Tubby's coming along nicely

OK, that tubey sweater (dubbed Tubby by Jeff) is FLYING off the needles now. It took for-freaking-ever to get through the first sleeve and now I'm already finishing up the color stripe area on the 2nd sleeve. woooooooooo I'm liking this sweater! So far everything fits perfectly, can't wait for the body part! Come and make it with us, it'd be a good first sweater as there's NO seaming! I love that! Tubey Knit-A-Long

I had 2 hours tonight to myself. Did I sit and study like a good girl? Did I work to get ahead on the piles of crap mounting in my little "virtual office" aka corner of my bedroom? Did I fold laundry? Did I knit? nope. I played on my blog! I accomplished nothing other than doing my flickr (don't you love it?) and finally updating the quote of the day (last update was in October, oops) and other little tidbits. I'm someday going to get this thing in shape! Priorities, don't you know?

OH I forgot to put in the dialog that went with the picture my loving daughter took this am. Beth: "dude...mom...dude...your hair....DDDUUUUUUUUUDE" Yes, we're at the "dude" and "whatever" phase already. Nice, huh?

I NEED SOME HELP.....It's time for the talk. T.H.E. T.A.L.K. with my 9 yr old daughter as she's asking questions and is getting curious. I remember reading on someone's blog about the best book to share with their girl and I can't remember who's blog or what book. Can anyone suggest something they used? I went to Borders and was overwhelmed by the massive amount of birds & bees books they stock. cripes. I just want to explain things in a simple basic way that in no way allows for my winging it. Things always get interesting when I wing it.

AND by the way, the hair is much less scary now as there's much less of it. Allegra went scissors happy and I couldn't have big hair now if I tried. It's cute, it's short, and I'm sure I'll love it in 4 or 5 days. Apparently Kevin Appier's ex-wife has the same cut but just shorter and we're both "adorable" and have expensive tastes, but she can AFFORD the shxt I'm only dreamin' of. (Kevin A is an ex-pitcher for the KC Royals back a few years). MAN I should'a divorced a richer man than I did. What was I thinking?

what bad hair? I'm sexy baby

My daughter wanted to record this moment for history, so I thought I'd share. I know it's wrong, but I always feel better about how I look when I see funky-looking people, so this is my gift to you. You're freaking beautiful when you stand next to me today!

I lived through my "moment" of the day

OH my holy hell, what a day. I started with the normal single momma mania....worked half an hour, drag kids from beds, get them dressed, fed, and moderately cleaned (one had brushed teeth, one just rubbed fingers over teeth on the way out the door, you know you all did it once in a while too, don't you?) and off to school, drove across town, shimmy shimmy shaked my butt all over the floor and did some SERIOUS sweating with Jazzercise (I am now a believer. I have more energy and more stamina and was able to run into and out of Joey's after kindergarten care all the way without getting out of breath the other day, so it must be working), cruised across town to home, worked and showered and worked again for about an hour, drove to JCCC for my first Trig math class (going through the teacher cert program at Avila, but need a butt-load more math to be a math teacher and it's cheaper at JCCC), mildly FREAKED OUT on the way driving back home to work YET AGAIN.

Let's just say when the teacher kept saying "I hope that wasn't too slow for you" IT FREAKING WASN'T. OH MY GOD I haven't done that crap since HIGH freaking SCHOOL and it was a LONG LONG time ago and I didn't care for Trig very much back then and it hasn't improved a whole heck of a lot from what I can tell. Did I tell you I missed the first day with Joey's checkup? cripes.

Phone call to my honey went something like this....."mother XXXXer mother XXXXer son of a xxxen mother XXXXer" repeat throughout conversation. I'll save you the drudgery of reading that over and over and me from having to type it, but let's just say I curse a BIT when I get stressed. Amidst the cursing, there was some "what the XXXX kind of math teacher do I think I'm gonna make when I can't even XXXXing get through a XXXXing basic Trig class without feeling like a total and complete XXXXing moron?" and "I am going to be working full time and classes full time and children full time and I've only got ONE class so far and I'm XXXXing out already?" and "what the XXXX was I thinking?" and lots of fun stuff like that. THEN a cop pulls out from behind a bridge overpass right behind me and I really let loose about how he'd better XXXXing not XXXXing pull me over and ....... Jeff calmly let me rant and rave and did the "mmm hmmmm" and "uhhh huh" and all the rest of that stuff. Then I say "I know I can do it, I just have to schedule and organize my time better." Then I realized that I lost my freaking ORGANIZER's paper. nice, huh? more stress. I think the entire call lasted all of 5 minutes, so I was doing my SUPER fast talking, so I'm sure he didn't get much anyway. (I could probably be an auctioneer with almost no training from what people tell me)

Jeff finishes by saying "but you knew it was going to be tough, didn't you?" I very nicely and politely refrain from telling him where to stick his remarks, and said "yes, thank you for pointing that out." I also very nicely and politely didn't call the man I love a freaking idiot or a motherXXXXer as I was thinking in my head. See how nice I can be? Then I say, "I know I can do it, I'm she-rah. I can do anything. I'll just schedule. writing it in the book that I can't find with the paper pack that I also can't find will work. It will. I will S.C.H.E.D.U.L.E. my time and everything will work out. I'm scheduling myself a big ol' glass of wine for tonight, but only after finishing work, running to pick up 2 kids from 2 different places and taking them to the dentist's office and then home for homework, baths, dinner and bed. THEN I'm scheduling me some KNITTING and some WINE. Jeff very smartly decided to "not bother you tonight honey" as I think he's scared of "freaking-out-militantly-organizing-Christine." who wouldn't be? I scare myself sometimes.

Now I'm sitting here with an entire half an hour before I need to be anywhere or do anything. I'm going to go sit down and knit and drink a diet coke. I've only had ONE today, so am in some serious need of caffeine. Thank God I'm not PMS-ing or I'd really be scary.

Thank you for sharing my moment and the joy that I survived. May you survive your damn stress moments too!

Added later at 10pm...
OK, so the boyfriend is actually still the sweetest boy in the world. He called to make sure I was not stressing and to tell me he's not sure what he can do to help, but he'll help in any way he can. He even went through his old text books from college saying he'd learn it with me and we'd do the homework together if I wanted to. I just thanked him for letting me curse at him for a few minutes today and now feel much better. Life's too short to be all stressy. PLUS I found my Franklin Planner AND the sheets to put in it (of course in different places) AND both kids' school pictures (that I lost way before Xmas)!!!! wooo hooooo! I told you I was she-rah, didn't I? We women can do anything! AND to boost my superwoman powers, I'm visiting Allegra tomorrow to see what she is going to do about my funky hair. Can I get another whooo hooo?

Not as much done as I would have liked, but oh well

SO we had a great weekend! How about you guys? I tell you, I've just got sunshine coming out of every pore of my body. I'm freaking obnoxiously cheerful. AND it's Monday. scary, huh? bwa ha ha haaaaaa.

Exercised again, or as Jeff calls it my "exorcism of the butt cheeks". sweet, huh? I'm telling you people, you need to come jazzercise with me.

What else? OH there's the Sunflower Knitting Guild that meets the 3rd Monday evening at 6:30pm and the 1st Monday morning at 9:30am of the month. I'm gonna try to get there next month on the Monday morning thing if I can. They meet at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection at 91st and Mission Rd in Prairie Village (not too far from the Panera, mmmmmmm). I've never been, but have heard good things.

OH, the sleeves are not quite where I wanted to be, but I'm loving the ONE sleeve and back that I've got. I'm having a bad hair day, hence the neck down shot. Click the lovely model below to see an upclose version of the cool pooling of the yarn I'm using in place of stripes. I can't wait to get started on the body to see what pattern it'll make there. The pics here are a bit dull, the contrast is actually brighter.

Spent the whole weekend with Jeff and my kids. We went to Joey's bb game, you've not lived until you attend a 6 yr old basketball game. The crowd echos with "DRIBBLE HONEY" and "THAT MEANS BOUNCE THE BALL" and "DON'T RUN WITH THE BALL IN YOUR HANDS" etc. My superstar can dribble, but isn't too hot on the whole shooting thing. It's a riot. He did make the only points of the team (2pts) last game passed the ball to his friend under the basket who made a shot. Friday night we only lost 4 to 14, so we're improving. There are two boys on the team, who, bless their little hearts, are scared to death of the ball. The one doesn't want to be there, but his dad is convinced he just needs more practice and more YELLING at him. oooooh yeah, that'll help. The other one is a crackup. He's all "I'm OPEN I'm OPEN throw me the ball!!!!" over and over and OVER until a kid actually passes to him, then he screams and runs away. They have fun, and that's what counts. Plus there is some serious entertainment value going on.

We went for an "adventure" at a Japanese steakhouse after the game with Jeff. The boy can put away a serious amount of sushi. Not the pretty sushi with rice and veggies all rolled up, nope. The colorful sticky or crunchy fish eggs and slabs of uncooked fish. I prefer my meat cooked, thank you very much. I did try one bite of some strange fish egg thing and it felt like a combo of slime and pop rocks. Beth ate a chicken breast and rice and Joey ate his standby snuck-in-by-mom peanut butter and chips. We had so much fun watching the knives and the fire fire FIRE and I ate until I almost rolled myself home.

My son's checkup was great!

SO, we had a great time at Children's Mercy yesterday! Joey went for xrays of his lungs, CLEAR AS A BELL, lung functions (strong), sinus check (not too bad), and all the rest of the stuff. He'd even gained a pound since November and he had been losing weight before, so that's wonderful! (kids with CF need twice the calories and fat as normal kids and he doesn't eat enough for a normal kid most of the time). OH OH OH and the blood work. MAN almighty. Every place you go in CMH you are treated like a king, they ALL love children and do everything in their power to make being in a hospital or clinic as good an experience as they can...until you go into "the room." THE ROOM is not fun to go into. It's the outpatient lab. It's staffed by techs, not nurses. I love techs, they are some of my favorite people at CMH, but it's more the environment there, so clinical and so different from the rest of the hospital. They may have started out as nice people before their job was sticking needles in screaming kids all damn day, but let's just say it's not my favorite place to go and I'm not even the one getting stuck. They're good, they're quick, but it's just not a nurturing envirornment. Last time we had to do "the room" I had an almost hysterical sobbing, snotting, choking boy and I don't know who was more traumatized by the ordeal, him or me.

Yesterday Joey asked the doctor if he had to do the "vials thing" (they do a twice a year bunch of blood work and fill about 7 vials, so the thing's in his arm a while). The dr said "yes" and Joey was trying so hard to be brave. No hysteria, but this sad, resigned quiet crying. He'd wipe his little eyes and just sob quietly in my arms no matter what we said. The nutritionist said "why don't you just get the cream?" I said, "what cream?" Apparently there's this CREAM that you put on their arms and it deadens it. Because Joey's in a study where they need additional blood work, we were able to have his insurance approve his blood getting taken in the clinic with a NICE NURSE and the MIRACLE CREAM. He got to watch tv, sit on my lap and didn't feel a damn thing. WHY THE FUXX aren't we using this stuff all the freaking time? Does it cost the insurance companies more money? I'm damn well asking for it in the future. It made the whole day sunshiney and happy.

Anyway, the kid's as healthy as a cf kid could be. Looking at his class playing on recess, you'd never pick out Joey as fighting a big ass disease. YEAH WOO HOO and all that.

PLUS they're signing him up for one of those children's wish foundations. I said, I was thinking of waiting until he's a teenager and can really appreciate it, but the social worker said often they do a family wish as a child and do the Disneyworld thing or something like that and later he can be eligible for hanging out with a sports star or a shopping spree when he's a teen. How cool is that? He's been thinking about our "family wish" ever since. Beth's involved too as I said it's for our "family" so it hopefully won't make her feel left out or him too much of a freak or something.

I'm off to work, just had a minute in the crazy day. My honey came and saw me for a cup of coffee after dropping his boys off at school and we sat & read the paper together and did a little kissing to start the day. mmmm mmmm good. I am so happy!

I even got some knitting done, and am almost ready to start the other sleeve on the tubey sweater. I'm hoping to have the top shrug part done this weekend and will post a pic. I think this one may actually fit me!

Teresa, hang in there on the evil fluffy yarn. Check out this site for any HOW THE FUXX do I do that again??? kind of questions. I used it the other night to remember how to do the M1 bar increase. It's my very favorite site. It has different pictures to click on for continental knitting (left hand holds yarn) or english knitting (right hand holds yarn--what most Americans do). It has videos to show how to do almost anything...including the best kitchener stitch instructions I've seen.

KnittingHelp.com

I am woman, hear me "wooooo!"

Yup, that's how we JAZZERCISE women talk. You see, now that I've completed a whole 4 classes, I'm a pro. I'm telling you people, it's almost empowering to start exercising again. I FINALLY got to another freaking class, and I had a BLAST. The teacher, Angela I believe, was very Tina-esque and worked my living ASS off. Well, not quite OFF but she worked it and those thighs. wow. There were a bunch of newbies in the class too, and part-way through she explained that the way you talk in Jazzercise was a big ol WOOOOOOO! I ate well today, rewarded myself with a square of ghiardelli's dark chocolate, and EVEN jog/walked a mile this evening. I'm freaking she-rah.

Tomorrow I take my son Joey to the CF (cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung & digestive disease) clinic at Children's Mercy for his big yearly work-up. They see him every three months, but only do the xrays and blood work once a year unless he's having a tough time of things. We don't do too well with the blood aspect. Wish me luck! He loves going through the rest as he's not what ANYONE would call shy, so has some fans among the nurses and doctors there. He's treated like a king, so it's actually hard to get him to go home. There was a pretty cool article about a hopeful cf therapy that is cheap too. If you're interested, it's here...surfers give clue to cheap CF treatment

I've been knitting along on my tubey sweater, and almost have a sleeve done. I'm so freaking excited, can't stand it!

OH and the books are right, when you have a stitch that needs fixing down a few rows, just knit or purl until you get directly above the bad stitch, drop the stitch and let it travel to one spot below the stitch, and use a crochet hook to work it back up. I always forget which side to do for knits & purls, so I turn the work so the knit side is facing me, insert the crochet hook from front to back and work it up that way. VERY cool. The pics I took didn't turn out very clearly as it's a light off-white fuzzy blanket.

I think I want to learn cables next. I always hear how easy they are and they sound pretty easy, so we'll see.

OH and I signed up on the artyarns website for their short rows & shaping tutorials. It's free and they send you these cool projects & instructions to your email and I'm enjoying this whole "learning" thing. The virgin is learning new things, look out world.

What else, oh since the get in shape and learn new things are going so well, wouldn't you think that "get organized" thing would be kicking along too? Well, it would be, but I lost the damn organizer calendar pack for my damn franklin planner book. nice.

another class another dollar or 189 dollars

You know, JCCC is really a heck of a deal. I'm taking another fun class (Trig) there and the three hours is only costing me $189. My freaking teacher certification program at Avila (starting next month) is costing me $389 an hour. cripes. I wish there were more classes I could take at Jucco. crap almighty. Good thing I'm going into a high paying career like education, huh? I may have to go work in the hood for a few years to get them to pay off my school loans.

ANYWAY, I did no learning yesterday. I am gonna try to test the book author's stuff and see if I can fix knits & purls down a few rows so simply as they say. We'll see. I've got a blanket I started with a pretty blocks of knitted and purled chenille yarn and have a few stitches wrong in the first couple of rows. I'm thinking it should work. I haven't dropped stitches in a long time, I'm getting all misty and think I need to make another clapotis! I do love my clappy.

I finally got some of the "stripes" started on my first sleeve of the tubey sweater. I think it should be interesting to see how it pools on the body part of the sweater. I'm hoping it turns out cool, I love working with variegated striping and pooling yarn, you never know what you're gonna get. Here's the first sleeve's detailing... Then there's a picture of Jeff's "manly" wrist warmers or as he calls them "fingerless gloves". I thought they turned out pretty damn nice. BUT he now thinks he wants fingers on his fingerless gloves. Only problem is that I'm using artyarns with size 6 needles and all the patterns I've seen call for sock yarn so I'm thinking of keeping these for myself as I LOVE them and making him those cigar fingerless gloves on Knitty a few issues back. Anybody made them yet?

No early Jazz today AGAIN dammit!!! I'm GOING to go at 1pm so help me. I've got to get shaking this bootie so it can get smaller. I've now eaten mostly healthy for three days in a row. I realized I've officially over-lapped myself. I'm a skinny little thing from the waist up, a size 6. My lower half is MORE than twice that size now. While being double down low can be cute when you're a size 2 or 4, it's not so hot when you keep moving up the scale. Combine the big thighs and butt cheeks with dry skin, and I'm a disaster waiting to happen. Seriously, on exercise days I put on baby oil after the shower and extra lotion so all that friction doesn't make me burst into flames.

How to get a horrible manicure...a tutorial

OK, so one of my big resolutions this year is to learn something every month and to share my knowledge with others. I learned to roll center pull balls of yarn last before the holidays, I am going to learn to correct knits that should've been purls and vice versa tomorrow. I've got a book and I'm gonna try it out. But tonight, dear people, I have learned a lesson that I'm thankful only cost me $18 and is not permanent.

Before I get started, let me state that this is NOT a complaint against Beauty Brands. I freaking love that store. I hardly use any of the stuff in there, but I must possess it anyway. I have actually spent more money there on hair and nail products and lotion in the last couple of years than I have saved for my children's college funds. I should'a bought some serious stock in that damn store, because I still cannot go in and leave with my hands empty.

How to get a crappy manicure and still tip because you're an idiot.

Step 1...While taking your daughter to Beauty Brands for a celebratory manicure (woo-hoo one week without biting nails...or at least biting them so minimally that there was actual signs of white at the end of the stubby short nails), decide, hey, I could use a $15 manicure, sure.

Step 2...Not listen to your gut instincts when the only woman in the store over 21 yrs old is a new nail tech with a bad attitude and no clients and happens to be the only one not busy. Think, nah, I'm sure there's a reason she's 45 and working for minimum wage with a bunch of kids at night.

Step 3...Explain that I'd like a french manicure but NOT the white maincure with PINK polish as it makes me look dead. She pulls out a lighter shade of WHITE but it's still freaking WHITE. Say, "no, my friend had hers done with light off-white tips and a warm natural color and that's what I want." When she pulls out ANOTHER freaking bottle of WHITE say "No, really, I think it looks tacky when the ends are vibrant white on anyone over 21 and I just don't want to go there." Can you guess it already? Can you believe I actually drive on the streets and am raising my own children? cripes. She pulls out another WHITER bottle of white and I glance down at the inch long claws she's sporting with the whitest white LONG tips you've ever seen. ssmmmmmoooooooootthhhhh one Christine. Let's just say I didn't quite pull out of that one and didn't have the guts to say no. (ok, if I just offended you too for wearing white tips, it's not you, it's me. I just don't like them on ME after I got old & bitchy. Other women can wear it fine, I meant to say ON ME it's tacky after 21.)

Step 4...Don't even try to talk her out of the pale bubble gum pink color she picks out for the topper when she explains that's what she wears. I'm a redhead (ok my hair USED to be red) and I've got the pale PALE complexion of a redhead that does NOT work with pink. Yup. I've got nails of a dead woman. Not just a fresh dead, still in the embalmer's room dead, nope, one that's been dead a while. Like on csi found in the woods kind of dead nails. OH and there's little hairs and fuzz in one of my gloppy dead thumb nail paint. nice.

Step 5...After chatting and admiring the beautiful job the 19 yr old nail tech did on my daughter's nails, my lady with the white claws decides to paint on some cuticle oil on my thumb. I said, "um, that doesn't look like cuticle oil." She said "oh, it's just packaging, isn't it cute how it looks like nail polish?" It looks like polish because it was. I have irridescent white painted all around the cuticles and even under the tips of my right thumb and up and down the sides of my left one.

Step 6...tip the biotch. I can't decide if she was dumb as a post and just horrible at her job or if she is diabolical and figured out the perfect way to get back at the rude chic who called her tacky.

Step 7...put buying some damn fingernail polish remover on the shopping list for tomorrow. This wouldn't be a big deal to most women, but
A) I'm a total drama queen (hard to believe, huh?) and
B) I only get manicures about 2 times a year as I'm always using my hands and the polish chips off, so when I get my nails done, it's a special thing for me.


On a nicer note, I did GREAT at the Studio's big 25% off sale! I spent UNDER 50 dollars. Let me say that again, it took almost everything I had to put down the handfull of koigu I wanted to get to make that cool scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts and walk away from the wall of felting wool. Walk. Away. From. The. Wall. Just put the yarn down and back away slowly... Anyway, my tired grumpy kids were freaking angels and we ALL THREE got free water bottles with the Studio logo on them. I got more charcoal yarn for the tubey sweater just in case. They seem to have had a rash of purchases of my favorite superwash wool in the world, so I was getting nervous. I also got some sock yarn and a magazine and a book! I ended up saving $16 and just had a lovely time.

a quick note

Good morning! I've already worked, solved two problems and knocked everyone off our server, so it's time for me to take a break while the powers that be fix whatever I screwed up. SO it's off to the Studio for their 25% off everything in stock sale! woo hoo! I have to behave myself AND I have two grumpy children along, so it should be a joy. But, I'm gonna get me some new yarn, so it's all good.

I'm now to the point where in about 4 more rows, I get to do COLOR on my tubey! I've got this tremendous SLEEVE start with the shrug back so it looks like this deformed sleeve for a monster and had everyone at Jeff's folks' house concerned for my knitting ability, but I'm excited. I'm still checking gauge, so this sweater better damn well fit me as I'm wearing it ANYWAY when I'm done one way or another. I can either look like a knitting goddess showcasing a masterpiece of her knitting ability or a slug with stripes. I'm hoping for the goddess scenario.

Somehow I pissed off Jeff's sister last night without meaning to. Oh well. details later. Maybe not as I'd hate it to get back to her that I think she's a titch high maintenance. I'm actually a titch high maintenance too, but her titch is bigger than mine.

Gotta run, off to pet the yarn!

OH and I can't start my week off on Tues with early Jazzercise as I've got a conference call at 9am. cripes. I'm gonna try to sneak over later in the afternoon as I'm SERIOUS this time. SERIOUS.

How much do I love this man???

OH MY GOD I wish I had a picture of how ugly this thing was when I dumped it into Jeff's garage to see if it was savable this last summer. It was PINK and I don't mean a pretty pink, I mean a moldy version of barfed up pepto bismal pink. Globby paint and cracked wood, totally broken top, part of the back missing, but made of cedar. Jeff said he was "fixing it up" but I had no idea it was this amazing. I wish I took a better picture. He refinished it, sanded it, repaired it and TOTALLY built a new top out of boards for it. He put on the original (refinished) copper strips and even lightly sanded the inside so the cedar smell is strong enough to scare the bravest moth away from my yarn. Ignore the picture of the inside, it's now filled with yarn yarn yarn!

Jeff came over to the house to take care of me last night. He walked the dog, fed me, had the kids playing quietly so I could nap on the couch and then after I put the kids to bed, he rubbed my back until I fell asleep. AND he brought in the most beautiful HAND REBUILT cedar chest for my yarn. HOW could I not love this man?

PLUS I went to a real doctor and got real, made in the USA medicine. My head and lungs are now so clear it's almost freaky. I am on day 2 of the heavy duty Zpac antibiotics and have this wonderful yummy black cherry flavored CODEINE laced cough syrup, so I'm happily fuzzy and hardly coughing at all.

I thought I'd better get Jeff's fingerless gloves (men don't wear wrist warmers) done for him so I worked on that today instead of my tubey sweater. I'm to the point where I get to join and do the sleeves for the shrug part and am entirely too excited about that. I'm forcing myself to be patient and get Jeff's set done first. I hope to have sleeves done by Monday. OH, I got such a kick last night from Jeff asking why a bunch of women were all knitting a sweater called "tubby". I laughed so hard I almost wet myself. I also had doubled the dose for the codeine syrup, so was pretty much laughing at everything last night.

So much for my big exercise start of January. I'm hoping to be back on schedule and Jazzing starting Tuesday morning as kids are out of school this Friday for some teacher day and Monday for MLK day. I thought Joey's kindergarten teacher got it right as he came home talking about "Mr. King" as this "nice man who taught other people to be nice to each other no matter what." I think the world would be a much better place if we could do what Mr. King taught.

STILL can't stop coughing

OK, so maybe the penicillin pills from MEXICO weren't the best choice here. I'm getting pretty damn sick of coughing coughing coughing. I basically barely made it through a meeting tonight by holding my breath and trying not to barf from holding in the coughs. I think I may have even grunted at one point. I know I did one explosive sneeze/cough/snort thing that made people actually pull their chairs back away from the table. I told everyone "don't worry I've been on antibiotics for a few days now" and left out the part that they were in a $25 bottle of 500 pills or something like that. nice. I'm going to a REAL doctor tomorrow. dammit.

SO I was sitting here working at home like a good girl. cough cough cough. I thought, hey, wouldn't some home-made chicken noodle soup be good? I decided to do the soup the way I like it best, from Panera. Got in a car, drove myself through the freezing rain/snow/sleet to Panera to find NO chicken soup on the soup board for today. ALSO no chicken chili. No chicken ANYTHING. I was so pissy I decided I needed yarn. I went to the Studio for some SWEET Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted to use for the stripes on my Tubey sweater. I couldn't decide on different colors to stripe, so I thought I'd try something unusual. I'm using the mixed berries colors, which has blue, red, and different shades in it in the striped part of the pattern and we'll see how it pools and hopefully it'll turn out worth wearing.

It didn't help my cough as well as chicken soup would have, but it sure helped my attitude. OH OH OH and guess what I got also????? This would have been a Christmas present to & from Christine, but with it being January 10th, that doesn't actually work, so it's a STOP COUGHING present for me from me.... check it out baby. I spent $38 on it and LOVE LOVE LOVE it and my crap's already in here and it's a JOY to knit out of.



I'd better get better soon or this is going to cost me a fortune. Knitting out babies, I've got the charcoal shrug part almost to the point of joining to start the sleeves. That 22" is some of the longest crap I've ever knit. I did learn something, though. That idea of slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise makes a LOVELY side edge. I'm doing that on everything from now on.

Teresa, hang in there babe. Anything fuzzy or furry makes me curse loudly. I usually prescribe wine for knitting with hairy things. It doesn't make it any easier, actually you make more mistakes but with the hair/furr/fuzz who can tell? AND it makes it a LOT more fun!

Tubey-to-be

SO, I'm official now. I'm KAL-ing on the Tubey Knit-a-Long, come & join us. You know you wanna. I AM GOING TO KNIT THIS SWEATER AND I WILL WEAR IT SO HELP ME KNITTING GODDESS!!!! I've had what some would call "issues" with knitting sweaters so far. I'm made the move from beginning scarf knitter to experienced felted purse knitter. If you can felt it, I can make it. I have even started learning lace. I am a beginning sock knitter, but for some reason, I can NOT make a sweater that will fit on my body and not make me look like a freak of nature. I have not really wanted to all that badly, but now I MUST KNIT A SWEATER. It is consuming me. I have been dreaming of knitting sweaters and socks. Not thinking of them lovingly kind of dreaming, actual snoring at night DREAMING of knitting sweaters and socks. Looking back, the first attempts weren't all that surprising, close enough gauge really isn't. Yarn substitution on the Tempting made what should have been a lovely lightweight fresh wool blend sweater into a cotton nightmare that weighed more than I did.

ANYWAY, here's my start, isn't it lovely? Don't you just wanna pet it? I'm using my very favorite superwash wool in the WORLD, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Charcoal and don't know what colors I'm making the stripes yet. Click the pick to see the pretty shading of dark greys. It's lovely. Actually, it's loverly. This is the yarn I was cranking out the wrist warmers in, it has such a pretty hand-pained look that gives some interest to the yarn. I've measured my gauge all over the damn thing and am feeling pretty confident. I'm using sz 7s and that's my start from last night on the center of the shrug part.

SO, I'm still feeling like dog crap here in kc. Cough cough cough moan moan moan, repeat. The good part of being sick is you don't feel like eating, so it's always a good weight loss tool. Unless you're an idiot like me. I went and stopped by Jeff's house yesterday morning to pick up some stuff. I sat down and opened up his box of chocolates he had on the coffee table. I thought, "wow, that doesn't even smell good to me" and closed the box, eating none. Chocolate ALWAYS sounds good to me, I will quite possibly be eating on my deathbed. I was so amazed at that fact all day I kept picking up cookies, chocolate candies and the like and smelling them thinking "wow, how is this happening? I really don't want to eat it." Sounds great, huh? Just before dinner, either because I'm mentally challenged or because of the Mexican antibiotics I'm taking (don't ask I was an idiot instead of getting NORMAL drugs I listened to my man) I picked up a chocolate chip and m&m cookie and it still didn't seem that appetizing. I thought "what happens if I eat a bite? Will it still not appeal to me?" What the FUXX was I thinking? Of COURSE it tasted good. Chocolate is one of my main food groups, with beer and ketchup. I scarfed FOUR of them and was craving chocolate all damn night, ending with eating TWO packages of Little Debbie nutty bars before bed. stupid stupid stupid. If, in the future, chocolate ever does not appeal to me, DON'T PICK IT UP STUPID.

Is it any wonder my diet attempts don't work? cripes.

I truly amaze myself, really I do

SO, baby blanket DONE by 11pm the night before the baptism of my nephew Charlie. It turned out pretty, click the strange (I was tired when I took the shot) angled shot below for a close-up of the pretty stitch. This was a pattern from Jeff's grandma who is one of those crocheters who don't work from patterns. You know, like you cooks who can just KNOW what to put in. I am a religious pattern follower. It makes me sweat to try to "wing it". I also use my cookbook to make meatloaf. I'm just not that brave yet. I can wing it on felted purses, but that's it so far. Probably why I was good at cross stitching and needlepoint makes me sweat. I don't like sweating.

ANYWAY, I'll put down the "pattern" that I came up with from combining J's Gma's tips and two other patterns I found online into the fastest baby blanket in the midwest. I'm just too pooped to do it now. This would be so pretty in one of those variegated baby yarns, but was pretty though boring in straight white.

No Jazzercise today as I've got strep throat. ick ick ick. I hate that crap. I've been washing the shXt out of my hands lately so I wouldn't pass on my sore throat and now I'm on drugs. ick

I went to Michaels and used up a $50 gift cert I got from my little bro for Xmas. I got a butt-load (8 skeins) of Lion Brand Chenille thick & quick to make aNOTHER afghan I saw in a library book. I don't know what is up with the afghan-itis. It's like I can't stop myself. I also was thinking of checking out the wool-ease or simply soft carron to see about a cheaper version of the tubey sweater from knitty, but don't like enough of their colors. I'm thinking I'll probably try the superwash cascade 200. I don't know. I'm going to the Studio sometime this week to do a look-see.

OH and apparently it's time for a hair cut again. My 9 yr old daughter got home from Xmas with her dad. We were sitting on the couch watching MASH and she said, "mom, that guy has your same haircut." "seriously, mom." It was Alan Alda in one of the serious 70's wavy do days. Oh lord. I went to the mirror and saw Alan Alda looking back at me. I had the serious side part, the big wavey loopy thing on top and the not-quite-bangs slinking across the forehead. It was quite frightening. I'm calling Allegra later today. Beth is wanting "something new" for her do too, so we may do a mother/daughter day of beauty.

Just call me Shaky Legs McGee

OK. I did it. dammit. One and a half Jazzercise classes this morning. 8 freaking 20 am. I even "whoo-hooed" twice. twice. I then went to work (though I'm AT WORK more now that it's "virtual" and am supposed to be at home than when I was SUPPOSED to be at work and WAS at home, cripes). I carried 14 trips of heavy trashcans full of paper up the stairs to the dumpster. I ate 2 bananas and drank a bottle of water. I'm so flippin healthy this morning I might just keel over dead.

I'm getting a bit stressed as the shop I visited yesterday had NO baby blankets. cripes! I'm sure I could've crocheted the thing by now, but did I mention I'm a bit lazy? L.A.Z.Y. SO I've got one more option and you all better be crossing your fingers for me that there's a white baby blanket there or I'm gonna be up hookin' it all night long. Baby Charlie's baptism is Sunday and he may or may not be wrapped in a lovely white softness. Why do I volunteer these things? Hey, that was 2005. The 2006 resolution chicadee is the NO NO NO woman.

3pm later that day...WELL CRAPPPPPPPOLA, the little craft mall I remembered has been replaced. Back when the Walmart Neighborhood market came to town, apparently they were bumped out. damn damn damn. I'm off to crochet crochet crochet. OH and the whole healthy eating thing went out the window. I got a big foot long chilli cheese coney at Sonic complete with tator tots and diet coke. mmmmmm mmmmmmm good. I left a few tots in the bag, so I wasn't a total pig and I put enough ketchup on there to qualify for a full servings of veggies. That meal in itself wasn't so bad, but the kicker is to get that taste out of your mouth it takes chocolate. A sugar free breath mint isn't gonna do it. You know how wine tasters use a saltine cracker and a swish of water to cleanse the palette? I use chocolate. After something salty, you need chocolate. After something sour? chocolate. Sweet? chocolate. Alcoholic? lots of chocolate. Anyone wonder why I now need to lose 35 pounds? hmmmm. I can't do the life without chocolate. It's just not going to happen. I tried before Christmas and think the severe shock to my body is what put me in the migraine state. There's worse things to be addicted to, at least this one makes my breath smell yummy.

Happy weekend everyone, I'll be crocheting crocheting crocheting. I even just joined the knit along for knitty's tubey too! I was SO in the mood to start on that! Maybe I'll just go swatch some yarn and see if that helps my startitis to chill a bit. Anyone else making this around here? I'm not sure what yarn to use yet. I may have to spend my gift cert from my sp on some wool of the andes, but I think it'd be too itchy. I just can't decide. I heard a few girls were using cascade superwash, so maybe, we'll see. depends on what colors they have and if I can get gauge. Me, getting gauge? hah!

Aunt Christine

OH MY GOD I LOVE BEING AN AUNT. Is this not the cutest boy in the world? I know I shouldn't say that being the mother of another cutest boy in the world, but please! Look at the child! Guess what I'm doing today??? babysitting!!! and a little bit of working. I worked long hours yesterday and will tonight so I can concentrate on the job at hand, gurgling, gooing and laughing and snuggling and changing poopy diapers. Oh baby, I loved that stage with my kids where they COULDN'T MOVE. They just laid there in your arms adoring you and gurgling. mmmmm. new baby smell. mmmmm.

OH and the cedar chest was also being restored to be a yarn holder. Silly boy Jeff thought I'd be able to put ALL my yarn in there. Then he saw the dresser was FULL and I've got a small shelf full of bags of more yarn. I tried to tell him I'm not nearly as bad as the rest of my yarn buddies, really, I'm just barely on the stash-o-meter. He told me just because the rest of my "junkie" friends were jumping off a cliff, did I have to also? YUP I sure as heck do. Plus, how soft would the landing be? hah! I think he's resolved to ignore the yarn addiction.

Back to being "Aunt Chris" AND then this afternoon Dad's coming home from work to take over and then I get to go see Jildo! We're going to meet in Topeka, can't wait! What a day, started with a kiss on the cheek from my boy Joey, snuggling with him, dropping him at school, snuggling with baby Charlie, a little knitting while he naps, and then off to see my best friend in the world. It doesn't get any better than this!

Silly boy

So, it's finally happened. I thought my man was a bit off in that he was ENCOURAGING me to visit knitting shops. The few times we've gone out of town with our kids, he's always looked into seeing if a yarn shop is close by. Anyone remember that hideously ugly, no I mean FUGLY, hot pink globby painted BROKEN cedar chest I got for FREE at a garage sale and then dumped in Jeff's garage this summer? I thought it could be fixed up for a storage thing or just chop up and use the cedar bits as moth repellants. The boy has gone and refinished it, building a new top and lock and it's freaking GORGEOUS. He's still got some work to do and I will put some pics on here once it's done. A-Freaking-Mazing work. It's like a showpiece now and I can just see it at the foot of our bed (if WE ever end up with OUR bed instead of this dating and living in two places bs). ANYWAY he also was thinking (as he was working sanding on the new lid with gloves and then taking them off and then putting them back, etc that MAYBE those silly little wrist warmers I've been making every living moment are suddenly a good idea. He asked if I'd make him a pair. But he wanted ACRYLIC as he'll be "rough" on them. I said I'd LOVE to make you some, I've even got a man's version of the ones I've been working on but if I'm knitting them, they're gonna be wool. They can be superwash, but NO FREAKING acrylic. I'm sitting there thinking how wonderful this man is that understands my addiction. He understands me. He understands the woman knitter. Then when he asks what I am doing with my extra Christmas $$ from the parents and a couple of aunts, I say "buying yarn." like "duh". He said, "but you already have a dresser full of yarn." "Why would you want MORE yarn when you have yarn already?" silly boy. I tried to explain the idea of "stash" to him, he was getting into his "teach his frugal ideas to this silly overspending woman" mode, so I distracted him quickly by saying "you know, I could knit nekkid if I had the right yarn" and suddenly he thought buying more yarn was a great idea. Boys. Link it to sex and you can get just about whatever you want.

I forgot to post yesterday that one of my son's best friends' moms from their preschool (and one of my dear friends now) is now KNITTING as well! She decided she wanted to learn, went to the Studio and learned. Then she bought some yarn & circ needles and is knitting a MOBIUS scarf. Not the kind where you knit forever and then stitch it together with a twist. Nope, the real freaking I CAN'T EVEN DO THE CAST-ON FOR THE STINKING THING Mobius scarf. We met for the boys to play at a McD's playland so I could "help" her. OH YEAH RIGHT. I couldn't hardly tell what was going on. I said, did the ladies there suggest this as your first knit? She said, oh, no, I insisted and they were groaning. My faith is restored in their staff. I was a bit concerned there for a while. The chick went back to the Studio about 4 times in 4 days (and lives at least an hour south of there in Raymore, MO) and learned to purl, to to yarn overs, to cast on, bind off and to un-knit stitch by stitch. It was freaking amazing. I thought I was a bit of a quick learner and she put me to shame! LOVE THAT!

My two knitting pupils are now a little knitting group! We went over to one of their houses, brought the kids, turned them loose with video games, a dog and trampoline (with the net around it) and knitted and chatted for about 3 hours. It was WONDERFUL! We're going to expand our little three-some to other mommas at the local elementary school and do a regular little group girl-time thing. :)

Knit knit knit and I've been going over and over on my KnitPicks catalog my sp sent me as I have her $30 gift cert to spend and it's burning a hole in my knitting bag! So much yarn....wow....I'm getting some shine for a sweater and think I must have sock yarn. No, I've not actually completed 2 matching socks yet, and yes, I have at least enough sock yarn to outfit my entire family in socks, but they're pretty...and if you get the little 2 balls of each color set it comes in its own box. IN ITS OWN BOX...that's like getting the "free" gift at the make-up counter at Dillard's if you ONLY spend a few dollars more.... Somebody slap me. I'm going to make myself knit a pair of socks FIRST then order a few balls....and maybe then get the box.

I'm still using yarn my sp sent me a few months ago, I tell you, it's getting fun digging through the yarn that I have....THANKS again sp!

Jazzy notes...NOT going to make it there until my children are back in freaking school. Who's flippin idea was it for them not to go back until THURSDAY of this week? OH MY GOD I barely survived. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids, but trying to work from home with a 6 year old in my hair is not working. I'm counting down to the drop off tomorrow morning. He's still young enough to love school, so that's great. Beth is due back this Sat, so will miss the first 2 days back at school. Her dad wasn't able to schedule the trip back in time, so I'm being flexible and nice. Yes, I can be nice, but No, I don't really enjoy it. It doesn't agree with me. Being nice makes me eat too many double stuffed oreos. OH YEAH, jazzercise, my big plan is to drop chitlins off at school at 5 min's till 8am and then fly across town to try to make the 8:20am workout m-f or as often as I can. Anyone wanna bet an oreo on how long that lasts?

I'm so proud....

OH BABY, ALL of the people I've taught to knit have now completed and given gifts of their hand-knitted goods. Can you believe it???? Another resolution is to spread this little addiction of mine to all who come near... Yeah for everyone!! I'm going to try to get pics from my students and will post. Miss Amanda finished her first scarf that she started back over a year ago. Then, in a burst of creativity, finished a wool & FUN FUR combo in DARK BLUE yarn in a mere matter of DAYS!!!!! AND she said "hey, I'm almost out of yarn, I'll have to go shopping." YES YES YES!! woo hoo! The two ladies I taught back from the lessons I donated to the school auction have both finished their first scarves, one has finished two scarves and part of a BLANKET! My daughter gave away one of her first purses to her step sister and was so proud! We all need another WOO HOO for that!

SO, remember that little "oh, I'd LOVE to crochet a baby blanket for baby Charlie for his baptism!" crap I was spouting before Christmas? WELL, the baptism is in less than a week and said blanket is only about 8 inches long. Aunt Christine must have been smoking some serious acrylic yarn ends or something when she volunteered that at Christmastime. Yes, we could just spiral wrap the little dickens in it, but that probably isn't going to cut it and preserve my "crafter of the family" "jr. Martha" title here. Nope. And, since I'm no longer stressing over things, I'm not going to crochet until I'm crippled, sleepless and crazy. Nope. I've got an idea. I'm gonna find me an old lady and get a baby blanket and give it to the proud parents. I won't SAY I made it, I'll just smile knowingly and if anyone infers it, fine by me. Now, I've just got to find a baby blanket toting old lady. There used to be a craft mall near 87th & Metcalf, that's my first stop tomorrow. If not, I'll probably end up not sleeping and crocheting, so wish me luck. Anyone know of an old lady in the kc area who'd like to make some $$ for a white baby blanket, let me know!

Yes, that's probably quite evil, but I'm already on that handbasket ride to heck, so this shouldn't speed up the trip too badly. I don't kick dogs or anything, and it's been a long time since I've toyed with the affections of a rich old man, so I figure I'm ok for now.

My goal is to jazzercise tomorrow morning. You know, the first time I met most of those ladies was out drinking and dancing at a live 70's band club. I thought they were crazy from the alcohol. Nope. You chicks are crazy just all on your own. Add alcohol and then you just have MORE freaking energy. I'm still in the back row, but my goal is to get this butt o' mine moving and learning the moves enough to slowly work my way up towards the middle. I'm not even aiming at front row stuff yet, if you girls are that perky that early in the am, it's not gonna happen for a long damn time. wish me luck on this one too.

OH, here's the pic of the ornaments Jeff carved for my folks. I think they're beautiful! Click the little one if you wanna see a bigger image.

2006, the year of the light up frog

OH MY GOD, I laughed when mom opened this gift from my brother Mike. She was always finding these ugly cement frogs for Mike's garden and yard at his old house. No one really knows why. Mom doesn't collect frogs, Mike's never mentioned a frog, it just happened. Needless to say, the frogs (rain gauge frog, etc) all stayed at the old house when he and his wife moved. SO my mom and I share a taste for things sensationally tacky. Impressively tacky, not the regular wearing butterfly ankle bracelets under pantyhose tacky, but the big stuff. Mom freaking LOVED this lighted up Xmas frog. It's going with them to put out by the R.V. at the family reunion this summer. Best gift of the family Christmas no holds barred.

Anyone got some good new year's resolutions I can copy? Here's mine...
#1 Get my damn blog updated with the blogs I read, current pics, and change the damn quote of the DAY more than once a month.

#2 Be more selfish. (who couldn't keep this one?) It includes saying NO more often, taking time for my kids and myself to do nothing, spending more time with the honeyboy and exercising (I FINALLY joined Jazzercise and HOLY MOMMA that's a workout) and eating right and all the usual BS that gets abandoned by Jan. 31st.

#3 Be more patient. Since I'm not patient in the LEAST, this should be achievable.

#4 QUIT FREAKING OUT over things before they're even problems. Learn to just LIVE and LET LIVE and not worry. This one may take large amounts of wine or beer to happen, and I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

That's all I got.

OH OH OH OH OH OH OH I've got lovahboy news!!!! The boy and I have had some "issues" lately off and on for the last few months and I think he was having some serious comittment issues but he thought I was the one with the problems. I wasn't ASKING for any comittment, but he's not one to just care for someone deeply without a lot of other crap getting all tangled in. Once I realized it wasn't me, it was him, (Don't we women ALWAYS think It's not you, it's me?) I felt better and figured I'd wait him out and see what happened. WELL, instead of always being there, I decided I'd live my life and fit him in when he wanted to be there and not stress. He realized he missed me and asked to spend more time together. I said sure. We did, and realized we don't drive each other crazy too much, and it's a good thing. WELL, at midnight last night or close to it anyway, he took my face in his hands, kissed me, and told me the big three words! I LOVE YOU. He's not one to say that lightly, we've now been together about 8 months. I was so touched I almost cried. AAAWWWWWWWWWW I must say it was one of the best new year's eve's I've had.

Gotta run, my chiefies are on tv and I've gotta be there for the boys. Don't know if we'll have a coach after the game or not, but for now I'm just a fan watching the game.

still here

Sorry people, I'm still here, but probably won't write until after the weekend. Crazy times. We finally had our family's Christmas tonight and I'm pooped. I thought it would be a blessing to have the last Xmas 4 days after the actual holiday, but then you figure an extra 4 days without sleep, knitting and crocheting and plastic canvasing along and I'm tired tired tired. Everyone was appreciative and oohed and aahhhhed and it was sweet. Mom & Dad got Jeff some craftsman tools and Jeff made my folks some beautiful wooden carved ornaments and a gift cert to their favorite restaurant. I got lots of good stuff! Gift cert's to craft stores, yarn stores, makeup (my fave mineral stuff), a sweet bag with pockets and leather and looks all official job-like (now that I'm working from my "virtual office" aka bedroom, I must look official, you know) that I'm thinking would be great for stashing a project in progress, and some other good stuff. It was a great evening, family, food, OH MY LORD, I've got to take a pic of my mom's present from my brother. OH OH OH I almost wet my pants. Pic and story to follow soon, I promise.

Happy Happy, Merry Merry and can we PLEASE stop listening to Christmas carols now????

the boy did good!

click for bigger pic of my present!

He did great! We had such a wonderful evening! Did the whole turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, crescent rolls, gravy thing and it was SO SO SO good! Kids all played well together, everyone loved their presents, we had a fire raging in the fireplace, played a bit of monopoly and then after kids were in bed, we snuggled on the couch. No big "L" words, but some very intense loving looks and then he said "we're going to be ok. you know, right?" I'll take it.

The pic above doesn't actually show the color very well, the stones are lighter with firey little bits of green. Sounds weird, but looks great! I didn't give him one hint as to what I wanted, but this was PERFECT! :) Big ass smile on my face. I gave him this black serving tray with photos put in of him & his boys, each of his boys' school pics and a pic of him and I and all 4 kids riding on sea-doo's. He has this big monster black leather ottoman as his coffee table and had this sad little silver tray that wouldn't even hold one drink without tottering. I also made him an afghan for his new dark blue leather couch in the fireplace family room. He seemed to really like them, he is all into that whole "making something by hand means something" thing, which I love about him.

MERRY MERRY HAPPY HAPPY and all that jazz!!! You all have a wonderful holiday, we're off to western KS to see the grandma's and will be back on Sunday night.

I may be on the naughty list now...

SO, I'm all in the holiday spirit finally, most of the craziness has passed, my children went to school yesterday (ONE DAY EARLIER THAN THE END OF TERM) with their little goody bags of hand-knitted scarves and wrist warmers for teachers, nurse, librarian and counselor. I've still got to finish an afghan by tomorrow night, but no biggie there as I'm already on the fringe. I wrapped almost every gift we've got last night, and was even in bed by midnight. WWWOOOOOOOO baby it feels good to be almost ready. I'm still searching for star wars lego stuff as the toys r us here is sold out, but it's not a must-have item. I'm still going everywhere trailing yarn behind me and my fingers have little grooves the size of the double pointed needles that are always in my cramped little fingers as I can't stop making wrist warmers. I've still got a few to go.

I was shopping my little heart out yesterday, stopped outside a hobby lobby where one of those bell ringers was singing. I mean this pure voice, it was amazing. I joined a crowd of about 6 people and sang along. It was such a great moment. We, total strangers, took a moment out of our busy commercialized day to bond together with song over the joy of the holidays. Beautiful. We sang silent night, holy night. Then moved to hark the herald angels sing...glory to the newborn king... It went to the next verse and I went right along. Third verse, I goofed in the middle and ACCIDENTALLY said "oh crap, shXt, I mean shoot, wrong verse". MOST of those around chuckled. I sang "third verse, same as the first" (I know, I am a total dork as I feel a violent femmes quote is always appropriate). ONE lady was not amused. She VERY LOUDLY told me off for cursing AT "our Lord and Savior J.C." and asked if I "ENJOY cursing AT baby Jesus" and stomped off. Cripes, lady, I figure the Lord knows I mean well most of the time. Spreading Christmas cheer wherever I go, that's me, the little potty-mouthed angel.

Jeff and his boys invited me and my kids to their house Wednesday evening for our own little holiday celebration. We're bringing presents and food to do a big ol' turkey dinner with the works. We're just doing a turkey breast, and he's in charge of the bird and the stuffing (stuffing makes me gag). I'm doing the rest. Crescent rolls (from a can of course), veggies and mashed potatoes... LOVE that stuff! I'm really curious to see what he gives me for Christmas. I think it'll be something totally practical that I need, but I'm hoping for something entirely NON-practical that is just for fun. We'll see. It's our first present opportunity as we did the take-the-other-out-for-dinner-and-drinks thing for our birthdays in Nov. I'll put details up Thurs morning, don't worry!

Miss me? I sure missed you guys, I've got a lot of reading to catch up on now!

So I took a little trip to crazy-town. I went to the land of la-la where crafters go in the last week before Christmas. Yup, LOST MY FREAKING MIND. I ended up with a migraine, two days of lost time on presents and almost no studying for the big final. I decided I wasn't doing the damn final paper either. I got an A on the final, almost enough to get a B in the class (just a titch of flirting bumped me to the B). God, sometimes I'm glad to be a girl. 37 years old and FINALLY completed all the requirements to get my damn undergrad degree! woo freaking hoo!

OH I couldn't find a doctor to call in some imitrix for my migraines, mom was getting pissy as I kept taking her imitrix pills whenever I got one of those babies. Mom said call my gynecologist. WTF? I said, doesn't she sorta specialize on the OTHER end of me? but tried and she DID IT! I now have 100mg pills instead of mom's 50mg babies. They may just make me loopy as hell, but I'm glad to have them. Thanks for the comments, I thought I was the only one having that whole speech problem and was freaking out that I was actually having strokes. It's a bitch. Thank God the imitrix works for me, my friend is trying all kinds of freaky drugs to get hers under control. I only get them when I get too stressed so it's not too bad. The lovah-boy was very sweet and checking up on me the day of the migraine, but then was totally pissing me off last night on the phone while I was still hurting and loopy. Just little crap, but I'm like "you are NOT trying to pick a fight with a woman recovering from a migraine on the night before her final exam on her last class, ARE YOU????" Then (due to slow reflexes I'm blaming on the drugs) I came up with a zinger for a comment he made TEN MINUTES before. I called him back up, woke his ass up and said... "yadda yadda YADDA!" or whatever the clever remark was, can't remember now and he's like "oh. ok. goodnight." Today the boy must have been feeling bad as he called and was VERY nice to me all damn day. Damn straight buddy.

This will be a serious picture post, so click the baby pics to see big ones...

FIRST of all, we must all hail the almighty secret pal!!! See? did I lie? she was a-freaking-mazing! Pretty bag CRAMMED with....Fiber Trends The Sheep Tote pattern, Needle Felting Kit, AND natural roving variety pack to make the little cute needle felted sheep on the side, OH I've wanted this forever!, Second-Time Cool book for the Art of chopping up a sweater (very freaking cool), Stranded Color Knitting book, Stitch N Bitch Knit Happens Journal, psychedelic tin for notions, Ring Markers (I am ALWAYS needing those), cute pink rhinestone C keychain, a KnitPicks catalog with (drumroll please....) $THIRTY DOLLARS GIFT CERTIFICATE for YARN!!!!!, AND the coolest set of 1940's era "plain & thimble" soap, stitches hand cream, a thimble and a CUTE AS HELL little sewing kit. Are you in love with her too? I so am! THANK YOU KRIS for spoiling me all along!!!

So, what have I been up to anyway that made my brain go numb? Glad you asked! First, I finally completed the kids' latch-hook rug kits I'd started ages ago. Why now? Who the hell knows. They don't even count for Christmas presents, jeez


Next, everyone needs some tacky-ass plastic canvas gifts, don't they? Santa and his coasters are for one brother & his wife. Pig coasters with white picket fences (can you see the little curly tail?) are for my cousin, RV coasters with mountain scene holder are for mom & dad and there are actually two of the ugly apple gift totes to wrap my kids' teachers presents in. (OH I forgot to photo the pink sparkly scarf I made for Beth's teacher, crap.)


On to crochet work. For my daugher, a capelet made of lion brand homespun and trimmed in fun fur, which we all know is neither fun nor fur, but 9 year old girls love it. I'm also working on THREE crocheted afghans, but didn't wanna lug them out to take photos and NONE of them are done yet.


This IS a knitting blog, right? Scarf for Russell for bday and Xmas combined, fringe to be attached still and given Sat. night. Scarf made with plain ol' garter stitch on that WONDERFUL Schaefer's bumpy yarn. Wrist warmers for Joey's teacher and the librarian, nurse, music, art & pe teachers... OH and my mom and aunt. Three and a half pair down, a butt-load to go... LOVE this pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, they crank out in a few hours. I started with Art Yarns (sz 6 dpns) and then moved to Lorna's Laces superwash worsted weight (sz 7 dpns)and like that even better!


OH, I forgot about making this, I think I'm going to try to felt it and see what happens. Crocheted flower purse was a pretty fast project, so if it doesn't turn out I can crank out another one for my cousin's little girl and maybe for Jeff's niece too. (I just can't seem to stop myself now!)


And, last, but absolutely not least, we went and saw Santa Claus!


Tonight I've got TWO nine-year old girls a-giggling and one almost-6 yr old boy a-yelling just like in the Christmas carols, huh? I'm actually getting a LOT of crafting done! Feed 'em pizza, send them outdoors, then back inside and down to the nintendo room. I'm back baby, and I just might make it to Christmas without totally cracking up...maybe.

My wish is that all crafters finish their projects and still have time for sleep and spending time with family and friends on this holiday season (instead of sitting in the cold car saying "I'll be right there, stall the present opening for 5 more minutes, dammit!" like last year.)

migraine yesterday

I had such a busy schedule set for yesterday, I was gonna conquer the world. Then I got this little flash of light in my vision. I thought, no. I didn't see anything. Then I think I saw it again.... This is not the start to a good afternoon, nope not at all. I ended up getting home in time to pop an imitrix (heaven sent I swear by this med.) and get into bed. I get strange migraines. I think they're actually mini-strokes and this probably explains a LOT for why I'm a titch ditzy every so often. I get loss of vision on the right side, my right side of my face AND HALF MY TONGUE goes numb, my right hand goes numb and I have a hard time forming words. If I don't get the pill in time I get the pain, but normally it's more of a dull ache with the meds, not too terrible as long as I can sleep for long periods of time.

I had just popped the pill and one of the other moms called needing to know where I took my daughter and her friends for Beth's bday party. I told her I had the start of a migraine and was on heavy drugs, so be patient. I tried to say "dye your duds" in olathe out by the movie theater." It was so strange. I could totally picture each thing I was trying to say in my mind, but the words wouldn't come out. It was like playing charades with a mentally challenged person. I finally got out "the place you do stuff to fabric....and it was out in the town where I work"...and I could not say movie theatre to save my life. I finally got out "you look at stuff up on a wall" and she figured it out.

So much for studying for my final or getting any knitting or crocheting done, guess it's time to take a break. Now I've gotta learn all there is about Hinduism, Buddhism, and other eastern religions before noon tomorrow. Guess I should'a done a bit more studying as the semester went on, huh? cripes!

I'll try to get my amazing secret pal pics up tonight amidst studying, you'll be amazed and envious of me. My kids were even going "oooooh" "wow" when I was opening the package, just like watching fireworks.

My secret pal strikes again!

Ok, I have no time for details now, I'll load the pic and give the goods tomorrow, I promise. Let me just say HOLY FREAKING COW I got the motherlode of good stuff! SP, you really were the best EVER! Each present I got was as big as the final send-off could have been and the final send off was a doozy!!! You also inspired me to try things I otherwise wouldn't have thought of, thank you THANK YOU thank you!!!

On home front, I'm wrapping presents, still crocheting presents, COMPLETED a few more projects, started a few more, I KNOW I know I KNOW it's insane. Holiday Dementia strikes again.

OH and my daughter of all of 9 years old got her first phone call from a BOY tonight. The father called first to make sure it was ok with me that a boy call my girl, just as friends, but still wanted to make sure. OH it was freaking cute, slightly freaked me out, but still freaking CUTE! OH how much longer will she still want to talk about her friends and boys with her mom? I sure hope a few years longer.

I also have santa pics of the kids to post too! I promise to get my rear in gear soon!

Christmas Carols Knitting-Virgin-Style--come on, sing along!

It's beginning to look a lot like stress-mas!
Everywhere you go.
My schemes, they were so grand,
But now I'm crippled in one hand,
Knitting presents for every person that I know...

It's beginning to look a lot like stress-mas!
Yarn buying's made me poor...
Afghans, wrist warmers and hats,
socks, ponchos and stuffed cats,
Why didn't I just buy them from the damn store?

It's beginning to look a lot like stress-mas!
I'm truly in denial!
Oh my aching fingers and back,
I must have been smoking crack,
All these presents getting finished with a smile?

It's beginning to look a lot like stress-mas!
Oh what a bitch!
Gifts may not be done on time,
Let's have another glass of wine!
There's love and STRESS in each and every stitch.
(Maybe I should aim for Xmas 2006!)

Stressed? Me? Naw, I've got total Christmas Dementia. I was actually at the Joann's craft store with a full basket of yarn, cheap yarn, and when I say full, I mean FULL shopping cart FULL of yarn. It was Saturday, December 10th. I somehow thought, hey, just because I haven't finished the 2 afghans I've started and the 6 pair of wrist warmers, put the fringe on the poncho for dd or even started the hat I was thinking of making for bf, why not start THREE more afghans. sure, why not. I was sitting there in line, adding up how much $$ I had to fork out and I swear to Goodness that it was over $100. I don't care how much I love people and want to create hand-made gifts for them, I'm not spending $100 on crap yarn. It's not gonna freaking happen. Then this nice lady ahead of me with TWO skeins of yarn said, "honey, you do realize you've only got 15 days, right?" I said, "oh, of course. Crocheting is much faster than knitting..." I stood there thinking WTF am I doing (I still had to get to the Studio for more artyarn skeins for more wrist warmers). I handed the poor girl at the checkout counter most of the skeins and kept enough for ONE more afghan to start for my son. It's his birthday RIGHT before Xmas, so SURE, why not? I don't need sleep, nope, not me. I can do anything. I'm super knitter/crocheter/plastic canvaser/cross stitcher... I'm also insane.

I think I've figured it out. It's like childbirth. There must be some hormone that comes into our bodies right after Christmas that makes us forget how horrible last Christmas season was. Every freaking year. You'd think I'd learn, huh? Nope. Not me, I was actually printing off patterns for new projects. My heart has been racing for two days now. I thought it was too much caffeine. Then I realized I'm even knitting and crocheting in my dreams.

Everybody now....It's beginning to look a lot like Stress-mas, everywhere you go..... Maybe it's just me. Other women I see in the LYS look totally sane. They seem to be shopping for pleasure. I'm lucky I'm still bathing daily and able to drive. Is anyone else out there going crazy? Or are you being smart and shopping at Target and Old Navy? I really should do that, but I still have 15 days left. Oh, 14. And a big-ass final in my class I'm not ready for. And children to raise. and a job. and a boyfriend. But still, 14 days is a lot of time....

snow days

Whew! Yesterday and today are snow days so TWO kids are home with me. It's FREAKING COLD outdoors, so we've only been able to play outdoors for about 15-20 minutes at a time. Since it takes about that long to get both layered into their snow pants, boots, scarves, mittens, hats and coats, it's been quite an ordeal. I think I froze part of Joey's face yesterday as he's got little red patches on his cheeks. nice one mom. jeez. I think we're staying indoors today, as it's all of 8 degrees out. The poor dog was funny as hell yesterday morning, Miles is maybe 6-8 inches tall, and the snow was about 8 inches with drifts. I finally had to carry him out to the road to walk in some tire tracks. He was doing the bunny in the snow impression and it was cute as hell.

I knitted and crocheted my little fingers off yesterday and now have 2 afghans half-way done, 2 finished scarves, another finished wrist warmer. Now I think I'm gonna switch to the voodoo wrist warmers from knitty. One sock puppet (a socklet that was going to be way too large for Joey so I added buttons and a mouth and he's in heaven) and a bunch of laundry and a little bit of work. I've got to work today from home, so the kids are playing video games (more good momming here, huh?) and watching tv for a few hours.

Sorry for the lame posts, got to run. I'm searching for a good hat pattern for a plain old men's stocking hat (maybe lined with a smaller hat inside?) to make for my boyfriend, still in the midst of YEAH, I can knit that too.... knitting dementia. I'm sure reality will sink in soon and I'll be freaking out.

Anyone got some fast crocheted afghan patterns out there, I'm trying to make one MORE before Xmas...I've still not done the wedding gift afghan for my brother & his wife that were married in JULY. cripes.

Fantabulous day in court!

OK, so I didn't get out entirely, but I was able to get to pay HALF my fine without having to go back to court. The D.A. said I had to get a lawyer and get a court date if I wanted to negotiate, but I said, "but that one lady earlier this morning was able to pay half her fee today, what about that?" (said with eyelashes a-blinking--it may be 1950's style, but I've got great eyes and can woo dorky men with them. The D.A. was not what we'd call a stylish man.) He said, well, the judge does have to power to override the protocol. I went up, did my stuff, and the judge told me I'd have to get an attorney to contact the DA and then set a court date for Dec. 21, etc. and I did the poor little single momma....I don't want to have to take more time off work....and just did the sad eyes thing (no 1950's blinking this time as the judge was a cutie, older man but a cutie). I said I could afford to pay half now, but attorney's fees would cost even more than the ticket I can't afford to pay now and ...... He sighed, said, "you can pay $90 today?" I said "yes please." And I paid my money and I am DONE! yeah for me! Glad that's over. I have been working on driving the speed limit lately. I never realized how often I was a speed momma. cripes.

I also sat & knitted along and finished another wrist warmer. 5 down and about 5 to go. Anyone out there got cold wrists? I can keep you warm baby. Add it to my Xmas list. On the way out of court, the man standing looking official with his gun said "You know you really aren't supposed to have knitting needles in the courtroom." and when I asked why he didn't come tell me to put them away he said he figured he could take me if I caused any trouble. bwaaa ha ha haaaaa I've got them all fooled. With 5 wooden size 6 double points I could take over the world..... please people. SO, if you're going into court, do the "don't ask don't tell" system. If you ASK if you can do something, people tell you no. If you don't ask, and just do it in a non-threatening way you can do whatever you damn well want to. I've used that philosophy in most of life. Antidisestablishmentarianism, it's a good thing. Ok, I don't actually know if that's what that is, it was just a word I remember winning a spelling bee in 4th grade with.

OH for all you Xmas party drinkers out there...(and you jazzercising/drinking/dancing fools too!) I heard something on the radio called Chasers. You take 2 pills with your first drink of the night and you're supposed to wake up feeling great. They sell them at Walgreen's, so I'm gonna get a bottle and try them out! NOT that I ever imbibe, no, not me. That wasn't MY face in the toilet hurling on my bday night. I figure it couldn't hurt.

winter knitty's finally up!

Can't talk, gotta go check out Knitty. I'm now knitting presents for the kids' teachers, scarves, wrist warmers (my very new favorite knit EVER) and gonna make lovahboy a hat for Xmas, but it has to be washable and dryable, so I'm off in search of something not totally acryllic as it makes my hands itch when I knit with it. I can crochet with it, but not knit it. How weird is that? I'm only a yarn snob when I knit? wtf?

Off to gaze and create yarn shopping lists in my head. Oh, and work. Plenty of work.

Miss A, we need to get together more often! Maybe in Jan. we can do a once a month girl's night or something.

Just go ahead and sign me up for the old folks' home now!

OH HOLY DOG CRAP ON A STICK!!!!!!!!!!! So, first of all, for those that don't already know me and love me (or know me and tolerate me) I must state that I can be a titch on the dingy side occasionally. I also have some strange cosmic power where strange things happen to me or to those around me. Not always good, not always bad, just strange and funky. Life is seldom boring around me. I'm always worried that my children will have me committed as insane when I get old. I've always been borderline nutty so they'd have a lifetime of examples of why mom shouldn't be out on her own.... here's another one for the books.

So, wanna hear about my morning??? Remember I have a court date set for 8:30am on the 7th day of December. (yes, we ALL know NOW that today's the 5th of Dec. but work with me.) I must have read that ticket 14 times to make sure it was tomorrow (I have a history of things not working right so I was a bit gunshy). I looked at my calendar to verify Monday was the 7th (anyone got this one figured out yet?....NOVEMBER had a Monday the 7th...December's Monday is the 5th... yup hadn't flipped the calendar to December yet.) Ok, that would be bad enough, to show up on the wrong day, wouldn't it? Nope I don't do things that simply. I once had a music professor (when I wanted to be a professional flautist aka flute player) who always told me to stop worrying about making mistakes. She told me that if I was going to mess up, make it a monster mess up with every part of my heart and soul. That kind of stuck with me through life, so I just blame her.

I get both kids up and running, drop them at school at 5 till 8am, right on time. My wet hair is frozen as I didn't have time to dry it and I gotta get to the other end of town, find a parking place and get to court by 8:30. Look out, low fuel light comes on. dammit. OK, no problemo, go to gas station. Look in purse to make sure I've got a check to pay for the ticket if they don't let me out of it, NOPE last one was used up, none ordered yet. OK, no problemo, hit the atm at the gas station. Gas station's atm is having "communication problems" DAMN. No problemo, go to the little drive-thru atm across the street. Did I mention this is at State Line Rd and 103rd where you cannot get across traffic??? Find a nice man who lets me across the street. Got the cash, can NOT get across traffic for TWO lights, say FUXX IT and go to Wornall's entrance an entire block out of the way. My honey calls me and apparently I just flew by him on the highway and didn't even see him. Good luck kicks in and I get past FOUR cops (city AND state troopers) doing speed traps. (some luck here as I didn't think it would help me get out of a ticket by getting ANOTHER one on top of it, huh?). I make it to Santa Fe and am going down the road, I just might make it, and the TRAIN light starts flashing...the bars aren't down yet, we can make it we can make it, but OOOOOOHHHHHHHH the car ahead stops early just to be safe. We must be safe, must'nt we? OH, I sit there for THREE minutes (it seemed like an eternity) and then safety sam ahead of me WAITS just to be sure the train is really gone after the bars go up....OH MY GOD GET OUT OF MY WAY PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Finally I get to the courthouse and have 2 minutes to spare, find a parking spot RIGHT IN FRONT (which never ever happens), run through the building, find the traffic court after taking 2 wrong turns...sit and wait. and wait. and wait. I'm rolling my ball of yarn, talk to another lady who ASKED at the courthouse door whether she could bring in knitting needles and was told no (mine are just always in my bag, so I had mine). and waited some more. 8:50am the judge comes in and I notice everyone else has a LOT of files and lawyers and such. There's no police in the courtroom and the cases are all about people with DUI's and HITTING people with their cars and such, no just trying to get out of speeding tickets. I pull out my ticket, slip out to find a cop outside the room and ask WTF? It appears there is ANOTHER freaking courthouse in Olathe. Yup, I'm at the wrong one and it's now almost 9am. cripes. He gives me directions (complicated and I'm already frazzled).

I book it out of there, follow most of the directions, can't find the damn courthouse. How hard is it to find a little building with a bunch of flags in a little town anyway??? If the cop would've said "right down the street from the Great Plains Mall" I'd have been there instantly. Nope, he said "old highway 56 and Harrison" great. That helps. not. Drove around until I found three Olathe cops sitting talking between their cars and they showed me where the courthouse was. Municipal court. great. I get there at 9:05am. I ask the clerk if I'm in the right place, tell her I'm late, she tells me to go on in and they'll get to me. So, again, I'm sitting, winding my ball of yarn, watching this nice judge talk to people about why they didn't do their house arrest, how they can't pay their debt today, but next week..... and on and on and on. No policemen in the courtroom here either I notice. I think "hmmmmm" not again, I whisper to the D.A. sitting up there looking bored. He said this is the municipal court, and it is the only courtroom, but today was "failure to pay" day or something like that. I tell him the mini version of my morning from hell and he asks to see the ticket. He said "your court date is set for Wednesday." I go "OHHHHHHH" (said like Grace from Will & Grace from the gut and with much pain). He said, "you know you can just pay outside today." and I'm like "not now I can't, with all this effort invested, I wanted to see if there was any way to pay a lesser fee." and he said then I have to come back and see me on Wednesday. dammit.

SO I go to work. Remember the work stress? Well, it's much less now thank you very much! This job that I was dreading and hating and trying to get out of last year and now am trying to hold onto with every fiber of my being because it's PERFECT for me and flexible and all that but I wasn't sure if I'd be employed after Dec. 31??? Remember that??? well NOW I find out I'm still going to be employed after Dec. 31 (can I get a WOO HOO??? WOO HOO!) AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDD I'm getting a Christmas bonus (not supposed to be very big, but it'll be something) AAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD the raise I was supposed to get on Aug 6th is now kicking in (also small, but again it's more $$ in the pocket and actually more than the raise I got last year when we were still a "normal" company) AAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD I'm getting an extra check for the backdated time that should cover the speeding ticket plus a tiny bit!

So, I really should save my time and go over and pay, right? nope. not gonna do it. Wednesday morning I'm gonna get to the right courthouse this time and sit & knit until they call my name. :) Wish me luck! (again)

My hair stayed frozen until just a few minutes ago. Thank God for Allegra the magnicent and a hair cut I can leave the house without doing ANYTHING to! I need a drink. It's got to be beer-thirty somewhere...no, that doesn't sound good, but margarita-thirty, mmmmmmm. that's what I'm talking about!

Is there a patron saint for speeding tickets???

I don't know why, but I keep flashing back to Christmas at my grandma's old country church (the only thing left in the closest town to her farm) and the old people reciting the rosary and then the ...."blah blah blah saint XXX pray for us.... blah blah blah" and wondering. We Catholics have saints for almost everything. Why not one for getting out of tickets? come on! This is not sacriledge, it's quite serious! Saint who-ever, be on my side tomorrow morning as I go into court in the dreaded sin city of Olathe... more to follow later.

Knitting news...finished TWO pair of wrist warmers and am wrapping them tonight before bed. I think this is a new record for me, having actual gifts WRAPPED in the acutal first few days of the month. freaky, I know it. I'm so the beyond the last minute crafter.....you know, still sewing in ends in the car on the way to the holiday celebration house...waiting in the car to wrap the gift while the family goes inside thinking mom's totally lost her mind and may well freeze to death in the car, but not really being concerned kind of thing.... you know, right? I'm not the only one? Maybe I am, but I have some damn fine gifts under the tree by present-opening time! Usually. sometimes. (ok, so my baby bro and his wife's still not received the afghan promised in the wedding gift card in July, but hey, it's Xmas season now and they live in FLORIDA for Gosh's sake. I told him by the time it either freezes in Naples, FL or they move somewhere cold, I'll have a blanket done for them and congratulations. I mean, COME ON!!!! They need bottled water and ice for hurricanes, not afghans to keep warm, right??

Wish me luck tomorrow at 8:30am people...we'll see how much crying helps. dammit. One hundred and eighty freaking dollars....how much yarn could THAT buy??? damn damn damn damn DAMN!!!!

Knitting Virgin's Guide for How to make a center pull ball of yarn without cursing...too much tutorial

If you're one of those talented people who just "gets" stuff, go away. This is for the rest of us. I struggled and struggled and read online and got frustrated and almost gave up on trying to do this. The other day when I was messing around, it finally all clicked. It's so easy it was amazing! If I can do this, YOU can do this too! I recommend ALWAYS having the LYS wind yarn for you, but if you're like me and get yarn from a secret pal, or as gifts from family, or from online stores and you don't have the cash for a swift and winder, here's how to do it!

The first thing to remember is DON'T WIND YOUR YARN TOO TIGHT.... Click on any of the photos to see bigger images.

STEP 1: Start with some lovely yarn

STEP 2: Untwist yarn and cut any pieces where it's tied together.



STEP 3: Either leave yarn on floor or use the back of a chair, a loved one's arms, or your feet to spread out the yarn in a big oval. (my arms get tired unless I wind from the floor). Wrap the yarn LOOSELY around your two fingers of one hand. Once you get good at this, you can keep the tail tucked between those fingers and hang onto it throughout the process. I'm not quite there yet.



STEP 4: Pull the yarn off your fingers and squish it between your thumb and fingers, this is the wad or guts that you will start knitting from.



STEP 5: Begin winding yarn LOOSELY around the wad, do about 8 wraps before changing direction. I try to do it diagonally and only move the yarn a little each time as I go. Your goal is to have a smooth ball to pull from, so don't do too many big moves like sideways then up & down and back, try to meander across the ball with your yarn. Remember sewing classes LONG ago where you had to wind your bobbins on top of the sewing machine and it would wind its way up and down gradually? That's what you want here. YOU MUST KEEP YOUR THUMB ON TOP OF THE WAD THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE PROCESS!!!



STEP 6: Continue wrapping with thumb still in center of ball, make sure you don't wrap too closely to your thumb, as you want some room there.



STEP 6 1/2: Still wrapping, make sure to go slowly when pulling your yarn from the oval as it has a tendency to get all tangled up at the end. There was a bit of cursing at this point (see the yarn all piled up as it should NOT be...) you can take your thumb out, just stick it back in the same spot and keep going after taking out any knots you encounter. At this point in the process I always say the nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner, sat in his corner......stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plumb...." At that point my children roll their eyes and leave the room.



STEP 7: Tuck the last tail outside on the bottom somewhere, fold up the yarn tag and put into the hole from your thumb, and admire the thing of beauty you have just created. Bring your children, husband, or significant other into the room to bask in your glory. Ignore rolled eyes and comments that the nursing home isn't far away. You did it, You are an amazing fibre queen (or king as the case may be).


STEP 8: Using the yarn...this is the true test. Take out yarn tag, stick your thumb and a finger in there, wiggle around and pull out the very center part of the ball. If you wound too tightly (as I did in the yarn pictured) it will be a mess. Cursing here is allowed. Don't give up, wiggle that thumb around a bit more harshly and keep pulling, you WILL find the little wad of guts you started with. Just keep unwinding and knit from the guts until you get to one yarn strand coming from the ball. If you did it perfectly or if you are a truly gifted person and still had the little tail, it should go smooth as silk. Knit or crochet your little heart out.


You will get better with practice. These are really lovely and look beautiful set out in baskets as home decor too!

Lawrence Ladies and the quest for the damn dpns

I forgot to post about meeting some of the Lawrence Knitters the weekend before last! I met Elinor, Camille and Beth at the Yarn Shop & More where we petted and admired yarns, then we went to the Plaza for eating at an Irish Pub and off to the Studio. I had my daughter's bday sleepover so had to run home, but really enjoyed meeting them! It's funny how knit groups are so good for the soul! Here's their site Knit Lawrence. If you're in the area, get yourself over to Milton's, I keep trying to get there but my Saturdays are still too hectic!

I did go to TWO Lys's yesterday and mostly behaved myself. Instead of the more pricey Koigu, I'm going to work up some superwash Lorna's Laces shepherd sport yarn ($10/skein 200 yds) for mom's wrist warmers. I'll let you know how they go as I think this could be a fast knit for presents! I was home rolling them into center pull balls and thought I'd do a tutorial as I keep running into knitters who are MUCH more talented than I am that are still rolling old fashioned (and quite frankly pain in the butt) regular yarn balls.

After doing all this, I felt like quite the accomplished knitter, I could conquer all, I am instructing people in this glorious craft.....etc. THEN I realized I'm a freaking idiot. For TWO HOURS I searched and searched for my doublepointed needles (size 6) that I bought last week at the Studio. I know I bought them. I know it. I put ALL my knitting stuff and stash in ONE PLACE so they HAD to be there. They weren't. I looked at least 4 times in the same drawer. FOUR TIMES. I even completely emptied it on the 3rd time and apparently thought just in case, let's look again. I was all upset, not going to work on any of my existing projects, NO I wanted to start the wrist warmers. dammit. Finally I gave up, went to bed, where I had NOTHING new to read, re-read HP #4 in preparation of seeing the movie (no, I haven't seen it yet, I don't get out much). I was all kinds of pissy.

This morning, I grabbed my son's sock (soon to be a sock puppet) in the ziplock bag to toss into my purse, and what do you know, THERE were the damn 6's. In the sock. cripes. Now I've found 4 of the set of 5, but can't remember where I put the damn last needle and the little package it came in. The pattern I use calls for all 5, so I'm off to the damn LYS again today. BUT the good news is that I've got a punch card all ready to go for $15 store credit! woo hoo! I think I'll pick up 6s and 5s just in case I need them to hit gauge.

Some of you will remember I'm not a fan of the dpn. I actually burned the first set I had to work with. In the grill. burnt to ashes. They don't really burn easily, either, I had to get some gasoline to throw on (we were out of lighter fluid). ANYWAY I have been experimenting with the 2 circ needles thing, and I can't believe I'm saying this, think I like the dpns better. *gasp* I'm not saying I care for either one very much, but I may just be getting the hang of the whole knitting with a living porcupine/leaving ladders big enough for firemen to climb up problems. They're still there, just not quite so bad. Maybe practice does make perfect. Right now practice just makes "not quite so horrid." I'm good with that.

Non-knitting news, I'm applying for student loans and trying to come up with a plan B should the jobbo be gon-o on Jan 1st. Lovahboy gets taken out tonight for sushi. I hope they serve cooked steak. If not, it's gonna be a lot of rice for this girl tonight.