I've actually managed to get some knitting done! I'm in the process of turning the heel on the "Pearls of Wisdom" sock, and I've done the ribbing on the Opal sock. The Opal sock isn't going to be quite as orange as I had feared, but it is making me hungry! It's red, orange, white, yellow, and green. I swear that it reminds me of nachos with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream! It could be worse, I suppose...I could be working with shades of brown and thinking about chocolate!

Man-o-man, do I need to update my links list! A task for next week...

If I don't turn off this computer and figure out what clothes I'm packing I'm going to be running around Vermont nekkid! And as laid back at the state might be, it sure ain't ready for that!!! Have a great weekend all!

My poor Baby Girl. :-( Where the Hell is that Mommy Magic Wand that I'm suppose to be able to wave to make her feel better? I hate sitting here listening to her in bed coughing away and knowing that, beyond pouring cough medicine down her throat, I can't do all that much for her. Could we have a cure for the common cold, please? F*cking Helpless!

That strange fever/crankyness has transmuted into a general bad cold, thank Goddess. I was afraid that it was going to be something worse! I'm getting a nap out of her (second day in a row! She must be sick!), and as I was up with her way too early this morning I should be napping too! But I'm jagged on the sugar from frosted Cheerio's and a feeling of victory because I finally figured out how to get a background image at Tea Ramblings!
The answer: Quit using the freakin' Windows program, and switch to CoffeeCup HTML software! I downloaded the free trial version, and I am in love! I have informed my hubby that I want the registered version for my birthday (He doesn't do hints well, you have to staple itemized lists to his forehead)...unfortunately I lost my counter in the process, and Bravenet isn't letting me log into the members area right now. Oh well, I'll fix it tonight!

Cool! Look what I just found in my referals! I've been translated!

Best Laid Plans...yadda, yadda, yadda

Yup. Home with a sick small one. She was so hot this morning that she was sweating sitting still, poor thing. Her fever is down thankfully, and she seems content to lie on her mat on the floor watching The Gumby Movie. (No, I don't know why! It's what her father let her pick at the video store yesterday) I know Gumby claymation, and completely different from the puppets, but parts of it remind me of nothing more than Thunderbirds!


Nearly all of Gerry?s classic stories and series are set in the future. The live-action film 'UFO', written in 1968, was set in 1980. It is the tale of aliens coming to earth to seek human organs for transplant.
Thunderbirds, though, is set 100 years beyond the date of its first screening in 1965. Thus in the first episode we see an airport from 2065 with a beautifully envisioned Concorde-like craft that can fly at mach 6.5, whilst the passengers all sit around in a lounge sipping drinks that looks like a set from a Dean Martin movie.

Well, I just deleted a long, whiney post about my frame of mind. It didn't get published anyway, which is just as well...

I've cast on for one of my "travelling" socks for later in the week. The color I have chosen is here. I had the choice between numbers 110 & 111.Those were the last two skeins of Opal yarn that I snagged at the LYS on my latest visit, and the small one picked number 110. ("Are those going to be socks, Mommy?") It'll be interesting to see how it works up. I do think it's going to be, umm, very orange.

I suppose that I should go think about dinner for the small one and I. Tony went to his nephew's graduation party on his own, as Irina is coughing her head off again! (Jeepers! Haven't we gotten evey bug there is to get in this household yet?) It was drag her to the party and have her get all wound up and sicker and have to stay home tomorrow, or keep her low-keyed and able to go to preschool in the morning. I can't afford to take monday and tuesday off since I'll be missing the end of this week and next monday. (The seven pallets of merchandise that is waiting for me to sort and organize it is trying to throw a guilt trip on me, but I won't let it!)

I know that I've mentioned that my kid is a big Wiggles fan. Well, I have to admit that I'm becoming one too! Since they've started showing the program on Playhouse Disney I look forward to starting my day with their bright, cheery faces and infectious songs. In fact, I think I'm developing rather a crush on them...



*Sigh* Just as long as it's not as bad as the last crush I developed...You know that you need "Adult" time (or just a life in general) when you start thinking that Steve on Blue's Clues
is a total hottie!!!

Hmmm, this is taking forever to update. Let's see if this works.

(later)Blogger isn't updating, and it's driving me c-r-a-a-a-a-z-y!!!!

It's the Friday Five!


1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? We're in an apartment building that use to be a fabric mill.


2. Do you rent or own? We rent. We would love to own, but houses are too damn expensive in this area!


3. Does anyone else live with you? Ummm...The Cat "allows" my husband, my daughter and myself to reside with him!


4. How many times have you moved in your life? Only four (seems like it should be more than that for some reason)


5. What are your plans for this weekend? Saturday I'm working, and then on Sunday we are going to a high school graduation party for Tony's nephew.

I'm an Auntie again! Hooray!!! Welcome to the world baby...whoever-you-are!

Yes, my brother and his wife have yet to settle on a name! He was 8lbs. 12ozs., and Mama and Baby are fine. What big Brother's reaction is going to be has yet to be seen!

Almost done with that baby sweater, all I have to do is the side and arm seams and put buttons on it. It went up quick, but has just been dragging on so long because it has been pretty uninspiring. I know that I have my "Pearls" socks to work on, and any number of half finished project that need doing, but I'm feeling like I need a challenge or something!!!

A week and I'll be in Vermont, looking at magnificent quilts and getting plenty inspired! I know it's not polite to constantly harp (gloat?) about vacation plans; but this is my first real vacation in years! I will completely miss my sweeties, I'm sure, but I want next week to be here so badly I can hardly stand it!

Did I mention that my girlie actually let me sleep until 9am this morning? She crawled into bed with us at some point last night and decided to sleep until after 9 herself! I do enjoy a good lie-in, don't get to do it nearly often enough, and it's nice to see my part of the gene pool showing up in her occasionally.

Gotta go finish that sweater before I do anything else...

Tah Dah! My new home! Did you find me?

Good Morning! Just thought that I'd let you know that my blog address will be changing tomorrow! (Sometime during the day, but I'm not quite sure when.) My new addy will be http://tea-ramblings.com/knitblog.html. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I've had so much knitting content lately! "It's my party and I'll blog if I want to, blog if I want to, blog if I want to...you would blog too if it happened to you!"

I am obviously up way too late...

I tell ya, I Love where I work!!! Most of us are refugees from the "real world" (in other words: management, offices, corporate gack!). Most of us took big pay cuts, we all work our asses off in the spring, and even though we do have our personality clashes we all work together to get things done. And where else are you going to see something like this?





Mama bunny decided that the best place to have her babies was to dig down under, and partially into, the root ball of a magnolia sapling. Most places would have displaced the bunny family. We do our best to make their home more comfortable. (The nursery stock manager braced the sapling to make sure that it wouldn't roll on the bunnies, and put down the hay. And carrots have been seen in the breakroom fridge quite a bit lately.)

The sky was blue. The birds were singing. The bunnies were snuggling. It was a day.

Is this? Could it be? Another Boston area knitting blogger? Hello bitter-girl!

Hmmm...Still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong with my site; or rather, what I've done right so far so I can duplicate it! Whatever it is, I get the impression that I won't be doing it today.

Tony is taking himself to see the new Star Wars movie this afternoon (Going out and doing something by himself is becoming a Father's Day tradition). As far as I know he still wants to do take out Bar-B-Que for dinner, which makes things easy for me. A low key day all around

I have some things that I'd like to do, like finish the last sleeve of the baby sweater, if not finishing the sweater itself. I'd also like to start cutting paper templates and fabric for a Tumbling Blocks quilt that I can hand piece in the car to Vermont and back, as well as during whatever down time we decide to have. I am also bringing a knitting project, most likely socks, as an alternative. Heaven forbid I should be trapped with only one project to work on! The trauma!!! The trick is finding the ambition to actually do anything today. I sense a serious nap in my future this afternoon, if I can get the short one to cooperate!

A plea of Help! to the Website Goddesses!!!

I am in the process of trying to move Tea Ramblings to it's very own home (without a huge Angelfire address), and it is driving me more than slightly out of my mind!!! (OK, short trip, I know *Grin*)

What I can't figure out is where the heck my images are going to! And why is my guestbook on the side instead of on the bottom? And why, when I go in and manually change my html code (I'm using Word) to the things that I know should fix it, does it go back to being screwy wrong when I ftp it? And why do I keep coming up with these pathetically wrong run-on sentences? (Naw, actually, I don't need help on that one)

Could someone go sneak a peek at my code and see if they can see something I can't? Please? Pretty Please? Pretty Please with a cherry on top? And hot fudge? It's fat free!!! If someone can drop me a line I'd be grateful! K1YOP2"at"aol.com

I found a new knitblog in the que for joining the ring, and she lives very near me!!! (From what I can figure reading her blog)

Knit-tastic, whoever you are: I also live about 20 minutes away from Creative Warehouse, and I'm not likely to go into Cambridge for an SnB! Wanna join forces and start one? Email me! Leave me comments! We can do some "Bitchin' in the 'Burbs"!

Oh Dear. The girlfriend that I am going to Vermont with just called and threatened my life if I am sick in two weeks. I told her: "Honey, even if I am dead you shove my coffin in the back of your van and take me anyway; because I am going!!!"

We are making plans on a major detour (about two hours worth) to Center Harbor, N.H. to go to Keepsake Quilting. Yes, the same people who bought Patternworks. And from what I read on the eKnitting message board, the Patternworks store in New Jersey is closed! I don't know if it was for inventory, or if they were moving the store to New Hampshire.

If they've moved the store...quilting and knitting in the same spot...oh boy am I going to be in trouble!!!

These next two weeks are just going to be so freakishly turtle slow!!!

Went to the doctor again today. Go figure, I can go for years without seeing a doctor, and then I'm there constantly for a few months. Getting my money's worth for the insurance we've been paying for, I guess. The upshoot is that I have a massive ear infection. Swimmer's ear, which is funny because I don't swim. So I get to keep hauling on the ibuprofin (for the pain), while I wait for the antibiotic to work. I just want to be able to hear out of my right ear again!


Just unraveled a shawl that I had started with a skein of Elaine in the color Beverly Sills (which, of course, they don't show here. It's purple, pink, green and kind of mustard-y yellow). I really don't feel like paying $32. for another skein as much as I love it, and I couldn't get as far from one skein as I really wanted. So I've cast on way fewer stitches and I'll just seed stitch my way until I run out of yarn. Nice brainless knitting.

Bad Me. I have been so not knitting. Tony brought me home a paint-by-number the other day, and I've just been sucked into working on it. This isn't one of your kiddie type p-b-n, no no! This is a grown-up version with itty bitty spots to paint and many colors to mix! I am just having way too much fun with this...

Could a Velvet Elvis be in my future? Thankyaverramuch.

Time for some Personal Yarns

With all essentials being taken care of, what ...

(non-knitting) book: The Eight by Katherine Neville-My all time favorite book!

movie: Gone With the Wind

music: The Beatles: One (all of the number 1 hits)

food: Chocolate!!!

knitting book, yarn & needles: The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches (the complete set, of course), white merino wool that I can dye using the native flora (most likely a sport or dk weight), and needles in the apropriate size for the yarn (straight or circular, I'm not fussy).
...would you take along to a deserted island for the nourishment of your soul?

Typical. Sick kiddo=sick Mommy. Thank goodness for Daddy. He's taken her out into the world (and promised to bring me back a paint-by-numbers kit), and I get to sit here watching MST3K. I'm not sure what movie it is that they're showing today, but it does seem to be worse than usual! I do enjoy a good (ahem) B movie!

Home with a sick kid today. (I called preschool to let them know she wasn't coming and the response was "Oh yeah. It's going around...") Oh well, wonder how I can keep her amused today...

Oh where, oh where, oh where is Carolyn? Moving cross country can really cramp your bloggin' style.

Nothing exciting going on today. I didn't do any knitting yesterday, worked on a quilt square instead gearing myself up for the Vermont Quilt Festival! 20 days and counting!!! WooHoo! I can hardly wait! (Not to mention the fact that I'll be husband and child less for five days. Does it make me a bad person for being so damned excited about it? I love 'em dearly, but to get a break? Divine!)

Must go amuse the small one and figure out what to do with her today...

Gee...Why am I looking forward to the premier of this so much? Kim Possible *Grin*

Well, it's still a rainy day out there, but my frame of mind is sunnier. The girlie and I did some major cleaning around here, and tried to do laundry; but we are suffering from a major deficit of quarters. (Gee, an excuse not to do laundry, what a shame). I hereby give myself permission to just hang around and be crafty for the rest of the day!

Not one of those days to repeat. Nothing huge, just a sad kinda leave me alone day. And the kid didn't make it to the potty twice! (The first time was on the couch. Ewwww. I hope the cushion cover is washable). And she wanted to watch the same video six times. Hell. It was a "Path of least resistance" day

Gray, gray day outside. Rainy and dragging me down, down, down...

Dagnabit!

Woke up with a migraine this morning. It's abated a bit (otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here), but everything is so darn loud. What a pain in the kiester!

Freakishly Proud Mama Moment Follows:(not for the faint of heart, and not everyone will care)

After almost 4 years of changing diapers/pullups, for some completely unknown reason, yesterday the small one decided that she didn't want to wear them anymore and wanted to wear big girl underware!!! And she stayed dry for over 24 hours!!! WaaHooooooo!!!!!!! We've been doing the potty battle for a long time, and she just gets up and decides to do it on her own. Astonishing. I feel liberated! I'd dance the Charleston, but my head would fall off...

I am grabbing my knitting and going back to bed.

Going public (and feeling kinda nervous about it); but I figure the more people I have kicking my butt, the better off I'll be...

(...holding my breath...)

Please check out A Commitment to Myself.

Happiness is a New Knitting Book



This book is so great! I fell in love with the cover sweater, and then I opened the book and started looking at the directions...Each pattern has instructions for sizes infant through 10 years old! I was thinking that I might be able to make a few of the sweaters in it for Irina; but as it turns out that I could make all of them given time, inclination, and (oh yeah) money. Details, details...

I've got the back of the baby sweater done; but I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish the sweater! I am having an allergic reaction to the yarn, or whatever it is that they used in finishing the yarn. Huge, itchy hives all over my arms and neck, driving me completely insane!

OK, I'm blaming the yarn while I know there could be another reason for it. I'm going to completely avoid the sweater for a few days (until I ain't itching anymore), and then start working on it again. If the hives come back, I'm returning the two unused skeins to the store. If not, I'll be able to whip through the rest of the sweater in no time at all! It's awfully cute too, a blue and white striped raglan...