Because there's nothing more romantic than saying "I do" under an antler gun rack

OK, seriously? There was a gun hanging on antlers over our heads? I had no idea until I saw the pictures. Dude, I just got married under an antler gun rack? Seriously? Oh and you KNOW it was loaded. You know what? Does that seem funny, yet perfectly fitting to anyone but me? The morning wedding was supposed to be outside but it was still freaking cold and so we had the ceremony in the "Cowboy Room", aka Jeff's folks' study/den/sitting room. It was just the immediate family and was wonderful. My old boss is now a minister so he and his wife came to town to perform the ceremony. It was very special and I am so happy!

Here's the new family:


The redneck wedding cake, which I think was one of the highlights of the day. Jeff's sister created this for us and used the wedding cake topper from her wedding ten years ago. We had a lovely place for it, but then the sun came out (thank GOD) and it would have melted anywhere we put it. This left us short of tables. What to do? Well, my inlaws rigged it up on a piece of plywood balanced on a kitchen stool. It doesn't get any more redneck than that, does it? My family rocks. Thankfully the sun came out, since at one point I counted over 40 children running around tearing up the backyard of my inlaws and that of their neighbor who graciously let us use their playground and basketball court to go with our badminton set.





Oh, and of course there was knitting...



The good pictures are coming later, including those with me in the gorgeous wedding shawl made by Cheri! My sister-in-law took amazing shots and I can't wait to get them!

The day was exactly like we wanted it, family and friends outside, grilling, eating, dancing, having a ball. The only sad part was that I wasn't organized enough to get my best friend here in town for the party. I owe her a really big girls' trip out somewhere soon. I'm thinking Vegas!

We're off for a week in the Bahamas! Woo Hoo! Much knitting of socks, sitting on beaches, drifting in the sailboat and doing absolutely nothing. Can't wait! Normal crazy knit blogging to come after I come back full of freckles. Between Jeff and my pale skin, I'm hoping we don't both burst into flames the minute we get off the plane.

Antler gun rack, knitters, big ass fire and monster charcoal grill? OH and some mike's hard limeades. You betcha. It doesn't get better than this.

Preppy much? Yes, thank you!

Pattern: Aleita Shell by Bonne Marie Burns in Interweave Knits Spring 2008 magazine
Yarn: Aslan Trends Artisenal 1.5 skeins, cotton, polyester and alpaca blend, heavenly cool
Needles: sz 3's for bottom border ribbing and 6's for the rest
Deviations from pattern: Realized my fronts were working up too long, so did faster increases at end and my shoulder seams are just over the back of my shoulders, I actually like the look better. I also said OH JUST FUXX IT when I was nearing the end and there was all this neck band knitting and grafting and sewing and finishing. I just seamed the shoulders to the back and put it on and wore it.

Wore it at work today with my khaki capri pants and little penny loafer slide shoes. I was flashing back to my preppy 80's days. Love the vest, did not love the way the pattern had to be written to save space for magazine article. Way too many "at the same times" for my taste.

Also, my daughter donated 10 inches of her hair to locks of love. She rocks. And looks quite cute in the shorter 'do. Here's the before and after:



And these pics show that I had no fun whatsoever at our knitting conference, right? Gwen, it was so much fun hanging out with you again! And of COURSE I didn't take my pic with Stefanie while WEARING one of the sweaters I've made that she designed. No, that would have made sense. Instead this is the 2nd day and I'm sporting my glee sweater which I'm thinking is absolutely a keeper. I'm going to calculate out the stitches to make a smaller one for Elizabeth next fall.

Man, is there anything sexier than tall knitting redheads in the midst of all that yarn?



Three days till I'm getting mallied. Mallied? Mallied! We've decided against all the organized kids' activites. No jumping thing, no organized games. We're apparently going for the bedlam approach. We've got a volleyball net, ONE volleyball (can't you just hear the fights already?), a ton of badmitton rackets and birdies, a bunch of balls for kickball, etc. I'm also getting a lot of little bubbles, jumpropes and other misc. crap for them to be put into a big bucket. I may be overly hopeful here, but I've also got extra bottles of sunscreen and non-toxic bugspray (Avon rocks). Even though it's forecasted to be rainy and cold tomorrow and part of Friday, I'm SURE it will be sunny and gorgeous Saturday.

Because nothing says "Here comes the bride!" like a giant goiter on her chin...

Holy crapamoly. I'm still here. I'm just not quite here. Better blogging next week, I promise! In the last week and a half, I've survived being part of the motley crew that put on the Knitting in the Heartland convention that SO SO SO rocked. OH man, there's something liberating about being among that many other yarn junkies and feeling totally normal! Ok, so not quite totally normal. I think I scared a few women when I was moaning and trying to decide which yarn to buy at that damn Textiles a Mano table. Damn I loved that yarn. So I ended up buying yarn there at least three times that I can remember. The last time I almost made it without buying anything. Almost....you see, when there was only one big-ass skein of gorgeous earthy brownish yarn in my hands the thinking was "what could this be?" I almost set it down and walked away. But then there were two. Yes, BUT THEN THERE WERE TWO! Two skeins of 800+ yards for $22 each and they were soft and did I say gorgeous? TWO SKEINS? 1600 YARDS? That could grow up to be anything. It was too much for this yarn junkie. It went home with me. Along with a crapload of other fibery goodness. I've not even piled it all up for pics for ravelry or blogland yet.

Stefanie Japel? You all know how much I love her designs. I think I'll ask to be buried in that sleeveless cascade 220 sweater if I've not worn it to bits. If you've not bought Fitted Knits yet, go get you one. The book has so many good patterns and just good common sense taught so you can make other things fit that way too. I'm still floored by the idea that you can convert any kind of a flat pattern sweater into a top-down or bottom-up raglan with simple math. That realization was magical for me, just like the time I turned my first sock heel. Pure knitting magic.

Joanna, Johanna, Teri, Sandra, Carmen, Holly, man we put on one hell of a fun show. Seriously. I had a blast. You guys rock. Thanks for dragging me along for the ride.

Let's just say I bought so much yarn that I wasn't even sad that I wasn't able to visit even one yarn shop when I went to Minneapolis right after the convention. I think it might even carry me over for the non-ability to purchase vacation/honeymoon yarn. I'm thinking there will probably not be very many yarn shops on the islands of the Bahamas. You never know, but I'm actually feeling like I've bought enough yarn lately. How scary is that? Yeah. There was a LOT of yarn bought. Pictures soon. OH and the knitting project bag I got from Carmen's table? Oh man. It's freaking amazing. It's black on the outside, quite respectable, with the lining that is so cool I find myself flashing people (mostly knitters so don't worry) with the inside lining peeking out. Again, pictures do better justice. I promise. Soon. It rocks.

What else? So Knitting Convention done. check. Trip to Minneapolis for a three day interview. check. Got home to a bullying issue with my daughter that freaked me out but she didn't seem too worried. Police and principal involved and took care of everything. check. Negotiation of job offer. check. Accepted job (I get to stay in KC). check. Wedding and family party in FOUR DAYS. OK, since it's almost midnight it's probably closer to THREE DAYS. crap crap crap. The fact that it was SNOWING here in the morning of last weekend didn't have me worried. It's Kansas, right? Weather changes. In fact it was gorgeous today and in the upper 60's. But then the weather forecast is calling for snow and rain at the end of the week. It's an outdoor barbeque and I am wearing my damn sundress one way or another. check.

Explanation of the giant goiter zit on my chin. And a few brewing on my right cheek. And at least 11 more across my entire face. Not worried because 14 zits must be lucky. You know, I could have 13. That would be bad. right? An almost forty year old bride should not have freaking zits on her chin. It's just not right. This one is so big that I may have to knit a cozy for it. A zit cozy? Oh yeah, I'm doing just fine here. No freaking out or losing my mind what-so-ever.

Glampyre is coming to town! And amazing Yarn Shopping in KC!

OK, I don't know whether I'm more excited to meet this designer whose patterns I freaking ADORE or to get to shop at the vendor market! Holy crapamoly. Anyone in the KC area, come out to the Radisson Hotel at 12601 W 95th Street in Lenexa. It's at I-35 and 95th Street.

The Sunflower Knitters Guild is putting on the Knitting in the Heartland fantabulous event this weekend! Saturday and Sunday, April 5th & 6th. There's still a few spots in some of the classes and they'll take last minute signups. There's also a Knitting 911 going on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. If you're registered for classes it's free, otherwise there's a $5 fee. Bring any projects you're having issues with for some great help!

For a class schedule and more info on the event, click on the Knitting in the Heartland link above and get yourself a printout of the brochure. Glampyre is also known as Stefanie Japel, one of my very favoritist designers around. Anyone that's seen me at a knitting event has seen my sleveless turtleneck from her book Fitted Knits, knit out of grey cascade 220. I'm also seen about town in the two-tone fitted shrug from her book, mine made with one tone of teal. I also made a teal shrug for my cousin as a Christmas present that was really hard to give away since hers was made with dream in color yarn. I think I've loved Stefani's designs since I made a couple of the one skein wonders from her website years ago.

The vendor market is going to get a LOT of my $$ this weekend. I've been holding myself back (mostly) at yarn shopping and plan to be a true yarn whore. There's going to be yarn, yarn, and more yarn, spinning stuff, fibers, bags, buttons, sheep cards, (you KNOW I'm leaving there with pictures of sheep people) and other amazing stuff. Click here to see the vendor list with links to their websites!

Stefanie will be signing and selling copies of her book Fitted Knits as well. The vendor market goes from 10am-5:30pm Saturday and 9am to 4pm on Sunday.

Just because I'm so excited about this, I'm going to revisit the pics of my favorite Stefanie Japel creations...