The Tale of What Killed Country Christine

Yeah. Well, I've pretty much given up on thinking I'll be this living-off-the-land uber woman in 11 years when the boyfriend and I retire to the country after sending our kids off to college. I've been given a more realistic view of the country life. We're planning on scrimping and saving and buying between 60-120 acres that hopefully has a house on it that we can fix up and then when the kids head off to college we'll sell our KC house and head to the country. Jeff will run cattle (I learned it was "run cattle" and not "raise lots of cows") and I'll have a large garden and still work part-time with my consulting job since I telecomute. I'm not much of an outdoorsy kind of a woman, as many of you will remember my fun had with spiders, floods, glasses disappearing into lakes and whatnot. I like my airconditioning. I like my hairspray. But I'm trying. Let's just say my vision has changed from one of a partially environmentally kind human to a mind frame of screw it, I'm gonna chemically bomb the fuxx out of my little area. Why was it that on Green Acres, the little city socialite never had to deal with rats and poop and bugs? Ok, more on that later. First the knitting content.

I've now decided that whole idea of natural dying fibre is also not for me. I reknit the freakishly big hat into one of normal size. Only problem with this lovely soft heavenly pretty naturally dyed alpaca is that as I knit I got these little blue lines across my pointer and pinkie fingers where the yarn was wrapped. No problem, I've had that with many yarns. Only problem is that both palms are blue. Dark blue. All ten fingertips are dark blue. Even my lap where I would rest the hat in progress has blue stains on my thighs. Am I going to sport blue ears and forehead every time I wear this freaking thing? I'm sure there's something I can do like soak in vinegar or other, but seriously. BLUE EARS and FOREHEAD? I am not a smurf. So image #1 of Country-Christine using plants and flowers and lichens and things to dye her fibre while birds sing and butterflies flutter is shot to hell. Fuxx that. I'm hearing those paste food colorings calling my name.

We took an all day trip to the country out south of KC not too far from Iola, KS this last weekend. Jeff's had his eye on this 160 acre farm across the road from his best friend's land, and he wanted me to really SEE the land, walk through the house, etc. We also looked at over 20 farms/land parcels that day. I was being quite the good sport. I had packed extra water and snacks in a cooler bag (you never know when you get to actually find a gas station out there) and had my sock knitting along, I was navigating all these tiny country roads on the map, I wasn't even hardly wearing makeup I was so freaking natural. We went hiking around a few pretty spots that Jeff had found. I really fell in love with this little farm owned by a horse-whisperer guy, but the house was a tiny little concrete box with only 2 bedrooms and not much hope of expanding unless you dozed it and built a new one. We just can't afford to do that. Jeff can do almost anything to existing houses, so we are trying to find an old farmhouse "with potential." I got a few scrapes and a few stickers in my socks and tennies. No problemo. I was COUNTRY CHRISTINE that day. I could handle it.

Well, about 4 farms later we came to the one that Jeff has wanted all along. Everything else we see gets compared to this place, the one across the street from his friend's land. It really does make sense and after hiking through it and one tiny burst of tears and frustration and kicking of a barn timber which made a lot of crappy stuff fall down on my head, I looked at the place with clearer eyes. I saw some potential. There is a beautifully light and cool room upstairs that would make one hell of a craft/knitting/sewing/office room for me. My own little area. That could work. I was using my "potential seeing" eyes and looked past the holes in the ceiling, the RAT POOP, the broken windows and open back door that showed how vagrants and animals had been using the place as a home and toilet for the last 50+ years. I could still see it. Maybe. He promised to take the place down to the studs and the beautiful old wood frames around doors and windows and rebuild it. And put in air conditioning. I could see it. This man of mine really can build anything. Then we hiked back and saw the barn a second time. It really was in good shape, one of those monster old time barns that stand forever. I did like it. Then we hiked back into the back and went through horrendous tall weeds that kept stinging my legs. We hiked back to the remnants of a fenced in old garden. I could see it. I brushed a freaking BIG ASS spider that was about half the size of my hand OFF MY FUXXING LEG and didn't freak out. I was COUNTRY CHRISTINE, remember? I can handle it all. Before this day I often thought of how you can rotate pastures, add plants that repel certain bugs and do things naturally to live with the land. yeah. That thought is over.

We get back to the car, and my legs are still stinging from the grass we walked through. I look down as we're driving to his friends' girlfriend's house and let me just say now THANK GOD there was a house nearby with people we knew. I see these little tiny spots all over my legs. Hundreds of them. Hundreds and hundreds. They looked like tiny spots of mud or blood or freckles. I tried to brush them off, but they wouldn't brush off. I looked closer and THEY WERE MOVING. I start a mild freak out. I look closer and THEY HAVE LEGS and THEY'RE MOVING and they're MY LEGS ARE STINGING. I'm now in what most people would consider full freak out mode. I'm yelling, "THEY'VE GOT LEGS AND THEY'RE EATING ME!" Jeff is trying to reason with me, the poor boy. He's explaining that it's just dirt. I just need to "calm down and relax". I believe my response was something like "RELAX THIS MOTHERFUXXER!" There were an awful lot of F words dropped. Fuxx this, FUXX that, FUXX the FUXXING COUNTRY, repeat. We finally get the approximately 1/2 mile up the road, I jump out of the car and grab the only thing I can find, newspapers and a rock. I'm gouging at my skin and trying to scrape them off. They're not coming off. Jeff comes around the car, I've totally freaked him out by now, I'm shaking and looking for a sharp implement to gouge them off with, I see some metal scythe thing and Jeff jumps in my way and tells me to just take a shower. I run into the house, strip my clothes off on the way and end up in the shower scrubbing myself silly and sobbing like you wouldn't believe. I must have been in there a long time because Jeff came in and asked if I was ok, was I ever coming out. I thought I got them all off, I scrubbed myself almost raw. I'd cried myself out. I came out, dressed myself, apologized for almost running down the people there. I went outside, ready to finish looking at farms. I was ok.

Jeff was treating me like you'd treat a person just let out of an insane asylum. He was speaking slowly and gently. He didn't crack one joke all day about the freakout. I must have been in shock. I couldn't smile or harldy speak. I just walked very slowly. I was doing better, sat in the back seat behind Jeff, his friend Travis in the other front seat. Then I looked down at my poor red shins and (being a redhead with lots of freckles) saw only freckles. I sighed. Then a freckle moved. well FUXX. I was too emotionally shattered to freak out. I scraped the tick and smooshed it. Then another freckle moved. yeah. For the next 3 hours as I rode around that damn countryside I played "kill the freckle". Mostly my freckles stayed put. I just sat there looking and sticking my feet up in the air in strange positions much like a cat cleaning his butt, I'm sure. Then, feeling more like myself, I smacked the shit out of Jeff's headrest each time I killed one. Later that day it was explained to me that those are called "seed ticks." There is also some spray you can use once you mow down the weeds and grass around your homestead area and it will kill the little buggers. Oh, I'm spraying. I'm spraying the FUXX out of whatever country estate we end up with. I almost took a picture of my legs, I wish I would have. I can't explain how many many spots I had on my legs when I first looked down. Of course, once I saw the spots were moving, it was all I could do not to jump out of the damn car.

I figure that boy better damn well marry me before I take on the country life. He's got 11 years. That should be time enough, huh? Here's a few shots of the "before" household. The last one shows the frog that lives in the 3 foot deep pond in the cellar building just behind the house. The house has a basement that's got a solid foundation and is a titch musty but no water in it. Country Christine is dead. City Christine that will try to tolerate the country but is bringing LOTS and LOTS of chemicals is still hanging on by a thread.




When we got home and picked up the kids from mom & dad's I had to laugh. Here's what's on the bottom of our fridge courtesy of all 4 kids. And people thought kids were getting less creative because of all the tv and video games.

Come on, sing along! "It's the most, wonderful tiiiiiiiiime of the year."

First day of school official picture. I love looking back at these, it makes me wonder. WHO are these grown up kids that look like me? I think I'll always think of them as little buggers toddling around the house. *sigh*

You know, if I had any friends, I'd have had one heck of a morning cocktail party. Ah well. Ok, I DO have friends, just most of them have jobs, have no kids or are not the heavily-drinking-in-the-morning types. *sigh* Life goes on. I did too much ravelry-ing yesterday and have to get some serious work done now in my VERY QUIET office here at home. I am loving that. I'll be very glad to see the kids again, I highly enjoy my children, I just am really enjoying my quiet time again.


The really strange part of this picture? Is that I have a freakishly large head. Seriously. Whenever you try on those cowboy hats or fitted baseball hats I barely fit into the biggest sizes. Can you imagine how big this would be on a normal person? I know, I know TAKE IT OFF THE NEEDLES AND TRY IT ON. Yeah, been there, done that. For me, I figured it would just be easier to keep knitting and if it doesn't fit I'll rekit it. No biggie. This is from the Dax alpaca that's vegetable dyed and all natural and such. SLICKEST freaking yarn on the planet. I NEVER lose stitches off my needles. never. Until now. Whenever I'd even try to half stretch it out to try it on just a little, stitches were just jumping off my damn needles. I'd fix one, turn arond, and the little bastard had jumped off again and taken his neighbor with him. I finally put down the dpns and got out an itsy bitsy cord from the old denise interchangeables and did it that way.

This is the softest, most luscious yarn I've ever knit with. If it didn't cost $9.95 per skein I'd knit myself a body bag out of it. Or maybe a blanket I could wrap up in. For now, all I can afford is a hat. One hat. Hopefully soon to be a hat that fits my head.

Ta Da!

Lake Knitting at its finest. Completed the Jaywalkers, LOVE them. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I almost wore them around the cabin, but it was over 100 degrees and humidity was so bad you could actually SEE the water in the air. I thought I'd better save the try on pics for home in air conditioning! You know, a less anal than me woman would maybe want to frog them back and do some work on splicing the yarn or alternating with leftover yarn from the first sock to fix that huge brown funky stripe. It might really drive an anal woman crazy. Yeah. It's totally making me nuts. Good thing I'm too lazy to do that crap. I've now decided I LIKE the big ass brown stripe because it makes it distinctive. I do. I really, really do.

We all (mostly) survived the big Branson trip and Lake blowout with Jeff's family. Mostly. My neck and right butt-cheek and Jeff's brother's cracked ribs would all say otherwise. Ah well. I forgot I was a not-very-in-shape Thirty FREAKING NINE YEAR OLD and not 20 years old. Drank like a fish, went tubing with Jeff, Mr. Daredevil Himself, driving the sea-doo. I don't know if I hurt worse from the massive wipeouts I took or when Jeff's brother in law was wiping out and I was hanging on for dear life on the back end of the seadoo as watcher. Let's just say at one point, Matt was flying and tumbling on top of the water just like you see those super motor boats do when they burst into bits, I was flying the other way OFF the sea doo and slamming into the water and Jeff and the Seadoo were rolling upside down below the water. Not IN the water, the entire seadoo was BELOW the water. yeah. At least the children and various family members were out of harm's way. Then the buttock? Well, after a few more beers and my high level of normal clumsiness, I hopped lightly out of a boat onto the wet wood of the dock and the next thing I know I'm lying flat on my back. People from the OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE motored over to see if I was alive. It was so bad that I couldn't even get up for about 20 minutes. Yeah. 39 years old. nice. I now have a bruise over the entire right butt cheek that resembles a map of California. It's black and purple and bigger than my entire hand. (I'm wearing the old swimsuit in the pic so I wouldn't stain my new suit all up with lake water. The chic sitting next to me is Jeff's sister. We really had a great weekend! A true end of summer lake blowout!)

Ah well, at least I finished up my socks and we all had a great time. really. I also finished my daughter's first sock and am almost ready to turn the heel of her teal sock also. Here's some various lake pictures:



Jeff's such a sweet man (when he isn't driving me insane and making me want to impale him with my dpns) that he often brings me little things he sees that made him think of me during his days. Sometimes it's a sunflower, sometimes a cool glass sun catcher with an artsy/modern look, sometimes it's this.


Not the flowers, those came from my little garden. The wicker turkey. It was sitting on our kitchen island when he left early on Monday morning and I came down the stairs to say goodbye. I looked at it, went back to bed. When we got home from this big weekend trip I asked him, "um, honey? What's with the wicker turkey?" He smiled proudly and said, "I just saw it and thought of you." He hugged me tightly and kissed me on the head and walked away. I must have had a look on my face that was saying "a wicker TURKEY reminds you of ME? WTF?" because he came up and said he just thought I'd like it. You know, now I really do. I'm thinking it would look bettter with balls of orange, red and brown yarn in it.

I'm off to work and knit on a left butt-cheek leaning angle. Wish me luck.

Every stinking freaking pound is back ... Yarn and Food diet begins

nice. WHY did I make the end of the big lose 30 lbs bet happen in EARLY MARCH? There was snow on the ground for heaven's sake. Oh, no, we don't want to be skinny and hot in the SUMMER when you could actually SHOW IT OFF now, do we? cripes almighty. Well, after waffling back and forth with an extra 15 lbs of chub, my body got tired of the bs and decided to go back to where it's happiest. I hopped on the scale yesterday just to verify I was only 15 over. I can live with 15. That's a nice number. However, all the great new clothes were screaming tight lately so I thought I'd better check. 30 lbs. Back where I started. Well, not exactly. I've still got the hint of my cool ab muscle lines. They now disappear into belly flop, but they're still almost visible at the top. Also the arms aren't flabby yet. I think pretty much it's all in the belly, butt and thighs. Woooooo it's gonna be fun.
No trainer man, too poor right now with school starting. Gotta do it the old fashioned way. dammit. I did swim some laps at the pool yesterday, I don't swim very well, so I mostly did my own version of the back stroke, but I was feeling good and tired. I also thought, what's a girl to do when she's not feeling good about herself right before a week of going out with the family to the lake and water park? Yup, go swimsuit shopping. Why the hell not?

Forget that whole "getting healthy to live longer" bullshit. Last time I was motivated by money, this time, no money is being offered, so I've got to reward myself with the next best thing, YARN! For every 5 lbs I lose, I'm gonna buy me some yarn. Just sock yarn. Just enough for one pair per 5 lbs. After I lose 25, I get to buy myself enough for a sweater. I think I want some to make the Cozy V-neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. I may EVEN get the recommended yarn, Cascade Pastaza. I really want to make that sweater, maybe this will be the shot in the ass to get going.

I did order myself a sensible and cute tankini from Land's End, thanks Teri! But, since it won't get here in time for this trip I went off to the fancy schmancy swimsuit shop. I figured if those women can't get me into something that's flattering, no one can. Well, I learned that while those ladies in their mid-50's to 70's and still looking quite trim and awfully wrinkle-free do not have a sense of humor. None whatsoever. I am wandering around, get the whole "can I help you" with attitude that you get in a small boutique kind of place. You had better damn well let them help you, because they're NOT going away and will hound you until you either try on the suits they pick out or run away screaming. So, I say, "sure, I've got no boobs and big thighs and need to look good. What've you got for me?" I chuckled, thinking I was being quite humorous. She didn't chuckle. She got a gleam in her eye and disappeared. I wandered around picking out stuff to try on. She retuned with BIG BOOBS in a suit and TAPE. Did you know they have waterproof tape you can use to make yourself a new shape? REALLY REALLY sticky tape? Can you imagine where you're supposed to be taping when the suits are not all that big? HOLY CRAP.

Let's just say I really pissed her off because I wasn't going for the whole plastic surgery in a bag and boobs in a top thing. I did try on the top just to see what it'd look like and to appease the woman, but it HURT. Boobs shouldn't hurt. I wasn't EVEN gonna think about taping up my ass to go to the lake of the ozarks. Not. Gonna. Happen.

I escaped with a bright teal 2-piece that the sales lady kept sighing over. "Of course, it looks DARLING on you honey, but you really should consider the little helpers I suggested." The suit totally matches my jaywalkers socks. I refrained from pulling them out to show her, thinking that would send her right over the edge. Then the other two ladies (also with no facial movements which is quite creepy when they're in a pack like that) came over and exclaimed how much they LOVE that suit, because it's "so sassy!" I took the bag and ran like hell. The last time total strangers were telling me how "sassy" I looked I was buying orange and green glasses. I've got a baaaaaaaaad feeling about this.

We're off to the OZ and Branson with all four kids, sock yarn, sunscreen, and mike's hard limeades!

That whole "I've got the pattern memorized, don't need it anymore" bites me in the butt again.

You'd think I'd learned by now, huh? I can't even begin to list the patterns I THINK I have memorized. I'm just not that with-it. As soon as I do something goes very wrong.

Yes, my multi-directional scarf began taking on a whole new direction. It's not supposed to be making a left turn there, nope. It's supposed to be rectangular. Frogged and started over, and am READING the damn pattern as I go this time. Pattern: Zigzag Modular Scarf by Iris Schreier. Yarn: leftover sockyarn! I'm going to use up my extra bits and think this should be a neat pattern. I'm using fingering weight, mostly koigu, mediumweight Socks that Rock, lorna's laces sock yarn, opal, crafty in a good way and whatever else I pull out of the bag o' ends. I'm using size 7 circs as stated for the pattern even though the pattern's written for medium weight variagated (worsted?) it's looking pretty damn good. Here's the 2nd try:


Startitis anyone? I'm growing rather amazed at just how much yarn I have just SITTING there. Good yarn, often expensive yarn. Just sitting. I've been ravelry-ing my ass off and coming up with good ideas to use up a bit of the stash. Started the linen lace-back tank top from No Sheep For You and also the Very Berry T Shirt from Magknits for Elizabeth using some cotton/wood blend I got from the new MisKnits store.



I'm also counting down the days until school starts again, can I get a WOOO HOOOOO? Oh man. I may have to make myself a pitcher of mimosas and celebrate.

We're heading out for Branson, MO with the whole Brady Bunch crew. Jeff's two plus my two plus us all crammed into a Ford Taurus ("he's touching me! She's touching me!" repeat.) yes, Thank God for ipods. I plan on plugging mine in and not unplugging them until I'm at least 3 feet away from the nearest short person. I do like children, really I do. Just not all four all together in vacation-crazy mode. Then after Branson for a couple of days we're headed to Jeff's lake house (quite small but rustic and quite nice) for a family fest with our Brady bunch, Jeff's folks and his sister and her hubby and two kids. Yeah. I know, don't you wanna be there too? Did I tell you the only air conditioner is one that plugs into ONE window and sometimes doesn't really cool anything? I'm thinking of rigging up a floaty system where I can knit IN the lake. I'm not sure I have sturdy enough yarn that wouldn't be all stained or smelly or ruined by some splashing. What's that? Knit with crap yarn since I'll be in tube-top-wearin' white trash heaven? Hey, even white trash momma's can knit a little koigu, right? I think I'll pull out some mountain colors barefoot again. That's pretty tough stuff.

Sales Tax Free Weekend!!

Hey all you Missouri people or people near Missouri! If you have children, or want to buy computer stuff, now is the time! There's no state sales taxes for the state of MO (and I think NM too) from Aug 3-5th for school supplies, clothing and certain computer items. We're heading to the MO side of KC to do the dreaded wildly exciting free-for-all that is shopping for school supplies in Walmart. Let the flying elbows and white trash momma fighting begin. Let's get ready to RUUUUUMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBLLLLLE! The only good thing is that I've raised mostly-whine free children. There's nothing more fun than hearing a grown woman arguing with her 6 year old child. "no, I want thaaaaaaaaaaaaat one, not thaaaaaaaaat one Mommy!"

Went out to the KC airport last night around 9:30 to pick up my folks from their Alaskan 2 week vacation. Nice to be retired, huh? I'm sitting there in a waiting chair, knitting along on the 2nd jaywalker sock. Minding my own business. This guy keeps looking at me. LOOKING at me. I make eye contact and smile in a dismissive kind of way. More looking. Then he walks by about 3 times and out of the corner of my eye I see he TAKES MY PICTURE on his cell phone. I see THREE flashes in a row. creepy? yes. very much so, thank you. I'm choosing to think it's because he's a fan of knitting and wants to email the pic of this lovely sock I'm working on to another knitting friend. I'm choosing not to think that he's a total psycho and I'm now going to be added to his wall shrine of airport knitters he's building at home like a freaky episode of csi. nice.

Seriously, what do you do when someone takes your picture but you didn't give them permission to do so? If I were a celebrity I could throw something at them or have my bodyguards stomp on their camera/phone. Ah well, since I'm such the local celebrity this has happened ONCE I should probably get the hell over it. It was just freaky.

Then I am waiting with my folks about half and hour later and this woman comes up and taps me on the shoulder, asking if I may have lost my cell phone? cripes almightly. I got up and the phone fell out of my damn pocket and was still sitting on the chair. People are so freaking nice. I swear, I turn into Edith Bunker most of the time. Once in a while I have an epiphany and see the world clear and concisely, but 99% of the time I'm a happy, singing off key dingbat.

added later this same morning...No freaking way. I just started reading my bloglines list and found that the Yarn Harlot created a word for this, kinnearing. (secretly taking photos of people with your cell phones.) How freaky is that? I just saw her post after I wrote about what happened to me last night. weird. Or maybe everyone's already taking secret pictures of people all the time and I'm just now figuring this out? Yeah. That'd be about my speed. nice one, Edith, you've been Kinneared.

Jaywalked myself right back home again.

We had a great trip. I ate so very, very well. I do miss the food out there and how really earthy everyone seems to be in the Southwest. Here's a shot from a lunch break on the drive home. We stopped at this little park in Minneola, KS and ate in the shade sitting on an old-time wooden merry-go-round. It's nice to have both my birds back in the nest.

Finished Jaywalker sock #1 right after I got back, have to hand-wind the other skein of Artyarns Supermerino 4 and cast on the other sock. This really is a cool pattern. The backless mary janes I picked up at a Maurice's shop out at the Legends shopping center by the racetrack in KC, KS for $20. Love them. Can't wait until fall so I can wear them every day.




Tired, catching up on work, chasing kids, life as usual again. Heading out to knit with the girls tonight. My kids are going to my brother's house to swim at their neighborhood pool so I get to go KIDLESS! WOO HOO! You know, in the old days going topless was what the wild chicks do. Now I'm feeling like a wild child if I go to a coffee shop by myself. Knitters gone Wild!

La Lovely La Lana Wools

Oh I had a great day. A long, tiring day, but a great one. I'm all proud of myself. I went on an adventure all by myself. Yeah for me. :) I have no problem hanging out by myself, I enjoy the solitude once in a while. A day of shopping, or a dinner out is great. Driving across the country by myself was freaking me out. I almost turned back at Santa Fe. What if I got a flat tire? I kept seeing these vehicles on the side of the road. FREAKING me out. Then I got into the mountainous areas and kept seeing those big ass boulders and rock slides up against the edge of the road. Only slightly nervous since there were those net things holding most of them back, and would hopefully catch any that started. No worries. Until the netting ran out and the mountains got closer to the road. Then these signs kept appearing almost as often as the No Passing signs. nice. I must admit I had a repeating prayer each time I saw one. "Dear Lord, please don't let me get squished like a bug, Amen."


I made it to Taos, stopping along the way to see a few museums and buy some ground up red chili to take home. I spent about 3 hours wandering around the shops and had a great time petting and admiring the yarns in La Lana Wools. I ended up getting 2 skeins of light blue local alpaca yarn (which came with a free hat pattern) and a pattern for a very classy/sexy silk vest. I priced the yarn and even if I bought only the number of skeins the pattern recommended for the XS size, it would have cost me $90. It's tiny. Yeah. I figured $15 for the pattern was enough of a splurge for me. I then had the lunch of a lifetime at Michael's Restaurant for about $6 and am STILL FULL and it's 10:20pm. If you travel to Taos, you've GOT to eat there. I had a bean burrito smothered in red chili and it was so freaking good. MAN I miss the food back here. (I used to live outside of Alb. for a couple of years when I was first married about 14 years ago.) The Jaywalker got a little longer on this trip up to the mountains. I'm turning the heel tonight on the first one and it's really looking good.


After a VERY long nap yesterday afternoon, I drove to Village Wools in Albuquerque. It's got a new location on the east side of town and has such a pretty view. It's HUGE inside now. I wandered but really wasn't tempted by too much only because I was saving my money for Taos. I did find a skein of the purple yarn I made the roses tank top out of. I wasn't able to make the beautiful roses that go up the front of it as I was short on yarn. I'd ordered another skein from the Studio but they never got in my color. $10 for that. I'm excited to finish that project officially. I also picked up a Dale of Norway pattern booklet with kids sweater patterns that look like a good start for some projects for my kids.

Then I went out to the world's coolest spot for the Albuquerque Knit Night, this coffee shop/restaurant/pastry place that was just a great spot. You could have a decent priced meal that tasted heavenly, artsy fartsy or plain old hamburgers & fries, Sam Adams beer and a couple of wines also, a great patio to sit out at and it just rocked. If we had a spot like that for our KC Tues crew, we'd have knit night every night. Here's the sign from their Harry Potter book night. I instantly was in love with the place before I even went inside.

I had a great time. The ladies that were there welcomed me right in and I think I was there for at least 4 hours. How can you not bond with women that love the fiber? It was amazing. You can go to any part of the world, sit down with people that share this obsession with knitting and crocheting and connect. It really is an amazing thing. There were some seriously beautiful socks in process, including one pair that was CROCHETED with cascade fixation. One lady brought out quite possibly the cutest toddler sock I'd ever seen in my life. I was totally fondling strangers' yarn and it was a normal thing. HOW COOL IS THAT?

This restaurant just cracked me up. I mean, when I think of family outings, I guess I never thought of combining family with TAQUILA! God, I love New Mexico.


A few more random pics. We head out tomorrow. It's a good thing I'm not this close to these shops very damn often. The amount of local or at least NM and Colorado fibers that are hand spun or hand dyed or just grown local are so tempting. SOoooooooo tempting.

Knitting around Old Town Albuquerque

Well, first of all, let me just say I WON'T be spending lots of money in the yarn shops now. Not very lucky at all. crap crap crap. Ah well.

In honor of my southwest trip, I pulled out this sock yarn to take along for the trip. After knitting about 2 inches of the cuff in my normal K3,P1 ribbing, it was looking icky. Frogged it and cast on again but this time in Grumperina's Jaywalkers design. I'm using Artyarns Supermerino 4 and size 1.5 dpns. I took myself out to Old Town this morning and bought a little jewelry, wandered around, people watched and then wandered into this old adobe church that was very cool inside. It was so peaceful and pretty (windows open and door open and outside was 85-90 but inside was lovely. I sat and knitted for a while and people watched in there too. Here's a few highlights of the day. How cool does this turquoise and brown yarn look with the adobe and turquoise accents in the architecture? Very. The rug is one that was in this amazingly beautiful (and unbelievably expensive) Peruvian clothing shop's dressing room. I tried on a $158 white cotton sundress that was sooooooooo pretty and sooooooooooo out of my price range. The rug was lusciously soft and cute as hell. Baby and momma llamas.

I'm back in the motel room for a little siesta, then off to Village Wools yarn shop and am going to meet up with some knitters for the Alb. Knit Night at a coffee shop. Tomorrow I'm heading to Santa Fe and Taos and anywhere else I wander to. I may even HIKE a little bit. Maybe. Jaywalkin' across NM.

Day 1 NM Vacation rocks

So, NO KIDS, nice hotel room, NO KIDS, no boyfriend, NO KIDS and a plethora of yarn shops with unbelievable amounts of local hand-dyed, hand-spun luscious yarn. How could this not rock?

Dropped Joey off with the ex-hubby, hugged on my daughter, chatted with the ex-mother-in-law (who likes me ever so much better now that I'm not in the family) all about trading quilting patterns (to her) and knitting ones (to me).

I visited my first yarn shop of the trip (I'll have to wait until the way home to hit the Wichita, KS shop). Good Fibrations in Edgewood, NM (east of Albuquerque) and it was really REALLY nice. It's probably a good thing I don't live nearby. The classes, oh the spinning classes they have, the beautiful drop spindles and spinning wheels, THE YARN, neat little places to sit & knit and walking in the door felt like home. Oh, and the best thing? It's Christmas in July and everything in the store (except the big spinning wheels) is 20% off, ON SALE!!! I made it out under $50. I've got to pace myself. Even though vacation yarn doesn't count, it sure does decrease the funds needed to live on.

Spoils of the day are a skein of OnLine Supersocke 100 Sierra color sock yarn. 75% superwash wool, 25% polyamid. Very sqooshy and good manly colors, black with grey and red throughout. 3 skeins of the world's most heavenly fiber, also known as Drops (Garn Studios) Alpaca, 100% alpaca 50 grams, 180 meters each skein. I have no idea what kind of weight this is, it's not light enough to be laceweight, maybe fingering? Between fingering and dk? All I know is it's SOOOOOOFFFFFTTTTT and very pretty. It's a good thing there were only 3 skeins in the purple color. NO FREAKING IDEA what to make with it. I may just walk around rubbing it on my face. Or I could make a scarf.

I also grabbed 2 patterns, one for this cool meitered little bag and one for a scarf written for 2 skeins of the garn studios alpaca. I'll probably go wandering around the free patterns on Garn Studio Site and get ideas.

I promise to have actual NM pictures to post tomorrow. I got in kind of late this afternoon. Two and a half days left. I'm taking myself and a sock-in-progress out to dinner and then may have to head to a casino to play a little poker. I'm not wanting to spend too much $$ on gambling, that's YARN MONEY, but if I happen to hit a few good hands? Let's just say Taos may not have to be a look and drool only trip. Wish me luck!

Countdown....3 days to LEAVING FOR NM YARNY VACATION!!!

I'm going through my projects and stash, finding yarn you didn't know you had is like Christmas all over again! I cast on for yet another project. It must be, oh a WEEK since starting the last. I don't kow how I contained myself this long. Adult ADD Knitter anyone? yes very much, thank you.

Cast on for this one last night and knit the first ball. Pure & Simple's Neck Down Hooded Tunic for Women with stash yarn. I've got 10 balls of Teseo grey/black/blue yarn and it calls for 1010 yards, which will be close since each ball only has about 98 yards. Hope the thing won't have to be knit without the hood or with short sleeves.

I was trying to drop into ravelry and add a few things, but apparently the rest of you slackers were all ravelry-ing while you should have been working and it was making my pictures load slower! I was ravelry-ing my ass off working diligently as usual. Did you know you can put your books on a bookshelf there too? ooooooooohhhhhh I'm gonna take my laptop along on the vacation and spend some time updating completed projects in there next week.

And, didn't you know it, but my little addiction to the free bags at the makeup counters is finally paying off! This is my organizational system for double points and circular needles. Bags courtesy of Bare Escentuals and Clinique. Love that!


The three noisemakers and I took a trip to a bowling alley yesterday and stopped off at the new Bass Pro Shop to run around and see what there was to see. Buffalo, Mountain Lions and Bears, Oh My!

A little yarny vacation just for me!

Well, I found my sport. Seriously. TENNIS! It's the ONE sport (besides monster dead weight lifts and jumping on a trampoline) that has an advantage for the large thighed woman. We loaded up the boys and had an uber tournament. Jeff got to go last because, as his boys put it, he was the "Champion MAN." I snorted and then whooped all their butts. I hadn't picked up a racket for at least 18 years, but it all came back to me. Let's just say there was a little bit of singing and thrusting/dancing and singing of "Champion WO-man! Oh Oh OH! Champion WO-man!". It wasn't pretty, but it was almost dark. I didn't even MIND exercising, sweating my ass off or running around the court. Freaky. We're gonna do more of that!

I'm also all pumped up as I've created a little yarny vacation just for momma! WOO HOO! My ex-husband lives in NM and usually only takes Elizabeth out for Christmas and summer breaks. Joey really wants to go out and see his dad and grandparents, so Joey and I are road-tripping out to Albuquerque from KC on Sunday and then we'll bring Elizabeth back to KC afterwards. We're going to break up the drive (13 hours) on the way out and back and then spend 4 days and 3 nights in Alb. He'll hang with his dad, sister and grandparents, I'll hang with NEW MEXICO YARN SHOPS! Sweet mother, can't you just hear those cash registers ring? caCHING caCHING caCHING! I'm going to hit a cute shop in Edgewood, one in Alb. and 3 or 4 in Santa Fe and also TAOS. I'm also planning on eating myself silly. Navaho tacos? Soapapillos? Guacamole? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Guac and yarn? Does it get any better? I'm having entirely too much fun deciding what projects to pack.
Knitting/Crocheting I've worked on lately: Teal socks, yarn from Crafty in a Good way. 3X1 ribbed, top down. How pretty are they? More work on Joey's crocheted ripple blanket. That's about it.

You know, if you didn't actually KNOW ME you'd think I was an outdoor girl. We headed out to the farm (Jeff's best friend's land where their 12 cows and about 9 horses live) to check things out, help put up new fencing and look at a lovely little 40 acre farm with barns, outbuildings and AIR CONDITIONING that we might want to buy. The beautiful farm was SOLD. nice. Still available is the armpit place directly across the road from Jeff's, um, colorful friend. Yeah. Good guy, but very interesting. There is one more beautiful farm on 60 acres with trees surrounding it and its own lovely pond and a pretty sheltered 20 acre pasture that could SO be supporting sheep when we retire out there. Yes, retire out to a farm. In the middle of nowhere. ME. The plan is to find a place now, work on it every couple of weekends and MOVE TO THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, KS and live there. with animals. and no shops. My rule is I want CENTRAL AIR, not a crappy ass window unit, internet access and running water. You laugh, but the place Jeff's favoring? holy crap. 130 yr old house that's been sitting empty since around 1950. No, not empty. Trash and animals are living inside. nice.





Joey's first horseback ride went very well. We rode Red, a sweet but slightly stubborn horse that was HUGE! Jeff is riding Lightning, named for the white mark that runs down her neck. She was only saddle broke a week ago and this was the 2nd time anyone'd ridden her. That's the horse that ATE the antennae off our truck a few months back. Joey and I went to lunch at the only local business, a general store up the road and Joey got to learn how to do this seated pedaled knife sharpening stone contraption. This amazing 92 year old man was in there telling stories and Joey just ate it up. He worked the pedals for the old man who sharpened his pocket knife. I don't know who had more fun, the old man finding a willing audience or the little boy worshipping the old man's wisdom. Very cool. Did I tell you there was no airconditioning there? Apparently very few people have it. Some have one window unit. Sweet mother, I'd better have a way to get back to the city periodically. And lots of yarn. lots and lots of yarn.

I'll leave you with a cool shot of the side of Jeff's friend's chicken house. It just looked amazing in the sunlight with the shadows. The chickens don't actually use it much because "somethin' or other got in there and et them up." yes "et them up". There's one rooster and one hen left. Joey found an egg hidden behind a tree, and it was like he'd found gold. Very cool.


Oh my, I just saw a link for a NEW YARN SHOP opening July 24th in Wichita, KS. Looks fabulous. Oh, wow, we're stopping in Wichita on the way out to visit the ex's grandma (the one who still loves me). Hmmmmm, maybe we'll be stopping in there too! Twist Yarn Shop.

Best sock yarn collection in the city and YARN SALE DETAILS

Oh my holy hell. KnitWits in Olathe, KS. I just went out there for 2 balls of yarn to make sure I had enough to finish the sleeves on the first boyfriend sweater for Jeff. I know she's got good stuff. I know that. She's always had sock yarn. I know that. But OH. MY. HOLY. HELL. The woman now had sock yarn all over her little shop. Artyarns 4, a whole basketload of gorgeousness, Mountain Colors Barefoot yummy, Lucy Neatby, cases of it, Lorna's Laces sockyarns, dk weight and the silk/merino stuff too, I saw opal and I think Trekking, but didn't let myself go look because I was trying to get out of there without spending my vacation yarn money before I left KC. She's got crates of the most beautiful Claudia Handpaints. CRATES of it. She's got Crafty In a Good Way sockyarn so scrunchable and beautiful it hurts. Then, I glanced down at this plastic bag holding spun sunshine. Schaefer Anne in colorways that I couldn't even touch or I'd buy them. Thank God she hadn't unpacked the bag yet. That thin plastic was the only thing standing in the way of my bank account getting much lower. Did I tell you about the damn $3 boxes? FIVE boxes full of yarn for $3/skein. Big boxes. I got 7 skeins of dark grey and 6 skeins of burgandy acrylic blend stuff to make Joey a sweater and a blanket with the leftovers. I'm telling you, it's worth the drive. Just email me first to ask for better directions. Everyone I know has gotten lost on the way and it's really simple. really. You just have to get the right lane at the right exit. Did I tell you she had extra yarn IN THE SAME DYE LOT that I needed? How awesome is that? Here's Jeff's armless sweater. Gonna start on the first sleeve tonight. He tried it on at the lake and IT FITS!!! WOO HOO!

Other signs of knitting around here include 3 more hats. The cream one being modeled by me is the brown sheep hat my best friend Jildo wanted and we got the yarn from that cute shop in Manhattan, KS. It's going out in the mail tomorrow. My modeling shows why I'm not meant to wear knitted hats. Tank tops yes. Knitted hats no. Hats seem to make my long face look even longer, which is why I've usually just got a scarf wrapped up around part of my head. I've also made a few more for extras around the house with all these kids. The red & black one shows the jogless join I tried.



I finished my mountain colors barefoot socks (that were supposed to be Jeff's but SOMEHOW I totally screwed up and made them my size......subliminal wanting here or what?) I've also started a pair of toe-up mountain colors in another color for the boy and am making them HUGE so they should fit. What? Measure his foot? Calculate? Naw. That's too easy.


I did survive the lake. It was a blast. Joey went down early with my folks to their lake place, I went down on Monday, spent the night there and then we went over and joined Jeff and his boys where they did, in fact, pee outside every chance they got. I was happy because I got lots done on Jeff's sweater, we ate great, good weather, and no one got blown up with all the fireworks (always a challenge for my overprotective instincts as a mother). We took a boat ride to Ha Ha Tonka, a state park in MO right on the lake. It has a freshwater spring that comes surging up from the caverns below and funnels about 58 million gallons of water each day into the Lake of the Ozarks. The picture below shows the bright blue water and then it merges with the dark green lake water. The kids took turns swimming through the icy water that is REALLY MOVING and then got smart and started using the tube to float down the current. We went hiking around in our swimsuits over the mountain and there's even cool old stone castle ruins up on the top. Did you know Daniel Boone was born in that part of the ozarks? Very cool. GREAT lake vacation.



And because many of you think I'm exaggerating when Jeff comes home and is actually SHIVERING when it's below 80 degrees in our house. It's FREAKING HOT and HUMID AS HELL but the lowest our home gets is 80 degrees. ok, the lowest our house gets when Jeff's HOME is 80 degrees. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? The scary thing, is that 80 is actually a compromise. He usually doesn't even turn on the air until mid-August if at all. I think he was born on the sun. I don't mind heat OUTSIDE. Summer is supposed to be hot. But INSIDE is supposed to be cool and livable. cripes almighty.


OH, and I went to the Harry Potter movie at midnight last night. I'll just say I loved it and OH MY MY MY those Weasley twins are growing up quite yummy.

OH OH and I almost forgot.....YARN SALE AT THE STUDIO...
Gumball Sale on Sunday July 15th and Monday July 16th from 10am-6pm. When it's time to check out, you put your coin into a gumball machine. Depending on the color you get is your discount. Discounts from 15-75% off. Extra 15% off from 10am-noon both days. I called and the sale includes yarn, patterns AND NEEDLES. I'll probably be there around 11am on Sunday. Come and say hey and tell me to put the damn yarn back! I've got vacation yarn shopping in NM in 2 weeks.....

Off to the lake

Sorry no post people, too much to do in too little time. I'm off to join the band of boys at the lake. With my daughter in NM with her dad, it's just me and 5 boys. and my knitting. :)

Over the weekend I knit two stocking hats and finally figured out the damn crocheted ripple deal. On the THIRD freaking frog and rip session, I got it. Now one side isn't getting continually smaller and one side isn't growing larger. It's probably not the official way to work it, but it's working for me. I really cranked along last night and now have about 2 feet done. It's going to be a Christmas present for Joey I think.

Got to run, the new knit shop ROCKS! More details later. Go check her out!
C