I'm trying something new! :) Please bear with me!

Now if I could only figure out what was going on with my comments...

I am a sock knitting geek

I enjoy doing toe-up socks. I know that they aren't a lot of peoples favorites, but I like the fit that I can get from it as you can try it on your toes to see how the sock is fitting and stop adding stitches when the sock is the right size.

Currently the method that I have been using to get the stitches on the needles is by using a figure eight cast on, but I hated, swore, and mumbled the whole time I've been doing it. Either I was wrapping the stitches on the needles too tight to be able to put the needle through, or the cast on row was really loose and I just couldn't snug them up enough to make a decent toe.

I don't know why, but when I was working on Irina's socks something clicked. It suddenly dawned on me that it was OK if the stitches were loose because I could look at them from the inside and know exactly which stitches to pull, and in what order, to close the toe. They had order. They had symmetry. They made beautiful sense. I understood the manipulation of the stitches.

I began new socks today. These will be for me. And I love the toes.

I know that my kid has recovered because she's driving me out of my mind!

I've been knitting a hat today. Would you believe that in all the years I've been knitting I've never made a hat? Or mittens? For some reason the compultion/desire just has not been there. But Irina asked me to make one, so who am I to say no? Actually Tony has also dropped the hint that he's going to need a hat, as he lost the one that he was wearing last winter.

Dang. I need chocolate. I wonder if I could raid the Halloween candy without someone seeing me. (Yes, we still have some left)

Don't you hate it when you spend forever looking at a site and it has tons of great links and you want to go back...and realize that you forgot to bookmark it despite your best intentions and can't for the life of you remember what it's called?

Oh. You don't?

(found it. Knitting Pages)

I decided yesterday that it was time to try and get a handle on my stash. (Rather, to find out just how big my stash is) So with the help of my two assistants I pulled it out of its multiple hiding spaces and dumped it all on the bed.

Then I loosely attempted to sort it by weight, but that could have worked better. So I settled for just taking some pictures of it.

Of course it struck me later in the day that that is not all of it! I very distinctly remember having some things that didn't end up on the bed. Hmmm. There are only so many places in this apartment that things could have gone...

And it also begets the question:
If I have so much yarn, Why do I want to go buy more???

A 25 carat diamond? A $3.5 million (that's MILLION) dollar ring??? And how many hungry children could they have fed instead of indulging in this gross display of wickedly bad taste??? I'm disgusted.

(My personal opinion, and if you don't like it Pbthththththththth)

My poor sweet baby was coughing like crazy all night last night. She's hanging out on the couch watching "Hey Arnold" and hopefully will fall back to sleep soon. It's frustrating because we can't get her to take any medicine, which completely baffles us. I mean, when we were kids we had no choice, we took medicine when we were sick. (And it was the really nasty tasting stuff!!!) My sweet girl becomes a screaming demon if we even suggest it. Sigh. Any suggestions?

(ed. Turns out to be croup, poor kiddo. She's feeling much better now!)

We're having an incredibly lazy morning around here. (Morning? It's afternoon now!) I suppose I ought to get dressed at some point...

Well, I knit a sock for Irina yesterday, but screwed it up royally. I'm doing toe up and didn't use enough stitches for the heel. As a result after turning the heel, it ended up looking like something that you'd wear over a high heeled shoe! OOPS! (Irina insisted on wearing it anyway) So I started all over again...At least kid's stuff goes fast!

Feel Better Mommy!!!

Visit the Princess, dammit!

And a shout out going to another Boston area Knitting Blogger! Hello Kenneth!

Have you seen the Dale sweater that Alison is working on over at Blue Blog? Very cool! I'm going to have to see if I can find the pattern, and if it can be made big enough for the short one. (But it involves steeking! EEEEEEK! I'm not that brave!)

I find that I've just been feeling really...sad...over the past few days. I haven't done any knitting (Pick up the needles, do a row and put them down again). Nothing inspires. I may go and root through my sock yarn and see if anything in there wants to be a mindless project.

Ever feel lonely in a crowded room?

I cannot believe what I just found in the trash in our laundry room! (No, I don't make it a point to go through the trash; but this was sitting right on the top and I had to check it out):

A hand loomed, 100% wool sweater from Ireland!
And why did this person toss it (And it literally looked like someone took it off and threw it in the trash! It was inside out and the sleeves were pulled through):

I didn't see the hole until I had it upstairs soaking in the sink, but hey, that it going to so easily fixable!

Yaah! I have some new Lorna's Laces sock yarn on the way courtesy of eBay. The color is called "Funky Stripes" and it's a cool purple and green!

Do I need more sock yarn? No. Do I love it? Yes!

So if I post to my blog will I be able to get into it? Hmmm...

So the small one had her 4 year old well child visit at the doctor today. Poor kid had to get three shots!!! My poor sweetie! :( After it was done she informed us that she was "one of those people who doesn't like shots". The good news is that she doesn't get any more until she's 11. Now I am trying to wake her up! She's been asleep for hours, and if I can't wake her up soon she'll be awake all night!

WooHoo! Sleeve number 1 is finally finished. (aren't you all thrilled?) Number 2 shouldn't take too long, haha.

Well I finally managed to crawl out of the sickroom just in time to have Tony crawl in. Irina hasn't caught the neverending cold yet, and I hope it stays that way! I mean, Tony actually stayed home from work today, which means that the guy is really sick! (I did have to talk him out of going to his night job. Somehow he thought that getting very little sleep tonight and then going into work in the morning was going to help him get better. Such a guy thing!)

I have four, count 'em, four rows left to do one sleeve number 1 of the Snowflake sweater. And I have finished the back of the "It's Only a Swatch" sweater and cast on for the front. I've decided on a cardigan, but for the life of me I can't figure out why because I hate picking up stitches for button bands.

The thing is, I have to do the ribbing for the second Snowflake sleeve before I can go beyond the ribbing of the "Swatch", because I'm using the same size needles for both. And, yes, I have to admit, I only have one pair of size 6 needles. *hangs head in shame* What kind of knitter am I, to not be prepared for any eventuality? sigh...

The mind absolutely Boggles.

SpongeBob as drawn by a 4-year-old on a MagnaDoodle!

He's jellyfishing, if you can't tell.

SEX with the Postman

Imagine the google hits that title's going to get! (Mom, I hope that you didn't shreik too loud!)

I got my Elann order yesterday. The colors I ordered don't go together as well as I might have liked, but hey, I'll use them. Am using them. What started out as "Oh, I'll just knit a test swatch and see how it feels" has turned into being one third of the way up the back! Like I don't have enough projects going on. Bad Kim! Bad!

As for the other projects, I haven't finished as much as I feel like I should have after spending a week sick at home. I'm about half way up the first sleeve of Irina's sweater, and could finish it quickly if I just sat down and applied myself. (is there an echo in here? where have i heard that before?) I really should just do it and be done with it. As for the 'other' project, I managed to put about two hours in on it today and have about 10 inches to do on the back. Which, at a few rows here and there, isn't all that bad.

OK, I've officially run out of things to say for tonight.

My sweet guy decides to make some creamy celery soup for dinner the other night, as I'm still feeling crappy and soup just goes down real good.
He's in the kitchen for half and hour chopping and blending and cooking. After a while he says: "Hmmm, this is a bit thicker that I thought it would be. Maybe if I put it back in the blender." I don't say anything as I am in the middle of counting stitches.
A minute later I hear him say "Ooooh."
"Find the problem?" I ask.
"Ummm. What happens if you put too much flour in?"
"Well, flour is used as a thickening agent. Just how much did you use?"
Silence.
"Ummm. A cup."
"How much were you suppose to use?"
Silence.
"A tablespoon."
I am silently shaking with laughter.
"Sweetheart," I say.
"Yes"
"There are tortelinni in the freezer."
"Well. Dinner in 20 minutes then."

What Cartoon Will I Lose My Cartoon Virginity To? The Tick (The Tick): Stronger then any other person on the face of the earth, although not very bright, The Tick fights evil with the enthusiasm of a child. Happy and cheerful, the only thing that motivates him is the cradle of justice. Spoon!!! What Cartoon Will I Lose My Cartoon Virginity To?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I love the Tick! *giggle*snort*

Snow!!! We had freakin' snow here this morning!!! I'm not ready for this...

Finally finished the back of Irina's snowflake sweater last night and started on one of the sleeves, which I imagine will go up fairly quickly. Actually, I hope that it will go up quickly because I ordered the yarn from Elann for the next one! it wasn't the yarn that I picked out at the LYS last week but the colors are the same and even with shipping it cost me a third of what it would have. (10 skeins of yarn plus shipping for under $30. ? Sweet!)

Ugh. Things aren't much better today. I haven't even had the energy to knit the past few days. (You know you're sick when...) Oh well, maybe later. *crawls back into bed with tea and a case of Kleenex*

Today I sound like this:

I hate being sick.

It's been a busy couple of days! I managed to get together with my knitting buddies on Thursday, which is something we hadn't been able to do all summer. It was nice to catch up and talk knitting with somebody who's eyes don't glaze over at the subject! Liz had to leave early to get her son from school, so Lucia and I sat for a while and then went to grab some lunch (the small one was with me!)...And then we went to do something that I swore I didn't want to do...check out a new (to me) LYS! I was a very good girl and didn't buy anything but I do think that I picked out the yarn that I want to use for my next project, that may be, might possibly, a Knitty submission.

Other then that I've been working and knitting/knitting and working, blahblahblah. I'd much rather just be knitting, but one must do what one must do to afford to feed one's yarn addiction! I should be able to finish the back of Irina's sweater this afternoon. Of course, I might just take another three hour nap too!

Silly comment of the day yesterday:

I'm sitting in the breakroom at lunch working on Irina's sweater when one of my coworkers asks what I'm working on. I show her the pattern and she says: "Oh, a Nordic sweater. Does anyone make those anymore?"

Ummm...And just what am I doing?

I will give the people at work credit though. They no longer look at me and go: "Oh, you knit? I thought only Grandmas knit." Now they say: "You haven't brought your knitting in for a while. What are you working on? Bring it in, I want to see!"

It's a gray, nasty, windy, rainy day out there today! Perfect for hanging out and getting lots of knitting done! Part of me wants to go and fondle yarn in a store somewhere, but I know that I can't afford to buy any right now. Besides, I've got enough projects going on at this point.

Yawn! Sleepy Kim. I wonder if the short one will let me have a nap this afternoon...

Mom and Dad fly in from their trip to Salt Lake City today (Where Mom took a course in tracing Italian geneologies and Dad climbed mountains-and was buzzed by an eagle at 10,000 feet!). I hope that the weather doesn't delay their flight

I redid my Kokopelli page! --------->

Go see! Go see!

La, I am feeling particularly boring tonight. I could go work on some knitting, but there's nothing good on t.v. for my brain to zone out to while my fingers work, and it's too late (for me, at any rate) to throw in a movie. Knowing me I'll end up watching some unsolved mystery/forensic type show on Court TV, or some documentary or something. Those are my usual fall backs when my brain is bored. I don't do CSI or anything like that, mostly because I forget they're on!When it all comes down to it, I suppose that I should just go to bed early!

This is the back of the snowflake sweater that I'm doing for Irina. Gotta love doing kid's sweaters! This only took four days!

The colors really are more distinct. My flash kind of bleached them out.

Uninstalled Mozilla. It kept wanting me to inatall all this stuff that we already have on our computer. It also displayed some things so differently and refused to go to some sites that I frequent all the time! What a pain in my tush!

I actually finished that back of Irina's next sweater last night while watching Birds of Prey (which, in my humble opinion, ROCKED!!! Gotta love stong female characters!), and the Massachusetts gubenatorial debate. Who knew that the debate could have doubled as a drinking game?

Rules:

1) Every time someone refers to "small goverment" take a drink.

2) Every time someone refers to "big goverment" take a drink.

3) Every time Carla Howell refers to herself in the third person, take a drink. (Someone really should have reminded her that when reading a statement written about herself, for someone else to read, that she should replace the words 'Carla Howell' with the word 'I')

4) Every time Mitt Romney smirks, take a drink. (Oh, wait a minute, he never stopped! CHUG!!!)

Who knew that politics could be so entertaining? We were in hysterics by the end!

Dang allergies! Someday I will be able to breath again, but I'm not expecting it to be any time soon...grumblegrumble...Nothin' to do but sit and knit the day away, I do believe. Heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking. NOT!!!

I just downloaded and installed the Mozilla web browser onto our computer. It's amazing how different it makes things look. We are in the process of getting ready to cut ourselves free from the evil empire of AOL and have a free trial period with MSN set up for internet access. Now we just have to go through and import things from 'A' to 'B'. (I don't know though, the browser skin I downloaded is kinda bugging me. Oh well, more computer stuff for me to play with!)

I've thought about jumping on the train and going into South Station for the Boston version of the 2002 KnitOut, but I am just hopelessly lacking in ambition today. I'll just sit home with the fam', watching football and knitting up a storm. I'm about a third of the way up the back of Irina's next sweater already!

I did nothing but knit all day today, and took a three hour nap. Pretty much a perfect day. :)

Other than that, I am incredibly boring.

I am being driven slowly insane...

Tony's family does a Christmas list for the small folk in the family that is kept at his parents house. It's a central location and it's a great way to make sure that all the Aunties and Uncles aren't duplicating gifts.

This year i have a alternate method for creating Irina's Christmas list. I am just going to tape 2 hours worth of Nickelodeon and edit out the tv shows!!! "Put that on my Christmas list. I want that on my Christmas list. Is that on my Christmas list?"

*sigh* Just under three months to go...

It's the Friday Five!

1. What size shoe do you wear? an 8.5 or 9, depends on the shoe.


2. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 4 or 5. I wear one pair until they're trashed and I'm forced to buy new ones.


3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)? Sandles! I hate shoes and do my best to have happy toes as long as I can.


4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite? I have honestly never had a favotire pair of shoes. Don't get me wrong, I love shoes! I have just never found a pair that is 100% comfortable.


5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes? I think it's the $80. I spent on the shoes for my wedding.

At least I wasn't in the top 10!

Mom! Tony found this and thought you might get a kick out of it!

International Black Sheep Society of Geneologists. For the geneologists that have found a black sheep in their family tree. Surely we must have someone in the family that qualifies us! (No, your children don't count! )

Mission accomplished! The yarn has been exchanged and I think I'm going to be much happier now. I got Patons Classic Wool for the Christmas sweater. (Shhhhhh, it's a secret) I also picked up some Reynolds Signature in black and color #104 for a sweater for the squirt. I want to try to get an effect kinda like Kaffe Fassett's Magic Ball technique, but without having to weave in eighty gazillion ends! (I also get the bonus of 80% acrylic so I can toss it in the washer and dryer!)

That being said, I need to go work some swatches out and, oh yeah...Sew the final seam on the freakin' Kokopelli sweater!!!!!

Yes, it's after midnight and I should be asleep, but I'm not. I was lying in bed listening to my stomach growl for over an hour and realized that I wasn't going to get any sleep until I had placated it. So here I sits, eating Trader Joe's Maple and Walnut Granola Cereal out of one paper cup and drinking milk out of another. (What? Mix the two in a bowl? Let the cereal get all soggy and nasty? Eeewwwww!!! Nope. Nuhuh. No can do. No way no how. Tried it once, made me gag.)

I made the decision to go back to the yarn store and return the Lopi-Lite! (I didn't buy it here, I'm just using it as a picture example) It sucks! I am hating trying to work with it! All those loose little threads keep getting stuck to one another, and the skein of the lighter color keeps splitting. And it seems to be getting scratchier the longer I wo...attempt to work with it. Nope, I'll just take back my unused skeins and request credit so I can buy me some decent yarn!

(Tony practically passed out when he heard me going on at length about how annoyed I am, and that I actually plan on RETURNING yarn! Poor guy had to go lie down for fifteen minutes to get over the shock.)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Trust me, just click here!

I had a very cool wildlife encounter today.

There is a hawk that has it's territory near my work. As I was leaving today, ducking out a back way that goes through the owner's driveway and down this strange little back road, I could see the hawk in the road in front of me. Pretty neat, I thought, but as I drove closer and closer to it the darn thing wasn't getting out of the way! I finally came to a stop no more than 4 feet in front of the bird. And it still didn't move. We proceeded to do nothing but sit there and stare at each other. I think that it was sizing up my car, trying to figure out who would be victorious if it came down to a fight. (My money was on the hawk!)

After a good two minutes the hawk decided that taking on my puny car wasn't worth ruffling his feathers over and oh so slowly consented to move himself over to the side of the road, which is when I discovered why he didn't want to move. It seems that I had interrupted his dinner. I know because he picked it up and brought it with him. (All together now :"Eeewwwwww") As I rolled past him I stopped long enough look out my open passenger side window to thank him for moving, and assure him that we was indeed the handsome bird that he assumed he was. (OK, it could have been female, but I got the distinct impression of male)

Ad I drove away I watched him in the rear-view mirror as he dragged his dinner back into the middle of the road, and as an SUV came slowly down the street to where he was sitting...and stopped...and they sat there staring at each other...

I know that the date says September, but getting up early enough to post this tomorrow just ain't going to happen! So, join me in a countdown to one of my favorite holidays...

31 Days to Halloween

OK, so who didn't see For Better or For Worse?

Well, bad Mommy that I am I went and passed my cold on to the short one. She crawled into bed with us at 6 a.m. and Tony was stuck with listening to *sniff*sniff*sniffle* in stereo for a couple of hours. I hate not being able to breath through my nose, but it beats coughing my lungs out. I've already decided to keep her home from school tomorrow. She's cheerful enough today, but I am a firm believer in having plenty of "down time" when you're sick.

I had to frog back 6 rows of the snowflake sweater (the 6 rows that I had done beyond the ribbing, in fact). The skein of yarn I'm using for the lighter color split twice, but at least that was on the end of a row and I could deal with it. No, it was discovering that I had dropped a stitch...somewhere...and couldn't figure out how to pick it up properly in the color pattern. Oh yeah, did I also mention that when I switched over to the larger needles I only switched one of them? So I was knitting onto a size 7, and purling back onto a size 5. If it hadn't been for that dropped stitch I might have just switched the smaller needle and not thought about it again. Now I've got over 650 stitches of the world smallest chart to squint through again...

Hello Hippygoth Knits! I thought that my decongestant had gone to my head but no, that page really does change color!!! Cool!

"I'b got a code in my node,

Oh, I'b got a code in my node"

What a pain in the tuckus!

Has anyone worked with "Reynolds Lite-Lopi" before? One of the skeins that I'm working with keeps splitting and it's driving me to distraction! Is this common with that yarn, or did I manage to get a bum skein? Veddy strange.

The pattern that I am going to be using for the next sweater. Not in these colors though. I know that I said I wasn't going to talk about it, but as I've been so dismally weak on the knitting content lately that I've got to put something up here!

The pics out of focus because I need to put new batteries in the camera and I'm too lazy to get off my butt and root through the junk drawer to see if we have anymore!

KnittyKnittyKnittyKnittyKnittyKnitty
KnittyKnittyKnittyKnittyKnittyKnitty

I did indeed go out and buy more yarn yesterday. I excuse myself by the fact that 1) it was on sale, and 2) I have a specific project planned for it. I've even started on the stitch gauge for it. But I can't say any more than that because I don't know if it's intended recipient comes here or not.

Still got to finish the Kokopelli sweater. Mattress stitch. Annoying to do, but it looks so nice!

It'a almost done, it's almost done, it's almost done!!!! Happy, Snoopy dance!

Both sleeves done, back done, front done, just gotta sew it up and do the neck!

Woohoohoo!!!

It has been forever since I feel like I've actually finished something. Now I feel like I need to start another project. Of course, I already have at least another half dozen started. Someone kick my butt and tell me to finish something else, eh?

(Hi Mom! *waves* I'm IMing with you right now! Did you get the pics open?)

It would have been nice to be able to work on the kokopelli sweater while watching football this afternoon, but it was just too darn hot & sticky! (Still is) I get another chance for good knitting tonight during the Emmy's. I should be able to get at least one sleeve finished, if not both. Then it's just a matter of blocking, sewing, and figuring out how to do the neck! Then I'll have actually *gasp* finished something! (Nawwwww, really?)

Tomorrow is "Apple Day" at the small one's preschool, and I volunteered to make some sort of apple snack. Hopefully I'm not the only person to volunteer, but when I signed up on Tuesday mine was the only name on the list! Hmmm...I think I'm going to be doing an applesauce coffee cake, which Irina seemed happy with; but she's sitting behind me right now going through the cookbook and may have some other ideas soon. Have I ever mentioned that she loves cooking? We may have a mini Iron Chef in our midst!

Finished the stripe-y sock for the small girl, and of course made it too small! Dang, she ain't a baby anymore, is she? I'm not bothering to frog it, I have more than enough of the yarn. I've kinda decided that I don't care for the colors that much anyway, too many big red stripes. And while red is ok, it's not a fave-rave right now.

Woke up with an outlandishly screaming headache this morning (the type when you want to drill a hole and let the guy with the sledgehammer out!). Tony took the short one to preschool so I didn't have to start functioning untill...whenever...fortunately it has passed and now I'm spending way too much time sitting here on the computer.

Remember that nekkid knitting calendar? How about nekkid gardening? the calendar was written up in the Boston Globe on saturday (with *no* ordering information, duh!) and we got a million phone calls from people looking for it ("What do you mean, you don't have it? You're a garden center, aren't you?" Grrrrrrrr.....)

Thanks Claudia! :) Maybe I'm just being sensitive...Chocolate. I need chocolate!!!

OKC:I've got the heel turned on the first stripe-y sock for the small one, working on the gusset decreases. Now that the temp really is going down (70's all week, hooray!) I should do the sleeves for the Kokopelli sweater, even if she won't be able to wear it until it gets really cold! (Watch Irina be like me...Wearing thick wool, even on the coldest days, makes me feel like I'm in a sauna. Light weight I can do, but the bulky stuff? Nope!)

I just saw that I was moved out of the active knitblog ring and into the que, and I don't know why!?! I was there this morning. That makes me sad...*sniff*...

WooHoo! I love it whan a plan comes together! If you're seeing a really ugly background with no images at all (just the "image is missing red X"), apologies. Leave me a comment and let me know. Even if you're not, leave me a comment & tell me what ya think!

Can you tell that I am sooooooo ready for fall? It is my favorite season!

I'm workin' on it! I'm workin' on it! This yellow ain't quite what I had in mind!!!!!!

I'm getting the urge to change my template again! The Hollywood Squares colors just aren't doing it for me anymore, 'specially now that Whoopi isn't on anymore...*sniff*...Hey, I like Woopi! So sue me. (Though it is nice that Tom Bergeron is still on. He's the "Home Town Boy Done Good" since he grew up in Massachuetts and spent so many years on Boston television.)

I'd like to say that I made it through the whole day yesterday without turning on the t.v., but I'd be lying. However spending 4 hours at a friend's house watching our kids playing, and then coming home and both of us taking a nap went a long way to cutting down the t.v. time. The penalty was a kid who didn't go to bed until after 10pm, but it turned into a happy day for both of us.

I did use the time to start a sock last night, which I promptly ripped this morning as the short one saw the yarn and decided that the socks should be hers. No biggie. Today will be geared to dying some fabric, and who knows what all else. Another nap, I hope!

I've been thinking, wondering, considering about how to mark 9/11. I know that last year I, like many people in this country and all over the world, spent days glued to the t.v. screen waiting for any one small tangible bit of information. Waiting in vain to hear stories of rescues that never happened. And watching those damned planes over and over again sticking their pins into the bubble of security that we as a country had wrapped ourselves in. My family was fortunate, we did not loose anyone we knew, though citizens of both our towns flew out of Boston that day. But I don't think that that makes the reality...unreality...of it any less strange.

Has it really been a year?

Irina was not old enough last year to really understand what was happening, and while I know that she has been exposed to it I don't want her to be subjected to the constant barrage that will be shown tomorrow. So I have decided that on 9/11, we will not turn the t.v. on at all. We will visit with friends, we will paint more fabric, we will play games and listen to music. And the t.v. will stay off.

And I will hug her as often as she will let me.

I picked up a wonderful butterfly fabric while we were out at my in-laws last weekend, and it is on it's way to being turned into a great quilt. (OK, the grammer in that sentence sucked, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to figure out how to fix it!) I love it when a material, be it fabric or yarn, speaks to me and tells me what it wants to be.

Unfortunately, I only bought two yards of the fabric, and I'm going to need a few more to do what I see in my head. So this afternoon it's a trip to the fabric store to see if I can find more. If not, it's a begging email to my Mother-in-law to ask if they could go to the store I originally bought the fabric at in hopes that they still have it in stock!

(Oh yeah...and while I am at the fabric store I *will not* go and peruse the yarn downstairs. I won't. Really. Even if everyone is starting to talk about Christmas knitting on their blogs, and I have to get started soon if I'm going to get anything finished, I will not go look at yarn. Really. Honestly. Quit laughing.)

Gettin' Crafty with the Girlie

With fabric, fabric paint and stamps



painting her fabric purple



white paint on the stamp



a dinosaur square!



my leafy heart square

No, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them! It was just a fun project for a quiet morning!

*sigh* I already think that the small one is going to drive me crazy today *sigh* It's not good when the first thing I want to do in the morning is cry *sigh* I think I'll toss a video in for her and go take a shower.

Well, there is absolutely not a heck of a lot going on around here! We spent part of the long weekend out at my Mother & Father-in-law's house, relaxing and being generally pampered. Irina got to spend a good part of yesterday afternoon playing with the cousin that is closest to her age on my husbands side. I tell ya, on their own those are the two sweetest kids; but get them in the same room! I swear in a few years that they will be planning global domination!

I've been doing more sewing than knitting lately. Now that the cooler weather is coming and Irina isn't going to be wearing shorts much anymore, she needs pants that fit! I also have a pattern for a light-weight jacket that I am going to make for her. I've never done anything like it before so this should be interesting, to say the least...

Just when you think tou're a total screw-up as a parent your four-year-old turns off the t.v (!), puts on a Beatles CD when you suggest listening to some music (!!), and then proceeds to sing along with half of the songs because she knows them from listening to the CD so many times before (!!!)

Damn, maybe we are doing something right after all!

It's a gray, rainy day here, which is a good thing, but I'm already ready for a nap! I think today is going to be seriously heavy on the caffine side.

Do I have anything exciting to say? Naw. Maybe later.

Neat! I actually made it almost all the way around the KnitBlog list last night, catching up with a lot of the 'old timers' and "meeting" all of the new folk! Many joyous Greetings to all!

I managed to pick up my needles and work on a sock that I started back in the end of June. It's been so hot this summer that the thought of working on wool socks has been right out. But September is in sight, and if I'm going to have to cram my pampered tootsies into shoes again after a summer of freedom in sandals, they are going to be properly cushioned by a pair of newly hand knit sockies!

I haven't been completely idle. I've been brushing up (OK, learning) how to do applique while working on this quilt. I started with the center block, and have a few of the others done. It's not huge, 48"X48", and will make a nice wall hanging. It will also be good the see my learning curve, because I gotta tell you, that first block is pretty damn bad! My applique goal? To be able to do a quilt like this one, and to do it well.

Six years ago, yesterday



Happy Anniversary, My Love

Oh m'gawd! Over 100 KnitBlogs! And how cool is that? I haven't been all the way around the ring in soooooo long! *sigh* It'll happen some night, when I have about 6 hours to kill and don't have to get up the next morning!

I hope my comments comes back soon. I miss them, even though they don't get much use. I have a headache and am throwing a pity party for myself. Blahblahblah.

Ah well. Must have something to make me smile!

Mmmm, mmm, mm!

Oh Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! We *finally* got that temperature drop that we've needed around here! (Tho' if one more person says: "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" I am going to thump them!) It was pretty funny today. I have never seen so many people happy, smiling, and even downright giddy at the fact that it was a gray, rainy morning! It was just a huge relief. When you work in agriculture the heat we've been having ain't nothing but trouble. Our only complaint about today is that we didn't get more rain!

I have to admit not doing any knitting over the last week or so. I only have to do the sleeves of the Kokopelli sweater, which will go up fairly quickly once I get started on them. It should be, I hope, cool enough over the next few days to get them done. Of course, I don't know why I'm in such a rush. It's not like The girlie is going to be able to wear it any time soon!

And, as per Grandma's request, a picture of her beautiful granddaughter not doing something goofy!

(not me in the background! it's my sis-in-law Tessa)

Dang! I have a 4-year-old! How the heck did that happen so fast?!? And how did she get so long and tall? I am constantly amazed by her...

I cease to be amused by the heat. Bleh.

Judy, where ever you are, hang on. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I was experiencing blogging difficulties, but it seems ok now...

Heat waves suck. It's suppose to be near 100 today. No knitting, not much computering. Air conditioning. Must find air conditioning.

We will resume our regularly schedued blogging when the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees! Keep cool All!

Hard to believe...

Four years ago I started doing the hardest, scariest, toughest, most difficult, most rewarding, most fun job that I could ever think of having in my entire life...

I became a Mother!

Happy Birthday Irina!



My goofy Girlie!

My throat is sore, my nose is stuffy, my back aches and I'm tired. I should do some picking up around here, as my Mommy is coming up to have dinner with the girlie and I, but I don't wanna. Heck, I've already dropped the short one off at daycare, done the grocery shopping, and thrown out half of the contents of the 'fridge. I'm grabbing my Clive Cussler book and crawling back into bed for a few hours. I have to be "Mommy On Duty" for the next two days with little chance for space to myself, I should rest while I can! Right? Right! (Just nod and agree, it's safer)

I got the phone call that I wanted. Tony's there, healthy, and ready to bury himself in a windowless room with who knows how many other people playing games for the next 48+ hours! (He actually called a few hours ago, and was scheduled to start his first tournament shortly after that, so the gaming has begun!)

I, myself, am struggling with the sleeves for the Kokopelli sweater. I just can't get them to work right to save my life. I've knit and ripped one of them three times already and think I've worked the problem out. Now I've just got to try it again!

Aha! Now I know who to blame for my Alchemy addiction! I guess turn about is fair play...Have you ever played Marbles Christiane? >insert wicked little laugh here while rubbing hands together gleefully<

Plane number 1 has landed safely in Newark. Now I can breath for an hour until plane number 2 takes off for Milwaukee...

Well, the Mr. is at the airport (waiting in some long line somewhere, I'm sure) to board a plane that will take him to Milwaukee where he will be attending Gen Con! Yes, as he put it last night, he is going to ride on a plane for a few hours to go to a city far away where he will proceed to spend 3 days doing nothing but playing games! I don't see the fascination myself, but he doesn't understand my knitting or quilting stuff either, so I guess that makes us even. He's going to have a blast! And I? I will be able to breath again when I know that his plane has landed!

Yes! The back of the Kokopelli sweater is done! I don't know if I'm completely crazy about it, but Irina is happy so that makes it ok. She has decided that I'm going to do a sweater with SpongeBob Squarepants on it.

I only hope that I can get her to change her mind!

Pictures of the turtle coming when I have daylight and fresh batteries in the camera!

*AHEM*

Who was it who mentioned the game Alchemy in her blog? I'd like to have a *word* with you!...

...right after I finish this level...

Nasty headache today. I hope that means that we really are going to get the rain that they've promised for later. (I ended up with a bad headache, almost a migraine, on friday before the rain hit. That's Kim, the human barometer.) Tony ended up bringing Irina to day care, so I could continue to lay in bed and suffer. I hated asking him to do it, as he is off on thursday and friday for a trip, but I think being sick was an option at that point if I moved too much. (No, Mom, I'm NOT!)

Did a fair amount of knitting last night while watching Murder Rooms on PBS. I've only got the turtle's head left to do, and then an few inches of stockinette to finish the back. I just love 4 stitches to the inch! It's almost instant gratification!

Hmmm...Trying to figure out how to get my archives re-set up. I'm using Blogger for my general updating, but I may switch over to doing my archives manually ('specially as I can't seem to get my ftp path figured out)

(ed:Woo Hoo! Figured it out without hours of cut & paste! The archives are back Mom! *grin*)

(ed again!: ok, but for some reason the page isn't showing up. I think I typed something wrong, as usually the problem is with what I've done, and not something else!)

(edx3: Yup. It's confirmed. I'm a dweeb. They should be working now.)

Yawn. Yup, it's going to be another hot one today. Yuck! It's not too bad now, and the place is quiet as my tall one and small one have gone to church. What I should do is go take a shower and get some knitting in while it's still comfortable enough to do so. (Why does that weather bunny on tv have to be so damn perky when she talks about how uncomfortable today is going to be? Freakishly annoying!)

We had a beautiful downpour of rain yesterday that knocked the temperature down yesterday to make it pleasurable enough to knit. Unfortunately it didn't last through today. Bleh! And it's suppose to be nasty sticky hot again tomorrow. Blehbleh! Well, I managed to get about a third of the way up the back of the Kokopelli sweater last night, and the turtle design seems to be coming along nicely. I may not manage to get anything done tomorrow, but if my pattern of the past few weeks holds I'll end up sleeping most of the day anyway!

Dang it's been hot today. I knit about 5 rows today, and then realized that it just too sticky to be anywhere near wool!

I did manage to completely pick up the girlies room, paying attention to what she has and doesn't even look at anymore. Next week I'm taking a day off from work when she's in school (day care). I am going to go on a sweep in there and donate a huge amount of un-played with toys to Good Will! And she has so many things that have little pieces, and those are scattered all over the place! Unfortunately, she doesn't have the best examples in Tony & I (who have so much *stuff*!), but we could be more organized about it than we are. I'm feeling a major b*tching session coming on, because guess who will be doing the bulk of the major cleaning. Again.

ok, deep breath...he cooks and does laundry...he is very happy to be Daddy when he's home...he puts up with ME! At least he'll take the short one out of the way when I go on my cleaning spree...

Ask and you shall receive: Kokopelli Chart

Enjoy!

All I did yesterday was knit and sleep! I took a three hour nap! Oh, Glory, Glory, Glory!

Even better, I finished the front of the Kokopelli sweater for Irina!

click me!
Pardon my toes...

I've cast on for the back, and am in the process of graphing a turtle to put on it. I'm thinking of purple and green blocks on the arms, to match the small border along the bottom edge. Teeheehee! I'm having fun with this!

The front of the Kokopelli sweater is about one quarter done. I find it easier to work on something that has colors or cables. I'm always pushing to do a few more rows to see where the design is going. Back to work. I hope there's something good on tv to knit to tonight!

Charted out a Kokopelli design for a sweater for Irina yesterday, and started knitting it up. Will I actually finish this project? (Or, more accurately: Will I finish this project before I start jonesing to begin yet another one?) Fortunately kids' sweaters work up so fast that it shouldn't be a problem. Heck, I have to finish this one! Irina's already running around singing her "Kokopelli on my belly" song!

Stupid cat is driving me crazy! I've already dumped water on him twice today since we got home to stop him from doing something he shouldn't. Of course, this is a cat that actually *likes* water. Weirdo.

Oooh...I'm trying a new (to me, at any rate) javascript for my menu. Fingers crossed that this'll work right! Now I just need to re-update my links!!!

I've had to pull a Mommy Trump Card today. Irina is going on a field trip tomorrow with her daycare to the zoo, riding on a school bus and everything. She has been informed that if she does not mind me today, she's not going! (Those of you who are parents understand. Those who don't understand: She will go tomorrow regardless of what happens today; but if it means I can have a relatively peaceful and frictionless day I will hold it over her head! Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.)

After some beautiful, beautiful rain last night the heat broke and it stayed in the 70's today! Huzzah! Decent knitting weather, and we should get a few days worth. Happy, happy, happy.

I seem to remember someone in the recent past mentioning something about a site that will configure graph paper to print that will match the stitch gague. Does this ring any bells with anyone? Any clues? Bueller? Any help in finding it would be great! (Never mind! Found it! Actual Size Graph Paper)

The girlie and I got our hair cut today by a girlfriend of mine, and then we stayed for a long time so our kids could play. So funny to me, the difference between kids. Is it the difference between boys and girls, or just the way we raise our kids? A combination of the two? Anyhow, I got to play with the littlest member of Tracie's family, who is just 2 1/2 months old. What a sweet little guy! And, no, it didn't raise all of those "Gotta have another baby" crazies in me! As much fun as he was, I was perfectly happy to hand him back to his Mommy when he started crying!

It was a brutally hot day here today! I am one of the happy few at work who sit in the air conditioned office area, right inside the door to the sales floor in fact, and it was there that I found my humor today. Because everyone, and I mean everyone, who walked through that door today made some kind of sound! Be it a moan, sigh, cheer, or sob, everyone had some sort of reaction to suddenly being in the nice, cool air conditioning! I did it too, after going and sitting with my friends outside at lunchtime. As I was incredibly aware of it, I tried not to; but there was no way around it! I think part of it was actually being able to breath again after trying to suck in that thick sludge that tried to pass as air today.

And where else can one work where the owner, after paging an employee with a festive holiday name (Noelle), will start singing Christmas Carols over the intercom system? On one of the hottest days of the year? My job just cracks me up sometimes!

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

WooHoo!

Theresa and Kate are cool, and I'm just a hanger-on-wannabe, but now I have a picture in the mirror project too!

And speaking of Theresa, where is she???

Did I mention that I was allowed to sleep until 10:00 this morning!!! WooHoo!!! I miss being able to do that on a regular basis...