Updates and Stuff

I'm still struggling with my RA. The doctor added an anti-inflammatory back to my list of meds and that's helped a lot. I haven't had to take the prednisone as much. It's something that I've for the most part learned how to live with but I don't like it and there are days when I flat out hate it and I'm ashamed to admit it but I've had my fair share of pity parties. You live, you learn and you deal. It's all about coping. When I can't knit I curl up in my chair with my iPad and throw myself into a good book. I'm just thankful that I have libraries with eBook lending and Amazon Unlimited has really came in handy for me. I read more then 2-3 books a month. Actually I go through 2-3 in a week and on really bad RA days I can read 2-3 books in a day.

Things have been crazy here. Shawn finally figured out some of his issues with heartburn and indigestion all tie in with gluten so we've been trying to cut gluten out of his diet completely. Let me just say that its damn difficult. There is gluten in crap you'd never thing about it being in.....sheesh. Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a bit of a bitch but I'll get it all figured out.

Shawn was let go from his job earlier this month. After almost 2 years the HR Director called him into the office and said "it's just not working out". The flippin joys of working in "at will" state....ugh! Of course Shawn being Shawn he dusted his ass off and found a job within a matter of hours. Its a temp job that will end before June but he has a couple of final interviews lined up for a permanent job. We'll be OK. What the "nice" lady who let him go doesn't understand is we're use to being kicked in the nuts....we're a flipping military family. Most military have to deal with the proverbial kick to the nuts at least once in their career. We had more then one so we're well versed in the what can go wrong will go wrong. Few things we've learned, Stressing and worrying doesn't change things just makes you miserable, never spend more then what you make, have a healthy savings account and at least one free credit card for emergencies, and laugh. Laughing is one of the most important things. You always always need to find the humor in things. We're laughing because I guess the person who let him go has been getting a lot of flak for firing him and the ones left behind are scrabbling to pick up and figure out the crap that he has been handling for almost 2 years. Wished I was a fly on the wall to watch them struggle....gottta be a funny sight.

Now on to knitting.

I did knit Bree her Ducky she's been pestering me about.

The yarn is Knit Picks Swish DK and the pattern is Baby Duckling. She's been sleeping with it every night. It's become her favorite thing to carry around. She thinks the duck needs some grapes so I may humor her. It's all because of a group of videos on YouTube. I'm not sure why the kids think it's hilarious but I laughed so hard when I watched her and my nephew watch the videos. They made the funniest faces and laughed so much. They are her favorite YouTube videos, thus the request for a ducky of her own.

I just couldn't resist casting on a skirt for Bree.

I fell in love with this skirt pattern the moment I saw it. The pattern is Balletto and the yarn that I'm using is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal sock yarn. I am however regretting picking the pattern because of what has turned into never ending ruffles from hell. I'm never going to finish the ruffles. I'm surprised I'm not having nightmares about ruffles.


Finished my Porch Swing Cardi.

I can't begin to say how much I love love love this cardi. It's so comfy and warm. I've already worn it several times this winter. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy and the color is Chinatown Apple. There were 3 distinct shades of this yarn so I ended up swapping out the yarn with each row I knit. A bit of a pain in the butt but I think its turning out rather nicely. This cardi has very minimal finishing. It's pretty much seamless. There just a little grafting under each arm and thats it.

Kaity's on a scarf kick so I knit her an April Scarf.

The pattern is pretty simple so I worked on it while watching TV. I'm using a skien of Knit Picks Chroma Fingering weight in the Lollipop color way. It's been in my stash for some time now and Kaity adores the color.

I'm making another Ripple Afghan.

What good Boise State Broncos fan doesn't have a blue and orange blanket on their couch! JoAnn had the yarn on sale so I nabbed it up and got to work on it while watching the game. One more game to go against Utah State next weekend. We win that one and we're going to the host the championship game and could be looking at a New Years Day bowl game. Gonna be watching and yelling at my tv next Saturday. Wished I could afford game tickets. Le Sigh....maybe next year.

I have another cardi and some fingerless mitts for myself and a few small things for my mom. I'm going to start kicking in to gear on the Christmas knitting. My only project is making some Christmas ornaments and lots and lots of Candy Cane Ponies. I also have a few sewing projects I'll be swapping with my knitting to give my hands a break. The tiny joints are what are giving me fits. I've had to many days where my hands and feet hurt.

Till next time Happy Crafting!

Another Day, Another Dollar

Well school's out and I wonder where the time has gone. It seems like in was yesterday that I was taking Bree to her first day of school. Now my baby is a first grader. She excelled too. I'm a bit worried that she going to be bored with first grade. Kindergarten here in Montana is a bit more advanced then they are in Idaho. Bree's already reading at a second grade level.

I just found out that Boise doesn't have a ban on having chickens in your backyard. My goal is to have 2-3 hens for egg laying so it's nice to know I'll be able to do that. Here in Great Falls it is strictly prohibited which I think is completely assinine. I can understand banning roosters within city limits and wouldn't want one anyways. You don't need a rooster for the hens to lay eggs and the damn things can be wicked noisy. 

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm trying to get back into a schedule for posting and home to post at least 2-3 times a week. 

I finished my It's A Wrap.

The yarn is Miss Babs Yowza. This will definitely be nice for winter time. I doubt I'll ever wear it around my shoulders but it's large enough to pull over my head to protect my ears from the cold which will be nice for running from the car to the store. This picture was taken before I blocked it. It got a bit longer after it's bath.

I finished my cousins baby blanket.

The pattern is a mix of a few different patterns and the yarn is Knit Picks Comfy worsted in the Macaw colorway which I think has been discountinued. She loved the blanket and I do believe it's going to get a lot of use.

I finished my "on the go" socks. 

They are my basic toe up pattern with a short row heel. The yarn is Opal 6ply and the colorway is 1715. I managed to match up the stripes fairly well. There's enough left to knit a pair for Bree and add a square to my sock yarn blanket. 

Right now my free time has gone to finishing Bree's crochet blanket. 

I'm cruising right along on this thing. I'm a few rows into the 16th stripe of 25. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My container garden is doing well this year.

I have tomatoes on my Better Boy and Roma's. The cherry tomatoes are full of blooms so I'm figuring I should see some tomatoes soon.

My snap peas have produced a few peas so far.

I didn't realize I could have planted them a good month or two before I did. They love chilly weather and don't do well after it gets to hot so I might not see many off but these two were very yummy and I'm hoping for a few more. There are more blooms on the plant so I might get a yummy little snack out of this plant.

Hopefully Penny.

She's hoping that cute eyes will allow her into my lap. It's very difficult to crochet on a blanket with a 48 pound springer spaniel in your lap. 

I'll leave you with this picture of Georgie.

He's trying to decide the best course of action for getting to the rings on my fingers. 

Crazy Busy

We celebrated Bree's birthday the other day. This year we went with cupcakes instead of a cake.

We picked the Wall-E decorations (of course)!

The girls really enjoyed their cupcakes, not that that's really a shock or anything. What kid willingly turns down sugary cake?

Bree received a lot of fun things but I'm not posting all the pics out here on the blog. It would take up a whole post and frankly I'm way to lazy. Her favorite toys out of the group seems to be a talking purse and a guitar. It's hilarious watching Bree rock out with her guitar.

I've gotten a few things in the mail since my last post.

First up:

Some of the new Red Heart sock yarn, Heart & Sole. I think it's going to be a nice go-to sock yarn. It has a nice feel to it and at $4.99 per 50g ball it's a steal for a pair of socks. FYI, there is no acrylic in this yarn....I know someone will ask. It's wool, nylon and it's treated with aloe.

Next up:

PandaToes from Crazy Monkey Creations. Their yarns are very reasonably priced and I couldn't resist the color, Berry Cobbler....Yum!

My Yarnapalooza winnings:

I was one of the winners of Romancing the Yarn's Yarnapalooza contest. Barbara sent me two skeins of Noro Silk Garden (color 8 & 226) which is probably going to become some nice warm mittens for me, a magnet (already on the fridge), and a signed copy of one her books. I haven't read this one yet so it's next up in my book queue. I can't wait for her new book Casting Spells. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel.

Finally:

I bought one of TLE's second anniversary kits. There isn't a thing about this kit that I don't love. Coffee mug, Casbah yarn, extra little goodies and a great pattern.....what more could a girl ask for. Kaity has already laid claim to the Loopy tattoos. I can't wait to use my coffee mug.

I've done a bit of sewing.

Here are 32 more napkins. The fabric cost me a little over $16 so that roughly $.50 per napkin. Not a bad price. Kaity picked out most of the fabric with the exception of Mickey which Bree pointed out and the Flames/Water which was pointed out by Shawn. The Hannah Montana napkins will probably be used for Kaity's lunchbox unless I can find some Tinkerbell fabric. Her lunchbox and backpack are Tinkerbell this year.

I've been crocheting too.

I've made two crochet baby washcloths (Rav)(non Rav) and I'm making more. I can crochet a face cloth a lot faster then I can knit one. I'm making these to replace the wet wipes I was using to clean Bree's face after meals. The cloths can be reused where as the wipes are only used once and thrown away.

Kaity's dress is getting closer to be finished.

I think I need to do 2 more stripes after I complete the one I'm working on. I'm to lazy to get up and check the pattern. Needless to say the dress is really close to being done.

The socks are soooooo close to be done.

I tried them on earlier and I have about 2-3 inches left before binding off. I love the yarn and the pattern is simple so I can't understand why it's taking forever to finish these socks. I swear I knit on them and they don't grow at all.

I have a big order coming in from WEBS. I finally decided on the yarn for my cousins baby blanket and I ended up changing my mind on the pattern. I'm saving the Rambling Rows pattern for something else. I found a cool cabled baby blanket (Rav) that I couldn't pass up.

Happy Crafting!

Blankies for Dogs

Note: I had this all ready to go last night, hit save so it would post to the blog and wammo....no internet connection.  Ack, I had to retype this post a second time.  I typed it up last night in TextEdit and saved it so I could post it this morning.
So here it goes:

No knitting here last night.  I gave my sore finger a break and busted out the crochet hook to finish up Zeus' kennel blankie. 




I using scraps of Red Heart acrylic.  The first color (Banana Berry) you guys may recognize as yarn I used to make Kaity a pair of socks, which she still has by the way.  I threw in the dark blue when I ran out of the Banana Berry, got tired of the blue and used the Red Heart Pogo I had leftover from my very first big knitting project....yup you guessed it, a 2x2 ribbed scarf.  It's a nice scarf and after about 200 more washings it may be soft enough to wear!  I have some nice Manos that is destined to become my new scarf.  I also have some Lorna's Laces worsted that may become a scarf or some fingerless mitts for myself.  Anyway, the final color (yellow) was picked by Kaity.  She said his blankie needed something bright in it, though the bright yellow. 




Doesn't he look happy? 

I started one for Shadow. 




Shawn picked out her colors.  I'm using red and some leftover variegated in shades of reds, yellows and oranges.  I think I used this to make a hat that Kaity has hid somewhere in her room.  I believe it's been designated as her work hat which gets paired with a dark blue Hawaiian print shirt....it's what she wears when she's pretending to go to work.  It's NOT a good combo but it makes me laugh my butt off each time I see her in it....it's super tacky!

My dogs sleep in their kennels at night.  Never worry they are very comfy and have plenty of room.  Since they sleep in their kennels I want them to have something comfy of their very own.  Right now they are using old towels.  Now as much as I love my dogs they aren't getting wool blankies....acrylic is much more washer friendly.

OK, you all know I love shiny things.  All my needles are shiny and I have tons of stitch markers.  Well check this out.  The iMac is now Anodized Aluminum.....pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny!  Damn Apple and their emails!  Now I want one. 
Anyone want to donate to the Trish needs a new shiny computer?  Hey I had to try!  It's for a good cause, right?  Alright, I'll keeping using my trusty faithful eMac.  She's stuck by me through thick and thin.  I bought mine right before Apple stopped making them so I've had mine for about 4-5 years and have never had one single problem.....gotta love a Mac!

FO and Progress

I finished another dishcloth.  We went into town so I needed something to work on in the car and since I currently have no socks OTN I went with another dishcloth.   This time I picked the Woozy dishcloth pattern from Smariek Knits.




Yes this cloth has cables.  I also learned how to cable without a cable needle.  Wow what freedom!  I like cables.  I'm going to be doing a lot more cable practice on dishcloths.  I need the practice for the Cables and Lace Jacket I want to make and I need new dishcloths to replace my old rags when we move.  I figure that by the time we get settled in I will have a nice stack.  Next cloth up, the cabled dishcloth pattern in the Sept 07 Creative Knitting.....sorry all, no links yet.  They still have July's issue up.

Next up, Kaity's Hip in Hemp skirt.




Yeah I know it isn't much.  Normally I try to have more done before I give a WIP shot but you try purling 153 stitches, on US3 needles, in the round and see how many rows you get done before hand cramps set in.   :~)  I made it 3 rounds.  I'll work more on her skirt tomorrow.

Since my hands were cramping, I was bored and not ready for bed, I started a crochet blankie for Zeus' kennel. 




I'm doing a single crochet and and using an "I" hook.  I'm just using scrap acrylic from my stash.   After this one, I'll make one out of Pink and Purple for Shadows kennel. 

Oh and here's a shot of that Monster Crocheted Blanket of Boredom.




I was pregnant with Bree, it was hot outside and I needed something to do.  Enter into the picture: Red Heart acrylic yarn and a crochet hook.  It gave me something to do.....Isn't it tacky!   :~)   

Shawn, Kaity and the dogs love it so I guess it can't be too bad.