Meandering, Babbling and General Craziness

Sounds like the title of a good book. It would definitely work as a great title for my memoirs. Note to self, must add that to my bucket list. I think I could sell all of maybe 5 books if I published it. Naw, scratch that my life has been rather boring and uneventful, well to me it hasn't been boring but to the everyday Joe my life would be rather dull so maybe unpublished memoirs would be the way to go for me.

Shawn's retirement is now official and he should be seeing his official orders here soon. Hard to believe it's all done in 226 days. He's started the job hunt and we've had a few nibbles but nothing to write home about. There are a handful more that would be great but now it's a frickin waiting game. We've start checklists and have a million and one things that need to be done. We're doing a partial move so that we have our clothing, beds, etc. The stuff we can't live without while we're living with my sister since we don't know for sure how long it will be before we get out own place. Uncle Sam will pay to move the rest and for a year of storage for our household goods so that gives us time to either buy a place or find a house to rent. My sister and I spent 3 hours on the phone talking about the move and getting all excited about us coming home.

I had a mini freak out moment when we signed the lease. I might also want to add that I was already upset because I found out my great uncle had passed away. Our base housing is going through the privatization process so we had to sign a lease with the company that's taking over and I started reading their stupid little booklet on responsibilities and such because I'm smart like that and I want to know what is going on before names are signed willy nilly. I get to the carpet replacement price and see that it starts at $1400 and goes up in price and my little mind starts chanting "oh shit oh shit oh shit". I have dogs, birds and kids plus my carpet has seen two other families besides mine so it's looking shabby and crappy. It's cheap carpet and even cheaper padding, Uncle Sammy only pays for the best for his military troops (must insert a lot of sarcasm here). Then I hit the next part that starts talking about how you have to pay to have your carpets professionally cleaned when you have pets in the house when you move out. Now I'm chanting "oh shit, oh crap, wtf are they "F"-in crazy" because it would cost in upwards of $700 to professionally clean the carpets in my house from top to  bottom. My house is frick huge and I live in a two story house. I have 14 stairs and it would cost me an additional $3 per stair....the prices are damn crazy if you ask me!!! Note to self, no I repeat no carpet in my house when we buy one!!! My mind was so not G rated that day. So I'm ranting and pissed and complaining about how in the hell they expect military people (who don't make that great of a paycheck to begin with) to pay for this crap. So of course I pissed Shawn off because apparently I'm not suppose to be pissed about having to come up with $700 we weren't counting on for the move. It's not as if the uHaul (they want over $900 for one of their crappy frickin vehicles) and house cleaning fees weren't bad enough. So Shawn's nonchalant, don't worry be happy, can't change it so why get pissed attitude pissed me off even more. His comment was like oh well guess we're going to have to use the income tax refund to pay for it. Nevermind that our income tax refund was for paying off some damn bills we really need to pay off. If I would have had a frying pan I may very well have walloped him on the head with it. Apparently he's not been paying attention over the last 13+ years of marriage that I need to rant and bitch which needs no response from him at all. It's not as if I was doing it standing there in a public place (something I would never do) we were in the car/at home. Anyways back to my freak out, all is well that ends well, after a nice chat with the military housing office and the new civilian company taking over, we are not responsible for the carpet at all because it's already past its 7 year life cycle. It's the original carpet that was put in the houses when they were built like 10 years ago so all we have to do is vacuum because they're ripping it out. So I guess Shawn's don't worry attitude would have been better but I vented my stress and anger so at least I know I won't explode now. When I internalize stress it never ends well.

Anyways on to knitting and other fun stuff.

I received my TLE #9 swap in the mail today.

 

I love everything! I got stitch markers, hot cocoa, chocolate coffee, hot tamales, a lovely pair of socks made with Hazel Knits artisian sock yarn, Koigu Kersti, BFL/Seacell fiber, and an emergency fix key chain.

My It's a Wrap mini kit from Woolgirl.

 

I test knit this a while back and I've been patiently waiting to post about it. I'm co-hosting a KAL with the designer. I can't wait to get started on this. The yarn is Miss Babs Yowza worsted weight which I absolutely adore. The colorway is Tulipa which is a lovely deep purple.

I knit a Darkside Cowl (ravelry) for Bree.

Of course it's warmed back up and now she doesn't need it but it's ready for when the temps drop again. The yarn is the Premier yarns serenity sock yarn that I picked up on sale at JoAnn's. I held it double stranded and let me say that I think I'm going to knit more of these double stranded with sock yarn. I just need to add more stitches for myself and Kaity. This is a great pattern and double stranded with sock yarn makes it extra squishy and warm.

Yarn for a baby blanket for my cousin M.

She's due this summer with her second child. I need to check with my aunt to see when little dude is due to join this world. The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Worsted and the colorway is called Macaw which this does remind me of the green on some of the Macaws. Cousin M already has a blue baby blanket so I figured I'd change it up a bit and use a non standard baby color.

Finally I finished the first part of my 2012 Quarter one challenge from TLE.

The pattern is Malabrigo Silky Merino and the pattern is Princess Mitts (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) from The Knitter's Book of Yarn. It's also a free pattern. I think it was one of those patterns that Potters Craft released as a teaser for the release of the book. The pattern had a error in the thumb chart but by the time I noticed it it was too late and I was too lazy to rip and reknit. The error wasn't that big of a deal for me. Note to self, check for errata before starting to knit, bone head!!

I'll leave you with a shot of George and Bill hanging out and getting to know each other over pop corn.

 Bill is on the left and George is on the right pigging out on the popcorn. Bill and George will be getting separate big cages not because they don't get along because they're not to bad together it's because George absolutely hates Shawn and Shawn's afraid George is going to hurt himself if Shawn puts his hand in the cage to get Bill. George freaked out when Shawn uncovered him this morning and ended up rubbing his wing so hard it bled. So each birdie will be getting their own big, sturdy cage and Shawn will ignore George from here on out. I'm aggravated with the both of them.

Till next time......Happy Crafting!

Retirement Time!!!

Shawn submitted for approval to retire. Shawn hit 19 years of active duty Air Force service on 7 Dec 2012 so he submitted his eligibility check for retirement earlier this week. We're done and ready to move on with our lives. It's time to take control of our life back from the military. I can't begin to explain how much stress was relieved with that decision. So barring any unforseen issues we will heading back to Boise, ID on or around 5 Sept 2012. I can't believe we're down to the last 8 months. We were originally going to drop retirement papers in Sep/Oct of this year so we could move during the summer of 2013 but the AF dropped High Year Tenure (HYT) for Technical Sergeant (TSgt) from 22 years to 20 years which meant it was up in the air on if they would extend Shawn's time out from April of 2012 to Sept 2012. If they refused to extend him out it would have meant a move in the middle of Dec or Jan for us, something neither of us want to be doing so we decided to take the money and run.

Uncle Sammy and his cronies are really screwing with the lives of military members right now. You use to be able to retire from the Air Force as a Staff Sergeant (SSgt) with 20 years of military service. Now you can only do 15 years as a SSgt meaning you have to make TSgt to retire from the military. Add injury to insult that they also want to keep retiring military members from drawing their retirement pay right away. They want to make it to where we have to wait till we're 65. Screw that! The average american citizen doesn't have to pick up a gun and fight in a foriegn country to earn their retirement. They don't have to worry about if they are going to make it home safe and sound to their family. Just because you come home from a deployment without any external injuries doesn't mean you came home unharmed. PTSD is a very common and very serious problem. I can't tell you how many people I've personally seen flinch or flat out drop to the floor when they hear a car backfire, fireworks and other loud noises that sound like gunfire after spending time deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I wonder how many military members wake up in the middle of the night to some nightmare of what they saw over there? Until ALL of Congress puts on full battle rattle (military protective gear), picks up an assult rifle, kisses their family goodbye, gets on a plane and spends 12-16 months away from their loved ones to stand on the front lines worrying about getting their asses shot off, not knowing who is the enemy and who needs help, they don't have the right to the decision to take away our armed services ability to draw our retirement until we're 65. There are only a few current members of congress who know what it's like to go to war. I know Sentors John McCain and Jim Webb both served in Vietnam. There are also a few that were cops so they know what it's like to put their butts on the line every day but the bulk majority of them have never went to war and have never even served in the armed forces so how can they make such important decisions about the military when they haven't walked a mile or two in our shoes. 

My sister and I are so excited about the move. She's in Boise and I can't wait to get home. I desperately miss my best friend and shopping buddy not to meantion my most trusted babysitter for the girls. I miss my family and this move will put me closer to them again.

Yes I know I know I'm rambling and I need to get to the knitting content. Lets me think for a moment....ah now I remember where I need to start my post.

I finished my Marilinda socks (ravelry)(non ravelry).

This is a CookieA pattern and can be bought as a seperate pattern or it's in the book Knit.Sock.Love which comes in a print or pdf version. The yarn is Wollmeise I picked up from a destash. The colorway is we're different Ruby Thursday. I love the red color but bought it more for the name since it has sentimental value to me. I love these socks. I'm only so so on the Wollmeise base. The base yarn is OK but her colors are what draw me in. There are indie dyers out there with much nicer base yarns in my opinion. Will I buy more Wollmeise? Yes I will but it will never be one of my favs. I'd love to get my hands on a skein of Wollmeise lace in the Ruby Thursday colorway for the next shawl I'm planning for my mom. I've seen a few being destashed but can't spend the money right now. With the move coming up the only way I could do it is someone was willing to trade and most people want to trade lace for lace. Oh well, maybe after we get settled after the move.

One of many candy cane ponies (ravelry)(non ravelry).

This is a quick and easy pattern. I really love these and have plans to make more this year for my cousins, nephews, my girls, and some other family members. I have wiggle eyes and ribbon for the next handful of ponies I plan to make.

I picked up some new to me sock yarn on sale at JoAnn's the other day.

The yarn is Premier Yarn Serenity sock weight yarn. It's a merino/bamboo/nylon sock yarn. It's übercheap. I think it was like $3.99 per 50 gram skein. JoAnn's was having a buy one get one 50% off so I figured why not. It's the cheapest sock yarn I've found so far.

Finally I picked up some Malabrigo Silky Merino for the 1st Quarter TLE challenge.

The challenge is to knit something with yarn that has silk content. I'm planning on making fingerless mitts and a new cowl for myself. 

Until next time......Happy Crafting!

Sometimes an Eye Roll Says It All

I made a post on Ravelry a few days ago about having games and cartoons on my iPad to keep my kiddo busy when we're stuck waiting at various appointments and the like. She responded back saying something like to think she gave use to give her kids animal crackers to play with and I jokingly responded that animal crackers are a think of the past. I noticed I actually got disagrees for that comment. Seeing the disagrees I rolled my eyes and started laughing. Disagrees on Ravlery don't bother me one bit and generally I ignore them. Why would I give a crap over the opinion of someone I don't know there are times when I don't give a crap about opinions from the people I love and cherish. Everyone has an opinion but for goodness sake if you're going to disagree at least post why in the world you disagree. Don't stand behind your anyonmous little click like a chicken butt. Stand  up and state why you disagree. (insert the eye roll)

I for one have never been big on giving my kids food to play with. Frankly it's just not interesting enough to hold their attention for more then a few seconds, not to say that my kids haven't danced their animal crackers around in the air before eating them but they never really played with them. I've found that crayons, Nintendo DS's, and iPads to be much more effective. I've taught my kids that playing with your food is rude and shouldn't be done. I mean seriously I'm not a germaphob. I don't run around with antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers wiping hands left and right but we do take a few normal precausions like wiping down shopping carts. That's not being over cautious that's just using common sense. Do you all know how germ ridden a clinic/hospital waiting room is? Very germy when you think about all the sick people that walk through those areas. Doctors and nurses can't run around disinfecting things after sick people have left. That would just be absolutely crazy. Now picture a small child playing with their animal crackers on the chairs that sick patients have sat in and then picture that same child putting said cracker into their mouth to eat it. I have seen this on multiple occasions and to say the least it's nasty and those parents are the ones sitting back wondering why little johnny and janey are sick all the time. Don't get me wrong my kids get sick. It can't be helped it's going to happen but my kids aren't constantly sick.

Ok, rant overwith. Time to move on to the knitting related portion of the post. I finished Shawn's sweater and it doesn't fit him. So it's now my sweater and I'm knitting him a top down raglan sweater out of Miss Babs Yowza. 

I think he's getting the better end of the deal since he's getting a sweater made out of soft handdyed yarn. The colorway is Denim. I love Miss Babs yarn and the Yowza skeins are awesome. It's her worsted weight yarn and it's sold in huge 8oz skeins. There's approximate 560 yards on each skein. I have 4 skeins but I'm not sure if I'll need to crack into the 4th skein.

My Feb YOSS socks are coming along nicely. 

I'm just going to keep knitting until I have a nice long sock. I'll most likely have enough yarn to make a pair of socks for Bree and add a new square to the sock yarn blanket. These are definitely not getting finished for Feb so I'll probably knit on them through March too.

I've gotten some goodies in the mail since my last post. 

These will be the last of the yarn for now.  Well not completely since I get paid in yarn from Woolgirl for my test knits and I did sign up for the Twisted Fiber Art sock club. So for March, April and May I'll get a skein of self striping sock yarn from them. I really really need to work on using up some of my stash. The two mini skeins in the upper left hand corner are Miss Babs yummy toes yarn. They're going to be paired with some dark pink Miss Babs sock yarn to make a pair of Choix Entrelac socks for myself. I test knit these socks awhile back for Miss Babs and Woolgirl and now I'm going to make a pair for myself. The two solid/semi solid skeins are Wollmeise from the last TLE update. The purple is Der letzte Versuch and the pink one is roter Himbeermund. The two colorful skeins are Twisted Fiber Art sock yarn. The top one is Crush on the Tasty base which is a merino/cashmere blend and Haunting is on the Playful base which is 100% superwash merino. 

 Last night I had Shawn help me with this. 

I took one of the little keys that is used to tighten your Knit Picks Options needles and altered it a bit. I had this stitch marker or whatever it is that had a little stretchy band on the end instead of the normal metal loops that I never used. Well I had Shawn tighten down the looped end of the key around the band part of the marker so that I have something that is easier to pick up. I don't know about you but I have a hard time picking up those tiny little things. This makes it easier to pick up.

I also got some lovely additions to my fiber stash. The top one is from TLE and it's dyed by Enchanted Knoll Farms. The bottom was a trade with a lady on Ravelry for a bunch of my worsted weight wool leftovers. It's 1 pound of Copper Moose Colonial top. 

I leave you with an introduction to our newest family member.

Meet Stormy our white faced cockatiel. We're not sure if Stormy is a male or female but we'll know tomorrow because PetCo has the paperwork to give us that has all that information. Apparently they haven't been doing their job very well when they sell birds because we were suppose to get paperwork with all the info on the bird like hatch date, DNA test that shows if it's a male or female, the breeder the bird came from, etc. Stormy is a loveable little bird. 

Happy Crafting!

Oh the Shock!

It's only been a couple of days since my last post and I'm posting again....scary isn't it! How crazy is it that when I first typed shock in my post title it came out Sock! I can be silly from time to time. Now this is where I digress, please excuse me for one moment.

Dear Charities of the World,

It has come to my attention that you now feel the need to Spam peoples mailboxes. No I'm not talking about email boxes, I'm talking regular postal mailboxes. There hasn't been a day that went by in the last two months (with the exception of Sunday since mail isn't delivered on Sundays) that I haven't received a thick envelope filled with crap and a note begging me to send you money. You will not receive money from me. If I decide to donate my money to a worthy cause (and yes I do frequently) I will most likely pay for it via that charities website or stopping by to pay locally. One of my favorite charities is my local animal shelter so they get a nice chunk of money from me every year. Animals can't help themselves like humans can.
Here's a fabulous tip for you, please listen it might do your non profit organization some good, stop mailing crap out to people. I do not need to be enticed by calendars, mailing labels, Christmas cards, etc. I have 4, repeat 4, 2009 wall calendars and enough mailing labels to last me for the next 85 years, as for all the Christmas cards, well they are now being put to use by my kids. They draw and scribble on them before they are thrown in the recycle bin. These things cost money! Save that money to put towards the people who need it, you know, those people you are asking money to help....what a shock! For all of you who are mailing me pennies and nickles in the envelopes....stop, every damn penny counts so stop throwing money away by putting it in an envelope in the hopes that the person receiving the envelope will donate money to your cause. Uh, Hello, it's a penny, do you really think that's going to entice people to give you $20, 50, or even $5 in this economy? Your organizations need to take a hard look at their marketing plans. Are you getting enough donations to justify the costs? How many people would donate to you every year regardless of if you mailed them junk? I would be happy with a single letter explaining your cause, an envelope for me to mail money back to you (I understand that not everyone has easy or any access to the internet) and a website address, if you don't have a website I highly recommend that you get one.
By you mailing me crap, you have lost an individual who would have most likely give some money to your organization. Maybe it's time to rethink the way you advertise.

Thank you,
Luvs2knit Household

I feel much better. Alright, now back to our kinda sorta regularly scheduled blog post.

I've managed to stay busy even through the head cold, NyQuil haze. One bottle of NyQuil later I am now feeling better. The cold is still lingering but it's been diminished to a minor nuisance. The test knit is on hold awaiting some design changes so I've been working on my own stuff.

Kaity's Cowl is now finished.

The pattern is Darkside Cowl (Ravelry)....sorry, couldn't find a non Ravelry link. The yarn is Plymouth Galway Paint to match the mittens I made a little while back. The only mod I made to the pattern was to cut one pattern repeat out since it was being used to go around Kaity's scrawny neck. She loves it and has requested more. I do believe that this cowl is going to work a lot better for her then any scarf I could ever make. Thanks for the idea Colleen. If you wouldn't have made one for your kiddo, I would have never thought to make one for my own.

Of course we must now make a matching hat to go with the cowl and mittens.

Would you expect anything else. One must accessorize! Kaity's fat head won't fit into the hat I made her last year so it's been passed down to Bree who has been playing with it. She puts it on her head and tells me she's going to work....goofy kid! :) The pattern is doubleknitski (Ravelry) (non Ravelry). I'm using the Plymouth Galway Paint for the outside and the inside is being lined with The Unique Sheep Foot Prints which was also used for Kaity's inner mittens.

I have acquired a few things since my last post. What, me, buy yarn.....never! Ok, so you all know me better then that. Sometimes you just can't help passing up yarn.

I was at my local Michaels a week ago and this flew into my basket.

The Peppermint Mocha Twist made me do it. It's all Shawn's fault! Since he was off for Veteran's Day we decided to head over to B&N for a coffee and books. I can't go to B&N without making a trip into Michaels since it's only a couple of stores down. Plus hubbs like Michaels too....aren't I a lucky gal! Anyway, all the yarn was on sale which was oh so tempting and I found the sock yarn. Yup, Michaels has finally gotten sock yarn....woot! Well at least my Michaels has it. Here they are carrying Patons Kroy and Stretch. I hope they get in Lion Brand and Red Hearts too. I like having easy access to afford hard wearing sock yarns. Since Ben Franklin Crafts here in town is going out of business that leaves only the two very tiny LYSs. Both stores are great but they have a very limited selection of stuff.

Mmmmmmmmmalabrigo sock yarn!

As if you guys could honestly expect me to pass that up. Plus I had a $25 credit at TLE to use. Malabrigo + $25 credit = Luvs2knit getting some sock yarn. Yes it's worth the hype. This stuff is seriously soft!

Yarntini Varigated

My friend Sue was destashing this and I just couldn't pass it up. I test knit this for Woolgirl and fell in love with the pattern and the yarn. It made me sad to know that I wasn't going to keep the sock. Now I get to make a pair of my own. I don't think it will be long before this yarn is on my needles.

Books, must buy books.

I had some credits through my book club that allowed me to buy these for less then $5 each. Can't complain about that. Each book has more then one pattern that I'd like to make so I think it was worth the money.

I do have a baby blanket to show you all. Well, I'm not done with it but I did start it the other day and now have enough progress to show you. Unfortunately today is extremely overcast making it very difficult to get a decent picture. So the baby blanket will be in the next post along with a few other purchases.

You may also notice that my pictures are different. I'm using Flickr to post my pics on the blog now instead of using Typepad's photo uploader for two reasons:

A) Some jerk (this is not what I would call them when not in polite company) has stolen my photos and blog posts to put on their Spam site which incidentally is really hard to fight. What's the point of Copyright laws if we aren't going to enforce them. So I'm trying to make it a little more difficult. I'm not sure if this will deter them or not but it's worth a try.

B) The Typepad photo uploader thing is so slow. Now if only Typepad would put a little button in so I can add my Flickr photos without having to copy and paste each one. Sad part is, copying & pasting the html code is still faster then the upload tool.

Happy Crafting!

Finally Have an FO

It's been awhile since I last posted. Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July (for those whole celebrate). We didn't go see the fireworks because they don't start here until 10:15pm and that's just way to late to be keeping the girls up. Their normal bedtime is 8:30pm so I doubt they would have made it that late anyway. Maybe Kaity would have. We told her that next year she could go if she took a small nap during the afternoon.

I need to rant about inconsiderate A**holes that decide it's funny to set off fireworks that they aren't suppose too. Honestly last night around 11:20pm we had a explosion that rattled our windows. It sounded like EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) set off one hell of a bomb. This wasn't a normal firecracker boom here it was a half stick of dynamite type boom. You mix stupid men*, beer, and fireworks and you get a recipe for destruction. I'm sure that I'll be hearing on the news that some moron blew his hand off. Guess what, I won't feel the least bit sorry for him! Thanks for allowing me to rant.

* No I do not think all men are stupid! There are some smart ones left in this world. If you want to see stupid men at their finest watch Jackass or Jackass Number Two. If you like crude humor and people doing ridiculously stupid things that cause them lots of pain or could get them killed then the Jackass movies are for you.

I finally have all my Country mp3s loaded into iTunes. I've been putting it off for months now because it takes forever to reload all of them since there is over 1100 songs. The stink part is that I've lost three complete albums and 7 single songs.....super sigh! Somewhere along the line iTunes deleted two different accounts that I had purchased music under. Without the account name (email address) and password the mp3 will not play. You need to unlock it. I don't share my mp3s so all the write protect crap makes my life more difficult. I think it's completely worthless when you can removed it for the price of a blank CD and about 10-15 minutes of your time.

Now on to knitting. Yes, I have been doing a little knitting.

I finished Kaity's Skirtsicle (Rav)(non Rav).

She loves it and I'm loving the fact that it's not on my needles anymore. I used a 16" US7 Knit Picks circ and Peaches & Creme, color Lemonade. It's a very simple pattern with just enough to keep it from becoming boring. I knit most of it in the car on days when we were out shopping.

I finished another hat for Kristy's Hat Quest.

There's a Ravelry group for this now. I used di.Ve Teseo and the pattern He Gives Me Butterflies (Rav)(non Rav). This is a super cute pattern that is knit flat and then seamed afterwards. I doubt it would be very difficult to knit this in the round.

I finally started a pair of socks for myself.....woot!

Their just a simple toe up 2x2 ribbed sock using my June shipment from the Art Walk sock club by Zen Yarn Garden. I used a Turkish cast on and will be doing a short row heel.

I picked up a couple of books.

Who can resist stitch pattern books? Not me! Closely Knit has some great patterns in it. If you're on Ravelry you can check out some of the patterns here.

I placed my 7th order a few weeks ago through Woolgirl and now I'm now officially part of the Wooly Woolgirl Club. You can go out to my Flickr page to see what I got.....don't want to spoil it for anyone who doesn't want to know what they might get. This box came as a complete surprise to me. I didn't realize the box had been mailed.

Bree has a new love....WALL-E!

We picked up a stuffed WALL-E from the Disney Store website. Bree loves WALL-E and has been hugging this plush since we gave it to her. Shawn and Kaity went to see WALL-E last night and really liked it. We've decided that Bree is just too young to go see it in the theater but we'll buy it when it comes out on DVD.

We just got a major smack in the wallet the other day. We found out that we can't keep our car registered in Idaho like we were originally told. The lady at the DMV that Shawn talked to gave him the wrong information. So we have to move our tags to Montana pronto because our tags expire at the end of the month. Now this would be super cheap for us if I wasn't on the title of the stupid car. Since I'm on the title we have to pay half the taxes and a bunch of other fees so instead of $4 fee they charge military to register our car. It's going to cost us almost $200. So gearing up for the possibility that we aren't going to be able to come up with all the money with this short of notice I'm selling some yarn out of my stash. If all goes well I won't need to use the money but I figured it's better safe then sorry.

Edit to add: That I've removed my destash page from Ravelry. Frankly it burns my butt to be called out on something that isn't even in the guidelines and that apparently some people are allowed to break. If you want it to be a rule put it in the guidelines and call everyone on it. Don't randomly pick people to reprimand. I listed my stuff on ebay and if it sells it sells. At least ebay's rules are clear cut and easy to follow. Needless to say I will not list stuff in the ISO/Destash group anymore.

Been Busy

To the jerk(s) who dumps their garbage in the recycle bins at the recycling center...

It is not funny when you throw your full bags of garbage into the recycling bins. When you do this, those of us who are actually recycling have no where to put our stuff. You can not use the excuse of "I didn't know it wasn't a dumpster!" All bins are well marked and the dumpsters are the humongous bins that you have to climb up the stairs for. So you are either extremely stupid or very lazy. I vote for very lazy with a touch of stupidity. Get off your lazy a** and climb up the stairs. If I can climb up the stairs then you can too!

Now that I've gotten that out of my system I can tell you all "sorry for the lack of blog posts." Things here have been busy and I've managed to come down with a head cold again. So I'm slogging through things here and haven't had much energy to do anything else.

I received these a few days ago.



Mrs. Superwash showed up on my door step with her two non superwash children in tow...Don't ask me how Mr. & Mrs. Superwash had two non superwash children....it boggles the mind. With the loss of Mr. Superwash, Mrs. Superwash was no longer able to support herself and the children so she came to me looking for shelter and support. The family has welcomed them with open arms.

Kaity and I will hopefully dye these three skeins this weekend or next weekend. It's going to depend on how cruddy I'm feeling. I bought her 1 skein of superwash worsted and 2 skeins of bulky Bare yarn.

I also got my 2nd TLE Sock Club shipment. If you want to see it click HERE. I love the yarn, pattern and goodies.

I started a headband for Kaity.



The pattern is The Woven Headband. I'm using Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb, color Bittersweet. The yarn doesn't have much bounce in the skien but it does when it's knit up in the woven cable.

That's the extent of what I can show you. I ripped out my TLE Swap Pals project. I didn't like the pattern, I didn't like the yarn so it was frogged and I ordered new yarn. The USPS has not seen fit to give me my darn box so I'm still waiting. It should have been here yesterday so hopefully it shows up today.

I didn't finish the Everlasting Bagstopper. The handles are still about a foot shy of being done. I will save you from the boringness of that photo. I need to work on it this morning.

I'm just about done with the first section of the Bee Fields Shawl once again no photo because it doesn't look much different then it did the last time I posted a pic of it. I've knit another inch on Rogue. I'll post a photo of Rogue after the front and back parts have been knit and joined back together.

The IRS deposited our stimulus check. Since I still have a bunch of work that needs to be done on my teeth (and I'm trying to be responsible) there will be no shiny new iMac sitting on my desk, maybe next time *sniff, sniff*. So instead I bought the yarn for Shawn's sweater from WEBS sale. He originally picked out the Charcoal Grey Cascade 220 but there weren't enough skeins so he went with Sapphire (#9332) instead. It looks grey on WEBS site but after lots of searching I think Purlsoho has the best photo (just in case you want to see). I threw in a couple skeins of the Valley Yarns Huntington sock yarn to try. At $4.29 per 50g hank you can beat the price.

I'm not going to be able to show much from my either TLE order I've placed because most of it's for my swap pal. I did throw in a skein of Perchance to Knit Pamper Me sock yarn for myself. I got Gingerbread....yum!

I'm off to throw the dirty clothes down the stairs and finish the dishes. I know, I know, what a glamorous life I live. Everyone wants to be me!

New Project

**ETA: the pictures. I posted without the pictures. It's going to be a long day.

As if I really needed to start another project. I finished up my moms first sock yesterday so I celebrated by starting a new shawl.




The pattern I'm using is Show Your Colors Shawl. It's a very simple shawl pattern. I'm using to strands of Knit Picks Shimmer, color Grape Hyacinth.

Here's the first Penllyn Sock.




This one was a fast knit, three days for the first sock. Keep in mind that this is the socks I knit on all night long when Kaity was sick.

I've died and gone to....well you all can figure out what I was going to say. I just read out on the Ravelry forums that the yarn shops in Helena went out of business. The shop here in town is very limited...emphasis on very! So I guess Billings has my nearest yarn shop and Billings is like 4 hours away. Makes me almost want to cry.

I'm really kicking myself in the butt because there are like 3 shops located outside of the base there in Cheyenne, WY and that was our second pick. It was our second pick because it put us farther away from my family. Cheyenne is less then two hours away from Denver, CO. *sigh* Should have picked WY. Oh well, stuck here in Montana it is....guess I'll make the best of it. Internet buying here I come.

Time to stop feeling sorry for myself and get the kiddo out the door for school.

Yarn, Moving Rants and Socks

Wow, what a combo in that title. How mad would you all be if you opened a box and seen this:




Yup, the stuff was just thrown in. There was no paper stuffed in the box to prevent shifting or the box from crushing in. This box is full of software, video games, and movies. Most of the stuff isn't that big of a deal but the idiots put my Nintendo games in there without securing them. The games are cartridges and can easily be damaged if packed incorrectly. We haven't come across any broken stuff in boxes yet but we haven't unpacked everything yet.

We've found chunks of wood missing out of dressers and desks and the couch has a big cut in it from someones razer blade. This is the reason why I have crappy furniture. I long for the day of retirement so I can start replacing the beat up furniture with nice stuff. Unfortunately I'll have to do it one room at a time but I'm looking forward to it.

To top it all off my washer was messed up in shipment. The front panel was smacked and the circuit card was damaged. Thankfully I have the extended warranty through Sears so it's 100% covered, which is a good thing because between parts and labor it's going to cost over $400.....ouch!

To sooth over the madness of the poorly packed box...yarn!!

I got the boxes filled with Pink and Purple Cascade 220 wool. Kaity has already laid claim to the purple for a sweater. I'm thinking about making her this sweater.

Today we broke down and purchase Sirius satellite radio for our car. The radio stations in this area aren't all that great. I've found one country station I like but I have to have something to listen to besides country.

Here's a shot of the Butternut socks.

I think they are striping pretty close. They are off a little but hey what do you expect. I didn't write down where in the color repeat that I started the first sock so I had to guess. I only had to rip out the cuff once. I'm about 10 rows from starting the heel flap.

Montana, Here We Are!

**Warning: Long Post, No Knitting Content, No Pictures!

Yesterday is a day I'd probably rather forget.  We found out the kennel closed at 6pm so we had to basically drive as far as possible and stop as little as we could.  We still didn't make it.  Missed the kennel by about 40 minutes.  We did find someone who was willing to take them for the night.  They are being moved back over to the other kennel where they will have 24hr access to the outside, weather permitting and they are a lot closer to the base for easier visiting. 

So needless to say I have no pictures of my travels which really bummed me out.  I did get a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle when we stopped in Spencer, ID for lunch.  I'll take pics later for the next post.  It's cute.

Good News:
The house they have for us is a newer home and according to others who are in them, they are really nice and we are going to love it.  It's just a two story, no basement and it has a garage....yippy! 

Bad News:
The house isn't going to be available till like 10 Oct.  So we are staying in a 1 bedroom TLF until the house is available.

Kinda Good News:  They are going to try to move us to a 2 bedroom TLF after this weekend.

More Bad News:  Our dogs have to stay in the kennel until we get our house.  They can't come anywhere near TLF.  If they come inside they'll charge us $150 and kick us out, so they'll be staying in the kennel.  I miss the little pains already.

Even More Bad News:  All the stuff we brought with us has to go in storage.  Yup, my yarn too.  There is absolutely no room for storage in this place.  Talk about a super bummer.  My yarn is going to be in storage for the next month....sigh!  I may try to squeeze an order on payday from Knit Picks for some yarn for the baby blanket, sock yarn, and a few more 32" circ needles for sock knitting.

Kinda Good News: Since we rented our trailer from Uhaul we get 30 days free storage from them.  At least I don't have to worry about that.

Some More Bad News:  Most of our winter stuff is in storage with all our household goods so I'm going to have to go clothes shopping for all of us.  I quite sure that we are going to need warmer clothes before the end of the month.  This makes me want to smack my head against the wall.  I already planned on clothes for Kaity and Bree but not for Shawn and me.  We only need a few things to make it till our house is ready and our stuff is delivered but it's still an aggravation.

I keep wondering what else can go wrong.  Don't worry, I'm swaying with the punches and going with the flow.  I was really upset and on the verge of crying myself silly yesterday evening but today is much better.  Now Shawn and I are kinda laughing and trying to joke about it.  All that matters is that we have a place to stay, the dogs are in a good kennel where we can visit often and we have a house to look forward too.  Home is where your family is, not the house itself. 

On a bright note, I can sooooo see why Montana is called Big Sky Country.  I've never seen a sky go on forever.  The mountains and the blue sky are gorgeous.  The drive from Helena to Great Falls wasn't too bad.  I'm sure it will be much better when we make the trip without a trailer loaded with over 900 pounds worth of stuff.  We'll definitely head down to Helena to explore.

Dudes, I'm seriously in trouble, Great Falls has a Starbucks.....I squealed when we drove past it which made Shawn chuckle....he knows how much I love my coffee.  There was a double squeal when I seen the Barnes and Noble.  The base is fairly small, so I'm happy about that and it won't be long before I'm feeling totally at home here.

No Clever Title

Today's one of those days.  I'm rushing around trying to get the few things taken care of before the movers get here tomorrow and trying really hard not to cry over my cat being gone.

She's still alive and well but we had to find her a new home.  We aren't allowed more then two pets in housing up in Montana.  We tried and tried to get them to budge but they said no.  I'm not sure if I can even begin to explain how much my heart is breaking right now nor can I express how "mad" I am at the housing office up there in Montana. 

We couldn't find her a home and we decided that we really didn't want a military family to take her.  I've seen to many pets dumped off at the pound with no cares when a set of order comes down and the military member doesn't want to deal with it.  Unfortunately not everyone views pets as family members.  We took her up to Emmett to a no kill animal shelter.  The ladies up there are great, they have a good vet and all the cats are well taken care of and happy.  Even if she never gets adopted she will have a home for the rest of her life.

So the agenda today is to stay as busy as possible. 

Here's the progress on my Twisted Flower Socks:




I decided to work a slip stitch heel instead of the patterned one.  I made this decision mostly to maintain my sanity and partly because I think the heel would irritate me in a pair of shoes.

I also joined in on Secret of the Stole which starts 5 Oct.  If I remember correctly they will be taking new members until 4 Oct then the group closes.  So if you want to join in on the fun, go sign up now.

I was trying to keep busy looking for the yarn for the stole.  I decided that I want to use Malabrigo's lace weight yarn, which has caused me to run into a brick wall.  The colors I want, I couldn't find online and of course there are no retailers listed in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming that sell Malabrigo, let alone their lace weight.  I found two colors at Kaleidoscope Yarns that will work.  I'm thinking of going with Cognac or Applewood.  After I get the yarn I'll need to hunt down some beeds.

I'm Still Here

**Warning: This post mostly contains ranting!  Some knitting content located at the bottom.  I've marked the end of the rant!

I finally decided on a baby blanket pattern for my cousins baby.  Now she's having a girl but doesn't want anything girly girly or frilly.  OK, cool beans I can do that.  Will be a nice change from the soft yellow/green of Blake's blankie.  Not to mention all the friggin' pink and purple that Kaity always wants.  :~)

So here's the pattern.  It has some nice simple cables, all in all a simple pattern and will make a wonderful blankie. 
Next up, I needed to find a yarn to go with the pattern.  I decided on Knit Picks Swish superwash yarn.  Cool, they have heather colors now.  I'm tossing between the Marine Heather and Lemongrass Heather.  Now me being the smart knitter that I am, I say "Hey why leave anything to chance, I'll order the color card and go from there."   W.R.O.N.G!  Knit Picks is out of stock of the color cards for the Swish and aren't getting any in until 27 Sept.   So now I have to order one of each ball of yarn or wait until 27~friggin'~Sept.  Does anyone else see a problem with them having the bloody flippin' yarn but it's going to take them well over a month to get more color cards in or am I just getting my socks in a wad for no reason?  Ack!  Please hold on while I smack my head against the key board.   n n jdudrfdhsoijodfg

This isn't the first time I've had problems with Knit Picks.  You all remember my gripe with the shawl pattern, that they knew there was a problem with and hadn't fixed and of course they made up for that by giving me free super slow shipping.....woo~friggin~hoo they saved me a whole $2.79!  Wow wasn't that ever so nice of them.  I shrugged it off and said no biggie.  Which of course we all know turned out to be a problem too because once again 2 more skeins wasn't enough I needed more.  No biggie, Sue helped me out.  The still claim you only need 4 hanks to complete the shawl but everyone that I've talked to so far has needed one more making it a grand total of 5 hanks needed to complete the shawl. 
Then there was what I'm now starting to think of as "The Great Cotlin Debacle of 2007".   I finally gave up on that one.   I decided I didn't need the stuff that bad.  It's in stock now but I've already subbed it with other yarn.
Then I needed the US2 needle to finish my sisters tank.  When I went to order it, it was going to be out of stock for like a month.  Thankfully I was able to find a needle at TLE....Sheri to the rescue.
So now I either have to go with another yarn or I have to fork out $3.29 per ball for the yarn I just wanted a damn color card for.  So instead of it costing me $1.99 plus shipping it's going to cost $6.58 plus shipping.  I know it isn't much money but it's the point.

***End of Rant***

I've been working mostly on Blake's Blankie.  I have 3 squares and the border left and I'm done.  I'm aiming to have this completed by the end of the weekend.  I'm not going to bore anyone with another progress pic.  Trust me the pictures would be mega boring.  I'll take a pic when I have the blanket completed.
I put a few more rows on my sisters Trekking socks but once again that would be an extremely boring picture.  I'll post again when I have a little more done on them.

Bree is doing much better on her new meds.  The prevacid is doing what it's suppose to an no nasty side affects have reared their ugly heads. 
Kaity now has a spot reserved in one of the 1st grade classes in Great Falls.  Shawn contacted the school looking for a shopping list so we could get it done and out of the way.  The lady Shawn talked to also put Kaity into a class to ensure that she will have a spot when we get there.  The last thing I want is for her to get shipped off to a different school then the other kids on base that she's going to end up playing with.

I'll leave you with this:




And for all of you who have an interest, the top drawer in the background is part of my sock yarn stash. (click on picture to enlarge).  If it comes in a hank it's stored in that drawer.  The second drawer holds all the sock yarn that comes in balls like Trekking and Opal.    :~)

Idiot Moment!

Ack!  I'm an idiot.  I'll openly admit when I've done something completely stupid.  I was sitting here at the computer surfing the net, drinking my Cherry Coke Zero (mistake #1) and generally having a good afternoon.  I was avoiding the basket of clothing that needs to be ironed (mistake #2).

Some how I ended up spilling about 8 ounces of Coke into my poor Apple keyboard.  Ack!  So mistake #2 is what lead to mistake #1.  Guess I shouldn't have avoided the damn ironing. 

Now I have a a Dell keyboard hooked to my Mac computer....how weird is that?....at least it works....sorta.  There are some functions that aren't working but it's good enough until I get my Apple keyboard cleaned or replaced.  Thank god it wasn't the iBook.  I'd be in deep Doo.  I also have a sticky floor mat, a soda logged keyboard, a mess load of ironing to do after the girls are in bed and still no knitting done today. 

Yep, shouldn't have avoided the ironing!  Do you think I've learned my lesson!  Nope, probably not. 

Here's some cuteness to make up for my idiocy!

Good News/Bad News

I'll give you all the good news first:  baby Blake was born last night weighting in at 7lbs, 4oz and 19" long and full head of hair.  Of course he couldn't enter the world without a little drama.  He had the cord wrapped around his neck not once but twice.  But never fear both baby and mama are safe and healthy. 

Now on to the bad news.  The sirens and alarms played on all the speakers last night, all night long.  Lucky for me I was so exhausted that I slept through all but the last one that went off this morning around 6:30.  Both my girls slept through it too.  I think it helps that I have a radio that plays ocean waves in Bree's room.  I play it for background noise which helps because one of her bedroom walls is also one of the living room walls. 
This place we are in now is a modular home which is a mobile home with a damn foundation and slightly more solid walls.  I'm going to emphasize on slightly.  I long for a home of my own, one with real walls and better yet one that isn't attached to my neighbors house, which is what we had before we moved into this place.

So far, so good this afternoon has been quiet but I think that is attributed to the fact that SSgt "Stupid" and her sidekick Airman "Idiot" have went home for the day.  See it's women like those two that give the rest of use a bad name.  They are stupid, so there for that means that all women are stupid.  Sheesh!

Cute Card & Such

I got this b-day card in the mail this morning from my mom.  I loved it and wanted to share it with all of you.  :~)




On the inside it says "...But apparently, they don't know how to knit. Warmest Wishes"

Warning: Major Rant Content containing absolutely no knitting.  Skip to the bottom to get back to knitting if you don't want to read my rantings!  You can skip it, I don't mind.  The rant is mostly for my benefit!   :~)

This card made me crack up and I sorely needed it after the news Shawn gave me.  He was told that he needed to make sure his personal bag was packed and ready for the upcoming exercise.  So we went out and purchased all of the stuff he needed.....all $45 worth of stuff.  I'm pissed about wasting the money but I'm more pissed because this isn't the first time the little ass has done something like that.  I can't even begin to comprehend what is going through his pea brain. 
Shawn found this morning that he didn't need his personal bag because he's not deploying because we are PCSing (moving) before the next deployment.  Only the people who are deploying in Sept need to have their personal bags put together for this exercise.  Shawn's stupid little pin headed (insert a whole lot of creative cussing) weasel of a Lt (more cussing here) tells him "Oh yeah, I knew you didn't need to but I wanted you guys to show flight initiative".  WTF, does that mean Flight Initiative.  Did the idiot think he was going to gain brownie points for omitting information which in my opinion is lying!  Let me tell you what, I was ready to go in there and show that little (insert a lot more cussing) stupid moron just what flight initiative is.  He's a worthless waste of space and is sucking up valuable air that is needed for more worthy individuals.  I told Shawn to make sure the little (insert a lot of creative unladylike name calling here) turd stays away from me when I'm up there for Shawn promotion ceremony because I will not hold back my opinions.  What I'm saying here in blogland is what I'd tell that little waste of space if I ever see him.  This isn't the first time he's done something like this.  I have absolutely no problem looking someone in the eye and saying "Go away, I can't stand you".  I'm not one for politely smiling and making small talk with some one I don't like.  Life's to short to waste it on things like that.

Anyways, back to knitting content.

I've changed my mind and am now planning on using this for my SOS socks instead:

It's Scarlet Fleece It Tubular x2 sock yarn in the color Irish Eyes.  Wonder if I'll change my mind again?  I'm still planning on sticking with Elenore, a pattern by Momma Monkey.

Sorry for the rant everyone.....I just needed to get that out of my system so I can get through the rest of the day.

Happy Knitting!

Bloglines Sucks!

Bloglines Sucks!!!   It hasn't been pulling posts correctly for the past few days and there have been posts from some blogs that I've missed completely because Bloglines never showed that there were new posts. 
I've posted several times in the past two days and it's taken Bloglines up to 6 hours to show that there was a new post.  From what I can tell the main feed for my blog hasn't shown there's a new post yet and I put that up about 5 hours ago.
OK, I feel better now that I've ranted.  Anyone else have problems with Bloglines.

Fell Off the Wagon & Some Ranting

That phrase "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions" is starting to become my phrase.  I'm still pavin'.  It was my intention not to buy any more yarn but Georgia - Yarn Pirate updated her new shop and I couldn't resist snagging a skein of Pretty Pirate.  :~)  Hey I could have bought more but I was good.  One skein, that's all.  Course that's what I said when I order my STR.

Anyone else having a heart attack over the gas prices?  Shawn put some gas in the car today to hold us over till we head to Boise, where the gas is a tad cheaper....since we have to go that way anyway.  I think this will be our last trip to Costco.  After this we need to start working on draining our freezer so we don't have a ton of food in there come PCS time.  Anyway back to gas prices, it was $3.04 here on base.  Shawn put in 5 gallons and it cost us $15.25....oh my heart.  Ok maybe it's not my heart but it's definitely anxiety over how high the prices are going to jump with the way they have been going up.  I know there are others that are paying more then we are. 
I know that gas is around $3.20 - $3.30 in Oregon but that's not a shock because the gas prices seem to always be higher in Oregon.  Course they don't have to pump their own gas.  :~)

Freak Out Moment

Shawn and I were discussing the impending move and I asked about when we should leave.  We both decided on 1 Aug. 
Shortly after this conversation I started having one of my mini freak out moments.  It dawned on me that 1 Aug is 3 months from now, that's only 6 paydays.
So I've got 6 paydays to get enough money put aside for extra moving expenses, a tow hitch for our car, all animal shots up to date, clothes for the girls, etc, etc, etc.  The list could go on and on and on. 
So the stuff I thought I was going to get this payday will now be on hold indefinitely, to includes Mothers Day (this month), My B-Day (June) and any other thing/holiday that isn't absolutely necessary.  I have a tiny bit of money tucked away but it's going to be saved for an "OMG I can not live with out this at all" item.  :~)   
Oh boy, isn't moving fun.  Of course we still don't know where we are going but we will find out some time between now and the 15th of May.

Is It Tuesday?

My calendar says it's Tuesday but my whole day is feeling more like a Monday.  Yesterday was great, I finished the Monkey socks and set myself free.   So I guess it really didn't feel like a Monday to me.
I contemplated knitting this afternoon but decided to clean instead....Yucky, but necessary.  I let a few things slip while trying to get these socks done so I figured I'd go ahead and spend today cleaning.   Not that I really wanted to but better to catch it all now before it gets bad.  :~)
Bree has decided to throw a wrench into that plan.  She's decided, in her infinite 9 month old wisdom, that she does not need to take a nap today.  I did manage to get the living room straighted up, dusted, and the vacuum ran through out the whole house and yes I remembered to turn the vacuum on before I started.  :~)
Well I'm off to attempt cleaning the kitchen.  If all goes well Bree will sit in her highchair and play so I can get the kitchen straightened up. 

Privacy

Ok, I know this may sound crazy but I feel like my privacy has been violated in a way.  I say it's crazy because this is a blog and anyone who wants to can read and browse through it.   But it's my little section of the net to bitch, gripe, and complain about whatever I want.  Not to mention share my knitting and my life with all my friends who I would never have met if I hadn't started this blog.   I Love You All!  Even my lurkers, I know you're there even if you don't comment a lot and I appreciate that you all stick around through complaining and crazy rants.   It's great to be surrounded by people who get you and understand what you are going through, babies who won't sleep, yarn addictions, stalking yarn shops, bad days, knitting projects gone bad, etc.
Why do I feel my privacy has been violated.  Well where do I start.
A well meaning person decided to give my blog address to someone in my family.  Now this person has apologized for this.  It's partially my fault because I should have told this person that I didn't want my whole friggin' family reading my blog.  If you have crazy, annoy, irritating people in your family you will probably understand where I'm coming from, hell you may see where I'm coming from anyway.  Family have my phone number and email address, the blog was mine.....well it was anyway.  I'm going to say myself and the person who shared my address are both 50/50 to blame.....share and share alike.   There's always enough blame to go around.
So now I have my blog where I've always felt free to say what I wanted and do what I like and now I no longer feel that I can do that.  I feel like some of my freedom has been taken away.  How can I be free when I have a bunch of family members looking on at everything I do?  Because I know it won't stop at the one person, it will spread and before I know it everyone in my family will be annoying me through my blog.  If I wanted that I would have created a stupid MySpace account.  :~) 
I see my blog as a creative outlet.  Shakespeare I am not, but it gives me a way to get through the great things and the frustrating things in my life.  Do you all think I'm crazy?  Do I have basis for feeling like my privacy has been violated?  Maybe I am crazy, after almost 29 years in my family it's a wonder I'm not insane.  :~)   Not to say my family is bad, they are the typical annoying, but loving family and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. 
Shit see there I go already lying because I never know which family member is reading this.

Note:  I just finished re-reading this post and am proud of myself for keeping the cussing down to a minimum.  I came up with a few creative ones tonight.  :~)   I think I may be able to make a few of the crew chiefs blush with my creativeness and they are a hard group to embarrass. 
For those of you who don't know military stuff all that well, a crew chief is another name for a jet mechanic.  The crew chiefs keep our jets flight right which in turn helps keep the pilots safe.  They are a very rowdy bunch of people......crew chiefs are their own breed of people.  You'd have to know one to know what I'm talking about.  :~)  Needless to say they are interesting and to think my sis is seriously involved with one....he's a great guy though.  :~)