted till 3 a.m. Bright and early the next morning we headed out the door for what we thought would be yarn shop hopping and tattoos. Part of that is true. Our first yarn shop was the ever lovely and glorious Pastimes. By far my favorite store. If only they'd carry everything I love... sadly, no store exists. Anyway, we then went to Fiber Gallery. A nice little shop with some yarns not found anywhere else locally. I picked up some Recycled Silk for a poncho. I'll post the pattern here when said and done. I'm thinking of writing a pattern that will work with whatever yarn you have, needle you have and whatever yardage you have. That's what I'm thinking at least. We also made it to Seattle Yarn Gallery where Red Heart sits next to Reynolds... I joke you not! We ended our yarn shops early with Hilltop Yarns. I found the worst yarn ever!!! Handmaiden's silk blend. Why you ask? It reeks! I'd take a poopy diaper over this yarn. I ACTUALLY threw the yarn down. Yup, that gross. Anyway, tattoos enter here...

Last Saturday I checked out a new tattoo parlor near me. I wanted to make sure it was clean, check out artists' past work, and pricing. Everything looked great. I try to set up an appointment, but they only take cash of which I don't have any. The artist tells me not to worry about it as there won't be a problem getting us in. After Hilltop Yarns we call the shop to check to see if we are still ok. We then leave Seattle earlier than we had planned to so that we could get to the parlor in time. Guess what?!! A problem. He is now booked for the day. Not only that, but he can't get us in till Friday afternoon. Sarah was leaving Friday morning. Grrrr. I was so mad. Why tell a customer it won't be a problem and, and, and... grrrr... So after calling around for 30 minutes it was clear we weren't getting tattoos on Wednesday. My ever sweetest, darling, wonderful husband called and got us appointments at Mark of the Vampire Thursday evening. Isn't that a cool name? Anyway, the above photo is my first tattoo on my lower back. Got that one 7 years ago. The second photo shows my wrist tattoos. I had Carpe Diem touched up after my shoulder tattoo. I think I shall get a lovely little Celtic knot between Carpe Diem and my palm. Lovely little place for one, right? Finally is my latest tattoo. A Celtic phoenix. Isn't it the coolest? I so looooove it! Back to yarn...

Thursday we went back to Pastimes, drug dealers that they are. Went to the Knittery next. I swear wenches shouldn't be in business, let alone musty, old, dilapidated ones. Then Nancy's Knits. Old lady there was very nice, but... I didn't know there was such a yucky yarn store in existence. And finally we went to Hilltop East which was Skeins. Very nice. They really turned the store around. Not as nice as Pastimes, but oh so much better than it used to be. PF Changs for lunch. yummy. Insert tattoos here. During Sarah's last visit I taught her to knit. Very condensed lesson. This time I got in a condensed lesson on cables and lace. Even wrote a small lace pattern for her to use. Difficult to do at 2 a.m., even with Irish Cream. hehehe. Now back to my boring little life. :)

Just Checking In

2005-08-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! My friend, Sarah, flew in from Texas yesterday. She's spending tonight, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning with me. We're getting tattoos and yarn shop hopping. Oh. My. Goodness. I knew we had a lot of yarn shops in this area, but over 25 within an hour of me... How do you choose which ones to go to? hehehe. I found a new tattoo parlor near me. Now I just have to decide which one to get. A friend loaned me a Celtic design book full of animorphs. I can't for the life of me find a Celtic phoenix design. That's what I really want. Although I found a traditional phoenix that I adore. I'm going with an animorph this time though. Oh, and I'm getting another one touched up. I'll show pictures afterwards. Woo hoo!

I finished the crochet pillow. Hopefully will post pictures and pattern before Monday. As soon as I get my laptop back I will post a couple other patterns as well. Slowly hacking away at Ruffles. Problem is that my house is bothering me. We don't even have an average amount of clutter, but I can't stand even a little bit! I cleared out some clutter from my bedroom, bathroom and Timothy's room yesterday. I bagged up a whole garbage bag of my clothes and another one of the younger kids' toys. Anna and Madalyn are fearfully awaiting their bedroom hack jobs.

Well, Mr. Kissyface, Rowan, has tired of kissing me and is ferociously started attacking the keyboard so I will say adios for today.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2005-07-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday my sweetest Anna Marie! You have blessed my life with your precious spirit! I have become a better person because of you. I can remember the day you made me a mom like it was yesterday. How I loved to hold your little baby body next to miss and kiss your head and whisper promises of the future to you. How I now love to hold you to me, kiss your head, and still whisper sweet promises to you. You have always had an adventurous spirit. Happy birthday!

My sweet Anna turned 11 years old today. I can't believe I've been a mother now for 11 years! How time flies. I still feel like I just graduated high school.

So, I added some of my FO's on the sidebar. I added a pattern I wrote up for Madalyn's birthday. Don't you just love that photo of her. lol. She was trying to take a pose for the photo like we did for the photo shoot. The photographer was trying to get us to look away from him, like just slightly over his shoulder and stuff. Madalyn did a great job, but she looks a little forlorn. You can take it as her trying to model for me. hehehe. Gotta love 'em.

We are going to celebrate Anna's birthday tomorrow as Tim has to work late tonight. Should be tons of fun. Sunday we are going over to a friend's house to play cards. I'm jumping up and down as giddy as a school girl. How I long for adult interaction. The only adult in this house is me and I get bored talking to myself or tired of the arguments. (What did you just say? I told you to shut up!) Tim gets a little worried when that happens. Oh, that's right... Tim is physically an adult. I should say that I long for adult minds interaction. snicker. Anyway, dinner is ready, shepherd's pie, and the kids are circling like wolves. :)

Tisket Felted Basket

2005-07-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Tisket Felted Basket
4 skeins Cascade 220 or approximately 900 yards feltable wool
Size 13 needles

Yarn is double stranded throughout entire basket.

gauge: 2.5 stitches per inch

Cast on 14 stitches.
Row 1: Purl
Row 2: (RS) k1, M1, knit till 1 stich remains unworked, M1, k1.
Repeat row 1-2 until you have 20 stitces.
Work even for 3 rows.

Row 3: (RS) k1, M1, knit till 1 stitch remains unworked, M1, k1 (22 sts).
Work even until piece measures 9.5 inches from cast-on ending with a WS row.

Row 4: (RS) k1, SSK, knit until 3 stitches remain unworked, k2tog, k1 (20 sts).
Work 3 rows even.

Row 5: (RS) k1, SSK, knit until 3 stitches remain unworked, k2tog, k1.
Row 6: Purl
Repeat rows 5-6 until 14 stitches remain.
Leaving stitches on needle and with RS facing, pick up and knit 32 stitches to cast-on edge. Pick up and knit 14 stitches on cast-on edge. Pick up and knit 32 stitches down side and join in the round (92 sts). PM.

Round 1: knit
Round 2: k7, M1, *k23, M1* 3 times, k16 (96 sts).
Knit 4 rounds even.

Round 3: k8, M1, *k16, M1* 5 times, k8 (102 sts).
Knit even until sides measure 8 inches.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 1 round.
Purl 1 round.
Cast off in knit next 28 stitches, k11, cast off in knit next 40 stitches, k11, cast off remaining 12 stitches.

Handle:
Join yarn to 1 set of 11 stitches.
Row 1: k6, bring yarn forward, slip 5.
Repeat until handle measures 27 inches.
Bind off both sets of 11 stitches together using the 3 needle bind off technique.
Weave in ends and felt to size/look desired.

It's going to be a great day!

2005-07-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

That's what I woke up saying. It is going to be a great day!

Ok, so I last blogged on Friday. I wish I've done better blogging. Anyway, so Saturday started off great. We had been playing badminton off and on all day. I finally won a game, woo hoo! I was so excited!!! I think my batting average is 1%, hehehe. I was just sitting down to blog I was so excited. Rowan and Bella were playing in our coat closet. Cutie bugs. I pick up my laptop and Rowan starts screaming in front of me. He had a hanger hanging out of his eye and he's trying to rip it out. I started screaming at Tim. Madalyn is on the couch screaming and totally flipping out. I throw down my laptop and run over to him as he's madly flailing. I pull the hanger out which is now hanging on his lower eyelid. I sit down with him putting pressure on his eye. I just know he's blind in that eye and expect to see blood everywhere when I move my hand. Tim finally walks out of the bedroom, that's where he's freaking with EQ, and says, "whasshappening?" Madalyn and I both start blabbering to him. He grabs Rowan, checks him out, then sits down to munch on some watermelon with him!!! I can't believe it. He's unharmed! Tim hadn't even realized anything was wrong because he couldn't hear over his 7 point computer sound system. grrrr. Anyway, I had to lay down because I was blacking out. I've rarely been that scared! Madalyn packed Rowan around for the rest of day. She was pretty shaken up over it.

So, Sunday. We went to the photo shoot. I was hoping that they wouldn't need me, right? Well, they did so I helped out. I don't know how many shots they'll be able to use from us. Anna was thrilled to do some modeling. Isabella was uncooperative. Rowan didn't model anything as the sweater's neckhole was too small. Lily got to model a sweater and a hat. Even Tim got in on the action. We weren't expecting that so don't know how many good garment shots they got from him as he was wearing Hawaiian shorts... doesn't complement large heavy winter sweaters. lol. I even forgot to take out my piercings, sorry bout that! So I call on Monday to see how they turned out. Like I thought. Not gonna be able to use a whole lot of the shots, but they want to know if I'm comfortable being on the cover!!! I'm ok with that... really I am... I'm just so super self-conscious that I would never choose for myself to be on the cover. I'm the type of person that goes to a party and then spends the next 3 days going over every bit of conversation to see if I sounded stupid, ignorant or just plain tard. *sigh*

Monday felt like a total waste to me. I didn't get any homeschooling finished before we had company. We had a couple o' grandmas and other relatives over. Then I realized that I HAD to go grocery shopping. crisis level here. By the time we got home the day was practically over. But, yummmmmmm we had honey salmon, baby greens and peas for dinner.

So that sort of catches us up. Feel better? I do. hehehe.

Fiber world... I bought some more yarn. (hide my face) More wool to try out on soakers. It's for business, that justifies it, right? I haven't done a whole lot of knitting or crocheting. I finished the new Harry Potter book yesterday. I was a little disappointed with the size of it. I thought it was going to be a big book. 650 pages of large print doesn't count as a big book to me. I read the first 1/4th while taking a bath. I finished the book in less than 2 days all while playing badminton, homeschooling, shopping, etc. Normally I sit down and read a book in one sitting. hehehe. Anyway, so knitting. Have about 9 inches more to go on the pillow cover. Hope to finish that up in the next couple of days. Then finish the scarf. I am *so* torn. I keep buying yarn. I'm not buying it nearly as fast as I used to. I have this *need* to move to Ireland though. I'm hoping to move there in 8 years (when my oldest can choose to come with us or stay here with her dad). I cannot ship my whole stash over. I just won't. But my only options are 1)use it up and stop buying more until it's all used up 2)sell it off or 3)pay for it to go into storage. I'm rooting for option 1, but I'm too undisciplined I'm afraid.

Time to get off the cpu and tend to my little ones. Time for schoolwork and boobie munching (breastfeeding). See you all next time at the Crazy Station. *waves*

Cabled Shrug

2005-07-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ha ha! I finished it! In less than 2 weeks. It is an FO, not a UFO. So there dork!!! I finished the knitting on Wednesday and blocked it out. I sewed it up on Thursday. I got it done in 12 days total. hee haw! You can see a photo of the rest of it down below. Looks a little patchwork-y, doesn't it. That would be thanks to the Manos. Each skein was a slightly different color even though it all came from the same order. One of the skeins was quite a bit darker than the rest. Most of it blended with the first washing. Unfortunately the yarn also faded quite a bit. I am hoping that with time that it will all blend together. If it doesn't I'm going to try to over dye the whole thing. I love it though. Perfect for someone who doesn't wear a coat in the snow. hehehe. So now I'm working on the Ruffles scarf and a crochetted pillow cover. I'll post the pattern when I finish it. I have the pattern written up, except for the buttonhole band. I'm crocheting it in aweful Red Heart. No flaming please. I know better than to use that stuff. I have an afghan that I WILL finish it in even if it kills me. The pillow cover matches. Then I will never have to touch the stuff again. lol.

Tman was gone for part of this week. He was in Provo, Utah at Novell's headquarters on Tuesday, Wednesday and came home on Thursday. I missed him so much! Although, I had to laught at him. He tells me that he felt bad about leaving me with 7 children. all alone. with no break. Right? First, I'm alone with them 5 days a week until 6 p.m. I'm pretty good at hiding from them for that many hours anyway, snicker. Second, while he was gone I didn't have the frustration of dealing with all the kid issues by myself while he plays EQ2 all night long. It was easier when he was gone as I didn't get frustrated with him. lol.

Friends are having a photo shoot next Sunday for their next newsletter for their yarn shop. They asked if my little ones can be in it. They will have so much fun doing that. They asked me to be in it. I'm hoping they asked me just so they could get my kids, lol. I have such a hard time showing people my photo. My face gets so fat looking with excess weight. Still 45 pounds to lose. I haven't lost any weight this month. What a total bummer! No, I'm not dieting or exercising. I'm hoping that it will just get lost. lol. I almost had my daughter wear my shrug for the photo above, but broke down and had hubby take these shots for me. I know its over-exposed. Blaim the lily white skin on that one.

Roast Beast anyone?

2005-07-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here talking to my oldest, Anna, about music. I recently purchased a Coldplay CD and Cure's 2004 CD. I said that the Cure is really old and has been around since I was a kid. Grace says, "you was a kid?" Yes, momma was a kid. She's always telling me that she's gonna grow big and grandma is gonna grow small like her. lol. In many ways, grandma IS growing small like her. snicker. So then Anna asks, "what's for dinner?" Before I can say enchiladas Grace answers back "Roast Beast!" lol.

"What's for dinner?" The single most asked question in this house. It's like the kids wake up and decide whether or not the day is going to be good by the dinner menu.

I was informed by my oldest that I'm lazy. Man, was I upset! We sat down for a discussion. I found out that I'm lazy because I don't help her with her chores!!! She's almost 11 years old! So we added up the minutes it took for her to do an excellent job on her chores. Ha! I wish! Like that ever happens. Anyway... 26 minutes. A day. I explained to her that some days I work from the minute I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Often with multiple children. So, it's 1 p.m., we're chatting, right? I ask her how much time I've spent doing things I want to do. I had knit 2 rows on my shrug. Less than 10 minutes if you don't count my shower. I think according to kid standard I should count that though... :p So then I ask her how much time had she spent doing things she wanted. An hour and a half. And since we'd already done our chores and schoolwork, she had 4.5 hours till dinner time to do whatever she wanted. Oh, the misery and agony of being a child. How I wish to be punished and put on a child's schedule. lol. To sleep... like a child... instead of with 3 children... *sigh* Life would be so good. hehehe. I don't think there is a more challenging job out there. To be a parent. A good parent. But to be a great parent... I know the older I get, the more children I have, the better I get. It's a long road with a precious reward at the end of it. The whole journey... the most precious treasure of all!

Death By Shuttlecock?!?

2005-07-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

T-man and I have been playing badminton almost every night now for about a month. Yesterday, he starts making fun of me for flinching every time the birdie (shuttlecock) comes at me. Ok, so he makes fun of me for just about everything, but hey, we're talking about badminton, right?

Well, I can't handle playing out in the bright sunlight. Playing completely blind. He slams the birdie straight at me... and... Bam! Right in the eye!!! If I end up with a black eye I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do! Maybe take photos and hold them for blackmail.

"...really now, I think you have plenty of yarn to run a freakin' internet store..." Bam! Out comes the photos and I'll do something like clutch my eye remembering the pain... hehehehe.

Now I'm blind from the sun and the attack of the shuttlecock. I start wandering blindly towards our front steps so that I can clutch madly at my eye when POP I step on a slug!!! Oh how grody! So now he's laughing at me because of the sun, the attack, and the slug. Is my only value to you of that of entertainment? Why, oh why? Why have *I* chosen to hitch my wagon to this madman? He tries to justify all of this by bringing up the things I do to him. Come on! How does pouring water down his shorts compare? Or even spitting water all over him? I mean, even waiting in the dark so that I can scare him doesn't compare.

Now the plotting begins... how can I extract my revenge? Nothing simple. Nothing he can expect. Muh-ah-ah-ah-ah........ .

Help, my 3 year old has a fetish already!

2005-07-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Grace runs up to me yesterday all excited. "Mommy, mommy!" I was cabling at the moment so didn't look up till I heard... "mommy, look at my dick!" I think I got whiplash from looking up so fast. hehehe. Like her dick? It's such a lovely dick. Here's a better one. A couple of weeks ago she runs up to me and says, "Mommy, there's a huge penis in my room!" I asked her to repeat it with this sense of panic. I mean, what the heck is a huge penis doing in her room. "No, mommy, there's a huge penis out my window!" Great, in broad daylight, in our little neighborhood, there's a freak flashing... what else am I to think? I run into her room and ask her to point to it. Outside her window... is.... a.... bee nest! *sigh* Gotta love 'em. If they aren't doing something, they are saying something. hehehe.

My cabled shrug is coming along. I am working on it diligently so that I can move on to other projects that I'm desperate to start. T-man says Sculley and Mulder are investigating. He says they are certain a UFO is about to land in our garage. That's where I store all my unfinished projects. As I'm sitting outside with my little ones and Gracey's stick I hear the theme song from X-Files playing in our bedroom. He had remotely logged in and turned the song on his computer. What a tard!

I received my KnitPicks order today. 5 skeins of lace weight yarn and scarfStyle. Omgoodness! There's a ton of scarves I HAVE to knit up in there. Life is way too short. I soooo wish I was independently wealthy! Have a household staff, have a few personal assistants, and all the money to do all the things I want to do. Wouldn't that be nice. Wake up to a clean house. Have breakfast waiting for us all. Clean clothes sitting out. I could school the kids first thing in the morning and then have the rest of the day for fun, cuz hey, I don't have to cook, clean, nothing I don't wanna do. I have so many knit designs running around my head. I could have someone sketch it out after I describe it to them. Another could swatch it up for me. I could write up the pattern and then have someone knit it up to test out my pattern. That's only the items that I don't want to knit myself. Oh, how I could go on!

Well, Lily woke up and is STARVING, wasting away to nothing. Gotta run.

Umm, yeah, so ok, I've got a PROBLEM

2005-07-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

I told you, I told you. Me and yarn... we go together like Laverne and Shirley. Lookie what I bought. Shut up, no one ASKED you :p. I picked up some Manos for the Cabled Shrug from Interweave Fall '05. Down below is a foto of my progress so far. The Premiere is for the whirly twirly scarf (can't remember the name of it) scarf from Scarf Style. The Stork is for Pismo hat found at www.marniemaclean.com . Two EZ books, 2 FiberTrends patterns, a set of needles and I special ordered 5 other FT patterns. *sigh* Why do I do it to myself? Is there a 12 step program for yarn huffers? I don't even have my Knitpicks order yet. The cabled shrug is coming along nicely though. I'm through 2 cable repeats. Only 7.5 more to go. My dearly departed husband said... I mean my dear sweet husband said that he's going to buy some custom labels that say "Future UFO" and pin them to my new projects. He thinks he's soooo funny. I am going to finish this project even though he believes it has UFO written all over it. LOL. He's such a dork. Pay no attention to him, I try not to. snicker.

My weekend consisted of buying yarn, molesting yarn, buying pattern books, molesting yarn, starting my new soon to be finished project. I have goals people. I'm GOING to finish this project in less than 2 weeks. Mark my words... moving on. Sunday we woke up at 7:30... people get up this early usually??? We went and helped friends scrape paint off their house. Thank you, thank you! Yes, we can step away from the knitting and EQ2 for a little while. The knitting followed me though. T-man (hubby) would have taken EQ2 along, however it doesn't play well on my laptop. hehehe. Anyway... we played our first game of bridge. The girls won. Woo hoo! Interesting game. I think I'd like to learn more about it, but it is one of those things that I think the more you learn, the more you need to learn.

Oh, oh, oh. My 50 pack of pregnancy tests came in the mail today. I'm neurotic. You should know this by now... anyway, I like to test often. Ok, so I like to test psychotically. No, I'm not pregnant. I checked. LOL. You can buy them cheaply in bulk so you can take a test for no reason, any reason, or because you are bored. hehehe.

Here's the photo of my shrug. It isn't laid out prettily so you have to use your imagination a little. A friend of mine made those stitch markers. Aren't they too die for? He also made my husband a set with Celtic knots and purple and green stones. Since T-man can't knit I might just steal them for myself. Oh, his wife made me a set of beautiful ones for my birthday a year or two ago. They have sterling silver roses and freshwater pearls. I like bling bling for my knitting. I'm such a blessed girl!!!

I've got the blues...

2005-07-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't he gorgeous? I snapped this prideful bird at the zoo recently. The kids had so much fun following him around. Peacocks make me smile and I need all the reasons I can find to smile right now.

We live in such a depressing world. London! My life is like London right now. They are on a high from being selected for the Olympics then wham! a slam up against the head. I don't mean to trivialize the bombings by comparing it to my life.

Most days I am thrilled to have the best job on the planet. I get to be home with my little blessings. I get to teach them. I get to play with them. Then there are days when I just feel like a doormat. Yesterday was one of those days. I guess you can say today as well. I feel like I am there only to provide the means for everyone's wishes and poo on me if I don't. I just need some me time. Makes me feel guilty though. I am so thankful to be able to do what I do. No other job gives me such a creative outlet. *sigh* I'll feel better tomorrow after some extra sleep.

Sorry to be such a bummer, be thankful you aren't here with me now. I'm a life-sucking party person today. Look at the peacock. smile. have a great day.

Meandering Scarf

2005-07-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Meandering Scarf
200 yds Wool in Woods*
size L hook
size 10.5 needles

gauge: 5 sts and 4 rows per inch relaxed

size: 4 3/4" by 70"

Row A: k1, *k2, p2* to last stitch, k1.
Row B: *k2, p2* to last 2 stitches, k2.
Row C: k1, p1, *k2, p2* to last 4 stitches, k2, p1, k1.
Row D: k1, *p2, k2* to last stitch, k1.

Crochet cast-on 22 stitches.**
Work following rows as set by above row definitions.
1-2: A
3: B
4: C
5-6: D
7: C
8: B
Repeat rows 1-8 once.
Repeat rows 1-2 once.
19: C
20: B
21-22: D
23: B
24: C
25-26: A
Repeat rows 19-26 three times more.
Repeat rows 19-22 once.
Repeat rows 7-8 once.

Repeat above rows until length desired ending with row 18.
******************************************************************
*Yarn was wound from hank and was labeled as Wool in Woods. They had a limited yarn with wool and alpaca. This appears to be it. It is a single ply.
**Here are instructions for doing the crochet cast-on: http://www.knitnet.com/common/support/caston.htm . If you'd prefer to do a different cast-on, go for it. This cast-on matches the bind off and is a nice way to make both ends complimentary.

Other notes: This reversible scarf is basically a k2, p2 rib that meanders. Here are some observations that might help make the scarf easier. On the odd number rows the stitches 'walk' one stitch to the left or right depending on which direction the ribs are traveling. On the even number rows you are going to k1, knit what you see, k1. Knit what you see? If you see a knit stitch hanging off the needle, knit it. If you see a purl stitch hanging off the needle, purl it. I hung a marker off the front of the scarf to indicate the odd side. If I saw the marker, take those stitches for a walk, if not, knit what I saw. Hope this helps.

I did my best to proofread this pattern. Please let me know if you find any errors and I will fix it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

100 Things About Me

2005-07-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

1. My name is Loralyn Wanda Horine.
2. My name is derived from women in my family. Lora was my great-grandmother's first name, Lynn was my aunt's middle name, and Wanda was my grandmother's middle name.
3. I am married to my best friend, Tim.
4. I have seven babies, Anna Marie 11, Madalyn Laurice 8, Timothy David Jr 7, Grace Ellen 3, Isabella Pelagia 2, Rowan James 2, and Lily Mae 1.5 months.
5. I have 2 step-sons, Jacob Bishop 13 and Zachary Taylor 9.
6. I'm born and raised in Washington state.
7. I lived in Southern California for 5 months in 1991.
8. I lived in Michigan for 5 months in 1994.
9. My birthday is February 22, 1975.
10. My first marriage was when I was 18 years old.
11. I was divorced at 21 years old.
12. My marriage lasted that long because ex-hub was military and gone for over half that time.
13. I received my AS in 2001.
14. I am the first in 5 generations to graduate from high school, let alone any sort of college degree.
15. I want to eventually go on for my BS, probably in mathematics.
16. I probably won't ever use that degree except for the boost in pride.
17. I come from poor white trash in all the bad meanings of that phrase.
18. My mother had me when she was 17.
19. I have 3 half sisters and 2 half brothers from my mom.
20. My mom died in 1986, less than a month before I turned 11.
21. I became an orphan as I had no father listed on my birth certificate.
22. My legal guardians tracked down my biological father in 1990.
23. I met him for the first time in 1990.
24. I don't have a relationship with him because he didn't want to develop one.
25. Overall, I'm ok with that.
26. My legal guardians adopted me in 2001.
27. I have 4 adopted sisters and 1 adopted brother.
28. My adopted siblings are all the biological product of my adopted parents.
29. Boy, I like talking about myself.
30. I was a vegetarian as a teenager.
31. My adopted family are a bunch of loggers, wood mill workers and meat cutters.
32. Being a tree hugging vegetarian in a family like this... not an easy mix.
33. In high school I went through many phases.
34. I went through a goth phase before there was such a thing.
35. You can paint your nails with clear polish and color in with a black sharpie to get black fingernails when black fingernail polish isn't available (or even in stores like back then).
36. Dyeing your hair black, by yourself, at 14 years old results in very streaky hair. lol.
37. 1 goth girl in a school of cowboy hicks... no one even wants to look at you because of fear.
38. I listed to Cure's 'Love Song' every night when I went to bed. I had it on repeat all night long.
39. I went through a hippy period in high school as well.
40. Dad's closet is an excellent source for butterfly polyester shirts.
41. I was a total trendsetter before my time!
42. I hear now that in my high school some people don't even own cowboy boots, how shocking! lol.
43. My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
44. I love A&E's version of the book.
45. My favorite drink is Mountain Dew.
46. I make midnight runs for it when I run out.
47. Doctor says that I have an addiction to it. He thinks a 12 pack a day is too much. Doctors are stupid.
48. I'm not addicted to Mountain Dew.
49. Did I say I like talking about myself?
50. hrmm, lets see... I'm artsy fartsy.
51. I rubber stamp.
52. I scrap book.
53. I draw.
54. I love to do oil paintings.
55. I quilt.
56. I attempt to make clothes.
57. I love needlework.
58. I crochet.
59. I knit.
60. (insert screeching tires audio) I have a yarn problem.
61. I buy too much yarn.
62. I love to sniff yarn. Yes, I'm a yarn huffer.
63. I have over 30 UFOs (unfinished objects) in knitting alone.
64. I have ADHD.
65. I'm amazed when I finish anything.
66. I'm going to be particularly proud when I finish this list.
67. I love hazelnuts.
68. I especially love hazelnut chocolates.
69. tee hee, 69...
70. I consider myself mature... 69 tee hee.
71. I love snuggling babies.
72. I had to be a mother so that people would stop staring at me. It seems more logical for a grown woman to tie a blanket around her neck and 'fly' through the house when kids are around.
73. Even my kids look at me with the 'what the...' expression when I fly through the house with a blanket cape.
74. I sing christmas songs all year round. sniff sniff, even hubby makes fun of me for this.
75. We don't celebrate christmas, what's up with the song singing!!!
76. ummm... I stay up way too late. Currently going to bed between 2-5 a.m.
77. Always been a night owl.
78. I've always tried to fight it.
79. I love the idea of sitting back, having a drink and relaxing. In reality, I have average 1 drink every 2 months.
80. When I was a teenager I wanted straight black hair, violet eyes and to be named Bleu.
81. I have naturally curly dark brown hair.
82. I have blue eyes. Hubby would describe them as being light grey/blue.
83. I am currently 45 lbs. overweight. Give me a break, I just had a kid!!!
84. I don't pay attention well. Even when I find something interesting.
85. I have bad hearing. I need to go to the doctor to have my ears checked. Stupid doctors.
86. I started repeating to people what I hear them saying.
87. I can swear up and down my hubby called me a 'stupid whore' when we were out to dinner. We laugh about that one still. Btw, my hubby would NEVER do that.
88. Schwann's has an ice cream bar called gold nuggit. I think there's something like 12 in a box. I have eaten an entire box in one sitting.
89. I am a fiend for candy.
90. I used to take my lunch money and buy 5 candy bars for lunch.
91. I currently have a wide selection of candy at my house. Got to be at least 5 pounds here.
92. I'm 5'10". It wasn't until 9th grade that there was a boy my height in my grade.
93. My favorite color is blue.
94. My favorite food is peas. Yes, now you know I AM a freak.
95. I seperate my candy and eat them by colors.
96. I have to eat my meals one dish at a time. No taking a bite of steak, then a bite of potatoes, then a bite of salad for me. I would eat all the salad, then the potato and finally the steak.
97. I'll eat an ice cream cone minutes before dinner.
98. I don't let me kids do that.
99. I love to have my babies sleeping with me.
100. drum roll... I like talking about myself.

Beautiful Bella

2005-07-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a friend's birthday, right?. We decided to take our Isabelly with us. Her formal name is Isabella Pelagia. We call her about every variation of that. She's 2.5 years old now. She's so shy and quiet around other people. She was thrilled with the tigers you can see from their back yard... ok so I corrected her, they were cows. LOL. She stood on their deck peering over the fence at them for quite a while. Such a precious soul!!!

Anyway, friend's hubby (he's a friend as well, but wanted to give props to the gourmet guys) made some to-die-for pesto grilled salmon. Belly was so taken by the tigers that she only ate a little bit before running back out to watch them. Then we had birthday cake. What an understatement! It's more like G-d made the world in 6 days, rested for 1 day, and then made this cake on the 8th day. Yeah, it's THAT good. So Bella Baby is eating her cake. I finish mine and then start picking at the few bites left of her salmon. Next thing I know, she whips the salmon off her plate, pops it into her mouth, chomps on it a couple times for good measure and then puts it back on her plate. LMBO big time! Talk about territorial. What's even funnier is that I had just finished this diatribe on how my little ones are fascinated with bathrooms. They feel like they MUST pee in the new bathroom. Stores, restaurants, friends' homes. We have not arrived until we've used their potty!!! I was just commenting that it was like they needed to 'mark' them. Well, Bella definitely 'marked' her salmon. No way am I eating it now. I'm not one of those freak moms. I've seen some moms take half eaten food out of their kids' mouths and eat the rest. Barf-o-lah!

Knitting news... Knitty has their next edition out. I HAVE to knit up a Satchel. Still trying to decide what colors, whether I want to do it multicolored, striped, and if I want novelty yarns in it. Got to finish Meandering first. I should have the scarf finished today. I need to edit the pattern for errors, take some photos and hopefully I will have it up tomorrow. I bought more yarn. *sigh* I know, I know... I have a problem. Ya'll have heard of yarn ho's, yarn-a-holics, yarn addicts, and what not. I'm in a league all my own. I honestly have several thousand dollars of yarn in my stash. When I say I have enough in my stash to knit for the next 5 years, that's an understatement!!! Moving on... I bought some KnitPicks Shimmer. I feel like I'm cheating on my LYS when I buy yarn from other places. They don't carry lace weight yarns (yet :p) so I feel a little better about my wandering eye. I am in serious need of knitting some lace. I need something dainty and complex. Nothing like lace. :)

Well, Little Lily is work on her third chin so I must run now. Have a Great day!

Cutie Bugs

2005-07-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

Look at my wonderful hubby and son Rowan. Isn't he just scrumptious? They both are, tee hee.

Movies last night were Miss Congeniality 2, White Noise and Fear Dot Com. We've yet to watch Fear Dot Com. Miss Congeniality 2 was exactly as I expected, why bother making a second one. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the first one, but how could they possibly expect to write an interesting story line to a second one. I guess they couldn't. Lol. White Noise got really bad reviews. They need to have horror flick buffs review these movies. Horror is my favorite genre. I really enjoyed the movie. Fear Dot Com... has yet to be rated and by the title I think I will have some berating to do. snicker. Its got to be better than Alone in the Dark though. Pee-u!

We are going over to celebrate a friend's birthday today. She's turning 30 years old today. I feel for her. I turned 30 in February. I spit on all those that say, "Come on, 30s are the new 20s!" Its like barfing on a canvas and calling it art. lol. Being 30 gives me a little more credibility on being a mom of many. All the good things end there. I'm thir-ty! Nothing glorious about that. I can remember thinking being old enough to drink was old.

Time to go. Wish I could write more. Now that I'm thirty, I wake up and the day is over! I'm like all the other old people saying, "I can remember when..."

I've learned something new

2005-07-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to pop in an oldie but a goodie movie, Emma. I love Jane Austen!!! I wanted to relax and knit. See the new scarf I'm working on. I call it Meandering. When I finish it I will post the recipe for it. Nice reversible scarf. This photo doesn't show it off well. My new trick? Drinking and knitting. I've been leery about it as I usually get tired while drinking. My evils? Irish Cream, well before that was a little bit of port that I had left. mmmm. I can knit and drink. Hah! I got skills! A friend was also kind enough to turn me on to Limonata. mmmmm. It's like sparkling homemade lemonade, but much more expensive, lol.

If you haven't guessed, eq2freak is my husband. What a dork! I mean... you are my sweet prince. Yeah... that's what I mean. snicker. Today we picked up Rowan's pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. What a heartbreaker! Next Sunday we are going to get all of the little chillens pictures taken. Me...stressed... TOTALLY! I mean, 7 kids, all looking neat and tidy, all smiling at the same time, can we say mission impossible? hehehe. I style Grace and Bella's hair, walk to the van, and they look like they've never had a comb taken to them. *sigh* 7 kids... Seven children... YOU HAVE SEVEN KIDS!!! That's right. I'm a little unbalanced and that's the way I like my world. I'm a tattooed, pierced, baby lovin' 30 year old freak. I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, maybe some fun colors streaked through my hair. Freakboy won't leeeeeet me do it. Just kidding, lol, let's just say he wouldn't be happy with me. As long as he keeps his extra weight on him to fulfill my chub fetish I guess I can keep my hair a 'nermal' color. The moment he goes on a diet though, blam-o rainbow hair. hehehe. Oh! Maybe get my lip pierced too. He thinks if I get any more facial piercings I will cross the line into piercing freak. What's wrong with that? I have my eyebrow, nose and tragus pierced. I had to let my tongue heal up as I kept grinding it in my sleep and causing painful sore blisters on the roof of my mouth. Yuck!

Tonight's entertainment are movies (help us all, dorkboy is selecting them) and something he scavenges along the road, err I mean from the store. hehehe. We have a bunch o' kids, kain't afferd no vittels. LMBO. Well, that's what some people think. I even had one lady ask me where I buy my groceries from. The grocery store you freakin' moron. Course I didn't say that. Told hubby and he said, "we shop at the store for only big families..." derrrr. You wouldn't believe how many people ask if my husband has a good job... or if my husband makes lots 'o money. snicker. I need to start coming up with one liners. 'my husband is unemployed and we live off welfare.' 'you wouldn't believe how much welfare pays for all these kids, that's why we keep having them.' I guess only uneducated rednecks can have large families. tee hee.

We are e-vile geniuses trying to take over the world, one child at a time!

Lookee what I did!

2005-06-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

I added photos. Its quite appropriate as I've been nicknamed the foto popo just this week. Foto popo? I'm THE moderator for Yahoo! Wool Soaker group. Jealous, aren't ya. LMBO. Anyway, being the popo that I am I had to crack down on the fotos... foto popo. Thank you Patti for always making me laugh till my sides hurt. Wool Soakers are HOT! The wool soaker group is HOT! Paris Hilton is HOT! Just kidding. snicker. Check us out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wool_soaker_group/ if you wanna be HOT! Tee hee.

Nothing going on in the knitting world. Working through an HTML tutorial right now. Oh Oh Oh, I bought some yarn today... does that count? hehehe

Kack! Me work, nevah!

2005-06-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the yearly bug to work on my own business has bite me again. A business? me? Not really. More like a hobby. I enjoy having things hanging over my head. A little over a year ago I decided to become a business owner. Cloth diapering products, children's clothing, natural parenting, etc... I just can't seem to stay focused long enough to actually accomplish anything. All the while I'm paying all the expenses of having a professional website. Oh, and don't forget the prefolds, Snappi products and the other what nots hanging out in my garage.

So, I gotta learn to do this thing. I've created my own personal sites before. Created my own graphics, wallpapers, heck I even have a year of graphic design under my belt. This whole html stuff is like learning a foreign language... don't use it, lose it. Not only that, but the complexities of shopping carts. *sigh*

Knitting world? In the day of the life of a freak (hint the freak is me) I was fairly disciplined today. My little ones are a little behind in their homeschooling. Even further behind for my tastes. We got in a great day of schooling!!! Yahoo! Tim made a deal with Anna. If she can get to level 6 in her math by January he'll buy her a Nintendo DS. She's so freakin' freaked! Madalyn's drooling over her Gameboy SP as she only has an Advance. Don't even ask me how I got here... knitting, right! No knitting today. Just crochet. I started on a pillow to coordinate with the never ending blasted afghan. Grrr... why can't I come up with a design and have it instantly perfect? A gauge swatch or two would prolly help, lol. Gauge swatches are for normal people. I get bored before I can finish a swatch. snicker. Its amazing I finish anything... ever.

Lil'lily is going through a growth spurt. She's nursing 24/7. I think babies have this maniacal plan... wait till momma wants to do something then pin her down by her boobies! hehehe. With 2 nursing toddlers and an infant it's amazing that I ever get outta my chair. Course I'm getting sneaky. Them two toddlers hunt me down like raptors, especially right after showering. They know I have to get dressed at some point. They stalk me from the shower to my bedroom. I'm getting smarter though. WWF tag team still gets me now and then. I love them so much and I love our quiet time together. Time to cuddle with the wee one now.

Little Miss Piggy

2005-06-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

snort snort says little miss Lily. She's been a growing. They all grow too fast! She was 7 lbs even at birth. 6 lbs 11 oz June 1st. Three weeks later on June 22nd she weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. oink oink.

Knitting news... I was able to scrape enough out of the left over Fabu for a scarf for Isabella. She loves it. Grace is now demanding hers. I've been wrestling with another scarf. Shimmer (I think) and Truffles. I purchased only enough for a novelty-style, however I decided on a heftier scarf. I think this is my 5th do-over. I finally was able to come up with a scarf that will get the desired length. It will be narrower than I wanted and looser guage than I wanted. It will make a beautiful gift. I should be able to finish it up today and then work on the afghan a little bit tonight. I will be so thankful when that is done. I can't wait to go *shopping* through my bins for my next fast project. I'm going to have to clear out a bin just for knitted gift items. I should say I need to go purchase a couple more bins. I still have at least one yard trash bag filled with yarn that can't fit into my current stash bins. One would think that 10 large bins would be enough stash yarn.... one would be mistaken though. snicker. Oh, the struggles and agony of those that have more money to buy yarn than time to knit up that yarn. tee hee.

The Joy of Scarves

2005-06-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

So, I finished my tank. Totally unhappy with it. The short row shaping is wrong, the overall length is too long, the straps sit wide on my shoulders, and the fitting is either too small or too big. What to do, what to do? That's been my knitting life lately. Eventually I will rip and then reknit making some modifications to the pattern.

I've been inspired to work on some wips and ufos. I have so many stash projects and so many future stash projects just waiting to join my wannabe yarn shop in my garage. I have been working on an afghan slowly. Don't like it, but its a gift. So, I hit my bins and found some lovely Berroco Optik. Knit up a scarf last night. Worked a row or two on the afghan today. Found some Fabu and knit up a scarf today. I think I have enough to knit up another one so I'm going to start on another one tonight.

I feel like I'm accomplishing some with my knitting. In reality, its like a drop in a bucket.... errr a drop in a rain barrell. Lol.

As a side note, I have a fan! My hubby tells me that he's glad my fantasy shop doesn't exist. Too funny. I guess I will have to hide my yarn indiscretions even from my blog. Just kidding, really honey, that yard sized trash bag of yarn has alwaaaays been there. snicker.

NAK

2005-06-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Nak? Nursing at keyboard. Little ones are so precious. Granted bigger ones are as well, just fewer precious moments and more *interesting* moments. Today was filled with mommy's back moments... which means much more whining and testing than usual. Yesterday I went shop-hopping. I think I went to 8 different yarn shops yesterday. Woo hoo! Now I want to knit, buy yarn, knit, and oh yeah, buy lots more yarn, hehehe. My fantasy yarn shop would carry every yarn and pattern I could ever desire, before I desired it. Tim, my hubby, has to be thrilled that no yarn shop like this exists.

I now have this strong desire, want, neeeeeed to work with Mango Moon sari yarn, Lorna's lace weight yarn, and Fibertrends estonian lullaby blanket. I'm thinking of one of Rowan's classic yarns or possibly Classic Elite's Premiere (?) for the blanket. What to do, what to do. Life is way too short for all the yarns I NEED to knit with. Not too mention my 30+ ufos and my 5+ years of stash projects.

I ordered some bfl wool today to try out on my soakers. I still haven't even tested all the different wools I have. Oh well, thankfully the stash game is over. hehehe.

Back to knitting

2005-06-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! I finished my clapotis. Eventually will get photos up... someday. I also was able to finish all the knitted foods I wanted to for Madalyn's 8th birthday. Knitted foods? Check 'em out at www.wildcrafts.net/catalog .

I'm currently working on the Shapely Tank pattern from www.whiteliesdesigns.com . I'm using Rowan Calmer for this tank. I think I may need to pick up another skein to finish this. I am about 1/4 done with back. Finished the front about a week ago.

Wooly Wonder Forums is having a Stash game. It ends June 17th. I really thought I would finish more before the end of it. I guess getting ready for Lily and then her arrival kind of set me back a tad. Oh well.

WIP Completed! Lily is here!

2005-06-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

My biggest WIP is now done. Lily Mae arrived May 24th, 2005. She's such a precious little thing. So, wanna hear her entry story? Here goes...

We decided to go with a midwife this time around as our last pregnancy went 100% perfect. Who knew it would take me 6 tries to finally get a normal pregnancy, lol. With Lily, I had started contracting and my cervix was changing earlier than what we were comfortable with. Unfortunately a midwife is not allowed to deliver before 37 weeks. So we took it easy for a few weeks to try to get to 37 weeks. I was very doubtful that we'd make it come 36 weeks. Of course I finally make it to 37 weeks (May 24th) and am totally certain that I would be pregnant for another 5 weeks. I guess you could say my outlook was pretty negative. Not one freaking contraction, no 'feelings' of readiness, nothing. I had a midwife appointment at 12:30 and for some reason I took all of my labor items with me. I KNEW I wasn't going to deliver soon so it was weird that this would be the first time I had grabbed these items. Anyway...

Midwife asks if I want her to check me and I said yes because I just wanted to know if anything had changed in the last week. So she's examining me and says, "well, you're a 3....4.....to 5 centimeters and 60% effaced." My heart leaps. She then asks me if it would be ok if I didn't leave. I agree as I've gone from 5 cms to delivery in less than a half hour a few times. I call my husband and tell him to head on over. He arrives at 1:30 and we go in to see the midwife again. Not one single contraction. She asks if she can break my water. Its about 2 p.m. when everything was said and done and I'm 6 cm now. My husband and I go for a walk for about a half an hour. 2 whimpy contractions and I'm 7 cm. Tim runs to the store to get some cold beverages. Nothing is happening. I feel like crying because I'm still not contracting. At 3:30 our midwife has a break between appointments and asks to check me again even though I'm not contracting. I'm at 8 cm. I'm in amazement as I'm still not even uncomfortable or even contracting to my knowledge. So I start pacing and start feeling contractions that are 2-3 minutes apart. No big thang. A little after 4 p.m. BLAM-O my first real contraction and boy its a doozy. Midwife starts getting busy with supplies beside me. Second contraction hits and I panic and say that I can't do it. (Big clue for me...as soon as I 'can't' do it we are almost done). Third contraction hits and I push through it. Fourth contraction and Lily's head is born. Fifth contraction and she's arrived!!! 4:25 p.m. 7 lbs even and 20 inches long. 5 painful contractions. How's that for laboring, lol.

Clapotis

2005-05-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

So I started the clapotis Wednesday night out of peer pressure, tee hee. I'm making it out of Interlacements Hawaii which is 80% rayon and 20% silk on a size 6 needle. The color way is called submarine I believe. Blues, greens and purples. I'm through the second set in section 3. I thought it would knit up faster. Wishful thinking I guess. The yarn is a little sticky and I didn't have the right length of addi turbos available (my fav needles) so I'm knitting it on Lantern Moon ebony needles which are sticky. And then you know you stitch markers slow ya down.

Movies and nachos for this evening's entertainment so I should get some more knitting in.

Welcome

2005-05-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well, wish me luck as I start this new adventure. The SASsy part of me is leery about my ability to maintain this, but hey! its worth a try. Lol.