Why Christmas might possibly BLOW this year....

DOA

See that?
It's our furnace.
It is, what it's name infers.

Being that it is going to be winter in Flatlandia soon ....
We had to replace it AND the a/c unit.

now ya see it .... now ya don't ....

F.

Man, it is going to be tough around here for the holidays.

Fiberlicious!

Aside from finishing Feather and Fan (yey!), starting Mystery Stole 4 (YEY!), joining the local Spinning and Weaving Guild and taking off to go to A Wool Gathering (double and triple yey's!), I am now finally sitting down to put up a post.

First off ...

Feather and Fan Shawl, by Eugen Beugler: A Gathering of Lace
start: 07.01.08
fin: 09.14.08
4.3 skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud: Sunset colorway
Size 3 Skakel Addi lace
more on Ravelry

The pattern offers a variation of a cabled panel, every-third panel. I chose to do the cable panels, and I am really happy I did! The different panel stirred things up a bit, because the pattern routine became quite mind-numbing on the longer rows. I am also happy in the visual spice it added to what would have been a sea of Feather and Fan. I was going to try to "cheap it out" and force it all into my 32" needles ... as soon as I did that, I will be damned if I did not drop a bunch of stitches TWO ROWS AFTER I HAD PLACED A LIFE LINE! PHEW, thank goodness for that life line! I bought the 60 inch circulars, and had no more problems.

In my version of this f&f, I placed beads at the visually interesting parts of the pattern. I used approximately 30 grams (~5000) 11/0 Delica Japanese seed beads. I just wanted a shimmer effect of a design ... I did not want the beauty of the lace to be over shadowed by the beads ... I wanted the beads to enhance the lace patterning. In addition to the other beading, I also added a tiny seed bead in the center of each little cable.

(subtle beading is hard to see)

The final 20, or so, rows were taking SO LONG. I must admit, I started getting a little bored. The final rows were taking and Hour-and-a-half to get around! I actually left out a beaded row because I really did not feel like taking 3 hours on a row!

For the life of me, I do not know why I decided to do this on size 3 needles. The pattern called for size 5. The thing is, during blocking (took over 370 pins), this shawl reached 60 to 65 inches (152 - 165 cm) in diameter! So had I used the larger needles, it would have been HUMONGOUS!

As for the Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud. I love the color! The yarn was a little stiffer, or harder (?), than what I am used to (I usually use Zephyr silk/wool). Even after blocking, it still has a slightly stiff feel to it. I am not unhappy with the yarn, I just think that I am unfamiliar with it's feel. Side by side though, I prefer the fluffy feel, and sheen of the Zephyr.

Mystery Stole 4

Not a lot to say about it yet other than I am enjoying myself, and I just finished the first row of Clue #2. I really love the color and feel of the yarn, though it is splitty (looslely plied maybe?). I dunno the terminology. All I know is that I really have to watch because it is easy to knit one strand of the ply, rather than both strands.

(pic to come)

Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk, from WEBS
eggplant colorway.
size 4 needles

A Wool Gathering!

My husband, sensing that I needed a little break, shooed me out of the house when he got home from work. I jumped in the car and headed to Dayton, where I got to spend the night by my self in a niiiiice fluffy hotel. Holy crap, I got to sleep in AND there was a hot breakfast waiting for me downstairs! I arrived at the Gathering, and immediately, the fiber fumes went to my head. I was instantly drunk. Seriously, my brain left me when I walked into the first tent. I walked around for at least an hour before I was able to clear my head enough to remember why I was there -- I was on a mission. I was there to try out wheels, and to buy copious amounts of fiber! Because of this, there are no pics from the Gathering -- sorry.

Odd to say, but it was not all that easy trying out the wheels. I know that not every wheel there was for public use (people had their own person wheels and were spinning on the sidelines), but when you are a vendor who can sell wheels, and you have them setting out with prices on them, then please have them set up for people to try out! A few vendors had wheels to sell, but no chair for a person to sit at ... or no "beginner fiber" for a person to spin on. Sorry to say, but I just passed them by. I did meet a LOT of niceladies though, who did allow me to sit and spin, and my, oh my, am I hooked now. I would spin on a wheel, go buy some fiber, go find a wheel , spin, go buy fiber. My bag got so full, I had to unload the goodies into my car twice!

two balls of fun wool.
I wish I could remember who I bouth this from!
The orangy ball is 3 oz of an angora wool mix.

The greenish one is 4 oz of plain wooly delight.


a BEAUTIFUL hand dyed from
Dianne, at Creatively Dyed Yarn
8oz of 70% wool, 30% Seacell


4 oz. of 100% Alpaca roving from
Tina at Winding Creek Alpacas and Llamas
I am seriously thinking of buying more of this colorway...


Two huge 8 oz. balls of Romney Roving from
Per Ardua Farm, Paris, Ohio.
I am thinking of spinning these together.

A lot of my family is in the YS area, so I went to my cousins and hung out on their front porch for a few hours before making the long drive back to Flatlandia. Full of chips, dip, and root beer, they loaded me into my car, which was reeking of yarn fumes. The wooly essence wafted around my car in the warm late summer breeze as I drove home into the setting sun; my head still swimming with color and fluff. I had beautiful dreams of spinning that night.

The next post will be of The Pending Purchase....

Back in the saddle ...

It seems as though as soon as the number of stitches on my needles increase, my time to knit them, decreases.

I am still trying to finish up feather and fan.

Now that I am now up to 1168 sts on the the circs, (and I still have 60 rounds to go), I decided to add one more thing to my plate ... I started going to the gym again. Not that I don't like exercise, in fact, I love it. It is just, after having two kids, and nursing ... I needed more time to get back into the swing of things before I started up again. I did try going to the gym back when I was still nursing and OMG ... there was not a sports bra strong enough to hold all of that milkshake. I was actually afraid that with all that churning going on while running, all my milk would turn to butter. Imagine going to the doctor for that. Talk about plugged ducts. Sorry for the visual, but those of you who have been there, you are laughing. For those of you who have not, you are now mortified. That was a little glimpse of reality for ya - sorry you had to find out about it this way :).

SO, anyway, our University gym just re-opened after 3 years of renovation. This was the very pool where my water broke with Big Boy and the renovation started weeks later. I like to joke and say they did the renovation because of me. ANYHOOOO, I started up there again on Monday. I got my ass kicked. So far, I am the oldest person in the aerobics classes. I think a lot of the older faculty and staff were scared off to the older gyms with in the university during the renovation because the major pool and sauna were closed. Okay, so now that this one is open again ...OMG this gym has been turned into a workout-spa MECCA!


It is totally awesome! Each piece of workout machinery has a port for your earphones, and you can either listen to the radio, OR the built in TV. The TV's are built into the computer display that controls the machine. Oh so here I am, beep beep beep increasing the speed of the treadmill, and beep, pushing the little up-down arrows to also change the tv channel to Food Network. I WATCHED FOOD NETWORK on my very own TV, WHILE I RAN 2 MILES! Talk about DREAMY! AND they have a sauna again! OMG. Now I spend 2-3 hours at the gym every time I go!!

The only thing I don't like is now the sauna is co-ed. So now I have to sit there and listen to the stupid sounding Frat Guys talk about their weekend escapades. I NEED to start writing down some of the crap I hear them say, because it is so freaking stupid/hilarious.

So I have decided that I need to be wearing flip plops with my entire wardrobe. Apparently those OR slut Vegas shoes (got those too) are the "in" things this year.

Something funny about the workout classes I am in ... the Workout leader girl thinks it is funny to pick someone out at random from the class, and she goes "hi! Whats YOUR name? (hop hop hop cute little pony tail bobbing around) HI Lindsay! How are you? Okay, how old are you? 19? Okay every body let's do 19 more of those moves!" she did it twice, and so one time it was 19 ... the other time is was 20.

I am just DYING for her to pick on me one time ...

"Hi sweetie! How are you? What's your name (boing-boing goes her cute little pony tail, bing-bing go her cute, perfect little breasts) ... Hi Miss 11tyBillion! How old are you? (the boing-boing slows for a second ...) well yes, yes I do really want to know, silly! How old are you? C'mon! What? What did you say? Um okay ... um ... okaaaaaaay ... really? Really? Uh, well, okay everyone, lets do 38 more of those crunches...."
Observe little cute instructor making a mental note not to call on her again, and who the hell needs to wear industrial sports bras like that?

Catching up

I have been a bit disappointed in myself lately, as I have not posted anything about knitting. here is why. It is going very very s.l.o.w.l.y. Don't get me wrong, I love what I am doing, it is just that I am also toying with getting a wheel, starting my Etsy shop, AND finishing up Feather and Fan.
A couple of weekends ago, I joined a local Weavers and Spinners Guild. The ladies were SO NICE! Being part of the Guild, I can rent a couple of different wheels and try them out! I think I might be able to get one this weekend! They have an Ashford Traditional and an Ashford Joy. I got to try both of these wheels last weekend, when I went to a spinning class at a local yarn shop. It was wonderful to sit outside in the cool August breeze (what the hell is going on with the weather?) and learn how to spin. the little tufts of roving tumbled around like little fuzzy critters! I hate to say it, the Ashford Traditional and I did not get along. I don't know if it was the day, the roving, or perhaps I just did not spend enough time getting to know it. What I do know is that the Joy and I really hit it off.

Here is the problem ... when I finally do get a wheel, i want to be sure that the wheel will grow with me. I want to be able to eventually spin lace, and a lot of the wheels that are good for beginners do not spin that fast. The Traditional allows you to ADD lace weight flyers at a later time ... the Joy does not. Hmmmm, what to do? I am also interested in the Ashford Traveler Something about it's looks really calls to me. but finding one in a 200 mile radius is proving to be difficult.

I think the only way to remedy this problem is to go to A Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs!

Out with the old...

So there I was at the store last night. We had TWO carts (one for each boy) and MAN was I through with shopping. As I stood there going back through my mental Roll-A-Dex, making sure I did not forget anything important -- like cake mix for the birthday party ... I remembered that I want, NEED a big pack of gum. Personally, I like those honkin' big Plen-T packs. Big Red, Wintermint, whatever -- just as long as it is a big chunka chunka pack that will last me. I like to keep one in the car, and one by the back door. I like to keep them handy for those not-so-fresh moments. I used to keep one next to my pillow...

ANy way, I am standing there, looking for the huge packs of gum. Not ONE in sight. I go to the other isle, not a one. So I get perplexed and wonder what has been put into their place. Little thin boxes of hard shelled, square gum "pillows". I don't want a freakin' Chicklet wanna-be, I want gum. You know, gum in a stick? That flat, bendy little ribbon of minty/fruity/cinnamon-y goodness? So I start grumbling, fidgeting, looking perplexed...and the lady behind the counted asks me "what are you looking for?". I tell her "gum ... you know, stick gum?". She looks at me, briefly puzzled, and says this...

"ooOOOooooh, you can find that over in the 70's specialty candy isle, with the little bags of Gold Rush (faux gum tobacco)..."

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Gum in stick form, along with Led Zeppelin, and The Eagles has become a "oldie but goodie"?

What? With carrying around iPhones, and Blackberries, and iPods, do people no longer have room in their pockets or purses for a big thing of gum? Was there not enough "gum bang" from the mere sticks? Were folks finding that they had to chew three or more sticks of that old-fashioned gum to get the BANG-o-Flavor that can be had from chewing one, new, very sheik, and engineered gum pillow?

Ponderings, Qiviut, and more ponderings

Okay, so I was sitting on my rose covered veranda, basking in the long rays of the early morning sun, sipping my morning Earl Grey, thinking about Qiviut wool, Qiviut yarn, Qiviut roving, Qiviut raw fleece for sale ... I need it.

I am contemplating starting to spin wool, and apparently, this stuff is THE STUFF to have. I saw teeny spun balls of it in Columbus last weekend going for HUGE amounts of $$$. As we don't have the muskoxen down here, it is kind of rare to find.

I then thought "hmmmmm folks up in the seriously cold climates must have this stuff popping out of every corner ... oh, hey I KNOW some one up there!"

I got my first break from the boys last week. I went home for a week of classes at a techniques conference (knitting). It was so wonderful being home. I actually felt as though I looked good (dare I say haaaawwt?) for the first time in a long time. Wow, I actually had time for myself in the mornings! There was something so soul grounding, walking the very streets that every generation has walked since my great great grandfather. This vibration in my soul then took me down to Xenia Ohio, and I did a little family tree researching for another branch of my family, and I was able to find the resting place for my (get this) Great-great-great Grand mother and father. We all knew where to find the Great-great ones, but finding the Great-great-great's was a total kicker. Armed with my information, I drove around town and found their original homestead land, and a house from one of their sons (still standing there in Xenia!). It was seriously soul shaking, standing there on "their land", that had been forgotten about for almost 100 years. It is not our land anymore, but next time I go I am going to look for the house foundation. And one of these days, I would love to build my own house on it! I went to the cemetery, but could not immediately find the g-g-g's. That will be for another time as well.

I am starting to find such solace in simple, simple things.

One thing I am NOT finding solace in is the fact that I STILL have shitty dial-up.

Good times

KC2008 was a blast! I met so many nice and wonderful knitters there! I also re-met someone that I went to middle school with! I blew the whole wad, and took "the Whole Kit". Next year, I think I will do the Whole Kit and Kaboodle, which includes a reception and the talks by the "who's who" in the knitting world. This year though, I had to get my hair cut instead of going to the Ravelry Talk! I know I know, how could i DO that? Well, my Hair Lady is only available on Thursday nights, and she just recently got through a bout of battling cancer. I have been going to this woman since I was 4 years old. She is like a part of my family, how could I NOT see her? I figured that maybe i will get lucky and be able to see Casey at Stitches in Chicago? Who knows.

I have not mentioned knitting for a while. Not because I am not doing anything, just mainly because I have been uninspired by what I have been doing. I was/am making a blanket for Little Boy. Talk about mindless knitting ... it is the sideways knitted washcloth design. You know, knit every row, with one YO increase at one side. Woooo Hooooo! Now THAT's excitement! I have been sticking hard and fast to my "knit one item at a time, finish, start another" mantra for a long time, until now. I came home from that conference TOTALLY inspired. So inspired that I am right now working on a lace swatch from A Gathering of Lace. And not only am I going to do the lace, I am going to heavily bead it. I had been planning on starting Feather & Fan after I finished LB's blanket, but here is my justification for starting another project ...

1) Even if I bust my butt and finish the blanket this week (which will not happen) he won't be USING the blanket until this fall/winter.
2) I need to have a mindless project to take on long car rides, and to S'n'B. C'mon, when I go to S'n'B I spend most of my brain power talking to the other ladies, and could you imagine the mistakes that I could make on a lace project?

How they hangin'?

I have been awake for at least an hour or two ... why? Because I kept dreaming that I had three kids. Thing is, the dream would be going along fine, because I would be doing things with my boys, but then, all of a sudden, I would remember "hey, wait ... where is my other child? Wait, did I have a boy or a girl? and what does it look like?" I would be completely panicking all through the rest of the dream trying to retrace my steps through Dream Land, trying to find my lost baby. And of course, Dream Land had its everyday annoyances, like, i came back through one area that Hubby and I had been picking up (in the dream), and he had thrown all of the kids toys into the garage because "well I said to get all the toys up off the floor in the living room". It was like, Hell Dream. Not only had I lost a child, but my husband was there annoying the F' out of me while I was looking for my baby! I then got so fed up in my dream that it "changed channels" and the next thing I knew i was dreaming that i was playing with Little Boy, and I heard crunching, and I looked over and Big Boy was eating a box of toothpicks, which were getting caught in his throat, and he started choking on them and was freaking out and not letting me hold him down so I could pull them out ... great dreams, those.

I was supposed to go out again tonight, and tomorrow night (this is such a rarity for me), but I think that I am going to have to bag out on one or both nights. If I go out all three nights in a row, there is now way in HELL that we will be ready to go to a funeral on Saturday and be ready to entertain family that I have coming through on Sunday. To be more correct, there is no way that I will be able to find clean clothes for myself for the funeral AND have the house cleaned for Sunday. Of course Hubby and the kids have nice clean clothes for a funeral. I could show up in what I wore last night (which was what I wore that day, AND the day before), and that is just about all I got right now. Fleece socks, birks, and my University Sweatshirt from 1991. I am wearing it right now BTW. I am so HAAAWWWWWWT that i give myself (and all others around me) heat stroke.

HOLY SHIT Angelina's boob's are HUGE (just saw them previewed on the That Morning "news" Show). I think they will be interviewing them later on in a segment. They said something about "Angelina's twins..." as the wide-angle lens camera panned over her. I just assumed that they would be talking to her tits. Just the kind of interview that I have come to expect from the That One Morning Show that I ranted about the other week. I sometimes miss my nursing boobs -- but I am so happy to be able to wear my cute little shirts without having to broadcast "I am an E, and 'E' stands for Enormous ... Here look at my constantly expanding BOOBS...". Did I ever tell you that the woman at the Big Bra Place actually brought an F into the changing room for me to try on, and I was so aghast with the idea that I wouldn't try it on? I was standing there thinking that E stood for Enormous, and F stood for F'ed UP.

Are YOU Abilified?

All I can say is WOW.

I saw their May 9th interview on the Today Show, and let me tell ya, the oldest child, looked a little shocked (gobsmacked, perhaps?) by the announcement.

oh, and one more thing ...
have you seen the commercial for the new drug Abilify?

Abilify? Abilify? REALLY? Are you kidding me? Is that the best they can do?
In my mind (and the amusement park that it is) I think the commercial for this drug should go something like this:

Voiceover: "do you find your daily tasks difficult to do because your pesky bi-polar self gets in the way?"

Scene cuts to a lady pacing the floor of an empty living room, having an animated, hand-waving conversation with the three other people in her head. She stops, looks at the camera, and suddenly smiles, as if she has an idea....

voice-over: Abilify can help!

As the voice-over rambles on about how the drug can cause bad breath, loose stools and bulging eyes, the scene cuts to the same lady, out and about shopping, talking on the phone, meeting friends for lunch ... she smiles, and laughingly says,
"Why, I feel so Abilified now! After taking it, Why I have not felt so Abilified in years!"
voice-over: So ask your doctor about what Abilify can do for you!"

same lady on a swing, swatting at invisible bugs says "I've been Abilified, how about you?"
man at a picnic table says "Abilify me!"
lady swinging an ax says "Abilify me!"

WTF? ABILIFY???

Since when do the drug companies get drug name ideas from words that our President probably uses?

"if we send more troops, this will Abilify us to attack the attackers ... "

KLG = going down hill, and FAST....

As I turned my head to address the 300th utterance of "can I have grrrrnola baaaaaar?" from my young son, I saw my favorite Blogstress on the TV screen! ANYWAY, I scrambled to turn up the volume. I was so excited to hear what she had to say to these Morning "news" Show folks. But OH MY GOD the train wreck that ensued after KLG opened her mouth! At the end of the interview, I yelled "WTF happened there?" and I scrambled to leave her a comment (Comments were closed - DAMN!). Ever since becoming a SAHMF'er (the MF'er part I learned from her, waaay back when) I have watched more than my fair share of That Show, and let me tell you, it has basically turned into a very pretty, yet putrified television swap meet. They get the products (or interviewees) set up all perfect and nice ... then the gun shot ... aaand they are off!

HOST: "Today, on This Show we are talking about things that are good for you but can also be bad for you at the same time, and we have Todd here with us to tell us about them."
--professional looking Todd waves politely to the camera
"So Todd tell us about this report I read that states that a person can actually DIE from eating too much fiber..."
TODD: "Well, that report came out 3 years ago and.."
HOST: "So you are saying that people who ate fiber 3 years ago could be dead or dying right now, as we speak? Really? (info-graphic at the bottom of the screen changes from “Fiber? Saint or Satan?” to read “You could be dying right now and not even know it!”). So who should those people contact if they find themselves, or even worse, if they find that their loved ones are dead or dying?"
--Todd, stammering, looking confused, and wide eyed, looks at the neat little table of fiber containing foods and struggles to block the memory of the host winking at him backstage, and tries to regain his thoughts...
TODD: "Well, as i was saying, the data show that the consumption of fiber does not necessarily lead to death, but..."
HOST: "So you are saying that if you buy organic fruits and vegetables, that is better for you? What if you drink fiber supplement drinks out of containers made of Number 5 plastic, instead of the Number 7 plastic, then are you going to live longer?" (insert a spazed out graphic and 5 second film clip of people exercising to Weird All Yankovic's "Eat It".
HOST: “WOW! Fascinating! Thank you for clearing this confusing topic up for us Todd! And on to a more somber note, in the next segment KLG and H will be will be discussing Quantum Theory Mechanics with Stephen Hawking...".

I wish she would have gotten to say more about what she does, and the positive effects her blogging has had on so many people. But positive, and coherent thinking have no good place on Morning News Shows, now do they? Oh well, at least she got to see the Green Room.

bzzzzzt

I have been putting together a post in my head for the past 3 weeks -- and at one point, I actually convinced myself that I had indeed posted it. Uuuuuuuh, no. Now I sit here, with more I want to say, but my brain idles, stalls, and starts flickering on and off like a failing fluorescent tube light.

I just got back inside from finishing several items from my mental to-do list, and once I sit and rearrange my mental "now what the f* needs to be done" list, I will be able to write more. I hope to GOD I will be able to write tonight, because if I go one more day, I will have too much to write, and the circular memory will kick in, and things will start getting written over.

(flicker ... flicker .... bzzzzzzzzzzzzt.....flicker ..... POP!)

Was that you?

Being Geologists, my husband and I were completely jazzed about the earthquake this morning. Of course, my husband woke up and immediately thought that someone was trying to get into the house. I think that if he took my relaxed attitude, he would be less worried about someone breaking in to the house. My thought is this ... it would be easier to apprehend them once they have tripped and fallen over the toys on the floor. Let them break their own necks trying to walk in the dark in OUR house: Much easier than trying to beat someone to death as they are coming in through a window.

No thanks...

Sorry, still no pics, as we are still in the midst of a data transition...

We have been sick in Chet Skeinsville for what seems like an ETERNITY. I feel like all I have done this whole winter season is wipe snot! And it never seems as though it is going to stop! OH! And to top of my pissy mood? IF I HAVE ONE MORE F'ING TISSUE GO THROUGH THE WASH, I AM GOING TO LOOSE MY F'ING MIND!
I had a pocket full of tissues go through the washer AND the dryer, on a dark load ... i cannot even START to tell you how bad I freaked out about it. I am still mad about it.

As E.B. put it : "I have been prostrated by the agony of the damned..."
Deadwood anyone? I have been watching it A LOT lately.

I have too many irons in the fire. I have some Etsy plans that need to start rolling,
I still have two more baby gifts to start, and I am trying to wrap up the Never Ending Baby Outfit.
I have been torn lately on what to do with the other 2 items I am planning to make. The person I am making the Never Ending Baby Outfit for is a new good friend of mine. She always LOVED the little outfit Big Boy used to wear, and I vowed to myself that I would make her one if she ever had another baby. My reasoning was this ... it is not that often that you find someone who REALLY appreciates, and ENJOYS hand made gifts.
I have not written about my recent knitting projects because my yarny foundation
has unraveled a little over the past few months.
I wanted to make 2 more little baby gifts for friends of mine that I have had for YEARS. The problem is this ... That beautiful BSJ i made for my cousin's baby? Never heard ONE WORD about it after I gave it to them.
It is one thing to hand a gift directly to a person, and have them thank you right there on the spot. But this gift was left with his parents to pass on to him. I know the gift was transferred to them too, because I asked his folks :).
I have heard nuthin'. Nada. If they didn't like it, fine, they didn't have to say "it is hard to say thanks because we hated the colors". A simple thank you would have been nice.
I have had this happen TWICE this year.

I don't think that my knitted gifts are so wonderful that they have to be put up on a pedestal,
under spotlights and glass. I also don't make these things and then set back and wait for the accolades to pour in. No, I make these gifts because I feel as though the stitches I form are bound together by love. So much of me goes into the items I make and give away!

The things that I make, I feel, hug that baby with the warmth and love I feel for that child. I constantly find myself let down because I would think that another person could at least see the specialness in what was made for them. This is why I am now trying to decide whether I should even "waste my time" on the two other gifts.
I am tired of getting my feelings hurt.
Sometimes I think that people have become so accustomed to getting
cookie-cutter-made-in-China-pieces-of-crap, that they don't really know HOW to receive something that they can't take back if they don't like it. I would have thought that I would at least get a "Thank You" via his parents had my cousin said "wow, that is nice she made this for us!"

I don't know what to do. I love making the baby things for those special little people, and this alone tells me that I should just go ahead and make the little things. But I get SO ATTACHED to what I make, and to the WHY I am making it, then my stinkin' feelings get hurt when I that little gem goes unappreciated. I wish I could just let the item go, and say "here's your gift ... DONE! Start next item in the queue, and I am gonna make something FOR ME this time!".

What the hell?

New on my list of rants this week:

Salmonella reported in Malt-o-Meal(AGAIN!)

How in the HELL is salmonella getting into a DRY cereal? And not only HOW is it happening, HOW IS IT HAPPENING AGAIN? I heard that the ones that they are recalling are puffed grains? What are the conditions in that plant that are allowing for this contamination?

I PARTICULARLY LIKE THE LIGHTENING BOLT effect. To me it says '"KAAAAABAAAAAAAM Malt-o-meal! STOP IT! STOP STORING YOUR CEREAL GRAINS THE WAY YOU ARE! p.s. -- see, I CAN strike twice..."

and another thing...

I got so mad at the tv weather dude this morning (I have not had my caffiene yet so I had to take the morning out on someone) and he was standing there in front of the radar screen saying "well as you can see there are some small heavy rain bands coming into the area.." as he dismissively points at a few fading green splotches on the screen between Skeinsville and Cowtown. Then he is acts all nonchalant as he start backing out of the screen to allow the 7 day forecast picture to pop up ... and as he backs up, his fat ass moves out of the way and uncovers a SOUTHERN FLATLANDIA- AND MISSOURI-SIZED ORANGE AND YELLOW REGION ON THE RADAR.... now, WTF is THAT? Isn't THAT something to be concerned about? Could he not see it because his FAT ASS WAS IN THE WAY? Shouldn't we have been told about that seething area of nastiness? I could give a crap about the sprinkles that are on their way, I want to know about the BIG STUFF that is likely to hit while I am wrangling the kids into, or out of the daily WalMart, Target, Meijer, shopping circuit. They are willing to tell us exactly how much rain they think we are going to get 7 days out, but when Armageddon is rolling up the prairie at us, they don't see it as something important?

3...2...1...and were ON!

Crackle .... crackle ....

Hello? Well, it looks like we are up and running again. The two year old P.O.S. computer we had finally gave up the ghost (again) and 3 mother(f'ing)boards and a power supply later, it is basically in the garbage. All I am going to say about this at this point in time is that the Computer Fixit guys said that they have seen about 20 of these very same computers with the same problem/s ... I have decided that now, I am not going to let this issue die. More to come.

For my birthday, my wonderful husband got me a little Mac Mini. I guess "little Mac Mini" is redundant, but it is soooooo little and cuuuuuuuuute, and MINI! I feel like using baby talk when I see it! I am now learning Mac stuff. I went out and bought "Macs for Dummies" -- the book is wonderful, and I am learning a lot from it. I guess that makes me a dummy :)

I have finished a few projects since my last posting, and I am almost finished with another baby gift. As I am eager to get to learning my new Mac stuff, I am distracted and don't feel like talking knitting today (gasp! i KNOW, write down this date, because it probably won't happen again for a long time!). Well, to be honest, I don't want to talk about knitterly things until I learn how to upload my photos and stuff. Talking knitting is one thing, but pictures of knitting is quite another! ;)

We are experiencing technical difficulties....AGAIN

This is how we do it!

Anyone else get that cheesy bit'o early 90's music reference? I don't know why my mind goes places like that, but at least it is a fun place! Yup, Cheese Queen, that's me.

I won't even try to fully explain my way out of why it has been so long since I last updated. How about this, I will partially explain. Two children under three ... lots of cold, lots of snow ... trapped indoors for long periods of time ... lot's of going to big box stores to walk around and get some sort of exercise ... and finally, the creeping crud illnesses that WILL NOT STOP ... oh, and Little Boy is getting EIGHT TEETH all at once. Yes, all 4 eye teeth, and all 4 molars AT ONCE. 'Nuff said.

I have been productive, though. I got both baby sweaters done, and gifted. The first went to my friend's baby.

Baby Sweater by Jean Leinhauser
US 4 / 3.5 mm
Cotton Linen mix on a 5 lb cone

I love this pretty little sweater. It looks more complicated than it is (bonus!). I changed the pattern a little bit so I could knit it in the round (bonus! bonus!), which made the whole thing seamless (BONUS, CUBED!). I loathe sewing up seams. The only thing to sew on this was the picot edging around the neck and hem, and that was not too bad.

And now, for the BSJ...

Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann

US 7 / 4.5 mm
Plymouth Encore Colorspun DK

Isn't it amazing how 100 different people can read the same words, and 100 different interpretations can be derived from the same words? Everything (and especially written instructions) can be subject to interpretation. All I can say is that I had trouble processing the written instructions for this pattern. I ended up having to figure out a way to place, and maneuver stitch markers so that I could actually SEE what was happening with each row. The markers actually provided a way for me to count the stitches on my needles, as they are written in the pattern. This was not possible for me before I placed the markers.

If you are coming here from my Ravelry post, some of this will sound familiar. I love the finished product ... BUT ... I had a HELL of a time with this pattern in the beginning! I think I tore this out almost 4 times! Every single time, it all seemed to go to hell between rows 9 and 13. When I would go to count my stitches, I could not tell which were the worked SK2P stitches, and then I could not tell if I made a mistake (especially when adding those M1's nine times on row 11). Things started to get better when I found this post http://autumnblossomknits.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/baby-s... which lead me to BSJ notes written by Dawn Adcock http://www.3gcs.com/adcock/BSSNotes.pdf

what I ended up doing was this...

CO 160 and placed a marker between stitches (sts) number 34 and 35, 37 and 38, 86 and 87, 89 and 90. So, once you are casted on, you needle stitches look like:

Row 1: 34sts (marker) 3sts (marker) 86sts (marker) 3sts (marker) 34sts.
The three sts between the markers are not counted when working the 34, 86, 34 (left, center, and right sections) of the pattern.

So, getting down to business, say we are on line 3 ...

K33, pm, SK2P,pm, K84, pm, SK2P,pm, K33.

Once you are finished with row 3, and you are about to start row 4, remember that the SK2P reduces three stitches to one, and you will need three stitches to perform the SK2P on row 5.
Okay, so when you go to work row 4 (the even row side), knit until you reach one stitch before the marker (knit 32 stitches),

** place a new marker, k1, remove old marker, k1, remove old marker, k1, place new marker**.

There should now be 3 sts between the markers. Now continue knitting (knit 84 stitches) until you are one stitch before the next old marker, and go back up to **. When you finish the even row, and you look over what you just knitted, there will be a marker on either side of three stitches. These will be the stitches that you will be SK2Ping on the next row.

Now you will be able to keep track of the stitches on each side of the SK2P stitches, and you will be able to keep track of the number of middle stitches. Do this "marker thing" all the way to row 46, when the Dawn Adcock instructions tell you to place the markers in a different way because of the new increases.

I have probably confused so you so badly that you are running from you computer, yarn trailing behind you in a tangled mess. Sorry. I hope not. All I know is that I was getting really frustrated with this pattern, and I know that there were a few folks out there beating their heads against the wall with me. I am just trying to throw a "rescue ring" out there for any others who may be at their wits end.

Now, for the BSJ FO details. The contrasting edge on my BSJ was actually out of necessity as I ran out of yarn at ROW 110! Yes, four rows from the end! I thought I would DIE. Luckily I had some matching yarn laying around to finish up. I was shocked to find that I actually liked the way this jacket looks with the contrasting edge! I did an I-cord edging all the way around, including the neck. I then joined the sleeve tops with a three-needle bind off … both techniques I found on knitty.com. After I got it all done, I wished I could keep this for my little guy! Maybe when I finish some more projects, I will make him one for next year. The only thing I will change with the next one I make are the type of decrease stitches I will use - I am not a huge fan of the way the SK2P’s look (just my personal opinion).

I am reaching the end of my brain power for the night, and I can already hear my thought processes powering down. Next time, I might have finished Vogue Spring/Summer Short Sleeve Cardigan (#19) by Shiri Mor to share with you!

Until then, happy 'nittin.
Or unhappy, whichever you choose.

H - is for "huh?"

I scanned this out of one of Big Boy's favorite books.
It is for real, and was not doctored in any way.

You know, I can only imagine how hard it is to come up with new and different things for kid's books. I mean personally, I TOTALLY get tired of the tired
A is for apple
B is for ball
C is for Cat... So, I really like it when folks come up with neat new things. BUT, don't you think they could have come up with something better for this particular "H is for Hamster...."?

How about "The Hamster is furry" or "The Hamster drinks water" ?
I about peed myself laughing when I came to it.

Yes, there is knitting news, but I am waiting for better light for photos. Knitting intensive post to come.

Eeeeh...so so.

Okay, my first thought on the Revolution English Breakfast tea was "Do I need to leave the bag in longer?". Yeah, IMO, it is kind of weak. Personally I like my EBT to be fuller, thicker, and slightly sweet tasting. I ended up adding quite a bit of sugar to this Revolution EBT to give it taste. I think that I will be sticking to my Twinnings EBT until I find something better. Now, the one variation that might need to be tried is with milk. I don't usually add milk to my tea, so this might be something that would bring out other flavors of the Revolution EBT that would otherwise be missed by the "straight up" drinker. Nonetheless, the way I enjoy tea, did not bring out the positive quality of this tea. Therefore, my socks were not knocked off. Socks still on and thank goodness because it is WAY COLD outside.

Stash Peach - yum! I liked it quite a bit more than the Revolution Ginger Peach. The peach flavor is stronger (yet not unpleasantly strong), and the body of the black tea is fuller and more substantial than the Evolution Ginger Peach. Once again, I feel that the Evolution Tea was a bit weak in the taste department.

It is 2 degrees (F) outside, -11 with the wind chill. I feel as though I will be consuming a lot of tea this weekend. :)

In the moment.

Oh brrrrrr. It seems as though I am drinking so much tea lately. These cold, damp days really make me hanker a nice hot cuppa-T. Usually, I just reach for my old stand-by, Red Rose; but recently I decided to branch out a little bit and I purchased a few "new" teas.

Coconut Pouchong from Golden Moon Tea.

Ingredients: Grand Pouchong Tea Leaves, essence of coconut.

Vanilla Black Tea from Taylors of Harrogate
Ingredients: a blend of fine black tea with vanilla and sunflower petals.

Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea (not pictured)

Revolution: variety tea sampler.
(Earl Grey Lavender, Tropical Green, Sweet Ginger Peach, White Pear, and English Breakfast)

The Coconut Pouchong is simply delightful! I never before have known of coconut in tea, and wow, here it is. You open the container, and the coconut essence is just heady! It is described as being "serene, and light ... with the coconut instilling a tropical sweetness in this exquisite bouquet..." 100% exact. The tea leaves are high quality, and brew up nicely. Actually, I accidentally over steeped (steeped the hell out of) some last night (bedtime bedlam began), and it was still really good by the time I got back to it (15 minutes or more). Now, this may have been due to the small, one cup quantity I was steeping; but, nonetheless, it was still TASTY, coconutty, and not bitter at all.

I must admit that I was quite apprehensive trying a Pouchong tea variety, because the name sounded way too similar to a Lapsoung (Lapsang) Souchong I once tried. Yeah, there is a reason I now call I now call Lapsoung Souchong, "Lhasa Apso tea". It tasted like a smoky, wet dog. I thought I was going to DIE. This is the very tea served in the waiting room of Hell, I am sure of it. Yet, I digress .... where was I?

The Vanilla Black Tea is quite tasty, but I have only made one cup of it, and I think I over-steeped it because IT:WAS:STRONG. Too strong. I don't think this was the tea's fault though. I was negligent. Despite my over doing it, this tea reminded me a lot of Chai, without all of the complexities. I will make this again and give a diatribe later.

The Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea, I gave away to my Ravelry Tea Swap partner. She seemed to be quite pleased with it, so I am going to dash out tonight or tomorrow and score me some.

As for the Revolution teas; so far, I have only tried the Tropical Green Tea (dragonwell green tea, blended with pineapple flavor and citrus peel...) and the The Sweet Ginger Peach (a blend combining the taste of peaches, and ginger root with Ceylon and Assam Teas..). I was intrigued by this brand of teas because the name makes me think "hummm, they sound really responsible.." but when I opened the box I found the tea packaged in a little "plastic" mesh pyramid tea bag. We compost, and I compost all of my tea and used tea bags, so I was immediately taken back. Well I did some sleuthing and came up with this interesting description how their little mesh infuser bags are 100% biodegradable! Wow, nice!

The Tropical Green was fine, but not very rememberable. I attribute this to the fact that I was drinking it Christmas Eve, and I was a little stressed that night - read above post. The Sweet Ginger Peach was nice as well. Quite nice peach taste, without the harsh tannins and totally fake peach that some other peach flavored black teas have.

The only thing that kind of hacks me off is that the whole reason I bought this sampler box is because it was the ONLY ONE that had a sample of the White Pear Tea. Well, not MY box. Instead of the White Pear Tea, I ended up with two of the Tropical Greens. It is not like I don't like the Tropical Green, I just really wanted to get my taste buds wrapped around that Pear Tea! I guess one positive thing that comes out of this is that I am getting another chance to try the Tropical Green and come up with a better decision on it.

Earlier I spoke of Red Rose: Here is the newest addition to my Wade Figurine Frenzy.

I am still making my way through the Stash teas given to me by my tea swap partner. I will critique those later. I feel like moving on to other news right now.

FO! SOCKS! Although I am quite pleased with my PGR recipe for the invisible cast on toe. I am equally pleased with the "same as the toe, heel". What I am really irked about is the fact that it took me until the second sock to really get down grafting off at the top edge.

Egad! I should have practiced this technique before getting down to business on the real, actual sock. I was just so sure that I could just wing it and make it happen. Funny thing about grafting off ... once you start, there really is no turning back; at least not for me. The first sock (the unintentional guinea pig) is quite noticeably different than the second "got the hang of it by now" sock. I am not unhappy enough to tear it out though. Honestly, the beautiful yarn, and the glove-like fit, cancel out the top edges. The colors are so saturated that they are very hard to capture. I think that the above photo comes the closest to showing the actual colors.

The above photo was taken with a flash,
and does nothing for the colors.
Don't handmade socks look funny before they are blocked?

Now that my wonderfully warm Diakeito socks are done, I can start on my baby tasks. As of New Year's Eve, 4 babies have been born, and 6 more are on the way. All 6 are due between now and August. And how far along am I into my list of babies things to make?

The HUGE 5 pound spool of cotton/linen boucle
was an e-Bay purchase made about 5 years ago.
The seller actually sent this spool to me by accident (!)
and told me to keep it since it was his mistake.

That is it. That is all I have done. Good lord. At this rate I will never catch up. This little cutie will go to whomever is born first. Baby #1 is due the last week of January, baby #2 is due the first week of February. Baby #3 April, babies #4 and #5 (i think) June, baby #6 August. Baby #6 though, is not going to get a hand-knit. His family is going to get a homemade meal. He is baby #3, and although every baby is special and deserves something new, they have everything they need for a new baby ... what they are really going to need is ready-made food so that the new momma does not have to cook right away.

I have made this little sweater tons of times before, and I know I can turn one of these out in a day or two. I am going to try to make the matching booties as well, but we will see how much time I will get. Depending on my time, I might make these for the first two impending births, and for the next babies, a few of them might get the BSJ! I got my hands on a pattern when I went to Knitters Mercantile in November, and I have been chomping at the bit to start it. I am a little apprehensive at the learning curve, so I would rather tackle it when I am not feeling pressured. I think that between the February baby, and the April baby, I can get one or two done.

Oh, and last but not least ... everybody, meet Rufus.
He has to have been the BEST Christmas present EVA!
He's a PURSE!
How cool is that?

New Year, new post.

The New Year brought along with it, new illnesses. Yup, both boys caught the creeping crud. How they got it I will never know. Up until a few minutes ago, my laundry room still had the faint odor of baby vomit, so I had to drop everything and get the mounds of "illness laundry" pushing through. Thank goodness the boys are asleep, for now I will have a little bit of time to try to figure out what to post. I hate to say it, but I am starting to feel a little ill ... but I am going to try to "mom my way through it" and perhaps the germs will just give up and go try to find a foot hold elsewhere?

I have not been completely idle since my last post. After much agitation, and studying PGR's Simple Socks, and Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks , I embarked on my own toe-up pattern. What would make me take on such a daunting task, you ask?

My precioussssssssssss...

I had only two, 109 yd balls, so I wanted to use every.single.inch of this gorgeous stuff. This is why I opted for the toe-up variety of sock. I am creeping up on the half way mark for sock #2. This yarn? Diakeito MSE Diamusee. It is Simply Delicious. I cannot get enough of watching those colors change! It is so soft, and squishy, and the thing that keeps surprising me is how clean it is! I knit with Noro a LOT, and I am so used to having to stop and remove debris - not with this, baby! I also love how the color bands are not predictable - so much for trying to make identical striped socks! Honestly though, the striping is "random" enough that the different-ness does not bother me one bit! I actually prefer it with this yarn.

OH! OH! And don't let me forget! I signed up for Ravelry's Cup o' Tea holiday Tea Swap! I have no photos of my Tea Swap Loot, simply because I immediately dove into the tea box, and I had to put away the beautiful yarn because Big C kept wanting to drive his Matchbox cars in it "Drive car in mommy yarn garage?" Yes, he kept forcing the car into the skein calling it a "yarn garage" -

My swap partner wrote me and said that there is more coming too! Can you believe it? What a sweetie! I almost had to do an installment mailing as well, as it was taking forever for me to find the goodies to send my partner, but, as luck would have it, I found everything the Friday before Christmas, and got it out the door by the 22nd. Now, this parcel was going international, over the holidays, so who knows WHEN it will get to it's destination! I just hope she likes it when it arrives!

The washer just stopped, I need to move the washed load on to the dryer and get the next (4) loads going so I can sit and rest for at least half an hour before Thing 1 and Thing 2 get up. :)

Oh Holy Night ...

I was just outside putting the last of the food (that will not fit in the refrigerator) into the car to keep it cold over night. Thank goodness we have a cold Christmas this year. Thank goodness for a lot of things, actually. It was so shockingly cold outside tonight. As I stood in the dark, it struck me how awesomely silent it was. It was so quiet that the inside of my ears felt heavy. As my warm breath rose up towards the sky, I lifted my gaze up to the amazingly bright, full moon, flanked closely by Mars -- Mars in Opposition the sun. Last night when we were driving home, the full moon rising looked like a giant cookie coming up over the horizon. NO kidding! Big C was so enamoured with it, and it's bright light, that he sang to the moon the whole way home.

We took a drive tonight, to go around "lights lookin'". The boys LOVED it. Big C just gasped, and sat wide eyed in his seat. Little M seemed uninterested until i removed his hood which was shielding his eyes. He gazed out the window and his eyes went large. He looked at me for reassurance for this beauty that he was seeing, and when I said "look honey, look at the pretty lights" he squealed and laughed with such pure joy that it brought tears to my eyes. His reaction was SO pure, SO beautiful; such astounding expressiveness for a baby of only 9 months.

Everyone is in bed now, the toys are all arranged with care. I got my mom to go to bed and to stop tidying up the room and folding bags, and moving furniture, and wrapping gifts in the living room RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THE BOYS ROOM, and banging around and making SO.MUCH.F'ing.NOISE.

I am not a super duper religious person, but the feeling I had tonight was unearthly.Godly if you will.
Peace, Love, Harmony be with you all on this most beautiful of nights.

Something to show for it....

I'd like to say that all of the days that we were trapped inside resulted in my finishing a bunch of knitterly projects ... but not so. I am not saying that I didn't do anything, but a knittin' machine, I was not. I DO have at least ONE FO to show for all of the "snow days" though. The Noro striped scarf is done! I loved this project! Something so simple yielding something so beautiful and seemingly complex. AND USEFUL! How can you beat that?

2 balls #249 (main background color)
1 ball #246
1 ball #245
knitted on 7s
Just a few ounces left over.

It has been really hard to get started on my new projects due to the holiday rush going on around here. Because of the oh so beautiful weather we have had the past few weekends (ice storms every weekend) and then a snow storm last weekend we have not been able to get our Christmas tree. We finally got one last weekend, and I just now, as in within the past hour, got it decorated. Tomorrow, the rest of the house. It is the littlest boy's first Christmas, so I want to have everything all pretty for him. As I was getting all of the decorations out tonight I discovered (GASP) we don't have a stocking to hang for him! I KNOW that he is too young to care, but still! I wish I were able to whip one up real quick, but it just ain't gonna happen. All i can wish is that when my mom comes and sees that baby boy has no stocking, maybe she will spoil him with one (wink wink). On top of all of the Christmas Chaos, the One And Only Wonder Boy is sending us a shipment of fresh King Crab from none other, Unalaska, Alaska. He was there doing his USCG stuff. Well, it was supposed to arrive today BUT I think Young Nasty Man intercepted our crab. It is safe to say that I am crabby, because I had no crab for dinner. Here I was thinking that I was getting out of making dinner because "we had crab coming!". How wrong I was! I was so sad. We ended up getting carry out because I refused to cook anything other than crab tonight:(. All I know is that I better see my box-o-crab waltzin' up the driveway tomorrow morning, or else I am going to go on strike, and my family will not get a hot cooked meal till the crab arrives. I don't think i have ever typed "crab" so many times in one place before.

I might not have received my crab, but I did get this! My Noro sock yarn!
I cannot wait to sink my fingers into these! Oh do I have plans! The Noro striped scarf has really got me thinking about a challenge. More on this later once I have wrapped my brain around what I actually want to do.

Despite all of the hectic-ness, I love this time of year. Something about the magic of the lights, and the calming of the snow, makes everything so shockingly beautiful. Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good night.

OMG!

This is HUGE news to me. Okay. Take.a.breath. Here.it.comes...

Just in time for the holidays, the sweet folks at WEBS bring us Noro SOCK YARN!

holy crap Batman!

AS IF I need another reason to buy more sock yarn! I just needed some folks to go down on the ship with me.