Knit a swatch from my Vermont wool last night (it was cool enough to actually do it). Topper~His Majesty The Cat~who usually has no interest in my yarn was in love with it. He was acting like he had an industrial sized dose of catnip! Crazy Kitty!

Goal for today: Get some under the bed storage containers and try to get a handle on my fabric stash! (Ha!) Which includes weeding out the ugly stuff that I bought when I was obviously not in my right mind.

Because I haven't made you look at my beautiful girl lately (AKA: Freakish Mama Moment)

Well, I finally figured out what *I* was doing wrong. Sometimes you've just got to walk away from it for a little while. Now maybe I can do something fun for a while, instead of agonizing over what's going wrong here. (like finding a cool drop-down menu~I really am such a computer geek in my own way)

Or, it could just be that *my* server, now that it's back, is being horribly slow about showing my posts. I *know* it's slow. I am such a dork!

OK, the lack of comments may not be "my" fault, or maybe everyone else can see them but me? If you can, don't bother leaving me a comment, because at this point I won't see it! (as Kim goes slowly out of her mind...)

Trying to install new comments. Grrr......

Just when I figure out what I've done wrong, my server goes down! *sigh*. So I'm writing this knowing that I can't read it once it's posted (if it posts), and I can't check to see if I did straighten out my template after all. *sigh*

Sushi for dinner tonight! It's a good thing.

OK, I couldn't post for a while because I screwed up the blogger code, but I got that figured out. Now I need to figure out why my images are way the heck down the middle of the page! Hmmm...

Too funny! This the reply that I got from my husband when I told him that I was going to change my template!

Well, you know those great Blogger goddesses, when they decide they want you to do something, there's no half measures. The signs and portents just become more and more insistant until finally the appear in person and slap you around with a rubber chicken until you do it. Be glad you read the omens correctly before that happened.

Honestly, I don't know where that come from.

I just can not figure out what is going on with my javascript! Maybe this is the great Blogging Goddesses way of telling me that it's time to change my template? Hmmm...

Damn...And now I have some Javascript error on the page and my links have gone "poof"! Well, I can't find it (I'm sure it's just a missed comma somewhere or something dumb like that) Tomorrow. I'll deal with it tomorrow!

Finally!!!

I got all of my links updated! Someone kick my butt and remind me not to wait until I have 30 new links to add next time! (Gee, I hope that I got them all...)

She may be whining like crazy today, but my girlie let me take a two hour nap this afternoon! She actually hung out on the bed with me, looking at books and dozing herself (at least she was leaning on my legs every time I surfaced). From the big, dark circles under her eyes, I think that she should have taken a nap today. Can't win 'em all! I can only hope that she'll go to bed early tonight!

Finally made it to the new Walmart up the street this morning. Not too impressed, I must admit. Eh, it's a store, another giant munga store like the three other giant munga stores that have opened around here in the past year.

The kid is in full whine mode today. Driving me out of my mind!

Dang! Sweater design idea jumped into my head last night...it's still there this morning...But I don't neeeeeeeeeed another project!!!

Not much knitting going on around here right now! It's just a little too sticky to hold yarn. So I'm doing some quilting (hand applique), recovering from my reading bindge, and just trying to stay cool. Ah, well. More later as needs warrent...

Would you believe that I am almost done, yes about 125 pages left to go, with Drums of Autumn! When I finish I will have read over 3,000 pages of book in the past week and a half. Phew! I have not been on such a monster reading binge in a long time. Must go finish book!

Finished Voyager at 11:30 last night. Yes, I read a 1,000+ page book in less than 48 hours. If only I could knit as fast...

Look what I got! Look what I got!

I have been green with envy ever since I had seen it on the fab Miss Bonnie Marie's site! And now it's mine! Mine! All MINE! Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!

...I'm OK now...

Yes, it was my birthday yesterday, and a grand one it was! My girlie was sweet all day (!!!), my husband got me a nummy chocolate cake (!!!) and I got to sit around and read all day (576 pages of Voyager down, 483 to go! ~Tony picked up Drums of Autumn too, so I wouldn't have to ask him to!)

I'm sorry that people are having trouble getting here! I think it may have to do with the service that I have hosting my site, I have trouble getting here too, sometimes! (Mom, is it still looking funky to you? You can leave me a message in the "comments" you know, instead of just thinking that you need to tell me later *grin*) Sometimes I can't get here through aol, but when I open IE it works fine. I just don't know what to make of it.

I'm sleepy today...ah, well, back to Clair and Jamie I go...

That's enough excitement for one day. I'm crawling back into bed and pulling the covers over my head. (150 pages of Voyager down, 900 left to go...)

Well, I've got my first pieces cut for my applique quilt. Irina hovered over me, waching very intently, while I traced the templates and cut & placed pieces. She told me that it was going to be "Beautiful" and that she wanted to make one when she was a "big growed-up person". Kids are amazing, when they're not driving you insane!

Unfortunately, I'm paying the price of letting her take a two hour nap this afternoon! She's been out of her room wanting something three times since I tucked her into bed! I should know better than to let her sleep that long during the day. But it was soooooo quiet!!! (prepetual Mommy whine!)

OK, I finished Dragonfly in Amber. Tony has instructions to pick up the next book for me while he's at work tonight. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow!

Things are feeling lighter now (Thanks Mom).

After being a royal pita all morning my girlie informed me that I "Need to take a nap" with her. So we lay down on our bed, had major snuggles, and both of us drifted off to sleep. I woke up after about half an hour with a sweaty kid stuck to my arm. She's still sleeping, and I'm watching John Edward. I had wanted to go and check out the new Walmart that opened up the street, but if the small one thinks sleep is more important I'm certainly not going to argue about it!

I've started making the templates for an applique pattern that I picked up in Vermont. I'm looking forward to doing it. At the same time it is unlike anything that I've done before, so I've got a small case of nerves (hoping I do it right). But what the heck? If I make a mistake, I'll be the only one who knows!

I know my Mom visits here, I think my MIL does, I don't know if what follows is a surprise to anyone in my family. It's my life and my blog. Oh, I am in a "mood" today.

(as an aside: depression sucks. i had really bad post-partum depression after irina was born, and i've never really snapped out of it. i mean, i think i've always had it to some degree or another, but i did a lot of "self medicating" as a younger adult and it wasn't until i was straight that i could look at what i deal with and realize that yes, i have an illness. and until recently i delt with it on my own.~delt with it? delt with it? who am i trying to kid, i didn't deal with it~some days are harder then others. this feels like it's going to be a hard one)

The sky, even the air here, is an odd gray color. There are wild fires up in Canada, and the smoke is down here making everything bland and colorless...Except for the sun. The sun is a bright orange/red ball hanging in a slate sky. It's such an odd bright spot of color that looking at it actually hurts. When the breeze blows the right way the burning smell wafts inside.

I'm starting to get myself organized and put up pictures of my trip. What I have so far is Images of Hope, Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont. Eventually the thumbnails will pop-up into larger images with descriptions, but I need to play with some code to see how it works. (Suggestions, anyone?)

Just made my way most of the way 'round the knitblog ring for the first time in a week! How amazing is it that there are almost 80 of us? Too wild! *grin*

I'm working hard on trying to get a few pages up from my trip! I've got my pictures from my digital camera somewhat organized (umm..."somewhat oragnized" is a looser term for me that for others, I'm afeered), and I have a couple of rolls of film ready to pick up. I've got a total knitting slow down going on right now, but I see that I'm not the only one. I think I'm just getting my creative rocks off doing some web design.

I have washed some fabric that came with an applique kit that I bought at the quilt show. And did I mention that I picked up some really wonderful hand dyed, hand spun wool at an awesome price? I should have enough for a sweater for myself, or Tony if he likes the colors. My yarn stash now completely overfloweth my hiding place...

Much too late now. At least we should be able to sleep in tomorrow!

It has been so hot here the past few days it's been practically unbearable. No knitting, very little time spent on the computer, just hanging out in my daughter's room in the air conditioning. I looked forward to going to work today just because of the air conditioning, being one of the privledged few who work in the offices. I really did pity those who were stuck outside watering over the past few days-and it was a constant job! Fortunately the heat broke here today. (Tho' I fear it's only going to be a brief reprieve)

I think I've got a nasty case of "startitis" right now. I have 801 things that I could actually try to get around to finishing, but nnnoooo, I want to start something new. Go figure.

Well, aren't I outrageously boring today?

This is going to take forever to load, but until I get myself sorted and organized and a few web pages up on my site, I am afraid that a slow loading blog is the only option!
After a five hour drive (we took our time and avoided all the really nasty major highways), this is the the view that met our sight. The red building in the front is a horse barn on the property. The white house just above and to the left is the Inn that we stayed at!


We took a left at this sign



And this is the porch where we spent a considerable amount of our time



Looking at this view!!!



All I can say is, if you are ever looking for a wonderfully relaxing place to go, with awesome food, and a view to die for, go there!!!

And now we've returned and it's blazingly hot here! Knitting is so completely not an option at this point!

I'm back. BooHooHoo!!!!!!!

What an absolutely amazing time we had! The Inn was astonishing, the quilts were astonishing, I managed to pick up some hand spun, hand dyed wool (of course!), and I have 7 rolls of film and almost 300 pictures in my digital camera to sort through...

I miss my girlie! Time to go pick her up!

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...

The small one and I picked up Grandma (my Mum) this morning and took her with us to my favorite LYS. I want to make a sweater for my girlfriend's new baby, and needed to find a pattern and yarn. Irina helped me pick the pattern, and I picked out some Sirdar yarn in white and varigated blue. I'm looking forward to making this sweater except for one thing. The yarn is an acrylic/nylon mix. I am such a huge yarn snob that the thought of working with acrylic is making me go "Eeeewwww"! (I really am bad!) But I know that this is going to be for a baby, so I bow to the fact that I need to make it out of highly washable material!

I also picked up a few more sweater patterns, and a couple of skeins of Opal sock yarn. They appear to be in the "Mexico" line, nice and bright and colorful. It'll be fun to see how they work up.

Tony and I watched Harry Potter last night. That was fun! We loved the girl that was chosen to play Hermoine, she had that know-it-all brat thing down perfectly! I made it almost all the way to the heel turning on the 'Pearls' sock and forced myself to stop for the night.

I also figured out that when it complete this 'Quilt pattern' coat that I'm designing it'll have 101,520 stitches! And that is before I put a collar and any embellishment on it! 8,100 done so far! (Why did DH look at me so strangely when I told him that? Can anyone explain that to me, please?)

Well, must go swatch and begin this sweater. My goal is to have it done in a week, and seeing as this is a baby sweater that shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Sock #1, so far

The "original" Carolyn Keene, ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson, passed away at the age of 95! I read every single Nancy Drew book the summer that I turned 10, the hardcover editions with the yellow spine (I think those where the 1950's updating, not the original '20's/'30's version). Just tore through the shelf in the library at the rate of one a day, much to the amazement of the librarian.

Thank You, Mildred!

Well, I am thrilled to say that the small one is not sick. She is, however, in the middle of another growth spurt! I swear that she did nothing but eat yesterday! And eat, and eat, and eat some more...I do think that I should have measured how tall she was yesterday morning, because I have the feeling that she is a few inches taller this morning! Amazing how kids do that!

I actually managed to get some knitting done yesterday! I've been so involved in trying to more my site to it's new host (figuring out how to rebuild everything on my computer to ftp it rather than using an on-line editor), that I've been sitting at this computer getting frustrated and neglecting the fun stuff! When I start getting too cranky I go pick up something to work on. Usually in the act of counting stitches or winding a new bobbin the answer to whatever it is that's flipping me out crystalizes.

Come to think of it, I did a lot of knitting yesterday...*grin*

Phew! After all my my whining and complaining last night I've been granted a reprieve. Unfortunately, it's at the cost of having a sick kid at home. Poor thing already looks like she's going to go back to sleep. Most definately not herself today...

Damn! I have to go to the dentist tomorrow and I hate it! Hate it! HAte It! HATe IT! HATE IT!!!

I hate getting trapped in that chair. I hate the light. I hate having someone else's fingers in my mouth. I hate getting scraped, flossed and polished. It's awful. It's terrible. It makes me nervous enough to want to puke.

Everyone tells me to :"Just sit back and relax". They don't understand the outright PANIC I feel when I sit in that chair. I don't know why. I can't name a reason. It's just there. I wonder how much sleep I'll get tonight.

I am going to the bookstore after my ordeal and buying myself a knitting book as a gift if I survive.

Damn, I hate being like this!

A Rose for Memorial Day

Ok, a day late, but here's my Friday Five ! (Which seems really apropriate after the dreams I've been having this week!

1. What's the last vivid dream that you remember having? Just a few days ago! I has a dream that someone had come in and completely cleaned our apartment! You could have eaten off the kitchen floor. Everything was neat, tidy, put away, and there was no fear of stepping on a stray toy in the middle of the night. Imagine my dissapointment when I woke up!!!


2. Do you have any recurring dreams? I have several. I have the same dream every time I've moved. In it (I kid you not), I am being attacked by hundreds of little Pillsbury Dough Boys. With axes and knives. And they're all doing that annoying little giggle.
I hate the Pillsbury Dough Boy.


3. What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had?Something had happened to my daughter, and I could not get to her.


4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not? I use to, but I haven't in a long time. Something about needing coffee to get my fingers working in the morning to write. The good ones stick with me for a long time.


5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it? I lucid dream some of my more reccuring dreams. In my favorite one I'm exploring a big old cemetery, reading the stones and checking out the carvings. I've reached the point that I can recognize the dream as soon as it starts, and can mostly control where I am going and what I am looking at. It was a dream that started as a scary one the first time I had it, but has become comforting over time.

That's me in all my technicolor glory. And, yes, I do dream in color! Vividly!

Thank you to Theresa for these most cool questions!


1. Where were you born? What do you know about your own birth? (time, circumstance, etc...) I was born on July 11,1967 at two minutes before midnight in Natick, Massachusetts. I was a breech birth, backend first!


2. Do you have a baby picture you can put onto your weblog? If not, tell us what you looked like as a baby.I don't have a picture of me (I tried, but my scanner is acting crabby) Instead I offer a picture of my mother. As children we looked very much alike! I remember being amazed as a child when I said that I didn't remember having the photo taken, and being told it wasn't me! (The women in my maternal line, all of us have a close resemblence)




3. What kind of a baby or toddler were you according to the people who were around when you were young?According to my parents I was the fat, happy kid who just sat there and smiled at everyone.


4. Know any cute baby-related anecdotes? Other than the fact that I could say "Supercalafragalisticexpealidocious" at the age of three or four, nope!

Yipes! I just signed up with a new hosting company so I can move my blog and web site and all the other happy stuff I got to one place (I tried moving the blog to my current hosting company, but it was just too much a pain in the tush) And I can just use my tea-ramblings.com address instead of the whole huge angelfire address. I am having it forwarded, but it's still annoying to me. It'll be a couple of days until things change. I'll let y'all know.

My doctors appointment went well. My blood pressure, which was wickedly high 6 weeks ago, is back down to an acceptable level. It would go even lower if I got off my butt and lost weight! It's time. I've been putting off getting motivated way too long. No excuses now! I did walk to the doctor and back, so it's a start.

And, since I have the day to myself, I went to a bakery in the center of town, had an ice coffee, and indulged in some K.I.P. (Knitting In Public) before walking home. This is the kind of town that ignores anything unusual, so people just skated their glances over me, as if I had three heads or green skin or something-which just made me more determined to K.I.P. more often!

Gadzooks! It's been a busy few days...

First off, is anyone having trouble reading my blog? Because I looked on it on my Mom's 'puter last night and it looked like crap! I'm wondering if it has something to do with the connection that she has, because some of the other Blogspot blogs looked yucky! I'm wondering if a revamp might be in the works. (But I really like this template... *sniff*)

I've been really taken by the Kaffe Fassett sweater coat in the new "Special All Men's Edition" of Vogue Knitting. It's just what I like: Oversized, roomy... Heck! It might even fit me. But, as much as I like it, I figured that I could only like it more if it was in eye-poppingly bright colors...and if I was going to do that, maybe if I gave the colors a specific placement...Yeah! Like a quilt pattern! So if I took the basic shape from the pattern, and found the yarn that I wanted to use, and applied my own gauge to it, and, and, and...!!!

...This is where my husband threatened to douse me with cold water until I calmed down...

So it was a trip to the lys yesterday morning to fondle, and buy, for yet another project (like I need it!) I've got this black image in my head (to make the bright colors just that much brighter), and picked out a few other colors. They didn't have two that I wanted in the yarn that I chose (Cascade 200), so I bought a few skeins of white that I promptly dyed with easter egg dye when I returned home! They turned out rather well, if I do say so myself!


Anyhoo, I dyed, nuked, rinsed, wound bobbins, and worked on the ribbing for the back during the afternoon. Then I got to bring the small one to her grandparents for a few hours so Tony and I could go on an actual *date*!!! Imagine...dinner talking to no one but ourselves, being able to finish a conversation, not to mention just a sentence! Being able to look down to read a menu instead of up! Doesn't happen nearly often enough! *grin*

Today Irina & I took a drive to visit with some knitting buddies. It's a shame that the people I know in the area who knit live a distance away. At least I know some! (We need an S&B here in the 'burbs!) We sat in the backyard while the kids ran each other ragged on the swingset, and just generally had a good time knitting and nattering! Later our hostess took us on a walk in some conservation land that borders her neighborhood, and Irina practiced her superlative bug finding skills. A generally pleasant morning was had by all.

This afternoon was, well, nap central!

My goodness, I have rambled on! Oh well. Except for the inconverience of a Dr. appointment tomorrow I have the whole day to myself! Time, glorious time to do with whatever I want! (I am getting rather spoiled this week, ain't I?)

As promised (now that I got my blog back again) pictures of the sock thus far!



This is a turned cuff, so I did this part and then turned it inside out to continue down the leg. I've actually gotten as far as getting the first line of the quote done, but the batteries in my camera are failing quickly, so you'll have to wait for mor pics.(tho' I guess I could always scan it-Nah! Rather be knitting right now!)

And, because I know ya wanna see it



The cuff from the inside! With many ends to weave in. If I were clever I suppose that I'd do it now. But I'm too excited by the way this is turning out to stop and do something as menial as finishing work! *grin*

I wonder how much I can get done in the half hour of solitude I still have this afternoon...

Hmmmmm.....



OK, got it back now...

I finally got the ambition to start the "Pearls of Wisdom" socks last night! They have an unusual cast on. It's almost like a chain cast on, where you knit into the back of crochet loops, but you don't 'unzip' the crocheting at the end-it becomes part of the design of the sock. Pretty cool (and rather pretty), but it took forever to do!

So, I'm about halfway up the turned cuff and I'm liking the way it's working up so far. I'll post a picture of my progress later (tomorrow, the next day), when I feel like I have something worth posting!

This phrase is cracking me up:

"Remember: If Martha can do it, you can do it"

Right...Me and my staff of 50!

What are they thinking?

There are two skeins of Opal tiger sock yarn on ebay. Each of them has bids of over $30!!! Now, I do like Opal yarn. The times I have used it I like it and I do have some in my stash waiting for me. I also think that the "tiger striping" pattern that the yarn makes is really cool. But...to spend over $30. for one skein of Sock Yarn???

I don't get it...

Well, I did finally do some knitting yesterday. Only about half a dozen rows on the back of a pink cotton cardigan that I'm playing with (making it up as I go along), but at least it was something.

I got my girlies crafty genes working yesterday! We painted some ziti noodles different colors and when they were dry stringed them into a necklace. Something quick and easy for me, and a feeling of great accomplishment for her!

I'm actually blowing off meeting some friends to knit this morning, just not in the mood. I think I'll drag Irina to the bookstore this morning. I want to pick up the new knitting magazines that are out and look through the books on Javascript to see if there's something in them that I can actually understand! (And, having finished Outlander in record time I need something else to read!)

You are most like Basil, assaulted by bears! Created by Thren. Which Gashlycrumb Tiny are you?

Here it is, another day. Haven't done any knitting for a couple of days, feeling rather uninspired (that and I've been spending way to much time with my butt planted in front of the 'puter). I know that I just have to get myself started and let the rhythm of the knitting take over, but I don't know what's holding me back. I usually just dive head first into my projects. I should just schedule a time with myself today, sit down, and Do It!

Sounds like a plan...

Tony left at 7:30 this morning to head out to his parents for his Aunt Martha's funeral. If we had managed to go out last night and spend the night at his parents, we'd have gone too. Life just didn't work that way this time. I'm sad that I didn't go, but I did say "goodbye" to Martha already. I also didn't really want to see her there in her coffin (All together now:"Eeewwwwww"). She was an incredible warm, vibrant, alive person. I'd prefer to remember her that way. (They're singing the Star Spangled Banner at the funeral in honor of Martha being a WW II veteran, must find out more about that!)

I went out and used my computer store gift card to go toward a Aiptek Hyperpen 8000U, and it's driving me nuts! The pen and cordless mouse aren't working!!! BooHooHoo!! That means going back and exchanging it for something else, which I expect them to give me no end of crap about. (CompUSA has some pretty restrictive return policies) Maybe I'll try going through Aiptek and see if they have any suggestions, or can send me a new one. I just want the pen, I don't even care about the mouse! (A cordless mouse in this apartment? I think not! Do you know how fast something without a cord would dissapear? LOL! Ask me where the VCR remote is!)

Well, I suppose that I should go take a shower or something and get this day moving...

Welcome to the World Cole Anderson Ward!!!
All 9 lbs 10 ozs of you! Congrats to Tracie, Russ and big brother Mason!

I want to be 3 again!



And, yes, she got soaked! (But she was having so much fun!)

My Mother's Day flowers from my Sweeties



My gifts were Nancy Bush's Folk Socks book, and a gift card to buy some software for the computer.(Socks and computer stuff, does he know me or what?)


Dinner will be take out from the Japanese restaurant down the street. Because we know nothing about Japanese food, our method of ordering is to close our eyes and randomly point at things on the menu. Yes, we are adventurous eaters, as long as it isn't too spicy. Our only complaint about the squid salad I picked up at one point was that the marinade was too strong and we couldn't taste the squid at all!


I've jumped on the Outlander bandwagon! I had to go buy a new copy because I think my old one is now residing with a sister-in-law somewhere. I needed something good to read that I haven't read six times already! Now if someone could suggest a good book on basic javascript my current "I need to learn" obsession can continue...

To All the Mommies Out There

Happy Mother's Day!

Rest in Peace, Dear Aunt Martha.

You will be sorely missed.

I finally got to get out of my office today and do some "real" work at work today. Planted cosmos, mums, helped repot some tomato plants into larger pots. Lovely, lovely dirt under my fingernails! (When did I become that kind of girl?) Then I helped move the tomato plants from one greenhouse to another. Have you ever moved a 12" pot filled with wet dirt? They are freakin' heavy! And I am wickedly out of shape.

I am in pain. Oooooowwwwww.....

I may work on my raspberry shawl after I have the small one in bed, but I don't see any great knitting n my future tonight. I barely see 10pm in my future tonight. Methinks an early beddie-bye for Kim with her book (and ibuprofin) is in the cards.

Finally did a swatch last night that I could live with! Now I feel like I can finally start, after I get through doing what I was going to do yesterday and didn't:

Go to the fabric store and get a different pattern for Irina's pants ('cause I decided I hated the other one. And don't forget elastic!)

Go to the mall and buy myself some new jeans (Mine are becoming indecent)

Go to Target and buy 2 new laundry baskets (The duct tape just isn't holding the handles on anymore)

...There was something else...what was it?...Oh well, it'll come to me...

So not much knitting content lately. I'm just kinda hanging back right now, trying to get the urge up to try swatching the sock again.

It's frustrating. My approach to knitting is:"If I can read the directions, I can knit it", and I'm having trouble with this. Grrrrrr...I will get it. I will figure it out. It's just going to drive me crazy until I do.

I hate swatching. I rather just DO IT!

Am I the only one who was quite taken by this image? I fell in love when it when I first saw it.



There's a list of everyone who's done a "Got Milk" ad on the official Why Milk site.

Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz, by Angel.


Too Funny! Because I was Goth! (Tho' I think we just called it "punk" in our wickedly upper class high school. Something else to irritate the 'rents with!)

(I found this at Fillyjonk)

Hmmm...Watching VH1's 100 Greatest Moments on TV yesterday I came to the definite conclusion that Dick Clark is really the Comte de Saint-Germain. I don't think the man has ever aged.

Trying to swatch this sock is really ticking me off. While I love the colors of the wool I'm using, I hate the way it feels! (It's Brown Sheep Nature Spun) It's got that itchy, scratchy "wool" feeling, not at all like the Lorna's Laces yarn that I just finished using (which was a dream).

Hmmm...The pattern calls for sport weight, but I do have some sock weight Brown Sheep on order in white so I can play with dying it. Maybe I'll just wait until that shows up and see if it feels any different. I know the gauge will be different, but I knit funky, so maybe it won't be that far off.

*Pout* I always get so crabby when things don't work out the way that I want them to.

Random Thought:

WooHoo! Eight weeks to the Vermont Quilt Festival!!! Must double check Inn reservations...

The Next Project:



There are also from "Socks, Socks, Socks" The are called the "Pearls of Wisdom" socks. They have on them, in Spanish, lines from Pablo Neruda's poem "An Ode to My Socks".

Yup, I'm crazy...

Must swatch...

Must swatch...

Don't wanna...

Must swatch...

Don't wanna...

Must swatch...

Don't wanna...

*sigh*

The socks have finally made it to their new home! Mom was happy, Dad wasn't thrilled with the color; but it's not like I made them for him! *Sheesh!* (His would have been lime green! *Nyah-nyah-nyah!*)

Thank you all so much for your compliments on them! It means a lot that you liked them after I've been comparing my measly work to the stuff I've seen you all do! ("They LIKE me! They really LIKE me!")

Well, the yarn that I ordered for my next pair of socks was delivered at work (I have UPS ship to me at work because it's a pain in the tush to have to wait around the apartment when you don't know just when things are showing up, and then you have to schedule a redelivery because they won't just leave it, and then you have to wait around again...And so on, and so on...)

Anyhoo, that sock yarn that I had delivered at work is still there.
At work.
Sitting in my locker.
Doing me no good what so ever.
It's not such the trauma it seems, because I'll be back there tomorrow; but it is still kind of irritating. (It was more irritating when I was in the car, half way between work, runnning late to pick Irina up at preschool, and I suddenly realized...!)

Hey, it's not like I don't have enough projects around here to amuse me!

Well, never made it to my parents with the socks. Irina has been miserable all day, and I haven't been feeling great either. Dang! Just when I thought that we were done being sick...grumblegrumble...She managed to sleep the afternoon away, wish I could have...Tony has promised us soup for dinner tonight, which will be nice and warm and yummy after a gray day.

It feels good to have finally finished those socks! Now I can relax and not feel like I have them hanging over my head. I'll plan on bringing them down to Mom tomorrow. It's suppose to be a yucky, rainy day tomorrow so it'll also get the girlie out of here and give her a chance to hang out with her Grandparents.

I'm ready to start my next project, but I have to wait for some more yarn. I needed a plum color, but I needed more of a red than the purple that I ordered. And, of course, it's the first color that I need to use, so I can't start without it. What's the project? They are socks...but that's all I'm going to say! I'm just going to keep dropping tantalizing little hints untill I'm ready to start!

I'm having a good time helping Kate with her quilt project! Teeheehee! It's fun bringing a newbie into the quilting "fold", as it were. I wonder how long untill she's truely addicted...